Maanantai 🇫🇮 Mánudagur 🇮🇸

After ruminating on my next class, the thought of simplifying the lesson struck me with the force of a cartoon anvil. (I stole this metaphor from J. K. Rowling's commencement address.) Even though my initial plan seemed bulletproof, I had to admit I was wrong. With this and the principle of "less is more" in mind, I carefully restructured the plan, took away words and rephrased instructions. The spruced-up plan seems challenging, even with these modifications. I'll need to put the finishing touches to the plan, but it only will require thirty more minutes. Fingers crossed that they'll like the class.

We had to run a few errands today, so we jumped in the car and drove off. The shops are brimming with the accessories of the commercial version of Christmas. The musac in the shops is Christmasy; they play the same tunes over and over again. The decoration is overwhelmingly Christmassy: there are little lights and candles everywhere, the manifestation of some stoned designers' funny figurines sitting on shelves, chocolate Santa Clauses in every shape and size are grinning at us, and everything is red, green, and white, just like the Hungarian flag. The abundance of goods is unbelievable. I remember, as a kid, there was hardly anything similar to what we witness nowadays. Anyway, let's not get carried away and get sentimental. It was totally different then, and there is no use dwelling on how bad those years were.

The weather is surprisingly good. However, we can feel the first signs of the seasonal change every morning. According to the weather forecast, the next few days will bring significant changes, so autumn will prevail eventually. The sun sets at 16:19 and rises at 6:35. Even though I sleep like a log, I don't like these long, dark hours. Why can't I sleep similarly well during summer???

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Chillaxing

When I woke up this morning, I knew the day wouldn't be an active one. Nothing sinister happened that would have suggested anything unexpected; it was rather one of those intuitions that depicted how the events of the day would unfold. This gut feeling strengthened when I grabbed Abby's leash and took her for her early morning walk. She was as inactive as I was, and the speed and length of our walk corroborated this theory. We ambled back to the house momentarily. After this painfully short-lived stroll with a surprisingly exhausted canine, I sat in front of the TV, munched my breakfast and slurped the much-needed black nectar in the form of a strong espresso. What a surreal still-life this was. Especially considering how many episodes we have watched from one of the currently watched series. As my system started to absorb the caffeine, switching my wee brain into the first gear, the haze dissipated over today's schedule. Harnessing this ephemeral clear state, I rushed into...

Keskiviikko 🇫🇮 Miðvikudagur 🇮🇸

My new bridge is in my mouth. It took the doc almost an hour to meticulously and precisely fit it in and cement it. I wasn't allowed to eat for three hours, and I still can't chew anything on the left side of my jaw. However, my dental features are ship-shape-and-shiny. Only one tooth is left: they need to replace the old filling. Once it's done, I'll have a Hollywood-type smile. Before the dental care, I went through the lesson plan I'd prepared the other day for today. When I returned home from the dentist, I took Abby for her afternoon walk and drove to Budapest to teach. Before arriving at where I taught, I popped into a store to buy some "kifli" for later and four "Túró Rudi" to appease my rumbling stomach. After teaching, I hurried back home, grabbed two "kifli", some butter and plum jam, and ate like a king. It was already pitch dark when we returned from our evening walk with Abby. I hate the early dusks. However, summer tries ...

Sunnuntai 🇫🇮 Sunnudagur 🇮🇸

Even though I was up from 5 a.m. till 10 p.m. yesterday, I couldn't sleep like a log. I woke up several times at night wondering why the blOOdy eff I couldn't hibernate. Since these awake periods didn't last long, I went back to sleep, but still, the reoccurring wakeups vexed me tremendously. Anyway, I decided yesterday that despite the winter daylight-saving time, I wouldn't follow the winter clock but stick to the old summer daylight-saving time. I've had enough. Each March, we have to set the clock an hour forward, which means an hour less sleep, which means my system gets into Carl Pilkington mode for weeks. Never again. So, with this in mind yesterday evening, I set the alarm clock to 5 a.m. When it went off, even though I was a bit miffed, I knew I'd tricked the system, so it was payday for me. After completing my homework this morning, I prepared lunch. It wasn't a special meal, just some fish fingers with rice and peas. And even though it wasn't ...

My Life after CELTA

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