Not a lot to say really

not that talkative at the moment. Still swotting up on my Spanish and reading my Colombia lonely planet to prepare for my trip. My sister keeps catching me listening to Shakira too.

Five months and counting.....

Scorchio!

Man, it has been hot in London this week. And I am talking actually really hot- above 35 degrees some days and with no air con on the buses or tubes, people have been a little grouchy.

I , however, haven't suffered too much as I am at work all day. I have a three hour lunch break but haven't really been out much during that time- feeble excuses about preparing lessons etc have seen me sat in front of the air con in the teachers' room most days.

I was out all day on Sunday though leading a group of students to Greenwich for the day. Fortunately my mate Heimi came along to keep me company



It was a fun day but stressful trying to keep them all together. And there was no getting through to them that while I could wait for latecomers, the boat that we were catching couldn't....

Ah well, got me out of the house

I started my new Spanish class this week too. While the teacher still spoke English in the lesson it was a world away from the shambles of the last course that I did. I am all enthusiastic again. And can ask the way to the nearest underground station. My long term plan is to head to Colombia in January to study Spanish for a month so I was trying out my new found vocab on my Colombian student last night:

'Hay una estacion de metro por aqui? said I

'Good,' said he, 'but you won't need that word in Bogota as we don't have a metro..'

Hum.

Lack of Parental Guidance

Might have made a mistake with a 19 year old Japanese student in class yesterday. He told me that he was going to the pub but wasn't old enough to drink. I might have told him that he was more than old enough to drink here in the UK- his eyes lit up and he asked me how old did you have to be to smoke here?? My hasty retreat of '57 years old if you are a day!' might have been a little too late.

I am expecting to be summoned to the boss's office on Monday morning following a phone call from a rather irate mother in Japan......

On a lighter note, I have been hanging out with students who don't care if they are old enough or not- they are just going to drink. We went to the Imperial War Museum in London and it was awesome

And finished off the week with a picnic in the park.

Lovely.

The end of the World Cup- as far as I am concerned

This is either the end of another busy week here in London or the start of a new lot of busyness- depending on your view. I felt that I had had quite a quiet week socially until I realised that my definition of quiet seems to have only entailed not going out on Monday or Tuesday night!

Camilo, my Colombian ex-student and friend, went back to the land of coke and kidnapping on Friday so we met on Wednesday for some farewell drinks. Well, I was drinking, the students tend to sit for hours without the need for a sup of alcohol. We did take some photos though and it did give me one less day to prepare for my end of course Spanish test on Thursday night.



Which wasn't too bad actually- I got 'muy bien' which was quite satisfying. Now I just have to find out what goes on with the course next term. It hasn't always been the best course- in terms of teaching and content- but I am going to stick with it. I might move schools but I want to keep studying. It is encouraging- that a few months ago I couldn't understand any Spanish and now I know how to to tell people that I don't know any Spanish!

I went out on Friday night with Sarah teacher and decided to celebrate payday with a Korean meal. We went to a restaurant that I have been to several times before- it is masquerading as a Japanese restaurant- Kintaro- despite having all Koreans working there and an extensive Korean menu (or 'Special menu' as it is billed).

But we uncovered a bit of scandal- there is a sign in the window, in Korean, advertising soju at five pounds a bottle. But the English menu has it listed at eight pounds. When I queried this they told me that it was only cheap for Korean people - so I told them that I was a Korean person and ordered everything in Korean. I checked at the end and we got the soju at the Korean price!

Yesterday was the big football day- quarter-finals knockouts for both England and Brazil. We watched the England game in the dark and sweaty basement of the Walkabout but accidentally ended up in an Irish bar full of French people for the second game.

We moved at half time and found more Brazilians just in time for the loss.

I never thought that I would support the French but it suddenly occurred to me how much easy my life at school would be if the Brazilians were out of the tournament. And the French girl in our party was rather more worried about how upset her boyfriend would be than excited for her own nation- bless!

We spent a mildly diverting few minutes watching tourists take photos of the England fans being arrested at Piccadilly Circus. And a tense moment when we thought that the disgruntled supporters might end up at the Euro Pride Festival taking placing in Soho a few feet away. Overall it didn't seem too bad. I guess that the heat helped.

And today me and Penny joined 10,021 other women for the Race for Life on Blackheath. It is a 5km sponsored walk or run, depending on your preference, to raise money for cancer charities.

People put message on their backs about who they are running for and it was very moving.



Really 5km is not that far but it was about 30 degrees today and it is more the taking part in something so big with so many people who have similar experiences to your own that is important.

And you get a shiny medal at the end of it:)