Catching Up

Treated myself to British Airways ie not quite such a ordeal with the baggage allowance games at the airport.

1.  I'm back in the UK for summer. I'm using the word summer fairly loosely, or perhaps I should qualify it by saying 'British Summer' as I watch the drizzle outside. 

Holi Festival, also known as your ear will be stained blue for a good few weeks

2. Which leads me too...I survived my year in Barcelona! I initially set off last July with no real plan further than a month as an aupair which escalated into returning to Spain in September, enrolling in a CELTA course (to teach English as a foreign language), moving out of the aupair house at Christmas and making the transition to a full time teacher.

Outdoor adventures

Sunset runs along the sea

3. Teaching is quite interesting. With the kids classes it can feel like a constant trial and error experiment in which the odds are not always high and severely hindered by the fact that the kids enter the class armed with chocolate sandwiches and primary school gossip. However despite these obstacles what was in the first few weeks largely crowd control and damage limitation with some classes turned into a pretty well functioning learning experience, with the odd hiccup when they started having a bit too much fun. However when the kids start showing off because English is now so easy in school or one of my adult students tells me he's got a job because of his English level it is all definitely worth it. 

Day Tripping tourists

My baby

4. I didn't realise how much I'd adjusted to my late hours, last minute, weather dictacted life in Barcelona until I got back to the UK and had the shock of eating before it's dark, actually needing to make some plans in advance if you want to see people and still going out even if it's raining. It's still a work in progress and I'm missing my staple diet of tortilla and tomato sauce. And my little morning cycle down to the beach for a quick read, in Spanish so it's basically an educational outing, and dip in the sea. Oh and running along the beach, people watching on the balcony and being able to catch up with people with ten minutes notice.

Doughnuts + beach = genius

Windswept but detirmined to sunbathe

5. It was much easier to leave Barcelona with the plan in place of returning in September and knowing that the adventures in Cataluyna aren't over quite yet. So they'll be more chances to explore Costa Brava, get lost in the mountains, get lost in general, experience festivals such as Sant Jordi with the streets covered in roses and books, coffee stops in the sun (although I still don't drink coffee), improve my Spanglish (and Catalan), alongside daily struggles with the illogical English language, keep finding things we haven't done in Barcelona, whilst finding any excuse for an icecream and be frequently laughed at for being a crazy British person. Lots to look forward to!

Tarragona amphitheatre (and beach, always the beach)

Roses on La Rambla for Sant Jordi

Summer evening in Castelldefels