Life is a rollercoaster! Part I: The start.

The legendary Forrest Gump once said: Life is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you're gonna get. Couldn't agree more with that. My time on Gran Canaria was like that as well. Although i prefer to use the word rollercoaster. Russian mountain as i learned on the Spanish island (montaña rusa). Jobwise it was a bit of ups & downs... First thing i did the day after i landed on that one way flight to my new life, was make a resume (curriculum vitae), attach a photo to it, and then print it about 30 times in the copy center. Proudly i walked up to 30 hotels/tourist appartment complexes, and handed it over to the receptionist, explaining that i'm asking for a job. Surely something would come out of that. I waited. One day passed, then a week. Not a single phone call or email came my way. All I wanted was to put my empathy, secretarial skills, and knowledge of five languages to use - though I’ll admit my French could use some polishing (but let's be honest, the Canary Islands hardly see any French-speaking tourists). My goal was simple: to find a nice hotel to work in. So i was confident that at least one of them would call. Not! After 2 weeks and 0 phone calls/emails, i started to feel slightly panicked. In the first months i was very lucky as i was offered to stay with my Austrian friend who i had known for several years during my holidays. But i didn't want to live at his house for free so i needed to pay 50% of the rent. Still nothing after 3 weeks, and then one of my best friends from Belgium helped me. Thierry was working in the animation sector in a hotel in Playa del Inglés, and he had talked to the manager and asked if i could come work there for a few weeks to assist him during Easter holidays. I was so happy and thankful when that manager said YES! Not only did i have a job, i was going to work with my best friend (i have known Thierry since my 2nd time ever on the island back in 2003). The plan was to entertain both adults and children during the day and in the evening. At the end of the Easter holidays we would perform in a show: The Blues Brothers.

Everything was new to me and i learned many things. We were working in 3 shifts that was also new. But i was happy to finally have a job, a place to live and a few friends to talk to. At work i was speaking english and german with the customers, dutch with my friend Thierry and Spanish with other colleagues. At home with my Austrian friend i spoke Spanish, because he wanted me to learn it well. I am actually still grateful for that, because even though i had gone through 5 semesters of learning Spanish after work once a week, you never learn a language better than when you live in the country. So i worked hard, walked to the hotel and back twice a day (about 20 min walking time) paid rent on time, and eventually did the Blues Brothers show with Thierry. I was living the dream i was thinking about for the past 10 years. Due to personal reasons i had waited that long to make the move (leave a comment if you're interested in that, i could make a post about it). Anyway that job was only temporary but i'll never forget it as it was my first ever job experience in Spain!

Photo: March 2013, Playa del Inglés, Gran Canaria.