Bits

Was walking through the fishy area of town (ie dried fish streets) with Chris and we found these...Lizards on a stick?? Kites?? They were so incredibly flat. My Hong Kong adventure doesn't stretch to experimenting with food that looks too weird.

I went to a craft fair at Discovery Bay on the weekend. On the way back I was walking on an elevated walkway through the concrete jungle, and these trees seemed to be growing out of nowhere. Hong Kong has really lovely pockets where nature creeps in and brightens up the place.

And sometimes the pockets of nature make you forget you are even in a city! I walked home from school for the first time today (needed Abi to show me the way) and I couldn't believe the amazing walking path that winds its way down the hill to the city. It is unreal. Occasionally there would be a gap in the trees with amazing views, but it must have been about 4kms before we came out of the trees and into the traffic. Definitely have to do that more often.

Out and about

Just looked at my photos... I have 173 in my October folder, and 7 in my November folder! What's going on? Seems like I have been ignoring Hong Kong a bit this month. But I've had a couple of weekends at home feeling unwell, and a weekend in Canberra, and have been quite busy at work lately. That's my excuse....

Anyway it was really nice to actually get out in Hong Kong again today. I had a friend from high school over here for work, so it was fun to play tour guide. We went down to Stanley to have lunch in the sun by the water, and it was beautiful!! Such a gorgeous day.

As we wandered around the shops, this letterbox caught my eye. Yes, a plastic folder. Actually a very logical space saver!

Guess where I am...

Yay! At home with baby Matthew! Dad and I decided that I really couldn't wait another 5 weeks to come home, so we planned a surprise visit home for the weekend. I arrived yesterday and surprised Elizabeth and Mark - and Mum, as Dad brought her up for the day too. And what a lovely day we had! It's a long way to come for the weekend, but so worth it!

It was also worth the trip as I was able to visit my Nanna today. She has improved so much since the scare she gave us. And I had... wait for it... Mum's roast lamb! Hong Kong may be providing me with lots of new adventures, but I'd go for mum's roast over dim sum any day.

More of Matthew

Ok, this isn't really about my Hong Kong adventure, but I just have to put up more photos of baby Matthew. Look how cute he is!!

Anyway how come no one told me I said "holidays" instead of "hospital" in my last post? I'm pretty sure Elizabeth wasn't comparing child birth to a holiday.

My only Hong Kong comment is again on how much effort is put into decorations over here! I went out for dinner to Rat Alley on Saturday night, and was amazed to find the whole place transformed for a weekend festival. Decorations everywhere!

And on Sunday I went over the harbour to the fancy shops, and there was such a crowd of people around the Christmas decorations I could hardly get through. I'm sure I'll be finding more Christmas decoration photos to put here! It is quite amazing.

We Have a Baby!!!

Woo hoo! My little nephew Matthew James was born today!!!!! He and Elizabeth and Mark are all doing well. I am so sad not to be there to meet him and hold him... but I have seen photos and I'm sure we will be skyping once they get home from holidays. Thank goodness for technology!

All I could do was go out for a celebratory drink, with Chris, Chris, Abi, Nicole and Tim. If I couldn't celebrate with family, at least there are some lovely friends to be with :-)

I am going to be such a baby hog when I get back for Christmas!

What am I doing here?

Actually, I am here because I got a job, so I thought it was about time my job got a little mention in my Adventure blog.

Mum reminded me the other day I don't talk much about it. One of her friends asked her how I am enjoying work, and Mum realised that she didn't know. I just forget to mention it!

I'm happy to say that I like my job. It has been getting busier at school, which is partly why I haven't done anything exciting to report on lately (and partly because I was sick last week).

I've been at school for 10 weeks now, and my main 2 jobs have been setting up the temporary library, and getting the library management system working. I teach 720 kids, I've been getting to know my colleagues, have been to courses and visited other schools, and have been getting my head around teaching in an IB school.

Now that things have settled down, my job is getting even more interesting. I have started the job of preparing to build a new library space. It is going to be lots of work, but very exciting! And I have at last had the time to concentrate on books again, and spent the whole weekend book shopping and going through a pile of catalogues. My favourite bit of my job - buying books!

I'm sure no one has read through to the end of this, but I wanted to write it anyway, since without my job there would be no Hong Kong Adventure. And I am so glad that I enjoy it!

Melbourne Cup

It felt like I was back in Australia today. We had a lovely Aussie morning tea which included tim tams and anzac biscuits. We ran a sweep for the Melbourne Cup, and then some of us were able to watch the race live via the internet. It was really dodgy streaming, but at least we got to see the end. And I'm happy to say my horse came first! yay! I won $200, which makes me feel very rich, until I remember the exchange rate is so wacky that I actually only won about $25 in Aussie terms. Still, it made my day :-)