5 weeks to go

I don't know if that is a bad thing or a good thing. I have a lot of work to do in those 5 weeks. I have started on the end of the year reports, Diana has pictures for the portfolios (although we have no ink to actually print those), I have loads of work to file into the portfolios and we are planning a field trip and an end of year picnic. But it will be good to be home and off work for about 6 weeks.
I was reading an article in a local magazine here about please and thank you in China. It was quite interesting and gives a good picture of a cultural difference. Please and thank you in China is very formal. Good friends and family don't say it to each other because no thanks are necessary for what they may do for each other. You use it to show respect to elders or for those you do not know well. It is actually considered embarassing if someone close to you says it. It's as if, "What we are not close to each other that you must say thank you to me." They have another word they use with each other that basically means, "no need to thank".
Have I told you I'm going to a ball. It is the maple leaf ball but on by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce - a formal affair. I've never been to a ball so I thought I should try it. I'm having a dress made and I'll be sure to post a picture for you all to see. These balls are pretty common here - some people are going to the British one next week. Apparently, the country Chambers of Commerce do a lot of work, activities and whatever for the expats so I guess I will have to find out more about that next year.
A new French Bakery called Paul has opened in our local plaza and it is fantastic. They serve sandwiches, soup and salad as well. We have had a number of new eateries open and one wonders how they can all survive but I hope they do. I might go there for supper tonight. I have almost stopped buying groceries because it is just to hot to cook and I have to use up everything in my freezer before the end of June.
Yesterday was Doug's birthday and tomorrow is Richard's. I've never missed Richard's birthday before. Those of you who know him please give him a call to say Happy Birthday. I will be calling him also. Doug is travelling around Vancouver Island so I didn't even get to talk to him on his birthday. We will have to have a family birthday party for all us on Mike's birthday in July.
Have a great weekend everyone!

pics

I looked at the previous blog as soon as I posted it and saw the picture came through okay so I have added more here. They are in the gardens in Nan'xun. If you see a woman in a yellow coat and a man in a blue coat that is Daniel and Lisabeth who I went with. Oh yes, I need a picture with Cathy.
She is wearing a white coat.
Hope you can see all these.

Nan'xun

I am having trouble adding pics to this blog. I have actually been trying for a few days. I have lots of Nan'xun, another small town I visited on a school trip last Sat. The problem is that when I upload it I get computerese instead of the actual picture. Then I decided I should leave on in case it comes through properly on the blog itself. It was a little different than other water towns I have visited because of the garden ares and because the people must be new to tourism. Everyone was staring at the strange looking Westerners, they all said, "Hello" to us or "Ni hao". Children, teens, young and old. It was quite interesting. The gardens are more prominent here, we actually spent most of our time in the gardens instead of in the shopping area which is the opposite of usual. The gardens are also natural - rocks, trees, grasses and hills - not manicured. They were quite beautiful.
We went on a boat trip on the canal. This canal is what all of the water towns are built on and I understand in the past the canal was an important water route for travel. I met a woman named Cathy on this trip. Her daughter also teaches at Yew Chung at one of the other campuses and Cathy is visiting for 3 months. She is a retired teacher so has started doing supply work for Yew Chung while she is here. She is of Italian ancestry so we hit it off and enjoyed the day together.
I think I didn't tell you much about Mike's last visit to Shanghai but we had a great time together and as always, I'm always glad to see him go. He does make me step outside of my comfort zone and so I experience so much more than usual but he also likes to bug me like attaching clothes pins to the back of my clothes or hiding on me or doing a hundred other annoying things. He also takes over the computer and leaves a mess in his wake. I can hardly wait to see him again. I miss Doug even more since I haven't seen him since Christmas and he doesn't seem to want to come for a visit. The travel bug seems to have left him although he is in Vancouver presently. Richard and I have talked about visiting Vancouver this summer also.
Friday was Global Child Day and there were big celebrations at work and after work. The Canadian teachers put together a Canadian booth which worked out very well and was a lot of fun. The parent group POP (Parents of Pudong) organized this event and they did an excellent job. There were booths from countries all over the world. The children were given a 'passport' which was stamped at each country as they travelled the world and enjoyed activities at each. In Canada, they could play hockey or make a Canadian flag. The food provided by parents from all of these countries was great. Six weeks, 19 reports and 19 portfolios to go and 1 year is done. It's been a fantastic year but I can hardly wait to be in Canada again.

testing testing

Life in Shanghai

Today Michael and I had lunch with a colleague of his, Surong, and his family. His wife made chinese dumplings from scratch and she showed us how to do it. We then got out of her way so she could actually accomplish the job. This was my first real chinese meal. A homecooked meal in a chinese family's home. We also had 2 types of bean curd which were both good. The first time I've had bean curd and liked it. We had raw cucumber sticks and some sort of steamed lettuce. At least they called it lettuce but it wasn't like lettuce at all. There was cold chicken and cold beef slices as well. It was all quite delicious and of course served with tea. Watermelon and honeydew were served later. Later Mike and I took the bus to the fabric market to pick up the clothes he had made and ordered more. I need some red pants to wear with my Canada socks and t-shirt in the Canadian booth on Global Child Day. We then came home, dealt with e-mail and blog this posting. Next is our Chinese lesson. Mike is going to sit in on that. Just a typical day in Shanghai.


Lunch with Michael's colleague and his family.

Look at that skill with those chopsticks.

After lunch

Making jiaozi (dumplings)