The start to the new year is super exciting as the entire family are now NISTIES! Sebastian has started Year 1 which feels huge and Luis is now a whole school Spanish teacher! I am so proud of him, after 5 years of some seriously hard work, teaching, tutoring, getting his degree and now completing his teacher training. NIST does not take new teachers usually, and for him to get this job is a big deal.
Saturday afternoon the boys returned back to Bangkok. It was great to see them after a week on my own. The only negative is I was just getting over the 12 hour jet lag just to relive it with them. Sebastian woke up promptly at 2am on night one desperate to make a piñata. Sebastian was super sad not to have a school friend birthday party and him having his own piñata was sort of a compromise. This pinata only contained his existing toys, so it was about making it and breaking it. A great early morning day 1 back in Bangkok activity. From day tow he was all about his friends. Yesterday, the last day of holiday we had a pool party with all the kids in the building plus some others. It is great to be back.
It has been a crazy week! Jet lag, meetings, presentations, new faces and new people in Bangkok. It was weird going back into school with many of my friends leaving at the end of last school year. But that is just part of the job. In huge exciting news Nadia Manning and her family have moved one street over. Nadia is one of my very best friends and I am just so thrilled to have her and her family now in Bangkok. They made the move from a random last week and their two kids will be joining NIST on Tuesday. Luis and Sebastian arrive today and I have spent a great week with friends while they have been away.
I am ready for another great year in Thailand!
My final full day in Ecuador 2024 was a busy one. We started off by going up Pichincha Volcano where we could see the whole of Quito. Oh and even before that on our way to the volcano we stopped at our old flat to show my sister and Freda. After leaving the mountain we went to the worlds highest amusement park where we were hoping to take kids on a rollercoaster. But it was not working! They did get to go on a few rides though before we met the family and went to the Old Town. We also rode the new subway to the Old Town which was a new adventure for all. It was lovely, very clean and got us across the city in no time. We walked around the square, had a super long coffee break and eventually headed back to Cumbaya. Here is where I made a fantastic decision of having dinner at a new restaurant called Lucia. The food was great and the children had the best time playing and making new friends. It was a crazy busy day but a good last one of the trip.
Thursday we left Mindo on a beautiful morning and headed to the Middle of the World, 0’0’0. I have not been there for ten years, it was really nice. Besides just being fairly cool you are at the middle of the world, they have nice exhibition ls, loads of food and a great market. We had a busy day there and then headed back to Luis’s sister for some game time with the family.
