“This is beautiful this is!” About strange Brummie Lingo, another 25th and Identities

Hiya my lads and lasses,

park next to my house

Things are going well, I have settled in and I start having a bit more of a social life ;). School is good too. Tonight we are going for Christmas dinner with my department, which should be good and then there is only one more week to go and I’ll fly home – can’t believe it how fast time is flying by. But it’s a good sign, that’s for sure.

The other day I visited another school – my second school experience, as I’ll not be teaching at my school in January. It will be weird, because it feels so normal to go there every day. Even so the second school looks really good, it is a grammar school, thus completely different to what I am used to now. I start getting a bit more the hang of things and I have the feeling that I am starting to be a proper “teacher”, though I still make lots of mistakes and have not quite found the balance between being very strict and still fun and nice to motivate the learners – well I wouldn’t want to get a reputation as an old bag would I, though who knows maybe that doesn’t matter…

But enough teacher talk, I am constantly talking about this. Let’s talk a bit about Brum. It is good, I start liking it more and more. I reckon that’s the natural thing isn’t it?! I remember when I went to Valencia my expectations were not terribly high, as I thought I’d rather go to Barcelona. And in the end it turned out to be one of the best years so far…gosh I still miss it – such a wicked city, would go back there within a second, if only Spain would not be in such a horrible state. But then again, it is mainly the people who make a city…many of my friends have left, which is a shame, as going back to Valencia would be suddenly weird… But anyways I am rambling, what I wanted to say is that when you don’t have high expectations you can only be surprised positively – this is the case with so many things, I’d say. Thus, as some of you might know I was rather negative about Birmingham in the beginning, but I was not too bothered, because I thought that this year will be about work and that is it… however, it has turned out that Birmingham has much more to offer than one might think at first. It is quite easy not to look behind a façade and judge something or somebody by the outside, or by things that other people have said. It is so important to experience things yourself, to make mistakes, to try out things, to takes risks and to find out for yourself whether you like something or not. Sometimes we are just too scared to try out new things, and we fall into a routine of doing the same thing over and over again, or we constantly listen to what other people say, instead of seeing for ourselves. I am even starting to like certain parts of the city … so to put a long thing short – I have settled in ;)

One example of me settling in is the fact that I’ve the feeling I am picking up some Brummie lingo – if that is good or not … well I am not so sure. I notice it sometimes in my intonation, because Birminghamians ;) sound a bit…mmmh how should I put it, maybe as if they were falling asleep while they were talking, no offence, but the intonation is quite funny, somehow very flat, but then again in the end it sometimes rises a bit…Apart from that I’ve also noticed another thing, so many people say things like “this is beautiful this is”, “this is interesting this is”. What is all that about – wrong grammar, weird sentences!? Well I don’t know. Fact is that unfortunately I am saying it more and more often. I think it is cool to pick up colloquialisms, but I am not so sure if I really want to pick up things that are wrong…mmmh how arrogant of me, me thinks ;)

Archeries Re-united

hubby and sugar muffin ;)

A couple of weeks ago I went up to leads to celebrate Chris’s birthday, Shannon’s return and Olly’s last weekend. It was great to catch up with all the people there – it still fills like home. Though, things are also changing up in Yorkshire, people are leaving, new people are moving in – cycle of life… Anyways, Leeds was great fun! Shannon, sugar muffin, visited me before in Bham – it was great to catch up with her. How I missed those girly talks, we haven’t seen each other in ages. It did not feel that way, though, but I guess all those social media sites, etc. are an advantages, it makes it easier to keep in touch, doesn’t it? It makes you believe that you are still part of somebody’s life, because you have the feeling you know what is going on, even though it is on a very superficial and selected scale, as we choose what to put on their, and thus essential how we want others to see us.

going out with Dan, Chris and Cyrielle

Anyways, it was my birthday the other weekend, which was great. Chris came down and we had a lovely time, going out, eating yummy Sunday roast and having cake – couldn’t be better. It was a blast and I got lovely pressies. I can be glad to have so many good friends!

lovely bday flowers

As you can all see things are going well, I am going home soon which should be good. It will be interesting to see how things are there, how things have changed and also how I have changed. Because every experience that we have changes us doesn’t it? I was talking about “identity” with my Colombian student today…who would have thought, well it is my all-time favourite topic, that’s a given. It is such an amazing thing who we are, and how we change, and how other people and places influence and shape us…Being here in Birmingham, picking up certain expressions and modes of talking are only minor signs…I  meet people from different walks of life, I am able to see things from different perspectives…so the verdict is again – going abroad is great as it can offer you so much…but also coming home is good, and I am looking forward to seeing many of you guys soon! Well I am off for some dinner now, I am starving!

Challoner MFL department's Xmas due

ta-ra

Ta Luv