Long time no blog!
That's because my life seems to have begun to slip into a dull routine of work Monday to Thursday, quiz night Thursday night, drinking some sort of awful cheap booze with Jessica sometime over the weekend, trying to write, and doing it all over again the next week. Fortunately though I had Thursday off this week because of a local holiday. Woo go Villanueva del Pardillo!
I can't help but feel that school's beginning to feel a little bit like this.

Yes, you tell those little babbling ragamuffins.

I'm not allowed to admit I understand Spanish and must continue to bark at them in English, even at those with a very low level and those actually studying something other than English. Maps of the UK and US abound, ever reinforcing the fact that

all the time, no strange local tongues here, nono. Which is obviously good for them given that learning English may well make or break their little careers, but eh, that's a long way off so instead let's whack each other over the head and throw things at each other, or, if we're feeling well-behaved, gossip about this that or the other individual or compare our weekends.

In other news, we have Internet! Yay! Only took three weeks, my, my, Spain I will not miss your hideous inefficiency. I hear also on the grapevine that a new face will be arriving at the beginning of next month. Huzzah!

In happenings, last weekend I went to the Rastro market, an enormous outdoor flea market that happens every Sunday morning and looks like this:

Last night I went to a Spanish conversation evening in a friendly bar which attracted people of numerous nationalities and was very good fun! But the highlight of this entry is next week, drum roll please:

This gorgeous cartoonified creature will be arriving next week which makes Sophie feel both very excited, but also a lot like this also cartoonified specimen:

XXX

More following the kids

´Cause I totally don´t know my way around school yet, despite the awkwardness of looking like the older ones and occasionally being mistaken for one of them by a teacher not from the English department. Hmm. Yesterday consisted largely of doing a presentation about myself and where I´m from numerous times and being asked all sorts of weird and wonderful questions by the kids (many of which I´m really not supposed to answer), and one adorable little tyke who asked me if I like to have

and I said yes, that´s my favourite thing to do in Spain. At one point I freaked out a bit because we had a class of obnoxious 13 year olds being taken by a cover teacher so neither of us were being taken seriously. Total non-lesson lol. I´m having a better day today, and I´ve been paired up with the art teacher and we´ve been doing geometry which I´ve liked a lot. The kids at least now know all about me and weird goings on in my life and HOOOPEFULLY we´re getting Internet today and some new flatmates too, so I can skype ma Gingy because tis her birthday!!

Happy birthday beautiful lady :D xxxxx

Laugh and the world laughs with you....

Or at you, is how it feels on one's year abroad because really, I didn't get pretty much anything of what you just said, and no snorting and rolling your eyes at me won't make me understand more, it'll just perpetuate my general sense of panic and isolation. Yay. Hopeless lack of understanding aside, here's the lowdown of the last couple of days:
On Thursday night I went to a pub quiz in La Latina run by some American dudes in a cute little Mexican themed bar and hey we came second! Despite some weird freaky questions that surely no-one was going to get...
Yesterday evening I went to the Templo de Debod, since I may as well do touristy things despite living here, and caved in and bought knitting needles and wool (which I didn't bring as I figured I could go without.) Alas I go crazy without knitting. Mmm!

I also did the scary bank openy thing yesterday where I also got eye rolled at but hey, it's done. I've signed up for Spanish Reclaiming training so hey, I'm integrating! Woo!

Today I was happy as I had a super productive day; having no Internet is making me write more so I'm now finally approaching throwing distance of the finish line of Price of Man, but it's also pretty annoying that we won't have Internet til at least Tuesday (I must Skype my Gingy on her birthday!) Sadface. Alas school will get going properly next week so at least I'll be sufficiently distracted :D

Just follow the kids....like a creep....

Heyhey!
The first few days at school have not been terribly taxing. On the first day the teacher gave me the wrong bus information (he said bay 2, which was not the right bus, so I spent 15 mins running around trying to find the right one which turned out to be 27, on a different floor.) Hence I was late but alas not the last to arrive, and when I thought I was lost and not in the right place a whole load of kids got off the bus I just thought, follow the kids....oh yes, like the creep that I am.
There are four English language assistants which is nice, one from near where I'm from, one who was here last year and one American. She's in a dodgy living situation right now reminiscent of how I lived last year so I showed her round my flat as an option. On the first day we were introduced to the teachers, shown round the school, then sat in the cafeteria and chatted for a few hours. Yesterday we had an English dept. staff meeting and today we're just putting together presentations for when we're in classes next week. We'll be working with lots of different classes of different ages (within the secondary school), and half our classes will be English and the other half different subjects in English (I've been paired up with the art teacher which will be fun.)
And now I've got a flat, attention turn to figuring out how to do boring stuff like the abono (travel pass), opening a bank account, getting an NIE, working out bus timetables etc. All fun and games. Never mind eh, I'll get into the swing of things when work starts properly. :)
Laters xx

Bedrooms, meetings with friends, and waste of time orientation days

Heyhey!

I spent yesterday with friends from Reclaiming Spain and people I met at the goddess conference in Glastonbury last July, who were in Madrid to complete their Iberian priest/ess training, taking part in ritual with them then going out for Chinese afterwards. They talked a tad too fast but it was nice to see some familiar faces at last :). 

Today I got up at daft o'clock to travel the length of the city to sit through a total waste of time orientation day. It got to the point where they were about to give an hour long lecture about a pack I've got downloaded on my desktop and have already read, (the rest of the day consisting of a 'my experiences of the year abroad' talk, also the equivalent of which I've already sat through, and the distribution of documents I can get elsewhere anywho), so I just gave up and went home.

Still, first day of work tomorrow, but in true Spanish style it's more like a 'meet and greet', and I was told by the teacher 'not to worry because we've got a few days preparation before we go into the classroom.' Oook. Sounds piss easy :P.

Bedroom photos, as promised:

The rain in Spain does not stay mainly on the plane

Today it fell mostly on me, and apparently will continue to do so for the rest of the week. I didn't come to Madrid for this weather! Oh well.
I'm sorry folks, no pictures yet (I forgot, also I've only just finished furnishing the room.) I'm in a flat with a guy from Reading also doing the British Council program, but we haven't got Internet until the other two rooms are filled. The last few days have comprised of an Ikea adventure (it really is an all-day trip), nothing but tumbleweed that far out of the city, I shit thee not, and sorting out the deposit and rent and buying other things for the communal areas. Last night I went out with a group of British council people all living in Argüelles/ Moncloa, then ended up joining a huge group of about 60 on an all-night bar crawl. I discovered that clubbing with people I don't know is really no fun at all, and needless to say going to straight bars with people I met a couple hours before is incredibly outside my comfort zone, but these things must be done if I want to make some friends around here. It was very loud and overcrowded and hard to hear myself/ other people, and when we got to the club at half 2 I got ID'd and didn't have ID so just took a taxi home (I'd kinda had enough by that point anywho.) Still I can't be a hermit as much as I'd prefer to, and the good news is I met a nice guy who happened to live on the 2nd floor of my block.
Today I got caught in the middle of this during torrential rain while on the way to my friend's house to use her Internet:

http://politica.elpais.com/politica/2013/09/28/actualidad/1380385253_107089.html

The police cordoned off her entire street and I had to say I lived here/ beg them to let me through. I hope they don't give me gip trying to get home! This country takes their protesting pretty seriously I must say, and no doubt I'll miss a good deal of work/ get stranded a few times what with all the manifestaciones and huelgas that go on.
I didn't think that going clubbing without my girly would be so crappy, nor that I could miss anyone so much. I might even ask her to send some hairs in the post so I can stick them to my clothes so I can pick them out....how I miss picking orange hairs out of my clothes. :( :( :(. I look forward to seeing her soon! But hey, I start work next week and I have a date with some locals for Pagan fun tomorrow! Woohoo.
xxx

Not so easypiso.com

Well, well, well. What a tale to tell.
I spent Saturday ill and Sunday lounging around in the park not doing a whole lot, apart from a flat viewing that was in a perfect location but was a bit grotty. The landlord was trying to advertise his room to me (with all his stuff in it), but it's ok, he was moving out this week to go record a CD in Argentina....but yesterday I started getting super antsy to find a place and yesterday the pressure was on. I got an email from the guy saying to phone him asap because someone else was interested and 'had something important to ask me.' So I spent the morning running round like a headless chicken trying to find a cash machine that would actually let me take cash out so I could buy a phone to phone him. When I did he told me that someone else was about to sign. Like a fool, I said this other guy could have it because I was about to go look somewhere else....
And when I got there, it was, well.... very, very cosy. And in the basement. The guy was nice, but errr...he was charging 350 a month for a dingy, dark shoebox to share with him. Not cool. Sorry mate, busy day, another appointment....
Which was even more disastrous. I got lost trying to find the place, and in the advert it said no.16 of this street advertised at 360 a month, so there I was buzzing no.16, and when he didn't pick up I phoned him and he asked me where I was. "Oh 18!" he said. Err, ok...off I went to 18. I told him it said 16 in the advert, and he said, "Oh yeah I've got lots of flats" (or I think that's what he said. His accent was horrible and he talked way too fast.) He showed me around and I was rather impressed, it looked much nicer than the last 2 places. "So what is your price range?" he asked. "About 300-400," I said, as I'd stated in my advert and was within his price advertised. He then looked at me like I'd sprouted another 5 or so heads. It then dawned on me with crushing horror that somehow he thought I was looking to buy the entire flat. Only then did he tell me the room at no.16 advertised had already gone.Oh language barriers. Aren't they fun.
Awkward was not the word. I smiled politely and backed away slowly, then ran, and would've just sat down in the middle of Latina and cried if I didn't have another appointment to go to that a friend in the hostel had found advertised on Facebook, and was already late for.
I met this last guy outside Moncloa who mercifully spoke English, and specialised in finding student accommodation for the local university. He showed me a flat that was 5 minutes walk from where I needed to be, it was clean, not overcrowded as it was only 3 bedrooms. It was slightly above my price range but by that point I really would've cried if I'd gone through all that and not had a result. I took it instantly, ignoring the fact that I was advised it might have a 'party atmosphere'.... but as a local British expat told me this morning on the subject of flat hunting, you really can't have it all....
But hey. It's something. You couldn't pay me a million to repeat the stress and horror that was yesterday, but I celebrated my success at the end of it by joining in with the hostel's drinking games and going out for tapas and beers with a couple of Londoner inter-railers, and today I plan to do very little.  Pictures of the flat to come when I move in tomorrow.