Hi Everyone,
I have been hitting my head against the wall trying to post another blog for the past week and a half. The problem is putting pictures on here. For some reason, the computer doesn't want to do it anymore! Anyway, sorry but this blog will be sans pictures :( I'll try one more time tonight.
So in the past two weeks we have made over a dozen batches of fudge (a Smith family tradition that we were happy to be able to continue here in Suzhou). We've been distributing the fudge all week to teachers, friends and coaches.
Oliver Twist went off without a hitch. Mark was endlessly praised for his contribution to the sound and lights. Apparently past productions were lacking in the area and Mark's expertise made all the difference. Abigail was promoted from the choir to play an orphan in the play. I'm afraid she most likely has been bitten by the acting bug at the tender age of 8 and predict this is just the beginning! She quite enjoyed it but we were all exhausted after the final curtain.
Last weekend was party after party. James had 3 to go to on Saturday, which was insane! One was the staff children's party. 80 people smushed into the primary principal's apartment. The kids sang Christmas songs and father Christmas made an appearance. Lots of good food from all over the world. We of course, brought fudge.
This week we have been busy with the staff Christmas party on Monday, Swan Lake on (performed by the Russian National Ballet) and Abigail sang with the choir at an orphanage in Suzhou last night. Today we are only at school for a half day. We will have an assembly before dismissal where all the houses will participate in a group singing competition. Mark has been busy with his blue monkeys for two weeks now(he jumped into this as soon as Oliver was over) . They will be singing and dancing to Jingle Bell Rock (the muppets version I believe). He is getting James to slip the judges some fudge, courtesy of the blue house right before they go on.
So tomorrow we fly to Calgary!! We are beyond excited. Can't wait to see Mum and Dad and eat lots of good food and play in the snow and sit by the fire.
That's all for now. I won't post again until after the holidays. Merry Christmas everyone and all the best in 2009!

Thanksgiving and more

This is my third attempt in writing this week's blog.  My new laptop apparently does not play friendly with blogger.  Anyway, last week we celebrated (American) Thanksgiving at the school.  Quite a few people came and the school catering company went all out with white table clothes and floral arrangements.  We had some interesting interpretations of "traditional dishes" including a salad with octopus and pumpkin pie with a cookie bar crust and canned pumpkin poured on top (not baked).  We all had a good chuckle and chalked it up to the Thanksgiving in China experience.  Here are some pictures

On Saturday Abigail and I went with some friends to the Suzhou Expat Christmas Bazaar.  She had been earning money all week doing various chores because she wanted to buy her friends some Christmas presents.  We had a really nice time.  The bazaar was in an old hotel within walking distance and it was a beautiful day.

So I picked up an expat cookbook, bought some home-baked goods and Abigail has all her Christmas shopping done!  The first picture here is just to show you the set up.  The one below it is a painting I got for Abigail that a local artist painted in front of us.  I couldn't resist!

So with (both) Thanksgivings behind us we are officially into the Christmas season.  We visited the german supermarket called Metro on Sunday and purchased a small Christmas tree.  Unfortunately our priceless stockings did not make it to Suzhou so we had to purchase new ones.  I have been invited to a Christmas party this Friday at the secondary principal's apartment and Mark will be going solo to a different Christmas party on Saturday (no kids allowed, which meant only one of us could go).  Next week is the school performance of Oliver Twist (Abigail sings in the chorus and Mark does sound and lights) and also the school-wide book sale, which apparently english teachers are involved in (I just found that out today)!  The weeks are really flying by which is nice because I am counting the days until we go "home for the holidays"

Yaay, I think the blog will actually post this time.  I am trying it on Mark's Macbook.  SSIS is in the works to become an i-school.  That means each student has their own laptop (macbook).  So Mark is on the Macbook vanguard team to help train the teachers on the computers when it is time.  They are introducing it at the middle school level as of January so James will have his own laptop that he will bring to every class.  We will have an apple support staff member full-time at the school to deal with problems that occur.  Should be interesting, James is certainly looking forward to it!

Ok, that's all from me for now.  Hope everyone had a good week.  Enjoy all the holiday festivities! 

Pearl Market etc.

Hi everyone, here is an update on the past couple of weeks.
Last Saturday I went with about 30 other teachers from SSIS to the pearl market. The name "market" kind of threw me off because I expected an outdoor place with various booths and people shouting and crowds (similar to the copy market, children's market, and walking street). Here is what I found
They should probably rename it the pearl mall because that's what it felt like. It was clean and not crowded at all. Each one of the tables in the middle is owned by a separate owner and then the bigger shops are along the perimeter. The jewelry was absolutely beautiful and the prices were unbelievable. I will definitely be going back!

I had promised Abigail that we would have her birthday party in October since we didn't have one on the actual day. Her birthday falls on golden week here so most of her friends leave town. Anyway, October came and went and we finally got around to having her party last Saturday. We took a small group of her friends to a spa to get manicures, then out for ice cream and then back to our place for presents and a quick play. True to the living in China experience, I took the girls into the dvd shop to pick out their own dvd to take home instead of a party bag. $1 us, and the girls were thrilled, can't beat it. The girls had a great time at the spa, it was a very easy party but worked out really well. Here they are at the spa and showing off their nails on the way home.














This week went well. James had a cross-country meet at the Shanghai American School and improved his 3k time yet again, the season will be over on Monday. Abigail went on a field trip to the Shanghai science museum. She is really enjoying the many activities she has become involved in including dance, choir, computer club, photography and cooking class where she has learned to make cheese biscuits, dumplings, pizza, cookies, and more. James participated in the House Trivia contest this week, representing the blue monkeys. Mark is the head of the house. James managed to get his team some points but they ended up losing. Oh well.
The last time I blogged I posted pictures of Abigail's new haircut, this week we took James downstairs to get his cut. I didn't take him to the fancy expat salon, I thought he could handle the chinese place in our apartment complex. So no more shaggy, surfer hairdo.
He of course isn't looking at me here, I couldn't get him to look up from his video game. That's his school uniform jacket. Both he and Abigail have fleece school jackets that they wear when the weather gets colder.
Last Sunday we went for a walk in central park and I took some scenic shots. The first one is of a statue in the park. One of many. There are sculptures all over Suzhou, they're really neat actually. It was a rainy day so the pictures look misty.

This morning we headed out early to walking street in attempt to finish our Christmas shopping. It is my goal to have it in the mail as of tomorrow and have a month to get to Canada and the US. We also picked up Abigail's new dress from the tailor's but we were so busy that she has yet to try it on. While we were out walking I had the bizarre experience of being asked to pose for a picture with a young chinese man! Really strange. There is a temple right in the middle of walking street and I wanted to take some pictures so here is the temple, as well as one of the shopping streets nearby.

After walking street we went to go see a pantomime play that the expat association put on. It was quite funny, the kids really enjoyed it.
So that's about it, we will be celebrating American Thanksgiving at the school this Thursday. They will be having a turkey dinner for any staff families that would like to attend so I think we will all enjoy that. I will be sure to take pictures! I make it policy to always have my camera on me these days!
So...have a good week everyone!

Abigail's big day

Hi everyone, time to blog again before another school week starts. The kids don't have school on Monday or Tuesday because we have proffesional development but James and Abby will come in with us and hang out with the other staff kids at the school.
The race I wrote about last weekend was fun but not financially rewarding. Oh well. It was fun to get excited about it. Here's the group watching the race at Mr.Pizza on Tuesday night.
James had a cross country meet this week and beat his 3k time by 5 minutes. Very proud of him, especially since he has been suffering from a cold and it was cold and rainy. This weekend we have been running around doing errands and finally got around to visiting the tailor this afternoon. We had heard having clothes made is quite cheap and a "must do" experience so we thought we would check out the local silk place. Abigail has chosen a dress from some pictures we found on-line and picked out some fabric so she is having a christmas dress custom made for her! Here she is having her measurements taken, she felt like quite the princess!

We also went to have Abigail's hair cut at the local salon. As some of you know, I have been painstakingly trying to get Abigail's bangs to grow out for almost a year now and we are finally to the point where she can tuck them behind her ears! yaaayyyy! Anyway, we chopped it to about shoulder length.

So that's about all to report for this week. We hope everyone is well. Obviously a big week in the US and we were able to watch quite a bit of coverage at school with the students as the day went on. Most of the americans we talked to were pleased and hopeful. I'll be cautious and choose to leave my political opinions out of the blog :)




Last weekend before I got picked up to go shopping in Shanghai I took some pictures of our apartment complex Sudu Gardens. So I'll post them below. Lots of love until next weekend!

Birthday and Halloween

It's been awhile so I thought it was time to catch up. As most of you know, it was my birthday last Monday (we won't say which one) and coincidentally, also my first day teaching! On Sunday we had brunch at a TexMex place and went into Old Suzhou to do some shopping. We found the Sephora (make up place) and a nice department store. Here are the kids in the rickshaw we took while shopping around town (always an experience)




So my first week teaching high school english went well. I have grade 9s and 10s. Mark and I have quite a few of the same students which is fun for them (and us I suppose). We had a rainy week and the weather continues to cool but not to an uncomfortable level yet. We hear from other teachers that it's coming.
James joined student council this week. He continues to make more friends and is showing a lot of improvement in cross country. He has three meets coming up in November, one with another international school in Suzhou and 2 in Shanghai. He is making his grandfather proud I'm sure.





On Friday the kids were aloud to wear black and orange to school for Halloween instead of their uniforms. The staff kids all got together for some trick or treating in the evening. There were about 30 kids in all. Quite a big group. We had a good time and got some very interesting chinese candy to try!

Here are the kids walking to the complex where they trick or treated. James was the "grim reaper" and Abigail was a pop star. We got some interesting looks from passers-by!

This is Abigail's new friend Tabitha. She is from England (but was born in Singapore). She had her first sleepover at Tabitha's a couple of weeks ago.Here is the group. There are some older kids that weren't there. Most of James' friends opted to go to the middle school dance so he was one of the older ones there. I thought costumes would be pretty scarce and we would have to get creative with what we had at home but as you can see, it wasn't really an issue. A lot of the british and australian kids were celebrating halloween for the first time so that was neat.

Yesterday I went with 8 other teachers into Shanghai to do some early Christmas shopping. We went to the Children's Clothing Market and the copy market. The children's place was underground and had every designer label you could think of. Rows and rows of shops where we spent about 2 hours. You have to bargain in these places which I'm really bad at. Since there is a language barrier, I basically pass a calculator back and forth with the shopkeeper until we are both happy or I choose to walk away. It can be exhausting but I was quite successful.
The copy market is 4 floors of watches, designer bags, silk, shoes, and clothes for adults. This is where the locals tend to be a little more aggressive. They shout "hey lady" as you walk by and try everything in the book to try to get you to buy what they have. I was actually quite proud of myself for surviving that place on my own but still unclear whether I got ripped off!
Mark had the kids and 2 of their friends for the day and once I got home we all went out to dinner at a Korean restaurant with another family from school. Here is the only picture I took at the copy market. A man carving a gift I got for Jack (I'm guessing he doesn't read the blog).

So that's all for now. Apparently there is a very important horse race this Tuesday in Australia (both Australia and New Zealand take the day off), so Mark is being pressured to participate in horse betting. He'll bet on his horse tomorrow and then watch the race on Tuesday night with everyone at the local haunt Mr.Pizza. They'll also be covering a different race from the other side of the world so we will be tuning in to see how that goes. Should be interesting.
Lots of love to everyone. Take care, and thanks for all the birthday wishes - they are much appreciated!

Lion's Grove Garden

This morning we went to visit the Lion's Grove Garden which is one of the famous gardens in Suzhou. We had heard about it from some friends and the weather was beautiful so we decided to check it out. I took about a billion pictures. Here are some of the best ones of the garden.

It was quite a big garden and it is full of huge rocks that are supposed to look like lions (hence the name). James and Abigail had the greatest time climbing and exploring all the different pathways and caves. James is convinced that the Amazing Race has to come to this garden!
We again, were the only westerners around so attracted quite a few stares. An older chinese couple saw Abigail and asked if they could take a picture with her! Bizarre.
So the week went well. James had a friend over yesterday and is at another friend's place this afternoon. Abigail was invited for a sleepover on Thursday which is a school night but since it is at the elementary principal's house I thought I would allow it. Mark is participating in the SSIS faculty pub crawl tonight. Visiting 5 or 6 bars in one night enjoying discounted drinks with his coworkers. Hmmm, think I'll stay home. It looks like I will be trading in my kindergartners for high schoolers after this week. I have been asked to teach high school english for the next three months while a teacher goes on maternity leave. Yikes! That's all the news for now. Love to everyone from Suzhou! Just in case you haven't seen enough, here are a few more pictures :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

OUR SHIPMENT ARRIVED!!!!!I stayed home on Friday to receive our shipment. We sent it off on July31 so we were very much looking forward to some different clothes to wear as well as our belongings. The shipment arrived just in time for Thanksgiving (Canadian) which was nice because I had a few decorations but added to the stress a bit because we invited a Canadian family over for a turkey dinner and the apartment looked like it had exploded! Anyway, we pulled it off(i.e. stuffed a lot of things in the master bedroom!) This was my first turkey and of course I had to choose to do it the year I move to China! We did find a frozen 13 lb turkey at a western market as well as stove top dressing and gravy. I am one of the few expats that has a built in oven, most have glorified toaster ovens. So with much nervousness and a lot of guesswork I prepared my turkey (and very much missed my mother!) Here's the turkey thawing in my bathtub!
Here's me in my very tiny kitchen, basting my turkey which barely fit in my very tiny oven. Luckily Mark did not humiliate me by taking my picture when I was freaking out taking all the gross stuff out of the cavity!
So other than the turkey taking a really long time to cook (our guests waited for 45 minutes), everything went well. We had fresh rolls from the french bakery, fresh potatoes from the vegetable market downstairs and my Canadian friend brought homemade pumpkin pie. Here is a picture of the kids table, Abigail and her new friends Emma and Ava ( I was too frantic serving and clearing to take a picture of the adult table)

So the apartment is looking more like home now. The kids' rooms are finished. I always leave the master bedroom for last so it may never get done - it didn't at our last place. Anyway, here are the kids' rooms since I didn't include them with the other pictures of the apartment - you should be able to figure out whose is whose!
That's all for now, we're off to bed. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, we miss you and love you and most certainly are thankful for all of you.