Guess what? I'm back

Well, it's just been a lit more than two weeks since I decided to put this little blog out for a spell. At the time, I really didn't know if I'd be back here writing. I really felt like this place had run its course. A wonderful couple of years, but I thought it was time to do something new or different, writing this blog was becoming a chore and I wasn't feeling comfortable with it. Within a couple of days of just not thinking about the blog, I knew I'd be back. I love this little world too much and I didn't realise just how much its become a part of me. After a week, blog posts that had dried up began swirling around my head. Over the weekend, I knew it was time to start writing again, so here I am, for better or worse.

It's been a busy couple of weeks in my world, I've started a course online, I've been an organiser for the school's international day celebrations, we've had parties and catch ups. One of the nice side effects of not writing here was that I suddenly started to receive more emails from friends and family at home, which was nice as sometimes it does feel like I'm in a one-way conversation, which can be lonely. So I did spend some time writing emails, instead of writing here. That was really lovely.

The school's International Day also took up a lot of my time the past couple of weeks. I was kind of roped in to help with the Australia stand. The day before the celebrations I was completely over it and was starting to wish I'd never put up my hand. Every day last week, I woke up on the wrong side of bed crabby and grouchy and not feeling the love at all.

So on Thursday morning, I got the girls dressed in their gear muttered to myself about 'bloody international day', packed up my Aussie paraphenalia and threw a big fake smile on my face as we went off. When I pulled into the school's car park, my misery began to melt. Kids dressed in national dress all excitedly walking through the gates was wonderful. When I stepped inside the school and saw the stands all lovingly decorated and the smell of food and treats wafting around it was enough to put a genuine smile on my face.

It was a brilliant day, the kids ran around testing new foods and learning about countries from Scotland to South Africa from Saudi Arabia to Sri Lanka. My girls claimed the Pakistani and Chinese stands to be the favourites of the day. There was a brilliant vibe in the air, everyone really keen to discover something new about where their class mates were from. Kids eagerly snapping up pieces of Fairy Bread and Anzacs biscuits from our stand and telling us they'd love to go to an Australian birthday party.

My favourite moment of the day was when the Koreans got up and performed a dance number to Gangam Style. I looked around the hall and kids dressed in Pakistani, Russian, Indian, Emirati, French, Belgian, Chinese, Japanese, Brazilian and lots of other national dress were dancing and singing along having the time of their lives. It was truly amazing. Without trying to gush, it was the most genuinely harmonious display of national identities that I've ever come across. There was no overly nationalistic pride, there was no snide sniggering, there was only genuine interest and support for each other. It saddens me that there are probably few places on the earth that so many nationalities could come together and celebrate each other so warmly. We came home exhausted but in a good way.

So, now it's time to tackle another week. Deep breath and here we go.

Tell me, what have you been up to while I've been away?