My Life after CELTA

Both of us could feel the impact of yesterday's tremendous amount of work. After waking up, I realised how tired Ági was. The morning walks with Abby are usually her duties. However, she was so exhausted today that I had to take over the task. No sooner had it poured down than we made our way back home. The early morning cold shower with hail wasn't precisely my espresso's perfect replacement, but it opened my eyes. The morning passed quickly, and apart from browsing the internet looking for shelves we could use in the kitchen, not much happened. Ági had a meeting with her colleagues, and after it was over, we jumped in the car and drove to buy some junk food. Again. When we devoured the nosh, I gave Ági a foot massage, and then I took Abby for her afternoon walk when it dawned on me how much I had to work on the kitchen worktop. Its state was dreary, and I wasn't convinced about the use of epoxy resin. My suspicion became stronger after reading the user manual on the s...

Even though we worked six hours on renovating the kitchen, it's still not completed. After a terrible night's sleep, I woke up later than usual, had breakfast and coffee, and started to work in the kitchen. I had to paint and clean the walls. Then we went to buy some micro-fibre sponges and some nosh. After returning home and devouring the junk food, we continued the work. I had to apply the final layer of paint to the walls, and then we cleaned and put back the furniture. Now, both of us are knackered. Plenty of tasks are left for tomorrow and next week, so I'll not die of boredom. I still need to apply the epoxy resin to the kitchen worktop, but I must sand its surface before that. Once I complete these tasks, I can apply the varnish to it. I couldn't study or do anything English-related other than putting together the next lesson for my new beginner student. I must give it my all to finish the remaining tasks next week. What an exciting life we lead... 

Call me Pablo. I completed the painting in the kitchen without leaving any masterpieces on the walls, though. It took me three and a half hours, but I made it eventually. The walls are white, the tiles on the wall are beige, and on the floor are dark brown. The kitchen looks stunning. We need to clean the window and tiles, put back the furniture, the fridge, and the electric stove. Tomorrow, we'll have another go with the remaining work, but by the end of the day, we'll complete it. Finally. Other than that, after the first round of painting, we jumped in the car and drove to have some junk food and buy epoxy resin to fill the hole in the kitchen worktop. This piece of furniture - the worktop - needs much attention. I need to sand it, fill the hole they drilled in it, and apply varnish once again. With the fast food in our stomachs and the products in the hood, we returned home and watched another episode of "La Casa del Papael". When the episode ended, I began my sec...

 I visited an old friend today. He's still working for the same company I used to work for 24 years. I woke early in the morning and drove to Budapest. We had a delicious breakfast and a much-needed coffee because I got out of the habit of waking up before the birds. When I returned home, I had some nosh, drank a coffee, and started putting together the next lesson plan before working in the kitchen. When Ági finished her lesson, I started my shift in the kitchen. I had to sand the walls, clean up the mess, apply the pre-paint liquid, and wash the tiles on the wall and the floor. It took me three hours to complete it. I'll start painting tomorrow morning. According to the user manual, I have to cover the tiles before painting two layers to cover all the patches and the traces of spackling paste. I plan to complete it in the morning; thus, I'll have plenty of time to prepare for the Saturday lesson with Ági and Roya. The weekend will be equally busy because the guy who had p...

I had my first class today with a new student. She is a beginner, although she used to learn English by using Duolingo and another application on her phone. I hope she enjoyed our first lesson. Other than my teaching, I continued my DIY frenzy. I had to sandpaper the walls, but even though the masons had applied the spackling paste, I had to do it again today. The uneven surfaces, little cracks and dents were smiling at me, so I had to do something about them. It took me almost four hours to complete the spackling paste application and clean the kitchen. I also had to cover the tiles with a plastic sheet to protect them from the falling paste, liquid and paint. If I could go back to when I was sixteen or eighteen years old and choose a profession, I would opt for a vocation from the blue-collar niche. The weather has changed. The highest temperature was around +22°C today, which is cold compared to what we had to suffer from the day before yesterday. Despite the overcast sky, there was...

What can I say? The DIY episode continued today. I had to apply some spackling paste to the walls. I thought I could complete it quickly, but I couldn't have been more wrong. It went rather slowly. A retired sloth could have done it faster. Actually, my body hasn't recuperated from yesterday's excessive exposure to both the elements - digging at +37°C for hours - and the unusual work, digging. The blisters on the thumb of my left hand and the palm of my right hand prove my ordeal. My arms felt heavy, and my legs wouldn't obey. I still completed the task but was sweating by the end like a racing horse in the derby. Since we don't have a kitchen yet, we ate out. The drive to Burger King was okay, but the menu, however delicious, couldn't agree with my stomach. My system began protesting against more junk food. Nevertheless, we don't have many options. What the local buffets offer might not be compatible with our delicate digestive system, not to mention the pr...

"Stiffer upper lip!" is today's motto. The weather's been incredible lately. Even though we haven't experienced anything similar to the southern European inclement weather (forest fires, never-before-seen heat waves), the extreme heat we need to face makes life difficult. Once the AC units cool off the air in the house in the evening, the radiating heat warms it up by the morning. The thermometer showed +27°C in the attic this morning. No wonder I slept like a restless sloth. However, the weather forecast predicts a colder period. According to the latest prognosis, Tuesday will bring a storm with gale-force wind and, most probably, hail. I'd love to have a word with the climate-change deniers. As for the kitchen renovation, this morning, I was ready and set to apply the pre-painting liquid to the walls, but my zeal ended after trying to re-apply the plastic cover on the door. As I removed the tape that glued it to the wall, it tore some parts of the wall, more...

After a short night's sleep, we woke up early. No sooner had we finished devouring breakfast than the masons arrived and continued the kitchen renovation. They had to smooth and tile the walls. The kitchen is still a mess, but this is a good mess, as we can imagine now how it will be when they finish it.  The weather is shite. It's still warm outside; the highest temperature was around 36-37°C and +31-32°C inside the house. We were sweating like pigs on ice. Switching on the AC units was not an option because the window was wide open while the mason was working in the kitchen. Anyway, despite the anticipated result and what it entails, we are exhausted. Tomorrow, I have to grind some parts of the walls and apply a special pre-painting liquid to them. I might paint the kitchen on Monday morning though.

We are knackered. We spent the day running about and buying things for the kitchen renovation, preparing the kitchen for the masons, dealing with the carpenter and the masons, and, as a final accord, we went to buy some other goods they needed. To top it off, the weather is still terrible. The highest temperature was +34°C, which is not exceptionally high; however, the nights are warm, too, and the walls radiate the absorbed heat, making the house a Finnish sauna-mad house. According to the weather forecast, the next four days will be even warmer, so we must prepare for +37-38C. Our bodies start showing symptoms we haven't experienced yet, so the heat is hard on everyone's body. The masons will come tomorrow early in the morning to complete the tiling and the walls. That will be another exhausting day. 

We spent the night half awake. I was rolling in bed till 3 a.m., and Ági went to the living room at 3:30 a.m. This heatwave is killing us. The attic is like a sauna. Even though the AC was on yesterday evening, it couldn't cool off the walls and the wooden ceiling properly. And since the house is south-oriented, the front side gets sunshine early in the morning, the side wall facing south from 10 a.m. till 6 p.m., and the western side of the house is lit by the sun in the evening. No wonder we feel like we are in a furnace. The walls emanate the heat 24/7. And despite the promised cold front entering the country next Monday, the walls will radiate the heat like hell for weeks. I want to live in Iceland! I went to procure some goods today. I almost bought the LED lamp for the kitchen and got the necessary tubes and accessories for the kitchen ventilation. We phoned the carpenter to discuss the repair of the kitchen counter. I called the masons and the roof guy, too, but they didn...

The dream is over. The grim and sobering reality made us realise how quickly our Austrian revels made their way to our brains' photo album. And even though the memories are fresh, the upheaval we experience today makes them fade even faster.  Yesterday Ági spent the whole day emptying the shelves in the kitchen so that the electricians and the plumbers could start the renovation work. She worked diligently like an assiduous hamster preparing for autumn and winter. After waking up, taking the cars to the public parking lot, and buying some food for breakfast, the guys arrived early in the morning as agreed. They started working at 8 a.m. The plumbers finished at 11:40 a.m., and the electricians are still hammering and wiring, even though it's 3:45 p.m. The plan is to revamp the kitchen, so we need to call the masons to varnish and tile the wall behind the counter and the stove, the plumbers to connect the appliances to the water system, and the electricians to install the necess...