After three long and gruelling days of overtime phonics camp, Bernard and I began our Chinese New Year 10 day holiday!
Phonics camp, you ask? Overtime, you ask? So phonics camp is an optional thing to teach over Chinese New Year and I decided to sign up for the first few days of it. I told Bernard to do the same as I'd be at work anyway so why not. From 8:30am to 4pm, Bernard and I each taught phonics. For those of you who are not sure, phonics are essentially sounds and blending consonants and vowels. One of my true loves! :) Needless to say, I had a blast. I love phonics and phonics loves me. Kids, however, are typically not the biggest fans of making the "p" sound and differentiating it from the "n" sound... y'know. Plus, it's the holiday. They don't want to be at school.
I had the older kids (6-10) so I was on cloud 9 about my phonics camp. My kids were mature enough to understand and old enough for me to be like "Stop speaking Chinese... this is an English camp". And for the most part, they got it and I was spared countless headaches. Bernard enjoyed his camp too, but he had the younger kids, so he cried blood more often. He did come up with this WICKED phonics game called "Sound Zombies" where all the people make a sound (I chose L because my kids have a hard time saying it). The zombie walks around saying R and if a person gets caught by a zombie, they change their sound from L to R. Educational!!!!! AND the kids effing LOVE it. Bernard said a lot of his kids were scared of it (hah) but my kids (I had a LOT of boys) went apeshit over it. I used that game as an incentive to do the more "boring" things like recite tongue twisters and listen intently as Teacher Sarah said things in a perfect North American accent to which they must try to mimic. For the most part, I had the BEST time. It was an excellent way to cap off my work week and it made the CNY holiday that much more refreshing when it began.
On our first night after completing phonics camp, we stuffed our faces with delicious Muslim food (I miss Abu Dhabi sometimes, and having a Muslim restaurant RIGHT down the street is BLISSSSSS) and then had some drinks and lit off some fireworks. The next night, more eating, drinking, and MORE fireworks. This night Bernard and I were stumbling home from a friend's place when we saw a complete intersection pretty much blocked off. We strolled over and some random British dude was setting up what looked like an epic display of fireworks, firecrackers, and other flammable shit. We HAD to see this. He had boxes upon boxes of fireworks in the middle of the intersection and rows of firecrackers like sun spokes rolled out into the street. Cars were stopped and honking to get through. Finally, he lit them off and we didn't think the firecrackers would connect and make a huge display... we thought they'd fizzle out like ours did a night previous. An eruption of sound and smoke happened when four dudes lit the end of each firecracker. The crackers popped and sizzled until hitting the centre of the display and then KABLAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMM! A giant fireworks display and an eruption of sound and light. I covered my face and was like OMGGGGG. I had NEVER seen fireworks THIS close before. One piece of shrapnel bounced off my foot!! It was CRAZY. Only in China! :)
OH! I forgot to mention. Our first day of holidays began with a puppy!
Our friend was going to visit his fiancee's parents in another town and couldn't bring his dog, obviously, so naturally the dog lovers we are, we said we'd take her for the week. She's currently on my lap making this blog incredibly hard to write, but HEY, at least she's not pissing on the floor!! Damn dog...
Anyway, so every time we came home from eating or drinking or a nice casual stroll because we had nowhere to be (I love holidays), we'd be greeted by BaiBai! The puppy who pees too much. Seriously, I think she has a problem. But AAWWWW:
So a couple of days into the holiday the weather was perfect. When I say perfect, I mean sunshine for days, little pollution, and temperatures SO nice it might as well be May in Ontario!!!! Bernard and I took this opportunity to stroll around our area and explore. We walked around forever. It was amazing. Seeing people walk around and smile because it's all sunny and such... it was perfect. Shanghai isn't usually SUPER sunny. And people aren't usually outside as much because of pollution. So that was a beautiful day.
One thing that's kind of sucky about CNY is that most places are closed. And by most, I mean like ALL places. All the workers go back to their hometowns, naturally, as they should. But can you imagine a big city like Shanghai and NOTHING being open! Some things are open, and because the New Year is 2 weeks long, some things only close for a week or a few days, which is nice, but generally, things are full on closed. We're waiting for our xiaolongbao place to open again. Soup dumplings? Omgggg. Come to China. I will take you there!
So this CNY has been a lot of lounging, eating, discovering, relaxing, and just spending time together. Bernard and I work a LOT and only get one full day together when we're working, so it's been nice to enjoy some dinners together at a reasonable hour!!! We haven't done that at all, haha, seeing as we both work until 9pm.
We both really like China. I really want to beef up my Mandarin skills so I can grocery shop alone and with ease. Bernard is better at blindly walking through a Mandarin conversation, and he is the one who gets approached because of his highly Asian appearance. Me? Nope. I really want to be able to bust out a little Chinese and freak out the old women who yell at me, God knows why. Probably because I'm so damn beautiful. *flips hair*
Apparently, this is the only BIG holiday we get all year, so we're making the most of it. I've gained several inches on my stomach and we've spent LOADS of hard earned quay (kuh-why) on food and it's been great. Life is good. Life is really good.
Sidebar: As first time parents to a puppy, Bernard and I are now in full agreement that we are not ready for a dog. Between the whining and the early rising and the muffled curse words from him, it's a love-hate relationship with this puppy. Bernard tries to reason with her and it's hilarious. We love her, but we're over her. She's like a baby with fur. Also, she likes Bernard more than me because I'm bad cop.
But the other day I think I scared the daylights out of her when she peed on Bernard's pillow and I Optimus Prime chucked her onto the balcony after a soft bat to the head and a solid Arabic scream NO! Now, I think she respects me and she's been very cuddly and gravitating towards me.
This is a solid life lesson: If you stand your ground and are firm but reasonable, little things (kids/puppies) will like you and respect you.
But yea, now Bernard's jealous and our marriage just doesn't need that. :) Hah!! I jest. It's been cool being "parents" for our week off. Parents who get to leave their little one outside? That's my kind of BaiBai. :)
AAWWWW!!! She just circled and plopped down beside me. That's my favourite thing dogs do. Alas, I need a pastry. I haven't been NOT hungry since before Chinese New Year and I'll allow it. :)
Yours,
The Wuns-on-vacation
P.S. For those of you who can handle the cute, here's BaiBai falling asleep in Bernard's arms. It's with great willpower that I'm not with child... just saying:
Phonics camp, you ask? Overtime, you ask? So phonics camp is an optional thing to teach over Chinese New Year and I decided to sign up for the first few days of it. I told Bernard to do the same as I'd be at work anyway so why not. From 8:30am to 4pm, Bernard and I each taught phonics. For those of you who are not sure, phonics are essentially sounds and blending consonants and vowels. One of my true loves! :) Needless to say, I had a blast. I love phonics and phonics loves me. Kids, however, are typically not the biggest fans of making the "p" sound and differentiating it from the "n" sound... y'know. Plus, it's the holiday. They don't want to be at school.
I had the older kids (6-10) so I was on cloud 9 about my phonics camp. My kids were mature enough to understand and old enough for me to be like "Stop speaking Chinese... this is an English camp". And for the most part, they got it and I was spared countless headaches. Bernard enjoyed his camp too, but he had the younger kids, so he cried blood more often. He did come up with this WICKED phonics game called "Sound Zombies" where all the people make a sound (I chose L because my kids have a hard time saying it). The zombie walks around saying R and if a person gets caught by a zombie, they change their sound from L to R. Educational!!!!! AND the kids effing LOVE it. Bernard said a lot of his kids were scared of it (hah) but my kids (I had a LOT of boys) went apeshit over it. I used that game as an incentive to do the more "boring" things like recite tongue twisters and listen intently as Teacher Sarah said things in a perfect North American accent to which they must try to mimic. For the most part, I had the BEST time. It was an excellent way to cap off my work week and it made the CNY holiday that much more refreshing when it began.
On our first night after completing phonics camp, we stuffed our faces with delicious Muslim food (I miss Abu Dhabi sometimes, and having a Muslim restaurant RIGHT down the street is BLISSSSSS) and then had some drinks and lit off some fireworks. The next night, more eating, drinking, and MORE fireworks. This night Bernard and I were stumbling home from a friend's place when we saw a complete intersection pretty much blocked off. We strolled over and some random British dude was setting up what looked like an epic display of fireworks, firecrackers, and other flammable shit. We HAD to see this. He had boxes upon boxes of fireworks in the middle of the intersection and rows of firecrackers like sun spokes rolled out into the street. Cars were stopped and honking to get through. Finally, he lit them off and we didn't think the firecrackers would connect and make a huge display... we thought they'd fizzle out like ours did a night previous. An eruption of sound and smoke happened when four dudes lit the end of each firecracker. The crackers popped and sizzled until hitting the centre of the display and then KABLAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMM! A giant fireworks display and an eruption of sound and light. I covered my face and was like OMGGGGG. I had NEVER seen fireworks THIS close before. One piece of shrapnel bounced off my foot!! It was CRAZY. Only in China! :)
OH! I forgot to mention. Our first day of holidays began with a puppy!
Anyway, so every time we came home from eating or drinking or a nice casual stroll because we had nowhere to be (I love holidays), we'd be greeted by BaiBai! The puppy who pees too much. Seriously, I think she has a problem. But AAWWWW:
So a couple of days into the holiday the weather was perfect. When I say perfect, I mean sunshine for days, little pollution, and temperatures SO nice it might as well be May in Ontario!!!! Bernard and I took this opportunity to stroll around our area and explore. We walked around forever. It was amazing. Seeing people walk around and smile because it's all sunny and such... it was perfect. Shanghai isn't usually SUPER sunny. And people aren't usually outside as much because of pollution. So that was a beautiful day.
One thing that's kind of sucky about CNY is that most places are closed. And by most, I mean like ALL places. All the workers go back to their hometowns, naturally, as they should. But can you imagine a big city like Shanghai and NOTHING being open! Some things are open, and because the New Year is 2 weeks long, some things only close for a week or a few days, which is nice, but generally, things are full on closed. We're waiting for our xiaolongbao place to open again. Soup dumplings? Omgggg. Come to China. I will take you there!
So this CNY has been a lot of lounging, eating, discovering, relaxing, and just spending time together. Bernard and I work a LOT and only get one full day together when we're working, so it's been nice to enjoy some dinners together at a reasonable hour!!! We haven't done that at all, haha, seeing as we both work until 9pm.
We both really like China. I really want to beef up my Mandarin skills so I can grocery shop alone and with ease. Bernard is better at blindly walking through a Mandarin conversation, and he is the one who gets approached because of his highly Asian appearance. Me? Nope. I really want to be able to bust out a little Chinese and freak out the old women who yell at me, God knows why. Probably because I'm so damn beautiful. *flips hair*
Apparently, this is the only BIG holiday we get all year, so we're making the most of it. I've gained several inches on my stomach and we've spent LOADS of hard earned quay (kuh-why) on food and it's been great. Life is good. Life is really good.
Sidebar: As first time parents to a puppy, Bernard and I are now in full agreement that we are not ready for a dog. Between the whining and the early rising and the muffled curse words from him, it's a love-hate relationship with this puppy. Bernard tries to reason with her and it's hilarious. We love her, but we're over her. She's like a baby with fur. Also, she likes Bernard more than me because I'm bad cop.
Here's Bernard with his little helper while he's cooking. (She ate from the garbage and now she's not allowed in the kitchen. HAH!)
This is a solid life lesson: If you stand your ground and are firm but reasonable, little things (kids/puppies) will like you and respect you.
But yea, now Bernard's jealous and our marriage just doesn't need that. :) Hah!! I jest. It's been cool being "parents" for our week off. Parents who get to leave their little one outside? That's my kind of BaiBai. :)
AAWWWW!!! She just circled and plopped down beside me. That's my favourite thing dogs do. Alas, I need a pastry. I haven't been NOT hungry since before Chinese New Year and I'll allow it. :)
Yours,
The Wuns-on-vacation
P.S. For those of you who can handle the cute, here's BaiBai falling asleep in Bernard's arms. It's with great willpower that I'm not with child... just saying:
The best of friends. Dogs > Cats
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