Post wedding blues

I’m most definitely in a post wedding comedown. As I settle back into my French routine, I can’t help but wish I could relive last weekend's festivities. I loved everything about the wedding: the company, the food, the dancing. There’s no denying that seeing my family after such a long time did wonders for my mental health. In the weeks running up to the wedding, I didn’t feel myself at all. I can’t exactly pinpoint when I started feeling down, but as time went by I gradually got more and more desperate to go home. By no means do I hate it here, but as Dorothy herself said ‘there’s no place like home.’ 

Divonne is otherworldly, in the sense that it’s like no other place I’ve ever known. Everything is a tad disjointed, like everyone is living in a bubble where reality is just within arms reach, but is light years away at the same time. I’ve noticed that the children don’t have much understanding when it comes to poverty, homelessness and other global issues. Nor do they have any regard for anyone less fortunate than themselves. Here, there is only ‘less rich’ or ‘more rich’, because everyone has a crazy amount of money. You get plenty of examples of how not to raise your children, that’s for sure. I feel as though an integral part of my childhood was participating in non-school uniform days to raise money for charities and spending weekends sifting through old clothes with my mum to donate to our local charity shop. I’d like to think that my mum insisting I gave things away shaped me into a bit of a humanitarian. 

The day after I returned, I made one hell of a pasta bake (yes, pasta...again). I was well impressed and I think I scored points with the semi-vegetarian too. 

Somebody needs to tell the weather to chill out. It is not normal to go from 13 degrees to 4, come on now. I’m fully blaming my sickness on this stupid weather, it needs to stop. Also, snow? No. Thank. You! Snow is probably my least favourite weather condition, unless I can get away with being inside for the whole time. Even with extra clothes, I am in no way prepared for the incoming cold. Nope.

I had a nice chilled morning on Wednesday. Luckily, Mar had done all of her homework during my weekend off, so we had the freedom to do whatever. She chose to make dreamcatchers, finally. We’ve had the materials for an eternity and I’ve been desperate to make one for weeks. I think you’ll agree, that they were a great success! 

She’s adamant that we’re going to go into business together, designing, making and selling personalised dreamcatchers. We shall see, last week it was a farm where we would look after animals, instead of killing them.

For anyone who doubted me, yes I am still going running twice a week! When you have a view as good as this, it’s hard not enjoy it a little bit (even though I moan for the entire time.) 

It still hurts like crazy every time I do it, but on Friday I finally made it around the entire lake without stopping. Another thing to note, when I fell in the ditch by Kristi’s house I lost my inhaler, so I couldn’t breathe for most of the time. Major points to me! 
A big shoutout to my running buddies, Krisztina and Clara, who consistently keep me coming back, you guys are amazing. 
I did go back later to retrieve the aforementioned inhaler. It made for quite a picturesque walk, and I got the chance to catch up with Mum via a very long phone call. Doubled my usual step count that day, ha! 

Obviously, after that more than eventful day, I definitely needed the aptly named ‘food Friday.’ It was the usual haunt, Casa Italia, for slightly below average pizza, but I had great friends to share my time with. We followed up with some drinks at Charly’s (still rubs me the wrong way that they spell it wrong.) I’m sure we all needed a few drinks after having long, hard weeks! 

Saturday, the girls and I met up again for lunch. I’m pretty sure that whenever we meet up, it rains. Not that I mind, we spend most of the time indoors eating anyway. I had to sneak in a cheeky waffle after seeing Ellen’s a few weeks ago. No regrets. 

Afterwards, we traipsed around various shops that sold things we couldn’t afford. The fashion here is… interesting to say the least. And decidedly overpriced (especially when you buy most of your clothes in Primark or at jumble sales!) 

The following day I was reunited with my little ginger love. His parents told me that he was super excited to see me, after two weeks apart we had a lot to catch up on. It went smoothly, as it always does, but he was clearly upset when I had to go. His dad came upstairs and simply said ‘you are welcome to stay for as long as you want, but I thought I’d let you know that it’s 11 so you can go if you need to.’ I reckon that I could easily stay for longer than an hour, but David’s brain might explode. 
As always, after my hour at David’s I headed to the market. I can’t say I’m thrilled to see snow falling on quite a frequent basis, but thankfully it’s not really settling yet. Touch wood! The crêpe man STILL isn’t there so it was, yet again, a taco for breakfast. 
I seem to be spending my weekends whiling away the time in crappy cafés and pubs. I swear things will be different when I have my car over here... Maybe... Probably not.

On Monday morning, Jukka left for a work trip to Ireland. This filled me with absolute dread, especially when Doreen said that she might need some extra help. 
I went to French all the same, with the overhanging worry of becoming a temporary parent for four days and sporting a rather attractive snotty, red nose. Thank goodness my lesson was relatively easy, because I was not okay.
That evening, I forgot that I can’t cook rice. Like, I literally can’t cook rice. I have successfully ruined it every single time I’ve tried. First it was sticky AND hard. Now it’s just hard, so it feels as though I’m improving. Baby steps. 

For some strange reason, I still went on a run on Tuesday. I wasn’t quite ill enough to bunk off (unfortunately), but it was a bit of a fail. I was even less able to breathe than I normally am, which is some kind of impossibility. It’s about time some scientist came up with a way to do a lung transplant, because I’d really like some new ones, please. 
Anyway, it was super cold and I’m probably going to get double sick now. Hoorah for freezing to death! Hopefully I’ll survive the winter here, but I don’t seem to be doing very well so far...

The wedding of dreams

I have had the most incredible weekend. Let me walk you through it…

So it all began Friday morning. I woke up at my usual 6:30am to feed the kids and get them ready for school. However, I was also getting myself ready for my flight home. Hectic isn’t the word. Luckily, I was only travelling with hand luggage and had packed most of it the night before. I was a tad worried that my host family was too casual with their timings, but it meant that I wasn’t waiting around at the airport for too long. The view shortly after takeoff was absolutely stunning, although I much prefer to look at the snowy mountains from a distance.

We arrived in England ahead of schedule and I couldn’t believe my luck! Everything is so much simpler when you travel lightly, and much, much quicker. If I could do it more often, I definitely would. 

The pickup was a swift one…a stop, hop and go affair. But just to be in my little car, surrounded by family, was enough to put an enormous grin on my face. It was a much needed break from the chaos in France. Sadly though, my good luck didn’t necessarily extend to the motorway, as we hit a traffic jam shortly after I had downed a bottle of water. Not ideal. There I was, sat staring out of the window debating whether it was worth evacuating the car and peeing in a field. Thank goodness we weren’t stuck there for long! 
At home, Mum had cooked a delicious chilli con carne and jacket potatoes (I swear I don’t know what I did to deserve a Mum like her.) While it was cooking, I rushed to pack whatever I could into my little bag. My time frame was much too short and my schedule was jam packed with visits and cuddles, no time for stopping! 
After lunch, I visited some of my little (and slightly larger) loves at nursery and school. Basically, I spent the afternoon cuddling children… The nursery ones were a little confused at first, they must’ve thought ‘what is this traitor doing here?!’ But they soon warmed up to me again and proceeded to show me their snowflakes and tell me all about what they’ve been doing without me. They perked up even more when I gave them some sweeties to munch on! I clearly haven’t lost it…
As I was heading over to see my school babes, they were going down to assembly. Nevertheless, I was greeted with a great symphony of little voices screaming ‘SARA!’ and received lots of lovely, squeezy hugs. Their short absence meant that I could have a quick catch up with Tashy Washy (not even sorry). It can’t have be long before the tiny humans returned, shattering the peace but obviously buzzing with excitement. They all had so much to tell me about school and just generally how incredibly clever they all are! I’m so proud of the people they’re becoming. Every single one of them is a star and it made my day to see all of their gorgeous little faces again. I managed to fit in cuddles with some of the wonderful mummas, who are absolutely glowing and seemed just as happy to see me as I was them. They truly are an fantastic group of women and I miss them (plus their spawn) dearly. 
Unfortunately, after three missed calls from Mum I thought it best to head home. Once home, I was basically straight back out of the door. And so commenced our one and a half hour journey to Reading…

It was a bit of a debacle, but we got there eventually (thank god for smartphones!) All checked into our hotel, finally a bit of relaxation time. By a bit, I mean like half an hour or so before we needed to head to the shop for some food. I did manage to drink a red wine and coke before heading out (thanks Hana, that’s changed my life a bit that mix.) I made the lady in Tesco laugh by comparing her wonderful customer service to France, which is rarely as polite and friendly. I wonder though, is that because I’m English or is it just France in general? I make a conscious effort to smile and say ‘Bonjour’ to people I pass on the street, but rarely get a response… bit of a tangent there, apologies. 
When we got back to the hotel (after scoffing some sandwiches/wraps), we sat in the foyer where we were joined by other family members for a catch up. I made a bit of a friend by talking to a Czech girl who works there. It’s incredible what you can learn about people if you just ask them. She told me that she had been an au pair in Frankfurt for 6 months last year and that she was only going to be working there for a little while longer. My sister, Kerry, made a good point. Not even a year ago, I wouldn’t have had the confidence to speak to that girl so openly and easily. It’s crazy to think how far I’ve come and how much I’ve grown, especially when other people notice it. 
In the morning, Mum and I chose the continental breakfast, whereas Dad and Kerry went for the full option. We sat and ate at the table next to the rest of the family, so that we could talk about how excited we all were for the day. It was a bit of a mission to find the tea, I thought Mum was going to behead someone if I didn’t get some. Thankfully, everyone kept their body parts and I had two happy parents. I forgot to take a picture of the conveyor belt toaster, but I want one of these in my house, how cool! Oe I’ve missed coco pops...

We nipped into town to do a spot of shopping, because I desperately needed a hot water bottle (grandma alert) and some flat shoes for when I gave up on heels...
Somewhat reluctantly, I smothered on a load of makeup to cover up the current mess that is my face. When I try to put on any kind of makeup, it reaffirms my inability to be a functioning female. I tried my best though, with my hair too! Another thing that is not ideal: heels. I can barely walk as it is, without huge hazards on my feet, but it was a special occasion and needs must. Of course, it rained when we were walking to the venue! Bloody good job it wasn’t far away, otherwise we’d have looked a little worse for wear by the time we got there…

Harendra walked through the corridor, led by a wonderful drummer and applauded by two rows of adoring friends and family. It wasn’t long before Emily followed and we did the same for her. I won’t lie, I shamelessly legged it a bit for front row seats for the ceremony…again, needs must and all that. I spent the entire ceremony in awe and disbelief that I was lucky enough to be experiencing such a beautiful moment. The man conducting the wedding was utterly hilarious and made everyone feel at ease. He tried to smoke us all out by adding some sort of alcohol to his fire and every time Em had to walk around it with her floaty, presumably highly flammable dress, my heart was in my throat. However, we all survived and made it onto the photos and canapés. Those canapés were like heaven, oh my lord. It took all of my strength not to stuff my fat face with hundred. Somehow, I managed to restrain myself long enough to save space for dinner. 
When I walked into the main hall, I was gobsmacked at how magical it all looked. I think you’ll agree, they did a fabulous job of putting this together and making it look so beautiful. 

In between courses, everyone did a bit of dancing. I’ve never seen that before, but I desperately wanted to make the most of my time there, so obviously I joined in. Some of those men were incredible dancers, I sometimes wish that all men danced so vibrantly at functions. 

I have to say, the food was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Dad, Kerry and I eagerly wolfed it down, like we’d never seen food before. Me and Kerry definitely shot each other a few looks of ‘is this real life?’, ‘I’ve never had food like this’, ‘am I in heaven?’ You know that face you pull when the food hits you in all the right places? Yeah, that. 
Full of food and ready to party, we hit the dance floor once more. Once I started dancing, I don’t think I stopped until I left. There was all kinds of music being played and as a music lover in general, I was thrilled to hear all of the different genres. I shared a dance with a lovely man, who showed me some dance moves and spun me around until I lost my shoe and nearly fell over. I can’t dance for toffee, but man did I dance my little heart out anyway! 

Things I learned at the wedding:
People need to let go more often
I really enjoy Indian food
I need to go to more weddings
My faith in love is restored (I’ve never seen two people more infatuated with each other than Emily and Harendra) 
I’ve really, really, really missed being at home 
The sisterhood fire is burning brighter than it ever has before 
Dancing hurts, a lot. Especially if you have to try hard. 
Joe speaks French really well, even after a few drinks. And he reads my blogs too. Hi Joe! 

We didn’t exactly have an early night on Saturday, although we probably should’ve given that I had a flight the next day. 
Life is too short to sleep on a wedding weekend. That’s what I tried to tell myself when I was dragging my sore, tired body out of bed Sunday morning. It was TOTALLY worth it though! I would 100% do it again, but let’s give it a while, I’m still tired… 
We had breakfast with the family again, one last rendezvous before my reluctant departure. I definitely nearly cried squeezing my favourite boys goodbye. And when I hugged my mum at the airport (didn’t think we’d get there after Dad drove up a rather busy one way road, then proceeded to drive super slow on the motorway.) Actually, when I think about it, there weren’t too many moments this weekend where I wasn’t nearly in tears. Most of them were happy tears, overwhelmed by the love and joy filling up my normally icy heart. Only a handful were sad ones, most notably having to leave again. Man, that sucked. 
Anyway, here’s to a strong, happy, hopeful Sara, who is sticking to her master plan and constantly evolving into the person she wants to be! 

New friends, new pain

 I’m feeling somewhat better after my Friday wobbly (thank goodness!) 
What I didn’t say before is that on Friday, my host Mum gave me the email of a girl who arrived three weeks ago, because she knows that I’m the kind of person who wants to make everyone feel welcome and happy. Apparently, my host Mum got this email address from someone who she doesn’t like, with the help of an intermediary. That email address belongs to Clara and she was definitely worth reaching out to! 
It took barely any effort to organise a meet up and we swiftly decided lunch on Saturday was a good shout. With Saturday came crappy weather (obviously, just my luck) but incredible company. Clara, Krisztina and I decided to set up camp in the warm, dry shelter of Les Quatre Vents. We spent hours and hours there, long after we had finished our lunch (which earned us some shifty looks from the members of staff there.) Those hours were spent swapping stories, getting to know each other and generally just laughing endlessly about anything and everything. Eventually, we had to brave the horrible weather and trek home in the dark. 
By the time I got home, I was completely soaked through. In all honesty, I was somewhat glad to be roped into babysitting duties on Saturday evening because it gave the perfect excuse for Grandma Sara to have an early night. We ate dinner, scoffed popcorn and watched ‘funny’ fail videos, that weren’t remotely funny. The kids went to bed without too much fuss, much to my delight, and I only had to play a short game of light switch tennis with one-leg Kevin before he gave up and went to sleep. Success! I slept for a solid 9 hours that night and I felt bloody wonderful when I woke up. 

As always, Sunday morning included a visit to David for his ‘tutoring.’ According to his lovely Mum and Dad, he had an issue with giving his friend a present for his birthday (I’m not surprised, it was Lego Batman for goodness sake, of course he wanted to keep it!) Nevertheless, we worked on feelings such as empathy and talked about how it feels to receive presents. I tried to explain that his friend will feel the same way he does when he gets a gift, but he’s four, and all four-year-olds want to keep the toys they buy!
Obviously, on sundays the market calls me, so I must oblige. Unsurprisingly, my first stop was the taco lady (I don’t why the crêpe guy is hardly there, but it’s generally frowned upon to have a taco for breakfast.) The weather decided to be miserable again, so we sought refuge in various semi-covered places until, armed with macarons, we made our way to the same cafe as the previous day. Three teas and a hot chocolate ordered (guess what I had), we kicked back and relaxed, trying to warm up and dry off by sitting near a radiator. We didn’t manage to spend quite as long there as we did Saturday, because on Sunday everything has crazy closing times. So we moved on to Full Moon, where my poison of choice this time was hot chocolate (for those who hadn’t guessed, my other drink was tea.) We sat by the window, clutching our drinks and watching the rain pour down outside. It seemed like no time at all before the rain ceased and we were all heading our separate ways again. (Although, two of us did have a cheeky trip to Burger King, whoops!)
I had a somewhat uneventful day on Monday, besides my French lesson and moaning about how the snow is coming. You can already see it on Jura and it’s edging ever closer, much to my dismay. Marilie cried, because apparently I never told her that I don’t like snow, which seems to have created some sort of issue and now ‘I’m a mean person’. Casual.

I thought I was hallucinating when I went to retrieve Marilie from school. There I was, stood at my usual spot by the tree, when I saw someone walk by that couldn’t have possibly been there. When I first got here, one of the first people I met was Lara. Unfortunately, she left not long after I got here because her contract ended. So you can imagine my surprise to see her walk by me at the school gates! I was so dumbfounded that I didn’t even shout her name or wave, I just stood there like an idiot thinking I was going crazy. Afterwards, I texted her asking her if she was back and if she was, for how long? Of course she’d come back for one week when I’m only here for half of it! Just my luck. Anyway, I was determined to spend some time with her, at least once, so we arranged a meeting for the next day in the afternoon.
On Tuesday morning, I somehow dragged myself out to go for a run. For anyone who knows me well, you must be thinking that I’m sick or something. Perhaps, or maybe I realised that I can’t keep eating and eating without doing any physical activity. However, I foolishly rode to the lake on the bike, so I had already failed before I began. I barely managed a few strides before I remembered just how much I detest running. The calf burn was intense and I obviously had to ride home afterwards. Absolute amateur! 

All showered off, I collected Mar for lunch and tried to arrange exactly what Lara and I were going to do. We decided on a walk (ouch) and somehow I made it all the way to town and back without keeling over. It was a modern day miracle! Something as simple as walking around aimlessly and chatting about anything and everything brings me such contentment. I feel am going soft in my old age. Fingers crossed I can see her at least once before she leaves. 
I definitely needed to spend some time this week just hanging out with friends, doing not a lot. I’m starting to feel a bit more refreshed and more like myself in general. Hopefully I can keep the good vibes going!

Fluffed

I’ve been in a weird state of mental fluffiness this week. I don’t know how else to describe it really because I’m not desperately sad and I’m not super happy. My ‘fluffy’ headspace is presumably my brains way of saying ‘don’t get so excited that you burst, you’ve still got another week until you go home.’ 
There has been a few fleeting moments where I’ve had to fight back tears. When I have a set date to fly home, the countdown is agonising to the point of completely messing up my feng shui. For example, I made a quick video call on a dark and wet Friday night to my Henderson loves back home. It was a double edged sword because on one hand, I loved hearing about how the girls are thriving at school, but knowing that they’re doing it without me hurts. I wish I could split myself in half, so that I could be here and there all at once, but I know that is utterly ridiculous. That call threw my evening out of whack and I wasn’t much company to be around. 

Back to the previous weekend, Kevlar got a new *very expensive* acoustic guitar. It’s true what they say, the more money you spend on an instrument, the better it sounds. That piece of kit honestly sounds like a symphony of angels harmonising. He showed me a new app he’s testing out called Yousician, that basically teaches you to play whatever instrument you input. Last Saturday was the first time I had picked up a guitar in the longest time, it’s been far too long. It seems that I still don’t know anything, which was bitterly disappointing when I’d hoped to be the female Hendrix. Never mind…

The good start to the weekend was swiftly cut short by Kevin being hospitalised. He fell down at the lake, onto what he describes as a metal grill, straight on his knee. He waited two whole hours before telling someone how much it hurt/that it was bleeding profusely, which meant his mum panicked and sent him straight to hospital. Apparently, the hospital in Nyon didn’t have anyone in the building that could stitch him up (what kind of hospital says that?!), so they had to drive him to Lausanne. I was halfway through my Duolingo competition, when I got the call asking me back. In all honesty, I assumed she was overreacting and that he’d just scraped it, but it seems as though it was as serious as she made out. He’s currently still in a leg brace so that he doesn’t split his stitches and he’s pretty bummed about not being able to play sports until the end of the month, but otherwise he’s doing good. 

Monday brought my first French lesson in two weeks and it proved to be more of a challenge than I had expected. I can’t say I’m out of practice, because I’ve been working my butt off over the holidays. Here’s hoping it was just a brain fart!
After French, I was upset to hear that one of my friends had a crappy weekend (and birthday) so we went for a ‘coffee and cake’ date on the Thursday after our lesson. I can confirm that this pudding, whatever the heck it was, was delicious.

Unfortunately, autumn is rapidly being fought off by winter. There’s already snow on the mountains, so I’m sure it will soon descend to our level. I can’t lie, I’ve never really been a fan of snow, because of the freezing temperatures that follow it. I’m not looking forward to trying to survive winter here…

On Thursday, Mel left super early for her four-day football tournament in Vienna. Her team is incredible and won the whole tournament. Well done girls! 

Friday was long and HARD. In the morning, I tried to assist a friend in need. (Well, as much as I could because my level of French is poor.) I had a very sassy, grumpy Mar for lunch. She was absolutely adamant she wasn’t doing her English homework, then proceeded to do almost half of it. That girl baffles me. In the afternoon, I obviously went to Carrefour because I essentially live there. Luckily, my chauffeur came to my rescue and I didn’t have to lug all of the shopping home. 
After school, I gained two extra children. I don’t know who had the bright idea to invite two ten-year-olds over when Kev has a injured leg and just wants to practice his guitar. Clearly someone who doesn’t have to deal with said children. They basically spent two and a half hours shooting each other with Nerf guns, which was obviously fantastic. Thankfully, all three boys left around six, so it was just Mar and I. We were on a birthday present wrapping mission, because a certain little miss is super popular and was invited to three birthday parties. She definitely has a more active social life than I do! (Although that’s not hard.)
I was super tired after that, but still went out. Who knows why? Let’s just say that I was very grateful for my bed that night and felt pretty well-rested in the morning. Hopefully, my sleeping pattern will even out and I’ll feel better soon...

I'm not your mother

I'm not going to lie, these past two weeks have been tiring in every sense of the word. I don't know whether it was easier when I had all three to look after, or just one. 
Pros of having three: they semi-occupy each other, I can get more things done, it makes more sense preparing lunch for four than when I'm making it for two 
Cons: they bicker CONSTANTLY, the older two are especially brutal, they don't want to do anything, it's hard to get homework done 
At least my week with just Marilie has been productive. I settled into a routine of, after breakfast, letting her watch TV while I did the washing or emptied the dishwasher. That way we both won. For most of the first days, we had to tackle a bit of homework in the mornings before lunch. After that, we were pretty much free to do whatever we wanted. Which isn't really a lot when you have no car and there's not much to do in town. 

A thank you note from a pleased student! 

Monday and Tuesday weren't so bad because we were preparing for Halloween. Marilie and I created some ghoulish decorations, but never actually got the chance to put them up. On Tuesday, I created an adequate cat with the tools I had and headed out trick or treating with some of Kevin's friends and his mum. Why I said yes, I don't know. I got super cold and didn't even have any sweets to show for it. (For those wondering, my healthy eating only lasted a week or two before I well and truly fell off the wagon - I know, I suck!) 

By Wednesday, getting an eight year old to concentrate on anything other than her haul of sweets was impossible. Saying that, I played a game with her that tricked her into doing English homework. Basically, we would take it in turns to write a sentence, so that by the end of it we had a long, crazy story about a witch called Agatha and a cat called Chubby. Here is our arguably novel-worthy illustrations. 

My week has consisted of three trips to Carrefour which, as some of you probably know, is a bloody chore when you have a moaning child in tow. However, she gradually got used to biking everywhere and by the end of the week, was even asking to go out on them! 
We keep biking past this whopper of a house and I keep thinking about how much I'd love to live in it. Only downside is that it would totally set off a vicious hayfever episode and I wouldn't be able to see for the entire time the flowers were in bloom. I'm still weighing up my options...

On Thursday, we spent the afternoon enjoying the good weather while it lasts. It was a massive relief to finally spend some time with an adult who sees me as an equal, rather than a slave. Kee and I took the kids by bike to a park not too far away. Marilie seemed chuffed to be spending time with another child, rather than just me day in, day out. I think it was what we both needed to be honest! It rejuvenated me just enough to survive the rest of the week. The only bad moment was when Marilie smashed up my iPad. It was completely by accident and shouldn't have happened because I have a case, but it is now sporting some rather unattractive cracks in two or the corners. That'll teach me to trust kids with technology.
By Friday, Marilie was actively asking what we could do. We did some English homework in the morning and made these super cool magnets. 

When I'd finished doing my jobs and ate lunch, she suggested we head to the park in town. I was so relieved that I got ready in an instant. We headed off on our bikes and, to my relief, she found a friend from ballet to play with. Hooray for an hour or two of much needed peace and quiet! On the ride home though, I felt as though something wasn't right with Mar. It was unusual because I thought she'd be pumped from playing with Clémence, so when we were on the black path I asked her if she was okay. That's when she burst into tears. I thought, Jesus I've really missed something here. She went on to say, ‘I'm sad because you're going to England and you won't pick me up from school on Friday.’ To which I replied, ‘but it'll be such a treat for your mum or dad to pick you up from school, they're much better than me.’ But she firmly said that they absolutely weren't and that I was a liar. Fab.

Friday marks something very special for me. Two weeks from this date, I will touch ground on British soil once again. I'm sad that it's only for a short time, but cannot wait to see my parents again, it's been far too long! Being away has made me realise just how much of a home bird I am, but boy have I come a long way since those first two weeks! I'm more sure now than I ever was before that staying was the right choice for me, but it doesn't make things any easier and I still have really tough days. I reckon I'll spend most of Friday 17th in tears or hugging my mum, or both, but I simply can't wait!