Poopy preparations

So, everything is in place for my second teaching assistantship abroad - I'm going to the Spanish enclave found on the north coast of Africa, next to Morocco; Melilla. I'll be teaching English to Spaniards aged 17-18. I'll be working twelve hours a week and the rest of the time is mine. I'm hoping to gain a bit more translation experience and teach privately in my spare time. I might even join a club too to get that Spanish improving extra quick.

In true Stacey fashion I am well prepared and good to go:

EHIC card - check.
Passport up-to-date - check.
Easyjet flight from London to Malaga - Wednesday 29th September at 12.20 - check.
Iberia flight from Malaga to Melilla - Wednesday 29th September at 19.05 - check.
Hostel reserved from Wednesday 29th September for 7 nights - check.
School where I'll be working contacted - check.
Previous assistants contacted for advice - check.
Assistants going this year contacted - check.

Previous assistants
Everything was going to plan. I met up with a girl called Charlotte that was based in Melilla last year (unfortunately not at the same school as me but that didn't matter). We sat for three hours in a cafe on Portobello Road talking about what I should expect. Cosmetics are expensive - take your own. It's hot - your jeans will sweat off of you. It gets cold in the winter - buy a heater fan as soon as you get there and pack some work clothes. Be prepared to be hollered at by Spanish sleazy men. The basics.
She had even spoke to her past private pupils and passed on my details so that when I get there I can start privately teaching them immediately (that should save my bacon whilst I'm waiting to get paid during the first two months - good old bureaucracy!).

My school
I'd spoken to my school in July but they didn't seem to happy to advise me on where to stay and were hardly the friendliest of people... I wasn't filled with confidence...
I later found out that the school I'd been e-mailing during the month of July wasn't actually the school that I'll be working at. Somewhere along the line the school that I will be working at (IES Leopoldo Queipo - 17-18 year olds) had referred me to the Official Language School of Melilla. I'd been e-mailing this Language School instead and wasting precious time - no wonder they weren't so friendly!
I went back to square one and called Leopoldo Queipo back up. No answer. It was the summer holidays and they wouldn't be back until September - three weeks before I leave... Great!
I have now been in contact with the school and after much ado (being hung up on several times) I have managed to speak to Inma, the Head of the English Department. She told me to go in on Friday 1st October at 11am. She later e-mailed me to say that nobody will be working on Friday so to go in on Monday. Sweet. I'll have 5 days free to look for somewhere to live. Or so I thought...

Travel
Just after receiving Inma's e-mail I see I have another one, from Easyjet. There are Spanish industrial strikes on Wednesday 29th September. That's the day I fly out! Argh! I can change my tickets to another day. Great, but Iberia haven't contacted me to say that I can change those as well... Anyway, after a fair amount of stress my tickets are changed for Friday 1st October. Good job Inma told me that I didn't have to work.

Other assistants this year
I've contacted the other girls that will be going this year (the British Council - the organisation that run the language assistantship programme - gave me details of the others going to my area). They are two girls called Hayley and Annalisa. From what I've gathered they have both done assistantships in the past like me... They've done theirs in Spain so I'd imagine that they speak pretty good Spanish already.
Hayley has e-mailed to say she's already over there. She's staying with one of the teachers from her school for the moment and has proposed that we find somewhere all together (we're all in the same boat). I'd rather live with Spaniards, preferably with a family like I did in France, to really boost my Spanish but it's great that we can all help each other out and support one another if need be.
Annalisa also doesn't have anywhere to live as of yet and I recommended that she stay in the hostel where I'm staying for the first week as I am doing. She's all booked up in the same hostel, but she also got tied up with the strikes so will be arriving on Sunday.

So as it stands taxi is reserved for 4.15am this Friday (ouch!), first flight at 07.25, second at 16.30 and I should be there safe and sound by Friday evening.

Watch this space...!