Expo and a whole load of catch up

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Outside our new building

It has been 6 weeks since we all started at Dulwich College and the time has just completely and utterly flown away. I can't believe it has been almost 2 months since we moved into our lovely new apartment in Jinqiao and our new life on 'the dark side' (if you are from Hongqiao) and 'the light side'. (if you are from Pudong!) I know I have been rubbish about posting and there is so much that has happened, but I will try to tell as much as possible in photo form as I know that is the most important.

Sophie and William have really settled into their new classes and look extremely smart in their new uniforms. We have about 5 different uniforms in any one week, with 2 PE kits (plus summer and winter), an everyday uniform and a formal dress. They are just loving school and all the wonderful opportunities it presents them with. Sophie brought home her saxophone this week, which is hers for the whole year and is very excited about the prospect of deafening the whole neighborhood. William will be shortly bringing home a recorder…..the 2 of them together – deep joy! Sophie has

First day of school

also joined the Year 4 Choir and does 2 after school clubs, one being netball and the other is jewelery making. William starts his clubs inside school time after the holiday, and they will be football and yoga!

We are day 2 of our half term holiday today and we really badly needed it. The bags under our eyes have been testament to the amount of stuff we have been doing. A week of lie-ins and wandering around Pudong, meeting friends for lunch and having a few playdates is exactly what is in store. Sophie and I kicked it off in style this morning with a trip to the hairdresser and pedicures! Ian has booked in for a massage on Monday and hair on Thursday, while William had his hair cropped at the man's hairdresser with daddy!

We have all bought out bikes now and Ian is going to start biking to the metro. His commute has proven fine, if a little longer than expected. It takes him about an hour door-to-door and now he won't need a taxi this end to the metro station as he can ride his bike. He has started his PGCE this week

House PE Kits

and is well into assignments and tasks and all things wonderful about the joys of modern day teaching.

As for my job, well, all I can say, is I am really really busy. As always with a new job, we hit the ground running and with over half the Junior School staff being new this year, it has been quite an uphill struggle. However, we have risen to the challenge and I have a great team of 3 Kiwis, an Ozzie and me! Between us we have 109 students and it takes quite some coordination. I am trying to get as much preplanning done during this holiday as possible (a day in school yesterday with my colleague planned the next term's Maths!) as I know between now and Christmas we have our class assembly, performance review, a whole Year 4 Winter Assembly, UN Week, Science Week and goodness knows what else that might pop up along the way!

On the social front, both the children have started going on playdates this week which is nice, and we have some reciprocals coming back here this week. We have made friends with some lovely families and other people too, although

The explorers off to school

it does, of course, take a bit longer to get settled when we don't even have a moment to spare for ourselves! We did manage a trip to Expo last Friday evening, which was totally amazing and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a late one and all our legs were screaming by the end of it, but definitely worthwhile. We visited 10 pavilions in one evening and didn't queue for a single one. Our worst part had to have been the disappointment of the UK Pavilion, as the lights were not working outside and inside was no representation of our country at all. An artistic piece, yes, but UK, no.

The weather has turned cooler over the past few weeks which has been a respite after the sweatiness of August, although now we have met with some rain also. It is still fine for shorts, although a cardi comes along on most journeys these days.

And so off I go for now to upload a ton of photos for you all to enjoy. We can only apologize for not being more regular and would love to hear from you all.

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