Kristine's 3rd Blog

Hi!
i have a fever now because it is cold in Beijing.

Yesterday my Grandma and Grandpa came.

I am happy to see them.
Tomorrow, my cousin is coming.
i have a bunk bed,i sleep's on the top bunk, kimberley sleep's on the bottom bunk.
Yesterday I went to Dongjiao Market with my family. It is a big market where we can get everything, like lamps, food, pens, bags,pet fish,toys,sea food,dollys,pillows,
hairclips, clocks,watch,torchlights,plates,pots,turtles,hello kitty big toy, fruits,bicycles, etc. the only thing i hate there is their stinky toilets.

Love Kristine**

Golden Week Ahead 2

My concern of how tired Kristine will be in a 7-school day week is answered today. From Kristine's school circular. Sunday will be a short day at school, in fact, at a park (日坛公园）across the road from the school. School will start at 8am as usual but straight to the park, then class dismissed at 10am. After much deliberation, giving the choice to Kristine, she opted not to wake up early just to play with her classmates in a park.

Kristine had a very hectic evening today. Straight from school bus to piano lesson, then collected Kimberley from kinder on way home, dinner and straight to homework. She started crying at 8pm, her usual bedtime, for unable to finish her homework, finally giving up at 830pm to go to bed. No Spongebob on TV, no Club Penguin on PC. Just school homework......

Golden Week Ahead

October 1 is China's National Day, popularly known as 'Shi Yi - 10/1'. This year it falls on a Wednesday, which begins the first of 3 official holidays for the ocassion. To stretch the holidays even longer, the govt has gazetted this Saturday and Sunday as 'work' days, pushing the weekends to Monday and Tuesday. Kristine and Kimberley will attend school and kinder this Saturday and Sunday, then enjoy a break of 7 days starting from the evening of this Sunday. It will be a 7-day work week for all this week. I see no problem from Kimberley, but I suspect Kristine will be very tired on Saturday morning.

Apparently Beijing will be crowded again next week, with more out-of-towners congregating in Beijing than Beijingers travelling out. We are staying put in Beijing, possibly organizing a visit to the Great Wall. Instead, I have booked my flight for Oct 3 to chase some snappers in Melbourne.

Getting Cooler

While Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong were basking in 35degC, Beijing's temperature plunged into the low teens yesterday. For the first time since we arrived, I had to don a t-shirt under a long sleeve knitted shirt. Felt like winter in Melbourne.

Kristine's teacher called after lunch saying Kristine was not feeling well, having fever etc. As I was having a lunch appoitment with Uncle Frank flying in from HKG, Grace collected Kristine. When I saw Kristine at home at 230pm, she was not at all feeling unwell. So I asked her if she wanted to walk with me to an open market, I was looking for bed lamps, and Kristine wanted to look for kids playstuff. It was a good 20mins brisk walk. Kristine was hopping and skipping, a sign she was happy to be away from school. She did start to feel tired and soft again on way home from the open market, however, she managed to stay the distance, and even went with me to collect Kimberley from kinder. After kinder, we bought a baked sweet potato from a street vendor outside the kinder gate. Y5 per kg. Both Kristine and Kimberley love eating that.

Kimberley's routine after leaving her kinder is to point to an adjacent jiaozi restaurant we went with Auntie Vivien last week 'I am hungry, let's eat inside'. She has her dinner in kinder at 430pm. She just wanted to go into that restaurant to replay the games she played with Kristine and Scarlet last week.

Dinner was ordered home last night. 4 dishes from a restuarant close by, a restaurant that prints on their menu "No added MSG". Y12 for each dish. 2 we liked and will re-order, but the other two we will never see again. At a rate of once a week, it will take us a long long time to sieve through the menus of all restaurants closeby. Eating out or ordering home is so convenient here but the worry is what the chefs add into the dishes. Chefs here are generally very heavy handed with MSG and salt, and oil.

Their New Bunk Bed

Discussed the delivery time with the furniture factory in the morning. Told the gal and later a guy that I have to be away from 345pm to 430pm (picking Kristine from her bus stop, and sending her to piano practice). Guess what time the bed arrived?

340pm.

These guys drove from Changzhou, about 90 mins away from Beijing, and they had other deliveries to make after that. It would be very cruel to make them wait 45mins. Out of desperation, I asked the general cleaning lady for help, giving her the home keys so she can let the delivery guys enter and assemble the beds. She speaks with an accent that I cannot understand most of the time, but we got alone just fine. She even asked me if I needed flower pots other tenants left behind. We gave her some excess mooncakes several weeks ago and she obviously appreciates our gesture.

The beds, known to Kimberley as 'the Up and Down bedroom', is their playground too, with the upper bunk the most popular. I am encouraging Kristine and Kimberley to practise climbing up and down the bunks this evening. Kristine, adopting the upper bunk is the one who may need to climb down during the middle of night to pee. Kimberley is occupying the bottom bunk. My guess is even if she needs to pee during the night, she won't bother getting up. She will just pee in the bed.

Scarlet's Birthday Party

Kristine and Kimberley were invited to two birthday parties yesterday, one from Scarlet and another from Kristine's classmate whose parent works as a diplomat in Beijing. Took Kristine no effort to select her choice. Scarlet's was held a Papa John pizza restaurant, just 200m from our home. The highlights include a parade by the Papa John mascot, and each kid was given a pizza base plus ingredients to make their own pizzas. Kristine did her own pizza but Kimberley pushed all the hardwork to Grace.

Pizzas are generally expensive in Beijing. A 9inch pizza at Papa John sells for Y60+, and a 12inch sells for Y120.

We had so much pizzas that afternoon, with leftovers enough for Kristine and Kimberley's dinner, and a piece left for Kristine's breakfast this morning.

Haagan Dazs

After buying the bunk beds for Kristine and Kimberley on Saturday, we took a bus to a shopping mall to watch a modelling parade of kids autumn fashion in which Scarlet was one of the young models.
We got lost on the way out of the mall, and chose an exit which happened to face Haagen Dazs. We could not shake off Kristine and Kimberley's persistent nagging to have some ice cream, so we tried for the first time ice cream at a sit-down Haagen Dazs parlor. The cutlery and serving wares were all upmarket quality and of course the prices were upmarket too. A single scoop sold for Y28. We ordered a banana split, plus another fancy dish that shaped like a Japanese dessert platter with multiple ice cream and cakes. All for Y153. Kristine and Kimberley did enjoy the ice cream but they left plenty on the table.
Then on to that Open Market where Kristine bought her fish two weeks ago. There after spending Y153 on ice cream, Grace haggled with a vendor for a stainless steel cooking oil pourer and a soy sauce pourer for Y20. I found an industrial quality nonstick 32cm frying pan for Y100 (down from Y125). The biggest frying pan in the supermarkets is 28cm, all with thin metal base. The Open Market caters to wholesalers who do retail trades as well. We kept getting asked 'how many you want' each time we asked for the price. And when we replied 'Just 1.', the vendors always replied,"Just 1?.
"Yes, just 1, and we want it cheap too!"

A busy Saturday

The main event on Saturday was to buy a double bunk bed for Kristine and Kimberley. We took a bus with a change between home and this monster shopping place, more a market than a mall. The section we were advised to visit carried upmarket brands and thus upmarket prices. A pine wood bunk bed can go from Y4000 to Y10,000. For a fleeting moment, I wanted to just pay for one and go home. We walked round and round but we were not comfortable with the price. We discussed crossing the city to IKEA but we didnt have enough time that afternoon. Then Grace asked a receptionist if there were other bedding furniture sections around. Yes there was one within walking distance. We found our bunk beds there. Solid pine with equally nice finishing and design, all for Y1150. Paid a deposit. Beds will be delivered on Monday (versus 20 days for the branded equivalents). Photo taken in a bus.

fish tank*

hi,

In the fish tank at my home and fish inside! The fish tank is 113cm.

One of the girl fish had babies. The fighting fish likes to chase after the baby fish. Th baby fish will swim away very qucikly. None of the baby fish has been eaten yet. I do not let the turtle into the fish tank because the turtle will eat the baby fish and other fish.


Love kristine***

Time Management

Kristine has still not caught up with her sleep, or sleeping hours, into week 3 of her new school term. Getting up at 630am is still a struggle for her. Even Kimberley is not waking up by herself at 630am anymore. Maybe the morning is getting much cooler and the bed is getting more comfortable. With Kimberley finishing kinder at 515pm, and she insists Kristine must be present to pick her up from kinder, dinner for Kristine cannot be any earlier than 530pm. There is simply not enough after school lag time to accommodate a desired bedtime of 830pm. A change of pace is definitely needed. Otherwise, Kristine needs to get used to dinner at 5pm on her own. Her school is jamming extra Chinese and Maths lessons into Kristine, and we are are jamming more time management lessons into her at home.
Photo shows Kristine and Kimberley stopping at The Place (near Kristine's school) for a snack before taking subway to Paralympics. She is holding a bun (小笼包) with her own school fork.

Paralympics

Our wish to attend an event at The Bird Nest without costing a fortune was finally granted last night. The evening session at The Nest cost us Y80 per ticket. We picked Kimberley up from kinder at 230pm, then Kristine from school at 320pm, and yet we couldnt make it to The Nest on time for the evening session starting time of 5pm. The security checks took a while and there was planty of distance to walk. We had tickets with defined seat numbers but when we got there, it was free seating.

By 6pm, the stadium was full. To attend any event inside The Nest is an awesome experience, but to watch the handicapped competing is an emotionally even stronger experience. I hope Kristine grew up a little more last night watching the competitions. She was very curious how the athletes lost their limbs or eyesight or hearing. I was more interested to get her to understand how hard those athletes tried despite their handicap. It would have been very impactful had she witnessed how the reigning swim champ, winning gold in swimming, without both arms.

We watched a few events, then headed home at 715pm. We arrived home at 840pm. Kristine did most of her Maths homework at the Bird Nest, and some after reaching home. Her time will only gets tighter from here onward. It will get tougher but that fits in with one of the major objectives of moving Kristine and Kimberley to Beijing.

Mooncakes

The flood of mooncakes is finally peaking, and hopefully over, until Mid-Autumn Festival next September. Even as new migrants with small social circle, 6 boxes of mooncakes entered our front door plus 1 waiting in a shop. Even Kimberley's kinder gave her a big box of 8 mooncakes to bring home. Generally the boxes are very attractive, but I honestly cannot tell the good from the not so good content inside. Kristine and Grace share the honour of being the top mooncake consumers at home; Kimberley are I are usually too busy with doing something else. A box that we have not collected is apparently mooncake made by Haagen Dazs. Sounds interesting but not motivating enough to take 4 subway stops to collect it. The zongzi '粽子' (glutinous rice wrapped in lotus leaves) associated with DuanWu Jie '端午节', another public holiday commemorating a national hero QuYuan '屈原', is more to my palate, but if I get a choice, I rather have a youtiao '油条'Festival.

This also marked our first long weekend in Beijing. Auntie Vivien took Kristine and Kimberley to Tiantan (Temple of Heaven) on Sunday; while Auntie XiaoJi took Kristine, Kimberley and Grace to a hot spring pool/spa in Xiangshan on Monday. The three families gathered for dinner at our place on Monday evening. The weekend went past quickly.

Auntie Vivien

Auntie Viv (known to Kimberley as 'Scarlet's Mom') showed Kimberley her birthday present on August 27 at Auntie Viv's home. Snce we were about to move to her neighbourhood, Kimberley agreed to Auntie Viv's suggestion to keep her present until we moved to our new place, which is just 200-300m away from her home. Then the moving, the schools, the school bus, the banking, the visas, somewhat filed that present away into the background. Two weeks elapsed when Kimberley next met Auntie Viv again. To our surprise, Kimberley asked 'where is my present?'. Photo shows Auntie Vivien helping Kimberley in unpacking her Barbie dolls.

That same evening, Auntie Viv, Scarlet and Tom took Kimberley and Kristine to TianTan (Temple of Heaven), a popular site for Beijingers on evening of Mid-Autumn (mooncake) Day. All went well until the way back. Kristine and Scarlet decided it was fun to sare the front seat in Uncle Tom's big Buick. Kimberley felt left out and gave Auntie Viv a hard time, by jamming the back door with her two legs. The stalemate lasted a while. Took Auntie Viv a lot of explanation and persuasion to find the Kimberley's frequncy. She was still unhappy after reaching home, but she began asking me last night if she could sit in front seat when she is 7....

kristine went to market

Kristine saying hi from a local vegie market. Her objective of going there at 7am with me was not the vegies, but the two Y2 Shops. She had Y5 to spend, and she managed to get 3 items, one for herself, one for kimmie and one for mom.

My school*!

HI,

My Mum and Dad have found a school for me.

My school's name is FANGCAODI.

I have 25 students in my class. My teacher's name is Mrs ZHAO.
My friend Scarlet is at the school too.


Love Kristine**

Piano Lessons

Kristine resumed her piano lessons yesterday at the neighbourhood Yamaha Music School. A mentionable feature of the school is its 'rental' service. Kristine gets tutored by a piano teacher once a week, for Y110/45mins. However, she can also use one of the pianos at the school to practise on her own, at Y240/20cumulative hours. That conveniently delay our need to buy a piano for the home. Chances are Kristine will practise before we pick Kimberley from her kinder, which is 50m away. Photo shows Kristine with her piano teacher.

Kinder PTA

Attended my first PTA at Kimberley's kinder yesterday. About half the parents attended. Each were given a box of moon cakes, to celebrate Mid Autumn Festival this weekend.

The teacher gave us a comprehensive list of the kinder's objectives for the children this term. Obedience is a key focus. I can understand that. 2 teachers to care for 35 children for 10 hours a day can drive the most patient crazy. For our shy Kimberley, some of the 'asks' will be daunting.

- 'to start using chopsticks during meals'.
She is having difficulty even with spoon, or to finish a meal on her own!
- 'to salute the teachers at arrival and departure'
A problem. Most of her classmates address the teachers as 'Teacher So-and-So', but our Kimberley addresses them as 'DaJieJie (Big Sister) with glasses' and 'DaJieJie without glasses'
- 'to improve physical coordination'
Kimberley sure can use plenty of those skills
- 'to arrive at 730am for physical exercises before breakfast at 8am'
Perfect score for Kimberley here.
- 'to start learning English'
Our Kimberley speaks, when she speaks, only English to her Dajiejie. Most of the time her Dajiejie doesnt understand her....
- 'to socialise with other classmates'
wondering how the teachers will entice kimberley to that, with language barrier and all that
- 'to clean herself after toilet'
getting there
- 'to learn addition, subtraction, antonyms, synonyms'.
Reminds of 'poetry reading' at her Motesorri in Donvale. Good luck!

All in, I enjoyed the session. The teachers do work hard.

Start of 2nd Week

The Monday 1 week after school restarted is usually a difficult morning for kids to re-orientate to waking up early again after the weekend. Kristine had trouble waking but Kimberley was excited as ever to begin her kinder day. I must admit I am now a bit nervous about what they feed Kimberley at school. Just wondering how much MSG the chefs throw into their meals. She just seems excited before going to kinder, and she remains excited after we collect her from kinder. And it is a long day from 730am to 515pm. Is that a sign of being hyperactive?

Since last week, Grace and I have to start cultivating a new habit of telling waiters/waitresses we wanted no MSG in our meals, and half the salt. So far they have been taking us seriously, even checking back with us if certain pre-made gravy contained some MSG. MSG is prevalent here. They occupy more shelf space than salt in the supermarkets. We briefly watched a cooking program on TV over the weekend and all the meals contain significant amount of msg.

top photo shows Kristine collecting Kimberley at kinder. Bottom photo shows Kristine at her morning school bus collection point as her bus arrived.

Music School

Today we enrolled Kristine into Yamaha music school within 200m of our apartment. She will be tutored by a piano teacher once a week for 45mins. That costs Y145. She can also use the pianos there for practice at a rate of Y240 for cumulative 20 hrs. The school is next to where her school bus drops her after school so thats a very convenient stop before picking Kimberley from kinder.

In the afternoon we went to an open market, similar to Queen Vic, but much larger, much mich larger, just 5 bus stops away. We went there to get Kristine's pet fish, but ended up spending the whole afternoon there buying from kids shoes to energy saving light bulbs. Amazing place. Also picked up a kilo of Grace;s favourite bass yabbies from the seafood section (no kidding, about 50 stalls selling seafood). The live bass yabbies about 100mm long cost Y20 (A$4.50). Amazing. Cost me A$1 each as bait in Melb....

Sorry but I forgot to bring camera.

Visas

Friday was the last day Grace must extend her visa to be legally staying in China. The application process started a day before with a visit to the bureau that administers visas for foreigners. A key takeaway was the need for a bank statement. Next morning, after a phone call to verify application documentary needs, the bank statement is actually a certificate proving deposit of no less than USD3,000, per person. A mad morning rush ensued to withdraw lots of cash from one account to open two new accounts (no joint account allowed here). The deposit account to be certified would be frozen, until another personal trip to the bank to 'unfreeze' it, so dont certify any account you need to withdraw money from. The account opening is easy, just time consuming. I had my first attempt of writing my address in Chinese at the bank. All went well except I wrote '区- district' the opposite way with the opening pointing left!

Under normal circumstances, a tourist visa can be extended for another month. It costs Y160, supported by a bank deposit proof of USD3,000, a 2inch passport size photo, proof of foreigner registration with local police. They provide pen and glue at the bureau, drinking water too.

Normally, by paying extra, one can get the application expedited to less than the normal 5 working days. Grace thought she could do just that, getting her passport back in time for her business trip to HKG next Wednesday. To her surprise, the duty officer refused to sign off on her express application despite all her explanation, even furnishing the hotel booking and return airtickets..... Took several calls to friends asking for help. Got through to someone who knows someone who knows the officer, but also to no avail. The reason being 'nobody will stick his/her neck out to approve anything express during the Paralympics'. Most times, people have problem getting visas to get in. In Grace's case, she couldnt get out!

Kimberley's Kinder

The circuitous route to enrol Kimberley is almost ending today. The physical exams, mainly blood tests, qualified Kimberley to be enrolled. However, her immunisation records from Australia must be translated at one of two foreign hospitals in Beijing, neither of which is close by. Without that, she wont have her own health record, and thus unable to be fully registered. The kinder resident nurse also asked for Kimmie's eyesight test record. I politely said ok, but no brownie points in guessing what I would do with that. Interestingly, I saw the nurse checking the hands and mouths of kids at the front gate as they entered the kinder.

Nevetheless they let Kimberley start this morning. Altogether 32 kids in her class, with two full time teachers and 1 nanny. Not a bad ratio for China. The kinder provides 3 meals a day with breakfast in the classroom at 8am, and dinner at 430pm. In between they all have to take a nap in a room adjacent to the classroom, a room full of cots. The cot and food cost Y1150 extra per month. All in about Y30,000 a year
Kimberley did relatively well on her first morning. She didnt cry, but she refused to let go of my hand at breakfast time. Eventually she did let go, but she managed not to cry. I am sure she will feel very nervous these next few days, being a shy person with crowd. Her kinder days start at 730am and end at 515pm.

Hospital Sign

On way back to collect Kimberley's test results for rhe Kinder yesterday afternoon, our plan was to check out a few stores and a vegetable market along the way. Instead Kimberley fell asleep, while walking, so I ended up carrying her most of the way and sought refuge inside the hospital for a seat to rest my legs with 45mins to kill. Chose a secluded area with aircon. Nice and comfotable while Kimmie took her nap. Couldnt help noticing this sign at a door where we sat. I was attracted by the English signage which seems strange for a hospital. More like a pub. SO I asked a nurse what that room was meant to be used. It was for blood tranfusion, injections, drips, anything that invloved flow of liquid into a human body. Liquor will certainly qualify, but I doubt it.

Kimberley's Blood Tests

Kimberley's blood test came after sending Kristine to her bus stop this morning. The hospital is a different one from that Kristine did her wart. It is 'hidden' deep inside a local residential district, but just 500m away from our home. It took a lot of effort to calm Kimberley down, but eventually she understood the concept of relaxing her arm for the blood sample to be taken, while crying. It took two nurses a while to find the vein. That dragged out her agony, more psychological than physical. Results are to be collected by 2pm, then onto the kinder, pay the fees and hopefully she can start her kinder tomorrow.

Witnessed an interesting event at the hospital. A long queue of parents were reistering their kids for some other physical exams. A woman (not a lady) decided it was her right to start a new queue line with her at the head of queue, literally bypassing some 30 other civic conscious parents in the main queue. Two parents were very vocal towards that woman, in fact scolding her, ridiculing that woman how she could do something like that right in front of her own daughter. The registrar, a young man was also screaming his head of at that woman.

There we had some 30 people who obeyed the queue, and subscribed to the rule of civic consciousness, but all it takes is just one bad apple to discredit the social rules. I would have thought it was a very simple measure to just ignore that woman until she joined the proper queue (the registrar eventually , but sticking one's neck out (in this case, the young registrar's neck) may end up being a career ending measure if that woman knows someone at high places...... I sense most Beijingers want a civil society. It will take time for all to get on board.

Kimberley and I walked home after hospital, buying on the way two pieces of western sponge cakes for RMB18, 3 Chinese 'bing' pastries for RMB2.70, a piece of belly pork for RMB18 (RMB25/kg) to try out our new roasting oven.
Top photo taken on way back from hospital. Her right puffy eye was caused by a mosquito bite. Second photo taken at home showing her favourite hiding hole between kitchen cabinet and fridge.

Kristine's First Bus Trip to School

Kristine had trouble waking up this morning at 620am. She enjoyed a corn porridge Grace made for her, some banana, and a cup of milk with a few minutes to spare before her school bus arrievd at 708am. A fellow mother from the US told me her daughter was about to cry because she told her mother the teacher was very strict. I am sure Kristine felt the same but the adjustment process is beneficial. The next few weeks and months will be 'tough' as Kristine adjusts to Chinese as a language of instruction. Grace and I have to make sure she doesnt drop her English by speaking to her in English all the time. That is exaclt the reverse of of we did in Melbourne where we spoke to her in Chinese. Often we attract curious eyes in the public for using English.

Her lunch at school yesterday was rice with meat balls and vegetables. Kristine claimed she finished almost all the rice and vegetables but didnt eat the meatballs. Her lunch break is 90mins. She chose to attend a 40mins extracurricular class in art and craft during the lunch break.

Kristine's 1st Day

The day went uneventfully for Kristine. She enjoyed her new school. No doubt the discipline here is a lot stricter and the procedures are more regimented than Melbourne, but she seems to like her new school. The primary is represented by students from 55 nationalities. In Kristine's class I saw several Caucasians, one African, and many with mixed Asian-Caucasian parentage.

I was required by the school to pick Kristine up from her class, then sent her to a football field where she queued up for her bus home. It was chaotic for many parents this being the nfirst day, but eventually, we all went on the correct bus. Kristine had 5 other schoolmates from the same estate. Being the first stop home and last stop to school, the trip took less than 20mins.

The lady conductor was strict in what she expected. "Who asked you two to sit together?", "No food, no drink", "No toys, no sticks, no rulers, or anything long', "No horsing around'. Her tone was not one of 'request' but one of 'military order'. Or Else!

First day went well for Kristine. TOmorrow Kimberley has to have blood sample taken for her physical examinations. That will take some persuasion, even some force.

Top photo: outside of Kristine's classroom at FangChaoDi Primary School; 2nd photo: queueing up in football field to be chaperoned to school bus; 3rd photo: Kristine's school campus with a few Beijing skyscrappers farther back; 4th photo: becoming dizzy for choosing the back seat to the left on school bus.

Kristine's First Day

Kristine missed her entrance tests last week at the primary school she is attending. This morning, while all the other students were busy getting ready for their new school year day 1 assembly, Kristine was locked in a teacher's room to do tests on Maths, Chinese and English. Her command of the subject knowledge are;
English - equivalent to Year 4 at the primary school
Maths - Juuuuuust managed to scrap through to Year 2.
Good considering she hasnt finished her Year 1 yet.
Chinese - Couldnt even qualify for Year 1

NO English for her this next term, but she has to do many more Chinese classes, and a few Maths classes.

The administrator then rushed her to her class teacher at the assmebly. She was a bit nervous at that point but I am sure she will be ok by end of the day. Her classmates will be mostly if not all foreign students. Mother of a fellow 7 yr old girl discovered we lived at the same place so an immediate friend is found. Lunch will be provided at school (paid by term). We had to go out and buy her a spoon as a temporary measure for today's lunch. I have to try out her school this afternoon with her after school. Bus fare is RMB2000 per half year. 645am departure. 7 stops.

Took Kimberley to the neighbourhood kinder after that. Crashed into their New Kinder Year Assembly as well. I was hoping they could take Kimberley immediately after paying her fees, but it was not to be so simple. Tomorrow morning, Kimberley has to do a physical exam at local hospital. Her test results will be collected in the afternoon, sent to kinder, and if the tests are ok, she can start kinder the day after once fees are paid. The kinder also required her immunisation record, which by Murphy's Laws, is in Melbourne.

Both assemblies involved singing the Chinese national anthem, and raising of the flag. In the kinder, the kids also sang 'How Beautiful our National Flag is' after the national anthem. Kristine in particular will be confused in he beginning. US born, Australian citizenship and now singing Chinese national anthem.

Attached is a photo of Krisitne at her school gate.