Back in Texas for a few weeks

After four days of traveling, I’m safely back in Texas once again! It was a good trip; just really long. I had a bit more hassle than usual in Dubai; I guess new travel regulations have been coming down the pipeline. I got to sleep, shower, and swim at the hotel there before getting on my longest flight. I stayed awake till a decent hour Monday night before collapsing into bed. I’m a bit tired this afternoon, but hopefully I’ll be fully on schedule in a day or so more. Plus, I got waaaay too little sleep the last week at school.

I’ll be picking up my leased car this week and having a podiatrist appointment next week. I need a massage as well, but I’ll have to see if I can fit that in before the wedding. All the stress and lack of sleep the last week and half have made both my shoulder and my tendonitis flare up more than normal. I’m also going to try to start scouting out some things like apartment and car prices for next spring.

The Wednesday before I left was our camping/outdoors themed birthday party.

Most of that day was a whirl of getting my substitute prepared and working in my classroom, but I did get to enjoy the pig that slow roasted for about 24 hours in this clever pit,

and sit outside for a bit enjoying the bonfire.

Prayers for my podiatrist’s appointment, for my students and substitute as they finish up the last two weeks of term, and for all the details of my sister’s wedding and accompanying festivities appreciated would be appreciated. It’s going to be busy, but boy is it good to be home!

Last Sports Day

Just quickly as it's late, I need to sleep, and I might do a tad more packing, here are a few pictures from Saturday. My house, Fisher, did a great job of competing and encouraging each other, and there were no major injuries. The day started with the school carrying "Big Bertha" (the rope) up to the field-

I was busy keeping score as usual so I didn't get a lot of pictures of the actual events, but here is my house captain encouraging a house member on during the whole house sack race relay,

And Fisher during the tug o' war--which we won!

Afterwards the kids went down to the river as usual for a Saturday afternoon. The older boys have constructed a fort in one of the trees,

and the younger kids had fun at the clay tables.

Parting shot: Way to go Fisher house!

Busy, Half-term, and thatching

You’re never going to guess what kind of week I had—it was busy! Since our second half-term (so it’s actually more like a 2/3 term) was this Monday and Tuesday, Friday and Saturday were a rush of trying to get things finished off, which resulted in more and less success. I had my last weekend off before heading back to the States, in which I got caught up on marking, took a much needed nap or two, and did some work around the house.

For half-term I took almost no pictures, but I did take the 7-9’s for early morning swim at the dam, I spent almost two hours squeezing math corrections out of some of my students, I wrote almost all my report card comments, I did a braiding activity with Ruthie and the 5-6 girls,

I biked over to the farm to pick up the weekly 2L of milk, tried to top up my back tire and broke the top of the Presta valve right off, did a ‘housework workout’ today, and started packing. So, nothing super picture-worthy, but busy days. I leave Sakeji on July 13th, so there isn’t that much time left this term for me! Plus, there is Sports Day on Saturday, and Birthday party next Wednesday, so things are going to continue to be a bit crazy. Helping with a wedding is starting to sound relaxing!

Parting shot: The work on our big chota continues; the grass matting is down, and now they are starting to bind on the bundles of grass.