New Friends for Harry and proper school!

Finally we got to meet Neil and Michelle, and their two children Josie and Owen.  Neil is the new DT teacher at FICS, and I had been talking to him since April as part of the process they have here to help welcome new teachers to the islands.  Basically you pass info which the person may find helpful and answer any queries etc.  Skype had been a great asset for this, and we had messaged several times a week and also had a couple of Skype calls too.

We welcomed them about a week before the end of August, and had promised them a meal when they landed.  They hadn't bargained on a joint of beef this size!  It weighed in at about 15lbs!  Last year we had appreciated the meal offered to us by Jo and Mark Symons, so we offered Neil and Michelle a meal.  The joint went in the oven at 8am, wrapped in foil at Gas 1/4 and came out at 5pm....it fell apart!

Several hours and bottles later, jet lag eventually caught up with them!

Finally the time came for Harry to start school properly!  Last year he had been at Preschool, attending every morning.  He was really pleased with himself last year as he only missed one morning because of an ear infection.  He had 99.5% attendance, the highest in his class!

There is no school uniform here, but we try to send him in a polo shirt and grey trousers most days

He does try to help when he can.  The other day he wanted to some ironing.....  At least it wasn't switched on.....

The advent of the the Rugby World Cup was celebrated in style.  We finally caved in and had KTV.  With one channel featuring the worst of British (Corrie, Eastenders, X Factor etc), and another broadcasting for 6 hours a day, TV became uninspiring.  Besides, I wanted to have live spor, as you go anyway near the Internet on a Saturday and it spoils any sport on TV, as sports shows are shown 4-5 hours after they were screened in the UK.

The Friday night saw us eating steak and chips and enjoying a few beers with Neil, Michelle and family, Ruth (PE) and Kelly (English) before settling down a night of rugby, and the highlight...the England-Argentina game!

Josie decided to practise opening bottles under the expert eye of Kelly.....The bottles were empty....

The kids finally crashed out, leaving the adults to get on with the serious job of watching the rugby, and the disappointing win over Argentina....

As the weekend drew to a close, we went out travelling around Stanley, and Neil was introduced to off road driving!  As ever, the wildlife stole the show!

 

A trundle onto Wireless Ridge showed some more war debris had been unearthed since our last visit.  This is the stock from an Argentine FN FAL which had a folding stock and was their equivalent of the British SLR.

The weather was now clamping in, so it was declared time for coffee and cake so we headed home, before enjoying a roast at Neil and Michelle's!

Long time no posts!

Okay, so I've not updated for a while, but things have been fairly busy here.  The end of term (August here) was fairly manic, more snow, and with lots of staff leaving there were lots of leaving parties.  Then the new staff started arriving!  The sense of relief felt at the end of an 18 hour flight having been fed nothing but fajitas (thay have finally changed the god awful paninis on the airbridge!) is immense, and most welcomed a meal the evening they arrived!

Anway, long story short, 6 new teachers arrived in the space of 2 weeks, along with their families.  All were settled in, and are now getting to grips with teaching 8,000 miles from the UK!

Time for some pics!

As ever, the sunsets continue to impress, it's the clear skies and lack of pollution which gives such great sunsets.  Recently, the volcano in Chile has giving some of the prettiest sunsets I have ever seen.

The snow arrived again, and this time it hung around for several days.  Problem is, every time it snows, Harry thinks it is Christmas....  It can be confusing for us too!

Harry playing in his car in the snow!

Complaining his hat is too tight!

Zoe and Noah have moved next door, much to theirs and Harry's great delight!

Harry has been practising hand stands, and then there is the usual cake making!