Bulgaria with Noodles

We had to go to Veliko Tarnovo for a few days, as I needed to take the car into the Toyota garage. On our way back from the airport, we had a small accident. The Toyota people reckoned that they can get it all sorted by Friday afternoon and that was good news. On the way to the garage on Wednesday morning, some of our neighbours were pointing at the bumper and so I stopped the car. The bumper was nearly falling off, but fortunately the neighbours found a piece of wire and fixed it on again. We have been watching some things on Youtube, as here in VT we have a "smart TV". Well, the one we have back in Daveri is a very stupid one, as the only things that I watch are CNN and DVDs. We have started on "Down Abbey" again, all thirty or maybe forty DVDs. Perhaps normal TV programmes will become a thing of the past, just like VHS replaced Betamax. Although my old friend John Cann has had his hip replacement operation, he has found it pretty tough going. He has had to go...

It was nearly ten years ago that we left Qatar, but I still get e-mails and other messages from teachers who are interested in teaching there. Dear Simon, I hope all is well with you, the wife and the dog.  I have been following your blog and the badminton 'court' looks great. You probably don’t remember, but I was due to go to Haileybury, Almaty with my family before Covid and then Hangzhou this year.  Hangzhou didn’t happen, as the school could not get visas for the kids, so we have ended up in one of your old stomping grounds, Qatar. To say we are underwhelmed is an understatement.  Both Qatar and the school area are major disappointments. The positives about the school is that it is truly international and our two primary-aged kids have settled well. We were told that the school was one of the better schools in Doha and had a good reputation.  If this is good, I wouldn’t want to see a bad one! From a teaching perspective, it is tough.  They have the lo...

Recently I had some WeChat with Angela, who used to be one of the board members for Shenzhen International Fellowship. This gives me an excuse for including lots of our old China photos. Hi Simon, I hope you and Irena are well! I was hoping for your feedback. I’ve submitted an application to Green Oasis as a Year 2 teacher. How was your time there? Is it a place you would recommend? Dear Angela, hooray! Yes, I did indeed teach at GOS for five years. On the whole, I really enjoyed it. POSITIVES? The school paid the rent on our two-bedroomed apartment, next to Lianhuacun Park, the students were lovely, the school was fairly well resourced and the hours were okay. Some very good colleagues. NEGATIVES? The food was horrible, ditto the dining room and some parents could be too pushy. The school follows the English curriculum (more or less) and that might be an issue for you. Also there were too many MEETINGS. (I hate meetings, in case you had not guessed). On the whole, I really enj...