I’m back writing a tiny bit about what I’ve been up to lately. I recently started work, which has been pretty fun – in the mornings I work at an English-language summer camp for Spanish kids, and in the evenings I teach an intensive beginning English course. My paperwork-stuff (like registering at a town hall and opening a bank account) is slowly getting taken care of bit by bit as well.
Today was one of the nicest days ever (and it’s only half over!). I woke up around 11, had a cup of tea and a Milka chocolate bun sitting at my little “balcony”, then met up with a friend and went out to lunch for Syrian food in one of my favorite neighborhoods, Grácia. I spent the afternoon walking around the pretty neighborhood and it was sunny but a little breezy. Then, I scored free coffee from my barista amigos and chatted with one of them for a bit before I went to the “rebajas”- massive sales that go on twice a year in all the shops. Now I’m sitting in my new big sunny room relaxing a bit with some excellent cherries before I go to a beach party later on this evening. I’m so happy to be here, and so happy that I found a job that lets me stay! Life is good!
 |
| Another pretty neighborhood – El Born. Lots of the city looks like this! |
Do you have a post on how or when you got your job? How did the crisis affect it?
I have a general post about how to find a job in Spain: http://holayessica.com/2012/06/12/how-to-live-work-in-spain/
But I’ll explain two important things about how I got my job. First off, I’m a dual citizen U.K./U.S., so that means I don’t need a visa to live and work in Spain. All my paperwork to legally work here was very easy. Secondly, I speak good Spanish, so that helped me get access to jobs that aren’t just teaching English (though that’s not a bad job).
I just started looking online and passing out resumés in person. I did get lucky with finding my translation job, and then I started writing for magazines when EnBarcelona contacted me through my blog (that was a happy accident!).
As far as the crisis goes, I’ll write about that soon, but basically keep in mind that as a foreigner, your job market is different than it is for a comparable Spanish person. Also, I work for a website, which is an area of the economy that isn’t as badly affected by the crisis.
Let me know if you have any more questions! There are also some ways to find work that don’t require papers, but it probably deserves a post of its own. 🙂