Tha's reight kid!

When I asked my CM1 class what the weather was like today, the chorus of voices that came back saying ‘It’s sunny!’ all had perfect Sheffield accents. Well that was a surprise! I thought I was keeping my accent neutral. Clearly I’ve been deluding myself; the proof being in the kids’ amazing mimicry. I also heard very northern vowel sounds on ‘summer’ and ‘another year’ when we sang our song about the months of the year (which incidentally is driving me round the bend at the moment – I must have sung it about 30 times today). Well I’m glad I’m giving them a little memento of my home town, whether they’re aware of it or not.

Last night I shared my bed with a mosquito and consequently didn’t get much sleep. It must have got inside my pyjama trousers. It clearly found my left leg more appetising than my right as I found five bites there today. GRRRR! My killing routine has slipped. My powers are weakened from work, sun and walking tiredness – I must get back on murderous form. I don’t want dengue. One of the other assistants, Nick, has just had it. And even though his was quite mild, it still sounded very unpleasant. No thanks. Not for me.

I switched on the TV the other day and saw a very familiar spiky haired blonde person in a programme called ‘Les Condamnées’. That was weird. What was particularly weird about it was that unlike all the other characters whose dubbed voices are very similar in tone and pitch to their original English ones, I’ve been given a very strange, deep and yet still somehow squeaky voice. Imagine Bart Simpson crossed with Louis Armstrong and you’re halfway there. It must be a French ‘lesbian voice’.

I wish I had a car. The moment my license arrives I’m going to buy one. I’ve already got several people on the lookout for one for me. I don’t care if it’s a tiny old rust bucket (I can probably only afford something like that anyway) but my life will be hugely changed by having wheels. The idea of family is valued more here than in the UK, so primary schools have a two hour lunch break while the kids go home and eat with their parents. I haven’t got time to get to Trinité and back in two hours by public transport (even though it’s only a few kilometers away) as Taxicos are not very frequent or reliable. So I’m currently spending lunchtimes in the supermarket near the school which is quite depressing. When I have a car I’ll be able to go home to have lunch (and maybe even a nap!), I’ll be able to leave much later in the mornings and I’ll get back much earlier too, which will mean I’ll have more energy for mosquito hunting! My life will be transformed!