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The day after Halloween ALWAYS involves the sorting of candy. Emmy counted her treats..163 pieces of candy. Then, she counted Elle’s treats..63 pieces. No worries. The rule of the house is each child gets to pick 6 pieces of candy she doesn’t want to share. Then, all the candy goes in one bucket for everyone to share. Average Rating: 4.4 out of 5 based on 154 user reviews.
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Halloween night could not come fast enough for two little vampires. We started the day with carving A pumpkin. Finding pumpkins in Shanghai was not an easy task. After looking all week, I finally found one on Friday. One pumpkin, two girls…the end result was a two face pumpkin. Each girl designed their pumpkin face. Jim was the expert carver. Then, our lovely girls transformed into vampires. In prior years we have stayed at Yanlord Garden. but this is a trick more than a treat. Squeezing too many children and parents into an elevator is not a fun way to treat. This year we went to the our friends, the Humes, in Green Villas (more of an American style neighborhood) for trick or treating. The girls had a blast running from house to house collecting their treats. After collecting their candy, we all had pizza and fun at the Humes home. Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 277 user reviews.
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At Elle’s school, DUCKS, the children were able to wear costumes to school. Elle wanted to be a cat. Therefore, I made a trip to Hongqiao to the Holiday House to see what I could find. The result was this adorable little kitty! The girls also dressed up their American girls, Mia & Nicki, for Halloween. Average Rating: 4.7 out of 5 based on 165 user reviews.
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The pottery from Jingdezhen comes in these pretty cloth covered boxes. Elle found a fun way to play with the boxes since she fit in a few of them. Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 245 user reviews.
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Eleri had Sport Day at Dulwich which has been on the calendar for a month. I knew I wouldn’t be there as the ladies were off on our “pot” buying trip. I had Jim book 9:00 to 10:00 in his work calendar so he would’t forget. At this age, it is so important to have a parent at school to be part of the fun. Elle was more than thrilled to have Jim at her Sports Day. Average Rating: 4.8 out of 5 based on 288 user reviews.
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We received last minute notice that Emerysn’s class is leading chapel on Tuesday at 8:15 am. She will also be singing with the choir. OK, new plan for the day as Jim is the only parent at home to represent both our children at two different schools back to back and no car. I am in Jingdezhen on my ladies “pot” trip. Jim would experience his first ride on the bus to school with Emersyn, where he would join the other “pot trip single dads” to watch the kids. He would then quietly sneak out the back to walk to Elle’s school for the starting gun of Sports Day. After Sports Day, Jim would get a taxi to go to work as Mr. Nie was busy negotiating pot prices. Average Rating: 4.7 out of 5 based on 186 user reviews.
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We ladies (Mary, Faith, Jennifer and I) went on a pottery buying adventure to Jingdezhen – a city famous for is porcelain and pottery. Jingdezhen is about a one hour plane flight from Shanghai, but with China delays, you can never be sure. Mary and I sent our drivers, Mr. Nie and Mr. Wu, down on Sunday. It is a nine-hour drive for them. The ladies took an 8am flight down the next day. I went last year with another group of ladies. Last time, we did not send our drivers and spent way too much money for shipping the pottery to Shanghai. Jennifer went last April and sent her driver down. Ok, what a brilliant idea as having our drivers there to help us and bring all of our purchases home was priceless. Nothing was broken and everything was gently cared for by our drivers. Mr. Nie and Mr. Wu helped us to negotiate the prices, carried all our goods to the car and guided our culinary adventure through the all Chinese menus. It was a fun two days of shopping and laughing with the ladies. There is always toilet talk at the table as we always need a report on the “star quality” of the squatty potty. At one point, we all used the worst condition squatty potty I have used since traveling in China. Faith is new to China. She had comment that now she has experience that squatty potty, she is ready for any travel because nothing can compare!! The hotel is a 3-star Chinese Hotel. It has the typical extremely hard Chinese beds. We were prepared with our supplies of wine, cracker and cheese to enjoy a night of girls night out in our quality hotel. When we checked in, we all just grabbed a key lucky draw style. Mary and I picked the room with a view overlooking the street out front. The other rooms looks out at – a wall!. I think we would have preferred the wall, because at 5AM, all you heard was the beeping horns of morning traffic! The airport at Jinddezhen is small. There is one flight in and one flight out each day to/from Shanghai. Our flight was over an hour late to depart. This is the board to post flight information. No one changed it for our delay. Everyone came home with fun pottery to add to the decorations of our home. This is one of my favorite pottery piece. Mr. Nie had to negotiate hard to get the price to reasonable. Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 172 user reviews.
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To end UN week, the children have a parade in their home country’s dress. This is much easier for many countries, but the Americans, Australian and a few others don’t have a national costume. Elle is wearing the same dress she wore last year. However, I did stock up at Claire’s after the 4th of July for accessories. After the parade, Elle and I walked around to other classrooms representing various countries. At each stop, the kids do an activity, eat food and learn facts about the country. The kids can not leave without getting a stamp in there “passport”. This is a fun event for the children to learn about different countries. Average Rating: 4.4 out of 5 based on 226 user reviews.
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At Eleri’s school, Dulwich, it is United Nations (UN) week. The children learn about various countries. Each class decorates their room based on a different country. This year, Elle’s class is representing Africa. Elle’s teacher, Miss Horsey, had visit Tanzania this summer. The class has also been corresponding with children at the Amani Home for Children in Tanzania. Part of the UN fun, Elle’s class went on a safari (on the school playground). The children made visors to protect them from the hot African sun. The children brought binoculars from home to help them spot the animals. Elle got this set of binoculars from Mr. Nie on her adventure to the Wild Animal Park. Miss Horsey hid animals around the playground. Each animal had a statement about the animal for the children to learn an interesting fact. Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 based on 181 user reviews.
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The girls have swim lessons with Ryan on Tuesday at 4:00pm and 5:00pm. Elle enjoys swim lessons. She has a half hour lesson and has fun with Ryan. On the other hand, Emmy dislikes swim lessons – and begrudgingly goes each week. Emmy has half hour lesson with half hour of lap swimming. Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 255 user reviews.
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