It's amazing how time passes with barely a whisper of goodbye. We have now lived in Spain for nearly 2 months. We are starting to feel the faint recognition of a 'normal' life, including a routine - however in August this will stop again due to the country's mandatory holidays. I have been working as an English teacher at 3 schools, mostly to children aged 5 to 11 years. I enjoy some of this work but am finding that actually teaching English is easy - it's the classroom management which is the big problem! Every teacher here has warned me that most children in Vic are spoilt little brats and have no idea what respect is... unfortunately this has proven to be true. I'm also teaching an adults evening class which is a pleasure to be involved with. Today with the children I did a lesson on Australian animals and then we did some dot paintings of koala's, kangaroos, crocodiles, echidna's, wombats, platypus etc. It was good but still a headache.

Last weekend our friends Met and Montse both had their Bucks/Hens party. The boys went off to Ibiza for their escapades and the girls went to Platja D'Aro (a nearby tourist beach which reminded me of Surfers Paradise). Mendo won't disclose the secrets of his weekend but I'm sure we can all imagine that 10 best friends in Ibiza had a brilliant time. The girls weekend was wonderful - first we all met each other for an iced coffee (Spanish version: a strong espresso in a glass of ice) since it's really summer weather now - hot! Then we all put on our 'We Love Montse' singlet's and went racing go-carts. I've found that the 'need for speed' is strong in my little self and loved racing so fast that I was called Schumacher. After this we went dumped our bags at the hotel before going to a gorgeous cafe on the beach for some drinks and snacks. Then we went to dinner where Montse had to answer interesting questions about Met. Unlike in Australia, here the Hen/Buck doesn't get embarrassed all night - a bit disappointing really. We enjoyed a few clubs and happily went to bed at a nice, UNreasonable hour. The next day was spent lounging around on the beach and in a cafe. I don't want to constantly compare places I go to to Australia but that's the way it is. This beach was a 'built' beach where your image seems to be more important than anything. Although the sight of the ocean brought an actual tear to my eye, I missed Warriewood and Long Reef with their seclusion and natural beauty. At Platja D'aro there are pontoons out in the water and you can hire these strange pedal boats which have a big slippery-dip on the side of it and pedal up and down the beach. The girls who went were all super lovely and it was fantastic to be surrounded by a loving, caring group of girls again.

Sweden! Many, many THANKS to Aunty Adele, Uncle Tomas, Ellen, Jesper, Petter, Sarah-Lisa, David and Philip who all showed me a wonderful time for the Swedish Midsummer!!! Wow, it was really fantastic - I loved every second of it. Also thanks to the extended relo's who sang strange songs (including Waltzing Matilda), showed me how to drink Schnapps and told interesting stories of a big c*** named Tina - oh sorry, I mean cook. Firstly we all shared the devastation of Sweden bowing out of the European Cup. The next day Jesper and Ellen were fantastic tour guides and on the morning of Midsummer Eve we made beautiful flower wreath's to balance on our heads like the angels that we are. We danced the froggy dance around the penis (maypole) although I was surprised the froggy dance also included an elephant and a mosquito... Other dances followed; again to my surprise this included the Hokey Pokey! Afterwards Aunty Adele presented another fantastic feast within which was the Midsummer Sil (herring?) and of course baby potatoes. I attended Ellen and Jesper's Midsummer bash and met some lovely, interesting people. When I returned after midnight I found Aunty Adele, Uncle Tomas and his two sisters enjoying a few glasses and eventually we met MidSummer with a Salute to the Sun. The next day we went to play Cub by a beautiful lake and unfortunately Ellen, Jesper and Sarah-Lisa didn't let the guest win. Despite this defeat to my huge ego I can't wait to go back and have a re-match (hope you've been practicing Petter!).

So here we are pretty much up-to-date. Of course there's issues with my Visa which Marco is generously helping us to sort out but it looks like they're not going to send me back to Australia just yet...(!) Shepa has arrived and now we're in the process of getting him registered and insured so we can finally have some transport. The public transport here is hugely lacking so Shepa will be very important to us. Tonight we're going into Barna (apparently what locals call Barcelona City) to catch up with Rob and Ant from Sydney - can't wait! We'll also hopefully see Aduard, the wonderful man more or less responsible for Mendo and I being together. We miss all our lovely friends and amazing family around the World and hope in some small way this is reaching out to give you a little bear hug from us both. XOXOX Love you.

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