16 Hours Outside of the House: A Day in My Life Teaching English in Madrid

I’ve been busy teaching, tutoring, spending time with friends, searching for a lab to intern in, and planning a trip to Las Palmas, which is why this post took longer to publish than I was hoping! On a typical Thursday, my routine as is follows:

6:30am: Wake up. 

I eat a few scoops of yogurt from my huge tub, along with a rotation of fruit or baked goods, and leave the house forty-five minutes after I wake up. I’ve decided to leave a little earlier than needed to avoid the stress of a delayed metro or bus. As my friend Marni said, “Fifteen more minutes of sleep isn’t worth the stress.”

7:15am: Leave for school.

Walking to the Gran Vía metro stop early in the morning is one of my favorite parts of the day because it’s rare to see this area free of crowds. I also like seeing the street cleaners. Madrid has a very intensive street-cleaning regimen, and during the early hours it’s common to walk through streets that look as if they’d been subjected to a downpour moments prior. I’ve gotten so used to this that instead of asking myself, why is this street soaking wet at 7am? I’m asking, why is this street NOT soaking wet at 7am? 

After getting on the metro, I use the commute to talk to friends on the West Coast who are still awake. I also check in with the families I’m tutoring for later that day to confirm our session, and if I can stomach it, I read a few pages of my book. Otherwise, I pass the time listening to Portuguese podcasts or music and getting so lost in thought that when I snap back to reality, I think I must have missed my stop (luckily this has never happened). After a thirty minute metro ride, I switch to a bus that drops me off a few blocks from my school. 

8:40am: Arrive at school. 

I have a snack, usually consisting of melon and tea, and chat with teachers and students before classes start.

9am: Class begins. 

I rotate between classes every 45 minutes and can be with students ranging from 3 years old to 12 years old. Depending on what age of students I’m with, my duties range from singing songs, reading books, and coloring to teaching grammar and vocabulary to asking students questions that appear on an English fluency exam at the end of the academic year.

12-12:30: Break. 

During our break, the teachers sit in the cafeteria talking, drinking coffee, and eating fruit, tortilla, and bread.

12:30pm-1:15pm: One more class!

The last 45 minutes of the day always go by quickly. I’m usually sad to leave, especially if I’m with an Infantil (3, 4, or 5-year-old) class.

1:15pm: Leave school. 

I walk to the bus stop and wait for the bus to Madrid, which comes around 1:45pm. At this point, friends and family in the Midwest are waking up, so I can text them.

3:15pm: Arrive in Madrid.

Thursday afternoons I get lunch with Marni at Casa Dani, a Spanish restaurant in the Salamanca neighborhood. When we’re not in the mood for tortilla and pimientos del Padrón, we’ll switch it up and go somewhere new.

5pm-7:45pm: Tutoring.

On Thursdays I tutor two sessions: one hour with three 4 year olds, another hour with three 7 year olds. These sessions are, luckily, within blocks of each other. Tutoring involves helping with homework, introducing and practicing vocabulary, drawing, playing with fútbol trading cards, as well as games like charades and Go Fish. 

8:30pm: Time with friends. 

After tutoring, I like to get a drink with my friends. It’s the perfect time to relax and catch up.  

10pm: Home!

After reaching my apartment, I have dinner if I didn’t eat while I was out getting a drink. Then, I shower and read before bed. I’m usually pretty exhausted from being out of the house all day, but since I don’t work Fridays, I can go to sleep without setting another alarm for 6:30am.

Looking ahead

Christmas decorations are being put up around the city, and the weather is getting cooler. This past week was tiring but didn’t feel busy, leaving me unsettled and wondering how I can make a more productive use of my time. Writing this post has reminded me how much happens in my day, and in the coming weeks, I'm hoping to intern at the Real Jardín Botánico a few hours a week (more details to come!), read as much as I can, and blog more consistently.

During my early walks to the metro, I make a right turn onto a street lined with benches. The bench nearest the corner is almost always occupied by the same old man. One morning, after seeing him three days in a row, he wasn’t there and I had to wonder what kept him from his routine. I like to think he would wonder the same about me if one morning I failed to round the corner at approximately 7:22am. As the days go on, I’m beginning to recognize several street cleaners, a man leaf blowing in front of the Four Seasons, and another sitting in the window of a café that I pass. Maybe I’m becoming a familiar face to them, too.