Different thoughts

When I was in school, I always thought teachers didn't like me and they always were moody. I didn't think I would ever say this but, I understand their moodiness. When you are trying to explain something, and nobody seems interested or you have to explain the same thing 10 times while everyone is talking that's when the moodiness start. Obviously, when you are a student and you are sitting at you're table, you don't realise what the teacher is experiencing, but as soon as you get up and you are the teacher, you feel bad for how many times you said "I hate that teacher" I probably still would that teacher in school that use to pick on me every time she was in a bad mood, but at least now I understand, why she was/is in a bad mood.

The cold has arrived, even though it is not as cold as it should be, according to the locals, every time I get into a taxi or talk to someone waiting for the bus they say the same thing "el tiempo a cambiado, pero no es tan frio como deberia ya que estamos casi en diciembre"/"The weather has changed but it's not as cold as it should be as we are nearly in December" people like to complain, that is the only response to why they are saying this, as then they will say "it is so cold, can't belive how cold it is" so, my only answer to them is, just deal with it. I live in Santander, a City, the reason why I am telling you this is because I work in another place called, Reocin, which is about 45 minutes away by train, and as it is higher up, I notice the cold, it feels like in 45 minutes, I've gone from Spain to Wales, belive me, you might say, you should be use to it, yes I should be, but not when it was rather nice and warm in Santander and after a train ride, I have to get out my scarf and shivering to work. Here I seem to wear more clothes than I usually do in Wales,  was talking to Joanna, my friend from Scotland about it, and we came to the conclusion that in Wales/UK, we deal with the cold and our bodies and brain know it is going to be cold and we adjust, but here, our bodies/brain think that because it is Spain it should be warm and a slight bit of cold, we wrap up like if we were in North Pole, also I think it's because people here in winter as they are not use to it, will wear more wintery clothes so you don't want to feel left out.

The reason why I am writing this, is because I felt the weather here is very crazy, and one day it will be rather sunny and u will be able to go out with just a hoody, but the next day it will be so windy and cold you will go out in you're ski jacket, the other reason why I have just told you about the weather is because I can't think of anything else to share with you.

Hopefully something interesting will happen soon,
Lots of Love,
Catrin

The other side of the desk

After a few weeks of trying to sort things out and understand what is expected of me in class, I have actually started my assistant teaching in the class.

At the meeting we had two weeks ago, they told me I didn't have to work for another week because there was insurance papers still to be made, so I had another week off and another week of seeing lovely Santander and going to the beach. Believe it or not I was actually looking forward to starting work. My tutor on Monday emailed me telling me she wanted a power point presentation about myself and Wales. As I had Monday off I thought I would start it as soon as I got up, just to realize my laptop thanks to Microsoft and it wanting me to pay for Microsoft Office, I decided that I wasn't going to pay a penny for something I can get for free, so I tried to download Open office, but obviously my little laptop and Windows didn't like my decision so in any way did it let me use it.As you all know I am known to panic, A lot. After a long time of thinking how could I fix this, I waited for my friends to be back at home and I went to their house in the evening and used their laptop to do my presentation, but it got to about 11and realized I had to wake up at 6 the next morning.

As I have a lot to tell you I am going to make this very quick, I got up on Tuesday for my first proper day, just to realize the train wasn't arriving. To not be late I got a Taxi, my work is about 30 minutes away, and it cost me more than I can afford. After all this, the day went very smoothly.

The whole experience of teaching has made me go back to my school days, and it is very strange to be at the other side of the desk. Now I know how it feels when a teacher asks the kids if there is any questions and nobody answers. As one of my classes nobody asked me any questions when I said if anyone had questions. Therefore it makes it very awkward and makes you think that nobody is interested in anything you have said.

One of the things that has made me laugh the most, is the different translations or explanations different people have said. For example: someone asked me what music do they play in clubs in the UK,so I said that in my students union, there is a night with cheesey music but told him I couldn't think of a word to translate cheesey into Spanis, but he thought he was very clever to translate it "Musica Queso" for you who might not know, queso its cheese, and it does not translate well. Also in one of my classes they were describing how famous people look, and one of the boys instead of saying "he has a beard" said "he has a bird" and someone tried to correct him by saying "he has a beer". Some people might have laughed at this, but I just thought in my head all the years that I was one of the kids, and probably said worse things in school.

Another thing I forgot to say in my old post is, how do you react when one of you're flat mates (no longer here) thinks that Wales is in Scotland? she is studying to be a nurse, for how much maths and science you might know it is not right when you have been to school and higher education to think that Wales, a country, is in Scotland. I had to explain the difference between England, Wales and Scotland and after that she said "Oh, I thought it was all in England".

I will try and write more blogs, so hopefully something worth writing happens to me soon.

Lots of Love,
Catrin

First week

I haven't done a blog in a while, I was rather busy last week (when I say busy I mean go to the beach during the day and socializing and meeting people during night). On Wednesday I met up with a few other British Council assistants, one of them Bethan, lives in Torrelavega, so as we all decided we were going out that night, I told Bethan to stay the night so she didn't have to go back home, but one night turned into 3. Which was fine, as we got lost together, and it was good to have someone there apart from my housemates as the other two girls in the flat were having an argument, the argument last it two days, I am going to talk about this later on.

We went to the beach everyday, so it felt I was on holiday and I felt guilty the fact that I wasn't doing much, didn't have much to do, so going to the beach and enjoying the nice weather(which they say it's not normal here in Santander) but it's safe to say I am in love with this city.

My housemate Liz had a BBQ party which I didn't really mind as I was going out that night anyway, but my other spanish house mate, isn't use to a student flat, and found that she didn't like garden parties or house parties for that matter, and decided to have an argument with Liz. Well, any normal person would have left it for the next day as Liz was in no state to argue and there was another 20 people around. I didn't agree with the way Ana handled the whole situation and was rather childish but I have decided no to take parts,(although you always have an opinion) Ana is moving out, today or tomorrow(although she was going to move before all this happened) she is blaimng everything on Liz, which in my opinion is a bit harsh.

I decided to stay out of all this and told them both I wasn't taking sides (but obviously deep down you always have an opinion), I dwanted to tell you all, as I felt proud of myself for the way I handle it all. Ana is moving out today or tomorrow, although she is using the party as an excuse and blaming it on Liz(which is a bit unfair) as she was going to move a long time ago before all this happened, and she is just finding excuses.

Anyway, on a happier note, I started school today. Panicking so much and thinking I was going to be late, I arrived one h earlier (the train was very early)so I decided to go to a bar there was on top of the gasolinera(petrol station). I have a problem every time I go to a bar in Spain, they don't seem to ever have normal tea, and I don't really want coke at 9 o'clock in the morning. For the people who know me, I don't like coffee but I was very tired and decided to have one anyway and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be(still not a fan of it though)

After I finished my coffee I decided to go to the school(even though I was early). I was meant to be working at two schools, but one of them is new, so didn't have any contact details, and didn't know I was even working there, and the other one, didn't want me to work at the other school because they wanted me for 12h and didn't want to share me (I can honestly say, Spain is a very laid back country. Too laid back a times).

When I arrived at Santander, I went to have lunch at my friend Sarah's house and we went to town and met up with Joe (he is from Glasgow) I had trouble understanding him, never mind the kids his going to teach!!

Love,

Catrin

Safe and Sound

So I arrived at Basque Country(Bilbao), and got the bus to the bus station from the airport and then had one hour wait for my bus to Santander, so to pas the time I decided to read a bit more of My Bookie wook 2, by Russell Brand, his second autobiography. Maybe not such a good idea as I kept on giggling to myself and got a few odd looks. When the bus arrived I got on the bus, everyone had their seat allocation,ever so organized. The actual journey was 2h but as it was beautiful journey ever so pretty, so with a bit of music and looking outside it went flying by and we arrived at Santander. I got a taxi and found the house ever so quickly, got greated by my housemate Lizz, she's half French half English, I also share the house with another girl called Ana from Basque Country. Ana, came in late as she does her practicas in a hospital and get in at 9 or 10, but she insisted on making me food which after a long journey I couldn't say no.
Today I met up with Carolyn, which I met over facebook before coming here, she's from Scotland, and very nice. I can say it was a very funny day, firstly we got scared by this 3 men, which were under a table and had monster masks on their faces, so imagine us walking and chatting away, out of nowhere this three men just pop their heads out and frighten us to death. I had to get a Spanish phone, so we went to the phone shop, and Carolyn looks down and notices that we are wearing the same shoes, which I bought not long ago from Primark. Had a nice lunch and walked back, did a bit of shopping, showed Carolyn my house and before she left, she used my toilet, just to hear her coming into my room and telling me she broke it, so very nervouse we both tried fixing it, thankfully it went ok, but I was ever so glad there was no one else in the house. I think if the rest of the year goes this enjoyable I will have a great funny experience. Tomorrow I'm meeting up with Carolyn and a few other girls we've met through the facebook group.
I will keep you all updated.
Love,
Catrin
xxxx

Tomorrow

As some of you may already know I am leaving tomorrow and moving to Cantabria for my university year abroad, and decided to start a blog, much easier so everyone can just read it and don't need to be sending emails to everyone on how I'm getting along, how many times I'm actually going to write I don't know.
Words can't describe how nervous and excited I am. First need to get to Basc country and then find my way to Santander, Cantabria where I've never been before. The bit that scares me the most is finding the landlord and the house. But I am known to panic a lot, too much at times. Plus I am not on my own, hundreds of students all over the UK are going through the same thing, so if they can do it, why can't I?
I really should stop leaving everything for the last minute, I mean I've had a week and I started packing last night. I should open my eyes and realize I am leaving tomorrow for a whole year.
The feeling I have, is like the first day of University, although this time I'm going to work, yes you heard right, Catrin is finally working (only as an assistant in a school and only for 8 months). I'm living with another 8 girls, 2 French, one half French half British, 1 German, 3 Spanish and one from Belgium.
My adventure starts tomorrow at 12.15 when I'm heading to the airport, so wish me luck guys.
Hopefully next time I do another post I will be settled in my new home in the North of Spain.
For now it's good bye.
Love,
Catrin