Employment (and The House of Tiny Sandwiches)

Right well, I've got some catching up to do!

Firstly, I'm through the training course and starting teaching at a company on Tuesday! Its probably been the most intense two weeks of work I've ever done, including dissertations and bar openings, and where you're constantly being assessed and fear the chop at every turn. Although, saying that, the last week has actually been pretty fun, with us cracking up almost histerically (lack of sleep will do this to you) at regular intervals. Hopefully its going to start paying off soon too, although we only get our first full pay check in December.

Gran Via on the way to training in the morning

So for the past two weeks my life has consisted of getting up at 7.30, creeping around the hostel (still in the 12-person shared dorm), leaving in the morning cold before the sun is over the buildings but with beautiful clear blue skies, getting the Metro up to near the Bernabeu stadium, having 4 hours training in the morning, frantically adjusting lesson plans to fit the training through lunch, teaching 4 hours of classes in the afternoons, maybe if I was lucky going for a beer and tiny sandwich (more on this later) after work after the sun has gone back down behind the buildings, cooking dinner, and then doing around another 4 hours homework before getting to bed somewhere between midnight and 1am. In fact, most days, I didn't see the sun at all, despite there not being a cloud in the sky, as the entrance to the office was shaded by the enormous buildings. So today I've spent a day basking in the sun, reading a book and recovering from last night in a muraled square at the top of La Latina where I'm writing this from now.

I think I could probably do the morning commute through the Metro to the offices from my hostel blindfolded by now, although its absolutely packed between 8.30 and 9.30. I've become quite a fan of the Madrid Metro. Its feels a lot cleaner than the London Underground and more logical than Paris' labyrinth of tunnels. For some reason I've also found it suits an Ipod soundtrack of soul or reggae perfectly...

Anyway, both those who made it through training and those that didn't (and are still here) went out to celebrate last night (one who didn't make it has already got another English teaching job – there seems to be enormous demand in Spain at the moment), starting at a branch of La Cerveceria 100 Montaditos, or as we have taken to roughly translating it The House of 100 Tiny Sandwiches, which has become a bit of a habit. Basically, it's 2 Euros for a pint(ish) of beer and a montadito, or tiny sandwich, which given our tight budgets obviously has its attractions. They've basically taken the concept of tapas and put it in a breadroll, clearly a sound business plan as they've got branches all over Madrid and they're always packed in the early evening. The rest of the details of the night are a little hazy but included, a very small cocktail bar near Sol, a pretty cheesy club near Callao, and a very cool and cellar club with a really impressive lighting set up in the more respectable end Chueca, all with a bit of bottelon, or street drinking, in between.

The search for an apartment is now properly on. We looked round one yesterday in a great location but it was 1100 Euros a month (between 3) and they wanted 3 months up front which we just can't afford. One things for sure, if your looking to move to a new city, particularly if your not starting a job straight away, you need to have a good lump of cash available to cover all the set up and living costs. I opened a new bank account with Santander before I came, naively thinking that, as a Spanish bank it'd work as a Spanish bank account, which it doesn't, but they did give me an extra overdraft to play with which is (hopefully) going to see me through til the first paycheck. Luckily, one of the guys I'm looking for a flat with speaks pretty good Spanish, otherwise things would be a whole lot harder, although some of the estate agents do seem to have English speaking staff to show you round.

A good spot to write a blog from

I should be posting on this more regularly now I've got a bit more time, and I'll be sorting out the pictures tomorrow!