The Last Leg

I woke up earlyish on Sunday morning as I had to pack before heading out and wanted to make krispie cakes. As I walked down the stairs I began spotting chocolate eggs in odd places around the hall. It became clear when I walked in to the living room that my dad had prepared an Easter egg hunt around the house after I had mentioned that I had told the students at school about the Ines we used to have when we were younger. I woke Niall up and we split to cover more area as we used to – Dad had even hidden one in the microwave and one in the egg bowl as he always used to – a morning well spent. I then made the Easter nests – with shredded wheat – and finally remembered to use the Beatrix Potter cake cases I had bought 4 years ago in the lakes. 

After we were ready and dresses, my mam and I drove to my Grandma’s to say goodbye before we set off to my Auntie Fiona’s and Uncle Dave’s with my Dad for an Easter BBQ. Despite the rain we had a lovely afternoon eating lots of delicious food, watching Heidi on her Easter egg hunt, catching up with family and, of course, drinking prosecco. 

I had to get up at 5 on Monday and Dad drove me to the station to catch my train – and start the first part of my day long journey back to Vigo. It was one of those days where nothing went badly but nothing felt like it was going as smoothly or as well as it could have. I had managed to buy a First Class ticket for only an extra 5p but I got on and found that there was no one on board which meant I couldn’t take advantage of the complimentary cups of tea. I didn’t have much time once I was through security so grabbed a Boots meal deal and headed to the screens to wait for gate information. The flight passed quite quickly after I spent it watching more Skins and managed to doze off. I had booked a ticket for the 6.00 bus but as the plane landed 5 minutes before the previous one I decided to see if I could catch it. I raced through the airport only to find the bus was still waiting there but was already full. This then meant I had 4 hours to wait in the airport and spent it watching the IT crowd and trying trying not to fall asleep. I was back in Vigo by half 9 and quickly showered before sitting down to watch the final episode of Broadchurch – so intense – and was asleep by half 11. 

My alarm going off at 7 came around way too quickly but luckily my classes haven’t been too taxing. Lots of talking about our Easter breaks with secondary while Primary prepared for the students from Manchester who arrived on Thursday evening. The weather has also continued to pick up so I’ve been back at the beach enjoying my breaks with my book. 

Wednesday saw the return of crepe-new day after a week’s hiatus and it was glorious. I met Sofia before at her flat for some wine and a catch up about our Easter. Ingrid then joined us and we walked to Creperie Bretonne where we all enjoyed excellent crepes. We then ventured back to Sofia’s for more wine and we chatted while Sofia played the ukelele – dreamy. 

Although Fridays are my day off I was asked to go in and help with the welcoming of the children from Manchester and their parents. I took the bus into school and waited in the main hall while it filled up with all of the students from Primary – they each performed a song in English to welcome the group from Manchester. After they had all performed I was asked to translate a welcome from Antonio, the teacher I work with in lower Primary for music – easy Spanish translated into English not too bad at all. It was then that I was asked to translate a thank you from the English headteacher which is where it all started to go a bit wrong – I have no idea what overwhelmed is in Spanish and I’m pretty sure little of it made sense. After that I accompanied the parents on a tour of the school – which included a history of the school and Panxón, most of which I didn’t know – to translate from Spanish into English. The school then held a big breakfast during break time for year 5 and 6 students and all of the visitors which included jamón, cheese, churros and crepes. After break I had to watch over the students as they gave a tour of the school to the English children before they went for lunch and I went home. I spent the afternoon watching more of the IT Crowd before I went out to meet Tierney for a drink. It was lovely to catch up and after chatting about movies for a while we decided to head back to my flat to watch something. We ended up watching About Time – after a mare trying to watch Sleepless in Seattle – but had to cut it short before both of us fell asleep. 

I’ve spent this morning finally sorting my room out again – tidying, changing sheets, etc. – before Katie and I went to Carrefour for a food shop. We had lunch after getting back – I had an excellent curried chicken empanada- and then I sat out on the balcony for a while to enjoy the sunshine. We plan to watch Fantastic Beasts this evening before hopefully having an early night. 

And now, this is it, the last leg of my stay in Vigo. The next time I fly home it will be in June and for good. The last 7 months have flown and I can’t believe how close we are to the end and I will no doubt be spending the next few weeks trying to squeeze in everything I’ve been wanting to do all year – 46 days till I’m flying home and only 20 teaching days left. Time really does fly when you’re having fun.