Miracle Whip

I have just finished watching Lady Gaga's 'Telephone' videoclip and am very pleased to report that Miracle Whip is the brand of choice in the kitchen scene. It's stellar advertising like this which will ensure my dietary requirement equivalent of water will continue to be stocked in shelves across the world.

Thanks be to the Lady. xo

I invited D to yoga today. Of course he was able to stand on his head straight away but I would win the most bendy of the two least bendy people in the class award. I don't think he took the mantra aspect as seriously as some and I could feel him holding in a snigger each time we were instructed to 'squeeze the anus'. Still he won't be sniggering tomorrow when all his newly stretched bits feel the pain!

I have pasted a couple of pictures from my trip to Egypt at Christmas time just to add a bit of colour to my blog. Ulla made such a nice addition last time but I can't put pictures of her in every time - can I?

My new friend

I have a new friend. Her name is Ulla and she loves wearing pink. She also loves shopping and is very patient. She is good at carrying things too. She came to school with me on Monday because I had too many books to carry in my backpack. (My backpack was also having a vacation in the bath because I managed to puncture a can of coke in it last week which made it rarver sticky.) Anyway I had no idea that Ulla was going to be such a hit at school. I mean I should have guessed because she really is fabulous. Anyway I brought her to my final class on Monday night so we could make a quick get away and everybody loved her. She proved to be very useful in group work too because I had uneven numbers and one of my groups was more than happy to include Ulla. They were practising making invitiations and they had a lot of fun inviting her on shopping trips to Milan/ London etc. The best thing too is that Ulla is not a conversation hog so they got loads of speaking time and seemed to feel very comfortable talking to her. I can't wait to go shopping with her again this weekend even if it is only for vegetables. Actually this weekend the shops are open in Basel on Sunday which I realise means nothing to you English-speaking heathens but it is a rare event here in Basel. I believe it happens about four times a year. The reason they are open this time is because of BaselWorld which is a watch and jewellery trade fair that the rich folk of the world like to attend.

Aside from the arrival of Ulla it has been quite a busy week for me. I have managed to finish a short story, teach 21 hours, go to yoga, lose my adorable cat purse and acquire quite an impressive hangover. ( The latter two events being connected of course.) Oh and spring has sprung. Hooray.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

I am beyond words

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/8567353.stm

So it's another Friday night in Basel and I am at home planning lessons. It's not like I feel the great need to totter out on the streets and drink overpriced cocktails but the fact that I choose to spend my time planning lessons is a little disturbing. I am going to turn into one of those teachers that haunt the corridors of school and think lessons are the same as hanging out with friends! Aaaargh! I should at least be writing or watching trash English telly.
The bitter weather has continued all week in fact yesterday it snowed all day which is rarver unusual for Basel given the number of pharmaceutical stacks that dot the city. Everyone shakes their heads and says 'global warming is responsible' or at least that's what i think they are saying - that or why is that woman in the woolly dog coat smiling like a havana banana at all this horrid snow when all the rest of us are doing out best to be glum and over it.
Tomorrow I have to go to a training course at work which is very tragic given it is Saturday and I don't even get paid for it. Much as I love my students and want them to strive for the stars sometimes I feel the demands of teaching are taken too far. Still as it will be a powerpoint class given in full velocity German I am sure I shall be enriched infinitely by the experience - not!! I know what'Mein Komputer ist kaput' but the rest of my IT language skills are sorely lacking.

March frost

Today was freezing in that bitter, Artic wind sort of way.
Now normally I am quite the winter person (hooray for my big woolly dog coat which accommodates all excesses of cheese, wine and chocolate) but today was too much. I really felt like I wanted spring. Something to hang leaves on other than icicles. Sensibly I spent most of it cocooning inside although I did go to my yoga class this morning ( Regular that I now am.) 'Look there's that foreign frau. She goes to yoga you know.' (A direct transalation of what any watching neighbour is bound to be saying in thick Baseldyytch dialogue.) I even managed to balance on one foot today without threatening to take out a whole row of people.
I have just added a new flash fiction story to my web site in a desperate attempt to look fresh and up-to-date. Really though I need to finish something - a bit more proper like (other than another row of Toblerone.) It is my aim this week to finish a short story I am writing about a woman who has a thing for bad teeth (This one's for you O Tokugowan one!) and obviously keep looking for a new home for my Philomena story which is proving elusive. Although obviously it will continue to remain particularly elusive while I continue to hermit. ('Be pro-active' is such an exhausting phrase!)

sigh.

back in Basel

Well, I have been back in Basel for almost a week now and true to form I took an enormous nap today which Sleeping Beauty would have found hard to better. I started a yoga course this week and I went to my second class this morning. I actually felt physically sick by the end of it (I even followed through) and promptly came home and died. I like the classes though. I am amazed at the amount of different ways you can stretch just one leg. I feel like the great unbendy elephant of the school. Everyone else is very European and bendy, with raven brown hair and probably shuns cocktails in favour of chai. But I have hopes of becoming a little more bendy with time and hopefully finding more energy. Right now it seems to sap the life out of me - i had grand plans to come home and write for the rest of they day - but I was so zapped the only writing I have done is this desperate attempt to keep my blog alive.
On a side note, last night I had a very pleasing dream where I met up with a very wonderful friend ( whom i shall refer to only as Milly Mazda.) we met up in Hama, Syria, and went out for a very delightful meal before returning to the hostel to find Abdullah was running some sort of enormous folk festival there. Abdullah, by the way, is a very amusing (real) fellow who works at the Riad Hotel in Hama and has managed to acquire an Australian accent without having ever been there.

Btw have I said my sister is coming to visit this year - hooray :-)