Duisburg Vs Zwickau

Matt went to his last ever Duisburg match yesterday; a home game against Zwickau (whoever they are).  Duisburg won 3-0 which was a good way to end the season, winning the league!  They will now move up into league 2.

Matt had fun at the football, but was back quite early, because he had his last ever match today playing for his team.  That's where he is at the moment, and when he gets back he will be pretty much straight off to catch a train to Frankfurt, where he will board a plane to Shanghai. He will be back next Friday night, and has a good itinerary of exciting things to do with the school.  He is even going to a football match with some new colleagues, so i'm sure he will have a great time.  I wish I was going with him to get a feel for the city, but it will just have to be a surprise for me in July.

I had a Skype job interview on Friday morning, for the EAL (English as an Additional Language) department for years 3-6.  It's not what I had in mind for a job, but I think I would be really good at it, and it would be great to be working and able to meet some new people.  The interview went well, but the school doesn't know if there will definitely be a job, so I will just have to wait and see.

My week has been very busy, with lots of people off sick in Foundation Stage, meaning that I have had to go into pre-nursery a few times, which i'm not a big fan of.  I'm in there because someone is sick, which they have caught from the kids, so I always feel a bit unwell after time in the little Dragons.  Today is no different.  I will be in there next week too, as two members of the 4 staff down there have been signed off.  It's only a 3 day week next week at least and then it's half term! Yay!  Charlee and Louise are coming next Saturday and we have a lovely spa weekend planned.  Then the chap who wants to take over our flat is visiting, and then Matt's parents and brother are coming for the rest of the week.  So, we're going to be very busy indeed.

I've had a pottering type of weekend.  I went to the pub with some friends on Friday after school for a catch up on how the year 6 residential was (they got back on Friday).  It sounds like it was a lot of hard work, and i'm glad I didn't have to go this year.

Yesterday, I went into Duisburg for a wander around the shops.  I also went for ice cream with a couple of pals.  Today has just been tidying, cleaning, going to the gym, doing some TEFL work.  The usual really.  Very productive.

I've added the photos from Matt's football match last week so make sure you have a look at him storming the pitch!

Duisburg MSV Vs Koln

All of the photos from this weekend are on Matt's phone, so i'll get them as soon as i can.  He had a great Saturday, going to his first away football match in Germany, to watch Duisburg play Cologne.  The match was great apparently.  Duisburg won 3-0 and so got promoted into league 2.  The fans stormed the pitch and Matt game home with some grass from the pitch in his wallet (and rather sunburned too)!  He's got some good photos, so i'll share them when I can get his phone.

I had a nice Saturday too.  I had plans to go out Saturday evening in Dusseldorf, and had said no to lunch in Duisburg with other friends in case the two overlapped, but after not hearing anything from the rather flaky friend I was going to meet, I decided to go for lunch in Duisburg anyway, and would head to Dusseldorf if I heard from Jenna.  I did, but not until 9.30pm, saying, i'm heading into town.  Well, I was already tucked up watching the Eurovision song contest by then, so I didn't go out.  I'm glad I went for lunch though.  Would have been very annoyed if I'd missed out on both!  Lunch was lovely.  We went to Boleros in the harbour in Duisburg.  It was lovely and sunny and warm, so we sat outside and had a few cocktails.  A very pleasant afternoon.

It's been a good week.  I've booked a weekend away with 4 friends to Zurich for the end of June,so i'm really looking forward to that.  It's with Al and Maev, my two best friends from school who left at the end of last year, and Shannon and Sean, my two current closest friends at school.  I'll get to see Uncle Chris while i'm in Zurich too, which will be great.

I've managed to get through another module of my TEFL course.  I'm way ahead of where I needed to be, and am starting to enjoy it a bit more now that i'm no longer learning about grammar.  I've also been working on getting my Faye's Photos website sorted, and have hired someone to design a logo for me, which is very exciting. I'm hoping to receive it tomorrow.  Super excited.

School is busy, but good at the moment.  Year 6 are off on their residential tomorrow for the week, and i'm thrilled to not be going with them!  I get a couple of extra frees from the lesson that I should have been in with year 6, so I can work on the yearbook and get all my admin done.  I covered an art class on Friday where they were doing paper mache.  It's great fun when it's not your own classroom that's getting trashed!  I get to cover them again tomorrow, when they will be finishing off their Aztec masks, so that should be fun.

Football and Coursework

It's been quite a tiring week, as it always is for some reason when it's a bank holiday.  The actual working week is shorter, yes, but you end up cramming 5 days of work into 4, hence the feeling tired.  We had Monday off, and had a lazy morning, before heading to Websters brewery in Duisburg for some kegel (traditional bowling) and schnitzel (yum!).  It was a nice afternoon of chit chat and we were home by 8.

The working week was good, and busy as usual.  I covered several Art lessons for various people who were off, which was quite nice.  Matt and I went into town on Wednesday morning to have our blood type tests for our China medicals.  We had been told that it would be very expensive, so had ummed and erred about what to do, but decided to just go for it.  Turns out it was 21 euros each.  Not exactly what I would call expensive!  Still, it means that we have now done everything for our VISAs, finally!  It's such a weigh off of our minds.  It's really quite a stressful process.  Matt has sent his information off for his VISA for the week after next too, when he will go to China for a week to look at the school and meet everyone. Very exciting.

I have my own exciting project going on at the moment - I bought a website for my photography business, and am currently in the process of making it look fabulous so that I can launch it.  So, watch this space...

Yesterday, I got through my list of chores to do, went to the gym, worked on my website, and ploughed through some of my TEFL course.  Matt went to watch Duisburg play football. They drew 1-1, equalizing in the last minute.  He still hasn't seen them lose.  His football friends consider him a good luck charm!  Here he is with Lee and Markus in the pub after.  He stayed out with some other football friends and didn't get home until 1am!

Today, we are having a lazy day.  I was going to go to the gym again, but i'm sore from yoga on Friday.  A work friend is currently training to become a yoga instructor, and decided to run a beginners class on Fridays after school.  I've never done yoga before, but thought i'd give it a go, and I really enjoyed it. It was hard work, but no more than I had expected.  I really am so inflexible, but hopefully that will change the more I do.