Snow!!!

Yes, yesterday we woke up to snow. Not a huge amount - a light dusting really (as my dad might say!!), but the students were highly excited. I even saw a few snowball fights on the football pitch...

I just felt cold. It's currently five degrees inside our apartment. Yes, that's right - INSIDE!!!! We can get some hot air out of our air conditioner, but it's not that hot, and we only have that in the bedroom. Brrrr! Still, we are better off than the students who have no heating whatsoever and they seem to be wearing much less clothing than I am.

Hey ho. Or should that be 'Ho ho ho'?!!! Merry Christmas!

Practising English and Chinese

On Tuesday evening this week I attended the final part of an 'LSA' competition here at the college. The 'LSA' stands for 'Listening and Speaking Achievement' (I believe). Anyway, the part that I attended involved the students making an impromptu speech. In other words, they were given a topic before the competition began and then had to speak on that topic for a fixed amount of time. They were then given a question by one of the judges.

Now I've attended a few of these competitions in the past, but it's always been a competition involving prepared speeches. I'm fully in favour of students practising and using their English outside class, but I'm not sure how much value such competitions actually have. Memorising and then regurgitating a speech (in my opinion) does not teach students how to meaningfully communicate in a foreign language. However, I am more in favour of the idea of impromptu speeches and questions, such as I saw on Tuesday evening. This at least encourages students to think on their feet.

Anyway, there were some very good speeches and responses to questions and some not so good. I've a lot of admiration for the students who take part in such competitions and some were clearly (and undestandably nervous). Unfortunately the student I thought was the best (and coincidentally one of my students!) did not get a prize as she didn't do so well in the listening part of the competition.

The judges were also asked to give a short speech at the end. I trotted out my usual line about telling students to 'practise, practise, practise'. However, I've not really been taking my own advice when it comes to learning Chinese. We have class once a week for two hours, but between one class and then next I rarely take out my textbook, though I know I should. Obviously, living in China means that I have to practise my Chinese everyday, but usually there is nothing new that I have to say. Anyway, today I managed a bit more practise than usual. First, with a friendly taxi driver - they often one to chat and this one had very clear Chinese and second with an old guy on the bus. Also very friendly, but a little less clear. The bus driver also weighed in for a while, reminding the old guy to speak in Mandarin and not the local dialect!

Christmas next week. Christmas Day will mostly be spent giving exams, like the rest of the week. However, we do have a few festive things planned. More about that later...

Finally, congratulations to my sister and brother-in-law and welcome into the world to my nephew.

Jinggang Shan

I realised I never wrote about my other trip during the sports meeting...

Anyway, Rick and I went off to a place called 'Jinggang Shan' ('shan' meaning 'mountain' in Chinese). It was lovely. A bit touristy, but only Chinese tourists there - we didn't see a foreigner the whole town. The air was clean, there was very little litter (unusual for China!) and there were lots and lots of mountains. Yippee!!!!

We had an interesting drive, going through some tiny villages in the countryside, along some small and not always in very good condition roads. At one point, along a really muddy, potholed road we were passed by a man on a motorbike with a side-board lashed to the back, sticking out a good metre on either side. We barely had time to stop laughing and marvelling at the amazing things people carry on the back of their motorbikes, when another one drove past. This time the man had a set of large metal driveway gates, held on by he was friend who was also on the back!!! Crazy. Oh, and the other day there was a gutted pig carcass flapping around on the back of someone's bike. Yum.

Winter Preparations

Yes, it's getting cold. I've donned my thermals and yesterday I started my shopping in preparation for the next couple of months or so.

Last time I was in China, my best winter purchase was an electric blanket for my bed. Switch it on for half and hour before you get in and by the time you do, it's toasty and warm. It's only on my side of the bed, cos Rick felt it was a step to far for him, but I've no doubt he'll be gravitating towards my side...

I also checked out the following with a view to making purchases later in the week:
- long boots;
- quilted pyjamas (pictures to follow);
- more thermals;
- cosy slippers.

Everyone here is trying desperately to keep warm (though not as desperately as me!) and so there is no shortage of keeping warm devices and clothing in the shops.

This morning we were woken not to the sounds of the campus student security guards on their morning march-around, but operatic-style singing. Further investigation reveal students moving en masses towards the sports field. We ventured outside without our morning coffee (which in itself was quite brave!) and I spotted a couple of my students to ask. Turns out that it was a celebration for 30 years of Pingxiang College. We found a vantage point on top of a building (often quite easy to get to the tops of buildings here!!!) and watched for a while as the students gathered in their class groups and then filed onto the field. They were then talked [shouted] at for a while, before the national anthem was played and everyone was left to get on with their day...

On a different note, I finally managed to get a decent [?] helmet for motorbiking. Rick had got one a few weeks ago. When I say 'decent' I mean a full face solid-feeling helmet as opposed to some kind of plasticky building site style hard-hat with a chin strap. I had had trouble finding one that was small enough for my head (no, I don't understand it either - I have a big head!) and had tried to order one twice without success. We went again today to the same shop and I had the same problem. I even tried a couple of open-face helmets on, despairing of ever finding one to fit me. The suddenly one of the men from the shop [I think he was from the shop, but there were quite a few people milling around outside, so it was difficult to tell] produced the right style of helmet, in the right size and brand. I tried it on and, like Cinderella and the glass slipper, it fit!!! Yippee. Not the best colour - silver, red and black pattern, but fine anyway. Where did it come from? Why did he choose that moment to suddenly produce it? Who knows? Ah China...

One last thing. I also got my hair cut yesterday. As it's very thick, I decided to get it thinned a bit at the same time. Anything that makes it quicker to dry with a hair dryer while the weather's cold. So he thinned it. And thinned it. Then thinned it a bit more. And then did some final thinning. I HAVE NO HAIR!!! Fortunately I started with quite a lot and I'm sure it'll grow back. And it was cheap. Never mind...

Power and water

Just a quick post and I'll write later about the other trip we went on.

Tuesday evening I had a text message from my 'co-teacher' (the Chinese English teacher who was assigned to help me out with all sorts of things) telling me that the electricity and water were due to be off the following day from 8am to 6pm. Yippee!!! Anyway, duly forewarned we filled as many plastic vessels as we had, including a huge plastic bin-like container.

Next day the power and electricity were off and we had the cleaner coming round, so it was lucky that we'd stocked up.

And they stayed off... Yesterday evening there was some electricity in the classrooms but none for us. I retired to bed with my headtorch and book and was asleep by 9.30pm!! The electricity did come on again for a little while, but not long. Besides which, I was settled in bed by then and not getting out!

Don't know what was going on, but it looked like a lot of the city was without power as well.

No water again this morning, but the electricity had returned. By lunchtime we also had water back and I was able to finally wash my hair (it was a bit nasty!) The internet (which had also been off) has now returned as well. Obviously.

Still, it could be worse. The weather hasn't really got properly cold yet. We're used to unheated houses and classrooms here anyway and you don't really need light that much during the day, do you? It did make me think, though. Back in Britain schools are closed down if there are power cuts in winter. Here, people spend the whole winter without heating, trying to stay warm.

Anyway, if you're sitting reading this in a well-heated room, spare a though for me - I'm currently wearing four layers (including my jacket), thermal leggins and contemplating adding a hat. Joy...

How to draw a crowd in China...

... stop.

As anyone who has spent any time in China will tell you, it's not difficult to draw a crowd.

We've been out and about quite a bit recently and the first trip we took was round Wugong Mountain with Rick's friend, Joseph.  We were taking advantage of the fact that the students were involved in a sports meeting and so there were no classes, or so we thought...

The first day of the sports meeting dawned wet.  Very wet.  So classes were back on.  Except that half the students had gone home.  Thursday was fine, so the sports meeting was back on!!  We somehow got dragged into the opening ceremony and then we dashed of on the bikes.  Thursday stayed fine and we had a good day's riding and taking photos.  We stayed way up the mountain in what is loosely termed a 'hotel' but is very basic.  Still, we had some good food and some evil baijiu (more of that later...)

Next day was wet again, so the sports meeting was off and classes were back on.  Sadly, we were up a mountain and a few hours' ride away from PX, so there was not really much to be done.  We drove back in the cold and wet.  Not pleasant.

Here are some photos from that trip anyway and I'll write more about the rest of the gallivanting soon...

Classroom antics and other things...

Today is an easy day for me, just one afternoon class. However, the day began as my Tuesdays usually do with a run through the fields, scaring the farmers and trying not to be scared by the dogs (they're harmless, but I do feel a bit nervous as they trot towards me...)

I did consider giving the run a miss today as I went to the gym yesterday. Yes, that's right, a gym. In Pingxiang. And a clean one at that. Yippee! It's a Powerhouse gym, which is an American chain, so I suppose it works on a franchise basis or something. Anyway, it's empty during the day, spotlessly clean and has all the normal machines etc you'd expect to find in a gym. They also do aerobics, spinning and yoga classes, so I may well try some of those too. Now I'm not a big fan of gyms. In fact I'd even go as far as to say that I actively dislike them, but we decided it was necessary as we're not getting enough exercise in. My plan is to put some Chinese listening on my mp3 and make it a learning experience as well (though I'll probably just end up switching to music as I sweat and curse!!) Ooh there's also a squash court. Looking forward to that, though no doubt I'll be bruised and battered.

Back to my class. It's a speaking class - 60 first years and a bit noisy. No, acutally, a lot noisy. But never mind. At least they're speaking and as far as I can tell, most of it's in English.

I'm not sure if I've written about him before, but I have a mature student in this class. It's quite commical to see him at the back, squashed into a bench amongst the youngsters. I really don't know what he thinks of my class - I'm sure it's a far cry from his English lessons at school and university (?) In fact, I was told that he wanted to improve his English in order to be able to read more articles etc related to his job, so I'm not sure why he's coming to an oral English class.

I was preparing them for their mid-term exam today and so I told him that it was optional for him. But he was quite keen to come along and take part with one of the groups. So, we'll see.

As I was walking back from class, enjoying the sunshine, a smart white VW drove past me and there he was leaning out of the window: "Bye bye!" Made me smile.

On a different note, R has bought a motorbike (125cc only) which makes it a lot easier to get out and about - even doing the shopping is more fun!! It also means we can get deep into the heart of the countryside, and you really don't have to go far to do that. Promise I'll post some photos soon so you can see how it is - like stepping back 50 years or more.

Well, the weather's fabulous. Maybe just time for a quick spin before tea...

Brass, Bacardi and Being Beautiful

The nice weather is back. Clear blue skies yesterday and today, warm but not too hot and a pleasant breeze - mustn't grumble!

I went into class yesterday afternoon wearing a skirt, a skirt I hadn't worn before and was surprised (though a little pleased!) to hear choruses of 'beautiful' from my students. That's why I'm teaching in China and not in the UK...

Anyway, enough of my ego. What's new?

Not much. We still haven't been paid (two weeks late now), though this has never happen to R before, both times he's taught here. We have been told we'll be paid tomorrow, but we were also told originally we'd be paid on the 12th. Hmmm.

Went out on Saturday night for the birthday of one of the other foreign teachers. We went to a bar called 'Brass', of which there are two branches in PX. It's a Western-style bar, or as close as you get to it in this part of China, serving coffee and waffles, amongst other things. We went there for dessert (waffles) and drink. Actually, we drank their Bacardi supplies dry. Now this isn't as bad as it sounds - they only had one bottle and you tend to buy spirits by the bottle here and share them. Oh well... The other branch of Brass didn't even have a single bottle last time they went, but have since phoned to say they've got plenty in...

One interesting thing, we started off in a kind of booth by the window on massive comfy chairs. We then bumped into a former PXC teacher and his girlfriend, so had to move to a bigger table. We ended up in what was more like an alcove room with curtains that you could pull across. Every time a waitress came with food / drinks, she closed the curtains. And then we opened them again.

It's something different about China. In restaurants you'll have the main seating area and then private rooms. When I'm with other foreigners we always just go for the main area, but with Chinese people we'll offen end up in one of the private rooms. Not sure what the attraction of them is really. In fact, the whole Chinese dining experience is different. Many more people are able to eat out here as it is much more affordable. It's also much noisier. You go into a restaurant in Britain and people will generally speak fairly quietly and not draw attention to themselves - right? Well here, the volume tends to be much louder, with shouting being the norm, alcohol is drunk, but quickly and in the form of 'toasts', and when it's hot the men roll up their t-shirts and get their stomachs out (to cool down, presumably). Maybe that's why they have private rooms...

Didn't you read the notice?

Information vacuum (again!)

Today was the first day back after seven days' holiday to celebrate China's National Day.  I won't even go into the fact that we had to work Saturday and Sunday prior to starting the holiday so that we could have a seven-day holiday...

We had prior notice (amazing!) via R's co-teacher that afternoon classes start at 2pm now instead of 2.30pm.  I was preparing for my evening class as usual, when I got a text message through at 7.06pm from the class monitor to tell me that the time of the class had changed and that they were all waiting for me!!!  I have written and ranted about this in the past (the lack of information, that is) so I won't rant again.  I also have good reason to believe that the Chinese teachers didn't know about the change either...  I just took my time and pottered off to class when I was ready.  My class (bless them!) were sitting quietly looking through their textbooks etc.  Yay.

Recycling - Chinese-style

On a slightly different note, one of the other teachers was talking the other day about 'Toothy the Bin Raker'.  Of course we all knew immediately who he was talking about.  He's a tall, skinny man who carries a sack around campus, going through the bins for plastic bottles which he gets money for.  The 'toothy' bit of his name refers to the fact that he is actually a bit lacking in that department.  It's a pretty horrible job, but he's not the only one.  Near our apartment is the rubbish area - basically an open bit of concrete where people throw their rubbish bags.  There are often old ladies there, going through the rubbish, sorting out what they can take away for recycling (and therefore money).  It also gets periodically set on fire.  Lovely.

Wugong Mountain

We thought we had done well to get on a trip with a photography club to Wugong Mountain.  We had contemplated doing it solo, but it does require a lot of effort, particularly without our own transport.  However, things slowly became less good as we realised that most of the rest of the group were students - argh!!!  We need a break from them sometimes.

Anyway, it wasn't too bad, once you got used to their shouting, rubbish-dropping, mobile phone music and generally behaving like kids on a school trip.  I took quite a few photos, got a little wet in the rain and sheltered in a fake 'yurt' somewhere in the fog and rain (that didn't provoke any interested in the other random [Chinese] people who were also there...!!)  The 'hotel' we stayed in was of a slightly lower quality than the ones I've stayed in previously up there, but perfectly OK.  The food was tasty and we had some beer before and after dinner.  The students entertained themselves by playing a game where you  had to try to NOT guess the number a student had typed into their mobile phone.  If you did guess it, you had to do a forfeit - fairly tame things such as singing a song, telling a story etc.  It was quite interesting as well, actually, as the student singing only had to start the first few bars of their chosen song before all the other joined in.  They're good at doing things together, these Chinese.

We declined the offer to join in [spoilsports!] and played cards instead.  I ended up being the 'Donkey', 'Scabby Queen' or whatever you want to call it twice.  Poor me.  There wasn't much more to do and so at about 8pm we went to bed!  Sadly, the lights were on a single circuit and so we couldn't turn ours off until the generator went off at 10pm.  Didn't stop me falling asleep, though...

We managed to get to the top in the morning and could see a little, though not the views I've been able to see from the top before.  Coming down the next day, down the steps (remember, this is tourism with Chinese characteristics) was agony for tired legs and I can barely walk today!  We saw a couple of people (including one tubby Chinese boy) who couldn't even managed to walk up the mountain and were being carried on chairs with long poles attached.  Yes, that's right, carried up by other people, namely Chinese men with huge calf muscles.  Ridiculous!  We also saw men carrying up rocks and bottles of gas, amongst other things.  Not the easiest way to make a living.

I think that's all for now.  Photos this time.  Enjoy...

Almost famous

The weather has, thankfully, got much cooler and I am writing this with the window open, wearing jeans and long sleeves.  Things are sooooo much easier when you don't have to do them in the baking heat.

I was thinking the other day about how kind and polite (most of) the students here are.  Some examples of kindness from the last week:

1.  I arrived in one class to find the teacher's desk dirty and covered in chalk dust.  This, by the way, is not unusual.  The classrooms all seem to be dirty and I spend my life covered in chalk and trying to dust myself down without spreading more chalk on myself.  Anyway, a student rushed forward and wiped the desk down with some tissues before I had to chance to put my stuff down on it.

2.  Power cut on Monday evening about 5 or 10 minutes before the end of class.  When it didn't come back on in a minute or so (having tried to get the mobile phone wielding students to sing a song (!)), I abandoned class.  Two of the students stayed and waited for me to pack up and then guided me on my way with their mobile phones.

3.  Took speakers to class in order to play a song from the textbook via my mp3 player.  Of course there is a CD and a VCD to accompany the book, but no such thing as a CD player or a high likelihood of my getting my hands on one of the multi-media classrooms.  The speakers are quite heavy and as I was leaving the building, the class's form tutor (? - often called 'Head Teacher' here, but that's just confusing for me!) told two of the students from my class to help the 'laowai' [foreigner] with her bag...

Now I know that that last example was due to prompting, but I'd had offers before to help me with my stuff.  In fact, one of the boys from another class actually did help me (unprompted) on a different day.

As for fame, in Pingixang it comes easily and un-asked-for if you are not Chinese or Chinese-looking.  The cooler weather has left me able to have my hair down again (after weeks of having it off the back of my neck at all times).  I'm not sure if this makes me more noticeable or not, but this morning R & I attracted quite a lot of stares, though remarkably few 'hallloooos', it has to be said.  We had a fan club of small girls in the dumpling restaurant at lunchtime, but they were quite cute.

Well, we're on holiday now and the campus is noticeably quieter as some students have gone home.  Not sure what we'll do yet.  Today we went on a shop investigation to a new department store that actually sells proper coffee, Ferreo Rocher (sp?) and plastic cheese.  Hurrah!

It's all about the little things...

Chaos in the classroom

It feels a little bit that way sometimes, particularly in speaking classes.

Now, don't get me wrong - I'm not saying they're out of control.  In fact, they come to heel pretty quickly and if any of them step out of line (talking when I'm talking, for example) they soon stop if you single them out.

However, it's just a bit mad at times.

Today, for example, it was really windy.  As I wrote before, it's ferociously hot here at the moment, so the breeze was definitely welcome and there was good reason to leave the windows open.  However, it also meant that every piece of paper not anchored down soon flew off the desk.  I am used to this to a certain extent, as the ceiling fans are usually on right now, but today it was about five times worse than usual.  Joy.

What else?  A few common things: 1) I forgot my lesson plan!  Oops.  Luckily my good memory did its job and I remembered what I'd planned.  More or less.  2) Dropped the board rubber on my denim skirt.  I hate chalk!  I spend soooooooo much time dusting down my clothes and often just end up spreading more chalk.  3) Caught my nail on the black board - I HATE that feeling.

Oh, and my mature student decided to make today his first class.  Oh yes, I have an engineer who works for one of the mobile phone companies coming to my first-year oral English class to improve his English...  Not a problem, but I'm not sure how keen he was on singing 'Stand By Me' with the rest of the students.  Tee hee.  I enjoyed it though.

One more good thing: in English classes at university in China there tend to be very few boys - the most I've got is 5 out of a class of about 50.  They also, almost without fail, sit together at the back of the classroom.  And, I'm sorry to say, are quite often the laziest.  So today I was more than happy to see four boys in the front row of my class.  The reason "It's because we're confidence[sic]."  Hmm... must work on the whole noun / adjective thing.  Next week...

Back in the Middle Kingdom

First of all, apologies for not having written this sooner. I promised lots of [may be a slight exageration - a few] people that I would get writing my blog again once I was in China and I've been here nearly three weeks now and not written a thing...

Smooth journey, collected successfully from Changsha Airport and taken into Changsha, where we stayed overnight, in order to have our compulsory medicals the next day. All went more or less smoothly and it appears that we're both fit and well. Phew! Only slight hitch was when R was rushed from the blood sample room to the toilet for a wee sample and mid-flow his arm started off bleeding again. What to do?!!! Haha.

The College is busy and full of students (big surprise there!) We had some respite - only one day's teaching the first week and the first year students missing for the first two weeks. (They have to do military training and we could see them on the football pitch every day, getting shouted at by the soldiers!!)

Teaching has been fine so far. Getting used to the noise of 50+ students all speaking at once in an Oral English class. I quite like it actually, providing they're actually practising their English and not taking the opportunity to have a sneaky chat with their friend in Chinese... I only have Oral and Writing classes this semester, which makes planning relatively easy, though teaching can feel a little repetitive at times.

The apartment is slowly taking shape - we've cleaned a lot and the cleaner has been in twice. Still killing the odd cockroach, but I believe (optimistically) that they are getting fewer and fewer. There was also a scary flying spider last night, but I'm sure that's a one-off!!!

Will post photos soon when I've taken some.

It's good to be back in the land of cheap DVDs, good food and being semi-famous.

Altogether now: Halllooooooooooo!

Blogging again

For those of you still reading this (and I hope that there might be one or two left), usual [or maybe even better] service will be resumed and I will start writing again once I'm back in China (next week).

Comments are good from time to time just so that I know you're reading and if there's anything you're interested in and / or want to know about life in China etc, then let me know.

Laters...

Moving on again...

Wow, it's been a long time since I last posted and I'm aware that I haven't posted much these last 10 months or so in Spain. Not sure why, but I will try to do better when I'm back in China again.

Yes, that's right, I'm returning to the Middle Kingdom.

Thoughts:

Glad to be going home (especially as it's got hot here), but I've gained some very valuable teaching experience and met some great people, visited some fantastic places and eaten some lovely food.

Looking forward to some time with family and friends, though wish it could be a little longer.

Also looking forward to Chinese food, teaching at a normal time of the day and cheap beer.

Definitely NOT looking forward to the lack of personal space (buses and trains etc) or the spitting.

Hey ho.

A Spanish Smorgasbord

Well... I hadn't realised that it was so long since I last wrote a blog, but no-one's complained so maybe it doesn't matter.

Anyway, last weekend I made a trip to Seville on the train. I liked it. A lot. So much so that I could imagine myself living there for a while (as much as I like living in any city). It just felt warm (not only the temperature - in fact it wasn't actually that warm when I was there), relaxed, culturally diverse and quite beautiful. I did a load of touristy things on Saturday and got my hair cut at Corte Ingles (department store) and a few on Sunday morning. On Sunday I also just walked along the Guadalquivir River, enjoying the sunshine and people watching. There were lots of people out and about. Some of them were obviously tourists, but many just ordinary Seville folk enjoying a run / walk / cycle in the sun, or even rowing along the river. It was all very pleasant and not even a down-and-out shouting in the bushes and then another saying something to me (in English) could change my feeling.

I stayed in a cheap, clean and extremely quiet hostal, right near the centre. The guys on the front desk were very friendly and the English-speaking one was one of those guys who kind of wink at you as they're talking to you (there's a guy in one of the restaurants here who's the same...) I did insist on speaking to him in my bad Spanish, however.

I was supposed to be climbing the Alcazaba peak in the Sierra Nevada this weekend, but I decided my high mountain snow skills weren't up to it and instead went on a lower level walk with some Spanish people. Was very nice, though they were a bit perplexed by the rain as we set off, and were unsure as to whether or not we should be walking in the rain. Now of course it does rain in Spain, but from my experience it seems to be fast and furious, then over. My impression is that if it looks like rain, the Spanish generally don't go walking. Which is fair enough. However, if you followed this in the UK then you would almost never get out your walking boots...

On a slightly more mundane note, I went to recharge my international phonecard in Corte Ingles yesterday. The conversation went a little like this:

Me: I'd like to recharge this card.
Assistant: You can't do that here.
Me: Yes I can - I've done it before.
[Assistant calls supervisor].
Supervisor: Oh hello, it's you again! [This has happened to me before...]
[Tells assistant what to do and recharge transaction is duly completed.]

And then on the way out a cute kid in a pushchair randomly waved at me - made my day.

Photos sometime in the future.

Have a good one...

Only in Spain..?

Look at me: blogging like a crazy thing.

Anyway...

I went to the train station this morning to book a train ticket to Madrid. It's two weeks away, so I thought I was being reasonably organised, but not excessively so. The guy in the ticket office started tapping away on his computer and then told me I could buy the outward ticket, but not the return. Grrr!!! Why? He said something about 15 days before, so I thought I'd left it too late and they were all sold out. Not so. Turns out you can only buy tickets 15 days in advance and I was just way too keen. Me and my Britishness...

Then this afternoon as I was on the homeward stretch of my run, I saw a man and a boy on a horse. On the street. As you do. The horse was really quite beautiful and high-stepping, with its head neatly bent over in a dressage-type way.

On a slightly different note, I think some people have set up a church in one of the nearby apartments. I keep hearing lots of singing in a worship kind of a style. I wonder...

Weekends in the sunshine

So, as it's Friday and I'm limbering up for my last classes of the week, I was inspired to write about last weekend.

I still don't know loads of people here and weekends can sometimes drag a bit. However, last weekend was a definite exception, packed to the rafters with fun and frivolity!

On Saturday I went over to see my friends, Rich and Julia in nearby Torredonjimeno. Julia and I walked up to a local landmark in Martos. It's known as La Pena de Martos, and is thoughtfully situated next to the town's rubbish dump. Rich dropped us off and we started our climb to the top of the hill faced with trucks, rubbish and a huge pile of old clothes. There was a sign, though, just in case we didn't realise it was a tourist spot...

After our climb, one tinto con limon* but no tapas later, Rich picked us up and we headed to the petrol station to pick up supplies. [It being 2pm, the shops were closed for the siesta]. We then walked round to Rich's boss's house. Phil is British, married to a Spanish woman and they have two children. We spent a very pleasant afternoon with them and some of the friends, eating and drinking. It all culminated in a game of chocolate scrabble and a quick go on the Wii. For me it was my first Wii experience, and I was berated for not holding the control thingy as if it was an actual proper golf club. As far as I was concerned it worked perfectly well one-handedly...

I finally caught the bus home at 8.15pm and tried to re-hydrate.

On Sunday I went walking with Paco and Domingo, two of my friends from the local walking club. We set off at 8am, after the change of time, driving past the youngsters just leaving the nightclubs(!)

It was a beautiful day. Sadly, I forgot my sunglasses and was cursing all the way up Pico Magina (2164m). The walk wasn't too difficult and as my walking companions haven't done much exercise since the last time we walked together (before Christmas) I was able to take it easy. And then, as if by magic, a pair of sunglasses appeared. They were filfthy and bit scratched, but fit me, so I quickly put them on and continued in comfort.

On the way home, as well as commenting on the people who were setting off at lunchtime, we called in at the local mountain rescue equivalent (GREA). They had a big shiny luminous green / yellow helicopter, and they let us stand in front of it for photos.

We then, as is usual, repaired to a bar and sank 4 beers in rapid succession. Paco and Domingo chatted with the barman, who kept winking at me, I talked lots of nonsense and then I was deposited at my house, having promised to invite them to my wedding (if and when I ever have one..!)

I had a cheeky nap to recover and by then it was Sunday evening again.

This week has been reasonable on the exercise front and I'm going walking again on Sunday (the cherry blossom is out, so it will be a Chinese-style outing... without the pointy shoes, of course!)

On Wednesday I caught the bus to Torredelcampo and ran back along the Via Verde. About 14kms altogether, I think. All was fine, apart from having to walk past an old guy weeing against a fence in the middle of town. Lovely.

It's shaping up to be a hot one again today so I'll spend my teaching time opening and shutting the classroom window. Traffic noise / unbearable heat...? Traffic noise / unbearable heat...?

Roll on 8.15pm...

* Red wine with Fanta limon (or similar). Served cold, a very nice summer drink.

Hiking... the Spanish way

Now, usually when I go walking with the walking club here, it's a fairly serious affair, generally up a steep hill with much sweating involved. We often go for a beer and tapas afterwards and I invariably end up home at about 3pm, more than a little tipsy and completely exhausted.

But it's all done in the correct order: walk, drink.

However, the other weekend I went walking with one of my friends, Paco, from the club. His wife came too, plus another couple who are friends of theirs. We walked along the Via Verde, which I think I've talked about before. As an old railway line that's been developed for walking, running and cycling, it's easy walking. We walked to Torredelcampo, a nearby village, which is about 11 or 12 kilometres from Jaen. A reasonable distance to walk, and very enjoyable in the sunshine.

At Torredelcampo we went to a bar for drinks and tapas. We sank several beers, a glass of wine and a small glass of something which looked radioactive and was very very strong. The tapas was good and included some mature cheese, hand-cooked potato crisps and goat (I think!)

It was all very pleasant I began to feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Shame about the 12kms we had to walk home... The journey passed quite quickly (!) but it wasn't ideal. By the time I got home I was fit to drop and had the beginnings of a hangover. Oh well...

Last weekend I visited Cordoba, a very attractive city which is famous for its 'Mezquita Catedral', a combination mosque and cathedral. I know, I was a bit surprised too. It's a very attractive building and it, and the rest of the city, are well worth visiting.

Portugal this weekend for a long weekend.

Hasta luego...

Adventures in urban running

As I was on the last bit of one of my favourite running loops yesterday, I pondered the hazards of urban running.

Now that particular loop is a relatively new one, but I like it a lot. It does involve some pounding the streets and dodging shoppers, but it also includes a good steep climb, some quiet bits below the castle, and fantastic views across the city to the mountains beyond. On a clear day (which here means most days) it really is beautiful.

However, the street bits do require some patience and concentration as there are plenty of potential pitfalls for the unwary runner. Here are some:

1. Sudden stoppers / direction changers;
2. Congregators (people who walk in a big group, taking up the whole pavement);
3. Drifters (often too busy looking at their mobile phones to steer a straight course);
4. Arm swingers (some people do this very heartily as they're walking!) and
5. Last but not least - that which dogs leave behind...

And on that note, I'll bid you farewell for now, except to say that I've had to purchase an oven glove due to a more than acceptable number of burns to my hands recently (see photo).

A new term, a new year...

Just over a week into the new term and in some ways it feels like I never had a holiday. However, motivations levels are still not as high as they should be, so I know I've been away.

What is it about teaching? I know lots of teachers and of course we always talk about it. Why do we teach? Well, for most people it's to avoid working in an office, because they enjoy the challenge, the instant feedback and the sense of achieving something. Now I know that Monday mornings are difficult for everyone, especially so after a holiday. But when I worked in an office I found that you could 'hide' to a certain extent if you weren't feeling on top of the world. Not so with teaching. It really is performing and you have to get up there and throw all your energy into it, however you feel. It means 'getting into character', especially so if you're not the most out-going of people.

I'm lucky really where I'm teaching. My classes are mostly small and the students are mostly nice and want to learn. However, I do teach quite a lot of teenagers and their expectations can be quite high. I prefer days when I have the younger ones as well, who are quite happy to bounce round the classroom pretending to be kangaroos, or just play 'teacher' and give commands.

And being back in Spain? It's nice to see the sunshine again and to need sunglasses. I went out with a friend of mine on Saturday for a drive and bit of a wander round some Spanish villages. It really was beautiful - clear, blue skies, warm in the sunshine and lots of attractive views. So, it's not bad really...

Happy New Year!

And so, thanks to the deafening (well, almost) cries of 'keep writing', I will continue.

Watch this space...