So the big, utterly gutting news of today is that Lazy Man has cancelled his classes altogether. Now he says his boss needs him to have a qualification, so he's re-enrolling at the school where I used to work and where I met him (although, when I say 'met', in all honesty 'poached' would be a better word). He's coming for 2 classes this week, which will give me the other 60€ (he owes me for a class last week too) to make up my rent, to be paid on Friday, so for that I am grateful, but still feeling a bit bummed out. 240€ a month worse off - this does not make for a happy Clara. Nor does it look good for buying that jacket I wanted from Zara, bollocks.
Work at the bar is going well, and even though the money is shite (money is all I can think about these days, a fact that I hate and resent) I'm still enjoying it. And I get free food (and coffee, sometimes - and alcomohol if I work til closing: on Friday night someone made us all a Caipirinha!). The truth is it's actually pretty dead at night time, hardly anyone there, even at the weekends. It's busy during the day though - lots of people coming in for food and that's when it gets stressful and hectic. Still, I managed my shift today with just me & the boss (who's nice, but still The Boss) and 22 middle-aged, highly fussy and slighly sozzled Spanish women, so I'm feeling good about not having done a runner out the back door or spilled anything on anyone.
So, I'm on the search for new pupils to give classes to - I worked out that if I get 4 people a week that'll give me enough money to pay my rent again (my wages at the bar would cover my rent, but I'd rather have it paid by my tuition classes, so I can use my wages for paying off my overdraft. And getting my haircut.) But finding 4 new pupils is not actually that easy, and harder still is trying to find the time to teach them all! Coincidentally, I did get an email from a guy today who wants English lessons, so hopefully that's at least one new pupil! And the pub is shut on Saturdays & Sundays during the day, so I'd have time then to teach. So, maybe all isn't lost yet, although I did feel pretty floored last night when Lazy Man told me he wasn't coming after this week... What a dick, has been my prevailing thought, I must admit!
I've only just realised that I forgot to thaw out a chicken breast for my dinner tonight, and my other options are kind of slim. I have prawns, maybe I can thaw some of them quickly and make a stir-fry, I'm actually starving. Meant to be going out to a Language Exhange night night, where there's usually a Boy I may or may not like. Can't quite decide, which is maybe not the best sign!
I'm desperate to buy some books - the sooner the better! I'm one of these people who kind of panics when she has nothing to read. I'd rather re-read a book I've read several times already than have nothing at all to read! I also have a habbit of starting to read books in book shops, without actually buying them - although I do usually buy them eventually. (And I try to get them from the shop I spent the most time camped out on an armchair reading!) The bookshops here in Valencia don't really have the same browser-friendly (well... cheapo-friendly, really!) seats as the shops back home but you can usually find a wee chair to sit on and if oyu keep your head down you don't see the shop assistants giving you filthy looks, after you've been there an hour! haha. So, I started reading Memoirs of a Geisha (I'm about half-way through now!), got well and truly absorbed in that, and then on Saturday, randomly started reading White Teeth by Zadie Smith, and got totally addicted to that too. So I'm going to try & buy the books online, there's a great bookshop (abebooks.co.uk) where you get second-hand books pretty cheap, and finally properly read both! Can't wait.
Also can't wait for food, so now I'm away.
Peace out Reader (if there are any of you out there).
Monday, 29 September 2008
Friday, 26 September 2008
"Trying to become a Responsible Person..."
Started work in the irish bar yesterday and it was pretty good. Mostly just waitressing and making coffee, so I'm fairly sure the novelty will wear off fast but at least the people are nice. Working again tonight, but don't start til 11pm, so I'm at a bit of a loose end just now. Taking advantage of the free internet place underneath my flat to kill some time...
Also looking up pictures of Victoria Beckham's new haircut, I'm suddenly depserate to get my haircut and I'm thinking about going for a serious crop. Have to wait til I get paid though, whenever the hell that'll be cos at the moment I can barely afford to eat. Bad, bad times...
The guy who was meant to come for a private English class this morning cancelled at the last minute (i.e.: he sent me a text message at the time his class was meant to start) saying that he couldn't come because it was raining. Seriously. He fucking drives here and it cna't be more than a 30 second walk from his car to my flat. The truth is he's just a bit of a lazy sod, I think, but I really rely on the money he pays me so I'm always a bit gutted when he cancels, even though this morning I was half-dead because my stupid bloody neighbours were making loads of noise in the flat above mine at 4am - walking about on TILED FLOORS in high heels and generally laughing and being noisy pains in the arse. I was so peeved I almost took a broom and banged on the ceiling a la Mr Heckles from Friends, back in the day, but in the end I couldn't bring myself to embrace my inner grumpy-old-woman, so I just lay in bed and steamed instead. I'm sure to have a stomach ulcer by the time I'm 25 at this rate.
Working again tonight and it's been a long time since I worked til 3 am, and I'm not sure how I'll cope again to be honest, I guess I'll just see how it goes. It's only a 4 hour shift tonight, but when I start for real next week I'll be working much longer shifts, not sure how I'll feel after the first few of those. Yesterday, I was quite tired - not used to running around tables and up and down stairs any more - but at least I'd had a decent time talking to everyone there, so hopefully it'll be the same tonight. I'm determined to pay off all my debts now - Visa, overdraft, etc - and if that means sticking out a crappy job then so be it. Vamos a ver, as they say... I think they have live ceilidh bands and stuff playing in the pub so hopefully it'll be good craic.
Argh, money. My love-hate relationship with it has definitely swayed more in the direction of the latter recently. If I can make it through to the end of this month then I should be back on track - I've almost enough money to pay the rent at the end of next week, and if Lazy Man shows up for his classes next week then the money from him will be enough to make up the difference, so then I can live for the rest of the month off my tutoring money from other people - not sure if I get paid from the pub weekly or monthly - really hoping it's weekly now! Still, apart from my haircut, I'm going to stick to a tight budget and put half my wages away for paying the Visa and stuff and try to save all the money from my private classes (once I start getting paid at the pub, I mean) into a different bacnk account and start some savings. At least that way I'll enough for a flight home at Christmas and stuff... I wish I'd been one of those people who started saving when they got their first pocket money at the age of ten and slowly built up a nest egg from there (!) but I guess it's never too late to start.
Right, I'm going home to have a wee cup of tea and maybe write a letter to one of my friends back home. I've been feeling really homesick recently and in my financial straits I can't afford to keèp phoning people and texting them all the time, so it's back to old-fashioned snail mail! And you just can't beat a nice wee cup of tea...
Also looking up pictures of Victoria Beckham's new haircut, I'm suddenly depserate to get my haircut and I'm thinking about going for a serious crop. Have to wait til I get paid though, whenever the hell that'll be cos at the moment I can barely afford to eat. Bad, bad times...
The guy who was meant to come for a private English class this morning cancelled at the last minute (i.e.: he sent me a text message at the time his class was meant to start) saying that he couldn't come because it was raining. Seriously. He fucking drives here and it cna't be more than a 30 second walk from his car to my flat. The truth is he's just a bit of a lazy sod, I think, but I really rely on the money he pays me so I'm always a bit gutted when he cancels, even though this morning I was half-dead because my stupid bloody neighbours were making loads of noise in the flat above mine at 4am - walking about on TILED FLOORS in high heels and generally laughing and being noisy pains in the arse. I was so peeved I almost took a broom and banged on the ceiling a la Mr Heckles from Friends, back in the day, but in the end I couldn't bring myself to embrace my inner grumpy-old-woman, so I just lay in bed and steamed instead. I'm sure to have a stomach ulcer by the time I'm 25 at this rate.
Working again tonight and it's been a long time since I worked til 3 am, and I'm not sure how I'll cope again to be honest, I guess I'll just see how it goes. It's only a 4 hour shift tonight, but when I start for real next week I'll be working much longer shifts, not sure how I'll feel after the first few of those. Yesterday, I was quite tired - not used to running around tables and up and down stairs any more - but at least I'd had a decent time talking to everyone there, so hopefully it'll be the same tonight. I'm determined to pay off all my debts now - Visa, overdraft, etc - and if that means sticking out a crappy job then so be it. Vamos a ver, as they say... I think they have live ceilidh bands and stuff playing in the pub so hopefully it'll be good craic.
Argh, money. My love-hate relationship with it has definitely swayed more in the direction of the latter recently. If I can make it through to the end of this month then I should be back on track - I've almost enough money to pay the rent at the end of next week, and if Lazy Man shows up for his classes next week then the money from him will be enough to make up the difference, so then I can live for the rest of the month off my tutoring money from other people - not sure if I get paid from the pub weekly or monthly - really hoping it's weekly now! Still, apart from my haircut, I'm going to stick to a tight budget and put half my wages away for paying the Visa and stuff and try to save all the money from my private classes (once I start getting paid at the pub, I mean) into a different bacnk account and start some savings. At least that way I'll enough for a flight home at Christmas and stuff... I wish I'd been one of those people who started saving when they got their first pocket money at the age of ten and slowly built up a nest egg from there (!) but I guess it's never too late to start.
Right, I'm going home to have a wee cup of tea and maybe write a letter to one of my friends back home. I've been feeling really homesick recently and in my financial straits I can't afford to keèp phoning people and texting them all the time, so it's back to old-fashioned snail mail! And you just can't beat a nice wee cup of tea...
Friday, 19 September 2008
Need To Know
Well, I'm out here living in Valencia, Spain, and I've been here for almost exactly one year now...
I graduated from University last July, with a Masters in Music and Hispanic Studies - a degree which, on the List of Courses Least Likely To Get You a Job, falls just underneath Harry Potter Studies and The Design and Marketing of Garden Gnomes... Which is how I came to find myself a job as an English teacher, on the grounds that if I was going to have a job I didn't particularly want, I'd be as well doing it in a sunny climate than in the rainy dreich of Scotland. All very well in principle but it turned out to be much harder than I anticipated. For a start I hated my job more than I can express, and I found it very hard to meet new people and make friends. Still, I stuck it out and saw my teaching contract out to the end and then embarked on a brief but disconcerting period of being unemployed and skint (saving money has never been my strong point), and then found a job in an Irish bar, which I start next week. I've finally started going out more and have made a few more amigos, so things (for now) are looking up.
I do appear to be one of life's Drifters and I tend to float about for varying periods of time until I riccoché off something or someone and go off down a new course. My plan for the rest of this year is to stop drifting and start thinking about what I actualy want, and, more importantly, how to go about getting it. I've toyed with various ideas, including but not limited to: a Postgraduate in Feminist Studies, a Postgrad in Journalism, a Postgrad in Composing Music For Film Scores and (somewhat randomly) a course in professional make-up artistry. I'm not sure if this indicates a lack of focus or direction, or merely a strong urge to cram as much into my life as possible. The irony being, of course, that as I try to decide between so many life courses, I potter about in the same place, not doing very much and moving no closer to anything.
My big dream, really, is to sing, write songs and play my piano. I don't have a piano here in Spain and this is my major problem - pianos are very expensive and I'm not sure I want to buy one if I might move home, or away somewhere else in the near future. Fear of Commitment, thy name is Clara. I'm feeling a bit homesick at the moment, it's been a while since I was home and I don't know when I'll next be going - probably not before Christmas time now, which is still quite a long way away.
The homesickness isn't helped by the problems I've been having with my flatmate, who will go by the moniker Poison Dwarf - an undeniably un-PC name, and yet one which describes her very well. (She isn't an actual dwarf, she's just very short. She is, however, poisonous.) I actually love my wee flat - it's set in a courtayard with a fountain in the middle and lots of flowers and plants, and it's very nice and tranquil (except when the kids of the various blocks of flats are running about being mental), so I don't want to move out, which is why I'm trying to keep things on a fairly even keel and not cause too much trouble. My other two flatmates are cool and we generally get on well, so at least that's something. If the Poison Dwarf would bugger off and move somewhere else everything would be rosy, but I don't see that happening, alas...
I'm loaded with the cold today an I'm sitting right underneath an Air Con unit in the café beside my house, so I'm going to bust a groove and go home for a cup of tea and some vitamin tablets.
Rock & Roll...
I graduated from University last July, with a Masters in Music and Hispanic Studies - a degree which, on the List of Courses Least Likely To Get You a Job, falls just underneath Harry Potter Studies and The Design and Marketing of Garden Gnomes... Which is how I came to find myself a job as an English teacher, on the grounds that if I was going to have a job I didn't particularly want, I'd be as well doing it in a sunny climate than in the rainy dreich of Scotland. All very well in principle but it turned out to be much harder than I anticipated. For a start I hated my job more than I can express, and I found it very hard to meet new people and make friends. Still, I stuck it out and saw my teaching contract out to the end and then embarked on a brief but disconcerting period of being unemployed and skint (saving money has never been my strong point), and then found a job in an Irish bar, which I start next week. I've finally started going out more and have made a few more amigos, so things (for now) are looking up.
I do appear to be one of life's Drifters and I tend to float about for varying periods of time until I riccoché off something or someone and go off down a new course. My plan for the rest of this year is to stop drifting and start thinking about what I actualy want, and, more importantly, how to go about getting it. I've toyed with various ideas, including but not limited to: a Postgraduate in Feminist Studies, a Postgrad in Journalism, a Postgrad in Composing Music For Film Scores and (somewhat randomly) a course in professional make-up artistry. I'm not sure if this indicates a lack of focus or direction, or merely a strong urge to cram as much into my life as possible. The irony being, of course, that as I try to decide between so many life courses, I potter about in the same place, not doing very much and moving no closer to anything.
My big dream, really, is to sing, write songs and play my piano. I don't have a piano here in Spain and this is my major problem - pianos are very expensive and I'm not sure I want to buy one if I might move home, or away somewhere else in the near future. Fear of Commitment, thy name is Clara. I'm feeling a bit homesick at the moment, it's been a while since I was home and I don't know when I'll next be going - probably not before Christmas time now, which is still quite a long way away.
The homesickness isn't helped by the problems I've been having with my flatmate, who will go by the moniker Poison Dwarf - an undeniably un-PC name, and yet one which describes her very well. (She isn't an actual dwarf, she's just very short. She is, however, poisonous.) I actually love my wee flat - it's set in a courtayard with a fountain in the middle and lots of flowers and plants, and it's very nice and tranquil (except when the kids of the various blocks of flats are running about being mental), so I don't want to move out, which is why I'm trying to keep things on a fairly even keel and not cause too much trouble. My other two flatmates are cool and we generally get on well, so at least that's something. If the Poison Dwarf would bugger off and move somewhere else everything would be rosy, but I don't see that happening, alas...
I'm loaded with the cold today an I'm sitting right underneath an Air Con unit in the café beside my house, so I'm going to bust a groove and go home for a cup of tea and some vitamin tablets.
Rock & Roll...
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