These two #ShanghaiBesties have taken summer holiday by storm! As soon as school finished we were ready for our travels. We headed to Hangzhou for a quick but lovely trip! A trip for two royal queens.
Hotel: Lyvcheng Taohuayuan Huanglong Resort Hotel
Phone Number: +86-571-88768833
Location: Hangzhou, Zhejiang China (City: Hanghou / Province: Zhejiang)
This hotel recently opened three years ago is about a hour from Hangzhou city center. My #ShanghaiBestie and I took the high speed train from Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station to Hangzhou East Railway Station and it about a total of two hours from Shanghai to our hotel in Hangzhou! We looked through a list of unique hotels in Shanghai and the surrounding cities and this one stuck. I saw it and I had to stay here. I am so glad that I did. We booked on http://www.trip.com – easy!
Everything about this hotel was beautiful. Our room was spacious and comfortable. The breakfast was a Chinese style buffet breakfast. It wasn’t busy and full of people which made it a lovely stay. What topped it all off was a fabulous photo shoot! I’ll share some pictures below!
The staff was kind and helpful. Their English skills were okay for communication purposes, but we survived with our minimal Chinese skills and our translation apps on our phones. There is a mall about 15 minute taxi ride from the hotel which you could check out and if you want to make the hour trip into the city there is lots to do in Hangzhou city!
“life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all”
– Hellen Keller
*I choose ADVENTURE*
This Royal Weekend in Hangzhou was the start of my summer holiday and the perfect way to start it! I still have about 5-ish more weeks and I plan on enjoying them all! Happy Summer 🙂 Stay hydrated and make some memories if you can.
It has been a long time (I feel like I am always starting like this), but I am happy to have a little time to sit and write! I really do hope that you all are doing well. I hate that I haven’t posted in a long time, but this kindergarten teachers life has been so busy and the end of the school year was a whirlwind!
Ms. K is on summer holiday! I learned so much this year. This school year- after returning from 4 months (I know shorter than other countries) of teaching at home – was a shock to being back in the classroom and learning the importance of in class instruction. Students needed a lot of help and there was so much work to be done.
Please know that I am definitely enjoying having a break from school and I am looking forward to returning to school next month refreshed and ready for a new group of kindergarten students.
I want to share one of our favorite activities we did in class this school year. I know I am on summer break, but you might find this activity fun. I did not create this activity so I will not take credit for it, but when we learn about the life cycle of a bee in class we always end the week with this activity. I will share the YouTube link I used for this activity.
Before the activity we learned about the following:
The importance of bees
The life cycle of a bee
How bees communicate
Beekeepers
What would happen if all bees in the world disappeared
Read the story: A Honey of a Story
There is tons of information for kindergarten lessons with bees. We watched a few videos about the life cycle of bees and how they communicate and added a clip from “A Bee Movie” just for fun. Once we finished with our lessons and worksheets that went with our lessons we did our fun bubble wrap activity.
Activity: BUBBLE WRAP BEEHIVE
Materials Needed: Scissors/Permanent Marker, Yellow Paint, Paint Brush, Paper Plate (for the paint), Bubble Wrap, Brown and White Construction Paper
How To: Look at my images below for how to do this activity and watch the video at the end of the post! Have fun.
👋🏾 Hi Friends! I have entered an essay writing contest and there is a really cool prize. Part of the voting 🗳 for winners comes from social media likes, views, and reads.
I would love your support. Please read my story and give it a like/comment!
💛 You can click (or copy and paste into your browser) this link and like share like this
⬇️⬇️⬇️
👋🏾 Hi Friends! I have entered an essay writing contest and there is a really cool prize. Part of the voting 🗳 for winners comes from social media likes, views, and reads.
I would love your support. Please read my story and give it a like/comment!
💛 You can click this link or copy and paste it into your web browser and like and
Here’s to enjoying the last few weeks of summer! and if you are looking for a way to exercise at home here is a fun workout you can do! you can beat the heat and stay fit!
It has been way too long! I’m excited to have a little time to share here with you all.
It’s been about a month since I last posted and I was sharing about another holiday. It is Sunday afternoon here in Shanghai and I am finishing my May/Labor Day holiday. It is also MOTHERS DAY – So if you are a mother- Happy Mother’s Day to you!
Labor Day holiday in China, May 1- was officially established and approved by the Chinese government in 1949. This is a public holiday and a day off for the general population, schools, and most businesses. This day was established as a way to celebrate and honor workers across China. Now, in 2021 it is a fun filled holiday that individuals, families, and friends use as time off.
What I have learned is that every business and school can decide how much time off- outside of the May 1 holiday- someone receive. I was lucky to have a full week off whereas most people had only May 1 off and some people had 2 days off.
I was so excited to have time off from work that I took my suitcase with me and headed directly to PVG airport once the school day was over. I was thrilled to take a flight from PVG to KMG since my initials are KMG but I never once saw KMG on any screen which is a bummer. KMG is the airport code for Kunming, China which is in the Yunnan Province in East China. I have been wanting to travel to Yunnan for a very long time. One of the main reasons is because I really enjoy Yunnan food. Shanghai is full of restaurants from all around China. You can find Yunnan, Hebei, Xinjinag, and many more types of food here in this big city. Outside of really enjoying Yunnan food I have been wanting to see these colorful rice fields. I did research about things to do in Yunnan a couple years ago and when I saw pictures of these fields it made it to the top of my “KMG’S MUST SEE IN CHINA LIST” I have just been having the hardest time getting to these fields.
Road Tripping Somewhere in China headed to see some colorful dirt
I really wanted to go to these colorful rice fields (Just google- colorful rice fields Yunnan China- its beautiful) but didn’t make it because of COVID numbers in that area that have since went down (of course the numbers are down now that the holiday is over!), but for safety and health reasons I decided to wait on going to see those fields.
I did find a great replacement – DONGCHUAN REDLANDS which is about 2.5 hours outside of Kunming. Found a great day trip using Trip Advisor with a bilingual tour guide and what I saw was breathtakingly stunning! See pictures below.
Spent more time in Kunming and I was able to see Dianchi Lake, Green Lake Park, walk through a huge mall, and eat some lovely street food!
If it is one thing China has – it is street food.
Dianchi Lake Dianchi Lake
Friends at Green Lake Park
Green Lake ParkStreet Food
I am so glad I had this experience. China is huge and there is so much to see here. I have a few more places on my list for this summer. COUNTDOWN TO SUMMER BREAK HAS BEGUN!
Just 8 more weeks. I will be happy when China’s borders open for easy, safe, and healthy travel in and out of the country. Currently, I can leave the country, but it is extremely difficult to return. Borders could close at any moment and I could get stuck somewhere. So, for now, I am in Shanghai – I’m in China … I’m safe and healthy, just not traveling internationally at the moment.
I actually have a holiday before summer break in June which is awesome. TEACHERS look forward to summer break! A well -earned holiday for a very tough job! I am looking forward to relaxing, traveling, sleeping in, and seeing more of China this summer and later this year.
All is well on my side of the world. School is busy! Who knew that teaching little people could be so busy? I guess I knew it, but wow! It is very busy, but also exciting, fun, and rewarding. Seeing the growth in my students is priceless. They have grown and improved so much since the start of the school year.
Also –Teacher Appreciation Week just ended. So, to all of the amazing teachers in the world- THANK YOU for your hard work and service that you give to your students. You are the worlds true heroes.
I like what Robert Frost said about teachers, “I am not a teacher, but an awakener” – daily I am given the opportunity to awaken new things in the minds of my young learners. I hope they remember their International Kindergarten English Teacher when they are adults and changing the world.
“life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all”
– Hellen Keller
*I choose ADVENTURE*
If you have a teacher who has made an impact on your life reach out to them and share with them. They will really appreciate the connection and walk down memory lane!
Just Relaxing
Here is some helpful information about the places I visited. I will update and edit it soon:
Green Lake Park No. 67 Cuihu South Road Wuhua Kunming, Yunnan China
Wuhua= District Kunming=City Yunnan=Province China=Country
Dianchi Lake (@Dianchi Hangeng Park) -Here is the English address. I will try and add the Chinese address later.
No. 1318 Dianchi Road Xishan District Kunming, Yunnan, China
Dongchuan Redlands -Arrange a tour guide. You can use trip advisor OR if you’re in China there are plenty of WeChat groups that can help you to find a driver/tour guides for the day.
I can’t share exact address for this. If you’re in China I can share a pin location with you so you can find it on a map, but you will need to arrange transportation to get here.
GOODBYE to Winter and HELLO to Spring! I am so happy that spring is here – one of my favorite seasons for sure.
WOW! Beautiful sunny weather – a healthy and safe AQI – and two holidays for me. This past weekend was Qingming Festival OR Tomb Sweeping Day in China and back at home it was Easter Weekend. Two very great holidays. Lets talk about both.
Qingming Festival: This is a very important day in China and individuals go and sweep the tombs and commemorate their ancestors. Tomb sweeping is a very popular way to show respect to your ancestors. Many individuals will travel to their hometowns to do this and spend time with their families. This is a national holiday in China so many people had the day off from work – and many businesses, shops and restaurants were still open.
Easter Sunday: For those who are Christians – Christ Followers – Jesus’s People – Easter Sunday is when we celebrate that Jesus Christ is our Risen Savior. Jesus laid his life on the cross and paid the full penalty for sin by becoming the perfect and spotless sacrifice. He came back to life three days after his death on the cross. This is celebrated all around the world in many countries with beautiful services, worship, prayer, dances, and preaching.
I enjoyed this last weekend. We have had some rainy and high AQI days so having sunny and healthy AQI days was very nice. I had a nice brunch at PLUMP in one of my favorite areas of town – Tianzifang – then spent some time at the park to see the cherry blossoms!
One of the coolest things I did this weekend was attend a Chinese Sign Language (CSL) workshop. I was so happy to learn something new – I definitely need to increase my Chinese language skills because they are lacking, but this will definitely help, so that I can increase my CSL skills, but it was a great experience for sure.
The days have been so busy at work and in life! I am happy to catch up with all of you here and I hope that you all are well. I have more to share soon!
Celebrating Friendship and the amazing people in my life.
It is the last day of Black History Month- February 28 and we are getting ready to start the third month of 2021. 2020 was one wild year and 2021 has had its moments already. I am ending this months post on a thankful note.
Denise! I am so thankful for our friendship I am also thankful for this new season and chapter in your life. I will miss having you here with me in Shanghai, but so much greatness is waiting for you. Thank you for being an incredible friend. I met you through my sister, but living abroad together we were able to form our own friendship and sisterhood.
remember this Denise? it was our first picture together! expat friendships – your marriage is beautiful!
We have been through good and bad together, happy and sad, but we have had a lot of amazing moments together. I will never forget doing SPARTAN race together and I totatlly felt like this is #ONEANDDONE but we did it and then we ate all the yummy room service we could call for!
From museums, to new restaurants, to Tacolicious, Suzhou, eating weird fake fruit that your husband told us not to eat, Xiamen, me never making it to Kunshan, holidays abroad, bookstores, hotel stays, NYE, birthdays, staring out of hotel windows and ordering room service because we don’t want to walk downstairs, and so much more – I am grataeful for our friendship.
I am reminded often of how temporary and transient the expat life is. It is always changing. I don’t let that keep me from making strong and meaningful friendships with the people that I meet here. Video chats and fun online experiences will keep us connected until traveling is normal is safe again!
Thank You Denise for being wonderful. I look forward to all that you will do and accomplish in your life.
WOW…. this is a poem that I feel like 90% of black girls memorized – OR memorized some portion of it! I remember memorizing it for a Black History Month program when I was younger. It’s beautiful and powerful and definitely a part of black history! Enjoy.
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies. I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size But when I start to tell them, They think I’m telling lies. I say, It’s in the reach of my arms, The span of my hips, The stride of my step, The curl of my lips. I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me.
I walk into a room Just as cool as you please, And to a man, The fellows stand or Fall down on their knees. Then they swarm around me, A hive of honey bees. I say, It’s the fire in my eyes, And the flash of my teeth, The swing in my waist, And the joy in my feet. I’m a woman Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman, That’s me.
Men themselves have wondered What they see in me. They try so much But they can’t touch My inner mystery. When I try to show them, They say they still can’t see. I say, It’s in the arch of my back, The sun of my smile, The ride of my breasts, The grace of my style. I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me.
Now you understand Just why my head’s not bowed. I don’t shout or jump about Or have to talk real loud. When you see me passing, It ought to make you proud. I say, It’s in the click of my heels, The bend of my hair, the palm of my hand, The need for my care. ’Cause I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me.
But let’s hear the poet and writer herself recite the poem ….
I saw this image on Google today so wanted to share
I know we are at the last few days of Black History Month, though we can celebrate moments in Black culture and history all year long – the expat in me wants to share about the Chinese holiday we are having today.
A few of my friends have told me that we always have a holiday here and sometimes it feels that way.
The Chinese Lantern Festival marks the end of Chinese New Year. During this festival children carry paper lanterns at night and solve riddles that are on the lanterns. Lanterns are simple to extremely detailed and ornate with complex-beautiful designs. Lanterns are almost always red and symbolize good fortune. People hang lanterns around their homes, in their neighborhoods, and places of business.
Tangyuan or Yuanxiao is something that is typically eaten during lantern festival. I am not a fan of it at all. Tangyuan or Yuanxiao are similar in shape and taste, but they do not have they exact same filling. It is: is a glutinous rice ball typically filled with sweet red bean paste, sesame paste, or peanut butter.
Tangyuan
Yuanxiao
Lantern Festival can be celebrated by lion dance, people walking on stilts, riddle games, and dragon dances.
You can read more about the lantern festival online. It’s a great time to spend with family an friends and look forward to a great new year.
Heres to learning about another Chinese holiday. I will continue to share about Black History/Current Moments in Black Culture and about my life as an expat!
Southern trees bear a strange fruit Blood on the leaves and blood at the root Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
Pastoral scene of the gallant South The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth Scent of magnolias sweet and fresh Then the sudden smell of burning flesh
Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck For the sun to rot, for the tree to drop Here is a strange and bitter crop
Strange Fruit
Recorded: April 20, 1939
Released: 1939
Genre: Blues, Jazz
Songwriter: Abel Meeropol
Strange Fruit – written by Abel Meeropol, (American songwriter and poet born to Russian/Jewish immigrant parents – and born on the same day as me). but recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939 speaks to the lynching of Black Americans – the words in this song compare victims to the fruit of trees.
Billie Holiday Quick Facts:
+Birth name- Eleanora Fagan Gough
+ The first African American woman to work with an all-white band.
+ Won four Grammy Awards posthumously for Best Historical Album
+Inducted into Grammy Hall of Fame in 1973
+Lady Sings the blues is a movie about her life
+Did not have children
+Nicknamed Lady Day
+ Changed her name to Billie Holiday as an appreciate to film star Billie Dove
+Inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2011
I listened to this song this week and it was gut wrenching painful and exhaustingly emotional to listen to, but it was the next track on the playlist I was listening to and I didn’t feel as though I could skip to the next track.
As I heard the words ring through my ears I could visualize what I was listening to. I could actually see it and feel it. It hurt – and it hurt most of all people I feel like this strange fruit is still present in many ways today. Being a Black American in 2021 is hard, so I can’t barely imagine what it was like to be one decades ago. This poem – This song – is a bit of the past brought to life.
I am sharing the song. Play it when you are ready if you have never heard it before. Close your eyes and feel the emotional behind Meeropool’s words and Holiday’s voice.
Of course you are welcome to share this post. If this was new to you I am glad you stopped by my blog and experienced something new.
Regina King! I don’t know where to begin. She is #blackgirlmagic PERSONIFIED for me! She has acted in films, had starring roles, supporting roles, directed episodes of tv shows (like Scandal and This Is Us – specific episodes), and had her film directorial debut with the film ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI – 2020 and she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Director. She was the second black woman to be nominated for this.
I remember Regina King as a child actress on the show 227! It was amazing being able to see someone who looks like me on tv. She was great in role as Brenda Jenkins and from there her career has reached bigger and better heights.
She is amazing. I was left in awe when I realized she was the voice of both characters Riley and Huey Freeman on the show The Boondocks.
It is hard for me to choose one film or one show where she stands out to me the most. She is excellent at what she does. I look forward to watching something if she is going to be in it and I would love to meet her in person and have afternoon tea with her one day. She seems very down to earth and someone who has wisdom and stories to share with you!
I hate to say out of the 17 movies on this list I have not seen them all! I am only 2 short and I wonder if one of my friends can guess which 2. I will also make it a point to watch them this weekend. Check out the list below according to Oprah Magazine – 17 of Regina King’s best movies! This article was posted on February 4 of this year.
I hope that you enjoyed this brief introduction to Regina King- because of course there is so much more that can be said about her!
Black History Month is almost over, but don’t let that stop us from sharing about the history, legacy, achievements past and current from Black Americans! Have a great day. Happy learning, growing, and developing.
FEARLESS in SHANGHAI 