Yippeeee! I Got Jobs!

  Barcelona, Spain
Friday, April 11, 2008

Lovely Born neighbourhood

So we arrived in Barcelona a week ago and already I feel like I know my way around. It is big, at times noisy and very cosmopolitan. I love the action, the streets, the history, the architecture and the variety. I can tell the heaps of tourists will get a bit tiring. I guess I shouldn't be so snotty since I am technically a tourist myself! So I'll cut them some slack I suppose... Last week I was darting around the city with my map going to a bunch of interviews so I actually want to be a tourist as much as possible in the next few months as there is so much to see here.
 
But all that running around paid off. I was offered the marketing job that I was hoping for. I started the interview process when we were in Seville and then met them in person last week. I just started today (Thursday) and met a few of the people I'll be working with. They are from all over Europe, and most can speak at least three languages (except me). Just lucky for me that English is the business language of Europe. But it will be good for me to speak socially with people in Spanish too as much as possible. I'll be writing English copy for the web, corporate collateral and some media relations material - similar to some of my jobs in Calgary. This position is part time so I decided to see if there were any teaching jobs to fill in a few more hours.
 
As luck would have it, I found a couple of small ESL contracts. I'll teach two evening classes and two morning classes. The mornings are one-to-one teaching and the evenings are groups of 8 - 10 people, so it will be quite different to prepare and experience the different classes. I'm looking forward to all of them as they are all adult classes and should be interesting,
 
I think I'll be pretty busy over the next couple of months but I might as well save up because the summer tends to be lean on teaching work. Plus this gives Andy a chance to focus on his job search and find something good so that I can cut back once he starts working. Engineering is a lot more about 'who you know' so he's busy making contacts and applying for the positions that want native English speakers with a good level of Spanish.
 
Anyway, It will be nice to have some cash flow again - since we haven't been working for 9 months! Spain is a lot more expensive than South America, but not that much more than Canada. The groceries are cheaper anyway!
 
As for accommodation, we've found a temporary solution that will work out well for a couple of months. We're renting a room from two guys named David and Juan. David has been in Barcelona for two years and Juan has lived here since he was 12. They know the city well and will be good resources for us. Plus we asked Juan to speak to us only in Spanish so we can practice. Their apartment is only 6 blocks away from my office and right near a metro station. So this will give us time to look for our own place before July.
 

Andy at the Picasso Museum

So enough about us - what about Barcelona! Well, we had a chance to do some exploring on the weekend but there is still so much to do and see. We keep walking by all these cool buildings designed by Gaudi, but have yet to take photos! Next time I post, I will be sure to have photos of these amazing inspirations of architecture. But we have seen some great little barrios near the center. The gothic area and the old city are really charming. There are some narrow streets, beautiful tree lined pedestrian avenues, markets and lovely boutique shops. I especially loved the Born area. And so does everyone else apparently as the rental prices are very high here. And love it or hate it, Las Ramblas is interesting. This pedestrian avenue is filled with street performers, flower shops and pop up pet stores. I figure it is probably one of the best and worst things about Barcelona all at once.
 

Claire at the beach

We also checked out the Barceloneta area, which is famous for being this cool little neighbourhood by the sea. The beach is pretty long and I imagine it will be packed full on the summer weekends. But there are plenty of beaches within the vicinity so I'm sure we'll find more than one to our liking. We also walked around the port area and sat on the grass to listen to a really good South American band.
 
Well, that's about all the energy I have right now - I'm a working girl again so I must get my beauty rest! Hahaha. I'll write more after we see more sights this weekend and after I start my teaching jobs.