Anyone interested in traveling?

There are tons of places that I want to see while living in Hong Kong! AND I’ve decided that I need to try to organize my trips. If you want to travel to any of the following places let me know, so that I wait until you come.

New Zealand (again for a much longer period of time- specifically I want to hike and camp and possibly bungy jump on the South Island)

Australia (need to get my scuba license first though, as with New Zealand October- March is a better time to travel there)

Vietnam

Japan (Tokyo, Kyoto, and climb Mt. Fuji)

Malaysia

Thailand (would love to go on a relaxing beach/spa vacation here)

China (Great Wall, Guilin, and more)

Cambodia

Bali (also a great beach vacation destination)

I have asked for travel books for Christmas, so I can learn more about all of these places. If you have been or know of other things to see in these areas, please add on. Bahar- I know nothing about Malaysia, so I need some suggestions. If you want to join me, just let me know when! I reliably have a Midterm break (in October), Winter break, Chinese New Years (early February), Spring break (in April), and the summer off. I know it is a grueling schedule!

Vicky and John's Wedding

There is not much to say other than the wedding was perfect! Vicky and John are two of the most caring and genuine people I know, and I am so glad that they found each other!

If I had been brave enough to have given a speech at the wedding I think I would have mentioned the story that Vicky told me shortly after they got together.

Apparently third year of college, John lived in Lambeth and had to walk to the biology building each day for classes. Vicky was living at 1800 JPA at the time with Margaret and me and had to walk to the Architecture school each day. John remembered passing Vicky on his way to classes and thought she was really cute.

The only reason A.J. was able to convince him to come to our barbecue at the beginning of 4th year was because A.J. told him there was going to be a cute half asian girl at the party. John came because he hoped it would be the same girl he had passed on his way to classes.

Other Random Tidbits

Quidam, one of the Cirque Du Soleil performances, is excellent! I went last Friday! The music is magical. The Chinese girls that twirled big spools on ropes were amazing along with the man and the woman that were able to balance each other in the air. The performers were all incredibely muscular! I would definitely recommend going and paying the money for a front view. All seats are great though because it is such a small intimate set up.

The secondary staff at CIS also has a great band. The guys played at The Wanch which is a tiny little bar in Wan Chai on a random side street. We went to see them after Cirque Du Soleil on Friday night. They play cover songs and can play just about everything on request. This was the second time I've seen them perform. On Friday, they also called up a bunch of other teachers to sing along. I'm not sure if it is because karaoke is so popular here, but all the singers were great.

The evening ended with a bit of dancing in Wan Chai!

New Cantonese phrases

Yet, yee, saam, say (one, two, three, four)

I learned this tonight in my body combat class. Although, Carla continued to confuse me by saying it backwards. She is used to hearing her Chinese teaching partner, Lillian, counting backwards in class.

Doe Zan (good morning)

My nice door man taught me this a couple weeks ago .

Bo Ma San Doa (Braemar Hill)

This is useful when trying to get to school in the morning because CIS is on top of Braemar Hill. You have to make sure the ending of Doa goes up otherwise you end up going to an apartment complex at the bottom of the hill.

I wish there were more, but I will keep learning.

Pictures of Macau

Tile work on the floor of the Institution of Education. Macau has all the tile work and beautiful colors of other European countries. Below, Gabbe and Holly pose next to the fountain in the courtyard.

The walkway that leads up to the courtyard at the Institution of Education.

Macau

Macau is another island near Hong Kong. It is famous for its casinos and furniture. I've been twice so far although the first trip was purely shopping.

Gabbe, Holly, and I went on our second public holiday. However, we didn't realize we needed passports, and as a result, we didn't reach Macau until 2pm. We shopped most of the day, and I ended up carrying home a small butterfly cabinet.

Two weekends ago, Jeff and I headed back to see the island. We started out with a cup of coffee at Starbucks (a local tradition obviously). Then we jumped on a bus to Coloane island. I wanted to see the black sand beach because I thought it would be a fun place to go and stay if I needed a weekend away from the city. The beach did have black sand which in fact turned the water a lovely brown color. We didn't stay there long because it was really just a beach and not much else. We jumped on the next bus back to Taipo which was luckily a shorter ride because Jeff and I were standing on the minibus and it was not made for a guy over six feet to stand up in.

In Taipo, we ended up checking out the East Asian games. We lucked out and got tickets to two soccer games. Noise makers have not been banned in the stadiums here and everyone was enjoying banging them around. The soccer played by U19 or U21 teams was pretty good. The last one was rather uneventful because the North Korean team didn't push up the field much (although their defense was good). Jeff and I ended up leaving at the beginning of halftime of the second game.

We had another exciting bus ride. It started out with me frantically trying to scrounge up enough change to get on, and then I ended up being the last person on at the stop. I traveled to the next stop hugging the change machine at the front of the bus because it was packed. Jeff and I were shocked when the bus driver pulled up at the next bus stop and let on seven or eight more people. Luckily, we didn't let anymore people after tha. However, we were so crammed in that neither of us could see where we were going or know when to get off. We ended up having to take a taxi back over to the restaurant because we were so far away. We had an excellent dinner at a local restaurant called A Lorcha (the name of the Portugese boats). The food was fantastic and we tried some of the local green wine.

High Class in Macau

This is the front end of a wedding car. Jeff and I saw this car parked behind a row of beautiful bungaloes that used to look out on a gorgeous sea view. We couldn't help but take a picture of it. Although, I did feel bad for the poor driver who had to sit and wait in the car. Vicky if you want the Mr. and Mrs. Hello Kitty pair for your wedding car, I'd be happy to bring some back for you and Johnny!

I never thought I'd see the day . . .

I never thought I'd see the day that I would cheer for anyone over Ireland (seeing as UVA doesn't play any Irish teams), but I was definitely cheering for the ALL Blacks when they played Ireland's rugby team last weekend. The hakka at the beginning is enough to get anyone excited about the game. Ireland got squashed! Most of the fans were Irish since we were in an Irish pub, but most people left at halftime.

If anyone wants to come see the Hong Kong Sevens, you are welcome to stay with me. The rugby games start March 31st and go all weekend!

New Zealand

New Zealand is absolutely beautiful! This picture gives you only a tiny glimpse of how gorgeous the countryside is in New Zealand. Lake Tarawera is in the middle of the North Island right near Rotorua which was our first stop.

My favorite part about New Zealand so far is the forever changing countryside. We only drove in about a 3 hour radius from Auckland and the landscape changed dramatically. New Zealand has rolling green hills and tons of sheep like Ireland. There are volcanoes, geysers, and boiling mud pools reminiscent of Costa Rica and South America. Then there is the redwood forest similar to Muir Woods near San Francisco along with tropical beaches. Last but not least are the vineyards and the cypress trees which makes you think you are in Italy (and the wine is fantastic)! And that's only part of the North Island.

Since being back I have already bought and watched the first Lord of the Rings movie, and I can't wait to go back and hike on the South Island because that is where most of the filming was done. Right now though I need to go to bed because I am still a bit jet lagged!

Good Night!

Camping with 8 Year Olds

Two weeks ago I got a chance to join the year 4's on their annual camping trip. It was rather entertaining to see the kids all outfitted with the latest hiking backpacks in miniature sizes. Tears did ensue from a few kids who had never been away from home before along with grumbling from many about having to carry their own gear. Most of the kids have amahs or helpers at home who do almost everything for them.

We headed out to Lantau Island on a slow ferry at 8:30AM on Monday morning. All 88 made it to the campsite after having to walk about a half a mile from where the bus dropped us off. The group was very distracted by a herd of wild water buffalo that grazed in the feed just behind the camp. Upon arrival, the kids were whisked away by the camp leaders to get tours of the campsite leaving the teachers to sit at the beach resteraunt and enjoy tea and coffee.

Of course within 5 minutes of the first activity (tent setting up) the first pair of tighty whities appeared. From then on there was a never ending supply of underwear, girls and boys, being passed around camp.

I helped one group of boys, fondly knicknamed the old men, set up their tent. They are incredibly nice kids, but they all act as though they are 60 already. Gabbe and I have fun picturing what they will look like sitting in a pub or playing chess together when they get older.

In the afternoon, the kids were put into groups and did a variety of activities. The most anticipated of these was the kayacking which several parents were adamantly against. No one drowned or even fell out of the kayacks, so all was good. Others went on a nature walk, and the highlight of that activity was playing with hermit crabs and trying to incite the water buffalo to charge onto the beach.

The activities wrapped up just as the sun set, and we all headed off to light the campfires that the kids had prepared earlier in the day. Roasting hot dogs was the highlight of the evening. Some of the girls had no idea why their hot dogs were not getting cooked even though the hot dog was held about 3 feet from the fire.

That evening I headed back to Hong Kong Island on the ferry because I had meetings and other classes to attend on Tuesday. The ferry I caught was packed with Mormons on their mission. Needless to say, I decided not to convert.

I arrived back at camp Tuesday night just in time for dinner and a beach movie. One of my wonderful but very ADHD kids met me as soon as I stepped out of the cab. He was bouncing around in his bare feet and begging to go back to his tent because he had forgotten his shoes and wouldn't be able to eat without them. On the walk back to his tent, he told me that one of the water buffaoloes had wandered right through one of the groups of kids as they made their way back from the nature hike. This was a highlight of the day because (as my student informed me) he was born in the year of the buffalo, so he is not scared of them and can talk to them. Adorable kid!

The kids were exhausted Tuesday night because they had been up all of the night before and had played hard all day. Several fell asleep during the movie on the beach. We watched a classic which had Matt LeBlanc and a monkey that played baseball. The ones that stayed awake loved it, and the teachers were just glad that the screen didn't fall into the ocean because the tide was coming in.

Wednesday went pretty smoothly, and we managed to get everything packed up and back on the bus. The ferry ride flew by, and we got all the kids and gear on the buses headed up to the school. Unfortunately, one of the buses broke down on the way which just added a bit more fun to the end of the trip.

I definitely prefer camping with my friends, but it was really interesting to join these city kids on their first camping trip!