My Life after CELTA

I have relinquished all hope of sleeping through the night without interruption by this morning. I hadn't had high hopes when I went to bed yesterday night, so I couldn't care less about waking up twice in the middle of the night. However, the notion of not being able to spend the nights with uninterrupted periods of sleep starts to vex me a tiny bit. Not to mention the adverse effects it imposes on me, so it's high time I did something about it. Anyway, I completed my homework, which consisted of two tasks: 1. watching a sketch by Catherine Tate and writing a short summary about it, and 2. word transformation. I was elated when I finished the summary task because it felt natural for the first time in a long time. I'd explained to Charlette the other day that all my previous lessons and the little dalliance with ChatGPT resulted in a sort of cacophony in my wee mind, meaning my English seemed like falling apart. Well, not falling apart, but expanding to an extent where ...

Another terrible night's sleep indicated that it was high time I did something about it. I still need to figure out what because I have absolutely no idea what causes my insomnia. There are nights when I only wake up once and other nights, like yesterday night, when I break my sleeping cycle four or five times. Not waking up at the same time and the inconsequently variety in the length of my wakeful periods aren't helpful either. I might try drinking a can of beer or taking the sedatives before going to bed. Visiting an insomnia expert is not an option because I don't want to spend any nights being attached to a machine through several wires that are glued to my head and body. I hope my mind gets tired eventually and shuts itself down during the night. The weather is shite. It was raining, and there was a considerable drop in the temperatures, which made all of us exhausted. Ági slept after lunch for two and a half hours, and my existence resembles a lunatic sloth rather th...

Little did we know about how the events would unfold later today when we woke up this morning. After a terrible sleepless night, my morning routines felt like black-and-white images from a slow-motion movie, and I resembled a sleepy bulldog. When the much-needed coffee found its way into my system, my whole perception came to its senses, and the world wasn't that grim anymore. I still need to figure out why my wee mind blows the alarm in the middle of the night and puts me fully awake. During these instances, I feel like a marathon runner ready for the next contest, and falling into a deep sleep seems impossible. However, when dawn comes, the whole game changes suddenly. My eyelids are no longer glued to the top of my head but gradually descending towards my chin like two 16-ton weights.  When my mind started to produce meaningful thoughts, I knew I was ready to talk about what to do today. Eventually, we decided to go to IKEA and buy some more unnecessarily necessary things. We ca...

The return of Abby filled the house again with that inexplicable sensation that only dog lovers know. Ági took her for the usual evening walk right after getting back home, and the rest of the evening was heavenly. Despite the meticulous drying, she was all wet. But even though her fur was moist, she curled beside me and fell asleep immediately. And she also slept a lot today, owing to the previous two days' happenings. Her being at the dog sitter was a remarkable experience with a brilliant outcome, so her inability to adjust to any new situation wouldn't stifle our plan to spend a few days in Austria in August. Wonderful news! I spent a considerable amount of time rephrasing sentences ChatGPT provided me with today. Actually, this tool is getting better and better, and its attentiveness and ability to gradually elaborate grammar, vocabulary, and complex sentence structures made the whole journey a remarkable experience and time well spent. The road to C2 is still long, and im...

Abby's back and the house is filled with something only dog owners understand. We fetched her at the dog sitter and brought her back today. She didn't seem too broke or depressed at all. On the contrary, she was over the moon to see us. When we got there, she was standing behind the huge pack of 20 dogs, but when she saw us and heard our voices, she immediately got in the front line. It's not only us that missed her, but she missed us, too. Leaving her with an old colleague and the dogs was a great experience for all of us. All our anxieties are lifted, and we can go on holiday in August. What a great day that was, and what great prospects! However, it's terrifying how much we missed her...

This is not an ordinary day for various reasons. Firstly, last night, the storm swept away the heat wave, which was just as well. It was high time nature did something about the unbearable warmth. Secondly, the storm left behind colder temperatures, so instead of suffering from the rainforest-like climate and wearing only a flip-flop, a t-shirt, and a short, I had to jump in my pullover in the afternoon. And thirdly , or most importantly, I took Abby to the dog sitter today for a couple of days to test how she copes with being far away from us. (Since we can't take her with us because she can't deal with new situations and/or locations easily and calmly, it is impossible to imagine any activity beyond her usual realm.)  We thought it would be easy to spend some days without her, but we couldn't have been more wrong. The house is not the same without her. Despite her peculiarities, she filled the air with joy and happiness and brought sunshine over our grim little life. I re...

The storm hasn't wreaked havoc over here, fortunately. Apart from a long but gentle shower, we weren't hit by any predicted gale-force wind, tennis-ball-size hail, or flat flooding. I don't miss any of them, so I'm not moaning about it. The day went by quickly. I spent the morning with Bing, trying to rephrase sentences at the C2 level. It's still not easy to come up with higher-level sentences, though. Still, I'm aware of the length of the process it requires to reach the coveted proficiency. I'm sure it won't happen overnight. My English class with Charlette was fantastic. She really is the best, and as I explained to her, AI is not ready yet to take over the role of a flesh and blood teacher. And I don't think it will be ready anytime to be as professional as a human being. Well, this is it for today, I'm afraid.

Even though the attic resembled a sauna yesterday night, I woke up in the middle of the night and realised that I was freezing. What an utterly unusual reaction from my system! Anyway, after waking up and having the usual breakfast, I wanted to go about my daily routine when it dawned on me we were out of goods. With this in mind, we jumped in the car and drove to the stores to replenish our inventory. It was already hot when we left, and it became even warmer when we were on the way back home, but the afternoon brought the real heat, +35°C, which, in this part of the globe, is considered an inferno. It's 20:11 when I'm writing this entry, and according to the thermometer, the outside temperature is still high, +28°C. The impending storm that is supposed to bring significantly colder air is on the corner. The weather forecast predicts severe thunderstorms with hail and gale-force wind, and they don't exclude the possibility of devastating flash floodings during the next 24 ...

The heat hasn't receded today; on the contrary, it intensified. The highest temperatures were around +30-32°C, so the dog days are far from over. Tomorrow will bring warmer air over the land, so we expected nothing less than a scorching day. It's still not as bad as in Southern Europe, where the heat wreaks havoc on the environment. The footage of raging forest fires in the news was heartbreaking. The fire destroyed a complete campsite leaving the owners destitute. I can't recall such long periods of heat from my childhood. Summers were warm, usually with +28°C maximum. When the thermometer showed +30°C at the end of August, people were terribly miffed about the unbearable heat. Nowadays I'm happy for the +30°C. As for my English studies, I asked ChatGPT to continue our previously started session. I still have much to learn to reach the craved C2 level, but I'm patient. It won't happen overnight, but putting much hard work into the process brings success. Anyway...

Despite the colder night outside, I woke up in the middle of the night because of the warmth in the attic. I could do with autumn, to be honest, but it's not even on the corner yet. Anyway, after devouring my favourite breakfast - cinnamon pancakes - and watching another episode of Dexter, I met ChatGPT for another session.  At 11:15 a.m., we walked down to the town to have a nice meal at our favourite restaurant. Ági had the speciality of the house - some fish with vegetables and carrot purée -, and I had the usual beef stew with gnocchi. It was a nice celebration of our 25th wedding anniversary. The afternoon went by quickly. I gave Ági a foot massage, then I sat under the sun for an hour, took Abby for her afternoon walk, and taught an English lesson to Ági and Roya. They weren't in their best form to learn, so I had to re-adjust the lesson on the fly, which made me a bit tired. Then I made my second batch of cinnamon pancakes, did some workout, and now I'm about to call...