Mexico, cycling Britain, then Barcelona

day 16

http://www.gurneysjourneys.com/barthelona.htm

I wouldn’t want to burn any bridges, so this morning I kept an appointment I had with the BF School. They were friendly and very keen to offer me supply work - they were in need of teachers who could cover higher calculus lessons. Out of politeness, as you do, I waited until near the end to ask about the wages and got some good poker face practice as I tried not to recoil in horror when they told me 45 euros per day. They want me to work in my specialist subject, after 8 years training and experience, for 5.60 euros an hour! That doesn’t even add up to a monthly wage of 1000 euros. I kept smiling and told them to feel free to contact me about my availability whilst trying to get out as quickly as possible.

A standard Barcelona lunch - serrano ham and cheese baguette whilst  sitting on a terrace - set me back three euros. I ate whilst watching my friend twitching and checking her mobile. The boyfriend was expected imminently. I was more concerned with my homelessness, however, and made a few calls to flats in my chosen neighbourhood - Poble Sec. One of the adverts was in  Catalan, which initially put me off, but as I only had two appointments I gave Toni a call. After an embarrassing misunderstanding in which he told me to hang on a minute because he was shopping, and I thought he was telling me the room was already taken, I managed to glean that he was going to be at home in ten minutes and I told him we would come round. The flat was perfect in every way, Spanish speaking, spacious, big room (a bit dark but you can’t have everything), balcony, nice area, supermarket next door,…  

By 3 o’clock we had found the 24 hour late boyfriend and I officially had a flat. And a job. And 34 euros.

Tonight we had a proper celebration, a two course dinner at La Fonda. It would have been three courses, we weren’t holding back, it was just that the portions were enormous. Not one of us had room for desert. The most amazing thing… 16 euros a head!

Barcelona is great.

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