December 21st-22nd - The Thailand Adventure Begins!

I cannot explain my excitement when the last bell rang on Friday afternoon, announcing that the Christmas Holidays were finally hereJ Of course John and my packing had been too busy running the roads so packing hadn't occurred (luckily we had a late flight). Although he hadn't packed we were weren't worried as we had made a trip to Decathlon (Dad, your name is written all over this store) and had bought ourselves matching packs (how cute.), so really we just had to throw things in, right? After school I got myself organized then headed to my room where the packing began – my room was a disaster. Between the two of us we certainly did a number on the place. We drank some gin, listened to music and decided what we would want to wear other than our bathing suits. When we were finished packing we thought it'd be a good idea to eat a little something before heading out. We decided to try a little Italian place near by for dinner that I had heard was really cheap and pretty good. It was cheap, not so good. After an interesting meal of pizza with something pretending to be cheese on it we power walked home, said our goodbyes to everyone and headed off to the metro to go to the Shenzhen airport. How exciting!!

We were super early...so early that the gate wasn't yet open. So, we bought ridiculously priced coffee and spent some time chatting (I may or may not have had a little nap  as well). 

The 21st was a long night! We flew out of Shenzhen at 11:30pm, arrived in Bangkok at 1:30am and then flew to Krabi at 6:30am. We arrived in Krabi between 9:30 and 10:00, this part is a little fuzzy since we had spent a relatively uncomfortable half-sleepless night waiting in airports and scrunching ourselves onto the Air Asia planes. But, it was all worth it J 

{Funny side note at the Shenzhen Airport: My body decided to have a coughing fit while going through the scanners and having our bags checked (masks came out after I left, I'm sure). John was also asked to open his bag so that they could go through it. Turns out they were looking for a shovel and a paint chipper: He was asked if he was carrying a shovel (translated by one of the men's iphones) and a paint chipper (they actually had one to show him)...Once that moment of trying not to burst into laughter was over we made it through to our gate.} 

Week #1 of John's Visit: December 16th-21st Shenzhen, China (My Home)

Sunday, December 16^th, 2012 = John’s interesting arrival in Shenzhen

With the poor internet connection that I have here in China it proved difficult to plan a trip with someone living on the other side of the world – things were bound to be miscommunicated so why not start with our first miscommunication: John’s arrival.. oops!

I was sure that John was supposed to message me to let me know if he was going to be able to make the ferry or have to take the bus across the border into China. John was sure that he was taking the ferry. The result of this: I spent an hour drinking martinis with Patrick and Krista in Patrick’s room while fretting about where John was, if he’d made it and if he was going to turn up bald because someone adored his white hair. After about an hour and a half I received a call from a strange number, the voice on the other end was John, laughing nervously, asking “where are you?” I downed my drink and flew into action. I was lucky to get a cab right away and between the cabbies broken English and my non-existent Mandarin he understand that my boyfriend had just arrived from Canada and was at the Ferry terminal (Shekou Mato), he also understood that I was excited/nervous and in a hurry! He got me there in 8 minutes. I jumped out of the taxi and ran into the building to find no one. I ran back outside. I then realized all I had to do was stop and scan the area; sure enough the only white head in the place was John’s (with all of his hair)! hahaha After a little reunion and explanation of our miscommunication we headed back to my place where we dropped his stuff and went over to Patrick’s room where a group of friends were waiting patiently to meet him  : ) After some introductions and a few laughs John had quickly faded so we said our good nights and headed to bed.

It was such a strange and exciting feeling to have John actually here, in China. I was so looking forward to showing him around where I am living so that now when we chat it’ll be a little easier for him to care and understand (because he’ll actually know who I’m speaking about, where I’m speaking about and what things look like). J For instance, now he understands why we love going to Muslim Noodle where they make the noodles right in front of you, so fresh! He was a fan as well haha

John spent the week getting acquainted with the rather drastic time change, my students and my surroundings here in China and did quite well – I think siestas in the mid-afternoon saved him. The students were beyond thrilled to have him! They called him Skippy John Jones and were always very concerned when he wasn’t in the classroom! Haha John found a good balance between spending time getting to know my crazy grade 2ers and exploring Shenzhen (a 5 kilometer radius around the school)! Haha He put on his big boy pants and set off in the world of Chinese stares (which of course he didn’t even notice), markets and my beloved park. Em and I were able to give poor directions so that he could see some of the places that we frequent and from what I gathered he really liked the area that we live in J I am so glad that he went off to look around during the days while I was working – I wanted to show him everything but of course, although we kept him very busy with some of our favourite restaurants, bars and parts of the city we didn’t have enough time. There is never enough time, is there? Em and I did get surprise smoothies from our favourite smoothie man on the corner a few times and he did show up one day with the most beautiful bouquet of lilies...it was so nice to have my boy friend in the same place ... even if it was only for a week!

Christmas Countdown

December is nearing an end and I am so looking forward to Christmas Vacation!! I may even be more excited about this break than I used to get when I was the student...both the kids and myself are in desperate need of a break. As a side note: I never wish the week before Christmas upon anyone!! 

This month has been yet another great month filled with laughter, dressy events, drinks, food and not enough sleep! 

We have had a dinner party or two that have had some interesting outcomes - such as coming to the end of an evening wearing a penguin suit...

We have done some Christmas shopping (for both others and ourselves). Mariya, Yvonne, Kelly and I had a wonderful day together in Luoho buying gifts. Mariya took us to her wonderful pearl lady, Judy - that resulted in an expensive venture!

We attended the 10th Anniversary of CCSC which was quite a spectacle! 

We got our class picture done - in our t-shirts (it’s December remember)! This isn't the selected photo for obvious reasons but I thought it showed some of the funny personalities of my kiddies - I have a busy bunch!

We have continued to enjoy Shenzhen nightlife this month with few regrets. 

- The Terrace

- D Club

- Evening Show

We had our Wonderful Christmas Party - everyone looked beautiful! 

Our grade 2s were visited by Ross Henderson's chemistry students who were doing their Chem Magic - what a surreal moment!! I realized while taking pictures that I was once the grade 2 student watching the Chem Magic, was the student doing the Chem Magic and have now been the teacher watching her students enjoy the show - apparently I'm getting old. 

November in a Nut Shell – it flew..

I’m not quite sure where the month of November went…I’m finding it very hard to believe that we are already into December! It certainly doesn’t feel like it. Of course I have realized yet again how utterly terrible I am at this blogging business, as I seem to have skipped over the entire Month of N…oops. For this reason I offer a glimpse into my past month with the highlights!

November was a great month that was packed full of goodness. Life is still great here in China! Although, the weather has taken a turn to ‘winter’ and it’s been raining for a couple of weeks we are still managing to keep our spirits up and have fun.

The rain will not rain on our parade! Although Lulu’s are being extra appreciated…

We must also be realistic; life is not perfect although sometimes it can come pretty darn close. There is still that little thing that we call work - It kind of gets in the way of life Monday – Friday from 8am-4pm (and some evenings and week-ends). Don’t get me wrong; I love my job and the kids! The grade 2’s are keeping me very busy but each day I see some form of progress, which is very exciting!! Dealing with different languages, cultures and personalities is a difficult yet rewarding task, who knew? The rough days that I leave questioning my judgment of why I became a teacher in the first place pass and the great moments make everything worth it. On a side note: I’m ready for Christmas J

Outside of school we continue to Live the Dream. China is such fun!

Here. We. Go. A rundown of the November HighlightsJ

ISNS Talent Show – Skipped

The day of the Talent Show was an interesting one…I had 4 kids go home on account of throwing up (2 made it to the bathroom) and 1 kid (in Emma’s class) soiled himself (he may be in Em’s class but she came running as her stomach couldn’t handle the mess…and it was a mess). Needless to say it was a bit of a rough day on the old stomach and I needed a few hours to recuperate after school. I wasn’t feeling up to repeating an appearance at the Talent Show (most of us weren’t) so we sat in Patrick’s room, had a drink and slowly relaxed after a long week. The plan had been to go out but after the day I had had I planned on socializing then hitting the sack. Instead, I rallied and Krista and I ended up finishing up the ‘roofie punch’ and having our own party in Patrick’s room (while everyone else had already gone out). This punch had been created with all of the watermelon juice from our Watermelon Carving Contests that we had at school a few days earlier (for Halloween…they don’t have pumpkin carving here…). We danced the night away to a great live band at The Terrace. Thank goodness I was able to rally, we had such a great night! This is an example of yet another evening that I planned to be chill but ended up dancing in Shekou…oops!

Acamis Volleyball Tournament

I helped Katrina coach the girl’s High School Volleyball team and it just so happened that our school got to host the Big Acamis Tournament this year, how sweet!! It lasted 3 days and it was a blast!! Being apart of this tournament made me wish that I were back in High School playing. Of course this tournament was a little (or a lot) more upscale that the tournaments that I have attended. Michael outdid himself as the Athletic Director and had a wonderful tournament planned! We had a wonderful coaches evening at Aulon (all you can eat and drink) as well as a team dinner with more food than you could shake a stick at! Our girls, who had never touched a volleyball before this year lost every game BUT won their last match of the tournament. Everyone went wild!! There were tears, hugs, and lots of pictures taken. This was one of those moments that I will never forget, man were Katrina and I proud!!

 Our own Ping Pong Tournament at the boys’ place – headbands were mandatory.

One week-end, while Patrick and Joel were off coaching somewhere in China with the PingPong team a few of us decided to host our own BeerPong tournament. Headbands were mandatory as they were our ‘uniforms’. We played at the boys’ (Michael and Josh’s) place and my word did we have fun!! 

Kitchen Parties

The 3^rd floor saw a lot of action from all of us through the month of November . Not only with holiday events (Halloween) and special occasions but also with traditional Maritime Kitchen Parties!! You know how we Canadians love the kitchen.

Dinner Parties

Emma, Kelly, Krista, Patrick and I have been having dinner parties at Josh and Michael’s place (which began in November) and my word it’s wonderful. Having a home cooked meal makes such a difference in our lives! These boys have a full kitchen (this means they have a sink, a fridge and a true stove) and it is such a treat!! We’ve been taking turns cooking the meals, who knows what will be made next.  

Epic Medieval Party!

To say good-bye to November and Hello to December we had our much anticipated Medieval Themed Party. It was Incredible!! If you didn’t know better you would have thought you were in a scene from A Knight’s Tale – Patrick outdid himself again!! All we did was help put up the decorations that he had his students make for us. Haha This was a party that I will never forget! Who is lucky enough to go to an all you can eat/drink Medieval Party where they have wooden tables and stools, a pig-roast, a foe-fire-place and flags and drapes hanging from the ceiling? It was Wild!

 

Needless to say, November was a wonderful month!!

HIGHLIGHTS of Halloween

Well folks, Halloween 2012 is one for the books (my books anyway). Being in China offers so many costume possibilities (if you can find those possibilities in a normal size)! Normally Halloween, for me anyway, is often a last minute decision costume and I often say 'ugh, next year I am going to think of a good costume and be proactive'..never happened. Until this year that is!! A group of us thought about the copious amount of possibilities for a great deal of time coming up to the Big Day. We were constantly throwing out ideas to see the reaction, I threw Highlighters in there and it wasn't until the week before that we decided it was a good idea. 
We transformed Highlighters to 'The Highlight of Your Night' to 'We'll be the Highlight of The Night'! A group of us girls set off on a costume mission to Luoho, the craziest shopping centre (if you can call 6 floors of market style shops where people are constantly grabbing you and yelling "missy missy" a centre)....We wavered between costume ideas once we arrived, overwhelmed with the possibilities. In the end Emma, Kelly and I left with Neon outfits that would do us from Head-to-Toe...that's right folks. Neon Wigs exist in China! 

Once our costumes were ready we had to ensure that the Punch for the big Halloween Party would be wickedly yummy. To make sure it would be perfect, a few of us went to Patrick's room for a taste testing. We each made different concoctions and spread them around to find the perfect mixture. We may or may not have dragged it out a bit but found the perfect mix. Danger!

The Halloween Party was epic. Patrick yet again outdid himself (we're still not sure why he's wasting his time in teaching when he should clearly be throwing parties for important people) and the 3rd floor lounge looked wild! He even had lasers and a disco ball that went off and on with the music...

After our 3rd floor lounge shinanigans we all headed to D-Club where we danced the night away as the Hightlights of The Night...
'Oh What a Night' 

City Lights

 

Krista's Birthday Plan...
Plan A: a night out in Hong Kong. 
Depending on: our pocket books.

Plan B (made the week of the birthday): A surprise party on the rooftop of our place. 
Depending on: if Plan A couldn't work due to us being poor and pay-day not coming soon enough. 

Needless to say, we had to go with Plan B!! We were all both poor and pay-day didn't come soon enough. 

  Upon the realization that Plan A was not going to work-out at the beginning of the week I threw out the idea of cleaning up the roof and throwing a surprise party. Of course Patrick took my idea, ran a marathon with it and with his magic planning skills went to work on creating the best birthday celebration I may or may not have ever attended. THe rooftop turned out more beautiful than I had ever imagined! I had thought 'do a sweep, get rid of the broken chairs and rusting bbq.' He took the space and took it from drab to fab in an afternoon with a little help. I have never turned on so many fake tea lights in my life. All of his work was well-worth it when Krista walked onto the rooftop and saw us all standing there wishing her a Happy Birthday with the white tables, bar, music, and city lights behind us. It was hilarious and perfect. We ate, drank and chatted for what seemed like a good long time. The weather was perfect and it was such fun being dressed up and chatting on the roof with the beautiful lights all around us. When it came time we shifted the party to Coco Park where we danced and sang our way into the wee hours of the morning. 

It was a spectacular evening here in Shenzhen!!