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Hi Everybody,
It's been a few weeks since my last blog but here I am back by popular demand, lol, ok so maybe they didn't demand and maybe it was only two people that casually asked where my weekly blog had gone but still… god bless you Tracey and Kerry!
Well first I must get my exciting news out of the way….Brian and I are having another baby! It seems that it is due in October and we are both shocked…
Just joking, ha ha…I finally finished my course and received an email from my teacher last week saying that I had received a credit for my last assignment, yippee! There were some stressful times last year that I didn't think this day would ever come.
Can you believe we are in March already? We celebrated Mothers day or "Mothering day' as it's called here in England on Sunday just gone. I received some nice gifts from the girls, lots of candles, a lovely picture of them and some candle sticks (we had decided to send a crate home but I'm now thinking maybe two) and a watch from Brian. Josh dragged himself out of bed about 1pm and grunted something my way; of course I can't be sure if it was 'happy mother's day' or 'what's to eat'…but he later redeemed himself by offering to baby sit the girls (free of charge) for a few hours while Brian took me to the movies, we had a lovely time and even better, we arrived home to find that the girls still had all their limbs intact! It did feel a little strange to be celebrating mother's day in March so I have kindly offered to do it all again in May…Gosh I'm good like that!
Well I have to be honest and say that the last few weeks have been a little rough with all of us having experienced homesickness at some point, we all have days were we are still excited to be here and then there are the days when we just want to pack up and come home to the warm but I think that is to be expected.
Caitlyn is doing it a little hard at the moment and misses home lots, she got into trouble last week at school because her handwriting wasn't up to the teachers standard, the teacher yelled at her in front of the other kids which really upset her and she was made to re-write a 7 day journal from scratch. Re-doing the journal was minimal I think compared to the embarrassment that she felt at being yelled at, those of you that know Caitlyn will also know that she is a good kid and NEVER gets into trouble so it has/is taking some work to get her feeling positive about being back at school (she has been off for 3 days sick).
The school system is very different here compared to Australia and the teachers seem to have a lot more power over the children and their parents so that has taken some getting used to. When your child is sick here you MUST ring the school in the morning to report and give reason for their absence. If you want to take your child/children out of school for any extended period (for instance if we decided to take a family holiday for a week) you have to apply to the head (principal) in writing and she has the power to approve it or not.
Speaking of school, Josh has decided to leave school here and look for work. The school years work different which meant that he started year 11 here when the other kids were already a term into it and missed heaps of important work, he found that hard to cope with and felt there was no point continuing as his final exams would be in January and we leave in December. Brian and I both agree that working for 10 months would be good for him and he still seems keen to do his senior years when we get back to OZ.
Whilst on the subject of Josh, it seems that he thinks I need friends and is on a crusade to find me some. One of his friend's mothers gave him a lift home the other day and he insisted on dragging the poor lady inside to meet me "Julie this is my mum Deanne but you can call her Billie no mates (Billie no mates is equivalent to Nigel no friends in Oz) (sorry Nigel if you didn't know that) because she never goes anywhere and her best friend is Henry the vacuum cleaner, she is free for coffee anytime you would like to ask her" lol, the poor lady just stood there looking at me and I felt lower than the tuna that John West rejected until eventually she said she would love to get together for coffee (what else could the poor thing say) then Josh pipes up and says " Mum, Julie is really nice and I thought it would be good if you two could get together, Oh not in a sexual way, well not unless you wanted to of course, but you know for coffee" Oh god!!! Could this conversation get any worse? Lol, needless to say I haven't heard from Julie for that coffee date…I'm not sure if it was me or the fact that Josh made me sound like a desperately lonely swinger that talks to her vacuum cleaner!?!?
I was sitting here the other day and asked the girls what they thought of England so far, I thought I would write what they said…
CAITLYN
The good things about England are that I have made some friends, we got to see Uncle Andrew, and we get to go traveling places.
Sometimes it's bad because its cold and that makes the people here a bit grumpy and drive too fast. I don't like that daddy has to work all the time and we miss him. The food tastes different here, the apples are sour. Since we got here our lives have been in chaos. (lol, told you she was homesick)
EMILEE
I have made lots of new friends, we get to go to the movies and see cool films and there are more channels to choose from on TV.
Sometimes, well all the time its cold but the sun tries to shine some days. I hate sharing a room with Taylah because she snores and keeps us awake talking.
TAYLAH
The sausages here taste like weet-bix but the TV shows are good. There is too much homework and the school/teachers are so strict. It gets a bit glum here but I have made some friends and the hot chocolates taste yum, especially when mum makes them with whipped cream and marshmallows as a treat.
I have just read back over this and it all sounds a bit glum, lol, so on a lighter note I have applied for a few jobs, the one that I would like is in a reception/nursery (pre-school/kindy) school in a place called Shrewsbury. The position is for a teaching assistant Mon-Friday and it would also mean that I get the same school holidays as Brian and the kids, so wish me luck!
Well that's about it from this neck of the woods, hopefully next time I can captivate you with more thrills and spills from the Griswalts!
Cheers,
Dee x
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