There's toilet water flooding the house!!

Awakening to a light turning on is not the nicest way to be woken up. To be then asked,'Who knocked the water bottle over?' at 2am. Was even better. Once my brain had finally registered what was going on, I soon discovered the puddle of water was much larger than a bottle spillage. The whole house was flooded in about 2 inches of water. Unless this was one large water bottle, I concluded that something else was causing all this water on our floor.
Before finding the source of the leak, I realised that standing in a puddle of water while electrical items were plugged in and functional could potentially be extremely dangerous. Swiftly turning off the electrics, I went to the bathroom, the usual source of our plumbing problems. To my dismay, I discovered it was the toilet overflowing. Great, not only was our floor flooded, it was flooded with toilet water. Mali turned the water off, while I scooped the excess water out the toilet. Fantastic. Thankfully there was no poo in sight, as that part of our plumbing is less temperamental now. But still it's toilet water. The best method of clearing the floor was to brush the water out the door, which we did. Our house is all stone tiles so we didn't have to worry about drying carpets. Although all our bags, shoes, paper, basically everything that was on the floor was completely soaked. Lying in bed now, it's 3.30am, the floor is gradually drying, our belongings are on the washing line (hopefully it won't rain), the windows are open to the maximum and the electrics are not getting plugged in until everything is bone dry. We're in for a hot night. L

Having lived in Trinidad for 8 weeks now (it doesn't seem like that at all!) the excitement is starting to wear off, and reality is kicking in. The work is hard, draining and not without it's challenges. Working with kids everyday is so tiring. You are a roll model to them all, you have to be constantly aware of your mannerisms and behaviour. And be the best teacher you can be. Constantly on alert to see which child is misbehaving or not understanding. But when you get that one child, who has struggled for what seems a lifetime, shows that they understand and can competently do something. You feel a sense of achievement. And it's great. No doubt this year is gonna be hard, and not without it's ups and downs. There's already been quite a few. But it'll hopefully be one I remember for the rest of my life as a very fulfilling, rewarding and enjoyable.

And onto oranges! We have been showered in oranges. After getting paid on Friday, we decided to do a big shop, we haven't been able to find oranges for about a week. And I was desperately craving them. So we purchased a healthy amount. Ten minutes after we returned home, some students knocked on our door. I had mentioned, a few weeks back, how much I love oranges and obviously remembering this, brought us copious amounts of oranges. We now have a fridge full of oranges and a very happy Caitlin. With 34 oranges to consume as Mali's not a fan...

We have made friends with a local family, their father is American whi has lived here for 12 years, and cycled around Scotland about 30 years ago. It's a nice point of contact for us to have. They invite us up on a regular basis, to play with the kids, make cake and play cluedo (which can get extremely competitive) and tonight we played football. It was great fun! We played three games, Mali and I were almost dead after that. It was so enjoyable that we've decided to start playing on a regular basis and maybe start a woman's team here. Definitely up for playing more football, as sadly rugby isn't exactly an option (Mali being from Wales is a true rugby fan and of course I am too). Most people just look at us like we're crazy when we try to explain. Although that might have something to do with our Spanish...

Felt the first proper pangs of homesickness this week. Nothing serious really. I was listening to my iPod while witting outside, and Caledonia came on. For those of you who haven't heard it, it's a song about someone who's been away from Scotland for a long time and is finally returning home. 'Calendonia's calling me and now I'm going home.' its a song that instantly reminds me of home, and the landscape and how beautiful my home is. It's a good song that invokes emotion, and now I totally understand why my aunt (currently living in France and has been abroad for 30 years) can't listen to the song without shedding a wee tear. But don't worry I won't be coming home soon, I still have 10 months before I make the journey home. Caledonia's not calling me yet. But I might give that song a miss from now on.

Photos to follow. Having slight technology trouble...