Betws-y-coed

I was meant to be doing another day of volunteering with the same children as yesterday, but I was called to interview up north in Wales - a 6 hour train journey along the slow line north from Newport.

The weather was grey and damp, and I set off with umbrella, walking boots and a very full lunch box. Journeys go much faster when you can look forward to / eat / pick on food. I managed to forget my book though, which was a minor disaster, as I was keen to make some serious headway, but luckily I had a few podcasts to while away the hours. I caught the bus the last leg of the journey, as the branch line to the town has very intermittent trains. I started talking to a nice old lady who was waiting, and asked how much the bus would be - and she made sure that I had enough, talked to the diver, and seemed to know everyone on the bus - who all talked in Welsh. It was a bit of a shock to suddenly not be able to understand anything. Some of the accents were so thick that it would take a moment to work out if they were speaking welsh welsh or english in a welsh accent.

The position I'm applying for is as another education assistant, but this time the position is live in, with food included. This means I have a chance to get really stuck in, and also an opportunity to explore a beautiful part of the world that I've never visited. The interview is tomorrow, but because of the out of the way location I was offered a bed to stay overnight.

The email inviting me was quite vague on timings, so I arrived at 4 to ensure I seemed keen, thinking that there might be some evening activities that I could help out with or witness, but I ended up just having some very brief chats with the staff and one of the current placement students. Turned out there was nothing planned, and that it really was just a bed for the night. Sort of wish that that had been spelt out, but I did manage to walk to the local town, over this bridge, which bounced about 10cm up and down when you walked over it.

An advantage of arriving slightly earlier was that I got supper, which was some lovely welsh lamb and leek sausages. Delicious. Myself and the two other students who were staying overnight for the interview played some table tennis in the games room, before joining the tutors for a brief pint in the staff lounge at 10. I stayed until about 11 when my impending headache forced me to bed.