We started the second week English course in Birmingham with an outdoor interesting activity. But before we talked about the weekend. I had a busy weekend with my daughter and my wife.

On Friday afternoon we walked in Sutton Park, in Sutton Coldfield. It is an important and is the largest urban park in the Midlands. A railway line runs through the park, but it is an important site for wildlife and conservation. We enjoyed the natural countryside that has survived for hundreds of years. On Saturday morning we drove from Sutton Coldfield to the Black Country Living Museum; an open air museum of historic buildings and industrial activities in Dudley.

On Saturday afternoon we went to Burton, to have dinner with friends, who we haven’t seen for a long time. And on Sunday we went together to the baptism of little Arthur. In England you have the feeling that everything starts very early: at two in the afternoon we finished and returned to our house near Birmingham. Before, we ate an authentic pig roast at Burton Rugby Football Club. We covered a lot of miles, but we didn’t get lost when we went driving because we have a new sat nav! Well done Isabel!

We could talking about the weekend, but the coffee is over and my teacher put a challenge on the table: What is DIY? Of course, I couldn’t find any thing on the net. Internet and dictionaries are not allowed on this course, but we can go to find the answer outside!

We went to a big commercial area B & Q. First we made a tour of the entire commercial area to review vocabulary and seeking signs of the three letters. Then I asked a young uniformed girl, but she just knew that there is a website www.diy.com. Finally, one more experienced employee explained this expression; do it yourself, also known as DIY.

It was an other special day in my intensive English course. Steph, my personal English teacher, proposed a visit to Birmingham today. It’s Friday! Before, we went to a car accessory supermarket to buy a sat nav. I’m going to drive this weekend to visit our friends, and I’m lost without a GPS for British roads. It is difficult enough to drive on the left, luckily the driver was seated on the right side!

The canal was the first interesting place we visited in Birmingham city centre. There was an artificial waterway built to transport coal and the manufacturing of boats inland. Now, this canal is dedicated to tourists, and industrials boats have become houseboats, restaurants and watercraft.

The Library of Birmingham was a big and beautiful building affectionately named “The Cake”. We had great views from the two terraces here. The Discovery Terrace on level three and The Secret Garden on level seven are planted with fruit, vegetables and herbs. From here, we walked around Centenary Square, the Theatre and Victoria Square.

From Victoria Square we could see the Council House and took a picture of the famous “Floozie in the jacuzzi”. This is a Birmingham fountain statue, officially opened by Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1993. But, the fountain is completely dry now because it was broken.

I find that in the local press: Birmingham City Council decided to fill the fountain with flowers and plants to avoid water loss and repairs to the filtration.

Today I don’t have a car, Isabel and Gina decided go to a Children’s Farm near Tamworth. Before, at half past height, they took me to my English course in Erdington: five hours to learn English with my personal teacher Steph!

When it stopped raining, we went into Steph’s garden to practice new sentences and get some raspberries. In this garden, there ara a lot of flowers and big bees too. Indoors, we continued the lessons: we watched an interesting trailer to the film “The Intern”, starring by Robert de Niro and Anne Hathaway. We will add this to the list of outstanding films we would like to watch.

This morning, in the teacher’s House too, I met Valencian people. This was a nice coincidence in Birmingham, although I have lived in Barcelona for twenty years, we have our family and good friends in Gandia, near to Valencia.

After my course, I walked to our house in England, I didn’t hurry and I wanted to walk. When I arrived, Gina told me about her adventures at Ash End House Children’s Farm: she roud on a little pony, she found a fresh egg to take home, she went on tractor around the paddocks… but I will explain this story another day.

The main activity on the third day of my English course was to walk from Steph’s house  to the town centre. This was the route:

First, we turned left into Rollason road and left again in to church road. On the left we passed by Erditon Aquatics shop. We crossed over Deakin road on the corner of Trafalgar road and Church road. We passed an off license, a place to buy alcohol to take away. And then, we walked up the hill. On the right hand side there was a church, at the top of the hill. The church is called Saint Banabas. We were walking through the church yard. After the church, we turned right on to the High Street. Then we came to the end of the High Street and we saw the Library: it is an old and interesting house. Opposite the library there is a gym.

We went back along the same route. We crossed New Street, there were hanging baskets with flowers on the lamp post. Then, we crossed Barnabas road. Opposite the church on the right is the church house, now this is a Drug Store. Near to the Church House there is an old house too: the funeral house. We passed by Church road, and continued on the Hight street. We crossed York road. At the roundabout (six ways), we turned left in to Woodend road. We recrossed Trafalgar road and Deakin Road. Finally, we turned back in to Rollason road, and we arrived!

At home, after reviewing the tour, we played Scrable: my first time playing Scrable in English! I won the game, or the teacher let me win. I don’t know for sure.

I’m not allowed to speak any Spanish during my personal English course. Today we went to a supermarket nearest to the house. In the supermarket we bought bananas, apples, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, sliced bread. Before, Isabel helped me to write my first English shopping list.

On my shopping list we had broccoli, but there wasn’t any in the supermarket. Instead, there was a wide variety of wine from France, Italy, Spain, Chile, South Africa, California and more. I bought a couple of bottles: a glass of wine is very important in this course.

After coffee time, we played games on the computer which was to support and help my language skills. One of these games was crazy, because it was more technical than educational, however we loved it a lot. The five hours I spent studying English passed quickly, through the multiple learning proposals from Steph. Thank you!