Weekly summary.. Week 4

Words this week; cancion (song) mejor (better) Gustar (to like) molino (mill as in wind mill!) ahumado (smoked as in fish) cordero (lamb) bacalao (cod) cerdo (pork).

The weather…. Hurrah – Finally we have sunshine…!!!! I think every day this week we have had glorious sunshine and it has been warm – which makes me very happy. It is great to see the sun although I don’t see much of it during the working day, after work I am often found walking along the beach or around the port.

Good things this week;
Being set the challenge by the resident (although I am sure I will be nervous come Monday – but we will be nervous together at least..!!).

Running a good newspaper group – this is a discussion based group – thankfully in English as not sure I could manage this in Spanish!) Where we had a good debate on the death penalty…

Teaching some of the residents Iris Folding in art group…

The half way report and gaining clarification I am heading in the right direction which is reassuring for me.

I had a funny incident trying to explain to a Spanish resident the difference between a seated bicycle (where you sit on a chair like seat) and a normal upright bicycle, lets just say it was a mixture of Spanish and sign language but she said she understood and I was quite pleased I managed to explain but I dread to think what anyone would have made of it if they were watching…!!

Being able to make myself understood in Spanish, on a fairly regular basis, although it’s not technically correct it is functional!! I can now string together simple sentences and have some small conversations.

Enjoying a lovely day away from Puerto Banus yesterday, seeing some of real Spain, enjoying authentic Spanish cooking, the company of my supervisor and trying to speak Spanish with her husband which I kind of managed and he was very sweet being patient with me, whilst I am sure it was not technically correct I did manage to communicate...!!

Frustrating times…
I have been trying many times to do washing and dressing training with a resident. Each time my attempts have been thwarted on each occasion due to circumstances beyond my control.

Hearing the residents complain about how much they are rushed in the mornings (which I can see and appreciate both sides of the situation).

Today I had a call when I was in the rehabilitation gym to say that some residents were waiting for me to run the memory class as the psychologist wasn’t in… this was the first I had heard of it…!! Thinking I had forgotten about something, I was worried, however Maria asked if anyone had mentioned it to me before I said no, was the first I had heard of it and so she said forget it..! I think basically I am now seen as one of the team and so they assume I will step in and do things when I haven’t been asked, whilst this is flattering, it also had me worried for a short time this morning….!!

Trying to think of a traditional English dish to cook and realising after a trip round the supermarket it is harder than I originally thought due to lack of availability of ingredients I really hadn’t considered wouldn’t be available. Eg I was considering cooking Kedgeree however I seem unable to get fillets of smoked fish, only slices. Plus on closer inspection of some available ingredients in the supermarket realising that some of the available things are not items I would ever consider eating (eg direct translation of one thing to be found in the meat counter was lamb head (brain) lets just say some of the things I saw I didn’t bother to look up in my dictionary as sometimes ignorance is bliss…..!!!). Anyway on the subject of cooking I think now that I am going to try fish pie as even minced lamb for shepherds pie didn’t appear available and the minced beef didn’t look v nice…. I realise more than ever how lucky/spoilt we are in UK regarding the sheer availability or accessibility to good ingredients we have. Bear in mind that the supermarket that I use is probably the Spanish equivalent to Waitrose so not exactly the lower end of the market..!!

Things to look forward to…
I have literally just had a call to say I am off to the mountains tomorrow (Saturday) another kind offer by Maria for me to join her and her friends for the day. This is another opportunity to escape Puerto Banus!! I have been told I need suncream, bottle of water etc and so think early tomorrow I need to head out to the shop as in my haste to pack when I left for placement I didn’t consider suncream in my packing (which now with hindsight was perhaps a little stupid considering where I was going!)...!
The slight down side is that I feel bad that it is another weekend I won’t see Jasbir and hope she is ok.

Sunday – I am hoping to go DIVING…YIPPPPEEEEEEEEEE!!! I am very very excited about this and looking forward to it..

Next week, we have a series of activities happening here and it promises to be a very busy week indeed with a singer on Monday, (the one I am introducing in Spanish) 40 children from a local school coming on Thursday and a Flamenco dancer coming in on Friday, so as you can see there is enough to keep me out of mischief next week!!