Pueblo Inglés 1278

19th - 26 th January 2018

With love, 

Once upon a time

(Last week in fact)

There was a circle of strangers

Half of them spoke the same language

And the others had to lipread

(Americans, you're not included here)

The week was made EVENTFUL 

By vomiting and diarrhea

(Kendrick-Kubrick YOU started this fucking shit!)

So Kowloons, singing 

And possible romance

Were all put on hold. 

Allan kept on shouting:

PUSH ON, PUSH ON, PUSH ON! 

So Spanish people realized

what was going on

Morocco spoke to Egypt

The Canadian couldn't sing

The Welsh were full of bluster

And the Irish enjoyed her gin

The Aussie loved her ipad

The Russian was a spy

The English was a jolly man

And the Americans moved us to cry

The week flew by 

The hours passed

Our English improved 

It was all a BLAST!

And now we have to say FAREWELL

to all you you, guys :-) 

We have made friends forever 
And we're trying not to cry! 

By Leanda, Manuel and Encarni (+ Ammo's last verse)

Ring the changes

Long time ago I decided to quit this blog because my students did not really follow it. At first it was a bit disappointing for me but then I got used to that. 

Now it is different because my bare intention here is to write just for myself (though my son -Darío- , who is always looking at the things I do, is now behind me looking at the screen and willing to read and reply to each of my blog entries). 😍

Why have I changed my mind? Merely because studying is a must when we devote our lives to teach others. No matter the subject, the main goal is to improve in order to get better results in the things we love doing. 

At this point it would be nice to say that I am 38 and these days things are slowly falling into place and I am sure that something really good is on the cards! 

In my experience 'perfection' is a kind of utopia. That's why I consider myself a flawless person in my  own flaw 🙈. Day in day out I am my worst (or sometimes my best) judge. Yes! Every thing I do is constantly observed and criticized by my 'other Encarni' who keeps on reminding me that I am not a perfect woman. It could be a question of  kinship or education, who knows? But the fact is that there is 'the other me' who wilfully makes my life much harder than it should be. 

Last year I took some important decisions about my working life. For some time my husband and I ran an academy in our town. It was a challenge at the beginning and, I must say, a great success too! We had a lot of students and most of them were really happy with us. However, job reached to the point that I ended up stressed-out and without any time to spend with my family nor even with myself. I was arguably going downhill... Nevertheless, last May Ramos -my husband- and I decided sensibly to give a grand finale to our project.  Honestly to make the decision to close 'Babel' was very difficult for me, but at the same time, I felt a great relief doing so . 
Since then our family life has totally changed. As a matter of fact, Ramos spends a lot of time at home caring for our children and home, and studying his degree; Darío and Daniela are happier and they pay their grandparents a visit when they actually want to -before they had to do it because we were working or doing some stuff related to our jobs- ; our dogs go for a walk every day and for a long time; and I just have one job as a freelance teacher. Doesn't everything sound absolutely great? Yes, it does! 

Currently I am on holiday till February so I have plenty of time! What is the outcome of such free time? Well, when I usually enjoy holidays for more than one week I tend to look for different things to do. In this case it was quite easy to make my choice because in June there are the well-known Spanish State exams for secondary education teachers.... I have been a temporary teacher for about ten years 😆 and according to a friend's wise foresee, this is the year in which I will be able to get a vacancy... so there I go!!

Getting ready for this kind of exam is not just a question of studying hard contents such as history of the Anglo-saxon countries, their literature, or culture. It is also a matter of being a proficient English speaker and a really lucky person. To a certain extent fortune usually accompanies me and I have always been quite good at languages. However, 'my other Encarni' is not so confident about the English language I know and keeps on asking me to be better. So this request brings about more practicing, studying and looking for opportunities to be in touch with the language itself. Fortunately, the same 'witch-friend' who predicted that I will get a vacancy this year, told me about 'El Pueblo Inglés' and I jumped at the chance of spending eight days there in just a couple of weeks! 
 
It is a great investment in my near future which will likely be worth it. 

Regarding the idea of writing in this blog, it turned up this evening meanwhile I was revising vocabulary from the book we used in the Proficiency course last year. Shall I write about my experiences in this 2018 using this English blog? 
Aye! Let's try (at least)! 😅