Firstly, I got into Southampton University to study Oceanography!!!

Well done to everyone who made it into your chosen universities! And if you didn't, well, if this experience has shown me anything so far, it's that there is MUCH more to life than A Level grades and university places. Keep trying if you want, but re-evaluate if it's worth it. Why not give starting a job a go? Earn some money and go travelling (maybe even to Honduras?) You'll probably be laughing at all the in-debt, jobless university graduates in 5 years time from your executives office at a big business. Give it a go, you never know!

I knew I hadn't made the grades for Edinburgh, but I'm pleased with Southampton. I'm going to be an oceanographer! Southampton has got the best Oceanography centre in Europe and second in the world. Uncle Mark, if you're reading this, I think the only centre that tops Southampton is right where the ferry from your wee island lands on mainland America! I'll have to come and check it out! This has also given me a convenient excuse to HAVE to spend a chunk of my travelling savings on a dive course in Honduras! One of the bay islands, Utila, has the cheapest PADI open water dive course in the world! It's around $200. Google "Utila, Bay Islands" it's actually breath taking.

I've had my lovely grade fours for three days now. We start lessons on Monday but I've been using these days to try and gage how much maths, science and English language they know. Most, with the exception of maybe three or four kids are very good at English. One girl in particular is exceptionally good; I let her read Kensuke's Kingdom on my Kindle (I also re-read Kensuke's Kingdom myself. It made me cry - that book never gets old). In maths one of the new boys who'd been really shy in the first few days really came into his own. It was really great to watch. The other children were asking him for help, which he happily gave, making friends all the way. Bless them, I love them all already. We played "Bingo!" at the end of one of our maths lessons. This new boy got a bit confused and crossed off all his boxes when I was counting down from 10 for them to have finished drawing their grids! He got a lot of laughs for doing that, but he laughed along too. The kids got so into Bingo. They loved it. When I was about to say the next number the room went completely silent and they all watched me, bubbling with excitement. After I'd said it there were great "Yessssssss"'s and "Nooooo"'s, but soon they'd be silent again watching for the next number. It's great that they're so eager. It makes teaching them so much easier.

Alix's class however are monsters. It's like they've never been told to behave before in their lives! They chase each other, wrestle each other to the ground and shout a lot. You can hear them all the way down the hall! There are only half as many students in Alix's class as in mine, but they seem to make double the noise! They are grade three's, so only a bit younger than my grade 4's, but they act like they're 3 instead of 8!

Alix and I went down to "Playa Bonita"- the pretty beach yesterday (Saturday). The water is amazing! It feels like bath water, yet compared to the heat outside its really cold! I was so hot from the cycle I almost expected myself to sizzle as I got in! We'd forgotten to bring lunch with us, so we bought some bread from the local Garifuna beach traders. The Garifuna people are descended from freed black slaves from America who moved to Honduras to work on the banana plantations. They still live in a very traditional way and make most of their living making and selling breads (especially their amazing coconut bread) and selling fruits. Today they were wandering up and down the beaching balancing buckets of coconuts or breads on their heads. I've attached a picture. I don't know how they do this - I'm pretty sure that if I tried my neck would just get squished into my body.

While I was watching these Garifuna traders walk up and down yelling "pan de coco," reading my book and dunking myself in the sea every time I thought I was melting, I was blissfully unaware of the fact that my skin was frying. I got home and I looked like a tomato. I smothered myself in after sun and sat with the fan about two inches from my face. I was wearing sun cream (factor 30), but maybe the Honduran sun, like the mosquitos with the repellent, doesn't care. My watch has basically acted as a stencil in keeping a precise centimetre-or-so strip of white skin on my wrist. It's perfectly done, and very annoying. Anyway, we're limiting ourselves to an hour in the full sun a week, which isn't difficult, as most of the time we're actually in the sun it's because we're on our way to a piece of shade.

Tonight I had the BEST meal I've had since the roast Mum cooked for me the night before I left (I miss your cooking Mum!) We had chicken fajitas!!! The tortillas here are really good (if a bit doughy) and we cooked pepper, onion and carrots in the wok we have. We fried up some chicken in these spices that we bought in the Mini Super down the road. It seems to be a mixture of oregano, garlic, coriander and some other stuff that we can't translate. It was different, but so good! Alix made a salsa from tomatoes, pepper and chilli sauce and I was in charge of cutting up the chicken. It was a breast with all the bones, a wing and skin all still attached. I gave up on our extra blunt knife half way and used my hands. By the end my hands were covered in blood and gunk and I was very proud of how I did. This was the first non-tinned or processed beyond recognition meat that we've had here (we've had tuna and ham, although I don't know whether I would describe it as ham, it was more like shiny pink tasteless plastic in perfect squares.)

Anyone who knows me will know how much I love good food. I miss my weekly Walled Garden welsh rarebit, with salad and flat beans; I miss my Mum's roast chutney and mustard chicken and my Dad's famous tomato and chorizo pasta. The food in Honduras is all really carbs-based and apparently no one has heard of salads. Saying that, we've become fairly inventive lately, and our meals are getting better. Today, dancing around the kitchen, frying veg and singing along to Paolo Nutini, actually felt like home for a moment. Mum, you'll know; you've been witness to my sing along cooking many a time! There is so much I miss from home (mostly the people) but at the same time I am really loving it here. I love our little pink house, my hilarious partner, the locals who always say "hey" (or "bye" - I think sometimes they get confused) I love the school, the constant heat, the sea (obviously), the liquados, the sound of insects in the evenings, our watermelon breakfasts, our geckos and most of all I love my students. I definitely picked the right country. I really do love it here!

That's all for now, but keep reading! I like to think someone does!