A Trip to England

I didn't post anything last weekend because I was back in England.  The week before I went home was good because I got to go on the Year 4 trip to the Curiosseum, which is a science museum in Cologne. I don't usually get to go on trips, but since 4 of my lessons on a Thursday are with year 4 anyway, I was allowed to go! Yay.  The museum was really good, and I had a lovely bunch of girls in my group.  The first thing we did was go into a live show on electricity.  It was meant to be in English, but the chap running it broke down on the motorway, so it was in German.  That was fine for most of the kids, but I didn't understand much - he spoke so quickly and I got a bit bored of trying to follow. The experiments he did with the kids were fun though - making their hair go static and getting them to power a lamp from cycling on a bike.  The kids loved it.  After the show, we got to look around the museum - it's set out in 4 huge rooms each themed loosely on an element. There are loads of interactive things to do in each room, and we pretty much had the place to ourselves.  Some groups had gone straight to this high ropes course bit, but that was all they had time for.  We definitely chose to do the best bit, even though my group were a bit disappointed that they didn't get to do the high ropes.

I was meant to go on a trip with year 2 the next day, but there were too many teachers off, so I got stuck covering in pre-nursery instead, which I hate.  Not the best day ever!

On Saturday I flew back to England (I got on the wrong train to the airport and very nearly missed my flight!).  I got back at about 4 o'clock.  It was lovely to be home.  On Sunday we went for an early mother's day afternoon tea at Moorhill House Hotel, where Matt and I got married.  The tea was delicious, and it was so nice to be back at the hotel.

Monday was Grandad's funeral, which was a sad day, but also a nice one.  It was lovely to see all of the family together, and great to share stories of Grandad and look through some old photos.  These were his beautiful flowers.

Monday was a tiring and emotional day, so it was nice to have an extra day at home to enjoy seeing Mum, Dad and Lola, and to go for a walk along the beautiful beach.

Lola looks quite windswept in this photo!  It was pretty cold despite the sunshine.

I flew home on Wednesday to Matt and had a very short, 2 day week at work.  It's really messed my days up, and I can't quite work out what day it is or what i'm meant to be doing.  I woke up really early today, thinking it was mid-week!  I'm glad it's the weekend, because I've come down with a chesty cough and ANOTHER cold.  I've had such bad luck with illness this year.  I've had 4 separate colds and the winter vomiting bug all since September.

We got our final injections for China on Friday morning, so that's all sorted now. We're slowly ticking things off the list.

Rugby and Shopping

The orchids have started blooming even more, and they look wonderful!

It's been an interesting week.  School was good, as it was a Shakespeare themed book week for Primary, ending with a fancy dress day on Friday, which was fun.  We're still busy getting everything sorted for China.  I had some more injections on Tuesday, which went fine.

Things started going badly for this area of the state on Thursday evening, starting with a man attacking people with a machete at Dusseldorf main train station.  Several people were seriously injured.  It's the same platform that many people from school use, so everyone was a bit shaken up by it, especially those who got the train the next morning - there was still blood all over the station apparently.  Police caught the man as he was trying to escape.

On Friday it got even worse, with our school being put on what was essentially a 'terror alert' in the afternoon.  There was another (un connected) man in Kaiserswerth (just a few tram stops down from school) who had attacked an old man with a machete.  He hadn't been caught, so all nearby schools were on the alert.  At home time, we put the whole of Primary on our smaller, and most secure playground that only has one gate in or out.  Kids had to be picked up directly from there.  Those who leave on their own weren't allowed to go until someone picked them up.  The kids who get the bus had to be escorted to their various buses, and we had to man all the doors in and out of the building.  Our 'homework club' room is very near a door, so that was moved, and all of the clubs were put in together, so the kids could be watched closely.  The kids didn't know what was going on, but the teachers were told pretty quickly.  It was horrible.  Matt was on duty with the older kids.  They were allowed to go if they were heading in the opposite direction, but not if they were going towards Kaiserswerth.

On Saturday, I went shoppping in Dusseldorf with my friend Sian.  We ran into two other friends from school, who were also shopping.  They told us that they were originally going to the big shopping centre in Essen, but had to change plans because the shopping centre was closed due to a terrorist attack threat.  It's got everyone pretty spooked, and lets just say that i'm quite glad to be leaving Europe in the summer!

I actually had a lovely day shopping with Sian.  My purchases are in the bottom photo - just a few bits for Mexico.  It was another friend's birthday, so we went for Thai food in the evening.  Both Laura and Sian have interviews tomorrow for other St. George's schools, so it was quite a subdued meal, as they were both very nervous  I myself am quite stressed about not having a job yet.

Matt had a lovely time in England watching England Vs Scotland at Twickenham.  He's due back later this evening, so I'm looking forward to having him back, and hearing all about it.  He managed to leave his passport at school on Friday, because of all that was going on, so he had a rather stressful rush to the airport!  But he made it in the end!

Back to School

Last week seemed to go on forever, as 4 days weeks do for some reason.  Monday was Karneval day, so Matt and I hibernated in the flat to avoid the drunken fancy dress people all over the streets.  We had the first of our injections for China, and I go back tomorrow for some more, before we both go for our final ones at the end of March. I hate injections, but I like going on holiday and travelling, so they are worth the few seconds of panic and discomfort.  I only hope I can find my way there on my own tomorrow, as my sense of direction is notoriously bad.

Matt had parent's evening on Thursday and has another one tomorrow, so he's busy and has had a tiring week.  I had book club on Thursday and it's my choice again, so i'm thinking on what to choose that our little group will enjoy.

Things for China are in full swing now that we are 6 months from leaving.  This is the month in which everything can start to happen, so we're busy getting various forms and notarisations, and legalisations done!

Matt played football for his team on Friday night, against the team just one above them in the league.  They won, and even better - Matt scored the winning goal, which is fabulous!  He was exhausted, but still played the match on Sunday.  Unfortunately they lost that one, but it was against the top of the league, so they didn't expect to win.  We had a lazy day on Saturday, going to the gym and watching TV.  On Sunday I went for lunch with my pal Jenna.  We hadn't been out for ages together, and ended up having a 6 and a half hour catch up!  It was a lovely day, despite the torrential rain.

The photos are of my latest plant - a mini daffodil, which is getting bigger by the second!  And my orchids are starting to bud again.  Yay!  It fills me with happiness seeing their perfect flowers start to come out.