Word for Word...20 Second Interviews.

We have one week left in Spain and I thought it was about time that I had an impromptu 20-second interview with everyone individually.  Here is their reaction:

Ben - Teaching kids, owww, is a lot like, no I'm just totally riffing here.  A lot like trying to, whats the phrase, punch a brick wall, no, explain something to a brick wall, wait.  Get this all down.  Um.  But when they get it, it does feel all the more sweeter.  I think that is a good quote...

Georgie - Oh I have to say it out loud.  Hahahaha.  Ha. Don't.  hahahahaha. *cough*.  I didn't cough.  Okay, now ill start.  Stop frying vegetables!! That's literally all i need to say. 

Pippa -  Hmmmm.  Did you just type hmm? I'll come back to you on that one.  Yo habla Espanyol.  Blah blah blah. Yo ablah blah blahblah blah.  That's my quote.  Where's my Spanish passport.  Asta luego buenas noches.

Gareth - Want me to make a quote, ummmm.  Errrrmmm Angry Birds. No, gotta have something better than that.  Umm.  Do you know what I was actually gonna do.  The blog post of me talking to that statue.  I was tempted to do something else.  But it would've lowered the tone.  I don't think I'll ever grow up.

B - Nooooo...errr...hahahaha...did you just quote me? Oh my god, I don't know!  No comment.  Do you want anything else?  Has everyone said something? Is it nice? Carpet!

Z - Okay. So. it's been a good quarter. errrrrm. I think the team has played well, we've had a few injuries, illneses but everyone's come through the other side. I'm hoping for a strong finish. errrrrrr. Yeah, go get 'em boys. Oh. And girls too. Inclusive 2K19. Peace out brother/sisters.

To sum up my interviewing technique. Needs improvement.

To sum up our experience here in León. Wouldn't change it for anything.

Slow recovery

It has been a while since I have had the energy to post a blog.

Last week my school, Maristas Champagnat, celebrated their 100th birthday by throwing a 2 day fiesta. I attended on the first day of the celebrations. Helping out on the fun stalls and afterwards attended the 1st and 2nd year primary students talent contest. Sadly things took a turn for the worst for me after lunch back at the residencia. My stomach began to hurt and after dinner it felt much worse. That evening when I went to bed I was burning up and having cold chills at the same time. I have been suffering with a stomach virus ever since and still struggling to feel better. Thankfully on Tuesday I somehow felt well enough to return to my school and resume lessons.

Today I offered to help in the school's charitable work called solidaridad. Some of the parents volunteer at the school once a week to make handmade crafts. They sell them to make money for a school in Paraguay which helps get children off the street. The parents were painstakingly making little votive wedding decorations by hand and carefully packaging each item. It was lovely to sit and chat with the parents. Their Spanish brushing off on me and my English brushing off on them. Everyone is incredibly warm and hospitable. I feel right at home. It felt very rewarding to help out in this small way and get to know some of the parents better.

Heaven in the shape of vegan pizza

After chips, chips, and more chips we decided to venture from the residence in search of fulfilling food for both our digestive systems and our tastebuds (they’re dying off quickly due to the ongoing violent war with garlic). And so we found ourselves at a vegan restaurant, aka safe haven. I wish I could describe the pizzas but after six hours of lessons today I feel it would be an injustice to the cooks who couldn’t have been kinder to us. All I need to say is that there was avocado, cashew cream and no chips in sight. You know it’s good when Zac enjoys vegetables. And after a week of us dropping like flies to stomach bugs, intolerance catastrophes and just overall carb comas I know we’ll be back in Spanish vegan heaven again soon.

A Day Trip to Oviedo

So, we are one week into our placements and after a busy time acclimatising to our new roles
we were invited to spend Sunday in the city of Oviedo.  Oviedo, the capital city of Asturias, is a two-hour coach trip away from Leon.

It was a very hot but pleasant day and after a guided walking tour of the city we attended the annual cider (or sidre) festival which started at the crest of a steep street lined with numerous stalls showcasing 20 different kinds of cider and selling a variety of snacks.  At this festival the cider is poured into your glass in a novel and extremely inefficient way where the gentleman serving your drink raises the cider bottle high above his head and pours the contents into a glass which is tilted at an angle and held in his lowered opposite hand all the while maintaining eye contact with you as he pours.  Inevitably this results with more cider on the floor than in your glass.  The cider has to be drunk swiftly - something about the oxygen content dissipating from the cider on contact and leaving an unpleasant taste behind.  Of course, several glasses in and you can´t taste a great deal anyway.  I managed to sample 11 of the 20 varieties of cider available before we negotiated our way down the street to a fantastic restaurant where we enjoyed easily the best meal of our trip so far.

After a late lunch we took a leisurely walk back to the bus station for the return journey home.  All in all a great day out.  We´re planning to go to Gijon next weekend...

Oviedo - Sunshine, cider and a bunch of statues!

Here are some of the pics from our lovely sunny sunday in Oviedo, Asturias:

The flag of the Asturias region.

Zack - as elegant as ever.

Shot ruined? Or made better?

The first of many statues in Oviedo - Rufo the dog.

A lovely church in the sunshine.

Woody in Oviedo - Unquestionably great films (personal faves - Annie Hall and Midnight in Paris), very questionable personal life...)

Love the greenery...

Gaz and his barrel - Important to stay hydrated!

Little street with cathedral in the distance.

Some more statues...

Alfonso II of Asturias (the Chaste) - Never skipped leg day...

Cute buildings

Another statue - I forget who this woman was...

Little statue of a fishmonger with a ciggie.

Sorry mate, she's just not that into you...

Ended up taking part in a cider festival with our great host Fran... absolutely packed but great fun!

Rules for walking back from Divina Pastora.

Rule no.1 - Wear protection.  The temperature is a brisk 7 degrees when we walk to our school in the morning.  When the sun is at its peak, which coincides with when Ben and I finish for the day, the temperature has soared to the mid-twenties.  Make sure you've lathered the factor 50 all over any exposed skin, or that you wear a hat and some sunnies to make yourself at least feel cool whilst you cook.

Rule no.2 - Unbutton that shirt.  It's a good idea to get a bit more ventilation going when walking back.  Untucking and slightly unbuttoning your shirt does a great job here.  No more than two or three buttons down, or you'll have a seriously strange tan line.

Rule no.3 - One strap not two.  To avoid back sweat and the embarrassment that comes with, carry your bag using one strap and slightly to the side.  This way you can just about make it home before the back of your shirt is a darker shade than the rest.

Rule no.4 - Water yourself.  Keep hydrated.  Although it's lovely to walk alongside a river and under the blossoming trees it can be appreciated a lot more if you're sufficiently watered.  I'd recommend drinking the majority of a normal sized bottle.  Unless, of course, you have a 'barrel' like G'reth.

Rule no.5 - 'I'm Lovin It'.  If you need to rest your weary feet, or can't handle the intriguing food that we have come to expect here in León then follow the river to the golden arches.  Our saviour in our time of need.  McDonald's.  They have everything a weary traveller could need including; sustenance, toilets, a handsome amount of seating and air-con. 

Rule no.6 - Don't tell Georgie.  Although she inevitably finds out, telling Georgie that you've had a maccies should be avoided.  Or at the very least bribe her with a bag of Chips.

Rule no.7 - There's always a Burger King.  If following the golden arches isn't quite tickling your fancy there's also a burger king on the way back.  And as long as you abide by rule no 6 everything SHOULD be fine.

Rule no.8 (the best rule) - Enjoy the walk.  If you're eagle-eyed you might even spot a few peacocks.

I apologise for writing an essay.  Making up for lost time.

Zed.

The journey begins...

I arrived at the University of Chester on Sunday, 28 April for four days of intensive training. I had never been to Chester before but it is actually a really nice city. 

The journey really began last Friday, 3 May.  We departed early for Gatwick Airport where we caught a flight to Oviedo, Spain and then continued on to León.  León is a fantastic city with an amazing cathedral, one of Gaudi´s houses (now a museum)  and a charming Old Town complete with numerous tapas bars.  I´m going to be staying here for a month and although I´m going to be busy I intend to check this city out properly.

A busy and productive week comes to a close

It has barely been a week and so much has happened since our arrival in Leon. Friday night we began to familiarise ourselves with our local area. As soon as we finished our late night meal in the dorm we headed out to see what we could find open so late in the evening. Turns out most places are open late here in Spain. Leon has an incredibly laid back vibe. Dinner doesn't get eaten until as late as 9pm. At first this seemed strange but now it feels normal.

 Leon is a very pretty city. In some ways it reminds me of Chester. It has an ancient city wall, it has a big central cathedral and the local people are very friendly and helpful.

On Monday I visited my school called Colegio Marista Champagnat and introduced myself to the headmaster, the teachers and students. I received a warm welcome from everyone. The headmaster immediately wanted to immerse me into the culture of the school and personally took me from class to class to meet and introduce myself. Together we looked at my timetable. Initially I only had 19hrs but this has now changed to 22hrs. I have said that I would also like to observe the history lessons and expressed my interest in history and my background in archaeology. The headmaster was more than happy for me to do this. On my first day I found out that the school has a motivational word every year and this year's word is 'cambia' which means change. I also found out that the school is celebrating it's 100th birthday. The school are holding a fiesta on the 16th and 17th of May which I am looking forward to.

Today (Thursday 9th May) after three days of observations I was allowed to take over the reigns a little bit. In the morning from 9am - 10am I introduced myself to the 6th year primary arts students. I gave them instructions and I supervised the classroom when the teacher Sandra had to step out for a few minutes. Between 11:20-12:15pm I introduced myself to the 3rd year primary English students. Their teacher Daniel showed me the class workbook. During the class I asked Daniel if I could do a small activity with the students based on the simple future tense they had just learnt which was "I am going to..." to talk about future plans and intentions. Daniel had already written 4 example future plans on the board. I  added 2 more examples which were "go swimming" and "have dinner" on the board and I numbered them 1-6. I had a large foam dice with me and instructed the students to roll the dice and read "I am going to..." plus the examples from 1-6 depending on the roll of the dice. The student passes the dice onto the student next to them.

Daniel was very supportive and open to allowing me to include this activity into his lesson and I was very pleased that the students enjoyed it. I am looking forward to working with Daniel tomorrow with the 6th year primary students.

From 12:40pm - 2:15pm I joined the infants class which consists of 3-5 year old's. This group are incredibly sweet and fun to work with. Their teacher Patricia introduced me and let me observe some of the things she does during her class to teach English. Patricia is very keen to get me speaking in my native English with the students. After demonstrating how she uses flash cards during her lesson I felt inspired and asked if I could use the flash cards to sing the rainbow song. However, the flash cards are tied together and difficult to sort out. So when I tried to sing the song I was getting tangled up with colours in the wrong order. Patricia still backed me and allowed me to find a song on YouTube to sing with the class. She wants this song to become my song so that the students associate it with me. I picked the wrong rainbow song, however it is still a nice song and the class started following the lyrics. The class got very excited when they saw the colours and they could repeat after the song. I wrote out the lyrics on the chalk board and did a little bit of choral drilling for the unfamiliar words "beautiful", "rainbow" and "in the sky". The more the class practices the song the more they will become familiar with it. Patricia showed me the other songs she uses in her classes which included 'heads, shoulders, knees and toes' a good classic. I am hoping to develop this song into an activity for the class. Patricia has also given me a story book to read to the learners.

I can't believe how fast the week has flown by. A lot has happened and it has taken some time to sit down and digest all of it. I think the pace is only going to quicken from here on out. But I am truly enjoying my time here. My colleagues and team are wonderful, my school is lovely and I am doing what I intended to do out here which was to continue teaching practice and encourage more students to learn and develop their language skills. 

First Impressions of León

Well, I didn't expect such a gap between my last post and this one... but after such action packed days, I've been enjoying a languorous feel to decompress before I fall asleep. Not only that but I now have lessons to plan! What time could I possibly put aside for blogging purposes...? Well, I guess we'll see, won't we? (<- good question tag there... should do a lesson on that)

A lot has happened since my first post. A whole lot. Took a minibus down to Gatwick, flew over to Oviedo, hopped back on a minibus through the impressive mountainous terrain of Asturias towards to the city of León. We arrived at our residence friday night and as I write this it is thursday. So there's certainly plenty to unpack with regards to experiences so far (and some literal unpacking as well). So I will just provide the gist so far and go into greater detail in subsequent posts.

Firstly the accommodation wasn't quite what we had all expected from the pictures we'd looked up while still in Chester. That being said it didn't take too long to get settled in and used to our new surroundings. I will get into this more in future posts (something to look forward to 😜 (don't get too excited...))

León itself is amazing, it comes across as such a charming and live-able little city. The bars are great, and our first saturday night was good fun. We went drinking and eating tapas then met up with some University students from our accommodation for a bit more drinking etc. etc. A thoroughly enjoyable night, not such an enjoyable sunday morning.

I have so much more to say, but I also have lessons to plan.

In the meantime, below are some random pics so far...

At Gatwick, excited to start!! (A bit bright)

I always take flattering pics of Zack...

The grand León Cathedral (Catedral de León) shot on a rubbish iPhone camera...

Interesting choice in this vending machine

I retract my statement

I blame myself. I let the spring rolls provide me with a false sense of confidence in the future of my meals here in Spain. After yesterday’s lunch choice of rice or fries I decided to hold out for a dinner that surely could manage to beat the boiled carb or fried carb meal options. *Sigh* I was wrong. To those who don’t understand a plant-based lifestyle and decide to cook for your vegan friend, follow the advice bellow:

1. Don’t try pass cauliflower off as meat. It is and always will be a vegetable, even if you mush it, lather it in batter, then fry it.
2. Don’t substitute bacon with a veggie burger. Would you eat green peas mixed with a diced day old burger?
3. And please, please, cool on the garlic. We are capable of appreciating other flavors, try oregano.

All hail the spring roll

Upon my arm I wear a black band in remembrance of the short but precious time that I shared with Chester’s vegan fudge cake. As I sat down at my first vegan meal in Spain, which apparently wasn’t fish (it totally was), I realized how blessed I had been at the cafeteria in Chester. However the Spanish know how to do fruit like the Scottish know how to fry Mars Bars, which would be why my diet consists of 90% mandarins, the other 10% being chips, and 8% of that I regretted immediately at the gym (food is the only time I do maths). After nights of stale bread that was practically assaulted by garlic, pasta soft enough for a new born baby, and a couple questionable burgers, we finally had a vegan breakthrough! Spring rolls. A crackle of crispy pastry right before the second layer of soft doughy saltiness that blankets perfectly roasted vegetables. And they were actually warm — we’re finding that this is a rare occurrence. My stomach is thanking me and the dinner ladies who sighed in relief because i’d finally returned an empty plate instead of just mandarin peel. And now that i’m armed with spring rolls i’m ready to take on Spain.

The night before.

The last four days at Chester university with UKLC has whizzed by incredibly fast. In just 15 minutes it will be midnight and the beginning of a new day and new adventure. My team and I will be heading to Gatwick and fly to Spain.

Although our time here in Chester has been brief, we have learnt a great deal. My notebook is nearly entirely full!

As I have to get up early in the morning I better end this entry here. However, I feel that I am travelling to Spain alongside a very nice team. We have grown close in such a short space of time and I hope that we will all continue to support each other through the highs and lows of our teaching journey. I am really looking forward to landing in Spain tomorrow and experiencing a new culture, meeting new people and making new friends. Our tutors Katy and Raf have been very inspirational. I hope that much of what they taught us sticks in my memory.

Week-o uno 🤗

Can you believe the end of training week ALREADY!?!

I'm currently packing (like a little game of Tetris) and wondering how on earth everything fitted on the way here! I've got my work cut out to get them zipped, but I'll get there 😅

It's been an emotional whirlwind for me this week.. But I'm so keen to get to Spain and start on my Erasmus adventure 😚🎊
Feels like Christmas eve! 1 more sleep to gooooo..

Beginnings - Training Week

As it's my second full day of training I thought it appropriate to catch up on blogging and sharing my experiences.

Today started with a quick brekkie - using the time to recover from the SU karaoke 'sesh' going on inches from my room's window last night. Some 'impressive' singing.

The teaching for the day started with Sports Leaders - as a particularly unfit member of society I had some trepidation coming into this session. This fear was allayed when I didn't actually have to run around a field. Creating our own games out of limited equipment provided was great fun. 

Long treks to the other areas of campus - at times felt like hiking to Mordor (I really need to go to the gym...) - BUT this did give me the chance to perambulate through Chester itself which has surprised me in how charming it is.

Another pleasant surprise has been the food provided on campus. There are few things better in this world than free food, that's for sure. I have found myself unintentionally carbo-loading on pasta and chips and may eat a little healthier in the days to come. That being said, this probably helps with the expedition from one area of the Uni to another.

Looking forward to the next fews days!

Future updates will include photos and more unnecessarily formal (pretentious) language - promise!

Let’s talk...

Okay. So we’ve been given fabulous accommodation on a beautiful campus in a stunning city where we’re being trained by experienced teachers and mentors to prepare us for the month in sunny Spain surrounded by culture. All whilst not paying a penny. BUT the highlight of this experience became very clear to me yesterday. Vegan chocolate cake. Yes, I know. Moist, rich, creamy and pure indulgent. I was ready to get down on one knee and marry the fluffy sponge or the baker who changed my plant-based life.

It definitely took the cake!

Keep tuned for further food updates
G xx

Chester where our training and preparation begins.

I initially arrived in Chester a day before joining the UKLC team and fellow EFL teachers at Chester University. Chester is a really lovely city full of historical features. The town is lovely with some very old tudor-style timber buildings and 2-level arcades, antique shops, trendy bars, variety of eating establishments and a beautiful red sandstone cathedral. If I had more time in Chester I would spend more time exploring the cities historical sites. In particular the Roman amphitheatre and St. John's Church which used to be the cathedral in Chester from the Saxon period until the Reformation in 1541 during the reign of King Henry VIII.

It was nice to get a feel for the city. I later made my way to Chester university where I met the other EFL teachers on the Erasmus+ programme. I was very excited to finally meet my group and Carolyn and Katy from UKLC. We now know that we are going to Leon in Spain and I am really looking forward to the experience. UKLC have been an incredibly generous host and made this 4-week voluntary training possible. I am looking forward to another busy day tomorrow and finding out more about where I will be teaching.

Something to blog about... Day 1 - The Journey has begun!

Chester.  One of those cities that you hear people talking about all the time but haven't yet had the privilege of exploring.

Today the entire group of EFL teachers made their way slowly through the city in what I would consider to be the early hours of the morning (AKA 8.30am).  On arrival at Churchill House, a converted bank, we were all eager to begin our training schedule.  The training schedule looks tiring and to a degree it is.  However, the UKLC team and our excitement made today fly by.  I barely even checked my phone!

We learnt yesterday that we would be going to the Spanish city of León.  Last night I did a quick google search and supposedly there's quite a nice cathedral.  I'm looking forward to exploring this and all the other sights when we fly over later in the week.

On a side note, the food that I've had in Chester so far has been above expectations and the accommodation that we've been provided is lovely.  I might even find a bit of time to explore Chester.  I've heard that it's got a very unique shopping experience and a rather famous clock.