Shanghai Friday night……November 22nd ( Happy Birthday Craig!)

Shopping my brains out and eating Japanese:

Shanghai Friday night : November 22nd:
( Photos just in from my phone…..)

And another:

A Nano-second of Friday Night Lights- Shanghai…...

And another slice…………..

A Second Thanksgiving to me!

Yesterday, I had several students wish me a Happy Thanksgiving in the hallways. One of my Pre-Junior classes greeted me excitedly at eh classroom door and they had executed a colourful Thanksgiving mural on the chalk board - sweeties!!! I decided to be "American" for the moment and accept their lovely gestures.
It was "gift" day all around. I got chocolates from one student and a sweet little notebook from another. Then, I found two cute "treasure boxes" as a "thank you" from a
Chinese colleague with whom I had done some audio recording a while ago. Her note said "Thank You" and "Happy Thanksgiving"!
Hey………..I'll take gifts any day of the week.

My jewellery now has a much more classy place to reside…….

Teaching in China…………some short notes

I had a much longer Blog and it froze and got lost………..sigh……..It's the "Blog Goddess" keeping me in check , I guess.
In a nutshell, I just wrote that my days Monday through Friday look pretty much like my teaching Job back home. Some days are busy- others are reasonable. I still have grading and prepping to do each day. Weekends, I "play". I never turn down an invitation- but sometimes plans fall through: Karaoke with colleagues a few weeks got cancelled- drinks with colleagues  a few weeks ago- because the Puc was closed (?)- Suzhou recently because Vicky got sick…….
Going out through the week is rare- too much to do at night - and far too tired the next day. I teach at 7:55 a.m each day - except Tuesdays.
My classes however, continue to give me great joy- I LOVE my Chinese students for all manner of reasons. Here's a reminder:

I cook "Canadian" food on weekends and freeze it to "zap" through the week. Because I use mass transit, I  shop a little bit each day after school on my way home. Vegetables, fruit, paper products and other sundries.
I have had to cut and colour my hair myself once - have not found a "beauty parlour" I trust yet
I truly enjoy me Foreign colleagues and my Chinese colleagues- we are eager to share stories and funny stories each day.
I am not one of the oldest teachers here on staff- either of "Foreign" origin or "Chinese" origin- but I am certainly not "young" here. It was with great pleasure that I was stopped on the stairway yesterday by "Cassy" ( I did a voice recording for her class recently)- and she told me she thought I was "quite fashionable" - that she loved my wardrobe. That was nice………………..

China Art Museum in Shanghai - on the sight of Expo 2010.

Bianca and I invited Miranda and her family to lunch at a German restaurant - Paulaner- a chain found in Germany - in order to thank them for last Sunday's trip to an ancient water town. Miranda suggested we visit the China Art Museum first - they had not been. They picked us up at the Dorm at 9:30 Sunday morning.
Huge and amazing architectural design. The first lot are cartoons that Miranda and Carl ( her husband) watched as kids.

Hard to describe- an animated wall- 100 yards (?)  long- animating an old Chinese pairing from the North China Song dynasty. Amazing!

And the Art work: A variety here…………

Finally, a wonderful lunch with our lovely Chinese friends at the Paulaner. Everyone enjoyed the food - what a lovely ( did I mention Lovely?) Sunday!

A wonderful Sunday, indeed!

Random Photos on a Sunday morning ( November 24).Sent to me from a colleagues's phone

Dalia and me at the cluster of Art Galleries November 23

Pottery in a  small Art Gallery we can walk to from the Dorms

Bianca and I have invited Miranda and family to lunch at the Paulaner Brauhaus in the Bund today to thank them for the lovely outing to a water town last Sunday. When the foreign teachers ate lunch there three weeks ago, these were two of the choices made. I may have the smoked salmon, but the sausage and pretzel looks pretty good, too!

Three weeks ago, all the teachers at SFLS had their pictures taken. Victoria snuck these in of the Foreign teachers. We are not all there. Left to right, at the back, M. Jean, Matt, Murray (front) me and Bianca

More pics …….November 23rd

One video…hope it loads……….

Friday November 22nd and Saturday November 23rd……..now that's a great start to the weekend!

Last night ( Friday) , Victoria and I left from school and went directly to the "downtown" area of Shanghai- shopping, restaurants, crowds, Christmas lights,  and tons of "foreigners". I was freezing and wanted some wool turtleneck sweaters- Marks and Spencer comes to the rescue! A bone coloured one and a black one - 100% wool - on sale- whoop! And dark grape jeans on sale as well. Jack-pot!
We ate Japanese for dinner in this sweet little pedestrian mall with little shops and high-end vendor stalls on the street. ( Photos pending the "communication channels" between my Mac and my Nokia Lumina cell…………Mmmmmmmmm)

Today, Dalia ( Murray's wife - he is an English teacher from Wales on our International Campus), Victoria and I went by taxi (just because Vicky was not sure how easy it would be to get there on mass transit) to a cluster of Art Galleries off the beaten track on a side street in Shanghai. Delightful! A
Chinese colleague of Vicky's had told her it was worth the trip -and it was:

One exhibit consisted of artists using LEDs. It was fun!

Some of it was just outrageous………….

 Little cafes abounded the area. We chose one with a wide menu. Japanese music playing in the background. Victoria and I had Curried Chicken Fried Rice - delicious! Dalai had a huge salad- she si 5 months pregnant and her doctor is worried about her weight - crazy- she is a toothpick with a sweet belly!

Here we are: And some last few pics!

Formal Mandarin Lessons - at last! ( Paid for by Shanghai Foreign Languages School!)

Bianca and I are the ONLY students in the class- intense!

Walking to school - Wednesday November 20th. Some videos from my phone were not recognized by my Mac…sigh…

This is the third in a series of five I shot this morning on my way to school- I guess it gives you and idea………..

Some leftover pics from Water Town in Shanghai suburbs: Sunday November 17

Sitting in a cafe above the water

The tourists on the bridge taking pictures….we'll be in them….the cafe hung right over the water

Bianca was certain it was a "cat' in the meat shop, so we went in and had a look. It was a "rabbit", just as I thought

But the surprising find was the pig's head. I got yelled at for taking pictures in this shop

Judging Debates at SFLS

Once I week, I am here……….lunch hours and/or after school………Some are extremely feel-organized and other not so much. But, generally, they're fun.