Thank God it's the weekend!

I have been up and down this weekend, emotionally speaking. Some good times and some bad times this week! Walked out of one of my classes on Tuesday morning, twenty minutes after the class had started, and refused to go back. My student (see post ' Do you ever feel like this?') was making me feel very uncomfortable. He evidently suffers from paranoia and believes that everything I do in class is a ploy to analyse his psychological make-up. He accused me of breaking the law by conducting psychoanalytical tests in class without consent. Whatever! Never wish to see the man again, he needs serious help, all though it clearly didn't do anything for him the first time.

On Wednesday 21st September it was World Alzheimer's Day and I wanted to post something but the bloody internet didn't work! My grandmother suffers from this dreadful disease and everytime I see her it breaks my heart. She suffers greatly as do those who care for her. I think of them all each and every day and send them my healing thoughts with this spiritual prayer.

Gracious Spirit, of thy goodness
Hear our anxious prayer!
Take our loved ones who are suffering
Neath thy tender care

Gracious Spirit, may thy presence
Shed a healing ray,
Turning all there night of darkness
Into glorious day.

On Thursday evening I went to the premiere of a new Argentinian/Spanish / Italian film called the Gronholm Method with Nedra. I was hoping to hobnob with some celebrities on the red carpet but I only saw some of them from afar. I was overexcited, Nedra has been to so many of the things that I think she found my reaction quite odd. In the end there was nothing really to get excited about, I mean it isn't like going to a film premiere in Hollywood is it? The film was good, it made be laugh, which is good going for a Spanish comedy. Got a free goody bag which contained chocolate (yum) and soft porn (?!) I think it was because there was an article about the film in the magazine, I gave it to Jaime, along with the DVD entitled 'Thai Girls'.

Feeling blue

I'm sat at home on a Saturday night feeling sorry for myself because I can't breathe through my nose, my throat hurts and Jaime has abandoned me to go drinking with his mates. Boo Hoo! I seem to have come down with a cold and have spent all day drinking cups of hot milk and honey, mushroom soup and copious amounts of tea in an attempt to sweat it out of my system! Ahchoo! I have done nothing all day but veg on the sofa watching episodes of Friends and Sex in the City and then a strange film called Sideways which was too focussed on wine tasting for my liking. Ahchoo! I am bored out of my head and utterly fed up so please send me some healing vibes to cheer me up! Good night and god bless! Ahchoo!

Do you ever feel like this?

My friend, Mario, sent me this in an email today and I have to say YES!!!!! Today I felt exactly like that in my evening class. I wanted to grab an AK47 and blow the head off my student. Well, perhaps nothing so barbaric, but I did feel like smacking him around the chops a few times with a wet kipper. There is just no getting through to some people! I despair. But I keep it all in, no sign on my face of the impatience and incredulence growing within me. Some of the teachers were chatting today about how sometimes it's necessary to be a little two-faced as a teacher. You look at your students and smile and nod even though really you are trying so hard to stifle a laugh or control your temper. I have a student on a morning who thinks that he has 'found the light' and is following the path set out by Jesus. I don't mean any offence but I can't take any more! Jesus all bloody day. The conditionals = Jesus. Crime = Jesus. For example, "If you could have been anyone from history, who do you wish you could have been? " "Erm... a diciple of Jesus" Enough already!!!!! If I have to listen any longer to him spouting on about God being the only one with the right to give or take life I am going to throw myself out of the window ( and undoubtedly fall straight into hell!).

Anyway, that is enough ranting about my day and my students!

I guess I am a little on edge. I am ready for winter to begin as I am chuffing fed up of mosquitos! Also I am slightly anxious after reading an article about some Asian Tiger Mosquito that has been breeding in Cataluña and is threatening to break out through the rest of Spain. As if I didn't have enough on my plate avoiding the ordinary style, I now live in fear of the arrival of these disease spreading insects that apparently can even penetrate your clothes to get to the juicy blood beneath. I am done for! I will just turn into one big, red mosquito bite!

I'll shut up now.

Male or Female? You decide.

Creative writing in Class

I had a one-one class yesterday with a Level 9 student ( there are 10 levels, so we are talking pretty good English here) and we decided to do a bit of creative writing and I thought I would share what I managed to come up with. Crap! Although they managed to impress my student who in turn blew me away with her offerings which I won't put here because I can't remember the exact wording.

The first is an acrostic, where the first letters spell out the topic;

Always trying to impress
Don't you give a damn?
And how come you don't realise
Mum suffers at your hands?

The second offering is a Japanese Haiku where the first and last line contain five syllables and the middle has eight;

Autumn; leaves falling
Pitter patter of the rain
The wind in my hair

And the final piece is a Limerick. My student requested that I wrote about Jaime, it took a long time to get this final draft and I am still not happy with it. ( La Vid is the village he was born in)

There once was a man from La Vid
a big thirty-eight year old kid
He stole an old bike
from a poor little tyke
and rode all the way to Madrid

So there you have it! Feel free to submit your own attempts in the comment section! That would be pretty cool!

Pienso en ti

I am going to dedicate this little space to a very special person, my mother. I know that she is feeling fed up at the moment and that she has a lot on her plate and I just want to let her know that although I am not right by her side, I am still with her, supporting her and worrying about her.

A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavour by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts. (A quote from Washington Irvine)

When certain people grow up they will realise, as I have done, the truth in these words of wisdom. Keep smiling, Mum. Love you x

Sudoku hits Spain

It appears that Sudoku, the craze that has taken the UK by storm, has finally landed in the Iberian Peninsula. Only yesterday I saw a Spanish man doing one on the tube and just now there was an advert on TV promoting Sudoku on your mobile phone! It has taken it's time but it is finally here, I wonder if it will manage to take Spain by storm?


I am quickly filling up the Sudoku book that my brother bought me for my birthday. Perhaps they will bring a new book out with this huge Sudoku, a new challenge for when I have exhausted all the Fiendish puzzles on my way to work.

Autumn is nigh

It seems as though summer is coming to an end all too soon. It's already started getting darker a lot earlier on an evening and it is only 15 degrees at the moment. At least tonight I might be able to get to sleep without the constant humming of our life saving fan!

As I sit here writing in my study, I can hear the pitter patter of the rain on my window and I know that it won't be long until I have to locate the wooly jumpers and waterproof jacket.

Move over Hollywood

If you love horror movies but are sick of all the crap that gets churned out of American film studios you should definitely go and see The Descent, the new British horror flick by Neil Marshall. Yes, a Brit! Showing the american movie moguls how a horror movie should be made! Rumour has it that this movie hasn't even made it to the cinema in the US. Wake up America!! This is a movie that will scare the life out of you, I didn't relax from about the fifth minute until the very end it was so tense. This isn't for the faint hearted, I'm not just talking about the moments that make you jump out of your chair yelping but also the moments of suspense when you're on the edge of your chair and also there are some pretty gruesome oh-my-god moments in there too!

You can see the trailer here but it doesn't really do the film justice. The director has used a very small cast of mainly low-key female actors, I didn't recognise any of them which made the film so much better for me. (You know a horror film will be shite when Sarah Michelle Geller or Jennifer Love Hewitt are fleeing from a masked murderer with their breasts bouncing all over the place).

The film tells the story of a group of adventure seeking friends who go pot-holing in America. Things go wrong and they end up trapped in the caves below, cue darkness, claustrophobia, and of course, death. The idea of predators lurking in the darkness might seem a little far-fetched to you but the director has based his creatures on the scientific and if you think about it a little, it isn't that unlikely!

I thought that the ending was going to be spoilt by some sort of Hollywood finish but I was saved from such tripe. The director takes you on a rollercoaster ride and you don't get off 'til the very end. When the credits were rolling I couldn't move from my chair. The horror movie had done what it was supposed to do , frighten me to death and although the idea of extreme sport attracts me I can safely say that I'll never go pot-holing!

Huddersfield??? But why would we go there???

This is a question that many people may ask themselves about England’s largest town since the name Huddersfield doesn’t conjour up images of grandeur and beauty. However, these people are sorely mistaken because this Yorkshire town is steeped in the stuff. There are many interesting things that people don’t know about Huddersfield. It took me over 20 years and a move to another country to realise just how special it is! For this reason I am going to dedicate this space to showing some pretty pictures of the architecture and landscape that make my hometown worth a visit. Hope you enjoy!

Castle Hill, Huddersfield, was built to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the reign of Queen Victoria and was completed in 1899.

Huddersfield Railway Station, built in 1846.

Emley Moor Mast and the view from Holme Moss

Beautiful Holmfirth, home to Last of the Summer Wine

Happy Days in Huddersfield

A view of Huddersfield from Castle Hill.