bonding and bowling

We had our work Christmas Party last night. Well, there wasn't much that was Christmassy about it, but it was a party, and it's nearly Christmas, so.... Anyway, our boss kindly treated us all to a trip to the bowling alley with beers, food, taxis and suitably ridiculous nicknames all thrown in. Very nice of him.

As Theo "Thunder" Berry I was paired up with Anna "Maverick" McKendrick as we took on Tim and Kate B in the first frame. (Kate S having decided that bowling and pregnancy weren't a good combination, she'd relegated herself to a cheerleading capacity). Sadly, while Anna and I ratcheted up a combined score that would have beaten any of the other 4 teams, Tim and Kate B turned out to be the two best bowlers there, both being the only people to manage three-figured scores.

Still, what's important to remember here is that Anna and I won the following two games comfortably and the beer was all paid for.

Limbo

This week has been a kind of limbo for me - I finished work last friday and have had very little to do. Not that this has stopped me from busying myself. I've been writing, cooking (I've really got into baking cakes), cleaning, going to Spanish lessons, socialising and trying to spend as much thime as possible in the swimming pool without turning into a human prune. But I haven't been able to feel entirely 'on holiday' as the prospect of having to work again has been looming large on the horizon. Tomorrow I start work again, this time on a Holiday Camp for 8 to 12 year olds at a Hotel near to Portuguese border.

This is daunting for three reasons. One) the holiday camp is in English but the children are all Spanish. Having experienced this year just how hard it is to get 8 to 12 year olds to speak English for an hour and a half, I'm dreading the prospect of trying to get them to speak English for the whole week! Two) a week will be the longest time Kate and I have spent apart. Ever! Right from when we first got together I don't think we've ever spent more than a couple of nights apart, let alone since we've been married. I'm going to miss her a lot. And Three) there's no internet at the Hotel!

I'm not sure my facebook/e mail/guardian online/wife addicted psyche will stand it.

Work

After nearly 9 months without a day job, the first week back as a wage-earner has been as good as a holiday - relaxing and traveling can really take it out of you!! In all seriousness, it has been mildly uncomfortable to have to answer the question (repeatedly asked over the last year) of "What do you?" with "Sod all - I scrounge off my wife's savings" so it feels nice to once again be contributing!

My working week is hardly arduous - 23 teaching hours plus 3 paid preparation hours is as full-time as most teaching jobs get here in Spain. I start work at 4pm in Pueblo Nuevo, a 35 minute Underground ride away, finishing at 10pm except on Friday when we all finish at 7.30pm before a mandatory staff meeting in the nearest tapas bar. I'm teaching all ages from 9 to 13 year olds, teenagers and adult classes of various abilities, seeing each class twice a week for 90 minutes at a time. As some classes share syllabusses this effectively means 9 classes a week, which, with the aid of thoughtfully provided text books, I seem to have got down to about 30 mins preparation time per class. Most of the other teachers have expressed amazement at this: "Plan? What's that?" has been their frequent comment. In time, I too aspire to their level of professionalism!

Learning to speak English

Kate and I have been accepted on a CELTA Teaching English as a Foreign Language course in Barcelona, starting November 3rd. So for the past week we've been trying to learn how to speak English!

Luckily we're staying with Kate's mother Cathy this week who is (like my Mum actually) a TEFL teacher, so she's been helping us with our pre-course homework. 6 months on the road without having to work have made this a bit of a culture shock, but Cathy has more or less guided us through the 3rd conditional, phrasal verbs and progressive tenses.

Next week we're off to warm up our language skills a bit more, spending a week in a four star hotel (expenses paid) near Salamanca talking English to Spanish learners on a Pueblo Ingles week. Should get us in the mood.

Then a month in Barcelona, lodging with a German translator, working 9 to 5. Culture shock alert! We're quite excited though.

(insert snippy title here)

Two momentous events have occurred today.

Firstly, I had my haircut. Not counting Kate's efforts during the summer, I'm pretty sure this was my first haircut since Lulu shaved it off with her clippers 4 years ago. I was completely undecided about what to do with it; advice had been coming in thick and fast from all sides; my sister lobbying for short hair, S (our cake maker) saying I should keep it, and so on. My mother even sent me pictures of Joseph Fiennes with a foppish side parting (er.... I think not) while some of the young people I work with wrote a song about how great my long hair was (thanks guys!), although they did throw in cane row plaits as a leftfield entry.

In the end - after calling Kate for advice on my mobile while the hairdressers scissors were poised above my head - I decided to keep it long. After all, I reasoned, if it was a mistake it would be far easier to reverse than if I cut it all off. Besides I've had long hair for the whole time I've known Kate so it would have a felt a little odd. So I just had a trim and had it thinned out, plus I've now discovered the joy of straighteners, and Kate and I are very pleased with the results.

The second momentous event to occur today was that I finally left work.

I was meant to finish (at REMIX) yesterday but I couldn't quite get everything done in time so I had to go in for a few hours to tie up some financial admin stuff. Fun. Still I got a very lovely farewell gift from my colleagues - travel guides and phrasebooks - while the night before the young people I work with had thrown a surprising surprise party complete with teeth rotting confectionery and a massive cake with my picture on (complete with graffiti mustache). There were songs and unexpected guests and it was all very lovely. If only I hadn't been so tired by the time we got to the pub afterwards I would have enjoyed it even more!! It's been a very stressful few days trying to get everything sorted out before I left; my problem was that I was responsible for about 20 freelancers for whom new contracts needed to be issued and several projects which needed to be wrapped up and so on. So while I'm sad to go - I started at REMIX 4.5 years ago as a volunteer and have had loads of fun working for them over the years - I'm kind of relieved too, and I'm now at least fairly comfortable that whoever comes into my post wont be totally confused by what they find!

Much love to any REMIXers reading this and my very best wishes for the future! Thanks for all the fun and music...