Friday, March 4, 2011

February 14


Valentines Day:

For V-day JC and I bought tickets to go see Janet Jackson in Wan Chai. That woman is really quite amazing. Jonathan was taking a call from the US around 10 PM our time, 9AM EST. This should not have a been a big deal considering it was a 1.5 hour show that was suppose to start at 8pm. We took our seats at 750, and at 8, there was no show. For a country that is pretty punctual with their appointments, concerts need not apply. We slowly watched the other concert goers come in and wondered, “When IS this going to start?”. Start time 8:45. Jonathan’s time watching the concert before he had to leave 40 minutes. I actually stayed for the whole thing and got home around 1045.







While I was walking out, I got to see this MAJOR wanker.

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Let me describe him. Mr. Wanker is wearing nice jeans, driving mocs and pink sweater that he has tied around his shoulders. He’s got really nice highlighted blondish hair that has been slicked back and honestly, looks a little “crunchy”. You can just see that he thinks that he is God’s precious gift to all women.

As I was slowly making my way out and the girl, who is holding him by the waist, says, “So, what’s your name again? How do you spell that?”

Oh dear Lord, are you kidding me. She actually looked like she was trying to get away from him. He then pulls out a ciggy and asks someone for a lighter. Mr. Wanker, there is NO smoking inside the convention center. Thankfully, they didn’t have one. As I watch the girl slowly get away, he finds her again and moves in and grabs her waist again. Poor girl, she’s back with him.

I finally make my way down the 4 sets of escalators to the street level. I go the Renaissance Hotel to try to get a cab. No such luck, but guess who I got to run into again! That’s right, Mr. Wanker. Still together, they make their way up the registration desk of the hotel.

Friday:

We got the opportunity to go see the USS Hulsey. One of the homeschooling families works for the Army and got us on board. I asked JC if he wanted to take a half day off work, and he was up for it.

As it turns out, when it’s a crappy day in HK and you’re trying to catch a cab around 915 am in Happy Valley, all the cabs are in central or TST. Not so good. Long story short, we took the tram to Wan Chai and made our way to Fenwick pier, which is really closer to Admiralty. Luckily, we all wore our running shoes because I think that we ended up running close to a mile to be on time. We were still about 5 minutes late due to my lack of navigating skills on the run, but we made it.

We took a short boat ride to the Hulsey where we were greeted by 4 crew members. This guys took us all round the ship; explained what they did and even their own personal stories. The other crew members that were not part of the tour even took time out of their day to explain things like the radar to the kids. It was such an awesome experience for us all.

Thank you to all the service people who keep us safe around the world!



Firefighting Equipment
The ships motto
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Looking toward the back of the ship


Helicopter folded up so nicely to fit into the ship
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Captain Collins
My little sniper
Maybe we should pick up one of these when we get home?

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Sunday:

The girls had their second rugby practice in Sandy Bay. Again, my navigation skills were NOT up to par. We got off at the wrong stop, tried to walk, but then JC suggested we take a cab. SUCH A GREAT IDEA!!! It was really much further than we thought.

The girls did a fantastic job. Their coach was really impressed last week with their ability to just jump right in. Remember that “jumping right in” is not so much fun when it is cold and wet.

Next week, we have to be back at Sandy Bay around 830 for a tournament. I don’t think that they will play, but we will suit up and be there if they need us. I see a bit of ball tossing in our future this week.

After practice we met the Orion’s for lunch. They had come into HK from Shenzen. It really is a special treat to meet up with them. We all actually lived in Hillbrooke together and have known each other for around 6 years. After lunch, we took the bus to Happy Valley, the kids went to the apartment to watch a movie and the adults went down the pub for a beer, coffee and some banoffee pie. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banoffee_pie) I believe that I will be making that sometime this week. We stayed at the pub for 3 hours and just talked. I have to say that we have always really enjoyed the whole family and hope to make this a regular monthly meet up. We should be getting our new HK visa’s in April, and then we will be able to get an unlimited China visa, so that we can get together on that side of the border as well.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

In keeping with my weekly updates, here was last week.

Last week was pretty low key, which is what we needed after Chinese New Year week.

Hannah had swimming and Gabby had climbing.

We were going to go to the Peak with some friends, but since it seems the rain had decided to come to Hong Kong, we went to lunch and went swimming.




Cloud is the one holding the sword
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On Saturday the family signed up to do a remote 5K. We did this for a family back in Johns Creek who's son committed suicide this past October. When this happened, we were heading out to go to Beijing and Xi'an. I was stunned; I was shocked; I was so sad. The family has done so much with their grief and I am sure that they have and will save countless lives. Here are pictures from our 5K in Hong Kong. (http://www.will-to-live.org/)




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The girls went to their first Rugby practice on Sunday. This was pretty interesting since it was cold and raining (cold like 55*F). They seemed to like it enough that we are going to try it again next week. They are just at the end of the season, but this should be a good start to see if we want to continue it in the spring.




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Jonathan had his final mountain marathon on Sunday too. Again, cold and rain don't make for a fun rugby day OR trail running day. I got a call about 4.5 hours into the race. This is how the conversation went:
"Hey, are you done?"
"First, I'm fine." Oh great. "I twisted my ankle pretty bad and I'm in a cab back home. I tried to run on it, but really couldn't. I started to walk back, and when I did it started to feel a bit better. So I decided that it was ok to run on it some more. But after a bit, I twisted it again and decided I was done."
"How far is a 'Little Bit?' "
"About 2 miles. Then I had to walk to find a taxi. That's where I am now. I'm going home."

Great .. just great. So now gimpy has a pretty swollen ankle. The right thing to do was R.I.C.E. Not Jonathan....

We did go out for an early Valentines dinner. Dim Sum from just down the street.
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Chinese New Year - The year of the Rabbit

Chinese New Year - Year of the Rabbit


What to do for your first real Chinese New Year (CNY – for short)?

That was a question that we got asked a lot this past year. We decided that we would stay home for the first time.

As soon as the January 3rd hit, the Christmas decorations were down and the CNY decorations went up. It was really a beautiful sight as almost all the decorations were red and gold.


Tuesday

We hit the Flower Market at Victoria Park.

Such beautiful Orchids

Mandarin Trees - Very Lucky
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Lucky Money envelopes - Red Pockets as they are known here.
It's the year of the Rabbit
All these people gathered around -- for what?
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That's right ... to learn how to fold a shirt.

Thursday

Jonathan had the day off work, so we just bummed around the house a bit while he studied for the first part of the CMA exam that he will take at the end of February. That night HK has a big parade in TST.

We chose to eat dinner out, and found a cute little café in Pacific Place (a mall). After taking the MTR and chosing an exit, we found our way to the street.

Here are pictures of the crowded parade route.




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I asked JC to get me a water ... he comes back with a water and Bud. This is how HE got through the parade.
Sometimes bizarre.
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From Thailand.

Friday

We went to the harbor and watched the fireworks. They were pretty amazing … 23 minutes to the second!


Smiley faces ... who knew?

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