La Ley Took it Away.

It has been a montaña rusa of emotions the past few weeks. I was mentally ready to quedarme en España. I was given a start date of August 20th and some soccer webpages to start  “brushing up on the Spanish soccer lingo.” I bought a few nice work shirt to look sharp on my first week and a pair of comfy work shoes for the 20 minute walk every day to and from the bus station. I researched commuter bikes to quicken the commute. I had Mom bring over my soccer shoes because the gig had company soccer matches. I paid a full month’s rent for August. I told everyone about this dream job that was mine. I had the will the energy and the ganas.

Last week the HR director informed me of his meeting with the company’s lawyers. There’s a new law since the Spanish economic crisis has worsened. A Spanish company cannot contract foreigners at this time. So home I come, knowing I gave it my every sweat drop of effort. Es una lástima, but I’m happy to come back to see everyone. It will be nice to be reunited with family and friends de nuevo. I’m excited to see what new doors open now that I’ve spent a year abroad perfecting my Spanish. Looking forward to the next aventura y en donde me trae.

The dream job.

I got the gig! Was it the crossed fingers? Or perhaps all the chasing I did to catch it. Was seriously starting to get out of breath. 

¿Quién hubiera pensado? Not me. My head was already set for home. Hace un mes, I had already been coping with the thought of leaving Spain, knowing I had given the search my best. And then this happened. Mejor tarde que nunca...Enhorabuena!


There are some amazing signs that Dad has been looking out for me on this one. This one in particular.  To start, I applied for the job because "what did I have to loose?" A question Dad would always ask to put a little pep in my step.


Let's start the story with my move into the piso I'm in now. In March I made the switch from my studio apt to live with four wonderful people from all parts of the world. One of them, straight from Alicante named Yoli, had posted on her FB wall that her company was hiring. Because it was called From The Bench, estaba interesado en saber más. I figured it had to do with sports. "I wasn't born yesterday," Dad would say. 


And not to my surprise,  I was exactly right. The company specializes in the development of sports oriented multi-platform social games for smartphones and the Web. Their main clients: Fantasy Manager, Starscup, La Superliga, and Liga Evolution. All videojuegos de fútbol . For anyone that knows me, they know this is my all time favorite sport. Llevo casi 22 años jugando soccer.

I was asked to come in for an interview. Hurrah! And during it I pulled out my book. The first ad was for women's soccer. Something I did back at Mizzou. We had to pick a product or service that we felt strongly about. Then por casualidad,  I turned the next page to a campaign I did for Amp targeting the gamer-guy. No joke. De hecho, I hadn't looked at my book in días.  It's been years since the J-School. And the fact they were back to back in my book...I take it for a sign. Soccer + video games, where I'll be spending (at least) the next three months digging into the gamer lingo and brushing up on all the hot European soccer players. I couldn't be more stoked.

Another excitement is that there's a huge perk to working here: company soccer matches. My chance to get back on the field. Otro plus: the position I'll be taking on is in my field of advertising. I'll be a community manager writing up and organizing online content for social media networks, básicamente mantiendo la conversación. I'll also be helping with their translations from Spanish to English as a lot of their clients are English speaking.


Now for some crazy connections. Back in high school I told Dad my dream job would be working for Nike doing market research for their soccer shoe line in Spain. 

I'm not working for Nike, nor leading focus groups on their soccer line, but hear this. From the Bench's main clients are soccer franchises, my position is in marketing, and the town where I'll be working, Elda, Spain, is also known as "Spain's shoe making capital."

A person born yesterday could make these obvious links. 

Dad, you remembered this conversation. :)


I'll end with this. From The Bench's philosophy is que solo el que se rinde, pierde. This is to say, the one that gives up, loses.

I never gave up.

¿Qué to do?

¿Qué lo harías, si fueras yo con the job of your sueños estaba justo in arm's reach? If it were offered to you, would you take it? 

Fíjate en este: You spent the entire year researching and emailing companies in the ad industry, traveling from A to B to C to have informational interviews just to hear the same thing, "Con la crisis, no hay nada." My response aloud was always "Yo lo sé. Yo lo sé." And in my head it was "F-it, I'm not giving up. Crisis or not."

T minus un mes and alugnos días, my old roomie announced on her FB wall that her company was hiring. What hooked me was the name of the company. Intrigued at the idea of it being a company based in or around the sports industry, I googled it. To my excitement I found they specialize in the development of sports multi-platform "social games" via the web and mobile applications. A mouth full? In short-hand: they make soccer video games for Facebook and smart phones. The  position they are hiring for is a "Community Manager." Right up my advertising alley. 

I applied. Figured "why not?" The next day I had a response in my email saying that they wanted me to come in for an interview. I went. I was myself. Think they liked me. 

Now we wait a ver si tengo suerte con este. Dedos cruzados.

The struggle in an economic crisis.

Lo di mi mejor esfuerzo. Made several copies of my book in mini form to bring with as leave behinds. I emailed every ad agency and design firm in and around Alicante. A good number of 'em, maybe 25. Randomly popped into two offices just to drop off my book and presentarme a ustedes. One guy gave me gruff. Asked me why I'd be wasting my time in Spain trying to find work. He was an asshole en forma pura. Told him my sappy story about it being my dream to work in an ad shop in his country. The guy le importó un pimiento. Had two informational interviews to find out their hiring sitch. As for them all: they weren't hiring. Nor could they give me freelance work, because they only had enough work for the insiders. Applied to por lo menos 30 jobs on LinkedIn cualquier city in Spain. Got one official interview out of the bunch. Was over Skype for a gig in Barcelona. I reeeeeeeally wanted it. Did hours of research and even gave the company a SWOT analysis. Also weeded and worked through their Web site. Hit every damn link and gave my two to 10 cents on how they can do it mejor. Thought this would put me in front. Nope. Didn't get the gig. Tweeted, Facebooked, and blogged about "the struggle." Via FB, I received a connection from a FB friend, de quien no había hablado en cuanto tiempo, desde los días en Mizzou. A friend of hers lives/works in Barcelona, and she helped connect us through LinkedIn. He is definitely a good person to know. A big time pep talker. Which is what I needed. Knowing another American over in Spain witnessing the economic crisis, telling me not to give up. He put some fuego abajo mis pies. Since then I've been working on my own pagina de web para que el mundo pueda ver mi trabajo. It's called Sol Flake Publicidad, a name I came up for myself back in Alaska when I was thinking freelance. Now at it again. Just gotta get a biz card printed to hand out. We'll see what poor business wants to hire out an American in this crisis. Doubt any. Vale la pena. But after this I literally did it all. Yeah I didn't make a trip out to Madrid or to Barcelona to knock on doors. I figured the LinkedIn search sufficed considering I didn't have the time or the money to just skip class and hop a train.

I have less than three months left before my flight back to the home country. I'm not throwing in the toalla quite yet.

My route. Trashed.

Yesterday I went on one of my usual running routes and look what I found. Trashed! This is the result of a night of botellón. I'm not against botellón-ing, but please, throw your basura in the bin. It's easy. Take the plastic bag that carried your cheap rum and coke to your hang-out, and use that as your carrying device until you find a contenedor to throw it in.

For those that don't know what botellón is, os digo: simply put, it's drinking in the streets in el aire libre. The youngers do it because it's a cheap way to get drunk and chill with friends before popping into the local garitas and discotecas. It's actually refreshing on a cool, spring eve to take a few beers in the fresh air with a beautiful view of the city con tus amigos.

But, as there's always repercussions to the fun involved. The obvious trash, for the morning after. And mucho ruido. When drunk people talk, it's more of a shout and with a bunch of shouting, you get caos en las calles.

Not only was I upset to have to dodge the empty bottles and grocery bags on my run, but I was embarrassed for Alicante. Why? Because it was a lovely Sunday afternoon and tourist season has begun. I played photographer for two groups of extranjeros hiking up the mountain to the Santa Barbara Castle. Wonder what they thought upon seeing this mess. Maybe that we're a bunch of alcoholic, lazy, inconsiderate bums?

If this is the aftermath to a night of botellón, maybe there should be a stricter punishment to the irresponsible joventud that colors Alicante in green, brown and clear glass bottles.
 

Un mes y medio luego.

Sorry for the delay. With spending the holidays in England and returning to Spain with the drive to find work, I left the blog on the back burner. Been busy with more important temas like things that will pay the bills and feed me. Now I'm feeling more at ease. I found a few gigs. It's funny how money plays into one's tranquility. 

I teach niños english in casa. Private lessons. I have 4 groups of students a week. It's not exactly what I was looking for. I wanted work in advertising, but I looked and wrote and visited agencies and nothing. In an economic crisis the first thing cut in budgets is advertising. Just my luck.

Sin embargo, the kids are a lot of fun, aunque sometimes they can be little diablos.
Last week we made valentines for our friends and family because Valentine's Day is coming up. We also learned how to make PBJs and cheeseburgers. One of the parent's set the table with all the main ingredients. Interactive activities are best.

Además de my work and finally feeling a little more financially stable, I am improving my Spanish everyday. I love it! Being able to have profundo conversations satisfies my alma. And I love my friends from my class. We are a family. Always spending time together outside of the Uni. 

Te prometo to keep you posted more often. As of last week, I finally got internet in my piso. Por fin! Now there will not be pressure to rush a blog entry on campus or at the coffee shop, I can peacefully write back from the comfort of my own hogar.

Alicante acclimated.

Hace dos meses llegué a Alicante y I am already acclimated. Two weeks ago, I  would giggle a mi mismo at the old men and women sitting on the Ramble bundled up with scarves, hats and jackets in the 60 degree weather. They were just coming off a 90 degree summer/fall. I understand. 

Now, I laugh at myself. Because I wear my down jacket to school in the mornings when it's no colder than 45 degrees. The same jacket I wore in -60 degrees in Fairbanks, Alaska. I wear layers to bed because I have piel de gallinas.

It's a facade. The tropical flowers are in full bloom, and of course there are the palm trees.

But it's legitimately chilly. And the beach is deserted. A few personas valientes banarse en el mar. Some relax on the beach with a book. 

The other day I took a detour on my run to jog on the beach. Just to say I ran on the beach in December.