One Week Left

This time next thursday I shall have swapped rice for every other food available other than rice, as I will be back in London.

With a little under a week left of my trip I am going to enjoy every last moment I can. The students in my class want to add me on Facebook and I've been thinking about it and have come to the conclusion it's probably not a good idea as they would then be able to find this blog and if they translate every post, they will find out that I have spent more time slagging them off and threatening them with violence than I have praising their linguistic abilities. I may create a second name to give them and send them on a wild goose chase. I haven't quite decided yet. I also find it greatly amusing that a few of the kids are getting colds now because it's now officially winter here. The temperature has literally changed from 28 degrees to 25 degrees and they're getting sick. They shouldn't come to England then in December, they'd drop dead the moment they left the aircraft.

I've been thinking about what I would still like to do and I'm pleased that I haven't thought of anything major, other than checking out a couple of beaches I'm yet to get to. I wouldn't like to go back not having done something which I will regret not doing. Yesterday in class I gave them another test, this time on adjectives and the names of European countries. I realised half way through the class that I had failed to take down a huge map of the world but after having marked the tests, it's clear they weren't savvy enough to remember it was there. A couple of students have got really bad marks in all 4 tests and I would feel bad alerting the director of the project if they try in class, but they don't, so I don't mind. I've only got 4 more lessons with them now and for all the complaining about them, the vast majority of them are all good kids and eager to learn.

Tomorrow morning all the volunteers are meeting at 8 AM to go and paint walls in a high school nearby.  Art was my worst subject at school and so if it requires a steady hand and attention to detail, I will probably take a step back and shout motivational slogans at the rest of the volunteers. They will love me for it.

Thats all I have for you for now, but I will let you know how much my dire art skills have regressed since year 9. Until next time.

Pictures from Isabela

Weekend In Isabela

Do not fear, you can call off the search parties, I am back.

I had the most amazing weekend in Isabela. I didn't tell my parents before hand for fear of worrying them too much, but to get there and back we took a six seater plane which definitely was an experience.  I was a little bit nervous as the pilot who looked like he had recently hit puberty sat down in the cockpit and told us all to fasten our seatbelts on. I was one step ahead of him on that front. But my nerves were quickly washed away after take off. We had some great views of the island below and 30 minutes later we approached Isabela. It is a volcanic island and is the largest in the Galapagos Islands. So flying over the mainland before we touched down you could clearly see the volcanic structure and the summits of each volcano just clouded by fog. 

Once we landed (safely I may add, mum and dad, don't worry), we went to the hostel that had been reserved for us. But upon arrival, there was no one to meet us, it was far from the centre of town and the aesthetics left a lot to be desired and so we journeyed on in search of a better place to call our temporary home. We had been recommended a place which was right on the beach, closer to the main part of town and was only 10 dollars a night and so we checked it out. We arrived and decided to stay at this hostel without checking the rooms out which in hindsight proved foolish. They were extremely dark and our toilet was inhabited by a colony of ants. I suppose that's what you get for 10 bucks a night though. We dropped off our stuff and went to find some breakfast. On the way we came across a really nice looking hostel for only 5 dollars more a night, but it was not free for saturday night and so we booked it for the following sunday evening. Something to look forward to. In the afternoon I went on a snorkelling tour of the Tintereras, where we saw penguins, plenty of marine iguanas and more sea lions. The guide then asked us if we wanted to snorkel along a canal inhabited by White Tipped Sharks. I said yes without thinking. The canal itself was rather dark and small without much room to move. I didn't see anything for about 2 minutes until near the end, a shark quickly swam about a foot below me and for a second my whole body froze up. It was however not interested in me and swam on.

That evening we were all very tired and so had dinner and got an early night.

The early night proved useful as we were up the next morning at 7 to start a 16km hike up a volcano. Despite the fact it was foggy at the first crater, the walk across the second one, Volcan Chico, was like nothing I had ever seen before. It is the perfect place to shoot a sci-fi film set on Mars. I never thought that I would be able to say that I've had lunch on the crater of a volcano, but I can now. By the end of the 5 hour walk I was totally wiped out and so the new comfortable hostel with a chill out area with sofas and hammocks looked like the pearly gates of heaven as we arrived, covered from ankle to knee in volcanic dust. I had a well earned rest on the beach and swim in the sea followed by a dinner of ceviche and afterwards, a long, long sleep. 

On monday I relaxed at the hostel until 12:30 when we had to head over to the airport to get our return flight back. I was stressing out a little as we arrived ten minutes late, but I had temporarily forgotten that everyone runs on Ecuadorian time which meant that our 1 pm scheduled flight didn't take off until 2. 

So that is the story of the weekend, I hoped you enjoyed it. I now only have 8 days left here in the Galapagos until I return and so I'm going to enjoy my last days in Paradise. That is all I have for you for now. Until next time. 

3 Day Weekend

So I don't know why, but it's another holiday. It might have something to do with the re-election of the president today, but at the end of the day I have a day off work, which is fantastic.

As of yesterday I have less than two weeks left of my trip which is rather strange. I'm looking forward to going home but at the same time I feel as though I could easily do another 2/3 weeks here. Yesterday in class we went through the translation that I set for their test line by line and I feel as though they understood most of the errors that they made. Hopefully we are making progress. I delivered them the news that they didn't have class the next day which cheered them up no end. Since there were no classes today we all went (the other volunteers, not the students, that would be illegal) out for a couple of drinks at the local bar where I possibly played the worst game of pool I can remember playing. Rather embarrassing. Tail between my legs, I went home at around 12ish and sat around reading for a bit before calling it a night.

I was hoping for a bit of a lie in but that was a hope too far. I understand that everyone gets up early here, but is it necessary to have a shouting match across the breakfast table at 7:30 in the morning? So alas I got up around 8:30. Mid morning I walked over to a beach not far from my house which has a great snorkelling spot. Unfortunately the waters were choppy and so the underwater vision wasn't great due to all the sand being kicked up off the sea bed from the strong currents, but I still saw a few sea turtles and some sea lions, which was good enough for half an hour in the sea. At around 12 30 I headed back for lunch and now i'm in my room writing to you lovely readers (if there still is anyone reading this, I hope there's at least one). This afternoon I'm going to buy some more sun cream to protect my delicate complexion which I will have you all know is developing a tan. Then after I may head over to the beach or I will go to the supermarket to stock up on some tins or tuna and sweetcorn for my trip to Isabella as I'm trying to cut down on costs. I'm not sure how often I will get an internet connection but there won't be another blog post until monday afternoon so I suppose I kind of have to leave you on a cliff hanger to entice you back like any good soap opera on it's friday evening show. Or I can just hope that you all have enough kindness in your hearts to return on monday without one.

So that's all I have for you for now. Have a good weekend. Until next time.

1 month Anniversary

So today marks my 4th week in the Galapagos and I feel like I'm still settling in. I've kind of mixed feelings about the fact I only have 2 weeks left here.

Today has been, surprisingly for island life, relaxed. I went into the office mid morning to write my test for the kids. I decided to hit them with a translation, something I always dreaded, which sort of gave me even more encouragement to do it. It contained everything we have covered (and re-covered) over the past few weeks so I had fairly high expectations. After I had finished that I spent half an hour or so panicking about how I am going to fund my summer plans. Anyone seen a grand lying about anywhere that they could point me in the direction of? I then returned home to eat rice. Even the word now fills me with dread. I exaggerate slightly. I spent my lunch trying roughly work out in my head how many grains of rice a local here consumes in a year. After using my GCSE maths skills to full effect, I came to the conclusion that the answer is: A lot of rice.

I was actually quite pleased on the whole with the test. Don't get me wrong, there are a couple of stinkers in amongst the pile but it is always reassuring when you see someone who has got almost everything correct. I must be doing something right at least.  I was delighted to hear the news that on friday we have another day off for some reason or another. I think I will check out the beaches I haven't yet been to. I might do a bit of snorkelling. Who knows, I'm just that crazy. Then it is off to Isabela on saturday morning... at 5:30 AM. Last time I had to get up early to go to another Island I slept through my alarm and had to be woken up so I am seriously considering pulling an all nighter.

That's just about it for now. Until next time.

Monday. Back to School.

Realised today that on wednesday I will have been here a month and will only have two weeks remaining. It's crazy how quickly time flies by. I suppose it means I'm at least having fun.

I woke up this morning and had a swift breakfast. One of the things I have truly missed is a good coffee. I haven't had a single proper good one while I have been there and Nescafe instant coffee simply doesn't do it for me. Call me picky, I don't care. I went into the office to plan my lesson and to book my flights to Isabella Island. It comes out cheaper to go by boat, but after the last horrific journey I would rather swim than be thrown around like a rag doll for 2 hours. Plus the flight is only half an hour so I get the whole of saturday rather than only half if I were to travel by boat. The main attractions there are apparently a hike up a dormant volcano which I definitely want to do and a couple of great snorkelling spots, so I am already very excited.

Today in the lesson we went through the daily routine verbs, which they all understood. I gave them a couple of worksheets which I almost couldn't use because the photocopier at the stationery shop wasn't working. That's about as dramatic as island life gets here. My adrenaline levels rocketed believe you me. I need to give them a test on wednesday but as of yet I have no idea what it will contain. Part of me is slightly tempted to do it on stuff they haven't done like the subjunctive and watch them squirm for an hour. That would provide quality entertainment. In other, rice related news, my family are all fascinated by my use of their condiments on rice. So much so that they tried soy sauce. They were not convinced. Oh well, more for me I guess. Resumed my nightly run today and bumped into (not literally) a couple of my students who tried to run with me for a minute. They eventually fell back as I embodied the spirit of Mo Farah as I took off down the main street before developing a stitch. Rice is a cruel mistress when she wants to be. Off to sleep now I reckon, need to get up fairly early to head over to the airport to pay for my plane tickets to Isabella. Until next time.

Brief Update

I've had a very, very relaxed weekend.

On saturday I spent most of the day reading and pissing about on the computer. Nothing was happening and so I took the opportunity to just rest. Got a 100 pages of crime and punishment under my belt and I now only have 30 pages left to read. I will polish that off as soon as I've finished writing this. Then in the evening all the volunteers got together for a barbeque at the director of the volunteer scheme's house. I ate so much. After we had recovered from over consumption we went on to a couple of bars and had a good evening. This morning I woke up at 8:30 so I could follow the last day of the premier league. I don't think I've ever come so close to a heart attack before in my life. However we got the result we needed which meant that I could enjoy the rest of the day. If we had lost I would have spent the day weeping into my pillow and then at lunch time, into my mound of rice.

Apologies but I haven't got all that much to tell for now. We are planning a trip to Isabella island next weekend. Apparently it is 'proper Galapagos' and so I'm very excited for that. Right now I'm trying to think about what to teach the kids tomorrow. Maybe the verbs for the daily routine. What do you think? Whatever I choose their minds will be blown. I am slightly embarrassed at the brevity of this post but I really have nothing more to inform you about for now. Think of it as more of an update to let you know that I'm still alive. Until next time.

Camping on Puerto Chino Beach

So I'm back from camping, just about in one piece.

We arrived on the beach around 7 pm just as it got dark and the Galapagos Insects came out in force. Luckily the other volunteers had been there for a few hours and had kindly put our tent up for us. I therefore immediately got stuck into my dinner of tinned tuna and sweetcorn, which really was fine dining at its highest. Jamie Oliver take notes. Once full we all went and chilled out on the beach. The sand was almost as white as the beach in Santa Cruz but what made it unique was that we had the beach all to ourselves. Unfortunately there was a blanket of clouds in the sky and so we weren't able to pretend that we knew all the names of the constellations. We chatted for a while as hermit crabs crawled past us trying to find a home for the night. At around 11:30 we called it quits and went to bed.

I was awoken at 5:30 AM by a couple of the other volunteers doing conservation work who had to do a spot of bird watching. Normally anyone who wakes me at 5:30 would never get away with it, but I thought I would take advantage of the fact we had a beach all to ourselves and went for a swim. A couple of sea turtles were lounging around in the shallows and I occasionally caught a glimpse of a sea lion which I mistook to begin with for a shark. I may or may not have swam back to shore very quickly. After a breakfast of more tuna and some crackers, We played some beach football, which I unsurprisingly dominated due to my sporting prowess. After having worked up a sweat we all decided to go for another swim. I took off my shirt and ran into water. It was all going so well and looking like a member of Bay Watch I strode triumphantly in the water. Until I tripped over a rock. I received possibly the most devastating dead leg man has ever known and I am still feeling the effects of it now 10 hours on. But such is life.

At 1 pm we took a cab back into town at which point I remembered I had a lesson to teach in 3 hours time. I thus rapidly planned the most casual, chilled out lesson, consisting of a word search followed by hangman. They've all decided that since I wear glasses, I must naturally be Harry Potter. Therefore all the hangman words were either 'Harry Potter', 'Hermione' or 'Hogwarts'. Hilarious. Seeing as it's friday I let them all go early. Might surprise them all with a test on monday as revenge. I will ponder over it.

I think it's time for a rice update. My consumption of the dreaded carbohydrate has not ceased. The other day I was told I was having pasta for lunch and I was ecstatic. Pasta?! Could it be? I smelt the sweet smell of a tomato sauce and I salivated as my plate was brought over to me. I could hardly believe it when I was presented with a plate of tomato pasta. With a side portion or rice. However I have come up with a rather cunning plan of how to deal with the rice now. I have taken advantage of all the condiments in the house. I'm talking soy sauce, chilli sauce and even tomato ketchup. The family must think I am losing it but whatever it takes, I will try it. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

That is about it for now. Tomorrow all the volunteers are getting together for a barbeque which should be very nice. Right now I am in the mood for a very chilled beer. Until next time.

Half way through

So since I last blogged nothing ground breaking has happened. I did, as expected, return to my carbohydrate heavy diet but I have taken up running after dinner to appease my guilty conscience. In the class on monday the kids were thrilled to hear the news that they would have a test the next day and that it would be longer than the previous one. I spent most of monday evening preparing the test which I actually did make difficult to see how they coped. The results of the test were extremely polarised. While a few of the kids scored around 30/35 and consequently got a smiley face of approval, others did abysmally. I'm talking 3.5/35. Yes. That bad. There is a common pattern where they all seem to trip up on and so I will go over that in the class this afternoon. After that I am going to drum into them the names of jobs in english and get them to ask each other what they want to do. The more time they work as a group the less time I have to spend talking at them which after a while clearly bores them.

The evenings in San Cristobal are a lot more chilled out now, for the volunteers anyway, as a lot of people have returned home in the last week or two and so there's less of an impetus to go out, which is doing my financial situation a world of good. I'm also getting stuck into crime and punishment, hopefully going to finish it by the end of the week if all goes to plan. I shall give you a minute by minute update on how that goes. Yesterday I found out that tomorrow night (thursday night), we are going to camp on the nicest beach in San Cristobal which normally is prohibited but since we are volunteers, we get special access. So after tomorrow night you can all call me Jack Sparrow depending on whether I can get my hands on some rum.

I have now hit the half way point in my trip and time is flying by. Before I know it I will be sitting in Guayaquil airport again for another stupid amount of time wondering where all the time went. Until next time.

Trip to Santa Cruz

Weekend in Santa Cruz

Do not fear. I am Back. 

I had a really good weekend on Santa Cruz although I almost missed my boat on saturday morning because I overslept and was woken up 5 minutes before we were supposed to be at the pier. That added  a bit too much drama to proceedings at 6:30 AM. The boat trip was 2 hours ish and when we arrived we headed in search of, first breakfast, and then a hostel to stay in. We ended up finding a really nice hostel for 15 dollars a night which worked out perfectly. After lunch we set off for supposedly the most beautiful beach in the whole of the Galapagos Islands, Tortuga Bay. It did not fail to live up to it's reputation. The sand was the whitest I had ever seen, the water was crystal clear and the beach stretched for 600 metres. Half of the beach is for surfers but there is a great place a little way down the beach to snorkel with schools of fish, turtles and baby sharks. We stayed there for around 2 hours before we were asked to leave by the conservation workers just before the sunset. 

The next morning we got up early to visit the local tortoise reserve where until last June, Lonesome George lived, the most famous tortoise in the Galapagos. It was a sunday morning and so while the information centre was closed we still were able to walk around the reserve. We could only spend an hour or so there because we had to be back for 12 for lunch as at 1:45 we had booked a glass bottom boat trip. It was on the whole, a big disappointment. At the guide office, the woman told us we would drive through something called 'the shark channel' where hundred of white tip sharks chilled during the day and so we happily paid $35 dollars as she told us the glass bottom would allow us to see everything very clearly. However the guide only lifted the cover off the glass bottom once for 5 minutes in an area with nothing to see. When we got to the shark channel we had to get out and walk to a viewing point where we saw absolutely nothing. If I'd had a more comprehensive command of the Spanish Language I would have told him to take his glass bottom boat and shove it where the sun don't shine. The one redeeming feature of the trip was to 'Las Grietas', an emerald coloured water channel surrounded by rugged volcanic cliffs with platforms to jump into the water. We spent around 30 minutes there swimming and it really was beautiful. We then sadly had to return. I would definitely not recommend this trip to anyone, ever. In fact I would strongly suggest them not to go and then to tell everyone else not to go. Total rip off. 

I returned back home to Puerto Baquerizo Moreno this morning, on perhaps the worst boat journey in my life. The water was extremely choppy and so we were all thrown around the boat like rag dolls. Though we did see Dolphins fully jump out of the water which cushioned the blow. You will all be amazed to hear that I have not touched a grain of rice in almost 48 hours and I am not suffering from any sorts of withdrawal symptoms. I fear however this lunch time it will be back to the same routine. I am now back in the school office about to prepare for my lesson this afternoon and I'm already starting to feel nervous about Arsenal's crucial home game tomorrow night. Alfie, I will be there in spirit with you bro.  Until next time. 

Normal day in San Cristobal

I was going to blog last night but then I forgot and went out to play pool instead. I don't mean to neglect you, I apologise. Nothing groundbreaking happened yesterday so you didn't miss much. I leisurely got up, ate breakfast and went into town. I'm slowly getting into Crime and Punishment but it is tough. On many an occasion I've got to the end of a page and realised I had been thinking about the politest way to say 'I don't want see another grain of rice as long as I live' to my host family, and I've had to re-read the page. I planned the lesson and then returned home for lunch.

The lesson in the afternoon went well again. I've realised recently that while they are able to write english to a fairly high standard, their pronunciation leaves a lot to be desired. Therefore I am going to make them speak as much as possible and hopefully we will be able to get somewhere. I'm being filmed today during my lesson so I am slightly panicking about what to teach them. I might bribe them all to behave and act like they understand to make me look better. Is that morally wrong? I will let you all know how it goes in the next post.

Last night I went to the bar with a couple of the new volunteers to play some pool. I mentioned in a blog post earlier on in the week that I was trying to go the week without spending any money and I have succeeded, you will all be ecstatic to know. So I can now spend money again without feeling guilty which is a lovely feeling.

As I said, nothing groundbreaking to report and therefore, that is all I have for you today. Do not fear though as  there will be much more to report after my trip to Santa Cruz. I won't be taking my computer with me and so there won't be another blog post until monday. Until next time.

Wednesday morning cock up

Slightly embarassing start to today people. Yesterday there was a notice put up telling people to meet at 7:30 AM to go help out at la Galapaguera (the tortoise reserve) and specifically said to wear long trousers long shirts. So as asked, I was sat outside the school office all ready to go at 7:25. However I was soon told that I had failed to read the heading above which read, 'Conservation Volunteers' and thus did not include me. After having let out a whole heap of Spanish profanities I've recently learnt, I returned home very hot due to the excessive clothing I had adorned in a tropical climate. However I decided that I would not put my early wake up to waste and I therefore went for a (short) run around the town. It did not matter that it was short, because I must have lost about 2 stone simply in sweat. Afterwards I planned out my lesson for today and then had a delightful skype chat with the family back home, where they informed me that I have been (involuntarily) replaced by a family of mice. While I was in New York I ended the lives of 5 mice who entered my apartment and my name has travelled far and wide amongst the mice community as a serial killer. For their sakes I hope they are gone by the time I return. Anyway, I digress. 

The lesson today was far better than yesterday. It's amazing what moving one person out of the class can do. They are all starting to listen more attentively in class. By the end of my stay here I will have them calling me 'our glorious leader'. I had them write a little bio of themselves including sentences using the past and future tense and then had them read out what they had written. I think the fact they have to read out what they have written makes them more eager to write it in good english with more complex sentences. In other news I have booked my boat tickets to Santa Cruz island this week. There is apparently the most beautiful beach in the Galapagos Islands there so I will certainly take a few pictures and show y'all when I get back. 

That's all I got for you today folks. It's been a pleasure. Until next time. 

Victory at the Bank

So it actually turned out that my experience at the bank was a little less monotonous than I anticipated. There wasn’t a robbery or anything because that would mean a crime would have to be committed in San Cristobal and that doesn’t seem ever to happen. Unless it’s like that town in the film Hot Fuzz in which case I should keep an eye out. Anyway so I went to the bank this morning early in attempt to escape the queue but clearly everyone else had the same idea and so there was a pretty long wait. After about 5 minutes I noticed someone pushed in the queue (something of a taboo in England) about 2 people in front of me and started speaking to someone who had already been in there which somehow made it okay for everyone else. Shortly after the same thing happened but right in front of me and the ‘pusher-in’ gave the person in front of me a hug and they started chatting, and again, no one pulled them up on it. I thought to say something but I didn’t want to make a scene. However I could not restrain myself when literally 2 minutes later some local did the exact same thing to the person in front of me. He turned to me and gave me this smug grin and so, very politely, I said in Spanish, ‘sorry but I was here first’. To my disbelief he proceeded to say that in fact he had been here first and that he’d just popped out for something. Now I may not have been born with special powers like immortality or the ability to fly, but I was fortunately blessed with a short-term memory. I thus stealthily employed that to quickly deduce that this bloke was, in fact, a lying tosser. I therefore, slightly less politely, repeated myself and he realised that I wasn’t the foolish tourist he mistook me to be. He then said okay and went to the back of the queue. Victory! To top it all off I got the nod of approval from the security with a gun strapped to his side, which is always a bonus.

Apart from that my day was pretty comparatively banal. Teaching was hard as my class weren’t in the mood to work. I’ve identified a couple of trouble makers and so I’m working out what to do with them at the minute. I might move a couple of them into different classes. We will see how they are in the next class but my patience is certainly wearing thin. In other news I’ve started to plan a trip to visit one of the other islands this weekend with a few of the volunteers.  The two main trips are Isabella and Santa Cruz and so I think we are going to split that up over 2 different weekends so we can see everything. I realised I spent too much last week so I’m going to try and spend nothing this week. I will keep you updated on how that pans out. Until next time. 

sunsets and wildlife

Weekend update

I realise I haven’t blogged for Saturday, for which I am sincerely sorry. I’ve had a very nice, relaxed weekend. The coverage of premier league football is superb so I spent the morning watching arsenal scrape over the line with a 1-0 victory over QPR. After a few of us went to a beach 10 minutes out of the town called 'La Loberia'. The shallow waters are very rocky which makes it a great place for snorkelling. I went out for a look and the visibility was incredible. I saw hundreds of fish and 3 or 4 huge sea turtles floating about relaxing to the max. Back on the beach a smaller turtle landed on the beach to get his tan on and we also spotted a metre long marine iguana catching some rays on a rock. It’s incredible how relaxed all the wildlife is around humans. It’s almost as though they’re equals. Except they’re not. obviously. We then moved on to a different beach after where we chilled and watched the sunset, which was quite something. One could even go as far to call it picturesque.

In the evening we went out for a few drinks as it was the final night of a couple of a volunteers. I consequently discovered the Galapagos equivalent of the end of night kebab. Outside a bar they had practically half a chicken on skewers being grilled. But not like a chicken shish, literally half a chicken including the legs and wings, bones and all. I could hardly restrain myself but somehow I did. There’s always next time. I’ve actually found a gym in the town so I can actually work off the kilo of rice I eat each meal. Today (Sunday) has been a very lazy and unproductive day, as every Sunday should be. I thought a bit about what I should teach the kids tomorrow and concluded another lesson spent on the future tense was necessary, as they’re not quite getting it. Like yesterday I went to the beach for the sunset and then headed into town for some dinner with the Aussies who are off tomorrow morning. And so now I am now in my room writing this and thinking it’s time for an early night. Up early tomorrow morning to get some tedious errands done, like going to the bank etc. so I will be sure to tell you all about how my cash withdrawal goes. Until next time amigos. 

Cloudy day in San Cristobal

It's been a cloudy day in San Cristobal today, which made me feel right at home. I woke up around 10 and went off to say goodbye to one of the teaching volunteers, which was really sad. I returned home at around 12ish for lunch and discovered I just wasn't hungry at all. I told the lady I wasn't that hungry and asked if I could just have a small plate, but either something got lost in translation or a small plate means 'huge', for I was still produced with a mountain of rice, yet again. In percentages the each meal is around 70% rice, 20% meat or fish and 10 % salad. I hate leaving food on a plate, especially here where it's probably seen as sacrilege if you don't have at least 2 plates of food per meal. I thus soldiered through 'man vs food' style until I had finished and then went and had a power nap to recover.

At around 2 pm I walked into town to prep for class, which I have just finished doing. I'm going to hit them with the future tense and see  how they handle it. It's piss easy so I will be concerned for their mental ability if they fail to grasp it. Then depending on the time left might play a few games of hangman, seeing as its friday and that. They're also going to love me because having told them to get ready for a test on monday there now isn't going to be one. However I spent time last night working out  who to move up as we are creating an extra class for slightly more advanced students. Not sure how they'll feel moving up but they're going to have to deal with it. So it is now in the school office where I am writing to you lovely people. I'm looking forward to my passion fruit smoothie which is waiting for me at 6 pm when I finish teaching for the day. Might head to Bar Quero later for a couple of games of pool. Who knows. I am just that nutty.

That's all I have for now folks. Until next time.

Labour Day in the Galapagos

Sorry for the slightly later post, but I have just been far too busy relaxing in the sun.  I jest, but essentially that’s what I’ve been doing the whole time when not teaching or preparing for class.  I actually felt quite ill last night but it only lasted a few hours and when I woke up this morning I was completely fine. I’m almost certain it was caused by the drastic change in time, temperature and diet. Don’t underestimate what a large amount of rice every meal will do to you.

Yesterday’s class went surprisingly well. Having marked all the tests, they were all painfully dreadful at forming negative sentences in the past tense so I spent a full hour enlightening them on the correct verb tense etc. By the end of the class they all understood it really well, which is a relief. I think I’m going to teach them the time tomorrow and depending on what their reaction is to that, numbers as well. Today we had no classes today as it’s labour day here and so I capitalised on that joyful piece of news by watching Barcelona get humiliated and then went to the beach in the afternoon (or ‘arvo’, as a couple of Australians I’ve met call the afternoon). I’m now back at the house just relaxing before I go out this evening for a couple of drinks with everyone. There’s a Canadian volunteer arriving tomorrow who’s staying in the same house at me who will prove a welcome addition to the dinner table for me. There’s no doubt my Spanish is getting better by the day but there are some points when the family speak so quickly that I give up trying to understand and stare blankly into space.

I’m trying to coordinate a trip in a couple of weekends’ time to see the other islands around the Galapagos. I don’t want to do it all in one trip so will probably space it over two weekends or so. Right then I’m going to get back to my book. I’m almost finished Frankenstein and going to have a stab at Crime and Punishment. I will most likely get 5 pages in and give up, but we can only live in hope. Until next time.