First Term Over

Wow - where did the time go? I can't believe that we're now on summer holidays and Wimbledon is in the second week.

During the first three weeks here, everything was new and there was so much to do along with doing some fun things with Adam and Hannah before they started school.

When term began, the 10 weeks stretching ahead felt like a very long time and I had so many plans. Getting our apartment organised and buying many bits and pieces that we still needed, doing some sight seeing, planning our holidays in the region, joining an expat group that do social tennis, coffee mornings, evenings out and tours etc. There seemed plenty of time. And here we are, almost at the end of the first week of the school holidays (7 more weeks to go).

Well, I've made a start on the things I wanted to do and have achieved some to some degree or other, but we really can't believe we've been here 3 months already. It's flying by at a scarey pace and there are so many things we haven't even started to do yet.

By the end of term both children were pretty tired. With the small class sizes, the amount of work in the school books that they brought home, suggests that they've really covered quite a bit this term. They both got good end of year reports and have clearly settled in and coped with the work well. In addition to the school production, performance assemblies, extra curricular activies etc that have been on going, the last week term was rounded off with the sports days.

Hannah's began well enough and they did running races and a selection of activities, showing off the different skills they'd been learning - gymnastics, ball skills etc. Unfortunately, about half an hour in, the sky had turned black and the wind suddenly picked up. We've now been here long enough to know that that means rain. Heavy rain. Everyone dashed into the canteen where the snacks we'd bought to eat after the sports day were consumed early. The children then had to return to their classrooms, as by this time the tropical downpour was in full flow.

The following day, for Adam's sports day, the weather was hot and sunny and most parents were glad to be watching from the shaded stands. They did some ball skills/obstacle race type of activities, but also did running races, long jump and high jump. Adam was thrilled. After watching the Olympics almost 4 years ago, he has spent many hours in Clarence Park in St Albans practising long jump into the sandpit. He was very happy to be doing it for real in a proper long jump pit and all those hours of practising paid off too, as he did one of the best jumps in his class. (Photo is Adam's 50m race, he is on the far right).

Despite many school friends having trips back to their home countries we are managed to get lots of outings and play dates in. A week of tennis coaching each morning is booked for one week in August, along with some holiday breaks for us. So far, this week has been a whirl of activity - a trip to the zoo with school friends yesterday, different school friends over today, swimming lessons, the weekly tennis lesson, a birthday party....I shall be shattered by the time they return to school!

At the zoo, Hannah had her first ever pony ride - double click on the photo to get a close up of the smile on her face!

David has been particularly busy just lately as his office move finally took place a couple of weeks ago. There are still the last bits of finishing off to do, but the new space looks great and works very well. I visited one day last week to admire the paint colour I chose for them and join them for a celebration lunch - there was a great range of takeaways chosen by the staff from one of the many local hawker centres. Quite a feast and neither of us needed dinner that evening.