A shitty day which ended well

Today was shit.  I woke up, and had a shower.  Once again, it was cold.  I'm kind of used to having cold showers now, but it doesn't make them any less jarring when I first step in.  After that, I went to work, but due to a sequence of events, I was late.  This was OK, and nobody actually noticed...but it didn't make it any less annoying, as I like to be punctual, especially to work.  Once at school, I opened my bag, hoping to retrieve my laptop, and intending to continue a conversation I'd been having and wait intently for an email which I'd been hoping for...and realised that I'd forgotten my laptop.  I'd packed the cable, which I had actually remembered as an afterthought...but then forgotten the actual laptop.  Moron.  I was by now in a rather pessimistic frame of mind, and expected my impending class to go just as badly as the morning had so far.  So, I was pleasantly surprised when the class actually turned out to be wonderful.  I have been giving my students a review of tenses and aspects...almost all of them can speak and write effectively in past, present and future forms, but they don't know how to use all of the forms and often make mistakes or don't even try to use the more complex ones.  Also they have a lot of questions and doubts about everything, including the easier forms such as present simple and progressive.  So, I decided that before we go any further in the AWFUL textbook which we are using, it would be useful for them to have a full review of basic grammar like that, and also to have a chance to express all their questions.  So, that's what we're doing.  Although it takes a little time to get the class quiet enough to start, once we get going it's awesome, and I love it because it feels like I'm actually teaching, instead of using a ridiculously big textbook with no space for change and no time to do anything that's actually useful and/ or fun.  My class worked really well, anyway, and somebody wrote 'we <3 Judey' on the board...that made me really happy :)

So, after the awesome class, I went home to get my laptop, and then returned to the task of adding up all my students' exam grades and averaging and making their final scores.  I was waiting for one girl to come to my office and do the listening exam already when I realised that there was one student who hadn't done the writing exam, which Andy had given to the students the week before.  I then had to rush a message to get the boy to my office immediately to do the test.  This happened, but then the girl didn't show up, so I asked for a message to be sent to get her.  She didn't come.  Just when I was annoyed about that, my computer decided to start being a dick, and one of the trackpad buttons stopped working.  Luckily it was only for a little while, but it was enough to rile me further.  By 2pm I was so drained by the day's events that I resorted to counting the minutes until I could leave.

Finally the time came, and I gleefully sped off to the gym.  I arrived, changed, and found my MP3 player...only to realise that the memory card containing all my music was in my phone. Which I'd forgotten.  Never mind I thought, and off I went to do my exercise.  All was well for approximately 3 minutes, just enough time for me to set my time and pace etc. on the treadmill...when there was a power cut.  Everything off.  Luckily I was walking still at that stage, otherwise I would have ended up incorporating flight into my exercise regime! So, I went on an exercise bike instead, and then did some weights, then toured the machines, and by that point the power was back on and I was to use the treadmill.  I left the gym feeling a damn sight more positive than when I went in, and I was good to go for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

So, a couple of days ago, we were told that there would be somebody coming to fix the boiler.  That was supposed to be yesterday, and nobody came, but I had hoped that it would be possible for them to have come today while I was at the gym.  Sadly, this was not to be, and I had to have a post-workout cold shower.  Another one.

After the shower I actually had some fun.  I got dressed up in all my new clothes and Andy took a bunch of photos for Facebook, so that my friends and family could see my new hairstyle and the lovely new clothes.  And, then I ate, and...I'm writing this.

In reflection, this is a really boring blog entry.  Sorry.

Puente number one - León!

So, this weekend I had not only 2 days in which to relax and have fun, but FOUR.  This is what is known as a puente, or bridge, where there are public holidays so close together that the day in the middle (in this case the Monday) is also made into a holiday.  There's another one in a couple of weeks, but this one has been changed so that instead there's only three days :( The day which is now going to be worked is May 15th, which is teachers' day.  More about that another time, I'm sure.

So, I decided that rather than stay in Celaya on this puente, I would go somewhere else.  After making a friend at the BEO competition, I decided to go to León, Gto., both to explore the city and to hang out with him.  I left Celaya several hours later than I'd intended as I was waiting indoors for a visit which never came.  After giving up and going, I arrived in León at about 4pm.  I had a little wander about, then went to my hotel.  It was nicely tucked away down a side street.  Although being less than 5 minutes walk from the central square, it was silent and lovely to sleep in.

After dropping off my stuff, I went for a wander.  I was going to meet up with George later that evening, so decided that I should see as much as I could in the meantime.  León is renowned for its leather goods, and although I knew this before going I was not prepared for QUITE so much leather.  I swear I have never seen so many shoes, bags and belts in my entire life; next time I am going to visit with a quantity of money!  After a couple of hours walking I was a little peckish, I so got some tacos...delicious tacos, indeed.

More wandering, and no call from George, I decided to go back to my hotel so I could log onto wifi and see if I had any messages on Facebook.  I did, rescheduling for the next day, so I decided to get an early night.

I woke up early the next day, and decided to head out and explore right away.  I turned out of my hotel's street the opposite direction to the day before, and in about 3 minutes was in the city centre.  Here I found so much more than I had ever expected.  Beautiful architecture, shops, cafés, restaurants...everything I like in a city.  Every corner I turned was a new delight, whether it was another beautiful building or a shop selling things I can't find in Celaya.  I found, amongst other things, a comic book store and no less than 3 tattoo studios (I've found one tat studio in Celaya; no comic book store, although there is an awesome stuff selling anime and other random Japanese stuff).  I walked, and walked, and walked.  I took photos, I shopped (jewellery, mainly), and and I ate enchiladas.  I decided to head back to my hotel for a FB check, and it was lucky that I did. It turned out that George was having some friends over to eat and drink beer, and I was invited.  Although I had a little trouble getting in contact to confirm (my UK number wouldn't dial or text his MX phone) and I ended up going to a payphone, I eventually got a taxi to Plaza Mayora retail park where I met him, his best friend and little brother and then we drove off to the house.  The afternoon passed in a stream of awesomeness.  More people came; everybody was really cool.  There was a great deal of beer; very refreshing and yummy in the afternoon heat.  There was a BBQ, with steaks and chorizo sausages; all delicious.  We all chatted, some people played guitar, we played NINJA! (which I'd seen but never played before...and suck at, but I WILL get better...), some people played piano, everybody sang at some point or another, there was more beer, we told jokes, then dirty ones, and then, unfortunately, it was time to go back to my hotel.  I wasn't feeling particularly drunk, but thanks to being a little too ambitious with my sun resistance, I was a little warm and sleepy.  So I went back to my hotel, before going to the nearby store for a chilled coffee and a giant bottle of water.  After that, I slept like a baby.

I woke up this morning and the first thing I noticed was the redness of my arms.  I am very lobster-like.  It doesn't hurt, which is AWESOME, considering the shade of red to which I am currently adjusted, but it looks BAD.  I decided to post pictures on Facebook, to give people some amusement; I always mock my friends when they have sunburn, so it's only fair that they get the chance to return the favour.

So, in a recap, León.  I WANT TO GO BACK.  It's the best place I've been to in Mexico so far. I love everything about the city, from the architecture and planning/ design to the huge array of shops.  There are a lot of cool looking bars which I want to visit, and I have a strong urge to spend a day shoe shopping.  I will definitely go back, probably in the next few weeks. My new favourite city!!!

Oh, how predictable!

It has been almost 4 months since I last posted.  This is not entirely that surprising, really; lots of things have happened to me and I have been really, really busy (but then they all say that, don't they Blogger?)

The first major thing that happened was that my relationship kind of...well, vanished.  To be honest it hadn't exactly been amazing for a while, but we both kind of plodded along, hoping that it would improve while simultaneously getting more and more miserable.  There were several factors, none of which I'm going to go into any details with.  First we decided to 'dis-engage'.  We took off our rings, and waited to see if that would help at all.  It didn't.  Eventually, after more procrastinating, we talked and decided that it was best to not be 'together' anymore.  It feels better, I have to say.  It is a little weird still living together, but at least there is a different bedroom, which he now lives in.  He's started talking to and seeing a girl from the Internet, so it's been a good thing for him.  I have nobody right now, although in all fairness until I've finished my diploma work it wouldn't be practical for me to have another relationship...not one that involved human contact. I would consider a distance relationship; that would match the schedule I currently have! However, I'm not going to actively look for anything (although if anything of that nature was to come along I would, naturally, be delighted!)

The second major thing that occurred was the BEO competition.  Since September last year, I had been working with a group of 16 students from my school, preparing to enter the BEO (British English Olympics) competition.  For those of you who are not familiar with the BEO, it is a competition of English prowess, including presentations and performances.  There were about 70 schools (maybe more) in the competition this year, and it was held at four campuses, at prestigious public schools in England; Christ's Hospital School, St Mary's Ascot, Ardingly College (where I was the Academic Director in 2011) and Bradfield College - where we stayed this year.  I won't go into too much detail, as most of my thoughts and photos can be found on my Facebook.  However, what I will say is that it was an incredible experience and it was really interesting to be at a residential school as a group leader.  Now I have experienced it from all points of view; teacher/activity leader, centre management, foreign group leader, and student (when I went to a French school when I was a kid).  It is hard to say which point of view is the best, most interesting, most difficult or whatever; each is different.  I AM looking forward to having a few weeks this summer as plain teacher/activity leader however; as much as I love management and so on, it will be nice to have a break from it, and to be able to properly interact with the kids.

SO, that's my explanation for not writing recently.  I hope it's acceptable, and I promise that in future I will be more regular with my posting...

A recap

It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted. In that time, two important things have happened - firstly, I've started going to the gym, and secondly, I've had my lower wisdom teeth taken out. I won't bore you with the gym details (I go, I exercise, I leave) or with my personal struggles and goals and all that crap (I want to not be fat, I want to be able to run more than 10 feet without collapsing, I want to look good in whatever I wear).

What I will do is tell you about the tooth extraction. First of all, I'd like to give an anecdote. About 8 years ago, when I was at university, my wisdome teeth began their quest to poke through my gums. An appropriate time for them to do so, it must be said, but not entirely convenient. My wisdom teeth decided that rather than make a break for it and get out of my gums completely, they would rather lie in wait, lurking under the surface for a while, and then gradually come out, then decide against it, then try again, then go back. This happened regularly every few weeks. I decided one sunny day (sunny for the purpose of the anecdote - it could have been pissing down for all I remember) that enough was enough and I marched to the dental drop in centre. On this day that I'd chosen, I'd accidentally brushed my teeth a little over-zealously, and as a result had a bleeding back gum and a flap of skin over one of my wisdoms. The dentist took a quick look, however, and rather than acknowledging that a) I was in a lot of pain, b) this happened regularly, c) there was indeed no space for the teeth to grow, he told me to go away. No kidding, he literally told me to go away and that it would fix itself. I asked how long it would take, to which he replied "oh, 5 years...7 years...something like that." Unable to refer myself to a private dentist to have a second opinion, I then suffered. For 8 years. With no change. Every 6 months or so, the cursed things would make a new attempt for freedom, and I would be left with tender gums and an inability to eat anything tough or chewy or crunchy or solid for a week.

So, last week, I headed off to Salamanca. The other half went too, although he was getting a root canal. Yay. I had an X-ray in the morning, and when I saw my dentist that evening he took one look at the paper, one quick look in my mouth, and said that there was clearly a problem with them - would I mind having them removed? Yes, yes, yes, I replied, and before I knew it the anaesthetic was coursing through my mandibular veins, numbing my nerves, and then the dentist set upon my offending molars with a chisel (no joke, a chisel) and dental forceps. It took half an hour to get the first one out - this is the one which was half in and half out. It took a mere ten minutes to extract the second, and after that I was slurring and lisping my way home. As the anaesthetic wore off the pain increased, and it still hasn't abated - right now I'm dosed up on painkillers and unable to eat anything more substantial than soup.

Luckily though I've had a very busy day, so that's helped to take my mind off of things. Back to work now, and to planning a series of observations which will not only help a teacher in need, but will also fill one of my coursework modules for diploma.

Christmases past and present, part 2

And so this Christmas. I won't go into the details - it basically involved eating a lot, watching GOOD things, and playing with new things.

On Christmas eve we went for dinner round with some new friends, and cooked and ate a feast of sauerkraut, boeuf de bourguinon and potatoes, after which we watched a film.

Sunday was nice and relaxed too.

I cooked a turkey for the first time, and it was great. I smothered it with butter and herbs, and it was soft and juicy and tender and yummy. Still is, indeed.

Mr Pickled Cabbage and I exchanged gifts, and in return for the Kindle and wind up pocket watch which I got him, I got an awesome camera, an egg lamp which has many, many, many different colours, and a moka pot. I'm happy to say that I've now got the hang of all of these things, and have been sipping tast coffee while writing this.

During food and after, we started watching the latest adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes stories. In summary it's set in modern day London, has Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes, and Martin Freeman as Watson. I could go on about how much I liked it, but I won't, as my fingers are getting tired from all the writing. All I'll say is that I'm greatly looking forward to the new episodes, starting on NYD.

...I really can't be bothered to write anything else. I have kittens to interfere with.

Christmases past and present, part 1

I haven't mentioned this before. I'm not really that bothered about Christmas. Any of it. I loved it when I was a kid, but since I left home for university it's become less of a thing for me. Having been dragged along to the families of 2 exes for Christmas, I despise the family part (I hardly speak to my own family - why the fuck would I want to hang out with somebody else's?) I have plenty of stories of shit Christmases, all in the company of others when I've had to use somebody else's schedule ("OK, so at 9am we'll all get up and have breakfast. After that we'll open the pressies, one each, clockwise, youngest first. Then we'll have a cup of tea and some cake. The we'll go for a walk [why the fuck does everybody think that it's a good idea to go for a walk on Christmas day, anyway? It's not something that usually happens, nobody really enjoys it, and you end up with nothing more than achy legs and wind pain in your ears]. After our walk - ooh, bracing! - we'll a) go to the restaurant b) sit at the table for Christmas dinner. If option a) we will then discuss the merits and demerits of each dish, and compare to the place we went to last year. If b), we will fight over the best bits of turkey. During dinner, we'll tell shit stories and make fun of the youngest member of the family. [and hopefully I will drink enough to make the rest of the day less painful]. At some point during the meal, we'll pull crackers and proceed to a) put on a ´present face´for the object inside, b) groan at the joke, c) put on the silly paper hat. [Note: The paper hats will stay on for the rest of the day, until you go into the bathroom and catch sight of your red, drunk face and realise what a complete and utter prick you look like] "So, for the rest of the day, we'll just relax and enjoy each other's company!" I enjoyed my family Christmases when I was a kid because there wasn't so much of the 'imposed fun' that I've experienced. We would get up, eat, open stuff, then do whatever. It was usually Boxing Day (the 26th of December, for my non-Brit readers) when the other family members would visit, and even then it was more of a sit down with a cup of tea and some cake while chatting about usual stuff and opening any gifts. I don't remember any problems coming up from this Christmas arrangement, probably because there was no tight schedule or expectations. Compare the first (pretty much) 17 Christmases of my life to this experience I had while spending the holiday with an ex and his family a few years ago...

A couple of weeks before, it was all agreed over the phone. We would travel down to their place and stay the weekend. His parents agreed to buy Christmas lunch and also tickets to the football the following day. So, we travelled, we stayed, and it was lunchtime. Food was ok - a bit bland, but as good as you can expect an average carvery to create on Christmas day - and it was time to pay. Bear in mind that the parents had offered to pay already. There was a frosty silence as the mother glared at us. Apparently, the phrase "We'll take care of lunch" had taken on a new meaning - "we'll SAY that we're going to pay, but actually we want YOU to pay almost 300 quid for the meal at the excessively-priced place that WE chose to bring you and a few other random relatives to". The mother glared more, I went to the bathroom. I came back to her tutting as ex's dad slapped down his credit card and she talked to my ex like he was 5 (at the time he was over 30, although his backbone was barely formed). She reasoned that as he'd reneged on his promise (ha!) to pay for lunch, he now had to pay the football tickets. Which she'd previously said were a gift. Obviously being the invertebrate that he was (probably still is, to be fair), he whipped out the cash and she was placated for the time being.

Then there's the time I spent Christmas with another ex and his mum. The schedule of that day involved getting up early, opening stuff, and then settling down in front of the TV. For the rest of the day. The majority of TV is brain-rotting at the best of times, let alone all the million Christmas specials. Don't get me wrong, there are a few exceptions (very few), but the majority of TV is absloute shite. So here I was, trapped in the home of a telly-addicted old woman and her dribbling prat (although I hadn't yet noticed this part) of a son, having to watch the specials of every single fucking soap running, plus a load of other shit chat shows and light entertainment bollocks. I tentatively mentioned that my friend (who luckily lived round the corner) wanted to meet up. I was met with a look of disdain from my ex, who seemed unable to comprehend why I didn't want my brain cells to degenerate any further, and a look from his mum which I could only read as one that humoured me, like I was a curiosity for not being sucked into telly land. I got the fuck out of there as soon as I could, rushed round to my mate's place, and got stuck into a bottle of Jameson's with her. When I returned to the house of TV, the occupants were in the exact same places as when I left, and for I knew the same shite was on the telly.

Other Christmases I've had in recent years have pissed all over those forced family occasions. In 2008 I was travelling, and spent the Christmas in London with my aunt and family (and again no stupid imposed structure, just food, slobbing and wine), followed by a solo bus journey across Europe which ended up with me spending New Years Eve in Budapest, having dinner with an Australian family I had befriended at the hostel where I was staying. I actually wrote all about it on my old blogger blog, first post of which is here: http://el-scenic-route.blogspot.com/2008/12/on-road.html

In 2009 I worked on the 25th - Russian Christmas isn't until January, and when faced with two holiday options, I chose the one which gave me NYE, and Russian Christmas off. I watched films with my Russian friends, I ate tasty stuff, and I had a wonderfully relaxed season, and one of my best ever Christmases.

In 2010, I had what could be described as an adventure. An expensive adventure. My original plan was to fly from Moscow to London, get a ferry from Harwich to Hoek-van-Holland, trains down through the Netherlands, Belgium and France, and then a final train down to where my mum lives in south-east Spain. It started off with a ridiculous snowstorm in London. It was so snowy, it was impossible for them to land anything, so as a result my flight, which should have departed at 01:35 or something like that, was cancelled. I spent a night in the airport, and bought a new flight, which was also delayed to within an inch of everyone's patience before ebing cancelled. The airline put myself and some other fugitives up in a hotel, and we played the waiting game. Eventually, on day 3, we flew on a jumbo jet with a load of other cancelled flights. Ours was the only flight which got a hotel - everyone else had been sleeping on the airport floor for the last 2 nights. I arrived in London the 23rd, 2 days behind schedule. I had to leave my bags in a storage facility, and run off to the consualte building to get a renewed Russian visa, before heading down to Harwich to get my (rescheduled) ferry. Obviously, the ferry departed late, and even more obviously, it was delayed in the water, so it reached Hoek approximately 5 hours later that it should have done. From the ferry terminal I ran to a waiting train which took me to Rotterdam. Then I got a trian from Rotterdam to Brussels. This train was, of course, delayed. I arrived in Brussels at about 11pm, just in time to have solidly missed the final train to Paris, and also for the the train station to be starting to close. I was then turfed out onto the streets of Brussels in search of a hotel. In a blizzard. After a few overpriced queries, pathetic looking me managed to get a 75% off deal in a place run by a guy who seemed delighted to be able to practice his English at that hour of night.

The following morning I made use of the buffet (filling up my handbag with bread, meat and cheese) and set off. As my finances were running low, I couldn't afford to get the fast train to Paris, and ended up taking a series of 4 regional trains. Of course, they were ALL delayed, and I ended up arriving in Paris about 7 hours later. This was the week of the Eurostar closure, and Gare du Nord was literally jammed with people. I fought my way to a counter to ask if there was another train to Barcelona. They said no. They said that the train departed from Austerlitz, but it was full. I asked if I could get a ticket for the next day, and they responded in the negative. Out of frustration more than anything else, I went to Austerlitz just for the hell of it. Lucky I had, because the ticket seller guy there was lovely, and got me on the train to Barcelona that evening.

It arrived on the morning of the 25th, and now all I had to do was get a regional train down to Murcia, and then another regional from there to my mum's town. I got my ticket sorted out, called my mum to let her know what was going on, and began to wait. After a little while, I became aware that my iPhone was missing - some fucker had pickpocketed me. Happy I was not. To cut a long story short, I arrived at my mum's place at about 8pm, and she fed me, watered me, and I went to sleep. Two days later I left again, to catch trains all across Europe (Spain to Switzerland to Germany to Czech Republic to Hungary to Romania [the train between these two was where I spent NYE, in the company of a gypsy family and a bloke of about 5 different nationalities]) to Moldova to Russia). Despite losing my phone, this has to be one of my favourite Christmases ever.

I am alarmed

I was just having a scroll through some of the other blogs on here, using the 'Next Blog' link at the top of the page. As you probably know if you use Blogger, this will take you to another blog at random. Or so I thought. The first blog I landed on was one of a Christian housewife who was fretting over the fact that she had purposely not bought her 10 year old son any chocolate eggs at Easter, as it was NOW the time to tell him that the Easter bunny wasn't real, and, in fact, Easter was all about Jesus. She was wondering how to tell him that Easter isn't actually about baby animals and so on, and is actually a celebration of how a dude got beaten up, crucified and then reborn, only to ge raptured once his buddies saw him walking about afterwards. Way to fuck up your kid's weekend, lady. And not even with any chocolate to sweeten the blow.

The second blog I landed on was that of a church. Can you see where this is going?

The third blog was...yes, you've guessed it, another Christian person, although I didn't stick around long enough to read much more, having been already traumatised by the story of Easter. The same story goes for the next two blogs I saw, until I gave it up as a bad job and decided to actually write one instead.

So, I'm now worried. I've thought carefully about all that has happened to me in the last ten minutes, and now I am wondering - is blogger trying to tell me something?

A thing which concerns me

Christmas is a time when you eat. Specifically, you eat turkey, both on the day itself and for several days after, usually in many different forms. What do we eat WITH turkey? Well, potatoes, obviously - I'll be doing roasties and mash. Also gravy, the thicker the better. And of course, there's vegetables. Carrots, broccoli, and the quintessential Christmas vegetable: the Brussels sprout. A small, unassuming, green vegetable that has divided opinion for decades. Some people hate them with a burning passion from the depths of hell itself. Jokes abound about how entire families loathe sprouts, yet still serve them on Christmas day because they are traditional, and god forbid tradition gets put aside. Other people love the sprout, and not only eat them at Christmas but include them in every roast dinner they cook. I am of the latter camp; I adore sprouts, and count them in my top 3 favourite vegetables. They are like mini cabbages. They are extremely good for you, and have a flavour that goes well with a variety of culinary creations ranging from the usual roast to stir-fry.

Based on this fascinating fact you have just discovered about me, you can imagine my distress when I did my Christmas food shopping this week and found NO SPROUTS. Not a single one. I searched far and wide (well, in 2 supermarkets) and my sprout search was fruitless (sproutless). I don't know how I'm going to cope this year without my favourite little green bundle of deliciousness. Even in Moscow I found sprouts to be, although not exactly plentiful, available.

So, this is a plea to any Mexican readers of this blog, especially those who live in Celaya. If you know of anywhere which sells this vegetable, please - tell me. Too many people suffer during the festive season. Don't allow one more person to do so.

Statistical day 2

Following up from yesterday's statistical look at my morning, here's another.

Number of students from my own class who turned up to class: 21
Number of students from the class next door who joined with my class: too many
Number of kids who came to school at Elementary: about 20...that's roughly 10%
Number of bags I am trying to fit into my big bag on wheels: 5
Number of bags I will succeed in fitting into my big bag on wheels: 5 (I am an expert at shoving stuff into bags)
Minutes until leaving school at time of writing: 44
Number of hugs I got today from my students: Too many to count
Number of newsletters I am waiting to have amended, so that they can be sent on ready for the start of term in January: 2
Number of gifts received today from students: 3 (chocolate, a lucky sheep and a seriously cute plushie doggie)
Amount of money I will spend buying the Xmas groceries: Undetermined
Number of foreign films which I intend to watch later today: 1 MINUMUM

That's all. Can't think of anything else...