Time to get blogging again!

Picture: The lovely sunset while we were scattering Uncle Tony's ashes at New Brighton beachfront

To all of my readers, the first thing I must do is to apologize. I have not been blogging for the at least the last 6 months with any regularity. I am going to try and fix that minor lull and hope to blo
g about my new adventures in Liverpool and all the ups and downs of doing my teacher's degree at John Moores University. I will continue to rant and rave about issues close to my heart, but cannot promise to be always politically correct. That is why it is called MY blog, haha.

The last few months have been nothing short of challenging. There have been deaths in the family and I have to say that emotionally, I have been all over the place. I could compare myself to the tide of the ocean. In and out and in and out and back in and back out again and again and again.

Uncle Tony died, Auntie Margaret died, my brother-in-law Nuri died and to tell you the truth, it all seems a bit of a blur when I talk about them dying. Dying is sadly a big part of everyone's life, but it is still so difficult to grasp and understand and it always ends up consuming a large part of your psyche, good and bad. Mortality is always at the forefront, especially in my case. Sometimes, I just put all the pain in the back of my brain, but sadly it always seems to come to the front eventually. I am dealing the best way that I can, but it takes time and I wish all my family and friends the strength and

perseverance to continue with their lives and challenge them to live life to the fullest as best they can.

Picture: The owners need to sell our club. Enough is enough

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Enough of doom and gloom, but in memory of my Uncle Tony and my brother-in-law, Nuri, I am putting a great picture of both of them together at last year's wedding. It personifies them both as happy men and that they were enjoying their lives. I unfortunately do not have any photos of Auntie Margaret, but will try sometime in the near future to obtain one from my cousins.

Picture: Uncle Tony and Nuri. A beautiful picture of them both.

My mobile phone has been acting up and I just found out why I was not getting any replies to my texts being sent; there is a problem with the sending of my texts. I am going to sort that out tomorrow by contacting my provider and see what can be done. Then it will be, text away, text away!

I started my PGCE course (teacher's college) on Monday and the first week was totally mind warping. So much information to absorb, but very, very interesting. I can see that I am going to enjoy the content of the course immensely, but know that it will be very challenging to keep up with all the work and to absorb everything that I need to become the best teacher that I can.

I already have my first school placement. It is at Ridgway High School on the Wirral. It will take me at least an hour or so to get there each day, but I guess the 3 hours a day in Seoul, South Korea, on the buses and subways was good practice to prepare me for anything similar. I travelled like that for 2 years straight, so this will be easy compared to that. All about perspective, as t

hey say! I will be there with another trainee from my class, so that should make things a lot easier, as we will be able to help each other with any problems either work related or school rel

ated. I am really looking forward to getting into a school and getting stuck in to teaching. I love teaching and am looking forward to the challenges that will come with teaching French and Spanish. It will be a grand challenge, but I am up f or it!

Picture: My favourite Iceland Store bag!

I have decided to quit drinking for a whole year. That is right! A whole year! It is a two-fold plan. The first is to do something to honour Nuri and the other is to see how healthy I feel with no alcohol in my system after a year. I have not been clean of booze for at least the last 5 years, so let's see. Also, an added benefit is that I will not be wasting money, which I have very little of, on senseless drinking and of course having no hangovers. Let's see how it goes, anyway. It has been 4 weeks now and I know that I can do it. I quit smoking 4 years ago, so I know that when I decide to do something, I generally stick to the task at hand.

I am enjoying my flat after having been away for all of July and all of August. In July, I was teaching English in Portsmouth and Norwich and in August, I went home to be with my sister and my family for the whole month for comfort and support. It was a great decision and although I now feel guilty being so far away, know that it is always better when things go back to somewhat normal for the family.

Picture: Some of my colleagues while I was teaching down south.

My flat really feels like home now and I am making it more comfortable all the time. I have the internet and TV here, so what more do I need really.....haha. I am enjoying living by the park and have started getting back into shape again. Due to circumstances, I was only able to run maybe half a dozen times and work out 2 times over the last 8 weeks plus. I have started running again this week and had my first workout yesterday. Once my body adapts to the small workouts, I will begin the full workouts again and will run everyday when my body conditions itself again. I figure that will take about 3 or 4 weeks and then it is full blast ahead.

I have started eating well again and have cut out all fried foods and any junk. It is just a question of eating healthier and maintaining the same healthy choices no matter what situation arises. I was inspired by my son, Tyler, who has lost about 45 pounds and looks fabulous. I use people both to feed off of and also to inspire, if able.

I have been getting up at 7am everyday, which has taken a bit of getting used to, but down south while I was teaching, had similar hours, so that helped also. I used to get up at 5am for about 8 years a long time ago, so my body is used to it, I just have to get it back into the swing again. I am at school for the next 2 weeks everyday, then once I start my placement, I am at university every Monday and Tuesday and the rest of the week at the school.

It is nice to be surrounded by football and in the country where it is almost like a religion. I love the fact of being able to watch Sky Sports News and also Match of The Day. It is awesome!

Enough for now. Hope that I have not bored my readers too much. I am finding it therapeutical to write about things right now and am going to try my best to keep blogging consistently.