After an hysterically enthusiastic conversation in what I take to be Spanish with a member of the office staff, I have decided (yet again) to find out about proper Spanish lessons to improve my command of the language. It is not as if I do not have incentives.
I find myself something of an outsider in general conversations at the lunch table for example when in a room which seems to have been designed specifically to produce the worst possible acoustics for chatting I am attempting to make sense of conversations in which I have only understood about 50% of what is being said.
This does have the advantage of making my stuttering interjections have a piquancy which I did not intend as I sometimes have only grasped a facet of the conversation rather than its main thrust so my comments cause everyone to look at me with an expression of mixed interest and deep concern!
The school is also prepared to pay for my lessons! So I really have little or no excuse. That does not, of course mean that I will do anything about it, but I will nurse my guilt as I sip a glass of Rioja of an evening.
I started for school a full hour before the start of my teaching time and still I ran into heavy traffic. Last year if I had set out at the same time I would have been assured of an easy run through to the school and also assured of a reasonable parking space. Something is obviously going on and I wish it would stop!
I have been encouraged by the member of the office staff who also lives in Castelldefels to give it until the end of the month; by that time we should have reverted to normal patterns of morning irritation. She confidently predicts that people will have decided that their jobs are simply not worth getting up that early for or found another and easier way to work. I have to admit that we do not have a Plan B if this does not take place. I await with trepidation the end of the month.
All my frees this afternoon were wiped out by my agreeing to accompany the PE teacher with a group of Year 9 pupils as they went down to the Olympic Port in Barcelona for their sailing lessons.
This particular year in the school contains some choice specimens so the trip down in the bus was fairly unrestrained. I resolutely refused to look around and gazed steadfastly at the passing scenery. When the PE teacher turned around I accompanied her hissing with a stern look. Who could ask for more?
As the PE teacher and I sat on the quay side it was delightful to see the spoilt scions of various wealthy Barcelona families use large water plastic water bottles cut in half to bail out their sodden boats before they attempted (and failed the first few times) to get the sails raised.
There was hardly a breath of wind so when the little flotilla of boats was finally ready they had to be tied together and an inflatable motorboat towed them out to sea. Or wherever they went! Out of sight; out of mind and as soon as the last bow vanished from view I read a book and my colleague lay back and fell asleep! It was, by way of mitigation, a beautiful afternoon and she has two kids, or possibly three.
Although we came down by bus the kids were allowed to melt into the centre of the city at the end of their time on the boats. We two teachers had a taxi back to the school. Our trip bisected the city and we travelled some of the way back to school on the Diagonal. This gives you the opportunity as a passenger in a car to see just how spectacular and stylist Barcelona can be. The façades of buildings are constantly interesting and sometimes astonishing. Barcelonetta and the Diagonal have some sumptuous modern buildings as well: it is an architectural feast.
I was tired however by the time I got back to the car and I was praying for a clear run through to Castelldefels. My wish was granted by the traffic was exceptionally heavy and my sedate progress was enlivened by the lunatic antics of drivers who were prepared to take absurd risks for minimum advantage on crowded roads. But I don’t even scream with impotent rage anymore; there’s no point!
This week has been a long one and I am longing for the weekend to start and give me the opportunity of a lie in until at least 8.00 am – such a luxury!
I find myself something of an outsider in general conversations at the lunch table for example when in a room which seems to have been designed specifically to produce the worst possible acoustics for chatting I am attempting to make sense of conversations in which I have only understood about 50% of what is being said.
This does have the advantage of making my stuttering interjections have a piquancy which I did not intend as I sometimes have only grasped a facet of the conversation rather than its main thrust so my comments cause everyone to look at me with an expression of mixed interest and deep concern!
The school is also prepared to pay for my lessons! So I really have little or no excuse. That does not, of course mean that I will do anything about it, but I will nurse my guilt as I sip a glass of Rioja of an evening.
I started for school a full hour before the start of my teaching time and still I ran into heavy traffic. Last year if I had set out at the same time I would have been assured of an easy run through to the school and also assured of a reasonable parking space. Something is obviously going on and I wish it would stop!
I have been encouraged by the member of the office staff who also lives in Castelldefels to give it until the end of the month; by that time we should have reverted to normal patterns of morning irritation. She confidently predicts that people will have decided that their jobs are simply not worth getting up that early for or found another and easier way to work. I have to admit that we do not have a Plan B if this does not take place. I await with trepidation the end of the month.
All my frees this afternoon were wiped out by my agreeing to accompany the PE teacher with a group of Year 9 pupils as they went down to the Olympic Port in Barcelona for their sailing lessons.
This particular year in the school contains some choice specimens so the trip down in the bus was fairly unrestrained. I resolutely refused to look around and gazed steadfastly at the passing scenery. When the PE teacher turned around I accompanied her hissing with a stern look. Who could ask for more?
As the PE teacher and I sat on the quay side it was delightful to see the spoilt scions of various wealthy Barcelona families use large water plastic water bottles cut in half to bail out their sodden boats before they attempted (and failed the first few times) to get the sails raised.
There was hardly a breath of wind so when the little flotilla of boats was finally ready they had to be tied together and an inflatable motorboat towed them out to sea. Or wherever they went! Out of sight; out of mind and as soon as the last bow vanished from view I read a book and my colleague lay back and fell asleep! It was, by way of mitigation, a beautiful afternoon and she has two kids, or possibly three.
Although we came down by bus the kids were allowed to melt into the centre of the city at the end of their time on the boats. We two teachers had a taxi back to the school. Our trip bisected the city and we travelled some of the way back to school on the Diagonal. This gives you the opportunity as a passenger in a car to see just how spectacular and stylist Barcelona can be. The façades of buildings are constantly interesting and sometimes astonishing. Barcelonetta and the Diagonal have some sumptuous modern buildings as well: it is an architectural feast.
I was tired however by the time I got back to the car and I was praying for a clear run through to Castelldefels. My wish was granted by the traffic was exceptionally heavy and my sedate progress was enlivened by the lunatic antics of drivers who were prepared to take absurd risks for minimum advantage on crowded roads. But I don’t even scream with impotent rage anymore; there’s no point!
This week has been a long one and I am longing for the weekend to start and give me the opportunity of a lie in until at least 8.00 am – such a luxury!
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