Life is Healthy

I arrived in Madrid earlier this week, as I had to sort my passport out; it needs renewing.
So I went to the British Consulate to see what I had to do.
You get some VERY strange looks when you go into an embassy with a very large suitcase
(it was full of my weeks supplies for work).

The following day I went looking for a camera shop that Scott (Marisa’s son) told me about.
I found it and WOW! Now that is a photo shop!! Some much in there and so busy, it made me realise how little I still know.
Later on was the tapas, our old venue has closed down so we had to use a new one; it’s OK short term but sharing it with football supporters is not a good idea :S

This group was very big maybe the biggest I have had in VT, which on one hand is great on the other a challenge. The meeting room however was a little small for this amount of people; but we managed none the less.

The food started off well, but sadly as the week progressed the standards slipped from day to day - and I'm beginning to look and feel like an egg!

Lots of people meant lots of work and lots of fun. We had some great stories and presentations shared by some of the Anglo’s, it would have been nice to have more presentations from the Anglos though given the amount of them and their vast experiences.

The karaoke was enjoyed a lot and we had a great group of singers.

As for the Masters their challenge was debates, very difficult, but they did well, considering they have never done them before and it was in English. Joaquin shared an excellent story as his presentation; one I may well steal ;)

We had people from all over the world, which was great to see: South Africa, Philippines, Latvia, Ireland, America, Canada, USA, UK, Australia, so an enormous linguistic challenge/opportunity for the Spaniards to take advantage of.

Good luck with the baby Victoria, you will make a great mommy.

I do find it interesting that you give so much of yourself and there is a lot of ‘behind the scenes’ work yet some people still expect more?!

This week was made uncomfortable by the fact that the staff in the hotel told us we are no longer using the venue next year and asked why: as yet I have had nothing confirmed either way and couldn’t offer any comment or explanation.
However, it would be nice to be kept informed of changes for obvious reasons.

The photos of the weeks craziness can be found below

Vaughan Town - Salamanca - Program 194

Another small group this week and yet another no-show. Was the group small because of the time of year or the recession? I'm not sure but I am sure both things have an affect, next year could be interesting as we await to see the dates we have for programs!?

The group themselves were great, older and loved to talk, although they found it more tiring than they had expected; talking for 12 hours about everything and anything IS tiring, so be prepared. I have said it before, Vaughan Town is not a holiday ;>)

The food was below par this week, which was a shame but the desserts were still good.

Things were going swimmingly until I awoke on Tuesday morning deaf in my right ear!
I had a really high pitched whistle sound for maybe an hour, and I could not distinguish sounds or voices, I could only hear muffled noises, that continued for the remainder of the day.
The next day my hearing was almost back but still not the same as my left ear, but now my head, neck and throat ached, so I think I had an infection.

That aside, things were fine and we cracked on not letting that slow things up; as we had a lot to get through: theatre, singing, dancing, presentations, stories, a quiz and of course a party!
The quiz was SO close and we had a tie for the first time! - he who dares wins ;)

As usual the folks did a wonderful job on both sides, which helped the bonding process and most realised that when they weren't on a one to one they still wanted to hang out and chat which is VERY important and shows how much they enjoyed the company.

I seemed to have forgotten lots this week, jacket (important as it's colder now), my phone, my camera and some material!! Damn old age is creeping up on me!
Luckily I had my other camera, so I used that, phew!!

The photos of the week can be accessed by clicking below

Vaughan Town - Salamanca - Program 189

Luckily some plans I was considering: a trip to the UK, were never finalised. Maybe later in the year Huss?!

Anyway, on Saturday I made my way to the tapas meet. I'm becoming more confused with the purpose of the tapas meeting. As far as I am aware, it is for the Anglos to meet and greet each other prior to the program; yet more and more often I am seeing some of them simply don't show up until the Sunday morning (if at all) or actually meet us at the venue. Now I don't mind so much but after some long winded discussions about the point of the tapas meet and the flexibility of meeting at the venue and being told NO fullstop, the rules don't apply to others it seems?!

A vast difference in the levels this week made it difficult for everyone to follow along at the same pace, as you have to try to cater to them all, which was not possible. The best option was to aim for middle ground but some of the lower levels still struggled with this.
The quiz was challenging for all, myself included; as I was left to run the 2 hours activity alone.

The theatre was enjoyed, but I am sure not actually understood properly; as a day later one of the participants got the joke. It happens (even in English) ;)
So I ditched the sketches and opted for a more linguistic medium instead such as poems, stories and jokes etc. We had lots of energy from Steve and some great ideas such as the sketch - The green eye of the little yellow God (which can be seen below, sadly the video ends before the sketch did).

The group themselves were very keen on talking; in fact too much at times, like when you needed silence, lol. But lots of intellectuals, teachers and professionals from all over, but mainly Australia!

The weather in Salamanca has started to turn for sure, grey clouds are moving in, earlier darker nights and much more rain: goodbye summer :-S

The photos of the week can be found below

Vaughan Town - Salamanca - Program 185

A much quieter and more subdued group this week. A moment of panic struck me when only HALF the group turned up at the tapas!? On Sunday they all had shown up except for one, which gave us an even number of Anglos and Spaniards.

Punctuality was again an issue on many occasions, although its harder to keep track of time here as the city is a big distraction, it is still important for the program.

I felt my energy levels drop considerably this week; tiredness, group energy, I don’t know why, but not on top form. (perhaps I'm getting old… …er)

Missing Sandra and Pitu that’s for sure!

There was a lot happening in the 'outside world' which gave opportunity for lots of diverse conversations – Michael Jackson’s MURDER! The South African woman who won the gold was alleged to be a man; which in turn gave rise to discrimination claims. The Italian lottery winner and of course England winning the Ashes (sorry Marisa, get in my son!) There’s a weeks worth of gossip there alone ;)

There was a lot of interesting and strong personalities on the program which kept us entertained – intentionally or not. A few cliques too which didn’t help to make the group inclusive :(
I noticed that this week that we had a couple of non native English speakers (which is unusual), accents are one thing (and great as a comprehension challenge) but non natives is a different thing altogether, in my opinion.

A quick tour of the city was a welcomed break from 'the office' and a chance to get some photography done too. It was a quieter group as I said but enjoyable and fun non the less, the party rocked and then rocked some more in the city; but I really am getting too old for that.

Vaughan Town - Salamanca - Program 174

The week I have just finished was in Salamanca but at a different hotel; it was still nice but too small really.

This was probably the easiest week ever. On Sunday because of the Doctors not being able to attend the program until 6pm then Richard's speech and then the orientation there was no time to do anything on Sunday.
Monday we had another easy day, due to an excursion that had been planned by the sponsor so we got to do a tour and get to know some details about the city itself.
Then the remainder the program continued as normal luckily, as I really wanted to get back into the swing of work after the break I just had.

The Doctors had been with us before in October with the exception of about 5 of them, so it was nice to see them again and catch up briefly. The challenge for me as usual was keeping it fresh and interesting, we also had several veterans returning to which is always nice to see.

I had worked on a new presentation about lying and it was good to actually put it into practise, I'm pleased to say I also managed to work out who was lying which shows it does work if you know what to look for.
I also used a script that Emma (a good friend) had wrote for me, and after some quick editing we performed it as a theatre piece and everyone loved it! Excellent!
Check out the WEBSITE

I spent several hours editing the photos making a special panoramic one and uploading them, hope you enjoy looking back on them.
As usual the week went very well and Marisa did a great job (this was a hard week for her personally, yet she didn't show it).

As usual the photos can be found by clicking the picture below

Vaughan Town - Salamanca - Program 153

The entertainment section was well recieved and enjoyed by all, (in fact I was thanked for rekindling Tomkin's interest in drama) so a success there!
We had an old friend on the program, Manuel (a previous manager of Gredos, and old as in relation not age), it was nice for him to see what we actually do, even though this time he was a Spaniard improving his English, he did a marvellous job; just as long as he didn't have a pen in his hand ;)
Manuel is also looking into starting his own business which can be found HERE.

The karaoke night was again a success, however, sadly for the party my computer decided to play up and stopped working around 1am so the party ended earlier than expected, luckily (perhaps) the town was in festival spirit, so the folks carried on there instead.
Dam 'Murphy' or perhaps not, as spookily it had just turned Friday the 13th!!!!

The economic crunch is certainly taking hold globally - which makes for a lot of unrest in all fields, the future may not be so bright and it's certainly not Orange.

As it was Valentines weekend, I was joined by my beautiful girlfriend Sandra and Ariadna at the venue as the group was leaving. We stayed in Salamanca for a day then travelled to Avila ready for my next weeks work. It was wonderful to spend the weekend together with them, and gave me some much needed energy.

Vaughan Town - Salamanca - Program 139

Final day up early-ish to see that all the necessary things are taken care of, rooms are sorted and lost clothes are found and returned.

Lunch was interesting with all the teachers wearing wigs, it made for quite a sight. Then after a few more photos we got ourselves ready to for the long trip home. But first Luis and I couldn't resist winding up the Chica's (girls) so we went onto their bus and said from the heart that after this week and getting to know them all we would miss them so much... ...NOT!!
They responded in a typical girlie way, so we fled.

The trip back was long and yet again we got dropped where we didn't expect so yet again we took over local transport. Finally at 9pm i made it to the hostel before it all starts again next week for me at least its with adults for the other teachers its with a whole new bunch of kids, i just hope they enjoy it as much as I'm sure they really did this week - good luck guys!!

Well for the photos I taken over the week check out:
HERE ARE THE PHOTOS and yes it was THAT much fun!!

Don't just take my word for it here are some quotes;
David says: He enjoyed the treasure hunt the most!
Juan says: Painting rocks was TOMA (cool)
2 Chica's say: SWIMMING!!!
another 2 chica's say: the loved the treasure hunt

Martha (camp organiser) says: The night shows, were brilliant
Mario (camp organiser) says: he enjoyed spending his freetime with the kids
Luis says: Playing football as the kids are so competitive
Emma says: Interacting with the various personalities
Helen says: the fashion show was very funny
Siobhan says: the talent show / and the stone they painted for her
Carmen says: she enjoyed the nature walk

Up in time for breakfast, my neck is sore (from sunburn), after two coffees I am ready to take on the world – well at least the kids. It’s off to swimming for lesson one, let the screaming commence! After that we had football and tennis, boy it makes you know how old you really are.
Then after lunch more swimming; I’m beginning to grow gills! In my free time I walked around the golf course, the peace and quiet was remarkable. I took a few pictures and had a go on the driving range which was fun; although I must confess I can’t hit a ball properly for toffee, (where did that saying come from?).

Tonight is a talent show and disco so should be fun. The kids have their own gossip mill and have paired all the teachers up and one teacher with a waiter (although that one is true, let me tell you; well.... they’ve got me at it now, lol).

Anyway the talent show went without a hitch only problem was it took a long time; with 8 groups each doing ‘their bit’ and also a Vaughan Town newspaper which the kids put together – gossip really but very funny then straight after we went into the disco which the kids loved and certain members of the teaching crew got a chance to shine on the dance floor.

Our suspicions about a waiter’s orientation were confirmed, when shown up later that night (enough said). The kids danced until they exhausted themselves, which was great; off to bed, very little messing about, and left us with some time to have adult conversation – it’s been SO long!

Up earlier today although the night was long, at least I got breakfast. We organised a treasure hunt, each tree had a clue attached to it, and the children had to perform a task before they could move on. The final treasure was a teacher with a pocket full of sweets (needless to say all they all loved him, lol.)

The first group went out and for an hour we were out in the hot sun, and didn’t we know it – my forehead was red hot. The kids found the prize and went off happy enough. Group two, yet another hour in the sun for us – now my arms are getting red and the kids really got into the games and completed in 45 minutes. Then a break, sandwiches and refreshments and welcomed they were as we knew we had another 2 hours ahead.

The next group we took out they were even quicker and finished the tasks in 30 minutes – so we played Ball Tick (where you throw the ball whoever it touches then has to throw the ball etc), now I’m not being funny but as Lucia and I were the biggest we were singled out but as I am a better dodger than Lucia, she was targeted far more. What I found very amusing was to watch her plead with 8 year olds “no not again, leave me”

The final group went out and again almost record speed as they too had completed it in 30 mins (they are very competitive) The boys almost lost as they refused to do task 11, because they thought they had completed 12 already – after much heated discussion from their team mates as the other team were ahead at this point they finally completed task 11 and went onto 12; at this point the girls team had already found the item (a smiley faced golf ball) – but the real treasure as mentioned was the teacher with sweets, so the boys ran their socks off and found the teacher!

I was very pleased that mostly all the children really enjoyed the games and got VERY involved with the tasks – from singing happy birthday to Lucia (she loved it really) to building human pyramids.
Later that night we had an amazing fashion show with each group of children playing roles such as superstars or mummies, the groups were extremely creative but one group in particular had an advantage as their male teacher (for some reason) had a vast array of wigs to share with his class. The show had an added bonus with Mario and Luis dressing as sporty ladies – you have to see the photos!!

All in all today has been a most enjoyable day, with plenty of variety for both teachers and students, as a side note I’m sun burnt pretty bad, just taken off my shirt and suddenly all becomes clear (well red really with white bits), all I can say is oOwWW in advance.

Today started later for me not only did I not get a lot of sleep because of the children making noise, going the bathroom and knocking on the walls etc, but also because my cough is still playing up and worse at night when lying down. So I arose at 10am, to no breakfast and kids running everywhere, lol.

The sun was back out the day was set to be very nice indeed. In my free time I prepared for the show I have to perform in tonight – magic and tongue twisters, more on that later when I have done it.

I taken the children to play Tennis and Football – lost at football 5 – 2 because I was on the girls side; really, girls need to learn how to play football! I watched the classes in full swing and they were going very well, although I don’t envy them one bit, having said that they ARE getting invaluable experience with the children.

Okay, we had dinner and it took 1hour 20 mins as appose to the 50 mins usual – we found out that because the boss had gone home they were taking their time and with a room full of 75 children didn’t we just know it! With dinner out of the way, we got down to the fun. Due to time I dropped a few parts of the act and just as well, it reminded me why I don’t perform magic for children.

I did a few basic tricks to get them involved then had their teachers doing tongue twisters – which the children really enjoyed and wanted every teacher including me to have a go at. I was told that I have again started to speak my famous broken English, DOH!

Anyway along comes bedtime, and yet again all hell breaks loose, kids don’t ya just love em!!

This is day one of my Salamanca Training Camp with 75 children aged 9 – 12. Well things didn’t get off to the best start when the bus we all turned up for early didn’t show!
We then had to get a public bus to the school and meet the coach, OK picture the scene – 8 teachers fully laden with bags and suitcases taking up most of the public transport; it was like a day trip for gypsies.

Anyway we finally met the coach and then had a 200km trip to Salamanca. The trip was long but kept busy with the hundreds of questions kids ask from “where are you from” to “how many tattoos do you have”. They are really perceptive and their grasp of English was better than expected. So I looked forward even more to the camp. Rather than teaching on this one I was going as a ‘monitor’ to ensure the children behave and are entertained, that at least I can do.

First lessons start and I survey my surroundings – OK first we are in a prestigious golf course, nice facilities; sauna, jacuzzi, driving range, squash court, tennis court, basketball, swimming pool etc you get the picture it’s the business, oh and by the way the weather is beautiful. When the lessons finished for the afternoon the games began; my bit. We started with a quick throw with the Frisbee, then joined by another group so we played a capture the flag type game (Quake to computer users) only on the field giving them an object to retrieve, that went well only I was on the girls team and they have obviously never played Quake, needless to say we lost 4 – 1.

However the boys had their own dirty tactics by getting four of them to hold my legs and stop me running or even walking, but it was funny. Then just to finish off a three legged race – which in itself took only two minutes but 10 to untie the laces

Then I took them swimming and to the jacuzzi they loved it, bodies diving in the water in every angle possible and some not so, but enjoying themselves; such a small area though the noise was amplified and soon a headache was on the way.

After dinner we had some games, we got the groups into teams – allowed them to pick their own names, shout out all their energy, and tax them one last time mentally with a quick fire quiz, this went down very well I thought, and it appeared all enjoyed it; even the teachers.We finished off with each group having to make a song using the following words – Spaghetti, Helicopter and Bumble Bee, it was like the Eurovision Song Contest all over again, words that make no sense and no real tune to hum to, but they loved the chance to perform.

Looking forward to tomorrow where we do it all over again, but different, that is if we all get through tonight.

Well, after more excitement from Dade's part of Europe, what can I say from this side...

Last week, for me, was one of those weeks that both seems to drag by, but before you know it, its Friday already, you've survived the week and the weekend lies ahead of you. I was particularly looking forward to this weekend because for once, I was not working Saturday (i had a double shift on Sunday to make up for it!) AND the weather forecast was amazing (as i may have already pointed out in a previous post...).

I am loving the fact that its still light well after I get home from work these days, and it hasn't rained in ages (tho having said that it probably will now! sorry folks!).

So, not wanting to let a potentially gorgeous Saturday go to waste, I decided to head out of the London, and escape the rush for a bit.

Friday night I headed up to Amersham, and far far reaches of the London Underground system (which was actually overland by this stage), where Ellen picked me up. Had a girls night on at hers and then a very lazy Saturday morning, before another friend came round and we headed down to Marlow for a picnic by the river. Again, did i mention how gorgeous the weather was? We spent a lovely afternoon people watching, and were both amazed and astounded by the variety, and hidousity of outfits this sort of weather in April brings out!!

Saturday evening I spent at my Aunty Elaine's cottage near Great Missiden. It was ever so peaceful up there, and being able to lie outside in the garden was great. That is something I really miss here.

Sunday was another gorgeous day weather wise - tho sadly I worked from 9am-10pm, so while I got to see the day, did not get to benefit from it much!

So that's about it from this end...

Now we are almost mid way through another week and I am busy planning my trip out to Spain to see Dade for his birthday... only 13 more sleeps till I'm there .... ;-p

Dade is off in Salamanca this week being run raggered by Spanish kids. He's got no Internet access there so you'll all have to be patient along with me to find out what exciting tales he's got to tell....

Well I've just finished week one. Boy what a hard task, everyday homework, grammar lessons, and projects to make and bring into the next class; and that was us!!

I thought that for my first week, it went well. I have never taught English before so all this was very new to me. although it's my native tongue teaching is a whole new ball game. I got my appraisals back from my students and for the most part I was very pleased with them as I did better than I expected. There were one or two issues which I will look into and see what I can do about them.

For the upcoming week I'm off to Salamanca to teach (9 - 12 year old Spaniards) English, which again will be a real challenge (although I am mostly doing a supporting role, then taking over where required).

I'm looking forward to escaping Madrid for a while. It's so noisy when trying to sleep, what with drunken Spaniards "singing" (actually yelling) down the streets, and room mates that come and go at all hours, and when sharing with 10 it gets pretty busy. Why do hostels always have metal lockers? They are SO noisy, even when do quiet things.

I was up bright and early, well OK I was up early this morning, to go to the Police Station to get an NID number (Social Security or National Insurance Number) so I can get paid, after all that's an important part of working. After standing in line for 3 hours I left to go back to teaching, a colleague stayed it took him a further 3 hours to get his papers stamped - reason all the Bulgarians and Romainians that have descended onto Spain since April 1st. The queues were massive, it was worst than trying to get Glastonbury tickets!

Well I'm off out tonight to see the sites and get slightly drunk - so they may be slightly wavy sites but hey.