Finish Summer week 4

My apartment on 25th (top is 32nd). Middle with the balcony in centre of photo.
My bike and I in corridor of school

end week 4 (Trail Blazer Mid class)
say no more!
ground floor new building temp accom for construction workers?
Goodness, send more moisturiser! taken by Luke with his old my new camera!

At the time of writing the Beijing games are only 5 days away and what I haven't learnt about the Fuwa or the Friendlies mascots isnt worth knowing! Teaching it everyday makes even the chinese phrases sink in. Just in case you didnt know....BeiBei, JingJing, HuanHuan, YingYing, NiNi are the 5 (Blue , black, red, yellow, green) representing the 5 original continents also remind you of the 5 olympic rings??? Well, the phrase "BeiJing HaunYing Ni "means "Beijing welcomes you" so even 3 years olds know the 5 mascots. Bei Bei (Fish)- Sea/water) JingJing(Panda) HuanHuan (Fire/flame/Phoenix), YingYing ( Tibettan Antelope./ earth) and NiNi (Swallow/ Environment). have a good look at their symbols http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/

to see the resemblances. BeiBei (swimming, kayaking etc), Jing Jing (Weightlifting), Huan Huan (NFI - I forget), YingYing (Athletics) and NiNi ( gymnastics etc and also represents the Continent of Oceania including Aodaliya-Australia). See, told you it was very important trivia, but for once I am nearly an expert and I can also unravel the mystery of teh Sydney 2000 mascots (Syd, Mille and Olly) but I have no idea about Athen 2004! Must have slept through that two weeks.

Teaching was reasonably uneventful. Continuing to please the "masters" which is good news for a intern rookie! farewelled 4 students from one class as they take their summer holidays ( pleased to see its not all work and no play). Made my first 'little one' scream on Saturday, she is only 2 and was a bit scared of a big yellow haired foreigner ( yes yellow not ginger, red or graying) but a bit of time spent with a page of Mascot stickers "brought" her aound to actually touching and talking to me as we sat on the floor for 20+ minutes. I felt great afterwards having melted a barrier or two with some time invested for the future.

I managed a hug from a 3 year old as well so my fans are growing as long as I don't give them too much homework I suspect!

Food wise, I have managed a mix of few home cooked meals of Chinese style and a good steak, mash, veges and mustard washed down with an Argentinian Red. Tonight , eating out was an Udon noodle beef curry which I have to practice how to eat in public - I can slop but I can't come at the China Slurp (the noisy enjoying of the food sound that comes with eating out with locals).

yesterday in a 4 hour break in classes I discovered an area of shops that include some bars and an Illy Coffee Shop, not bad but I say the best coffee so far is MacDonald's brewed coffee with milk (not creamer). Can't wait for a real Adelaide Flat White, I might just risk one at Adelaide Airport if I can afford it.

Two weeks of teaching left, I am glad that i am coming back ( fingers crossed) because there is so much I haven't seen and done yet in SZ, in fact I am not 100% sure on what there is to do, but I'll work it out later.

I bought some clothes yesterday, some3/4 pants, suitable for crawling between the crayons and the glue sticks in a small stars class, skirts not suitable. long pants too hot for summer school. An outing to Decathlon is like visiting Rebel Sports meets Snowys outdoors - tents and sleeping bags, backpacks and footballs plus a full range of outdoor clothes, badminton rackets and bicycles! home sweet home!

Start week 5 - and countdown to the Olympics with a day off on Wednesday.... thanks for reading so far, it must be winter back home with slow TV and bad weather.