Fake It 'Til You Make It

First of all I would like to make an amendment to 'What's this?'  Pointy cucumbers are actually called Okra.  Personally I think Pointy cucumber is a much better name, but there you go!  Thanks Uncle Chris for your wise vegetable knowledge.

Today's blog title actually refers to the 'fake market' that we visited today (more on that later), however, it also works for the rest of the week, which has been a whirlwind.  We have officially made it through our first week of school, and it's been tough, but I've really loved it.  Matt has struggled a bit with the new job, since it's such a step up from last year, and the person he took over from didn't leave much for him to go on.  She did leave plenty of crap in and on her desk for Matt to tidy up though!

My week was really good, apart from a slight overload of information on Tuesday and therefore a slight wobble, I have really enjoyed myself.  My new team are fabulous!  There are 8 of us sharing an office; 4 learning support for special needs kids, and 4 of us in EAL (English as an Additional Language).  They are the most welcoming, fabulous bunch of ladies ever.  They are from all over the world; England, Ireland, America, Singapore, China, Spain, and are friendly and chatty and helpful.  At the end of my first day, we had a 'first day selfie'...

They love taking photos!

There was lots of information this week, and I needed a few walks home on my own and intense gym sessions to get out of my head for a while.  Matt has been worse, since he is getting home at nearly 8pm at the moment.  It will ease off for him, but he feels like he is already playing catch up at the moment.  For me, as soon as I started planning, I felt better.  Planning was what I was worried about because I have never done it before.  But getting my timetable (3 year 4 classses; 2 transitional, 1 intensive, and 1 intensive year 5 class), and planning my first week of get-to-know-you games made me feel a lot happier.  I will be going into year 4s planning meetings every week, since I am the lead person for year 4 EAL, and will try to combine the curriculum with EAL lessons for my classes.  That will take some work too, but I have a fairly light timetable next week as lots of kids are still in their form classes for getting-to-know-you activities in there, so I have plenty of time to plan the week after.

I have also volunteered to be a house leader.  We have 4 houses, and I am head of 'Howard', which is red, along with a year 3 teacher, who is also new.  I'm considering joining the teachers Drama group too.  Just trying to throw myself into school life.

I got given the club I had put forward too, so I will be doing Archaeology Club this term.  Super excited.  I am currently working on the head teacher to give me a patch of grass to excavate, and have already got the OK for my 'mummifying sardines' lesson.  Year 3 do a Paleontology module on dinosaurs, so have a few resources I can borrow.  They do however call their module Archaeology, and get their kids to assemble dinosaur bones in white lab coats.  Very bizarre.  I am going to very politely mention to the year 3 coordinator that dinosaurs are Paleontology, not Archaeology, which is the study of HUMAN impact on the planet.  I feel a bit embarrassed saying something, but I want the kids to know what they are actually studying!

Friday was my 29th birthday.  I was the first one into the office in the morning, but as soon as someone else arrived they told me to leave.  I came back to find my desk decorated like this...

Then the others came in with 12 Dunkin' Donuts, and sang happy birthday to me.  They had all signed a card, and given me a £30 voucher to get my nails done.  They were so lovely and made the day very special.  I had even been sneakily quizzed on my preferred donuts during the week, hence two of the smiley face ones, which are vanilla cream with banana icing! yum!

Firday was the first day that they new children were in school, so we were all dressed very smart and had big smiles to welcome the new families.  Our children were in classes, so I didn't get to meet anyone that I will teach, so still quite a chilled day for us.

My other fabulous pressies were a great cook book from Sam and Amy, and a watch and bracelet from Matt.

To celebrate the end of the first week, the individual schools (Seniors, Juniors and DUCKS/Early Years) had social events in different places.  I was in the Big Bamboo, while Matt was in Kebabs on the Grill.  It was nice to unwind and have a couple of drinks.  Matt joined us after his free bar ran out (we only got 1 free drink!) and we stayed for a couple of hours more, chatting to old members of staff that we hadn't met before.  We left about 9pm and got a New York Pizza takeaway for my birthday tea.  A really nice day.

This morning (Saturday), we went to the 'fake' market, which is fabulous!  Everyone's Christmas presents will be coming from here!  It is an Aladdin's cave of treasures and tat, and we loved it.  The pictures really don't explain just how huge this place is.  There is a photo of the map, which may give you a better idea.

Lots of shops are tailors, but you can literally buy anything here that you could possibly want, including some great fake designer bits.

Just a short interlude here to tell you what this picture is of.  These are umbrellas that you can rent and return to other rental umbrella stands in the city.  This place is just bonkers!

Here are our fabulous fakes, and a gorgeous embroidery for the wall, that cost us £5.  I am particularly pleased with my Michael Kors bag, which actually looks remarkably like the real ones!

Tomorrow will be a fun and exciting day for us, so stay tuned for photos, but to end, here are some pictures from last Sunday night's social event at Mortons, a very posh steak house where you can buy £100 steaks.  It's right in the centre of the skyscraper district, with a fabulous view of the Oriental Pearl Tower, that lights up at night.  Enjoy...

(and our favourite, Yang's dumplings)

What's This?

This is a post about supermarkets.  Yes, you read correctly, supermarkets!  We finally made it into our local shop Carrefor properly on attempt number 3 after being so overwhelmed the first two times that we 1. bought nothing, 2. just bought loo roll.  So, attempt number 3 was quite enjoyable.  I decided not to get stressed about the number of animals living in tanks awaiting their fate, and instead to play a game called, 'what's this?'  So, play along, and hopefully you will get a real taste of what a Chinese supermarket is like.  (I have it on good authority that this is what a 'toned down' Chinese supermarket is like, so heaven help us if we are in an authentic Chinese supermarket!  So, study the photo and see if you can guess what it is. Answers under the photos.  Ready?

What's this? 

A: Lentils.

What's this? 

A: Dried meat (unknown what sort of meat) that you hack into pieces yourself!

What's this? 

A: Durian fruit.  Never heard of it?  Me neither, had to Google it!

What's this? 

A:  No idea i'm afraid.  Typing Pointy Cougette into Google didn't turn up anything!

What's this? 

A: Purple aubergine

What's this? 

A:  Green peppers

What's this? 

A: Another one I've no idea.  Didn't even know where to start with Google on this one!

What's this? 

A: Sweet potato

What's this? 

A: Absolutely no idea!

What's this? 

A: I actually don't think I want to know what this is!

What's this? 

A: Rice

What's this?

A: Dried shrimp

What's this? 

A: No idea!  Looks like tree bark to me

What's this? 

A: Tea

What's this? 

A: Dragon Fruit

What's this? 

A: A pear grown into a buddha shaped mould.  Maybe the coolest thing I have ever seen in a supermarket.

What's this? 

A: Yes, your right, it's a karaoke bar right in the middle of a supermarket.

Now just imagine women with megaphones shouting at you about yoghurt, and aisles where you can buy anything from  jelly to mopeds, and you might start to understand the twice weekly experience of buying groceries that we are currently experiencing.  Thank goodness for online shopping!!!

First Week of Induction

I'm not sure that I have ever been this tired.  Ever.  On Friday night I got home, went to bed at 8pm, and didn't wake up until 11 the next day.  15 hours of solid sleep!!!  15 hours!!!!!  Last night, I had a solid 12 hours.

Our lives are just crazy at the moment.  Wonderful and exciting, and vibrant, but so crazy.  This is hands down the best city I have ever been to, and I feel so lucky to be living here, and to have so much time to experience the real China.  Since we are not new to the international school scene, I can't help but compare our induction here in Shanghai, with our previous school in Germany.  Everyone here has gone out of their way to be welcoming and friendly.  Everyone is happy to be pestered with questions, or to call a cab for you, or teach you a few words of Mandarin.  It's strange to think that we have only met a fraction of the staff at school.  There are 45 new staff joining 150 current staff.  Actually, thinking about Germany, most of my friends were existing staff, so there will be some great friends to be made next week when everyone is in school.  For this week, it was just the newbies.  Everyone is lovely, and there are lots of couples around our age, who we have separately become friends with.  Matt's tactic is to befriend mostly Primary school staff, that he can be himself around more than the secondary staff, who he will be the manager of.  

Monday and Tuesday were actually quite quiet days for me.  Matt had meetings, so was in every day, and had to meet several new members of staff at the airport.  This feels like months ago!  I just went to the social events in the evenings on Monday and Tuesday.  Because we had been in Shanghai for a few extra days, we were the experts on our apartments, and what was near us; shops, etc.  The first social event was in The Beer Factory, which is just opposite our flat, in the Life Hub shopping centre.  There were a fair few people there, including the head teacher of the whole school, who was very chatty and friendly (I just can't imagine our previous director socializing with new staff in a t-shirt and shorts!).  On Tuesday night we went to the Flying Fox, which is the Irish pub that we went to on our first night here.  A few more people were there this time, as most newbies had arrived by this point.  We got 2 free drinks here and nibbles too, which was lovely and unexpected.

Wednesday was when I actually had to be in school for the first time.  Matt had a meeting in the morning, so went in early.  I decided to walk in for our 1pm meeting.  Big mistake.  It's 40 degrees at midday, and very very humid.  I was sweltering by the time I got to school.  I was too nervous to get in a cab on my own though, so I had to walk!  We had n hours talk by HR about our medicals, VISAs, fapiao (food) reimbursements, etc.  It was quite a gentle introduction, and it was nice to see a bit of the school.  Afterwards, a few of us went to IKEA.  Matt managed to get out of it, claiming that he had meetings, so I went solo, which was probably better anyway, as IKEA can be quite stressful for men.  Women seem to love it.  I got lots of bits and pieces that we needed for the flat; lamp, kitchen utensils, laundry bag, guest mugs, glasses, toilet brush, shower mat, candles.  I didn't get home until 5.30!

On Thursday morning we were in school for the full day.  We started the day off with a welcome speech from the head of the school, and a dragon show by some locals.  It was fantastic!  I didn't know it was going to happen, so I didn't have my camera, so here are a few photos that Matt took.  Apparently there is another show on Friday, so i'll be ready next time!  There was music, and the dragon weaved in and out of the tables.  The other dragons had two people inside the suit, who were jumping on each others shoulders and making the dragon bat it's eyelashes at people.  It was wonderful.

The Chinese breakfast was noodles and dumplings, and some weird fried bread stuff (they are big fans here of savory bread that tastes a bit sweet.  I am not a fan).  We had to bring smart clothes to have our official pass photos taken, and I was melting being in a smart dress for less than 5 minutes!  After breakfast we had a tour of the college.  It's fantastic.  The facilities are incredible.  We even have a green screen room, with a technician whose sole job is to run film modules in media studies.  Primary have a competition every year against the other colleges called the D'Oscars, where each Junior school class creates several videos, the class teachers choose one to represent their class.  Then the videos go off to Hollywood and Disney for judging, before there is a huge Oscars style award ceremony that our school hosts, where the videos are shown and awards are given.  It sounds incredible!  The tour went past my shared office, but I didn't get to have a look inside yet.  Lunch was another huge buffet, before we had our safeguarding training and everyone (else) got their laptops.  I don't get a laptop because I get an office, but I still had to sit through all of the set up for everyone else's laptops, and try to remember the systems information.

Thursday was also Matt's 29th birthday.  We were absolutely knackared when we got home, and really had to force ourselves to go out.  We went to a steak house called Tasty.  We had been warned that the service in China is terrible, and we did experience that at the restaurant.  My food came after 5 minutes, but no drink until 10 minutes after I had finished.  Matt's beer came straight away, but no food for 40 minutes.  We basically just watched each other eat.  The food was delicious though, but Matt was falling asleep waiting for his.  His week had been really hard work.

On our walk home we bumped into a big group of newbies outside our local bar.  We decided to stay for one drink, and ended up being there for 4 hours!  It perked us up a bit, and we ended up having a really nice day.

When Matt's head of secondary found out that it was his birthday, 2 hours later he was presented with a huge chocolate ice cream cake, and everyone sung happy birthday to him.  It was a very thoughtful touch.

Above is Matt in his new office, that he shares with two Chinese ladies.

This was the smog on Friday!  Things have got a lot better since Disney moved in, but there are still smoggy days.  I couldn't tell the difference, but Matt, who used to suffer from asthma as a child, could really feel it.

Friday was a bit of a non-day for me.  I had to sit through 3 hours of IT stuff, only discovering afterwards that my desktop PC is a Mac, not a windows 365, and I had of course, sat through the wrong talk on how to access everything.  So I will have no idea how to use my computer when I finally get into my office!  Very annoying.  We were given lunch in the secondary school's dining room, which we get for free every day of the year.  It was a huge plate of food, and you could choose between, Asian, Western or sandwich  They even have a pizza oven in the canteen!

After lunch, everyone was meeting with their new head of years, however none of the EAL team were in to see me.  The head of Juniors gave me a brief talk on what my role would be, but she couldn't tell me much.  I then sat in on the year 3 meeting.  I may not necessarily be with year 3, but it was interesting to see how a school day would be, and the year group leader was happy to answer general questions.

We had another huge buffet after school, with champagne, and walked home with some new people.  Everyone was saying how much better they feel after meeting their year group leaders, because they had been so nervous before.  I haven't had that reassurance yet, so am still feeling quite nervous, especially now that I know I will have to do lesson plans, which I have never done before.  I guess i will feel better on Monday.  The head of Juniors EAL sent me a lovely email, introducing herself, and inviting me to go in early on Monday to meet the team.  I will share an office with the other 3 EAL ladies, plus the Special Educational Needs (SEN) team.  So there will be 8 in the office, and apparently they are all wonderful and very close, and go out for lunches.  Having been the only TA to 12 teachers in my previous school, it will be lovely to be part of a real team, and having people to learn from, rather than finding my own way.

We didn't go for drinks on Friday, and only managed to stay awake until 8.  That was the night I slept for 15 hours!  My cold has finally caught up with me, and I was feeling fairly rotten during the day on Saturday.  I didn't want to miss out on the big social event though, so I pushed through.  We met at school at 4.30 for a bus that took us to the Puxi (pronounced poo-chi) area, about a 40 minute drive from school.  This is the French Concession area, which Matt loved on his first visit here in May.  It is certainly very vibrant.  Lots of shops and french cafes and restaurants.  A completely different feel to our area (we are in New Pudong District).  We went to a very nice french bar for a few mojitos, before moving onto a Chinese restaurant.  Our social committee leader, just ordered lots of dishes for each table, and there was a lazy Susie in the middle, so we could share.  The food was amazing; spicy shredded chicken, garlic cucumber, meaty aubergine, ribs, spicy pork, lotus flower slices (crunchy like apples, but savoury), egg fried rice, tofu, and deep fried banana for desert.  It was delicious!

After dinner, we were deciding where to go, and Matt was desperate to go to this bar called Cages, that he had read about ages ago.  Amazingly, that's where we ended up!  It was actually incredible.  It's a sports bar, so the lions rugby was on, but there are baseball batting cages all around, as well as squash, pool, football and some beanbag throwing game.  Matt had a go in the batting cage, with 60mph balls being fired at him.  Terrifying!  Then they played some football to do the manly bonding.  It was a really fun night and i'm glad I went, but at midnight I was ready to go.  We left with another couple, and wee're glad we did because it was a 45 minute drive home in a taxi.  It cost £10 in total.  Crazy! In London that would be more like £100, if not more from the centre of the city.

Again, I slept for a really long time.  This week has just been exhausting!  Our food delivery arrived at midday, and Matt had his 1000 sports channels package installed, so he is happy.  We're going to wander out for some food now, and then there is a more gentle social event on the Bund this evening, which we will go to.  I actually feel a lot better today.  All that sleep is clearing out my cold, so hopefully i'll be able to get through next week!  It's going to be hard work, but we can just have another chilled weekend of sleep again until we are used to the pace of life.