How to wake up quiet, half-asleep teenagers:

Write on the board: "I hold your hand in mine." Tell them it's the title of a poem. Ask them what they think it's about. (Sex! cry all the seventeen year old boys.) Point out that 'mine' also refers to hand. Fall about laughing.

Tell them the poem is 8 lines long. Write the following words on the board and tell them they are in the poem. tie - finger-tips - dainty - joy - blood-stains - kiss - lips Ask them to write the poem. Boys will invariably ask "Can it be dirty?" Ha ha. Anyway, get them to do that and read their poems out. Everybody falls about laughing yet again.

Tell them you lied and it's really the name of a song. Play it to them and watch them fall about laughing. (Tom Lehrer, in case you haven't already twigged.) Good fun. Then do a Dictogloss activity till they've written it all down. (They seem to carry on wanting it for ages - "no really, we need to hear it five times" They're all singing along by the end. This is the set where there's always two of them fast asleep when I walk in the room.)

Then bring them all over to the computer room and set them loose on the magnetic poetry online. Be a bad teacher and blog while they're doing that. Hurrah!

PS - Thank you Mother - the cassettes made it here today, at 2:30pm! So this lesson was planned in about twenty minutes flat. This post was brought to you by the goodness of Nurofen washed down with Coke.

* posted by nat 7:40 PM

I've rejigged the holiday plans so I end up in Kraków on Easter Monday - I was going to start there and then go off exploring into smaller places, but I've decided it's probably a better idea to do smaller places during the week, for reasons of having to use the buses, and Kraków is one of the few places that's likely to have anything open on Easter Monday, and also having a bunch of tourists around means I'll be less likely to get soaked with water. (She says semi-hopefully.) And, most importantly, by Easter Monday I shall be back on chocolate again - a visit to Jama Michalika can't be done when not on chocolate!

The sun is out! Stay out, stay out, I'll feel so much better if I get a bit of sun! (I spent last night sulking and being catty, so sun is very welcome.)

* posted by nat 11:39 AM

Monday, March 25, 2002

Malcolm has done a Cover League table and apparently I�m in joint first position with him and a couple of the other senior teachers. (This is after my reaction to being told I had to cover today which was to nearly concuss myself by banging my head into the computer keyboard.) Which apparently should make me feel better.

Yeeeees, but then again I do teach six classes and the senior teachers only have five each, so another three hours out of my schedule (half teaching half planning) is probably a lot more tiring. I don�t care if I only have three levels to plan for (most people have four), quite often I end up doing quite different things with different levels, especially when one class is teenagers and one class adults. And eight sessions of cover I�ve done � is that all? *counts* 2K, 3K, 4K, 5K, 3 x Pre-Ints, one Advanced. Gosh, yes, it is. It feels like about fifteen! Still, at least I get paid for it, let�s look on the bright side, that�s 280zl altogether. Which almost equals the phone bill for the last three months. Though the phone bill is creeping steadily higher.

Remind me to stop being such a martyr and take sick leave sometime soon� okay, fin de rant.

Anyway, played games with 4K (twelve and thirteen year olds) who took surprisingly well to �My Grandmother�s Cat� (two boys had exceptional fun with this � a chopped-up cat, a diced cat, an eatable cat, a fried cat�) and also adored Kim�s Game. Everyone seems to like Kim�s Game, I�m going to play it more often, good vocabness. Then we did Harry Potter crosswords. PFCE4 got part of The Beach (to read, I wouldn�t inflict the film on them) with a bit of intro and then left them to it to do tutorials. Which were quite fun actually, although most of them seemed to think they were going to get yelled at. Which I only really did with a couple of them, and it wasn�t even yelling. I�m amazed the number of them who look surprised (and guilty!) when I tell them how obvious it is that they�re not doing much work. They�re all nice and chatty about things too though, not like when I had to talk one on one with teachers. Even the lazy ones make quite long speeches, and they�re not even trying to make excuses!

* posted by nat 10:25 PM

Panic phonecall!

"Um, er, Natalie, this is Maciej, I'm in your Monday night group..."
"Yes, Maciej, I know who you are."
There is a short surprised pause. "Really? Oh."
I giggle. "So, let me guess, it's about - "
"The test, yes. Because I have been working really hard recently." He's dripping sincerity.
"I'd noticed." I couldn't be sincere if I tried. "You haven't been in class for two weeks."
"Yes, and I haven't had time to revise so I was wondering if I could write it on Wednesday before the lesson..."
"Maciej, you said last time you hadn't revised and I made you take the test and you came top of the class, so what are you worried about?"
"Um - agh - um, well I have been writing this paper on [insert long-winded long-worded incomprehensible title here] and I have to submit it to the Environmental Board by tomorrow, and you see I'm still writing it so..." This trails off into apologetic sounding mumbling.
"Okay, okay! So what time would you like to come on Wednesday?"
"Well, about two o'clock, is there somewhere I could sit and - "
"Yes, yes, just come along then. Good luck with your paper!"
"Errrrr - yes, thanks. So - see you on Wednesday!"

It's a good job the conversation didn't go on much longer because I had to go away and laugh very hard after that. Gosh I'm professional.

* posted by nat 1:37 PM

Find out which LifeSaver you are.

* posted by nat 1:02 PM

After the Quiz Night on Saturday (in which my team came second. By one point! Gah! Still, we cheated desperately by text messaging friends for the answers, but then again so were all the other teams. Resourcefulness, I call it.) Carla and I went to see if we could get tickets for A Beautiful Mind, and even despite me conducting the whole side of my conversation in Czech, we still managed to ascertain it was sold out so we bought tickets for Sunday instead and went off to Manekin. I think I've finally discovered the perfect pancake there: spinach and garlic with added red peppers covered in spicy tomato sauce. Swoon.

So then we get A Beautiful Mind in the little cinema at Orzel - 45 seats, but very plush. We were right in the front row so it's like being in your living room with a great big TV. It was all fine and hunky-dory until the reels changed and for some reason the picture disappeared for about five minutes. Of course, Carla and I could at least understand the words. There was much confused whispering and eventually I think someone went to complain.

I have been considering the Easter Tour and I think it will include some, but not all, of the following: Lublin, Kazimierz Dolny, Zamosc, Przemysl, Tarnow, Lancut, and any castles I might happen to run across...

* posted by nat 11:16 AM

Saturday, March 23, 2002

* posted by nat 12:25 AM

Friday, March 22, 2002

... and then the sun shone brightly all afternoon. I can't make up my mind if I should be out of hibernation or not!

I3 + EL1 x (post-test lesson + almost Easter) = thumping great headache. Drinking lots of Zubrowka and watching the Matrix. The water is not quite as 'coffee'-coloured, but still can't be bothered to do the washing up. Subsistence on bananas, vanilla soya mousse and garlic bake rolls is possible, though. Really.

* posted by nat 10:50 PM

All hail the hail! And then the snow again! Argh! *runs off to plan lessons quickly*

Where shall I go for Easter? Research time at the weekend, methinks.

* posted by nat 1:18 PM

Thursday, March 21, 2002

How could I forget! N�ablog. Which is apparently all Watty's fault, which in turn I have been told was all my fault!

Hmm. MC bloggers webring, anyone?!

* posted by nat 10:04 PM

HURRAH!I've just marked my Elementary tests for both classes, and so far everyone has passed! Rah, rah, rah, bounce! (out of the six students who failed last time - I'm not counting the two who've dropped out since as they were hardly coming to classes anyway - three have passed, and three are still to take it, but all the same I'm jubilant about all of them. I have six students who got over 90% *swoons*!) Must buy them all drinks! Rah! Go them! ::exudes happiness::

This makes up for I3 doing horrifically badly and getting a class average of 64% - all my other classes have averages in the 70% range. And three of them failed. Blech. I shall have to shout at them again. Serves them right for messing me about so much. Everyone in I2 passed (even Elzbieta scraped through on the pass mark) and of my PFCEs, I knew who was going to fail anyway (only two of them, with a possible third one...)

I'm also feeling much better on account of the sun being out and it being quite warm again today. I feel like I'm on the end of a yo-yo at the moment, but still... Only 4 of PFCE1 turned up. Apparently on the First Day of Spring it's traditional to skive off school. So we had a chat and played call my bluff and tried to get the video to work except someone seems to have bust the TV. Gah!

Then I played many games with I2 (we played Kim's Game followed by "What do these have in common?" - You'd be surprised how many things a paper-clip and a packet of pills have in common, if you think hard enough... then we played "Auction" and it was great fun!) And finally I zoomed home to catch the repeat of the Men's LP. Yum. Especially Yagudin, woo! It was almost snowing flowers when he finished. Personally, I wouldn't be throwing flowers at Yagudin. I'd be throwing my knickers.

* posted by nat 9:50 PM

Wednesday, March 20, 2002

So this morning I get up and run the shower and - oh joy, the hot water's a particularly nasty shade of brown. This is obviously far worse then the very slightly yellow colour it normally is. After five minutes it's still like that so I give in and go for the mostly cold shower, as the cold water seems to be all right. But the hot water's still like that tonight... so can't do any washing up, can't do any washing (as Carla discovered a couple of weeks back when she had to bleach all her whites after they'd been through the machine...) Argh! And the weather's still cold and wet and it was officially Spring at 8pm tonight.

I should be sulking about the latest Pilgrimage photos, but let's look on the bright side, at least it's a halfway decent photo of me. Although it seems to be in about a dozen photos. Which is quite frankly overkill.

* posted by nat 10:23 PM

Tuesday, March 19, 2002

I just thought I'd add this to the wish list!



Right, I'm off to do photocopying. Not really much of a substitute, I know.

* posted by nat 1:46 PM

Spiders are artists too (the moral of the story seems to be, no problems with mescaline, but caffeine isn't good for you.)

It is raining, and cold, and there's been a lovely big car accident just outside at the crossroads. Lots of teenagers from the tech a street or so up standing around gawking.

* posted by nat 12:59 PM

Monday, March 18, 2002

How�s this for an overly large and pointless survey, then? What do you mean I have way too much time on my hands? I did this (on print out) while PFCE4 were doing their test. So here you are.

About 15 years ago I ...
.. was 9 years old.
.. would have been making nasty scrapy sounds on my � size cello.
.. was a Brownie. Pixies Sixer!
.. was doing ballet and tap and modern and gymnastics etc. etc. etc.
.. played lots and lots of let�s pretend games (from physiotherapists to the A-Team)

About 10 years ago I ...
.. was 14 years old.
.. was in my first year at boarding school.
.. used to cry in French lessons.
.. used to go down to the San for aspirin for my (dairy-induced) migraines and never take it.
.. went to the USA/Canada on tour with DSSO. First time on a plane!

About 5 years ago I ...
.. was 19 years old.
.. was busy travelling around Eastern Europe (in fact, *exactly* five years ago I was in Poland!)
.. wore very baggy jumpers.
.. was still writing several million letters.
.. discovered Mornington Crescent at York (that was).

About 2 years ago I ...
.. was 22 years old.
.. was studying in Brno in the Czech Republic.
.. lost loads and loads of weight without even trying.
.. went to Venice with Liz because �we felt like it.� (for the almost-to-the-day thing.)
.. was having just about the best time of my life.

About 1 year ago I ...
.. was thinking I really ought to start writing my dissertation.
.. was staying up till about 2 or 3am every night online (RPing/chatting with boyfriend)
.. was making a recording with Chamber Choir (one year ago last weekend)
.. got a mobile phone.
.. had the best housemates in the whole wide world!

Today I ...
.. sat with the balcony door wide open all morning and lounged around in my pyjamas and watched the Figure Skating.
.. gave tests. Evil laughter here
.. got a letter from Grandpa.
.. chatted online with Sophia for the first time in ages.
.. taught my class some Irish Gaelic phrases. Which is impressive, as I don�t speak a word.

Tomorrow I will ...
.. give three more tests. More evil laughter
.. get up early again to watch the Men�s Short.
.. go down to town and walk by the river, if it�s sunny and warm again.
.. eat chickpea curry. Again.
.. buy tights. As all mine have got ladders or large holes in.

Five items I have brand loyalty to ...
.. Herbal Essences Shampoo
.. Chanel
.. Boots Vitamin Tablets.
.. Soignon
.. alprosoja (well, while I�m in Poland at least. The other soya milk here is dreadful!)

Five snacks I enjoy ...
.. Hummus (which I miss, horribly)
.. chocolate covered coffee beans
.. mixed dried fruit
.. banana chips in yoghurt
.. pistachios

Five songs you know the words to, even without the music ...
(only five? Well, let�s put it this way, currently sung in the shower/ over washing up are: )
.. Upon the hearth the fire is red � Tolkien/Swann
.. Voda, co ma drzi nad vodou � slushy Slovak pop tune, can�t remember who wrote it
.. Something Stupid � was it Parks?
.. Money Money Money - Abba
.. That Lonesome Road � I have no idea who wrote this

Five Games I like ...
.. Spider. (I�m far too addicted to it!)
.. Monopoly.
.. Boggle.
.. Shanghai.
.. Mornington Crescent.

Five favourite albums...
.. Recurring Dream � Crowded House
.. Definitive Simon and Garfunkel
.. na vařen� nudli - Nerez
.. Best of Bob Dylan
.. Moseley Shoals � Ocean Colour Scene

Five things I would buy with one thousand dollars ...
.. a plane ticket to somewhere far away. (as far as I could get!)
.. a few guidebooks to wherever I go.
.. HUMMUS (I�d get it shipped over.)
.. lots of souvenirs when I get there.
.. lots of camera film for when I�m there.

Top five musicians lately ...
.. Robbie Williams
.. Sheryl Crow
.. Michael Camilo (still going strong)
.. Travis
.. Coldplay

Top five locations I want to run away to ...
.. Bhutan
.. Peru
.. San Fransisco
.. New Zealand
.. Morocco

Five bad habits of mine ...
.. biting my nails (and the skin around them.)
.. procrastination
.. short term memory lapses (I often get to the bottom of the stairs and have no idea if I locked the door or not and have to go back and check it�s not wide open.)
.. neurotic
.. inclined to embroider the truth far too often

Five people currently on my bad side and why ...
.. Malcolm, my DoS, for invariably taking ten minutes to say something that could be said in one sentence.
.. Bro�Sis, for yet another naff pop song that I can�t get out of my head. (They�re the German Popstars Band)
.. Mark, for not emailing when he said he would. As per usual.
.. James, for (admittedly understandable) radio silence, but all the same�
.. err, okay, Kristy was on my bad side for leaving her laundry in the machine and then going away for two days, so I had to take it all out and hang it all up before I could do mine. However, she has said sorry and thank you for not leaving it in a pile on the floor, so I�m happy again. So instead I�ll do Torun refuse services, because all the big dustbins on the corner are over-full again.

Five things I'd never wear ...
.. any animal-skin print (especially leopard-skin. Ew!)
.. fur, real or fake
.. body piercings
.. most shades of pink
.. stilettos

Five animals I like ...
.. frogs and toads
.. hedgehogs
.. cats
.. butterflies
.. dragons

Five TV shows I like ... (currently)
.. ER
.. Buffy
.. Will and Grace
.. Maya (the Bee)
.. Fragelsy (Fraggle Rock in Polish. Unmissable. I really need to learn the theme song.)

Five Icecream flavours I adore ...
.. Chocolate Raspberry Ripple
.. Coffee Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz Buzz
.. Honeycomb (Loseley did it, but I haven�t seen it in an age)
.. Ginger
.. Boruvka (wild blueberry)

* posted by nat 10:31 PM

Watty has written a tale which rates fairly high on the wierdness stakes, and even higher if you have no idea about any of the things or people he is talking about. Utter genius!

Although I'm dragging a cello. Poor cello, I wonder how it stands it?

wanders off to alternately sulk and howl about lack of cello, lack of cello playing ability, do my Polish homework and administer tests...

* posted by nat 6:14 PM

Ooooh, the weather's gorgeous this morning! I got up and opened the balcony door and sat there in the sun and watched the skating - it will be a lovely week in which nothing gets done, as I'll be watching the Worlds all morning, every morning.

This is a test that really is me!


Which Breakfast Clubber Are You? Find out @ She's Crafty

* posted by nat 12:55 PM

Sunday, March 17, 2002

Much skipping, much happiness, Danijela�s out of hospital finally � with a little Honz�k. Yay!

Saturday � I walked over to Od Nova to watch the boys playing football. Toru� Hotspur was in its usual chaotic form, I arrived 25 minutes after the scheduled kick-off time and there were still only nine of them there, so much yelling down mobiles was going on. Once the game did start it was little better with no discernible strategy except everybody yelling at everybody else where to go, and then kicking the ball in the opposite direction anyway. The pitch was as fantastic as ever � several water hazards in the shape of large puddles of mud which tripped up many a dribbling footballer, as the ball rolled into the mud and promptly got stuck. The rest of the pitch was also uneven which made for some excitement, as you could never be quite sure which way the ball was going to bounce� So we sat on the sidelines watching all the boys fall in the mud, kick the ball, kick each other, and eventually got a little bit chilly � cold wind, despite the sun � and we left five minutes before the end with the score at 6-3 to the Hotspur. Ah. Entertainment.

After that I went shopping, did the cooking (this week�s fetish: parsnips), watched films in German and then went down to the Dublin Pub about 10:30, as it was Ana�s birthday. Final football score 6-5! Obviously they stop playing when there�s no girlie support around that they have to impress� much general blathering continued through the rest of the night, till I decided I had to go or fall asleep. We�re off back there tonight to see The Band.

I am pleased to announce a result! I have MP3s of Tom Lehrer, thanks to Tim. Hurrah! Got to love this weblog. Right, now what else do I need? Money, a job for next year, a round the world flight ticket, chocolate, a DVD player, a rather nice man � if you have any of those lying around, please feel free to send!

* posted by nat 6:30 PM

Incomprehensibility with sibling, post pub, at 2:30am ; more tomorrow, might be saner; likely not:

A fish on a bicycle says:
You hiring a van?
A fish on a bicycle says:
Hee hee.
The grass is always greener on the other side says:
yup
The grass is always greener on the other side says:
i'll probably crash it into a tree or something
A fish on a bicycle says:
Ohl, you're driving it too?
A fish on a bicycle says:
scues me while I fell about laughing.
The grass is always greener on the other side says:
shut up miss "i reverse into plastic bins on the high street in stourbridge"
A fish on a bicycle says:
Oi! Plastic bin singular!

* posted by nat 1:57 AM

Friday, March 15, 2002

Text based Pong! (Who needs graphics anyway?) Keeps me away from tests! And lesson planning. Hmm...

* posted by nat 2:10 PM

Thursday, March 14, 2002

Woo! I'm playing at being secretary - out here in the office as there's a lesson in the computer room and anyway, it's more fun to chat with Justyna. we're bemoaning weight. but then again, she's pigging out (and is about a size 6 anyway) and we thought about ordering a pizza, but it's going to take an hour and I can't be bothered to wait that long...

* posted by nat 7:16 PM

You're kind and supportive and even though you're not always in the centre of attention and don't trouble
yourself with every detail, your friends cherish your loyalty and your sence of humour.
You're a dreamer and you know the most important things in life aren't 'things'.

Who are YOU?

No no, I'm not Ron, I'm shag - er, marrying him. Ahem. But while we're at it...

...and which lesser Harry Potter character are you?

And, as we're on the subject:



I thank you.

* posted by nat 1:34 PM

Of course, once I'd chipped off all the nail polish, I then carried on and chewed the nails off anyway. Sigh. I wonder what acrylic nails taste like?

It occurred to me, once I was writing this link site (for school) that it probably wasn't a good idea to build it off Lycos (especially as when you're halfway through typing the URL it tends to bring up the address for here on the school computers - and we don't want that, do we? So (rant deleted) I'm messing about with things over at Bravenet.

There is a small three year old walking round the computer room. As you do! Rachael is now playing Wordbird with her... much to this small girl's voluble delight!

* posted by nat 12:22 PM

Wednesday, March 13, 2002

I have remembered what fun it is to be chipping of nail polish with one's teeth. The nails should grow a bit now. (Much better day food-wise, except PFCE4 now want Bramborak as well...)

	You are Kermit! Though you're technically the star, you're pretty mellow and don't mind letting others share the spotlight. You are also something of a dreamer.
Take the What Muppet Are You? Quiz!

* posted by nat 10:36 PM

Beware, beware...

-- N�a has joined the discussion
N�a: *looks around her wildly*
flerdle: ??
N�a: The wombats! The wombats!
flerdle: here - you can hide under this cushion.
nat: You missed them.
N�a: ta
N�a: *dives in under cushion*
nat: They've been and gone.
flerdle: ??
Phil: N�a rhymes with Mindflayer - coincidence? I think so.....
N�a: *peers out cautiously*
nat: Phil - you'll make a poet yet.
Phil: nat] rofl
flerdle: *backs carefully towards the door*
nat: Don't go out!
nat: The Wombats!

* posted by nat 12:19 PM

*pokes blogger* I think we're working again...

Well, here are the teachers in the computer Room working hard - Rob is playing snooker, Ralf is playing backgammon, I'm playing with magnetic poetry, and there's a couple of students catching up with all that's online and Polish. Good eh?

* posted by nat 10:38 AM

Tuesday, March 12, 2002

I've done quite badly on the food front today: breakfast, two bread rolls with nat-friendly camememememembert and lingonberry jam, general snacking: two bananas, one pot vanilla soya dessert, dinner, rather large amount of Kristy's veggie chilli plus emergency carton of chocolate soya milk (mouth needed something, it was either that or beer!) And then I fell apart totally and ate half a dozen Skittles. (The green ones. But I have hidden the packet, so I cannot eat the rest.)

On the plus side, the sun is still shining! Spring is here (allegedly). Tra-La-La! I wish I had my Tom Lehrer cassettes with me, I feel there's a lot of mileage to be got out of 'Poisoning Pigeons in the Park'. (Parent Post? Perhaps?) PFCE1 were also very taken with the concept of bread-and-butter pudding. They didn't even mention getting out of tests! Oh, and much hilarity in I2 when Maria declared "jumpers are made of wood" - Just another day of idiocy with I2, then.

I got a letter from Rosie. Well, an envelope really, with the front cover of the SSEES freshers guide for 98-99 in it - that'd be the one with all my photos on that Sam stole. Now decorating my pinboard, hurrah!

* posted by nat 9:22 PM

So last night we were talking about food, and about every ten minutes one member of the class (well, really alternating between Monika, Lukas and myself with Martyna nodding at intervals) would go "I'm getting hungry! Aren't you getting hungry? Argh!" For some reason they're all desperate to cancel next week's test, come back to my house and make bread and butter pudding instead. Can't think why! "We can fail the test in five minutes," said Lukas. "Pleeeeeease!"

I ended up going home and cooking a concoction that was somewhere inbetween vegetable fried rice, risotto, and curry, mostly due to not really thinking and changing recipes halfway through. Oops. It turned out quite tasty though.

* posted by nat 11:54 AM

Monday, March 11, 2002

The sun is shining, I went to the library, the sun was still shining.... the sun is still shining, hurrah!

I do adore getting emails from Katka in English. Here's part of the latest:

I think about going to south america for tree months. I
want to go to the kordilleras mountains in Equator, Peru and Bolivia.
My parents are already awared, but I am still loking for some
suitable "bodyguard". One boy has answered and he said he can carry a
bag of 40 Kg, it means we wouldn�t have to rent a donkey.

Otherwise, I'm waiting with trepidation for photos from the latest Pilgrimage to come out, to see what god-awful interpretations of me hiding from the camera someone's come up with now. I think I could actually do with someone taking a few pictures of me and sticking them up all over the net. It would really give the dieting a major kick.


Ok well, back to this cover lesson for 2K I'm meant to be doing. And you'll never guess the subject... countable and uncountable nouns. EVIL, EVIL, EVIL, EW!

* posted by nat 3:04 PM

Sunday, March 10, 2002

I wandered down to town this morning mostly for exercise and totally forgot about anything on my shopping list, that hardly mattered of course as being Sunday there wasn�t much open, and being Lent there�s even less than usual. But I bought more tulips from one of the flower stalls � and almost gave in and bought a proper vase as well. My flowers currently live in a large empty jar of Gold Blend, but I feel is more in keeping with the rest of the d�cor in my room, so in the end I decided not to!

The rest of the day has been beautifully slow, I experimented with mashed parsnips for lunch and spent the rest of the time reading my way through Book 2 of LotR. I�m really paying attention to actually how much was changed for the film. It didn�t feel like that much at the time, as overarchingly it is all the same, but the number of speeches that have been transposed from one place to another � or even more often one character to another - is quite overwhelming.

* posted by nat 9:08 PM

Saturday, March 09, 2002

So tell me something I didn't know?



Which "Natural Wonder" are you?

* posted by nat 7:25 PM

Friday, March 08, 2002

The radio was blathering on and on about Dzien kobieta this morning, and once I got into school Robert gave us all flowers, everyone was wishing me all the best and all that, Michal even brought all the girls in EL1 chocolate*! (Gosia managed to get two by claiming that her baby's going to be a girl!) I rather like this. Feels like another birthday. Hurrah for Women's Day!

However, after three lessons of countable and uncountable nouns, plus quantifiers, I'm about ready to - um - burn anything to do with said subject. Still, should hopefully mean that's it for the year.

*I'm still not eating chocolate, but it's rude not to eat presents!

* posted by nat 10:41 PM

Thursday, March 07, 2002

So last night was social night, we all went down to Damroki, the teachers had 200zl in an envelope for drinks, so of course we start drinking straight away. It does occur to me that having had rice salad for breakfast at 10:30am and only 1 banana since that it's not the best idea, but I had about 4 Zubrowka and rolled merrily about the place chatting to students and so on. I really should have stopped at three; two was bad enough. By the time we got to the last round Kristy was offering to buy the students drinks - well, if the money's there... and Kristy, Carla and I were the last ones out. We left (I think) about 1am, after an abortive attempt to pull the frog that croaked when anyone walked past it off the stairs - it was firmly glued on. Kristy compensated by picking up a big basket, and I managed to acquire a pottery duck which did not last long before I banged into something and broke its head and one of its feet off. It only had one foot when I got it.

We wandered into town and got a pizza at Zebra. This was probably the worst thing to do! I have a very hazy memory of what was being said but there was a lot of giggling, plans to make the duck into a pot roast, and so on. Then we got a taxi home once we'd pulled ourselves together enough to say our address intelligibly.

We got in, for some reason best known to myself I decided to log on, got some confused "What are you doing awake?" messages (it being 2am) and then realised the room was spinning way too much so I wandered out to brush my teeth and at that point gave up and was very very ill. It gets better though, as after I'd sat there cleaning the bathroom up I then decided I had to take all the rubbish out at that instant. I did put my coat on over my pyjamas but I didn't bother with any shoes, and ran downstairs and over the road to the dustbins barefoot. I don't know why. No idea. And then I went back to the flat and went to sleep.

I'm feeling a little fragile today. Can't think why!

* posted by nat 2:10 PM

Wednesday, March 06, 2002

Why I do not get any work done in the teacher's room, in part:

Me (Turning page, discovering evil grammar analysis point) Oh no! I've got countable and uncountable nouns!
Dave: Well, I've got herpes, but do you hear me telling everybody?
Carla: Hmm, what has Dave got down his pants?
Kristy: And is it countable or uncountable?

I still have a headache due to the evil flashing tube light in Room 10 yesterday... we moved into Room 9 after ten minutes but it didn't really help, and I ended up teaching everything backwards so now I have to unpick it all next lesson. Argh! Still, off to the pub tonight...

* posted by nat 2:36 PM

Tuesday, March 05, 2002

Why I do not get any work done in the computer room, in part:


Phil: *wonders if anyone can tell who is desperately trying not to think about work*
N�a 1/2: *hand up* I! I am!
flerdle: *is trying not to think about having to get up tomorrow*
Phil: *gives N�a a goldfish* well done !
-- N�a 1/2 has left the discussion
-- N�a 1/2 (holding a goldfish) has joined the discussion
N�a 1/2 (holding a goldfish): Wheee!
Phil: oh ****
Phil: :)
nat: *passes Nea a bowl for goldfish*
Phil: sounds painful, nat
N�a 1/2 (holding a goldfish): thanks!
nat: Only to the way your mind works (:
-- N�a 1/2 (holding a goldfish) has left the discussion
-- N�a 1/2 (holding a goldfish in a bowl) has joined the discussion
Phil: *shouldn't drink at lunchtime*
N�a 1/2 (holding a goldfish in a bowl): *agrees with nat*
flerdle: *grins*
Phil: *takes that back*
flerdle: you get very amusing when you've 'ad a few, Phil.
Phil: *shouldn't be sober - far too boring*
N�a 1/2 (holding a goldfish in a bowl): [Phil] You should, providing you leave some for the rest of us
N�a 1/2 (holding a goldfish in a bowl): (drink at lunchtime)
flerdle: *wants some*
flerdle: *shouldn't*
Phil: *gives flerdle some*
N�a 1/2 (holding a goldfish in a bowl): *smothers grin*
flerdle: ta.
Phil: *raises eyebrows and wonders what it was that flerdle wanted some of*
flerdle: heh heh
N�a 1/2 (holding a goldfish in a bowl): *washes thoughts*
flerdle: *hits Nea 1/2 over the head with the pillow*
N�a 1/2 (holding a goldfish in a bowl): ow!
flerdle: *gently*
N�a 1/2 (holding a goldfish in a bowl): Mind the bowl!
Phil: go on, N�a, hit her over the head with the bowl !
N�a 1/2 (holding a goldfish in a bowl): I wonder if the 'alibut is dead
Phil: omg !
nat: (standing up for goldfish rights!) Careful with the goldfish!
Phil: N�a , you aren't a song are you?
Phil: "A B C, 1 2 3, N�a the half a Swede" ?
nat: *pulls out sofa pillow, regards halibut* Is not moving!
nat: rofl!!!
flerdle: *grin*
N�a 1/2 (holding a goldfish in a bowl): *laughs and �aughs*
Phil: *sings*
N�a 1/2 (holding a goldfish in a bowl): *sings along*
Phil: Half a Swede, philosophically
Phil: Must ipso facto, half not be.
N�a 1/2 (holding a goldfish in a bowl): Must, ipso facto, half-not be!
Phil: But half the Swede has got to be
N�a 1/2 (holding a goldfish in a bowl): you'retooquick
Phil: Vis a vis, its entity, D'you see?
Phil: But ca a swede be said to be
Phil: Or not to be an entire Swede
Phil: When half the Swde is not a Swede
Phil: Due to some ancient injury
N�a 1/2 (holding a goldfish in a bowl): Sing it!
Phil: *join in on the chorus*
Phil: la dee dee, on two three
Phil: N�a the half a Swede
flerdle: Nea the half a Swede
Phil: A B C D E F G
Phil: N�a the half aSwede
Phil: (damn my typing)
N�a 1/2 (holding a goldfish in a bowl): *sits down on Phil's knee, goes half to sleep*
Phil: *points out that N�� is onlyusing half a knee*
Phil: Is this wretched demi-Swede
Phil: Half-asleep upon my knee
Phil: Some freak in a Menagerie
Phil: No!
Phil: It's N�� the half a swede
N�a 1/2 (holding a goldfish in a bowl): Deedadeedum
-- PaulWay has joined the discussion
Phil: Fiddle de dum, fiddle de dee
Phil: N�a the half a swede

* posted by nat 1:59 PM

I happily laid out several layers of clothes to put on today to make sure I didn't get cold again, and then got engrossed in taking the rubbish out so forgot to put them all on! Never mind, it's not quite as cold as yesterday. Of course I'm now sitting at the computer right by the radiator, printing out odd bits for the Elementary test I'm doing which I'm then going to go and collage all together. Joy!

I am stuck into Lord of the Rings again. I figured as it's now well over ten years since I actually read it through, rather than just dipped into it, it could stand another reading! I've got plans to do a bit in class with the PFCEs anyway, after the test or something. I'm going to go bash the British Council over the head as I know they've got some Tolkien recordings in there somewhere, and the only ones I have are on my laptop which doesn't really have good enough speakers.

* posted by nat 1:15 PM

Monday, March 04, 2002

It's freezing at school today! Just what I didn't need. I'm nice and tanked up on Lemsip though, and taking things slowly. I have a horridly stiff neck, but I think that's more to do with the way I've been sleeping (curled up around a blanket, a hot water bottle, several frogs and quite often a laptop...) and of course the fact I'm trying to stay on an undersheet that for some reason is six inches shorter than the bed is. And the pillowcases are twice the size of the pillows. This is quite normal for Central European bedding, but I never have quite worked out why!

I don't quite know what I've done to my old-old guestbook, apart from screwed it up totally just by blinking at it, but it doesn't work any more. Might have been something to do with the move/update from Tripod to Lycos or whatever. Anyway. Waste bandwidth! Sign the guestbook (again, if needs be!)

* posted by nat 4:20 PM

Sunday, March 03, 2002

VIOLET You surround yourself with art and music and are constantly driven to express yourself. You often daydream. You prefer honesty in your relationships and belive strongly in your personal morals. Find out your color at Stvlive.com!

* posted by nat 9:28 PM

I logged on to DF last night and Mark was on there... I think it's the first time I've seen him online in about six months. Anyway we had a very silly conversation, and now I'm cross again. This is why you should not discuss other relationships/idiotic one night stands with your ex-boyfriend. In fact, this is complete proof that you should not talk to your ex-boyfriends at all. Sigh.

[] Him: well, ok. Let me ask this. Did you lose your virginity?
[] Me: No,
[] Me: I'm not quite that silly.
[] Me: And he knew what was going on anyway.
[] Him: ok. Then I can live with what you tell me.

Because he has a choice about what I get up to? Of course, then he came out with this:

[] Him: You know me. My life's an open book. I would like to
preface this by saying we both realized ina short fashion that we're just not
made for each other and that we went too fast. That's my disclaimer. :)
[] Him: well, we did everything. start to finish.
[] Him: Does it count at all that you're still at the
forefront of all my fantasies? Or should I just shut up now? :P

I know this word, and it's spelt H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-T-E.
Anyone know of any single traveloholic men? I'm blatantly wasting my life here!

There is snow on the ground again. And yesterday it was warm and gloriously sunny. The weather here is so confusing!

* posted by nat 10:34 AM

Friday, March 01, 2002

Mother has got these nylon nails. They are rather scary. ::sits in front of screen and chews own badly bitten nails::.

* posted by nat 1:33 PM