September 20031 Sept – 20h15 – A new month, a new …

September 2003

1 Sept – 20h15 – A new month, a new school year started and a new leaf turned over. This is the start of the resumption of journal keeping.

I spent the whole day at work today. I had an 8h45 – 10h meeting, a 12h40 – 14h10 class, a 15h45 – 17h15 class and a 17h30 – 19h class. I didn’t feel like going home during the breaks, so I helped Andrew, our new teacher, out a bit. I explained how the Cambridge Exams worked and things like that.

I also found out that Andrew will be teaching a class that was supposed to be mine. A few weeks ago, David told me to keep Mon and Wed evening class times open as he’d have an FCE class for me to teach. Today, Andrew found out he’d be teaching it, even though I had asked David about it just after the meeting. However, David did find another class for me to teach, an in-company class about 40 km from here. That means I’ll get paid 2 hours for the class and 1 or 2 hours for driving. That’s fine with me. The only problem is that I have take the autobahn to get there, and the little car I drive wasn’t made for it.

I’m teaching two AK class this year, Valencia (David taught it last year) and Rio, a new group. The Rio group chose its name today. They’re a 1st year group and will be doing a Cambridge business program this year, then CAE next year (Valencia’s doing it this year). Rio’s grammar needs a lot of work, and Valencia’s grammar needs a bit of polishing. It’ll be an interesting year.

The weather’s been quite a bit cooler lately. My outdoor thermometer says it’s 11°C right now, and it couldn’t have been much more than 14°C today. This means that winter is on its way. Bummer. As it gets cooler, I find myself dreaming. What am I dreaming of? I’m dreaming of living in a place that doesn’t have winter.

2 Sept – 7h – It’s 8°C out, but it looks like it might be sunny today.

I’ve been trailing Norton Anti Virus 2003 for the past 14 days and decided to buy it today. However, for some odd reason, Norton has to connect to the internet in order for one to buy the download, and it couldn’t – probably due to AOL. So, I uninstalled it and went to the website to buy it, but noticed that sometime in the last 14 days, Norton 2004 had come out. So, I’m going to trial that for 14 days and then buy it. The website sells the products for the same price I could buy then for here in a shop, and I’d rather have the downloads.

9h – Well that didn’t last long, did it? It’s now cloudy and look like it’s about to rain. Oh well.

14h – The classes went well. The first is with the owner of the company, and the second is with five students for now, but will have to be split. One of the students is the owner’s wife, who is very fluent in English. She spent a year in high school in England and went to university at John Hopkins in Bologna, Italy, where classes are in English. Another is quite fluent in English, and the other two are ok, but need a bit of work (the fifth was on holiday).

The car ran fine on the Autobahn, but with a lot of road noise. The speed limit is 130 kph and it held it. To convert from KPH to MPH, multiply by 0.625). Some cars zoom by, but most go the limit. One tip, if you see a car way behind you with it’s headlights on, make sure you’re not in the fast lane, because it’s going extremely fast and will be passing you soon.

3 Sept – 7h50 – 9C this morning. Yuck. I’ve turned on my little heater to remove the chill of the morning from my bedroom.

I got a notice saying that the Norton 2004 trial that I downloaded is only good for 2 days. That sucks. I was hoping it’d be good for 14 like the 2003 one. Buying either costs $49.99. I’ve been in touch with a relative in the US who has told me that he can get Norton 2004 for $19.99 after a mail in rebate, as well as FYI this week Best Buy has Norton SystemsWorks FREE after mail in rebates. Regular price is $49.99…. also, has Norton Internet Security FREE after rebates, regular price is $$49.99…Free offer is NOT good for you as it requires proof of previous ownership….

20 Sept – 21h18 – Well, I did it. I just bought a ticket on Ryan Air from Pisa to Hahn for 23 February. It’s Carnival Monday and is a holiday in my state. Why Pisa? I had been thinking about going to Italy, because it’ll be warmer than Germany at that time of the year, and checked fares for all of the cities in Italy that Ryan Air flies to. When I checked Pisa, about an hour ago, the cost was €5.99 plus taxes/charges. When I checked it a few minutes ago, it had gone down to €0.99 plus taxes and charges. Now all I have to do is figure out how I’m getting there. I don’t want to spend three days in Pisa, as I’ve heard there’s not much to see there. I’m thinking of flying into Bologna, spending Friday there, Saturday in Florence and Sunday in Pisa.

21 Sept – 17h – I’ve heard back from a few hotels in Bologna and they’re all full for the time I want to go, so I may end up going straight from the airport to Florence (2 hours).

17h53 – Joanna just tried to contact me via AOL IM. Who is she? She’s the girl that took over some of my classes after I left Poland. We met last October and she’s a real bitch. I received several email from students telling me how much they disliked her and how bad her teaching was, as well as things like she wasn’t using the book, etc. This is the second time she’s tried to contact me via AOL IM in the past few months (I didn’t accept the first IM either), so she’s now on ignore. There’s absolutely nothing she could say that I want to hear, and since I don’t have to hear from her, I’ve chosen to ignore her. She’s the first person I’ve ever put on my ignore list. With as much of a bitch as she was to me and her students, it felt good. Goodbye forever, Joanna. Best of luck in life, you’ll need it.

23h17 – I’m cleaning out my computer this evening and found part of an email I wrote to a Western European friend. Unfortunately, I chickened out on emailing it. Here’s what it said:

I was very glad to be back in the east again. Sorry to tell you this, but I totally prefer Eastern Europeans to Western Europeans. Don’t get me wrong, I have a few very nice Western Europe friends (like you), but overall, Easterners are much nicer than Westerners.

I’ve visited a lot of Eastern Europe (Poland, Czech Republic, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Hungary, etc) and have love the friendliness of the people. I’ve also visited a lot of Western Europe and have felt like an unwelcome visitor.

Also, when you go into a shop, people try to understand you instead of looking down their nose at you (like they do in Germany) because you don’t speak their language perfectly.

So, consider this an invitation to visit Eastern Europe with me. Visit Poland with me and see why I love so much.