It was my first week as PE teacher and also Spirit week at SSIS. This means there was a theme everyday for the kids (and teachers) to dress up as well different events happening at lunch time (such as tug of war between grades, trivia, dodgeball). Of course Mark never passes up an opportunity to dress up so he arrived at school in some elaborate costumes this week.
Monday was Jeans day for the primary school and PJ day for the secondary school. Mark didn't want his picture taken in his pajamas (even though the whole school saw him that way) so here is Abigail in her jean outfit.
Tuesday was Freaky day. James got into the mood as well. Check it out - you've never seen James like this before!
Look at how tall he is in this picture!! He is standing next to Mark and there is barely any difference (ughh, I don't even want to think about!) As you can see, Mark got into the "freaky" theme as well. He had business to do in the finance office that day and the Chinese lady he was talking to had to cover her eyes and look down at her desk while she was talking to him because she was so disturbed by his appearance!
It was twin day for Abigail on Tuesday. Here she is with her twin Tabitha. Or as we like to call them - Tabigail.
Ok, moving on to Wednesday. This was Freaky day for Abigail and Idol day for secondary. This is Mark and Abby outside our building where we catch the bus. Mark was dressed as Pythagoras (not sure if I'm spelling that right)
I don't have any pictures from Thursday. It was PJ day for primary and twin day for Secondary. Mark was twins with another teacher but the day got away from us and we don't have any pictures. Friday was inside out and backwards day for primary and Blast from the Past for secondary. Mark was of course - a pirate and wore the costume Trudie made for him last year for his Calculus lesson. We couldn't find the hat and his eye patch broke so a lot of people didn't know what he was. Oh well.
You can't really tell but he has nasty teeth in his mouth.So spirit week is over. I was pretty much over getting dressed up by Thursday. James only got dressed up once the whole week. Mark and Abby were all about it.
I was utterly exhausted after this week. Running around outside all day everyday really took it out of me. I was happy for the weekend to come.
This weekend a new shopping center within walking distance of us opened up. Well, since we walk just about everywhere, I guess you could say a lot of things are "within walking distance" but this place is very close to us. It is an actual mall. That is quite unusual for Suzhou. It is also quite upscale. We walked over this afternoon and were shocked to see KFC, Pizza Hut, Dairy Queen and a really nice bakery along with a huge grocery store with western goods, and nice clothing department stores with Nike, Umbro, Maybeline.
So we're really excited about that. Before now we would have to taxi into old Suzhou, endure crowds and noise and probably have to visit half a dozen shops to get what we can now get in one place down the street for us. I was also happy to see that the grocery store has a ready-made deli where you can pick up things for dinner so I have another option than going out to eat when I'm exhausted at the end of the day and don't feel like cooking (I'm trying Mum - I promise!)
After we visited the new shopping mall we headed to central park. It was a beautiful day and James wanted to fly the kite he got for his birthday.
That's James in the middle of the amphitheatre.
I was utterly exhausted after this week. Running around outside all day everyday really took it out of me. I was happy for the weekend to come.
This weekend a new shopping center within walking distance of us opened up. Well, since we walk just about everywhere, I guess you could say a lot of things are "within walking distance" but this place is very close to us. It is an actual mall. That is quite unusual for Suzhou. It is also quite upscale. We walked over this afternoon and were shocked to see KFC, Pizza Hut, Dairy Queen and a really nice bakery along with a huge grocery store with western goods, and nice clothing department stores with Nike, Umbro, Maybeline.
So we're really excited about that. Before now we would have to taxi into old Suzhou, endure crowds and noise and probably have to visit half a dozen shops to get what we can now get in one place down the street for us. I was also happy to see that the grocery store has a ready-made deli where you can pick up things for dinner so I have another option than going out to eat when I'm exhausted at the end of the day and don't feel like cooking (I'm trying Mum - I promise!)After we visited the new shopping mall we headed to central park. It was a beautiful day and James wanted to fly the kite he got for his birthday.
That's James in the middle of the amphitheatre.
I saw these men as we were walking through the park and I thought "how curious, they're having a men-only picnic", but then I looked closer and saw that they were actually sitting there playing cards. They were having a great time sitting there on their blanket, enjoying their Saturday. It's only fair that I take pictures of Chinese people every once in awhile, they certainly take a lot of pictures of us! Mark and I were saying today at the park that we should really charge admission for the entertainment we provide!
That's all for now, I'm turning in. We have a short week ahead of us as we get Friday off. Then we have a week off school for the labour day holiday here in China. We thought about traveling but when we thought of all the bouncing around we will be doing this summer we decided to just do some day trips around Suzhou. Speaking of the summer, we hope to have our tickets booked this week so we will be able to let you know our firm dates soon.
Whew! long blog. Love to all from the Smiths!
That's all for now, I'm turning in. We have a short week ahead of us as we get Friday off. Then we have a week off school for the labour day holiday here in China. We thought about traveling but when we thought of all the bouncing around we will be doing this summer we decided to just do some day trips around Suzhou. Speaking of the summer, we hope to have our tickets booked this week so we will be able to let you know our firm dates soon.
Whew! long blog. Love to all from the Smiths!
