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This morning began with the Xin Jiang graduation ceremony. These teachers have been training for the past 12 weeks, and it's time for them to go home. Here's the group and some of the trainers I work with:  

We then proceeded to a fancy graduation lunch--score! It was in Cafe 360 at the top of Macau Tower. Macau Tower is similar to the space needle in Seattle, to give you a rough idea. The restaurant we ate at was a buffet with Indian, Italian, Chinese, Portuguese, Etc.! It was delicious, and even cooler was that it rotated so that you got a view of Macau. Face=stuffed. Here's a pic of Macau Tower from the ground:

After lunch, the girls and I walked back to the office, I prepared for my 2nd grade class this afternoon, walked to the school, and voila it was over. Nice short day!...okay, it felt short, but it was really still 7 hours. My second grade was pretty well behaved today. We worked on the 'th' sound and I taught them "Singing in the Rain." There were no kids that peed their pants like one of my first graders did on Wednesday. When you gotta go...

Talking about 'gotta go,' I gotta go to Hong Kong again this weekend, so don't expect a blog. It's actually nice to get away from the internet for a bit--even if it is a luxury to have.

Tonight, the Ray, Lauren, Athena, and I ventured to an art opening near the apartment. This art opening was specifically video art. Some of them I could have made on Powerpoint, but some of the perspectives and messages sent were very interesting. My favorite was one put together by 3 Canadian guys called "Just Friends." Each guy took a turn reenacting what had happened to them when they either told a girl they loved her or wanted to date her and she only wanted to be friends. It was comical to watch because it is so very true and they acted exactly as the girls do. The responses were things like, "oh, that's so sweet. You know I think you're fantastic, but I'm just not attracted to you like that," and "I hope that doesn't make this awkward," etc. Oh deja vu and the balance of the human heart, huh? It reminds me of a topic that has frequently shown up in discussion and which Athena posted a video seminar about this week--the balance of human communication and the fragile grounds it walks on that keeps us often from saying what we really think/mean because of the fear of rejection. I have shut down my fair share of guys (which was never fun and I'm not proud of), but we all have to admit that if you don't try, you'll never succeed either...that seems to be a theme recently. So try, try again in whatever your goal is people--love, work, school, etc! (And please no guys read into this if I've shut you down before...haha. This is not one of those situations you should try again...ironically. Maybe the 'try again' here applies with a different woman. Yes, that fits.)

Here's a giant nativity that is one of three I have discovered so far in Macau. The Catholic roots run deep here. Yay for freedom of religion in Macau!

Have a great weekend!