Last Week of Term!

I can't quite believe that the Spring term is now over!  Two down, one to go until we move to Shanghai!!! So much has happened this term, it's gone both very slowly, and super fast.

The last week of term was nice.  On Tuesday, I went on the Reception trip to the forest nearby.  We went for a walk and looked at different types of trees.  There were these lovely boar babies, which were super cute, and some very friendly deer.  The kids loved it, but even I was exhausted after the walk.  The kids were absolutely shattered.  It was really quite a long way!

On Thursday, I went on the year 1 trip to Krefeld Farm, which was one of the nicest trips i've been on. The year group are delightful, and I was with another teacher that I get on really well with.  In the morning, we did a felting workshop, and all the kids got to make felt balls.  Then in the afternoon, we fed some of the animals - horses, sheep, goats, chickens, ducks, geese and cows.  The kids LOVED it!  Apart from the occasional one who had a hissy fit because they were frightened of sheep, or chickens. 

After feeding the animals, we got to turn cream into butter, and even try it on some bread!  Very cool.

Friday was a half day, and I had my appraisal in the morning.  My boss got a bit upset about me leaving, and was saying how much I would be missed, and how difficult I would be to replace, which was so nice to hear.  It made me sad about leaving all my lovely friends here in Germany.

Friday afternoon, we went to see the secondary school production of Little Shop of Horrors.  The school had hired a full set for 4000 euros, and it looked fantastic.  The show was seriously good, and i'm glad we went to see it.  We went for a pizza and some beers afterwards, then Matt came home and I went to a friends house for a girly evening.

Yesterday, Matt went out to watch the Duisburg football match, while I did some work on my TEFL course (Teach English as a Foreign Language).  Today, I went to watch Matt play in the TS Rahm football match, which was lovely.  They unfortunately lost, but it was great to see Matt involved in the match.

Tomorrow we are off to Mexico!  So excited!!!

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.

Grandad

This week Grandad passed away after a long struggle with Dementia.  These are some of my favourite photos of him and the family.  I love how much Jack and Ollie have changed from the above photo to the one at our wedding.  7 years can change so much.

The first two photos were taken at Grandad's 80th birthday party.  The below photo really sums up some of my strongest memories of him from when I was very young.  We would give him a birthday or Christmas present and he would give it a squeeze, then set it down and ignore it for 20 minutes, then pick it up again and give it another squeeze.  This would go on for what felt like forever to me and Sam and would drive us absolutely nuts, which he definitely knew!  The look Nanny is giving him in the below photo is the same exasperated, 'will you just get on with it' face that I have pulled many-a-time!

I remember Mum once telling me that her friends were over on Grandad's birthday, which is the same day as the Queen's birthday.  The national anthem came on the TV and Grandad made Mum and her friends stand up and sing the national anthem for HIS birthday!  What a great sense of humor he had.  This still makes me laugh!

Our wedding was such a special day for Matt and I and we were so happy that Grandad, and all the family could be there for it.

Even though this is a sad time for us all, I do like to think that wherever Grandad is now, that he is at peace, with all his memories restored to him.  I know that his funeral will be a sad occasion, but I'm also looking forward to it; to being around the family again, and to sharing stories and looking at old photos and to giving him a great send off.

Skiing in Willingen and Winterberg

Our skiing holiday with 10 friends from work finally arrived!!!

The last week before half term was busy, with Primary school parents evening on Wednesday, Matt had options evening for the year 9s on Thursday and Friday was Karneval dress up day.  The kids go a bit nuts on Karneval because it's all about sweets and thumping music and being wild.  Actual Karneval day isn't until next Monday (a bank holiday).  Adults tend to go out into the streets to drink and watch parades, and drink some more.  I hate Karneval!  It just isn't my cup of tea.  On Friday afternoon, we stopped lessons and walked down to the bowling ally a 15 minute walk from school, with basically every child in year 3, 4 , 5 and 6.  I had a group of 8 year 6 boys, who were fairly well behaved, so I couldn't really complain.  They bowl for about 2 hours, which is 30 minutes too long.  They all start getting a bit silly and mess about.  It was a long day because we didn't stop until 5.  Luckily my kids were the first to leave, so I got to go home first!

Matt played a match for his team on Friday evening, which they won.  Our friend even scored, so Matt was happy.

Then, Saturday morning was finally here, and we were off to the airport to pick up the mini van.  9 of us went in the van, and the other 3 followed later in a car.  It took us just over 2 hours to get to Hallenberg, which is in the German state of Saarland, right on the boarder with Hesse and North-Rhine Westphalia (our state).  Matt drove down there, and it was a nice easy drive, no problems.

Out house when we arrived, was fantastic!  It had 6 nice sized bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a huge living room and a dining room with a table big enough to seat all of us (below).  The house really was great, and it was only 60 euros each to rent it for 3 nights.  A bargain I think!

We couldn't get into the house for a few hours when we arrived, so we had a wander through Hallenberg (not much to offer really, but very pretty, Germanic style buildings, with wooden beams, and beautiful slate roofs).  We found a pub to have a drink in, and then spent the evening in the house once we could get in.  The other 3 arrived just before dinner, and we just sat around chatting, and eating takeaway pizzas.  Yum!

We had a very early start on Sunday; up at 6, leaving at 7 and at Willingen ski slops (45 minutes away) for 8.  We rented skis, boots and helmets and then 6 of us (including Matt) went off for an hour of ski instruction.  You can't learn a huge amount in an hour, but that was the only lesson available.  Matt wasn't a fan at first, but soon picked it up, and was wizzing down the mini slope that you get up via a conveyor belt.  He did a fair amount of falling over, and more than a few really spectacular falls!  I still have yet to fall over skiing (no idea why my balance, which is usually awful, is so good when on skis!).  Once member of our group, Markus absolutely hated skiing, and only did about 20 minutes of falling over after the lesson, before retiring to the pub.  Another friend, Lee, liked skiing, but had scraped all the skin off his knee during the Friday night football match, so was quite uncomfortable during skiing.  He retired to the pub too.  The other beginners picked it up quite well.

I went down the mini slope with Matt quite a lot, before heading up the ski lift for one try at the big slope (below).  There wasn't nearly as much snow as there was when I went with year 5 in January, so my gentle slope down was grass.  It meant that I had to take a steeper route, which I didn't particularly enjoy!  I got down to the bottom, and looked for Matt, but it turned out, he fancied having a go at the big slope too so had gone up to the top (after about 2 hours of skiing in total!!!).  Needless to say I was on hand to take photos of him sliding down most of the slope on his bum and stomach!

 

There he is on the left side in his blue trousers, being helped up by Laura.  He's about to wizz past me, then end up on his bum!

The slope was very very busy, more than I've ever seen it before.  There were loads of school groups, but I guess it's the best slope in the entire area for beginners; nice and wide and with a gentle slope.  We gave up at about 4 o'clock after a full day of skiing, and retired to the pub for a well earned beer.

It was Liz's birthday on Sunday, so after a rest at home, we headed to a restaurant for some birthday grub.  We had previously decorated the dining room with streamers and banners, and cupcakes made by Sean (delicious!).  The food at the restaurant was good German pub grub.  I had a delicious schnitzel.  Then it was back to the house for chit chat and a few birthday drinks.  Markus had made a few bottles of home brew rhubarber schnapps, which was absolutely amazing.

We had a more leisurely morning on Monday, all of us being exhausted from Saturday's skiing.  It was Markus' birthday on Monday, so he went off to the spa in the village with Sean for a day of pampering.  The rest of us headed off to Winterberg at about 1 o'clock, which is another ski resort about 20 minutes drive away.  The first slope we went to looked awful.  It had a gigantic patch of ice right in the middle of the slope and looked terrifying.  It was raining, and windy and none of us were feeling it, until we realised that this slope was actually meant to be closed due to the ice.  Every other slope in the area was open, with loads of snow!  We drove a little further on and found a great area.  We hired some more gear, and went to a small and gentle slope.  Instead of a conveyor belt it had a T bar ski lift, which is a T shaped bar that hooks under your bums and pushes you up the hill.  Matt tried to sit on it instead of gently lean on it and nearly took us both out.  Then he couldn't get off it at the top either!  Lucy and Rosalind actually fell off it and had to ski down the slope and try again!  Here is Matt at the top of the mini slope.

I wan't a fan of this slope, thinking it rather boring, because it was really short, and I found the T bar rather traumatic.  There was a slope that connected to this one that lots of people were coming down and I managed to persuade Matt and Liz to give it a go.  We had to go up a proper chair lift to get to the top, but once we did it was fantastic.  It was a nice gentle slope, but really long, so you could practice different things, and really build up some speed.  It was right in the middle of two banks of fur trees, and was just beautiful.

It was raining quite hard by now, but it was only a problem when going up the chair lift.  On the way down, the wind was behind us so we weren't bothered by the rain.  We got a nice little extra push from the wind on the way down.

We stopped for a bite to eat in the cafe (a big bowl of chili, which was delicious), then all 6 of us who were skiing went up and did this slope a few times.  Then we got a bit adventurous and decided to do another blue (the second easiest level, and the same as the ones we had already been on) slope.  It was ridiculously tricky, full of loose snow, and huge bumps that made you lift off the ground.  It was so steep and everyone apart from me fell over (honestly, I don't know how I do it).  It spooked Rosalind, who was the least confident in the group, who ended up walking down to the ski lift.  We ended on a high though with all of us skiing down the nice slope before heading home.

The other 3 in the car decided (without telling us) that they were going to Willingen again rather than to Winterberg with us.  They were due to drive straight back to Dusseldorf after skiing, as one had an early ferry to catch on Tuesday.  They were quite far away when they told us their plan, and we told them that they had a key to the house and would need to come back.  They ended up going for lunch then dropping the key off before going home, so they missed out on a great afternoon.

Below was the terrifying slope (it went on a bridge over a motorway, which was very odd!).

We went back to the house, now a group of 9, and cooked spaghetti bolognese for dinner, before a few games of twister, some pink fizz and a game called Cards Against Humanity, which is VERY rude!  It was a lovely evening.

We left this morning at 11, and it took us about 2 and a half hours to get back to the airport.  I'm absolutely exhausted, but had such a great time.  I feel very lucky to have such wonderful friends.

For the rest of half term we have some admin bits to do for China, including getting our injections.  Matt is finishing his dissertation, and we'll be recovering from our trip!