I Fight in the Hunger Games Every Day...

This morning I walked to the orphanage to teach to turn around and walk back home. No biggy. Since there is a holiday break coming up next week, it seemed like a lot of people were missing--including the English speaking staff and the girls I most often help. The other kids were watching a Chinese dubbed Pirates of the Caribbean 4...where have I been sleeping that I didn't know that movie was out? Oh yes, Macau. On the way back home, I stopped by Park N' Shop and got winter melon and these frozen dumplings marked down. The dumplings are dough with Chinese cabbage and mushrooms inside. It said to steam them..and we don't have a steamer, so I boiled the winter melon while 'steaming' the dumplings on top...it worked well enough. Winter melon is more like a veggie, less like a fruit...it's big like a watermelon, and tastes something between cucumber and potato...they use it in soup a lot here.

After treating Athena and I to the dumpling adventure, I headed out to the basketball court at work. I shot around for a while and acknowledged how out of shape I am but how amazing it feels to shoot hoops again :) The guard laughed at me the other day when I asked her about using the court. I did get stared at a lot. The net came almost completely undone while I was shooting, which meant rebounding became more uncontrolled...I'm not sure why they don't attach the nets completely. 

I read a bit of the book Same Kind of Different As Me that I've recently started. It's a true story about racism in post-slavery America. Sometimes we have scales on our eyes. I haven't gotten too far yet.

Athena asked me this morning if I'd like to see a movie tonight and I told her no...so we did. Haha. What are budgets anyway? This is vacation week...ish. We do have to work Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday is Tomb Sweeping Day for the Buddhists. After we watched the Hunger Games, we split this mega popcorn. It was sweet flavored-yum! They have both sweet and salty, but it seems that the Macanese prefer sweet. 80% of the people that walked past stared at us...we forgot, they only mega size in America. :) I joked with Athena that the guard that kept walking past had a bet with his buddies on whether or not we'd finish it and how long it'd take. We'll blame our large consumption on our own hunger game. The movie wasn't bad, though I'd recommend to anyone who hasn't seen it to wait until the trilogy comes out and watch all 3 at once. Athena and I enjoyed hanging out by ourselves tonight--a good sign for the week ahead!

If you are a UL or UK fan, please act like a decent human today when whatever team takes the win....that is, unless you can remind me again what the benefits are of obnoxious people? I can't recall any...  I will confess that I fear violence will break out in New Orleans after the game. I hope we're all classier than that. Let's show the world we have shoes, knowledge, and tact! :) [By the way, I totally got stereotyped AGAIN when I met a couchsurfer the other day...why do people think so low of our state?!?]

Nga Tim, but 'im

Today was fantastico!

I began the day working from home, then headed to CuppaCoffee to meet up with Sean (the L.A. CouchSurfer) for lunch before he left Macau. I was interested to hear he did the bungee jump off Macau Tower--it's the tallest organized jump in the world. Aye aye aye! We went to lunch at Cafe Nga Tim in Coloanne because I explained the egg tart from Lord Stowe's in Coloanne Village is a must for a complete trip in Macau. He bought lunch as a thank you for my fabulous tour guide skills. Here are our Portuguese dishes--

Coconut chicken--it was so cool that it was in a real coconut! I wanted to eat rabbit, but they were out of it. This was a great alternative :)

Portuguese baked rice with mussels

My second graders were surprisingly well behave today...maybe it was because I spent money. I taught the senses today, focusing on taste. The spending came in when I bought a lemon and some hot peppers so that they could have something to grab that was sour and hot. Go Ms. Hall!

This evening, Angie and I went to House of Dancing Waters--an acrobatic show. The "dancing water" part of the title comes from the pool that is the stage. The seats are in a circle around a deep pool that holds enough water for 5 Olympic Swimming pools apparently. There are several stage floors that go up and down within the pool, boats come up out of the water, and chicks have six packs that make me want to stop eating Angie's popcorn. haha. It was an AMAZING show. The talent level was similar to Zaia as far as the acrobatics, BUT they were doing everything in at least some level of water/wetness...so it took way more precision I think. It was really neat getting to see Luke play his roles and spin around in the air. He was the one that got us the ticket discount--I know him from Bible study. Angie and I also dressed up tonight--Can I just say that I love light dresses that beg to be twirled in? I do. I didn't twirl though as that would have been another show.

After the acrobats and motorcycles wowed us, Angie and I went back to Senado and chatted over some McCafe Fluffies (warm milk with marshmallow foam) and dried sweet potatoes. We had fun and probably laughed too much for our own good.

I'm glad the day is complete and satisfactory :) Thank you, God, for your blessings on me.

D is for daring

Yesterday, I was telling you about my students giving gifts. Today, Cora brought me soap she'd had from her trip to France last year. So sweet. Once again she was drilling me with questions about being a housewife, adoption, etc. Perhaps it's that I'm so incredibly forward about what I think that she finds amusing. That might perhaps be a little more rare to find with women our age in this culture.

Tonight was the last IEBF session. It did make me a little sad. It was kind of like a school girl feels on the last day of school before the summer break--you're excited school is done but realize you may not see the people for a long time. We had sandwiches tonight as kind of a send off celebration. I felt bad for those that didn't get certificates, but it wasn't up to me to change the requirements. That's kinda like how it feels giving a D to my boys at Dom Bosco...but there's a standard for a reason.

After work tonight, Angie and I went to Cafe E.S.Kimo and chatted about some deep stuff she'd been dealing with. I love that kid, but when my mother tells me I think deep--mom, I've got some serious competition out there. Maybe Angie makes me more laid back. Well, it was a good night for a laugh anyway. (Though I'm often on overdose of that anyway).

Jack and Jill went up the hill. Jack rolled back down.

This morning, I found out 15 minutes before walking upstairs to teach my class that we would not be testing our 3 classes today...fortunately, I had a back up.

I helped Ted with his application for a summer study program today and he kept insisting that he treat me to lunch as a thank you. It seems that Chinese culture is very big on gifts of gratitude. Cora offered many times to purchase things before. Sweet people.

Tonight, I went out with Jack. Meet Jack:

I trekked into the court at work and shot a bit before the guard told me I had to sign and reserve the court. It felt good to shoot around again. It's been so long since I've played basketball, and I love exercise that's more like a game and less like sets of repetitions.

I also met Sean, a couchsurfer from L.A. No, he did not surf our couch. The cool thing about the site is that it connects people to just meet up, have dinner, coffee, etc. and learn about each other's culture. I don't normally meet up with guys for obvious reasons, but I assumed he was safe and, voila, here I am alive and well. We grabbed drinks at Starbucks and then I showed him around a bit of Macau. He was a sweet guy who is on a 6 week tour of travel and dropped by Macau for 3 days. The line of work he's in (something to do with engineering) requires him to work on call 7 days a week for long hours for 100 days. Then they make up for the crap hours with time off. He gave me some tips on places to travel and things to see in the parts of Asia he's been in. He tried to get me to go dancing with him in my fancy basketball attire, but 3 twirls outside of where the music was playing was all he got. I didn't want to send the wrong message, though he was the tall, muscular guy many girls dream of.  End of story--we had fun and it was nice to meet a new face.

Can teens eat in canteens?

Today began with nursing, which went well. It was then followed by canteen lunch--it was good. I had some mystery veggie melon dish with pieces of hot dog in it as part of the plate... I helped Cora apply for a summer in Australia (semi-jealous). Then I was supposed to have a meeting with someone who rescheduled some stuff and was less efficient than preferable. All came through in the end though, thankfully, as I had students waiting on the results of that to hear back from me. Nothing like when someone else makes you look ineffective, inefficient, and disorganized, aye? No worries, the students were understanding and it all worked out in the end. After that, I lesson planned for a few hours before heading to Bible Study in Taipa. They had Mississippi Mudslide cake from Lord Stowe's at Bible Study, and it was more like Boston Baked Beans than anything else. Bible Study was still in Ephesians this week and the topic was righteousness, but I feel like we paid more attention to social justice than anything. This came as a result of discussing being lights in the darkness--> revealing evil as a result of being light--> how that happens -->application to reality. It was interesting, but as with anything of that nature it seems to always come back to 'balance,' and we're all seeking the marker that reads 'balance.' I'm not sure anyone but God knows the perfect measure. At the end of the day (and the beginning), I guess that's why the Bible focuses so much on pureness of heart. If you're intentions are good, quite often your actions will follow.

The most significant point of the day came from Luke (a Chinese-Australian acrobat married to Caucasian-Australian Anni, who are quickly becoming some of my favorite people). He was telling us a point that someone else had told him and what he'd taken away from it. He suggested that we hold onto everything God gives us with a flat, open hand. That way, we are good stewards, and also we better understand that God has given it to us and can also easily take it away. Lastly, by not holding things tightly, we acknowledge they are not our top priority. All things are blessings. ...and I don't quite feel I did his explanation and visual justice, but hopefully you get something out of it. I did.

Just a tidbit

Today, I dealt with bureaucracy, taught munchkins and adjudicated the final round of the debate tournament. The motion was, "This House Would impose a levy on aviation." The weather was beautiful. On the way into work, I got McCafe iced coffee...apparently the regular coffee with ice doesn't exist, but the fancy whipped cream sweet something was nice anyway. This is shaping up to be a busy week--last week of the IEBF class. Tomorrow morning, Athena and I double team nursing.

Hello again to the Jew (Zhuhai)

It's hard to believe today is Sunday. After working yesterday, I was considering this might turn out to be a mediocre weekend, but alas, Alabama and South Dakota swoop in to save the day. It's weird to think it's only been one day and that so much has been power packed into it. Also, it's almost 2am, so here comes the speedy version. (And unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so no pictures until I get them from a friend).

Today I:
1. Went to church
2. Got tickets for House of Dancing Waters this Friday from my acrobat friend at church
3. Ate clay pot rice with new found friends Rachel, Lindsey, and Alissa. The clay pot rice is literally baked in a clay pot with steamed meat on top. The rice on the bottom of the bowl is crispy, even burnt at the point of contact. It tasted like burnt popcorn, which reminded me of my mother.
4. Went to Alissa's before heading to the border--wow, one person living in a 3 bedroom apt, nice. Her landlord is a Christian, so she leases to Christians for less expensive. Cool idea, huh?
5. Went to Zhuhai, China--woot woot!
6. Checked out the underground mall briefly, showing Rachel where she could bargain for souvenirs.
7. Walked around in the beautiful, sunshiny weather.
8. Cabbed it to Lovers Rd. and the Fisher Lady statue (the signature landmark of Zhuhai). Here, we took pictures in front of the statue....4 other people showed up posing in our picture and taking pictures of us. 1)Rachel has blond hair, 2)We're white....I seem to forget this about the mainland, but it was a nice note of awareness for Rachel who is going to Beijing this week before travelling back to the U.S....and it made for some very entertaining pictures.
9. Went to a big park across the street from the statue--apparently having a small amusement park with rides inside a bigger city park is completely normal. We did not ride any.
10. Using lots of squatty potties today. I appreciate Macau's western toilets, but don't mind the reminder of how different many things are just across the border (the one I wake up looking at every morning).
11. Went to a big superstore with magnetic inclining escalators for shopping carts. I should not have gotten as excited about them as I did. There, we found bakery heaven--even chocolate chips! (Though they were outrageously expensvie). We got samples of black sesame soup and red bean peanut milk. Don't be jealous--actually, they weren't bad. I also got some dried kiwi. I think that's the first time I've had that.
12. Walked to a Shanghai style restaurant for dinner. There were no tables open, but a lady allowed us to sit with her and her 4 year old son at the table. The menu was a sheet you ticked off your orders on. It was Chinese characters only. The nice Chinese lady who let us sit there also helped translate some different things on the menu for us. Quite sweet. I love when God sends people into our paths at just the right moment :) They were getting a to go order. We had a veggie dish, dumplings, and a tomato/egg/ham/pork/rice dish. It was all quite delicious.
13. Too stuffed to think about....so we had gelato at the border. Wait...what? Haha. I had a flavor called Amadeus. Mmmm.. It was something chocolate-esque.
14. Got back through the border quickly. Exchanged hugs and information. Departed ways.
15. Got momentarily confused as the direction of my apparent, but am now safely nestled in my bed.
16. Watched the movie The Vow....analyzed, as always :) ...led me to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSnltiQozVk

Night, y'all. And blessins'

A Debatable Weekend

Today we slept in, did laundry, walked in the sunshine, grabbed lunch as the four of us for the first time in ages, and thennnnnn went to work. The next 8 hours were spent out of the sun in the Bell Center adjudicating and taking a break for the Pizza Hut they brought in. [They actually had a pizza that had tomato sauce on it today, yay!]

The debates kept me awake. Some were more interesting than others. They were as follows:
-This house believes that China should incentivize female births.
-This house would ban using animals for entertainment
-This house believes would grant asylum to females under Sharia law
-This house would recognize the third gender

Our boss did give us a Snickers bar at the end of the day....so it was a great day ;)

Chair-ish...that's what you should do to people. (No table-ishing allowed)

Tonight, I edited a cover letter and resume for one of my students, had dinner with the girls which was semi-work, semi-fun time. We work tomorrow--7 hours pretty much straight through of back to back debate adjudication. This means I should be in bed...I will need all the staying awake power I can get. Maybe I will go to Starbucks tomorrow after all...

Anyways, I was working into the evening because this morning I got up to make a special cake and sing happy birthday and such--thus, not clocking in until later.

 

This was the Macau take on funfetti, since I could not find the cake mix here. This is white cake mix with mini M&Ms in the batter.

I also finished a book this evening. I picked it out because it's about a girl who breaks up with a guy who is going to propose to her. Not that anyone I know has a history of break ups, but the intuition is always nice to have. Other story details: the girl experiences the loss of her grandfather after he gets Alzheimer's, though he actually dies of cancer, she quits her job as a lawyer, has problems communicating with her father, and her mother had died when she was 14. The overarching theme and moral of the story though was one that I keep running into recently--embrace the moments you have with those you love. I'm trying my best to do that from far away ;) There was one quote that I will leave from the book. This is from a seen at the grandfather's funeral where a friend from the nursing home is speaking, "'I met Jack when I was an old woman, after my husband died, when I thought a huge part of me had died too,' Ruth says, when it's her turn at the pulpit. 'But Jack changed that for me. He taught me that there is humor in loss and even in death. That those we love stay with us long after they are gone, in a form beyond memory and in a form beyond consciousness. Thank you for teaching me that and for making me laugh every day.'"

So laugh every day, no matter what comes your way, and embrace the moments to laugh with those you love while they are here.

Selling men, not sailing men?

If a picture is worth 1000 words, then prepare for a blog around 1000 words. Today was mostly uneventful as I recall. Language exchange went well with both Cora and Poppy, Skype call with my amazing family went well, IEBF was led by Lauren and went well. One of her activities required them to research articles and then come up with a product they would market to a country they were given. One group was marketing men from China to Russia because Russia has a high women:men ratio and China has a high men:women ratio. The way the group leader phrased it was 'transactions between women and men'--but they weren't talking prostitution. Apparently he planned to just trade people...It earned a laugh at least. One group wanted to sell inexpensive Chinese appliances to Brazil because the article information they found stated Brazil was developing and lower income. When they mentioned what they were selling, they named all the different appliances by name, so I taught them the word 'appliance.' My daddy would be proud.

Here's a view of the Macau side from Big Taipa Hill on Sunday:

That needle in the left corner is Macau Tower, the clump of buildings in the center across the water are casinos, work is to the right and up into the peninsula a bit. You wouldn't be able to see it from there.

Nappy

What happens when you take a nap at 9pm? Well you might as well have gone to bed early. This kid just woke up...

Based on that, today I taught 4 classes of primary students, ate canteen food with college kids and ventured out and about in the not as beautiful, but still nice weather. My 5th graders had never heard of tornadoes, but it sure was windy today.

Ted was asking me about how foreigners think Chinese food is too salty and thus unhealthy when they visit China, but then they eat McDonalds--a paradox. Sometimes I just have no idea but I think we are considered experts. To end with a quote from Athena today, "oh, you're a native [English] speaker, you must have super powers." Sometimes this is how we're built up...sometimes that's not so bad ;) I'll now be taking my cape to bed and arising early...Ben Franklin and the Bible are both fans of that plan.

be not imprisoned by limitations

So what didn't happen today?

Morning: Started research, took a 10 minute nap, went to Starbucks to do a few hours of reading and research and had printed off every other page (how?!), talked about Proverbs 17 via Skype instead.

Afternoon: Passed what looked like a monk (attire) on my way to work and he was trying to give me a some sort of small trinket. I couldn't understand what he was saying and I was on my way to a meeting so I just said "no thanks." Sometimes people are actually selling you things instead of giving them to you and they will yell at you to give them money after you take it. Not that a monk would do that, but I wasn't sure he was a monk. When we were in Guangzhou over New Years, a man asked Lauren if she wanted a picture with his monkey (it cost money). She said no, but took a picture of the monkey by itself once we walked away (we were in public). The guy freaked out and yelled at Lauren's friend to give him money.

Cora and I had an amazing conversation on money, investing, politics, beliefs, etc. We talked about so many topics today and it was as interesting as ever.

I also went to the prison ministry. 3 of the about 10 people in the room had been to prison or some type of detention center. The 2 that had been to prison were drug addicts and are now full time pastors. We heard a lot of legitimate stories, but I'll have to give more details when I have the time. One of the most powerful stories that I heard was one of a man in Singapore caught with drugs. In Singapore, smuggling drugs gets the death penalty. This man claimed he was innocent, though he was caught red handed, and was given life in prison. This man found a relationship with Christ while he was in prison and went to a lawyer asking for an appeal. The lawyer argued that the man was caught red handed and there was no hope. The man replied that he wanted to make an appeal to claim he was guilty. When the judge saw the case, he told the man that by admitting his guilt he was essentially putting the noose around his neck. The man responded that he knew the consequences, but because he had found this new life in Christ, he felt the need to tell the truth and confess his wrong. The man was hanged. Because of this man's commitment to his faith and honesty, the lawyer that made the appeal quite his work in the legal system and committed his life to full time prison ministry. They say when the inmates who have truly found Christ are hanged, they go in peace. The ones who have not found Christ go out fighting and shaking something horrible. As unfortunate as the hanging is, it's good to know that they found that peace.
All the prison ministry stuff reminded me of my good friend Penny's testimony. I almost forgot she was in prison because I always just saw her as a good friend and great witness of faith, but sure enough she was one of those miracle stories. She found Christ in prison and got out way sooner than she was ever supposed to. I don't know her whole story, all I know is that she came from a bad situation and ended in peace, having blessed the children in our church by ministering to them and having found Christ. Something God keeps ringing home to me these past few weeks is 'never give up on people, never give up.' Never EVER limit someones ability to change with your expectations and assumptions. We are humans, not equations. Quite often, God works in mysterious ways and uses the most unlikely as the most impactful. Never underestimate what He can do through you either.

Evening: I worked back at the office a bit and then headed to Bible study. It was a packed house in there tonight covering Ephesians 4. The biggest thing that I came away with was prayer for a boy. One of the families in our church found out that his 3-5 year contract was ending at 11 months unexpectedly. This family has 2 boys and they just moved here this past year from California. They expected to be here long term so they sold everything in the states. Now they have about 2 weeks before they have to leave the country...and the contract wasn't supposed to end for quite some time. Two of the ladies in our group got texts that the oldest son was crying hysterically in fear that the dad wouldn't be able to find another job. These kids will lose their school, their friends, their home, and will go where? I've learned while living here how truly difficult it can be working internationally. Visas and such are such an interesting game to play out. Not only has he lost his job, but this father may have to buy 4 plane tickets back to America ($6000) and they cannot take their things with them because they'll be leaving on a plane. He doesn't have enough time to sell much of it if he ends up leaving. What a painful reality. So please remember this family in your prayers. From what I've been told, contracts in Macau with casinos aren't super binding. This seems to be happening to a lot of people with different casinos recently.

I'm sure I missed some things that happened or I wanted to cover, but acting out Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" with 5th grade boys comes early in the morning! Night, y'all.

Baby, it's [not] cold outside

Tonight we heard a debate on "This House believes that Hong Kong should ban mainland mothers from giving birth." It's the year of the dragon--seen as good luck for the Chinese and so everyone is getting prego. Many Mainlanders choose to have their babies in Hong Kong because of better medical facilities, lower infant/mother mortality rates, and the children are guaranteed 12 years of education and residential rights. Because of all the perks, Mainlanders made up 40% of births in Hong Kong last year and it can be difficult for a Hong Kong resident to get a bed to deliver in due to the high demand for beds. This year alone, the hospitals are already booked up until September. It's an interesting and very real dilemma that deals with the 'oneness' of Hong Kong and China, the taxpayers' dollar, and the health of women and children.

I taught the short and long 'o' in my first grade class today. On the walk to the school, I passed Angie at an intersection. She was getting ready to cross the road and a scooter passed in front of her--the driver wasn't looking where he was going because he was looking back over his shoulder. That's when she saw me further back. She said the driver was checking me out, I say that it was because I was on the wrong side of the chain that keeps you on the sidewalk (aka in the road)--I'm bad, I know, but people walk slow and I'm on a schedule.

The weather was great again today. It was so great, in fact, that I wore my first skirt since the el freezo hit in late Novemberish. It felt lovely.

Tomorrow I go for prison ministry training. Much to learn, much to learn.

I had an all a-'round' good day, in 'quiche' you couldn't tell

Some things were born/created lucky. These select number of things make me happy just by being there and being them. They don't have to try or put forth effort, sometimes their presence alone excites me. Say hello to one lucky member on this list:

That's right, merry-go-rounds are a no-effort-happy-maker (NEHM, for short). This one that I found at the base of the big Taipa hill was the first I've ever seen with a middle by which you can spin yourself. Perhaps a better term for it then would be a tilt-a-whirl? I'm not sure, and I didn't ask it it's name today, I just got on and spun...and giggled. Passers by looked at me strangely (what's new). I did not break it.

This all happened as part of the hike that commenced after church this morning. The weather was BEAUTIFUL (can I emphasize that anymore?) and being inside for one moment longer would have probably been a sin today (kidding, of course). I hiked to what I believe was the top of the hill this time in pursuit of this weird shaped building/tower thing that I've seen from afar these past 7 months. I needed to find out what this spaceship like thing was. The trails are marked in Portuguese and Cantonese, thus I couldn't read any signs that said 'spaceship like building thisaway' or 'Chel, turn here.' No, instead I was left to my own compass and the somewhat obvious path that led in the right direction. I wasn't sure if this building was one of those 'all access' types of buildings or something the government hid away in a hill to tease foreigners and hold big bbqs. When I climbed my first billion stairs (slight exaggeration), I realized I was now taking stairs downward. Something about needing to be at a high point and stairs proceeding toward sea level don't add up to success. But, oh no, that was just one of those lovely hill crevices that exists merely so that your calves don't feel like they've been put on your body for nothing (mine don't, by the way). So downward I descended, upward I went again (this happened multiple times) until the spaceship deemed building was in sight. At this point I felt the need to take a picture in case there was no public path I could access and for my calves' self-confidence concerning all the effort they'd put forth this far.

But, alas! Down a heap more steps and spinning to a left at a Portuguese sign, I took this puppy:

Ooooh. Apparently it's an observatory...or at least the Portuguese "observatorio" makes me think so.

I headed to Lord Stowe's again today in Coloanne Village, but this time I had a plan. I decided to go around 3pm so that I would miss the lunch rush and beat the dinner rush...right? Wrong! It was an hour before I was seated and had my food, but I didn't mind so much because I was working on a book a girl from church lent me today and I was waiting outside in that beautiful weather. The book is called What's So Amazing About Grace?. I can only speak for the pages I've read, but he makes some good points in the passages she recommended to me. Here was dinner when it arrived:

Quiche Lorraine, salad and homemade lemonade. It was the first time I'd ever had quiche and at 4pm it was delicious. :)

And wrapping up (and back to this morning), I met 2 pharmacy school students doing a month rotation here from Samford University. They're almost done, but hopefully we'll get a chance to go to Zhuhai together next Sunday. One of the girls is from Alabama, and she treated us to the first rich southern twang I've heard in a while...gotta head south for that.

My pastor was talking about unity in the church today and he was listing examples of lack of unity. One was about the Church of the Holy Sepulchre being split up into 7 territories, and 11 monks getting injured in a fight over their religious group's part of the roof. The next story involved Kentucky. Apparently my pastor is originally from Kentucky and his grandfather was the pastor of a church. Something happened which I missed (and he didn't provide much detail on) where they wanted the grandfather to step down and the son to step in...something else happened and then it came down to someone bringing out a shotgun. Needless to say his family moved to Arkansas. Real classy, Kentucky. Pastor Steve gave me a shout out in the audience and said we were almost kinfolk. haha.

Enjoy your Sundays! I hope your alls are at least half as awesome as mine. What a treat.

Snaps, shots, but no snapshots

Somehow it always happens that I have my camera when I don't need it and then want it when I don't have it. I've made a habit of carrying it around less recently. That is in part because the over 1700 pictures on my card maxed it out and it took me a bit to figure out where I was going to move those to. This afternoon would have been a great photo opportunity. The weather was AMAZING and I decided to venture toward the sunshiny top of Big Taipa Hill (which I found out today is part of what is called the Taipa Country Park). They have a park, bathroom facilities and a playground towards the top that included something I've not seen before but found quite brilliant--it was a sledding area made on a concrete slope covered in artificial grass. There were only small kiddos (seemingly age 4 max) that were sledding, but they were tackling it with little plastic sleds just as if there was snow and it was 30 degrees.

This morning began heading toward the orphanage. I have finally figured out how to walk there, which takes less time and money than taking the bus (score). I arrived about 20 minutes early, so I took the opportunity to work on the newest library book I've been carting around with me Homecoming. It's written about a German (in fact it was even translated from German) but parts of it take place in America. It is supposed to be something like a mystery/suspense that tackles the dilemma of justice, so we'll see how it turns out.

I helped Lily and Annie with homework at the orphanage. We were working on a book about David Copperfield for Lily and Annie had me help her edit essays about Macau's transportation system. I felt more like a big sister than a tutor as I was quizzing and proofing like another girl in their class might. I'm glad I can contribute to their education as none of the workers there have good enough English even if they want to assist.

We had pumpkin for lunch which was a nice treat. I didn't realize it was in season now, but apparently so. I misunderstood Annie calling the fish fried and thought she called them 'fired.' They did have a more red appearance than normal and I was intrigued to know what cooking method was 'fired' (by the way, they were still in skin, so it's not the battered fried you might be picturing).

I also made a trip out to Coloanne hoping to eat at Lord Stowe's Garden Cafe but arriving too late. The last order is taken at 6:30 there and they close at 7. I hope if I ever own a restaurant that it is so successful I can open and close at whatever hours I choose.

Tonight I took in the value of my balcony and the warmth again, exercised with the basketball I purchased today and listened to a Southeast sermon on the 10 Commandments. Slam poetry is all the rage now apparently and there was a cool clip Dave Stone showed in the sermon but I can't find it online. Perhaps check out the whole sermon for this week--but hurry, they'll be updating it with the new week's soon.

Tomorrow I think I will get up early. Sundays are quite lovely days--here's to hoping yours is!

We should strive each day to rest in the peace offered us

There is a story told with every breath.
The oxygen brings opportunity
Does the carbon dioxide partner with results?
The choice is up to you.

Perhaps I'm in a poetic mood today. I just finished Out of the Dust, the novel written in poem form I'd mentioned before that recounts a young girl's life in the Dust Bowl. It was sadness, it was struggle, it was not fair, but it was a beautiful description of life and how we must roll with it even as the dust blows in.

I found out this morning (my time) that my former High School English teacher/principal/mentor/counselor (yes, she held that many roles) passed away after being in a coma for quite some time. It's difficult to grasp, and I would have like to have told her 'thank you' one more time. I was telling my father today that she was the only woman I have ever met that has both intimidated me immensely and at the same time earned so much respect from me and won so much affection. It was by far one of the more interesting positive relationships I have ever had, and my success today is in a huge way a result of her labors in multiple leadership roles during my last 2 years of high school. I've been fortunate enough in my life to experience the aftermath of very few deaths of people I knew well or was very close to. All of those passings that I would consider impactful in my life thus far have felt very unexpected. Perhaps that's the way death works--the paradox behind it is that it's something we know is coming but never quite understand once it's arrived. Of course, give me a book on something as epic as life in the Dust Bowl, the information that I've lost a role model and time to think and you might as well have given me a diving board (ask my mother, I dive deep into thinking). But I enjoy the process because I learn. I find myself cherishing and appreciating things more--a wonderful result that many strive til the end of their days to figure out.

As I was drinking hot chocolate tonight, I pictured my child self wrapped as a pretend Mary in a light blue sheet while sitting in front of spotlights and looking out on the city of Hillview. I would be surrounded by fake stable animals my father had cut out of wood, the freezing cold of a winter night, and people who were hoping their small gesture of recreating the nativity scene might plant that seed of the true Hope in someones life. In my mind's picture, I'd be waiting for Jimmy and Carol to walk out and take a tally on who wanted hot chocolate, and then consider those 2 sweet souls, Swiss Miss, and a microwave as precious gifts from Heaven for a frozen tiny hiney. Those nights, which were quite some time ago, took place in a building that was randomly engulfed with flames and smoke one cold December night in 2007. I no longer have the opportunity to relive those moments apart from my cherished memories. That is exactly what I'm talking about. Enjoy it while you're in it and enjoy them while whoever they are are here. I cannot stress that enough. As I look back on my college career, I distinctly remember Sherry Allen telling me, "Don't wish your life away," but thinking that wishing 4 years or a few weeks of exams away wasn't so bad. I'm taking that sage advice now and trying to make each minute count. I hope you are too. And with that--I'm now going to go invest my minutes elsewhere. I hope you've gotten something out of my rambling.

Most of you did not know Mrs. Shively, but for those of you who did here is a poem written in her honor and memory. Please everyone remember her family in your prayers during this difficult time. Her son was not much older than me.

How Will You Remember Me?
How will you remember me
In this life that’s like a class?
Will you continue learning
When I take a hall pass?

Will it be misplaced modifiers
That linger in your thoughts,
Or maybe something greater
Stands out that I have taught?

Life lessons, there are many
And I’d like to say I’ve tried
To teach you more than English
Until now, you’d not realized

Life is more than A’s and B’s
Strict rules and lesson plans
Take comfort, now, in knowing
I am in far better Hands

Take a moment to reflect
On times you’ve had with me
And then use that inspiration
To show others what can be

I walked through this life humble
And at the same time bold
Perhaps you underestimated
Just how your life I’d mold

Looking back you see that I
Gave you far more than a grade
So carry on my legacy
Don’t stop at this tough day

For if I was there, I’d raise my brows
And say what you might guess
Instead of, “tuck your shirt,” I'd say
"In Christ, become your best”

The characters are in character for this show

Today was mostly uneventful. Cora taught me some of the stories behind Chinese characters. One example that comes to mind is the character for 'man.'(男) The top part of the character represents a field and the bottom part of the character is the character that means 'power' when it stands alone. Hence, men have power over the field/land. We also talked about the one I remember from my Chinese class in college. The word for 'home' (家) is a picture of a pig under a roof. Remember they used to keep livestock in the home.

Tonight at IEBF we worked on presenting bad news in business via the direct and indirect method.
I got a sweet card from friends at home with this quote, "You make me smile all over my face.--Ian Hobson, Age 5." Cute. So, may you smile all over your face as well today.

The Great Bread Debate

Conquered, tackled, done. This morning I was able to get all of my oral testing done for 3 classes. It normally takes 2 classes to complete, but I am woman, hear me roar. I did this because I found out AFTER I told my classes they were being tested that I am supposed to be testing them on a poem in 2 weeks. Well it seems a little silly to have 3 weeks of testing with no new material in my mind, so I did a group test for the first time today.

English lunch has wained this semester as midterms and life have apparently come into play. That meant that our standard routine fish w/chili, egg w/minced pork meat, and bok choy were joined only by one student. It was nice to get a bit of time to chat with Ray as well though--he has been busy and mostly out of the picture for the past month. The dynamic of our fabulous four has definitely changed--not in a bad way, just in an 'everyone's found something to keep them busy' kind of way. Talking about things keeping us busy, next week I go to training for volunteering at the prison ministry. I'm pretty pumped, not going to lie. I was supposed to have gone last Tuesday, but the singing competition came up.

Teaching the miniatures (1st grade) was a success today. Ray shared a Jeopardy template with me, which I revamped for a fun spin on word review. The only negative was that one girl got a question wrong in front of the whole class and I saw it emotionally crush her. Bahhhh. I don't like those moments. There was another little girl that told me she loved me when class was beginning today. Like I said, I never know what to respond to these things. I never want to tell a little boy I love him in return because people have warped minds, and the teacher-student relationship (at least in America) is difficult enough to navigate already. And if I won't tell one student (a boy) that I love them, I don't think it's fair to tell another student. Perhaps you think I'm thinking too hard about it, but thus is life. By the way, I did tell her 'love you too' after she kept repeating it begging for a response, but I'm not sure she understood...'too' is a big word for them. It's nice to be reminded I have fans big or small.

Angie and I went to dinner at a cheap noodle place and walked around having girl talk for a bit. On the way back towards home, we passed a Filipino restaurant that was selling Ube Tasty--a purple bread loaf. I heard another bread loaf across the way yelling, "No, YOU be tasty." Alas, the great bread debate was born (kidding, of course). So, it was only right that I be the bigger person (or loaf?) and be the judge. It was in fact tasty. Angie was telling me the Malay word for a vegetable like a potato sounds like 'you-be' and she said the purple was probably from the taro root that is popular in this area. Even McDonalds has taro pies. The Ube Tasty did taste a lot like potato bread (an old favorite father-daughter snack at our house)....I've talked about my dad a lot recently, haven't I? I love you too mom! (you just don't love potato bread...) Here's a look at the bread, and no the color of your screen is not off, it's purple.

Isn't that clothes pin just the cutest? It was a gift from a friend back home. Enjoy your Wednesdays!

Little bands, big bands, and all that's in between

The highlight of my day today was the miniatures singing songs offbeat and with less than perfect pronunciation. I'm sure this is the case for any group of small children singing 'The Wheels on the Bus," "Old MacDonald," or "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes," but these kids were cute because they were under my watch but not my job to discipline today. Haha, what can I say? I have a great appreciation for will behaved children and less so the other way around. The video of them singing is too large to post on here and the pictures came out mostly blurry, but trust me they were cute. The wheels on the bus went 'wound and wound.'
For dinner, I dropped into vegetarian on my way back to work from the school. The Chinese will not hesitate to sit you with someone if there are not enough seats to sit separately. Hence, I met Nicky and Jack--a British duo playing in a band at the Hard Rock Cafe in Taipa (part of the City of Dreams casino mega building). There's actually a Hard Rock Hotel here as well. They were from the UK and nice enough. We mostly had small talk, but they gave me contact info in case we ever wanted to meet up. Not a bad bumping into.

Another bumping into, which was a bit more literal, occurred when an attractive Portuguese guy stepped on my foot on the bus. It started a 'where are you from,' etc. conversation that didn't last long as he was departing. He mentioned working in the import/export business here, which intrigued me and I wished I'd had more time to pick his brain about what he does. Who knows, in a tiny place like Macau maybe I'll bump into him again.

Bible study tonight was fantastic as always. I just love talking about Jesus. You probably never picked up on that, huh? I was in a group with Anni (from Australia) and my pastor's wife (from New Zealand). It was nice to discuss and pray with them about a variety of topics--some on the Ephesians 4 unity of the church we were studying and some about personal things we've encountered recently. What's interesting is that when I first met my pastor's wife I had a lot of difficulty understanding her accent, but now it just seems soothing and sweet. She really is a great lady with a lot of valuable knowledge to share.

The most interesting point I brought home from Bible Study tonight was around the definition of love. There are multiple words for the all encompassing English word 'love' in Greek. Two of the types of love are 'agape' and 'eros.' Agape can be defined as love for the unworthy, whereas eros is love for the worthy. There are multiple interpretations, of course, but the question that is birthed out of these definitions is, "If I' a follower of Christ, do I get to choose who I will and will not love?" The answer is technically no, you are to love your enemies, the 'worthy' (in your eyes) and the 'unworthy' (in your eyes). After all, we have all fallen short of His glory (are unworthy) and yet He has bestowed such a gift, such love, and such grace upon us. :)

Raindrops on some other type of flower

This morning the head English teacher at one of my primary schools asked if I would come adjudicate for their English Singing Competition. It fit into my schedule, and I could think of far worse things to do as work, so I agreed. Today was the 4th, 5th, and 6th grades. Tomorrow I will get to witness grades 1-3. This means some of the children I teach will be up there tomorrow.

Some of the fabulous renditions included: Justin Bieber's "Baby," Taylor Swift's "Love Story," "Do-Re-Mi" from the Sound of Music, "Auld Lang Syne," and "Jolly Old St. Nicholas." They were cute and managed to work well around a few technical difficulties.

As I was sitting in the gymnasium watching kids file in and get organized on tiny benches, I realized I was the only white person in the room. In fact, I believe I was the only non-Chinese decent in the room. It's not extremely unusual for me to be the only white person, but today while I was waiting I was thinking about how minorities in the U.S. must feel, especially Asians. When we say 'minority' in many American social circles, I feel like we automatically think of African Americans, but there are many other different minorities. Even among Asian Americans, we often make the mistake of categorizing Japanese-, Korean-, Malaysian-, and other Asian decent Americans as all being Chinese. There are far less Asian-Americans and Asian-American support organizations in American than African Americans and African-American support groups, which is one reason I thought specifically about our roles being reversed today. Asian-Americans experience racism and the feeling of being outcast, perhaps at a different level than African-Americans, but they also have less of a similar-race community in many areas throughout the U.S. So, to the point, I don't pretend to know what it's like to be in an Asian American's shoes, but today I thought maybe I got a little taste of it. Of course, I also had the semi-language barrier to deal with as all the introductions and speaking parts were done in Cantonese and not all the teachers I attempted to talk to spoke English well enough to converse. I didn't even know what they said when they introduced me, I just heard Ms. Hall (or Ms. Ha?) and waved. Overall the experience was very enjoyable and quite comical.

And like I often live through memories, the 'Do-Re-Mi' of today reminded me of my dad. After all, the Sound of the Music was one of the first movies he ever saw in theaters. I think only he and his brother got to go with his parents and it was black and white at the Palace Theater. (Am I getting this right, dad?) Now that I've shared more family history you may or may not have actually cared about, here are pictures:

I've told you before about the different uniforms they have. The picture above is the 'I have P.E. today uniforms,' below is 'I am looking snazzy because I'm not getting sweaty today (aka no P.E.) uniforms'

One of the classes brought flowers to each of the judges as part of the actions behind their songs. I guess that means I got a flower from a boy today--we won't mention he's less than half my age. haha. So I guess instead of 'raindrops on roses' we say 'raindrops on whatever type of flower this is (anyone know).' An appropriate song as it did in fact rain once again today.

Patience, grasshopper

The blog title is a line that, at least in my social circles, we are quick to give out to children but not so hasty in listening to ourselves. In fact, the line was spoken in my Sunday School class this very morning. This all comes to mind because the person who was helping me with Sunday School (who of course will go nameless) seems to be in a bit of a rut themselves. I say this because after church we went to lunch and said person unloaded the burden they've been carrying--much of which is a lack of patience and trusting God's timing. And this person is not the only example I have to offer. I've had one friend frequently vent to me as a result of impatience on finding a wife. I've been impatient in planning trips, with roommates, and with knowing where I will be employed in the fall. One might say impatience is something that we're far too good at. Today's lesson tied in perfectly with patience, and not by my choosing, I was just following curriculum. We read Joshua 6 about Joshua and the battle of Jericho. God tells the priests to march around the wall blowing trumpets for 6 days. They got up early (tired?), they marched long hours (feet hurt?) and they blew trumpets in battle (where are the weapons--wouldn't that be faster?). All those things in parentheses are thoughts they may have considered, or maybe we would have had we been in their shoes. Maybe at some point it crossed their mind, 'why can't God do this in 5 days instead of 7 if He's such a great God?' or 'will this ever actually happen? We look dumb.' Sound like familiar thoughts? But, alas, God pulled through and the wall of Jericho came tumbling down. Who knows what would have happened if they'd grown impatient and shouted too early or given up altogether. God knows what He is doing. Hindsight is 20/20 for a reason, but we can't have perfect vision until we get to the 'ah ha' moments and look back. So I urge you, I encourage you for your own good that whatever situation you are in, you wait and be patient. He is the all-knowing, He's got reasons. Trust Him.

I got so befuzzled after talking with the person at lunch that when I went to chill out at the coffee shop, I picked up my coffee and walked off without paying. This was CuppaCoffee so the guy recognizes me and I remembered before I went too far, but clearly I was distracted by the burdened friend.

Most of the Sunday was cleaning and lazy other than that, nothing too eventful to speak of. When I got off the bus early this morning at the stop for church, I realized I'd been on the same bus with the sweet Finnish lady Tuula that I've spoken of before. Apparently she comes up to church every week before service and just prays for the service before anyone arrives. I thought that was neat and dedicated. She said she hasn't publicized it because she says the Holy Spirit will send the right people. What a faith. Strong women of the faith really encourage me.

So, grasshopper, what did we learn today? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ is a virtue. Be virtuous.

Egg tarts are deceptive. They're not tart.

Ohhhh, lazy Saturdays in town, you are fantastic. Could the day have gone better? Perhaps, but I'm not trading!

I woke up to catch a good lookin' face on Skype. You ask 'don't you always see yourself in the bottom corner of the screen?' Haha, and I would of course say you were too kind, but yes. There was something about my oatmeal this morning too. I think maybe it's that I remembered I had it, and hadn't had it for a while. Plenty of sleep+good breakfast+good morning chat...good so far.

Then I trecked to the office to prepare for Sunday School. I'm teaching on the fall of the wall of Jericho tomorrow. Woot woot! Rahab is in the puzzle the kiddos will do as part of their activities, and can I just say I love that God made a prostitute so instrumental in this important series of events? God can use anyone--that's what's up.

After planning Sunday School, I travelled out to Coloanne. I haven't been out there in quite some time, so it was nice to see it again, although it was quite a chilly day. Even though Macau is tiny, it takes close to an hour by bus to get to Coloanne Village. I went to Lord Stow's Garden Cafe for lunch. It left me asking, 'why haven't I been here before?!' It was GREAT. I had a 'spicy chicken' sandwich (which was more like chicken salad with some type of spice on it, garden salad, and the homemade carrot and something soup. The cafe was started by an English man who moved to Macau. He was the original inventor of the egg tart, which I've had before and probably told you the story on. As far as I know, Lord Stow's only makes fresh egg tarts at their Coloanne Village bakery, so I got one--who knows when I'll be in Coloanne again. In case you need a reminder, this is what an egg tart looks like:

After that, I walked on water...okay, okay, I walked on what used to be water. You see, 10 years ago or so, Coloanne and Taipa were 2 different islands. Since then, they have reclaimed the land between them and created CoTai. This is where most of the new casinos are located and where lots of new luxury apartments are being built. I walked for over an hour, but it was refreshing. I checked out some new shops and such on my way.

I had some things to drop off (and as a result to pick up) at the library. I ran across a book Out of the Dust which I remember purchasing at a book fair in elementary or middle school. I've never read it though I own it. Ask my mother--bookstores are my weakness; I want to buy everything...but then not necessarily read it. I'm no good with the 'don't judge a book by its cover,' but hey, I'm a marketer at heart too. Out of the Dust is a novel written in poem form about a girl in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl. I remember trying to read it when I was younger and just not being impressed enough to continue (though it's won an award). I figured I would get more out of it at this point in my life, and alas, the first 25 pages I read while waiting on dinner plans with the girls were quite rewarding. It's funny to me how things circle in and out of our lives. Hello again, book.

For dinner, the roomies and Lauren's friend from Washington went to the Vegetarian restaurant. Lauren's friend has just gotten back from Thailand, so most of the conversation over dinner was about her trip.

Now I'm in my room drinking tea and listening to Jack Johnson. Perhaps I'll get some reading in before I sleep and end this simple, good Saturday.

Should we call it 'Macau'fe instead?

I spoke too soon about the weather. Today was chilly and I was not a fan. That's right, I did not wear my "I love this weather" t-shirt today. Instead, I focused on doing some more research on my project before teaching my little 2nd graders. Fortunately they were well behaved today. That was probably influenced by the fact that they were on camera, but it also helped that I had a fun activity where they could move around. After work, I had to go pick up a movie at the library for an oral exam I have to give next week. Perhaps you remember me mentioning about the regions issue with the Emma movie? If not, there are multiple regions for movies around the world, and these discs only play on devices set for that region. I am in region 3 with a region 1 computer. I'm not sure if the computers at work and at the school are Region 1 or 3, so I'll have to test the videos. I came away with Aladdin and the King of Thieves. I feel like a child again :) Only, it does not work on my computer. I'm hoping it works on the one at work or else I may end up buying another DVD. Call me cheap, but I don't like buying things for work that aren't necessary. Showing a movie during the test isn't necessary, it's just easier on the other teacher when I pull the students out of class to test them. We shall see.

I've made some big purchases this week, so budget kept me mostly indoors tonight---although the weather certainly wasn't beckoning me outside. I went to McCafe as opposed to Starbucks and got myself what is called a Fluffy. It's made for kiddos and it's steamed milk with marshmallow froth on top. It was quite delicious. I'm impressed by how a place like McDonalds pulls off the McCafe part all classy like. I mean their coffee isn't top tier, but look at how pretty they made my drink:

After McDs, I came home to watch Diary of Anne Frank and do some research/planning. It's amazing how petty my life issues seem in comparison to a 13 year old girl living during the Holocaust. I am so very grateful and so blessed to live in this time and this place. Thank you, God.

Names, games, and no shame lunches

Today's entry will be short as it's 1:30am. Today I ate canteen food, did language exchange with Cora and Poppy, taught IEBF on body language and intonation, and read a horrible article about men in China beating their wives if they find out their not virgins after they marry them.

Interesting tidbits:
-The best part about canteen food was this egg, pork, and tomato dish that I had last week. Wait, why am I getting excited about cafeteria food? This one dish reminds me of a better version of spaghettio flavoring.

-Somehow Cora got on topic of marriage, kids' names, and taking a husband's last name today. She was asking me questions like do I want to get married? Would I take my husband's name? What name do I want to name my daughter? It was a good opportunity to explain how naming works differently in American culture--for example, it would be offensive to name someone after a relative in Chinese culture since the uniqueness of a person's name is considered very important. As far as the last names part goes, I was able to incorporate a lesson about how there has been a generational shift where less women are taking there husband's name because of already having an established professional name. I told her I had no idea on the names for kiddos, but gave her the example from when I was in elementary school. Anyone who knew me then probably knew I was 'in love' with Brian Swan for like 2nd-5th grade....so much so I made a clay 'swan' (that turned out looking like an ugly duckling) in our art class. [It was that failed art creation that made it clear to me our love would never succeed...haha, kidding]. Anyways, I tell you that because I'd decided in elementary school that my daughter's name would be Sarah Susan Swan--because 3 'S' names was somehow exciting and wonderful and all things good. Let's just say I'm glad I got over Mr. Swan in high school and never had the opportunity to name my child that.

Poppy showed me a new app on her iPad where you play pictionary with complete strangers (essentially). I think it was called DrawSomething. It was neat to watch it live, and I was able to teach her about the American food pyramid because of it. Who knows who she was playing with on the other side of the world. ..and I can't remember what I taught her at this hour of the morning, sorry.

IEBF covered body language and intonation. Communication is 93% non-verbal, FYI. We practiced examples of how stressing words can change meaning. Read the following example with stress on the word in caps and see if you understand how it conveys a different message. I've put the implied meaning in parentheses next to it.
Example:
I did not say she beat her husband. (I didn't say it, someone else might have)
I did NOT say she beat her husband. (I never said that!)
I did not say SHE beat her husband. (I didn't say it was her...maybe it was someone else)
I did not say she beat HER husband. (I didn't say she beat her husband, maybe she beat someone elses husband)

Anyways, language has power--use it wisely. Sleep has power too, and I'm going to go get some so I'll be able to have power to teach more language tomorrow.

Over and out.

Grab a good desk and snuggle up

Today started with noisy 5th grade boys on 5 hours of sleep. I was sure that I was going to have a really mean Ms. Haww kind of day, but fortunately it went pretty well. English lunch today was a blast. Cora was the only one to show up because of midterms and Ray/Lauren leading a optional seminar during lunch about bilingual communication. Athena, Cora, and I had a goofy moment where we awarded Cora a juice box trophy that we deemed the FiPWTA. I can't remember what it stood for (Athena has the picture), but it was something ridiculous that included the words 'telegram,' 'wait' and 'award.' We even made her an official certificate with a crest that had licorice as part of the symbol. We got on the topic of licorice from a can of herbal tea that had 'Heal All' and licorice as ingredients in the ingredient list...interesting. I then tried to explain to Cora that licorice in the U.S. would often translate as the candy twists...I'm going to see if I can find some here at one of the westernized grocery stores just to show Cora.

After teaching today, I came home for a nap. (So no worries on my not getting sleep the night before). I spilled a little bit of coffee on my sheets this morning, so I washed those after work. Unfortunately, the amount of water in the air right now is ridiculous. Between the humidity and the rain today, mold is growing on some of the walls. Fortunately, I think my room has been spared because of my heater fan and disposable dehumidifiers. Anyway, the question is how do you dry your sheets/laundry when you have no dryer and the air is too wet? Voila:

Heater and jungle hanging system. This took up about 3/4 of my room and there were no sheets on my bed, so I made a pallet on the floor with my snuggies and took a nap under my desk. Hey, it worked. I felt like a kid making a fort/tent out of sheets again.

Yesterday was very warm, and today was nice apart from the rain. Apparently spring is pretty much non-existent here. It just jumps from winter to summer. Remember how quickly I freaked out about it getting cold for winter? Apparently fall is short too. I'm ready for sunshine, though I'm sure I'll regret sweating everywhere I go in a few weeks. Even still, emotions are interestingly tied to sunshine and I like being a happy happy girl...and maybe one who's a little less pale ;)

Hugs.

Sweets and summaries

I made today my late day for the week and started the morning by getting rid of the red plums I got on markdown in Hong Kong....there was a reason they were marked down. The healthy result--red plum breakfast bake. Here is a piece of it with yogurt and raisins added for a garnish:

 The highlights of the work day were meeting with the Regional English Language Officer and getting to share some suggestions about next year's ETAs. Hopefully we did some good for them. She was nice enough to bring us some fun size American candy--score on the Snickers.

Today was apparently a good day for free sweet treats because at Bible Study tonight, Chris brought chocolate toffee and brownies--boy, were they moist and good!

Now, back to HK update (Sunday):
We started out the morning with an English breakfast (yum). It was simple--eggs and an English muffin with coffee, but when you don't have the simple, the simple gets luxurious and exciting! We then hiked Lamma Island (a part we had not yet seen). It was GORGEOUS weather. The sky was blue, it must have been 75 degrees. Ahhhh. We walked past a squatter village. Here are what these makeshift homes look like:

Next, we took a ferry to Aberdeen. It's an old fishing village which is now very developed with lots of boats, of course. We walked around the area without seeing too much exciting. We stopped in a simple cafe for lunch. You can kinda compare this to the Steak and Shake level of Chinese food restaurants. My meal was red tea, white rice, baked beans (from the British influence?), and those wedges are fish...of some kind. I called them the bologna of fish because it was just the meh parts all squished together and fried. Yay for healthy! It cost me 40HKD--that's pretty cheap for Hong Kong, so I'll take my fish bologna and run with it.

We also checked out a temple right around the corner from the restaurant. While Lindsey, Molly, and Lauren burned some incense, I stepped outside only to notice the contrast among the bright blue sky. Notice the church behind the temple? That cross isn't connected. Thus, the balance of Hong Kong and Macau.

 After I parted ways with the girls before heading back to Macau for the evening, I walked around Central and did some exploring. I came across some art galleries and lots of British pubs. It was quite a beautiful area. I stumbled upon a couple taking their wedding pictures as well. Believe it or not, this is extremely normal to see in Macau and Hong Kong, especially around the Ruins of St. Paul. Unlike western culture saying that it's bad luck to see the bride in her dress before the wedding, these couples are all about it. These pictures can be taken the day of the wedding or quite a bit before as I understand it. I like the contrast of the old and the new, the British and the Chinese influence in this picture...and you can see how hilly HK is.

Last, I was craving pizza and was on vacation (I seem to live on vacation don't I?), so I spent more money on a pizza than I probably ever will or have in my life. It was rewarding though. Seen here--the BBQ Chicken masterpiece at a restaurant I stumbled upon that is still feeding me....so that's 5 meals I've gotten out of it...it seems a lot more affordable that way :)

(Maybe this one looks more appetizing than my cheap lunch??)

Onward--enjoy your Tuesday...seriously.

No troubly, I'll have the bubbly

The excitement of my day today was probably when I taught short and long /a/ to my 1st graders.
The debate tonight was "This house would criminalize all excessive banqueting." This motion was pulled out by Michael based on an article about something like $10billion being spent on excessive banqueting by party officials.

There's so much to catch up on from Hong Kong this weekend! It was a beautiful sunshiny weekend that was unexpected and made me appreciate Hong Kong even more. Saturday was super foggy, and we went to the Peak (the touristy lookout over the city). The fog was so thick up at the top of The Peak that we couldn't see 5 feet out and the water was condensing on us. That was a bit chilly. We went to a Catholic Church, a museum with tea pots, the Peak, The Hong Kong Jockey Club Asia Society art display on Buddhism in art (interestingly funded by the Rockefellers) and then rode the ferry to Lamma Island where we stayed. Dinner was at the vegetarian place Lauren and I ate at last time we were there--delicious :) Here are some Saturday pictures:

This is actually a tea pot.

A glimpse of the fogginess--it got worse as you went up.

Apparently the knobs on the head are displays for excess wisdom---something I learned at the display.

I'll have to share details of Sunday tomorrow because it won't let me load anymore pictures and there are some good ones.

I will say the favorite part of my trip was when I found Wild Cherry Pepsi at the City Super grocery store. It wasn't because I was craving it, but I had brought it up in conversation with someone not too long ago and it felt semi-successful running across a can of it on this side of the world. You have to understand what Wild Cherry Pepsi is to me above and beyond corn syrup to understand why this was special.

When I popped it open, the cherry soda scent that filled my senses reminded me of my father. If he were a soda, he would be Cherry Coke or Wild Cherry Pepsi. I was taken back in my memory to these rolling can devices that we used to have at our farm to keep the cans organized. There was almost always a cherry soda on there. As I drank the Pepsi and thought about my dad, it created one of those great domino thought series--how my dad had the perfect voice for the Precious Moments story book that I used to ask him to read to me as a child. As a kid, I was sure everyone else in the world must be less privileged because no other father's voice could possibly narrate so well and fit that book SO perfectly.

Now you probably either think I'm really homesick or that I'm ridiculous. It's not the first, but hopefully not too much the second either. No, this is how I see life--in stories and senses. If you haven't caught that yet, you haven't been reading very closely. As my mother used to always tell me, I'm very tactile (she'd say this when I would walk up and down the Target aisle behind her running my hand against soft towels and blankets as I passed.) I suppose living life through your senses could be a bad thing, but for me, having a reminder of my daddy for 7.50HKD was quite spectacular. So cheers to the best daddy in the world...if he can reach across that giant table called the Pacific :) I know his love can. I am blessed.

Fogtastic

Today was extremely foggy, but the weather was one of those where you wear a sweater and then get toasty. Do you know what that means?!? Warm weather is one it's way!--ish! I was pretty pumped to have the balcony doors open again, though I'm sure I won't be happy to be sweating as much as I will be in a few weeks.

I PIGGED out today on the free lunch we had with the new group of Xin Jiang teachers that are here. One of them is extremely brilliant and well spoken, another I had difficulty understanding and communicating with in English. They're here to train in teaching English, so it will be interesting to see their progress over the next set of weeks. Egg custard buns, which I mistakenly referred to as Mango Buns in the past, set the trend of over-sweeting and smiling for the day.

In my second grade class, I got the kids moving by using a game to teach adding 'ing' to the end of a verb to show it's currently happening.They enjoy moving and I enjoy time passing quickly, so overall it was a success.

I've started a new book called The Wednesday Letters. The husband and wife die in the first like 10 pages, so an FYI on all you happy book lovers, don't read it. I'm interested to see where it leads. After all, most of the lessons we learn in life seemed to be learned looking backward...we'll see where the book takes me if the beginning is also an ending.

Out of the town for the weekend--catch up with you again in a bit!

Are you Google material?

0.6 lbs shy of goal, but I'm okay with that. I'm glad I came this far. Needless to say, I did not reward myself with the Frappuccino I'd intended, but that was probably best anyway.

Just a heads up, this kid will be out and about (not blogging) in HK this weekend.

Today I met with Cora and she asked me about health care in the U.S. and the primaries. I demonstrated charisma to her by demonstrating 2 versions of 'we are having bok choy, tomatoes and eggs for lunch.' It's amazing what some personality can do to sell something...

At language exchange with Poppy, she told me about how her dialect of Chinese (the Wu dialect from the Shanghai area of mainland China) has less trouble speaking English with an accent. Apparently her dialect has the 'v' sound along with other sounds that may not be found in other dialects. Thus, English language learners have difficulty separating 'v' and 'w' if it wasn't in their originally learned sounds.

At IEBF tonight, Lauren and I worked hand in hand. I addressed what not to do in an interview. She talked specifically about unique questions that employers use (specifically Google) to funnel out potential employees. Apparently 1 in 14 applicants get into Harvard and 1 in 139 applicants get a job at Google...not at all competitive, right? Here are a few fun examples of questions they ask...see if you can answer them and then I'll tell you the answers at the end. Are you Google material???

1. What's the next number in this sequence: 10, 9, 60, 90, 70, 66...?

2. A man pushed his car to a hotel and lost his fortune. What happened?

3. Using only a 4 minute hourglass and a seven minute hourglass, measure exactly 9 minutes without the process taking longer than 9 minutes.

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ANSWERS: ( NO PEEKING AHEAD OF TIME!)

1. This question is based on roman numerals. Each next number has one more letter than the previous number. 96 could be one answer, or any other number that has 10 letters

2. He was playing Monopoly.

3. Use the 7 minute one fully and then use the 4 minute one half way

There were some more difficult physics and math oriented ones as well, but those are difficult to explain. Needless to say, none of us ETAs did very well. Google is looking for a forward thinking, computer oriented, and math savvy brain that's for sure.

I closed up IEBF with a piece on the importance of Thank You letters after an interview.