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.
30.4.12
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!!!
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...
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...
17.1.12
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.
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