On Wednesday, we ventured into Wales, where Fabio had his first professional hair cut for years, courtesy of Uncle Ron.

Then on Friday we headed into to Liverpool.
We looked around the Albert Dock and also went to the Museum of Liverpool, which was really good. I would highly recommend going!

We also headed to The Cavern Pub, where there was actually a Brazilian band who were going to be playing later on that night!

On Saturday, it was Fabio's birthday. We went to Damon's as if you go on your birthday, you get a free meal and cake. He managed a rack and a half of ribs!

After, we went to Telfords, where there was a live ska band called Buster Shuffle playing. Which judging by the amount of jumping/dancing Fabio did, he loved it!

On Sunday we had a 'Welcome Fabio / Fabio's Birthday / My Birthday / Belated Engagement' Party with the family and dedicated blog reader Siany-Poos!

 We even got a cake with our faces on it!!

Well, Fabio is finally here!

Fortunately he had no problems at immigration. He was 'tested' from the letter of invitation I had written but otherwise it was all fine.

On Wednesday I showed him Helsby and we walked up Helsby Hill.

On Thursday we discovered the delights of Chester.

  Saturday, the parents came back off holiday and Fabio had his first British BBQ!

On Sunday we went to the Pub with the family for Sunday lunch!

And on Monday we managed to get super cheap train tickets down to London. We paid £8.50 for return train tickets for both of us, from Runcorn to Euston with Megabus!!!   We stayed at the Mabledon Court Hotel, which was small but quiet and very clean.

We then did a whistle stop tour of London and came back late Tuesday night!

 Fabio mainly wanted to see lots of traditional British pubs!

But we did squeeze in a visit to see the Queen too!

Yesterday was my last teaching day!!

The last performance with the class was actually the best one I have done yet. We did 'The Aldenham News' with a powerpoint/videos of the students dancing in various places, a weather map, the queen came to visit. The students got all the timing right and it was really good!!

The staff one was the 12 days of Aldenham school. No video of this but I do have the one from last week!



One of the new groups was bit difficult which put a slight dampener on the week but over all it was a good week.

We had our last night out in Watford last night and fulfilled our motto 'go big of go home' and had a 'few' drinks. Fortunately Sunday is the teacher's day off, not so fortunate for the activity leaders!!

I can't believe that the 5 weeks are up. It has gone really  quickly, yet at the same time it feels like I have been here for years. I really didn't want to come and was dreading it and just really needed the money and pastoral experience. It turned out that we had a great team and I have definitely made some friends for life. One of the girls will be living in Sheffield, so I am certain we will hang out!
The company has even asked if I would be interested in Centre Manager next year!

Well.... 2 days until Fabio comes!!!!!!!!!!

Week 4, the end is nearly nigh!

I've been so busy I have not really ad time to blog.

Week 3 was fine. We had the start of the Olympics and nearly got caught in the dress rehersal and nearly lost a child.
We managed to get all the girls back in time and back to the dorms to watch the opening ceremony which was pretty spectacular. It was really nice to be able to watch it with so many different nationalities and see their reactions.
The performance night was really good with another boy dressing up as Rose from Titanic. Another group also did a parody of the teachers, which was hilarious! Apparently I jump around a lot and tell everyone that London is really busy and to stay in a group!

On Sunday, I managed to cadge a lift on the coach when the group when to Cambridge and meet up with Sian.  Cambridge was packed with other language schools and was soooo busy!

2 of the biggest groups that had been here from the start also left, which was really sad as the group leaders were great, friendly and really helpful. As they had been here from the start with us too, it is pretty strange without them here now.

For week week 4 we had 3 Turkish groups arrive to add the the one we had already, so we are pretty over run with Turks at the moment.

It was a really busy week where I was teaching in the morning, then doing visits into London and then evening activities and then night duty!!!

I finally have a day off but will be helping with a trip tonight, as we are all going to see Michael Jackson Thrilller.

A few of the teachers will be leaving as well who are only on a 4 week contract, to the end is definitely nigh......
One more week and then The Fabster arrives!!!

Week 2 was just as busy!!

On Monday, we did a tour around Wembley football stadium and went to Westfield Shopping Centre.
Because the traffic was so bad we spent about 4 hours in traffic. Next week should be interesting when the Olympics actually start!!!

I also did my first trip into London with the kids on tube. It all went well, I didn't lose anyone from my group and we didn't get the wrong trains or anything!

Two of the groups are leaving on Monday and we will be getting some new students in. We are also having to get a new teacher for the week as we will have about 93 students in total.

We had a big performance night where all the class did a play. We had 2 versions of Snow White, The Hangover and Alice in Wonderland. The Alice was a 16 year old very toned and tall Russian boy in a white mini-dress!

We gave out all the certificates and course reports to the students who were leaving. I was then promptly picked up by Sarah who whisked me away to her house for my day off!

Summer School

I just survived my first week of Summer school!

We are at Aldenham School, a private boarding school. At the moment we have about 90 ids from 11-16 from Spain, Turkey, Russia, Portugal, Slovenia and Taiwan.

A typical day is breakfast at 8. Quiet time from 8.30-9. Then 3 one hour lessons in the morning.
There is either activities in the afternoon such as arts and crafts, tennis, football etc and 3 afternoons a week the students go into London. Some nights not coming back until 9.30!

Some evening there are more activities like scavengers hunts, Olympics, discos and that finishes about 10. Then it is quiet time again and lights out at 10.30.
So pretty long days!!

I have a class of 15 students at elementary level and also share a pre-intermediate level with another teacher.
All of my students are lovely, a few troublesome ones, but nothing I can't handle!

All in all it is pretty tiring but I am enjoying it!

I will be missing in action for the next 6 weeks.

Tomorrow I am heading to Cambridge to stay with a friend for a few days, catching up with Monica who I lived with in Brazil, heading to Stevenage for a few days and then *finally* starting some paid work at Aldenham Summer School.

It is a residential position, so I am expecting it to be pretty hectic, especially with trips into London about 5 times a week with the Olympics happening too!

However my reward after this is Fabio is coming to the UK for 3 weeks!!! I have a jam packed tour of the UK already set out for him!

Last weekend I was up in Leeds and house hunting in Sheffield.
I will be moving into a really nice new flat in right next to Norfolk Park and sharing with another mature student who is studying Radiography.
I lunced with the ladies at Dock Street Markets, which was delicious! It has a really kitschy Brooklyn type feel and does live music. As well a Brazil night once a month.

We also went to Fazenda, a Brazilian Steakhouse.  They had a surprisingly large selection of vegetarian food, as well as all the typical meats and chicken hearts! Our waiter was from Brazil and it turned out that he is from Curitiba and has family in Joinville. Such a small world!! We had a very brief chat in  Portuguese and the whole meal made me miss Brazil even more!

I have still be getting arty and the latest one is converting my passport into a piece of art!

Source: Uploaded by user via Jocelyn on Pinterest

I have also been making letters for people for Christmas too!

Source: Uploaded by user via Jocelyn on Pinterest

So keeping busy until I start teaching in July!

Helsby Queen's Diamond Jubilee Parade

 I was roped into being the photographer for the Helsby Queen's Diamond Jubilee Parade.
It was predicted by the Chester Chronicle to be a pretty big event. Turns out... it was!!

We had a huge turn out for the parade and lots of stalls at Helsby Community Sports Centre, with fair ground rides, welly chucking, pony rides, maypole dancing, cheer leaders and lots more.

You can see more photos here.



Also photos of the Beacon lighting here.

Olympic Torch passes through Chester!

Yesterday the torch came through Chester, as I have lots of spare time on my hands at the moment, I volunteered to help marshal the event. 

I was stationed by the race course, where there was a huge show, which unfortunately I didn't get to see any off.

However I did mange to get a glimpse of the torch as it went past, but as I was technically supposed to be managing the crowd, my photos weren't that good.

 Here are some borrowed from various websites:

 

Inside the racecourse

 Fortunately I did actually get to hold one! So it was worth standing in the scorching heat in a highly attractive high vis jacket for 5 hours!

 

 There is also a local news video here.

After being placed on the reserve list for the PGCE, I received a letter saying that I been offered a place.
So, as of September I will be a student again! It is nice to have a plan for at least the next year and will hopefully bring me better career prospects long term and all that grown up stuff!

As my summer job hasn't started yet I have a lot of time on my hands. I have made all the birthday cards I need for the rest of the year, made all my Christmas cards and started ideas for Christmas presents. I figure that the PGCE is going to be pretty stressful and I know we have a deadline after Christmas so might as well get on top of things now!

I have also started the couch to 5k running plan (let's see how this goes!) and went for a walk up Helsby Hill at the weekend!

Also, today it is 7 years since I went to Brazil and volunteered with Cross-Cultural Solutions!
I have said many times on my blog about it being a life changing amazing experience and it really was.

I have been extremely fortunate and lucky to have had some fantastic experiences and meet so many wonderful people!

Let's hope my luck and adventures continue........

Shizzle Dizzle!

Since I have been reunited all with all my  crafty materials and have a lot of spare time on my hands, I have set up an Etsy Shop -

While having a mammoth clear out I found lots of old coins from my travels, and buttons so put them to good use.
I 'opened' the shop yesterday and within 5 hours had my first sale of a key chain to New Jersey!!
Have a look - Shizzle Dizzle!

So I had my PGCE Post-Compulsory Education and Training interview at Sheffield Hallam on Friday.

First we had a group talk. There were 5 of us, of very mixed age range and background. There was an older lady in her late 40's, 2 guys straight out of uni and a girl in her mid 20's. First we were told about the course and the placements etc and given a chance to ask questions.

I had my interview first, while the other 4 stayed in the room together to do the numeracy and literacy test. We were told that they would have no bearing on whether we were selected or not but were to identify where/if we needed support in the course.

I had prepared 5 pages of questions I had researched off the internet, that covered pretty much every questions I thought I could be asked. Things like how does your degree relate to the national curriculum (try answering that with a retail and exhibition design degree!), what are current issues in further education. I had swotted up on the Department of Education website, the TES website, memorised all the Education Ministers and all kinds.

The 20 minute interview was actually really easy. It was more about personality and showing them your passion for teaching. They are not there to test you on your knowledge of higher education/legislation etc.

The questions I can remember are:

• what qualities make a good teacher?
• what qualities do you have as a teacher?
• why did you decide to become a teacher?
• why have you decided to do the course now?
• why Sheffield?
• what are your weaknesses?

 They did emphasis that the course is very stressful and one of the questions was to give an example of when you had to be emotionally resilient and what you did to cope with it. They also asked what type of placement you would want. You have to be really specific here as they will need to sell you to a placement, as they need to know what you want.


The numeracy test was supposed to be 15 minutes, was 10 questions and was pretty easy. Questions like 'It is buy one get one free on fish fingers. They are £1.20, you have £5 how many can you get?

The literacy test was a sample of writing from a non native speaker, you had to identify excess words, insert missing words, explain mistakes and the meaning behind the mistakes. Then there were a few questions about the different tenses, stress and phonemes in words.

All in all, it was really not that stressful (especially after some of the interviews I have had coming back to the UK!!)

As I am hoping to specialise in ESOL, if they do accept me I would have to have another interview with the ESOL department as well.

They said they should let me know within 3 weeks. You either get a yes, no or a reserve. A reserve is they want you on the course but can't guarantee you a placement, so are looking for one.

So let's see.......

Journey Home

After 34 hours of travelling I have made it back to the UK!

My flight path was pretty long and hectic with loooong layovers. I flew from Joinville into to Congonhas and my flight out of Brazil was from Guarulhos.   

View Larger Map

As both flights were Tam I could get a free transfer bus from the airport.

TAM operates a free shuttle service between Congonhas (CGH) and Guarulhos (GRU). Details and the schedule can be found here and here. There is also an Airport Bus Service that everyone can use.

TAM shuttle service

When walking out of baggage claim  at CGH you literally walk straight ahead down the ramp, following the signs to the bus/taxi area. The TAM buses are the first you come to when you cross over the road. There isn’t a sign but the buses were red, blue and white GTA ones. I just  asked a TAM pilot who was also waiting for the bus. There is one for the crew and one for passengers. The journey took about 1 hour and 10 minutes bearing in mind it was a Thursday morning, so no rush hour / holiday traffic. It drops you right outside TAM departures where you check in. 

It was all super smooth and easy, I think I wasn’t stressed as I had a 14 hour layover in SP! I was told I couldn't check in my baggage in until about 5 hours before the flight. So  I had 7 hours sitting by the check in desks. I think I asked the wrong person and probably could have done it earlier. Fortunately I had 254 hours of music, 344 books on my kindle and 6 movies to keep me occupied!

I slept for nearly all of my 12 hour flight to London and then had a 7 hour layover in London. It was originally 30 minutes but there is no way I would have made that and have no idea why TAM even put me on that one!

So back in the cold UK trying to figure out next steps!!

This weekend was spent at the beach, drinking beer, sunbathing and cooling off in the sea!

Fabio and I in the sea cooling off!

Happy Birthday Joinville!

On March 9th it is Joinville's 161st Birthday. In true Brazilian style it is a holiday! They need no excuse!

We are going to stay with friends again at Porto Belo Beach and this time round the weather looks like it will be sunny!!

An a completely different note. I won a competition today with I heart Vintage Button Bouquets. I looooove all of her work and she had a competition where you had to end in a colours and a theme. I chose red and cream with a Brazilian Carnival theme - and won! So now she is making me something with this information!

Have a look at her stuff!!

Yesterday was Lila and Nelson's first wedding anniversary party. I was really happy to go as last year I was also in Brazil for their wedding. I also met Fabio at Nelson's birthday party, so the couple have played an important part in my Brazilian life!


There was lots of beer, a band and lots of espetinhos - or kebabs.  I also got to wear my new 50% off shoes as well!

It was a really good party, one of the highlights for me was talking to new people. Despite the fact I have been here for nearly 6 months now, my Portuguese is HORRENDOUS. I understand nearly everything. But my speaking is so bad that I don't practice,I don't practice, so I don't learn - it's a vicious circle. The past couple of weeks have been a little difficult. I miss not being able to properly communicate and express myself fully. I feel like people here only now half a Jocelyn and not the full scintillating Jocelyn I can be because of the language (and cultural sometimes) barrier.

However it is my fault, I am in a foreign country, I should be speaking their language, so as much as I mope and despair it is my own fault!

I have had a couple of unfortunate incidents. One being at Angelonis. I asked for Pão de queijo. (cheese bread)  That little hat/ nasal sound over the a is very important. Unfortunately I haven't got the nasal sound yet and asked for pau de queijo..... d*ck bread. :( I  also still can't hear the difference between coco  (coconut) and  cocô (poo!)

On the plus side I was in Angelonis the other day and this girl was badgering me to get an Angelonis card. I politely told her no and she was going on about all the offers you get etc. I told her no again and she still went on. So I broke out my rubbish Portuguese and told her 'Eu sou Ingleasa, nao morro aqui' (I am English I don't live here) she was super surprised to see a gringa in Angelonies and left me alone!!

So I am going to try and speak more Portuguese.... we'll see how it goes....

News in Brazil

This weekend was carnival in Brazil, as Fabio was working we didn't go away. I feel like I should make the most of carnival and one day go to Rio or Salvador for it but all those sweaty drunk people rubbing up against you and groping you kind of puts me off!

This carnival was spoilt by some riots in Sao Paulo  Most Brazilians I have spoken to are really embarrassed and ashamed by this especially with the world cup happening here next year.

A building collapsed a few weeks ago  giving people even more concern about hosting the world cup here.
The airports are not ready to receive the amount of fans and football stadiums are still not ready.
The Police keep going on strike because of low pay.  (They are paid about £335 per month, so I agree with them striking about pay)

I am a pretty seasoned traveller so if there are problems in the airport etc, I am pretty calm about it, but take hundreds of football fans and a cancelled flight... not sure it will end up so well.

I really want Brazil to do well with the World Cup and the Olympics in 2016. I want them to show the world that they are capable and I think it could really improve the economy and life for people here. Brazil has so much potential and so many under used resources that if it all went well, Brazil could really boom.

On the up side, some people are starting to realise the potential of Brazil as they are starting to change immigration laws. Because of the lack of jobs in Europe and bad state of economy, apparently a lot of workers are coming over to Brazil. Because it is sooooooo difficult to get a work visa in Brazil, people are working illegally. Because of this people coming in on  tourist visa have to have a return ticket and 170 reais (about £63) per day. The average weekly wage of a worker here is about 250 reais (about £93) per week, so 170 a day seems a bit steep!

Brazil does have it's problem but it is an amazing place with a fabulous and vibrant culture, welcoming and friendly people. Despite it's problems, it stole my heart 7 years ago!

The weekend was spent pretty much the same as last weekend. Hanging out with friends, sushi and going to the river. I was so excited to go to the river as it was 40c. So I sat.. in the river.. with a cold beer and ate water melon for about 3 hours!!

 As I said the weather has been realllllly reallllllly reeallllly hot!
I was in the supermarket food court, as it is near my house and has air conditioning. When I was walking over, the sky looked pretty black. Then just as the lesson started, there was an almighty clap of thunder and all the lights and electricity went out. The generator kicked in, but then that went out too.

All the buildings were out including the traffic lights. When I left it was still raining but not as hard but it was complete chaos with the streets flooded.

3 hours later it is still thunder and lightening but the rain has eased off a bit!!

It was totally flooded down town though!!

Most of last weekend was spent eating!

On Friday we went to Fiji which is a sushi place. They had a buffet for about £10 with all you can eat sushi, pasta, fried shrimp and 10 slices of sashimi. It was really good and I never thought I could get full from sushi but I made sure I got my 30 reais worth!

Saturday, we went to a friend's house to hang out. It was their neighbour's birthday and they were having a huuuge churrascaria (BBQ) and presented us with a massive plate of meat.

 Still happy to be vegetarian!!

On Sunday I went to a friend's parent's house and we ate povo (octopus), with rice, accompanied by lots of beer.

Then we headed to Piraí River. Last time I had been here it wasn't summer. This time is was really busy. If I being a slight snob, with equivalent of Brazilian chavs playing loud electronic music!