Just a quick update

So I've been in Wales for just under a month now. I've had such a great time so far and the best is still to come. It's been a few weeks since I updated my blog and a lot's gone on but I'll try to keep it short....ish. So here goes:

Sam, Andy and I went down (?) to Bristol a couple of weeks ago for a conference with about 60 gaps from around this part of the UK. Everyone we met was easy to get along with and we'll be catching up throughout the year. Basically, the conference was a total bore but we were there to meet people. We headed off to the pub after it finished around 3 PM. The bunch of gaps who are at a school about 30 minutes away had to leave straight after but about 20 of us had a few drinks before we had to go home. It was awesome to meet all these people, and fortunately there are a few kiwis nearby so I'm not TOTALLY surrounded by Australians!

One of the duties I have at the school is helping out on the day trips for the boarders on Sundays. Some of the trips are kinda lame, others are pretty cool. They do things like paintball and go-karting, they visit an aquarium (one of the lame ones) and the one I went on last Sunday was to a safari park about an hour and a half away. It's a thing where you drive your own car through the park and they have basically all the African animals you can think of (some of the photos are on Facebook).

I head off to the first regatta of the year on Saturday. I'm not racing in this one, but hopefully I will be racing soon! I've been out in the boats training with the seniors a couple of times and it's been a great experience. The trainings are a bit harder than back at home but then again, these guys want to win Nationals; not just make it there like back at Coll! This regatta has all the big schools at it so it's going to be great seeing how these guys compare to the Maadi Cup back home! I'm not quite sure if I want these guys to do better than that or not...

I'm not really sure what else to write about. I think most of you get the general idea of what I'm doing by now. It's pretty much the same throughout the week and occasionally I'll do something on the weekend which is a bit different and worth writing about. I'll try a bit harder to update you a bit more but really, I make no promises. Have fun with you last month off you guys before heading to uni, and good luck to you lot who have all just started school again - make the most of this year because it is actually an awesome one and you don't want to miss out.

Week one over..

Hey everyone. So it's not actually the end of the first week yet, but it's close enough and it will be when you get around to reading it I guess.

I've had an amazing time here already. As I said last time, all the people are really friendly and will have a chat to you at meal times or in the staff room. They definitely make you feel welcome here!

It's been pretty hectic so far but I'll get used to it, I'm sure. I had my first of what will be MANY trips to Heathrow this year on Sunday night. I had to pick up some boarders from the boys' and girls' school at 6 30. Everything was all good except for one of the 6th formers on my list who hadn't turned up. When I finally got hold of him he told me he was already back at the boarding house and had found his own way there. No worries. I was only there for an extra hour -______- Thanks buddy!

I'm working at the secondary school this term. There are two parts of the school; the prep school called The Grange and the high school which is actually Monmouth School. Andy is full time at The Grange this term and Sam splits his time between the two. We'll swap over next term and I'll be doing half and half.

Basically, I'm helping out with PE lessons in the mornings. It's either regular PE lessons or a swimming lesson. I haven't had to jump in the pool with them yet, but I don't think it'll be long since they're doing their best to drown when they tread water. I was so surprised at how many can't do it, but I guess I do come from a nation of swimming pools and beaches!

In the afternoons everyone has games, so that's when they do their school sport. I'm coaching rowing to 3rd formers twice a week, the seniors twice a week, and coaching a rugby team the other day. It's not too bad but the days are 7am to 6pm every day and it's pretty tiring. That's including after school rowing training. I think twice a week from next week it's about 7am to 9 30 pm with boarding duties. YAY!

I've got some photos from the walk Sam and I went on before the airport trips so I'll chuck them on Facebook soon. It's a lot easier than me describing the place!

Welcome to Monmouth

The first couple of days in Monmouth have been and gone. I arrived at the train station at 2pm on Wednesday and it turns out Andy was actually on the same train as me. Sam however had been waiting at New Port for about three hours, jet lagged and freezing cold since he’d come straight from Sydney and 35 degrees to single digits here.

Sam and Andy are legit guys. They’re both from Sydney but two different schools. They both played for their 1^st XI cricket teams; Andy as an opener and Sam as an all-rounder. They’ve both been involved in heaps of stuff at their schools and both got 95% in their final exams… Pressure on for one week’s time!

There hasn’t been much to tell so far, but what we do know is that there are far too many names and faces to put together right now. We’ll get there eventually but right now it’s pretty difficult.

Sam, Andy and I all learnt a vital lesson last night at the pub. Andy’s was that warm beer is horrendous and he should never buy it again; Sam found out Guinness is pretty disgusting and Sam and I both made the mistake of ordering the ‘Welsh Dragon curry.’ I think the five peppers next to the name on the menu SHOULD have given it away that it was smoking hot and uneatable…

Things That Go Bang in the Night

Just a quick update for the start of the year. Max and I went to a little town in Italy called Ventimiglia on Friday. It's basically like San Remo. It has a market on Fridays and we wandered through in the morning after our cups of coffee and croissant. Unlike San Remo though it was absolutely freezing! I had a scarf with me but it was doing absolutely nothing for me so I actually ended up buying a new one in anticipation of getting some heat back into my neck! Fortunately it was 15 euro well spent!

The only other significant purchase of the day were sky rockets from a hunting and fishing store. We were just looking around the town and happened to see a few fire works in the window. We looked inside and in the cabinet with all the ammunition for guns were these little packets of sky rockets! Better yet, it was one euro a packet and each one had 12! So we set off back to St Jeannet with 60 sky rockets!

New Years eve was pretty cool really. We set off about half of the fireworks when it was dark at 6pm. Yes... It gets dark in Winter early - don't forget how lucky you are for sun and warmth at this time of year! We took about an hour to set off the first half and when people turned up we had an amazing dinner! Basically it was like a second Christmas lunch. Beautiful!

When midnight came around and time for the rest of the fireworks, Jens, who is one of the people who came around slipped a little package out of his jacket and what should it be? Yes... more mighty cannons to make craters in the ground! Pretty lucky really since, you know, we were totally starting to run out... The fireworks here are amazing. I really dislike New Zealand for banning them!

the new year started off amazingly. We fired up the wood oven and all made our own wood fired pizzas with buffalo mozzarella, prosciutto and all sorts of other goodies. It went down rather nicely with a good beer.

That's all for me. Keeping it nice and short. Next time you hear from me I'll be in Wales having just met my two new flatmates and learning the ropes to my job. I'd love to hear about what you've been up to for new years eve too!

Until then, happy new year everyone. Have a rocker for 2012!