Job Discussion Forums

[gsbcn08080]

Are many of you actually living in Spain? If so what do you like the best and what does really get on your nerves?. I love the food, weather and the relaxed way of living and working, no stress, everything is "ma�ana". Now what I hate is bad services, and being ignored if you complain about anything, they won't even listen to you, you feel you have no rights, stupid bureaucracy( filling endless forms about that may include father's, mother's and past ancestors names and occupations etc), low pay but expensive rents, and womens discrimination ( not in the teaching field but in most other jobs). Ah! and I hate having to watch all the films in Spanish with the same voice ( same person seems to do all the really bad doubling).

[naturegirl321]

When I was there I liked the tranquilo attitude, walking everywhere, always seeing people on the streets, the architecture, the gusto for life.
I hated the gitano beggars, the sexed up life, high unemployment for Spaniards

[grahamb]

For me the worst was people coughing and sneezing without covering their mouths. Absolutely disgusting, particularly on a crowded Metro train.

[Kitegirl]

Really? I don't remember that at all but it could be overshadowed by my experiences now in China. Try this for size.
You're on a crowded bus standing armpit to head (I'm tall), squished up against everybody and you hear this major hoick and throat-clearing session behind you. Just when you think, no wa-a-a-ay, it somes flying past your ear, misses you by millimeters and goes out the window.
I agree with Naturegirl - I certainly don't miss the Oscar-deserving drama queens of the Gitano areas. There was this one mother and daughter team - the girl probably never saw the inside of a classroom - and the little girl, limping through the bus, would beg in the most piteous I'm-about-to-die-of-hunger voice, and then she'd get off the bus and smilingly skip towards her waiting mother.

Really, I miss going for a tostada and cortado in one of my favourite haunts on the prettiest plaza in Cadiz. What a way to start the day.

[Kitegirl]

Just remembered! I can't stand the way they all chew gum with their mouths open. BLEURGH!!!

[Mouse]

Um, I'm not really hoping to put too much of a downer on this thread, but I have to say that I personally feel that Spain is over-rated.

The weather, for example, (I live in Catalonia, mind you) is cold and wet for much of the year, and then humid and hot in the remainder, and for some reason, the roads aren't properly designed for wet weather, making them really greasy whenever it rains (a lot of the time).

The food here isn't bad, by and large, but it isn't special either, regardless of what my students assure me: "bread with tomato, various sausages and sea-food..." doesn't constitute haute cuisine (is it possible to use that phrase, or just haute couture?). The pastries, however, are delicious, and I adore the hot chocolate (for breakfast, with a croissant, thank you god).

The people (up here, anyway) certainly aren't especially warm and welcoming, which is not to say that some of them aren't, and are often casually rude (pushing, staring, making "giri" comments etc). In particular, I abhor the casual cruelty to animals (by no means limited to Spain): there are dogs living on balconies in my street, spending most of their day trapped on an area the size of my kitchen table, barking continually (out of boredom, I suspect).

The work isn't that hot for teachers, either (and my situation is quite good): I hate split shifts and Saturday work (agreed to help my school out in that respect), neither of which were necessary teaching in any country where English is the first language.

Hmmm... Doesn't sound like I like Spain, does it? (Actually I do, though have no plans to be here for the long term.)

[gsbcn08080]

I disagree with you about the weather I find the weather ( at least in Barcelona) very good in general.
I completely agree with you that they treat animals really badly, leaving them in balconies is nothing compared with what I have seen. Did you read in the papers last year about the people that broke into some place where they kept abandoned dogs and cut their legs for fun? I love animals and had a lovely cocker for 12 years ( unfortunately she died last week) and you would not believe the insults I had to put up with when I brought her out, people looking at me badly, making comments about how disgusting it is for people to have pets in cities, how much they hate dogs, etc. It is one of the reasons I will be really happy to leave this country, hofefully soon.
Spain has the highest road accidents in Europe and not only the roads are bad but the signs are impossible to understand, that is when they exists at all.
I woudn't call Catalan people unfriendly but very very reserved and it is very hard to make friends here. I know people who have been here for many many years ( myself for 13 years ) and they have friends but not Catalan. But I think Madrid is completely different and it is easy to meet people.
I do love the food though.

[Mouse]

I'm sorry to hear of your bad experiences with your pet (whatever it was has been censored out), but not particularly surprised. As for your disagreement about the weather, that's fair enough and all a matter of taste. I live further inland than Barcelona, mind you, and the weather here is almost always colder than the city... As for the roads, they just haven't been well-designed, nor especially well-maintained (in my town they fill in pot-holes with dirt and stones, for crying out loud).

[gsbcn08080]

My dog was a C-O-K-E-R Spaniel that's what was censored.

[reality]

On and off I have worked as a Teacher in Spain, for the past three years, but in the Malaga area.

This is the worst area of Spain to teach in. Work is scarce, and the cost of living is very high. TEFL teachers working for a a School, earn less than someone working for MacDonalds.

I would never work as a Teacher here again, because you will always ask the following questions:

Maybe I was spoilt in Asia, but why do you get better pay and conditions in Third World Countries, then in many parts of Europe?.

Why are the Schools better equiped in Countries,like Vietnam then in Schools in Spain?

In an area of high unemployment, dependent on Tourism and the construction Industry. Why have student numbers dropped, when
English is needed, because of the huge amount of English speaking Tourists?

How can anyone justify an illegal Morroccan day labourer earning more than a TEFL Teacher. Only in Spain.

I guess if you are sun-starved, and a thirty-something female. Spain will be great. But for the adventureous and professional Teacher, Spain is an over-rated joke.

[Libs]

I�ve been in Spain for 17 years (sometimes it feels like 170) and am quite surprised by some of your comments. They�re probably all true, but I still feel surprised. Dogs on balconies ... yes, I�ve seen that too. And they probably don�t treat their animals as well as English people do � but then, the Spanish would say that the Brits treat their dogs better than their immigrants.
I have a dog (a very big one), and he is much loved by everyone. Strangers stop me on the street to play with him. They interrogate me about the space he has at home, and feel reassured when I tell them that he has 70m2 to move around in.
Jobs � I�ve never had any problem finding a job. No, the pay isn�t great, but then, I�m not in this for the money. I have more than enough to live on � but then I don�t go out every night. Even if I did, drink and smokes are still a lot cheaper here than at home � and you can still smoke in bars (unlike in my homeland � Ireland).
The food here is great, it�s imaginative, and the quality of fruit and veg is excellent.
As for the people� I live in Catalunya. Before that I lived in Castilla and Pais Vasco. I�ve travelled widely in Spain. The only place I haven�t been to yet is Levante. I find the people authentic, to say the least. A Catalan is Catalan. A Gallego is Gallego. You take them or leave them. They are straight and open. I�m not saying they are very friendly � some are, some aren�t. I�ve got lots of friends, most of them Catalan, but I still have friends in San Sebastian, and I left there 15 years ago.
Basically Spain is as good as you make it, much like any other part of the world I imagine.
I remember when I was in San Sebastian, there was an Irish �clan� who moaned for home, got drunk at weekends and sang rebel songs (something I am sure they never did in Ireland). They wanted me to join them, so I told them: if you miss home so much, and hate this place so much, then why don�t you go home?
The weather�.. well, we can hardly blame them for that!
I know that this thread is for complaining, but I really have nothing to complain about.

[gsbcn08080]

"How can anyone justify an illegal Morroccan day labourer earning more than a TEFL Teacher. Only in Spain. "

I think it might be because there's so many teachers around that pay just got lower and lower, if you don't want to do it someone else ( especially Americans) will do it. I've ever heard of some Americans offering to work for free in schools for the experience and to have something to do.

Libs strangers also stopped me to ask me about my dog etc but I also had to put up with the other comments. Spain has no respect for animals in general and some of their favourite passtimes are playing cruel games with them.

[Mouse]

I'm very interested by some of the comments made thus far on what must be one of the most successful threads every published on the dynamic Spain Forum.

Keeping it to teaching, at least for the moment, do you really think that the schools here are so poor, when compared with their international competition? (Mainly addressed to the Third World and Asia comments made by Reality)

[gsbcn08080]

Only in recent years. One of the problem is(at least in Barcelona) they teach English everywhere. Churches (recently they called me asking me to teach hours in a room a priest has and has decided to use it to teach English), Universities, Casals ( big buildings used for different activies), there s three new Escuelas de Idiomas, all the primary and secondary schools offer English after the school, so Academias are left with the rest. Also the problem is that they are the only ones that have to pay tax, rent, offer contracts etc.

[Mouse]

Ah, that would likely be very true, GSBCN, well said. An official Escuela de Idiomas opened near my town quite recently and many local academies have faced crippling losses as their students deserted for the ridiculous-in-comparison deal they were being offered... Speaking of losses, I wasn't here when it happened, but do you have any idea what precipitated the closure of such ESOL giants as 'Wall Street' and 'Opening' here in Catalonia?