I absolutely love this month. I love celebrating Black History – And Black-Present-Right NowNess – There is still lots of good happening in the midst of this imperfect and troubled world that we live in. I am looking forward to sharing lots of history and lots of good that is happening currently.
Why is this month so important? It is important for so many reasons, but I love it because it honors the leaders past and present who have made such an impact on the Black Community and the world as a whole. This month takes us beyond history books – which often are incomplete – it brings us together – and it helps us to understand and realize the importance of our stories. This month is needed. The hope is that what is experienced and the conversations that happen this month continue on in the other eleven months of the year. That conversations are started and change occurs.
I am looking forward to a great month celebrating all that who have paved the way and all that is happening now. I love the celebrations and social media shares that happen this month. It’s absolutely beautiful
Please reply and share your favorite moment in Black History! I would love to know.
It’s pretty awesome celebrating the new year two times. Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year here in China. Yesterday I did some exploring in Shanghai and was able to walk across the Yuandang Bridge at the end of the city where Shanghai Province meets Jiangsu Province and hung out in two places at once. Here’s a picture from that adventure and a link to the article about that bridge (https://www.designboom.com/architecture/brearley-architects-urbanists-bau-yuandang-pedestrian-bridge-shanghai-01-28-2022/).
You will need to copy and paste the article into your search browser.
Here I am in two places at once – How fun!
Of course, I hope that you are doing well and I am so glad you are following my expat adventures!
It’s Wednesday – time for some wonderful news! I came across this post (recently- it is not today’s exact news) and it really made me smile – so I wanted to share it with all of you so that you too can smile. Also, feel free to share the post on your social media platforms. Sometimes we just need to read some wonderful-good news!
I hope to share lots of positive posts every other Wednesday here on my blog! So much is happening in the world around us and sometimes we need to see some good-wonderful news! Perfect for hump day in the middle of the week.
I am still in Shanghai! I have been here since Fall 2017 … what a journey it hasbeen….
WoW it is 2022 and we are halfway into January …. And since I am in Shanghai I get to have a new year twice. Chinese New Year is on the way and kindergarten has already ended for the term. Shanghai has a rise in COVID cases (not as many as my home country of USA) or as other countries, but the government takes precautions quickly so that all people are safe. We ended school 2.5 days early and our CNY holiday has begun. We have three weeks off from school and I am looking forward to sleeping in, being lazy, and having no schedule.
The last few weeks of school were very busy and sadly because school ended abruptly we weren’t able to do everything we had planned. When Term 2 begins we will have to regroup and be flexible and pick up where we left off. Until then I shall enjoy the holiday that is here.
I know when the new year comes a lot of people complete vision boards, renew or start gym memberships, and set goals for the year. I usually set my goals in four categories:
1: Personal
2: Professional
3: Physical
4: Financial
And I give myself until the end of January to think of these four areas and set my goals. I don’t have to rush it and post them on all my social media plaforms during the first week of January
This Year- 2022 is Year of the Tiger and here is a little information (that I found from the web) about people born inthat year.
The Years of the Tiger include 1914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022, 2034… Tigers, considered to be brave, cruel, forceful, and terrifying, are the symbol of power and lordliness in Chinese culture. In ancient times, people usually compared emperors or kings with the tigers.
Still curious about Year of the Tiger? Check out this link:
I am still enjoying my expat life in Shanghai. I am very safe here as we battle this pandemic in China and around the world. The government, the city I am in, my school – they all work very hard and quickly to make sure we are doing what’s necessary to be safe. I hope everyone is doing their part to stay safe in the midst of this worldwide pandemic. Wash your hands with soap often. Wear your mask when you are out and about. As often as possible, avoid crowds and large gatherings. Be Well Everyone!
Please reply and share your goals for the year if you have set any! I would love to read them.
“life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all”
– Hellen Keller
*I choose ADVENTURE*
Also … its winter, its cold, and COVID is here and sadly doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon. Here is an indoor workout you may enjoy. I really enjoy her workouts!
How has the school year started for you? For me it has been so busy with getting to know a new set of students, their names, and personalities. Getting adjusted to a new classroom and a new teaching team. There is a lot of new for me this year, but new is okay. I remember reading that “change is the only constant in life” and change can be very good. Nothing is the same forever. Change challenges and develops us, so I am looking forward to a great school year.
This year starts my 17th year in education and my 4th academic school year at my current school. I am teaching English kindergarten students at a bilingual school in Shanghai. I never would have thought that life would have me as an international teacher, but here I am, teaching over 7000 miles away from home and loving it!
Arctic Hare- Kindergarten Teaching Team
This is just a short post to encourage you as this new year has begun if you are a teacher, a parent, or even a student – keep pushing towards your goals and never give up! I started a certificate program two years ago and just completed it in August of this year. I now have my Certificate in School Management and Leadership from Harvard University and I am so glad I stuck with it and didn’t give up.
YAY! I did it!
We took a field trip to the Botanical Gardens. We had a blast.
We had a field trip to Chenshan Botanical GardensI always think of my sister when I see these flowers. She loves them and I love her NRG
In 2021 we are inundated with technology everywhere we look. If we are going to have it at our fingertips we may as well use it for good. If you have young learners here are a few websites that are great for reading:
I hope you find this information helpful and that you have a great school year. Feel free to comment with any comments, ideas, or questions about anything I have shared.
(sooooooo im a couple weeks late with this post … and well … life happens ….but here it is)
A whirlwind of a summer and a busy start to the school year already has me at my first BIG holiday in China. National Holiday = China’s birthday. National Day or National Holiday or Golden Week in China is celebrated on October 1 every year in celebration of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. There are lots of activities to celebrate this event all throughout the nation, but what does it mean for me? A week off of work! We are just a few weeks into the school year and have survived a delayed start to school because of COVID cases in my district near school, a typhoon, a national holiday – Mid Autumn Festival, and now National Holiday! Can we say busy? Yes, we can.
School is off to a good start, ya’ know, now that it has started. We had a very short delay because of the pandemic and then it was business as usual. This 2021-2022 academic school year marks by 17th year in the field of education. I still love what I do and over the last three years I have truly fallen in love with teaching young learners. I am currently teaching English to Kindergarten students at a bilingual school in Shanghai, China. To say it’s a breeze would be foolish. It brings challenges all the time, but I definitely enjoy it. I have grown so much as a teacher and as a person since adding international teacher to my professional resume.
a little blurry… but such is life in a kindergarten room… gotta move fast
We are super excited that we had the chance to have a field trip this year- lots of COVID-19 requirements in places for this to happen, and all the parents joining us made our trip to Chenshan Botanical Gardens an absolute success. See a few pictures below. We had a blast.
Mid-Autumn Festival OR Moon Festival is the second most important festival for families in China. It is celebrated on the 15th moon day of the 8th Chinese lunar month calendar. At school we enjoyed a really cool performance about the moon festival, in class we read the book, “A Big Mooncake For Little Star”, and we all made moon cakes. Mooncakes are Chinese pastries that are round and made with think pastry skin and can have many fillings. This festival is meant to celebrate friendship, fertility, and togetherness. This festival is also celebrated in Vietnam, Singapore, and Japan.
Now– It is (or rather was) Golden Week? And what does one do with a whole week off? R&R! I am so happy to have some time to rest, relax, and refocus as I prepare to return back to school. Here is a piece of my holiday -enjoying Shanghai Sculpture Park J
Venue: Shanghai Sculpture Park
Address: 1158 林茵路 /1158 Linyin New Road, Sheshanzhen, Songjiang, Shanghai China
Fee: 100RMB for adults – there is a lower fee for kids and other types of individuals
Metro: Line 9- Sheshan – Can take a taxi for about 20rmb or $3.10 (if youre curious of the US conversion) and its about an 8-10 minute ride depending on traffic.
The sculptures were very nice, the weather and AQI were both great, and there are different activities you can do while at the park. If you are ever in Shangahai (thought travel here is restricted for visitors right now) do check it out. If you live in Shanghai and have not been- make your way our of the city and enjoy a day at the park.
I am so glad that you all are still with me on this expat journey! I hope that you are well and I would love to know what you are reading these days if you are reading any interesting books. Please respond in the comments.
Semi long post about my trip to Chengdu and Chongqing! If you can’t tell I am absolutely loving summer holiday.
City: Chengdu
Province: Sichuan
Where is Chengdu? Chengdu sits in the southwestern part of the Sichuan province. It is most famous housing China’s most famous creatures – cute giant pandas. Sichuan province is also known for spicy food and hot pot so if you like these you should definitely try it while there.
Here are a few quick and cool facts about Chengdu:
+Giant Pandas
+Spicy Food
+The people move at a slow and leisure pace
+Leshan which is a neighboring city houses a Giant Buddha (I didn’t make it here and really wanted to see this)
+It is the birthplace of Chinese tea culture
+It has the biggest building in the world: The New Century Global Center. It was build in 2013 and is 99 meters/325 feet, 18 floors high and 1.5 million square meter/16 million square feet in area – ITS HUGE!
This was my plan while there:
1: Wide and narrow alley
2: Chunxi Lu- which has shopping and underground markets
3: Jinli Lu- an outdoor market area
4: Panda Research Base
5: Jiu Yin Qiao – a local bar street
I also wanted to visit: Dujiangyan Zhongshuge Bookstore which is about a 70 minute car ride from downtown Chengdu – and technically not in Chengdu even though the address says Chengdu. I just about always make it to a bookstore during my travels, but there was really heavy rain and I had to adjust my day. So bummed I didn’t make it here.
Here is the link to the article I read about the bookstore: I really hope I get to see this bookstore but I don’t know if Iw ill make it back here.
2: Chunxi Lu – Shopping, restaurants, underground markets
3: Panda Research Base
4: Dinner and hanging with friends
5: Nightlife- Orangutan in Lan Kwai Fong area
I did hop on the speed train and spend a day in Chongqing which I will share about later in this post so it made my time short in Chengdu, but I also got to see a new place. My trip wasn’t long, but I am glad I went. I crossed two places off my China Bucket List that I wanted to see and spent some time with friends during my summer holiday!
Chunxi Lu: Chunxi Lu is in Jinjiang District and is one of the busiest streets in all of Chengdu (it reminds me of People Square area in Shanghai). It is full of shopping, street food, malls, and restaurants. There is lots of space for people watching, trying local snacks, and walking to get your steps in (if that is something that you care about).
Also I showed up in Chengdu on a Tuesday- and I found a place selling tacos- I had to try one! Couldn’t complain. It wasn’t the worst taco ever for street food in Chengdu, China!
Taikooli: Nice Shopping area! – after shoppign its time to eat!
Shopping and dinner with friends: I met up with some lovely ladies who live in Chengdu. We walked around Chunxi Lu area and shopped in IFS mall. After shopping we ate dinner at Element Fresh (a chain restaurant in China). The expat life is full of adventure and its pretty much by WeChat (feel free to ask SIRI or Alexa or Google what WECHAT) is. I met these ladies via a ladies group on WeChat and since I was in their city we met up for some holiday fun!
Panda Research Base: This is what the trip was all about. The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding was about 35 minutes from my hotel in downtown Chengdu. My friend and I took a taxi from the hotel and it was about a 10 minute walk from the drop off to the line to get tickets. We had our temperature checked BEFORE getting in line and had to show our health QR code (something used in China to track your travels and if you’ve been in cities/areas that are low/medium/high risk for COVID – as COVID is still very real and the pandemic is taken very seriously here). Once we made it through the line we bought tickets and they were 55RMB which is about $8.48 USD – not bad for a day of fun!
It is advised to arrive early. A friend who visited Chengdu before me arrived at the site at 7AM. I arrived about 7:45 AM. Depending on when you go to visit the pandas if it is very hot many of them will not be out. They will be inside glass enclosures because of the heat. Some pandas were out so we did get to see pandas while there. It was hard to enjoy seeing the pandas inside the glass enclosures as the glass windows were super foggy and steamy. Hard to see and get good pictures through the glass.
One of the coolest things about the research base was seeing red pandas. I didn’t know that red pandas were even a thing until this trip. While walking we read the signs around the park and googled red panda facts. #alwayslearning
The red pandas look like racoons to me!
I crashed the boys trip to se the pandas- glad were all friends
It is a lot of walking, there are some steps, and some slight inclines. It’s a huge area.
Outdoor- MAZE- CORN FIELDS- IKEA – PANDA RESEARCH BASE-FOREVER WALKING AROUND AREA. It honestly kept going and going and going. You could be there all day! We left around 11:30 and really enjoyed our time. IMHO 3 hours is plenty of time to enjoy the pandas, but you could take your time there and be there all day and enjoy everything that the research base has to offer.
If you like animals and of course- pandas – then you will have the time of your life! I semi-crashed “boys day” with some of my friends from Shanghai who happened to be in Chengdu and were seeing the pandas also. Everything is better with friends and we really enjoyed ourselves.
Nightlife: China loves nightlife. You can always find a bar, KTV, or club open in China late at night. I got to check out Orangutan in Lan Kwai Fong area of Chengdu and there was a great DJ playing. There was a lot open in the area where Orangutan is late at night! If you like late night drinks – or late night dancing you can definitely find it!
All in all – I had a nice time in Chengdu! I made it to a new city and province in China, I saw the pandas, shopped a little, didn’t try spicy food or hot pot, and made new friends! This is what holiday is all about!
Chongqing is the largest municipality in southwest China. After doing some research (meaning I looked at a few different websites online I learned that China has: 21 provinces, 4 municipalities, 2 special administrative regions, and 5 autonomous regions. Chongqing shares borders with provinces of Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Shaanxi – ITS HUGE!
If you are wondering what a municipality is in China – they are large administrative districts that have to report directly to the national government but are not a province. China has 4 of these- Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Chongqing.
Because I was in Chengdu and so close to Chongqing I was determined to make it there if only for a day. It was only a one hour speed train ride from Chengdu to CQ and the cost was 168RMB/25 USD which was actually more than I expected it to be (prices could be as low as 85RMB/13USD or 96 RMB/14USD), but I did purchase my ticket last minute.
A friend gave me a tip of what to do with one day in Chongqing:
1: The cable car
2: See the metro go through a building
3: CIQI Ancient Town
I did one of the three because I also went swimming at a rooftop pool and to brunch with a friend. After swimming and brunch I went to see the metro that goes through a building and because of the weather and making sure I could catch the train back to Chengdu I headed back to Chengdu earlier than planned. If someone I make it back to CQ I have so much to see and do! I would love to make it back with more time.
I know I wasn’t there long! But I made it. How Cool!!!
Here are a few pictures of my day trip to CQ!
I asked someone to take my picture and they didn’t get the entire I heart CQ sign- I was bummed but it was hot and she took three pictures so we gave up!
Currently I am halfway through my summer and I am definitely looking forward to the second half of my summer as I continue to build great memories from experiences living as an expat in China!
Loving Life. Not loving this nasty panda ice cream.
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!
FEARLESS in SHANGHAI 