Hi everyone! By this time, you've probably given up on us and are assuming we've completely forgotten about the blog...Nope, we're still here! Things have been super busy with the start of a new school year, and we just haven't had the time or energy to do anything particularly photo-worthy.
The school year got off to a good start, but I've told some of you I definitely have some rowdy boys in my class this year. I also have the youngest class: All of my kids were born in 2004, so no one will even turn 6 until January of 2010. I even have one child who's still 4 now! But, it should be a good group once they've gotten into the school routines. (You can't help but fall in love with every class...some just take longer than others!)
The big drama at school so far has been swine flu. Our school has had lots of sick kids, and the government is really on top of that here. They want to know who is sick, what their symptoms are, and whether they've been tested for influenza A or swine flu. Unfortunately, doctors seem to have stopped testing people, so they're just giving everyone Tamiflu and sending them home. Obviously, that's not working so well as our numbers of sick kids kept increasing daily. On Monday, we had an all-time high of over 100 students in the Lower Primary out sick (out of around 600). Half of my class was out with flu-like symptoms. As a result, the government closed the school to students for a week. So, I've been at school, bored out of my mind, but grateful to not be surrounded all day by germy munchkins who aren't so great with personal hygiene and hand washing.
On Friday, Nate and I are making our first trip into "real China" - just across the border to Shenzhen. We'll let you know how that goes in the next post!
