Welcome to Shanga's

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Welcome to Shanga’s! And what a fantastic day it has been. Finally some blue sky and a breeze. This morning we had a school visit that didn’t quite turn out as we expected. Maggie from ABC Aoshang was so welcoming and had excellent English as she has studied in Melbourne and Sydney herself. Unfortunately the students we were to present our mock class to, were off on a school camp. Sounded a bit like a boot camp to toughen them up and build resilience after all the mollycoddling from their parents. This private international school has a strong relationship with Australia and delivers classes to Year 10, 11 and 12 students. They complete the Western Australian Certificate of Education, so all have excellent oral and written English. We also met three of their teachers, Eric from Canada and Nick and Brianna from Australia. The teachers and Maggie were such a pleasant change to previous agent visits and it was great to ask all the questions we’d been wondering about Chinese schools and have honest answers from someone who understands Victorian education also. The school has dormitories and would be perfect for student exchange or study tours. Nick was also happy to chat about where to go shopping and all were keen to let us know where to go for dinner and to spend time on the bund. Happy to leave Brianna a pack of my precious Tim Tams. Will have to send her some Cherry Ripes when I get home. Funny the small things you miss when you’re away from home!

Maggie was lovely and then took us out for lunch at a very nice restaurant. The food presentation was as always outstanding and everything tasted delicious, although a whole pigeon in the soup was a bit much. Sometimes you just have to not look too hard! After lunch a quick stop at a wonderful cashmere factory outlet. Just had to pick up a cardigan. Couldn’t help myself! It came in very handy in the evening as there was a cool breeze off the water.

Off for a taxi ride to our next agent Austar. The agency counselors had a very good understanding of Victorian education and send many students to Melbourne. Bessie, Frank and Michelle were very attentive while listening to our presentations and had quite a few questions about our individual school programs and general questions about Victorian government schools.

Final stop at A & A agency and it was a lovely surprise to have an interested student there waiting for us to present to. She is seventeen years old and is hoping to study in Melbourne next year. We presented general information about studying in Melbourne and then briefly spoke about the particular strengths associated with each school.

Finally time for a break. By now it was 6.00pm and we were all ready for something other than presenting information. Off to the Han Plaza for some shopping and boy was there lots to choose from. Bags, bags and more bags! The shop owners are hilarious and the bargaining ruthless. If you look at anything it’s on. Come and look in my special room out the back and they pull across some shelving and there’s another smaller room and then behind that another room. A bit like a Russian doll. Even the bag you buy is the same. A bag with a smaller bag inside, with a smaller purse inside. Bargain. Anyway two bags later and off to visit the bund.

The bund area is just spectacular. A mix of old deco buildings and new swish architecture. The skyline looks just fabulous, especially lit up at night. We had a drink at the Peace hotel in their jazz bar. Just gorgeous! You can only imagine what it would have been like in the 1920’s. Walking along the river was lovely. A very beautiful promenade, which is so bustling with people enjoying a stroll. Denise, Judy and I had such a lovely evening. It’s a bit sad we have to move on again tomorrow.

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