Winter in Hong Kong

I realized I haven't blogged since May! Wow! After school ended we had several visitors and then we moved and taught summer school. Then the actual school year started and it was very busy! I'm not any less busy now but I figure I should blog a quick post anyway.

Summer in Hong Kong was long and humid. So long that it seems we skipped right over fall and went straight to winter. I was in shorts and a t-shirt until just recently. Now I've finally begun to dig out some sweaters and tights and things like that. It's nice to have a wardrobe change. There's some things about Hong Kong in the winter that I really enjoy. Like the smell of roasted chestnuts. I always knew the words to the song "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire" but living here I actually know what that smells like! Street vendors roast chestnuts, quail eggs and HUGE sweet potatos. Here I'm enjoying a snack of roasted quail eggs on my walk home. They are warm and easy to peel and pop in your mouth. Yum! The sweet potatos are good too and the chestnuts smell heavenly and taste great.

I live in the district of Tai Wai and I walk home through the central "area" and it's very local. I enjoy all the sights (but not always all the smells) on my way to and from the station. It's about a 15-20 minute walk that I find enjoyable. I can also take a taxi or mini-bus but I like the freedom and exercise of walking whenever I can.

Another thing that I found I like is Pho. According to Wikipedia - Pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup, usually served with beef (phở bò) or chicken (phở gà).[1] The soup includes noodles made from rice and is often served with Vietnamese basil, mint leaves, lime, and bean sprouts that are added to the soup by the person who is dining. The broth is so flavorful and the things you add give it a unique taste and I couldn't stop eating it. A little spicy and just the thing on a cold day! Yum!

So, it's Christmas in Hong Kong as it is around the world and in some ways it's the same and in many ways so different. I don't watch local TV and we don't get commercials for the U.S. products here so I'm not bombarded with Christmas commercialism in quite the same way. The malls aren't any more or less crowded. However, the decorations are stunning if not at times a little tacky. I did go shopping last weekend in the district of Mong Kok on Fa Yuen street. The weekend before there was a bad fire that killed 9 people (in the residences) but a lot of the stalls got burned too. It was quite the sight to see. According to Guinness World Records, Mong Kok has the highest population density in the world. Awesome! It's an intense shopping experience but fun nonetheless. So that takes the place of crowded U.S. shopping centers and malls! Christmas music is piped into every store and even the train stations and they don't care what Christmas carol it is. There is no censorship of the phrase Merry Christmas. It's all good here.

This year I got together with a new friend, Lauren, and we made homemade Christmas cards. It was so fun and lucky for me she had all her scrapbooking materials from the U.S. and blessed me by sharing them freely! I cannot tell you how my crafting/creativity has been stifled here due to lack of materials! When I go home in a week one of my main objectives is to bring back certain supplies that will enable me to live out my Pinterest dreams to my hearts content. (look up Pinterest if you don't know what it is - I am especially in love with all the craft and DIY ideas I find on there). Making the cards was like therapy! I NEED to be creative. More exciting creative projects to post about in the future I hope but I can't share anymore now! Well, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Kindergarten Graduation in Hong Kong

My heart is full and my mind is too active so I'm going to blog about this right away. Tonight was our kindergarten graduation. It's a big deal - in the theater on the stage - full on graduation. Everything short of caps and gowns. My two classes - R2B and R2D have been practicing our two songs - Hosanna and You've Got a Friend in Me for almost two months now. We talked about expectations and yesterday had a full rehearsal. I had a new outfit made from China. I wanted to look the part of the professional teacher. Everything was set. I knew just what was going to happen. The students showed up dressed in their best. We gathered backstage in the band room. Mrs. Wong's classes - R2A and R2C were first so we had some time to kill. I got them all lined up and sitting on the floor and read to them. We were all calm. The kids were angels. But my heart was pounding. Then it was time. They listened so well and tiptoed on stage. While Mrs. Wong's parent was speaking a few words of appreciation we were getting up on the risers backstage. Then the curtains opened. My kids stood there perfectly. Then Mrs. Zhou, the Mandarin teacher did her song with them. Then it was my turn. They did perfect! They didn't go too fast or too slow. They watched me. For You've Got a Friend in Me they had to link arms and sway a few times. A quick prayer in my head to do well and not all down. They did perfect. It was great. Okay, now time for the certificates. One at a time - we had it perfectly choreographed. A short prayer here and there that no-one would trip and that I wouldn't drop all the perfect ordered certificates. Okay - we got through that - I was so proud of my kids! Then they were off stage and I was to go sit down in front and listen to my parent's appreciation. Well, she spoke for a few minutes about watching their babies grow up and then she showed a video that she had put together of photos of the whole year and then me talking to the camera about my classes (she had asked me to say a few words one day for the kids and I had no idea we'd watch it there). And the song! Oh! I admit it - I cried!!! Then all the kids and parents wrote me notes and she put some of them in the video. It was amazing and in the theater full of people! Then I had to go on stage and two of my kids presented me with flowers almost bigger then me! It was unreal. I can't believe all the praise they gave me and I pass that right on to my Lord Jesus. For all the short prayers I whispered during the days of teaching at a new school in a new country. All the challenges I was up against this year - it was all worth it in that moment. Faith, Hope and Love and the greatest of these is Love! I loved those kids and I will never forget my first classes in Hong Kong. And then after - I don't think the winner of American Idol had as many pictures taken of them as I did tonight! I don't think I had that many pictures at my wedding. My cheeks hurt! Wow! It was a very special night and I'm glad it's over now and that it went so beyond well! We have school tomorrow (Wednesday), then Thursday and Friday and the we have Monday off (Dragon Boat Races) and then the students come Tuesday and Wednesday. Wednesday is our end of the year party at school and then Wednesday after school I attend a party at a parents house - the party afterparty I guess! Then Michele comes that night. Thursday I have a few conferences and clean up. Friday I check out and then it's the farewell luncheon and I'm finally free!!! What a year!

Housing in Hong Kong

So the long journey of "apartment" hunting may finally be at an end. Looking for a place to live in Hong Kong when you're from America is a challenging thing. We were blessed to live in the school's apartment for the first year because it's spacious, open and bright. The bathroom is the size of many of the bedrooms we've seen in other places...so when we decided to start looking to see what there is we were faced with many obstacles. There are really 3 options that we've learned about: Option 1: A serviced apartment. This is an apartment that is like living in a hotel suite. It's furnished and ready to go. That was our first inclination however the more we looked into it the more we changed our minds. The one we had in mind has a kitchenette for a kitchen and you cannot move or change the furniture. Also it was too expensive. Option 2: an apartment in an estate. I liken that to an apartment complex. Instead of a sprawling complex they go straight up! Maybe 30+ floors. They are tiny and narrow (unless you want to pay many thousands of dollars US a month then you might get something more normal sized). We've been in some beautiful apartments but they were our whole housing allowance. You say - what's wrong with that? But since we're trying to pay off student loan debt we want to save if possible. Also, having lived on the ground floor all my life pretty much (maybe the second floor once) until this year Ernie and I aren't fond of living 20 floors up. Option 3: A village house. They are buildings with usually 3 floors and each floor is a unit with the top one including the rooftop. They tend to be larger and cheaper. The drawback - "village life" as they call it. It can appear very helter skelter and 3rd world. While some of the village houses we've seen have been nice the villages weren't. They sometimes have shacks inside as you wind through and some are a bit trashy. Some are nice but too far away for us to want to commute. Some we looked at were nasty. But the price was often right. So we were feeling frustrated. We have until July to find a place to live because we are house-sitting but still the option didn't look good. Either we were going to pay a lot more then we wanted and be comfortable maybe or cheap and miserable. Needless to say I was feeling a bit stressed. Then I decided I wasn't going to stress - I was going to give it to God. He led us here, He's got a purpose for us here and hasn't He taken care of us every single step of the journey? So I took a deep breath and let it go. I knew we'd find the place that was right for us. I know - big step for me!
Since we're house-sitting until Mid-July we've got time to look so I just shelved it and went about my business. The day before yesterday a teacher at school told Ernie that they were moving out of their place. Funny story - they bought these 10 foot paddle boards but they have no way to transport them to the beach and back so they are moving to the beach! They actually found a place and signed papers. So they wanted to know if we wanted to see their current place. That's the cool thing here - everyone helps everyone - it's such a nice "community." So we said yes. It's in Tai Wai which is a district here. We currently live in the district Shek Mun. I know that means nothing to you. Well, I go through Tai Wai every day and am not impressed. So I'm thinking village house in Tai Wai. Probably won't like it (this is based on what I've seen and what I know). Boy was I wrong!!! It's up on a hill called Tung Lo Wan Hill Road. It's BEAUTIFUL up there! We got there ahead of them so we just walked around the neighborhood. It's so nice - everything is landscaped and so pretty. There's a beautiful mountain right there with hiking trails and it's walking distance from where we'll be house-sitting. It's this quiet beautiful little place. Their unit is the third floor with rooftop on the corner!!! Okay, so I have this little mental checklist in my head of what I'm looking for and what's necessary to me. This place met them all and more. First off - it's three bedrooms. Okay - the bedrooms are small but just remember I'm looking at this through Hong Kong lenses where space is limited. It's got a lovely entrance into the apartment and the living area is quite large! The kitchen is tiny (and I mean TINY) but comparable to what we've seen. It has a little window. The bathroom is small but I've had similar bathrooms back home. The kitchen has gas burners - yay! Okay - let me say that Hong Kong apartments don't have ovens (actually the one we're housesitting in has a full sized oven - the first we've seen in Hong Kong). It's really really rare. So that's a score. The "master" bedroom is big enough to have a bed you can walk around. Yay!! So many places we've seen you can just fit a bed and that's all. I didn't want to have to crawl over Ernie all the time to get out of the room! It has two pretty balconies off the bedroom and livingroom. The other two bedrooms are small but good for storage. One has a built in wardrobe and we'll probably put the other wardrobe in there and that will be our room for clothes (rarely can you keep your clothes in your bedroom here). Oh and there's hot water in the kitchen - another thing on my mental checklist. Some places (estate or not) don't have hot water in the kitchen. It amazes me that things are this way in such a clean, modern city. It's just interesting. So I wanted a bedroom I could walk around the bed, balconies for plants and hot water in the kitchen. Check, check, check. That it's 3 bedrooms and a rooftop is a plus. So the rooftop - the stairs are in the unit to go to the roof. Sometimes the stairs are external so anyone could go to the roof even though technically the top floor gets the roof. But these stairs are internal so it's all us! It's a beautiful rooftop. From the livingroom, bedroom and roof you have a beautiful view of the mountain. That was another thing on my mental checklist. What do you see when you look out? Are you looking directly into someone else place? (not uncommon). This is right on the end of the village and so it feels open. The village is nice and small and not like the others. There are potted flowers and plants all along the walkways and it's in a higher end area. But it's not expensive. Not super cheap either but right where we were hoping to pay. There is a table and lounge chair that stay there (yay!) and I was just saying to Ernie - we're getting a dryer from our friend but we don't have a washer - we'll have to get a washer. Guess what - the place has a washer! Wow! After seeing this place we just can't say no! And knowing the people who lived there the past few years helps. Another thing I was worried about was bugs. I didn't want to move somewhere that had a cockroach problem and we didn't know. They say they've never seen any bugs and the mosquitos aren't a problem (often an issue in villages). This doesn't feel like a village. So we have to say yes! It's not a done deal - we have to meet with the landlords but they are supposedly very nice and attentive - they take care of problems quickly (another point on my checklist - some people can't even get a hold of their landlords). They like renting to ICS teachers because I guess they have a good reputation and so that's perfect! Check, check, check!!! If this happens we'd start our lease July 1 and we have to be out of our house-sitting assignment on July 15th so we'll have time to clean and set up our place and then just move in - stress free! So pray that it continues to go smoothly because we really like this place!!!

Other news - well, we are busy with end of school year business - I have kindergarten graduation on Tuesday night and report cards to do and Ernie has IEP meetings so we'll be pretty busy. But hopefully I can blog again soon! Until then - God bless!

Spring Break 2011

We haven't blogged in a while because you know - you get in the daily grind and no matter where you live everyday life becomes pretty much the same. Now that we've had a week of spring break I have more to talk about. No, we didn't go anywhere this spring break. Next year we'll be going to Phuket, Thailand. There's this conference called EARCOS (I forget what it stands for but it's an education thing) and our school plans spring break in conjunction with the conference and gives you money toward getting there. We'll have this years money and next year's money and so we'll be able to go for pretty much nothing. So that will be fun. We're going home for Christmas for about 2 weeks and we might shoot over to Taiwan this summer between visitors and teaching summer school. Good thing we'll be here for 3 years because we have other trips we want to take too!

But about this spring break. Ernie and I have had a lot of fun together. On Monday we took this amazing hike up to this waterfall. It was really the only sunny and nice day we've had this spring break so we jumped on it. It was a challenging hike over large boulders and through viney jungly forest that was damp and moist. For my readers who know what it's like to climb Elmore Mountain - it was kind of reminiscent of that in a way. Only much more challenging. Sometimes I had to push Ernie up a slippery rock and then he had to pull me. Sometimes it took us a full five minutes to puzzle over how to get me up or down a certain way because either I couldn't reach or stretch as far as Ernie could. I was sore the whole rest of the week after that hike but it was so much fun! The waterfall was beautiful and the rocks were cool and the sun was warm. It was so nice. Again, my fellow Vermonters, it reminded me of days at Grants Hole or the Gorge. And we only saw three things that would classify as wildlife - a butterfly, a spider and a lizard. Considering Ernie saw a cobra on a golf course here once that was pretty brave of me. But they are still in hibernation I guess or I don't know but it was fine. The thought of snakes was never far from my mind but once we got going it was like hiking back in VT and I wasn't too concerned. We certainly made enough noise I'm sure we scared most everything away!

Tuesday I went shopping in the markets with a friend named Renee. We went and looked at cheap toy stores for me to fill my treasure box and then she took me through the ladies market and I had my first experience of haggling on my own. You see - in that particular market you can haggle. Hard to know when and where you can but I said I live here and wasn't going to pay that price for what I bought. I haggled twice and was quite happy with the result. I have to admit - Renee helped play it with me. So that was fun. Then we went to Fa Yuen Street. That isn't as much a touristy spot - but a great place to shop for cheap clothes. We had checked out a few Salvation Army's earlier because I wanted to experience thrift stores in Hong Kong but they were small and uninteresting. I did get a few books but that's all. So this Fa Yuen St. was more like digging through thrift stores for a find. All the clothes were new but there was pretty much only one of everything so you had to search for things that you liked and was your size. Then - so funny - it was brand name stuff but they cut or alter the tags so you "can't tell" but you can totally tell. It's kind of like Nordstroms Rack but more diverse and so much cheaper then the malls. I got a whole bunch of summer stuff. You can't try it on so you shop smart and know what will probably work. I only bought one pair of bottoms and they fit - yay. I got mostly tops but new pajamas and a robe and a dress. It all fit fine when I got home. So that was fun but exhausting (as is everything here)!

Wednesday I was lazy in the morning - I slept, I layed aroud and enjoyed my coffee, I worked on some art projects. I have to say I think I might really be liking this paperclay. I've done a lot of research on it and it's non-toxic, extremely durable when dry and sealed and you can sand it, carve it when it's still sort of wet, add to it over time. It can have a finish not unlike porcelain and is a respectable doll making medium. I am enjoying it and I like how my project is coming out. I'll post pictures later. It's a process over time. I'm also attempting to make my own beads for a necklace. It's extremely hard finding craft supplies here. I think Asian people don't have time to be crafty and they don't think outside the box a lot. So I'm having to adapt and be even more creative which can be a fun challenge but also frustrating. I finally found some sand paper yesterday for smoothing my work. Then I took a nap in the middle of the day. Ernie had gone on a run so he had a nap too. It was nice. I'm going to miss naps next week.

Adults should be allowed to have daily nap time...anyway, then I told Ernie I wanted to go to Central (a journey in itself) to check out this store called 360. It' a more expensive, whole food, more western type of grocery store and I wanted to see if I could find the spelt flour there. Also, they have a real juice bar there and I wanted a smoothie. So...off we went. I found what I needed and the we decided to walk over to Soho and have dinner. We were on our way up the travelator (the largest escalator in the world) and we spotted a place called The Gourmet Burger Union. Someone had told me before that it was good so we went. It was so NOT good. Let me preface it by saying it's not because I'm in Hong Kong because I've had some pretty darn good burgers here. No, this place just sucked! You walk in and there's a huge wall menu where you can "build your own burger." It's boasts "Grass fed beef" and looks all swanky like that. It looked really promising. You pick the size of meat, then the cheese, then it says pick 4 toppings, then a sauce and then whatever extra's. You could get it in the bun or in a bowl. So Ernie orders a pretty simple burger - 1/4 pound for the meat, lettuce, onion, cheddar cheese (Old English Aged Cheddar the menu says) mustard on a bun. I order the 1/4 (smallest they have), in a bowl, cheddar and then it says 4 toppings but the guy is telling me I can only have two. ????? What I am trying to order is the "lettuce mix," tomato, roasted red pepper and pepperoncinis. When I'm done I'm not even sure what I ordered. He gives us the buzzer thing and says when our order is up it will go off. So it does. Then Ernie brings to the table two burgers, in buns. One is a tiny patty stacked up on all this iceberg lettuce with what looked like gravy all over it. We finally determine the other burger is mine. It's in a bun. Okay, so he brings the other one back and they say oops and proceed to prepare him another burger. I get some silverware but it looks dirty so I just decide to eat it bun and all (no specific reason why I didn't want the bun really). Then Ernie gets his. He gets a bowl of iceberg lettuce (the special "lettuce mix") and on top a really small hamburger patty with a little square of cheese and some dijon mustard on the side. He really wanted a bun and got none. Huh. It was so riduculous that we just had to laugh. At this point he's like whatever and just ate it. Some "gourmet burger." He ended up going home and having a sandwhich. We'll never go back there!

On the flip side - the next day I took a trek down to Wan Chai downtown on HK Island with my friend Jen Grobeck and we went to a french restaurant called La Creperie. Very quaint and the manager was so nice and from France. She and Jen spoke french together (Jen is the french teacher at ICS but is from the USA) and I could actually understand the gist of what they were talking about. 4 years of high school french and an 11 day trip to France paid off a little I guess. The food was amazing!!!! So that made up for my burger incident totally.

On Saturday we went apartment hunting with the Koch family (also new teachers on the 7th floor here). They have two small children so they need a slightly bigger place but we're feeling the same about how much we want to spend and the area we like. You have to find a realtor and they take you around because there are no "complexes" per se. There are high rise buildings called "Ocean View" or "Mountain Shore" but the apartments are individually owned. Landlords can charge what they want and change the rent so you can live in an apartment for a year and when you go to sign a new lease rent could go up. It's crazy. Housing is at a premium here because space is so tight. Anyway, we found a few places we wanted to look at just to see what they were like. And they were tiny! And of course he showed us places on the 22nd floor or something similar. None of us can handle living that high up. I'd go nuts. You could feel the building sway. The apartments we looked at were between 400-600 square feet approximately. TINY!!! The bedrooms (if you could call them that) made me wonder if you could even fit a full size bed in there and if you could there would be no room left over - at all. My principal Tim said that you wouldn't believe the large families that squeeze into apartments like that because that's what there is. And for an apartment like that it's approx. $1500-1800 US dollars a month. Really! Luckily we get a housing allowance but it won't get us anything bigger then 600 square feet...so the search continues. It's only 2 more years right? So glad that it's not my permanent future. I'd go nuts I'm sure. After such abundant space in the US it's hard to adjust. Our apartment in the school is small but very spacious compared to what's out there...in one of the smaller ones we saw the bedroom was comparable size to our current bathroom which, to be fair, is unusally spacious for a bathroom but still! And Chinese people are smaller too so the tubs and beds are quite small...it's definitely interesting! And that brings me to the end of our spring break unfortunately. We had some fun times with some couples - our principals and their families - The Wongs and The Van Tassels and our friends the Kochs, Jen Grobeck and our course Ernie and I had a blast with each other. Until next time - if you've read this far great - God bless!

The Usual and The Unusual

Life in Hong Kong continues to be usual and unusual. I say usual because we get up, we go to work, we clean our apartment, we go grocery shopping, do laundry. You know - the usual. But it also remains the unusual because of things like - I go to my campus on a Saturday to drop stuff off (and remember it's in a shopping plaza) and there's a lion dance going on out front. Or I need plants for our garden theme and I have to go to a flower market to get them and it's incredible and amazing, full of plants and flowers I've never even seen! Or I attended a conference about the origins of our creation all day on a Saturday at my school/home. Or I went to eat Korean BBQ. Or I began tutoring a girl who lives on the 39th floor of a place called the Royal Ascot and it's royal I tell you! Definitely not the ususual.

I think it's easy to begin to take things for granted. I live here now. So I go about my routine. And then bam - I see something like that lion dance and it's like wow! And I remember I am here in Hong Kong - Asia! (It's on my facebook page if you want to see it). I think life can be like that. We forget to be amazed at a beautiful sunrise or a flower and in doing that we forget to be amazed at God. Today we had that conference and it was called Origins - Light not Heat. Wow. Three scientists who are also Christians presented to us their beliefs on how they basically interpret Genesis in the bible. Was it 6 literal days? Were there really millions of years? Are there gaps? Did we evolve but still as part of a divine plan? Whichever one you most related to they all proved the same thing - God created the universe. It was the most intellectually stimulating day I've had in a long time - if ever. I know I got about a hundred times smarter then when I arrived. And it strengthened my faith. This earth is so amazing. We are genetically so amazingly designed and the bible is so amazing. There are so many levels and depths to the scriptures that I can hardly absorb it. And science just proves it. Now if you want to know more about them or you want to know which angle I believe - email me because I just can't get into it all here. But it's wow days like today that just make me so glad I'm here and having these experiences. I know Ernie agrees too. That was today.

Yesterday, I began tutoring a 10 year old girl who doesn't attend our school but her cousin's son does. They were looking for a native English speaker to tutor her. So I got the job. It's on Friday's after school right next to my school. I go there and it's on the very top floor of this apartment complex called The Royal Ascot. The higher up you go the more pricey they are. It's probably a 30 Million Dollar apartment which is like an almost $4 million dollar property in USD. Wow. Huge and spacious and overlooking the horse race track. Prime view. I almost couldn't tutor for looking out the window! And they are paying me well - of course. That was unusual!
Well, I was going to blog about Chinese New Year but really, I didn't celebrate it much aside from our classroom party. I didn't go see the fireworks because I knew I couldn't take the crowds. Mostly people go and visit other family members and so of course I didn't. The pictures I posted on facebook about sums it up I guess.

Well, that's life in Hong Kong these days. The usual and the unusual. Stay tuned for more of the unusual.

Completely Random Thoughts

I've been waiting to blog until I had something blog-worthy to write about. School started up again after the break and the first week was great but that nice, relaxed feeling quickly disappeared. P1 testing was upon us! I teach R2 and that's the last grade of Kindergarten. Then they go to the big campus to start P1 -which is right before first grade. It's a little different here. Well, since we are a private school they test them and just because they are in our kindergarten doesn't mean they will go to our elementary school. So of course parents are stressed about their kids doing well and I'm hoping they do as well. Ernie is on the admissions team so he, as well as 5 or 6 other people came over to my campus to test the kids. My kids were absolutely thrilled to meet "Mr. Davis." He's like living legend in the classroom because I use him frequently as an example in my class. For example, during our restaurant theme, I talked about how Mr. Davis doesn't like mushrooms. Or after we went to Disneyland I showed them the picture of us with Buzz Lightyear. So that was fun. But all the interruptions were not so fun. Every 5 minutes a different person came to pull out a kid. It was long and stressful and of course some of my brightest students were shy and didn't answer the questions and so on. I'm sure the fall out is coming soon. On top of that it's unseasonably cold here for Hong Kong and our building has no heat. The kids were coming to school with so many layers on they could hardly move! That was funny! Having to take the jackets on and off and keep track of the scarves, gloves, sweater vests, hats etc. when not prepared to do so was not so funny - not to mention the parents who don't label their child's stuff (a lot of the kids have the same jackets because of school uniforms) and wondering why it didn't come home or went home with another child...mental head slap! Ernie bought a little space heater that I can plug in and move around. That has helped quite a bit. But the hallways and bathrooms aren't heated...

It's been one of those weeks where I am sick of my own name. Student: Mrs. Davis, Mrs. Davis, MRS. DAVIS, MRS. DAVIS! Me: Yes, I hear you but can't you see I'm helping someone else? Ahhhhhh!!! Multiply that by 15 kids twice a day....No wonder I was glad it's was Friday. I was thinking too of what has made all the difference in surviving (yes, surviving) teaching small children. Dr. Jean - All Day Long CD for transition times, The Wiggles songs for movement on the carpet in the mornings, Super Day cards for behavior management, Wally and Cleo - our take home stuffed animals and bubble mouths. As well as picture books and songs in general. Without these things I could not and would not, teach. Okay enough about that.

I've been getting up and going downstairs to workout every morning at 5 am and that is working out well for me. I'm just too beat at the end of the day to work out most days but if I get up at 5 and do it I have more energy for the day and it's good.

I haven't had much time to do anything fun lately so after school on Thursday Tina Wong (coworker) took me on a "cultural" afternoon. That was fun. We got roasted chestnuts, salted roasted quail eggs and a roasted sweet potato from a street vendor. I never would have done that myself but she said "Oh it's so good - come on" and so of course I did. It also helps to be with someone who understands the Asian culture and can speak the language. We had tea at some little restaurant, I found crochet hooks and yarn (praise the Lord - I'm making myself legwarmers), we browsed the Chinese medicine store. You can get ground up or shaved deer antlers, dried sea cucumbers, lizard skins, all kinds of gnarly stuff. Mostly it has to be boiled for some long amount of time and made into some concoction. Pretty crazy. She explained all about Chinese New Year (which I'll save for the next blog) and we saw all kinds of decorations. It was fun.

Something I've realized about Chinese people - they have no personal bubble. If I got on the train I'd find myself a little space but then by the next stop - if it's busy - someone will come stand RIGHT in front of you. No bubble. Luckily that doesn't really happen on my morning commute but it does if we travel on the weekends. I guess they are used to it. I also notice that many parents don't use strollers (no wonder why) and that toddlers walk with their parents from early on so they are used to it.

Today is Saturday here in Hong Kong and several of us from the 7th floor are going in search of an Indian buffet restaurant that is supposed to be incredible. Then maybe a trip to kitchen street - the area to find cheap kitchen stuff. I need some kind of blender or something. My kefir making is going quite well and I want to make smoothies so I need something. Maybe I can find one of those hand blender things that you just stick in the cup. I don't know.

On a final note - progress! Our shower has been miserable since we've been here. Maybe some of you remember in the beginning we said our shower would either be hot or cold but never in the middle. So we'd run the sink on hot to adjust it. Then they came and "fixed" it but then it was all the way on hot but barely warm. We have to turn the shower head on full pressure (three streams) so that we're able to stand under it because there is no water pressure. Now that it's cold and it's getting worse we mentioned it again. They had told us that it's because the air in our bathroom was cold so it didn't feel warm. We have a space heater in there. Our neighbors get steam and say that if it was on hot it would burn them. Huh. They also said that when we take a bath if the bathtub is cold it will make the water cold. Really? So they finally came back and looked at it and lo and behold the unit is dying. Ya think? So we're getting a new one! It's a unit where as water passes over it the water is flash heated. I guess they are very expensive, so they were avoiding the issue I think. But oh joy to take a nice shower would be so wonderful! That really makes a difference. Maybe I'll start shaving my legs again! Okay, that was probably TMI...well, I have to get going now.

December in Hong Kong

December has been a pretty amazing month for us, well - especially for me I think. First I had two classes that had to put on some kind of Christmas performance. Where to begin? I had no idea what I was doing. I didn't grow up in Sunday school and I hadn't ever participated in a Nativity play but here I was doing it. And the kids - they are 4 and 5 - what are they able to do? I gave it to God - it's His story and wow weren't those kids amazing! I wrote a script for the nativity play and taught the kids their parts. Thankfully they practiced a lot with their parents at home because when the time came they knew their stuff. I taught them three songs - a cute hip version of Joy to the World, Christmas is a Time (for Love) and Wasn't That a Mighty Day? I made up motions and taught them and they loved it. We practiced in small groups, whole groups and finally in the multi-purpose room. Luckily all the classes were sharing the set so I didn't have to worry much about that. And it was so great, those kids really shined and did beyond what I thought we were capable of. Isn't that how God works? And through the whole experience I gained an insight into this beloved Christmas story. It wasn't just a story but a revelation of love. Wow. That same week I had two concerts of my own. I joined the Hong Kong Community Wind Band just a month before and had a lot of catching up to do to be ready for these concerts but somehow it worked out. I am definitely rusty but it all came together and it was fun. I am posting videos but not on here. It take too long to upload and keeps failing. We are a volunteer band of teachers and a few people from the community led by Mike Ross who teaches band here at ICS. He's great. The first concert was here at our school. The second was at the Hong Kong Arts Center. They do outdoor concerts and we were the first to play that night. So cool. Don't mind Ernie's commentary or singing. :) We were in the middle of our cold snap that night and it was a little hard to play but fun nevertheless. We resume in February.

Ernie and I have been taking the opportunity to relax and explore a bit this week we've been off. We have seen so many neat things around our community. We took a looonnng walk the other night and saw a group of people singing karaoke and dancing by the water near this little park. Chinese country - I have no words to explain that. But some of the songs were good and the dancing was neat. Then we found this neat park with a waterfall and bridges and coy and goldfish. It was beautiful. We saw green astro turf shadows in another park - some art project. That was cool. The Christmas lights reflecting off the water was magical and the temperature was wonderful. We've discovered new restaurants and had fun shopping for various things. We went to the racetrack last night which is huge here. It was so fun to watch the beautiful horses run and the Asian people drink 10 cups of tea. LOL! Finding places is never easy here but somehow we always end up where we intended to go and we always get home so we count it all as good! There's always so much going on here. This morning Ernie saw ladies doing their Tai Chi group with fans when he went to the store. And tonight was the most special of all. We went to the Christmas Eve service at our church and it was packed! I made a new friend named Brittney who is from Texas and lives right by where I work! We exchanged numbers. I think she's a kindred spirit. Then we sang carols and partook in the Lord's Supper and then the lights went out and we lit candles and sang Silent Night and Oh Come All Ye Faithful all holding our candles up as lights in a dark world and it was so amazing! After the service we went out for a bite and there were all kinds of groups we saw gathered caroling and sharing on the way home. It was so awesome to see. And I'm not feeling homesick. Don't get me wrong - I miss my family and friends very much during this time when we always spend special time together but I feel peaceful. I've done everything that is important to me and we have two potluck Christmas dinners to go to with friends tomorrow on Christmas and the day after Christmas. We are not alone and we are in Hong Kong so that just makes it cool. The presents are wrapped and under the tree and we are ready. Happy Birthday Jesus and thank you for the most amazing gift of love - the best gift on this Christmas day. We wish everyone the Merriest of Christmases! We love you!