Say goodbye to week 2

The second week has been a roller-coaster week! Teaching, but more worryingly, planning every lesson was quite a challenge, especially when the teachers ask you to prepare this and then tell you on the day: ‘ oh, I have just taught this yesterday! Oops! Thinking on your feet and trying to rearrange your lesson as a revision lesson. It works, but gets your anxiety levels soaring. I am really enjoying the science lessons, an intriguing mix of English teaching in the context of science: so far, materials and its uses, forces and changes and magnetism. Hope next week goes well. My tutor is off to France with some secondary students. I’m taking all her classes. 

Yesterday, Saturday, was a lovely sunny day and Lucy and  I went exploring around the city. We discovered a lovely garden with Roman waterway remains. The garden is dedicated to El CID. Some stairs from the garden take you up on the old city walls from which you have lovely views of the cathedral and the Gaudí building. All around there were craft stalls and further on some antiques stalls. We finally ended up in the fruit and vegetables market. We bumped into Patrick and went for lunch on a square away from the centre, a bit like a village square, again with a Romanesque church at one end and a medieval building close by with wooden columns. 

Today we were given a guided tour around the cathedral, a gothic building, san Isidore, a Romanesque church and then we’re taken for a glass of wine and a tapas on Plaza Major. This was organised by Language Kingdom. It was great to meet some Leonites, who were very proud of their city and heritage. 

There is one big problem here at the students residence! The accommodation is great and the people are all fantastic, but we are surrounded by students and echoing corridors inside and outside. As a light sleeper and as students here don’t seem to go to bed before 2 and love to congregate and chat in loud voices, actual sleeping time is reduced to about 4 hours a night. I am not sure how long I would be able to survive on this ration of sleep. 

Before  I go, I just want to say how wonderful  it is to read all the blogs from Valencia. Sounds like you are having an amazing experience too! Keep us posted please!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 1b - I cannot dance

Today was the first day of school. It all feels so non-stop. I am exhausted already and there is a whole week ahead. I still cannot quite process what is going on. UKLC have flown me out, given me five-star training in Kent, provided great and uncomplicated accommodation, fed me and have basicaly done everything from putting me on the plane in London through to just short of tucking me into bed in Spain. It's like magic. I realised today that being here for such a short time makes my place at Pastorina (my school) all the more important. ‘There’s nothing worse than a handshake agreement reinforced with legal paperwork, humbling generosity and notable kindness’, I thought. ‘I’m in big trouble here…’ We were driven to the school by Sophia from Language Kingdom who was lovely and spoke with perfect English. Stepping from the car, I was greeted by the sound of Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley in the air. As we were led to the school, the sound seemed to grow louder until we reached a ...
Read more

Haiku 5: Food

 --- In a wash of heat a Colombian woman proudly lays out food --- This weekend has been wonderful. Yesterday, me, Lieve and Bob went to Leon’s contemporary art museum in the morning. We took a slightly longer route to get there (which, hem, had nothing to do with my map reading skills..) which took us down smaller streets with beautiful views of Leon’s old and new buildings crammed together – it still hasn’t stopped surprising me how evidence of different eras exist so easily together here. People will zoom past medieval walls on their electric scooters and a block of 1920s flats squeezes up beside a supermarket. I didn’t like everything in the art museum, but some things I loved, including an installation of a city street reflected in puddles, changing from day to night. The visit made me feel grounded again. Me and Lieve went on to find a café that turned out to be more like a restaurant – a very proud Colombian woman seemed to be running the place and put a tablecloth and...
Read more

Patrick's Packing list

I looked through all the blog posts from previous years and could not find anyone who has posted a complete list of items they packed. I thought I would do the honours instead. This might be the last year of the Erasmus+ because of Brexit, so I'm not sure if this will be so useful for future applicants, but in case the government changes its mind and restarts the programme (perhaps not named after a dutchman but someone more relevant to the 21st century like Bernard Matthews or Ainsley Harriet) refer to calm your minds, people from the future! - Passport  - CELTA Certificate ( Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults, not the  Certification in Elephant and Lion Taming--easy mistake to make!)  - GHIC Card - Proofs of Address used for DBS Certificate - Jeans - Shorts (jorts?) - Medication (meditation?) - Coat + hoodie ('expect an arctic tundra' is what I heard in conversation with permanent staff) - GoPro (odd name for a camera used exclusively by amateurs) - Sock...
Read more