Quiet weekend

Had a great weekend. I got my reports pretty much finished so feeling very organised. I did nothing much else but read and read and nap. It was great to have time to finish my book - it's been dragging on a bit.

Just 19 more days of school - not counting or anything! I can't wait to shop like crazy in London and see all my friends. I have a really long time in Guernsey this year so I should be able to do everything I want to without feeling rushed.

Jabs

Yep got some of the jabs for Vietnam. They were pretty tame and I had some of them before but I do feel like I've been punched in the arms. We have Yellow fever to get next which the doctor said is pretty violent. So looking forward to that!

Just 4 more full weeks at school. Hooray shopping in London - I can't wait!

What a rant

I was gutted yesterday. I sent a ceramic pot (which I loved to bits) with DHL from Mexico. They shoved it into an average cardboard box (after showing me this amazing reinforced packaging they were going to use) and sent it off. Of course it arrived to mum in 100 pieces. Not so fussed about the pot but really pissed off with the guy who took $300 off me to post it safely. So I am on a mission to get my cash back. Not that's off my chest I feel better!

On Friday I was shattered but somehow did a great gym work out. We went to our friend's birthday party. After a couple of glasses of wine I felt a bit more awake and had the energy to actually talk to people. It turned out to be really fun and load of people turned up. Didn't have the energy for dancing but had a goof time all round.

Saturday was a bit of a disaster with the pot news. Then I missed my appointment with the facial lady which I was really looking forward to. 2 o'clock and 12 o'clock sound the same in Spanish and I misheard, turning up too late. Then I went to see if my skirts I sent in for alteration were finished. They knew nothing about them and I spotted them getting them out to get started as I left - lazy buggers. So all round not a very successful day.

Today was better - got to the gym (I wonder how long this fitness burst will last?). Fed the cute little kittens outside - they have no mum and are so tiny. The miserable arsehole neighbours want them dead (miserable shits). I have been warned by Gareth not to get attached- we are leaving so cannot adopt them I just have to feed them secretly!

A good sleep

I have been sleeping on springs and a wonky mattress for almost 3 years. My friends who stayed this weekend commented on how comfortable their bed was. We realised it was a brand new mattress and it's super comfy. So yesterday - while Gareth was out - I decided to do some shifting around and swapped the mattresses. Great result! Trouble is I really didn't want to get up for work and I managed to fit in 2 naps yesterday! Too much of a good thing.

I am feeling very productive. I have managed to start writing my reports and the system isn't even open yet! Very proud of myself. Oh and also I am on a massive health kick - apart from 3 cookies (oops) I have only had fruit and veggies and my breakfast and lunch. Good work.

Birthday Bash

Me and Maz ready for Vietnam!



Theme of the party was salsa in red shoes.

Jo and Kevin - I can never get a decent picture of you two!

Ali and Rob - visiting Mexico on their way round the world.

Emma and Lisa

Me and Ali saying good bye.

Had a nice night last night. Went to a great bar for Catherine's birthday. She and a load of others went salsa dancing but as we hadn't eaten 6 of us went off to get tacos. Ate far too much and had to go to the gym to work it all off this morning. Bit of an early start as my friend's had to take a taxi at 4am! I was pleased to get back into bed again.

Frustration

We had the day off school today because we needed to sort out paperwork for moving to Vietnam. Sounds good but actually we had to get up and leave well before normal school time. Both of us were shattered by the end of the day and both had a nap (a miracle for him!). We went into town with our friends who are also moving to Vietnam and continued the slow and painful process of getting documentation in Mexico. We had already been to Toluca to 3 different offices to get our police check and one stamp on it. Today we managed to get the first process done really easily and had high hopes for the rest of the day, until we arrived at the next office which was straight out of the 80's. There were people tapping away on type-writers and it was musty and dark. We were told to come back the next day. But Maz and I were persistent and seeing as we had paid for it already they finally let us in. We queued for ages and everyone was very unhelpful but eventually it was sorted. We went for a great lunch in the posh area of town (which made it all better!). At last we have all the Mexican part done. We now need to go to the Vietnam Embassy to get another stamp - not sure where though as the document already has extra pieces hanging off - there's no space left!

Unfortunately back to school tomorrow. Just 6 more full weeks!

Being aTourist

When my friends visited we did all the tourist stuff in the city. Here are some pics!

House Party

Me looking like a pirate, Louise and Nush.

Mariana and Dave.

Sam unaware of Gary's advances.

Rob and Gary.

Hang and Mark (about to have a baby).

Alison (from my first school) came to visit with her husband.

Marion (coming to Vietnam with us) and Hang (our Vietnamese teacher).

Sam, Catherine and Kerry.

Nush, me and Dave.

We had a party at ours straight after school on Friday. It was great. My friend from St George's came to visit with her husband. It was just luck that we had happened to throw a party on the day they decided to come. We had Mexican food catered so I didn't have to think about doing any cooking and could just enjoy myself. We drank a lot of beer but it was all over by midnight (we started at 2.30pm so it was pretty good going).

The next day I took my friends round all the tourist sights in the city. We saw Aztec dancers on the Zocalo (the main square). It was also the celebration of the victory at the Battle of Puebla (against Napoleon) so there was a huge parade of soldiers with big machine guns. I just couldn't help but think of Monty Python's funny walks - not good in a crowd of seriously patriotic Mexicans. We went through the newly excavated pyramid site in the centre of town and had lunch in a nice little street cafe. A really enjoyable day - you become lazy when you live in a place - it was good to see it all again as a tourist.

No school!

Today is great because we have no school. It's a public holiday. Unfortunately it's on a Tuesday and there was no way we could get the Monday off too so we had to be in work yesterday which was crap because we could have gone somewhere nice with 4 days off. The kids were really high yesterday because it was children's day. Their Spanish teachers fed them up on sugar and e numbers then handed them back to us. They couldn't sit still and were really badly behaved. I was so pleased when the day was over.

I went to Ruth's party last night while Gareth was at a poker night with the boys. It was really nice to relax and chat to everyone. I feel like I haven't made time to see everyone properly especially while applying for new jobs. Now we are all sorted I am going to make the most of seeing everyone and enjoying town before we have to leave forever. I still can't really believe we will be leaving Mexico and most likely we will never return. It has been a really great home for the past 3 years and I will miss so many things. But I am also so excited to get home, see everyone and go shopping then on to Vietnam. I am a nightmare at the moment for Gareth (he is being amazing) because one minute I'm excited and the next so nervous. I have to get it under control!

Party

Our friends had a party to celebrate their one year old's birthday. It turned out to be far more fun for us as she went off to bed. We had tacos which were great and a pinata which we bashed up good and proper in front of the little girl. I'm not sure what message we were sending but she got right into it too with a wooden spoon. Great party!

My Garden

My multi-coloured roses - yellow and pink on the same plant. I got this big climbing plant by pulling off a twig from a friend's garden it just grew like crazy! In fact all the plants you can see in this shot are stolen from someone's garden. I love it!

These two white flowers just popped right up from a really boring looking plant.

Here is my lovely garden. It's growing like mad now there's loads of sunshine. I just hope the boys living here will look after it. Rob reckons her will grow herbs so I have hope.

Getting excited

I am so excited to jet off to Vietnam. We just got our flight details and the information on our first social. We are flying via Quatar on Quatar Airlines. I was a bit disappointed as I hate flying and now we have to do a transfer it makes it twice as bad. But never mind I have got over it!

We have a social on the fist Saturday when we get there - off to a Czech micro-brewery. Sounds like something we would do in London. I hope it will be easy to meet people and make friends. It sounds like they have an organised social committee unlike here where the principal organises the Christmas dinner etc. and we end up sitting in the art room having dinner. I can't wait!

Less grumpy!

I feel so much better than yesterday. I went to the gym last night, ate healthily and got a good sleep. Although I did dream like crazy. I hope this week goes quickly. We have a party to go to this weekend for our friends' one year old kid. They have already had the kids party but think they should also celebrate so we're going round theirs on Saturday. I am looking forward to seeing everyone and catching up after the holiday.

Back to school blues

I feel crap although I slept really well last night. I look shattered and people have even said that. So much for a holiday rest! I didn't sleep very well while we were away and I think getting back into routine will help me feel better. I was gutted to get back to school today to find my classroom in a big mess. I left it perfectly tidy and was looking forward to coming back to an organised room. They had ripped out two windows and it was so dirty. They left all my stuff in a mess and didn't bother to put anything back and some of the kids work from the walls has completely disappeared along with the chair I sit on. I was fuming. If I had know I would have put all my personal stuff away.

I need to eat healthily and go to the gym. It makes such a difference. I have only ten weeks to slim down a bit before pigging out in England. It's terrible to think like that but if I loose weight before I get there I can put it back on again in the summer!

Back home

We're back in Mexico. We're all unpacked. I don't mind being home but I can't bear the thought of school tomorrow. It's boiling hot here. For some reason I thought it would be cold. My garden has grown like crazy and looks gorgeous. I am going to organise a party outside now it's warm and dry. Only ten weeks of term then big, long summer holiday!

Out for a nice meal after our mega walk.Frog!

Great big leaf on the way to the top of the volcano.

Looking into the steaming volcano. It stank of sulphur and was quite choking.

After visiting the volcano we went to a butterfly and snake place which had a waterfall walk through the park. Bit of a climb again! My legs will be super strong when I get back.

Not what I call a holiday

The hill we climbed - it looks more tame from a distance!

We spotted 3 different toucan species and I managed to get a shot of this one.

At the start of the walk.

We went on the craziest hike today. It was about 6 hours and straight up or down a so called hill - it was more like a mountain. It was amazing being right in the forest. It went through a rain forest and then as we were higher a cloud forest. Both of the forests have completely different animals and plants. It's like there is an invisible line where they change dramatically. It was beautiful but I was shattered. Of course Gareth loved it but I would have preferred to be lying by the pool! I collapsed when we got back and slept like the dead. Gareth is taking me to a lovely restaurant and has promised a bottle of wine for my efforts.