A snapshot of our daily life in Country Garden...

Country Garden...

Kindergarten preparing to visit the PYP (1st Grade) for transition activities.  This is the hallway located just outside my classroom.  We are located on the third/top floor of the building.

 

These are two photos of classes that were given to show what 1st grade is like.  Basically they are putting on a demo for the parents, which you can see located at the back of the classroom.  It is a boarding school so they pay tuition and have choices.  They pay more for the international classroom (which I believe gets them English taught by a foreigner) vs. a bilingual classroom where English is taught by the Chinese staff, many of them have good English, but many do not.

My students get several different specialist classes throughout the week like dance, art, music, pe, and chess

 

Here are some photos I took on my walk throughout the Country Garden Estate.  It is a private community and you must have a card or permission from a resident to enter.  Our best guess is that between 2-500,000 people live in the establishment. Foshan the city in which we reside has about 2.5 million people.  Their are many apartment complexes like the one below, which we live in.  It is 17 floors.  There are also many homes, but many of them live with extended families, including the grandparents, parents, kids, etc.

 

 

We are fortunate to be experiencing so many new kinds of foliage. 

Mu Mian Hua or Kapok Flower

Kapok Tree

 This  red one is a Mu Mian Hua or Kapok Flower.  They are beautiful with relatively no smell.  I noticed people going to great lengths to collect them as they fell and even removing them from the tree with a net.  I asked around and found out why...this website also explains it in better detail.

http://www.thechinesesouplady.com/gossampinus-malabarica/

Ingredient Name:  Mu Mian Hua, Gossampinus malabarica flower, Kapok
Traditional Chinese Name: 木棉花  (mu mian hua)
What is this?

• A large, pretty flower which is harvested at full bloom (during the Spring) and then dried to preserve for easy use
• These flowers can be found on the tops of large cotton trees (which grow 12 - 15 metres in height) and are native to Australia and South East Asia

How do I prepare it?

• Rinse before use and put directly into your soup.

Where can I buy this?

This can be found in most Asian herb shops and some asian supermarkets.

What is the cost?

• 2-3 flowers (which can be used in one large pot of soup with 2-3L of water) costs under $2 CAD.

Any benefits?

• A diuretic (good for kidneys)
• Promotes blood circulation, reduces swelling
• May also help with chronic gastritis, gastric ulcer, diarrhea, dysentery, sores, and bruises
• Used by some to treat hypertension, diabetes, migraine, kidney stones, asthma, slimming, back ache, libido

Any precautions?

• As with most diuretic herbs, maintain proper hydration when using and avoid long-term use
   
   Gabe and Mason (and Hattie) have had the opportunity to practice a lot of basketball with Luke, but they have only recently gotten an opportunity to be a part of a team.  This a a shot of them warming up.  They play all their games outdoors, because the weather is beautiful.  They traveled to a near by town to play this game. 

 

Here you will notice the coaches, they have many of them.  The best part is, if you look closely, they are all taking a smoke break...add it to the list of things we usually don't see back home.  Luke has really had to step back and just observe, which has been difficult, but also comical at times.  We have noticed that a large percentage of men smoke here.   It is really cheap, some are only 50 cents a pack, but we heard they are awful. 

 

My kindergarten classroom takes an excursion out into the local neighborhood about once a month.  Basically it boils down to a nice walk for about 3 hours with 27 kindergarteners :)  This boy Alex was so excited to wear his cool sunglasses!

They are so cute!  They are very affectionate and the boys and girls interact with one another very well.  These students English names are Alex, Kevin, Leon and Maggie.

My whole class in front of one of the resorts in Country Garden

They love to pose :)

Located inside the building is a supermarket, restaurant, clothing stores and a pool outside. 

Maggie in my sunglasses

Oscar :)

Zach and Kevin trying to tie each other up...

This is Dou Dou or Kevin Chun looking sporty, his English is spectacular!  He was telling me about Coral Reefs last week.

Eilm...peace out!

Last but not least I had a student move in December.  She was adorable and always wore bows in her hair, she gave me this cup (with a bow) and I was so excited to remember her with this memento.  Much to my surprise when I opened it,  it said this...another point in the column of things we don't usually see back home :)