Landschaftspark Photoshoot and Girls Weekend

What a busy week half term has been.  Lots has been going on, but i'm only going to give you photos from half of it, and save half for next week!

Matt was away in China last week from Sunday to Friday.  He had an absolutely fantastic time.  He met everyone he will be working with, and learnt the basics from the person he will take over from. He went to a Chinese football match and ate dumplings, and generally came back absolutely buzzing about moving to Shanghai. He didn't suffer too badly from jet lag on the way back, but I did get phone calls every night at 4am China time (10pm Germany) from a wide-awake Matt wanting to tell me all about his day.  He did take some photos of our new 13th floor apartment, and from the football, but I don't have his phone, so will have to show them next week.

I got offered a job at the same school this week. I will be in the Primary school, working as an EAL (English as an Additional Language) Learning Support, so working with kids who don't speak any English.  It is different from what I am currently doing, but I think that is good, as there will be lots to learn, and keep me interested for the next 3 years.

For me, I only had a 3 day week, as it was a bank holiday on Thursday and so we got Friday off too.  Thursday was my one day of no plans for the whole 12 days of half term, so I basically watched tv.  On Friday, I tutored in the morning, then went out to the Landschaftspark in Duisburg to do a photoshoot with two of my lovely friends, Sean and Markus.  They had agreed to do a couples shoot so that I could practice my photography, and get some photos to put on my new website.  Sean is very photogenic, so I wasn't worried about him. Markus hates having his photo taken, but he could have fooled me.  He is the one in the hat.  He had lots of ideas for poses and needed very little direction.  I really enjoyed the afternoon.  We were shooting for nearly 2 hours, in 30 degree heat!  It made the photography challenging, as it was far too bright in the direct sunlight, but I got some good shots, and I think my friends are pleased with them.  It's given me some things to work on, ie, getting the images really sharp in camera, but that's good.  I want to keep improving.

My fabulous friends from school arrived on Saturday afternoon.  It was so good to see them.  We celebrate 15 years of friendship this year.  I don't see them very often, maybe only once or twice a year, but we always pick up from where we left off, and always have so much fun.

This weekend was all about girly pampering.  On Saturday afternoon and evening we were in Dusseldorf, at various cocktail bars, and we had Mexican for dinner.  It was all about having a good catch up.  On Sunday we went to Claudius Therme, which is a fabulous spa in Cologne.  Sean came with us too.  It was so relaxing!  We went in the salt pool, which has been closed the last two times I have been, so I was really keen on going in.  You can have a nap because you just float on the surface.  It did make my legs (and Sean's beard apparently too) sting, and when I absentmindedly touched my nose, salt went up it and it was really painful!  I got out promptly after that and had a nap in the nap room (it's got water beds and a fish tank) while the others kept on floating.  We had a bottle of prosecco in our dressing gowns, and it was all very chilled.  The part of the spa with the bar has a strict no-costume rule.  You can wear a robe, but your not allowed a swim suit.  Louise found it very off putting that whenever she tried to drink her fizz, a naked person would strut past her.  Germans love being naked!  It was just quite amusing to see her reaction to it all!

On Monday, we tried to play mini golf, but the place was shut, so we had lunch and a few drinks at XXL, the bar/restaurant near school. It has been 30+ degrees every day, so sitting and drinking is about all we had the energy for!