This is going to be a very long blog update so I apologise now! :-) Persevere if you can! x
Well, keeping this blog updated hasn't really gone to plan! Time just goes so fast in this place, before you know it 6 weeks has passed by and I am like... OMG, where has that time gone! Last time I updated I had been back at school a week and now we're into the second half of our term and there's only 4 weeks left till the Easter break! I can't actually believe it!
So, what have I been up to so far in 2013! Its turning out to be quite a fun year so far! Had lots of new experiences and am still really enjoying being in the Sandpit! However, being here is not great for my waist line! All we seem to do here is eat... It takes a lot of self control and at the moment I'm failing miserably in that department! But I'm happy, and that's all that matters right?!
School is amazing at the moment and reflecting back to September when I first got here, its a totally different ball game now! My class are amazing and everyday is hilarious. I am getting so much more from them now, that it is just brilliant and I remember being told by a couple of very wise people at the start of the year "It gets better". I never believed them but God, I do now. Working in an International School and with children with EAL has its challenges, but if you have the passion and are willing to persevere with things, it can be great. I'm lucky that I no longer dread getting out of bed to go to school any more because the children are just fabulous and I enjoy spending time with them.
Most recently, we had our sports day. We have been practising for weeks with the children, the Relay Race, the Sack Race, The Egg and Spoon Race, just to name a few. And on Tuesday last week (Feb 26th) it was time to put all that practise into the real thing. The children had to wear a coloured T-Shirt to represent the house colours and I nagged and nagged the parents all week on the run up to it and before half term to make sure that the children came in the right one! Now I don't know if I just have a good class or what, but my class was the only class where EVERY child had the correct coloured T-Shirt on AND all dressed in their PE Kit! I was thrilled!! Maybe nagging does get you somewhere! The children were all fabulous and I wish I could put some pics on here to show how wonderful they all looked and how much they enjoyed the sports day. Lots of pictures with their game faces on! So funny!! They get so competitive, but in a good way. They still supported their friends really well!
This blog is a little upside down, but now I'm going to go back to my Half Term holiday! Quite a spontaneous holiday happened during this time, and I went to Sri Lanka with my 'fwends' Kathryn, Lisa and Laura. We had the most fabulous time and here goes what happened to us while we were there.....
We left the Sandpit on Thursday 14th February (Valentines Day and I didn't get any Valentines, SOB! Lol...) and boarded the aeroplane, ready for our adventure. I should add at this point that I BACKPACKED, this holiday. Anyone who knows me, knows that I suitcase, not backpack. But it wasnt too bad ;-). The flight got off to a bit of a bad start. As soon as we were literally off the runway, the pilot banked the aeroplane to the right and gave me the shock of my life. Now, I'm a good flyer and things like that don't really bother me and neither does turbulence... but oh, my, word. It just got worse. The plane was dropping and shaking like a tin can at some points and I was really freaking out, but trying to stay calm as Kathryn was freaking out too. No point us both freaking out! Anyway, coming into land in Colombo we circled the Island a number of times and came down into the decent to land. On our screens it read "2 minutes to Colombo" down we went then all of a sudden we pulled up again, everyone was like, huh?! Then on the screen it read 32 minutes to Thiruvananthapurum. We were all looking at each other confused and the confusion turned to shock when we realised we were off to India! So that was an interesting diversion! What made it worse was the fact that the pilot didn't tell us a thing until we got to India and landed and uttered the words "I think I need to be honest with you....!" Well if that didn't freak us the hell out I don't know what would of! Apparently, there was a huge storm in Colombo and although we tried the decent a number of times, we didn't have enough fuel to try for another one, so had to divert to India. So, we then sat on the plane for 2 and a half hours, with no water or anything (they didn't even offer us a drink!) absolutely exhausted by the fact that we all hadn't slept since the Wednesday night and had done a full day at school on the Thursday! Nightmare! Then, all of a sudden, the captain said, cabin crew prepare for take off and off we went for another attempt at landing in Sri Lanka! Fortunately, this time the storm had cleared and we had a smooth landing into Colombo airport. Phew!
After doing what you do at an airport when you arrive, we went through and found our driver. His name was Udaya and he was VERY lively and pleased to see us, considering we were 3, nearly 4 hours late. Whoops! We all piled into the car and set off on the 3 and a half hour journey to Kandy, which was to be our first stop. However, our first stop was food! Udaya took us to this little cafe bakery place which was really nice actually. We all had a pastry thing which was spicy but nice! Laura, showing how tired we all where, left her purse on the table in the cafe and we were all like! OMG! That could have been a VERY interesting start to the holiday.
Off we went again and we stopped at a Rice Paddy so we could try some rice. It was very hard to shell the rice - I hope that a machine is used to do that and its not done all by hand! The journey to Kandy at first was none eventful.. but little did we know it was about to be come VERY eventful. Udaya overtook a bus and as a result was pulled over by the police. He became extremely fretful and got out of the car and went to speak to them. He was fined, and had his license taken until he had paid the fine. We then had to turn around and head up to the police station. He left us in the car, with no A/C on cooking (it was 30 something degrees easily!) When he had paid the fine, we went back to the police officer, only he wasnt there! Udaya was freaking the hell out at this point. So off we went to the police station again so we could find out where the officer was! Turns out he was just a bit further down the road and we eventually found him, got the license back and off we went. By this point we were all absolutely shattered and I'd lost count of the number of hours I'd been awake for.
Udaya could see that we were tired but powered on through, taking us off the beaten track and off to see some Elephants! This was awesome, however the chains and ropes around the Elephants necks where not. We had a ride on the elephants, Kathryn and Laura on one and Me and Lisa on another. Lisa was terrified, but she powered through and got all the way round without getting off! Go Lisa! It was a lot of fun on the Elephant, however it didn't half hurt your thighs! Ouch! They were very sore afterwards!
After being on the Elephant, we were all desparate for the toilet and the only way I can describe the toilet was like the 'dunny' in "I'm a celebrity" Actually, I think that may have been cleaner than the thing we had to pee in. Not pleasant. We got back into the car and off we went to a Spice Garden. This would have been really interesting, if we hadnt all be deliarious with lack of sleep by this point. So so tired. After a 20 minute stop, Udaya had to admit defeat with us all and take us to the hotel. Our hotel, it turns out, was at the top of a mountain. It was AMAZING. Such beautiful views and the hotel itself was very villa like. We were so pleased to get there, unpack, have a shower and just chill. After being on the road for god knows how many hours, sitting on a comfortable chair was just bliss. After having some dinner and chilling out, we finally went to bed! Saturday was our Tuk Tuk day! We spent the day driving round Kandy in a Tuk Tuk! We soon found out that the driving in Sri Lanka is as bad as it is in Doha! Our first stop on Saturday was the botanical gardens just outside Kandy. Botanical Gardens wouldn't really be our thing if I am honest, but after living in the desert for 6 months, any type of greenery is just amazing! It was actually really nice to walk around the trees and see real grass and we actually found out that there are 26 types of grass!! (Yes I know a pointless fact!)
There were wild monkeys and fruit bats and all kinds of things in the botanical gardens and it was just so green! We walked around and just enjoyed being in a place that kind of felt like home.
After the botanical gardens, we went by Tuk Tuk to the temple of the tooth, which is in the centre of Kandy city. We went and had a wonder around the temple, got some flowers and made our offering to Buddha. We had to give our shoes in and then had to pay to get them back! After that we went for a walk around the lake and then went and found some food. The funniest bit of the food hunt was that we were in a foreign country and still managed to find a Pizza Hut where we ended up eating as it was too hot to walk around anymore! For the Pizza and drinks we only paid £4 each! It was sooo cheap! We were well impressed! Our driver picked us up at 5pm and we went to watch a Kandyan Dance show. When he came, he only had one Tuk Tuk and wanted us all to fit into it and sit on each others knees! We were like, no way! So he got another Tuk Tuk for us.
After the Dance, we went back to our hotel via an off licence! We needed some wine! Heading back up the mountain turned into a very funny experience. Laura and I were in the Tuk Tuk and it made it most of the way up the hill, but then couldnt get any further! Cue the hysterical laughter and the questions... OMG are we too heavy for the Tuk Tuk?! Turns out, there was something in the fuel line of the Tuk Tuk, so it kept stalling, so it wasnt us! We eventually got up the hill in the other Tuk Tuk that came down to rescue us! Hilarious times!
Sunday was another jam packed day. We went to a Tea Factory and to the Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage. Now I'm not really a tea drinker, but I had a good go! I even bought some Green Tea The tea factory was interesting; they work really hard in the factories... Its a good job that they have the machines to help them now! After that we drove to the Elephant Orphanage and went to see the Elephants. It was awesome. The baby elephants were just so cute! In the afternoons, the elephants go in the heard and go down to the river to bathe. Our driver had arranged a prime spot for us in a restaurant on the river and we sat, by the river, having our lunch, watching the Elephants play. It was so surreal! After the fun with the elephants, we went on a drive
back to our hotel and through the towns and villages. Laura and Lisa wanted
to buy some sarongs and stuff for the beach and the driver said he knew
somewhere! So off we went. We ended up in this amazing shop where they let us
try on Saris! We had loads of fun dressing up. I really wanted to buy one, but
they were expensive considering its just 6 metres of material!! I wouldn't have
fitted it into my backpack anyway!!
The
next day was Monday and we were moving on to our next place, which was
Hikkaduwa, on the South West coast of Sri Lanka. We had all decided that the last few days of our holiday wereys were going
to be spent on a beach, which was just what we needed when we’d all had a busy
half term at school! The driver from Hikkaduwa had driven all the way up to get
us and then had to drive all the way back. In total, his journey took near on 10 hours! It was an absolute mission! But when we arrived, it was well worth
it! 
We
stayed right on the beach at a place called the International Beach Hotel. Our
room was less than 100 metres from the beach and it was just amazing. It was
sooo hot there too! The Hotel had its own bar as well called “The Drunken
Monkey” which was cool. They did awesome food and drinks and they were really
cheap. We also found a really nice restuarant that we ate at twice "Mamas" which was just a little but further down from our hotel. Well, a lot further actually, we had to get a Tuk Tuk down there and back! 
Nothing
exciting happened when we were down in Hikkaduwa; it was literally a 4 day beach
holiday. It was awesome, just sitting on the beach, cocktail in hand and iPod
on. Bliss!
We were actually quite sad when we had to leave to go home, we'd all had such a fabulous time and enjoyed the sun and each others company. Lots of fun.
So thats it. You're up to date with my life and my blog! Its a long update is this one and if you have got this far down thanks for persevering! Hopefully I'll able to update with something this interesting next time! Much Love! x x x
Well, keeping this blog updated hasn't really gone to plan! Time just goes so fast in this place, before you know it 6 weeks has passed by and I am like... OMG, where has that time gone! Last time I updated I had been back at school a week and now we're into the second half of our term and there's only 4 weeks left till the Easter break! I can't actually believe it!
So, what have I been up to so far in 2013! Its turning out to be quite a fun year so far! Had lots of new experiences and am still really enjoying being in the Sandpit! However, being here is not great for my waist line! All we seem to do here is eat... It takes a lot of self control and at the moment I'm failing miserably in that department! But I'm happy, and that's all that matters right?!
School is amazing at the moment and reflecting back to September when I first got here, its a totally different ball game now! My class are amazing and everyday is hilarious. I am getting so much more from them now, that it is just brilliant and I remember being told by a couple of very wise people at the start of the year "It gets better". I never believed them but God, I do now. Working in an International School and with children with EAL has its challenges, but if you have the passion and are willing to persevere with things, it can be great. I'm lucky that I no longer dread getting out of bed to go to school any more because the children are just fabulous and I enjoy spending time with them.
Most recently, we had our sports day. We have been practising for weeks with the children, the Relay Race, the Sack Race, The Egg and Spoon Race, just to name a few. And on Tuesday last week (Feb 26th) it was time to put all that practise into the real thing. The children had to wear a coloured T-Shirt to represent the house colours and I nagged and nagged the parents all week on the run up to it and before half term to make sure that the children came in the right one! Now I don't know if I just have a good class or what, but my class was the only class where EVERY child had the correct coloured T-Shirt on AND all dressed in their PE Kit! I was thrilled!! Maybe nagging does get you somewhere! The children were all fabulous and I wish I could put some pics on here to show how wonderful they all looked and how much they enjoyed the sports day. Lots of pictures with their game faces on! So funny!! They get so competitive, but in a good way. They still supported their friends really well!
This blog is a little upside down, but now I'm going to go back to my Half Term holiday! Quite a spontaneous holiday happened during this time, and I went to Sri Lanka with my 'fwends' Kathryn, Lisa and Laura. We had the most fabulous time and here goes what happened to us while we were there.....
We left the Sandpit on Thursday 14th February (Valentines Day and I didn't get any Valentines, SOB! Lol...) and boarded the aeroplane, ready for our adventure. I should add at this point that I BACKPACKED, this holiday. Anyone who knows me, knows that I suitcase, not backpack. But it wasnt too bad ;-). The flight got off to a bit of a bad start. As soon as we were literally off the runway, the pilot banked the aeroplane to the right and gave me the shock of my life. Now, I'm a good flyer and things like that don't really bother me and neither does turbulence... but oh, my, word. It just got worse. The plane was dropping and shaking like a tin can at some points and I was really freaking out, but trying to stay calm as Kathryn was freaking out too. No point us both freaking out! Anyway, coming into land in Colombo we circled the Island a number of times and came down into the decent to land. On our screens it read "2 minutes to Colombo" down we went then all of a sudden we pulled up again, everyone was like, huh?! Then on the screen it read 32 minutes to Thiruvananthapurum. We were all looking at each other confused and the confusion turned to shock when we realised we were off to India! So that was an interesting diversion! What made it worse was the fact that the pilot didn't tell us a thing until we got to India and landed and uttered the words "I think I need to be honest with you....!" Well if that didn't freak us the hell out I don't know what would of! Apparently, there was a huge storm in Colombo and although we tried the decent a number of times, we didn't have enough fuel to try for another one, so had to divert to India. So, we then sat on the plane for 2 and a half hours, with no water or anything (they didn't even offer us a drink!) absolutely exhausted by the fact that we all hadn't slept since the Wednesday night and had done a full day at school on the Thursday! Nightmare! Then, all of a sudden, the captain said, cabin crew prepare for take off and off we went for another attempt at landing in Sri Lanka! Fortunately, this time the storm had cleared and we had a smooth landing into Colombo airport. Phew!
 |
| Laura and Kathryn trying to Shell Rice |
 |
| The Airport in India |
 |
| Sri Lanka Fwends! |
Off we went again and we stopped at a Rice Paddy so we could try some rice. It was very hard to shell the rice - I hope that a machine is used to do that and its not done all by hand! The journey to Kandy at first was none eventful.. but little did we know it was about to be come VERY eventful. Udaya overtook a bus and as a result was pulled over by the police. He became extremely fretful and got out of the car and went to speak to them. He was fined, and had his license taken until he had paid the fine. We then had to turn around and head up to the police station. He left us in the car, with no A/C on cooking (it was 30 something degrees easily!) When he had paid the fine, we went back to the police officer, only he wasnt there! Udaya was freaking the hell out at this point. So off we went to the police station again so we could find out where the officer was! Turns out he was just a bit further down the road and we eventually found him, got the license back and off we went. By this point we were all absolutely shattered and I'd lost count of the number of hours I'd been awake for.
Udaya could see that we were tired but powered on through, taking us off the beaten track and off to see some Elephants! This was awesome, however the chains and ropes around the Elephants necks where not. We had a ride on the elephants, Kathryn and Laura on one and Me and Lisa on another. Lisa was terrified, but she powered through and got all the way round without getting off! Go Lisa! It was a lot of fun on the Elephant, however it didn't half hurt your thighs! Ouch! They were very sore afterwards!
After being on the Elephant, we were all desparate for the toilet and the only way I can describe the toilet was like the 'dunny' in "I'm a celebrity" Actually, I think that may have been cleaner than the thing we had to pee in. Not pleasant. We got back into the car and off we went to a Spice Garden. This would have been really interesting, if we hadnt all be deliarious with lack of sleep by this point. So so tired. After a 20 minute stop, Udaya had to admit defeat with us all and take us to the hotel. Our hotel, it turns out, was at the top of a mountain. It was AMAZING. Such beautiful views and the hotel itself was very villa like. We were so pleased to get there, unpack, have a shower and just chill. After being on the road for god knows how many hours, sitting on a comfortable chair was just bliss. After having some dinner and chilling out, we finally went to bed! Saturday was our Tuk Tuk day! We spent the day driving round Kandy in a Tuk Tuk! We soon found out that the driving in Sri Lanka is as bad as it is in Doha! Our first stop on Saturday was the botanical gardens just outside Kandy. Botanical Gardens wouldn't really be our thing if I am honest, but after living in the desert for 6 months, any type of greenery is just amazing! It was actually really nice to walk around the trees and see real grass and we actually found out that there are 26 types of grass!! (Yes I know a pointless fact!)
There were wild monkeys and fruit bats and all kinds of things in the botanical gardens and it was just so green! We walked around and just enjoyed being in a place that kind of felt like home.
After the botanical gardens, we went by Tuk Tuk to the temple of the tooth, which is in the centre of Kandy city. We went and had a wonder around the temple, got some flowers and made our offering to Buddha. We had to give our shoes in and then had to pay to get them back! After that we went for a walk around the lake and then went and found some food. The funniest bit of the food hunt was that we were in a foreign country and still managed to find a Pizza Hut where we ended up eating as it was too hot to walk around anymore! For the Pizza and drinks we only paid £4 each! It was sooo cheap! We were well impressed! Our driver picked us up at 5pm and we went to watch a Kandyan Dance show. When he came, he only had one Tuk Tuk and wanted us all to fit into it and sit on each others knees! We were like, no way! So he got another Tuk Tuk for us. 
After the Dance, we went back to our hotel via an off licence! We needed some wine! Heading back up the mountain turned into a very funny experience. Laura and I were in the Tuk Tuk and it made it most of the way up the hill, but then couldnt get any further! Cue the hysterical laughter and the questions... OMG are we too heavy for the Tuk Tuk?! Turns out, there was something in the fuel line of the Tuk Tuk, so it kept stalling, so it wasnt us! We eventually got up the hill in the other Tuk Tuk that came down to rescue us! Hilarious times!
Sunday was another jam packed day. We went to a Tea Factory and to the Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage. Now I'm not really a tea drinker, but I had a good go! I even bought some Green Tea The tea factory was interesting; they work really hard in the factories... Its a good job that they have the machines to help them now! After that we drove to the Elephant Orphanage and went to see the Elephants. It was awesome. The baby elephants were just so cute! In the afternoons, the elephants go in the heard and go down to the river to bathe. Our driver had arranged a prime spot for us in a restaurant on the river and we sat, by the river, having our lunch, watching the Elephants play. It was so surreal! After the fun with the elephants, we went on a drive
back to our hotel and through the towns and villages. Laura and Lisa wanted
to buy some sarongs and stuff for the beach and the driver said he knew
somewhere! So off we went. We ended up in this amazing shop where they let us
try on Saris! We had loads of fun dressing up. I really wanted to buy one, but
they were expensive considering its just 6 metres of material!! I wouldn't have
fitted it into my backpack anyway!!
The
next day was Monday and we were moving on to our next place, which was
Hikkaduwa, on the South West coast of Sri Lanka. We had all decided that the last few days of our holiday wereys were going
to be spent on a beach, which was just what we needed when we’d all had a busy
half term at school! The driver from Hikkaduwa had driven all the way up to get
us and then had to drive all the way back. In total, his journey took near on 10 hours! It was an absolute mission! But when we arrived, it was well worth
it! 
We
stayed right on the beach at a place called the International Beach Hotel. Our
room was less than 100 metres from the beach and it was just amazing. It was
sooo hot there too! The Hotel had its own bar as well called “The Drunken
Monkey” which was cool. They did awesome food and drinks and they were really
cheap. We also found a really nice restuarant that we ate at twice "Mamas" which was just a little but further down from our hotel. Well, a lot further actually, we had to get a Tuk Tuk down there and back! 
Nothing
exciting happened when we were down in Hikkaduwa; it was literally a 4 day beach
holiday. It was awesome, just sitting on the beach, cocktail in hand and iPod
on. Bliss! 
So thats it. You're up to date with my life and my blog! Its a long update is this one and if you have got this far down thanks for persevering! Hopefully I'll able to update with something this interesting next time! Much Love! x x x
