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Published: September 6th 2008
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Well, sorry for the delay folks, we have been mega busy in the T-B household! School has been interesting to say the least this week for me and Ian went in on Wednesday for a few hours then came back and isn't needed until Monday. They are trying to sort out the job title/visa issue as he is not a trained teacher but are promising it will work out. We know they are in desperate need of teachers so they definitely want him, but they have to get the visa sorted first.
I am totally shattered as I have been working long days and this 8 flights of stairs business is so tiring! I counted I had done it 6 times before 10am one morning this week....I am destined to be a stick by Christmas at least! My class are settling in nicely, most of them are wonderful but I have a couple of little "angels" who will need some extra attention. We have just introduced our first "Unit of Inquiry", which means topic, which is "Rules and laws are developed to meet human needs". A very interesting one it has to be said, and our ultimate aim is to
set up a Student Council as they have not had one at school before. We are currently looking at the different between laws and rules, and want and needs, and they are researching the different laws and governments in different countries. Totally my cup of tea, I love it!
Now, listen up teachers in England....on Wednesday, it will be National Teachers' Day. In China, teachers are so revered that they have a day of appreciation where you get cards and presents...one guy got an MP4 player last year, so I have high hopes! Yesterday after school we had a celebration for this, which was the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. It was a joint celebration with the Local Stream (let me explain how this works.....on this one campus in the middle of a busy street the school has a Local Stream with about 1500 kids aged 5-15 and an International Stream with about 700 kids from all nationalities. The Local Stream has all the best stuff, equipment, loads of teachers etc, and we are trying to catch up but it is a slow process). So we sat through about 6 presentations wholly in Chinese, including an English
teacher singing "I swear" and about 12 music teachers singing some Chinese song which was hilarious...so out of tune!! It was a nice gesture but we all felt really excluded and wondered the point of us being there. Anyway, after this we all went to a local restaurant and had a buffet dinner. There must have been about 300 teachers there and the food was so funny....see pics.....I was brave and ate snails and proper squid with eyeballs and everything! There was even free beer and Chinese red wine, which was ok, and we had a bit of a giggle. At about 8.30pm I came home, and all the teachers without kids went on partying (until the wee hours so I hear this morning, and an unexplained drunken injury from one of the girls!!).
Today we have been shopping-tastic! We have been out at the market across the street buying birthday gifts and then we went for the best Teppanyaki lunch with Suzanne, Nathan and Emily (sadly Mark has man flu!)....the kids loved it! This afternoon, Sophie and I met Miss Victoria, an English teacher from my school and went to the Fabric Market. Sophie kept saying she was
in heaven, and we agreed, it was amazing. I cannot express to you how fantastic it was....3 floors of mazes dedicated to small stalls of material and clothes where you basically walk in, either point to an item hanging up, take an item of your own for them to copy, or take in a picture of something you want them to make. You then choose any material and barter for a price! Once the price is decided, your measurements are taken, you pay about half the price in deposit and come back next week to collect your made to measure item. Victoria and I agreed how brilliant this it, especially being typical English girls we are not typical "Marks and Spencer sizes" and having clothes made to measure means you don't have those age old issues of baggy waist but tight fitting bottoms! I promise to take pictures next week of my purchases including: a chinese-style dress, a pair of long linen trousers, a silk blouse, a work shirt and a Chinese-style dress for Sophie. All for the earth shattering price of £81!!!!!!!!!!! We could not believe how amazing this is, and I am sure anyone who comes out is
going to need a trip over there.
In other news, Sophie is loads loads better and has now even got her patch off and is just finishing her antibiotics off this weekend. William made friends with an Irish boy who supports Man U also, and loves being a Ladybird! Tjung, our ayi, continues to feed us well and look after us so we are relieved of all stress involved in household chores. We are about to enjoy a few G&T's on a Saturday evening, so will sign off for now...enjoy the pictures, hope they upload ok this time, the internet has been playing up a bit lately.
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Karen
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National Teacher's Day
Hey - sounds like you are all having a fantastic time! I am liking the idea of the National Teacher's Day - do you think it will go down well in Frithville? May have to give it and go and let you know!