Road Trip! - Part Deux

Once I had finally arrived in Cardiff, flatmates and I wandered off in search of food. They showed me the St. David shopping centre which was a building site when I left Cardiff 18 months before. I had a yen for Spanish food so we headed towards Nandos and Chimichangas. Fair enough it was 6 on a Friday evening, but there were queues outside both of them! I mean, both places serve lovely food but not what I'd be willing to queue for, especially when there are FOUR more Spanish eateries less than a block away.
Sheesh! People are nuts!

We, not being crazy, went to the aforementioned eateries a block away, in the Brewery Quarter off St. Mary St. We wandered around trying to decide which one to frequent when we passed 'Mia Porto Due', a Portuguese / Italian restaurant. They were playing Gyspy Kings on the tannoy, so that was me won over straight away!
They had me at 'Bamboleo'!

I headed in there like it was opening day at Comic-Con!
I ordered fresh Sea Bass, which was brought to the table with head, tail, fins, the works.
I'm sure that's probably a very fancy way of doing it and I should have been impressed, but as I tried to find my way into the sucker, I couldn't help feeling that I was paying someone else to let me do all the work!
Happily the bass was utterly delicious and worth the major surgery.

We rolled out of there stuffed to the back teeth and headed for home. Once ensconced, former flatmates and I slipped right back into doing what we did best: drinking tea and watching Asian movies.
In honour of my impending move we watched a Korean movie, 'The Good, the Bad, the Weird'.
It had some very funny moments, some hide behind my hands moments and a kick ass soundtrack which I shall be downloading from iTunes without delay. So all in all, a good night!

The next morning, Saturday, we girded our loins and set off for town, determined to get me black boots for Korea. I have been reliably informed that I can forget about purchasing shoes for my giant, Western feet in Ulsan. Happily, I have found a few shoe websites that deliver to Korea, but I didn't want to take any chances with the boots, so off we went braving the Queen Street saturday hordes.

After a mere five shops I got a great bargain and that objective reached, we were free to indulge in some serious window shopping.
I do mean serious, we're talking treat of hyperventilation here!
We went to Paperchase, which is stationary HEAVEN! In which place we showed remarkable restraint and discipline, so when we came out we agreed that we should reward ourselves with tea and scones at The Plan cafe in Morgan Arcade. (listed by The Guardian as one of the top 50 cafes in Britain)
Thus fortified we headed to Cardiff Market, with the plan of looking at kittens in the pet shop. The kittens were not in evidence, but Peruvian Guinea Pigs were so I was happy!

We bought Welsh Teacakes, because, let's face it, everybody should at every given oppurtunity and went home to watch the England / France rugby match and have the mother of all cheese feasts.
Mmmmmm, Wensleydale!

On Sunday morning I spent a bafflingly long time on the internet trying to sort out my transport from Cardiff to Salisbury to London and then on to Stansted airport.
Welsh train drivers are on strike Sunday and Monday, so that threw a spanner in the works, so I had to go back to the drawing board and figure out how to get to Bristol and train it from there instead. That done, I then had to go through the tedious process of buying tickets online while telling them every solitary fact of my existence down to and including what I got for my sixth birthday.

I only want train tickets, not a blinkin' mortgage!

Ate some more cheese to calm down and watched the Ireland / Scotland rugby match.
Yaay! Ireland won!

After that we went to see the movie 'Paul'. It was very funny and I loved it and highly recommend it to all!

So now I have come to the end of the Welsh segment of my Road Trip and tomorrow I cross the Severn into England for Phase Two - the Sassenachs!

Catch you on the flipside.

Road Trip!

Oh boy! Have I ever been living up to the 'Accidental' part of my name again!

Those who have known me long and well are very familiar with my periodic inability to cope with (translation: read) timetables and generally assimilate travel related information.
Bit of a handicap for a girl whose major passion in life is travel! I had worked hard to overcome this disability and over the past few years had made good progress - I was even becoming used to the comfort and stress free feeling of being seated on a train ten minutes BEFORE the departure time, rather then jumping into the carriage as it pulled out of the station 'a la Indiana Jones'.

Sadly, last September I suffered a major relapse and arrived at the airport in Bratislava two hours early......and one day late.
But that is nothing compared to the snafus which have occurred over the last 48 hrs.
On Thursday night I was booking my flight from London to Edinburgh with EasyJet. I duly entered the route I wanted and the date I wished to travel. That done I scrolled through the offered flights paying particular attention to departure times. I picked the flight I wanted, bought it and went to write down the flight reservation number...........leaving at 7.15, great, number written down, fine, departing Mar 01 - wtf??!!
That's Tuesday! I wanted Monday, I clearly requested Monday the 28th!
Crap!
*Sigh* Well, it was 11 at night and I had to be up at 4.30am the next morning to catch my 5.30 train to Dublin, so I decided to wait till I was in Cardiff, then contact EasyJet and find out how much it would cost to rectify my error.

So the next day, Friday morning I get my train and head towards Dublin, feeling so tired I'm nauseous and my head feels like it's in a vice. Careful and slow consumption of Sprite and tea had me feeling relatively human by the time I arrived at Heuston station at 8.
However, by the time I was shuffling up the platform I was also in dire need of a loo! So I detoured towards the toilets only to discover that the entry price had rocketed from 20c to 30c.
I only had 20c on me.
Frick! Now I need to go get change. *sigh* Off I trudge to Supermacs, figuring if I have to spend some money I might as well get some food out of it!
I order the 'SuperBreakfast', though I only manage half of it before I'm forced by my bladder to desert breakfast and return to the toilets.
At least this time I have sufficient change.......but wait, what's this sign I see before me?
An 'Out of Order' notice taped to the turnstile. Beside it is a propped open door allowing customers free entry.
AAAArrrrrrggggggghhhhhh!!!!!!! You mean I didn't need the blasted change!!! I could have gone to the loo and then eaten ALL of my breakfast in peace??!!!

FECK!!!!

Ablutions taken care of, I head for the Airport Bus and arrive at Dublin Airport in good time at 9am. Sadly, here is where I continue to be accident prone. It's my first time at the airport since the opening of Terminal Two, so I'm keeping my eyes peeled to try and figure out where I need to get off the bus. My print out from the Aer Lingus booking leaving me none the wiser.
We pass Terminal Two first and Aer Lingus is clearly marked as being one of the airlines, so I get out here.
Once inside I check out the departure board and find my flight to Cardiff.

10.00 Cardiff Go to Terminal 1.


Are you kidding me!!!!

Off I go in search of a yellow jacket - find a member of staff who gives me directions and off I trudge to Terminal 1. I get there and find the Aer Lingus check in desk, which is unmanned. Try to check in at the Fast Pass machine, but have no joy there either, so then I go to the Aer Lingus Information desk to see what's occurrin'.

"You've missed your flight."
"What?? It's 9.15! The flight is at 10.00!!"
"Yes, but the check in desk closes 45 mins before take off, but as you're here before actual take off, for a mere €75 I can book you a seat on the next available flight!"
"And when is that?" (I ask warily)
"3pm"
"Just for kicks, how much would it cost to change my flight from Cardiff to Edinburgh?"
"€75 as well, and that flight leaves at 2pm."

At this stage I'm sore from kicking myself and wondering if it wouldn't be easier just to go straight to Scotland. I spend ten minutes weighing my options (can't take too long, cos I have to get it sorted before my booked flight leaves the tarmac) and decide that I don't want to miss seeing my mates in Cardiff, Salisbury and London, so I go back and fork over the money to change my flight.

Then settle on a seat in the lounge to while away the hours.
Thank God for my Amazon Kindle!
On the bright side I get some badly needed sleep for an hour.
Well, I say sleep,....... I mean doze, .........well, sit for an hour with my eyes closed.


Whatever, it was badly needed time out.

Come boarding time, I was in for another shock - turns out that while technically an Aer Lingus flight, they had contracted out the Aer Arann (hence the hike to Terminal 1).
They were putting us on a baby plane! It had propellers and only one door!

One of the fellow passengers made a Buddy Holly comment which was totally uncalled for and did nothing to help me nurture a sense of adventure about the affair. Then I was seated in the very first row, which had me thinking:
"Meep! If anything happens I'm toast!"
But actually it turned out to be a good thing, cos I reckon if I had been seated behind the propellors I'd have been deafened for life!

So what with one thing and another I finally got the Cardiff Central Station at 5.30 and got see my former flat mates for the first time in 18 months!

All's well that ends well!

Miscellaneous Stuff and stuff

This post has no particular theme as I have about 17 different things to talk about......ok, five, and just can't be bothered to lovingly craft them into one cohesive theme.

So instead I'll just blurt everything out and possibly edit late. Ain't technology grand?!

In my last post I shared that I was applying for jobs hither and yon from Spain to Japan and leaving it up to God........and rather delightfully, it worked a treat.
For all my applications I was only getting nibbles from South Korea, which resulted in my accepting a job in an elementary school in Ulsan, on the south eastern coast of South Korea. It was only after I had accepted the post that I started hearing back from my other applications. Clearly Himself Upstairs wasn't giving me a chance to be distracted on this one!

Fair enough says I, thrilled at the prospect of a furnished apartment all to myself and rent free at that. Those who know me well will be in no way surprised to hear that I am already dreaming of filling the flat with house plants and purchasing goldfish!
Spring is in the air and I have an urge to nest, let joy be unconfined!

So then began the planning and the plotting and the surfing. My delight in the apartment was tempered by the discovery that Koreans aren't big on ovens and I won't get one in the flat. What's a baking obsessed girl to do?
Well, what I did was send an electronic lament to my old mate Stu, who has been teaching and living in Korea for several years. The darling man emailed me a week later to tell me that he had a counter top oven for me. So I shall be able to bake Irish brown bread and muffins galore and therefore my popularity in Ulsan in assured.

Phew!

Then began the paperwork. Not that I have any basis for comparison, but it felt like getting an E2 work Visa for Korea was something akin to getting security clearance for the Pentagon.

See for yourself, I had to dispatch via DHL:

One sealed college transcript in an official college envelope
One copy of my cv
One healthcheck form
One signed copy of employment contract
One police certificate - apostilled
One certified copy of my university degree - apostilled
One certified copy of my tefl certificate - apostilled
One photocopy of passport
Two passport photos


I got the Police certificate at my local police station and while I was there got my degree and tefl copies certified, naievely assuming that the sworn testimony of a guard would be sufficient.
Tchah! Silly me.

In blissful ignorance I sallied forth to the Department of Foreign Affairs in Cork, 90 mins on the bus, 5 mins walk to the Passport office - only to be told the police stamp isn't good enough, get it done by the college.
Back on the bus, 90 mins back to Limerick, and in Kildimo just in time to do a shift in the pub.
Next morning, into Mary Immaculate, get stamps, get cab to bus station, 90 mins on bus to Cork, get to passport office, fork out €60 for three apostilles, get directions to the nearest post office and head there, tennis shoes squelching in the pouring rain.
I got to the post office and prepared to send everything off.
"Wait! You need the telephone number."
"Sigh! Where is the nearest internet cafe?"
Trudge there, huddling under my pathetically inadequate umbrella.
Get a computer, get phone number, return to post office, send off documents.
Race back to bus station, detouring through Marks & Spencers on the way to get nosh.
90 mins back to Limerick, my brother picks me up at the station and I head home for a power nap before pulling the late shift in the pub.

Total cost of the endeavor: €150
Paving my way to Korea: Priceless!

(sorry, I couldn't resist!)

That done, I was able to move on to more important questions like:
"Will I be able to buy shoes in Ulsan?" , "How do I ask for a half leg wax in Korean?" and "What the frick will I do for Christmas?"

Turns out that I won't be able to buy shoes in Ulsan as I am too much of a decadent Western clodhopper and they don't stock shoes for giants. (I'm a size 40!)
The silver lining in this cloud is that this weekend I will be visiting my friends in Cardiff, who understand the importance of pretty shoes and will happily shop with me, breaking only for tea and cheese.

On Friday I set off on my 'Farewell tour of Britain', (no it's not a pompous title, thank you very much!)

I start in Cardiff, Friday morning till Sunday morning, then on to Katy in Salisbury for High Tea and Catch Up, then continuing on to Sophie in London for more gossip. On Monday I'm flying north to Edinburgh where I shall spend several days imprinting myself as firmly as possible on my 10 month old God Daughter, in the hope that she will then vaguely recognise me on Skype!

In brief, I shall have a week of shoe shopping, cheese eating and baby hugging. Hot dang!!

Later dudes!

(ok, so I lied about the editing - you'll live)

All Change

Lately I seem to be living up to the 'Accidental' part of my Nom de Plume. My plans to travel to Australia and New Zealand have all come tumbling down.

I should have read the signs, there were enough of them: firstly, the four weeks teaching work I was supposed to get in Germany in October shrank down to one week. I had planned that those four weeks would pay for my plane tickets.
Then there was the whole social welfare fiasco - I applied back in mid October and it is only as of today that I have started getting any money from the state.
So it should have been clear to me for months that I couldn't afford to go backpacking but I had my blinkers on and my head down. I was simply not letting reality intrude on my fantasy.

I finally bowed to the inevitable last Wednesday week and admitted that I was not jetting off on any Antipodean adventures any time soon. I conceded defeat with all the grace and decorum of an overtired three year old! That day was a real 'long dark tea time of the soul', after which my poor mother will never again worry that I'm not 'in touch with my feelings'!


I'm relieved to report however, that once I cleared Australia and New Zealand from my agenda, my life has begun to coalesce into a real focus.
I made a bargain with God - I'll apply for absolutely every TEFL job I come across and leave everything after that up to Him.
So far I have applied for jobs in Spain, Italy, Japan and South Korea. The only nibbles I'm getting back are coming from South Korea.

Did I say nibbles? They're about biting my hand off! The only reason I don't have a job already is that this week is a national holiday for Korean New Year. As it is I have two phone interviews lined up for Monday morning with Korean recruitment agencies.

So as of this evening it looks like I'm heading to Korea, but if I have learned anything this year it is the utter futility of planning. These days I'm wallowing in fatalism and just living by the maxim 'Let Go and Let God'.

I'll let you know how that works out!

Happy happy joy joy

Two notable things about my last week in Austria:

1) From my last post youĺl know about my standing up for myself to secure better working conditions. Well, not only did they apologise for putting me in such a situation......they have offered me more work in October/November. Now that I know I can take care of myself I had no hesitation in accepting. Ka ching goes my travel fund!

2) The second occurrence of note is that as there were only eight students this week, myself and the other teacher, Chris, were able to join in on the sailing course. I learned how to do knots and everything! On Friday morning we had our exam - which I did in German, thank you very much! I am now the proud holder of a certificate in Basic Sailing from the Austrian Sailing Association.

Apart from the giddy delight of falling head over heels with a new sport, this has also been a great boost for myself and MsAmused and our plans (hopes) of signing on as crew on a yacht sailing from Darwin to Indonesia next spring. All I have to do now is find out the English names for the knots I know!

On Saturday, once I had waved goodbye to Chris and the last of the students I set off for Bratislava.

I was really excited about my first foray into Eastern Europe. I´ve been here two days now and I´m still pinching myself!
My two friends met me off the train, right on the platform. It was a strange and wonderful moment. When I had said goodbye to this couple in Winchester in July I had promised to visit them in Bratislava before Christmas. I meant it with all my heart, but I can´t deny there was a lurking suspicion that it would probably be financially impossible.

Lo! and Behold! Seven weeks later I´m hugging them at Bratislava Hlavna Stancia (main station)

God is very, very good to me. (happy sighs)

And thanks to getting work organised for October-November, Iĺl now be able to keep my other promise to my Polish friends to visit them!

All this is BEFORE I go travelling! heh heh. I am sooooo in love with life right now!

In the next post I will do a proper report on my stay in Bratislava and my reaction to Soviet Chic........

Live long and prosper.

An adult! Who......me??

I was presented with an oppurtunity to `grow and mature´last week. Adult speak for almost finding myself up the proverbial creek without a paddle.
I was informed that I would be running the language camp on my own this week as there would only be 7 students. My heart sank as I read THAT email! The prospect of being effectively on duty from 3pm on Sunday to 12 noon on Saturday AND with no increase in salary mind you!

Well, to begin with I sent back an email of begrudging acceptance but the longer I thought about it the more indignant I got. Until it wasn´t long before I had my high horse all saddled up and ready to go.
I sent off texts / emails to my parents and former TEFL boss, canvassing second opinions - even on my high horse I felt the need of a little back up!
The jury returned a unanimous verdict - No Way Jose!
Thusly vindicated I phoned Head Office and made it clear that sole responsibility was unfair and that as they had neglected to send me a contract (despite my repeated requests), I was under no obligation to stay and could just toddle off to Bratislava a week early.

Which could have really inconvenienced my hosts, but Head Office didn´t know that!
HQ texted me back with an offer: a wage increase of €100. I emailed back a polite refusal. It wasn´t about the money I said. I was terribly grown up about it and used words like ´morally irresponsible´, ´legally suspect´, and even, my favourite: "let´s be frank about this.."

Hah! Get me!!

I braced myself for leaving work a week ahead of schedule, but instead, in fairly short order I received a text and email from HQ apologising for putting me in this situation and reassuring me that I would have a teacher sent to me on Sunday.

RESULT!!

What surprised me most about the whole affair was what it revealed about how I see myself.

I am 33 years old and have been working professionally since I was 20 and yet when put into a mildly confrontational situation, I still had to work up a head of steam and gather a posse of supporters before standing up for myself. Then feeling ridiculously proud of myself for doing so.

All of which begs the question: When will I finally realise that I am, in fact, .....a grown up??

Send in the Clowns!

I am new enough in my career in TEFL that all experience is valuable experience. I learn just as much from the bad students as the good and sometimes more.

But like medicine, just because it´s good for you doesn´t mean it tastes good.

Today is my last day at Circus Camp, tomorrow I start traveling down to Austria for two weeks of surf & sailing camp and as I gird my loins for the fortnight ahead, I remember the words of wisdom my DoS, Mike gave to us: "When you´re working abroad, look for British Council accredited schools, at least you´ll know they are the best ones."

Well, I forgot those words of wisdom and I´m bitterly repenting now. I am working for a company where I am one of the most qualified! All the rest are glorified au pairs gleaned from American colleges. The one or two who can actually teach are the exception rather than the rule.
I have to teach without a black or white board, only minimal materials and ditto for resources.
Of the three teachers here, I am the one with the most German - hah!

All of this whining is because I am tired. Having already done six weeks of proper summer camp work in England, I had four days vegging out in Edinburgh before hopping a plane to Düsseldorf.

At these camps, I am expected to be a teacher, activity leader, group leader, counselor, translator and basically all things to all men. It´s wearing me out!

I fully intend to suck it up and see out the two weeks in Austria - I keep repeating mantra like that the money goes towards my travel fund.

But I still needed to vent a little (ok, a lot!)

I´m sure I´ll be able to look on the bright side tomorrow, especially after an evening all to myself in Neu Ulm.

In the meantime, thanks for listening!