Colonies.

This week has been exhausting in more than one way! I was invited on my first activity holiday with the kids and teachers and let's just say it was an experience. Spending 3 days with a hundred 8 and 9 year olds was a challenge and I really feel for all my primary school teachers that had to put up with me when I was that age.

We left on Wednesday morning and immediately went on an excursion. We were staying in a place in the mountains not far from here but it took nearly 2 hours to get there due to the mountainous terrain. The coach took us up to 1800m and on the way we saw vultures looking scary on the side of the road like they were sizing us up for their next meal, deer running down the side of the mountain and snow. I know right...SNOW!! It was crazy- only a week and a half ago I was sunburnt on a beach in nearly 30 degree heat. We walked down the mountain side back to the village of Castellar de n'Hug. On the way down we went into a cave which was fab. I know this sounds daft but it was so dark and quiet! I haven't heard silence for a while so it was nice to have a few minutes of peace. 

The village itself is beautiful. There are only 83 people who live there, 4 of which are children as there is no school within about an hour of the place. It seemed to me that as a substitute for kids, the habitants all had dogs instead which roamed the village at will like a back garden. There are 4 bakeries, each claiming to be the only one in the village which made me chuckle. These bakeries do giant croissants which were HUGE and costed 8 euros! I would also like to point out that it was absolutely freezing up there, but the views of the landscape most definitely made up for this. It is nothing like Britain; it's harsh, dangerous and very rocky. 

On Thursday morning, I went down to the river with the headmistress and another young teacher which I really enjoyed as it was some good teacher bonding time. In fact, I bonded with all the teachers during the stay which I've really appreciated. I felt as part of the team and although they were happily nattering away in Catalan, I did pick up some more language but had plenty of one on one conversations in Spanish. I also really enjoy spending more time with the kids as there are some real gems at the school, but there are also some absolute brats but as I 'can't understand Spanish or Catalan' I didn't have to put with them much.

After the disco on the last night which, by the way, I thoroughly enjoyed and made a complete full of myself with me awesome dancing, the kids were knackered so they fell asleep pretty quickly. This was a massive relief because the previous night they were so hyper that out of all the teachers, I got the most sleep- a whole 5 hours. Once they'd fallen asleep, me and the other teachers painted the nails of the naughty boys and drew on the faces of the cocky girls. Apparently, it is normal for the teachers to play practical jokes on the kids so I just went along with it and it was hilarious!

Come homing on Friday was such a relief as I was fed up of all the children and really wanted some peace and quiet. The weekend was just as fun but slightly more relaxing as the week. I went to the market for the first time and although it was great to finally go there, it wasn't anything special but I did enjoy the hustle and bustle of the town. 

Saturday was the first time that we all available to go to a nightclub in town. It was a great night and we met the family of my French pregnant lady friend and they were brilliant. It was fun to let our hair down after a busy week. After a night of drinking and dancing, Sunday was most definitely a relaxing day. Anna and I went for some fresh air and bumped into a dance demonstration in the placa major to raise money for dogs or something. We just chilled in a cafe with Jade for a couple of hours and discussed last nights antics! 

Overall, I've an eye opening week and it's been a lot of laughs but quite tiring. I know I keep saying that I'm tired, which is the truth, but it's a good tired so I'm not moaning about it. But let's just say that this week will be a little less full on!