Chilean Music

I am currently sat in a square yellow room. I have two mirrors. A wardrobe that has been turned inside out and a better internet connection then I get at home. I’m back at the Abbey College. I’ve been back 36 hours and already they’ve been just as eventful as my summer here last year. After having dinner I drove here to find out that in 20 minutes time we would have 50 students from Chile arriving. I don’t speak Spanish. I’ve just gotten to grips with English. Sometimes I wonder whether I’m right for this job. I feel so lazy as a Briton, not knowing more than one language. The coach arrived and we shepherded the students to the assembly and then the canteen before taking them to their rooms. The accommodation I was in charge off was KR which involved quite a walk. The doors –like most of the college’s- have a code, which sounds pretty simple once you know it. However, I couldn’t get it to work. I felt so guilty. I was surrounded by tired, cold, jetlagged students who had travelled hundreds of miles and yet because of me were not able to travel 3ft into their house. So I busied myself with making small talk. The kids were surprised at my age, as they reckon I look 18. Now I don’t know if this is a compliment or not really. All because I shaved away the beard. Eventually, Zozo arrived with a minibus laden with luggage and managed to open the doors. I then walked back to unpack my things from the car. I’m the only one in my accommodation at the moment, as the academics haven’t arrived back yet. It was cold. So cold. I ended up wearing my hat in bed and wrapping myself up in anything that would offer warmth. Basically the boiler wasn’t working so I had no heat. Again, so cold. This morning I decided to get up early and drove home to pick up some thermals and a sleeping bag. Mum was surprised and Laurence probably didn’t realise. Having showered I bombed it back to Malvern and managed to fix the boiler. I put it on continous, which means the heat is on permanently. You really know that you appreciate the little things in life when the best thing in you whole day is when the radiator stars to radiate. Having donned my red shirt as an activities officer I bounded into breakfast content but still a bit cold. Whilst the students were in meetings I set about cleaning out the DJ box. The only problem was that they had lost the key. Since October. Sigh. The intriguing thing is that they’ve still been able to get in, which is an interesting trick. Apparently the process itself is an “art form” which is why that at about 10 this morning I was stood with a long plank of wood threaded through a hole at the front of the room, trying to open the door from the inside. Nicki would have been proud of my McGyver like abilities. However, I couldn’t master the “art” and Mike the caretaker opened it. After cleaning out the DJ box me and Zozo suddenly realised we didn’t have a decent football to use with the kids. And guess what? The pump was broken. Eventually I found two that were lurking in the gym. Whilst Zozo took football, I took a big group up in the hills. This was one of my favourite activities to take last summer as I love walking. This time I more time to kill so I took them on a longer walk going towards the well and up on to the hills in one big circuit. I like the activity as well because it gives you the opportunity to chat to the students and to learn about them and their culture. We didn’t get back till it started to go dark and they were very tired. The reason it took so long was due to a late start and several photo opportunities along the way. After dinner our evening activity was a disco which turned into a Chilean education of music for me. These kids have a great taste in music. One guy has and Ipod nano which can fit inside a wallet with 8Gb of music! That’s crazy. But he has an amazing playlist. I have now returned to my warm room now and am procrastinating til I start work tomorrow afternoon. By the way, I have applied to university in Exeter and am eagerly waiting to hear from them. I also have in the pipeline a trip to New Zealand. Which means that this should hopefully be a busy year. Christmas was a good laugh. I worked a lot of it at the Wagon Wheel with my earnings paying for the service/MOT of my car (The Welsh roads destroyed my exhaust pipe and drive shaft). I have a job interview next week for a Teaching Assistant job which I’m strangely looking forward to. It’s timed nicely with this job as it gives me plenty to talk about.