Week 46 - The Hamster comes to visit

Jie Jie's class have a pet hamster called 'Cute Venesa', and she's on a roster system for playdates.  I am not particularly fond of rodent-y animals, and was not particularly keen on having this little one visit our house.  But Jie Jie was determined, and desperate, to have her come and visit... so she came for an overnight stay after school, sneaking in midweek as weekends are running out before the Christmas holidays.

She wasn't here long enough to really bother me, and she was quite cute.

Week 45 - Ding dong ding, everybody sing

These little cuties are in the Early Years Choir... the ones with Santa hats on are 4 years old, and the ones without are 3 years old. They put on a Carols by Candlelight concert (with a lot of help from their amazing teachers) to celebrate the newborn King, and of course the other festivities that go with Christmas!  

The cutest bit was when they all stopped singing and dropped their jaws open when they heard a loud 'Ho Ho Ho' from Santa Claus!  

Week 44 - Christmas Tree Lighting

It's not even December, and Didi has befriended Santa and is leading him around to meet his friends! This was at the Tree Lighting Ceremony at school where the Junior School Choir sang and mulled wine and mince pies were enjoyed by all.

Week 43 - Hongqiao Flower Market

This week I went to the Hongqiao Flower Market, for the first time since moving to Shanghai, 4 years ago - loved it!!  How and why have I never been here before??  Has everything, and does not have the same feel as the fake markets, but can still find a bargain as well.  

The flower section was beautiful and had everything from potted plants, to cut flowers and stunning orchids.  These gorgeous little flower arrangements are especially for Christmas, as the Hongqiao Flower Market really caters for expats, not locals.  They said these would last for one month, so I'll have to go back next week to get one, as we went a few days before the 25th!!

Week 42 - Shanghai Zoo

Took the kids to the Shanghai Zoo, with some reservations with reports of poor conditions for the animals, and ended up being pleasantly surprised.  The gardens in the zoo were lovely, and it was a great spot to see some autumn colour.  Most of the enclosures provided a reasonable amount of stimulation for the animals in the outside sections but the inside enclosures tended to be a little bleak.  Despite no feeding signs, it infuriated me to see people leaning over enclosure walls reaching to the animals and throwing in human food, usually junk food.

I loved the red panda - in Chinese it's name translates to Inferior Panda, but I think it is just lovely, and this name makes it really seem like the poor cousin!

Week 41 - Step into an Optical Illusion

The old Shanghai Slaughterhouse was an abattoir built in 1933, and is now called the 1933 Building. It is made of brushed concrete, and is a series of ramps, bridges and staircases, basically in a spiral, but with a vast number of paths down.  The ramps are quite steep, but rough and ridged to prevent the cattle slipping, and the staircases apparently provided workers with a continuous line of sight to the cattle, while keeping away and safe from the stampede.

The space is now used for exhibitions and functions and is a secret delight of Shanghai that we enjoyed visiting.  That's me and the kids posing on the distant bridge!

Week 40 - Trick or Treat

Here we all are dressed up for Halloween.  My family are all pirates and my friend's family are all witches and wizards.  We had a great night trick or treating around the Green Villas compound, and the kids collected a huge amount of loot!!

Happy Halloween!!