Sports day, tennis and pampering!

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We have been up to all sorts since we last wrote, and you avid fans will be excited to hear that Ian is about to go out for another haircut, so will be coming back to write another amusing entry...especially seeing as he is then going to have a foot massage! This week, I found a perk to teaching local children for the first time ever....one of the girls in my class, her mum owns a nail salon opposite the school and I was able to nip in during my lunch hour and get my feet painted for free! She is offering really resonable half price manicures and pedicures for all teaching staff, but as I teach her daughter, it was free! Wow!!

We have all been busy again...I wasn't too well for most of the week but seem to have fought it off with my strong english constitution! In fact, I was asked what I ate today as I am so strong!!! On Friday night, I went out with some girls from school which was really nice and civilised and was able to vent after I had a few issues at work during the day! Yesterday morning, however, we wereup bright and early and back at my school as William's Kindergarten had a "Marathon" (sports day) starting at 8.30am! It was a beautiful sunny day I managed to get sunburnt as I hadn't realised how hot it was. William was quite overcome with all the people as we arrived and wasn't too chuffed to be there at all, so I had to accompany him for the parade and warm up to The Wiggles!! Luckily by the time it was his class race, he was much more enthusiastic and did a great run, coming 4th out of 24! Some very proud parents there, i tell you. Later they did a kind of obstacle race also which he was brill at! It was a fantastic morning, fantastically organised and everyone enjoyed it. All the kids got medals, even if they didn't win, but William's friend Tiernan came first!

After we left the marathon, we came home and showered the children as they were so hot and messy from playing in the sandpit, then we quickly had lunch and met another teacher from England, Michelle, and went to the Fabric Market (or heaven as Michelle renamed it!). I went back to try on a lovely black dress I am having made, but it still needs a few adjustments so I can pick it up next weekend when we got back to get the other tops I have ordered for next to nothing! I amon the look out for a nice design for a winter coat, pure cashmere is everywhere and so reasonable! Michelle really enjoyed it and ordered 4 tops (good thing her hubbie is in France at the moment!). After we left, we went onto Zhongshan Park to visit our friends Mark and Suzanne for a quick catch up, but it was 5pm by this time and we had shopping to do! So, we went on to Toys R Us in search of Halloween costumes but drew a blank as it is a very small shop. Sophie has decided to go in her Cinderella dress she already has, well that's the current plan anyway, it may still change! Afterwards, we went to our favourite Western Restaurant here, the Blue Frog in Hong Mei Lu. It is our favourite as it serves really good kids food and there is a kids play area and it shows films and cartoons, so the kids love it and we actually get to have a grown up conversation! We therefore didn't get home until 8.30pm, where the children promptly fell into bed and were snoring in minutes ( and I am sure Ian would like to add that I wasn't long after with both sleeping and snoring although I would completely deny the snoring bit!!).

We decided we would have a relaxing day today and I have to say it has been lovely. This morning Sophie and I met another teacher from school who only lives down the road from us, called Karen. Karen is from Canada and has been at the school for 3 years so is very seasoned and knows some great places to go and things to do. This morning, our first stop was a shoemaker, who was to be found in a very interesting food market (see photos of eel being gutted and fish on sale!). We then went onto a seamstress who Karen has been going to for about a year, I think. We basically went to her house, which I will attempt to describe to you, but words just sometimes cannot describe poverty. We spent our time there in her workroom, which was quite big compared to the rest of the place, but really crowded with clothes and 2 sewing machines (see pics again). At one point, I had to change into the dress I wanted adjusting and I went into the bathroom. Squalor has to be the word....the bath was black and so was the toilet. On the concrete floor, there had been an indent made so that the water ran away to I am not sure where. To one side of the workroom, there was a lounge area where her son (12yrs-ish) was watching TV with Dad, and Karen told us this is where they all sleep also. It was tiny. To the the other side, there was a small and very basic kitchen. And we moan about not having an oven! You just cannot imagine how many people live like this here...just down this street, there were rows and rows of these places, 2 or 3 storeys high.

Anyway, Karen tells me she is a very talented seamstress, and I can tell this by the fact that Karen had taken about 10 items of clothing to be adjusted in one way or another, along with some material to be made into a dress. I took a blue Chinese dress I have had made at the Fabric market, as I want it shortened into a tunic-type number to wear over jeans. Thanks to Karen's creative mind, the rest is going to be made into a short skirt for Sophie...we can't wait to see how they turn out. After our excitement at the seamstress, we wandered along to the Flower and Fish Market. I am not sure if I will ever cease to be amazed by this country. After the poverty at the seamstress' house, we then go to see these beautiful flowers and plants being sold for next to nothing. We bought Daddy a chilli plant for about 20p and a purple plant for about 90p. Karen bought some gorgeous purple flowers, which are kind of like tulips but better for about £1.20. I have put some pics on of some of the beautiful arrangements you can buy, there are just fantastic.

At the market, there were also pottery shops and so, after returning home with our stories to tell the boys, and a quick lunch at our favourite Teppanyaki restaurant around the corner, Sophie and I took the boys back with us where Sophie was able to spend the afternon having a pottery class! For the cost of about £12, she is going to have 4 x 1hr classes and in the first one today, she made a house. She tells me that next week she gets to paint it, then she makes something on the pottery wheel, then paints that in her last class. How cool! Now, I have omitted to mention that while Sophie was pottery-fying, I went off to play tennis with my landlady and her husband. I have been trying to play since we got here, to let off some excess stress and just try and get fit again. Well, you can imagine, in the heat of today (about 28 degrees we think) in mid afternoon, not having played for over a year, how my body feels about all this right now! I absolutely loved playing though, and surprised myself at the fact that I haven't lost all my skills! I was totally dripping by the end of it though, and that was just a knock-around, no real game played this week! I think I am going back next week for more torture, but in the meantime, I might try and see if Karen (who should be reading this right now!) will play with me during the week. The problem is we are all so busy at work, by the time we get home and have dinner, we are too pooped to do anything else. We shall see....watch this space!

So, here we are...Daddy has by now gone out for his foot massage and hair cut, so I will make sure he recounts his story tomorrow evening (true writing takes much time to create so he may be exhausted by the time he gets home as it is 8.40pm already!). I am going to endeavour to attach some pics now, fingers crossed!

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Photos

William and teacher Ammi
He has taken on the Chinese way of posing for photos unfortunately!

Comments

[anonymous]

yes let's get that tennis going soon!! i can't believe i just got around to reading your blog again just today--i'll make an effort though because it's so fun and interesting!!