Holiday coming soon

---

Hey everyone!

So we are nearly at the end of another busy week chez TB over here. I am writing tonight while Ian is out at Chinese class and I am chilling as I am exhausted. It has been another hectic week at work, although I feel like I am at least settling into the mayhem a little now! My class has to do assembly tomorrow so we have spent much of this week rehearsing. we were given a virtue to base it around and we got given 'Purposefulness'!! I have to admit I didn't even know it was a word before, but now I do! My teaching partner and I decided to let the kids brainstorm what they wanted to do, so they divided themselves up into 4 groups. There is a girl's singing group doing a Mariah Carey song (eek!), a boys singing group doing a Chinese rock type song which is fab and I just can't get it out of my head, then a group doing a ppt about it, and a couple of girls wrote a mini drama and the rest of the students are performing. We also have a boy and a girl MC. I have to say today I am really proud of them and they are great. Clearly a couple of characters stand out even more than the rest, and it has really given some of the quieter ones loads of confidence and it has pulled the whole class together. So, tomorrow afternoon the whole school will be there to watch it - eek...watch this space for the results!

Next week we have the National Holiday and therefore a week off, so we decided to try and go away somewhere. After much deliberation, we are going to Hangzhou, which is in Jiejan Province, about 2 hrs train ride away from here. There is a lake and some mountains and Tina has recommended lots of lovely stuff to do there. We got a hotel booked online, with an outdoor swimming pool and everything...the weather is so hot, we will need the suncream, sorry to tell you back home! Then yesterday Ian went to the train stationa and practised his ever improving Chinese and managed to buy us train tickets. We are going on Wed and coming back on Sat but it will be so nice to get away for a few days after such a manic first few weeks here.

Our other news this week is that Ian has a proper job at last! For those of you who are unaware, the teaching thing never came off due to visa issues, but he carried on applying to anything he could see and had an interview with a company yesterday called Austen Morris. They are a proper English company with proper English people in it and, so Ian tells me, lovely offices not too far away. He iis going to be doing Finance type stuff and is really excited about it. I think he will be the first to admit that this is the kind of thing he really wanted to do and not teaching so much, so we are both hoping it goes well. he starts after the holiday, and we are really proud of him for getting it.

The children have been busy this week....William has been showing us some more karate moves this evening and soph had swimming at school again and is doing a dance class weekly also. We went to a Parent Teacher Meeting at William's Kindergarten on Monday and continue to be super impressed there. We were there for several hours, getting information, chatting to the teachers and meeting parents of William's friends. We met the mum of Tiernan, his main buddy, whose family are from Ireland and he also likes Man U like his dad, so Ian is happy! William is settling in well we are told, and is eating his Chinese food and practising his Chinese too! He even started piano lessons this week and tells us he loved it cos he was allowed to "go crazy" at the end of it!!! Sophie is becoming something of a superstar at school and has got to know all the teachers in true Sophie-style. Everyone is very impressed, and even the local Chinese Principal came up to me today to tell me how lovely and well-mannered she is, which made me very proud. We are both at school on Saturday, apparently it is a National thing where you have to work on Sat to make up for having a day off for the National Holiday! Grade 1 are having an International Day where they are talking about and experiencing their own countries. In her class, she has people from China, Korea, India, Philippines, Australia and USA. So it should be good. And Daddy has volunteered to go and read 'The Gruffalo' (a true English story!!!) to the class. I have to say, he is also going in to their class tomorrow as a 'Parent Helper' to listen to some of them read.... a sure sign to make him realise he has made the right choice not to go into teaching!

So, last night one of our friends from school babysat for us so we could on a date! We really pushed the boat out and went for a Chinese massage and then an ice cream! It was just so nice to go out the 2 of us and we are going out on Saturday night too for one of the other teacher's birthdays and our ayi is going to babysit for us. We are going for an Indian which will be fun!

Has best get off and do some work at last! Will write soon......

---

Comments

[Julie Bedford]

Congratulations Ian!!
Well done on getting your job. Awfully glad it's you that's doing Finance and Jo that's teaching :-) She'll kill me for saying it!!