Let it Snow

Hello everyone,

Well although it has been strange spending January in school, we have had a busy month! School has been going well, and now that I have 2 permanent days, I am finding I have work at least 4 days most weeks. Next term I will be replacing a current teacher as she has maternity leave so I will be fulltime until the end of the academic year (July) and the possibility of the same in September if we decide to stay. This has worked out really well as we both like the school and staff & enjoy working in the same workplace.

A big piece of excitement (not just for the foreigners but also the locals) this month has been the arrival of snow. We had a small snowfall 2 weeks ago of about 2.5cm which was really lovely, and then this last week we had quite a big amount of about 10cm. A lot of schools were closed (although ours wasn’t!) and this time there was enough to make a snowman!

Church this year has been really encouraging & ‘re-hydrating’ for us. We have really enjoyed going & hope to get a little more involved as the year wears on.

My brother & his friend Gaven have been with us for a few weeks, and will be for a couple more. It has been good to show them around a little bit & spend time together. Jono has also been doing some supply teaching while he has been here.

During some of my spare time when I haven’t been at work, I have made a new website (www.jrpirini.blogspot.com) and also practiced some of my skills using photoshop to make some of the graphics.

Out & about we have been quite busy…we have been up the London Eye which was really cool to see the city from above (at night), we went to our first football (soccer) game last Tuesday to watch Australia play Denmark, we hired a car yesterday & drove down to Brighton where we showed my brother around, we have also visited Westminster Abbey last Sunday for the evening service…it is a amazing, awesome place.

In regards to Ukraine, we had a couple stay with us a few nights & it was great to talk to them, and also Gaven about possibilities of work over there. It seems as though the dairy farming idea is not that feasible at this stage, but we have been in contact with an international school in Kiev in regards to jobs September 07. They have asked us to send our CV’s and we are waiting to hear back from them.

Our housemates are moving out this week (shifting back to Australia) so at the end of the month a teacher from school (who is from Rotorua, NZ) & his partner will be shifting in. We were wondering who our new housemates would be, and are glad that is someone we know & who we get on well with.

So that’s what’s happening with us… hope you are all well & enjoyed your summer,

God Bless,