The last year - in a rush!

It has been so long since my last update on this blog that I am not sure where to begin!!! Last year was a very tough year here in Spain. It took a LOT of getting used to after living in sociable Thailand!! I made a decision to save as much money as possible and get out of here as soon as my contract finished in June, with plans to return to Thailand. Things didn’t end up working out that way ….. I was persuaded to stay and felt better about returning by the time the summer came. I think the fact that come the end of April all the tables are outside the cafes again and everyone spent their evenings promenading around town. There was also a huge feria in town, which involved a lot of ‘cultural’ activities – one thing I had really been pining for. All the women and girls in town wore their finest flamenco dresses, whilst the men dressed in traditional Spanish clothes – shirts, high topped trousers, braces and hat. Everyone looked fantastic (although I really don’t see how anyone could think they look attractive in a flamenco dress!). The reason for the feria was to transfer the statue of the virgin to a church which is half way up the Peña (small mountain overlooking Martos). The celebrations lasted for days and I was invited to spend some of it with some Spanish friends.

Come the summer everything got a little hectic. My students had Cambridg exams, I had to write further exams for them, last minute report card writing and tying off loose ends took up much of my time.

I agreed with my landlord (after a little persuasion) that he would let me keep my apartment for July and August rent free; and rushed of to England to work at a summer school near Brighton.

Arriving in England after so many years away was very strange to begin. I couldn’t get over the fact that everyone around me was speaking English. I was met by my aunt and uncle and we drove to a hotel where we met another aunt and uncle for dinner. I hadn’t seen any of them for years so it was a great evening of catch up. Then it was off to work again…

I worked for Buckswood Summer Programmes at a place called Plumpton, which is in the middle of nowhere. The students were aged between 7 and 18 and came from all over the world – a real mix of languages and cultures. Bearing in mind I had had only a few days break I was exhausted before I began work – never good with summer camp work! It took me a while to get into it and understand everything going on but once I did I started to have fun. It was totally exhausting work but the other teachers were nice and we got on well. We all seemed to work all the hours God sent and by the end of the programme (7 weeks for me) I was close to dropping.

I returned to France to some very well earned R and R at Mum and Dad’s house. It was great to be there in the summer – lovely weather and bbq’s in the garden – just what the doctor ordered.

After a couple of weeks it was time to return to sunny Spain. I was feeling a lot more positive about returning here at this point. A new teacher was starting at my school (there are only 3 of us total) so I was quite curious about what he would be like. It turned out that we couldn’t have been luckier, the new teacher is a guy called Joe who has come over with his wife Marie Claire and their two kids to live in Spain. They are lovely and I get on well with them. We meet up for beer or tapas often and seem to find a lot to chat about. In general life is much much better this year, I seem to be out and about a lot more, and work is good too. I have a couple of tough classes to teach – you know the type… teenagers that are more interested in the opposite sex than actually knuckling sown and learning English grammar (can’t imagine why!!), other than that it is all good. My boss has put my name forward to become a Cambridge University Oral Examiner (sounds much better than it is!) and I begin training for that in January. I am going home for Christmas and everyone will be there this year (Mum, Dad, Caz, Rob, Abbie and Ben). My parents are coming down here for Easter so I can show off the wonders of Martos to them (!?). I am hoping to go back to the same summer school in the summer and then it will be back here for a third year (least that is the plan at the moment!) Well that is the year in a small nutshell. I will try to keep more up to date now I have the internet….Promise!!! Laus

xxxx