School's out for summer!

Hi folks,

Well that's school all over for the year - has it really been a year since we house sat that mental dog? (yes is the answer if you were looking for one)

It's been a real challenge for Katie and I this year (good preparation for married life I hear) - not only getting used to our new surroundings, moving house 6 times, finding jobs, working out visas/finances, and coordinating all of our travels but actually doing our jobs too (and trying to do them well) - My job has been particularly full on being the Head of PE and Sport in a school where no-one else has been able to give me much info about previous years. Along with teaching 370 pupils how to do PE and running 33 sports teams in the school, not to mention having to work more closely with the parents than I am used to - it has been a bit mad.

I have also been out of school on 35 days this year on school fixtures and trips - which is a huge amount of teaching time lost. Yes, it's been a real effort and I know everyone has a tough job but I wasn't really expecting one this year - still, it's character building - although I am unsure as yet as to which character I am building - sometimes it feels like Mickey Mouse or something similar though ;o)

We head off to Auckland on Thursday to see Iain and Lorna - then we all head up to the Bay of Islands for some camping over Christmas, We then all head down to Wellington for the return leg and a bit of a Hogmany shindig.

it means we will be offline for a couple of weeks but we are thinking of you all and wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New year.