October 16th, 9pm.

October 16th, 9pm.

People keep asking me if I'm homesick already, and I feel bad telling them I'm not yet. While I do miss and adore my family, and almost got teary eyed the other day when I saw a couple of pictures of my dad, I don't feel like I need to go back just yet. It might sound silly but I miss my dog the most, but see while she's crazy and can't stay still for 5 min, she's the perfect company for me, one person told me before I got her that you never feel alone when you have a Chihuahua dog and Chikis has proven that right for me, she always seemed eager to see me or to play but when I said goodbye to her she didnt even care, she might have been angry at me for leaving her or she probably didn't understand anyway. It pains me so to be so far away from her.

I moved into my own place a week ago, and it still doesn't feel like a week, it might take some time for me to get used to the house and everything. The first night I felt nervous because I was on my own, this time if I heard any noises I could not blame the teacher I was living with (she's pregnant and sometimes has trouble sleeping or has to go to the bathroom a lot XD) but it was okay.

A couple of days later one of my housemates moved in and yesterday the other one did as well. I think they're nice, we still need to figure out things like bills & the internet and TV license but we might do alright.

Last weekend I went to Leeds with another mexican assistant, I know it's bad I'm hanging out with spanish speaking people but we couldn't help but bond, she is older and has this adventurous side that I really like, especially since I'm totally not so she's pushing me to go to places and see things which I think is all around good but bad for my pockets.

Anyway, there isn't much to do in Leeds, we took a sightseeing tour on a double decker bus, and we went to the armour museum, when I told this to people at my school, they thought it wasn't very entertaining, but I assured them that the museum alone was worth the trip for me, we don't have those kind of things back at home so seeing something so different and full of history gets my attention.

The week was uneventful, I have 12 hours of classes from Monday to Thursday, if I get some time with the younger kids I only help them with the questions for their exams, mostly about their pronuntiation but I only see them from 5 to 10 min, if they're getting new information in class I don't see them at all. I have more time with the older ones but the ones from Y13 are excellent! I feel like I can't teach them anything new but I tried some games and showed them some pictures from my city so it's been alright so far.

Oh and there's something odd in the schools here, I have to fill a form and all my data has to be checked in order for me to be alone in a classroom with them, so the French assistant and I have been sharing the MFL office this two weeks and it's a little uncomfortable, while we're fine and won't mind that much, the students get distracted and sometimes respond to me in French and talk to her in Spanish so it gets a little confusing but I think it's a little funny.

The French assistant is lovely, this is her second year as an assistant so she has taught me quite a lot about the program and buses and even came with me to help me with my bank account, she showed me around the city center when I first arrived and I had lunch with her and her boyfriend in a well-known pub.

Yesterday I had the day off and did nothing but sleep and read all day, and today I went with my friend to have fish & chips (finally!) but they weren't THAT good, and we went to Sheffield Uni, I LOVED that place, it just looks so beautiful I could not help but wish that it was my university as well, they were giving this salsa lessons and as the other assistant knows how to dance very well, she joined the group, they asked me to dance as well, seeing as I'm latina they probably thought I could, but I politely declined since I have two left feet and have never been that into salsa anyway. But it was fun seeing British and Indian and even Asian people dance such a 'passionate' dance.

There are so many things I want to see and do while I'm here, but alas, I have the time but not the money yet, my friend desperatly wants to go to Edimburgh, and while I would adore going I don't think I have the time and I'm not sure when my first check will arrive, so I'll just list all we want to do

1) Go to Edimburgh and see the castles. While the perfect time would be the week after this one, I don't think I could make it with the money, there is a tour offered for November at the sheffield uni's student union but we aren't sure if we could go not being students and all, besides November might be quite cold to go further north anyway.

2) the chatsworth house, while my main reason to go is still Pride and Prejudice* I want to take my time to see it. Again the student union does a tour but around Christmas (december 12th to be exact) but again we must ask if we can join.

3) the theatre - there are a couple of christmas plays (the stick man and the 12 days of christmas)playing in november in the sheffield theatres, we might go to that if it isn't too expensive, The beauty and the beast is playing in November as well, which might be nice to see. But the best would be The Rocky Horror Picture show sing-a-long on october 31st!!! I have always always wanted to go to one and this one is playing on halloween so it'd be the perfect thing to do, but alas, is on october and we don't get paid til the first week of november, so that's still in doubt unless I'm super extra careful with money and save every single penny from now until then.

4) London, the first weekend of november is my friend's bday and her own present was a ticket to London, while I'm dying to go, I still don't know for sure until I get paid, and it would be just for the weekend while I'd love to go during the holidays so I could stay longer than that. Who knows...

Everything's still in doubt and depending on how much I save/how fast my check is delivered and put into my account. I haven't even recieved my debit card yet, SIGH.

I'll try to update as much as I can, but I keep forgetting things and don't have internet yet so I don't know how often I'll write or when I'll put this up.
So, until then,

ttfn.



Sexy: Sheffield University campus during the fall. Honestly, I wanted to marry the place when I first saw it.
Unsexy: How the day can be so nice here and then suddenly it rains even just a little bit, you get wet and terribly cold. Not nice when I just sent my only useful coat to the dry cleaners. Meh.
Song of the day: Some Sheffield pride this time, Def Leppard, Photograph.

*Speaking of Pride and Prejudice, I bought and have just read the book again, I could not help it, it was impossible for me to be so close to Derbyshire and not reading Austen again. Besides the only two books (oh, the pain) that I brought with me are Looking for Alaska, because it was a huge inspiration for me, it pushed me to come on this trip, but I don't read it as often because it always makes me cry. And Let it Snow because I ALWAYS always read it around Christmas time, but I don't want to start it yet, it already is too cold for me here, so it feels christmassy but then I don't want to have nothing to read then. So yeah, I'm still as in love of Mr Darcy as I ever was, I don't think that's gonna change anytime soon. lol