Hello, I'm back!

Well, again you have to start at the bottom of the pictures because I thought it didn't matter with this group. But the last one is the front gate of our campus - the view I get when I get off the bus. My "house" is the one with the awning. Then you can see the steps into my house. Below is the view along the front of all the houses and the playground at the end. Then the last picture is the climber which is very long.




I was extrememly busy last week and worked in every spare minute I had including all my personal time. We had to complete progress reports on all the children (that was 17 for me) and had one week to do it. It was crazy. It is the first time I felt like I was not a part of a team. Diana did not do this with me except to answer questions I had about the children and how well they knew chinese. At home I would have worked on these for probably a month to ensure I took the time with each child to have accurate information, bring out the good points, great wording and hone in on problems. I don't feel so good about how hurriedly I did these, especially the last 4 that I worked on til 6 o'clock on Fri. night.
Autumn is here. The trees are still mostly green and I am still wearing my summer clothes but one of the women I work with said, "It's cold today, won't you get cold?" Not yet. This weekend I am going to Beijing and then I will start wearing warmer clothes. The air has been getting colder and this morning when I went out on my balcony I definitely noticed the colder air and cool wind. I debated about clothes but decided my summer clothes would do until Beijing. This week we have the children for only 3 days, have an in service all day Thursday and Friday off. How is The Hundred Languages? Who's been? What did you think? E-mail me.
Okay, I'll continue with the pictures I took to show you my everyday life.

more everyday pics

You need to start at the bottom of these pictures to see them in order. Next time I'll show you the ones at work and start at the bottom so you get them in order. I am learning.

This picture is at the intersection. That is a hospital but it is only for the chinese people. I haven't been to the hospital where I would go for a doctor's appointment yet. But a number of people have and it always been a good experience considering you are going because you are sick or hurt. There are many western doctors from all over the world so you can see someone who speaks your language.
I'm standing in the middle of the street in the picture with the arrow, looking down the street to the left. That is a boulevard in the middle of the street.














The picture above is looking to the right and to the intersection.
The gate is going onto the street and looking up the street to the right. The streets are wide here and makes a big intersection. The first lane is the bike lane which is as wide as the car lane.

Every day life pictures

I have to start working now. I'll do more later. Sorry, I didn't turn this in my pictures and now I can't. The second building is mine.
This is the gate to Zihuai Lu (Rd.) which is only 2 blocks long. The taxi drivers never know this street. I catch the bus on the other side of the closest little guardhouse every morning.
This is my apt. building.



These 2 are right outside my building door.

Yesterday, while I was downloading sightseeing pictures I thought you might like to see a picture of my everyday life so this morning I took pictures on my travels to work. They are on the streets where I live and work. When I am in Puxi I will take pictures on the streets there and you will see a big difference. I am not sure when that will be since I don't really go there that often and this weekend I'm cooking a turkey for hordes of people for our Thanksgiving dinner. This will be our second turkey dinner as another Canadian teacher had one on Tuesday night. We had an excellent time and loads of delicious food. It didn't really feel like Thanksgiving though.

more pics of Yu Garden

I have lots of pics from this day. I'll try not to post the same pics as before.

This is the appetizer/dessert buffet.
Moira beside me and Emma with dark hair on the end. The other 2 are friends of Emma whose names I have forgotten.


There was a definite horse theme going on in the decor of this room. Pictures and statues everywhere.











I am posting a few more pics. I received via e-mail some pictures of our day of having high tea at the Grand Hyatt on the 53rd floor of the Jinmao Tower. This was a very relaxing enjoyable afternoon spent with friends. The sky was blue so we had an excellent view of Shanghai and the Pearl Tower.

Pictures from Yu Garden

Okay, I'm having trouble uploading these pics. As you can see I've already repeated one. Yu Garden is centuries old and a very peaceful and serene setting. I arrived first thing in the morning to beat the crowds which was a good thing. By the time I left at 10:30 it was packed with people and not so enjoyable. Send more later.

Hello from a Shanghai Tourist

These are pictures from Zhujiajiao.

I have so many things to talk about I don't know where to begin. So I'll begin with something I have been meaning to say for weeks. These kids are smarter. I taught them to wash their hands correctly in no time flat. Those Canadian kids never listened or learned I'm not sure which. I taught both groups the same thing - turn on the water, wet your hands, turn off the water, get some soap and scrub, scrub, scrub,scrub, scrub, scrub, scrub, turn on the water, wash away the soap, dry your hands. Every single one of these kids do it without reminders all the time.
I had so much fun this past week. Lunch in the revolving restaurant in the Oriental Pearl Tower, Zhugiogiao-a water town, Yu Garden, Tea at the Grand Hyatt and Xitiandi. It was all great and I have no idea how much I spent because it is just too hard to keep track of but probably 2 - 3 hundred dollars. The weather has been great. It is still like summer here although the mornings and evenings are now cooler. The leaves are changing colour and falling. I've noticed a fair bit of autumn in that week this week. The pics tell you more about my travels than my words can.
I have been reading Diaglogues in Reggio Emilia and have come to the conclusion my problem is too little collaboration. There are 2 people here who have also been to Reggio but we don't collaborate and this is what my documentation needs. Someone to discuss it with to enhance the work I am trying to do. I am going to talk to Ray who doesn't actually believe in the documentation although she is excited about the other aspects of RE. It is her book I am reading. The other person is Dr. Wei Le who I see very little of but probably can also work out something with her. My documentation is very poor. I feel like I am at the very beginning of my journey as if it is all knew.
My bus will be here soon so I will probably only get a few pics on. I'll do more tomorrow.