Still alive!

Whee, I survived the week of work! Out of the 18 lessons I had planned, only about 4 were sort of poor and very boring. The topic was just a motivational black hole. I talked with mom (I'm so glad I have her to help me in these situations!) quite a few times during the week and she told me she usually teaches that topic in an hour or so. I had to stretch the subject for friggin' five hours! I'm not least bit surprised that the history of the Finnish language or the Finno-Ugric language family made some students nod off. Well, of course, if I'd had some more materials and experience, I would've been able (maybe) to keep everyone awake (myself included...), but what can you do. No interesting materials, no interesting lessons. But luckily I had at least 4 quite good lessons on different subject matters to balance the week. :)

I have a week to recover, mom will begin her sick-leave on Thursday and from then on I'll be driving back and forth to Nousiainen almost daily for a month. I think I may have to stay with mom&dad every once and a while, otherwise all the money I'll be making will be spent on gas before I even get my first paycheck.

Money, unfortunately, makes me a terrible shopaholic. Now that I know I've got some money coming my way, I've already made a few orders... I'll be getting a few books from Amazon.co.uk and after I get a Visa (I'll have to go and apply for one, heh) I'll order the boxed set of all the episodes of Horatio Hornblower! Can't wait! :) But I've decided I deserve some pampering after all this (and all the upcoming) hard work. Besides, I need to buy myself a few birthday presents! It's such a good excuse.

Birthday, gosh. I'll be 27 years come next Thursday. Yikes. It seems a lot. Yes, yes, it's clearly less than 30 or 35 or whatever, but it still seems a lot. Especially when I think what I've achieved in life. Which isn't that much, if one judges by the standards the society sometimes seems to support. I haven't got a husband (or even a boyfriend), I haven't graduated from the University yet (getting there, though), I haven't got a steady job, I don't own my apartment, I don't have a dog or a nice car (but at least a car of some sort, that's good) and what else... Sounds like I'm a major looser. :) But the heck with it, I'm not! I'm just working my way up to a proper middle class life and it seems to take a while. Next year this time the situation may be completely different, which is a motivating thought.

I should be glad though that I don't live in the 17th century, for example. I'd be considered an old hag or a pitied spinster by now, for sure! What made me pick that century as an example was the wonderful movie I watched last night. Girl with a Pearl Earring. Just beautiful. I remember I had to copy the painting by Vermeer in art class in high school and I liked it a lot. It's a touching and delicate piece of art. The movie told a possible story behind the painting. The story of Griet is of course complete fiction, but it provided for many magical moments between the characters. The implied forbidden love (a maid and a master artist) never got further than a few hesitant touches or looks, but the sensual and erotic tension between Griet and Jan Vermeer was portrayed skillfully. The more probable identity of the girl in the portrait according to experts is Vermeer's daughter, but where's the fun in that, then? And by the way, Colin Firth was very handsome as master Vermeer!

On with the day, I really have to do something else today too, than just sit by the computer. :)