Home Soon

Only 9 more days and we'll be on a plane to NY, then NC, and later MI.  It's going to be a lot of time flying, and probably some wicked jet lag, but we're so excited to be with family and friends for the holidays.  We're looking forward to catching up with everyone, having yummy holiday foods, and actually needing to wear a coat in the winter.  (And I'm looking forward to having access to a proper oven instead of the tiny, overheating oven we have here!)

Tennis in Macao

Here are some photos and videos from the Venetian Macau Tennis Showdown...Nate's birthday present. We got to see Federer, Blake, Borg, and McEnroe play. It was a relaxed setting, and McEnroe was totally hamming it up to entertain the crowd. At one point, he pulled his shirt up over his face and acted like he was going to play like that. We've seen the matches on tv a million times since we went.

Trip to Macau

Nate's birthday was last week.  I secretly arranged with the principal and Nate's secretary for us to take our one personal day we are allotted per year so we could go to a tennis exhibition in Macau.  Macau is a 1 hour ferry ride away.  Below are photos of some of the sightseeing we did around town on Friday.  I'll add tennis photos later...

On top of one of the forts.

The ruins of Sao Paulo.

A lovely church near the Senado Square area.

Lighthouse on top of one of the forts.

We stayed at the Venetian.  This is inside the hotel, where there were canals and gondolas.

Also inside the Venetian.

Our amazing room.

Luxurious bathroom.  

The room was practically the size of our apartment!

Beaches

These are a few photos from the beaches near us, Shek O beach and Big Wave Bay. It stayed hot enough to go to the beach and even swim in the ocean until about 2 days ago!



This is a poor quality photo because I was zooming in a lot, but notice how the girl is posing and the guy is taking her photo. People do that everywhere here- the beach, in the streets, heck even at McDonalds! Full out posing with no shame, like they're on a modeling shoot. It's very entertaining to watch.


This last one is a random shot of Nate when we were hiking from Tai Tam (where we live) to Repulse Bay (where the school is).

Diwali

Here's a photo of the class last Friday. We learn about Hinduism in R2, so we were doing special centers because of the Hindu holiday of Diwali (which was actually yesterday). If you look really closely, you can see the bindis on our heads and the flower garlands students made. We also made diyas and torans, watched a special Diwali puppet show put on my some parents, and tasted mango lassi.

Peeps

Look what I found, all the way in Hong Kong! Peeps!

Vietnam!!!

So about 10 days ago, Nate and I returned from our trip to Vietnam. We stayed in Hanoi the majority of the time and explored the area mostly by foot. Vietnam was a very interesting place, and quite different from Hong Kong. It really made us appreciate how modern, clean, and international Hong Kong is. I'll let the pictures tell our story. (We took about 120, so I unfortunately couldn't include them all.)A temple in the middle of the lake in Hanoi.


The busy streets of Hanoi, full of honking motorbikes.


Bottles of an unknown liquid that is supposed to be good for you if you drink it...notice the snake and scorpions inside. Eww!


Colorful lanterns for sale in the street.


Many women carry around fruit or other goods for sale in this manner.


A giant embalmed tortoise that is fabled to have saved Hanoi from a terrible ruler. It's in a temple on the lake. I find this very humorous.


The entrance to the Temple of Literature.


Inside the Temple of Literature.


Also inside the Temple of Literature.

The One Pillar Pagoda.


We went to Ninh Binh, about 2 hours away, and were paddled around like these folks on a little boat. Note the man rowing with his FEET! The next 4 pictures were also taken there, from our boat.

A house on the water.

Rowing under the grotto and getting dripped on by the stalactites.

The lovely limestone formations we saw.

A little boy by the river.


An ancient temple nearby in Ninh Binh. The other people in the picture are Erika and Geoff, who are also from HKIS.

Coming soon...Vietnam!

Hi everyone! Nate and I just got back from Vietnam a couple of days ago, and we have lots to share. It was a great trip! Unfortunately, we left the powercord to the Mac in our hotel in Vietnam, so they're mailing it to us. I won't be able to edit and post photos until we get the cord back because I have no idea how to do it on my school computer. So, check back in a week!

Junk Trip

Last weekend, Nate and I went on a junk trip to an island in the New Territories with a bunch of people from school. It was the most fun! We were on the boat a little over an hour to get there, then hopped into the ocean to swim to the beach. It was quite hot that day, so the water felt perfect! We swam and hung out on the beach for a while, and the junk company even brought a cooler of drinks and a tent to the beach for us. The service was great!
A little later we swam back to the boat for a yummy lunch- hamburgers, steak, salmon, potatoes, salad, roasted veggies, etc. After lunch we swam and until it was time to board the boat to leave. We had pizza and brownies on the way home, and enjoyed views of islands, boats and the city skyline. The boat for 6.5 hours, food and drink all for only $75!

View of Causeway Bay from the boat.


On the way there, sitting on the front of the boat with some of the girls.


The little beach we went to in the New Territories- lovely.


Balancing on top of the boat.


My salty, sandy, and adorable husband.



One of the house boats near Causeway Bay on the way home.


View of the city from the boat before docking.

Mid-Autumn Moon Festival

This weekend is the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival here in HK. One major tradition for this holiday is lighting lots of paper lanterns, originally with candles but now often battery-operated bulbs. Last night we went all over Kowloon with our friends Erika and Geoff in search of two particular lantern displays. There were families everywhere carrying around their own lanterns or having picnics and burning candles. Check out the photos below.



Another tradition is eating mooncakes. The mooncakes we tried are made of lotus seed paste and have a whole egg yolk inside. They sound gross, but they're not really that bad. This is a photo of a mooncake I found on the internet (b/c I was too lazy to photograph ours and download it.

Friend Photos

Here are a few random photos of us with some of our new friends.


Nate and I had just arrived at the "typhoon party" in this photo. We were a bit wet, but we made it. (Erika on left, Claire on the right, and Kelly in the back.)

Dancing and being silly in Vero's jingly belly dancing wrap.

Left-handed bowling. Check out the awesome red shoes.

Checking out the amazing view of the HK skyline at Aqua. Yes, those are bead curtains surrounding us.

Everything from fruit smoothies to fancy martinis at Aqua (but we just thought it would be a cool photo).

With Claire, the other new R2 teacher.

Indian food at Chungking Mansion with other R2 teachers. Very sketchy, but very good and very cheap.