School trip in the rain

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Well, how am I supposed to follow Ian's story of dental non-torture?! I have been on a school trip today which was so different to Uk school trips I thought I would tell you all about it. I will endeavour to attach pictures as ever, but they are a little eerie as I will explain! We are currently learning all about migration and so we wanted to go on a fun trip, which last year the students went to the Bund. Now, this is an area that is the most famous in Shanghai as it is along the riverside and was where the first settlers came into all those years ago, along with being where the financial center of the city is and all the big lovely restaurants and proper Armani shops lie. So, we took the bus to Pudong (the area across the river at the heart of the financial center) and arrived at the River Cruise port. It has been raining a touch (actaully huge amounts!) this week, so we were all expecting it to rain but were pleasantly surprised to find it was mild and clear as we left school only to be saddened when we arrived on the boat to see the thick fog everywhere.

Now, I must explain here that the purpose of the day was not to see how many students we could "lose" over the edge of the boat, but to make sketches of waterscapes and landscapes (not sure if I used the right terminology!) of the Shanghai skyline. Well, being a non-artist, this is my understanding of the aim! However, as we were on a boat, the plan was to photograph the views and then sketch later from pics......as you look at the photos I have attached, you will realise that this is going to be one hell of a task as the buildings are mostly hiding behind layers of fog. I have to point out here that the fog was not due to poor weather conditions, but pollution. Yes, I am afraid so.....from time to time this thick layer of fog descends on our lovely city. Mind you, we were showered with rain later so I don't think we can allow the weather to be totally blameless!

So, we spent an hour on the boat trying to convince our students of the merits of looking at foggy buildings and trying to stop them from playing uno and running up and down the stairs, until we finally docked again and headed for a nearby area called the New Bund and we all sat along the riverfront to eat lunch and then do proper sketching. I have to say that there were some amazing sketches produced and we were very proud of what some of the students produced. After about an hour or so, the rain kicked in and we had to leg it back to the buses and made our way back to school. At school, we let the students finish their drawings and think about their reflection....a key part of IB learning....we have to reflect on absolutely everything!! It is a great way of learning and the way forward, this kind of IB learning is just brilliant!

Just on a totally bizarre bit of something that happened the other day.....we were waiting for william's bus outside the compound the other morning when we spied a man walking down the road pushing a wheelchair...see the photo for quite how the middle of the road it was. Another random...only in China moment!

Must away for now.....

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