Un Paraiso

This week starts the beginning of a full schedule of English classes. I start off the day teaching 40 some-odd year old businessmen how to string together information they studied 2 decades ago. Then I segue into the pre-school class and repeat nursery rhymes and Disney episodes until I can't take it anymore... and once I've reached that point, I have to finish the remaining hour and 20 minutes of class, at which point I am safe to go home. I have a few conversational classes sprinkled in between on odd days, for a grand total of 15.5 hours of teaching a week. And surprisingly this is enough to pay rent and a couple of kit-kats, so I am finally able to let out a sigh of relief...unless I get the flu which affects 70% of people in Madrid and I can't work for a month with no compensation...

At this time it would be appropriate to put out an advertisement for English in Madrid to any native speaking males, for a couple of reasons. I'll begin with a fellow teacher's testimony, who, after showing up to "teach the most beautiful woman [he'd] ever seen," voluntarily extended free lessons an hour and a half after class dismissed; with eyes glazed, he said, "I can't believe I'm getting paid for this." So the clientèle is...diverse. The second reason being that it is an ideal setup for the "non-communicative male." While barely communicating with others in the native language and communicating even less with those whom you teach, it is possible to pass several days without saying much more than commentary on the weather, state of hunger and the occasional pangs of laughter during a daily viewing of the television. Combined with the topless beaches..."Un Paraiso."

However, I must begin my early schedule of teaching in the morning (which is comparable to teaching at 6 in the morning in the States)...so, until next time.