Supply, Suzhou and swimming

John and Jo arrived at the beginning of November and found me midway through eight days of supply.  They went off and explored some of Shanghai, ordering curtins and a suit, and meeting Sam for lunch, whilst I taught year 1 and learned about disecting eyeballs! 

On one outing the need for coffee was so great that John was seen in a MacDonalds!  They also had some lovely weather which Jo made the most of.

William and Oliver had the good fortune to have a couple of days off when Grandpa and Granny were with us and we went off to Suzhou, a town near Shanghai famous for it's silk, gardens and canals, for two days.  We travelled by bullet train, completing what would have been a two and a half hour car journey in 25 minutes!

After checking in at our lovely hotel we set out to explore the area nearby.  Unsuprisingly we stumbled accross lots of couples having their wedding photos taken.  This has now become such a common sight for us to see!








We spent the next couple of days exploring old Suzhou.  There are many Chinese style gardens to explore and we chose the largest, the Humble Administrator's garden.  There were lots of hollow rocks and secret pathways and despite the number of people they were quite peaceful.

This was followed by a meander along the main canal in search of a cup of tea and hairy crab for lunch.  We stopped for tea first in a primely located hut on the canal and then continued our search for hairy crab. 

Hairy Crabs are a local delicacy only available at this time of year.  In the top hotels you can pay up to £40 for a crab but if you go local you can find one for £5!  After cracking, sucking and generally getting very messy we decided that the crabs were tasty but you didn't get much from them.  Oliver and William tried it and said they liked it but they were far more interested in looking at the body parts!  Bizzarely our lunch for six people came to only £3 more than our cup of tea for six!

Each day after having a morning exploring we returned to our hotel and spent the afternoon in the pool and jacuzzi. 

We were lucky enough to have a suite with a fab bath which we could all fit in!

William and Oliver loved watching the TV in the bath!

In the evenings we had supper in the club lounge, where the boys enjoyed picking their own food from the selection of canapes and we all tucked in to the free flow drinks!

The morning after we returned to Shanghai, William and Oliver took part in their first swimming gala.  They have only been having lessons since September but the swimmming instructor felt it would be good for the class to experience a gala.  As they are all 5 they were in the youngest catagory and were entered for the 10 metre freestyle dash!  William and Oliver were in separate races.  They began the race in the water and got to swim 10 metres in to the arms of 16 year old girls who then carried them to the side!  I think the boys in the race appreciated this more than the girls! 

All of the participants won medals and when Oliver took his in to school the next day, he told the class that he had beaten everyone including William, despite the fact they were not in the same race. 

Gunpowder, treason and plot

 

Last year the main celebrations at this time of year were for Halloween.  This year, worried that the boys might miss out on British culture we decided to go to the only bonfire night in Shanghai at the British International School. 

John and Jo had arrived that week so we took them along with us but warned them not to have high expectations as it is not a Chinese festival!  As we arrived we saw that the bonfire had been lit.  As the weather had been good everything was very dry and burning well! 

John spotted a drinks table and before long we were watching the flames sipping wine.  We bought some sparklers for the boys to have a go with and waited for the fireworks.

 

The fireworks were excellent and very loud!  Having spent two years in China William, Oliver, Henry and Charlie did not bat an eyelid at the noise.

Everyone had a great time and by the end the boys were so tired that they fell asleep as we drove off.

 

All The Trees in China...

One thing that we have observed during our time here in Shanghai is the speed with which buildings and compounds go up. Over seven weeks of the summer a further 21 floors were added to the new tower that is being built by the river, which when finished will be the tallest in Asia.

 

When we moved in to our house there was an empty block behind us which is now a pretty much complete new compound.  It is amazing how, in a matter of days a completed compound can go from looking just finished to as if it has been there for years.  The way that this is achieved is through the landscaping.  When the gardens and common areas are landscaped only mature shrubs and trees are used.  We have often speculated on where these mature trees come from as they would have needed years of growth to reach the heights they are.

On Tueday, Sam and I left our compound to go and collect William and Oliver.  Our walk to school is along a tree lined road, like many of the roads in this area.  However, one unusual feature of the stretch of road outside our compound is that the trees are double planted with maple and palm trees.  As we walked we came across a team of men digging up the palm trees.  It is now clear that when this road was built over 10 years ago they must have put extra trees in ready for use in the compounds of the future!

As is often the way in Shanghai and China health and safety took a back seat.  We were able to walk right past where they were pulling a tree up, in fact, when we were spotted one man held the tree up to let us past! 

So engrossed in taking the photos of the disreguard for health and safety that we barely noticed a digger drive right up behind us and it was only when the bucket clanged down that we saw it!

After collecting the boys we suggested that we should perhaps walk on the other side of the road to avoid the danger but Oliver and William were keen to see the digger and the holes, when in China...

On the return journey all the workers had gone for the day but left their tools on the pavement by the holes and we noticed lots of barriers stacked up at the side, so we assumed they  had given some thought to health and safety but just not had time to apply it. 

However, the next day we discovered that the barriers were for protecting the fresh concrete in the holes! 

Sunshine, picnics and Little Britain!

In China everyone usually gets a day off in September for the mid-autumn festival and then a few days in October for the National Day.  This year the mid-autumn festival fell at the end of September and was combined with the other holiday to give everyone a week off. 

The weather was in the high 20s all week and we decided not to go away but to stay in Shanghai and do some local sightseeing and general playing in the garden, riding bikes and going for coffee and lunch!

 

Some locals didn't even bother getting off their bikes to have lunch!






The first Saturday we had a family trip to Ikea! Luckily it was not too crowded and we stayed to have meatballs for lunch.  We discovered that we can no longer get away with the boys sharing an adult portion - they both manage 10 meatballs and trimmings each!  Fortunately it is still pretty cheap!

William and Oliver made a boat out of the Ikea box

At the beginning of the week we went with the Hughes family and had a picnic in Century Park.  It was actually on the official National Day.  The park was crowded but we managed to find a quiet spot for a picnic. 

Oliver, William, Henry and Charlie enjoyed playing in the mud and climbing trees!

Post picnic entertainment!

One day we were joined by William's classmate Ellie and her brother Jamie so that their parents could take friends sightseeing.  All four children had a great day playing, going to the park and for ice cream, making heart shaped pizza, having a bath together and playing table football.  Sam and I were exhausted and cracked open a bottle at the end of the day!

 

The local government have built nine satalite towns around Shanghai and have modelled them all on different countries.  Among others there is a Swiss one, and a German one and a British one - Thames Town!  We decided to have a day out there at the end of the week.  The town hasn't taken off as a residential area and many of the buildings are empty.  However, because it looks British and has a church it has become a popular venue for wedding photos. 

The attention to detail is excellent right down to the road signs and the names!  We took a picnic and ended up having it on the Isle of Arran! 



The weather was fab and we had a lovely day wandering the British looking streets, spotting signs with British names and watching many couples have wedding photos taken.

 

One of the many wedding photo shoots going on in the town

 



 

On our way out of the town Oliver and William posed for photos with a couple of famous Brits!  It seems that some Chinese people think James Bond is a real person - great for Britain's international reputation!

 

 

 

The week was completed with a trip to the Urban Planning Museum in Shanghai.  The highlight of this museum is the model of the city centre which lights up. 

 

Oliver and William took great delight in spotting different buildings.  The model is representing the plans for expansion and development over the next few years.  As we looked we could see that some buildings where our friends live were no longer there and had been replaced with other structures, hopefully they will give people plenty of notice!