Tears for peers

Barrrrf!!! Those pictures make me sick just looking at them so heres a quick post to erode the sickness.

This a post i was gonna put up last week, but a certain video game stopped my time, but it is updated to todays events too.

Today (last thursday) I think a game evolved that seems great now but could be my downfall.

Basically its a game that controls kids with penalty's and rewards. Their initials are put on the board along with the first mark of a 5-mark-gate, the prize is to play the piano.

rules:

- They sit on the table if their feet touch the floor, a mark gets wiped off.
(this is to control them drawing on the board or wrecking the room)

-They only speak if they are chosen in turn, if they speak out of turn, a mark gets wiped off.
(this is to stop the brainiacs (which are most of them) snatching all the points)

-If they act out of line, a mark gets wiped off.
(simple behavior control)

-Lastly if they get it wrong twice it moves to the next kid.
(keeps the game at a fast pace)

Basically the game is for them to answer the questions set by their teacher for the exercise or by me. It was discovered as a tool to get a certain kid (Carlotta) with A.D.D to concentrate and focus for the reward. It then evolved into a gmae in its own right where i would draw animals, fruit & veg, and objects on the board and they tell me in English what they are for 1 point, and the English spelling for another. At first it was based on senses so they would then tell me what sense relates to the drawing for example: a flower would have sight as 1, and smell as the other, but now its just spelling and the object.

If a tie breaker occurs then the kids have to play rock, paper, scissors, stone to determine the winner.

None of them can actually play the piano, but at the same time none of them would realistically get the chance to play a grand piano anyway.

The dilemma.

Whilst playing the game i completely underestimated a child's sense of competition, and when 1 child was running away with the answers, another child would start crying so i have to continually doctor the game to keep the aforementioned child happy.

*update

So far ive had 3 kids crying living tears, and had to change the game so that everyone plays but the winner gets 20 seconds, and the runners up receive less and less time.
Today one of the kids had to be consolidated for 10 minutes just to stop crying which ate heavily into the other kids time, he came second but because the last kid won the tie breaker he missed out.
Also now in class the kids are fighting each other to get to go in the class with me and there are tears in the class from the kids that dont get to go (Im sure the teacher is now wondering whats going on as this has never happened before) .

The kids are now hugging me, waving, sitting down when i tell them and continually going out of their way to say hello. I dont know if its a respect thing or some scheme so i can swing the game their way.

I think i need to revise the game more, or abandon it all together and leave it for once a week, because im extremely close to telling the kids any more crying results in no game, but then the teacher will ask why they're crying in the first place and the whole thing will have to be aborted.

pictures are of the classroom (minus kids for legal reasons) and xmas decs in the street.

Sign of the hives

My mother-f*%$ing gosh!! I dont know if all of you know but i have an allergic reaction to prawns.

To say i thought i was on my death bed can only be fully expressed via the pictures. On Saturday i went the local hostel/club to chill, they had free paella (rice, prawn, clam, peppers etc etc) there that you get when you buy a beer, i thought, "rude" because i was kind of peckish. I told the lady to take out the prawn and i can eat it....i fed....it was nice....all good.

Moments later my lip started rising, but as fast as it went up, it went down.....still good.
I go to a club, again chilling, all good until the end when i noticed my left eye had a lump, thought that would be gone tomorrow its all good.

This is where optimism makes you sit on a stove thats been on for the last 3 days.

When i woke up the pictures you see are the result. Eventually they calmed down and i went out to watch the football and go to a tapas bar. Luckily i took my stunner sunglasses because again the hives (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hives) literally popped up again. I felt like a burns victim walking through the pub, not being able to move much or enjoy anything. I left the pub quick time to go home and had an early night. The next day all was well untill 10 minutes of being awake where they came back again!!!!

This time they got to everywhere, heres your chance to really use you imagination because apart from my eyeballs they really were EVERYWHERE.

Quick time i shot to the pharmacy for antihistamines and they pretty much shot them down for the day.

Woke up the next day and once again they came back, this time i took 2 tablets as opposed to the recommended 1 and that was it. The unfortunate part was this was my birthday so on my Bday im stuck at home covered in under-the-skin-bubble-wrap needing to itch my entire body at once but cant.


So i bring forward to you a suggestion to create a petition to nuke all prawn, yes i forgot to say that on that last day my throat half closed so thats when i knew God had to be called in more than usual and lo and behold im ok. Ok maybe nuking prawn is a bit far fetched but at least a petition to infect fisherman who refuse to stop pulling them in with sars, to know what we go through because prawns are vile anyway.....dont you agree?

The honey moon is over

Well my friends the honeymoon period is finally over and its time for the grind.

I wont be posting day articles any more as they are a long read for you, a hassle for me and kinda of pointless unless they have real juice, so from now on ill be scribbling in my phone what goes on as it happend's to give to you guys.

Last week nothing major really happened except meeting new mates, again got destroyed quite alot courtesy of €0.95 sangria, selling (pawning) my psp, and Dorahty (juels mate) from bristol also emigrating over here. She can speak fluent french, english, and is approaching high spanish so im laughing again because of the more help.

All drinking stops till my birthday which is......oh shit.....next Tuesday the 28th. I think im going to hide that little fact from people over here or ill end up with a machine for a liver.

Anyway as i said, as it happens when it happens you'll know about it.

latas

day 27

Monday

Something incredibly strange happened to me today, it was familiar but still strange.

I first took major notice of this during my many leaving do’s, It was basically….a feeling.

The feeling I swept under the carpet many times, the feeling I took fro granted, the feeling I didn’t see as real.

The feeling in question is similar to flattery, praise, and self acceptance, and it comes from when other people pay you compliments. I don’t think ive ever learned the correct way to take a compliment, which is as easy as saying “thank you” for a confident person but for a not so confident or a person that doesn’t believe they have great worth its kinda strange to receive it and……almost too good to be true.

I noticed it in each of my leaving do’s where someone would realise im no longer going to be there and tell me what they really think of me: “I cant believe your going I miss you already” “Bristols wont be the same without you” “I need to come see you” and my favourite “what am I gonna do now huh? What the heck am I gonna do now?”

It properly sank in when I had the final do and people were telling they were definitely gonna be there and I had to avoid telling a few people incase they bring too many people. That day 30 odd people turned up and out of that only 3 people were tag alongs who I didn’t personally know.

That made me smile all night and I keep thinking about that day and that there must be something cool about me?

Tonight that statement was turned into a fact and slammed in my face like I got hit by a metro.

The day started off quite hectic in that I went o register for my N.I.E number (like national insurance) and it took me a good 3 hours to get it, then my mate bought me lunch (as currently im running on 3 euros till I get paid), then we checked out a gym we thought about joining, which now we will. After this we went to the mad hostel to see whats going on, I transferred the dregs of cash I had left in to my friends account to I could meet him later and he could give it to me. I then went home, slept then learnt more Spanish and got ready to go for a quiet social night. During the metro ride I drank my 1.5 l bottle of sangria and read my book “the game”.When I got back to Sol my friend from earlier wasn’t there so I text him from the next to get back to me because I relied on him to give me the money to survive the next day. Eventually I gave up on him and borrowed, a few euros off of a friend who was leaving that night so I could get home. My friend eventually phoned me and said he was in bed but because I was alright I could collect the dimes off him tomorrow.

I began to walk home and played football with some kids in the street practicing Spanish.

This is where the odd thing happened.

I started walking to the station home and I sat on a bench, a couple sat beside me, as I was listening to music on my mp3 player, I heard 1 of them speak English, I asked them if they do and they said yes. The talking started and they discovered I was from Bristol “oh Bristol? I love it there all the best music comes from there” The girl said. They then began to name the artists and bands and they were extremely hung up on Ronnie Size (this was my chance to name drop but I literally thought, im never gonna see them again there really is no point) They asked what I did and I returned the question, that’s when 2 other girls came in and were talking to them (all the girls were from Serbia and the guy was from Germany).

Before long the metro came and we all got on, the conversation continued and straight away the girl said “here let me write my number down” I took it and thought nothing of it.

The next 2 mins broke down like this:

- I find out the guy dumped her near where I live but they are still friends, possibly got back together.

- I find out even though she is an interior designer she used the same software I did in uni which we confirmed by name.

- She wanted me to go to the bar they were going to for all of 20 mins that I had left until the metro ends.

- I told them I have no money and the only money I do have is for the metro tomorrow, they all offered the euro I needed so I cold join them.

So as you know my weak will power buckled like a guys legs after a mule kick to the nuts, and I joined them. Instantly when I got there she introduced me to everyone there and said its there bar and I should come more often. They offered me a drink but I took the responsible suggestion of agua (water) because I already had Sangria for blood (funny fact, sangria is the drink but in spain sangrie means blood, which goes with the saying the Icelandic girls said “sexo sin sangrie is no sexo” use www.wordreference.com to figure that out.) curtisy of the 1.5 litres of Sangria I canned not 5 minutes before seeing them, but they said its bad luck to drink just water in a bar. Luckily my will power was made of sterner stuff this time round and I rejected, this is when I checked my phone …… 1.25 am. Even if I was Ben Johnson on dope there was no way I was going to make the metro. The girl seen this and said she’d pay for the a taxi if I spend half an hour more with them. I said I could make it, it was easy, but she protested, I chucked up my trump card of it will be 14 euros to get me home, but she said she’d pay it. I then said to her what are you talking about you’ve known me 20 minutes how will I give you the money back?

Her answer changed it all, “I just know you will”, I asked her how do you know? She said “ I have a feeling that you will, and even if you don’t we’re all enjoying your company far too much to care and its worth it if you stay” I looked around and the guys were cheersing me and they girls were either in their own world, or backing up their mate. I was speechless and flattered and said I really do needed to go. Finally she backed down, but gave me the money anyway. I hugged her then left.

I missed the metro but got the 24 hour bus (which was still only 1 euro compared to the 14 euro taxi)

Obviously I send out some kind of trusting vibes witch get me through life a lot easier then normal, and the success relies on it not going to my head, or consciously realising I have it, but that tonight I found out many important things.

1^st I am not the same Dwayne without my friends, I would go as far to say I am nothing without you guys. My confidence has shot to an all time low in meeting people. Being over here has helped me immensely come to terms with that, made me enjoy my own company a lot more, and when im under pressure Im a champion.

2^nd Alcohol is that special friend that artificially raises your confidence to near super hero performance. Time and time again I have been able to walk up to complete strangers (like tonight) and create mini groups of friends to help me cope without my team and mates. This seems obvious but the difference over here from England is that you actually generate parties as in you don’t forget them and they don’t forget you. I have been hanging around a lot of travellers since being here, if they weren’t travellers (leaving) I would be near famous by now.

3^rd Connections. I have 2 main friends I hang out with, these are my base, where no matter what I can chill with them. They got me connected to the 2 girls who get me into near any club free. Through the hostel ive met others that help me and I can chill with but these have most things in common with me and I can bounce off them for confidence. So post your comments on my speech in what you think id like that.

Im writing this drunk so if it makes no sense then you already know why

day 26

Sunday did nada apart from watch 6 hours of football where Liverpool got crushed by Arsenal again!!!! Then went out after to a kareoki bar till the wee hours of the morning.

day 25

Saturday
Literally nothing to talk about here other then i sat in all day chilling, oh and i watched "boiler room".

Now dont take this with any pinch of salt......the hell job i was in before now......"is" this movie!!!
Im talking about the sales pitch are actually quotes from the movie, i couldnt believe what i was seeing, how could someone make an actual living heavily based on a movie?

I cringed on multiple parts, the way the actor felt, the fact that the same things that were coming out of his mouth on the phone is what i thought was genius and how clever my boss is.....No. Hes not clever, he's is just a maniac who copies films into real life!!!
The guy even gets arrested!

Im begging you to rent/buy/download the film, its not particularly good, but the acting is amazing, and you actually get to relive my hell.

Went out again and even though i didnt get home till 8 am, it was a minor night not really worth commenting about.

Pictures are of around my way,my building, my swimming pool (covered for the winter) and some sun, and a couple peeps i chill with.

day 21, 22, 23,24

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were all the same in the night because im trying to learn Spanish as soon as possible.

In the day though im still in the honeymoon of my now favorite hobby...teaching kids.
This week I finished teaching the kids about past, present, and future, and started teaching them about senses. For these 4 days i taught them sight. the lesson broke down like this:

1. I start writing figures from 1 - 4 on the black board and get them to say the number as im doing it, then i get them to tell me what they are "numbers" they shout. Next i start writing A - D, they scream the letters and tell me what group they're in "Letters".

2. I start drawing shapes on the board, they struggle bad so i beckon them on by half saying the word but end up telling them anyway as they actually don't know they are in English, but they do in Spanish. Then i tell them what group they are in and i mark it next to number 1 on the board to tell them at number 1 the first bit of information the eyes tell you is the shape.

3. I then get them to look at things and tell me about them, as soon as they tell me the colour i stop them and ask them about a different object, i keep doing this till they cotten on to the fact that i want the colour then i ask the the group name.

4. I then do positon by pretty much doing the crip walk (the hop scotch bit) round the class while holding a globe, then i get them to tell me the difference between a toy car and a real car to get them to stress size.

At any point if they struggle for the group name i go back through the numbers and letters as a building base to grasp the other group.

After this i get them to do exercise and then walk back to the class as something that causes mass destruction such as ninjas, tigers, sas, and boxers
( i was going to get them to walk back normally to the class wearing a backpack and and a london bus route map hanging out their back pocket but i thought this was going too far)


This was the first week i taught the teachers as well which was a nightmare as i found i have to relearn English to teach them, and instead of being all intermediate, they were of varying levels, plus.....they're adults.
I did find out one thing....the average Spanish adult are while mature, have never lost they're childhood side to the point where i believe they all live a second childhood.
This is evident as the teachers enjoyed laughing and joking around and they wanted to read a Harry Potter book as opposed to a history book about they're own country.
At first i thought it was just them as they teach kids all day but its not! Every time i meet a Spaniard i see it, and the fact that they risk they're life's in letting bulls chase them down a street once a year backs it more, but of course you cant generalize a whole race till you meet them all and i haven't so don't quote me.

On Friday night the girls took us out to a bar and another club. The bar was a Hawaiian bar and as you can see in the pictures you can drink out of smoking volcanoes. The drama happened there because we brought a guy from new jersey to chill with us and him and my other mate started trying to mack or "slew" as we now call it some girls on the table behind us. The girls we were with weren't too impressed as the guys were also slagging off the place they took us so we bumped the guys and it was just me another guy and the 2 girls going to a club called "Sweet".
The club was banging and i mean properly banging!!! Only 1 floor this time but it was like some ghetto club with no attitude. There was either gangsters, break dancers, or seriously hot chicas but not one of them had an attitude, it was amazing. People were crip walking, break dancing, body popping and just generally trying to mutilate themselves in the most choreographic way possible.

Again got home at 6am, my sleeping pattern is completely out the window now.

day 20

Monday

Ha ha as you know by now I always get Monday off so today me and my mate just trecked around Madrid in various shops, went for lunch in O Connels. The guy in there is getting used to us since he gave us a pint each free. Nothing much happened for the rest of the night as everyone was burnt out for the weekend.

day 18 day 19

Saturday

I woke up beyond late and stayed in my bed clothes all day learning Spanish. So not much to report at all. The spanish is getting there but i cant get round the speed talking, eventually ill get round it but for now the words are like a blur. I understand alot more now though.

In the night i went to the hostel and went to an Rnb club called passion , bt it wasnt really happening there and i was broke, so i left early at 4.30 am(yes....i know that is early here) and went home.

Sunday

Another lazy day to day, just woke up late and went to Sol to a bar we go to called "o Connels"
and spent 6 hours watching football (heaven) Then went to the hostel chilled out abit then went home.

day 17 The day I have a new home.

Friday,

Once again im back in school. When i got in the teachers greeted me as if i was their savior, and then i got to my class. The teacher proceeded to do another question and answer session again, and then got me to ask the kids questions. The majority of the kids cannot speak English very well at all, and all have their various accents and quirks when they ask questions....all except 1.
This 1 girl from Atlanta can speak English almost as well as i can, and is always eager to let me know this.

Later on in then day i had to take groups of kids to a room and just talk to the English room, but it was closed, so we looked around and found an assembly hall.
This gave me ideas to play various games to teach these kids as games i know all about, but teaching i know nothing of.
Each group of kids i took, i found out individual quirks, and differences of all the kids, for example:

The girl from Atlanta:
Extremely smart to the point that i don,t feel the need to teach her, but she is not perfect so you can never assume plus being so intelligent she gets bored incredibly quickly which leads her on a mission of mischief.
Solution: give her seriously hard questions and make sure she does exercise start and end (start jumping, arms in the air, flail legs, spin around stop)

The quiet girl with pig tails:
Definitely definitely has attention deficit disorder, the moment you stop talking, (a micro second) she lowers her head and enters her own little world.
solution: take away the lint, plaster cine, pokemon that shes playing with, and exercise again.

The unruly boy:
Theres always one, easy stand in the corner away from everyone else, or blackmail as before.

Today I taught them past, present, and future, with the aid of 3 chairs, i got them to stand next to the corresponding chair. If the word for example run was said, they stood next to the future chair, if i said running, then they stood next to the present chair, anything else (ran) they would stand next to the past chair.

It was immensely rewarding to see them fully understand this, and i was actually gutted when the bell went and i had to go.


That evening I chilled with some mates in the hostel again, itching to move into my new place, but the landlord said it would now be 8.30 instead of 8, I thought for a split second "screw you ill find somewhere else" but obviously that would be like putting both hands in a blender the day before my key stage 8 piano exam, so I bit my tongue.

My friend Nathan was coming to Madrid to play out in a night club called "loco por el futbol" (crazy for football) He let me know via myspace, so i told my mates that it would be banging and we should go.

8.10 pm Still haven´t left the hostel and it takes half to get there from the metro station (why do I do it to myself?). I got a taxi in hope to make it on time but the traffic was a sick joke.
Eventually I got there with all my stuff, signed the contract, and bidded my new landlord fair well, I then started to sniff out any free unsecure wifi points....success (how do you think im creating this blog now?)

I took some pictures, showered and jump back on the tube to Sol.

I met up with my mates smashed it up on sangria and then rolled out.

I couldn't get hold of Nathan which was a major mess up since he was getting us in and V.I.P, luckily one of my friends wants to pull any girl anytime and started chatting to a couple. They some how liked us all and jumped on the tube with us to the club, also adding that they'll basically emulate Nathan.

We got in the club and it was sick, 30 projector screens, banging hip hop and RnB, rammed out, and the honey's that Spain was built around. Nathan popped up as the DJ and the night was a success, with the icing being that the girls we met, can now do the same for us in all clubs of Madrid....Let the real partying start.

day 16: Back to school

Well today is the first day of my new job teaching 5 - 8 year olds English. (teaching in groups but mainly assisting the main teacher, and teaching some of the other teachers)and naturally i was late, but only by 10 minutes, and they didn't seem to mind.

As i got off the metro I was nervous obviously since it was a new job, ive been quoted saying "i never wanna teach" and most of all im working with kids that can talk about me behind my back.....in front of my face.

I got into the school and as i said, i was late, i had to convince the 60 year old guard that i was the new assistant there but something odd happened....my spanish wasnt working, he understood somethings but alot of the time I just got the response "como?", eventually the head came along and got the gist of what i was saying. After this i was on edge as i forgot to mention to you guys that im on a 3 day trial and if i screw this up i get no contract meaning i eat airplane food again.

Luckily the assistant i was replacing walked in and he was bilingual so he was the middle guy, i was put at ease in the fact that they actually "prefer" that i cant speak fluent Spanish and tell me not to use any Spanish in front of the kids, i gladly obliged. Next he gave me a run down on what i will be doing and what i need to know, they intale like this:

I work tuesdays to fridays and these are my hours:

Tuesday 9.30 - 3.45 (1.10 - 2.00 i teach the teachers english)
Wednesday 9.30 - 3.45
Thursday 9.30 - 3.45 (1.10 - 2.00 i teach the teachers english)
Friday 9.30 - 1.00 early finish.
Each day i get a 2 hour lunch break.

This equates to 16 hours a week in which ill be paid €887 per month (no tax as its seen as a grant).

Other perks include free breakfast (coffee orange juice and various cakes), and free lunch (gourmet sea food of which i can eat as much as i want)

The assistant took me to the deputy head in which i got a load of papers and policies, then took me to meet the kids.

I strolled into the class and had to use enormous telekinetic power to stop my legs becoming jelly and not to show any fear as we all know kids are like rabid dogs and can smell it a mile off. I stood in front of the class and the teacher introduced me and they responded with a hearty hellllllllooooooo. I told them my name and they looked at each other and a load responded "que?", obviously they´ve never heard my name before, i was told to write it on the board and still in almost unison "que?" bellowed from behind me, I reiterated my name in drawn out syllables and they tried to reciprocate but all failed. The teacher then butted in and wrote my name on the board in Spanish phonetics (apparently "Duien"), automatically they all started saying it right which is when I laughed and made me at ease. Next the teacher got them to shoot random questions at me which they all chucked like curve balls and rockets at the same time until they were scorned to "ask him one at a time please", then they had to have their hands in the air and picked by me to asked the question.

Whats your name?
How many years do you have? (Spanish straight to English)
Whats your favorite color?
Whats your favorite sport?
Do you have a girlfriend? (cheeky sod)
Whats your favorite animal?

All of which when i answered i got the response as if the were queuing up to be those little green guys in toy story 2.
This went on for a while and then the assistant took me out for first break (breakfast) and then to read the kids a story. The story was called "The magic cooking book" and was entirely in English, the assistant seemed to have almost regal command over the 5 kids that were sent to our room, and they responded to everything he said. This was great, i thought to myself, "they´re really well behaved" i told him...which turned out to be my famous last words.

He let me take the reigns and again they were brilliant, then he left the room for me to fly solo. At this stage the way the kids behaved, a person without previous experience with minors would probably walk out but I had to show them who,s boss.

First it was like they waited 10 - 15 seconds to make sure he was gone then the oldest substitute teacher destroying trick in the book started..."the repeating".
"everyone sit down", "I wont tell you again" " your being very bad" "silence please" all cotton wooled in laughter from the other kids. I was failing already, so then i thought id use prison rules (no not a kidney punch)...blackmail!!
"whats your name?" I said to the ring leader "Alberto" he replied "great, ill just tell Nuria (the main teacher) how bad you are so she can tell your parents" Like magic they stopped, smiles killed dead, and silence.
On my face was a stern angry stance but inside it couldn,t be more opposite. I then got them to read bits of the story while i helped them with words they struggled at, had a few jokes with them, and in the end it was a pleasant experience. The assistant then took me to lunch which was snapper fish, mushrooms, and some kind of potato salad. I was then introduced to 2 other assistants, 1 from California 23,born in Mexico, the other 20 from Manchester, both fluent in spanish. This meant at lunch times for the hour we eat, they, and all of the other teachers talk in blistering fast Spanish and i must look like i have a speech impediment, hard of hearing (no entiendo, no entiendo), and the most boring guy ever talking at 2 miles an hour, about how i want to learn and how im tired and completely unrelated topics.

After my break i returned to the class for more questions and answer time and then the day was over with what seemed to be as quickly as it began. The assistant the proceeded with the good news and bad news, the good news is tomorrow is Friday so it ends at 1, the bad news is this is his last day so ill be permanently on my own.

I left the school with a massive beaming smile on my face and chilled out at the hostel.

Finally I got the second most important call this week. All week ive been calling various landlords to get a place to live, tonight 1 called me back, he spoke English and something told me just have a look, even though it was half an hour away from Sol (living in warmley, whilst town is Sol). He told me I could come see it today...brilliant.

I went to see it, and first thing i notice was the area, it was really posh, and had every shop you could need in the area, a mall, a cinema, a fruit shop, a 7 - 11, bars, restaurants, 4 banks, and a sports hall, all within a 8 minute walk.

I went in what looked like a block of flats but, up close it looked like a hotel.

I took the elevator, and the guy explained that he had 2 properties to show me.
The first one had a room bigger than i thought it would be, and an in wall wardrobes, but it had 4 rooms to 1 bathroom, not good.

Then a lost the power of reason and logic.
I looked out the back window and asked whats that? "a swimming pool" The words "ill take it" tried tooth and nail to launch from my mouth but he interupted and said he has another property to show me that he thought was better.

We left the building and walked literally across the road into an alike building, this one was plush to say the least!!!
Marble floors, plants, and brass letter boxes in the front, when you walked in it look like the corridor in the board room of an office in New York.

My room was even bigger than the last, had its own balcony that i could hang cloths on a cloths horse, or friends can sun bath. The wardrobe was bigger too, the flat had 2 bathrooms and a huge kitchen, and a dining room. Already i knew it was mine, just need to find out the ins and outs. They were simple:

- I live with 3 other guys, 1 Asian from Kathmandu 28, engineering worker, no spanish, the other was from Ibiza 24, factory worker, more spanish than english , also plays guitar, the other was from i dont know where 40+, spanish and English but was an adult so who cares eh?

-€300 euros a month plus €30 every 2 months for bills.

- Have whoever i want over, but not live with me, and thats it.


I was smitten and he agreed I could move in the next day.

Ballissimo!!!!!

day 15

Well the only reason im not in work today is because its all saints day, 1 of Spain's 16 bank holidays a year. This is a day where alot of people go to graves and stuff i don't know the full ins and outs of it.

Today most things are closed so i was on the net most of the day till my room mates said they were bored and i thought maybe they wanted to go for a walk. 1 of them bailed last minute so it was just me and an Australian girl doing the walking.

We walked for ages taking in the scenery and trying to find an open shop, we got to a place called princie pio, it looked run down and we found a tiny shop in the side of a building. When we got in we found out it was a tardis because the other side of the shop was a 2 level shopping mall bigger than the mall in Bristol.

We walked around more and found cable cars so we jumped on, after that we looked at the Madrid palace then went back to the hostel and chilled before bed time.

day 14

Quitting day.

I woke up thinking do i pack my bags and leave when everyones asleep, or tell them?
I didnt get a chance to make the decision as the house mate from last night informed the others, i knew this was bad news because they all didnt want me to leave for different reasons.

First the bulied one came in and ask why im leaving, i told him because of the 50 hours a week, the fact that i hate lying to people, im not learning Spanish which defeats the point in me being here in the first place, and i dont have the hunger for anywhere near 5 grand a month let alone 20. He parried my answer and drove in with his tips on been successful in the job which completely missed the point, he then left.

Next the house mate i went out with last night had ago, "why don't you stick it out for another, its not that bad in the second week, we all been through what your going through, you'll get used to it" i nearly buckled but stayed militant.

Next i was called into the room of the third, this one took a more sympathetic approach first saying that he sees where im coming from and that he's also be looking for another job, then he says i should stay for a month!! Mentally he was the strongest and came with some valuable points, like im sorted for a place to stay and and they wont let me go through Christmas broke, but i eventually got away back to my room.

The first one popped in and tried again by saying in theory 3 months of this job could set me up for not working for the rest of the year and blah blah but i wasn't interested.

eventually they left me alone, i tried to call the boss over and over but i couldn't get hold of him so i sat there on the internet in my room.
Half an hour later the boss, phoned and asked why im not in work and i told him i couldn't do it anymore, i expected him to what the others did but he just said ok, he didn't want to hear my explanation and said to make sure i was out of the flat before the cleaner arrives.

I grab my stuff and ran out the house to the metro, with the notion of going back to the hostel.

I was feeling weired how it all happened so fast, and if i let my former boss down but that was completely forgotten after what happened next.


It took me half hour to get from the flat to the middle of sol which is near the hostel. I was in famine so i stopped to feed at a baguette shop. I got a phone call with a withheld number, when i answered it was a house mate from work asking if it went ok with the boss,i told him what happened and that was that. I got a second phone call and picked it up thinking it was just another house mate i almost didn't answer it, but something told me to do it, and when i did it was some Spanish guy.

A long story short a guy i emailed for a job a while ago phoned me up for an interview as a teachers assistant in a primary school. I accepted and made my way to his office which luckily was in Sol and the interview went great so he gave me a shot.

Than God, happy days.

I then went to see a flat that the the guy recommended me to. I went to a place that was apparently near a my school, i went there and the reality was like trying to swallow a cactus shapped pill:

-I would live with an english teacher (living with the land lord, a major no no)
-The teacher went to bed early so no late nights.
-No people round to stay, because the room was big enough to house a double bed....thats it.
-No internet
-€400 euros a month.

I kept it in mind thinking absolute last resort.

The rest of the night i chilled met new travelers (The amazing thing about mad hostel is you get peeps from all over the world. Tonight it was Icelandic, and Norwegians www.madhostel.com), then somehow ended up in kapital again (6 floor night club)



pictures are of new room mates.

Day 13

I went to work with the notion of properly going for it, i wanted to prove to myself i can do this job and emulate the suisse bank account owner.
I also wanted to earn enough money not to have to work for a year or to pay a mortgage and not rent.

We all walked to work like we do everyday unless we're late. Each day i walk to work im reminded why i love this place since even in rain everything is beautiful.

When i got into work its the same old same old, i hated every minute of being on the phones, but i loved the atmosphere and the people around me were a laugh. As the day went on if i wasn't already stressed and pissed off at lying to people enough to get me to leave then the next events would:

1. Everyone got their months results, and a guy who's been there for 5 months still is only on 2 clients at £1.500 worth of shares each so hes getting maybe £600 take home when he should be on at least £7000 by now

2.Out of the 6 clients a colleague got through the moth 3 of them bailed leaving with an extreme amount of hope crushed.

3.The boss called us all into the office about the fighting incident but did absolutely nothing so from then i knew the carnage would continue.



When i got back home, i really wanted to go out so me and my house mate got really stupidly drunk and went round to our local "Skema" which is a Spanish bar. When we got there some how as drunk as i was, i was able to speak to the locals, it was mint!!

I then proceeded to tell my flat mate that im not going to work tomorrow.

The response was as expected, he switched into salesman mode and tried everything to change my mind but i wasn't having it and finally convinced him.

Day 12

Sunday,

Its a beautiful day and i wake up to more arguing with questions from the now returned third dude about what happened the night before.

It started to kick off again so i packed my laptop and told them im gonna meet a friend in sol.

I left and just started walking, and walking, and walking. I was gonna walk all the way to Sol but then i looked to the left and seen a park. I went in and all i could think off is central park new york from numerous films. I went all the way to the end and seen Brazilian percussionist, a massive lake with people in boats, and the most impressive is the skating.

Yes skating in Madrid is huge, but only in this park, its crazy.

Ive decided im going back to the bristol to snatch my skates to join their muck about hockey team.


nothing else happend just chilled til bed time.