Lunar Holiday

 

It was lovely to get some time away from school and for everyone to take a bit of a break.  Reading books, playing on the computer, playing games, meeting up with friends and enjoying the warm weather filled up the holiday quickly.  Highlights were celebrating the Lunar New Year with friends and Korean comfort food, ice skating, a birthday party, and some yummy treats while wandering the Puxi side of the city.

Pip starts her gymnastics CCA this week and both girls are excited for book week upcoming.  We were happy to find a used bookstore where they got a couple of new ones that have gotten plenty of use already.

Happy "Niu" Year

As we start the Year of the Ox (Niu) we've made it through an ordinary January.  Pip lost her front tooth and was co-winner of a spelling bee.  She had to make a few projects and has been reading the My Pet Slime series and a series of plays.  She was also one of the dancers in the school's Chinese New Year assembly.

Nina has started reading Harry Potter and also had to complete a variety of projects, including making a 3D model of a yurt to connect with her studies of Mongolia.  She also wrote a paper about a climate activist which was picked by her teachers to represent this school in a competition amongst the 65+ other Nord Anglia schools. While it's been a good stretch of school, we're definitely happy for a break and we're ready to sleep in a bit.

Robin Hood performance

Nina's grade level performed Robin and the Sherwood Hoodies this week. Nina was Dancing Dave, one of the Merry Men in Robin's ensemble. It was a joint production with the grade level above Nina's. It's a cute adaptation with a lot of jokes, some of which went over the kids' heads. They performed for the younger elementary students midweek as a dress rehearsal - Pip loved the show - and one evening for parents to attend. Kara works with the year 6 students (5th graders) so she was treated to action behind-the-scenes.

We've put together a video of highlights for the grandparents. 

youtube link

Otherwise, we're just plugging along with school and work. It was an unusually cold start to the year here with temps in the single digits, which is very rare for Shanghai, and pipes were freezing. But the weather has returned to typical so we've enjoyed being outside again. Now we're looking forward to time off to celebrate Chinese New Year. We hope wherever you are, you're safe and warm and enjoying a peaceful month.

Halvesies & 2020

Video Link

Looking back on 2020 we are feeling fortunate that the girls had as smooth a year as they did.  While the world was thrown a curveball and little went to plan, they were resilient, hard-working, and played well together.  

It's quite crazy to think we started 2020 flying into Sydney and watching fireworks go off over the harbor.  Then, after a short stretch of school, we took a trip to Seoul and then saw all plans fall apart.  Trips to Tokyo, Mongolia, and Singapore all were lost as we started four months of intense e-learning when we did a minimum of a dozen zooms per day (despite skipping a few).  Separated from friends and family, the girls started teaching their own classes to us (Mandarin & Pip language), we were obsessed with tadpoles for a stretch, and we played a lot board and card games.  Overall, our problems were small compared to what many others are going through and we mourn over 1.85 million deaths to date.  We all got back to school for the last few months which, allowed for some closure as we finished our time at YCIS.  

zoom time, all the time    ------    Getting supplies for friends in quarantine

"school"           ------------         Disney trip with friends out of quarantine

Spring and summer meant we gave up a fair amount of personal freedoms - mask mandates, phones tracking us, and adjusting to quick-changing government policies, but ultimately we ended up with many societal freedoms.  Strict quarantine for travelers and a zero-tolerance policy meant a lot of inconveniences individually, but we were able to enjoy some of the collective benefits as we saw Mulan in the theater, gathered in large groups, visited museums, parks and tourist attractions. Ultimately, it has been educational for us to hear from a number of different people sharing their take in regards to their culture's views on the relationship between individuals and government.  

Fall brought us to a new school with new classmates, teachers, coworkers and jobs.  We are proud of the adaptability of the girls and we're proud of their bravery jumping into a new situation. 

We've now reached "half-birthday" week, when we recognize the girls' growth. Ben traditionally creates a video to reflect on the past year. 

We continue to pray and hope for a better 2021, for the health and prosperity of all, and a chance for everyone to be together with loved ones again.