It's January...

... and I have a serious case of the blahs. The snow has stopped, it's a little warmer (outside at least, but I'll get to that in a minute) but the rain and the general apathy is just really putting a damper on my post Christmas and NYE high.

In the last week I've had to fight an epic battle with my stupid electricity company, EDF, that I lost. Had a few great classes and a handful of boring ones and, somehow along the way, lost my faith in trusting people. Oh, and I acquired a tutoring job at a whopping €15 an hour (for one hour a week)! (except this week I got paid €13 plus a Turkish coin which looks exactly like a €2 coin - the good news: it's my first piece of Turkish money!)

The heating saga: I was promised a flat rate of €50 a month, effective immediately. I was told that in January they would take €150 out of my account to pay for November, December and January. So you can imagine the surprise I felt when I discovered a €225 bill for just November and December! I immediately headed down to EDF's office thinking that there had been a mistake only to discover that there wasn't any mistake and that I had been blatently lied to - the lady who set up my account said one thing, wrote another and hid it in the pack of papers I was given. On top of that I got a really lovely lecture from the jerk at the desk who told me that I should wear a sweater at home. Then he proceeded to tell me that the only way to fix this problem was to move and that it's foolish to move somewhere without examining the electricity bill first (because when you have to move in a hurry, the first thing you think about is electricity and not, you know, having a roof over you head ...). So then, after some research (thanks Dad!) and some great advice (thanks again Dad!) I was all set to go back and fight my battle. Except I had to work. So I sent Seamus instead (apparently they really don't care who you are, as long as you are going to pay the bill) and he worked it out - I still have to pay the bill and there's nothing that can be done to change anything, but at least now I know that my bill is consistent with the past tenants and that there wasn't a mistake - except for the part where they lied to me. So now I live in a pretty cold apartment - with heating only when needed i.e. if I'm standing next to a heater and feeling a bit cold. So it's pretty cold in the mornings - and pretty much whenever I'm not under the very warm covers my parents bought for me.

On top of this, I have to battle with the stupid housing aid agency - who are bastards, but that story is for another day. To make things more exciting, I was just informed that at the moment my legal status is a bit in limbo because my visa hasn't been validated yet. Which is not my fault and not really true, either. I am here legally, but my visa hasn't been validated yet - but it will be in a 8 days. This of course is all because of the fact that the OFII office is 6 weeks backlogged and only now is finally get around to validating my visa (1 month, 5 days after the deadline). But this of course means that until this thing is validated, I don't have the rights to housing help. Brilliant.

And now for some good news: I had the most hillarious class ever yesterday and I'm going to Ireland and Poland for the next vacation! So excited!

About my class, for those who are interested:
The class I have yesterday mornings has pretty good English, which means that I get to do a lot of fun things with them. Yesterday, I borrowed Caitlin's idea and created a speed dating exercise! I wrote out 14 bizarre personalities or famous characters (like Miss America, Captain Jack Sparrow, someone afraid of chairs, a window salesman a matador, etc) and made them not only speed date, but also try to guess the personality. It was the funniest thing ever. I had to speed date too because there was an odd number. I haven't laughed this hard in a long time - I was actually crying, multiple times, at how funny everything was. My most enthusiastic student got the card of Miss America (he's a guy). He got so into it, that he stuffed his shirt with a jacket and everytime he had to change chairs, he really strutted and did the Miss America wave! And he kept telling everyone that all he wanted was world peace and that they "definitely aren't good enough for me". He even had a whole bit about how real his boobs were and how they were so great that he couldn't see his feet. The other standout student got the Captain Jack Sparrow card - and she was great at it! At the end, I asked if anyone had found true love - and she goes (in a very manly voice), "I did!" So I said, "who?" and she replies, "Well, I only have 1 true love, and that's the sea - no human could ever be enough for me!" I laughed so hard that I kept on crying. I had to go home at lunch and fix my mascara.

So that's all from here for now - I'm having a little party this weekend and really looking forward to Ireland and Poland. Currently working for the weekend - but it'll get better soon.

p.s. the post about Christmas is coming, I promise!

My students are adorable

So, it's been a while... but I have been so busy recently. My parents came for the Christmas vacation - and the trip was absolutely amazing! I plan to write a lot more about it, but there are so many great pictures that they have to be included - so that'll be for another day.

What I want to tell you today is about how much I adore my students. Monday was back to work, which meant a new schedule and some new classes. I have 4 brand new groups and 13 classes total (but I only see 12 per week). I had two of the new groups yesterday and they were great, very shy, but very nice and enthusiastic (which is all you can ever ask for).

Today I had four classes and I worked with all of them last semester. I adore all of these groups. Tuesday is my longest day, but by far my favorite, I have other groups that I adore (to be honest, I really only have one class that I don't like) but Tuesdays always go well.

So today, during my first class a student comes up to me and hands me a note - she is just the sweetest (when I first got here she gave me a great tour of the city) and the note just made me grin from ear to ear. I won't share it out of respect for her, but needless to say, it just made my day.

After that I had another class and the lesson went great, I finished 2 minutes early, and since it was right before lunch I told them they could go early. Usually when this happens students go running for the door (2 minutes of freedom is a lot when you only get 5 to change classes) and instead they all begged to stay with me! Talk about amazing! Then they told me that they are all working together to give me a late Christmas gift and asked what kind of chocolate I like most. So amazing. I just love these kids.

Then, for my third class of the day, I had a volunteer student! Before class a student comes up and asks if he can sit in on the class. I say of course (enthusiasm? sign me up!) and he participates all the way through, gets other kids talking - it was great! After class he asks if he can come every B week because he really loves learning english. My answer? "Absolutely!" So sweet!

I've got one more group to go, and they always make me smile. Let's hope this stays as the best Tuesday ever. I just love these kids and I feel very lucky to have such great students!