(upbeat music)
- Hello ITA, my name is Peter Denyer.
I am going to be taking over
the ITA Instagram account today.
And I'll be showing you around Bilbao, Spain today.
Today's a perfect day, as you can see it is raining.
It rains here a lot.
So this is my kitchen, it's decent size.
And then we have a patio area
to dry clothes, to hang out.
And this is our living room,
and of course surf boards.
We have some of the best surf here.
And...
Here is my room.
It's a decent size room.
I'll be posting my expenditures and expenses later.
I'm about to go get some breakfast
at one of my favorite cafes around here.
If you have any questions
for me about my time here
in Bilbao teaching English abroad,
just let me know in the questions.
Right now, I work for a DaDa ABC.
I just re-signed another six month contract
on the old system for all you people on DaDa ABC.
I also work at an academy
because I have my paperwork here,
and I'm all 100 percent legal.
I also have a few privates.
So I just finished three classes on DaDa,
today was my part-time day.
I'm not contracted to work Friday's, but I wanted to.
And here in Spain we just say 'poco a poco'
or in Basque we say 'polique polique'.
So I'm walking home getting some groceries,
I don't have any student loans and I saved up $5000.
Before I came to Spain, I roughly saved
for about a year before coming here.
A true day here in Sopelana and in Bilbao,
it's raining in the middle of summer
and it's not as humid today but it's very humid here.
And right behind me is the town hall.
Make sure wherever you do live,
that you're able to register
with the cities hall that you live in.
This goes for people that are trying to be here
and get their residency after three years.
Make sure no matter what, wherever you live,
that you can register at the patron at the town hall.
Hello, I'm picking up cash right now at Caixa Bank.
It's a Catalonian based bank out of Barcelona,
but if you decide to move to Spain
and your city has Caixa, they are very friendly for expats.
So this is my gym,
as you can see this is like a racquetball or paddle court.
As well as there's a pool at the bottom,
and then a gym at the top.
This is the bus stop to the beach.
It takes about five minutes on the bus
or about a twenty minute walk to the beach,
maybe longer if I have my surf board and stuff.
So welcome to Getxo, right now we are in Algorta
and this is the beach I go to a lot.
And the cliffs I go running on many times
on a nice day this entire beach is crowded.
I lived here, I studied abroad as well.
One of my old stopping grounds,
I used to come to this bar 'The Raven'
after my work shifts on Mondays at my academy.
(airplane engine)
I'm in the old port of Algorta,
and I figured it'd be a good time to teach some Basque.
Ompa is hello.
Eskerrik asko is thank you.
Agur is goodbye.
And zorionak zuri is happy birthday.
You really can't beat the work-life balance here.
The maximum amount of hours I'll work a day
between DaDa and privates is roughly five hours.
And also vacation, if you have a contract out of an academy,
normally you'll have two months of vacation.
December and August, and those are paid on a good contract.
And then also any national holidays,
which there are a lot of in Spain.
As well as two weeks for Easter, for Semana Santa.
Alright, that's pretty much awesome.
I can't wait for this new year to start
and get an academy job once again for these reasons.
Much about my private classes, I have,
I did a total of three this year.
You can charge upwards of
20 to 15 euros per hour for a basic conversation,
and if you're doing any exam prep
at least 35 euros per hour.
Back to that first bar 'The Raven'
and as you can see it's starting to pick up
for the nightlife around here in Algorta.
And I'm actually going to be meeting
with one of my friends who's been here
for thirteen years as an English teacher.
She is not ITA but she is one of my best friends here.
(upbeat music)