A day in my current life

Yesterday was a chilled out day. I woke up when I woke up, wandered to my local beach (about a 15 minute walk - how amazing is that?!), refused to pay £12 for a lounger and parasol so lay on the pebbles in the sunshine, paddled a bit while contemplating how I'd get beyond the breakers. Decided against it. Had a banana baguette then had a stroll along the prom when it clouded over. I came back home, did some washing, snoozed in my reclining chair in the sunshine on the balcony, read some of my book then did 62 lengths in the pool. It was a quiet day but I quite enjoyed that quiet.

Today we didn't have to be in school until 11. I had grand plans for going running before breakfast but was too tired and ended up snoozing my alarm for about 40 minutes. I had my yogurt, muesli and nectarine and made my way to the station to catch the 10h38. School was good - I got feedback on my last lesson (which I thought went badly but the feedback was quite positive) and planned this afternoon's lesson, with a student I hadn't taught before - a young lad (20ish?) who is maybe pre-intermediate level. I'd been told he liked football so structured my lesson around that and it went like a dream! He came into the classroom and one of the first things he asked me was where I was from (I love students that ask me things - saves me trying to coax things out of them!). 'Newcastle', says I, 'Do you know it?' 'Of course', he replies. And you can probably guess the rest: 'How do you know Newcastle?', 'Because of the football team', and there was the lesson introduced absolutely naturally and with minimal effort from me. We brainstormed lots of football-related vocabulary and I think both he and the two observers were impressed with my football knowledge, especially as I'm a mere girl! I also told him that David Ginola used to be my heart-throb (tricky one to explain that!) and that I spoke French with him back in the day. I then probed him a bit about his team using the vocabulary we'd just learnt, then he read a text about the Mardona incident. This allowed me to introduce the past tense and I got him to complete a couple of exercises about that.

It was my best lesson by far. I think because it was natural, and a topic that we were both interested in, so we were both motivated and enthusiastic and that rubbed off on each other. One of the tutors told us that we should remember KISS - keep it simple, stupid - so true. OK, you're not always handed subjects like this on a plate (imagine if he'd liked rugby instead of football - I'd have been screwed!), but making it less formal and more of a chat with the one-to-ones is definitely a good tactic. Then they don't feel like they're learning and it's not too much of a chore for you as the teacher. Get in!

Chri also called and we made a plan for Thursday, so that got me excited about that. He's getting to mine by about 7pm, I'm cooking for once (already panicking! I jokingly suggested I could make carbonara so he could assess my progress but then he said maybe I could make it at the weekend for the rest of the Italians instead. Er, I don't think so!), then we'll head off to the concert, which isn't far from my apartment. I've been invited to Italy again this weekend, along with some of his mates, so I'm looking forward to that too. I really like being around people I know that look out for me and make me feel included - like part of the family. Maybe especially when it's a guy too, I'm not sure; thinking out loud a bit. I guess that's one of the many things I miss about not having T in my life and my male friends help recreate some of that to some extent. As I often say, I also like being liked, so it's also important to me that Chri feels he wants to share his weekend with me and introduce me to his friends (or 'marras' as he now says non-stop!). I haven't told Chri yet, and I'm not sure it'll click with him, but it means I'll also be there for the second anniversary of T's death. I'm pleased I'll be around people and I may or may not tell them, depending how I feel. But that's OK with me. The important thing is that I know and will be remembering, and that I'll have an old friend there for support if that remembering gets to be too much. I can't actually believe that two years have passed or comprehend how they have passed and I've survived, but I'll leave that analysis for another blog entry...

Anyway, this evening I caught the 17h09 train home and sat on the balcony reading my book for while. The weather had been nice all day but suddenly clouded over so I decided to go running. And that was great too! I ran away from the sea, towards the mountains to explore my 'hood a bit. I picked up signs to Renoir's house and centre ville so followed them and ran up a huge hill to Renoir's house. It's just over a mile from where I live! I love Renoir - my Dad had a book about him when I was growing up and I can remember looking through that and loving some of his work. If my memory serves me correctly, I also did a school project about him back in the day! I'm hoping to get to look around the museum before I leave but it was closed by the time I got there. I carried on, found the centre ville then ran towards the sea and back home along the prom. It was great running weather - not too hot - and I overtook lots of plodders, men and women, so that was satisfying. I was out for about 48 minutes and feel so much better for going. As always.

Tea tonight was salad on the balcony with a nice glass of red wine, followed by a rooibos tea and a square of my favourite chocolate that I can't get in the UK but can get on tap here - yay for that! I need to write up my review of today's lesson and will aim to get an early night as I haven't been getting enough sleep recently. (Last night's lack of sleep was due to the fact the wind woke me up at 3.20am - I think I've said before that the wind bothers me at night and that I've read it bothers women more than men - and I suddenly remembered that I had washing on the balcony. I got up, took my mobile phone with me as a torch, rolled the shutters up a crack so as not to disturb my neighbours and combat rolled underneath to rescue my clothes (that hadn't budged an inch!). I hope nobody saw me!)