Wednesday 11th January 2006

Hello hello!!
Happy New Year!!
Time for another enormous, mammoth, ma-hu-ssive email from Maya!
Cups of tea at the ready!

My Christmas was really lovely, I got tons of gorgeous pressies, played with my nephews on the beach and generally did things that will make you all so jealous I won’t even mention them!
New Year was even better, I went down to Tasmania to stay with my friend Steve. Tassie was beautiful – Hobart is such a nice city, a really cute and quaint kinda place!!

Bushwalk in Tasmania

Steve took me to the park, so I could see Kangaroos, Wallabies, Pademelons, Betongs, Tasmanian devils, Wombats, Koalas and all sorts of other cool stuff!! (bet you’re loving my list mum!!)

Wallabies and babies!

Wombats!

Anyway, I also had the pleasure of seeing a blue-tongued lizard up close and personal when I opened the back door one morning to take out some trash, (they’re about a foot or so long, fat and, obviously, have blue tongues). Sadly I didn’t study it as closely as I could have, because I had no idea what it was or whether it was poisonous!! Instead I shut
the door and yelled “There’s a snake thing outside!!”
Steve’s flatmate was well disappointed that I scared it away before he could see it – apparently he’s been looking for one for ages, and I stumbled on it by accident!
New Year’s Eve was also excellent – we went to a music festival and saw tons of Ozzie bands that rocked, generally drank and got sunburnt, camped and then got rained on – usual festival stuff really!

Falls Festival Tasmania, New Year 2005

Since returning to Sydney, I have been up to my ears in homework, as I started a CELTA course on the 3rd. If I manage to cope with the ridiculous workload, and also pass the course, it should qualify me as an actual TEFL teacher.
Which is nice.

So far I’m doing ok, although I am teaching a grammar lesson tomorrow that I have so far spent FIVE HOURS planning for, and I’m still not quite sure exactly what I’m teaching them!!
So that’ll be fun.
I have actually made a mental list of extreme measures, should the course get too much, including paper cuts to the jugular vein, or bashing my own brains out with my incredibly heavy lever-arch file!!!

But hopefully, I’ll get through the next two and a half weeks without suffering from too much sleep deprivation and total mental failure, and then I’m free!!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

Sorry, I’ve had the weirdest urge to laugh manically all day today, but no one to laugh at.

Anyway, as for my future plans (guess what part of grammar I’m teaching tomorrow?),
I’m going to be in Sydney for at least another two months (subject+am/is/are+going to+infinitive)
I will be going either to Kuwait for a couple of months first or coming straight home – not sure which yet (subject + will + infinitive)
I’m trying to get a job there on a short contract (subject + am/is/are + verb + ing)

……. anyone bored yet?????
try FIVE HOURS!!!!!!!!!
My brain has turned to mush. I actually woke up last night at 4.30am, and my first thought was “is that a modal or auxiliary verb???” Fuck only knows what I was dreaming about, but that can’t be good!!

Better leave it there, as I have lots more lesson planning to do tonight, fun fun fun!!
Hope you are all well, had fun holidays, and may your 2006 be full of happy thoughts, good things, and the correct form of the future tense where applicable!!!
lots of love
grammatically-correct-Maya
xxxxxx

p.s. – Intriguing fact – did you know that women use intonation more than men do? This produces a flatter tone in male speech that often makes men sound bored with a conversation, even if they are actually interested in it?? How bizarre!!