Children's Day

June 1st in China is Children's Day.  Some of the Chinese schools have off school but at TIS it was a day of celebration.  It is known as Water Day and is one of the kids favorite day of school.  I have to admit that TIS does a great job of going all out.  They make sure that the activities are a blast for the kids.  The teachers put in a lot of hard work to construct and gather all the equipment.

We got up and it was pouring down rain with a lot of thunder.  We weren't sure if it water day was still going to happen or not.  Cameron wore his swimming suit just in case.  Opening ceremonies was suppose to be at 9:30.  Ileana and I headed over to the school to see it.  It was still raining a little bit.  On our way there I received an e-mail.  It said there was a modification to the schedule but water day was still going to go on as planned.  Grades 2-5 wasn't going to start activities until 10:30.  UGH!  Now we were an hour early.  We decided to just stay at school.  The K-1 kids had activities in the gym and then headed out to the water activities so we watched them.  They were having a blast.  It was a little windy so at some points it was a little chilly for them but over all not too bad.  All of a sudden it started pouring again.  The adults ran for cover but the kids didn't care.  Most continued on with the activities.

The activities they had were a giant slip and slide, a jumpy jump, swimming pool, two wade pools to be in while having a water gun war, a throw water filled foam blocks at kids running across a beam, and a giant water slide.  It was so neat.  Most of these activities would not be allowed in the U.S. because it would be too dangerous according to some people.  I can say the kids had a blast and no injuries.

At 10:30 grades 2-5 entered the water zones.  They rotated from activity to activity.  There was a lot of laughter and smiles.  The rain stayed away for the rest of the day too.  Some parents were upset that water day went on but I think it was great.  We didn't have to worry about the kids getting sunburned or complain that it was hot or worry about dehydration.  It was a fun morning.

Water gun fight.

Running across the beam trying not to get hit.

Cameron about to nail Nazomi.

Cameron and Kahlil coming down the slide together.

Giant slip and slide.

Bouncing down the slide.

Kahlil, Cameron, Jin Liang, and Truman having fun.

Flying down.

At 11:45 Me, Ileana, June, Trine, and Peter went to lunch at the new Jacky's.  We were there for an hour and a half enjoying lunch and the great company.  It was a fun afternoon.  After lunch we headed back to school for the talent show.  There were 14 acts.  They were all very good.  The funniest was the Kindergarten Advanced Chinese class.  There were 6 kids.  They sang parts of 5 Chinese songs all blended together.  It was hilarious because 2 of the kids were very animated and loud.  At one point the second little girl reached over and covered up the first little girls mouth because she was so loud.  This made everyone laugh.  It was so cute.  There are actually some pretty talented kids.

Watching the talent show.

Happy Children's Day.