Xiamen International School anniversary, etc.

On Friday we spent the day at Thomas's school, for their 10th anniversary celebration, quite a festive affair. The international school has about 350 students in grades pre K- 12. It was started in the hopes of luring more international companies to Xiamen, since their managers would have a place to sent their kids to school in English, although many of these companies, such as Kodak and Dell, no longer bring many employees here, as their holdings are managed by local partners or subsidiaries. So the school has also become a place where well-off Chinese with at least one parent with a foreign passport can get their kids educated in an English immersion environment in the hopes of getting them into an American or European university. Anyway, the day began with the inflatable dragons at the gate (above) --a must for any happy occasion in China, even the opening of a new supermarket -- followed by the expected boring speeches by local officials ( Thomas quote : "I might have survived these long boring speeches, IF they didn't have to be heard twice, once in Chinese and then in English AND if I didn't have to sit in the direct sun the whole time. ")


We arrived toward the end of the official program, having taken a 40 minute taxi ride to get there...the school is on the mainland in Xinglin, a suburb of Xiamen, not the easiest place to get to, but we were really aiming to arrive in time for the carnival to follow. At the end of the program there were small fireworks shot over the heads of the crowd..quite exciting. Not sure what our pastor or principal back home would say if I suggested we shoot off fireworks during our next school event!




Had to take a picture of these kids in their uniforms. They are from the choir of the exclusive boarding school across the street from XIS. Its called Ying Cai, and is apparently one of the best private schools in Asia. We agreed they looked like Madeline and the rest of Miss Clavell's students.

Parents had worked to set up booths with food and demonstrations from each of the home countries represented at the school -- really a very diverse group, including Spain, Australia Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, England, Saudi Arabia, and this parent from Ethiopia roasting coffee over a little coal fire. Canada and the US also had tables, but these were pretty halfhearted affairs.

On the soccer field was a carnival set up with games run by each class of the upper school. Of course there were balloons...

Here is Thomas in the 6th grade water balloon toss booth with one of his friends, James (most of the kids have English names they're known by at school) from South Korea.

Here is Thomas with another one of his friends, Daniel, who's from Taiwan. Thomas says he has about four kids that he considers good friends, though not well enough yet to see them outside of school -- plus the logistics are difficult.

In one of the booths a man was making animals of the Chinese zodiac by dribbling melted rock candy, which hardened as it cooled.

The finished product -- a rooster.

It was a full day, and at night I went to teach again at Join Kids, the English training school, and got up again to do it this morning. This morning I took Helen with me and while she was a little bored after a while, she found it interesting to see other kids learning English the way she learns Chinese in the US. Some of my students are in her class at the kindergarten, which was fun, and helped because they were familiar with the lesson, since I had used it on Thursday morning in her class. A parent of one of the younger kids told me that his son had been a classmate of Maya's last year (daughter of the previous Fulbright family here). So it was really a busy week of teaching for me as a non-teacher! Usually I will be going into each of their classes once a month for an oral English lesson to supplement what they are doing, but we squeezed all of October into one week. Its really a very professionally run place, and I am enjoying the other teachers.


This afternoon Helen and I went to the big shopping mall for some warmer clothes for our Korea trip coming up next week, and found her a bike as well -- just as pink as the one she left behind..so now we all have our own wheels at last!

We really have a nice courtyard in front of the building for riding and playing, and the next six days are forecast 82 and sunny. Of course, Thursday we leave for a weekend in Seoul, where I think it will really feel like fall.

By the way, for the curious, Yes I am still faithfully doing Tai chi every day, missing only occasionally. We do three styles, the first is the most basic, 24 positions, and while I don't have it memorized, I follow the main flow pretty well. then we do the "42" positions (complicated) and 48 positions (which generally leaves me muddled). The retirees who make up this group have accepted that I am not a nine day wonder and have started to greet me, even speak to me a bit, until I run out of Chinese after the third sentence or so. Of course my professor friend who welcomed me in the first place always has some ideas, feedback or greeting for me in English.

One more random, thought...yesterday was double 9 day (ninth day of the ninth lunar month) and that means, time to tell your elders -- parents and grandparents -- how much you love them and wish them good health. So one day late I send loving thoughts out to our families..we really are enjoying all the comments, questions and updates. Even though we are contented here for the most part -- we do miss you all!