Christmas Spirit

Alana started Kindergarten at the beginning of December and has absolutely loved it - especially the Chinese food. She has a boyfriend already, which is a worry, but she is enjoying herself and learning lots. The picture is Lauren wishing Alana luck on her first day. Lauren finished her year off by performing in the Christmas concert with the Year 1's. I hosted the Senior Concert which was pretty nerve racking because I had a translator (so if I messed it up she was there to repeat it!) One of the best things we went too however was a Carols night at Heather and Kevin's compound - we caught up with Frog, Amy, Shirallee and David plus a lot of other friends we have made, which made the night.

We even met Santa there (it's amazing how familiar he looks).

Christmas in Beijing

We had an amazing experience over Christmas travelling with our friends Dan-Dan (Dianne), Jim and Hugh. We ate a lot of Chinese food and tried a lot of new dishes thanks to Dan-Dan (she's Chinese), but had Christmas dinner at a Japanese restaurant - Lauren couldn't stop eating the Japanese food. We also saw the Great Wall, the Summer Palace, Tieneman Square and lots of cool markets (incidently, Beijing seems cheaper than Shanghai on the whole). We travelled on a 'sleeper' which took around 12 hours - it was a bit tough, but a pretty good experience (not sure whether Kamila agrees though - she didn't get enough sleep). While we travelled across the Country Alana watched the Wiggles!

Forest Park Fun Run

We had our first Fun Run in Shanghai! Kamila did a 2km, came 2nd female in 8.42min and I did an 8km and came 6th in 36.35min. It was great fun and lovely to get out in the park. Check out http://www.chinarunning.com/ or google gongping forest park to have a look at it. After the race we rode the roller coasters, checked out the horses, rode the train, go-karts and played in the park. Check out the

hair on the lady in the photo above (gotta watch those hairdressers in Shanghai!

Cruising on the Huangpu

We recently went for a cruise on the Huangpu for our friend Mari-eve's birthday. It was fantastic and definitely worth doing twice. We spent alot of the night with a lovely couple, Ben and Brooke from Oz.

Yew Chung Staff

Here's a photo of staff from Puxi and Pudong campus' on a family day at Forest Park (sorry about quality). Also a photo of some of our Century Park staff who bike to work.

Shanghai Duathlon 2007

Last weekend I completed a torcherous duathlon in Dishui Lake. It was a 5km run, 42km ride and a 10km run. There was also a massive headwind during the race which didn't help. I led onto the bike after the first run, but then managed to pull off one of the slowest rides of the day. However the great thing about China is there is plenty of sponsorship and my age group prize was a pair of bike shoes! I also met some great people, including a Swedish guy who I've been running with one Saturday (who ended up winning the race and a lot of prizes!). Our running group on Saturdays also include a French and British guy who are pretty fit.

Zhouzhang Water Town

Most people go to water town during their holidays, so we thought we'd join them! It was pretty crowded, but really interesting. There were lots of little shops selling trinkets, pearls, teapots and clothes. The gondolas travelling up and down the river were great, but booked out with an hour wait to get on! Our friend Mary-Eve, Wei-Wei and our 2 Ayi's (ours is on the right) came with us (pictured above near the lake). We hired a driver (for 650RMB, who took us out abound 2 hours from where we live. We had a Chinese lunch on the river and experienced a bit of culture..