oui oui had had a good day

Today I woke up from a dream that I accidentally flew back to the U.S. to surprise and hug everyone without realizing I'd have to pay for a return flight. It was really very confusing and didn't make much sense, but allowed me to wake up an hour early and talk to my lovely sibling. Check.

Church this morning was on Ephesians 1:1-14. Our pastor was out of town, so another member led service and began by asking the questions, "Do you consider yourself blessed, or are you still seeking to be blessed?" "Are bad things happening a sign that God has abandoned His children?" He went on to explain 6 blessings laid out in just these 14 verses, and how we are blessed beyond what our senses desire.

After church, I went to a pretty decent Mexican style restaurant in Taipa with a group of Chinese-Canadian girls who teach English at one of the international schools in Taipa. They also showed me this new frozen yogurt place in Taipa. We shared teaching experiences, holiday details, and humor about our limited knowledge of each other's home. They were amazed that it snows in Kentucky, and I shared with them that I at one point thought Alberta was a city. haha. Vicki, one of the teachers who I am supposed to someday have hiking plans with, told me about AccuRadio--free radio with customized stations--awesome find since Pandora is a no go here in Macau.

After spending out of budget on lunch, I had a 'go big or go home' when ignoring budget moment and splurged on Gouda cheese. Cheese came up in discussion over lunch, and I normally celebrate my birthday over an eleven month period anyway...so we'll call it a present. haha. Okay, that's a lame excuse, I just wanted cheese for dinner. Mmmm.

I dropped my things back at the apartment and went right back out to sketch a bit at the Ruins of St. Paul. It was quite lovely weather today with sunshine and a blue sky. I just couldn't imagine staying indoors during the daylight. A darling little 4 year old Chinese girl kept watching me, and eventually her parents brought her over and started talking to me. They spoke very good English, as did the little girl once she found out what our language medium of choice was. She started blurting out 'pencil' and 'flower' with a large grin on her face. We spoke briefly, and as the conversation ended they asked if I would take a picture with her. Too cute.

Later, I zoned out for a moment, only to come back to and realize my zoning made it look like I was staring at a man across the way. His response look was what clicked me back to reality--dang it. It ended up that he was with a group of other tourists, and one of his buddies walked over and asked for a picture with me. Leave it up to a grown man to have the same idea as a 4 year old. haha. I'm joking...kind of.

After sketching, I walked around a bit and finally realized after 5 months of living here just how huge the military club really is. I've been inside it once for an art opening, and there is a restaurant inside. The thing takes up a whole city block. The military club is a pink Portuguese style building. This picture below was some seemingly unused but fantastically fairy tale-like building on the military club property.

 I also finally went into the beautiful cathedral in the Senado area--St. Dominic's Church. The blue sky today really made the colors pop.

Finally, I returned home and took care of cleaning, eating, relaxing, and now watching Chocolat. You'll never guess what it made me crave... bean sprouts, of course. Kidding, kidding. Back to the mov-ay (read in a French accent).