Morning Ride

 

Dear Friends,

Over the summer we discovered great bike paths along the waterfront on both sides of the river. Sunday morning rides have been beautiful. 

Love,

Heather and Bradley

Fabulous Shanghai

Dear Friends,

All good things must come to an end and after seven wonderful days at the beach, it was time to head home to Shanghai. The arrival was much different than our arrival back in March. There were plenty of people working in hazmat suits, our temperature was taken and we were required to show our green health code and then we sailed out to baggage claim. This lovely sign welcomed us back to what is a truly fabulous city!

Love,

Heather and Bradley

Pleasantly Surprised

Dear Friends,

When others have talked about going to the "Hawaii of China" as Sanya has been called, we were not convinced that it would be that great. We were pleasantly surprised by the beautiful beach. We more than likely would have not traveled there if we were not stuck in China for the summer. Now we think it could be our favorite place to travel to until we are permitted to leave and re-enter China again. 

Love,

Heather and Bradley

Salted Egg Chips

Dear Friends,

Of all the things we tried on this trip, we were not up for these. We'd put these in a class with cucumber flavored chips. No thank you!

Love,

Heather and Bradley

Summer Treats

Dear Friends,

This corn was by far the best thing we had for dinner the week we were in Sanya. It was grilled with delicious spicy butter. Yum!

Love,

Heather and Bradley

Morning Walk

Dear Friends,

While it was way too hot to run on the beach in the mornings, I did manage a walk on the beach after a run on the treadmill in the air conditioning. Such a peaceful way to start the day.

Love,

Heather

Photoshoot

Dear Friends,

We thought water sports would be a big activity on the beach. We were clearly wrong. Every morning and evening people showed up in their finest clothing and full makeup for photoshoots with professional photographers. We could barely stay out of their way as we walked to dinner each night. We didn't partake this time around.

Love,

Heather and Bradley

Coconut

Dear Friends,

I love fresh coconut and try to get these whenever we travel around Southeast Asia. The coconut in Sanya was a bit different and more difficult to get into than those in Thailand. Luckily, the waitstaff cut this one apart and left me to struggle to get out the flesh with a knife. So worth the time and energy!

Love,

Heather

Water Sports

Dear Friends,

There were a variety of water sports available on our beach-jet skis, parasailing, and banana boats to name a few. While we talked about doing some of those we never did. I did manage to buy an inner tube which I believe was the best choice. I spent hours out in the South China Sea floating around in the waves.

Love,

Heather

Breakfast

Dear Friends,

The Sheraton we stayed at in Sanya had a full breakfast buffet with every type of Chinese breakfast food you could imagine and a fair amount of western dishes too. By far my favorite were these delicious, tangy and sweet passion fruit. 

Love,

Heather

Beach

Dear Friends,

The mountains were nice but I'll take the beach over those any day.

Love,

Heather

Peet's Coffee

Dear Friends,

A Peet's Coffee opened up across the street from our apartment. It was a great place to escape to when wanting to get out of the apartment and the rain this summer. The shop has excellent windows for people watching. 

Love,

Heather

Bonfire

Dear Friends,

This may be the closest we get to a bonfire this summer. While nice, it is not quite the same.

Love,

Heather and Bradley

Cribbage

Dear Friends,

Brad has played Cribbage with his family his whole life. He has been patiently teaching me how to play every vacation. It has taken years and I am finally getting the hang of it. I will never be up to the Newell's caliber or that of my friend Robin. 

Love,

Heather

Rural China

Dear Friends,

It was nice to be seeing a bit of rural China since we spend most of our time in a huge city. 

Love,

Heather and Bradley

Bamboo Forest

Dear Friends,

The weather somewhat cooperated for one day when we were in Moganshan with overcast skies and a few sprinkles. This gave us a chance to get out and explore the bamboo forest surrounding our accommodation. The Chinese speaking driver dropped us off at the trailhead with some directions in Mandarin and told us to message him when we needed to be picked up. We headed off onto the trail. All was going well until the trail split in two directions. The maps posted in Mandarin were not helpful. We walked for a while, ended up in the small town, followed another trail for a while until it suddenly stopped 3/4 of the way up the mountain. We ended up backtracking and walking all the way back to our hotel. It was not the 10km hike we thought we were heading out on but it was still an adventure. 

Love,

Heather and Bradley

Moganshan Beer

Dear Friends,

As you can see, our accommodation was not near anything else. There was one beer on offer, Moganshan beer. We'd say it was comparable to Miller Lite. Not something we will be searching around Shanghai for. 

Love,

Heather and Bradley

Moganshan

Dear Friends,

From Hangzhou, we took a 13-minute high-speed train ride and an hour car ride to the mountains near Shanghai. This is a location we have been trying to get to for the last eight years. Finally made it! The view from the hotel patio was beautiful!

Love,

Heather and Bradley

West Lake Sunset

Dear Friends,

After a couple days of overcast skies, we were rewarded with a beautiful sunset over West Lake our last night in Hangzhou.

Love,

Heather and Bradley

Shared Bikes

Dear Friends,

One of the things we love about living here is the numerous modes of transportation-metro, scooters, and bikes. The best are the shared bikes that are all over town. You just need the app to scan the QR code which unlocks the bike and it is yours to ride for as long as you like. You can drop them anywhere it is legal to park a bike in town. These were just what we needed after a 3-hour walk around West Lake with a few kilometers still to go.

Love,

Heather and Bradley

West Lake Hangzhou

Dear Friends,

We had been to the city of Hangzhou for a weekend before during the Golden week holiday in October. Traveling during a holiday week in China is not recommended unless you love NYC New Year's Eve or Mardi Gras level crowds. This time we went for a weekend in the summer and booked a hotel near the famous West Lake. We were lucky the rain held off for the day and we spent several hours walking around the lake. 

Love,

Heather

Mercato

Dear Friends,

One of our favorite restaurants in Shanghai is Mercato, a beautiful Italian place down on The Bund. We were delighted to discover they have another restaurant in Hangzhou. We had been looking forward to dinner here all week and the meal did not disappoint. 

Love,

Heather

Shanghai Natural History Museum

Dear Friends,

I ran a few errands one morning and then took some time to explore the Shanghai Natural History Museum. This museum has only been open since 2015 and still feels brand new. There are numerous exhibits that could easily entertain some people for days. I made it about 90 minutes before getting overwhelmed with all the information. May have to get back there another time!

Love,

Heather

Historic Shanghai-Julu Lu

Greenery in the lane

Old vs. New

Peeking into the lane.

Transportation or planter?

Dear Friends,

It is so unusual for us to be in Shanghai without having to work. We have been trying to make the most of the opportunities here that are usually not available to us as we are working. I joined a Historic Shanghai walking tour down one of the busier streets here in town-Julu Road. It is amazing what is hidden behind the walls and down alleys. Historic Shanghai is run by passionate historians that love to share their knowledge with others. It was a great tour and after 2 1/2 hours on four blocks, I had my fill of history. 

Love,

Heather

Doors to Nowhere

Dear Friends,

When leaving a friend's house the other day, Brad asked me to stop and have a look at the building next door. What what the architect of this building thinking? Certainly hope they are all locked!

Love,
Heather

Hot Humid Shanghai Mornings

Dear Friends,

School is out and I am trying to continue running during the rainy season here in Shanghai. As we leave in mid-June to head back to North America each summer, I had no idea how long the Plum Rain season lasted. It is still going strong. Some days I am better than others at getting out in the hot, wet, humid mess. Not very comfortable but it sure is pretty.

Love,
Heather

50th

Dear Friends,

My 50th birthday fell the day before we were expecting students back on campus. My lovely colleagues treated me to cake and a whole box full of thoughtfully written birthday notes from our campus and others around the system, including one fifth grade student I've know since she was in our Pre-Kindergarten program. My sweet husband bought me all kinds of beautiful flowers. Not the usual celebration but I certainly felt celebrated.

Love,
Heather

Virtual, Physically Distanced Celebration

Dear Friends,

Every year our whole campus of 70+ faculty and staff meet in our gym for our end of the year celebration. Having that number of people in one space wasn't possible this year. We wanted to be sure to celebrate the end of this school year and stay good-bye to those moving on. Another challenge was how to include those that unfortunately did not make it back into China due to the border restrictions. We used Microsoft teams to include everyone and those on campus meet in grade-level teams or departments to join in. Lots of people joined in to make this work including our sunshine committee that made and ran videos for departing teachers, our cafeteria staff that cooked a delicious brunch, and our facilities/cleaning staff that delivered prosecco and other drinks to classrooms for our celebration. It turned out to be an enjoyable if different, celebration. 

Love,

Heather

Physical Distancing in the Early Years

Dear Friends,

Our teachers worked out many ways to physically distance our students to the greatest extent possible. From "bubbles" on the carpet in our two-year-old program to happy face stickers on the stairs to trunk to tail-walking inspired by a children's book. The students did their best to keep their distance from friends.

Love,
Heather