Beijing pics

Apologies for not adding these pics sooner or getting to my blog sooner.  Since Beijing we have been busy at school with exams, and invigilation and preparations for the Arts Festival.  Plus I now leave my lap top at school in an evening which has all my pics on and I just use the i pad.....my shoulders were starting to suffer carrying the laptop plus other things backwards and forwards to work every day.

 

Anyway better alte than never so they say and below are the photos of my visit to Beijing with friends.  It was an incredible visit starting 1st may and returning 5th may and I visited places I never thought I would have the opportunity to visit such places and as a friend once told me you should "take the opportuity of a life time in the lifetime of the opportunity" and I did and am.

Here we go come with me on a whirl wind tour of Beijing :-)

5 hour train journey from Suzhou to Beijing on the fast train with Jake, Rebecca, Dan and Sophie - business class luxery

 

Night markets in Beijing, the food is for the tourists but people do eat them, live scorpions, starfish, seahorses, millipedes and pigeons.

 

 

Tianamen square never thought I would be standing here

 

 

 

Forbidden City..............so massive, so much to see seemed to go on and on forever, our guide told us that the emperor lived there with his one empress, 3000 concubines and 7000 eunuchs.  Never did I think that I would be in Beijing seeing all these things.

Temple of Heaven a beautiful place

 

We went to see a kung fu show that is the top in Beijing at the Red Theatre

 

THE WALL - oh what an amazing experience only in my dreams did I think I would be standing on the Great Wall of China

 
Rubbish littering the sides doewn below the wall .....nowhere is sacred.

 

The Summer palace where the Empress stayed and partied without the Emperor

 

Peking duck Banquet

 

Tibetan Lama Temple what a beautiful place

 

This has a guiness world record plaque outside it for the biggest statue made from a single piece of cedar wood and it is 3 storeys high.

 

Lakeview apartment BBQ with friends

The weather has become a lot warmer and it seemed a shame not to make use of the apartment blocks BBQ pits.  So Dan treated us all to his home made sausages from scratch and the weather was warm and we all had a good time.  Plenty more to come with use of the outdoor pool and the badminton/volley ball court some good times ahead.

 

Beijing 5 day trip on Wednesday....looking forward to it and seeing all the places I have only ever dreamed of seeing, now I can see them for real so excited.

 

 

Visual & Performing Arts Dept

 

 

The Visual and Performing Arts Department staff (Art, Drama, Music) and the 12 Ambassadors of the subjects from IGCSE and AS who were chosen because they are supportive, good at the areas and will support the departments in things that we run.  I am the coordinator for the V&PA dept and it is great to be working with such enthusiastic staff as Colin and Rebecca with such good kids.

Hardest Decision

 

Yesterday I had to make one of the hardest and saddest decisions I have ever had to make in my life, to agree to have Brook put to sleep as he was not recovering from his stroke.

Brook my gorgeous poorly dog

I am very sad at the minute as my gorgeous dog Brook seems to have suffered a stroke the other day.  It is so hard when I so far away but I know he is being taken care of by the best people my mum and my dad.  24 hours have passed and he seems to be no better lets hope the next 24 see an improvement.

 

 

Qualifying Shanghai F1 Grand Prix with Dan Dorrington

An amazing experience at the qualifying, very close, very loud and the race tomorrow with hamilton on poll cant be bad.......

 

 

We are in B2



 

...something that just had to be done. :-)

 



mock exams, being ill and grand prix

Its been aa week of whole school mock exams whcih is strange but as we are GCSE and A level centre the whole school is on exams and invigilation time for staff.

Today (Thursday) i am a little frafragile after being sick till 3am this morning think it was the meal I had out that did not agree with me but hopefully I will be better tomorrow.  Spent the day in school doing everything gently and tentatively thank goodness it was invigilation, fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Saturday and Sunday I am off to the Shanghai Formula One  grand prix so fingers crossed I am feeling 100% for that.

I ahve a new agent for the apartment and she is a star within a week she has had my cooker, toilet, gas and tv all fixed and is organising for the 2 balcony windows to be re sealed and sorted over the summer holidays whilst i am away ready for the next winter.

Sorry this is a boring blog no pics today but watch this space for grand prix ones...............oh and the weather is glorious here I wish it could stay at this temp but we know it is going to rocket the humidity really step up.........................Night