My name is Javier and I’m in my thirties. I left Spain three weeks ago because in my country there isn’t work, there isn’t a future.
I have a degree in History of Arts, a Postgraduate Course on Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language and a handful of more qualifications. I speak Spanish and Catalan and I can manage in French and English. So what? There is no work [in Spain] even as a kitchen porter. So after two years unemployed, hanging around, I made up my mind and I took a plane to Manchester. Why Manchester? London is too expensive. So it was Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool… I didn’t care.
Now I keep looking for a job. Of course I’d like to find a position as a Spanish Teacher but I don’t mind, I’m looking for ANY job. At least I could practice my English and earn some money. But things are also difficult here. There are a lot of Spaniards who want to find a job and it’s hard work to understand English by phone, especially Mancunian accent. At the moment I’m giving some Spanish private lessons but it’s not enough to survive. If I don’t find anything I will have to go back to Spain, but to doing what? There’s nothing to do if you don’t have a job.
In the meantime you can see how the biggest companies and banks are getting fat, and you think: this is not a crisis, this is a f**** fraud.
