First Week in Madrid

It has been a whirlwind of a week here in Madrid; from getting off the plane 8 days ago, to finding a piso (room in an apartment), to making new friends, cooking abroad for the first time, exploring the city that is my new home for the next 9 months, and successfully finding a way to watch the Wolverines beat their opponents.
I can only imagine it’ll get crazier once I start working.

Bank of Spain

I should begin work on Monday, but a few issues are complicating that. First, my lack of a schedule. I called both my schools on Thursday and Friday, IES Juana de Castilla said that I’ll be getting my schedule over the weekend, and the secretary at IES Las Musas said the principal would call me back in an hour, well that never happened. Regardless, I’m showing up to one of the schools on Monday, whether they like it or not.

IES Juana de Castilla

IES Las Musas

The second factor complicating the start of work is the an ongoing strike in secondary education. Spain is suffering a horrible economic recession, and in an effort to cut spending, the provincial government of Madrid has asked teachers to work 2 hours more per week, without an increase in pay. While this doesn’t seem like much, it means more students per week, less teachers (they are firing teachers too), and less qualified teachers (the government is firing the more expensive, qualified teachers).

Striking at Juana de Castilla

The first sign says “it isn’t two hours more, it’s 3000 less jobs/workers” and the second sign says “it isn’t two hours more, it’s an attack on public education and a benefit to private education”. It’ll be interesting to see how this turns out.

Today I’m going to a Spanish barbeque hosted by Felipe’s friend, so it should be an interesting day. Expect more posts during the week in the future, once I have a more definitive schedule the posts should improve in both quality and quantity. I’m also adding some pictures to previous posts, so take a look for some updates.