1 gennaio, 2012 - Perth to Dubai

What a start to the New Year!   It has certainly been a rushed week, with arriving back from Bali with mum, to having Christmas (and a record number of different meats in the space of 24 hrs – salmon, lamb, turkey, ham, duck and chicken!), then Boxing Day and a trip down to Margaret River.

The first large surprise came with Mike taking me down for an indulgent picnic at Canal Rocks to watch the sunset….and then asking me to marry him.  Not expected – and left me quite speechless and shocked for a good few hours.  Pretty sure people thought something was wrong, as I’m not often left with nothing to say!!

After some lovely celebrations, approximately 24 hours later, when I was just coming to terms with being engaged…my best friend texted and said she’d gone into labour – 12 days early.  I was very excited as I thought I would miss it all, being in Italy.  7 hours later, it was announced that I officially have a god-daughter, Esther Denise.

WOW!  So, all this has happened, and now I’m sat in Dubai airport, trying to think what this year will have in staff for me.  Surely there can’t be much more than this!

After an early morning (after a very late 2.30am ‘night’) we drove back to Perth to pack, see Esther, my family and to get to the airport.  There were a few stressful moments, but as far as I can tell, I have my passport, money and air ticket so should be ok!!

I was very lucky to have cuddles with my little darling Esther and will treasure the photos for the next 3 weeks! She was SOOOO little and to be honest, I fell in love with her at first sight.  She is going to be a very spoilt little girlie!  Even when she was a little hungry and cried, I sounded more little the mewing of a little kitten.  Awww xxx

OK!  And so, enough of 2011! Onto 2012!

I am currently sat in Dubai airport, gate number 222, which is boarding for Copenhagen. I’m not going there…but scammed some awesome free and comfortable seats!  Free Wifi too, only I cant get it working on any of the stupid machinery I have, iphone, ipad and laptop.  Wish I had a few students here to sort it out!!

Flight from Perth to here was quite good – it was at night (left Perth at 10.30pm) so I fell asleep after dinner…which was pretty tasty!  Coconut chicken curry, yum!  I watched 2 movies in between snoozing; the first being ‘Zookeeper’ – pretty funny.  All about a zookeeper who gets help from the talking animals to get a girlfriend.

I then watched ‘The Help’ – which is based on a small American community and their  interactions between the white ladies in the households and the ‘help’ (African American ladies).  It was a great book to read (I read it over the October school holidays) and then just as good to watch as a movie.  I really cant believe how poorly people were treated (and still are) just because of the colour of their skin.  Really interesting and thought provoking.

I now have my coffee and sprite, to get the correct mix of caffeine and sugar, as I wait here for 5 hours before the connecting flight to Rome.  That flight takes 6.5 hours.  In Rome we have a 6 hr wait for the 1.5 hr flight to Brindisi Airport.  Then a bus to Lecce.  I hope my enthusiasm (sarcasm) for this part of the journey is getting across to you!!

I am, though, thinking of faking an injury so I can get a ride on one of the cool motorized scooter things that are dashing about from gate to gate.   I’m sure if I tell them it’s for research, as I’m an Italian teacher…they may buy it, or perhaps not!

For people reading this:

Students – make sure you’re doing some study!!  ESPECIALLY Italian students…I may have to post up some questions just to make sure you’ve been doing something….!

Teachers – Enjoy the last 3 weeks of the holidays!

Family/Friends – Thanks for bothering to have a read!  I am going to try and ensure not every photo is of food this trip…otherwise it may result in me hiring a marquee to use as a wedding dress!  Hehe, well at least I can still poke fun at myself no matter what the outcome!

Signing off from the first, exhilarating and informative edition of this blog…

Miss A

x