Happy Secular(ish) Easter

It feels very odd it being Easter this weekend and not being off school. We were at school on Good Friday and will be there on Monday too. It has been fun talking to the kids about their Easter traditions. They are all eagerly awaiting a visit from the Easter bunny who brings a basket full of goodies and hides plastic eggs with little treats for them to find. There is not one large chocolate Easter egg in sight which seems strange (the kids mouths were watering at the prospect) but thankfully there are an abundance of mini eggs to see me through!

I also can't believe that I am now over 2/3 of my way through my time here. I have just finished my second round of parent-teacher conferences and lots of the parents were asking whether i'd enjoyed my time here and when I was going home...it only seems like yesterday the school year was beginning. After 'vacation' next week, we have just under 8 weeks of teaching time left. Whilst this makes me a little sad, it also means the beginning of another adventure. Frida and I have booked our flights to San Francisco, managing to co-ordinate landing within an hour of each other (if all goes to plan) and are planning a road trip in a camper van up the coast of California and Oregon with stops at various beautiful places along the way. This is, however, dependent on us being able to negotiate our way out of San Fran without having nervous breakdowns due to vast highways and being in charge of a house on wheels. We've decided to worry about that when the time comes...
 
Other than school and travel research, I haven't been doing anything that could be classed as majorly exciting for the last couple of weekends but I have enjoyed myself and the sunshine all the same. Last Saturday, I walked the boulevard in Portland with Theresa, then strolled around Twin Brooks with Betty the beagle who just about drove me crackers as she was entranced by lots of new smells.

I also started some swimming lessons this week and nearly got frost bite from the pool. You wouldn't want to bet on me surviving for long in cold water. We weren't incredibly active as she wanted to assess us on various bits and pieces, so by the time I got out my lips, toes and fingers were blue. Everyone else still looked perfectly normal though which is a mystery to me! I didn't think a person could be blue yet still alive, but I was wrong. Thank goodness for a hot shower, a hair dryer and my car's heater.

Today was another great day for exercise. I went on a fantastic bike ride with Kalie, an ed. tech at school, and two of her friends. She gave me a much needed lesson on how to ride a road bike properly (I could not work out how to change gear...only a minor problem) and then we were off. It was a chilly ride but one with some rolling hills and an absolute killer which thankfully I was able to wobble my way up with my new found gear changing ability. We rode through Cumberland and I got an idea of just how vast the school district really is, out to Pineland farms where, joy of joy, there was a coffee shop with a comfy couch from which we could see all the way to a snowy Mount Washington 60 miles away in New Hampshire. All in all, my idea of a perfect couple of hours!

Mount Washington is the snow capped peak in the far right distance