Sadly I had to return to the UK a week ago to deal with some issues that needed a firm hand.After a long long bus journey from Tabua to Faro we flew into a very wet and windy Liverpool which was also in the grip of some mini rioting/looting/conflict.
After 2 months away some things have changed but most things have stayed the same.
My garden has blossomed and was a joy to behold when I saw it.Just lovely ,overgrown and lush with colour.So that was a good change from when I left it all planted up.
My dogs and cats have doubled in size ,mainly because dog walking became an opening the door to garden kinda walk for those people left behind to care for these little beauties.So no moorland walks ,no woodland walks and no swimming for the dogs in the recent past.Very sad dogs greeted me at the door.So not such a good change.
The house was ,as usual ,a tip.No worse than normal so no change there I suppose.
People don't appear to have changed ,I have not really spoken to anyone though so I don't know what they would say.They still look down trodden ,defeated and depressed in general.They still appear to be consuming lots ,creating lots of unrecycled waste and being generally unhappy with their lot.Or maybe this is what I see around me because I am so dis-satisfied with my life in this country.I feel myself to be an outsider here and I am just looking in.Hmm
I came back here for a number of reasons ,one of them being work related.While yurt sitting I had power and internet and could continue to earn money but then I moved onto my own place without these facilities in place and that made online teaching a little tricky.I managed to get hold of some vital equipment to get me going but was missing an important component to bring it all together so work slowed down somewhat and cash drained out of my bank account.Hence a return to England.Well one of the reasons anyway.
I have been back for a week now and my calendar is now more or less full of students and I have started to turn down work .Its interesting that all the new students I have come from Korea and China on the whole with the odd Russian ,Japanese and French.I have taken on some children also and they are a joy to teach so far.Very bright ,keen and able.But they are under so much pressure to achieve some of them are taking lessons at midnight (age 8/9) its a bit crazy .I am not sure how long I will continue to accept these kids because it feels like its just too much for them to be doing.My adult Chinese student today told me I sound like a Marxist when we were discussing the topic of society which was funny really...so thats the update.
The UK is the same but I am not.
After 2 months away some things have changed but most things have stayed the same.
My garden has blossomed and was a joy to behold when I saw it.Just lovely ,overgrown and lush with colour.So that was a good change from when I left it all planted up.
My dogs and cats have doubled in size ,mainly because dog walking became an opening the door to garden kinda walk for those people left behind to care for these little beauties.So no moorland walks ,no woodland walks and no swimming for the dogs in the recent past.Very sad dogs greeted me at the door.So not such a good change.
The house was ,as usual ,a tip.No worse than normal so no change there I suppose.
People don't appear to have changed ,I have not really spoken to anyone though so I don't know what they would say.They still look down trodden ,defeated and depressed in general.They still appear to be consuming lots ,creating lots of unrecycled waste and being generally unhappy with their lot.Or maybe this is what I see around me because I am so dis-satisfied with my life in this country.I feel myself to be an outsider here and I am just looking in.Hmm
I came back here for a number of reasons ,one of them being work related.While yurt sitting I had power and internet and could continue to earn money but then I moved onto my own place without these facilities in place and that made online teaching a little tricky.I managed to get hold of some vital equipment to get me going but was missing an important component to bring it all together so work slowed down somewhat and cash drained out of my bank account.Hence a return to England.Well one of the reasons anyway.
I have been back for a week now and my calendar is now more or less full of students and I have started to turn down work .Its interesting that all the new students I have come from Korea and China on the whole with the odd Russian ,Japanese and French.I have taken on some children also and they are a joy to teach so far.Very bright ,keen and able.But they are under so much pressure to achieve some of them are taking lessons at midnight (age 8/9) its a bit crazy .I am not sure how long I will continue to accept these kids because it feels like its just too much for them to be doing.My adult Chinese student today told me I sound like a Marxist when we were discussing the topic of society which was funny really...so thats the update.
The UK is the same but I am not.
