Fancy Changing your Teens Life with NCS?

If I told you that your year 11 could develop leadership skills, build their confidence and make new friends this summer would you be interested?

Would you be even more interested if I said all this would cost you just £50 (maximum) and that your teen would be fully engaged in the most amazing outdoor team-building exercises, a residential for participants to learn ‘life skills’, a community-based social action project and an end of programme celebration event, all over a period of two to four weeks?

The National Citizen Service (NCS)
It sounds amazing, right? I'm sure you want to hear more about the National Citizen Service (NCS), the providers of all this fun. My JJ isn't even 15 yet but I am so pleased to have discovered NCS as I'll definitely be chatting to him about taking part once he has finished his GCSE's. He despairs of me sometimes as I'm forever on at him about being a good citizen; it is one of the most important values I aim to instil in JJ (and my girls to as they grow) as I feel it is far too easy in this day and age to be self-centered and to forget the value of community and working together for the greater good.

“Programmes like NCS are a good way to develop confidence and leadership skills to encourage a new generation of business and community leaders.” Sir Richard Branson

Dear So and So - La Español Edición

Booooon diumenge!!!!!! #incostabrava

A photo posted by Costa Brava Pirineu de Girona (@costabravapirineu) on Sep 19, 2015 at 10:55pm PDT

Hey Mich,

Who would have guessed it? After a 30 year break since you last tried to speak a foreign language you are back in the classroom and shock, horror - you enjoyed it!

Those lies you told yourself for the last 30 years - that you are rubbish at languages and don't have an ear for it, well they are just that - lies!  You are a very capable and well educated woman and you can do anything you put your mind to. This includes learning a second language.

Now you need to keep practising - reading, online, games and most importantly talking. You are in a very unique and privileged position because you live with lots of native Spanish speakers, so make sure you make use of them and try your hardest.

I have faith in you Mich, next summer when in Spain you'll be able to chat to the natives!

Mich x

Would you go to night school?

Driving home from my evening class last week I realised that I've failed to mention anything on here about the fact that I've been going to night classes since last September.  Why was this I started to muse.....  and you know what? I have no idea why it has failed to get a mention.

It certainly isn't that I'm embarrassed or keeping it a secret, people that know me in real life know I am doing a sewing class. In fact, I'm enjoying it loads and finally starting to grow in confidence. I've not been natural at sewing at all, it has been quite a hard slog and that has been an interesting learning curve for me, because (as big headed as it sounds) I'm used to being good at things and doing them well, first time. Sewing is very good at keeping me real and humble as I have to keep unpicking things and doing them again. The whole inside out/ backwards logic of sewing does not sit well with me!

I turned up at my first class in September thinking that everyone would be in the same boat, it was a class for beginners after all but no, everyone else knew how to use their machine and do the basics, I literally had no idea how to thread my machine. The last time I used a sewing machine was 25 years ago at school.