The first six months

We've been here for six months!

Holy shit. 

About two weeks ago, the homesickness really started to set in, at least for me. It cooled off a bit here, and it just reminded me that everyone back home got their sweaters out a while back. We did Halloween (which I posted pictures from on Facebook but I'll attach the link to the google drive at the bottom of the post) by running through a popular shopping area with a swarm of other kids, both foreigners and chinese, and they had a good time, but they missed going door to door with their friends and reese's cups and snickers (most of the candy was like, gummy burgers and lollipops or mints).

Of course they got sick right after, Oliver first, then Nolan, so we had one miss Halloween at school and then we had to reschedule Nolan's birthday party. Which was great! We only invited kids from our building, and a couple kids who's parents work/worked with Keith. He had a great time, and I got to chat with some of the mom's and I got introduced to an international women's group here in Shenzhen, called SWIC (Shenzhen Women's International..something). The following week went on a school field trip, they call it X Day (excursion day) and we went to a king tut virtual exhibit and the Nanshan Museum. I chaperoned and tried to speak chinese to kids which was embarrassing and a mistake, but it's a work in progress.

November plugged on, and I met with their teachers and some of the directorial staff- Oliver keeps having difficulty with communicating with kids at school which led to some arguments, and I had to talk with them about including additional differentiation of the curriculum for Nolan, but I am consistently communicated that the boys are adapting well to life in their school. Trying to catch up to the Math curriculum has been difficult, but I do stress to the boys that I'm not concerned about their starting position as much as I am concerned with their progress. The school uses Singaporean math standards and it really highlights how different American standards are. 

I found out that Oliver has been holding hands with a girl during class (my baby!) but her family is moving back to Korea this month and I can't help but feel sad for Ollie, but there are plenty of kids to hang out with and he is happy to have gotten to meet her. Oliver often complains about a few kids at school, but then he says he does have friends, so I just do my best to try and support him in dealing with people that suck, lol. As long as he doesn't start tackling people during recess like I did, he should be able to at least have a couple of friends!

We did Thanksgiving a day later on Friday (one of our adult friends also moved away and Thursday was her going away dinner) but I was so happy to have gotten to give the kids a little taste of home this month <3 We went to a Christmas Bazaar which was nice, we took some photos with Santa and ate ice cream and the boys picked out some presents ( for me ). Oliver won a Luigi plush from an archery booth, so I guess we have to sign him up for archery lessons now! We got BITTEN UP  by mosquitoes ( I'm covered in cream as I'm typing this) because apparently even though the weather is cooler they're still out in full force, possibly more ferocious than before. 

But we miss you guys. 

School can be hard, and the culture is difficult sometimes, and I miss being able to read signs and eavesdrop on the people around me. We're looking forward to our trip back home and getting to hang out with all of our favorite people. 

We're getting ready for Christmas now, and though it's exciting the opportunity to be here and go on vacations and have opportunities we would never have had otherwise its hard not being able to really share it with the people you love. 

the only photos I got of the kids eating Thanksgiving dinner lol 


love you guys <3

Kristen and the fam

photos:

Halloween: https://photos.app.goo.gl/pHopTQxqqZc9iLnK9

Field Trip day: https://photos.app.goo.gl/iDv3bn5AA2ZrAEmv5

Christmas Bazaar: https://photos.app.goo.gl/wLqAUKHQRTPje8Xu6

Comments

  1. LauraJanuary 5, 2024 at 5:00 PM

    Hi Nolan and Oliver! I am so glad to see you are doing well! Your haircuts make you both look very handsome. Everyone back at Simmon's sends their love! I absolutely LOVE your Halloween costumes! They made me smile :) I can't wait for more updates. Hope to hear from you soon!
    Love, Ms. Lilly

    ReplyDelete

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