20 year itch

The other day my sister celebrated her birthday and not only did it mark another year for her I. This planet or another year that I didn't manage to get a card in the post (I did make the phonecall though) it also marked 20 years of living without dad. These kind if things make you think a bit especially about the time in between. It's been an interesting time but not quite how I expected it to be.

20 years ago I was working as a yts (trainee) chef in an oxford college.....y? Well I figured that as I loved the idea of eating and creating dainty artistic dishes and the fact that I had no qualifictions nor muh desire to get them ( which meant as a male the careers service always thought being. Chef wad a good idea for thick kids). Alas after 3 years of hell working in a kitchen will people I couldn't stand I left. A friend suggested going to Australia for a year. I guess this is where it all started going horriy wrong ooooor horribly right depending on you perspective.

I was suddenly free of reputation. I was no ones brother or son or anyone. But then who was I? That bit has taken. While longer to Answer in fact im still answering it.

Being free I could think and do a job that pleased me and although i'm sure that a few people thought I was a little unhinged becoming a makeup artist, to me it felt right.....just right.

Along the way I manAged to add a couple of languages to my resume Whig shocked no one more than me but the ability to be able o communicate in more than your mother tongue gives you such a kick :-)

Now I've ended up in Madrid and am sitting here while a bunch of eager students prepAre the perfect presentation having listened to my wittetings on the subject for 2 days. I mean, how crazy is that???? Me, running presentation skills workshops and enish language courses? Something went dreadfully wrong...... Or right....thanks dad

The little man on the cloud

In a lovely land where the shone and the wine was always good, a little man sat on a fluffy cloud. His name was bilingual and he was content in the knowledge that up on his cloud all the people down below could watch him with awe. He wasn't very different to you or me. He spoke more than one language ( 2 to be precise).

Down below everyone would spend hours gazing at bilingual and wishing they were him.

They would spend hours (and quite a bit of money) trying to catch the cloud and with it the little man who sat contentedly upon it. Alas they always seemed to fail and could never quite reach that cloud nor the man bilingual.

One day, after a particularly bad storm, the cloud disappeared and bilingual came crashing down to earth (causing a nasty bump on the head). Everyone crowded around to finally touch this godlike creature that they had admired for so long.

After a few minutes gawping at the sorry creature a brave little girl said hello and to everyones amazement bilingual quickly said hello back.

Everyone realized that bilingual was no god or unreachable being but the same as everyone else ( ok, he was desparately handsome and had a rockin hairdo). And they all lived happily bilingual after.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My theory on pricing classes

Ok, a friend gave me some good advice. I´m going to pass it on so it´s not officially my theory but it still ticks all the boxes.

If u´re just starting out teaching english in Madrid then think about your pricing. It may seem the quick-fix to offer lower price classes (10-15 euros). But remember that once you´ve set a price it´s really hard to raise that price. Also, you may get a lot of work through word of mouth and that will be at your lower rate.

Also, working for 15 euros per hour is actually working for 5 euros per hour if you consider the prep and travel time.

Enjoy your weekend :-)

welcome

Ok, here´s my blog. Who am I? Good question. I´m Richi. Tall, English.

Somehow life took a wrong turn and instead of following in my fathers footsteps, I managed to live in 4 (so far) countries in my life. This has lead me to learn 3 (so far) languages, have 3 (so far) careers, meet more people than I ever thought would be possible (though I I admit to being very bad at remembering there names), discovering the fun of sex and the pointlessness of saying goodbye (You´re always going to see them again).

I occasionally have theories on life, the universe and why José is known as Pepe and this is my attempt at sharing them.

Of course, being a little fickle, this could be the first and only post so enjoy :-)))))

Hugs

Richi