Ugh

I remember a time when you weren’t constantly reminded that Christmas was coming. When I was a kid, I don’t think the decorations at the only shopping mall we had then were up before first or second week of December. And not diluting the holiday throughout the second half of the year made it special, you know? For two or three weeks that was all I could think about, and then when the day came, we opened presents and it was over. But now the holidays (all of them) are all linked together, you don’t have a buffer, some time to breathe in between.

And the commercials portraying all those happy families, children coming back home after a long time, or the Christmas tree all lit up… A miracle! Ugh

So all have to say is:

And one more eve around the corner

Last night I went to bed around 10pm. Had a bunch of Guardian Weekly(s) to read so I figured I would do some catching up with my reading, even though it was totally last week’s, last month’s news. I read for about two hours and decided to try and get some sleep. — oh, I actually finished Catcher in the Rye as well, after almost a year! Impossible to have a decent night’s sleep with all the heat. My bedroom was simply unbearable and I’m thinking we’ll have a pretty cruel summer ahead of us…

Anywho, woke up really early, cold shower and then supermarket. Timing couldn’t have been more perfect because the moment I set foot outside the building it started to rain, lightly at first. I was gonna take a cab anyway on my way back because of all the bottles of water and all the liquids and watermelon and other heavy stuff. The place was still walkable — sure, it was like 8:30am — and I quickly got a cab afterwards. I got home and then morning turned into night, completely dark inside and pouring with rain — and I was hoping to do some good cleaning… I guess the mop will have to wait until is dry again.

I’ve downloaded a bunch of Xmas albums (Nat King Cole, Sinatra, Elvis, collections…) and must confess that I feel a little better than before. I wish I could stay here for the night and carry on with my stuff, unfortunately that’s not a possibility. My idea is to get in and out within, say, three hours maybe? The bitch part is that I can’t simply make them drive me home right after midnight, and getting a cab is way out of the question — I think I learned my lesson last year, more than one hour waiting for a taxi that, being called upon, didn’t show up and I had to attack the occasional cabs on the street to try to get home. So I think I must come up with a plan soon enough. And I do hope that the building is totally empty by the time I get back to the flat.

Well, for some people is a great experience, maybe someday I’ll get to live it. In the meantime, all I can do is imagine. Merry little Xmas.

Finally a break — events of 09

Yesterday we had our little end-of-year party at the school. Pretty lame actually, probably because nobody was in the mood for that. There were some snacks and a pretty lousy gift, but nobody could’ve asked for more otherwise they would actually end up with nothing. I’m saying this because the teacher that last week didn’t show up for immersion class in the morning got fired yesterday. Kinda harsh, especially two days before Xmas Eve. We had arranged to get together afterwards but everybody was so down in the dumps that we simply went our separate ways as soon as the party was over.

I had a meeting prior to the party with the newbies that are helping us out with the immersion  in Jan/Feb. Four people showed up even though I had contacted six of them. I’m kinda worried about the work in the summer months because most teachers will have had no experience at all with these kind of classes. But you know what? I do not want to think about it until 4 January.

Look at these images:

It’s been really hot and humid and annyoing these past few days, so when I look at these air shots makes me want to be there, even though I know that if I were actually there I’d be complaining that I would have to go to work with snow up to my knees.

P.S.: Balloon Boy’s parents in court waiting to hear the decision whether they’ll have to do jailtime for the hoax. And this actually leads to my top 10 events of this year:

EVENTS OF 2009:

1. MJ’s death

2. Obama’s Nobel Prize

3. Swine Flu

4. Glenn Beck being “fascinating”

5. Brazil hosting 2016’s Olympic Games

6. Best-selling author Sarah Palin

7. Oprah quits show

8. Ballon Boy hoax

9. Tea baggers

10. 30,000 more troops in Afghanistan

Worth mentioning, but not in the final cut:

– 20 years of Berlin Wall’s fall

– Tiger Woods’ 12+ mistresses

– Lombardi’s death

– Seinfeld reunion on Curb Your Enthusiasm

– Me getting laid off and rehired twice

***Final news: Richard Heene gets 4 years probation and 90 days in jail.

White Xmas, not for me

Not in the Xmas mood at all. It’s so wierd watching the news about the super cold snap that’s been going on in the US and Europe while experiencing temperatures way into the 30s. Last night was particularly difficult for me, took me a long time to fall asleep and at about 5am this fucking mosquito woke me up — and I simply can’t go back to sleep knowing that this fucking think will fly over my ear every 10 seconds, so I got up and waited. Started smashing everything inside my very spacious bedroom and there must be now some 20 shoe marks on the walls, but I eventually got the little bastard! However, after that it was virtually impossible to go back to sleep. I kept checking out the time and realized I was doing that every 20 minutes. I heard the alarm clock go off after 8am and Ipanema’s schedule on Sunday isn’t the best one. They have this programme between 8am and 10am playing regional music, which isn’t my cup of tea. I switched to another station and felt better and like getting up.

I turn on the TV and all they show is the snow in the US. I couldn’t help but wish I was there, away for this heat and non-Xmas spirit that we have here every year.

Washington DC

Alexandria, VA -- ok, I think this is a little too much...

(Pics from The Guardian)

As we are all going on vacation, we’ve got paid a couple of days ago and all I wanted to do was cry. Cry non-stop. That means I’m only gonna get paid again late January — almost 45 days from now — and I don’t see myself being able to pay bills. I’m particularly worried about the credit card bill since I had to paid the flat’s maintenance fee with my card, otherwise I’d be way into the overdraft limit.

I would like some day to have a white Xmas. I remember in London we had snow in the first year only on Boxing Day and back then it wasn’t actually common to snow in London. This tropical heat just doesn’t feel right for the holidays spirit and what really makes me annoyed is that for years and years we’ve had to accept the whole Xmas decoration that just doesn’t suit our climate. It’s ridiculous seeing Santa in a shopping mall and fake snow knowing that in a few moments you’re gonna get out of there and this excruciating heat will hit you in the face like a punch. But what should we do then? Dress Santa in shorts and flip-flops and have him sit on the beach kiosks drinking caipirinha? That’s a tough one, man… But anyway, maybe some day I’ll have the chance to see a white Xmas. What I will see for sure is a blank Xmas, all right: no money, no gifts, no joy, no prospects… just blank.

Cold snap — one week for Xmas

So, after going to sleep at 2:30am, I had the tough mission of getting up at 6:30am and I must tell you that it was hard… I usually wake up before the alarm clock goes off, even when it’s very early, but this morning I almost overslept. My boss and I had agreed that I would take the keys to the school in case the receptionist didn’t show up — even though the girl guaranteed she would be there to open the school. The thing is that she had been sick and we were worried about a no-show situation. So, I was supposed to call my boss in the morning if the receptionist didn’t turn up until 7:50am, so I would open the door and deactivate the alarm — and I needed a code for that.

Well, it was a no-show, all right. And also a no-pick up. I called the boss at least ten times and her mobile was switched off. There was one group waiting to take their final test plus the immersee. We all waited until 8:40am and nobody had shown up or picked up my calls. We finally got to get in nearly 9am, the group had gone home or to work and they agreed to return to the school at 12pm to take the test.

The immersee guy is nice, but I couldn’t stand the sight of him anymore. To add insult to injury, he was having a hard time understanding the listening exercise so I had to spend 15 minutes trying to cheer him up and motivate him and say that everything was gonna be ok — not paid to be a therapist… After that, I had to do one assessment over the phone and write the complete assessment to sent to folks at the company by the end of the day. Also, I had a chat with my boss and the company wants to see the whole planning for the February immersion in Santa Cruz, they are thinking about 10 people this time — this year we had five — and I can pretty much foresee myself preparing everything by myself — at least four different tasks for a total of five days of immersion. I’ll really have a bitch of a time trying to figure out who is going on the trip — and even who will teach the immersion here as well. Two more teacher quit yesterday, a total of six in five months. Does that say anything to you? Do you think things are running smoothly at school with these numbers? Apparently the owners don’t take notice of that…

I had a second session with the student in the afternoon and again one very hard session to teach. Even though the guy thanked me for everything, I can’t help but think that his impressions won’t be the best ones on this whole week. After spending almost 10 hours at the school I finally went home, turned on the TV on Friends and tried to unwind, could barely keep my eyes open and fell deeply asleep for some 40 minutes on the couch watching that crazy Beck blabbering non-sense non-stop.

There will be changes soon, and not very good ones. When that happens I really don’t know what I’m gonna do. I’m reaching the deadend pretty fast and about to hit the wall soon. — Watching the news today, the cold snap is hitting Europe for the weekend and holidays. I wish deeply I were there to escape from this hideous weather and city.

P.S.: This very day 20 years ago the first The Simpsons programme aired. I was 11 and yes, it’s been a lifetime…