Fifteen weeks more or less

A tapas night with Louise and Emma

I have been living here for fifteen weeks and today is my birthday so it's time for one of those "status update" posts. I spent my last birthday in Malaga with three great friends and we drank cava and toasted my future. I knew I would be in Spain for this birthday but at that stage I didn't know when, where and how I was going to do it. I knew that I wanted to try the training programme to become a Vaughan teacher and I knew that I wanted to take a sabbatical from RNIB and spend a winter in the sunshine. I went back to London with a determination that never waned but the task of sorting out when to come and what to do about my flat and all my belongings proved to be a big one and not one that was going to be easy during the winter months. In fact it was not until May 2009 that I finally started my sabbatical and by then I found the perfect person to live in my flat, had my training week booked and I was ready to go.

I came here on 13 June and started training on the Monday and within a few hours I knew that it was not going to work out. I was so glad I had my TEFL under my belt and some money in the bank as I was going to need it. I was lucky that I had somewhere to live with people that I liked - thanks, guys! By the end of the week of training, I was so relieved that I had tried it and that I was able to go my own way. I knew that my style of teaching was not the Vaughan way and I while I was scared, I was also excited at the prospect of seeing what else was out there.

A week of CV crafting and advert posting and I was soon teaching some teenage girls and loving it. It was the end of the school year and there was little work around but I was happy to have enough to cover my living costs while I settled in and adjusted to the heat. Summer in Madrid is an amazing experience as it really does get very hot and everything closes down little by little. I was glad not to be working though anxious about my swindling funds. Two weeks in London at the end of August was a great way to prepare for the start of the new teaching year and I came back to Madrid optimistic and more than a little homesick. It was no bad thing to realise how much I love and miss my city of London and friends and family. I now know that London will always be my "home" wherever else I might be in the world.

September has been a time of stress and anxiety as I realised that the promised teaching hours were not coming my way - or at least not straight away. The weather turned nasty here for a few days and I was cold, miserable and seriously thinking of going home. This was not how it was meant to be. Then I got active and started contacting everyone I could find who might give me teaching work. More interviews and more promises. If everyone I have registered with gave me work I would have a nice problem! Within a week I had students who wanted conversation classes and I had company classes coming my way. I had also done some proof reading and was feeling optimistic of finding more of that work.

I gave myself until the end of September to make a decision about my future. Should I stay or should I go? I am pleased to say that I am staying and the sun is shining on my birthday.

So as it is my birthday, I am going to say thank you to a few folk who I owe a lot.

To Emma for being there whenever I have needed you and for being such a great mate, to Francis for taking on my flat and for giving it some much needed TLC, to Louise for telling it how it is right from the first day I met you and for being such a generous friend with time and belongings, to Jane for being so supportive and excited about all that I do, to Yolanda for coming to spend a week with me in this hot and expensive city, to Raul for showing me a Madrid I would never have known and for being a true friend, to Pedro for the room in the strangest flat I have ever lived in, to Pilar for teaching me Spanish when I am meant to be teaching you English.

Spring comes to London

These guys were sunbathing from office windows in Covent Garden on the first decent day of spring. I had to laugh at their "bare backed cheek"!

It is Thursday and the sun is shining in Nunhead today. Highlight of this week was the Chinese Masterchef event on Tuesday at Westminster Kingsway college near Victoria. I went with a group of other folk who are not working at the moment and we were all there because it was free! Cups of proper Chinese tea, dim sum, the lunchtime buffet, a Chinese neck massage and a large bottle of soy sauce. All free! We were entertained with martial arts demonstrations (that so nearly become marital arts), a tea ceremony and the most wonderful Lion dance. The masterchef dishes were presented to us for appraisal and what chefs can do with a the same ingredients never ceases to amaze me. There were four entrants and each one had their own distinctive style. I think I liked number 2 best as it was all so fresh and appetising in appearance. Number 3 and 4 looked more traditional and hearty and number 1 was more minimalist and clever. It was number 1 who won and the chefs were suitably surprised - so much so that they were not in the room for the announcement!I was hoping to be able to put a link here for the event but amazingly, there is no information whatsoever on the event. I can't believe that a college can go to all that effort and not capitalise on the results. So, I will have to put some of my own photos here. I am afraid I can't tell you anything much about what the food is and who the winners were!If I don't make it in Spain, China is my next destination choice as I have already spent some time there teaching English and it would be wonderful to go back.

The winning starter - a dish made from lobster. Apparently the ball is a deep fried egg yolk.

The Chinese Masterchef - still in his apron and without his white pointy hat!