Week 7 - Cross curricular hair

At school this week Ellie's class have been studying the number "5". This photo was taken on Friday, when Ellie picked out of her myriad selection of hair ties 5 small(ish) plain bands and said she wanted 5 bunches. Initially I was skeptical, but think it turned out OK. And she was pleased with the result, as you can see her admiring in the mirror. And she was excited to be the star of the counting game in class!

Next week is brought to the Toddler Class by the number 6 - hmmmm....

Week 6 - Jinqiao 8k

I ran 8km, I ran 8km, I ran 8km!!! First time ever, I've run in a 'fun run'!! My goal was to do it in under an hour, and I did it in 52 mins!!! It was a perfect day and I was so proud of myself!! Entering the run was sort of a new years resolution, but I wasn't very good at the training for it... prior to the event I had slowly built up my distance and the furthest I'd gone was just under 6km. It had been so cold getting out and running. I don't even like running. But I can't stop now.... or shouldn't!

Week 5 - view from Shimao

This is the view from our back balcony, hopefully you can see the yellow circle in the middle of the photo - well, that's Mike pushing the pram! I have never walked through there, but Mike assures me that it is much nicer down there than it looks from here. The powerlines remind me a bit of "The Castle"... aaah the serenity!

Week 4 - Kangqiao

I went on an excursion with my Year 3 class (from my last prac) around Kangqiao / Cambridge Forest New Town as they are studying their local area. We walked from school down the local road alongside a canal to a museum of traditional life, which is still under construction, but very interesting. The buildings were being built using reclaimed/recycled materials in a traditional manner. The grounds were farming vegetables, and there were loads of hens, geese and ducks.

Week 3 - Jinqiao

This was taken from our apartment window. On the 21st floor, we are level with the fireworks!! These fireworks were for the last night of the Chinese New Year celebrations, on a night called Lantern Night. This was the night that Jamie was born last year.

Week 2 - Dong Jiao State Guest Hotel

This amuses me, and I felt was appropriate as we are still celebrating the Chinese new year - this tiger, is made out of electrical cords and little fairy lights (so would look gorgeous at night) is in the middle of a garden bed, adorned with FAKE flowers! Yep, the pink and red blossoms are fake! The pansies are real!

Week 1 - Xintiandi

So, hi. I like this photo as the starter for my photo diary of the Year of the Tiger... it kind of summarises right now in Shanghai: welcoming Expo with Haibo and his girlfriend, the crackers and lantern for Chinese New Year and the cumquat trees, which seem to be synonymous with the Spring Festival and of course the slogan "The Wind is blowing China's Way" - which shows how China is booming in business as well as all the development in Shanghai coming to completion as Expo approaches. Also the hearts are kind of nice as Valentines Day coincided with New Years Day. I think it will be an exciting year.

Xinnian Kuaile. Gong xi fan cai!