A guest from the mainland

Today:
-Work (boring office stuff)
-Lunch at home
-Picked up Javier at the border and played Uno with Eric at the gate
-Cheoc Van Beach (according to Eric, cleaner and better than Hac Sa beach--Hac Sa does mean 'black sand')
-Italian on the beach (Lauren, Athena, Javier, Eric, and me)
-Gelato in Senado
-Chilling at the apartment
...packing

Won't be updating for a bit. As a boomerang might say, "I'll be back."

Bittersweet...but mostly sweet

Today was my last time teaching my fifth grade boys (and one girl). Finally, you get a chance to put a face and background to the lovely school I have taught at this year. I finished up testing them, and in their quietness and my leaving-ness, they seemed quite precious (and for some of them that was definitely a first time thing). Everything went smoothly and they even acted like they would miss me. How sweet.

And for privacy reasons, I won't be listing names for the pictures, sorry. 

Eric joined Ray, Lauren, Athena and I for lunch at the Beijing Dumpling restaurant near work. It was quite delicious, Eric was more successful with chopsticks, and we have PLENTY of laughs. I think he now sees why I love them as a second family.

I started separating, final grading, cleaning, etc. in the office today, got some final signatures, and headed off to my 1st graders. I've come to a conclusion my Wednesday group this semester is just wilder than my Monday group. Aye aye aye. Oh well, I manage. I won't lie that I sometimes think I'll lose my voice before the end of class. 

Eric and I had dinner at home and then walked to Camoes Gardens, Three Lanterns Market, and Horta Costa--where we met Angie. On the way to meet Angie, we had met Kyle--a missionary with the prison ministry here. I've ran into him several times at different ministry events throughout the city. Even when I'm not trying to introduce Eric to the people in my Macau story, somehow he crosses paths with them anyway. I feel that might have meant more if he had read this blog and known some of the stories--but alas, such is not the case. 

After ice cream with Angie and one final goodbye (she leaves for Malaysia Saturday), we headed back for the night to have more laughs with the roomies and Ray. This was like roll on the floor laughing--literally, which encouraged Lauren to sweep. :)

Good day and far too much Mr. Goodbar again (how dare people send me chocolate with my brother!? :))

TuEsday with E

Early morning work

+deluxe afternoon buffet in rotating restaurant at the top of Macau Tower

+check back in at work

+Coloanne beach (no swimming, just chillaxing)

+egg tart for Eric from Lord Stowe's (a must in Macau)

+most entertaining Bible study here thus far 

=a Tuesday well done.

Back to work

This morning, I showed Eric a few if the sites--St. Michael's, St. Paul's, the fortress, and Fisherman's Wharf all on the way to buy Ferry Tickets for the trip. After that, I went into work and sent Eric on his way back to the apartment via bus. We have a good bus system here, but sometimes the bus says the wrong stop at the front if the bus...so Eric did a little exploring today...good exercise. After teaching kiddos and catching back up with him for dinner at Cafe E.S.Kimo, I heard the story. As I say about all my unplanned adventures, it'll be a good story for the grandkids and provide a good laugh later. Tonight we planned a bit and now are watching a movie at the apartment.

Tiring, but good

Eric and I did the following today:
-Oasis church, a.m.
-Noodle place for lunch (he was not a huge fan)
-Panda park (pouring rain kept us inside sharing stories and old pictures in his camera for a while)
-Aviary/peacock showing off for his ladddyyy (who wanted nothing to do with him)
-Tour some of the upper scale buildings here
-Food court for dinner so we could both get what we like
-Brazilian church p.m.
Add lots of walking in between, a bit of jet lag, and he's out. I'm pretty tired myself.

EH meets HK

Today, Eric and I conquered about 8 days of Hong Kong touring in one. Yeehaw! We took the ferry into Central Hong Kong Island from Macau this morning, took a shorter ferry to Lamma Island, hiked around a bit, took another short ferry to Aberdeen, walked around a bit, took a public bus back to Central, walked around a bit, ate dinner at Pepperonis (Mmmm), took the subway to Kowloon, walked to Temple Street night market, walked around a bit, took the subway back to Central and took the ferry back to floor 21 in Mac-wow. Thank God for better weather and only a light sprinkling all day. Yesterday, it poured. Here are 2 'as seen in Hong Kong' moments today:

Quote on the outside of a building in Central (I always liked Mark Twain)

Sunset in Kowloon

Visitors!

My guest has safely arrived! And thus, it's bed time :)

China, one last time?

This morning before work, I ventured to Zhuhai with Alyssa for what may have been my last time in mainland China ever (we shall see). My visa expires when my guest leaves, so I'll be occupado until then. We walked around, grabbed lunch at the northeastern style Chinese restaurant--eggplant and potato dish--and then essentially headed back because we both had meetings at work.

I met up with Ray, Mey, and Sophie to help them practice for the FLTRP debate tournament in Beijing. Ray and I did a demonstration debate with them where the 4 of us debated: This House Believes That Might Makes Right. Ray and I had opposition...joy. Of course, Ray and I took the prize (whatever that may have been) because we (him mostly) have far more practice than Mey and Sophie.

I spent pretty much the rest of the night in the office working. Yeehaw! Making copies at 9:15 is fun for all!

On my walk home, I saw a man in a shirt that had a GE emblem on the back of it. It made me smile. When I was little, I had no idea that the stuff in the middle of the circle was a "G" and an "E" in cursive-esque writing. Even now, it's weird for me to think of it as more than beautiful swirlies (but I do feel smarter than my 5 year old self for knowing what it is).

I wrapped up the night with cleaning for my incoming visitor. Botta bing botta boom! Due to said visitor, blogging over the next few weeks may be sparse. No worries, I've got a b-u-d-d-y to keep me busy and smiling. ...I just hope the weather's nice.

Ciao.

Plagues Via Vinegar. Plagues, Via, Vinegar.

This morning I began testing my 5th graders. This is the last thing I will do with them. I complete the test next week and then I'm done at Dom Bosco. Wow, times a flyin! Something about them did seem cuter and more hugable today.

I will miss Macau. I wake up every morning and take in the scene of China from my balcony and am just so thankful that God has given me such an opportunity.

My parents had perfect timing on sending me a card and Starbucks Via today. Here was one of my favorite quotes from the very beautiful, inspirational card, "Because people who expect things to turn out for the best often set the stage to receive a beautiful result."

I prepared a lesson for Hou Kong during the afternoon and then Ray shadowed my class when I taught. It could have gone better. Ray admitted that these children were...well, we'll say a blessing in disguise, how about that?

Tonight I ventured to the library to pick up a video for my class in case I don't end up writing a second written test while I give them the oral exam. On the way back, I stopped and bought a marked down papaya for 3MOP. When I got it home, I unwrapped it to smell something like vinegar...I still ate part of it because it didn't taste so bad. I don't think papaya is supposed to smell like vinegar. We'll know by the morning if consuming that was a mistake. haha. Oh well.

The street where all the antique stores are was full of moths or some similar looking bug. It was ridiculous. I seriously had reflections back on the plagues in Egypt. When I came home, somehow like 3 of them came out of my clothes/hair at different times. So not cool.

I'm getting organized and slowly packing up more things I don't need. Where has the time gone? I'm excited for what's ahead....whatever that may be.

2's day

This morning I awoke to a voicemail from America looking to offer me a job...until they realized I was still out of the country for another month (way to read the resume before calling). Anyway, they changed their mind and are hoping to fill the position more quickly, but there's hope in the fact that I at least got a call on my resume. The job wasn't one I really was passionate about anyway, I only applied for it because it was an area I had worked in before--compensation analysis.

If anyone is looking for a ministry to support a friend I went to college with (whom I talked to this morning) is raising support to work as a part-time worker with Campus Crusades for Christ (CRU) at UofL. Email me if you're interested and I'll give you his contact info.

This afternoon, I had a meeting for debate with 2 of the students who are going to the tournament in Beijing in July. Nothing too eventful--same routine of helping them think of new arguments. We will be doing this several times this week and next.

This evening, I rushed to be late to Bible Study because I spent like 30 minutes copying my written tests for 5th grade tomorrow. It seemed like forever, but then I remembered that before copiers I would have had to do that all by hand. I ended up being a bit late to Bible Study, but I was somehow first. They had these cookies called Hundreds & Thousands, which are Australian cookies that are kind of like frosted animal cookies, minus the animal part. We're working on a study of spiritual gifts--tonight was on Ephesians 4, which we covered in our last study.

Lots of decisions ahead--testing comes early tomorrow.

Monday Leftovers

Today was a whirlwind of productivity and lots of to dos getting done. Lots of work related and visitor related things to do. I went into work pretty early, worked more hours in the office than I have in a while (since I've been working from home a lot this semester), and then grabbed a noodle dinner and walked around with Angie. Here are some more pictures from yesterday that are a bit more eventful:

This was some fancy painted electrical warning sign/wall in Zhuhai.

This was a produce market similar to the setup of the Red Market here in Macau. This was the lesser packed section. The way they do business with such motion in these places is quite fascinating.

D'Zhu[say]hai to your momma?

Today I chose to listen to good ole Kyle Idleman before heading out the door toward Zhuhai. My China visa days are coming to a close, and I've decided to access the mainland as many times as possible in the upcoming short period. Mostly, I walked around --'urban hiking' as it is called. Even though Zhuhai is a walk away, the culture and set up of the city is very different from Macau. Here are some pictures:

I went to Zhuhai to climb that hill in the background...I could not find a place to access it legally except perhaps this park, but it began to rain when I arrived.

The Chinese love dragons! A man was rubbing this dragon's mouth before I took this picture. The wear implied he wasn't the first one to do this. I think it's for good luck.

Part of me acknowledges that after this week I may not be in mainland China ever again, or at least for a while, and that part was in charge of ordering food today...and that part wanted to try 3 new things, though it was enough to feed multiple people. (No worries, I brought leftovers back). Seen here: some sorry red bean paste buns (there was hardly any paste) and braised frog. I got the braised frog because of the novelty, but it ended up having wings in it and larger bones. The lady who took my order was clearly not used to having foreigners order, or perhaps she's had a difficult experience, because she was acting things out and trying to explain things in non-existent English. I was just going to point like I normally do, but I got sound effects and everything. I guess I can write the extra 15RMB the meal cost because the menu was marked incorrectly as an entertainment fee.

 This was the sauteed egg with pear...except there was no pear. That was also the reason I ordered this dish. Never trust English translated menus...

 This was a snack I also got for a novelty today. I actually helped make something similar to this 2 years ago in Beijing. It's a banana leaf (I believe) wrapped around sticky rice and then an assortment of other things inside. The insides depends on which one you get. Since I don't really speak the language worth speaking of (haha), I just picked one and got the one with rice that tasted more like corn (I've only had white sticky rice in one of these before) and there was no sweet inside I was hoping for, just rice.

I walked a lot today and mostly dodged the down pour. The day ended with seeing the faces of 2 lovely parents. Happy Mother's Day from around the world!

Children and Chapattis

This morning was my last time volunteering at the orphanage here in Macau. The two girls I've been helping most consistently were not there, and neither were the 2 ministers that speak limited English. I played Twister with 3 of the preteen girls and helped one of them with pronunciation practice before the evil TV was turned on and I lost their attention. Here is a quick shot I took of them playing Twister to remember my time there by:

Most of this afternoon was spent cooking. First I cooked a new type of mushroom for lunch--it was large and absolutely ridiculous...and the texture of it ended up being a little bit more strange than my liking. Taste is all in your head though--seriously, that's where your tongue is located ;). 

After strange mushrooms, I made coconut chocolate chunk brownies with chocolate icing made from scratch. The icing was far too sweet because I didn't use that much butter and because I was trying to get rid of the box of icing sugar I bought a while back. I took the brownies out to Cristiana and Emmanuel's tonight for dinner at Hac Sa Beach at their home. Their house is quite nice--they're brother and sister, 2 of 8 and their parents are serving in Kenya right now. We also met their older brother Gabriel, chowed on Mexican and played Apples to Apples. It was quite fun, the food was delicious, and I got to help Cristiana make homemade chapatti bread/tortilla-esque bread for the food. Mmmm.

These following pictures are from lunch yesterday, which I forgot to post. This first one is a map I drew for my coworker Michael so that he could find out where to get the cat poop coffee they sell here--there's a place (called Kafe Laku, I think) in Taipa that sells it.

 This is a picture I snuck of Ray and my fab British boss, DQ. Okay, I didn't sneak the picture so much just neither of them were looking. This was at the buffet.

Full of Indies

This afternoon I went to a fancy (for us) buffet with work. The Xin Jiang teacher training program ended again, and we were rewarded with the opportunity to celebrate in mass indulgence of cheeses, salads, and desserts. Yummy.

After lunch, I taught my 2nd grade, who picked up well on the topics at hand. Yay for effective teaching through fun games.

Lauren and I went to an indies film festival of sorts this evening at the cultural center where we watched 4 movies created in Macau. The first one was a documentary about seniors at the University of Macau making their final graduation project--which was a movie. It was about an hour long. The movie we actually went for was the second one, "Last Longer," which was about a son taking over a father's noodle shop after he passed away, though he didn't want to. The third movie was really artsy, almost to the point of being creepy, but the point I think it was trying to convey was that and end can also be a beginning so don't give up. The last short movie (the 4 in total were about 2 hours long) was about some guy who started a 'dream village'--that is, like a karaoke/club/place for people to dance where people pursue their dreams of becoming a rapper or whatever, no matter their level of talent. It was interesting--and even more so the man that started it up.

After that, I watched an Elevation Church sermon...hence posting so late today.

You say goodbye and I say hello...hello, hello

Today I packed up about half of my things. My darling brother is coming to visit next weekend and will hopefully assist me by taking one of my bags back with him. Hooray for not having to lug everything all over Hong Kong! One lesson I've learned here is how little stuff that we actually need to survive or even thrive. So often we get bogged down or worried about the affordability or loss of material things, but the reality is we don't need much of what we have or want. When you need to store something, it's probably a sign it's not much of a need...

While packing up, I found my first mold covered COVERED clothing. Fortunately it was a pair of leggings--which I washed--but which can be thrown out if the nastiness is not gone once they dry. And just when I thought the moldy season was over.

Cora took me to Thai for lunch today as a thank you for her winning an award for the paper I helped her edit. We had a good time chatting, though it did seem at first her English was struggling after us not meeting for a few weeks--she said so herself. I gave her parting gifts and she gave me a bracelet made of a stone that's supposed to make all my wishes come true. I will miss her bright smile and curiosity about the world, and I hope in some way I've imparted some knowledge, wisdom, or meaning into her life through our interaction this year.

Lauren and I had Indian for dinner--that was her solution to something 'not too oily that had meat and vegetables and was healthy.' I honestly couldn't come up with a better solution. I had the same chickpea dish I've gotten the last couple of times that I don't know the name of, but we ended up sharing. (Win! Hers was a tasty mixed veggie dish).

After dinner, we went to go watch our former Cantonese classmate play football (soccer), only he told me the wrong time and we ended up watching the game before his which was Benfica--the team I've been following anyway. What a coincidence.

It was 85 degrees at 9am this morning, but weather.com claims it felt like 95. I'm not arguing...and for that matter neither are my stinky clothes ;) Yay for sunshine, summer, and helping pay for the laundry detergent company owners' kids' braces! Haha, I'm actually loving it.

And now that it's the end of the day and I'm looking back, I remember that I did not take a picture with Cora....what a shame.

A cup of...

This morning began reviewing with my 5th grade boys. I'd created a board game, but had it on powerpoint so the whole class could play. It went over successfully and hopefully they learned something/had a good review for the testing I'll be doing for the next 2 weeks.

This afternoon I taught a different version of the game to my 1st graders. They were all really excited to see me when they filed into the room today. Even though I still am not a fan of teaching 1st grade ESL, I will admit it feels good to have a kid adore you. I also used the SmartBoard for the first time in this class today. A SmartBoard is like a white board that's connected to the computer and that has a program that picks up when you write on it like any touch screen mobile device would. You have a 'marker' with no ink.

Tonight, Angie and I grabbed dinner and caught up for a bit.

My coffee book includes a theory from some German that good coffee can lead to peace whereas bad coffee leads to war. He used the example of the Italians and how the Americans learned to make good coffee in the 1960s as an example.

Oh, and I forgot to mention yesterday how GORGEOUS it was. Today was similar beauty, but I have pictures from yesterday...and the camera didn't do it justice of course.

The return of the clumpies

Today, Lauren, Ray and I embarked across that fabulous border for a few hours to talk to high school students about college admissions and university life in the U.S. These students were clearly from wealthy families and the school facilities were impressive. These kids are aiming for Berkley, Harvard, etc. My favorite and most unexpected question they asked me was, "how do I stay safe in America?" Apparently the word about the school shootings and violence has gotten around the world and people have made generalizations and assumptions like many Americans do about Chinese and lead filled toys. One kid said (jokingly), "If I wear a shirt that says, 'I'm innocent, don't shoot me,' will that protect me?" I responded (jokingly), "No, that will get you shot."

I forgot about Bible study tonight and ended up working at the office this evening on my lesson for tomorrow. Not much else eventful happened today that I can recall...lunch was good and in Zhuhai.Ray treated. Lauren introduced me to passion fruit tea at ComeBuy--one of the many chain tea stands they have here. I've recently been on a kick of having what I call 'clumpies' in my drink. This is anything from coconut flesh to aloe vera to tapioca balls. All of these things are common to Asians and have always been a little strange to me, but recently I've been craving them. It's kind of like cereal and milk, only not at all. haha.

What's in your breakfast?

Today, I spent a substantial amount of time in the office, taught my first grade and worked out.

I'm still working on the book The Devil's Cup about the history of coffee. Here was one of my favorite parts from today:

"After the Turks were defeated, it became the Viennese custom to serve Wender's little crescent roll, called the pfizer, with morning coffee. And there it would have ended except that a century later a seventeen-year-old Viennese princess named Marie Antoinette moved to Paris to marry Louis XVI, king of France. Homesick, she insisted that the French bakers learn to make pfizer for her breakfast. The bakers added butter and yeast, and since it would have been unthinkable for a queen of France to eat anything but "French" pastry, they renamed it le croissant,  which means crescent in French.



So was born the most politically loaded meal in the world--the Continental breakfast of coffee stolen from the Turks and pastry shaped to mock their flag. But when hundreds of millions of Europeans begin their day with the combo, they are doing more than unwittingly commemorating the Turkish defeat at Vienna. They are participating in a rite that lies at the heart of the most profound pharmacological revolution in European history." (Allen, p.125)



And thus, your cup of brew and pastry gained more meaning. Oh, history. Oh, mankind. You silly little thing you ;). Talking about brew, they're opening another Starbucks closer to us...this is NOT good for resistance!

 Statue of some unknown (to me) lady in Guangzhou last week

The same tea market I spoke of before--this is the tea furniture portion

This is a giant cake of tea (real or not, I'm not sure) from 2004 on display for tourists I assume. It must have been at least 10ftx10ft and 1.5ft tall at least. Lotsa tea!



Good to the last what?

I taught Sunday School this morning on Psalm 23. All went well except that the breaker had somehow been flipped and I couldn't get the lights or A/C on when I first arrived. We had a new student who has lived in Africa and the Philippines. I love people with cute accents on their English.

One of my kids in Sunday School could not stop talking about video games any time I asked a question, but he's still getting it, I can tell. This was the kid who a while back I asked you to pray for because his dad had lost his job. Good news--they're still here and the dad got a job...and the kid totally gave God the glory for it when I asked a question about Psalm 23 and being guided by the Shepherd. Kids are listening and watching--so make wise decisions.

I've become a fruit and veggie markdown junkie and thus have an excess of produce. This was my creation for lunch to finish off my markdown tomatoes today. Mmm. I call them sunshine tomatoes. You cut the top off the tomato, scoop out and eat the inside of the tomato, line with slices of cheddar cheese, fill with Tuna, and swirl the top with mustard. Healthy and delicious sandwich alternative--done.

Angie and I met up after lunch and caught up on the last 2 weeks in which she's been busy with grading. She is leaving Macau in 2 weeks. Wow. Time flies.

Athena and I grabbed an early dinner at Cafe E.S. Kimo because I was craving both rice and milk tea. (Yay for carbs!) I ordered a Szechuan style Eggplant dish with rice and Milk Tea with Coconut Flesh. Sorry, I didn't have my camera for a picture.

The book I'm reading about the history of coffee had a few interesting blips in it today. One part was about how Indian coffee is not very coffee-y, but rather very milky. According to the author, this milkiness is in relation to the Hindu's belief that the cow is sacred--this the more milk, the better in their eyes. This reminded me of my Ma making what she called "grandmaw coffee" for me when I was younger. The funny story is that I used to not be able to stand coffee. This grandma coffee of hers was mostly milk with just a touch of coffee (in other words, since I wouldn't drink coffee, she'd covered most of the flavor up). I remember disliking it and think I was even a little rude about it (sorry Ma!). Who'd have known that the same kid now wants to own her own coffee shop (and I like coffee in any form--milky, sweet, or black)

The other interesting coffee fact I learned today was a bit more disgusting, so if you're eating, you might want to stop reading now.  Monkey coffee is the title of the next disgusting bit. Perhaps you've heard of it? It was a first for me, but this 'delicacy' is coffee made from monkey droppings. You didn't read that wrong. Now, apparently the kind that's sold on the market most commonly is actually from a breed of wild cat that eats the ripest of coffee berries as part of its diet. Naturally (?) people go behind and poop scoop, "clean" the droppings, and make an expensive cup of brew. A company named Raven's sells  quarter pound of the stuff in the U.S. for $75 and has a slogan "good to the last dropping." Clever.

After all this cool information, I met Cristiana at CuppaCoffee. We chatted until going to meet up with 2 friends of hers for the Portuguese church service. I went for the first time to the night service a few weeks ago, as did her friend Oscar. Last week I was unable to join, but our friend has now become a brother in Christ. What a neat transformation that just started with an invitation. This week, Cristiana invited a Korean friend of hers. The girl has got a gift for meshing with people and being very open to introducing people to our Savior. Cool stuff.

The service was really neat--we sang songs in both English and Chinese (they had the translation and pronunciation on the screen) and then the service was simultaneously translated from Portuguese to English.What a neat community to be part of.

This week is getting off to a good start. Please remember Athena in your prayers--her grandmother passed away this past week and she'll be ducking out to be with family for a bit. Tough stuff.

Have some love to start your week off!

Do Mangosteens come before Mangosadults?

"Practice makes permanent." I still remember to this day the confusion and readiness to argue that brewed inside my mind when my tennis coach told me this half my life ago. I'd always heard "practice makes perfect," and logic would argue that if you practice enough times, eventually you're very likely to be very good at something. My coach went on to explain that practice makes permanent because if you practice something incorrectly (or equivalently are never taught the right way), then you will continue to do it the wrong way over and over again. ...then he taught me how to correctly practice serving a ball.

This came to mind today as I was cooking and cleaning the apartment. My mother would testify that I've had plenty of practice cleaning house, and I'm grateful (at this point) for all the practice I've had and lessons I've been taught. I guess I've taken for granted in the past that things like mopping, cleaning the bathroom and doing dishes are not just instinct, but rather are things learned. And I remember many times where my mother corrected me for 'practicing' cleaning the bathroom incorrectly. Even beyond cleaning--into things like food storage and food preparation--my family (father, aunts, grandmothers, etc.) has taught me plenty about food that is simple, yet I'd never known had someone not told me. I would say I learned how to cut an apple from my watching my Ma and Pa on their back porch when they used to have an apple tree. I only say this because I hold the knife the same way. [Relevance: today I made apple crisp]

I would say that in Asia, where mangosteens (seen below) are common, it's probably common to know how to cut one. Before today,I did not know how. To the point--that doesn't make me stupid just as not knowing how to cut an apple in the states doesn't make you less intelligent, it just means  you've not been taught. I googled how to cut a mangosteen, by the way. And here you go:

Mangosteen fruit. Unlike many other fruits that become softer the closer they get to rotting, the mangosteen is softest when it first is picked and gets harder as it gets older because it loses some of its juice.

This is how you eat the fruit. You don't eat the outer shell/pinkish-purple part, it's bitter. I did read that you can grind it up and use it for tea though. I did not. You eat this soft white juicy fruit on the inside which is in little segments like an orange. It was quite good.

Another thing practice doesn't do is prevent accidents and oopsies. This afternoon I opened a jar of applesauce I bought a while back and the top exploded on me. Ends up applesauce is best used within 7 days of opening, not until the expiration date. I guess I forgot about that because Eric and I would eat through jars of it rather quickly. The resulting applesauce tasted fermented and carbonated...so it was long gone. The other accident happened when a glass container of spaghetti sauce slipped out of my hand while carrying it into the kitchen from the fridge. ...I hadn't mopped the walls in a long time so I guess it was about time anyway.

Beyond practice, I started the morning at the orphanage briefly by attempting to teach the younger kids 'left' and 'right' with the game Twister. In the afternoon, Athena and I met up in Taipa and rented bikes for an hour (20 MOP) and rode around Taipa a bit. She was like an excited little kid--she's been asking to rent bikes for a while.

Moral of the day--never take basic lessons (and those that taught them to you) for granted. Also, don't look down on someone because they're practicing something the wrong/a less efficient way or if they've never been taught, and never have too much pride to be corrected when you're practicing wrong.

Shins and Shenzhens

I taught my 2nd graders about quantifiers today. I have taught 6 classes/3 grade levels the same thing this week, adapting it for each level. I love when I can tweak material and be prepared for the other classes. Nice. The kids were semi-well behaved. Somehow black paint got spilled all over the classroom, though I'm not sure how since it's a music room and nothing we do involves paint. Needless to say, there was mopping going on while I was teaching...adds a nice flare, right?

After work, I met up with Lauren, Ray and Athena for food at a Singaporean/Thai restaurant. We had green curry, these amazing minced pork lettuce wraps similar to P.F. Chang's, and Thai style fried rice. Ray treated us for 'putting up with him' this year. I guess it's hitting us all that we won't be together here much longer. Afterwards, we went to our favorite coffee shop and chatted over chocolate salami. And in case you were wondering, Dictionary.com solved the dilemma over how to pronounce 'contemplative'--it's pronounced 2 ways....probably the best it could have ended in our group because lots of people like to be right :) I was not in the argument, only the facilitator of the answer via internet.

Athena and I walked over to see the last bit of the second half of the Benfica soccer game. Our team won--yay! It was free--more yay! We didn't get rained on like we expected--more more yay!

And that was today. Here are more pictures from recent adventures for your viewing pleasure:
All of the following are from the Overseas Chinese Town in Shenzhen, China

A building with one side shaped into a ship

Look who else is ready for the Derby!!

Walmart in China...always low prices?

Progress

Today was refreshing.

Although I probably woke up with more jerk points than I should have, the day turned out pretty solid. The jerk points came when Ray rang our doorbell to meet up with Lauren and Athena who were going to guest lecture in Zhuhai. I had commitments here and didn't need to be up as early as them, but I got up to open the door...and was a jerk. Alas, I have my week moments. To my roommates who may be reading this, my apologies.

The rest of the day consisted of a pep talks with a Californian, Cora asking me to define what 'life' is, and appreciating the sunlight. This afternoon I went to my new favorite place in Macau--the Portuguese coffee shop with the winding staircase. Lauren had told me about their chocolate salami (chocolate cake batter with pieces of nougat inside, hardened and cut like salami. It was quite delicious paired with an Americano. Even better, they have free internet and a beautiful interior I can do work in.

While at the coffee shop, I made a list of new motivations...or perhaps not new ones, but goals I've now got on paper to hold myself to. I've been a bit lazy recently in things that are important to me and had lost focus. After today, I feel much more in gear and am excited about getting the most out of my last 2 months here.

Also at the coffee shop, I made a little friend through the window. This adorable Chinese toddler was riding outside in the alley on his little fire engine toy. He waved, I waved back, he kept waving and waving. Quite the adorable little character.

I applied to a few jobs--an experience that is worse than dental surgery to me, but nevertheless I am doing it. Sometimes the process of applications seems far more drawn out than necessary, but I'm sure that's to see if you're really determined and want to work there or not.

Once again, I used the gym equipment at work. Look at this girl go. Alright--pictures of more entertaining stuff:

The tea tasting in Guangzhou (see blog from yesterday)

One of the 2 rose teas we tried

The giant tea pot in the market area.

Vacate-shun

Travelling is a lot like marriage. You and said partner are in it together and if something goes wrong you better suck it up and move along because you're stuck with them, it's only going to ruin the 'trip,' and you can't change what's already happened. (Remind me that I said this in like 15 years when I'm married). This epiphany came to me when I found out on the bus ride to our destination that the papers that I had worked on so hard the night before with information for our trip had been conveniently and intentionally left behind by my travel buddy. Not a good start, I was frustrated, but I tried my best to make a point and move along--we'd be fine, I just hate doing work for nothing.

Our first stop on the mini-vacation was Guangzhou, where we stayed with a Fulbright research grantee that we'd met on our previous trip. We went to the tea market and tested different types of fresh flower tea, stumbled upon an art village, walked around and met up with Pete and clan for a friend's birthday dinner at a Chinese seafood restaurant--the food was delicious. That night, I took the couch and Athena took the mattress pad on the floor in front of the balcony. The apartment was nice and Pete was nice to let us stay there for free, but Athena became a tasty morsel for over 50 mosquitoes in the night....I'm not being overdramatic, she really counted them. Her arm looked quite the part.

The second day we took the bullet train to Shenzhen (about 1.5 hours away). We arrived and walked around a bit before grabbing lunch at a Muslim restaurant in the area. One thing I love about China is cheap, good food. The dish I had had beef, veggies and dumpling skin/pieces in it. It was quite delicious and unlike the last time I had Halal food in China, I didn't pass out! Yay! Athena and I then ventured to a place called OCT (Overseas Chinese Town). It was a modern development and fusion of eastern and western. We went to a Walmart just because it was there and for the experience. It was interestingly very similar to the set up of a Walmart in the states--the same color schemes, but obviously lots of different products. We went sample crazy--yes, we were those kids. Other things in OCT included an outdoor sculpture garden and Chinese art museum that we ventured to. We were supposed to meet our CouchSurfer host for dinner, but she ended up having alternative plans when her family surprised her that they were in town. This was fine with me--it gave Athena and I more options. As for the room, the girl taught at a middle school that seemed something like a boarding school, so she gave us a  room of our own--equivalent to the set up of a hotel room though not so clean. It was free.

Athena and I ventured to a place called the Children's Palace--a park/mall development area. There was a wave building there that our host had recommended. We had dinner at a place called RBT, but more interestingly, we had dessert (Americano and chocolate covered danish) at a place called Gaga. Yum. After we were done looking at the Children's Palace, we went a couple of metro stops up to this area our host had recommended where we could look out over the city. Unfortunately, said hill was much too far away from this stop and we decided to walk around and attempt to walk back to our place of stay since the metro had stopped running. Somehow we walked right back to Children's Palace... What else do you do at that point besides find somewhere to buy a drink? haha. I had a blueberry pomello (a fruit like a lemon) shake--it was vacation, dessert is like a vegetable. While at the coffee shop/bar, I overheard 2 younger American guys apparently talking to Chinese college students about how dangerous America is... I was not impressed. I listened into their conversation and apparently everyone in America carries a gun so it's very dangerous. I'll admit that big cities and the wrong part of town can be dangerous, but come on-- Anyway, when the guy left, I was tempted to smart off to him (me? No.), but I didn't. Instead, he caught my eye on the way out and a few minutes later popped his head back in. He inquired where I was from at which point I found out he was from one of the Carolinas, originally from Texas....I jokingly said, "I was wondering where you got some of your interesting ideas about American and the idea that everyone carried a gun, but I guess that makes a little more sense." He and his friend talked to Athena and I for a bit, Athena got information about a potential teaching position in Henan province. The friend actually offered it to me at first--which I quickly declined. The original guy I was talking about works at an orphanage.

We woke the next morning and had local Chinese breakfast with our host before heading to Hong Kong. We then proceeded to stand in an immigration line for 2.5 hours. I've never been in line for that long--maddening. At one point it wasn't even it a line, it was a mob they had roped off to get into the line. Craziness. Fortunately, I had Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential to keep me entertained. Once in Hong Kong, we were able to leave our bags at the Cricket Club where Athena's aunt and uncle are members. Oh it felt LOVELY to get the load off our backs. The bad thing about budget travelling having to carry everything with you. We then walked around the Kowloon area of HK, took off to Central, sat/ snacked/ read in a roof top garden at the IFC Mall (I finally found Cheez Its!!!!!!!) and then enjoyed some fancy soup for dinner. We met up with her aunt and uncle at the cricket club after dinner for coffee and drinks. They had had dinner with some former business partners/now friends who were in town from Thailand. They were very nice and we got to speak to them briefly.

Athena's aunt and uncle let us stay with them and gave us a ride out to the Sai Keng Peninsula/ New Territories where they live. Hong Kong is a big place with lots of little parts and islands. This part is further away from the business district, but has way more green space and is quite fantastic. They had a nice house--the nicest I've been to in HK. We slept well, needless to say.

The last day of our trip, Athena and I went to Sai Keng Town and she briefly showed me around. We stopped off for breakfast at Starbucks and I had a scone :) I've also only found American scones in Hong Kong. English ones are a bit different. We joined Athena's aunt and uncle back at the house and went to a beach club where they had a membership for BBQ at the beach. We had lamb burgers (my first--yum) with tomato relish, salad with a homemade creme fresh Caesar dressing and spicy corn on the cob. Yum yum yum! We also got to swim. The set up of the area felt more like a lake than a beach because it had a dock and floating platforms you could jump off of in the water, but the water was salty and surprisingly not too cold at all. It was so refreshing.

The journey home was quite long--we got in several hours later than I had planned in part due to the holiday and also because there's a gift show going on right now in HK so lots of people are there for business. Dinner ended up being grab what you can at the CitySuper store. For us, this is still a specialty though as they carry a lot of foods not available in Macau. I bought some honey Greek yogurt for my dinner. If you like Greek yogurt (which tends to be far more expensive), Athena's aunt told us  you can buy a container of plain yogurt and leave it in a cotton cloth hanging up in the fridge over night and let it drain. You'll have the equivalent to Greek yogurt in the morning. I haven't tried this one yet.
--Overall, I feel blessed to have another vacation and am grateful I had a travelling buddy to put up with me. We're safe and back in the comfort of our apartment. This is very good.

Today wasn't as exciting as the vacation--just teaching mostly. I did finally use the free gym equipment that they recently added at our work. There may be hope for my exercising regularly after all ;)

It's gettin toasty toasty here, but I will take the sunshine with the heat :)