31 October 2013
Busy, busy day!
I had a couple social science classes in the morning, and then I spent my desayuno break with some of the teachers in the cafe. After break I was supposed to have a gap and then a planning session with a teacher, but I wanted to finish as early as possible to get ready to go to Granada. So I asked the teacher to meet quickly right then, and she did.
Being the last day of the month, I was hoping I would get paid today. I wasn’t sure how that worked, so I went to the secretary’s office to ask. The man I needed to talk to wasn’t there that period, but another administrator that I know told me it’s an easy process–they can just cut me a check–and he told me to come back the next hour when the man was there.
So, with my free time, I checked out some local shops to grab some things I needed (black eyeliner for my costume, a small purse for going out, a smaller overnight bag, etc) and came back to ask about my payment.
UNFORTUNATELY…
Well, I’ve heard lots of horror stories about language assistants not being paid on time. Some have had to wait a month or more past the expected time! So I knew this was something to watch out for. But I was told that normally Almería is good about paying on time.
I guess the Junta sends money specifically to the schools to pay us with. Often, if schools have enough money on hand, they can pay us out-of-pocket and then just take the money from the Junta when it comes in.
As the secretary explained, though, the school hasn’t received money yet. And he said that the school is "In the red!" and that if he paid me, there wouldn’t be money to pay the electricity bill!
And like, dude, I totally understand–if the money’s not there, it’s not there. But it’s shitty for me.
I asked him if he had any idea when it would be there, and he called people and everything, and so I’m hoping it will be fixed this upcoming week. HOPING PRETTY HARD. Really, I have to pay my rent :/
Overall, just a bummer and another thing for me to worry about. Wonderful.
So anyway I came home and packed and prepared things. I had been thinking about dressing up as a cat for Halloween, but didn’t have all the things I needed for my costume.
We were planning on going to the Chinese store later to look for costume supplies before leaving, but it just so happened that I found a cat ear headband in a box in my shed.
This is part of an ongoing phenomenon of the girl who lived here before me really pulling through for me. It keeps turning out that whenever I need something ODDLY SPECIFIC, I miraculously find it in my house, left behind by the girl who lived here before. So far there’s been a router for the same telecom company I use, an unopened pack of Venus razor refills, a travel hairdryer, and now these cat ears.
Anyway, then I left to go meet my new friend, Charlie, for coffee before going to Granada. After coffee, we met up with Olivia and all went to the Chinese store to look for costume supplies. I was actually all set in terms of supplies, but Olivia didn’t have a costume and Charlie wanted some extra things to add to his costume.
Then we split up to grab our things, and met up with two of Charlie’s other friends (Fernando and Fernando… yes, two Fernandos), piled in the car and headed to Granada!
We all went out for tapas, and then Olivia left to go to her friend’s house. Since she studied in Granada, she knows people there and had a place to stay for the whole weekend. Since I don’t know people in Granada, I just stayed in an apartment with a friend of the guys’.
So we all went up to the apartment and got our costumes on. In Spain, people are more interested in wearing "scary" costumes. Lots of the boys had their faces painted like skeletons and monsters, prompting me to show them some music by The Misfits, whom they resembled.
I was persuaded to put some fake blood on my face too, to look like a cat who’d killed something, just to be a LITTLE BIT scary. Charlie really went all out with his costume, as you can see from the photo–he was a motorist who’d been in a car accident, with lots of fake blood and even tire marks!
We went upstairs to another apartment where a party was going on. There were lots of really cool people there–more artsy people, more punk-y people, MY KIND OF PEOPLE. I must speak Spanish better when I’m drunk, because I remember having lots of good conversations with people at the party.
At one point, I was telling some guy how everyone in my family is interested in music, and how I play a few instruments and used to sing. He was like "YOU SING? My friend needs a singer for his jazz group, come here!" and took me to a room and brought a guy with a guitar, and somehow I was suddenly the center of attention with a bunch of Spaniards. I was singing for them and they were loving it, which was ridiculous because I don’t even like my voice very much! But it was one of those epic moments that only happen when you’re drunk enough to not care and you feel amazing.
Eventually, Olivia and a couple of her friends joined us, and then a group of people from the party all started migrating to a discoteca, me included. We were waiting outside and some people decided they were tired and didn’t want to wait in line (I suppose it was like, 4:30 am at this point), but eventually we got in, and with our entrance we got tickets for two free beers. So that was cool.
This was the point of the night where I was just past the point of being to remember everything that happened, but I was happy and I was dancing, I know that. Eventually we went home and somehow I got my makeup off and got my contacts out and fell asleep quite heartily on the couch.
