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Published: July 10th 2007
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Relay Race First , the weather. Strangely enough we are experiencing here roughly the same weather temperatures as in Australia. It's rainy and cold :-( although we did see a moment of sun today (first in weeks). Yes, I am exaggerating about the "moment" but only slightly. Some days are gorgeous but all days have periods of overcast. It's getting better anyway.
We are well finishing up school years and work contract, ready for a holiday before returning to another year/contract. It seems almost every social function is on now: between the start of the nice weather and people departing for their Summer holidays. It's similar to the feel of December in Australia when you can't keep track of everything. For example this week: Thursday night: annual school fundraiser auction, Friday: sports carnival then meet up for play, movie with new friends, Saturday: Summer Fair. Christine had a sleepover party on Saturday night (lots of games, she had a great time) and then a lovely and enjoyable Sunday lunch at some friends. (recently settled Aussies from Herve's Sydney work). By Sunday afternoon, everyone was exhausted but especially Christine.
After lunch on Sunday we walked down to Hyde park and it
looks completely different now..so many people out and about skating and playing or just lying around. Very peaceful. Not at all like the chilly bare (but somehow equally beautiful) Hyde Park of Winter.
Saw a bit of the Tour de France. ..that's all I have to say really, they just ride past in a flash as you would expect. Not much of a spectator sport. Wimbledon is far more exciting. However the city was blocked off to traffic so it was pleasant to walk around. I heard an Australian won that leg of the race, a Swiss overall. (?)
[Post script: apparently, (after deciphering what Herve was saying through all the laughter on his reading this entry) we didn't see the actual Tour de France racers as this was early in the morning. What we saw at about 3pm was some other races along the Tour de France track. Partly paraplegic athletes but first there were others ...I don't know.
One funny experience: we met up with a lovely Australian family (two kids about the same age) this week to play in a park and watch Shrek III, and Christine was amazed at their accents; In
fact they come from Annandale, inner city Sydney so obviously there accents were not extreme. It just goes to show you don't hear your own accent and after 6 months in England, the Aussie accent sounded startling to the girls.
Christine got the results of her SATs exams which is the big test they do here at the end of Primary School and various other years as well but I'm not sure (she got all 5's for English, Maths and Science, the highest) which really means nothing to her or us or even her future but it's nice for her to know she has coped well in English schools after a daunting start. She certainly deserves the marks she got. On this blog are some photos from her week end of year 6 journey down to Devon, South West England.
Lauren's class report as usual looks like you could frame it. They sure aren't getting the same kind of reports I used to get 😊
I read recently that the difference between some international parents is that an American parents will ask the teacher :"What is my child learning?", a British parent will ask "How is my
child behaving?" and a Scandinavian parent will ask "how is my child?". In hindsight, this explains the parent-teacher meeting I attended with Lauren's teacher. I came in hoping to hear all about how she has been settling in, what she's been doing in class and how the teacher thought she was coping with all the changes in the work and friends. I left confused that the focus of the entire 5 min meeting was on the fact that the teacher has no concerns with Lauren's behaviour and she is very well mannered. (!) no opportunity to ask questions. Having said this, the teacher is great and the last meeting for the end of the year was much better. Lauren could not have wished for a nicer teacher. I fear she is not at all being challenged enough but she is happy here and that is the main thing. She is learning many things regardless. In fact, in general I could not fault the primary school. It is well run and the kids are happy and doing well. We are very lucky to have come in.
The High school has a very different feel (very serious, strict and uncompromising, a little
pompous too) but hey, if it's good enough for the Blairs' daughter, it good enough for us! :-)
Had the sports carnival this week which was very interesting in being so completely different from Australia. I came away realising that in Australia, sport is a serious business and we are very competitive in this area. Here they have sprints up to 800 mtr races (where anyone with African blood was bound to be miles ahead ) but also egg and spoon races and three legged races ( I won the parents version with another mum!..before another pair of mums protested...so sad, so we ran away with our victory). There are no teams (so no annoying cheering lyrics) no loudspeakers, and everybody cheers everyone else, winners or losers by their name. It is one of the few times where I have been forced to compare England to Australia favourably as everyone, children and parents had a great time.
Lauren is now the proud owner of not one but two shiny medals. A silver for coming second in the two legged race and a Gold for the relay (she was fourth and last runner so also got double cheers
and praise)
There are no swimming carnivals here and children in general are not good swimmers although of course some are.
Next entry will include more about what Herve and I have been doing around the city.
PS Hello Sandy!
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