¿Es el finde? ¡Como el tiempo vuela!
Did you ever notice how some weeks drag & some just fly by? Some weeks seem really slow but I just blinked this week & it’s the weekend again already!
Nothing special happened this week. I had all my usual classes. No extra classes – not that I could fit any more in anyway. My timetable is fuller than ever, though I do have a few seats free in a some of the groups. A few students have fallen foul of the nasty cold bug that seems to be going round at the moment – or their children have – so a couple have missed class. I’ll offer the private students some free ‘make up’ time where I can….
My elder daughter has now been living in Barcelona for a month! She dreams of becoming a chef, but I can’t afford to put her through college (it’s the living costs in another city rather than the college fees that would be the killer) so her plan is to earn as much as possible & take part time courses. I’m really proud of her, but I sometimes feel bad that I can’t do more for her. However here are only so many hours in a week that I can work, only so much I can charge, & only so much I can earn! (& don’t get me started on the crippling autónomo costs)
She has had lots of interviews, been offered every job that she has been interviewed for, turned most down, started a couple but just not settled. I’ve probably spoken to her more since she’s been there than when she lived in the same apartment – & we’ve always been close, so it isn’t as if we didn’t speak when she was here. Thank goodness for the Yoigo plan which means she gets free national calls, including to mobiles! She starts a new job on Monday & seems really fired up about this one, whereas she was ambivalent about the others, so fingers crossed…..
She tells me that they speak something she calls ‘Spangalán’ in Barcelona. A sort of cross between castellano & catalán. It sounds a bit like my attempts to speak Valenciano. I know the words but they come out sounding Spanish! The pronunciation is vastly different from castellano, but so many of the words are similar that my mouth gets confused…. at least that means that I can definitely empathise with my students who sometimes struggle with pronunciation & end up sounding French!
It’s also MUCH cooler all of a sudden. I’m sure when we first moved here the season changes were more gradual, but the past few years it feels almost as if a switch is flicked & we go from a fan on in the bedroom to needing a duvet within a few days. Also we have rain forecast for several days from tomorrow, so although I feel sorry for anyone here on holiday, I know just how desperate we need the rain, & how low water levels are in the pozos, I hope we get some proper rain at last.
So why did this week go so fast? I have no idea! Come to think of it, this YEAR seems to have flown by. A few of the students have already asked me about the Christmas party arrangements for this year, so I’ll be sorting out a date & trying to get an idea of numbers from everyone over the next couple of weeks.
I can’t believe I just wrote the ‘C’ word in October!
