Kaid's graduation, awards and good-byes

There are a lot of graduation ceremonies here. There's a grade 6 grad, a grade 9 grad, a grade 12 grad and a kindy grad. Because there are 3 kindergarten groupings- PreK, Junior K, and Senior K that means there are 3 years of kindy. Kaid is in Senior K and he had his graduation ceremony last week. Kaid got to wear his graduation cape and walk up on stage to receive his diploma. The kids also sang some songs and then there was a little reception. Kaid is pretty excited to go into grade one and mentions it quite a bit. Almost as much as he mentions the 60 days he will have off this summer!!



A little singing in English and in Mandarin...


Kylisha's had a great first year of high school and we're just so proud of all of her accomplishments and the wonderful adult she is growing into. This year she has been consistently achieving honours. At the athletic awards banquet a few weeks ago she received MVP honours for both soccer and basketball. She also received the Female Athlete of the Year award! At the academic awards last week she received the PE 10 girls award and the English 10 Pure award. Let's hope she still wants to come home to graduate...


Good-byes suck. It seems like we've had our fair share of them in the last year. Saying good-bye to our friends and family in Canada was tough (especially for Amanda and Kylisha). It was an emotional few months as we prepared to come over here. But, we made it through and quickly came to realize that it was the smartest decision we ever made.

You would think that our good-byes ended last August, but it's only gotten worse since then. As you know we have been lucky enough to have several visitors this past year. This is both a blessing and a curse. Obviously we love spending time with our friends and family who come all the way here to spend time with us. But, the good-byes are really horrendous when they leave us to head back to Canada. Maybe it's because we're the ones being left behind this time or maybe it's knowing that we won't see the people we are saying good-bye to for a LONG time. I just know that it's really tough for the females here in 22J!!!











There's another new set of good-byes that we also have to worry about. At the end of June each year some teachers go back to their country of origins and don't return. We've made some really great friends here this year and it is going to suck to have to say good-bye to them. These friends are actually more than friends, they are our family over here. It is hard for us to imagine life here next year without them.





Good byes suck!