A mixture of hot and cold

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The weather is not only discussed in excessive amounts in UK, as we have found out, but also out here. I guess the main reason being because it affects so much of everyday life. Last week, we were told that Spring had arrived, and the temperatures soared to 26 degrees on Wednesday and Thursday. We all duly got our summer clothing out and went to work on Fridya expecting the best! There was a football tournament opening after school and William got dropped off to join us....and there was free pizza too! By lunchtime however, the weather had changed, the temperature dropped and our teeth were chattering as we stood on the sidelines. A few of my students were playing and very well they played too (clearly my influence!!) and we thrashed the other schools! By the start of the second match we were so cold we had to abandon and race home!

I was also initiated into the gym on Friday evening by a great friend of mine who clearly wanted me dead ......as she subjected me to not one but two (!) classes in one evening. Now, this wouldn't be so bad if I had done some exercise in the past 2 and a half years, but clearly I have not! Anyway, 3 hours of spinning in a darkened room with disco lights, and an hour of body pump later....I emerged to find Ian had sent out a search party wondering where I was! Luckily I had survived, but only just. The spinning was hard enough, but the body pump was uite hardwork, especially on those unused muscles! The best bit had to be when we were doing squats and the guy announced we were to do "Booty half"!! I nearly fell over in hysterics but then was too scared in case he thought I found it easy and made me work harder! So....I will be attempting to go again on Thursday as I have just about regained the ability to walk today!

Sophie went on a school trip to the Science and Technology Museum last week which she thoroughly enjoyed...she is now studying the weather, which is a great unit for the current topic of conversation! She also had her class assembly on the topic, and she was "wind"! (snigger, snigger, sarcastic comment from Ian!!)...see pics, hopefully. It has been great having Ian at school with us and he has enjoyed teaching his little ones. He has a class of about 5 kids who are 5 yr olds with little or no english. It is a steep learning curve for him but he is getting praise from the other teachers and we are working together on it.

The weekend was quiet for us, a bit of roller blading for the children, and lots of falling over, and lunch at KFC on Saturday, with a lunch date with some friends of ours on Sunday at a great Mediterranean restaurant called Haya's on Sunday. Chloe is in Grade 2 with Sophie and her parents are really nice and we had a very relaxed time as there was a play area there also.

Yesterday, I took my students on a field trip to the dreaded Qibao which was very successful although extremely cold wandering around all day, then painting watercolour scenes by the canal! I came home and showered and got straight into my PJs.....sleep came very quickly. It's amazing how tiring school trips are, but I have to say it's one of the great things our school does do, making sure the students get to go on about one field trip per unit/every 6 weeks.

Ian is still looking for a permanent job but has several possibilities up his sleeve, so we are very optimistic. This week is another busy one as we have Parent Teacher Meeting day on Friday. This means no school for the children, and Ian too, the lucky thing....but I will be at school talking to parents. It's a great way to do it actually and means no late evenings......we should be going for a meeting at William's school but we have luckily booked ours for Thursday evening instead. Friday is our friend, Suzanne's, birthday so we are going out for a sensible grown up meal (ha ha!!) and who knows what else! Watch out for the amusing photos!!

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