Two weeks ago we celebrated UN Day. This is what you do at an international school in China. You appreciate that there is a holiday all about unity among a diverse population. Our school has something like 45 countries represented. Of course some countries are represented with larger populations than others. Some countries may only be represented by one or two students. UN Day involves having the students dress in traditional clothing or in their home country’s flag colors. In the case of the USA, some of our fellow citizens wore sports team attire (saw a Cubs fan in the crowds) and others like my kids sported USA flag shirts and other red, white and blue attire. I even played along and wore the flag colors to school to observe the all school parade and assembly. ... read more

Final entry in the Vietnam series... We flew from Hanoi to DaNang and arrived at what would be the final stop on our Vietnam tour at about 8pm. I arranged for a car to meet us (my new favorite travel thing to do) and we were driven to the Hoi An Trails Resort. I should mention that we had originally booked a different hotel, one that was recommended by friends and travel sites, but it was damaged during a recent typhoon (!) so we had to make alternate arrangements. During the drive from the airport, I spent my time staring out the window and noticed that in every house we passed—and I mean every house—the front doors were open and the televisions were turned on. I could see people sitting on living room floors and also ... read more

I posted pictures on the previous Vietnam post, so you can go back and check those out too. Just wanted to share a bit more on Vietnam and what we’ve noticed so far. There should be a video here soon...check back if you are an early reader. They take a long time to upload. People are very nice and seem a bit less aggressive than in Shanghai. There are people selling the same stuff as in China but we had no fear or hesitation and we’ve said no more often than we’ve said yes. We have seen many people selling vegetables and fruit by walking around with baskets balanced on their shoulders. Often women, these people take the store on the road and sell things like oranges or sweet potatoes while walking through the streets of ... read more

During the past week, I was fortunate enough to have my wish for visitors met twice! First, my dear friend Natalie’s parents Diane and Orry came to Shanghai as a stop on their 3 week China trip and I gave them a quick tour of my favorite spots. They were traveling with some of their close friends and it was fun to meet Linda and Nick and bond over being Wolverines. Go Blue! The weather was horrible but we marched through the soggy streets and had a good time even with the bad weather. I impressed myself with my ability to navigate Shanghai as if I had a sense of direction. I whipped out the map on several occasions, escorted my guests to lunch after confirming the location by calling a handy info line for visitors ... read more

So much to blog, but finding it hard to make time to do it. I think these weekly reviews are working well. Let’s do this thing. Last week was another busy one. I helped out with a new parent orientation at school. While stuffing the welcome bags and talking with the women who were going to be speaking, I was offering my ideas and next thing you know—on the agenda. Darn. I was a bit nervous, thinking it would be hundreds of people, but it ended up being a much smaller group than last year. We had the potential for as many as 200 new parents to attend but it was not that crowded. I spoke about transportation (subway, taxis, buses, trains, etc.) and I saw a few people taking notes which was nice. I was ... read more