Taekwondo - sort of.There's a lot of politics in Taekwondo and we couldn't find ITF Taekwondo her in Suzhou. Charlie and Roma went to another version, but they didn't like the class setup. But know they have a new teacher and a new martial art. Not sure what it is, but they're enjoying it. Nothing like beating up your friends.
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Display City at School-19th & 20th Nov.Charlie & Roma got to show off their skills at school this week. Charlie had a big Science presentation and Roma had a mini exploration. They did a great job.
So this is why we enjoy working at a school where our kids are. It's great to be able to sneak down and see what they're up to. |
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Charlie Turns Nine - 9th Nov9th of November, I had my birthday party and was very happy. I invited 5 people. There names were Mack, Ben, Corbyn, Nathan and Tomoya.
Going to the movies was the first thing we did. We watched Mr Peabody and Sherman. It was about time travelling. It was scary and cool. Surprisingly, I actually didn't have a slice of cake. Neither did Roma. The best part was playing on the iPads of course and opening the presents.Playing outside was fun but we got hurt a little. The games we played outside were soccer and poo-ball. My party was awesome. Charlie |
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PD DaysThis is how we spend our Professional Development Days. Well....... lunchtime anyway.
A bunch of Kiwis and Aussies with a smattering of Brits. Even a couple of Americans came down to try. There's always a bunch of things on offer at the school for teachers. Netball, Indoor Soccer, Golf, Volleyball, etc. |
Book Week & Halloween
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A little bit of Camping in my Life
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Just a little video of the kids Taekwondo-ing home over the holidays.
Unfortunately, they're not enjoying the new Taekwondo system in Suzhou so they are stopping that. |
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After a full-on week to settle in and find an apartment, 2 weeks of PD and 6 weeks at school we finally had a few days to rest and sight-see. So we headed off to Shanghai to check things out.
Lots of cool things were seen and done. Food courts, walking streets, rock climbing, The Bund, a Big Bus tour, The Insect Museum, The French Concession, shopping and Shanghai Science and Technology Museum. And it's a great idea to pick the day before a Chinese public holiday to misread the departure time of the train. Note to self: 17:00 Yuan is not a time, it's a price. Luckily the school came to the rescue. A couple of quick phone calls and we had a car and driver. Home just 1 hour late (well 8 hours late if you want to be pedantic about it all). |
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After 2 and a half years of not having a decent oven in Vietnam, we decided to shell out the money and buy and install an oven. Well, we didn't actually install the oven ourselves, and to be perfectly honest, we didn't actually buy the oven either. Chris, our agent did all that. So really we just shelled out the money. We have to do the cooking ourselves though (unless the Ayi does it).
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The Aarons family has made its first tentative, but dangerous, foray into the world of Taobao - the Chinese answer to Ebay.
4 X 1.3kg Weet-Bix should keep us fed and happy for a least 3 days. The next purchase is sure to be a couple of tubs of vegemite. Dangerous? Yep, well if Ruth gets the hang of it, our bank balance could take an absolute pummelling. I'm looking at purchasing $120 All Blacks jumpers for $9. |
So I've just had my first camping experience in 5 or 6 years - a three day camping trip to Anji
Poorly organised by a group called Indier, nonetheless, the staff and kids had a good time. It rained continuously, and the tents were so ordinary that we ended up with water logged tents (inside). But some great scenery and activities made up for that. Bamboo museum better than expected but poor Pandas in a tiny cage was sad to see. We walked up 2000 - 3000 stairs to the top of a hill and the kids rafted down a river. |
Ruth's Answer to Life, The Universe and Everything |
So Ruth's B'day inconveniently falls in the middle of settling in to a new place. So it's very hard to come up with anything too exciting at short notice. We did, however, manage to come up with a cake with a couple of candles and a birthday hat. And we went out for a Korean BBQ dinner and Ruth and I went down to Shanghai for a night.
Note that the flowers were a present from the school. Yep, from the school. Sure beats a leaving present of a bottle of wine that was left over from a school function and which couldn't be sold off to teachers! Click here for pictures of Shanghai. |
Here's a video of Charlie playing the ukulele with Ms Jacqui last year. They had secret lessons for about three weeks and this was the final lesson. Not bad for 1.5 hours of uke.
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Suzhou's Old City - 10th AugustRoma, Charlie and I took off down to Suzhou's old city for the first time. We went with our new friends, Bonnie, Kevin and Nathan. Ruth had to shop, so she couldn't make it.
The area is very old - over 2500 years. Although it is very touristy it was still pretty cool. We walked down a street sampling all the food on offer. There were eggs on sticks, potatoes bread with seaweed. We managed to make it through the nigh without being sick so hat was good. Was it "hep on a stick"? (hepatitis) Well, I guess we'll find out in the next 6 months. We finished off by catching a boat back. |