I have realized that it takes me a good week to really get my bearings in a new place. On those first 5 days of living somewhere new, I always feel like I can’t quite be myself and just be comfortable. Even if it’s as simple as making a sandwich or using the bathroom, I feel like I’m in the way. The worst is that my anal retentiveness and mild OCD comes out. I feel like everything is dirty and nothing will be clean unless I clean it my way. By day 6, I feel a little more mentally settled and my surroundings don’t seem so strange – and dirty – anymore. By day 7, I realize what a freak I’ve been. I get so sick of the unsettled feeling that I make myself snap out of it. The first week of adjustment is then followed with lots of positive thinking.
I continued to apply for teaching jobs on Tuesday. EBC corrected their mistake and sent my resume to BCN schools. Wednesday, I decided to pay 10 euros to a company that sends your resume to ALL English schools in BCN. I wasn’t sure about the 10 euros but I had nothing else to lose. By that afternoon, I got my first call about a job. Unfortunately the first thing they ask me is if I have a work permit. Damn it! I started to worry again but decided not to think about it too much. Thursday, I decided to look for non-teaching jobs that might be able to provide me with a job and a work permit. I spend about five hours researching and sending my resume. Only one responded within those five hours and again, they asked for a work permit. I decided to take a break for the day as to not stress myself out more. Later, I just happen to check my email and see a message from a school for an interview.
So on Friday, I go to BCN and have the interview. It was pretty successful. I got two classes, one hour each, with two different children. The pay is not so good and two hours a week is nothing, but beggars can’t be choosers, right? I think it’s a good start and hopefully they’ll have more classes in the next coming weeks. Plus now I feel better about taking in private classes since I’ll have the school’s resources available to me.
As for our piso, or apartment, we’re working on it slowly. Our bedroom is definitely more like a bedroom, we just got this enormous entertainment furniture for the front room, and I’ve slowly bought cleaning supplies – ones that I prefer. I think we’ll need to work on the kitchen next; I still have yet to cook something. And I’ve cleaned the house as best as I could. Yay!
I’m also starting to adjust to everyone’s accents and way of speaking. You know you’re not fluent yet when it still takes time to understand the language with various accents. With Francisco, I don’t have many problems for some reason. Some, on the other hand, seem to mumble, or speak super fast and use a lot of colloquial expressions, or they simply speak with a Catalan accent. Understanding them better has also slowly improved my relationships with them. A good example would be Francisco’s mom. At first I didn’t really understand her so I don’t think we really knew how to interact. We’ve been talking a lot more this past week and we’re starting to get along better (not that we didn’t before; we just didn’t communicate well). And best of all, she feeds me!
On Friday also came my first visitors. Lindsey, a friend of Ebs’, arrived in BCN with her mom. They were leaving for a Mediterranean cruise the next day. We enjoyed a nice menu del dia and walked around until we were exhausted. I wish I could’ve shown them more of the not so touristy side of BCN, but unfortunately I myself don’t know much about it yet. It was nice seeing fellow Midwesterners and it was nice being updated on American things I’ve missed just in one week.
So the first week totally blew, but the second was much better. Let’s hope the third is awesome. Maybe the gods will bring us a nice big comfy couch and a flat TV!... ok and maybe more classes for me.
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