Celebrating Friends

One of the best thing about the international teaching world is that your co-workers become your family away from family.  We all support each other, celebrate our accomplishments together, help one another through the tough times, it really is a great feeling of community.  This weekend was a weekend all about these things, Saturday we celebrated Shannon and Brian's first child's first birthday and then in the evening Mark and Kristi Masters graduation.  I was so happy to be able to be at both events and help celebrate these big moments in their lives.  It definitely makes us all feel like a little family, well actually in this case a huge family.

Particularly great to be with Mark on his special day.  It is going to be so weird not having him around next year as we were together in Basel too.  I am trying to convince him that he should move to Thailand next.

Again.. Wine Night

Time for my monthly annoying blog about my fabulous wine club and members.  And I will not disappoint it was, again, a great night.  In fact, it was one of the best recently.  It is funny how some nights we all seem to be calm and just enjoy some new wines and some nibbles and other nights we come out in full force ready for a long fun night.  Last night was definitely the later.  The whole club, twenty plus women, came out to play.  The wine was delicious, usually only South American wines but these hostesses dug deep and had wine from all over.  Not to mention the food, which was out of this world.  This probably helped fuel what was a wine club night to remember.

A good start to a ridiculously busy weekend, jut need to get through today somehow!

Hit and Run

Sunday afternoon coming back from the food market me and Luis were witnesses to a hit and run.  We were driving home and on the other side of the road I saw this SUV run down a petite women, about my age, hesitate for a second and then speed off.  Luis's reaction was amazing, he slammed on the brakes, jumped out of the car and picked her up and held her until the ambulance came.  I called 911, and loads of people stopped to help.  I know for sure I could never work in medicine and I was at a loss of what to do and found it hard to even look at her.  Luis held her tight the whole time, talking to her and trying to calm her down.  Her leg was a twisted mess and who knows what else as she was totally in shock.  I was so so proud of him, really he was just amazing.  While we were looking after the girl, unbeknownst to us a family had chased the SUV and managed to get a picture of the license plate. 

I mean who does that (well clearly the guy driving the car seen above!)?!  She could have died and he did not even stop to see if she was okay.  Here is hoping he is in some serious trouble now.

Spectacular Day

The weather this year has been totally different than last, very very little rain (of course now I say this it will probably pour).  Also it seems to be much hotter than last year, loads of days in the mid to higher 20's (nights still cool though).  Now I know this is not necessarily a good thing and probably the sign of ever increasing climate change.  But I am hoping it is a fluke winter here, as I must say I am really enjoying it.   Yesterday was just an amazing day and I am not sure why it felt different than other lovely sunny days but it did and many people commented on it.  I think the air felt different, a small breeze was lovely and the sky just looked amazing.  It definitely made for a good start to the weekend, well that and a happy hour at Vanessa's house where she served the best margaritas I have had possibly ever.  I only went for a couple hours but it was nice to see people again in a social setting as feels like it has been ages.

Woken up to another lovely day and hoping to full it with long walks and time with my L's.

Ready Steady Cook 2

The break from wine has made me into a cooking machine.  Last night we extended our Ready Steady Cook competition to our neighbours.  We did not specifically vote this time as a bit unfair as Jodi is an amazing cook, instead we each brought a dish to the table to share.  Luis did another amazing veggie soup, Jodi some fish and cauliflower rice and me an Amanda curry.  I must say I am pretty thankful we did not vote as I am not sure I could really cope with losing again!

My hiding out is getting fairly boring so looking forward to the weekend where I think I may kick start my social life again.  Only four months left here and I have the feeling it will go by very very quickly.

Ready Steady Cook

Ready Steady Cook is a show I use to watch in the UK, basically a cooking competition between two regular people.  At the end of each show they had (or have, not sure if it runs still) a cook off between two professional chefs giving them each five or so ingredients and time limit.  The other night we found ourselves with little food in the fridge and decided to have our own version.  We took turns choosing our items and had one hour to cook our master pieces.  It was an intense hour, well for me, Luis seemed very confident right from the beginning.  I attempted some version of an aubergine lentil curry and him a quinoa, veggie soup.  After we were finished we took the dishes down stairs to be tasted by Dylan and Jodi, the judges.  They were very critical and gave us some positive feed back and suggestions for the future.  Unaware of which dish belonged to who they cast their votes independently on pieces of paper.  The results can be found in the last picture.

As one may imagine this was hard for me to post, I lost! Not even a draw.  I have learnt one important thing from this though, Luis is a far better winner than I will ever be.

So Happy to be Home

I had such a fabulous holiday, but I must admit I am so happy to be home.  I missed Lola loads and was very excited to cook my own meal!  We were spoilt rotten by so many people and I feel so lucky for that, but one more glass of wine and my liver may not have survived.  So back to no wine, healthy food, Lola cuddles and loads of sleep!  Also back to loads of work that I sort of ignored before the trip and the realisation that my wedding is four months away, which may seem like a long time to most but very short to me!  

Lola was so excited to see me and head to the park (she was not so happy that Luis took an extra few days in Colombia though).  I then spent the last few days cooking chili's, curries and even banana bread.  It is good to be back.

Basel Reunion

Our last day/night of holiday was jam packed. Luis met over 50 new people over this 9 day jaunt, and it was safe to say we were both exhausted yesterday. But we managed a special breakfast with friends, lunch with my original Basel buddies and Goddaughter and a night out with some loved ones.
We are now making our way back through several cities, stand by back to Quito. Now waiting in Washington for our next flight reflecting on what a special time we had. So many great times with friends, Marlow family and a very special few days with my wonderful sister and brother in law. Now back to work, a drink free month, and lovely Lola!

Time for home and to see Lola!

Basel City with Christine and Pia

Today we were treated to a first class lunch and then tour around the city with Chris and Pia. The weather was sunny and warm, a perfect day for Luis to see the Basel.

It was great to spend the day with them, even though I have not seen either since I left it was like we had not skipped a beat. We caught up and reminisced about old times. Luis loves the city and definitely has a growing and deep love for pubs.

Basel Ladies Wine Club Reunion

Our trip has now taken us to Basel just in time to go to my old wine club. I love that is still going and was so happy to have been able to go last night. Great to see some old friends and meet the newest members. Also lovely to have non South American wines (as that is all we get). Lovely be here, feels like I never left!

Flying Visit

We are heading off to Basel today after a whirl wind trip around the UK. From Bristol we went to my long time home, favourite town in the world Bruton. Luis met around twenty new faces, were treated to a Matt's kitchen lunch and enjoyed a night in the pub. Great to catch up with so many people even for such a short time tonight.

Finished our UK adventure with super yummy Indian with my British family, the wonderful Hopkins!

What a great UK speed tour!

Brilliant Bristol

We had such a fabulous time in Bristol, great catching up with Nicola and Paddy, seeing the sights, and just enjoying ourselves. I always say if I were to live in a UK city it would be Bristol. It has so much to offer and love the vibe and energy of the place. A totally unexpected huge bonus is that I got to buy my wedding dress with my sister which means the absolute world to me.