Tutoring and Exploring in Madrid

Today I was walking through Puerto del Sol daydreaming. The sounds of violins, children shrieking, people laughing, and shoes clacking on cobblestone walkways were echoing through the plaza. I just looked around and could not stop shaking my head in disbelief. I still cannot believe I am here. I am in Spain. Studying Spanish. Tutoring a Spanish family. Tutoring locals. Exploring museums. Touring the towns. Drinking coffee and vino tinto everyday. Mi suerta!

The tutoring is going great. I am tutoring the whole family throughout the day, when I am home, as well as my scheduled time of 7-10 p.m. It is very informal. We traditionally just have a casual conversation and then I correct them or help them when they are struggling with what to say in English. I help the mother, Maria, translate some of her work documents in English and because I am great with PowerPoint I help her jazz up her presentations. She is extremely grateful. Maria was telling me even if she learns English she is unsure if she will ever understand American English because we have so many sayings that do not make sense to her. She wants me to teach her these sayings. I tend to say A LOT of these American sayings or idioms, for example, right off the bat, off her rocker,that´s the way the cookie crumbles, would not be caught dead, and so on. For this reason, I have been compiling a notebook full of all the idioms I use and can possibly think of. I write out the idiom, explain what it means, then provide an example of how one could use the idiom in a sentence. When I leave I am going to present it to the family. In the meantime, I just read the family a few of them a day. They find the sayings very entertaining!

In addition to my host family, I have picked up a few other individuals for tutoring. I could probably charge around 20-25 euro an hour like so many others do. For now, however, I am tutoring for the experience and to help improve my own Spanish skills.

I can see why so many English expats live here. Madrid is so great. The people are very friendly and it is easy to find tutoring, au-pair, and other random gigs here.

Well I think it is nearing my study time and lord knows I need to study my Spanish! Adios!