I blame Oprah

We don't like bus drivers

2012-01-26T05:15:00.000-08:00

Let me just rant for a bit, yes?

Today I got up at the usual time, 6.30am. I had a shower, got ready and proceded to the bus stop just down my road with plenty of time to spare. Or so I thought.

As I was reaching the corner I see the bus drive past and stop. I run -and I'm not allowed yet- and get there just as a possy of angsty teenagers are getting off. I wait patiently, and when it's my turn to get on, the driver decides to close the doors not looking over, me say and then shouting: excuse me! And knocking on the door. Nothing from him.

As I stood there gobsmacked, I looked at my watch and the bus wasn't even meant to have arrived. It was early. Normally, buses stay there until it's time to leave. This meant I walked all the way up the street hoping to catch another bus that went that way. It didn't happen. So I thought: I know, I'll get the train and then I'll run to the bus station in time for 9am and get the other bus to the nursery. The next train was at 8.59. Undefeated, I called the nursery manager and told her the situation and suggested I got a taxi from the train station. She told me not to bother as by the time I got there it would be dinner time for the kids.

So I spent my morning in a town I didn't want to be in because I had already bought the train fare. HMV lured me in and I bought Biutiful (Spanish film), Never Let Me Go(very good film. Haven't read the book though), Love in the Time of Cholera (based on the book of Gabriel García Marquez) and Coraline. So I felt better. At Oxfam I found "When God was a Rabbit" by Sarah Winman, which was a book I had be eyeing up in Waterstones for a while.

I am so annoyed that I'm not even going to check for spelling. I'm going to watch some Gilmore Girls to calm myself down....

Here are the trailers of said films:

Biutiful

Never Let Me Go

Love in the Time of Cholera

Coraline

Angry at the world... and some hope.

2012-01-23T14:01:00.000-08:00

Hi.

So, what's cooking in the world of blog? Been upto anything interesting? Discovered any good shows recently? Oh wait, we can't. You know the world has become a truly crazy place when the people who "work" at Megaupload, a website in which people would upload episodes of shows so humans around the world could enjoy said programmes are given 50 years in prison, and then a young man who raped, murdered and helped cover for the crime of a young girl has been sentenced to 20 years of prison -and, let's be honest, he'll probably only do half of that. Unfreakingbelievable. You start questioning who really can become a judge, a barrister and who the heck chooses the bloody jury. (Also see SOPA -Stop Online Piracy Act- and PIPA -Protect IP Act)

And then you come across a video like this and you realise there is still hope in the world. It's a video in which two kids are seated in an empty room and are told to wait for someone to come and get them. In the meantime they have a snack. Turns out there is only one sandwich, and how the kids react shows that there is still hope in the world.

Or, you could also watch this video, where it teaches us that we can't spend our life being resentful and wishing for things that we don't have when instead we should be grateful for what we do have.

Holidays, a book and a documentary

2012-01-04T11:13:00.000-08:00

Well, well, well.

After some drought on this blog, here I am. Back with my head hung in shame because -once again- I haven't been posting on here as much as I would like.

Since my last post I have spent my Christmas holidays back in Spain, and New Year in the UK. The more time I spend here, the more cultural differences I find. Take the 12 grapes us Spaniards eat at midnight, or the Caga Tió -a log you feed over December, cover with a blanket and on the night of Xmas Eve you hit it with a stick and it shits presents. What? It's the most normal thing in the world.

I had also forgotten how blunt Spanish people are sometimes. True story, 5 mins after I arrived my mum said I was fat. Well, fatter. So much for self-esteem, huh. Consequently, I have started eating healthier... Now I'm not going to call it "a diet", I'm just going to eat better. My physiotherapist said I can start swimming now, so I'm going to ask at my local gym if I can pay just for the times I go.

School started again today, but I won't be going until Friday. Today was hospital day, and tomorrow is my day off -nursery day. I tell you, those kids are funny, and they get away with so many things that us adults would consider very unPC. See what they come up with tomorrow.

And can I just say, what's with the weather?? I left when it had snowed a little bit, and when I came back I was fearing a bit for my life due to all the wind, quite a bumpy ride. I was doing fine, with all the breathing, but then the girl next to me didn't look so good and her boyfriend handed her a paper bag. Bit of a hypochondriac, you see.

So, what books/films have you read or watched lately? I read The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom. The book talks about the author's idea of heaven, in which when you die five people who have crossed your life at some point explain your life to you, why you lived the way you did, why you met these people when they were alive, why they are relevant if they were when you were a child or even before your time. I thought it was an iteresting view.

I also bought some DVDs for my children (students, this is). I got Bicicleta, Cullera, Poma; translated as Bicycle, Spoon, Apple. A documentary featuring the former president of Catalonia, who announced he had alzheimers and we following him from when he first announces to two years along the line. Very interesting, it has won several prizes.

I hope you all had a good holiday, whatever you did. Did you go back to your hometown/country? If you are married or have a family, how do you spend the holidays? Christmas with your family, New Year's with your other half's?

Book Haul.....?

2011-12-01T08:48:00.000-08:00

...... Hi.

No, I haven't fallen from the face of the Earth. I've just been.... At work. And if I wasn't at work I was at home because I'm still nursing my foot. So I haven't been able to show you the places I've been to because, well, I haven't been anywhere.

So, since I last wrote here I got myself a nemesis -although she isn't aware of this-, I started working at a nursery as well as the school, I have made new friends at school and.... nope, that's about it.

I don't really know what to talk about. I'm sure I have things to say, but I can't think of anything relevant. I went to Waterstones and Oxfam today, so I could write about the books I have bought. Thursdays is my day off school, so I go to a nursery for an hour or so and teach Spanish to 3 and 4-year-olds. I'm still finding my feet, and I'm always worried that they et bored. Hopefully over time I'll be more confident. I have to take two buses to get to the nursery, and I change in Stockport. So, on my way back home I stopped at the shooping centre and browsed the books in Waterstones. Here's what I got:

Planet Word. By J.P. Davidson, and foreword from Stephen Fry. You might have seen the BBC programme that carries the same name, presented by Stephen Fry. As a linguist at heart, I found the programme très interesant, and so, when I saw the book today at half price I couldn't really resist. The programme was split in 4 episodes, if you like. The books seems to have added one more chapter. Basically, it's about language, and how we use it, and if where we come from influences how we think.

The second book I picked up is Tuesdays with Morrie, by Mitch Albom. I had heard about it, and I remember seeing the title somewhere, probably some youtuber I watch. The book seems to be about a guy called Mitch, who has the opportunity to reunite with the mentor he had at college, Morrie Schwartz. I think the text at the back will explain it better:

Maybe it was a grandparent, a teacher or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and impassioned, helped you to see the world as a more profund place, and gave you sound advice to guide your way through it. For Mitch Albom, it was Morris Schartz, the college professor who had taught him nearly twenty years before.

Perhaps, likeMitch, you lost track of this mentor as the years passed, the insights faded, and the world seemed colder. Wouldn't you like to seethat person again, to ask bigger questions that still haunt you, and receive wisdom from your busy life the way you once did when you were younger?

Mitch got that second chance, rediscovering Morrie in the last months of the older man's life. Their rekindled friendhsipturned one final 'class': lessons in how to live.

It's my boss's birthday this weekend, so I thought I'd pick up something for him too. I like Steven Pinker, he is a psychologist, scientist and linguist, he has written several books both on language, brain and human behaviour. If you're interested in any of these topics, you should check him out. Here is one of his presentations at TED Talks.

So, I got my boss The Language Instinct, who has just had a baby and is already sleeping little. So I figured a book would be something else to add to his sleeplessness. It talks about how do we 'know' how to speak, that it's actually a genetic inheritance rather thana cultural creation. It children do not learn a language by copying their parents, but that rather it is an instinct we all have.

The last book I got from Waterstones is a children's book, for my 7-month-old niece, which I shll give to her for Xmas. In case you are interested, it is the "That's not my...." series, by Fiona Watt and Rachel Wells. The publisher is Usborne touchy-feely books.

At Oxfam I picked up a hard back copy of The Wind if the Willows by Kenneth Grahame and The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. The latter wrote the renoun book The Shadow of the Wind and its sequel The Angel's Game.

Any other books I should read? What have you been reading lately?

A good friend of mine has recently started a blog and made it public. She writes reviews on mainly books and films she has read or seen. Very useful if you're stuck and don't know what to read or watch next. If you go, tell her I said hi.

Copenhagen

2011-10-28T02:19:00.000-07:00

I went to Copenhagen for a long weekend a few days ago, and came back recently. So I thought I'd upload some photos for you to see little snippets of it and try and lure you to going there too!

I really enjoyed myself, despite the broken foot; and can I jut say, brownie points to Manchester Airport, Copenhagen Airport and EasyJet for helping me et around the places. I was given a wheelchair, which Sheldon had fun pushing around. It was a weird feeling though, because I can walk, yet apparently I am now a disabled person, as the nurses at the hospital had to point out to me last week.

Where we stayed:

We stayed at a HI hostel called Danhostel Copenhagen Down Town. The staff were very helpful and really nice. Their English is flawless, and I'm sure they could get by in languages other than Danish and perfect English. The rooms were clean, but it was a hostel. So that means a lot of young people -although they weren't noisy- and there were single bunk beds, so not very romantic. You can choose how big you want the room (within reason), and if you'd like a bathroom in it or not, if you want linen and towels, breakfast. Each aspect at an additional cost, but a very low cost.

There were bathrooms and showers on the corridors, and there was a lift to get to your floor -which I was very thankful about. Our breakfast was included in the price: bread, with an assortment of fillings, fruit, yoghurt and muesli and of course the compulsory coffee and juice. All very tasty.

If I were you, I would consider becoming a member of Hostelling International (link above) if you like travelling, backpacking, are tight on money or just young. There were families there, and older people, but mostly there people between the ages of 18 and 35 (roughly). Anyway, as I was saying. If you become a member of HI, you don't pay full price, and you get free stuff; like, for example, you can rent laptops or iPads for free at the hostel we stayed at, and food and drinks were cheaper.

Some Eating Tips:

We ate in places the Lonely Planet Guide of Scandinavia suggested.
- Riz Raz is good for cheap food. The meat feast for two was amazing, but the buffet didn't blow me away.
- Flyvefisken, is atop Atlas Bar. It serves Thai food experimented with Danish food. Slightly pricier but so worth it.
- WokShop, amazing place. It's Thai food too, and in the same price range as Flyvefisken.
- Café Victor, the place to go if you want to splash out on a nice meal out. The steak was a-mazing. You want it medium rare? You got it. The tastiest piece of red meat I've ever had, and the fries were out of this world too.
- La Glace, the best pâtisserie and the oldest in Denmark. Amazing cakes, pastries and hot chocolate. You can eat in, or buy cake and take it out.

Note that restaurants are generally not open all day. They tend to open 17.30 onwards, so you might find yourself having to kill time if you get there early.

I went for my 3 week check up last week, all seems to be healing nicely, but I'm having the cast on for another 3 weeks. Well, 2 weeks now. I'm soooo fed up of it now. I want it off. Now.

And with no further ado, some shots of cold but dry Copenhagen.

One of the many views of the river

They do like their bikes...

Main shopping square

The Rundetarn (Round Tower), where Tycho Brahe had his observatory

Inside the Tower

Slightly spooky, but I love the shot!

Buildings in another square

La Glace. Best Pâtisserie ever

Danhostel Copenhagen Down Town, where we stayed

The hostel from the inside

If you're a member of the HI (Hostelling International) you get meals and drinks cheaper, as well as being able to rent laptops and iPads for free.

Just to prove he was there

Rush hour in Denmark. Everyone on bikes.

I don't care if you say he's Neptune or Poseidon. To me he will always be Triton, father of Ariel.

My Ten Rules

2011-10-11T05:06:00.000-07:00

So I've spent a week at my new school now and I'm LOVING it :) Students are really well behaved, and teachers are -mostly- very nice. Also, never underestimate a fracture, it's a great conversation starter.

I watched some videos of a collaborative channel on Youtube, and their topic this week seemed fun to do. They all did their "Top Ten Rules" to live by. So I thought I' jump on the band wagon.

1. Never walk down the stairs in the dark.
2. Befriend your housemates, because they will get rid of spiders for you.
3. Walk every time you can. If you can wal somewhere in less than 25mins, just walk. The fare is not worth it and you'll get exercise out of it.
4. Cliché, but do what you want to do. You want to move to another country? Then do it. You actually don't want to become an architect but rather open a café. Then do it. You can always go back to your country or pick up your studies if it doesn't work out. If you don't do it, you'll spend your life wondering "what if".
5. Cook with garlic. It tastes amazing and it's good for your heart.
6. Just because it says "light" or "diet" doesn't mean it won't make you fat. And if it doesn't, granted it won't taste as good. Just don't eat it.
7. Keep a journal. Sometimes it's better to angry-write than to write and email you won't send, but send accidentally.
8. When in doubt, carry deodorant with you.
9. Be cultured. Read, watch films, go to museums. Watch the news
10. Don't listen to what other people say just because they've written a "Rules" post.

Could we potentially turn this into a tag? Any takers?

Break a leg! - not quite

2011-09-29T05:10:00.000-07:00

Doctor: "In what state were you when you stumbled down the stairs?"

Me: ".......... I wasn't drunk."

So, that was my day yesterday. I have broken my fifth metatarsal bone. Basically, it's the bone that connects the ankle to the small toe. How I broke it, you ask? Playing football.....? No, I stumbled down the stairs. I stumbled down the stairs on Sunday night, and landed on the outside of my left foot. It was dark and I just wanted to leave a mug in the kitchen so I didn't bother turning the light on the landing on. So when I thought I had arrived to the ground I still had another step to go. It hurt, but I was fine on Monday morning. Then, Monday night I went downstairs in the dark to leave a mug in the kitchen and didn't bother switching the light on the landing on, so when I thought I had arrived to the ground, I still had another step to go. The pain was much worse than the night before, and I got chills in bed, but I still thought I'd be ok in the morning.

No such luck. I couldn't walk with my left foot unless I walked on the inside. So I had a bit of a panic, as I didn't know which hospital to go to. I called Sheldon, and he suggested calling his mum, who is a nurse and she should know where to go. Sheldon's parents were leaving for the US at 2pm, and his mum came over and dropped me off at the hospital. I was so grateful, but I felt guilty that I made her a bit stressed pre-holiday.

Can I just complain about the hospital? Right, I got to A&E, and said: "I've done something to my foot, I think I might have broken something". Ok, they asked me some questions and made me wait in the waiting room. Ok up to there. They called my name, I limped to where the nurse was, she asked me some questions, gave me some pain killers and made me limp all the way to the waiting room again. Then the doctor called my name; I limped all the way to his office, we had a chat, and he made me limp all the way to radiology for an x-ray. From there, I had to limp to the x-ray room. Then I had to limp all the way back to the first waiting room. Then the doctor called my name again and confirm that I had in fact broken a bone and that it might even need some surgery.... So I should go back to the waiting room and I will be taken to the Fracture Clinic.....

Really? You've made me walk all around the bloody place, in pain, and I've told you something is wrong. This is discrimination against young people, I tell you. I bet you a retired person comes in with the same symptoms and they will automatically give them a wheelchair or at least a crutch to lean on. Not impressed.

So, I was put in a plaster cast for the day, and I had to go back tomorrow to get assessed and get a resin cast. A junior doctor looked at my foot. Now, I know that's how they learn, but he wasn't very reassuring. He just said: "cast for at least three weeks" and didn't even mention the surgery. When I did mention it -because the two bone pieces were slightly far apart- he considered it and said: "the specialist isn't in; he'll give your x-ray a look when he is in next and we'll call you in a week or two". Really...?

My favourite member of staff was the nurse who put on my second cast. I was hopping towards "Treatment Room", still getting used to my crutches and trying to not drop my bag, nurses walking past me oblivious to this, and he saw me and rushed towards me rather annoyed that no one was helping me out. So he took my bag for me and told me to take it easy. And he put my cast on. He also adjusted my crutches and the world was a better place.

My appointment is for the 19th October and I've got a flight booked for Denmark on the 21st.... Not cool.

Shows I'm looking forward to

2011-09-22T07:27:00.000-07:00

While I wait around for work to start (next week) and I actually getr a social life and go out to places (when I get paid. Très skint at the moment) I thought I'd leave you with a couple of shows I have been enjoying.

One is called Miranda. Now, it's British sitcom, and it's got two seasons on its back -I think they're showing the third one some time in November. Miranda, starring the comedienne Miranda Hart, is a thirty-something who owns a gift/joke shop with her friend Stevie. She has a love-hate relationship with her mother, and can't seem to get over cook Gary.

This is the first part of Episode 1, Season 1

The second show I'm looking forward to watching is the one called New Girl. Starring Zooey Deschanel. They showed the pilot episode recently in the U.S., and apparently a lot of people liked it. It's difficult to tell where the show is going, but for now the plot is the following: Dorky girl suffers heartbreak, needs a new place to live and finds a flat with 3 male inhabitants. I'm guessing it'll be about getting on the bandwagon again and about cohabiting with these 3 men... For now, I'll leave you with the pilot episode trailer.

Let me know what you think! Would you watch these shows?

Welcome to my Crib, yo!

2011-09-19T06:51:00.000-07:00

So the move went well. The journey to Manchester was a little bit... weird. There were drunk people on the train, there was a fairly large young lad belly up on the floor, in the aisle, and there was a girl jumping on the guy's belly...

So I thought I'd upload some photos of my new room! It's small, but I like it. It's got lots of light, it's in a quiet area (except from the planes) and I have added some things to make it more.... me.

It's cool because this used to be the study, so all the furniture and the bed are new (I think!) Ignore the towls... They were drying :P

The waredrobe is missing the doors, but I kind of like it like that. It forces me to be tidy.

Ze bed, with my vintage quilt, and my mini shoe collection

The mirror, a loan/present from my boyfriend's parents. Tea cup from Oxfam -no mugs in the house!! tsk. And an improvised key bowl, also from Oxfam. Wedgewood, apparently.

Storage Space under ze bed.

More storage space. My old books collection :)

I'm Moving - physically

2011-09-15T14:24:00.000-07:00

Right, so I have almost everything packed except for my laptop, my make up bag and the clothes I'm wearing. It's taken me several attempts to pack my bags, and actually force myself to say: I don't need to take that right now... No, that's not really essential.

So I have said goodbye to all my friends here. All 5 of them. We enjoyed a really nice BBQ, I got flowers, a mug of Newcastle and -wait for it- a membership for Manchester's Portico Library and Gallery. My friends know I like old books........

So I guess the next time I'll write my blog will be from Manchester! - If I don't suffer a death by suitcase.

A change of direction - in a way

2011-09-13T16:16:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about this blog for a while. Where is it going, where do I want it to go. I started this blog as a way of venting and also as a way of documenting my transition from Spain to the UK. It's been a whole year now, do transitions last more than a whole year?

I ahve also been thinking about my preferences, what I would like to talk about. I like photography, I like fashion, I like travelling, I like books, I like languages, I like current affairs, I like films, I like finding quirky things. And so, I will blog about all those things.

As much as I like reading travel blogs, fashion blogs, photography blogs, I don't think I know enough about anything to talk about one topic specifically. I don't have a stash of make up, I don't have countless items of clothing, I only own one camera and I doubt my taste in books and films is exquisite. But I like talking about all these things, fashion being a recent one due to my not accepting my image for a long time and so denying myself the chance to wear what I wanted because I was "too big".

And so, to start of the post to a new blog in style (see what I did there?) I shall introduce you to my newly acquired vintage item: Blanky the Blanket. I found Blanky in Edinburgh. I went -again- for the day, I met a friend from Spain who had flown over to do a course and we decided to meet up. We found this vintage/second hand shop called Armstrong and Sons, and let me tell you, it was amazing. Had I had the money and the time, I would have bought many an item. Alas, it was love at first sight with Blanky, and so I am very happy that in the quick tour I had in the shop I came across her (him?)

the proud parent

Seven Posts Of Past

2011-09-11T13:51:00.000-07:00

I was nominated by Sarah at The Expat Bride to do this ‘tag’ if you like. I cannot tell you how excited I was to see my name down there, it’s the most interaction I’ve had with fellow bloggers since I started.

So, basically this tag was created to help new readers discover past entries that might be interesting to them,

First the rules:

What this is about: To unite bloggers (from all sectors) in a joint endeavor to share lessons learned and create a bank of long but not forgotten blog posts that deserve to see the light of day again.

Rules:

1) Blogger is nominated to take part

2) Blogger publishes his/her 7 links on his/her blog – 1 link for each category.

- Your most beautiful post

- Your most popular post

– Your most controversial post

– Your most helpful post

– A post whose success surprised you

– A post you feel didn’t get the attention it deserved

– The post that you are most proud of

3) Blogger nominates up to 5 more bloggers to take part.

4) These bloggers publish their 7 links and nominate another 5 more bloggers

5) And so it goes on!

6) The site Trip Base be sharing the best posts from participating bloggers on their blog and everyday on Facebook and Twitter at #My7Links

Now for my 7 links!

1) My most beautiful post: And in the middle of Newcastle, a forest.

Sheldon and I decided to go out walking on a Sunday, and he took me to a place “I know you’ll love”. And I did. As Newcastle is renoun for being a industrial city, I was very pleasantly surprised to go to Jesmond Dean, where I took photos and uploaded them in this post.

2) My most popular post: Let it Snow

Nothing out of the ordinary, but I got a whole 3 comments! One or two of them being avid Expat Bride readers :)

3) My most controversial post: A nice day that turns into a rant

Here I talk about the questionnaires one has to fill in when joining the library, where faith, sexual orientation and ethnicity is something that has to be stated.

4) My most helpful post: So you want to teach English… or So, now that I am here, how to establish friendships?

I find both of these are helpful. The first one, as it indicates, is a guide to teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), the second is a somewhat patronizing guide to meeting people when you have moved.

5) A post whose success surprised me: Preface

I’m not talking about success as in, the number of people who commented on it, because that would be zero. But this was my first post, not really knowing where the blog would lead to and now I am glad that I kept up my blogging activity. It describes what my blog is about –although I think I might add topics to it- and why I chose the name I Blame Oprah.

6) A post I didn’t feel got the attention it deserved: So what’s this Spanish Revolution, then?

I wrote this when Spain was going through a series of demonstrations, and I felt that the media in general was portraying this affair as it should have. The Spanish media was saying that it had been started by youths, and international media sort of followed the lead. Yes, some media might have got it right, but I was enraged by the amount of bullshit I read.

7) The post I’m most proud of: Fixation with Fashion

Fashion is something I have recently found myself enjoying. It started with Youtube ‘gurus’, and I have slowly plucked up the courage to actually wear what I want –and that suits me too. I go into my issues of body image and such.

I TAG:
Kathy from Just Kiss My Cardi http://justkissmycardi.wordpress.com/
The Vegimite Wife http://vegemitewife.blogspot.com/
Sanne from Books and Quills http://booksandquills.blogspot.com/

50 Books in a Year Challenge - update

2011-08-26T15:24:00.000-07:00

1. A Beginner's Guide to Acting English. By Shappi Khorsandi
2. The Welsh Girl. By Peter Ho Davies
3. The Elegance of the Hedgehog. By Muriel Barbery
4. Love Letters of Great Women. By Ursula Doyle
5. Love Letters of Great Men. By Ursula Doyle
6. The Pages. By Murray Bail
7. The Angel's Game. By Carlos Ruiz Zafón.
8. The Cathedral of the Sea. By Ildefonso Falcones
9. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. By Mary Ann Shaffer
10. Rivers of London. By Ben Aaronvitch
11. Kirstie's Homemade Home. By Kirstie Allsopp
12. Winter in Madrid. By C.J. Sansom
13. Silk. By Alessandro Baricco
14. The House and Pooh Corner. By A.A. Milne
15. Aniversari. By Matthew Tree
16. I had a little nut tree. By Louis Battye
17. 84 Charing Cross Road. By Helen Hanff
18. The Gallow's Curse. By Karen Maitland
19. The Shadow of the Wind. By Calos Ruiz Zafón
20. One Day. By David Nicholls
21. The Tale of Peter Rabbit. By Beatrix Potter
22. The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck. By Beatrix Potter
23. The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies. By Beatrix Potter
24. No one Writes to the Colonel. By Gabriel García Márquez

Currently reading:

Guernica, by Dave Boling
The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame
The Children's Book, by A.S. Byatt

Thoughts from places: Edinburgh

2011-08-20T17:17:00.000-07:00

Sheldon and I went to ~~Edinbrah~~ Edinburgh to spend the day. We had initially thought of it as a (quote, unquote) weekend away, but due to our poor forseeing skills we didn’t realize just how important the Fringe festival is and, consequently, would have to pay the absurd amount of 200 quid for just one night and me, being the good Catalan I am and stingy, refused to spend such money. So we settled on going to spend the day, as it’s just 1h30mins on ze train from Newcastle.

Now, I know Scotland is part of Great Britain but, as their notes (as in, currency) are different, I decided to look at it as our trip abroad. We didn’t see everything, by all means, but I shall give you some –perhaps obvious- pointers as to where to go when in Edinburgh as well as some other places to go to which we didn’t have the chance to but I would have liked to have seen.

Let me start by telling you that Edinburgh on a Saturday, in summer, during the Fringe festival is über busy and crowded. I was overwhelmed by the amount of people flooding the streets as soon as we set foot out of the train. We got off at Waverly Station, which is the station smack bang in the middle of the centre and near everything one must see as a typical tourist. There are parks and monuments and more parks and more monuments. It is very easy (or at least it was for us) to not know exactly where you are going and end up somewhere you did not actually wanted to go to, so do take your time and stop and look at the map the very nice people at the tourist information centre (très close to the station) has given to you.

One of the many streets in Edinburgh

We basically just wandered around for a bit. There’s a big shopping centre where, in the event that you fail to find a quaint little independent café –like we did- will feed you and will keep you going until you do find somewhere to stop and relax. Sadly, as it was so busy we didn’t feel we could walk calmly and investigate, but rather we had to walk with a purpose. On our way back to the station we did find some alleyways which seemed to be right up our street. Some other time, perhaps.

A monument dedicated to a Scottish writer. Something "Scott"?

Some of the detailing

For me, the three must-sees are the West Princes St. Gardens, the Castle and the Royal Mile. I’m sure there are more things to see, but that is what we could see and didn’t regret seeing it. The Castle is at the top of a rocky mound (possibly limestone?), and the gardens spread out at its base. A merry-go-round and a “traditional Scottish ice-cream” stand lure you into the depths of the garden, while young couples frolic on the grass and parents try to make a picnic work with a couple of toddlers while groups of retired men and women sit on benches and look at the young whilst enjoying the sun.

War memorial

The trek to the castle is just so very slightly steep, enough to make you pant a bit when you get to the top. Do not let the arena-like chairs put you off the Castle, as it is worth the visit. I am a bit disappointed that “concession” doesn’t include students, and paying the full price was a little painful. Nevertheless, there’s plenty to see, and you can opt to borrow some headphones to benefit from the guided tour. We preferred to explore the grounds on our own. The Castle has exhibitions mainly holding military memorabilia, war gadgets, Scottish military uniforms, and there’s a POW bit. There’s also an exhibition of photographs taken in conflicts from WWI all the way to recent conflicts such as the one between Gaza and Israel. If you like photography you will particularly like this exhibition. I do not know if it is a permanent one, though.

Edinburgh Castle

Let me tell you the café in the Castle is amazing. There’s some sort of a buffet organized. I didn’t look at the hot/cold food, we went straight to coffees and cakes! We had two amazing hot chocolates, and I had cake. Bramley apples, walnuts, raisins and pecan. A-mazing. The best I’ve had in a long, long time. You can choose to sit outside, or sit inside and have a bird’s-eye view of the city.

Hot chocolate and cake!!

The view

Royal Mile

The Royal Mile is amazing. Filled with original shops and intriguing alleyways, it is a place I would like to go back to one day and discover properly. We saw the Scotch Whiskey Experience (a shop, basically), and shop specialized in wool, quilts and some amazing looking blankets. Also cashmere, which seems to be very good in those parts of the country. In one of the alleyways that exit from the left of the Royal Mile (with the Castle behind you) is a place called the Jolly Judge, which seemed quite popular among people (not tourists). In the next alleyway, also to the left, is the Writer’s Museum, which I would have LOVED to have been able to see, but we got there too late. It is in the most amazing square, and it was quotes written on the ground. Another must-see in the future.

The square where the Writer's Museum is

A quote I liked

I recently read the book One Day, and right at the end of the book, one of the main characters returns to Edinburgh, where he went to university and walks the places he once walked all those years ago. He talks about the Old Town, the New Town, Holyrood Park, Carlton Hill and Salisbury Crags, which leads up to Arthur’s Seat. A part from the Towns, we didn’t have time to see the rest, but it might be worth checking out.

All in all, quite a productive day, I’d say!

yours truly

Well hello there

2011-08-12T09:33:00.000-07:00

Hooray! I'm back.

After a long hiatus in Spain and a week entertaining family in Newcastle I thought I would update all of my 11 subscribers with my doings lately.

It was good to be back in Spain, albeit working. I worked in a summer camp with kids; parents dumped them there in the morning and came to collect them at lunch time. It was good to work again, except for the stress... Many, many things that I could say but won't in case the walls of internet have ears.

It was nice to see friends and family too. I find that as I grow older family becomes increasingly more important. It has always been in my case, but perhaps as parents get older you try and cling to those who will be around in the future such as siblings or in the lack of these, cousins. It has been in last 4 years or so that we see each other more recently as there's quite a big age gap. 10 and 8 years separate the older ones from me, another cousin is just one year older. I guess the fact that one of us is now a father has also made us realise how fast time flies by, and we have seen each other more than we would have in perhaps a whole year 7 or 8 years ago.

I have also been on the hunt on markets for books and films to have in my classroom next month. I'm having a "Spanish Culture Corner", where students can borrow books and films to benefit from in their leisure. I'm very excited to start.

I managed to go down to the sea a little bit. Not too much, otherwise I wouldn't be faithful to my milky white skin tone. Fortunately, what little colour I managed to get in Spain -which no one noticed, might I add- was pleasantly noticed when I arrived: you look glowy, very healthy. Why thank you my dear friend!

Two of my cousins also came over to Newcastle to visit. I've got very used to not having a car and taking the train to places. Thank God they hired one, as there's not that much to do in Newcastle and it was so easy to just wake up and jump in the car whenever we liked and drive somewhere. We went to Harrogate one day, and then we repeated the trip to Alnwick and Newton by the Sea I did with friends a while back. I also took them to Durham, of course. A lot of Harry Pottery scenes, might I add. A snipped of it was filmed in Durham's cathedral (a bit in the HP & The Chamber of Secrets) and the flying lessons (HP & The Sorcerer's Stone) in Alnwick Castle.

For the following two weekends I shall be in Shrewsbury and Edinburgh. Will hopefully take some good shots there. Moving to Manchester mid September, so any advice as to where to go and do touristy things will be more than welcome!!

Birthday Frog Competiton Entry

2011-07-10T10:09:00.000-07:00

To Kathy: this is my entry for your Birthday Competition!

I have focused on the "jump" aspect of the frog world, as well as adding a quote of good old Mr. Toad from The Wind in the Willows.

The full view

I used a sequence of photos of yours truly jumping. I printed them in black and white and then I coloured them in with felt-tip pen.

Hopefull you can see the whole process of the jump.

Ta-da!!!

Good old Mr. Toad :)

Leap of Faith, I thought the sentence was appropiate, as thinking of frogs and jumps reminded me of this photo by J. A. Hampton:

I hope you liked it!

So what's this Spanish Revolution, then?

2011-05-30T09:30:00.000-07:00

I've wanted to address the topic of this post for some time now, but I was afraid I'd get stigmatized for not stating the facts correctly. I am aware that this will still happen, in fact, please do comment on this post if you feel you have something that will contribute to the better understanding of this situation. If, however, it is a rude comment, I will not hesitate to delete it.

The "situation" I am talking about is what's cooking in Spain at this minute. Let's do some gap filling, as I am appalled by the lack of media coverage this revolution has received until recently.

Spain, as well all know, is not in its best time economically speaking. Being down at the bottom with Greece, Portugal and a couple of others, it's just about managing to keep its head above water and trying, albeit with no success, to crawl out of the economic crisis. Furthermore, it is the country with the highest unemployment rate in the EU.

Spaniards feel the government hasn't done much for them, and -as always- the rich remain rich, while the poor remain poor and -dare I say it- are getting poorer. On Sunday 22nd May, Spain was holding elections for the autonomic communities and municipalities; we could compare it to shires: Catalonia, Andalucia, Galicia, Basc Country, Madrid, Extremadura.... I would venture to say that Spain is notorious for it's lack of voting initiative. This time round, recollections from each area have abstentions of 20-45%, Catalonia has the highest percentage of blank votes with 4.1%

The Spanish Revolution (as some refer to) began a week before the elections (Sunday 15th May), when people in Madrid took the Puerta del Sol and demanded change and a true democracy. The media tried to picture it as an angry mob of unemployed youths, but demonstrators were soon found to be old and young, graduates, unemployed, retired, workers. They camped in the square and refused to leave. Over that week, many squares around Spain were also taken by Spaniards wanting a change. Little by little, the demand for a true democracy was heard around the country.

This is one of the videos that was spread across social networks and which I also found thanks to my friends in Spain, I wouldn't have heard of it until now had it not been for them. While the media and politicians were trying to water this down as angry youths, the social networks were thriving and were organizing the where and when of next peaceful sittings around the country. The aim was to motivate people to not only vote, but also to vote the smaller parties, as that way everyone would be better represented and the major parties PP and PSOE wouldn't end up in power, as they have been ever since the dictatorship ended. That was the most eminent one, as it was the week before elections, but it also engulfed real democracy, jobs, banks, politicians, etc.

Slowly but surely, European countries learned of what was going on, and Spanish people living abroad gathered in front of embassies and squares to show their support.

Dublin in Ireland

New York in the US

Frankfurt in Germany

Gdańsk in Poland

Amsterdam in Holand

Lisbon in Portugal

London in England

Edinburgh in Scotland

Reykjavík in Iceland

Prague in the Czech Republic

You get the gist of it.

Did I mention that the government banned the peaceful demonstration on Saturday 14th May as it was "Reflecting Day"? Apparently hanging posters and advertising don't influence the people's vote. How bizarre. The of the elections came and went, and where the PSOE used to be now governs PP (from socialists to right wing); despite the elections having finished, people are still taking the major squares and are demanding change.

Then, this happens in Catalonia and this and all hell breaks loose. Felip Puig, the Minister of Home Affairs, instructed the order, and Manel Prat, the General Director of the Police made sure it was followed out (there are two types, the Local and the Mossos. The Mossos are the ones who have been violent) saying that the objective of the police was to "clean" the area of rubbish. What they also did was take the food away, as well as IT equipment, other objects that -to anyone else except them- weren't rubbish but essentials. Everyone says they actually wanted to dissolve the peaceful sitting.

When people saw this violence, people in places like Madrid and Alicante came out with flowers and shouted: 'Barcelona, no estás sola'. Barcelona, you're not alone.

The government doesn't seem to to be able to realize that charging against the people will not silence them, it will only make them more angry. And yes, we are in an economic crisis, and we do need to be careful with our money, but instead of taking money away from those who are unemployed, retired or earning the minimum wage, why not take a percentage off the wages of bankers, politicians and football players, for example? There are people in town halls that are being paid to do nothing, and there's corruption everywhere.

There was a piece of news that went practically unheard, when Julio Anguita (from Izquierda Unida) refused his pension as a former member of the -Spanish- Parliament because he "had enough with what he got from his teaching pension". The article can be found in Spanish here and here . I wonder how many politicians do that on their own accord.

I'm sorry if this post has dealt with a political affair, but I couldn't just stand by and do nothing. If I have at least informed a couple of you, I am happy.

50 Books Challenge - update

2011-05-20T02:33:00.000-07:00

1. A Beginner's Guide to Acting English. By Shappi Khorsandi
2. The Welsh Girl. By Peter Ho Davies
3. The Elegance of the Hedgehog. By Muriel Barbery
4. Love Letters of Great Women & Love Letters of Great Men. By Ursula Doyle
5. The Pages. By Murray Bail
6. The Angel's Game. By Carlos Ruiz Zafón.
7. The Cathedral of the Sea. By Ildefonso Falcones
8. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. By Mary Ann Shaffer
9. Rivers of London. By Ben Aaronvitch
10. Kirstie's Homemade Home. By Kirstie Allsopp
11. Winter in Madrid. By C.J. Sansom
12. Silk. By Alessandro Baricco
13. The House and Pooh Corner. By A.A. Milne
14. Aniversari. By Matthew Tree
15. I had a little nut tree. By Louis Battye
16. 84 Charing Cross Road. By Helen Hanff

Alnwick and Newton-by-the-Sea

2011-05-09T11:02:00.000-07:00

We went to Alnwick and to Newton-by-the-Sea yesterday. We were worried that we would be flushed away to the sea, as it started raining really hard on our way and the idea of swapping the car for Noah's Ark was rather appealing.

I would have liked to have done some touristy things in Alnwick, but due to the weather we were confined in -another- most amazing book shop and we barely made it to the pub to eat relatively dry. It was decided by general consensus that the best thing would go to the coast (?) for a little walk.

The turn out of people was really good. I was happy that so many of my acquaintances -and hopefully- friends had decided to tag along, and I also managed to lure Sheldon to come with us. He laughed a lot and I know he enjoyed himself, even if he did have to go to work after and was moody.

Barter Books occupies Alnwick's old rail station. When I first went in I was overwhelmed by the amount of books and space, I must confess I even thought of leaving for a split second. But then I began to wander, and got lost among the book cases. I think you have to either go alone or with someone who really likes books as much as you do, as I get fretty and think people want to leave -which was the case- and I leave empty-handed. You should go to one of these places with no tight schedule, and allow yourself to get lost among the rows of books. My friend who had taken me especially to this place promised to take me again. I had a "linguist moment", when I came across the "Spanish Section" and was unimpressed by the fact that books in Spanish and Catalan were mixed together. I took the time to separate them and classify each language separately.

The station has sofas and chairs to sit on and browse through a book, as well as a café area to have coffee or snack. Apparently, they get the fire places going in winter too.

Newton by the Sea was beautiful. It was a shame the tide had started to come in, as we would have liked to have made it to the ruins. For some reason, it feels wrong to walk on the beach with shoes. So I ended up being the only one to take my shoes off and walking on the shore for a bit. My friend said he was proud to see the British side of me come out, yet I might say it was the Spanish part, as everyone else was British and no one took their shoes off.

Sharston Books

2011-05-05T13:37:00.000-07:00

If you are a book enthusiast you will enjoy a little place I discovered recently.

I spent a week in Manchester, for Easter, and one day Sheldon and I decided to go in search of a second-hand book shop Sheldon's dad had seen signed on a road.

Sharston Books is tucked away after a petrol station/garage. It looks rather 'underground' given its location, and I didn't know what to expect when we got there. I loved it almost immediately. The warehouse is so full of books that it has two of those shipping containters outside also full of books.

As you walk in, the attendant is sat to your right and will help you find a particular book or can point you in the direction of the genre you are interested in. Sheldon went straight up to sci-fi, I however, decided to start from the beginning as I didn't have a particular book in mind. I just wanted to explore.

There's shelf upon shelf of books. All second hand, al lot of them from before the 1970's, I'd say. The distance between rows was tight, and I had to leave my bag on the floor more than once in order to turn round and not knock anything over. There's a little alcove for each category: army, WWI, WWII, childrens books, history, leisure, biographies, manuals, how-to books, architecture, art, classics. I spent at least 45 mins on the ground floor, picking up books and being surprised by the price of a 1930's Mansfield Park: a couple of quid. I picked some bits and pieces and proceeded to the upstairs.

More row upon row of books, Sheldon was in his element with his sci-fi, I continued to explore. There we had tourist guides, topography, religion, bird watching, economy, languages. There are also some old prints and pictures on sale, as well as old maps. I found a map of Shrewsbury (where my father's family is from -a justified find, not a random pick) from the late 1920's, and added it to my haul for a mere 2.

The place is amazing to say the least, and I'll be sure to stop by on my next visit to Manchester -or when I live there!!

Are there any quirky finds around your area worth checking out?

School Day and the Chester of the Man (that's Manchester)

2011-04-15T04:17:00.000-07:00

I went to Manchester last week. I had a meeting at the school I'll be working at next year. I'm going to have to be careful with what I write on here as it might end up being read by colleagues or pupils.

My day began by hovering outside the Staff House (I know!) and not quite knowing what to do. I was supposed to meet the Head of Spanish there, but his office isn't actually in the staff house, so I didn't really want to march into it and make myself at home. Not yet, anyway. So I hovered for about 5 to 10 minutes, teachers gradually arriving and smiling, until one of drama teachers asked me if I was lost (uhm, no) and who was I waiting for (Mr. W) and what for (I'll start working here next year). "Well!! Come on in then! I'm Milly -I've forgotten her name-, I'll get you a cup of tea."

And that's what she did. She got me a cup of tea and apologised for having to leave me but she needed to do some chatting before school started. Then Mr. Ginger sat next to me, saying that Mr. W told him I'd be coming, and he kept me company until the boss arrived. I was surprised at how nice everyone was. Miss M, one of the Spanish teachers, came up to us and sat with us too. Eventually Mr W arrived.

So we went through registration and I was introduced to his class: "Good morning Miss Penny", and then I followed Mr W to a couple of his classes. He dropped me in at the deep end of the pool by making me assess pupils and correcting them when they spoke. If you hadn't gathered by now, it's a private school, so I didn't have to deal with any major misbehaving.

Recess went by and then another 2 lessons and by lunch time I was having a ball. Miss M and I had lunch together, some TAs sat next to us and one eventually asked us if we were Spanish. "I knew you (Miss M) taught Spanish, but I didn't know you did", to which I thought to myself "That would be because I don't work here". Then Miss M took me to what will be my class. It's in a separate building, and I share the edification with the French and German conversation assistants as well as with the IT guys. I see it as a tower, perhaps I could call it the Tower of Babel; my class it at the top and looks out onto the grounds. The current assistant had written "good luck, P!" on the blackboard and I was touched by this little gesture.

After lunch I had a meeting with the HR woman, who was extremely nice. If only she hadn't taken a photo of me I would not hold any resentment against her whatsoever. As it happens, that ~~awful~~ photo she took of me will be on my staff badge for the whole of next year. Yay.

For my second to last lesson of the day, I was to go to Mrs. L's class. She's a a woman with such a stern look that even I was intimidated by her; when everyone had sat down, I got up and as I did so she said "What are you doing?" I turned round telling myself that she wasn't MY teacher, and said "I'm just going to get a chair". "Yes, you are allowed". However, she has the dryest sense of humour. And I loved her almost immediately. She made me stand in front of the class and told the pupils to ask me questions in Spanish. It was all going rather well when Mrs. L asked me if I spoke Catalan. At that point pupils were left out of the equation and I ended up giving a master class on Catalan and its similarities to Spanish and French, to which Mr. W -whose office is connected to the class- also came in and listened to me. At the end of it, I looked at Mrs L for approval -just like a school kid- and she winked at me, which I decided was a sign that I did well. Some of the pupils actually asked some questions about Catalan, and Mr. W was also happy with my performance.

The last lesson was light compared to what I just did, but still Mr W got me teaching in a way. After that we sat down and talked about next year and what my job would involve. I already have an idea of how I'm going to distribute my class, and what I'm going to put in it. I want it to be a cultural place, as well a place where pupils come to improve their speaking. So I'm thinking I'll progressively acquire books in Spanish (by Spanish authors) and then maybe books in Catalan and Basque and Gallego -so they can see the difference. Also books on grammar and culture; I'm aware that I'll have to include South America.

All in all, a rather positive day, I think.

By the way, would school affairs be something you'd like to see in this blog? I'm saying this because next year -as it'll be my job- it might be the origin of a lot of funny (and not so funny) stories. Maybe not turn this into a language blog, as most people who read this came from Expat blog.... Anyway, let me know your thoughts.

50 Books Challenge - Update

2011-04-15T03:45:00.000-07:00

1. A Beginner's Guide to Acting English. By Shappi Khorsandi
2. The Welsh Girl. By Peter Ho Davies
3. The Elegance of the Hedgehog. By Muriel Barbery
4. Love Letters of Great Women & Love Letters of Great Men. By Ursula Doyle
5. The Pages. By Murray Bail
6. The Angel's Game. By Carlos Ruiz Zafón.
7. The Cathedral of the Sea. By Ildefonso Falcones
8. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. By Mary Ann Shaffer
9. Rivers of London. By Ben Aaronvitch
10. Kirstie's Homemade Home. By Kirstie Allsopp

At least we're in the 10s now! As always, any suggestions are welcome. I went to Oxfam books a couple of days ago but nothing caught my eye.... :(

Only in Durham

2011-03-20T13:19:00.000-07:00

Well that was a bit of a hiatus. Sorry about that.

I have actually been busy, which is a good thing, considering I have had a lot of free time in the last 6 months.

I sat my Maths exam. No, I am not thick. But for some reason the British education system thinks that the Spanish level is not up to the standard and so, I have had to repeat a whole syllabus that I already did when I was 16. But still, it has reminded me that I actually like maths -except for quadratic equations, they make me cry.

Why I'm doing GCSE maths, you ask? Well, I need to have at least a C if I ever want to go into education; which means I would have to do a PGCE, which requires applicants to have a minimum grade C in English and Maths. So I figured, as I wasn't working at the time -or now, technically- that now is as good a time as any to take the course.

I sat the exam for modules 1 and 3 a couple of weeks ago, my next exams are in June. It went quite smoothly, with minor hiccoughs, and a good laugh at the cost of fellow exam-sitters. One of the guys I go to class with fell asleep during the exam -it would be funny if you knew him. He goes on tangents in class, asking about the mathmaticians, and how they discovered the formula, etc. Don't get me wrong, it is interesting, but we don't really have the time to philosophise about mathematics. Then we discovered he has ADD and everything made sense.

I couldn't get over the amount of emo kids there were. Emo, punk and goths. I felt old when I was tempted to walk up to a young man and pin his fringe back, telling him as I did so that hair that went all the way down to his nose would cause him to fall over and bump into people. Also, he reminded me of the characters of the Asian versions of The Ring. Very unsettling.

I shall skip the the afternoon when I dug myself a hole by asking a new German friend if she was a language nazi, pausing, and apologising for saying nazi. She still talks to me, so I gather she wasn't offended, or she didn't understand. Either is good.

One thing I am getting extremely good at is dodging young students who want to "have a little chat" about this or that charity. I know money is needed, but I'm not in the position of giving any at the moment. So, instead of stopping at each and every individual and saying: "I don't have a job. Consequently the bank won't allow me to open a bank account. Which means that, either way, I can't help you even if I wanted to" I just turn up the volume of my mp3 player -note I didn't say ipod- and avoid eye contact at all costs while speeding up my pace. If someone still is optimistic enough to apporach me, I just pull a "I'm sorry" face and say "I'm in a rush". That generally does the trick.

I do do my bit though, I volunteer here and there, and I go to Oxfam often.

I feel as though I have to end this post with pictures of some sort. So here are some snapshots I took at Durham.

Before I do so, let me tell you a short story. The day trip to Durham was excellent. I for once was on time and we got our train tickets with plenty of time to spare. We got to Durham, walked around for a bit, had lunch and visited the several charity shops in the centre.

When it was time to go back home we made our way back to the station. We had gathered a few bags each due to our purchases, so I dedicated the minutes we had to wait for the train to organise my newly acquired books. The train arrived, we got on it and found a couple of seats. As I had previously "lost" (had been robbed, basically) my purse, I have become quite paranoid about losing my things, so I went through my little routine I go through every time I arrive to a place or leave a place. I had my phone, my map -I'm a little obsessed with maps and getting lost- and my books. My keys were also there. Where's my purse? Gertrude* and I looked for my purse, even a lady was kind enough to get on all fours and look for it on the floor in case it had fallen. No sign of it. We rushed up the carriage we had walked down in case I had dropped it. Nope.

So, when we arrive at Newcastle station I run to one of the supervisors and tell him that I think I had left my purse on the platform at Durham station. He send me to management. At this point Gertrude* started telling me I had to cancel the credit cards. "Just a second", I thought to myself. I got to management, explained what had happened and the kind lade behind the desk tried to get in contact with Durham station. As she was getting through, the broadest Geordie-accented voice spoke through the loudspeaker saying -what I discovered a few moments after deciphering what he said- that Durham station had found my purse!

So, Gertrude* paid for my fare back, I got to Durham station, asked around, the staff kindly indicated where I had to go, and the supervisor gave me my purse back! Nothing was missing; not my money or cards. I was SO, so relieved. And lucky. I bet if this had happened anywhere else in the UK, I could say good-bye to my beloved purse.

Since then, I'm even more paranoid.

Outside Durham castle

Passed the gate at Durham Castle

Durham Cathedral

from the part where Durham uni students practise their rowing

From the main bridge

50 Books in a year update

2011-02-24T14:05:00.000-08:00

After poucing around in my PJs all day, and then deciding to dry my hair whilst listening to my "Good Morning!" list on Spotify, I thought "I haven't posted on my blog for a while. Better update it". So here I am. And I have nothing pertinent to say.

I could talk about how I have been researching my family tree. But I doubt anyone would find that remotely interesting.

Maybe I could talk about Lady Gaga, Born this Way and coming out of an egg at the Grammys....? No...?

So it's books, then. As you have rightly deduced by the title. You smart little thing. So my reading comes in sprees. Sometimes I can be bothered to pick up a book in ages, other times I will devour a book in 2 or 3 days. I reckon, however, that I'm falling behind in my 50 Books in a Year Challenge... Right, let's write a list, shall we?

1. A Beginner's Guide to Acting English. By Shappi Khorsandi
2. The Welsh Girl. By Peter Ho Davies
3. The Elegance of the Hedgehog. By Muriel Barbery
4. Love Letters of Great Women & Love Letters of Great Men. By Ursula Doyle

Hah. That's not much at all. I have a couple of books started, Pages by Murray Bail and Life of Pi by Yann Martel. So I shall add those in my next 50 Books in a Year update. Definitely. Hopefully.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

2011-02-10T16:00:00.000-08:00

So, I got a job. (hurrah!) But I start in October (boo!)

Funny thing. Here I was, minding my own business, getting up ~~early~~ at 8.30am in order to go to my beloved gallery, when in my inbox there was an email from a friend in Manchester. Subject? "Job in Manchester".

And yes, my dear readers, after two weeks of feeling incredibly ~~hormonal~~ emotional, very confused, and speaking to as many people as I could put my hands on, I decided to take the job. Please don't talk me out of it, it has taken me a lot to come to this decision.

After much drama, and realising I wasn't deserting anyone by leaving, Sheldon and I came to the conclusion that I should take the job. The situation is the following:

Sheldon will finish his PhD in July 2012. He then has to write up his thesis. How long does a thesis take to write? We shall say until December 2012, Xmas is always a nice time to finish. So, I would have to move to Manchester for a whole year before Sheldon can come and join me.

Why take the job? Because Sheldon is from Manchester, his family lives there, and Manchester is not so out of the way to go and see people. Also, there seems to be more jobs the further South you go (taking into accound the present situation of unemployment). So, the possibility of having a very employed Penny in a year's time is extremely convenient. Then Sheldon can look for work with no pressure.

Also, I must confess that despite loving Newcastle, I am more of a small town/village kind of person. Going INTO the city is absolutely fine, I like trains. But I find cities fairly overwhelming. I think this is some kind of scarring from when I had to commute to my university in Barcelona every day. It made me hate the idea of going into town, nevermind trying to circulate among the seas of people.

And so, my ~~very few~~ dear readers, I ask you: have you ever been to Manchester? I need land marks and nice little cafés and bookshops to go to. I have learned there's an indie cinema called The Corner House, which I shall no doubt check out. I have also spotted a quaint little shop in the town I will look into living, and an Oxfam bookshop. FTW.

In the meantime, I shall leave you with some snapshots I took of one of our walks in Jesmond Dene.

Rediscoveries

2011-01-31T16:11:00.000-08:00

Recently I rediscovered a way of entertainment which had me hooked to the computer/laptop for hours. It's StumbleUpon. Basically, you select the topics you are interested in, and you start stumbling. The little stumbling button takes you from website to website, and you can either give a thumbs up or a thumbs down depending on how much it appealed to you. That way each time the search is more and more refined and you come up with very interesting websites.

One of the webistes I have rediscovered is The Book Seer. Basically, you the bearded man what was the last book you read, and it comes up with books you might enjoy reading. A simple little website, but I enjoy reading through titles and looking up the plot and then adding them to my to-read list or dismissing them. Sure, the list will be unfinishable, but the day someone has no more books to read... Well, that will be a very sad day.

Need I say more? This website makes me want to cook everything on the website.

I have also found this blog.It's about a girl who moved to another city and found she was friendless. Having to start making friendships all over again. She documents her journey through the different ways one can make new friends today, and she ponders on questions such as does it depend on where you are, do friendships depend on technology, or whether you should tell your significant other that, in fact, you don't really like their friends. Thoroughly amusing and interesting. Especially since I found myself in the same situation when I first arrived in Newcastle and, as it seems, will happen again, as I will be moving to Manchester in September.

But more on that another day.

The one with a quote

2011-01-15T16:27:00.000-08:00

"If we, citizens, do not support our artists, then we sacrifice our imagination on the altar of crude reality and we end up believing in nothing and having worthless dreams."

Yann Marten
Author's Note, in The Life of Pi

Follow the Yellow Brick Road. I mean, Follow the Wet Patch of Carpet

2011-01-10T12:47:00.000-08:00

Nothing better than starting the new year with a leak. (Ignore the joke you can make there. I mean it. Stop it)

We spent New Year's at Manchester. Sheldon's mum bought grapes for us all, as the Spanish tradition is to eat 12 grapes at midnight in time with the 12 chimes. I thought there was nothing to it, apparently it is difficult and confusing the first time.

We came back up to Newcastle and a leak we hadn't noticed at first made it self seen. Or rather, smelled. You see, a few months ago I accidentally spilled a WHOLE MUG of milk on the carpet, and as much as I scrubbed it still managed to smell. We had kind of got rid of the smell, but the leak is coming from somewhere right under that area, and so has wet the carpet and the invisible stain. Making the smell of stale milk, vinegar (which I used to scrub down the milk) and old water an interesting mix. Sheldon has contacted the landlady and will contact the letting agency tomorrow as -and this is just my luck- it's on my side of the bed. So every morning I am greeted by this special and most unwelcomed smell.

In other news, I went on a CV hand out spree today. It seems that no one is hiring, but still; one can dream. I did, however end up in the Oxfam book shop and bought 2 books.... 3.... ok 5. But I justify myself in that a) it's going to charity, b) they're less than 3 quid each and c) I love reading, which makes me learn words.

Also, I have decided to take up the 50 Books Challenge. Which consists in -surprise- reading 50 books in a year. So far I have read one; Shappi Khorsandi's Beginner's Guide to Acting English. For those of you who don't know, Shappi is an Iranian born comedienne, and in this book she talks about how she and her family came to Britain for what was supposed to be a couple of years max but who, with the political movement that went on in the late 70's early 80's had to stay and declare themselves refugees due to Shappi's father being an Iranian satirist and the new power not particularly liking him. Social history; it's the best way to learn about history, I think. You have facts but also a story. I was rubbish at history in school because I was incapable of memorising kings, years, treaties, etc. However, I got A* in literature because I could read a book and remember everything that happened as well as studying characters, the theme, etc. Another blogger (who is also a vlogger -check her out!) is also doing the 50 Book challenge. Her name is Sanne and she's pretty awesome.

On my way home I found myself lip sync-ing to a song that started playing on shuffle and all of a sudden I believed I was in a video clip and did exaggerated gestures, hair flicks and eye movements. I'm lucky that I live in a cul-de-sac and I don't normally come across many neighbours. I'd probably get mugged, actually... Have seen some suspicious-looking people. Especially when I live passed a place called Saint Ann's court, with a Saint Ann's church. All this would be fine, if locals didn't pronounce it like "Satan". Most disturbing when someone catches you unaware and asks for Satan's Church.

p.s. Why do women insist on smothering self-tanning products to the extent that they have patches and still think they look attractive? I dispair.

p.s.2. And Happy New Year to you all :)

Improvise

2010-12-21T04:55:00.000-08:00

I'm currently in Spain. My parents were charitable enough to pay for my flight "home", and so I am spending a couple of weeks here. I thought it would be weird, coming back; but it feels as if I had never left. People are making me feel most welcome, and I am the most social I have been in months. I had a good social life in Spain... Not so much in Newcastle. Here, going out at 10pm is normal, in the UK, some friends asked if I wanted to go out at 11pm and I literally said no because it was too late and I was in my pj bottoms... It's funny how you adapt to culture. And how you suddenly become a 60-year-old.

Since I've been back I have gone out for dinner with my work mates from last year, and went clubbing straight after with my work colleagues from my job before the last one. I met up with group of friends A and group of friends B, and have met some people individually.

Last Sunday, I met group A to watch a monologue. The are called Impropon; basically, they improvise. They ask someone in the audience to tell them a sentence, and then someone else tells them a film genre, and from there they improvise a sketch. It turns out my friends are these people's groupies, they always sit right at the front, and they talk to them before and after the show. So, when they comedians asked who was watching them for the first time, I couldn't really wriggle out of raising my hand.Do you see where this is going? Yeah.

After a couple of sketches, they said they were going to introduce a surprise element: they were going to select two people from the audience to help them out whenever their mind went blank. So, one of these assistants was -and I quote- The Virgin. Meaning, me. Here we have some evidence:

Mortifying. But still, people laughed and my ~~loyal~~ friends took copious amounts of photos.

Yesterday I met a friend in Barcelona. I met her in July while I did my Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language course. She lived in Australia for 6 years before she decided to come back to Spain to see if things would work out for the best here, leavin her other half in Australia and hoping that they would eventually settle down somewhere. Almost 2 years after being here, she went on the Camino de Santiago and -she said- realised she had to go back to Australia, but first stopping at India, Nepal and Thailand to find some peace of mind. It reminds me of that book, Eat Pray Love. She'll stuff herself over the Xmas hols here, pray in India and find her love in Australia. Aww She said she's thinking of starting a blog, so I'll link it here when that happens.

I hope it all goes swell.

Survival skills

2010-12-06T17:20:00.001-08:00

The decision-making moment of my day today was whether to put Creamy Lancashire or Caerphilly cheese in my sandwich. I went for the latter. Not having anything to do sucks. Sometimes.

Sheldon has gone to Liverpool for the week, to a conference. I am left to keep the fort while he is gone. When premises are left to myself, chances are that by the end of the week there won't be any floor space. Things just get so messy without even trying.

I was at an event last Friday. It was part of my volunteering. It went well, but this time I think there were too many of us. There were five of us behind the bar, when we only needed 2... After the exhibition opening there was an after party. I like these events, especially at the beginning when no one is really drunk; you meet all sorts of interesting people. Of course, you bump into the pretentious, who you try to avoid, but then I find that the quirky and eccentric are fascinating to talk to. You can only handle so much though, then you are in desperate need of a conversation with a “normal” person, a person with the same cultural background and IQ than you, in which case the conversation will stem from something like the weather, or what we do in our free time, and will inevitably end up gossiping about something or someone. You've got to love “normal conversations”.

I also learned a vital survival skill that night. When at a party, befriend the wardrobe rugby player behind the bar; he will provide 1) protection and 2) free drinks. So what if he was a little on the cuddly side, or if at a given point he might have -and it's not as bad as it seems- given me a little pat on the bottom? It is obviously his "thing". Some people high five, others spank. Although he both high fived and spanked... He obviously did it absent mindedly and had forgotten we were practically strangers, and I was way too tipsy to find it offensive. I just skipped away with the mission of empty bottle gathering in mind. I doubt I'll see him again, anyway. One of the other volunteers, Nyx*, also experienced the over-cuddliness of Gunther* (I entered: “barman names” in the search engine and the almighty Google said “did you mean German names”, so I shrugged and went for Gunther) and said: “I think he hasn't had sex in a long time...” Blunt. Note to self; Next time I go shopping, I won't take Nyx with me, she will definitely say if the trousers make my butt look fat; and she will say 'HUGE', which will make me feel even worse.

On a lighter note, I came across this website yesterday: www.supercook.com

You tell the website what ingredients you have in your kitchen and it comes up with a recipe. How cool is that?

Also, now that I have more followers (hurrah!!), I would like to ask for you advice regarding books. I finished The Book Thief yesterday, and I need something else to read. I do have books here, but I have the charity bookshop bug. Just tell me books you have enjoyed reading recently, I'll look them up and if they seem like my cup of tea I'll try to find them in the Oxfam or Amnesty shops in town.

In return, I shall give you a couple of titles myself, see if we get a little chain going:

Eucalyptus, by Murray Bail.

The End of Mr. Y, by Scarlett Thomas

Company of Liars, by Karen Maitland

The Legacy, by Katherine Webb

Also, if you use www.goodreads.com, we should be goodreads buddies. Sharing my username on here would defeat the purpose of pseudonyms, so leave me yours, or I can email it to you. We'll work something out.

Let it snow

2010-11-28T14:15:00.000-08:00

So, uhm, it snowed today.

And yesterday.

And the day before

It has pretty much snowed every day since Wednesday, which is exciting for me. In Spain it only tends to snow up north, in the Pyrenees, and when it does snow in other regions the whole country stops functioning. Last year there was snow in in February or March, really random weather. It snowed for a day and pretty much everything stopped working. We did have snow, but nothing major... It melted in a couple of days, but even still schools closed, people were stranded on the motorway and cars were abandoned on the streets.

This past weekend I was at the Ouseburn Open Studios, volunteering at the Mushroom Works. On the last weekend of November, the studios on the Ouseburn Valley open their doors to the public, offering the opportunity to venture in and have a wonder round the artists' workplace, and to chat them. Not only that, but viewers can purchase pieces for an affordable price, take part in workshops and there's a bus that will drop you off right in front of the studios. I would have liked to go round to the other studios, maybe I'll go next year; yet I had a really good time at Mushroom Works. All the artists are very friendly, and I loved the quirkiness of some of them. I was surprised at how many people came round, the area isn't exactly in the city centre, but I suppose if you are interested in art and culture you will know what's going on during the year. People still managed to make it despite the ongoing snow, I couldn't help but smile every time the door opened and plump, padded figures waddled in covered in snow with red noses and cheeks.

I was assisting at the till, bagging the the 20x20 pieces that the studios offered, and was excited when I saw the amount of units some people bought. One guy bought 8 pieces on his own, he then paid for the other couple his partner chose, and they both came back the following day to buy a couple more. Most bought a couple or three. I saw many people stood in front of several works, with a knitted brow, trying to decide which on they liked best. I served a small family, each had chosen one or two to take home. The small boy was very excited about the skidding toy cars he had found, by Jim Edwards. When I have him the bag he took it carefully and took great care that he didn't knock it about. Can you tell I like people-watching?

I bought a couple of pieces myself. I will talk about them in my next post.

So, are you an artist too?

2010-11-24T08:56:00.000-08:00

That is the question I seem to be getting asked the most lately.

As some of you know, I volunteer for a couple of art studios/galleries up here in Newcastle. That means I invigilate when needed and I also install some work or offer a hand it whatever needs doing. Everyone I have worked with so far is really nice, but I always get the same question when first introduced.

I feel guilty when I say: "No uhm... I studied languages...?"

Their reaction: "Oh..."

My answer to that: "Yeah..."

And so I have to go on this Gulliver-like explanation that I have managed to master down to the following dialogue:

Me: I was brought up in Spain

Artist's Most Likely Answer: Really? You really don't have an accent at all.

Me: Yeah, my dad's English...

A.M.L.A: Oooh that explains it then.

Me: Yeah. So uhm, my boyfriend went to uni here and he's doing his PhD. We've been doing the long-distance relationship thing for just under 4 years now.

A.M.L.A: WOW! That must have been hard!!

Me: And uhm... when I finished uni and worked for a bit I decided that I may as well come over and see if we are actually compatible rather than waiting another 4 years.

A.M.L.A: Of course, yeah. So, how did you end up volunteering?

Me: Well, I came over in August and realised I basically knew no one except from my boyfriend and flatmate. So I decided it was something to do while I find a job. I found out about *insert volunteer organization here*...

A.M.L.A: Oh, yeah. I've heard of it.

Me: *thinks* why does EVERYONE know what it is? I hadn't heard of it in my LIFE!

But the "why art?" question always remains. And I kind of understand why they would ask... Yet I can't quite explain why I enjoy volunteering in an art environment. My art career started and ended in secondary school. I was pretty good a it, for a teenager. After that, my artistic outlet was (and still is) photography...and scrapbooking/card making, but these are mainly for personal and family/friends use. That's pretty much is. I guess in a way, seeing other artists work inspires me. I already wish I could afford going to drawing classes, having a studio space.... But I very much doubt I shall become an artist, it would just be a hobby.

So, I am an artist by osmosis.

Image taken by Nick. Copyright of the Mushroom Works

This photo was taken today while I was helping out for an opening on Friday :) I'm the one with the hammer.

You're It

2010-11-23T06:22:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning and I thought I would update my blog. The problem is that I haven't been up to much, since I STILL DON'T HAVE A JOB. I have applied for a few jobs I found, and I am hoping to get an interview for a particular one which I think would be awesome to get picked for.

Another of my friends came up for the weekend. It was nice seeing her again; it's funny how things turn out. The first time I came to Newcastle 4 years ago, we barely spoke even though we were in the same group. I left, and we didn't really keep in touch, until she came to Barcelona for a month and I offered to meet her at the airport and help her out. Since then we have become really close and every time we see each other it feels like we jump another hurdle. We aren't that different, come to think of it. But I thought that she wasn't girlie, she criticises everything girlie. But last weekend I saw that it wasn't compleeetely true. And that made em realise that we are completely changing.

I went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 yesterday. Are you guys Harry Potter fans? I am. I read the book a really long time ago, and although I wanted to re-read the book before I saw the film, but I had to leave the books in Spain. I really enjoyed it, actually. I think that if I had read the book I might have noticed more things missing, but I have come to understand that the films cannot contain all the information in the books. However, while I didn't think The Half Blood Prince lived up to our expectations (there's no explanation as to who the Half Blood Prince is) I think this time round the film was really well-made. If you want me to write a more extensive review on it, let me know! ~~(all you imaginary readers out there)~~

Anyway, back to topic. A blogger that I have recently started to follow posted a tag a week or so ago. So, as I don't have anything interesting to say today, I thought I would just do it as it seemed interesting.

There rules are:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.

2. Paste these rules on your blog post.

3. Respond to the following prompts (in bold).

4. Add a prompt of your own and answer it.

5. Tag a few other bloggers at the bottom of the post.

6. Leave "Tagged You" notices on their blog/Facebook.

7. Let the person who tagged you know when you've written the post.

------------------------------------------------------------

1) The best investment you ever made:

A pair of flared jeans I bought when I was 16. They were the best and my first pair of jeans I even bought. I wore then until they threaded and were too fine to wear and keep my dignity intact.

2) If you could’ve written any book, directed any movie, and composed any song, which three would you pick:

This is going to be a hard one and will probably change my mind somewhere down the line. But as for today, I would have:

- written: This is SO cliché, but the Harry Potter Books. Although, considering they are my childhood I'm not too sure how it would have turned out. Also, Looking for Alaska by John Green was pretty awesome.

-directed: The first Charlie and the Chocolate Factory film.

- composed: My way. Or a Catalan song I love called "Llença't", translated as "Go for it".

3) Weirdest quirk:

I click my wrists and mild trichotilomania.

4) One wish immediately granted:

Get a job. Although there being a wizarding world would be amazing.

5) Most expensive hobby:

Either scrapbooking or... I would say photography, but I haven't printed photos off for a long time.

6) An inexhaustible gift-card at which store:

H&M! Or Amazon.

7) In another lifetime, you’d be:

Smarter.

8) The most famous/interesting member of your family tree:

Uhm... we had a reverend in our family in the late 1700's.

9) What would you say to your teenage self?

That is not the way to get thin. Also, that chavvy episode you had? Just skip it.

10) What is the first thing you do when you get home?

Go straight into my room, take shoes off, change into pyjama bottoms and stare at the mess I have created in two seconds, consider tidying it up, deciding to do it later, and hearing Sheldon shout. Tidy. Now. From the living room.

I'm not sure who follows me and has a blog. I tag Dani, Marta and Anna. And whoever wants to try this. Also, you should check out Vegimite Wife's blog.

And in the middle of Newcastle, a forest.

2010-11-20T08:53:00.000-08:00

My week was quite uneventful. After having recovered my bag, I have been doing some more volunteering, applying for jobs and generally keeping myself busy.

Iwent through this stage where I was convinced I was losing my Spanish, and so set up blind dates with a couple of Spanish girls who also live in Newcastle. I realised after meeting the first one, that it wasn't the need to speak Spanish that I had, but -and this is as cheesy as it gets, promise- my friends from back in Spain. The girls were really nice, and I'm sure I shall meet up with them again, but I think so far I am comfortable with the people I have met at the gallery and through volunteering -as well as at my one subject at college.On a sidenote, a friend of Sheldon's came over for the weekend last week. We shall call her Belle*. We took her round the city centre and the Quayside, where she (and I) could take some nice snapshots of the place.

I also came across Saint George and the dragon. Saint George is the patron saint of England, but he is also the patron saint of Catalonia, so I am glad we share something as cultural and patriotic as that.

After dropping Belle* off at the train station, Sheldon and I went for a walk in a park near the centre, and ended up in what I can only describe as a forest, or a hell of a park.

I came across the Shoe Tree. It is an amazing thing to look at. What started as a fluke and maybe someone that wanted some luck to go their way, has become a tradition that hundreds of people have followed over time. I hope what they wished for came true!

A nice day that turns into a rant

2010-11-08T12:24:00.000-08:00

Well my bag has been found and most of my stuff recovered. But as I suspected (and is to be expected) money, credit cards and phone are gone. They also took my Spanish ID, student card and various business cards I had gathered over time; but they were kind enough to leave the health cards behind. Al least they want me to go to hospital if I need to.

It's funny how something like this can rock you a little. Getting my bag stolen only fuelled my homesickness, and made me question why I was here at all. Let's not mention my PMSing big time, even Sheldon remarked on the fact that there's a pattern forming. I have a little "freak out" every month...

The lack of my "good phone" means I can't take photos of random things to post on my blog now. I found 5 worms on my way into town today. Why the hell they felt the need to pass from the soft moist grass to the cold wet concrete I have no idea. But I couldn't take a picture, and it made me quite disappointed. Worms on concrete are obviously something photographing....

I became a member of the Library today. There, as well as in application forms for jobs, they have a section for "equal opportunities". Meaning, they take your details such as your age, where you live and a contact number and email -which is fair enough- but then, they ask for your ethnic group. Now, don't get me wrong, but white people have much less to choose from. There were all types of dark skinned: African, Caribbean, Indian... and all the mixes in between. We had mixed races, but only for skin colour. Then, for white we had: British, Irish, other White ethnicity, Mixed, and I think there was another. Now, what do I choose? I'm not British, I am half British. I am white, but also a mix of Spanish and British. So...? What do I choose? I just chose "other white ethnicity", because it was easier. Have any of you come across this? Also, in the application forms they ask for your religion and sexual inclination. So you have Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, a couple others, then No religion. Well? You've gone through all the religions, why not go through Atheist, Agnostic, maybe Humanist, Naturalist.... We could also write an essay: "it's not that I don't believe in God, I was baptised when I was young, but I refused to take the first communion solely for the presents. Now that I am an adult, I can't say God exists or doesn't... as I can't prove neither. But I WOULD like to believe there is something else beyond this life, even if common sense says 'this is it'. Not necessarily a God, but -let's say- an energy of sorts... Like Men In Black, or The Matrix, or any other film that play with free will and belief." Should we also write all that down in an application form?

And the sex preferences? Heterosexual, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, prefer not to say. To begin with, why should there be separate boxes for homosexual men and women? And why on earth should that have to count to equal rights? Surely that, as well as religion (although I might be mistaken), will not interfere in a person's performance in their workplace? It will be down to the specific person, independently from their sexual orientation or religion.

Maybe I'm reading into it too much.

Oh, the irony...

2010-10-31T05:57:00.000-07:00

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS BAG?

It went missing last Friday. I was volunteering at the art exhibition and someone took it just before the event finished. I had to cancel credit cards, phone number... I have lost my purse with all the contact cards I had in it, my IDs, my keys, my planner with info in it, my phone, my map....

It is not so much the fact that they took my money, it's the hassle of having to cancel credit cards, going to the police, having apply for new IDs, not knowing when or who I have appointments with.

I did go to the police to report it, but as there isn't a "thief" with a face, it has to be classified as lost. My problem now is that I have no means of taking money out from my bank account -as the bank account is Spanish-, so now I depend even more on Sheldon. Such good times.

Thief, if you read this, please take whatever you can't sell back to the gallery. I will be most grateful.

The irony is that I have lived in Barcelona most of my life, and I have never been robbed or mugged. I move here, and two months after, my bag is stolen.

Let's recap

2010-10-26T07:49:00.000-07:00

I have been in the UK for over 2 months now. There have been things that have improved, others have stayed on the same line. I don't think I can say anything has got worse.

On the plus side I have made a couple of close friends here. There is one girl in particular with whom I get on extremely well, and it surprises us how alike we are, and how we have lived similar situations. She has recently moved in with her boyfriend and we have taken to drinking coffee/hot choc and talking about how we have petty arguments or just how well we are doing.

I haven't done any volunteering in 2 weeks, hopefully this week I shall do some work as we have an exhibition going on. I am also excited because a friend from Ncl Uni is coming up from Manchester to see us! I think I haven't seen her in over a year.

I shall inform you that I now have my National Insurance number :) I talked about it in my first posts, but never got round to doing it. It was quite straightforward, actually. You call a number that puts you through to a call centre. They ask you where you are living, how long have you been at the address, have you been to the UK before, etc. Then they tell you where your closest centre is. I think you are safe with just your passport and any other form of ID. They prefer having 2. But I think if you are studying anything it is a bonus. As I said I was a student at Ncl College and provided the information there was no problems in getting my number. Good times.

I dropped off a couple of CVs at some recruitment agencies and joined another website. I have done some applications, especially for a specific company, and the application process is so long! First CV with any other documents, then a test, then another test. I wonder if that is going to happen every time I apply for a job.

I haven't done much more other than that. I helped install an exhibition in a place called Brighton Road Studios in Gateshead. Uber proud of myself, my first attempt at DIY and I didn't die or chop any of my limbs off. I wish I could post some photos up but I didn't take any, might have looked a bit unprofessional. However, the Journal was supposed to write an article on the event, a photographer even came to take pictures of the place. He asked me to pose next some works. My non-existent wish to be famous hasn't come true yet. ~~If you come across this blog and find the article I am talking about please let me know.~~

So, yeah. This was just a proper bloggity blog. I've totally run out of blogging ideas, I remember posting that I had "loads" some time ago, but I have forgotten. Maybe I could talk about youtubers. That's an idea.

Fixation with Fashion

2010-10-13T16:46:00.000-07:00

Coco Chanel doing what she did best

Don't judge me. For some reason, today I have the urge to talk about fashion. How this relates to living here I am not sure, but knowing me I will find a way to it eventually.

I think first we should look up what "official" entities mean by fashion, how do they difine it.

According to Almighty Wikipedia, it states that Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing. has been a dominant source of fashion news and forecasts in steering fashion brands worldwide to be "inspired" by one another. It also says that To "take inspiration" from others' designs contributes to the fashion industry's ability to establish clothing trends. For the past few years, WGSN

I came across this article on ArticlesBase, a free online -can you guess it?- articles directory. It is written by Tania Machowska; the website describes her as a former model with experience in catwalk and catalogue modelling. In the article What is Fashion? she comments that fashion is used to describe a means of expression. The terms "fashionable" and "unfashionable" are used to describe something that does or does not tally with the current popular mode of expression. She also says The broad use of the term fashion when applied to clothes was used in the past as a means of people showing solidarity with other people by their choice of clothes. However, in more realistic terms, today Modern Westerners have a wide choice of clothes available to them, and wearing what is currently in fashion is unlikely to be exactly the same as someone else. Nowadays what a person wears is more likely to be a reflection of their personal tastes and character, than wanting to imitate somebody else. Then she goes on to talk about famous people and their influences on us mere mortals.

I see where she's coming from, but I'm not sure I agree with her. Initally, we think that we can express ourselves with fashion; which is true. You can make a statement. But we express ourselves with the tools that we are given; technically, if you go into a shop you have to conform to the items of clothing that are in the shop. There are different "styles", of course. You have the high street fashion, couture, goth, geek, grunge, posh, undefined, chavs, and the trends go on. Can you be untouched by fashion? Even though it is not an Oscar film, The Devil Wears Prada talks about this issue. For those who haven't seen the film, the main character asserts that she is not influenced at all by fashion when she sets foot in one of the major fashion magazines. However, her boss points out that the jumper she is wearing was created for people like her, that the colour she chose had already been chosen, that the style had already been chosen. Thefore, how can you really express who you truly are in fashion if the items of clothing have been created (almost certainly in mass) for you? Unless you know how to sew, or how to create patterns even, to create things from scratch, I don't think you can express who you truly are in fashion. You can transmit an essence of yourself, of course; but I am afraid we are doomed to conform to others people's criteria when clothing ourselves.

When I was a teenager I strived so hard to fit into the fashion industry, but I struggled to accept my body. I wasn't fat -I am not fat now either- but I wasn't slim. I was big for my age. Tall. And curvy. After coming to the conclusion that most of my friends were at least two dress sizes smaller than me I began to hate shopping, and I had this whole goth/punk attitude going on aswell. I rebelled against highstreet fashion finding asylum in goth/punk fashion. At the time, of course, I was convinced I was expressing myself... but now I realise that it was also due to my giving up with wanting to wear fashionable clothes and not finding my size or if they did have my size, the items didn't suit my body.

Then there's the whole sidenote of catwalks and women and if they truly represent the women of today, etc. I guess fashion and I are at a point where we have recongised each other; I have learned to accept my body, and I know what suits it. I generally like highstreet fashion; it depends on the season, but I have learned to choose what I like and adapt to what flatters me best. But I think we can talk about that another time. What I would like to share with you, however, are the links to some fashion bloggers I follow nowadays and from whom I gather inspiration to not only find my own style but also to explore and be creative.

Just Kiss My Cardi: http://justkissmycardi.wordpress.com/
I discovered Kathy on Youtube and have been following her for a while. I learned she had a couple of blogs and one of them was more fashion orientated. I think it was then that I realised that I wasn't so anti-fashion as I thought; that I actually enjoy searching for the pefect outfit and with time I have learned how to look good, or better.

A similar style blog is Katie's What Katie Wore: http://www.whatkatiewore.com/
I believe her boyfriend is the one who takes the picture and comments on the outfit.

New Dress A Day: http://www.newdressaday.com/
This girl was inspired by the film Julie & Julia and decided to rise to the challenge of creating 365 new outfits in 365 days for 365 dollars. Basically, she goes to yard sales, flea markets etc. and buys a dress that no one would wear and customises it to meet today's requirements. The only condition is that it has to cost $1. It's amazing the results she comes up.

Liking my surroundings

2010-10-10T11:10:00.000-07:00

When you follow someone's blog, or vlog, and suddenly they stop posting as often as they used to you feel abandoned. What an EARTH can these people whom I follow and adore find more interesting than blogging, updating the people who follow them, who religiously read every word they write and who will leave a comment even though there is not much to say? When this happens it means that said blogger has only gone and got themselves a life. Which, apparently, is what has happened to me. How dare I!

Since my last update -weeks and weeks ago- I have kept myself busy volunteering at an art gallery. Now, I have asked permission to write their names and promote the blog etc; so here goes. The Pop Up Initiative is a team made up by Will and Will; the pun is not intentioned. These guys set up the Newbridge Project, which consists of a building waiting to be demolished which, in the meantime, serves as studio space for newly art graduates. The building has an exhibition space at ground level, open to everyone; it also has 5 floors of studio space, offered to people involved in visual arts. All this in itself is throroughly exciting, but recently I have discovered a bigger picture. The fifth floor is essentially run by this chap called Joe; he is interested in collaborative projects among artists and works with more experienced people. A couple of days ago he elaborated on the plan I already thought was awesome stating that there are a lot of empty and abandoned shops in one particular street -Pilgrim Street- that, like the building headquarters, are going to be demolished in a not-so-distant future. In fact, the rumour is that the whole street is going to be flattened in a few years. Joe's ambition is to turn that street into the Culture Quarter of Newcastle. Maybe he has thought of a more fancy, arty name, but that is essentially the idea.

I really hope the project is carried out, and I hope that Pilgrim Street remains as it is, enriching the Newcastle artistic scene. You can see how this project can be exciting and make you want to participate as much as you possibly can without abandoning your mundane chores. Will and Will have already made it to the local paper (see below), are the winners of Newcastle Enterprise Awards for a Start Collection and had a massive response to their opening of the gallery -you can read all about it in their blog.

Other than the gallery I have been making new contacts and new friends. I am still on the look out for a job, although it doesn't get me down as often as it used to -having something to do takes my mind off it. I might have a tiny chance of maybe getting a job at the local independant cinema, will keep you updated on that. Also, I was contacted by Newcastle Futures and they are helping me find a job. All in all, I can say I am more optimistic.

I have lots of ideas for this blog. I want to talk about the different arty places and projects there are in Newcastle, as well as the places I visit -went to Cordbridge recently-, as well as talk about what I am upto generally; I have a pretty busy week ahead of me, so please bear with me.

Here is the extract from The Journal, Will and Will are on the far right.

Just keep swimming

2010-09-20T16:46:00.000-07:00

When is it time to think about "agoraphobia"? I spend so much time indoors looking for jobs, courses and generally things to do that every time I have gone outside this week I got a bit light headed and panicked at the thought that I might pass out on my way to town. I really should get out more, I need more distractions. But need not fear, my friends, for I have found -I think, and I hope- a possible solution. Or two.

Last week I went to my first volunteering meeting. I got to the headquarters, because I was promised a walk about the neighbourhood. I naïvely thought there would be about...oh I don't know, 5 of us or so. And youngish. Apparently I'm the only young person in the group -at least out of the people I met that day. I decided to name my "boss" Dori. One because Dori inspires me, I love Dori. And Two... you will see what I mean in a few lines.

So, Dori took me and my fellow voluntees to explore the area, talking about refurbished mills, warehouses and factories now transformed into pubs, live music venues, book shops, a really cute cinema and generally arty galleries and studios. Out of nowhere appeared a jungle; ok, maybe it wasn't a jungle, but there was a lot of green, much more green than I had expected after having lived here for a month and only seeing buildings and the odd square or hill here and there. And then, just around the corner is a farm. How you fit a farm into an industrial neighbourhood escapes me, but I love having a farm next to my home. Dori went on to explain the different animals on the farm and communicating with them, verbally. She first greeted the pigs, oinking her way to the chickens... Need I say what she did then? She spoke Chickenese, quite fluently might I add. And then she talked about how they take the sheep to the jungle and how one of the sheep has the baah of a thousand children being killed. I don't have the typing keys necessary to reproduce the sound that came out of her mouth. I was alarmed, but having crazy friends myself, I overcame it with ease; I just wasn't aware that there were crazy people around the world that I hadn't met yet. My fellow voluntees, however, seemed somewhat taken aback by the whole experience. Quite comical. Did I mention I loved my boss? Because I really do.

We then went down the canal, with the little cute boats (one of which had a pirate flag, so daring); we went passed some waehouse buildings; we mourned the demolition of a 19thC slaughter house; we discovered three more pubs to visit if we ever go on a pub crawl and admired the parks, flora and 1950's (might have to edit the date) buildings that were supposed to erradicate the slums of Newcastle and make it an upflowing, prosperous area.

After the trek we ended up in a local pub, just down the road from my place, which I had passed by many a time to go to do my weekly shop at Morrison's but I had never noticed. It is -I have to say- one of my favourite pubs, I think. I have only been there once, but the owners were very... in Spain there's an expression that we use to say that someone is very down to earth, not necessarily vulgar butmaybe a bit grotty yet it has a charm, and that is "de barrio". They are a Geordie couple (either that of they have spent many years here), and you can tell they weren't mainstreem because the woman has a huge tattoo on her back of a female human that resembles "Wonder Woman", and another tat on her arm. There are no buildings surrounding the pub, the council knocked them down. But Dori told me that policies with homes and pubs are different, and the council can't decide to knock a pub down. So there it stands, on its own, at the end of the cul-de-sac; it has a bed and breakfast and I think it is looking to expand some day.

Inside, it is very pub-like. It has low wooden tables, and red padded chairs, stools or sofas. There are posters and art on ever surface of the walls, covering whatever colour they were initially painted. Dori and my fellow voluntees got our drinks and went through to the room behind the bar. The two men got talking, while Dori and I commented on my moving to Newcastle. Shortly after a tall, a dark haired lad (because here we call guys 'lads' and girls 'lasses') came in and greeted Dori. His hands were covered in paint and he had a haircut that resembles the present Doctor Who, maybe not as pooffy. Dori introduces him as Aladdin (because of the hair :P and the naïvity he transmits and the fact that he has a dream) and he told us about his project. Him and his mate from university have recently graduated in Arts (or Fine Arts, not sure), they observed that there wasn't much studio space (nevermind cheap) for fresh graduates and decided to buy (or rent) a WHOLE building, refurbish it, and rent out the space to other fresh art graduates as cheap studio space for their creations. The main floor is for exhibitions, and the rest of the floors are for artists. He said there are 25 artists occupying th space and there is room for another 25 more. They need volunteers for exhibition days and maybe other jobs needed during the week. Eventually we got talking, and we seem (at least for now!) to get on quite well. We have arranged to meet this Wednesday to see the building and talk about what I could do there. Also, they have an exhibition on this Friday; I might be able to start work then :)

Some time later another man came in. I felt more intimidated by this one, we shall call him Bagheera. He represented another gallery who needed volunteers, but this was just a one-off job. They have an exhibition in October and need volunteers to set up the place, talk to the artists, invigilate, etc. While one of the voluntees had gone on a remiscing journey, explaining what background he has (he is a supply teacher but taught EFL in Turkey -I think- and when he was younger did some exhibition work, similar to what we have to do), when Bagheera asked me I fell quite silent and muttered that I didn't have much experience, that my background was solely language-based, but that I do have photography as a hobbie. To my surprise, Bagheera said that he could put me with the photography crew if I wanted, one of the photographers did fashion photography and had done work for important dessigners, but this time she was exposing her own work. I am thrilled to start these nexts projects and meet interesting people from who I am sure will learn many things.

As for jobs, nothing yet. Went onto http://www.gumtree.com/ today. Applied for as many tutoring positions as I could see, there is a receptionist vacancy in a hotel in front of where I live, I might send in my CV later on in the week if I have no reply from the others. Also, thinking seriously about qualifying as a teaching assistant. But more on that later.

So you want to teach English...

2010-09-15T06:32:00.000-07:00

When is it time to look for alternatives? I was talking to Sheldon a couple of nights ago about how I felt I needed to contribute to living together, but couldn't do much. He said I shouldn't worry about it, that he knew I was trying and he thought I was doing all the right things.

1) Contacting people I knew.

2) Making new contacts (volunteering).

3) Trying to better my CV by taking courses and studying.

It is true, when I look at it written down I am doing all that; but walking around the flat aimlessly with nothing to do doesn't make you feel like you are achieving anything. Yesterday, for example, I made an executive(ish) decision; I would take the CELTA course. CELTA stands for Certificate in English Language Teaching for Adults, it is a Cambridge ESOL title. Maybe some of you have this already; I didn't need it in Spain, as I worked in private local language schools and as long as you had a degree with English in it or you had a good level of English that was enough to get you started. However, outside of Spain (or my town) schools are more picky about who they hire -which I understand, you don't want to hire someone who knows a lot of English but doesn't know how to teach it.

I was confused by all the acronyms used in the English teaching world: TEFL, TESOL, CELTA, ELT, ESL... I did a search and wrote: Teaching English as Foreign Language (which would stand for TEFL) in my search engine. This website: http://www.tefl.net/ came up, and it has helped me understand. TEFL, TESOL, ELT... they all mean the same. However, -according to the website- there isn't a certificate called TEFL, the three main certificates out there at the moment are:

The Cambridge CELTA- more info here http://www.cambridgeesol.org/exams/teaching-awards/celta.html

The Trinity CertTESOL - more info here http://www.trinitycollege.co.uk/site/?id=201

The SIT TESOL Certificate - more info here http://www.sit.edu/graduate/6882.htm

I have investigated a little using http://www.tefl.net/tefl-courses/ , which finds TEFL courses in your area and the only school that offers them the school that offers this course is the same one I took my CV to. The problem with these courses is that they are not cheap, and I would have to think of a way to fund it. I was hoping I could take the course in January, but they are intensive courses and I have college and the volunteering post to tend to. I know how intensive these course are because I did a similar one in teaching Spanish as a foreign language (more info on that in another post); so I would either have to exempt myself from school for a month -which I don't think is wise- or wait until I sit the maths exam and do it in the summer. That might be a better solution. By then I will hopefully have been able to find a job and save up some money for it. (I bet by my next post I will have dropped out of school and will be studying Russian, it wouldn't surprise me)

So that is what I have been upto. That and emailing the people I had done some translations for in the past. And vacuuming the carpet -it's amazing the amount of dirt it accummulates, especially my hair. There's a darkened area on the beautiful cream carpet, right where I -coincidentally- dry my hair. I should do my maths homework, come to think of it.

Other websites to check out are:

http://www.tefl.com/

http://www.englishclub.com/

http://www.tesol.org/s_tesol/index.asp

So, now that I am here, how do I establish friendships?

2010-09-13T09:57:00.000-07:00

It was my first day at school this week. I decided to take a course in GCSE maths, as it is apparent that I will need it if I want to persue any higher education in the future. Going on courses will allow you to meet people. Not that I have made any friends yet; just one acquaintance that could be a potencial friend.

Uprooting and settling down somewhere else can be quite daunting. Very, actually. As much as I have wanted to move here for years, and also live with Sheldon, I am finding it hard to be as independant as I was back in Spain. I had my own group of friends I could see on a daily basis. I think you take friendship for granted when you have it, and when you have to start all over again it becomes a bit of a burden to have to meet new people, make sure you are compatible, ignore them you are not... It all sounds a bit dramatic, but you can kind of see as going to a new school. For a few days (or weeks, or months) you don't quite know where you stand, you learn your way around the school and learn who you should hang out with and who you actually want to hang out with.

So, what can we do to make new friends?

1. The easiest way to make friends is at work. When I used to work in Spain I got on well with almost all my work colleagues. Some of them have become really close friends, almost family. Of course, some people do not recognise you as a friend if they work with you. There were people who would pour their heart out at me and skip off as soon as they felt better about themselves, that would happen inbetween classes (I was a teacher). However, there will be people that will suggest coffee; or even you can suggest coffee outside of work. Get to know each other outside the four walls and find out if you have anything in common or if you are compatible as friends.

2. Charity work. Maybe not working at shops, but any work that might involve projects may spark a friendship. I will tell you more about that when that actually happens to me in the next couple of weeks. I'm meeting some of my fellow volunteers this week and next week. I am hopeful someone will at least sit next to me.

3. Join a club. Say, for example, you like knitting. And say you lived in Manchester. If you type "knitting clubs in Manchester" in your chosen search engine I guarantee most of the results will be of interest for you. If you are looking for a book club you can go round your local library, or fins the library website. Newcastle City Council also has a list of book clubs, so I am pretty sure other councils will do the same. Look for your nearest community centre as well, as there are normally activities going on there as well.

5. Join a course. Creative writing is in fashion now; I am sure there are short courses you can go on and also learn something a part from meeting people. I, for example, am taking maths. I also have to get back to you n this one as I haven't yet made a solid-ish friendship. It's only been a day, give me a break.

4. If you are confident with the internet, why not use forums? They might be riskier as you won't really know what the person is like until you meet them in the flesh, but http://www.expat-blog.com/ might be of interest for you. You can find people by nationality, or where they are. Most of them will have blogs like this one, where you can read some more about them and gradually grow to know them. You can never asure that you will meet these people, but you might feel less alone knowing that there are other people in your same situation.

5. If everything else fails you can always sit in the library, or join the gym, or go to a café. Although you might come across as a bit of a wierdo if you approach someone in a coffee shop and say: "hi, I'm new around here, do you want to be my friend?" In my opinion that would be the equivalent to social suicide. Maybe try the laundrette.

Voluntary work

2010-09-06T09:07:00.000-07:00

This morning I had a meeting with the coordinator of a volunteering organisation. Do you remember I mentioned I wanted to do some charity work? I emailed her a week ago or so, and she invited me along to the drop-in centre.

We had a nice chat on what she thought I could do. There's a scary bit and a not so scary bit. The scary bit is that she thinks I could be her right hand... helping her organise events and contacting people by the sound like it. I told her I would be pushing out of my comfort zone, which has to be done, I suppose. But "that's ok", apparently, because I'm going to be trained... So in a way I could gain skills for another potential job. The fun part is that I'll be organizing events and be part of the cultural and language-based project, which deals with foreigners, refugees and asylum seekers; and we will take them around the area, as well as get in touch with local artists. I like all that fun last bit. Hopefully I'll be able to apply my basic photography knowledge to add to the website or information or newsletters :)

Also, another aspect of volunteering -according to my new found mentor- is that you make contacts, and you build your own network. In doing this I may find myself a job. My mentor will help me out as well. We need a name for this person. A female, leader, role model, mentor, any ideas? I'll have to think about that one. Overall, I have a good feeling about this. As I said, it is a bit daunting, but you have to take the plunge at some stage!

Some websites people have recommended if any of you are interested in volunteering are:

http://www.charityjob.co.uk/

http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/

And also your local council.

Tynemouth Priory and Castle

2010-09-06T08:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a touristy day. I convinced Sheldon to go to Tynemouth for the day. I originally wanted to go and see Hadrian's Wall...but we had to find the right bus, get up way too early for a weekend, check when was the last bus...Basically, we were lazy. So hopping on the metro and go all the way to Tynemouth seemed a safer option. I am so glad I went, though!

First of all, let me tell you there is a market every weekend at the station. I saw antiques and food. I am sure there were more market stands, but I just saw antiques/collectables and food.

We then proceeded to look for the castle. I, being such a smart person, forgot the map at home; good job Sheldon's phone is pro and we could use GoogleMaps on it. The castle wasn't hard to find. as you exit the station turn left, and then right. We walked through what seemed to be the main street; it had lots of places to sit and eat or drink. One thing that will not cease to surprise me is the conversion of churches into -for example- markets or shopping centres. I have not seen that in Spain, I don't think. When I saw it I gasped, amazed at how such a "sacred" place could be used for such a purpose. Sheldon just shrugged, answering: "It's just a building, really." True; he's always true.

As we walked down the main street, I could see the grounds of the castle in the distance. It was all green, and there were people sitting outside the confines of the castle, reading, eating or trying to take in the last days of sun before the cold autumn arrives. No, not winter. Here, oh say, mid October it is COLD. Did I mention the wind? Tynemouth being, you know, a mouth, flowing into the North Sea is bound to windy. For some reason, people just hope and pray that because they are going to Tynemouth for the day they won't be affected by it. Ok, maybe it was just me who was hoping it wouldn't be windy. But it was. It was windy all the way up to Whitley Bay.

Anyway, moving on. We spent some time at the Priory and Castle. The castle was one of the largest fortified areas in England. In 1296 the castle was built to protect the monastery. The castle has seen many years and -I am sure- has served its purpose. The lastest being that in WWII it was used as a coastal defence.

At the end of 19thC, fearing a war, Britain built up a coastal defence. These weapons were to protect the shipward of the area from a naval attack. The command post controlled the area from Sunderland to Blyth. The post was used in both wars, although it never experienced a direct attack yet suffered heavy air raids in WWII. These weapons were called six-inch guns.

The priory was founded in the 7thC. Kings were buried there, the first one being King Oswin, who was later named saint. In total three kings were buried in the priory; Osred and Malcolm III being the other two. Apparently, the Danes attacked this priory, destroying it in 875, and leaving St Mary's church as the only residue.

After looking around the site we had lunch outside the castle, and then we headed to St. Mary's Lighthouse. That was my aim; unfortunately, Sheldon wasn't up for it. Not that he wasn't up for the walk, he wasn't up for my whinning about how tired I was and how my legs hurt on the way back. You can walk from Tynemouth to Whitley Bay on a nice promenade looking onto the beach. The walk is about 1.30h, or so I was told. I think we walked for about 45mins before Sheldon managed to disuade me from going any longer. So I traded not going to St. Mary's for having some time go play in the seaside.

Do I need to mention the water was FREEZING?? The kind of cold that made your feet hurt and go numb, that's how cold. Yet there were some people in the water. Not many, though. A lot of surfer dudes though, and dogs. Happy, hyper dogs that enjoyed jumping in and out of the water. It was a nice was of ending the outing though. I ploded around while Sheldon sat on the stairs leading down to the beach. It was strange, because when I looked out into the ocean (ok, North Sea...but it's cold as the ocean), I couldn't help but think of Spain. It took me a second to realise it wasn't Spain that was on the side, it was France. Still, water get everywhere, doesn't it?

All the information has been obtained from the National Heritage pannels on the site, from www.wikipedia.org and www.english-heritage.co.uk

The infinite loop

2010-09-03T16:21:00.000-07:00

There seems to be a infinite loop regarding work, banks, NI numbers and, why not, let's throw in accommodation, shall we. You can't get one without having previously obtained the other.

I went to the bank a week or so ago, to see if I could open a bank account. I only tried two banks: Santander and Llyods. Sheldon thought that, being Spanish, Santander would be nicer to me. They were, in a way. As I haven't lived in the UK long enough, I could only get a basic account which consists in... well, nothing really. Just an account I couldn't do much with. I could only take money out from and put money in to their cash machines. I couldn't pay with the card, I could do transfers or pay for anything on the internet. A kind person from the bank advised me not to agree and she craftily pointed me towards Lloyds.

So off to Lloyds it was. Again, the same principle applied, a basic account. But the guy there said I should wait until I get a job, and then -having proof that I have a job- go straight to the bank. Then I would be able to open a normal bank account. Okay, that sounds fair.

NI number (National Insurance number) is easier to get. The only premise is that you have to be in the country legally i.e. have a pass port if you are EU citizen or a valid visa. If you are looking for a job, or have already found one you should call the Jobcentre Plus on 0845 600 06 43. You'll need to go for an interview (just one person) and they will ask questions to verify it is you and why you need an NI number. Then they shall write to you confirming or denying you the right for a NI number and if confirmed you can use that number when you get your job. The card normally takes longer, but you can still provide the number with -I presume- a document that they will send you. I haven't done this yet, but shall edit with more information when I have gone through the process.

The website I got the info from is

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/BeginnersGuideToBenefits/DG_10014073

As for accommodation, it is unlikely you will be able to get a flat or a house to your name if you don't have an NI number, a British-based bank account or a job. I guess that if you are renting out a room informally (illegally??) that won't require any documents, but you wouldn't be able to provide a billing address as you can't officially prove you live where you say you do. I'm a bit green in regards to housing, as I am staying with Sheldon and Leonard for free until I find a job. When that happens I think we might add my name to the contract. If you can contribute to any more info please say so and I shall edit this.

I talked about work in my previous post. Still no luck on that front I'm afraid. The door of the language school I talked about is open, they'll get in touch if there is any translations, interpreting or Spanish teaching to be done. It's not a job, but at least I don't feel useless any more... I am worth something.

I. need. a. job.

2010-09-01T07:13:00.000-07:00

I hate not having a job. You just sit on the sofa, or on the bed, or on the floor looking for possible work oportunities while you skim through Facebook, read emails from friends, or watch iplayer.

I've beeen in Newcastle for just over 2 weeks now, but it feels longer. For the past week and a half I have been sending emails, I have enrolled to different work search websites, and I have also looked up language schools in Newcastle so I could drop off my CV (On a side note, I am a firm believer that you should take your CV to the place personally isntead of just emailing it, then at least one person will see you and they might be able to give some insight of first impressions to whoever deals with recruitment. Of course, I am talking about smallish places, not somewhere like M&S because they are unlikely to know or even have met the recruitment manager except from maybe their interview). I succeeded in giving it to one that does not teach Spanish BUT "are planning on including it in the curriculum, so we'll keep you informed". In other words, unlikely. The other one has... disappeared. I looked for it, even went down the parallel streets in case Googlemaps was mistaken, but no sign of the school.

Also, why do most companies NEVER answer to what you ask for in their emails? I emailed an organisation that specialises in education, and were looking for people to cover different positions. I emailed the manager (or equivalent) and explained my case: that I came from Barcelona, I had studied this, worked as that, have 2year's experience, I want to do a PGCE int he future and I thought this kind of job would help me in gaining work experience. Answer? Thank for your email, please contact this number for an interview (success!!!), please find attached the instruccions with the documents you need previous to the interview (okay...). NQTS (which I don't have because I have been LIVING IN SPAIN), Teaching diplomas (which I don't have because I have studied Translation and Interpreting), have a CRB (which I don't have because I haven't lived in the UK before), bank details (which I don't have because the bank suggested I find a job first), National Insurance Number (which I don't have because I don't have a job), proof of residence (I can't prove that, I have nothing to my name), a police check (I guess I could get that done), my CV (that is to be expected) and some referee details (my former bosses are going to be tired of me soon).

So yeah, things couldn't be more difficult, really. The only thing that makes me keep a bit of hope is that I emailed a professor I know in the uni here, and it looks like he'll try and help me or at least guide me when he come back from his vacation. Also, I have considered doing something totally different, like working at a hairdresser's. I don't think I'd be good at working in shops because I did that once in Spain and working the cash machine stressed me out a lot. Also, my sense of balance is dreadful, so waitressing is out of the window. I wouldn't mind being a shelf stacker, as long as I don't deal with people's money. A library would be an interesting job as well, I think.

For any of you looking for work in the UK, here are some of the major websites:

http://www.monster.co.uk/

http://www.cv-library.co.uk/

http://www.reed.co.uk/

Language jobs:

http://www.toplanguagejobs.co.uk/

http://www.languagejobs.org/

http://www.multilingualvacancies.com/

The unwritten rule

2010-08-28T15:21:00.000-07:00

Today I have learned that having flatmates not only consists of creating a polite relationship and a relaxed environment where everyone can chat cheerfuly and be laidback. It also creates a strong complicity bond. Of course, I had not thought about that this morning when, at 8am on a Saturday, our flatmate and his Lady friend decided to communicate in soundwaves that are not always noticeable by other human beings. Unfortunately, the accompanied thrusts on the wall and the creaking of the bed were on a soundwave we can all appreciate. It was a very violent situation, I knew what they were doing, and I am sure I was not meant to hear it.

Sheldon slept all the way through it and I was sat in bed, at 8 o'clock on a Saturday morning, not knowing what to do with myself. Apparently it was much more fun the second round, at around 10am. We left at about 12.50 to go into town and do some errands. While I waited for Sheldon to have an eye test, I sat down and had a milkshake in a café. I had brought The Cupid Effect with me, as well as my notebook with my to-be novel. I flicked through some pages of the notebook and snorted at some of the passages. Editing. Lots of editing is needed. After that we had a wander round town, taking some snapshots here and there.

Every time I come back to Newcastle I am surprised by how much I love this place. Personally, I am more Tudor inclined. But Georgian style buildings are beautiful. The sand-coloured auster-looking buildings are amazing to look at. The city centre, especially Grainger Town, is full of these buildings. They have smooth, sharp edges that make the buildings timeless.

Of course, there is the keep and the walls. These are very, very old. Founded in 12thC by king Henry II, it is one of the best examples of a Norman Keep in the country.

To this, we must add "The Bridge". Now, Newcastle has several bridges, all dating from different periods. But there is one that is my favourite: The Tyne Bridge. It was built in 1928 and it was designed by the same people who build the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I was born in Sydney, and it is ironic how the bridge has become an important icon in my life.

After having a walk around Quayside, we had a bite to eat and we made our way home. Leonard and Ladyfriend arrived shortly after and I just couldn't look at the girl. I felt I had intruded way too deep into her thoughts, into her persona. It's her fault really, she shouldn't be so enthusiastic. But still, although she is friendly and I tried my best to be easy going, I couldn't look at her in the eye. Hopefully we will have more to talk about next time. Unless it is going to be this awkward every time. In that case Leonard can go to Venus, where this Lady comes from.

I was going to talk about something more relevant to settlers, such as looking for a job, or creating a bank account. But I guess this incident has traumatised me deeply. In a way, you can see why this might be important to people moving from one place to the other. House-sharing plays an important part in it all. I think there is an unwritten rule in which you shall not bring up embarrassing moments, even though both parts know what's been going on. So, a part from having an equal distribution of the fridge, try to play music constantly "just in case"; and whatever you may hear when it is not directly addressed to you stays between the four walls, you and your traumatised little mind.

Preface

2010-08-27T12:50:00.000-07:00

Do you ever feel inspired to create a blog because you have read a book, or read another blog? No? Oh well... I have. I've been pondering whether I should continue on my other blog.... But there are personal thoughts there, and I also use if for quotes or if I come across anything interesting.

This blog, however, will be used for something different entirely. It shall be used to document the ups and downs of moving to another place, getting to know the place and the people, and basically to talk about anything related to settling in.

For that I shall be using the characters of the sitcom The Big Bang Theory, in which I am Penny, only that I am not blonde. I cohabitate with Sheldon and Leonard. Now, in the show it is Penny and Leonard who form a couple; in my reality, it is Penny and Sheldon. Leonard is on the constant look out for love.

Also, there is a book that has inspired me to take this step (more on that later on). As much as it may be chick-lit, there is always a book you read at a certain time in your life and you think: that is me. No? Well you are weird, my friend. In my case, it is "The Cupid Effect", by Dorothy Koomson. The sole name of the author remind you of "Somewhere over the rainbow". That or "There's no place like home". Or, "This is not Kansas anymore, Toto". Either way, Dorothy made me think of that place, way up high, where troubles melt like lemon drops... Now, I don't think you can go much further up than Newcastle, and my troubles might not melt like lemon drops, but there are certainly drops. It rains oh so much.

Like the character in The Cupid Effect, A few moments later -or maybe it was months- I was headed for Leeds clutching a one-way ticket. Because that's where my heart's desire was (making reference to Oprah). Supposedly. Two hundred miles away from everything I knew and loved.

And that's what I did. I left everything I knew and loved in Barcelona and decided to come here, to Newcastle, because here is where my heart's desire is, my own Sheldon. And, of course, because I love the place. I first fell in love with the city 4 years ago, when I came as an Erasmus student. I have been coming back to visit Sheldon and friends since then, and now, when I got all my ducks in a row, I decided to take the plunge and hope for the best. And so, this is how I blame Oprah begins.