just another morning here

So tired!!

It’s been a whirlwind few days saying goodbye to colleagues and children at school, as well as a morning at my new school, and an Anglo-Saxon banquet … all at the same time as trying to mastermind project ‘Get the House Ready for the Russians’ while working.

I have been well and truly spoiled, my TAs made me a photo montage of my class students and staff in a gorgeous frame, and gave me a silver sparkly bracelet. AND we had a lovely night out together Then today I had a few little gifts from the children in the class as well as flowers from other people too – my house looks great tonight!

We were lucky enough to be able to organise a bus day today, so we had a day out with the whole class (plus one extra!) at Decoy Park – they enjoyed the play area, we had a picnic, and walked around the lake, then played some more – and the sun shone, and I took lovely photos

I am really sad to leave everyone (it was so weird and sad today – I hate goodbyes) but yet looking forward to the next chapter in my surprise teaching career – in my next school I am going to teach the Early Years class which is a big change from KS4.

And now, we are into the Russian Exchange, our Russian guests arrived this evening, thankfully an hour later than expected as I would never have been ready in time! Regular readers may remember our trip to Yaroslavl in 2010; this is the return visit. We (ECO families) are hosting a ballet troupe and an accordion ensemble as well as leaders etc., so we have a week of entertainment and cultural activities laid on for them. I don’t have to be involved in all of it, just a few of the days, but we do have two lovely teenage girls staying with us. Anna, Abbie and Josiah worked hard during the first two days of their holidays to get the place ship-shape and beds ready etc. It’s going to be fun if we can all just catch up on a bit of sleep first …

Russia, land of the Tsars – also this summer was notably a land of heatwave, peat and forest fires, and smog. It seemed so bizarre to me that while Pakistan was enduring huge floods, Russia was suffering from quite the opposite.

Anyway. This summer’s trip to Russia has been in the pipeline for years; it was first conceived by a small committee of people around the time that Anna joined Exeter Children’s Orchestra three years ago. Little did I know then that I’d have anything to do with it at this point!

Last year we signed up to be part of the trip – I figured it would be the experience of a lifetime, since I knew that our family would never be brave enough to go to Russia on our own. I’ve been part of the planning process this year, working harder on things as the year went on, so it was just incredible to finally see it all come together and for 104 people to *actually* go to Russia (and get back, too!!). We had an amazing time – we all really enjoyed it for various reasons, and I don’t regret it for a moment. I’m almost looking forward to helping organise the reciprocal visit!

So, read on if you want the details … or as many as I can remember, at least
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Bang goes the third weekend of the holidays!

Friday night was fab, because Steve came home from a trip to the accountants in a good mood, and took us out for dinner Nice to know that all his hard work has paid off, this year at least.

On Saturday the girls took part in a singing workshop with the Panto people – great fun by all accounts. Josiah and I pootled around all day getting little jobs done – sorting out pets etc.

Today we spent lunchtime at Steve’s parents’ house for a BBQ, celebrating Steve’s Grandad’s and Mum’s birthdays, so that was nice. Sadly his Grandad wasn’t really up to taking part in his own birthday party though

Other than that, we’ve been packing. And giving the house a ritual pre- holiday tidy and clean (which everyone else moans about but I see as essential!). Also watching Moscow webcams and waiting for updates – the smog is clearing and apparently the airport is fully functional tonight so things are looking good for our flight next week. We’re all excited, if a bit nervous as well, but it should be an experience of a lifetime!

So, while many people that I know were up on Ten Tors and the Jubilee Challenge, our own challenge for the weekend was to get 105 Visa Application Forms signed and completed with passport photos, to send off with 105 matching passports to get our visas for visiting Russia in the summer. I think we have 102 done – so that’s not bad going, just a few stragglers to follow up. We stayed dryer and warmer than the walkers, too We went out for dinner to celebrate our achievements so far!

In other news this weekend I have been playing Angry Birds and geocaching (an unsatisfactory 6 today I’m afraid due to an annoying dnf). The rest have done work at the garage, homework, singing, watching the Grand Prix, and some other random jobs & music. And that’s about it.