My Life after CELTA

I continued my shrubbery-trimming ordeal this morning, which, quite frankly, does my head in. Whenever I have to think of the bush in the garden, I feel like a grumpy cat. After breakfast, I grabbed my tools and cut another part of the humongous bush. Many plants were among the over-grown shrub branches, which I found somewhat unsettling since neither Ági nor I planted anything there but bush. I suspect the neighbours might have gone clandestine and taken matters into their own hands. Anyway, it's already part of the past because I culled the dried branches along with the not-brush-type of plants. It took me another hour to complete the task, but it was worth my effort. Once I finished the job, I showered and prepared lunch - nothing fancy, just spaghetti with tuna. While we were devouring the nosh, we watched another episode of "Dexter". Once we finished the food and the episode, we went to the bank to close my entrepreneur account. Then ate ice cream at the famous ...

I definitely wanted to finish the trimming of the overgrown bush, but I couldn't spend more than almost two hours under the sun. I need two more pruning sessions to complete the job, and, I'm afraid, I must rent the wood chipper on two more occasions. There is nothing I can do about it except accept the fact of my negligence and do the job with stiffer upper lips. At least the weather was great, so I can't complain about it. I'll have another go with the shrubbery tomorrow, but I want to avoid seeing or touching it during the weekend. I'm like a little effing gardener. I don't even like gardens... Well, I like them, but the tedious work it entails is what I can't stand. As for my English studies, I did a bit of revision and began another task of my homework. I thought it'd be easier, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Or it's my mind tricking me. Anyway, I buckled down to write about a topic that seemed familiar and had experience with - workin...

My DIY days are temporarily over. I'll continue it tomorrow by trimming the burgeoned bush in the shared garden, and the plan is to complete the thinning of the remaining of the mini forest by Friday. I'll collect the branches in our front garden and get the wood chipper next Monday, which will undoubtedly culminate in another day of toil. Regarding my pursuit of English studies, I focused primarily today on the homework Charlette had given me. The task that required me to elicit the meaning of twelve highlighted words in a text was easy. The reading task was hilarious. I had to peruse a short story from one of my favourite writers, Lamb to the Slaughter, by Roald Dahl. I had read it a few years ago, but this was the first time I've read it in English. The weather was marvellous today. The temperatures weren't exorbitantly high. I sat on the balcony with my AirPods in my ear, listening to the original soundtrack of "The Big Blue" by Eric Serra. I nodded off fo...

I had a terrible night. Waking up at 3 a.m. made me a tad dizzy, and even the usual cinnamon pancake breakfast that I love so much couldn't make me forget the sleepless night. However, after gulping the much-needed coffee, I felt a bit better, and it helped me process the schedule while gradually coming out of the woke slumber. At 9:30 a.m., one of our neighbours, who had a wood chipper for rent, called me to say that he wanted to bring over the machine. That information woke me up straight away. With a clear head, I took the tool and processed the user manual in the form of the guy's on-the-spot short demonstration. As soon as he left, I started the two and a half hours wood-chipping workout. I felt knackered after finishing the job, but the delicious homemade pizza was just the right nosh a weary worker could ask for. While we were devouring the nosh, we watched the last episode of the second season of Dexter. As for my English studies: the class with Charlette was fantastic,...

Little did I know about the unfolding of events when I woke up this morning. Despite opening my eyes at 5:45 a.m., but after the alarm went off, I immediately went back to sleep. Anyway, after finishing my usual breakfast, I began my shrubbery cutting. There is this enormous bush at the back of our common garden, and although a shady guy and his mother cut it last year for an excruciating amount of money, they couldn't finish the requested job properly. Actually, the bush looked like a small jungle by now, and it was high time I got the pruning shears and the saw. It took me two and a half hours to prune only one-third of the mini forest, but boy, was I sweating like a pig on ice? Tomorrow we'll get the wood chipper to chop up the branches. It'll surely be another two and a half hours job. As for my English studies: I merely did some sentence rewriting, meaning I asked ChatGPT to create five sentences at the C2 level that I can rewrite, and it can revise and give me feedbac...

Well, the day wasn't completely fretful (behaving in a way that shows you are unhappy or uncomfortable). I felt weary and lacking power. I didn't sleep well, and the early morning wake-up was not something I wanted to remember.  Anyway, we started the day by watching an episode of "Dexter, and then Ági ran some household chores, and I studied with the help of ChatGPT. I asked AI to create short stories that could help me expand my vocabulary and three sentences that I had to rewrite, and it could check for grammar, syntax, and semantics and provide feedback on how to enhance my English so that it could sound more natural. (What a sentence length, oh my, oh my...) I was quite pleased with my performance, as was AI, and I even could write coherent sentences that it didn't have to rewrite. I was chuffed to bits. When I finished my class with AI, I went down to the kitchen to prepare lunch. I made spaghetti with tuna, and boy, was it delicious? After lunch, I gave Ági a fo...

The storm wasn't as raging as forecasted, at least over here. According to the news, regions were hit by it quite severely, so it wasn't just a summer rain pouring down gently. Some cities were flooded, and the golf-ball-sized hail damaged goods. But as I said, it wasn't that bad over here, and apart from thunder and lightning, the biggest issue was the gale-force wind, which, fortunately, didn't cause any damage. The storm cooled the air, and the scorching heat disappeared today. I did a bit of DIY this morning. After devouring my breakfast and having coffee while watching another episode of Dexter, I took the grinding papers and gave one of the wooden railings what it deserved. I chose one of the worst condition pieces; its surface turned black due to the improper varnish they'd applied when installing the railing, and it took me one and a half hours to get it back in shape. I wish the grinding machine could have been a better help. After finishing my little DIY f...

The dog days* are over. An hour ago, a raging storm hit the southwestern part of the country, heading towards our region slowly and unstoppably. According to the Meteorological Institute, the highest red alert can be issued during the next few hours due to gale-force wind and golf ball-sized hail. This storm will end the short-lived heat wave we've suffered for days. I don't mind colder temperatures, but the storm makes me nervous, not to mention Abby, who becomes a living panic statue. She doesn't like thunders and lightning. Fingers crossed that it won't cause havoc anywhere. Anyway, I started the "Proficiency Expert" book today because I must focus on the preparation for the CPE exam. The first unit seems excellent, and judging by the following lessons, the book and the workbook are valuable materials for exam preparation. Since there was nothing else worth mentioning - the early morning shopping is not something I'd like to write about - this entry wil...

Despite sleeping like a log, the early morning wake-up call was a bit of a shock. Not because it was unexpectedly early but because I felt like I'd run two marathons in one go during the night. Anyway, it soon occurred to me that the temperature was already high, so I knew either a morning walk or no walk at all today. It seemed Ági had a similar plan in her mind, so right after finishing breakfast, we went out for our 4k walk. Boy, was the air damp after the night storm!? Walking in humid air is not for the faint-hearted. Anyway, upon returning home, I got a call from the craftsmen's store that the faulty grinding machine was back from the service and I could go and fetch it. I wanted to go to the store anyway to buy the wooden railings, so with that in mind, I drove to my currently favourite place to meet my little mates again. I set out at 10 a.m., and the temperature was already +30°C. Thank you, God, for the AC in the car; it came in handy. When I returned home, I prepared...

Ági's got her promotion, and it is official: from September on, she is an honorary associate professor. Well done, my Dear :) Two more days and the scorching heat days are over. Till then, we must stiffen our upper lips and clean and switch on the AC units. It's 8:23 p.m. when I'm writing this entry, and the temperature outside is still +28°C. The highest temperature today was +34°C; no wonder Abby thought during the walks that she was a sloth. Poor thing, she was slouching behind me, and I had to drag her home.  Anyway, as for my English studies: I had a semi-productive day today. I could finish my homework tasks, both the writing and the open-cloze text, but I couldn't fit in any new unit from any of the books I'd wanted to go through. I'm not despondent because the writing task was challenging: I had to write a short essay about "trauma porn", an exceptionally delicate topic. Oh, I nearly forgot: my lunch was so delicious that I'd like to prepar...