Thanksgiving

Being English, Thanksgiving is not something we celebrate at all.  One thing I really love about living internationally, and having friends from all over the world, is getting to know the customs and celebrations that mean so much to other people. And slowly, they start to mean things to us too.  This is our second year of celebrating thanksgiving, and we did it at The Cook, a lovely restaurant that puts on a spectacular thanksgiving buffet.  Our best friends here are American, and it is their favourite holiday of the year, so we all make a real effort to make it a special day.  

We have so much to be thankful for this year - wonderful friends and family, good jobs, and most importantly our health, something I think we have taken for granted up until now.  I feel like I actually look like myself again in these photos; not thin and pale, not chubby faced from all the steroids. Just me, having fun.

Our group teamed up with the year 5 teachers who also happened to be going to this restaurant for a team dinner on the same night.  This photo really sums up our group. Year 5 are in the background having a serious discussion about school... and we're pretending to be walruses with chopsticks! I know which group i'd rather be in!

This week generally has been really good. I've made another booking for a family photo session - yay!  That's two now from the Christmas fair. So pleased.

Thanksgiving was on Thursday, and on Friday I went to Pistoleras for dinner with Amy who was in my office but left at the end of this year to move to Saudi. It was lovely to see her, but strange not to be drinking with her - I think it's the first time we've ever been out for dinner and not had alcohol.  I must be growing up!  On the same night, Matt was at a Korean BBQ restaurant in Puxi with all the heads of subject for their end of term meal. He had a nice time, especially as it was paid for by school!

We've had very quiet weekend, which is nice since it's going to be very busy from now on. Yesterday, we went to the gym, went to the market to buy veg and generally just lazed about. Today was the same, except the pollution was what forced us to stay in. Now we're both relaxed and ready for a busy week ahead.  Today, we also put up some Christmas decorations. I'm not sure how long the tree will last. The cats have knocked it over at least 10 times already and it's starting to get annoying!

Only 3 more weeks of school until Christmas holidays! Whooo!

Look at Snowball eyeing up the tinsel! And Sooty is guardian of the tree!

Christmas Fair

It has been a busy week preparing for the winter fair at the school around the corner from my school.  Most evenings have been taken up with preparing things for the fair, so not much time to anything else.

The market was yesterday and it went well.  I had to be at the school at 6.30am though!!! Very early, considering the fair didn't start until 10am!  VIP shopping started at 8.30, but there weren't many people there.  Actually, the entire day was fairly quiet compared to what I remembered from being there as a visitor last year.  I was in the second gym, which definitely had less people than the main gym, but that's just the luck of the draw.  I had lots of people coming to talk to me, and managed to make one booking, which paid for the stall, so it was definitely worth it.  It's my first booking where I have no connection to the client, so i'm making progress.   I have a couple of people on WeChat who look likely to book later on next week, so keep your fingers crossed!

Lots of friends came to see me too, which was nice.  I was absolutely exhausted at 4pm when the fair finished. at 3.45 a parent of a child I teach came to chat to me, so I ended up having a bit of a parent-teacher conference, so tired I almost felt drunk!

On Thursday, I managed to get out for the evening to DTL, which is a furniture store. They put on food and get everyone drunk so they buy really expensive furniture. It was good fun!

A busy week next week, with testing starting for all my students.  Only 4 weeks until the end of term, then we are pretty much half way through the year - it's going so quick!

Basketball and Photoshoots

Well, I can finally say that it's been a quick week - very unusual!

We were off on Monday and Tuesday due to the Chinese President being in Shanghai for an expo.  On Monday, I took some photos for my friends with their baby girl Tizzy.  I love how the photos have come out and so do they. Helen has been showing everyone at school and i've already had an enquiry about doing a family shoot for someone else - an actual paid one! Yay!

I got paid in BBQs for Mondays one, which was fine by me, since I offered to take the photos in the first place.  They were worth it if I get some referrals. I just enjoyed taking the photos anyway!

On Tuesday, we were still off, but Matt had a doctors appointment for his arm, which was fine except for it being a bit painful. He was basically being poked by needles for half an hour. I would have been awful if it was me, but he's a brave thing, so was fine! We went to Al's Diner for breakfast after and that seemed to help!

On Wednesday, it was the only day with the kids at school, so it was a bit of an odd one.  Thursday, I had a couple of parent meetings, and spent the rest of the day writing reports for my 17 students - a long and boring process - at least they are all done now!

On Friday, we had training, which was interesting, and involved getting up and making wallys of ourselves, which made it more fun!

Yesterday, we went to see the American College basketball with Andy and Becky - it was Cal Vs Yale, and Yale won. It was good fun actually.  The fast pace meant I didn't get bored like in the baseball.  Some of the players are so tall!

Today, we've had a snuggly day with the kitties. Matt's currently roasting a pork joint and has been for the last 4 hours. It smells amazing!  We're getting our Christmas on by watching a christmas movie this evening! Yay!

The Longest Week Ever

At one point this week I thought i'd been trapped in the movie 'Groundhog Day'!  It's been very hard work.  A week or so back, the government announced that because of the Chinese President coming to Shanghai for an expo that is taking place, all schools and businesses in Shanghai had to close on Monday and Tuesday.  Parents at school weren't happy about this because they pay a huge amount in fees, so we have to do 2 make up days. Luckily the one next week is an ELearning day, where we just have to set work online.  It did however, mean that we had to work Monday-Saturday this week.  Working one extra day might not sound like much, but when you're used to Monday-Friday, and you're a teacher, who has to give so much on a daily basis, that extra day is seriously tough.  Everyone, including the kids was absolutely exhausted.  I was quite lucky, in that one of the teachers I TA for took pity on me and let me have a coffee hour instead of coming to his class!  This was especially important for me since anything that puts strain or stress on me can be a trigger for my seizures, such as being tired/hungry/drunk.  So, today i've really taken it easy!

These are some photos of the cats playing with their new toy, which they absolutely love!

Matt has bought me a photography business course for Christmas, which I have started today.  It's run by Amy and Jordan Demos, an American couple who were Primary school teachers, and who now charge more than $10,000 per wedding they photograph. They are very charming, and the course is great so far.  Matt played football this morning and is currently the other side of the river having lunch with his team mates. 

Last night, Matt went to Puxi to visit his friend's new flat and to visit some whisky bars that Adam has been saving for Matt's visit.

The below photo was one from last week's Nacho Party!

On Friday night, my office went out for dinner to the Mexican by school just for a catch up and to help get us through the long week.  Meanwhile, Matt was playing football in the Parents Vs Teachers match.  I went to watch the last half. The teachers won 3-0, but it was a very dirty game.  They even stopped at one point to have a chat about behaving in a gentlemanly way. There was lots of kicking each other, and rolling around on the floor in 'agony' trying to get penalties.  They all seemed to enjoy themselves immensely!

So, today is Sunday, but it feels like Saturday and my week is all messed up!  We've got Monday and Tuesday off, so tomorrow i'm taking some family photos of our friends with their 6 month old girl Tizzy.  Then we're having an autumn BBQ! It's getting a bit cold here now, but it's still nice enough in the sunshine to BBQ.  Should be a lovely afternoon.