Blogs from Jinshitan, Dalian, Liaoning, China, Asia

End of the school year The school year 2011-2012 went pretty fast. I started the year teaching Kindergarten which I absolutely love and is one of my favorite ages and grades to teach, but in December a new teacher teaching grade 1 decided to leave in the middle of the year and I step up and ask to move up and I got promoted to teach grade 1 from January to June. If I had a blast teaching Kindergarten, you can´t imagine how much I enjoyed, loved and the fun I had teaching grade 1, plus I taught with an amazing teacher and friend Agnes Franklin. The last weeks of school in June went pretty fast and were super busy, between teaching, assessing, meetings and social gatherings I practically had no time off. It felt good ... read more

Hi all – The last few months here have been very busy; seems like a long time since I have written to anyone, so hope this will catch us up. This is a real marathon blog with so many pictures! Rick is enjoying his role as vice principal and surprisingly has really enjoyed being on the boys campus. It was a real concern for him about how he would leave the girls that he enjoyed so much. But aside from the cold building and smelly bathrooms, he finds the job interesting and the boys really great. Working with the Les, the principal, Ryan and Brad has been a good admin team. We now have almost 3000 students so there are always issues to deal with. My job as Director for the Language Elective program has been ... read more

I made it to Dalian. I arrived very late at night and was greeted by a man holding a sign with my name on it who spoke no English. In CQ one of the secretaries picked me up and showed me around – not this time. Oh well. My first night in Dalian sucked. My apartment that they gave me is disgusting. There was some sort of insect genocide right before I came because there were dead flies and other critters everywhere. EW. Its also really muggy here so things kind of smell funny and mold is a common sight. My blankets stink too. Ugh. The next morning my big brother came to see me. He has been living here for 4 years and one of the big reasons why I moved to China in the ... read more

Our second year in China is quickly coming to a close- time has just flown and when we see friends and colleagues packing boxes and crates, we have mixed feelings. With the education system cutbacks in both BC and AB, not much chance of working there; so we might as well take advantage of the opportunities here. Therefore, as most of you know, we have signed another contract, with different positions in the school. It will be a real challenge for both of us and neither of us will in the classroom - Rick as vice principal and me 2nd in charge of the ESL. But Jim and Carrie, Peter and Dianne, Linda and Lynn - we will miss you so much - our potlucks, singing, going out for dinner, card playing group! It won't be ... read more

I wasn't going to write about our winter holiday but changed my mind. It has been a while since I wrote anything and there were some noteworthy happenings during our visit to Canada, so here goes. Of course, the main reason for going back during the holidays instead of going south to warmer climates is the six grandchildren. Other family members are great too, but they know us (maybe too well). Maintaining the relationship with the grandchildren is important. Skype helps, but there is no substitute for being there. Probably the most significant happening since I last wrote was Dianne's decision that this was her last year at Maple Leaf. It was a tough decision because she really enjoys her work and we have had a great time in China. But time marches on and she ... read more