School, stories and sons || York day 3

*insert annoying alarm sound* 7am, ugh why did I set an alarm again? I have vacation. I expected to wake up in the hotel, but, of course, I woke up in Finn's bedroom. Alarm is still on, I'm too lazy to get out of the bed and put it off. The sound really starts to annoy me though. I see the alarm at the side of the bed change to 07:01 and decide I have to get up.

I have breakfast around 07:30. It's cereal. Billy has just left the kitchen there are only two bowls left on the table. One Star Wars themed and one pink one with hearts. I take the pink one, because I have the feeling that the Star Wars one is from Finn. Finn comes in in his school uniform and he has to leave in 10 minutes if he wants to catch the schoolbus from 07:45. 'But I've never missed it', he says, at 07:40, finishing his breakfast. 'Theres a first time for everything', Julie replies. He actually manages to catch his bus.

'So now we'll just thank God for the fact that we can celebrate our birthdays', Mrs. Rhodes says. A girl from class 6, year 2, turns 7 today. I'm ready to burst out in 'Happy Birthday', but they don't sing, they just thank God. All the kids sit on the carpet and Mrs. Rhodes explains fractions by using chocolatebars. 'I have a chocolate bar with 8 pieces,' Mrs. Rhodes says, 'my friend wants some pieces as well, how much do we get each?'. One piece, I think by myself, we're talking about chocolate here ;-). Also, I only like dark chocolate, so I barely have to share it. '4', the kids say, as pure as they are. Well, they'll learn about the importance of chocolate when they're older.

We've just had a short break and all the children are back inside. Mrs. Rhodes reads them a story about Jesus. Jesus was in the desert for 40 days without any food and water and that's why it's pancakeday tomorrow. There were some other things in there about the devil and temptations and stuff. The children learn about not giving into bad temptations, like snatching Justin Bieber's autograph from your sister or picking up £5 from the ground. 'The queen!', one of the children yells as soon as there comes a picture of a £5 banknote on the board. 'Is it a new one?' another kid asks. Those new ones are super cool. My dad showed one yesterday and... YOU CAN LOOK THROUGH THEM O.O!

After lunchbreak I go to another class, since Mrs. Rhodes her class was having PE and, even though I think it would be quite funny, it will be boring for me to have to watch for an hour. These kids are younger and can basically do whatever they want. There are all kinds of corners where they can work: 'The Writing Corner', The Creative Corner', 'The Quiet Corner' etc. I sit down in the Writing Corner and I take a whiteboard and a marker to write down some random stuff. A small girl called Sofia sits next to me and starts drawing flowers to hang in her and her sister's room. I start drawing on a piece of paper as well. When it's 14:30 the children have to sit on the carpet again, but I'm not finished yet. 'Do you come back tomorrow to finish it?', Sofia asks. 'I don't know,' I respond, 'I think I'll be helping in Mrs. Rhodes class again.'. 'But if you want to, you can come and finish it', Sofia replies.

I go to Mrs. Rhodes class again and it's story time. Mrs. Rhodes appoints me 4 children to whom I have to read a story. I choose a story about drills, pliers, saws and screwdrives who have to work together. When we're finished, one of the kids chooses another story, called 'The hut that grew'. After that, we go back to Mrs. Rhodes, who just finishes her story for the rest of the children. The children pack their stuff and go home at 15:15. I can take my bag as well and, after a little chat with some children who have to stay at school a little longer because both their parents are working, I go to Julie's car.

Julie, Billy and I arrive at Julie's house and Julie asks what I'd like for dinner. 'Bacon!', Billy says immediately. I love Billy, he's so funny. 'KIM, what would you like?', Julie says, after giving me a lot of options. 'Bacon', Billy keeps miming to me. I start to laugh, 'Let's just do bacon', I say and I start to laugh. Julie replies: 'Let's try this again, Kim, what do YOU want?'. I tell her that I don't really mind and that bacon is fine with me, since Billy will be happy about this as well.

I go to my/Finn's room to watch 'Wie is de Mol' on my phone. When I finish the episode from last saturday, I have received a few messages. 'We've arrived in Disneyland', reads one of them, well okay, so Ries has arrived in Disneyland. The message is followed by a video from the attraction with the 'It's a small world' song. 'No thanks,' I reply, 'I dont want that song to get stuck in my head.', too late... Another message from my mom: 'Did you have fun today?', I reply with a yes and we have a little chat. After a while my dad sends a picture of Tom and my mom at the Manchester City stadium. My mom holds a Waterstones bag. It's also almost my birthday. Let's just add these things together shall we? Not that I'm expecting anything or something ;-)

For dinner we have English breakfast. We are with the five of us: Julie, Billy, Finn, Joel and me. Finn had ruined one of the eggs, so he has to eat that one. He swips his with Joel his egg when Julie isn't looking though. 'Has anyone been told off?', Julie asks me. I tell her that no one has been told off. 'Have you told anyone off?', Billy asks. I respond with the fact that I haven't told anyone off. 'Have you been told off?', Finn asks. 'No,' I reply, 'has one of you have been told off today?'. 'No....', Finn replies. A bit later we're finished with dinner. There's only a little bit of yoghurt left. Billy, Finn and Joel all want it. Joel snaps it from the fridge first and, since he's super tall, puts it on top of the fridge. I start to laugh. 'This is why I have this', Julie says to me, while showing me her glass of wine. I look forward to tomorrow's dinner already.

I give Julie my lunchbox from today and some clothes to wash. If we just wash my leggings this entire week, I might manage to pull off a wardrobe for this entire week. I also give her some gifts to thank her for having me. These gifts include food. 'I'll hide these', Julie says. 'You'll hide what?', Finn says from the frontroom. Julie quickly hides the food. 'Nothing,' she replies, 'I just said that to fool you.' 'No you didn't', Finn replies and he starts searching the kitchen. Soon enough he finds the food and I start to laugh. I can imagine Julie sometimes gets freaked out by Billy and Finn, but I just love them.

Right now I'm on my/Finn's room writing my blog, since this mostly takes about 30-45 minutes. Partly because I write a lot, partly because I write from my phone. The boys are watching football in the frontroom, but I'll just read or watch YouTube, since I'm not really interested in football.

I'll write again tomorrow!