Oh the joys of working abroad!

NOTE: I am currently using a German computer and the kezboards are even crazier than the Spanish ones. So if you happen to see some strange mispelling (like y´s as z´s, or vice versa) or characters (like Ö or Ä), just go along with it.

Last week, I started my first teaching job in Spain. I taught from Tuesday to Thursday. I haven´t worked for almost two months now since I quit my job at the end of October. It was kind of strange getting up at 6 in the morning again and getting ready to work. All I wanted to do was hang out with Andrea and Andrew before going away for the holidays. It didn´t help that thez were both not doing anything but fun Madrid stuff. I wanted to do the same...not take an hour bus ride to teach for 5 hours straight.

Alas, I had to do what I had to do. I have to start making money somehow. I really don´t want to end up in Calle Montera, which is what I call the prostitute street (this will be another blog on another day). And not having any incoming cash flow is going to really bite me in the ass soon.

I found myself very sleep deprived last week. Every night, I would go and hang out and, for once, have a nice lovely dinner. By the time I get home at around 11, I had to staz up for a few more hours to create my lessons. Now I know why they recommend that teachers only work for 25 hours a week...I did about an extra 10 hours of lesson preparation.

Classes were great. I really like my students. There are about 15 of them, and they range from late twenties to earlz fifties in age. Although some of them have had some English lessons, there are a few that are very very beginners. So I´ve decided to keep it easz the first three days and get down to business when we start again in Januarz.

I thought everything was great and I had established good rapport with my students. Then Friday came (my day off) and my boss at the language school called me, all freaked out, at 9 AM. Apparently, the coordinator at the training center heard from the students, or student, that I told them I didn´t have any experience teaching. I made the mistake of telling them about my old job, which obviously was not teaching, and did not mention anything about teaching ESL, training people at work (which is considered teaching), etc. The coordinator was concerned b/c she wanted someone with 2 years experience and she thought I had that. So she basically was asking my boss if it was necessary to change teachers. Unbeknownst to me, the coordinator has never seen my CV (resume). Because no one in the training center speaks any English, they just depend on the language school to give them the teacher they ask for. Eventually, my boss convinced them that it was probably just things getting lost in translation and that I meant it was my first time teaching in Spain.

Moral of the story is that I can´t tell students anything about me anymore! Which totally sucks b/c most students are really interested to hear personal stories about living in English speaking countries. When they start to look bored, they always perk up once I personalize the lesson.

So, I guess I still have my job. But now I´m nervous that it´s going to be awkward...but I guess I always have the option of quitting whenever I want to. Lastly, I can just add this on to my list of challenges to overcome while I´m here. This will just motivate me to be a better teacher, just so I can prove them wrong!...Bitches!