IATEFL Coneference - having a blast in Brighton.

 The IATEFL Conference in Brighton was a blast – intellectually, gastronomically and, on occasion, meteorologically. The sessions were many and varied, so sometimes it was hard to make a choice about which to attend. Here I am with Angeliki working on such choices!                                                      

  The first plenary session on Wednesday was very interesting, presented by free-lance writer and trainer, Zarina Subhan, entitled ‘Because You’re Worth It’. Essentially she was considering diversity, equity and inclusion and using the L’Oreal campaign slogan to grab our attention.

She questioned who decides our ‘worth’ and what criteria are in play to make such an evaluaton. She listed critical features such as :

our environment, the way we dress, the language we speak, the words we choose,

our tone of voice, our body language.

I found it quite disturbing to think how quickly and readily one makes assumptions about a stranger, using such superficial criteria. Good to revisit our tendencies and reconsider them.                                      

               

But it wasn’t all about mind-stretching – we filled out tums too. Here we are tucking into crab, mussels and haddock. Oh, we do like to be beside the seaside, as the old  music hall song goes.                                           

                              

 And for all holiday-makers : beware the plants that may be lurking in the background when you take some shots - they may inadvertently  become unusual headgear! 😊

                                                  

           

And in our quest to find interesting eating places, we happed upon the Bohemia in The Lanes. Interesting food, but best of all was in the Ladies Powder Room:  a large wall mirror onto/ into which were projected holograms of Hollywood divas – wonderful! Me and Marilyn, right ?!                                 

                                       

      Marina and I perambulating past Mock Tudor buildings. And walk we did! Can you believe that in four days we clocked up 51 kilometres, our leg muscle aches bearing witness to that?                                            

         

As with our conference program, there was a huge choice of restaurants, bars, etc., in fact Brighton is the city with the largest number of eating places in Britain! Spoiled for choice!

Another interesting fact about our host city – it boasts more than 6 miles of beach, rather pebbly, it must be said.                                               

And as Marina and I pose in front of the Pavilion, one final fact.  It is said that during WW2, Hitler gave the command that Brighton Pavilion should be spared from his bomber attacks as he had plans to have this as his private summer residence!           

                                            

Thank goodness things did not go according to his plans!

Our Trip to Gevgelija, Part 2.

 

 As I said in the last post, we celebrated our birthdays in Gevgelija and Z was offered a sweet with pyrotechnic décor at the restaurant.                                    

          

But what amazed/alarmed me was that on returning to the hotel that evening, my system was able to come up with this photo below: the square outline in the picture shows the picture I took in the restaurant while above on the left shows the name and location of our hotel. Big Brother is everywhere!

                                             

Our hotel was called Paint It Black and their main focus was of The Rolling Stones – don’t they look young here?                                              

But they also displayed posters of other rockers of the 70s era.

Here is Tina Turner with a provocative pose and look in her eye.

                                                  

This one of Grace Jones was one of my favourites, capturing her heightened sense of style and drama.                                          

I found the houses had an interesting design. Though most had a yard in front and though space did not appear to be at a premium, they were huddled fairly close together.                                   

We enjoyed excellent weather while we were there. We left Thessaloniki in light rain and were welcomed up north in brilliant sunshine. On the morning of our departure, however, changes were in evidence. The temperature had dropped and a snell wind was blowing down from the mountains which sported a fresh coating of snow.                                         

In Macedonia when the north wind blows, we call it the Vardaris, coming as it does from the former Yugoslavian area of Vardar. This is the River Vardar which flows nearby Gevgelija. I wonder what the locals call their cold winds from the north.

                                                  

Despite the northerlies, we left with a warmth of memories and a surfeit of good food. We really enjoyed our trip up to the area of Lake Doirani and next trip on my list will be further west to visit their other tourist spot, Lake Ochrid.