This time last

View from my window.

Lots of snow overnight and more forecast. Everything in Budapest is covered in a blanket of whiteness.

Stay (I missed you)

Nice is completely perfect, and I am not surprised as to why so many people flock here from all over the world. The streets are lined with candy coloured buildings with adorable shutters that serve more than an asthetic purpose. Being in France again is strange, and beautiful. I understand what is going on around me and watching the news this morning, like I did every day when I lived here is fantastic, and has reminded me that I had a life here.

I went to Monoprix yesterday and bought all those little things that I never realised I had missed, chicory coffee, chocolate milk bread and I could have spent hours in there. I love speaking French, my mouth gets all pouty and small, but my ability remains the same. Maybe I imagined that I would come back fluent, but that has surprisingly been not the case.

It feels like a bit of a break, being away from school. Even though it is still work, an alternative setting and routine seems to make everything a little more exciting. Looking outside the windows there are palm trees, but it is snowing in Budapest. Sometimes, I feel so International...

Too much to do, too little weekend to do it in...

I had a busy day yesterday. Met A in the morning for a trip to the Chinese supermarket and to exchange life stories over a McDonalds cappucino. After that I legged it to Vaci to get a present for D so that I can give it to J to pass on when I see her in Nice next week. Finally, a couple of hours pretending to watch Rugby in the Caledonian and I made it home. Now, my Sunday has been spent baking cakes for a parent at school and looking at my open suitcase and piles of washing.

I am getting nervous about going to France, as leading a workshop is going to be more than a bit scary. As the flight leaves before the end of work on Wednesday, I only have a couple of days to perfect the whole thing and get ready for a few days away. No-body with any sense complains about getting the chance to go to Nice as part of work though.

The Autumn term is ticking along nicely and there are only four weeks to go now before Christmas in beautful Yorkshire with family and friends. The weather is getting gorgeously cold as it has been far to mild for the time of year. I'm settling into my second year in Hungary, and the next few weeks have lots of treats coming up. Before you know it, I'll be in Krakow, then driving home from the airport in Manchester. 2009 seems to be whizzing towards me.

Angus, thongs and full frontal snogging

I have been a little homesick this week, as it was Bonfire night on the 5th of November and I haven't had toffee apples, hot dogs and hot soup in a polystyrene cup whilst watching fireworks in I don't know how long. I have amazing memories of Village Bonfires from when I was little, and I have no idea when I will next get to sway among the masses all snuggled up in wellies, scarves and mittens. I feel so much more English now that I live abroad, a feeling that seems to grow with the passing years

I have also been ill again. Budapest makes me sicker than any other city, I always seem to be full of cold and last winter I know that I had more days off ill than in the entire rest of my career. It must be something to do with the fact that even though we are practically in the middle of November, the weather is still alarmingly mild. If we just had a chance to drop below zero for a couple of days it would kill off a lot of the germs, instead of catching the same ones over and over again.

What the illness has given me though, is the time to fall in love with some new books. The girls in my form are all in love with Louise Rennisons series of diaries by fictional 14 year old Georgia Nicholson. The first book has the glorious title of Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging, but there is also the classically titled 'Knocked out by my Nunga Nungas' among others. Make no mistake, these are books for girls, but they are just brilliantly written, witty, sharp and roll around on the floor laughing. I have read the first six and have to wait for some selfish students to bring back the last two to the library so that I can read them. For adults, if you want some insight into the female teenage mind, read these. It sent me swinging back into my own childhood and early teenage years and I have to say that Rennison is just about spot on in her descriptions of the teenage brain. Hilarious, hilarious, hilarious.

Lazy girls and random photos

I've been on two outings recently that I took my camera to, but I have just been too plain lazy to copy the pictures and post them. Here they are, some of Warsaw and a couple of Kerepesi cemetery on All Souls Day last weekend.