Whirlwind

Spaniards in Cadiz walk slower than their babies crawl. On my daily walk to class, I am by far the fastest walker. While the locals stop to chat with everyone they see on their (seemingly) aimless strolls, I zip through their social scenes like a silent roadrunner. This makes me feel both invisible and blatantly foreign. Even the stray dogs mosey around as if they could sniff and lick the grimy cobblestone streets forever. But the last two weeks spared no time for such “jollying about,” as my British tutors would say.


Elementary students and teachers after last class

In Spain’s most relaxed region, I surrendered my snazzy Ironman watch not to beachcombing and siestas, but to a whirlwind of job searching, teaching, and paper writing. Depending on the day and my Inbox, I was going to work in Costa Rica, Venezuela, and Spain. I delved into the difficulties of teaching adults who don’t even know the word “bed,” and absorbed a lot of criticism from my teachers. I wrote twenty pages on one student’s English progress, and took my TESOL exam. To my brief relief, I completed the course on Friday and toasted to being a true blue, certified English teacher.


Celebrating completion of the TESOL course

The next morning, I was off to Malaga for a long-awaited Paco de Lucia concert and a very conveniently-located job interview. Malaga is a Mediterranean metropolis with a reputation for being ostentatious and saturated with British ex-pats. One of my tutors described it as the Can Cun of Spain. It’s nothing like Can Cun, in my opinion, but it does boast the birthplace of Picasso and vacation destination for the Gettys. The city leans against bright green mountains and faces the cerulean sea. Moorish castles perched on hills tower over the traffic and apartment complexes, and palm trees line the wide pedestrian thoroughfares. But most importantly, the language school where I interviewed is well-structured and has a strong reputation. The school’s director offered me a job on the spot and drove me all over the city. His hospitality coupled with the city’s offerings of art museums and miles of beach had me sold. Anyway, I can always work in Venezuela or Costa Rica next year.

It was nice returning to Cadiz with a job.

I just sped home from my last TEFL class and will board a bus back to Malaga in 2 hours. Luckily, my friend Adam is also trudging onward to Malaga to work at my school, and Lindsay is tagging along until she moves to Portugal. Having friends around will take the edge off of apartment searching in a foreign country.


Malaga, my new home for nine months

Orientation is tomorrow, and classes start Monday! Hopefully by my next blog entry, I’ll have found a place to live and slowed down enough to walk like the Andalucians.