It is amazing how many people from different countries we have met lately. We really seem to be meeting more and more new people and it is so interesting. Life here at the moment is pretty sound. I know I sound like something out of the 80s with that comment ("sound as a pound!!") but I think it is a good description. School is going well for all of us, and this was reflected by both of the childrens' excellent reports which came home last week. William is doing so well in Chinese, he is currently reading me his hundreds of [View Full Entry]

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Time is just flying along for us, we cannot believe it is November already. We have had so much going on, I am sorry for not writing since our holiday, so I will try and keep what we have been up to reasonably brief. Sophie is still doing her tennis class, but is has kind of turned into a family affair. On a Sunday morning, we all turn up to our friends' compound and all 8 of us take it in turns to have tennis practice. It is good fun and a very relaxing way to spend our Sunday mornings. This [View Full Entry]

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Today was a very cool day! The Shanghai ATP Masters 1000 Tennis tournament comes to Shanghai every October and this year we decided we would like to go. We found out that the first day was free, so we went with our friends but sadly Ian had to work. A strange thing about Chinese holidays, Thursday was a national holiday, but this meant that all Chinese businesses and schools had to work today instead. Crazy stuff. Anyway, we went still and got our free tickets. It was about 45 minutes out of town at the Qizhong Tennis Center and was huge. [View Full Entry]

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Well, we are back in sunny Shanghai from our first proper holiday since arriving in Asia! We had a fabulous time in Phuket and would very much like to return there. We had a rainy last couple of days and Ian got serious Phuket-belly so was bed ridden while I kept the children amused with ten tons of homework! We did manage a quick trip to the Seashell Museum and a swim in the dark which was quite fun, but our last few days were a bit washed out! It did allow my Rudolph nose to peel itself though before we [View Full Entry]

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Phew, what a week! We have been very much looking forward to this holiday for such a long time and it has not disappointed. When we were invited by our friends, Ian, Bing and Chloe, to join them on their annual trip to Phuket, we had no idea how lovely it would be. Ian's parents have a place here which is just beautiful and we have been lucky to have such fantastic hosts during our stay. Ian was kind enough to arrange our flights for us too and he got us a great deal....the sign of a very seasoned traveller! We [View Full Entry]

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Hello blog fans, so so sorry for the huge delay!! We cannot tell you just how manic things have been here....just tiredness upon tiredness. Added to which, we are competing for the internet as we don't have wireless at home! Ian and I are really busy planning for lessons, I am marking (luckily Ian doesn't set homework so therefore no marking!), Ian is picking up the pace on his Chinese and learning more and more characters. William proudly announced last week that he knew 52 Chinese characters, and that was excluding the numbers! He is going really well at school and [View Full Entry]

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Another week has gone by and already time is flying along....already my apologies for not blogging. Along with my new fellow Grade 3 ICE Teacher, I am trying to do as much forward planning as possible. I keep remembering back to this time last year and just how manic this time between now and Christmas was. With this in mind, I am planning-tastic! Yesterday, we were able to go into our new classrooms and start making them look wonderful....well as best as we can with the resources we have anyway. I am very keen to keep a classroom as a changeable [View Full Entry]

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Shanghai continues to throw its' firsts at us and this week was no exception. We have finally ceased living as nomads and moved into our new place. We are so excited and happy to be in here, we cannot explain it in words. Sadly, pictures will not explain it fully but we will try. Our apartment is on 11th floor, in the compound behind school with the great 'Pirate Ship' play area in, where our friends Kevin and Victoria live. We have 4 bedrooms (yes, I am currently writing this from our "study" come guest room......any takers?!) and underfloor heating, so [View Full Entry]

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Hey everyone, we are back and here and have some great pics of our hols for all to see! [View Full Entry]

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Hello again everyone, here we are again, back in Shanghai for our second year. We arrived back on Friday afternoon, after a very successful flight with Emirates this time. The flight was split into 2 legs, with a 2 hour stopover in Dubai. This has to have been our best flight so far for 2 main reasons....the first being the fact that the entertainment system was available to start from the moment we got onto the aeroplane and also the mid flight stopover meant we were all able to sleep for the whole of the second flight. We also arrived at [View Full Entry]

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