Heatwaves and Holidays

You all lied to me..

When I told people that I would be moving to England the common response was something along the lines of “why would you do that? Their summers are awful!”. It turns out that this is not the case and you all lied to me.

So last week after I left you all, I did nothing except revisit my childhood by watching Mulan. Its amazing how a film can entertain you when you're five, and nearly 19.. (I hope it's not just because I have a very immature mind, although I do fear that may be the case).

Monday night I had to help put the kids to bed because the other Gap was on camp with the year 8's, so again I actually did something on my day off!

Tuesday was relaxed as usual, so I spent the morning skypeing the parents and worrying if I would have enough room to fit all my stuff into my bags.. In the afternoon I had senior games on the front field and it was so much fun! We played rounders (and yes I do mean we, I joined in to make the teams even and rediscovered my amazing natural talent at playing rounders)

The only thing that made it slightly different than any other tuesday was the fact that it was probably 28degrees in the shade..

Apparently when I was on pool duty that evening the other gap thought I still looked too hot so he kept splashing me, but don't worry I got him back *evil laugh in the distance*

that night was, like every other night that week, spent nagging the girls to tidy their dorms and pack their bags. It is seriously amazing and slightly impressive at how quickly they can make their dorms go from spotless to a complete bomb site..

Proof of the hot weather just incase you didn't think England could have a heat wave

Wednesday was insane. At 9am it was already 25degrees and it got hotter.. Thankfully I spent my day outside as usual, but the heat was nearly unbearable. Forest school was spent helping kids to make pizza, because they had their lunch in the woods (and the beverage of choice was some really good elderflower cordial!) but even under the shade of the trees it was too hot. 

In the afternoon the girls had house matches for rounders – they compete against the other houses in a tournament. But as you can imagine in 30degrees, a stupidly high percentage of humidity and no nice cool breeze, there wasn't a lot of action happening. The year 8's had just got back from camp so they were all shattered which was only made worse by the heat. The games pretty much consisted of the girls hitting the ball, running round the bases and then lying on the ground in the shade trying to get cool. It was a hard afternoon to say the least!

Whole house night was a little different this week, as the younger kids had to pack, and so the year 7's and 8's had a waterfight. Now somehow I managed to get absolutely soaking by simply walking over to the playground with a water-bottle in my hand.. I was completely drenched in less than a minute, which was actually quite nice because it was still stupidly hot. However it did mean that my hair got wet and therefore went frizzy...

Nothing like a good selfie to capture the aftermath of a watertight!

Thursday was a complete contrast to wednesday, as it poured with rain pretty much all day. I didn't do a lot really, because it was the second to last day of term so my timetable was pretty empty! I had year 6 games in the afternoon but because of the rain they were all in the gym playing dodgeball which was quite hectic with an entire year group..

That night the weather cleared up just in time for the summer concert! It was a solid two hours of kids performing their pieces and showing off their talents – and they were seriously talented!

However because none of them were my relations I soon got quite bored, although it did remind me of my days in the school orchestra (as you could have guessed I was one of the cool kids obviously ;)

Friday was a pretty good day! Partly because it was the last day of term and the sun was shining (but it was a reasonable temperature this time!)

in the morning the staff played the year 8's in a “friendly” football match. I didn't play because I didn't want to show them all up with my incredible football skills, so instead I sat in the sun and ate my fish and chips while watching them play, and thankfully beat the year 8's otherwise that could have been embarrassing..

That evening was the leavers party, and my job was to sit in the hallway near the stairs to make sure the kids didn't go into the dorms when they shouldn't. It turned out that the spot where I was sitting was the best place to be, because as the food came out of the kitchen they walked past me, and so I got to have first choice on all the plated of finger food (and god it was good).

After the party was finished, all the kids watched films, because it was the last night they would be sleeping in the boarding house so it was a bit of a treat-night. We ordered in pizza and they had their tuck, and the year 8's didn't get to bed till after 11 apparently, but I was in bed by 10.30 because I was knackered.

Saturday was officially my last day of work till september! I was up at 7 because we had to make sure the kids had packed everything so that their parents could pick them up and not have to worry about it. It was a really hectic morning trying to get everyone ready for prize-giving – I was running round the landing polishing girls shoes (I didn't know what I was doing because I never polished my shoes at school but I didn't tell them that)

Prize-giving was really... how do I put this... dull. I mean it could have been interesting if it was my sister or relation getting prizes, but obviously it wasn't so I sat there for a good two hours applauding these kids for their good work, being bored out of my mind the entire time..

Though once it was over, it was food time! So for the next four or so hours I wandered around eating, chatting to parents and staff and saying goodbye to the kids that were leaving (I may have nearly cried because some of those kids were awesome!)

The school really laid on the food, there was a Mr Whippy van and amazing desserts, and free booze (even though that didn't impress me as much as the unlimited free food.. but I had a glass of champagne because it made me look sophisticated and I liked that :)

Tyla and I being mature at the post-prizegiving party

I realised that I didn't have a picture of me (when i'm not behind a painted piece of wood) so i took a photo because i liked my skirt :) 

By the time all the parents had left I was shattered, so I went up to my room and had a little nap before I went down to the pub with some people from work- for the last time in a while!. That night all the residents had dinner together and it was such a good night! The food was amazing (all home cooked, just not by me..) and we chatted for hours about every topic you could think of! It was such a nice way to end the term! It was an interesting night tho because at 2.30am we had the brilliant idea to go and play dodgeball in the gym! We had the music blasting and we were there playing dodgeball for a solid hour before I called it a night and went to bed. I think that's the latest i've been to bed all year! Because as I got into bed I could see the sun starting to rise which was not as nie as you'd think because it reminds you how little sleep you'll get..

Sunday meant leaving the school with all my bags and making the journey to London. Now I hate this journey at the best of times, but with 4 bags it is absolute hell. I had my big suitcase, my small suitcase, my backpack and a tesco's bag of tuck that the kids had left behind. All full to bursting point and really heavy. And of course one of the trains was half an hour late so that made it even more enjoyable! Now I don't think I'd have been able to get my suitcases across London if people hadn’t helped me carry them up or down the seemingly infinite staircases that are at every station (because having lifts is a ridiculous idea apparently). Every time I was struggling to get my bags up or down the stairs some lovely human would offer to carry one of them for me which restored my faith in humanity. By the time I made it to Sarah and Martins I was shattered and sore, so I did nothing for the rest of the day!

Views like this make the train rides a little bit easier!

And so we are back to Monday!

This morning I headed into the city to get some things before I go off on my trip on Sunday (!!!!!) and on the train into Victoria I saw someone famous! Now most of you won't have heard of him, but I met Alfie Deyes! He's a youtuber and has millions of subscribers (he's written two books and is getting a Madame Tussauds wax figure!) So I got a selfie with him, as you do, and then made my way to the shops. Now I was quite good and restrained myself, so I didn't actually buy that much stuff! And I did need everything (or most of the things) I got. I wasn't out for too long because it was hot and the tube isn't a fun place to be when it's hot (so i've learnt) so I came back, and started to write this!

And so there you have it! Another week gone, and no more boring work stories for a good two months!

Now i'm not sure when the next post will be. It might be saturday, or it might be in a months time...

Either way there'll be one eventually so don't panic!

So until next time then....

Me and my new bestie Alfie :D !!!!!!!!!!!!!! (i was very excited, if you can't tell)