Yeah, alright, it was my fault for saying yesterday "There hasn't been a cloud in the sky since I got here." The sky is covered with clouds, but it's still pretty warm - I've still got my gigantic Swedish window open.
Juliette was asking if I've managed to catch any of the furor surrounding England's dismal performances; luckily, I've been going on bbc.co.uk pretty much every day. The BBC have reliably informed me that 'the media' (who they always distance themselves from when it's something bad) have been quite harsh on England, and have riled up the fans, so that they were booing from the outset against Andorra. But then another article talked about how poor England were in said game. Still, as I say, I can listen to Radio5 on the internet here, so I don't feel too cut off from England.
Swedish language point of the day: Slut means end/finish. So when it had the other scores from around Europe rolling along the bottom of the screen in the N.Ireland against Sweden match, it said (slut) next to certain matches. Made me giggle.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Friday, March 30, 2007
Break
First things first – a few people have asked where I’m living, and I’ve found my address. It is:
Armégatan 32-825
171 71
Solna
Sweden
I think that’s how you’re meant to write it, anyway. The name on my little postbox is ‘Tim Ruffner’. This annoys me verily.
So anyway, I’m enjoying a break today. I think I’ve been feeling so tired recently, because I’ve known since January that I won’t be getting a long break until June. Everyone else at Uni has had this week off, is having next week off, and the following week (and some people have the week after that as well). I’ve got today off, and next week as well as the following Monday – which is a nice 11-day rest. Except I have to do numerous assignments in that time. Still, I’m gonna make sure I relax this weekend; I can have a traditional Saturday, listening to Radio5 on the internet. Tradional-ish. So I began my break by getting up at the rather leisurely time of 12:30 (was up past midnight last night watching Family Guy season 5 – it’s SO much better than season 4. Which, frankly, sucked), and watched a bit more crappy TV. Desperate Housewives, followed by Top Gear, followed by Fresh Prince of Bel Air. I don’t really know what channel that would be in England.
Coca-Cola are launching their ‘Coke Zero’ advertising campaign here. So there are loads of adverts saying things like “Don’t you wish you could have weekends... with ZERO end?” And then it says the website, zeroismore.com or something like that. But no mention of the product. I feel a slight sense of smugness in already knowing what it is, but mostly I feel sorry for anyone who might be excited (or even vaguely curious) about what this incredible new thing is going to be. Coke with less sugar. Doesn’t exactly set the pulse racing. I always found the English adverts strange, in the way they were trying to appeal to a male audience (Girlfriends, with ZERO drama); like it’s really tapping into the male psyche to be offering a sweet drink with decreased sugar.
A few people have asked me if it’s snowing here – just to clarify, I haven’t seen a single cloud since being here. It’s been consistently bright and sunny; although I’ve been informed that it’ll cool down pretty soon. But the locals say that it won’t get wintery-cold again, until... well, winter. There aren’t any clouds, but in the far distance, the sky looks kind of grey; if I was shown only that bit of sky, I’d think it was going to rain. But that dank grey colouring gradually fades into the light blue of the sky above me. Just looked out of my window (my HUGE window – they like large windows in Sweden, because they like to let the light in), and I can see the moon. It’s nearly 6pm, and still completely light outside. I can’t recall ever seeing the moon at this level of brightness, at this time of day.
Hang on, I haven’t talked about playing at the Fox yet, have I? I played last Sunday, the night before coming here. It was really good, quite a few people came, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Carl said something along the lines of “I consider you satisfactory enough to perform here again another day”, which really pleased me. The band after me were called Coppers for Karma (www.myspace.com/coppersforkarma), and they were really good. The bassist was happily dancing around, and the guitarist handled the heckling well.
Drunk man: Here we go again, another depressing song.
Guitarist: What? Life’s not all butterflies and bubbles y’know.
I don’t think I made that exchange sound as entertaining as it was. I had to leave before the headlining act, Nathan Persad, because I wanted to get more than 3 hours sleep. Anyway, overall – it was good playing there, and I hope I can do it again; in fact, hopefully Katie and I will play there together in the summer, I think that would go down really well.
I’m missing home a little bit. I miss Tamsin a lot, obviously, but that feeling has been lessened by the colossal e-mails we’ve been sending each other. I miss E a bit as well (sorry I forgot your flower on Sunday, E); shopping by myself sucks. I want to go to Tesco, and justify why I should buy an expensive cheesecake, and then find a packaged tub of ‘Fresh Mashed Potatoes’, and say “How can they call it ‘fresh’, when it’s been processed and then packaged?”
Oh yeah, one last thing – nothing goes off here. I mean, the sell-by dates are really far in advance. My milk actually says Bäst Före 21/05/2007. And some bread rolls were left in my cupboard, which are still good for another 3 weeks. 3 weeks from now, anyway – I don’t know when they were bought.
OK, that’s everything for now. I’ll leave you with a picture from inside a train – an example of how the default colours for anything here is the colours of the flag.
Armégatan 32-825
171 71
Solna
Sweden
I think that’s how you’re meant to write it, anyway. The name on my little postbox is ‘Tim Ruffner’. This annoys me verily.
So anyway, I’m enjoying a break today. I think I’ve been feeling so tired recently, because I’ve known since January that I won’t be getting a long break until June. Everyone else at Uni has had this week off, is having next week off, and the following week (and some people have the week after that as well). I’ve got today off, and next week as well as the following Monday – which is a nice 11-day rest. Except I have to do numerous assignments in that time. Still, I’m gonna make sure I relax this weekend; I can have a traditional Saturday, listening to Radio5 on the internet. Tradional-ish. So I began my break by getting up at the rather leisurely time of 12:30 (was up past midnight last night watching Family Guy season 5 – it’s SO much better than season 4. Which, frankly, sucked), and watched a bit more crappy TV. Desperate Housewives, followed by Top Gear, followed by Fresh Prince of Bel Air. I don’t really know what channel that would be in England.
Coca-Cola are launching their ‘Coke Zero’ advertising campaign here. So there are loads of adverts saying things like “Don’t you wish you could have weekends... with ZERO end?” And then it says the website, zeroismore.com or something like that. But no mention of the product. I feel a slight sense of smugness in already knowing what it is, but mostly I feel sorry for anyone who might be excited (or even vaguely curious) about what this incredible new thing is going to be. Coke with less sugar. Doesn’t exactly set the pulse racing. I always found the English adverts strange, in the way they were trying to appeal to a male audience (Girlfriends, with ZERO drama); like it’s really tapping into the male psyche to be offering a sweet drink with decreased sugar.
A few people have asked me if it’s snowing here – just to clarify, I haven’t seen a single cloud since being here. It’s been consistently bright and sunny; although I’ve been informed that it’ll cool down pretty soon. But the locals say that it won’t get wintery-cold again, until... well, winter. There aren’t any clouds, but in the far distance, the sky looks kind of grey; if I was shown only that bit of sky, I’d think it was going to rain. But that dank grey colouring gradually fades into the light blue of the sky above me. Just looked out of my window (my HUGE window – they like large windows in Sweden, because they like to let the light in), and I can see the moon. It’s nearly 6pm, and still completely light outside. I can’t recall ever seeing the moon at this level of brightness, at this time of day.
Hang on, I haven’t talked about playing at the Fox yet, have I? I played last Sunday, the night before coming here. It was really good, quite a few people came, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Carl said something along the lines of “I consider you satisfactory enough to perform here again another day”, which really pleased me. The band after me were called Coppers for Karma (www.myspace.com/coppersforkarma), and they were really good. The bassist was happily dancing around, and the guitarist handled the heckling well.
Drunk man: Here we go again, another depressing song.
Guitarist: What? Life’s not all butterflies and bubbles y’know.
I don’t think I made that exchange sound as entertaining as it was. I had to leave before the headlining act, Nathan Persad, because I wanted to get more than 3 hours sleep. Anyway, overall – it was good playing there, and I hope I can do it again; in fact, hopefully Katie and I will play there together in the summer, I think that would go down really well.
I’m missing home a little bit. I miss Tamsin a lot, obviously, but that feeling has been lessened by the colossal e-mails we’ve been sending each other. I miss E a bit as well (sorry I forgot your flower on Sunday, E); shopping by myself sucks. I want to go to Tesco, and justify why I should buy an expensive cheesecake, and then find a packaged tub of ‘Fresh Mashed Potatoes’, and say “How can they call it ‘fresh’, when it’s been processed and then packaged?”
Oh yeah, one last thing – nothing goes off here. I mean, the sell-by dates are really far in advance. My milk actually says Bäst Före 21/05/2007. And some bread rolls were left in my cupboard, which are still good for another 3 weeks. 3 weeks from now, anyway – I don’t know when they were bought.
OK, that’s everything for now. I’ll leave you with a picture from inside a train – an example of how the default colours for anything here is the colours of the flag.
Things and stuff
I always make sure I e-mail Tamsin first before doing this; because I don't want to put all my writing energy into blogging, then just e-mail her saying "Yeah, did some stuff, was cool, chat 2 u l8rz". That's just not what you do. But it makes me worry that this blog will just be the cast-offs of things I don't consider interesting enough to tell Tamsin.
Still reading? Good. I don't think I've even said where I'm living; I'm gonna need to read back over my past blogs at one point. Well, I'm living in a sort of halls of residence; en-suite shower+toilet, but sharing a kitchen with about 10 people. I haven't seen them that often though; I'm not even sure I've seen everyone who lives on my floor. Anyway, one thing I found strange upon my arrival, was the lifts - I live on the 8th floor, so it's best to use one. And with these lifts, the doors don't open automatically. They're like normal room doors, with handles, that you push/pull open. Don't worry, they're locked shut while the lift is moving. The doors also have little windows on, which is a bit surreal when you go down, and you see the floor you were standing on disappear above you.
Did I mention that there's a TV in the kitchen here? Swedish TV is pretty crap; we have 7 channels, the last one being MTV. Pretty much any time of day, you can guarantee there'll be some American programming on (and that's not including MTV). But like, some things are so rubbish - they have adverts on ALL the time. Literally, every 5 minutes with some shows. It's so annoying to watch. I was watching football last night - Northern Ireland beating Sweden. And seriously, every few minutes, they'd have betting odds at the bottom of the screen, from different bookmakers, of what the final score might be, or who might score the next goal. Although, from watching the football, I've now learnt how to pronounce Frederik Ljungberg's name properly; we're getting it fairly wrong. Anyway, what else is crap about Swedish TV... yeah, I saw the test card on one channel this morning. The test card? Wait Tim, that can't be right, you mean the thing that stopped being used in Britain about 10 years ago? Yeah, that's the one. And Home & Away! Home & Away is on here, but not Neighbours. Oh yeah, and they've started showing old episodes of The Simpsons now, which is annoying; they also show Will & Grace, Friends, Cops, and other American shows like that. It's because of this sort of TV, that all the Swedish people my age talk with American accents.
And talking of crap - Mr Bean. Mr Bean's new film is out here soon, called 'Mr Beans SEMESTER!'. I talked to some people, and apparently he's really popular. I was speaking to an Austrian girl, and she loves him. One Swedish girl said she hates him, but it seemed to be more because he's on so often, rather than because it's a terrible piece of programming. Also, on the subject of Mr Bean (yes, that's right, there is more to say on this matter) I saw the cartoon a few weeks ago, and Rowan Atkinson is still credited as doing the voice. Like, they actually pay him to come into the studio and go "mm, mm, hmm" at the right places. Although, I could be wrong - he might be the producer or something, and he just thinks to himself "Yeah, might as well do the little noises myself." I don't know; despite my heartfelt views on the matter, I'm not all that knowledgeable about the details of the production of the Mr Bean franchise.
OK then, one final thing - they have glow in the dark lightswitches in the bedrooms here, which is one of those ideas that's great on paper, but doesn't even begin to work in real life. Because anyone who has ever seen anything glow in the dark, will know that after about 5 minutes, it stops glowing. So unless you need the switch to glow as soon as you've turned off the lights (and surely you don't - you just had your hand there, put it back where it was, it's not like the switch has moved), it's an utterly useless contraption, because it doesn't work when you need it - e.g. when you wake up in the middle of the night, or are coming back from somewhere late.
Also, here is a picture of the Underground. It's not very good, I'll take another one soon. But you can kinda see what I mean about the walls being like a cave; there are splatters of colour as well, which is just for decoration. And also, Madonna is there because she's releasing her new desgins for H&M, which seems to be a big deal here at the moment. I've put more pictures up on my myspace (www.myspace.com/ilovelol).
Still reading? Good. I don't think I've even said where I'm living; I'm gonna need to read back over my past blogs at one point. Well, I'm living in a sort of halls of residence; en-suite shower+toilet, but sharing a kitchen with about 10 people. I haven't seen them that often though; I'm not even sure I've seen everyone who lives on my floor. Anyway, one thing I found strange upon my arrival, was the lifts - I live on the 8th floor, so it's best to use one. And with these lifts, the doors don't open automatically. They're like normal room doors, with handles, that you push/pull open. Don't worry, they're locked shut while the lift is moving. The doors also have little windows on, which is a bit surreal when you go down, and you see the floor you were standing on disappear above you.
Did I mention that there's a TV in the kitchen here? Swedish TV is pretty crap; we have 7 channels, the last one being MTV. Pretty much any time of day, you can guarantee there'll be some American programming on (and that's not including MTV). But like, some things are so rubbish - they have adverts on ALL the time. Literally, every 5 minutes with some shows. It's so annoying to watch. I was watching football last night - Northern Ireland beating Sweden. And seriously, every few minutes, they'd have betting odds at the bottom of the screen, from different bookmakers, of what the final score might be, or who might score the next goal. Although, from watching the football, I've now learnt how to pronounce Frederik Ljungberg's name properly; we're getting it fairly wrong. Anyway, what else is crap about Swedish TV... yeah, I saw the test card on one channel this morning. The test card? Wait Tim, that can't be right, you mean the thing that stopped being used in Britain about 10 years ago? Yeah, that's the one. And Home & Away! Home & Away is on here, but not Neighbours. Oh yeah, and they've started showing old episodes of The Simpsons now, which is annoying; they also show Will & Grace, Friends, Cops, and other American shows like that. It's because of this sort of TV, that all the Swedish people my age talk with American accents.
And talking of crap - Mr Bean. Mr Bean's new film is out here soon, called 'Mr Beans SEMESTER!'. I talked to some people, and apparently he's really popular. I was speaking to an Austrian girl, and she loves him. One Swedish girl said she hates him, but it seemed to be more because he's on so often, rather than because it's a terrible piece of programming. Also, on the subject of Mr Bean (yes, that's right, there is more to say on this matter) I saw the cartoon a few weeks ago, and Rowan Atkinson is still credited as doing the voice. Like, they actually pay him to come into the studio and go "mm, mm, hmm" at the right places. Although, I could be wrong - he might be the producer or something, and he just thinks to himself "Yeah, might as well do the little noises myself." I don't know; despite my heartfelt views on the matter, I'm not all that knowledgeable about the details of the production of the Mr Bean franchise.
OK then, one final thing - they have glow in the dark lightswitches in the bedrooms here, which is one of those ideas that's great on paper, but doesn't even begin to work in real life. Because anyone who has ever seen anything glow in the dark, will know that after about 5 minutes, it stops glowing. So unless you need the switch to glow as soon as you've turned off the lights (and surely you don't - you just had your hand there, put it back where it was, it's not like the switch has moved), it's an utterly useless contraption, because it doesn't work when you need it - e.g. when you wake up in the middle of the night, or are coming back from somewhere late.
Also, here is a picture of the Underground. It's not very good, I'll take another one soon. But you can kinda see what I mean about the walls being like a cave; there are splatters of colour as well, which is just for decoration. And also, Madonna is there because she's releasing her new desgins for H&M, which seems to be a big deal here at the moment. I've put more pictures up on my myspace (www.myspace.com/ilovelol).
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
First Day
So, had my first lecture today. Well, it wasn't really a lecture, it was a seminar; I'm the only boy in my class of 11, and the only English person. 2 Chinese, 2 Swedish, 2 German, 1 Sri Lankan, 1 Zimbabwean, 1 Austrian, 1 Lithuanian, and the lecturer is Swedish... and they all speak English. I think that's why I'm finding it so easy to settle in here - everyone speaks my language. There's a large TV in our kitchen (our kitchen is SO dirty - the hobs are caked with old burnt food, and just everything is horrible. Allie, you would be mortified), and yesterday I saw 3 episodes of the Simpsons that I'd never seen before. They were in English, but with Swedish subtitles, which seems like an alright way to learn the language.
I was late to the lecture, because my alarm clock reset itself during the night, and then I got the tube in the wrong direction. Which was really quite silly of me. The tube system here is like London's, but better in a few ways - cleaner, wider platforms, less claustrophobic. There are a few sculptures and stuff about, so I'll try to take some pictures of them. Also, the ceiling and walls inside the tube stations are like the inside of a cave, which is really cool. Also, at one point there's a sloped escalator. I'm not really sure what it's called; it's like the flat horizontal ones you get at airports, but it's on a gentle slope. Like a less taxing version of the Travelator from Gladiators; partly less taxing, because you're meant to go in the same direction as it. But I decided to be wacky and different, and walk on the wrong one. No one found it funny.
Oh yeah, and also, getting the wrong tube in this city is a pretty dumb thing to do. Because in London there are like 12 different lines or something. Here, there are 3 - red, green and blue.
I got confused, thinking it was all entirely colour-coded, but in actual fact the outside of all the trains are blue. At Thorildsplan station, where I get off to go to Uni, there's a shop called 'pizza från 35k'. Which in English would be 'pizza from £2.50'. Pretty catchy name, imo.
Can't remember what else I was gonna say. I'm gonna need to start making notes again. And I also need to start learning food names, so that I can buy things. I need to find a good blackcurrant squash, or at least get addicted to something different. Because I got a fruit squash which tastes DISGUSTING. And I feel that I need to finish it off before buying something new. Maybe I ought to try herbal teas.
Ooh, something else - they only have tiny bread here. No, I didn't just buy small bread - they have little toasters as well. It's such strangely small bread; and they measure their bacon by weight, rather than having a set number of rashers in each pack. And they don't have goat's milk. Under Hanna, my contact student's advice, I bought milk for people with lactose intolerance. Haven't tried it yet - didn't have time for breakfast this morning, because of getting up an hour later than I meant to. Haven't seen any cheesecake yet, either, but Hanna assures me it exists. She also told me that whiskey is pronounced 'viskeh', and that they don't sell drinks like that in normal supermarkets, you have to go to special government shops or something.
Anyway, that's everything I can think of to say at the moment. I guess I can post later if I think of anything.
I was late to the lecture, because my alarm clock reset itself during the night, and then I got the tube in the wrong direction. Which was really quite silly of me. The tube system here is like London's, but better in a few ways - cleaner, wider platforms, less claustrophobic. There are a few sculptures and stuff about, so I'll try to take some pictures of them. Also, the ceiling and walls inside the tube stations are like the inside of a cave, which is really cool. Also, at one point there's a sloped escalator. I'm not really sure what it's called; it's like the flat horizontal ones you get at airports, but it's on a gentle slope. Like a less taxing version of the Travelator from Gladiators; partly less taxing, because you're meant to go in the same direction as it. But I decided to be wacky and different, and walk on the wrong one. No one found it funny.
Oh yeah, and also, getting the wrong tube in this city is a pretty dumb thing to do. Because in London there are like 12 different lines or something. Here, there are 3 - red, green and blue.
I got confused, thinking it was all entirely colour-coded, but in actual fact the outside of all the trains are blue. At Thorildsplan station, where I get off to go to Uni, there's a shop called 'pizza från 35k'. Which in English would be 'pizza from £2.50'. Pretty catchy name, imo.
Can't remember what else I was gonna say. I'm gonna need to start making notes again. And I also need to start learning food names, so that I can buy things. I need to find a good blackcurrant squash, or at least get addicted to something different. Because I got a fruit squash which tastes DISGUSTING. And I feel that I need to finish it off before buying something new. Maybe I ought to try herbal teas.
Ooh, something else - they only have tiny bread here. No, I didn't just buy small bread - they have little toasters as well. It's such strangely small bread; and they measure their bacon by weight, rather than having a set number of rashers in each pack. And they don't have goat's milk. Under Hanna, my contact student's advice, I bought milk for people with lactose intolerance. Haven't tried it yet - didn't have time for breakfast this morning, because of getting up an hour later than I meant to. Haven't seen any cheesecake yet, either, but Hanna assures me it exists. She also told me that whiskey is pronounced 'viskeh', and that they don't sell drinks like that in normal supermarkets, you have to go to special government shops or something.
Anyway, that's everything I can think of to say at the moment. I guess I can post later if I think of anything.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Sweden
So, here I am, finally. The journey was fine and good and stuff and everything; I'll try to put some pictures up, if that's at all possible. But I just thought I'd write a 'got here safely' blog - and I have. SO tired though. Met a few people I'm living with in the kitchen - there were 2 Dutch girls and a Ukrainian guy, in Sweden, talking English. I found it strange.
Anyway, I have to go now, I need to sleep.
Anyway, I have to go now, I need to sleep.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Allting
I find it funny that some phrases stay in primary school; like on Thursday a year 5 girl said to her friend "Oh my days Moesha, you're so extra." Yeah, she was really called Moesha. Mo to the, e to the, and so on... And 'you're so extra' is such a strange phrase. I tried explaining it to Tamsin, and the best I could do was "You go out of your way to do things that aren't strictly necessary."
I've finished placement now. It feels strange that it's all over; I didn't get a big farewell or anything - I bought a card and some herbal tea for the teachers and a box of chocolates for the children. Every Friday, a different child gets a little paper cut-out of a rocket; it's like the special thing, so that each child can feel special and stuff. Anyway, the TA made me one, which was nice.
Oh yeah, and child H left on Wednesday; she was this really cutesy little girl with chubby cheeks, and she left and no one told me. This upset me. But still, there were other nice kids; like Child S the Christian, who never spoke a word to me until week 4, when she suddenly started jabbering on about her sister. Or Child G, who smiles all the time, and points to his elbow when I say 'braps'. And Child I! Child I came to school straight from India, so didn't know a word of English. Spoke for the FIRST time this week - he said words like 'yes' and 'hello', and went up to a picture of a spider and said 'spider', which I thought was astounding. And I got him to answer the register as well. He said 'good afternoon', instead of just nodding.
Ooh random thing - they have some children's books on tape in a little basket. I looked at the back of Roald Dahl's 'Revolting Rhymes', and it said "Now you can enjoy your favourite stories anywhere!" which I thought was strange, because being on tape actually places far more restrictions on it than just having the book.
I think I'll keep writing the little random things that I've been forgetting to say. For example, there's a pub next to where I got the bus home from school. And it had a little board, saying things that were on over the weekend, but in sexualised ways. Like, it said:
Fired Up Friday - Karaoke
Sexy Saturday - Live Music
Sensual Sunday - Quiz
Maybe I'm wrong, maybe quizzes are sensual.
Earlier this week was mad as well, cos Child R threw up ALL over the computer. The keyboard had to be thrown away. It was quite nasty. It was that day when it was REALLY windy and cold, and we had to spend most of the day doing lessons outside, which was quite good. We went and collected minibeasts, and Child S kept taking my hand and saying "Come on Mr Ruffer, let's look over here". Oh yeah, that's another thing - Child B learnt how to spell my name. I was pleased and impressed with that, he can just write it without having to look at anything.
I talk a lot about all the nice children, but I always seem to leave out the ones I don't like. Like Child K, who is ALWAYS trying to get someone else in trouble, or trying to complain that he is unfairly treated - "Mr Ruffer, she's being naughty", "Mr Ruffer, I'm sitting nicely", or my favourite: "Mr Ruffer, why are we here?" I never know what to say to that; I don't even know if I should consider it a philosophical question and talk about God, meaning and purpose, or just say "to learn". He said it during the first lesson I taught, which was quite disheartening.
And Child A is quite naughty, and also quite incapable of an original thought. For instance, we just read 'Shark in the Park'.
And I said: "Now we don't normally see a shark in the park, do we? What do you see in the park? What do we normally see when we go to the park? Yes Child A?"
Child A: "A shark."
Me: "No, what do we actually see?"
Child S: "A dog."
Me: "Yes, good, you might see a dog in the park. What else?"
Child A: "A dog."
I've finished placement now. It feels strange that it's all over; I didn't get a big farewell or anything - I bought a card and some herbal tea for the teachers and a box of chocolates for the children. Every Friday, a different child gets a little paper cut-out of a rocket; it's like the special thing, so that each child can feel special and stuff. Anyway, the TA made me one, which was nice.
Oh yeah, and child H left on Wednesday; she was this really cutesy little girl with chubby cheeks, and she left and no one told me. This upset me. But still, there were other nice kids; like Child S the Christian, who never spoke a word to me until week 4, when she suddenly started jabbering on about her sister. Or Child G, who smiles all the time, and points to his elbow when I say 'braps'. And Child I! Child I came to school straight from India, so didn't know a word of English. Spoke for the FIRST time this week - he said words like 'yes' and 'hello', and went up to a picture of a spider and said 'spider', which I thought was astounding. And I got him to answer the register as well. He said 'good afternoon', instead of just nodding.
Ooh random thing - they have some children's books on tape in a little basket. I looked at the back of Roald Dahl's 'Revolting Rhymes', and it said "Now you can enjoy your favourite stories anywhere!" which I thought was strange, because being on tape actually places far more restrictions on it than just having the book.
I think I'll keep writing the little random things that I've been forgetting to say. For example, there's a pub next to where I got the bus home from school. And it had a little board, saying things that were on over the weekend, but in sexualised ways. Like, it said:
Fired Up Friday - Karaoke
Sexy Saturday - Live Music
Sensual Sunday - Quiz
Maybe I'm wrong, maybe quizzes are sensual.
Earlier this week was mad as well, cos Child R threw up ALL over the computer. The keyboard had to be thrown away. It was quite nasty. It was that day when it was REALLY windy and cold, and we had to spend most of the day doing lessons outside, which was quite good. We went and collected minibeasts, and Child S kept taking my hand and saying "Come on Mr Ruffer, let's look over here". Oh yeah, that's another thing - Child B learnt how to spell my name. I was pleased and impressed with that, he can just write it without having to look at anything.
I talk a lot about all the nice children, but I always seem to leave out the ones I don't like. Like Child K, who is ALWAYS trying to get someone else in trouble, or trying to complain that he is unfairly treated - "Mr Ruffer, she's being naughty", "Mr Ruffer, I'm sitting nicely", or my favourite: "Mr Ruffer, why are we here?" I never know what to say to that; I don't even know if I should consider it a philosophical question and talk about God, meaning and purpose, or just say "to learn". He said it during the first lesson I taught, which was quite disheartening.
And Child A is quite naughty, and also quite incapable of an original thought. For instance, we just read 'Shark in the Park'.
And I said: "Now we don't normally see a shark in the park, do we? What do you see in the park? What do we normally see when we go to the park? Yes Child A?"
Child A: "A shark."
Me: "No, what do we actually see?"
Child S: "A dog."
Me: "Yes, good, you might see a dog in the park. What else?"
Child A: "A dog."
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Satisfactory
It doesn't sound great - it's not 'stunning', or 'mind-blowing'. But when the only other option is 'unsatisfactory', suddenly it starts to sound much better. I got my file signed off yesterday, and I've officially passed placement. Makes going in for the rest of the week seem a bit pointless. I'd love to have the next 3 days off - I'm going to Sweden on Monday, and I'll only get a week's break when I'm there.
But yeah, it feels nice to pass - especially since I got a 'poor' on my observation sheet last Thursday, when I was doing a lesson involving making rice crispie cakes. There were two main things wrong with my teaching that the teacher wrote down. One was 'You didn't have a TA' (yeah, it's my poor teaching that she had instructed the TA to leave), and the other was 'The chocolate didn't melt quickly enough.' Seriously. It was a poor lesson on my part, because chocolate melts too slowly.
Well, anyway, I've not got much more to say for the time being. I'm quite tired after a bit of a mad weekend - went back to Catford on Friday, then to the Fox, then to Greenwich park on Saturday, then to a party in London, then back to Newham to sleep, then went back to Catford for a few hours on Sunday evening, to go to the Fox to see what an acoustic night is like. Clare Portman was there, so it was nice to finally meet her, and she played an acoustic set which was also a pleasant surprise. Only thing was, I had to end my busy weekend by leaving after 3 of her songs, to get back to Newham at 10:30. Still, I'm playing at the Fox on Sunday, which I'm really excited about. I'm hoping it'll be good fun; I've invited an awful lot of people, so it should be a nice little farewell dealy.
Being in London has been excellent, largely because I've been able to see Tamsin at least twice a week (though not for very long periods), and I've also got to see a lot of good people who I literally haven't seen for years. So I'm hoping I'll get to see people a lot in the summer as well. Had a horrible summer in 2006, so I hope I can have a good one.
Ha, it must seem mental thinking about the summer, when it's been snowing a little these last 2 days.
But yeah, it feels nice to pass - especially since I got a 'poor' on my observation sheet last Thursday, when I was doing a lesson involving making rice crispie cakes. There were two main things wrong with my teaching that the teacher wrote down. One was 'You didn't have a TA' (yeah, it's my poor teaching that she had instructed the TA to leave), and the other was 'The chocolate didn't melt quickly enough.' Seriously. It was a poor lesson on my part, because chocolate melts too slowly.
Well, anyway, I've not got much more to say for the time being. I'm quite tired after a bit of a mad weekend - went back to Catford on Friday, then to the Fox, then to Greenwich park on Saturday, then to a party in London, then back to Newham to sleep, then went back to Catford for a few hours on Sunday evening, to go to the Fox to see what an acoustic night is like. Clare Portman was there, so it was nice to finally meet her, and she played an acoustic set which was also a pleasant surprise. Only thing was, I had to end my busy weekend by leaving after 3 of her songs, to get back to Newham at 10:30. Still, I'm playing at the Fox on Sunday, which I'm really excited about. I'm hoping it'll be good fun; I've invited an awful lot of people, so it should be a nice little farewell dealy.
Being in London has been excellent, largely because I've been able to see Tamsin at least twice a week (though not for very long periods), and I've also got to see a lot of good people who I literally haven't seen for years. So I'm hoping I'll get to see people a lot in the summer as well. Had a horrible summer in 2006, so I hope I can have a good one.
Ha, it must seem mental thinking about the summer, when it's been snowing a little these last 2 days.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Sleepness night
Went home early from school today, because I was so tired. This week, we were gonna start teaching positional language in maths; and we were gonna start off in a PE lesson, by constructing an obstacle course, and focusing the language on going over/under/through the obstacles. I used to love obstacle courses when I was younger; me and Jon would make them out of anything, and just constantly race. And this afternoon, I was going to be teaching the children about chocolate and how it's made, because of Red Nose Day. Quite annoyed/upset I didn't get to teach either of those lessons. I think the teacher was a bit annoyed at me as well; she reprimanded me by saying "just don't come in, if you're not well". I was trying to show a kind of determination by making sure I went in, but in the end I just felt a bit silly. I think she would have preferred it if I'd just rung up and said I wasn't going in, so that she could plan properly, rather than me going in and waiting until first break before deciding I wanted to go home.
So last night - got in bed by about 21:45. Pretty good. Had quite a restful weekend, which I needed. I found it quite difficult to get to sleep though, because I was thinking about how I'm scared of going to Sweden, which led me to thinking something along the lines of "Fear is the fat, stupid brother of hope - it's hope that someone will come in and take control, and change things for you. Because once you take control, and bravely move forward with your decisions, fear is no longer such an issue." But anyway, got to sleep around 22:30.
Then I was woken up, by someone saying "Ssh, people are sleeping, don't wake them up", which I thought was quite sweet. I also thought it was about 23:00. Anyway, the person (V, from our flat) was trying to be quiet, then someone else (R, from another flat) rang the doorbell 3 times (it's a loud doorbell, right by my bedroom door), opened the door, fell over, starting yelling, slamming doors... I got up and saw it was actually 1:45am. I didn't want to get in an argument with drunk people, so I left it, thinking they'd go to sleep soon. Cue more cluttering around and slamming things in the kitchen, people opening windows and yelling/screaming/whooping to people in other flats. A few minutes later, E knocked on my door, shocked and upset at the fact that when she got up to say "What the fuck is going on?" Some random man was standing right outside her door.
The noise had stopped, so we we tried going back to sleep. I turned off the kitchen light, and noticed that the door to the flat hadn't been closed properly, so I closed it (bear in mind a girl had been in tears because of a strange man being in our flat). This was about 2am. I started drifting off to sleep, then at about 2:45, heard a tapping at the door. I thought it was on my bedroom door at first, but it was the door to the flat. It was V.
"Tim, someone locked me out."
"Yeah, that was me - it's nearly 3 in the morning, it's not fucking acceptable to come in here, yelling and slamming doors while people are sleeping."
Of course, she didn't like that, so she went mental and started calling me a wanker, and saying that everyone in our flat is a bastard. All I said was "You are in the wrong." And closed my door. Then she started yelling some more and accusing me of stealing her keys. Eventually she left, and slept in R's flat, saying "Yeah, at least not everyone in your flat is a bastard." Bit harsh, I thought, considering B and J had silently stayed in their rooms.
After being woken so much, found it quite hard to get back to sleep; don't think I did until 4. And the worst part? B is being observed today. V knew that as well - E had textededed her at about 21:30, to say that B needed something from her, for her observed lesson.
So basically, came home because I need to catch up on some sleep. I just hope B is alright.
So last night - got in bed by about 21:45. Pretty good. Had quite a restful weekend, which I needed. I found it quite difficult to get to sleep though, because I was thinking about how I'm scared of going to Sweden, which led me to thinking something along the lines of "Fear is the fat, stupid brother of hope - it's hope that someone will come in and take control, and change things for you. Because once you take control, and bravely move forward with your decisions, fear is no longer such an issue." But anyway, got to sleep around 22:30.
Then I was woken up, by someone saying "Ssh, people are sleeping, don't wake them up", which I thought was quite sweet. I also thought it was about 23:00. Anyway, the person (V, from our flat) was trying to be quiet, then someone else (R, from another flat) rang the doorbell 3 times (it's a loud doorbell, right by my bedroom door), opened the door, fell over, starting yelling, slamming doors... I got up and saw it was actually 1:45am. I didn't want to get in an argument with drunk people, so I left it, thinking they'd go to sleep soon. Cue more cluttering around and slamming things in the kitchen, people opening windows and yelling/screaming/whooping to people in other flats. A few minutes later, E knocked on my door, shocked and upset at the fact that when she got up to say "What the fuck is going on?" Some random man was standing right outside her door.
The noise had stopped, so we we tried going back to sleep. I turned off the kitchen light, and noticed that the door to the flat hadn't been closed properly, so I closed it (bear in mind a girl had been in tears because of a strange man being in our flat). This was about 2am. I started drifting off to sleep, then at about 2:45, heard a tapping at the door. I thought it was on my bedroom door at first, but it was the door to the flat. It was V.
"Tim, someone locked me out."
"Yeah, that was me - it's nearly 3 in the morning, it's not fucking acceptable to come in here, yelling and slamming doors while people are sleeping."
Of course, she didn't like that, so she went mental and started calling me a wanker, and saying that everyone in our flat is a bastard. All I said was "You are in the wrong." And closed my door. Then she started yelling some more and accusing me of stealing her keys. Eventually she left, and slept in R's flat, saying "Yeah, at least not everyone in your flat is a bastard." Bit harsh, I thought, considering B and J had silently stayed in their rooms.
After being woken so much, found it quite hard to get back to sleep; don't think I did until 4. And the worst part? B is being observed today. V knew that as well - E had textededed her at about 21:30, to say that B needed something from her, for her observed lesson.
So basically, came home because I need to catch up on some sleep. I just hope B is alright.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Shapes
Quote of the week:
Teacher: Who can tell me what shape has 6 equal sides?
LotR kid: A mexican!
Had to be LotR kid.
Teacher: Who can tell me what shape has 6 equal sides?
LotR kid: A mexican!
Had to be LotR kid.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
The Fox
The Fox & Firkin is fast becoming my favourite place. I've only been there twice in the last few weeks, but both times I've had a lot of fun. I guess, mostly because of things like playing Jenga and drinking 'jagabombs'. I don't really know what they are, but I'm sure the word 'fun' would crop up in their description. I went to the Fox on Saturday night and got well drunk (thank you Ciara) so my memory of certain events is quite hazy. For instance, there was some guy in the toilet calling me an emo, and trying to buy me condoms. I don't reeeaaally remember much else, like the whys, or... whys.
So like, whiskey seems to be my drink of the moment; I don't know what whiskey they serve at the Fox, all I know is that it's better than what they serve at the Basement (which, I believe is Jack Daniels). I don't really want to know though; I don't want to become a whiskey connoisseur, because that's the sort of thing a raging drunk would do. I'm quite happy being a Cheesecake connoisseur - steer clear of Pizza Hut's, but definitely give Tesco's a try; Pizza Express do quite a good one, but it's not quiiite there. For the best, most complete and perfect cheesecake experience, go to Cafe Uno. Seriously.
Anyway, I'm liking the Fox at the moment; spoke to Carl, and he said I could play (don't worry, he has heard my MySpace, so he has the necessary evidence to consider me to be placed under the umbrella of 'adequate'). Might have to wait until the summer though, cos acoustic nights are Sunday nights, which would make getting to Newham in time to be in bed by 10:30 a bit difficult. Although, it has just come to my mind that I could ask to play on the 25th - the day before I go to Sweden. Cos I won't have school the next day. But I will have a plane that leaves at 8:40am... But that will mean I have to get up and leave at some mental hour, so staying awake all night might be better. I'll see what happens.
Anyway, I imagine that post was actually pretty boring to most people. I'll try to write something more exciting soon. School isn't being particularly exciting at the moment. I mean, it's good, and everything is going well, and I'm teaching and it's enjoyable - but there have been less funny stories of late.
So like, whiskey seems to be my drink of the moment; I don't know what whiskey they serve at the Fox, all I know is that it's better than what they serve at the Basement (which, I believe is Jack Daniels). I don't really want to know though; I don't want to become a whiskey connoisseur, because that's the sort of thing a raging drunk would do. I'm quite happy being a Cheesecake connoisseur - steer clear of Pizza Hut's, but definitely give Tesco's a try; Pizza Express do quite a good one, but it's not quiiite there. For the best, most complete and perfect cheesecake experience, go to Cafe Uno. Seriously.
Anyway, I'm liking the Fox at the moment; spoke to Carl, and he said I could play (don't worry, he has heard my MySpace, so he has the necessary evidence to consider me to be placed under the umbrella of 'adequate'). Might have to wait until the summer though, cos acoustic nights are Sunday nights, which would make getting to Newham in time to be in bed by 10:30 a bit difficult. Although, it has just come to my mind that I could ask to play on the 25th - the day before I go to Sweden. Cos I won't have school the next day. But I will have a plane that leaves at 8:40am... But that will mean I have to get up and leave at some mental hour, so staying awake all night might be better. I'll see what happens.
Anyway, I imagine that post was actually pretty boring to most people. I'll try to write something more exciting soon. School isn't being particularly exciting at the moment. I mean, it's good, and everything is going well, and I'm teaching and it's enjoyable - but there have been less funny stories of late.
Monday, March 05, 2007
Fire Alarm
There was a fire alarm at school today. A child from my class's mum set it off - she thought it was a button to open the door. Despite it saying "FIRE ALARM" underneath. So we had to line up outside; it was freeezing cold, and horrible. Although, the temperature did produce my favourite bit of dialogue from today:
Child: Miss, I'm cold.
Teacher: You're cold? Hold my bag.
Also, the fire alarm at this school automatically calls the fire brigade, so they came along; it was quite sweet actually - the children cheered when the fire truck rolled up, and the men got out and ran into the school, one of them carrying an axe - into the school which really, really obviously was not on fire. But apparently they have to check anyway. Even though the woman who accidentally set it off said "Sorry, that was me, I was trying to open the door."
Still, I felt it necessary to write about. I'm getting observed tomorrow. Mental.
Child: Miss, I'm cold.
Teacher: You're cold? Hold my bag.
Also, the fire alarm at this school automatically calls the fire brigade, so they came along; it was quite sweet actually - the children cheered when the fire truck rolled up, and the men got out and ran into the school, one of them carrying an axe - into the school which really, really obviously was not on fire. But apparently they have to check anyway. Even though the woman who accidentally set it off said "Sorry, that was me, I was trying to open the door."
Still, I felt it necessary to write about. I'm getting observed tomorrow. Mental.
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