I've calmed down now...

Today has been a really really bad day, so I just want to put it behind me! I'm going home this weekend, for an impulsive journey to London. It's only £80 inc. taxes return, so you can't go wrong really. I'm going by RyanAir, I'm not sure what they're like. I've tried all the other budget airlines, so I might as well see how these fare!

Mark's going to meet me there and we're going to have a little weekend together. He was meant to come here, but due to Bolton University doing sommat mental with his timetable, it means that that's the first week of his 2nd semester, so he has to be there really. So I'm visiting him! How nice!

Anyhew, better go and help do tea,

Ben xxx

Mala Leche

WHAT A LOAD OF FUCKING BOLLOCKING SHIT!! FUCKING FANNYING ABOUT LIKE A TIT
DURING A POLE DANCE IN THIS FUCKING ARSE-WANK PLACE!!

And that's swearing...

Lisbon T-27

Hi gang,

Well, the 5 of you that read this!! Well, Blanchettes, my period here in Spain is nearly over and done with. I'm a bit ambivilous about leaving Casellón. At the end of the day, it has been my home for 5 months, and you sort of get used to a place after a while. I'm sure I would have enjoyed it much more if I had been here over summer!!

Well, at least I'm going somewhere nice for Summer! I'll be in sunny old Lisbon! I'm so looking forward to it it's untrue!! I'm excited about going and experiencing a different place and getting used to a different culture. You know, I think I could do almost anything after this. Afterall, I have moved my entire life over to a foreign country, where I know only my flatmate, but you know what? I survived it!! As Heather Small asks in her song Proud, "What have you done today to make you feel proud?" Plenty! I've setteled in at work, greatly improved my Spanish (I have my off-days though!) and managed to survive in what is frankly, a place very different from my customery territory of Manchester. My workmates didn't hang me for being a gay, in fact Gemma was showing me all the places to go out to that I didn't kow about.

So yeah, I'm happy at the end of it all. I feel like I can do anything! It's a mad feeling! I suppose I'm happy at how I've coped and managed with everything. I miss all my mates, I miss Mark and I miss mum, dad and Jenny (however nowty she is!), but I coped ok. Bar a few teary moments in the first few weeks. I remeber one occasion coming in after my mega-slog journey and having had Mª Carmen (landlady) waffling to me for ages about the flat and she'd gone, I just broke down for about half an hour. It's a necessity though, I consider it to be part of the transition, and it does good to get it out of the system!

I've not achieved as much as I hoped I would have done, language-wise, but ye olde Spanish has definately improved, and once I get going, I'm actually quite good, which gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside! Carmen and Nacho both say I can speak Spanish well, and I trust them, so there!!

So... to the land of the Portuguese! It'll be a weird change at first, not having my flatmate ther with me, but hopefully it'll give me the impetus to get out there and meet people. I also decided that Alamada was too far and crossing a river on a ferry every morning would wear thin after about the 3rd time of doing it! So, now, Maria Rosário Braga da Cruz (yep that's her name!! HOW LONG?!) who is the ERASMUS co-ordinator at ISLA (Instituto Superior de Línguas e Administração) has managed to sort a room out in a flat for me!! How helpful is that?! She's got it with other students/workers in a commuter town on the beach called Oeiras.

Apparently Oeiras is a lovely place to live and pass summer! So, if I'm there until August, it'll be fantastic!! I'm going to try and get a job in Lisbon in a bar or a theatre so I can earn and learn at the same time! The CVs are being sent off this week. 5 years in a Box Office have got to be worth something...

Well, I'm going to sign off now, it's late, but I can't sleep! Must have popped a pro-plus instead of paracetomol before. Oh, just following from my last post, here're what I've got on my desk at work...

Ye olde printing calculator from 1995

Ye Olde Brother Daisywheel Typewriter

Jesús' 1970's Typewriter
(Yes, there's somone called Jesús at work; it's a common name here!)
On Jesús' desk, but I thought I'd put it on to show you how old it all was!

Anyway, yes, so, after that bout of randomness, I'm off!

Até logo os meus amigos! Obrigado pelos vossos comentarios!

Ben xxx

New Year, New Desk

¡Hola! (Mel B stylee)

Well, I've only got 5 more weeks in the crazy world of Spain - how quickly
time passes!!! lol I've been moved to another office now, and there's 5
people to talk to, and they're really nice. I sit infront of Carmen and we
all just bitch about the boss all day!! He's like Rickey Gervais in The
Office, totally random, but we all get a laugh out of it!!

So yes, New Year, New Desk (well, I say new...). There's evenmore 80's
retro office furniture! I've now got a typewriter (!) and one of those big
early nineties printing calculators, as well as my PC. Honestly, it's
definately a timewarp! I'm looking forward to going to Lisbon. I think I've
found somewhere to live; I'm just waiting for the guy to send me some
photos of the place, and if all is well, I'll go with him. It's in Almada,
which is on the other side of the river. He says the easiest way into
Lisbon is by ferry!! Me think's I'll end up falling overboard when tipsy!!
Good job I can swim!

So, I'm really looking forward to Lisbon, and I hope it'll be much better
than Castellón. I think it will be. There's many a gay bar there (you know
how we gays are with our bars!) and it looks like a really beautiful city.
My uni's a trek out in Carnide, but it's not going to be the end of the
world! It's on the metro line, and there's one every 3 minutes at rush
hour, so there'll be no Metrolink-esque waiting shenanigans like back home.
I'm looking forward to all the food the cheap spirits (they don't use
measures - they just guess!!), and of course the beach when summer comes
round again! I'm staying there until the middle of August so I can top the
tan up, and make everyone jealous when I come back to ye olde Lowry! lol It
can be like my very own little summer holiday!

I´m looking forward to going around Portugal, and I believe it'll be easier
as I'm in the capital and there's a fair few trains to the other regions.
Mark's helping me move, so that should go fine. We're going on the
trenhotel, so all should be well.

Well, ta-ra for now,

I'll post again sometime soon!

Ben xxx

Actually, what *IS* the point?

***Found this from before Christmas, waiting to be sent t'blog ... how
bitter was I? Happy New Year everyone!!***

Today, as I comb-bound some documents for Ulí, I found myself asking this
very question in regards to learning a foreign language. Last night I was
looking on the BBC News website, when I found a section about people
learning languages, and how students are less likely to take a language to
degree level etc., and this got me wondering.

Most language students like me struggle through the British education
system to do the best we can. I was lucky, I had a brilliant Spanish
teacher in high school, and I feel that had it not been for her, I wouldn't
be studying my degree in Spanish. She was a fiesty lady, who was actually
Spanish. Some people are not so lucky. They have crappy teachers who don't
know how it is best to teach a language. Furthermore, in the vast majority
of English schools, we are taught the oh-so predictable French as a first
foreign language.

I studied French for a year, only so I could get out of PE. I was allowed
to take it as my second foreign language as I was good at Spanish. In
comparison, French is much more difficult than French. I think Spanish is a
much more regular language, and for me, it is easier to read and pronounce.
The system of accents is much more simple: 5 acute accents for stress (á,
é, í, ó, ú); the 'ñ' which is a seperate letter; and ü to signify that the
'u' is pronounced in -güe or -güi when it normally wouldn't be. Whereas
French has a vertiable range of accents, that at 12 I found hard to cope
with.