Reese on Radio March 4, 2010

Reese visited a Radio Station today with her class as part of an inquiry project on the workplace.

I got to listen live on the radio at lunch today, but the program is available on the internet and is very entertaining to listen to.

You can find the program here: CLICK THIS LINK

>>Go to Naked Lunch, click on 2010-03-04 and you can find them within the program at 7:50 to 16:00.

I was very impressed with how well spoken they all were for 9 year-olds. Reese is a little more soft spoken than the others but you can hear her as the one who:
• Announced herself using her full name
• The one who explains how you need to find a job before you can do the job
• The one who spoke up to say “je m’appelle Massimo” while Massimo is still trying to understand the question.

She also does a nice shout out to her Dad. Even though my job is not quite as interesting as the other parents, I am still proud of her.

I do want to emphasize my daughter was not the kid that said he was going to go out and get drunk like his dad. I was really worried when that question came up, I had to listen to it again to confirm that it wasn’t her talking.

Sports Day January 13, 2010

The weather in Hong Kong has been very cool lately, but at Reese’s sports day today the sun was shining. Not only did I enjoy the games, but the scenery was amazing. I still can’t get over what a beautiful place this is.

Reese enjoyed Sports Day and was thrilled to earn a spot in the relay finals where her team of four placed third. The finals were really cool. They had all the kids in the grandstand cheering as the racers on the field competed. They cheered so loud, I hope my video turned out well, if so I will post it here later.

School Fair November 26, 2009

Reese’s school put on an outdoor fair last Saturday for the kids and it was one of the first opportunities that I had to get to know more about the school she attends. It was a carnival where the kids participated in games and won tickets that could be exchanged for prizes.

For the most part I was just casually observing and didn’t really get to meet any of Reese’s teachers, classmates, or other parents. I volunteered for a shift at one of the booths and Reese was mostly running around playing the games so I kind of missed out on introductions. That’s a shame but it was a pretty big turnout so it all was pretty overwhelming. I was happy to just observe, after all it was only my second week in Hong Kong.

Even though I didn’t meet many people, it was a great event to bring parents, teachers and students closer together. The annual event was extremely well organized, the decorations were amazing, and there were plenty of parents and faculty who volunteered to help out. The experience seemed to fit with my expectation of what a great school should be like and I look forward to getting to know the school better in the future.

I should probably say that the best part about the whole event that they had a beer garden and were serving Stella on tap. They also had wine and I think some other mixed drinks as well. The organizers sure know how to put on an event that’s fun for kids and parents.

One other thing that impressed me was at the end of all stage performances, the MC announced that they would be playing music and that kids would be allowed to dance on stage as long as long as they don’t break the microphones (which were still standing in their mic stands at the front of the stage). The kids danced around all over that stage but not one single kid touched the mic. I thought it was cool that kids were allowed to have a good time and were trusted to follow the rules. The kids, mostly younger grades, knew exactly how to have a good time, and followed the rules. I captured it on video using my cell phone; the quality is bad but I couldn’t resist sharing it here.

Holiday Concert December 23, 2008

Here’s some photos from the annual school concert:

Fall Photos December 9, 2008

Wow, winter came real fast!    I have been lazy about updating the blog so here’s a few catch-up posts for fall / winter.   Not to make excuses, but the last few months of the year are always busy with raking leaves, shoveling snow, and all the social gatherings of Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Actually I haven’t had to shovel snow yet, we had a bit of snow Saturday night but it melted quickly and the kids didn’t even get to enjoy a single snowball.   Raking leaves was also pretty painless this year, I waited till the last possible day and Riley and I raked ‘em all up in an hour or so.   As usual, we made a big pile and jumped in them.  Riley had the great idea of making the pile near the play set so we could use it as a diving board. 

Riley made some graceful dives:

Dad with a somewhat less graceful plunge:

 

 

Here’s some pictures of a Thanksgiving party with Reese’s class at school: 

Reese and Nicole

Reese and Alexandra

Reese with class