The wheel of fortune keeps spinning - La Ruleta

A nice bar to reflect in

My last day in Madrid involved a lot of running around from one academy to another to collect payments and drop off text books and CDs. It was a sunny day - the first for at least ten days! At 4pm I met my economist and fellow teacher Carlos for a coffee and catch up chat in La Ruleta in Calle Velazquez and we reflected together on what an amazing experience I have had in Madrid.

I came to the city not knowing if I would be able to make a living from teaching English. I left it sure in the knowledge that not only can I teach English but I love it. People keep asking me where I have taught and who I have taught. My standard answer is "anyone who would pay me" which is pretty much the case. I have taught all ages and in all sorts of places. From company boardrooms to purpose built classrooms, children's bedrooms to cafes and bars. I have made some great friends and I left Madrid with a pocketful of business cards, a few more Facebook friends and some great memories. I have also improved my English grammar and my conversation skills and have a topic for every occasion. I hope it won't be too long before I am back but in the mean time I have to return to London and my publishing job for RNIB. I will continue to blog as I work on my master plan to learn Spanish and get the hell back to Madrid as soon as I can.

New year in Madrid and some resolution

A new year kiss from a stranger in Sol

I had to be in Sol for the new year and was worried it would not be possible as surely everyone in Madrid would want to be there? Apparently not. It helps that there is a dress rehearsal the night before - can you believe it - and there is also a family-friendly event at midday on the 1st of January.

I was also worried I would be on my own hanging around with a handful of grapes and a small bottle of cava and a straw. Thanks to an invitation from Emma and her mate Richi, I was at a pre-Sol gathering and warmed up with chorizo and red wine before a group hike into the city centre. In the end there were nine of us - most of whom had taken risks to come here in 2009. I was in fine company - a theatre makeup artist, an actress, a photography teacher, three English teachers, a German teacher and a Spanish man called Angel. We waited in keen anticipation for Big Ben-like bells but this is Madrid. We had to guess it was midnight and gulp our grapes as well as we could.

Grapes. Yes in Spain and Portugal it is the done thing to eat 12 grapes in time to the 12 chimes at midnight. Why? Well it seems this tradition is a twentieth century invention and a product of good old fashioned marketing. Apparently there was a glut of grapes in 1909 and so everyone was encouraged to eat twelve for new year and the practice has remained. I hope it brings me luck as it was hard work chewing those grape skins.

Grapes were followed - or washed down - with cava. Lots of toasting and then we had sparklers and grinned inanely at the loveliness of being in Madrid! There were some fireworks which were nice and heartwarming rather than over the top and expensive. There was good humour and lots of hugs and even some new year kisses from strangers - thanks to Em who "found" and photographed the lovely Italian above.

We stayed on in Sol an hour so we could do it all again for GMT and then we managed a quick "auld lang syne" before we drifted off to find metro trains. I chilled with a new friend, drinking real tea and chatting, until I walked home from Ventas at 530am. It was a lovely morning and the Christmas stars on the bridge looked stunning. I must photograph them before they disappear at the weekend.

Festivities are not over yet in Spain as we have a national holiday on 6 January for the Three Kings. This is the traditional time for children to receive gifts. There is a Kings parade where sweets are thrown into the crowds and an event in Cibeles to look forward to.

I made some resolutions for 2010. The first one is to sort out my debt problems, the second is to learn Spanish and the third is to do a CELTA - though that might have to be a 2011 project. My adventures in teaching are definitely not over forever but it will be a relief to get back to a proper job in London in May and start saving up for my next adventure.

And what about the resolutions from 2009? I DID IT! I came to Madrid and have been living here for seven months now and teaching English and getting paid to do it. It has been a great year!

Photograph (c) Emma Ryan 2010

My poor neglected blog ...

Orange trees "found" in the garden of casa Lope de Vega (a Spanish playwright from the Golden Age)

So what happened in November? I wonder? I think working was taking priority. The constant scrabble to find and keep hold of teaching was taking its toll last month and I simply didn't have time to blog. Now I am feeling guilty and will try and catch up with news and views! First, teaching. I am not cut out for this freelance teaching lifestyle. I have classes with three different companies now and a range of private students. I have interviewed with a whole lot of other companies who all have me on their books and I have had classes with plenty of students who fell by the wayside for various reasons. If I could work all the hours I expect, I could pay my way but it never happens. So I have days when I have to choose between buying shampoo or a bag of vegetables. I have extended my rice and pasta repertoire and I never eat out now unless it is tapas or a breakfast snack. The days of even a menu de dia are long gone.

I had a SAD manic episode a few weeks ago and ended up back in London for twenty-four hours and was interviewed for a job I didn't actually want but thought it was the answer to my problems. It wasn't. I am happy to be here and I am staying here as long as I can - at least until May 2010. I will be very poor when I return to London but I will be a different person - I am already!

It is now December and in 14 days time it will be the winter solstice. I am flying back to London that evening and will raise a cava to the skies and celebrate. I am looking forward to time with my family and I am looking forward to experiencing the winter snows here and then the bursting of spring.

The good thing about being here is the sunshine. On a crisp cold day, the sun will often be shining bravely and I am bathed in golden light. It may be frio but my heart is calor!

Seasonally affected ...

Last weekend the clocks went back. It didn't feel like the big event it usually is for me when I am in London. For the first time in five years I was not dreading the moment that signified shorter days and long, dark nights. I am in Spain and the days may be getting shorter but the light is still good here. Today it was also 25 degrees so I had no excuse not to smile.

In my class this afternoon I taught my students all about "spring forward and fall backwards" and we had a good session where we revised telling the time in English and discussed the impact of changing the clocks. I told them how I look forward to the 21st of December, the winter equinox, when the days start to lengthen again. Now it is really autumn and the nights are getting darker earlier. I have no light box here so I am relying on the natural light to keep away my SAD. It is going to be an interesting experiment!

Tomorrow I have an interview to see if I can teach some classes in the mornings. Now this is going to be a real challenge for me to see if I can get up at 6.30 in the morning. I need the work so I am going to give it a go. Teaching is proving a nightmare here at the moment with cancelled classes every day. It seems the answer is to take on slightly more than I need and can do and then hope that some of them cancel each week - ideally on the same day so that I get paid too. This is not how I imagined my life in Madrid!

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.