wednesday after school riley and i ventured with 2 other guys and a friend who speaks chinese to a local taylor...what an adventure! we climbed to the third floor of an apartment building and opened the door to an apartment turned business full of sewing machines and fabric! This particular day was the workers one day out of 2 weeks off so the machines were sitting idol. we went into one of the back rooms and started looking through books for pictures of tuxedos, suits and dresses. We were told that we could get clothes made here for a fraction of most of the taylors that expatriats go to. So we all ended up picking out fabric and getting measured for the big holiday part that our school puts on in december at a hotel downtown. we did get some pictures with somebody else's camera...we will have to try to get them on the blog soon. For around $200 TOTAL riley got a full suit including pants, jacket, shirt, vest, tie and laurie got a dress (that will expand if necessary since the party is 4 weeks away!). most of the places we looked at going to it would have cost about 200 bucks apiece for a dress and for a suit! so we are very happy to have saved money for outfits we won't wear very often. Riley's suit is very nice so he could definitely wear his again. he really wanted to get a chinese-style tuxedo but he went witha more traditional look-he will look sharp! we will have to take pictures of the results...it was quite an experience! we may try to go back and have some dress clothes made in the future.
I just finished 2 days worth of conferences. of my 90 kids, i had about 68 conferences packed into the two days thurs/fri. Conferences are scheduled every 10 minutes for math teachers b/c so many parents want to talk to them. The other teachers get a really good turnout as well but teachers don't feel quite the urgency to talk with them like they do with the math teachers. I learned a lot about the culture/expectations here during the two days. Many parents want to know exactly where their kid sits in the class as far as grades go, do they need a tutor (or in some cases another tutor), can they get more work for them, and many other interesting questions. All and all the conferences went very well and it was great to meet so many of my students parents. I gained much insight into many of my students' lives...where they have been...how often they have moved, how long they are planning on staying, their interests outside of school, etc. it was very exhausting from 10-5 both days, but nice to get most conferences out of the way. a few more conferences next week.
Riley is off this morning meeting up with Eli, a friend from kasson. His girlfriend is here working so he came for the week. Both boys (kieran and kellan) were sick with the stomach flu and diarrhea all week and riley said he thought he may be getting the bug.. he didn't look good but he was going to try to venture off to meet up with Eli and Anna at Tianamen Square and then to the Forbidden City. We are hopefully going to go off to a local chinese restaurant tonight after kieran and i go to yet another 4 year old birthday party!
all is well..we are getting anxious to come home. Will really miss everyone the next few days as we think of everyone gathering back home celebrating Thanksgiving! We are celebrating Thanksgiving with some friends Thursday night and then the boys and i iwll go to another set of friend's on Saturday night even though riley will be off on a trip to see the Terracotta WArriors (i know i murdered that spelling)
well...gotta go kellan is done with breakfast an i think we are going to head to the clubhouse to t he playland!
we miss you all!
The DuBois' Clan
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