The Stucki's: March 2012

Saturday Walk on the Bund ... Mar 31, 2012

It was a nice, spring day so we headed over to The Bund and walked the length of it. It is a neat place in the former British Concession. The architecture is very European on The Bund (Puxi) side of the river. Across the Huang Pu is Lu Jia Zui where you can see the interesting architecture. The new tallest building in the world is under construction over there next to the "Bottle Opener" building.

It was interesting to see a lot of brides and grooms out today. There were so many different color dresses and tuxedos... it was fun to watch.

Aladdin ... Mar 29, 2012

This is an awful picture, but in the red jacket on the left you can see Katie. She was one of the narrators in the Year 5 production of Aladdin. Initially, she was disappointed that she wasn't chosen to be Jasmine, but her part turned out to be pretty great. She had lots of lines and the 4 narrators sang a couple of songs together and she had some solo parts too. She was interspersed through the whole play. It was really a phenomenal show. We felt like it was way better than any high school production we had ever seen. The sets and costumes and performance was fantastic. I am so grateful Katie had a chance to be in such a wonderful show! She is already setting her sights on next year!

More of Silly Sophie ... March 28, 2012

I have a picture very, very similar to this one of Katie in her unders and my black boots.... grinning from ear to ear!

This is Sophie's latest favorite. We stack and knock over the blocks all day long!

Sophie also loves to play light sabers with Ryan and try on his Darth Vader mask.

Katie's Swim Meet ... Mar 24, 2012

Katie was on the Dulwich College swim team in terms 2 and 3 of her Year 5. This big swim meet was at Shanghai American School, where they have a pretty impressive facility. Katie did her personal best in all her races! We were super proud of her!

Friends!! ... Mar 17, 2012

We made some good friends from America here in Shanghai. Grandpa Larsen's best friend (Jim Archuleta) had a grandson teaching English here in China with one of his friends. We offered to let them come stay with us whenever they were in Shanghai, and we were lucky enough to have them come every few weekends. Chason and Carlos were like little brothers to me and big brothers to my kids. They also made another friend in their teaching program, Joan, who would also come with them some weekends, and we love her too!

St. Patrick's Day ... Mar 17, 2012

We have no Irish heritage to speak of, but we love St. Patrick's Day in our house. What better excuse is there to eat Lucky Charms for breakfast! And have green milk and green waffles! The kids wore green all day, but I should have had them wear green pajamas to bed the night before! Next year:)

Typical Soph ... Mar 16, 2012

It is very, very common as we are out and about in Shanghai for people to ask if they could get their picture taken with Sophie. This one is in Yu Yuan Garden.

Also it is very, very common for Sophie to have a messy chocolate face like this! But she's so cute I just want to kiss that chocolate face all over!

Ashley's Music Soiree ... Mar 13, 2012

Ashley had been taking piano lessons for 2 weeks when her music teacher announced there would be tryouts for the music soiree. Ashley felt advanced enough in her piano ability to try out, and I reluctantly let her. She played "Mary Had a Little Lamb", and her teacher told her she could be in the Soiree if she played it with two hands! I was a little nervous for her because I knew there were some really good musicians that would be performing and she is just a beginner. Ashley went fifth, and did a great job. No mistakes. I was feeling a little better because most of the kids weren't far from her ability level.... until we got past the first 10. The other 25 were jaw dropping. I could not believe these 5 and 6 year olds were playing Beethoven and Mozart. They were unbelievable. Not surprisingly, they were all Asian. The Western moms and I sat in the back and told ourselves that our kids are more well-rounded:)

Sophie and Ryan were Ashley's biggest fans!

Xi'an ... Mar 10-11, 2012

Aaron's parents and our oldest nephew, Connor Franckowiak, came for a visit for a week in March. We spent the weekend in Xian, which was fascinating!!! In 1974 some local farmers digging a water well discovered three huge pits containing a Terracotta Army depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. This was a form of funerary art that was buried with the Emperor in 210-209 BC, and its purpose was to protect the emperor in his afterlife. The figures include warriors, chariots and horses. In the three pits there are over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots and 520 horses and 150 calvary horses. It is reported that work on this mausoleum began in 246 BC, soon after Emperor Qin ascended the throne at age 13, and ultimately involved 700,000 workers. We were awestruck by what we saw there. I remember when I was young, my parents were able to see a few of the statues that were on an exhibit in Sydney. I never thought I would actually be able to go to Xi'an and see this enormous collection.

Our second day in Xi'an was Sunday. We went to church at the very small, but very friendly branch. Then did a little more sightseeing. We went to the bell tower in the pagoda in the middle of the walled city. It was very beautiful up there and we were enchanted by the musical performance that was given.