Finally...an update

I've been so busy teaching and planning lessons for four months that I just haven't had time to blog.

Hmmm...

I'm currently applying for summer school jobs in the UK for July and August. I've had a few replies and have one or two interviews lined up so things are looking promising. Fingers crossed.

Krakow is now beautifully sunny and warm, so I and everyone else have come out of hibernation. When I returned from home after Christmas I (mistakenly) thought that the winter was pretty much over. Little did I know that it would persist for another 3 months and snow until mid-March. The day I arrived back (January 5th) it was minus 15 degrees, and that was during the day time. I have never experienced anything so cold. One of the reasons I'm leaving Poland is so as not to have to experience that again. It was rough.

It was a lie about teaching loads and not having any spare time, by the way. I have fewer lessons at school than I did in the first semester, but have taken on three private lessons which are fun and give me some extra income.

Wesolych swiat i szczesliwego nowego roku!

NO WORK FOR TWO WEEKS! NO WORK FOR TWO WEEKS!

Made it to the end of the term. I think that was the most tiring/stressful three months of my life! More difficult than university finals, even. Still, my happiness levels have remained reasonably high and they shot right up on Thursday evening at 9 o'clock when I finished my last lesson of the year.

I enjoyed my last week; one student gave me a beautiful Christmas tree decoration hand-made by her mum, and another student brought some gingerbread biscuits into class to share with everyone during the lesson. Lesson planning was easier and less time-consuming, too: in fact, I planned one Christmas-themed lesson, wordsearches, games, pictures, crosswords and all, and repeated it 14 times. The students reacted well to it, though by Thursday evening as I embarked on explanations of "bauble", "sledging", "manger" for the fifteenth time, I felt glad that it'll be another year until I have to teach those words again.

Pronouncing the word "bauble" was interesting and made for some amusing moments. There were all sorts of suggestions, including "bobble", "bubble", "babble", "Babel" and even "bibble".

Playing hangman with "Boxing Day" was interesting, too. At this stage of the game -
B_ _ ing Day -
several students came up with "Boring Day", which I liked and said that even though it was incorrect, it was actually quite appropriate.

I also got a round of applause from one group for saying "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year" in Polish, having learnt it from my previous group:

Wesolych swiat i szczesliwego nowego roku!

Nudity

This is why I love Paris.

Incidentally, I am interested in finding some work as a life model here in Krakow. If you have any contacts or any ideas about whom I could contact to find this kind of work, I'd be very grateful.

Thanks.