Life goes on...

And I'm finally recovered enough from Real Life to get back to Niua Simoa. :) :)

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It took a while for life to get back to normal after the festivities of the royal wedding. But already Princess Sima has a good influence on life on the island.
Of course she and Henry did go on a honeymoon - to China, so she could show off her new outfits to all her old rivals.
They arrived home on the outer volcano, and had to take a dive well to the palace. It's an annoying way to travel.

Be that as it may, Sima knew that this is now her new home, and she needs to start her work as Crown Princess the way she means to go on.

So the first thing she did after she came back from her honeymoon was to use her influence to get the royal family to do something about the disgraceful quality of education on the island. Henry I was livid when he heard how much money she'd wheedled out of his son to buy new school materials!
Trapped between his wife and his father, Henry II had to do some fast maneuvering to keep everyone happy.

He refused to give any money for new school buildings:

But he did buy new furniture for the classroom. And princess Sima managed to persuade a few charities in Sim Nation to donate second-hand schoolbooks as well as school supplies.

Prince Filepi used his business contacts to obtain a second-hand foosball tables, a juice bar and even a video game system, and his new sister-in-law used these to convert one of the buildings near the school into a teen hangout.

The third building was furnished as a preschool. Whether or not this newfangled notion will actually catch on with the Simoans, nobody knows... Totara Palefau has already voiced her displeasure, and her voice carries weight with the islanders...

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While Prince Filepi was busy arranging the teen hangout, Mae was at home with the children. Jarrett amused himself with his toybox, but she felt Marvin needed to get as much learning as possible done before he started school. She feels somehow it's more important for him to do well, than it would be for his royal half-brother.

Marvin started school in week 16. He was a bit nervous about it, but it turned out that he had no trouble making friends (once he did something about his outfit, that is!)

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Marvin's father, Robert-Michel Gao, finished another novel this week, but apparently his computer couldn't cope with the strain. He spent hours trying to fix it, only to make it worse. 

In the end he decided to buy a new laptop. So much for spending his royalties on something fun this time!

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Meanwhile, rumour has it that Berthe Sevele is pregnant already (small surprise - she is, after all, a Mau by birth). Ama and Berthe haven't confirmed anything yet, but Ama has been seen talking to a real estate agent, so it may well be that he is looking for a larger house!

Even if Berthe hasn't said anything yet, this pose seems to say it all!

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And Mei Mau celebrated her birthday and started highschool right after the royal wedding as well.

She immediately put up her hair in the same hairdo as her mother... You'd expect that to look silly on a teenager, but actually it doesn't look half bad... (I didn't find a hairstyle that really looked better on her...)

And here's just a random view of the waterfall behind the Mau residence. Because I don't know where else to put it.

It's very beautiful, and if it weren't for that big ugly water treatment plant in front of their home, the Mau family would easily live in the best spot on the entire island.

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There was a sighting of the Sinister Clown in the cemetery this week as well. He's a weird figure who is supposedly buried on the local graveyard, and seeing his ghost brings bad luck.
Nobody was able to snap a picture of him, but this is an artists' impression of what he supposedly looks like:

Sinister seems to be the right description here!!!