Monday 25th September

What a hectic day. Woke up in my room at about 9am to sunshine and blue skies. Got up to change rooms. Had an interesting chat with the boss of the hostel. Turns out Mum and Dad are moving rooms too. They’re moving into the one I had last night and I’m moving into a single room. My room isn’t ready yet so my key is going to be left in their room during the day. We had our passports photocopied too and paid for the rooms for the week. 7 nights for 3 people totalled 350 Euros. Discovered later in the day that this hostel is recommended in our guide book. Groovy.
Headed into Telde to the tourist office. The hostel lady called us a taxi and it dropped us off at the Tourist Info office. I showed them the paper work for my school but they couldn’t locate it for me. Just gave me the general direction. Anyway we picked up a paper folded map of Telde and headed for the more central areas. Stopped at a supermarket on the way “Dino something” to get some breakfast. Ended up having a nectarine each, some OJ, some water and shared a lemon sponge cake. Yum! Sat in a park.
Carried on up heading for c/ Jose Velez where the Ayuntamiento was meant to be. Found the girl who’s living at the address given in my British Council correspondence but apparently they moved 2 years ago!! To the other side of Telde where the National Police station is…so off we toddled that way. Got there and queued for a while, then got sent to another queue. Filled in my form and (feeling all prepared) told the chap there I already had a photocopy of my passport for him, turns out I also needed photocopies of all the pages of my passports with stamps. Random. So off we trotted for a photocopier – not really understanding their directions – we asked first at a petrol station and they directed us to a place called “Copy Telde”. Headed back and finished the admin for my NIE. I have to go in on Thursday to collect the certificate for it. Hurrah. Mission 1 accomplished.
From outside the police station whilst waiting for Dad to have a wee I decided to phone the school to see if Toni Oliva had had any success looking for or thinking about property for me. She wasn’t there so we decided to get a taxi to take us to the school just so I could have a nose around.
On the way we headed for some inmobiliarias in search of a property to rent. Many, many, many inmobiliarias around but the market seems to only be for selling/buying rather than renting.
We jumped in a taxi and I showed him the BC info with the school address on and he set off in the direction he thought was right, whilst questioning people on his radio. He kept asking me if it was in Telde and whether it was a language institution or a normal school. It’s a normal school I kept telling him. The address is Carretera Antigua Gando. S/N. Turns out the road GC-100 is that road and it’s HUGE! The school is on one end of it and we started from the other end. We drove around and about and had some lovely views of the island and I was starting to think “Christ, they’ve sent me to the middle of nowhere!!” The road he dropped us off on seemed only accessible by car and as we sent him away I was thinking “how are we gonna get back!”
I walked in the school – very conscious of all the school kids leaving at the end of the day. They all look quite old for their age and quite fashionable so I’m not sure what they’ll make of me when I turn up to boss them around. I got in the school and went to the secretary kinda place to say who I was, that I had called and was anyone from the English department around. It turns out they weren’t but I had a brief chat with the headmaster and one new member of the English department who suggested we come back tomorrow at 10am. They know I need help looking for somewhere to stay, that I don’t have a car and now they know my face too which is reassuring. I’m going to get a tour of it all tomorrow.
Upon leaving the school we saw loads of the kids walking up the main road and round a corner. Our taxi driver had told us it was only a few minutes walk in that direction back to Telde and seeing as the kids were doing it we decided to brave it and walk that way too rather than get another taxi. Turns out as soon as you turn the corner a pavement appears and crossings and shops and you’re slap bang back in town straight away!! The school is really in an ideal location and if I can find an apartment semi-central to Telde I’ll be perfectly ok to walk everywhere.
Next stop was something to eat so we found a café and had some baguettes and something to drink, then a Danish and some coffee. Loads of old men just bumming around chatting and sitting outside. Little dog running around. We waited until 4.30 when another Inmobiliaria we had seen was re-opening for the afternoon and went and asked about flats. He had 1 one bedroom flat just outside Telde for 350 Euros a month plus bills. It’s new and is walkable distance from Telde. We managed to establish that I was really still looking and not about to commit to anything but got details of it from him to take to the school tomorrow to discuss with someone local. Ideally, if they know of something private rather than through an agent that would be best.
After that I popped into a Movistar shop to ask about buying a SIM card. When I bought my German one they asked for my passport, my current address and it was all a bit scary. Here the girl was really lovely. She was French and we started in Spanish but it all ended up a bit Spanglish. I got my SIM and she activated it for me. The good thing about GC is it’s like the channel islands and it’s a bit of a tax haven. Petrol is about 50p a litre, my sim card should have cost 25 Euros but only cost 21.50 and each time I top up 5 Euros I actually only pay 4.30 but still get 5 Euros credit.
Headed back to the hostel and Mum and Dad went out for some supplies of water whilst I wrote about today. Texted Rob from my new number (first message sent) but not sure if it arrived. He’s probably driving home from work.
Went out for dinner with mum and dad on the beach again. Different restaurant. Lost my rag at mum again cos I ordered a salad and scrambled egg and Mum said it would probably come as a starter and main separately but I had asked for them at the same time when I ordered and she wouldn’t accept that I’d sorted it. Made me feel inadequate again. Just cos that’s what happened before when she ordered a salad. Slept badly this night.