School Days

Last day of school

Guy

The last day of school had a lot of goodbyes and good wishes for those who were leaving Beijing, or China. Of course YCIS wanted to keep the year going so then they could give the students their yearbooks on the last day. For the last 2 weeks of school for the secondary school, we had enrichment weeks, we worked on projects that were based on travel. I worked on a travel blog and a street performance. It was long. The blog was about a made up trip in Brazil in the depths of the Amazon. The street performance was a cultural themed dance, everyone did some traditional songs and dances. Then we had the award ceremonies on the last day of school , after that I arrived home.

This is me at an orchestra performance at a charity activity day.

Duncan

I missed the last month of school.  When I came back to China I went to school to say hello and good-bye to everyone for the year.  I got to come back for a pizza and movie party!

My friend closest to the camera is my Rubik's Cube buddy.  Second and third friends are the smart ones.  My fourth friend follows me everywhere.

My class is small.  Here is my teacher.

Grahm

I learned to play the violin this year because it was required.  It was my first concert.  I am in the right column in the middle.

Here I am at my last fieldtrip at the Ethnic Park.  I got wet during the Water Festival.  I begged my teacher to take this picture.

Chinese Assembly, I am showing my Chinese health handbook, I worked on it for half a month.

Mom and Drake came to the Chinese Assembly and they could stay to watch my math class.

Solving area and perimeter with Drake's help.

Last week of school with one of my friends in the library working on a mini comic story.

I am pointing at my name where my house team, Green Dragons, is.  I was the first to score a goal for this year's soccer season.

Notices

Notice #1

For those of you who have Duncan in your thoughts and prayers, keep him there.  He is having a hard time going off the medication.  While he is heading in the right direction it is still a little sticky.

Notice #2

All pictures of our Taiwan trip, "Promises Kept in Taiwan, have finally posted. 

Birthday Bash

 

This little one is growing fast!  He just about has the swing of things as far as birthdays and unwrapping and blowing out candles are concerned!

Surprising News!

Yes, that is me on a bike!  Surprised!?!  The last time I really rode a bike was 11 years ago when we lived in the Netherlands.  That bike had the kid seat just behind the handlebars so that Guy could put his hands on the handlebars with me.   Now Drake rides behind.  We do have a carriage but only Lane has used it so far.

I actually was the first to have a bike here in China!  I love it.  The old bike repair man on the corner has helped me out twice already.

We had our first family bike/scooter ride to the Embassy 4th of July celebration.  Hopefully more to come as we get upgrades for our growing boys.

Thoughts of Singapore

I didn't know much about Singapore when we first arrived.  Surprised to find they drive on the left side of the road, but don't necessarily walk on the left side of the sidewalk.  Many confusing moments trying to navigate my way through the crowds.  Escalators were to be found to the left and right, that didn't help.  I even asked locals who seemed surprised by my question and said, "you just go where ever". 

Many buildings, that I call "see through building", where the architect stop the building and changed it up with just pillars before continuing on.  Often plants have been placed in the "see through" part, bringing the outside in.

View from our hospital room.  You may need to look closer to see the "see through" part. 

Another country without pennies and therefore you have to round up to pay for items.  I was a little too use to Chinese money.  I would look at $6.85 and say, wow a $1!  Oh wait it is $6 or in USD $5.  It took me a good week to get the pricing down.  Much more expensive!  But on the bright side western products were easily found and trusted that they were legit.

FYI the women don't really buy/wear skirts.  I looked for days trying to find a skirt.  If a store did happen to have skirts it was usually just one or two, rarely a cotton skirt.  I finally found a few that I would have been willing to buy except for the fact that they were way more than I would ever spend on a skirt and therefore had to pass them by.  They mostly wear what they call "one-pieces" or what I would call a dress.  I did see some women walking around wearing skirts, which may just be a sign they were tourists. . . ?

Found an awesome book store that had many books in various languages, English and Chinese being the biggest sections.  I have an addiction to buying books so I didn't allow myself to look to closely as this store sold at top price.  I did finally find a puzzle book to help occupy our time.

I can't say for sure if Singapore is all expensive as we were in the shopping district.  I have a feeling it is more on the expensive side but there are ways to shop at more reasonable prices that only the locals know.