Bonfire Night, Xmas is coming and more...

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It is amazing how many people from different countries we have met lately. We really seem to be meeting more and more new people and it is so interesting. Life here at the moment is pretty sound. I know I sound like something out of the 80s with that comment ("sound as a pound!!") but I think it is a good description. School is going well for all of us, and this was reflected by both of the childrens' excellent reports which came home last week.

William is doing so well in Chinese, he is currently reading me his hundreds of characters which he knows and can tell me the meaning of pretty much any one of them! His written English is improving and his reading is great. he just loves to study, which is good news in the land of Asian homework! He is having to grow up a bit and start being more responsible as he is already getting in with the wrong crowd. Having followed his big sister for the whole of his life, he is now quite happy to follow others, even when they get him into trouble. We are working hard together to get him to "make better choices"...star chart here we come!

Sophie got a glowing report also, praising her commitment to hard work and the progress she has made. She is just struggling with keeping her mouth closed and we are all wondering where she gets that from!! She have moved up a level in Chinese class which is great news, but means much more homework. She is working closely with Daddy to practice her Chinese characters now.

I am working hard as ever. I was saying to a friend just today that by the time I hit Monday morning, I can already feel Friday afternoon coming. The week flies by with a whirlwind of meetings and planning in amidst lessons and looking after my motley crew! This week sees the official launch of the Winter Festival,
yes I have agreed to take on more work and organise our school Christmas celebrations in the form of a Winter Festival Assembly and Bazaar on Thursday 17th December. It is all ready to go, so I will be canvassing door to door on businesses doors this week to make sure it is a great event.

Ian is doing quite alot of private tutoring after school which is taking up much time, but is providing us with quite a bit more income, especially helpful at this time of year! He went on a school trip with his Grade 3 classes this week and had great fun watching them spend a fortune buying little goldfish!!

Normally Bonfire Night passes us by out here, but one of my students has a British father and they very kindly invited us to a Bonfire Night party they were holding. There were lots of different families there, and it was great to have jacket potatoes and chilli, even though it was sweltering hot! Bizarrely, we woke up Monday morning to a total change of temperature. It is now officially cold. We have put the heaters on for the first time today but are trying to hold out putting the underfloor heating on as long as possible!

William got his prized yellow belt, so he is really happy at his newfound status!

It was Ian's birthday this week and we had a lovely family evening where me and the ayi cooked together. The children and I had already made chocolate cakes which the ayi marvelled at and enjoyed tasting, then we made hamburgers and potato au gratin in our little toaster oven. It's amazing what we can do with that oven! On Friday evening, we went out with our friends Suzanne and Mark and their kids to our fave Blue Frog, then Ian had requested a trip to the Indoor Ski Slope for his birthday treat yesterday. It was a bit bizarre and quite reasonably priced. Sadly, we couldn't really watch, but sat in a rather chilly cafe with a teeny tv screen which Ian never appeared on. He re-emerged an hour later with all bones in tact and had quite enjoyed it.

So, here we are with another week ahead, we hope this finds you all happily moving along towards the xmas rush!

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