Chiang Mai part 1

December 25, 2013February 5, 20173 Comments

We have been in Chiang Mai since December 21 and have one full day left until heading south to the beach. I will keep this brief as I know Jason will blog in more detail later! Sunday and Monday were spent exploring the city, markets, and temples! We threw in a few massages and even splurged for a fish pedicure! On Tuesday we took a cooking class which took us out of the city! Christmas Eve was spent listening to live music and chatting with a 64 year old Brit spending his holiday in the city! Today (Christmas) we went on a horrendous hike and mountain bike trip in Chiang Mai’s Doi Suthrep national park! We’ve had a fun and relaxing time so far and head to Bangkok on Friday! Wishing Everyone a safe and Merry Christmas!

Concerts and Holiday Party!

December 17, 2013January 23, 2016Leave a comment

We’ve done it! We’ve survived our 1st semester of international teaching! *Side-note: Jason still has 2 concerts this week* Otherwise we’re done! I had my concerts last week on Tuesday and Thursday and they were a huge hit! Parents, teachers, and administrators loved them! Besides the fact that we’re awesome, my co-worker and I think that our concerts went so well because we both come from being band directors and know how to run things! The kids were also really cute! It did make for a long week. Monday and Tuesday were spent rehearsing 2nd and 3rd graders with a full dress rehearsal and concert on Tuesday night. Wednesday and Thursday we did the same thing all over again with 4th and 5th grade. I also received 2 huge flower arrangements. The packaging is a little crazy!

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A vacation from the pollution jungle.

December 3, 2013January 23, 20162 Comments

This past weekend was a wonderful weekend. Angela mentioned that we had a great Thanksgiving dinner with our friends John and Catherine on Thursday. Friday we had a day of professional development that was quite enjoyable. We began the day with some interesting presentations from teachers who work at the Pudong campus (the other side of the river). I have befriended the music staff already from the Pudong campus as they play in a community jazz band with me. They were also in attendance, so I had the opportunity to talk with them. I attended a great session on the effects of moving to a new country, the depression that can follow a few months abroad, and some good techniques to deal with it. This session was intended to help students, but our friend Catherine (the guidance counselor) also aimed it towards new teachers. I went totally for my own benefit, and it was a nice session. I will add that Angela gave a session on technology that received raving reviews from her lower school faculty. At the end of our day, we had a happy hour on the field of the school. That’s right folks, beers wine and games. It was awesome.

Later that night I traveled to a town called Moganshan. Moganshan is a town in the mountains, about 3-3.5 hours away from Shanghai. Angela had plans to attend a Thanksgiving party, as did I, but she encouraged me to take the trip. Our friend Catherine organized it, and her husband John went, along with five other teachers. I was tired on Friday night, and not sure I would be up for the weekend away, but it was well worth it. We arrived around 11pm in the town of Moganshan, which is still a little rustic for being a semi-affluent seeming place. There was not a soul in sight. Luckily Catherine knew right where to go, and we soon found our accommodations for the night. We stayed in a hostel-like dormitory with communal bathrooms. A very rustic place, but very cozy as well. I read my book for a while before falling asleep. The next morning I awoke to this:

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Thanksgiving Part 1

November 29, 2013January 23, 20161 Comment

Jason and I had our first Thanksgiving abroad and unlike our family members back home, we had to work! It actually wasn’t too bad since we knew that Friday would be a professional development day! We started our week with a Tuesday night Sushi date! Even though it was only Tuesday, it was great to get out of our neighborhood and eat some delicious sushi! On our way home we stopped at a new Mexican restaurant to get Corona-ritas! Let’s just say, it was the perfect night cap!

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Bugs and Karaoke

November 6, 2013January 23, 20162 Comments

This past weekend was a very entertaining weekend for us Iowans abroad. On Friday night we met a few teachers for a drink at a nearby pedestrian street called “Golden Street”. For those of you who have frequented the Iowa City ‘Pedestrian Mall’, this is a similar sort of thing. There are a number of these pedestrian streets around Shanghai, but this is the closest to our apartment. We did not stay out too late. Saturday we had to play for the musical at school. Angela is accompanying the musical on piano, which is a very important job. I am playing trombone in the pit, which is not nearly as important of a job, but also means I can screw around more in rehearsals. There are several teachers playing as well, so I have plenty of people to talk to when I should be playing.

On Saturday night we celebrated a coworkers birthday by eating dinner at the Shanghai Brewery followed by a rousing session of karaoke. See below.

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Nanjing Weekend!

September 29, 2013January 23, 20163 Comments

It’s amazing what you can do in one weekend! This weekend Jason and I traveled with some other friends to Nanjing, China! Our travel group consisted of 8 people: Kathy, Heather, Boramy, Kat, John, Catherine, Jason, and me! We took the train from the Hongqiao Railway Station. This was our first time to this train station and it was very easy to navigate although it looks confusing. There was a minor security check that everyone was herded through, and then we just had to find our train number and platform. We were running behind and nearly missed the train. Our ride to Nanjing was very pleasant and comfortable and was only one hour and 45 minutes.

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Final Countdown

July 16, 2013July 16, 20131 Comment

The final 2 weeks (or less) are here! Since moving from New Hampton, Iowa Jason and I have gone to our respective childhood homes to unpack, repack, hang-out, relax, and freak out! I was lucky to spend 2 weeks at our family cabin with my aunts, uncles, cousin, and Grandma. I love going to the lake–it is my favorite part of summer!

Here we are celebrating my parent’s anniversary! Fishing on the boat!

We were also able to spend some time with Jason’s side of the family! We went on a bike ride around Okoboji! Here are Jason, his dad, brother, and uncles mid-way through the ride!

This past weekend we ventured to Minneapolis to hang out with my family and our friend Joe. We had a picnic around Lake Harriet, flew kites, grilled out, and had a great time!