A long day, wow. I was on a post-teaching high riding the tram until I began listening to Forget Her and watching the snow falling thick and slushy which made for a more pensive mood. I only got through the song 2 and a half times when the tram died. We were all in denial for a good 10 minutes and remaining stubbornly in our seats unwilling to face the cold wet night- but the driver began leaping about before us bowing sarcastically and pointing at the door... I considered calling Mrs Smiley to find out my options since the tram had essentially become a beached whale blocking the way for other hopeful tramlings. Well the phone had a pin code I didn’t know so I considered my other options- either taking the tram back to school at 7pm or perhaps I was walking distance from Otoka but probably not and anyway I had ridiculously soggy shoes already. So for once I did the right thing and stayed put until our lifeless tram was pushed along by another heroic engine. The next tram that came along was also a deadbeat being dragged through and then the third was heaving with people- it seemed to be bursting at the seams with the doors continually reopening as if it was trying to disgorge some passengers. I gave it a miss but the next one was almost as bad and some grandpa was bashing into me as I squeezed in. So I was pressed against the door as it was – and at the next was a crowd of hooting hollering hooligans all recklessly determined to get on as if it were Hillsborough stadium. It was worse than being in the middle of a Rome language school scrum on a Monday afternoon.

All of which slightly dimmed my high spirits but I had cooked dim bhuna the night before so I was able to make a hearty meal when I got home and I have four classes instead of 9 timetabled for tomorrow. I was slightly surprised to find the advanced sessions were so much easier to plan than the intermediate – but that might be because I’ve had double sessions with the intermediate so that’s quite a lot of time to fill with one to one conversation. It’s kind of like high pressure socialising- and my pitiful knowledge of science is possibly a little limiting- but I feel comfortable enough with them to chatter fairly effortlessly so the main thing will be working in the grammar and correcting their mistakes. Mrs N and Mrs Smiley were fun- they had plenty of tales to tell and sometimes it felt more like they were encouraging me to speak rather than the other way round! I met the art teacher today and she’s great- our next class will be a guided tour of a Sarajevo gallery :)


eta: I just remembered I cracked the phone pin just before the tram was towed. I was proud of my decoding skills but also glad I didn't have to play damsel in distress.