This Time Of The Year

I'm a big fan of spring and what has amazed me this year (I hope I don't jinx this) is how quickly temperatures have risen and how rapidly the days have become longer. By longer I mean brighter. It's a really quick change and daylight savings hasn't even kicked in yet.

What do I love about this time of the year? For me there is a sense of renewed optimism, and yes I am very influenced by the weather and by the light. The evenings have possibilities which winter hides away. There is the chance to bike after work, go for a walk and see what's around - basically the evenings have more life in them. I don't feel like I have to get home as quickly as possible and wrap myself up in blankets, secure in the knowledge that I'm protected from the harsh winter.

Life begins again, buds appear on trees and everything doesn't seem quite so grey anymore. The trees may have always been there but without leaves, they have been camouflaged, matching the grey buildings around.

Festivals begin. People want to be outdoors more often in the city instead of escaping to the mountains to ski or remaining indoors at every opportunity.

I can wear less clothing and feel more freedom. I can stretch my arms and not be bound my all the layers of items I am wearing to trap out the cold. My skin can breathe at last.

The biggest thing is the way the whole atmosphere in a city changes. People more visibly smile and seem to have more time for each other. We can see them drinking coffee, beer or whatever on the streets. We can join them or simple sit alone, read a book or people watch.

So this time of the year is a good one for me. I only hope I'm not writing this too soon.

Brown Bread

Above you can see my first solo attempt to bake bread. It was a very proud moment for me to slowly take the bread tray out of the oven and inhale the wonderful aroma signifying the completion of my efforts. Baking bread has been something that I have felt I should do for such a long time and I don't know what has stopped me from doing so.

What surprised me was how long it took to prepare but the satisfaction of slicing it and eating it for breakfast (it wasn't savoured unfortunately as I slept in and was nearly late for work) the following day was worth it. In the recipe, it said 20 minutes preparation time, and this was true but I missed the information giving the whole time needed. It was so long that my private lessons had to be interrupted slightly while I moved onto the next stage of the process much to the interest of my private students.

Why was it such a proud moment? Well, for me bread is a staple part of my diet. It is literally the foundation for so many of the things I eat - mainly toast and sandwiches and the different combinations that I put on top of them

So as for the preparation; getting the ingredients was pretty easy, kneading the bread for about 10 minutes was not so smooth on the wrists or on my patience especially given the limited space in my kitchen. As a whole the major requirement was patience, patience to do it correctly and to regularly check the recipe I found online. It is not a great virtue of mine but given the fact that I didn't literally have to wait and watch it slowly rise, it was not a problem.

So now that I have broken my baking bread virginity, I have promised myself not to go back to buying cheap, poor quality bread in the shop. That would be far too easy. This will involve a lot of planning in advance but if forced to have the option of bread or no bread, I know which one I will choose.

For those who are interested - Brown Bread Recipe

Time to Settle Down or Not?

I chanced upon a blog entry today in which the writer received an email from a friend advising him to 

'come on home and get back to an ordinary life, because you don’t want to be out there when you’re old'.

It really got me thinking once more about what it means to 'settle down' and what does it mean to not do so.

I like to think that we have more opportunities nowadays to do more than we had in the past. Age limitations have less of an impact on us and I'm often really inspired by those who go back to university at a later age. When taking part in organised runs in Krakow, what amazes me is the fitness of some contestants who are at least twice my age but still manage to finish way ahead of me. Retired people who travel and are not afraid to rough it also alleviate my fears that old age simply involves waiting around to die.

Back to my main point, what does it mean to 'settle down'. The writer of the blog says that he has chosen an 'extraordinary' life ahead of an 'ordinary' one and this is why he continues to travel and not root himself to one place. I don't feel I can't totally agree that this is an 'extraordinary' life. It certainly is interesting and he is privileged to able to do this. Being in the one place your whole life can also be 'extraordinary'. There are many benefits to this. Stability is one, the chance to build and continuity are others. 

I think we generally have more options and are more fluid because of this. We have more information and more of us don't know where we will be next week never mind next year.
Is there an age when we should settle down and have a family or is there more than one time in which we can do this? I am of the opinion that it is all relative to who you are, who you meet and what you want. I certainly don't want to feel limited by my age in any way and try to maintain an optimistic outlook on where I am currently am and recently have been really trying to look at future changes as new challenges to better myself and not as the means to run from problems. 

This post has been written in Oxford where I am working for a summer school. It has been heavily influenced by meeting people from all over the world. It hasn't been edited or even reread but if you are interested in reading the post that inspired it, click on the link below. 

The Professional Hobo Blog Link

Summer Lessons

If, like me, you have to leave to teach abroad in another country during the summer, how do you feel about it? By 'abroad' I mean, in another country than the one where you have worked during the school year or the one that you have made your home in some ways or in the true sense of the word.

For me teaching gives you the freedom to work and live in another country and the time to keep your interests alive. Do I complain about my job? I won't answer that but the fact is that I do appreciate having time off when others are working and being able to do things like going to the post office when it is necessary or going running or on bike rides when others are only halfway through a working day.

One thing I must moan about when it comes to my job is the fact that when the summer comes I have three options:

• If I have been disciplined enough I can live off the savings I've accumulated and bask in the summer without worrying about how to pay the bills. Perhaps I can even take off for a bit and backpack to other places.
• I can get some work and cut down on costs to somehow survive until October.
• I can leave and do a summer course abroad.

The latter is the option I chose for this year and last year. Maybe 'chose' is not the right word. Circumstances dictated it. Being on a summer camp is not easy at times. It involves making a lot of personal sacrifices when it comes to personal freedom. On the other hand, there are benefits to it. I get to see new places, meet new people, get fed, get a bed etc. I also get to earn abroad so when I return to Poland my pounds can get me a lot more złoty. Still, it means putting things on hold such as music, hobbies in some ways and I guess life in general. Is this a good or a bad thing? I suppose it is neither entirely one or the other. It simply is as it is.

One thing I will earn from this is experience, appreciation for what I have when I return and or course a well-earned break when I plan to do very little.

Native Confusion

The term 'Native Speaker' is one that has worked in my favour since my arrival into Poland approximately four years ago. At first I thought it sounded like the name of a someone in a cult or something else quite suspicious and being addressed by this title was often the source of amusement and discomfort, I was never able to decide what feelings it produced.
On the one hand, it meant being able to teach English with a qualification given to me courtesy of my upbringing but on the other hand, it often led to school management expecting me to be the ideal candidate to work with students on their speaking skills. This is often more difficult than teacher grammar, a area which I have grown to enjoy teaching and it is a bit insulting as it is not really teaching in my opinion but practicing speaking. For me a teacher should be able to practice all the skills and not just specialise in one.
Having been here for some time and having come to grips with the Polish language relatively well, it is now hard to be a 'Native Speaker' who is expected not to use or understand for that matter any Polish in the classroom. I should not translate or react to Polish even if there are sly comments aimed at me by students who think they have the upper hand with which to impress the others in the class.
It is a pickle and I had a big test yesterday with a new group of teenagers. I pretended to be a 'Native Speaker' in the true sense of the word but at times I really wanted to shout out that 'I can help you!', 'I understand!' - but I could not. Thankfully, there were no insults hurled at me to defend myself against and to betray my progression from being a 'Native Speaker' to being whatever it is I now am.