Christmas Gluhwein Party

This week was all kinds of busy.  I was off sick on Wednesday with a horrible cold (more like the flu), and have only just started feeling like myself again.  On top of that, we had two big social occasions.  Thursday night was Thanksgiving; not a big deal to us, but a very big deal to our American friends, who we are quite close with.  There were 8 of us in the end who went to a lovely restaurant called the Cook, where they had a huge buffet, including a delicious roast turkey, with all the trimmings, as well as seafood, curry and a dessert counter to die for.  Pumpkin pie is my new favorite thing! 

It was a lovely evening, that felt like it should have been a Friday, so actual Friday was a bit of a struggle.  We made it through, and then it was straight home to get ready for our Christmas Festive Gluhwein Party, which had been months in the planning.  We had 30 people in our tiny flat in the end!  The party was a huge success.  People started coming over from 4.30pm, and our last guests left at nearly 11pm.  Everyone loved the real German gluhwein I had found, and the paper cups with a black and a white cat on them for the drinks to go in!  Matt made a delicious chilli for everyone, and we had nibbles too.  Our American friends made an amazing pumpkin pie, and our Singaporean friend got a cake from a Singapore bakery called Awfully Chocolate, which was a chocolate and banana gateaux.  Amazing!  It really was such good fun.  I was also glad when it was over, because it meant I could relax and recover from my cold!  

My only plans on Saturday were brunch with my friend in a little cafe near where we live.  Matt didn't do much on Saturday, as he was starting to feel like he may have caught my cold.
On Sunday, we went out to the market to buy some Christmas presents, and managed to get pretty much everything we needed, which was fab.  Matt got measured for a tailor made suit and we had a nice afternoon.  In the evening, we went out to dinner at a British pub (burger and coleslaw - yum), and to the cinema to see the new Justice League (superhero) movie.  We used to go to the cinema all the time in England, so it was nice.

Christmas is coming!

This week was the first time that I felt in the Christmas spirit!  The weather has turned nice and chilly, and the school Christmas fairs are starting.

On Friday night, I went to the pub for a couple of Margaritas.  Matt came too, but stayed a while longer than me with a friend to have a catch up.

On Saturday, Matt had a football tournament with his year 8 girls team, at another school in Shanghai.  His girls did well, and Matt enjoyed himself.  While Matt had an early morning, I had a bit of a lie in and then went to the Concordia Christmas fair (the school opposite ours). The school is enormous (10 form entry!) and they had some lovely stalls.  I managed to get a few gifts, and soak up the Christmas atmosphere.  I even put up a few of our own Christmas decorations when I got home - just a few baubles hanging from the light fittings - so the cats cant destroy them - they do keep looking at them swaying though.  So funny.

On Saturday evening, we went over to our friends house for dinner, with another couple.  We had such a nice evening.  It's such a shame that two of them are leaving at the end of this year.  Matt made friends with their young boy, who drew a picture of them together - Matt with his hideous Movember mustache! (growing a mustache during November to raise money and awareness of men's health.)  The mustache basically reminds me of my Grandad in the 90s! Haha!

Matt went to the pub at 11 to watch the rugby with the host of the dinner party, who happens to be Australian.  England beat Australia in the rugby! He didn't get home until 2.30am, but i'd only got in at 2.15, after spending an hour cuddling a stray cat and trying to talk myself down from taking him home.  My two would not have enjoyed that!  I'd like to see if I can find him a home though - he was such a cuddly, friendly boy.

Today, we went for brunch to a place called the Bull and Claw. It was delicious. I had bubble and squeak with a poached egg on top, followed by cookies (amazingly yum!) and ovaltine milk.  It was a surprise for a friend who started at the same time as us.

Hangzhou

An interesting week and a half!  This week has sort of got away from me a bit.  

Last week the children were only in for 3 days, as we had parent meetings/training on Thursday and Friday.  The EAL team all went to the Minghang school for 2 days of English training.  The course was good, but it was just 2 days of watching a lady talk from 8-4. There was time given for reflecting, but no activities, so I really struggled in the afternoons.  The information we gained was useful for the most part, but it was a bit frustrating that our English coordinator couldn't be there, as my team has very little power to actually make any changes to English, other than with our small groups.  Parts didn't apply to us too, and of course, as with all training, every other way of doing it is wrong, so we just felt a bit like everything we were doing was bad, which it definitely isn't.  Just an overload of information really, but interesting all the same.

Matt had a parents day on Thursday from 8.30am -8.30pm!  Crazy!

But on Friday night, at least we had our trip to look forward to. We were off to Hangzhou!

Hangzhou is a large city about an hour from Shanghai on the (first class) train.  The city itself held no interest for us; it was the lake we were after, and what a treat it was, especially for two people craving a bit of the outdoors. There aren't many green spaces in Shanghai.

We were staying in the fabulous Shangri La hotel, which was right on the lake front.  We arrived on Friday night, but it was about 9pm by the time we got there, so we just went to the hotel bar for a couple of wines/whiskies.

On Saturday morning, we were up and out by 9, and cycling along the lake path.  We realised that we could only cycle about 500m before the path becomes pedestrian, so that plan didn't really work, but the walk was lovely anyway.

So, in the picture below, the Shangri La hotel is at the top near the island.  We set off over the island/causeway, stopped for an hours gondola ride by the causeway, then continued walking around the lake.  We ran into the Deputy Head of the school, while we were there.  We were so relaxed from our boat ride that she absolutely terrified us, by sneaking up on us.  We stopped for a cheeky Starbucks hot chocolate and muffin somewhere, and then much later for some dumpling soup. Yum!

We went into 2 pagodas (pagodas celebrate the emperor, temples celebrate Buddha).  The first one was lovely and peaceful, with fabulous wall paintings.

Dumpling soup!

The second pagoda we went to was a lot more touristy, what with it being up on top of a hill, with fabulous views of the lake and surrounding countryside.  We were grabbed by an old Chinese lady at the top for a photo (this happened quite a lot throughout the day).

The inside of the temple had different decorations on each level (5 levels in total).  You could even see the foundations of the original temple at ground level.  These beautiful wood carvings were my favourite.  They ran around the entire wall, and were so intricately carved.  Just beautiful.

Our hotel had bunnies in the garden for the kids (and me) to play with.  This baby lop ear was just so cute!

On Saturday evening we had a few drinks in the hotel bar, which had live music.  Then we went for dinner at the hotel's Italian restaurant.  We shared a fish plate (with delicious scallops) and a Korean beef pizza.  We have worked out that this is the way to eat in China, because they just bring the food out when it's ready - starters come after mains, drinks arrive with dessert, and you watch the other person eat, then they watch you.  Share things - this is a valuable tip, so pay attention!

We went back to the hotel bar after dinner, content to just be in the 5* setting, and enjoy each others company.

On Sunday, we checked out of the hotel early, and walked back down the really long causeway that crosses the lake.  That is how far we made it on Saturday, and we were determined to walk around the whole lake by the end of the weekend.  There was a great food stall at the opposite end of the causeway to our hotel, so we worked up an appetite on the 30 minute walk, then feasted on these AMAZING spicy potatos!  We also shared a bread thingy with meat in it, and a pastry that we watched them pipe green tea favour cream into.  Delicious.  Green tea really works as a sweet flavour.  We discovered that at the Chocolate factory with the green tea hot chocolate!

The other side of the lake was a lot quieter, and forest-covered, unlike the mountains and hills of the other side of the lake.  We had to cycle some bits because there was no path next to the lake, only a fairly main road, but actually the cycle was quite a nice change.  We went for a green tea in a cafe (turns out I don't really like actual green tea, just the flavour in sweet things!).

After we had finished walking around the lake, we picked up our bags from the hotel, and headed to the 'silk road'.  Hangzhou is famous for it's silk, so I just had to have a look - the fabric and clothes were beautiful, if you knew the right shops to look it - lots of imitation silk.

We headed to the station for our 4.30pm train.  It was only an hour; the metro the other end was longer, just to get across Shanghai - that takes nearly 2 hours!

It was such a wonderful weekend.  I could definitely go back there and explore the tea fields and mountains a bit more.