Ok bit of background, I met a spanish guy over a year ago & moved to Madrid with him last year.  I realised I had no choice (he was right, noone speaks English in Madrid!)  and the only way to find employment was to do a tesol course. 
I did, and passed.  I got a great job with a school there and didnt even get chance to start it.  The weekend before I was to start, he hit me (he completely changed once we got back to his country) anyway, thats irrelevant to the post.

So I told the school what happened & she was very lovely about it and I told her Id have to leave & go back to England (as Id spent all the money I had on rent with him in Spain and on my course)  She told me taht as soon as I come back, to get in contact and theyd give me my job back 😊

SOOOO its going to have to be August when I move back there to start the new term in September.  It pays ?40k a year so i know il be ok moneywise but will I be ok?

My spanish isnt great, I cant find any courses here to fit around work & how on earth do I go about renting a place?  Will tehre be people that speak English?  Ideally Id like to flatshare because I will literally be alone.

Im a bit scared because I missed my family (and cats) so much when I lived there last year & spoke to my parents every day on webcam.

Help!
Thanks in advance

Gem, Hi,

First things first…Congratulations on the job.  ?40 grand a year though? At today’s exchange rate that’s around 47.5K Euros; definitely worth doing when you consider that the average income here is about half that! And with that kind of money coming in you could probably rent the Moncloa Royal Palace in Madrid!

From what you have said, I gather you have already visited the school and met the boss lady; just make sure you have a contract detailing your start date and salary. I am naturally cynical about dream job offers so just make absolutely sure its all legit.

I cannot give you any advice about Madrid; I live a long way south of there about 35kms from Granada. Some people find Madrid a very lonely place; just like London can be when you are on your own.

As for learning Spanish; my best suggestion would be private tuition before you come over here. I don’t know where you are in England. but we used the private ‘one on one’ tuition route before we came over here and it set us up with the basics; after that its just been a case of picking it up as we’ve gone along. Back in 2006 we were paying about ?10 an hour to our teacher. We can follow most things but once the locals go into what we call ‘machine-gun Spanish’ we are lost; having said all that you have youth on your side and its a lot easier to learn new things when you are still young than when you a grumpy old git like me!

Now so far as renting a place is concerned, if you can, talk to the school; they will know the good places to live and what areas to avoid. Here’s a link to an agency dealing with apartments, flats and houses for sale and for long term rental…

http://www.pisos.net/default.aspx?cl=&lit=3&pt=2&ht=1≺=&s=&r=&t=Madrid&ft=true

Dont know if I can give you any more advice, other than if it all looks good and legit then go for it.

As you have already found out to your cost the macho Spanish male can be a bit of a problem so be careful socially.

Take Care and good luck…

fb

foxbat - 21 February 2011 09:14 PM

Gem, Hi,

First things first…Congratulations on the job.  ?40 grand a year though? At today’s exchange rate that’s around 47.5K Euros; definitely worth doing when you consider that the average income here is about half that! And with that kind of money coming in you could probably rent the Moncloa Royal Palace in Madrid!

From what you have said, I gather you have already visited the school and met the boss lady; just make sure you have a contract detailing your start date and salary. I am naturally cynical about dream job offers so just make absolutely sure its all legit.

I cannot give you any advice about Madrid; I live a long way south of there about 35kms from Granada. Some people find Madrid a very lonely place; just like London can be when you are on your own.

As for learning Spanish; my best suggestion would be private tuition before you come over here. I don’t know where you are in England. but we used the private ‘one on one’ tuition route before we came over here and it set us up with the basics; after that its just been a case of picking it up as we’ve gone along. Back in 2006 we were paying about ?10 an hour to our teacher. We can follow most things but once the locals go into what we call ‘machine-gun Spanish’ we are lost; having said all that you have youth on your side and its a lot easier to learn new things when you are still young than when you a grumpy old git like me!

Now so far as renting a place is concerned, if you can, talk to the school; they will know the good places to live and what areas to avoid. Here’s a link to an agency dealing with apartments, flats and houses for sale and for long term rental…

http://www.pisos.net/default.aspx?cl=&lit=3&pt=2&ht=1≺=&s=&r=&t=Madrid&ft=true

Dont know if I can give you any more advice, other than if it all looks good and legit then go for it.

As you have already found out to your cost the macho Spanish male can be a bit of a problem so be careful socially.

Take Care and good luck…

fb

Hiya

Wow thanks for the response!
And thanks Im a bit scared!

Yes, I will do thanks I never thought about sorting the contract before I mover over!  that would be all!  Its with eurolanguage so seems all above board 😊

I cant find anywhere near here that will do classes outside of work hours :( My spanish is ok but nowhere near fluent.  While I was there I picked up more than what id learned in england, by watching tv in spanish!
Theyve given me one website & said not many teachers out there flatshare.

Ill have a look at that one

Thanks so much for your help :D

Gemma

If you just arrive in Barcelona you could rent an apartment for a while. This Web site gives great possibilities: Barcelona apartments

Hi, Congrats, thats a great job and excellent pay! Well I planned to move to Spain but unfortunately it never happened :down:
Anyway I bought a Rosetta Stone course to learn Spanish and now I have no need for it. Check out the link -

rosettastone.co.uk/learn-spanish

Id be happy to sell it if your interested, its just sat in my cupboard doing nothing.