Hats and Baths

It seems I've neglected this blog once again. Sorry, blog. I'm back now.

One reason for my lack of writing is that since finishing my exams, I've been grappling with 'real-life', and attempting to work out what to do with it. In between application forms and scouring the Internet for jobs, I've been filling my time with a number of things:

I am in there somewhere, although you can mainly see my chin.

As you probably guessed from the photo, I graduated. I donned my cape and silly-hat, and collected my certificate from the Vice Chancellor of The University of Reading. And that was that. Four years of my life gone, almost £30,000 spent, and all for a certificate and an envelope. It was still a good day, and it was nice celebrating the day with everyone from the last four years. In a nice little circular loop, I graduated next to Michael, who I met on the first night in Windsor Hall on 30th October 2007, when we realised we had both foolishly signed up for French and Politics.

Michael and I, survivors of many lectures together.

On another note, for the past couple of weeks, I've been teaching in an English-language summer school, run by an organisation called 'EJO'. We've taken over a wing of The Abbey School in Reading, and have filled it with a variety of children from a variety of countries. In the last week I've been teaching Omanis, Italians, Spaniards and Russians. Their time in England is a mix of English lessons, excursions and activities, all of which I seem to play a rather active role in. So far, they've been on trips to Bath, Bristol, Winchester, London, Oxford, and they'll go to Stonehenge, Salisbury, and London again in the next week.

A Roman Bath. Could do with a clean.

The Royal Crescent. Terraced housing for rich people.

My lessons so far have been fairly similar to those from my year abroad. I've done adverts, newspapers, debates, tongue-twisters and grammar, and even plucked up the courage to lead 15 Russian children in a rousing rendition of 'Let It Be', accompanied by my fumbled strumming on a guitar.

I'm sure there's been much more going on than just graduating and teaching, but that'll do for now. I'll try to keep more up-to-date in future.