HP: a character sketch

“I’m sorry, I can’t do this exercise. I don’t deserve to study here.” HP wrote this instead of a composition on his test last week. And what really kills me is that he believes it, believes himself unworthy of the opportunity he’s been given. And when I offered to sit down and go over the […]

why I have no life outside work

Love. It’s very easy for me to love. I love many people, in many different capacities: as friends, as family members, as (potential) romantic partners. And whenever I love someone, I do so fiercely, eagerly, enthusiastically. I love people the same way I do most things in life: wholeheartedly and never holding back. I fall […]

The cemetery of lost love

Where does love go when it dies? To the cemetery of lost love, of course. To that corner of ourselves where we bury ex boyfriends who broke our hearts, potential soulmates who never really saw such potential, friends who really loved us but just as friends. I am there right now, digging – tooth and […]

A bad day

So today I’m having a bad day. I’m going to try to write something to see if I feel better, less lonely. Yesterday I went to therapy. I told her that F has been avoiding me, acting weird. I told her that his behavior is irrefutable proof that there’s something undeniably repulsive about me. Even […]

Crossing a line

And we kissed. And it was wonderful. And it was like melting into one and all of those romance novel cliches. And I was drunk. Very drunk. I remember his hesitant hand on my breast. I remember feeling that there was nowhere else in the world I’d rather be, nothing else I’d rather be doing. […]

The cougar myth – let’s talk about sex

I’m a strong and independent modern woman in my late 30s (early 40s in less than a month). I have no problem making the first move or hitting on a guy I’m interested in. I can walk into a bar by myself and order a drink. And as I’ve gotten older, I’ve developed this clumsily […]

Updates

Hello, dear readers. I’m sorry I haven’t written for a while, but there’s been very little to write about lately. I mean, my unbelievably stupid boss, my sycophantic coworkers and my job have been driving me crazy, but I can deal with these things on my own. I don’t need to write about them. As […]

On popularity

My teaching “niche”, so to speak, are fourteen to twenty six year-olds. It doesn’t matter if they are poor or rich, fast or slow, boys or girls, gay or straight, popular or nerdy, good at English or struggling with the language: it’s very rare to find a person from this particular age group with whom […]

I know it’s over – new and improved

I am a grown-up. I know what it means when somebody doesn’t answer your texts or when it takes them too long to do so. To make a long story short(ish): I went out. I drank. I sent F a message. Nothing too incriminating, thank god. Just saying that I was in a bar with […]

Teaching tall tails

Anyone has the potential to learn anything. If a student isn’t learning, it’s because the teacher hasn’t found the right way to teach them. If you are a language teacher, chances are that you’ve heard and read this before. Probably many times. We’re led to believe that everyone will eventually learn a language if we […]