The Kids First Few Days at School

Well, the kids have certainly slotted into school life here and they seem to be enjoying it although they miss their friends at home in Australia very much.  The first day was actually last Friday and off we all went on the school bus (I couldn't bear for them to go on their own the first day).  The bus leaves from the front of the apartment complex and it really is a good 3/4 to one hour drive in traffic although it really isn't THAT far.  Getting them out the door is the challenge of course but it does make it easier that I don't have to do the lunches - just a snack some days.  The kids seem to be liking the lunches provided by the school - they have a choice of an asian dish and a western meal as well as a subway sandwich type bar and fruit etc.  Of course there is that parent element (as everywhere) that only want healthy choices so Greg gets very frustrated when they ark up about the fact that the kids have a little piece of cake some days.  I of course want fat fat fatty foods for Charley but I think I am a lone voice :)
Monday was the start of the first full week and they have coped very well but I am not happy about the commute.  Leaving home at 7.30am and getting home at 4.30 makes for a very long day for these little people but the bus trip is pretty stress free and they just relax and play on their DS or talk with their friends.  Their timetable is pretty much the same as Australia with literacy and numeracy in the morning.  After lunch they have Chinese for one hour every day (it's amazing, after one week they have learnt some phrases already but they also have a Chinese speaking teacher in the class all the time, reinforcing the language so that probably helps.  After lunch they have specialist subjects - PE twice a week (Shay is doing swimming in one PE class), Music, Computers and Art.   I do think we are going to have reassess Charley being in Prep again.  He brought home his "reader" the first week and it is a phonics book for 8 letters to practice sounds (s m c t g p a o) and three letter words made up of combinations of these letters.  Oh dear!!  I am having a meeting with his teacher on Tuesday morning to discuss what we can do.   One of the other Mums said they did put up one little boy last year so its not unheard of.  Plus, he doesn't look so out of place size wise here.  There is one little boy in the other grade 2 class who wouldn't be much bigger than Charley and he just turned 8!!  So we shall see.
Starting after the October mid autumn break the kids will do after school activities twice a week, Tuesday and Thursday - anything from Kung Fu, Music, Swimming, jewelry making - absolutely anything.  I think it all depends on how much input is given from the parents as they tend to take the after school activities.  I guess I will have to step up and do something - just have to think of something I am half way decent at doing. :)  BTW in the photos, re the two different uniforms - the kids have a regular uniform (the pale blue polo and beige shorts/skort) and also a sport uniform (white t-shirt and navy shorts) which makes it a lot easier for me with the washing although the paleness of it all makes it very difficult for Charley to stay clean :)  Shay of course comes home like she just left the house!  

Where's Wally

Thank you to everyone for your kind words and memories of our wonderful, beautfiul, gutsy dog.  We appreciate it so much and know that she was loved by so many people.  She certainly was a star.  Didn't know one person or other dog who didn't love her :)  Anyway,after a very stressful few days that have been filled with so much sadness here in Shanghai, we have started to smile again and I thought I would try and update the blog with some positive and funny things that have happened in our two weeks here.  Firstly, our water restrictions in Victoria have been a constant source of frustration for Greg who not only liked but embraced and lived that time honoured Australian tradition of hosing the pavement.  Well, it is certainly not a thing of the past here in China and he is back in the zone.  What a Wally!!

Our Very Sad News

Well I have some absolutely devastating news for our family. Our beautiful wonderful Maggie died yesterday - she had a Hemangiosarcoma on her spleen - a very aggressive and hard to detect type of cancer. Maggie travelled beautifully to Shanghai and was her lovely bubbly silly self until last Saturday night when she refused dinner and was generally lethargic. On Sunday she seemed a bit better but I noticed that she seemed a little bloated. She managed a few little walks so I thought she might have eaten something nasty but on Wednesday night I got up about 3.00am and she couldn't get off the floor (although she didn't seem to be in any pain - just more bloated than ever). Greg had managed to find a vet here (a friend of one of his colleagues - a British guy who has been living in Shanghai for a few years). Greg called first thing and we took her straight away. The vet did a needle biopsy that was filled with blood so we knew then that she had a big bleed hence the swollen abdomen. They then did an ultrasound and found that her spleen had numerous lesions and also had a mass on her liver. We decided to try and operate but when the vet opened her up there were just so many tumours. He also took out about a litre of blood from her abdomen. He advised that the kindest thing for her was to let her go under the anaesthetic as she would have had a couple of months at best. I am just so sad and feel so dreadfully guilty that we dragged her all the way here but both the vet here and our wonderful vet David in Australia assure me that it had nothing to do with the trip and it was just bad luck and timing and the tumour would have been there for a little while. I also feel dreadful that I wasn't there for her at the very end to stroke her beautiful head as she went to sleep. I am glad though that we were with her yesterday and she was still wagging her tail and knew how much we loved her and it did give us an opportunity to say goodbye but I am just so so sad. She was such a great dog and so much a part of our lives and we will all miss her so very much. She had a good long life and I suppose that is what we have to remember although it hurts so much now. Shay dropped a biscuit on the floor last night and just walked away - I suppose it will take a bit of time to get used to the fact that we no longer have our walking vacuum cleaner :) RIP Maggie the Wonderdog!!