Hello everyone! Its been a good and eventful week. The school is amazing. I knew Pamplona was far from well organised but this puts it to shame. IH Madrid is a huge school, six big centres, 20 public schools, hundreds of businesses (including big institutions like the Bank of Spain), thousands of students and hundred of teachers, and so far it has run like clock work. I've been given some training withg kids rather than given a group of kids and told to work it out, theres a support system and a management structure! It's nice to be back in a school that takes learning English seriously. I was very happy with anything, then I was given my timetable, which is exactly what I wanted, blocked hours in one centre! To make things better everyone is lovely. Remember last post when I said I would pay later for my good journey? This good start also added to my suspicions, my mother called me paranoid but lo and behold, I have had my set back.
Some thieving bastard took my bag. For one of the few times in my life I put down my bag and then thought that it wasn't safe so moved it next to my knees. I was surronded by other teachers and some still had it away. He must have been millimetres from me and four others and yet no one saw anything. Later in the afternoon I was told Madrid bag snatching and pickpocketing is sadly common. My flatmate used the example as one more demonstration of the superiority of the Northern Spainards. Fortunately there was only one valuable thing it, but it unfortunately it was very valuable, my passport.
Today I headed up to the embassy, which is very swanky, to apply for a new one. What can I say? British bureaucracy, best in the world. I was told (by a Spanish woman) that being born after 1982 means I'm not sufficently British enough to warrant automatic citizenship. Thatcher is to blame for that law, the bitch. I have to jump through hoops, fill in a lot of paperwork and get people to vouch for me that I truly am British. After that maybe I'll have to sing the other four verses of the anthem, kiss a picture of the queen, make a cup of tea and stand in a perfect queue.
I have to get the picture signed by someone I have known for two years to say the picture is an accurate likeness. Only someone who has known me for two years can see that the picture is me, it's not like they trust airport security to do that job in 2 seconds. I also need to get all the paper work signed by someone I have known for two years, is a British citizen, not in my family and strangely from a list of accepted professions. When I told them that I haven't known anyone in Madrid for two years, she told me I should have lied because they have no way of knowing that you've known them for two years. Then she (the same Spanish woman) proceeded to give me a little lecture on British culture. She said we British are a trusting people, happy to take people at their word (apparently thats why we don't have ID cards) and they would have taken my word if I said I knew them for two years. I'll leave you to come to your own conclusions. I asked if she could take my word that the form is correct so I didn't need the signature but that didn't go down well.
My first class is in a few hours, a three hour epic on the topic of change. Its going to be special.
love love love x
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