Summer Lovin´ (or not so much)

I´m going back to work next week, after six long weeks off I´m definitely looking forward to getting back into it, meeting the new kids, having a proper routine again, BUT I´m not looking forward to waking up at 6am, having a class full of crazy kids every full moon (yes that does happen!) Or staff meetings (The bain of my life)´

But I can´t help but think that I should be making better use of my summer holidays, last year I spent most of my time dying from the heat, laid on the sofa in my pants, and I vowed not to do that again this year, which I haven´t thank God but I still didn´t do a great deal.

I had great plans, I was going to do Yoga every day (which lasted about a week) I was going to learn French (yeh that didn´t happen either) I was going to write, write and write. I had visiones of me sitting in a coffee shop with my laptop every day writing THE book, you know THE Book, the one that we all have inside, that everyone says they´re going to write one day... One day...

Well so what did I do... We had a week in Portugal, which was incredibly beautiful, but I actually have no idea what i´ve done with the other five weeks of my time, cleaning, cooking, sitting in my husband´s office scouring pinterest for recipes and house decorating ideas most likely.

The trouble is that in Madrid in July and August, the heat is so unbearable that everyone leaves. Everyone goes to the beach. EVERYONE. Businesses close, your friends are gone, 90% of the people that you see in the street are tourists. And because we generally have one week away with the Spanish fam, we´re in Madrid the majority of the time and it´s BORING here in summer!

It´s too hot to be in the street, or in the house, or anywhere that doesn´t have aircon, no-one is here, there´s only so much internet searching and Modern Family watching you can do before your brain turns to mush.

So yes, i´m probably the only one counting down the days before I go back to work, but it´ll probably only be a few weeks before I´m counting down the days until the next summer holidays!

Namaste

So, while my house might be an absolute tip! (a combination of it being too hot to clean and me being lazy) i´m taking up a couple of new hobbies while I have six weeks off work (The perks of being a teacher)

As you will have seen if you follow me on Twitter I started doing a 30 day yoga challenge. Days 1-4 shakey start but I was proud of my achievements, then day 5 NO! There is no way in hell I could do anything the girl was doing and I started to think, hmm, maybe this isn´t for beginners...

So I searched yoga for beginners on YouTube and it came up with this video I highly recommend it if you´re thinking about starting some yoga practice. Adriene explains everything really well and I felt I was actually doing the same as her and that my body was actually in line as i´ve never felt before (this is the third time i´ve "started" to take up yoga)

I could do with some tips though, if anyone has any idea how to stop your hands slipping while doing downwards dog... or do I have overly sweaty hands?! Please tell me other people have this problem!

My other new "hobby" well it isn´t really a hobby, is, i´m learning French. I surprised myself (and everyone else) at how quickly I learnt Spanish so I decided to give French a go, I know i´m not going to be as fluente in French as I am in Spanish because I don´t live in a French speaking country but my sister in law is French so when I get to the point where I can speak I can practice with her.

I´m using Duolingo which is great, because you can do as little or as much as you like a day and you can use your computer or your phone, and it´s FREE!! And who doesn´t love a freebie?!

And now that i´ve done an hour of French practice and 20 minutes of Yoga, I suppose I should get on with cleaning the house right? Or maybe I´ll wait for Mr Millennial to buy me the new Dyson that I am dying for (I´m definitely old!) which I think will be sometime around the 10th of never...

Melting Pot

Madrid has turned into an inferno!

I´m sitting here writing this in my pants and a vest top, swigging back water like it´s going out of fashion, dreading the fact that tomorrow I have to go to work, wearing a uniform! Trousers and a polo shirt is hell in summer in Madrid!

Just two more weeks... Two more weeks of work then I have six weeks off. Which sounds amazing and to be honest in England it was but last year we spent one week in England, (Nice and cool) one week in Portugal (Nice and cool) and I spent four weeks dying and sweaty in a house which seems to be hotter than outside, and no air con, only a fan to blow the hot air around.

This week we´ll have to abandon the upstairs of our loft and decamp to the living room, sleeping (trying to sleep) on a blow up bed with the balcony door open and a bowl of ice placed infront of aforementioned fan to ty to cool the place to below 700degrees!

For all of you who are thinking of leaving the UK for somewhere with a bit of sun, THINK, and I mean seriously THINK about it before you take the plunge. We Brits are not cut out for two months of 40degree heat!

Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot

Summer is officially coming! Or it´s here, I never know. But one thing I do know for sure is that Madrid just got about 10 degrees hotter almost overnight!

This isn´t like England hot either, nor is it like the heat you get on the beaches of Spain. This is dry, no wind, just hot air blowing in your face, middle of Spain HOT, that makes your knees sweat and you´re cursing your job for having a uniform!

And over the next two months, it´s only going to get worse!

When I first came to Madrid I didn´t understand when people told me that in August Madrileños leave. They get in their cars, or board aeroplanes and they get the hell out of here! Well now, entering my third summer here I get it. Madrid is Hell in August, especially when you have no air conditioning and you´re forced to resort to "tips" off the internet like placing a bowl full of ice infront of a fan, wearing a dama T-shirt and sleeping with the balcony door open, just so you can sleep at least half the night before waking up fearing you´ve peed yourself before you realise, nope, it´s just sweat!

We haven´t quite reached the sleeping downstairs surrounded by ice, and wearing wet clothes phase of summer just yet but it´s getting close! Really close!!

Time to book our hols to England I think!!