Sick in Spain December 12, 2007
Posted by Luke in Madrid, Spain, Travel.4 comments
So I am officially sick – well, not officially. I haven’t been to a doctor or nuffink. Don’t believe in the cretins. But I have been to a chemist, or a farmacia, to be precise. I’m not enjoying it, and I’m still working. Still putting in the long, hard road, and quite frankly, still whinging as well. And why not? I’m sick. Someone give me sympathy!!
I’ve got some Christmas and New Years Plans now. I was going to head to Malaga for NY, and although still a possibility, I am now more likely to celebrate the coming of 2008 in Berlin. I’m not quite sure where that is but I think it’s a pretty big city somewhere in Europe. Maybe Switzerland (sarcasm, hey?). I’m meeting up with my mate, Jon, who teaches in Lithuania – Vilnius, to be precise – and hopefully roadtripping for a week or so. But who knows, these, like so many of my other plans, may fall to pieces. I should consider a contingency plan – perhaps Malaga. But I’m looking forward to it, especially to the prospect of 16 or 17 days off work!!!!!!
Also, any one have any advice on how to get past a stumbling block in Spanish? It’s not anything specific, moreso the entire language. Help! I feel like I’m going backwards in it.
Now to marking, and writing, tests!
Hasta luego!
The streets are filled at night and sober… September 23, 2007
Posted by Luke in Madrid, Spain, Travel, Uncategorized.3 comments
It´s been five days here now. I haven´t written enough mainly because it´s difficult to find the time.
Friday I went to get my NIE, the residency number for foreigners. I lined up for two hours with about 200 odd other people. At about 10.30 the guy at the door came down to the 100 or so people left and said something in Spanish, which caused mass furore. I looked at a Dutch girl I had been talking to and said ¨this can´t be good.¨ It wasn´t. It turns out they only let 60 people in a day. We weren´t in that 60. Só it´s back there again tomorrow morning – this time at 7 to try again. I could try and make an appointment but apparently they do not answer the phone particularly regularly. A French guy had been trying to call for three months and no answer.
I met a Swedish guy and a couple of Northern Irish guys later that day and headed down to watch Ireland play France in the World Cup. Now that´s an experience. The pub was packed full of French and Irish trying to outsing each other. France won, by the way. After I grabbed a quick dinner at 11pm (after the game), we headed out for some more drinks. We found a bar quickly (there´s at least two every metre). Ordering a doble, I received the biggest beer I´d ever seen. See normally a doble is drinkable – about the same size as an Adelaide pint. This doble was a litre and a half of beer. I could barely hold it. At 12€, it was surely the first and last time I would drink a beer that size.
We left there and were promptly dragged into another club – there are people employed to approach people and escort them to the club. It wasn´t a bad place, but it must be said that Spanish rock music is terrible!!
Yesterday, I started looking for a flat, which brought on my first bout of homesickness. It was quite depressing staring at the newspaper and internet not knowing what on earth it said. I decided to give up, crashed out for siesta and then got up and headed to this English speaking café and bookstore, J&J´s. It´s a great little place hosting intercambio nights as well as having an excellent range of books and teaching resources. I stayed there for a while and then met the Irish for dinner at 10.30.
We headed to this Mexican place on a Calle de la Quinones or thereabouts. It was full so we headed around the corner to some restaurant. Not knowing what we´d ordered, we received some of the worst food I have ever tasted. It was racionés, which is basically tapas, but one was capsicum and cod and the other, morcella (i think – it´s a kind of meat>) with what I think was ICECREAM!! No good. Don´t try it. Absolutely not. Anyway, we thought we were doing something wrong because the locals were laughing at us, we thought. But I checked with one of the guys at J´s and he said we were eating it right.
Last night was La Noche en Blanco, a huge all night long arts festival. The Irish and I met Eduardo and Nieves (a Spanish woman who wanted to practise her English with me). We met them at just after midnight in Plaza Descalzes, which is just near Puerta de la Sol, the central point of Madrid. Then we proceeded to walk around for the next 4 hours. This was all well and good because everything is still new, but I did learn a few things.
The main thing is that Spaniards do not know how to hurry. Nieves turned to us and said ¨we must hurry now as we have a long way to go and it stops at 3am.¨ It was 1am at this point in time. A very long way to go was about 20 mins walk, but an hour later we got there. Every ten minutes we´d stop to talk to someone or look at something, and we got to where we needed with plenty of time to spare. That´s one thing about Spain, they don´t like to rush.
Nor do they really drink alot. Sure, cerveza and vino are prolific but on a huge public occasion like la Noche en Blanco, you´d expect a fair display of public drinking. Nope! There was barely a drink to be seen. Well, the kids were but they always do, sitting on the steps drinking their bottelos.
I also saw my first protest and yes, it was anarquistas. I assume. They were protesting the rising prices of goods. It was peaceful, but it was also 2am.
Having had only a horrible dinner earlier, we decided to leave Nieves and Eduardo and headed to this cafe called ViPS. So at 4am we finally sat down to a dinner of hamburguesa – yep thats a burger, alright.
Still haven´t got around to loading pics off my camera yet. Will do soon.
Lavapies August 7, 2007
Posted by Luke in Music, Spain, Travel.add a comment
In two months, I’d like to live here, I think. Lavapies. I stumbled across it some days ago now. I’d never heard of it, but the description of it really grabbed me. Then I read someone else describingit as ‘dangerous’. And it grabbed me even more.
Wikipedia provide this article:
Lavapiés is a barrio of the city of Madrid, centred on Plaza de Lavapiés.It was the Jewish quarter of the city until the expulsion of the Jews in 1492, the church of San Lorenzo being built on the former site of the synagogue. The name literally means “wash feet”, and seems to refer to the ritual washing of one’s feet before entering the temple, possibly in the fountain in Plaza de Lavapiés.
It has long been a neglected area of the city. An inscription on a fountain in Plaza de Cabestreros is the only monument to the Spanish Republic in Madrid, such mentions having been systematically removed elsewhere during the Franco regime. The ruins of Escuelas Pías, a religious school, were left to stand for many years after it was burned down by supporters of the Popular Front in 1936, only being demolished in 2002.
In the late 1980s and 1990s, Lavapiés had acquired a reputation as a “vertical slum”, with its tenement blocks either empty or occupied by older people paying low rents. As a result, it became the most important location for okupación, or squatting, in Madrid.
More recently, it has become the focal point for immigrant populations, particularly Chinese, Arabs and people from the Indian subcontinent. It has been estimated that around 50% of the population is of foreign origin.
I’m keen to live here. Extremely keen. If anyone who stumbles across this page has any knowledge of Lavapies, a room for rent, or any other useful/less tidbits of factoids, please get in touch.
On another note:
Jumping the Gun July 10, 2007
Posted by Luke in Music, Spain, Teaching English, Travel, Work.1 comment so far
I have a feeling I may have jumped the gun somewhat in deciding to do another TEFL course. Two months ago, I kept getting knocked back in my applications. I didn’t want to purchase a ticket until I had a definite job, so I went with the training… hey, they guaranteed a job.
But in the last week, I’ve had two schools tell me they’re interested in interviewing me, and a third give me their number to call as soon as I arrive. Maybe if I’d waited, I could have had jobs falling all over for me.
The problem is the car accident left a nasty dent in my finances. And the course will also do that. If I can work without more training, then that solves some finance issues. I mean, I’ll work sixty hours if I have to. I’ll work more. I’ll work less.
What to do? What to do? I think the best option is apply for everything. I can always say no. At least I’ll get practice that way.
Two months today left in this job!
Meanwhile – listen to Daedelus – exquisite corpse. I know I am.
** July 11 – I received an email today that further confirms I jumped the gun. I was offered an interview over the phone by a Polish school in a small town in Central Poland. I must admit I was surprised. I’ve declined their offer – my heart’s set on Espana – but maybe I really should have held off on the Canterbury offer.
ADL ———-> ESP ? YES May 9, 2007
Posted by Luke in Adelaide, Canterbury TEFL, Spain, Travel.add a comment
It’s 3.36am. I woke with a sense of urgency, rolled over to check my email on my mobile and then realised I had no credit. Staggered downstairs, switched on my sister’s computer, logged in, email loaded, I’m going to Spain. I’m going to Spain. I’m going to Spain. I. AM. GOING. TO. SPAIN.
September 24th is the date. That gives me four more months in a job that bores me silly. Four more months in a city that I need some time from. Four more months with people that I’ve grown close to. Four more months with English speakers. I AM GOING TO SPAIN!!!!
I will be living in Madrid for at least two months, but have a guaranteed job there until June next year. If I wasn’t so tired, I would not be able to contain my excitement. Where’s someone to kiss and celebrate with? Wake up, world!!
