Gong xi fa cai...as they say over here. We are sitting here in our apartment drinking strong tea trying to stay awake for the Chinese New Year to arrive. It is an amazing thing and we are really excited about being here.....the fireworks alone are just an experience. It has been building up for a while but this week especially. At school we have been preparing for the celebration and the children have been making all sorts of things. There are all sorts of interesting things to read about why the celebrations are as they are but the main things are [View Full Entry]

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It has been positively arctic here this week, but we have ended up with temperatures around the 10 degrees mark by today, which is unbelievable. We took some pictures of the pond in our compound and just how wrapped up we have had to be to keep warm. The temperature has been down to about -4 overnight but the wind has made it feel much colder during the day. Add to that the fact that the Chinese insist on opening all the doors and windows, putting the aircon heating on full blast and wearing coats all day. As I was discussing [View Full Entry]

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This week has been a week of challenges for all of us. Sophie and I are just finishing off a school project which has been frustrating to say the least. Her current topic is 'Celebrations', which is where they are learning about different types of celebrations around the world. As part of this, each student has to make and bring in an item of food that is eaten at a traditional celebration in your country. After much debating over Christmas, we decided on a Chocolate Yule log. We decided that the kids in Sophie's class might not like eating mince pies [View Full Entry]

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Well, we have arrived back to a very chilly China but hopefully our power has been fixed now so that we don't have to choose between being warm in the lounge vs the bedroom, or being warm vs cooking jacket potatoes in the "oven"/boiling the kettle for a cuppa! It is strange being back.....however it does feel very much like home and we know both the children are clearly quite settled already, especially William, whose speech improved almost instantly! The usual Chinese issues arose even today on our lunchtime trip out, I guess we will get re-used to them quicker this [View Full Entry]

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We have had a very busy week (no change there then!) with the lead up to xmas well in action now. Sophie went to yet another party on Sunday afternoon and made all sorts of lovely arty things, and then each child made gingerbread men. At school this week, we had English Open Mornings for parents to come in and learn more about how we teach English. After a presentation by the English Coordinator, parents came into our classrooms and watched us do an hour long lesson! I was a bit nervous, as you can imagine, but it went really well [View Full Entry]

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Wow, we have had one lovely day. It has been really cold the past few days, and we awoke to glorious sunshine which we have come to realise is deceiving to the temperature. We were up early this morning as William was being picked up at normal time on his school bus to go to his school xmas concert. I knew it was cold when Ian rang me from the bus stop to tell me it was so, as he is usually telling me to stop being such a wimp with the cold, so we wrapped up warm and all went [View Full Entry]

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It's not often you get to spend a winter's evening standing outside for 3 hours listening to an Ozzie dwarf (as my dad would have said!) singing about how lucky she is is to be wearing next to nothing in zero degree temperatures, but that was what happened last night! Yes, Kylie came here to Shanghai and I was lucky enough to go and see her! Sadly, our ayi couldn't babysit for us so Ian (who was extremely devastated!!) had to stay home while my friend Victoria came with me. We went with Nazli and Michelle from school, and their husbands [View Full Entry]

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.....we are coming to you from a very different Shanghai this week as winter has finally hit us. We went to school Monday morning in an autumnal state, but walked home as freezing wrecks! Our school does not believe in closing windows and doors, so us poor Western teachers shelter in our classrooms for warmth, dashing down the 71 steps to grab a cup of tea at break time and use the printer. School is a manic place as usual and we have had more ups and downs this week. Luckily, the hours we spent last weekend helping Sophie to adjust [View Full Entry]

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Hello blog fans, well have we had a busy week? Well have we? Seriously I am thirty four now and can't remember ..... now where was that list Jo gave me of what I had to put? Ah here we go: Poppy B'day Cinema Football School Blazer New Class Beard Alarm Clock / Painting / Shirt and Tie / Rugby Shirt School Trip. Well thanks for reading it enjoy the pictures and Jo will be back soon! Oh .... apparently that isn't enough ..... so let me start again ..... "During the week beginning Sunday the 9th of November, in the [View Full Entry]

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We have had one of the busiest and best saturdays since we have been here so we thought we would blog about it now (also, Ian is watching the big match so I am trying to amuse myself and keep quiet as it's not going well!). We had a rather lazy morning and the children amused themselves by playing in William's cupboard, which is not an unusual occurrence, we often find William sitting on the 2nd shelf and Sophie cuddling her baby in there! When we finally emerged from our flat, we made our way to a cafe called Johnny Moo's.....we [View Full Entry]

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