recently

sorry for the lack of posts! this last week has been so busy. i am currently prepping my 5 & 6 year olds for graduation which is a frustrating and long process. i am trying to teach them 4 songs as well as memorize lines for a play and poem. all in english. they are slowly but surely getting there... fingers crossed it will all come together before June 24th!


here are some pictures from the last few weeks or so :) sometimes, i don't want to devote a whole entry on just one story, so here are a few mini stories to match the pictures.

.shanghai MIDI festival.

amanda, tim, jacqueline and i went to the Shanghai MIDI Music Festival in Pudong. it was really warm that day and sunny. amanda and i stuck playing cards to our forehead to prove that we were sweating. classy, right? it was totally expat central and had some great music. we brought a big sheet and sat outside altogether playing cards and having fun :)

 .jake's visit.

JAKEY CAME TO VISIT from Beijing! he used to work with us in Shanghai but decided that he wanted to solely study Mandarin and moved to Beijing to take some language courses. We had a great weekend with him just catching up and having fun like old times. We took this picture with a self timer (looovee you Amanda). This is half of the "Shanghai 10" as we liked to call it. we were definitely missing Alice, Natalie, Kate, and Mackenzie! (yes, i know it only adds up to 9... anyways :)

*ohhh jake's shirt -- I <3 BJ.

it's a jakey sandwich! and apparently i'm the only one that didn't get the memo to look silly!

.play time with the kids.

adorable Joy laughing like usual. her laugh is contagious. she can make me smile at any time. 

these next few are pictures from playing outside that Amanda took when she came to observe my school! it was finally not unbearably hot. perfect outside weather :)

ming ming climbing up the ladder. too adorable.

my girl Jia Jia climbing up too!

this photo makes me laugh so much. ohh rich...

 .dodgeball.

tim plays dodgeball with a bunch of other expats every thursday night. amanda and i decided that were were going to go watch him and his friends play! it was a really fun time. tim's team is called "the untouchaballs" and each of their shirts have a nickname with the word "ball" in it. "tinker ball" is tim's. pretty funny since he is a big, tall guy.

i will be home in exactly 5 weeks.
unbelievable.

S.O.D.E - Haiku by Hatsune

Restaurant: Haiku by Hatsune

for this S.O.D.E, Jacqueline was sick so Amanda and I had a roomie S.O.D.E :)

the atmosphere in this restaurant was really pretty and relaxing. we started off with sake cocktails (of course) since it's a Japanese place.

next, we ordered sushi. i love sushi so much and this was definitely the best i have EVER had. it was so good! i even added some wasabi to my soy sauce. a few times amanda and i could feel our eyes beginning to water due to too much wasabi. we had some good laughs.

i ordered the butterfly roll. it had a few types of raw fish on top with crab and avocado in the middle. a-m-a-z-i-n-g.

amanda ordered some veggie roll. i can't remember what the name was, but since she is a vegetarian it only had sweet potato and avocado in it. she said it was also amazing. i didn't try it because i didn't think it would be fair since she couldn't sample mine. plus, i think we wanted all our own anyways :)

lastly, we ordered two different sake cocktails.

overall, this takes the place of Anna Maya as my favorite so far.

i think Tim and i are going to go on Tuesday!

it's hot. seriously.

the weatherman is such a liar (ni pian ren! 你 骗 人!), but we all know this. 


every morning i wake up and i look at the weather. this morning i said to myself, and this pattern repeats almost everyday: 
"oh,  high of 86! that's pretty hot."
thing is, 86 is such a lie! it's not really 86, it's 95, feels like 98. basically 100.


it's just miserable out and it's not even "summer" yet. it's may. where is spring? i don't think i've even experienced a real spring in my entire life. shanghai doesnt have one, neither does indiana. maybe one day i should move to somewhere that does. i think i would like it.


my poor babies just sweat and sweat when they play outside. heck, i'm even sweating and i'm literally just standing there. they say, "miss jami, chase me! play with me!". i just can't do it kids. i will watch you, laugh with you and hold your hand but, running? chasing? climbing?
no. i want to! i promise. but... no.

but look at them! look how happy they are just to be outside!

they run like crazy, jump, play and scream like the heat isn't an issue.

can i be 4 again? please.

another quote

... but this time, as i like to call him, by my "beer guy".


about 10 steps out my door is a small store that sells all sorts of things to drink, snacks, ice cream, candy, you name it. it's literally a small hole in the wall.
i usually go in there to buy beer, i'll be honest. it's cheap. it's cold. it's within walking distance.
but, i also go in there for ice cream a lot too, gatorade and bottled water.
tonight i go in there for some ice cream and water and the following conversation ensues...


BG - beer guy
J - jami


*all in chinese i might add.


BG - hello, do you want beer?
J - no, i want ice cream and water tonight.
BG - no, you want 5 bottles of beer tonight.
J - (laughing) no, just water and strawberry ice cream!
BG - i've had 5 bottles tonight. you want 5 bottles too!
J - my health is bad, i just want water!
BG - beer is so good!
J - yes, beer it very good.
BG - oohhhh maybe tomorrow? 5 bottles?
J - (laughing) good bye!

quotable kids

and again, an oh-so-adorable conversation i heard today between mark and kaelen:

m - what is that on your finger?

k - stop, its just a wart.

m - what's a wart?

k - oh its just a dot on your finger. snipes give them to you. right, miss jami?

j - ummm....

m - what's a snipe?

k - it's just a small thing that bites your finger and then the wart shows up.

:)

sports competition

MVI_4092 a video by jami inholt on Flickr.

sports competitions in china really differ from what i have seen in american schools. the local classes and my oldest international class practiced for a few weeks for different games, marching drills and what i call "dances". i'm not sure what they call them. the video above is an example of the "dance".

the students all wore matching shirts to differentiate between them. a few children (well, 10 or more) would compete against each other in different sporting events. these events were really bizarre. one of them included wearing giant shoes and walking on a balance beam. not that safe... :) kids kept falling down and hitting the beam. i felt sorry for them! they would get all embarrassed.

they also raced with flags, carried bottled water across more balance beams and threw sticks over a net. all of this was in front of a big audience of other students, PTA members and even some members of the Shanghai soccer team! 

my babies had to sit there for an hour and half and not get to participate. they were great sports waving their little red flags :) but after about 30 minutes, they lost all patience. i didn't mind. i just played with them!

jia jia. too cool for school :)

when they grow up

there was another field trip this week at school, and all the students were able to visit some type of role playing "museum" of some sort. i honestly have no idea what this place was called. it wasn't the cleanest or most fun place i've been with the kiddos, but they did get to explore (basically put on costumes and have their parents take TONS of picture) different jobs they could have one day when they "grow up".

it's crazy to think these little, adorable, amazing, funny, chinese babies will one day be big. i feel like they are my kids sometimes.

will they be policemen/women?

  

or maybe fire fighters?

un-enthusiastic and nose picking firewomen :)

dentists?

possibly scientists?

who knows. but they can be anything they want to be :) and with my help, have some dang good English!