I've been trying to explore Cadiz more in my time off, and get to know the numerous narrow streets and districts in the old town. It's starting to pay off! I found an antiques market on Sunday morning opposite Parques Genoves, that sold all sorts of odds and ends from old photos, jewellery, military badges, old cameras and books; to kids toys, playstation 2 games, chargers for all sorts of devices and a lot of tat!! I had a good rummage and came away with a charger for my old phone for e1.50. For lunch I went to the famous Freiduria at the Plaza de los Flores for a cucurucho de pescado frito; random fried seafood in a paper cone. Mine contained a whole fried prawn, a huevo (still not sure what it is exactly), chocos, ... read more

I've settled into some sort of a routine here; after a lazy start due to my inability to get out of bed in the mornings, go for a walk around the coastline (which I've even expanded into a jog at times), return for some faffing about before getting stuck into lesson plans. The third week for me was a real test. I was so glad to be able to have a base here, and have more people to converse with, but also found it very lonely at times this week as I found I had more time away from teaching but not a lot to do. So I embarked on a mission to find a gym or dance class in the mornings. Turns out there isn't a lot of choice so I may take up pilates ... read more

So back when I decided to become a TEFL teacher, I had planned to apply for jobs in South Korea, work there for a year, and then travel around South East Asia until the savings ran out. Of course, my plans had to change when I inadvertantly missed the application in November when the closing date was brought forward unexpectedly due to demand. I decided to apply for TEFL jobs in Europe, so I could still gain teaching experience, while I waited to see if a few last minute applications panned out for March 2012. They didn't, and I had to wait to apply for the next intake in August. Luckily by this stage at the end of December, I had two job offers to consider, one in the town of Pomigliano d'Arco, near Naples in ... read more

Hey all, Our Lebanon trip started with a 6am start; Susannah, myself, JC, Kim and Paul were the only ones going. Susannah and I were on cook group that morning but the others - Joe and Jason, kindly got up and cooked breakfast for us! We had yet another conversion rate to try and work out! Lebanese money is worth so little I ended up buying 33,500 lebanese pounds for just over US$20. Coming from the Syrian/Lebanese border we could already see that Lebanon is a country of contrasts. Beautiuful big Italien-esque villas were literally a hundred meters away from people living in shanty towns. The scenery was phenomenal- snow capped mountains overlooking green fields and vineyards, such a difference from the desert scenery of Egypt and Jordan. First stop were the famous Roman ruins of ... read more

Hey all, Up at 05:30 for a delicious breakfast of cardboard cornflakes and UHT milk before departing for Petra- the ancient city of the Nabotean people. The entrance was literally at the end of Wadi Musa and very inobtrusive, you would hardly know it was there! We got our tickets but the tourist info wasn't open for maps. We went on ahead to beat the tourist crowds, waving hellos at the horse and donkey operators along the way. We walked through the long and winding Sik at 7am to reach the Treasury first. It looked like it was straight out of the photos we have seen, a stunning piece of architecture and carving. Unfortunately there was a tourist shop right beside it which we tried to ignore- it didn't lessen the experience. Got there just before ... read more