Day 145 (Monday)

Back to International House today, but as a teacher (albeit unpaid for the moment) not as a student. The sun was shining and it was nice to walk to the station again other than for sightseeing. It was also nice to see William and Pascal and I saw Annick for about 20 seconds. William introduced me to my new student Sohrab who is from Iran. William then took me into his office to fill me in on some details about Sohrab and to remind me that he’s doing me a big favour by letting me work to pay off ‘my debt!’ I then told him that the auto entrepreneur is very difficult asking if there’s anybody in the office who can help. He asked his daughter first who actually said hello to me for the first time ever; she agreed that it is very complicated. So then William talked to another woman in the office and I understood 90% of the conversation. I even answered one of her questions directly and she is going to help me next Wednesday. I have no idea why she opted for Wednesday but it’s good enough for me.

Sohrab is a very nice man and easy to speak to and very keen to improve his already very good English. We discussed what he wants to revise and came up with a plan for the next few days and the two hours went by very quickly. He is in the process of starting a new business in Tehran selling club sandwiches, as there is a niche market there that he is confident of filling. I was amazed when he said the main ingredients are going to be cheese and bacon.  I asked if many Iranians ate bacon to which he replied, ‘of course, it’s delicious!’ He also said that he’s pretty sure that we don’t need a visa to go to Iran for a short time but he’s going to double check and let me know tomorrow. We have tried to get this visa twice and every time we get close something happens and we’ve been refused.

I spent quite a lot of time preparing some lessons for him when I got home. That’s an issue of mine – when I like a student I really put in a lot of effort, too much effort usually and I must remind myself that I’m not getting paid for this. It was horrible watching Huw pack ready to go to London stupidly early tomorrow morning. I know it was a lot worse for him as he has to pack winter clothes, shoes and socks – yuck!

Huw tried to download Strictly a few times yesterday and it just didn’t work – he has no idea why and it’s horribly frustrating. It’s week six and I can’t imagine not watching it. I’m happy to say that he tried once more today and it worked – hooray!

Another stunning sunset this evening.