Snow!

Last night we went for a great meal at a Belgium restaurant. They served huge beers Gareth got a big one and me a small one I thought that was a bit sexist, especially as I can probably drink more than Gareth.

Gareth and a big beer

Steaming mussels

We took the train from Toronto to Montreal today. It was a bit longer than expected - 5 1/2 hours but I managed to do some sleeping and read my magazine so I didn't bug Gareth too much, who as usual was in protable entertainment heaven. I saw some snow on the way to Montreal and it is definitely colder here so I'm hoping it will snow more soon. The city is lovely I feel like I'm in Paris. We went out for steak and chips in a lovely little French restaurant - just like in St Malo. I have forgotten all my French it's quite depressing. But I did help a lost guy from Panama get off at the right stop and had a good conversation with him in Spanish. He even recognised my Mexico City accent so I must be getting better! We have a nice room but it's a bit weird. It has a full kitchen in the bedrrom and a dining-room table all laid out. We probably won't be using it much though having seen all the nice retaurants nearby.

Snow!

Sight seeing tomorrow. I hoping to drag Gareth to the zoo and botanical gardebs. I did do his sport museum the other day. And I must but his Christmas present too. Why are guys so hard to but for? There are loads of nick-nacks I would love. Any ideas are welcome!

News!

My sister is engaged! (I wasn't going to put this here but as she has on her blog so I thought it would be ok). A very tasteful ring well done Tim! I'm glad it doesn't have a sticking-out diamond as my newly engaged friend has one and is always scratching her nose on it when she sleeps. So it's going to be wedding plans and colour schemes from now on in (Sam I remember all your crazy plans). I can't wait to see Gemma waltzing down the ailse. It makes me feel very grown up.

Toronto in a heat wave

We got here and there's no snow. On the news they're saying it's unusually hot for this time of year. It's not much different to Mexico! It was probably a welcome surprise for us so now we can acclimatise gently - we're off to Montreal tomorrow which will be really cold. We have been shopping today. I got my hair coloured and cut - so great as Mexico is crap for hair. I'm glad it's back to my realy colour. I did a very bad red thing myself which didn't realyl work but I don't really rcognise myself without th curls. We went up the CN Tower about 500m up. I felt very scared but a bit brave when I went out on the glass celing with only 500m of nothing below me. Whoooaa! Gareth took me to the hockey hall of fame where we saw silver cups and ice-hockey kits. Gareth had a go on the saving goals game but I didn't want any pucks flying at my face. Especially as my eye has only just healed from when Gareth tried to poke it right out in his sleep.

Tomorrow we're catching a train to Montreal so I have been practicing my French. Au jourd'hui! (sorry mum if that's spelt wrong)

Christmas in Guernsey

Mum's nativity

Marmalade (my Guernsey cat) taking an xmas nap

Grandma and Grandad with their tree

Had a little Christmas dinner tonight. Cooked a beef pastry thing my sister taught me that turned out really good and roast potatoes. I tried this Camembert, garlic and cranberry starter which you are meant to cook in the microwave. Not having one I tried the oven but ended up with a big, fat, greasy mess. Still tasty but not really a success. Good brownies for pudding though!

We opened our presents form our family. Thank you to everyone reading this! I had some nice underwear from my sister (not easy to buy here), great clothes from Gareth's family, earrings from my Aunt and Uncle and best of all a mouse mat with a picture of my Guernsey cat from my Grandma and Grandad - I love it and am using it right now! I'm tempted to take it to school but I don't trust the kids not to nick it.

We're off to Canada tomorrow so Gareth is off packing. I'm getting really excited now but really hate flying so I'll be glad when we're there and that's all over and done with. Photos of Canada will follow soon!

Christmas Concert

We had our Christmas concert on Thursday which was pretty amazing. There were about 300 children in total - playing in the orchestra, dancing and singing. The lighting was all done professionally and looked great. They tried to add atmosphere by using a smoke machine which just made it really hard to breathe - especially when playing a clarinet.

(me in the middle wearing black)

After we had the posada which is the little re-enactment of the nativity by the tiny kids. I saw them before - a donkey, shepherd and king playing football on the field so they were a bnit dishevelled by the performance. The paths were lit with Chinese lanterns there was yummy food and all the classes had made stained-glass windows for each room and were lit up from the inside - a really good night to get in the Christmas mood.

(me conducting with festive tinsel in hair)

Off to Canada tomorrow. I am very excited. I had forgotten we were going and hadn't done my packing at all. We handed in our resignations a couple of weeks ago so we have been very excited looking for new jobs. We decided we wanted a bit of a change. I still love Mexico but we have seen most of what there is to see. So we are officially unemployed at the moment and are hoping to find somewhere for this September. We have applied for lots of different international posts so fingers crossed in the new year we should be having interviews!

Christmas Time!

I know I haven't written for ages but I have been so busy - the end of term is always like this. On Tuesday night we went to our friends' house for a Christmas party. We all brought a part of the Christmas meal. They did turkey someone did potatoes and we did mince pies etc. It was so delicious. We did a pinata where you have to bash the decoration with a sugar cane until it breaks and all the sweets fall out - a bit dangerous after a few glasses of wine. Great! Gareth got home at about half four - I was tucked in bed by one because I had the school concert to arrange the next day. Needless to say he had a tough day at school yesterday.

Last night we went to see the Killers play. It was a massive concert. We had a nightmare getting there - in a taxi for three hours. The Mexicans will never ever admit they are wrong or don't know where they're going. It was obvious we were lost but the guy just kept driving around. Luckily we made it and only misssed one song. Great show and very cool. The drummer was amazing. He had big pork chop side boards and a handle bar moustache - looked like he might eat children.

I feel shattered after last night and am feeling it today but it's our last full day in school so I can't complain. Tonight is the concert which is always really Christmassy. I will post photos soon!

One hurdle down!

Performed our Christmas concert today it went really well despite a power cut half way through one of the songs. The kids were great and so well behaved while the workmen linked up to the electricity at a nearby house. Thanks Kim and Steve for paying for the electricity in our concert! The parents were really impressed with the costumes and the singing. I was very proud. See pictures at: http://cybergates.greengates.edu.mx/ and go to Junior 1 performance. We celebrated with a glass of baileys in the classroom (we were meant to be having a planning meeting but really weren't in the mood).

We just came back from our Christmas meal. It was a bit of a last minute decision to go as last year the food was disgusting (mainly brown in colour) so no-one ate and then proceeded to be very drunk. It was very good this year, everyone had a good time, and we finished off with big, big glasses of baileys. Yum! They did kick us our very early though after last year's fiasco so it's now only half six and we are home already.

Christmas is Coming!

Went out and bought our Christmas tree today. I was dreading carrying it up our hill - it is a real killer at the best of times - and just as we set off it started to rain. Not a good sign! Luckily when we bought the tree the man selling it said he could give us and the tree a lift home. Gareth walked as there wasn't really room in the car. The car was so clapped out Gareth actually got back before me. Anyway the tree is now up and I've been listening to far too much Christmas music to really get in the mood. I have been making mince pies today. I would never normally dream of making puff pastry as you can buy it ready made but in Mexico you can't. So I made the pastry and the mince meat from scratch and if I say so myself it's turned out bloody tasty!

Now I've changed to this new blogger thing can't put photos on any more. There is no option to do it. So I will have to save these photos of my tree etc. until I can figure out how to do it. (I've figured it out now there was a problem with beta.)

New Look

I have had to change my blog as I updated something and everything changed. So enjoy the lurid pink for a while before it all changes again!

Had a lazy day today. We had the day off as it was the inauguration of the new president. We saw on the news just now they had a big bust up in parliament. I just hope it doesn't mean any more disruption. A while back the opposition shut off loads of the roads and it was really hard to get around the city. It doesn't affect us much as we live outside and have no need to go in but it makes it difficult to see friends in town.

Leaf Bug

This is a new bug I found in my garden. I picked him up because I thought he was a leaf. Didn't bite so probably not poisoness (is this a word because the dictionary doesn't know it. I am sure you can say poisoness?) but great disguise!

Had a busy week and it's only Tuesday. We are directing the kids in their play Wackadoo Zoo. I know it will all come together but it seems so far from it at the moment. I only realised today mine was the only class who hadn't learned their lines - I didn't realise we had any. Shit!

Still snotty and ill but I have just finished my reports so I am feeling very pleased with myself. They were a pretty big job. One more thing out of the way before Christmas. I was back in school for only two days last week but it felt like an eternity. I had to teach the kids a dance for the performance at the end of term. I am not a choreographer and my dances are really crap. At least the kids know no better and the parents will love it because it's cute. So I'm not too worried.

We have another short week next week - Friday is a holiday so I only have to work 14 more days in total then off to Toronto. It's going to be really cold but at least I will feel Christmassy. I've been bugging Gareth to play Christmas music all week and hopefully we'll be getting our tree soon. Mexicans don't walk anywhere - they all have cars. So, we are a yearly source of amusement when we walk down to pick up the tree. They ask us where our car is and can't believe we are just going to walk up the hill with it under our arms. All good exercise!

Jingle Bells .... Yey!!!!

Feeling sorry for myself...

I'm sick and bored, bored, bored. I could never stay at home all day, every day unless I had a lot more to do. I am so bored. I have a cold and can't do much other than sit around and keep adding to my tissue mountain as I blow my nose raw. I love going into school. The kids make me laugh and I have loads of friends to catch up on gossip with at lunchtime. I feel bad today as we have the Christmas concerts coming up, and have to practice like crazy, and now I'm not there to help. Even worse we just had a long weekend so the kids are well rested the perfect time to teach them dances and songs etc.

Oh well enough moaning and feeling sorry for me. I'm off to on-line shop for presents (I love the internet especially suggestions for 'difficult to buy for' relatives) and will go and try to enjoy daytime TV I think mi casa tu casa aka changing rooms is on. Great!

More Photos

We had a great night on Saturday and a very lazy day on Sunday after getting back in the early hours of the morning. In some ways it was good I came down with a cold (although I was really pissed off on Saturday morning) because I drank loads of water and soft drinks all night and didn't have a headache the next day. We had a good fry-up with sausages and hash browns and finished our healthy day with McDonalds milkshake and big mac! My kind of lazy day. Luckily today is a bank holiday so we have an extra quiet day to got back into routine.

St Andrew's Ball

This week has really flown by. It's already Thursday and I have a really exciting weekend coming up. I have been fake-tanning and fixing my dress (which I put my foot through last time in preparation for the Andrew's Ball. One of our friends is from Scotland and we always go to the ball for bit of British food and dancing. The end of the night is always like a family disco with the eighties music blaring, me bugging the DJ for Bon Jovi and a few people wobbling around worse for wear as it's free drinks all evening. I can't wait to get a bit glamed up. I will post photos on Sunday so you can judge wherther I look better at the start or end of the night!

It has been a lovely week. I have got away with teaching very little as the classes who have music with me keep having other stuff to do. The teachers keep apologising but it's more than ok with me not to teach! Our Christmas production is coming along really well. We have all the sepaking parts sorted, mums are making the costumes and now I just have to choreograph the dances. I tried today and ended up toatlly stressed. It's impossible to give directional instructions to children who can't speak English. Aarrgh it was a nightmare! I created this really crap dance where the kids were just crawling about on the floor. Luckily a teacher who knew what she was doing came to my rescue. So it's looking ok now. Thank god!

Firework Night

We went to the British firework night last night. It was really good fun and we had baked beans and sausages, which you can't get here. I really pigged out. The fireworks were really good with a nice big fire but the best part was the sparklers. Great!

Really, really dancing!

Last night I started my dance classes. I swore that by the time I leave Mexico I would be able to salsa etc. So my friend Kerry and I started classes with a Cuban lady. She speaks no English so we were really scared but it turned out to be great and as an extra bonus it's brilliant exercise. My bum is killing me today! We're going to have classes twice a week so I hope we'll get good pretty quickly.

Being back at school is not so much fun but it's going by quickly and soon it will be Christmas. Only 13 more school days until our production, which we haven't started yet. Oh my God! But Gareth and I have booked a trip to Montreal and Toronto so I have a great incentive to get to the end of term.

Back home

We got back safe and sound at about 9am this morning. We had been travelling since 9pm the night before. We had very little sleep as the first flight left just after midnight and was only 3 hours long so not much napping done there. We arrived in Mexico where we gained 2 hours so it was suddenly daytime and we had to get a second flight. Luckily it all worked out really well. We avoided immigration in Mexico City, which takes a couple of hours, and whizzed through the immigration as we changed flights. So it was pretty smooth sailing getting out of the airport and into a taxi back home.

I had a good long nap. Gareth as normal thinks he's a machine and has still not slept. He did all the washing and insanely tidied away his travel stuff (mine is still in the suitcase where I dumped it as we came in). He has now been up for over 24 hours, with about 1 hour of sleep. He's finally given in and has sent himself up to read in bed. I give it 15 minutes and he'll be fast asleep.

It's always quite satisfying to be back home and we still have a long weekend before going back to school. Then quite a short term leading up to Christmas performances etc. - so always pretty easy going. Now I need to sleep too. Night!

Sea Lions

I was so excited to go and see the sea lions. And they were worth it. They were all battling one another for space and honking and barking like crazy. Great! We had clam chowder down on the pier for lunch straight out of a loaf. I love the idea of and edible bowl! We walked like mad which is probably a good thing as we are travelling all night tonight. We get in tomorrow morning after a stop over in Guadalajara. Not looking forward to leaving.