Les vacances commencent enfin!

I don't know what just happened: I tried uploading a picture twice, but it's not here! I'll try again later. Just in case the pic. actually shows up when I do the post, it is from last December, but I just thought it was appropriate for this time of the year.

It's been a crazy week, with the kids thinking they were already on holiday, our teacher grading system crashing, finishing my "DM" and organizing my Chirstmas holiday. So much to do and now, I only have a few days to rest....

I am finally a dive master! I took the final physics exam while all the students were in an assembly. I just sat on the floor, right outside the door, with my calculater and all and wrote the test. It was so much harder than I thought it would be! Anyway, still got a pass on that, so I got my certification. Tonight, I leave for Australia, where I will be doing my dive instructor course. I couldn't find any dive shops holding the classes during the holidays, so I had to find a course director willing to give it to me privately. I'll be doing the course with Keith in Cairns (see http://www.fnqdive.com/ ).

I don't know how I'm supposed to bring everything they want me to bring for this course. I'm expected to have my own copy of about 16 books, my own diving gear and clothes for 3 weeks, but my baggage allowance is 20 freakin' kilos! I was told that diving gear didn't count in this 20 kg (like golf bags or skis) (thanks Anthony), but apparently, this doesn't apply to all airlines. I called my travel agent and nope! 20kgs max! Aïe! Qu'est-ce que je vais faire??? We'll see if I can charm my way through this one ;-) Last time I tried this (Sweden, last summer), got what I wanted--nice guy lets me take an extra 10 kg without any charge, but the problem was that when I tried coming back with my stuff, they weren't so nice (I had put all my heavy stuff in my carry-on--could barely lift the damn suitcase---but they weighed that too!) Ended up costing me 250$US! Arrrggggh!

I hope all of you have a merry Christmas, surrounded by your family (c'est le moment de l'année le plus dure pour moi) and a great new year's eve party. May you all find peace and happiness in this next coming year!

Je vous embrasse bien fort!

Love,

Cat xxx

(Happy birthday, Dad. I miss you so much...)