I never thought that my English teaching would be so directly impacted by World politics. But the situation in Ukraine is quite close to me as Karina, the student that I thought before I left for the States back in January, is from there and had gone back on the 5th of February. I communicated briefly with her via WhatsApp a couple of times this week and all she would say is that people are stressed and that the stores are closed. She and her family are safe but that could change at any moment. It seems that Putin did not realise just how much resistance he would get when he tried to invade. The effects of the unrest are slowly trickling all over Europe. Not only is the price of fuel going to go up but Russia is also a major source of grain for the rest of the world. We will therefore likely see an increase in bread and other grain-based product prices. But Ukraine is not the only one affected by Putin’s actions. There is apparently a piece of Poland that was supposedly owned by Russia 100 years ago and it seems that Putin wants to go after that as well. Which means I am I’m also a little bit worried about the people that I know in Poland. That includes my friend Catarina whose daughter I was teaching for a time back in 2018. As well as Karolina.
With all of my private clients except for Xander and Karolina on my schedule, I am struggling to find where to add more hours either for The English Center or for Lingueo. It’s been a bit of a difficult situation in the last week. I think I’m going to try to open starting next week and see where the hours take me. If I get any bookings on Lingueo, means a little bit of extra money and if I don’t, I’m no worse off than I was before.
Over at TEC, it’s a case of and then there were three. Three clients that is. I finished up with Claudia and it only took us a year to finish 18 classes. We both took it in good stride and it ended up being a running joke for the last class. I also reached out to Ellemieke who I had tight back in November. She is the student with him I connected because she lost her husband in the same way that I lost my mom. I was in Utrecht on Friday and since that’s where she lives I thought I would give her a call and see if she was available for a coffee. While it didn’t work out for this Friday, we have agreed that I will come to Utrecht just to see her. It’s one of the things I like best about teaching adults, they’re always quite happy to hear from you. Even if it is kind of out of the blue and months after you last saw them.
On Thursday I hosted the writer’s group. I’m not sure if you remember but Jasper asked me not to host events in our house unless people are vaccinated. It really is a small enough ask and so I put that in the group multiple times. Still, there was one person who came who is not vaccinated. Rather than ask them to leave, we have come up with a solution of sorts. In consultation with Mark, we have decided to take the group back to the library on Thursday night for the foreseeable future. The bonus of the library is that it’s free, we don’t need to worry about making a reservation, or taking up tablespace. Also, with no internet to speak of in the library( at least without a subscription) that means that I will actually concentrate on my writing as opposed to doing 1% writing and 99% internet surfing. There is also a pub near the library so we have the chance to go for a drink afterward. While it is not as cozy as O’Reilly’s, it’ll do. While I love hosting people in my house, I have decided that hosting the Writers’ group, while fun, can be tiring for me. And that even with the added perk of people bringing food and snacks, tends to be a little bit too much work and then I never get anything done writing-wise. So for right now, the library is the best solution.
That’s all she wrote for this Inkreadable instrument. But stay tuned. As always there is more to come.
Inkreadable 