Dad's Birthday

When I was thinking about moving to Hong Kong, a lot of people said to me "it's only a plane trip away if you ever need to or want to come home for anything". 

So I did.

I decided that Dad's 70th birthday, plus a big family get-together, was important enough for me to come home for the weekend.  I couldn't bear the thought of not being there for it!

So I went home last weekend and it was really worth the long, tiring overnight flights.  The best bit was surprising Dad - he was so pleased I was there too.

It was good to catch up with lots of aunties and uncles, and to have lots of cuddles with Matthew.  He is such a happy, gorgeous baby!  (Check out his shirt - Elizabeth thinks it is very funny to dress him in that when I'm around!)

Now starts the 3 month countdown till the next visit...

Bad Accident

I went to school today, and just as the taxi got there a bunch of fire engines, police cars and an ambulance were arriving.

We have a building site across the road, and it seems there was a very bad accident with a crane, and a man lying on the road had terrible head injuries. It was right under my library window so I couldn't help but watch for a while.

I keep thinking of that poor man tonight, and hope he is going to be alright.

On the bright side, what a beautiful day it was! I walked home and had to take a couple of photos while the sky was so blue. I know I've said it before, but blue skies like this are quite rare here!

A Busy Visit

Normally when I don't blog for a while it's because I haven't done anything exciting. This time it is because I have had Susan here visiting, and we packed so much into the last 10 days!

Susan had to explore Hong Kong by herself during the day when I was at work, but at least I had a weekend and a public holiday to spend time with her, at Stanley, Shenzhen and Mong Kok. And of course we were out every night revisiting all my favourite restaurants.

It also happened to be Mid-Autumn Festival, so she got to see all the beautiful lanterns in Victoria Park.

Workout for the knees

I found a shortcut from Aylish's house to my house the other day (my taxi buddy). Straight down a street called Ladder Street - just steps, no road. 387 steps to be exact! Needless to say I won't be using the shortcut to go TO Aylish's house!

The next photos are from a trip to Cheung Chau on the weekend. Chris had visitors from back home and we all had lunch together. I had met them previously, but I didn't know one of them grew up on the same street as me in Cooma! Small world...

This is a shoe shop, just in case you were wondering

A bit of greenery along the restaurants on the wharf

Cheung Chau is mainly a fishing village, with dried fish and live fish tubs everywhere you go

Experimenting at the bakery

I couldn't resist these because of their names!

Mochi Lava Chocolate Ball

Raisin Maple Caramel Bread

I think I have the names right - I was trying to remember them all the way home.

The bread was beautiful! I wasn't quite sure what to do with it, but ended up cutting it in half like a bread roll and putting a little butter on it. I think it would be fantastic grilled with honey, because it had a kind of damper taste about it, but I don't have a griller :-(

The chocolate ball wasn't as good, it was very chewey like an uncooked doughnut (although it had a beautiful gooey centre).

Obviously, after a post about bakery food, I haven't had a very exciting week! School has been pretty busy of course, so I'm just having a relaxing weekend. Susan arrives next week for a holiday so I'm really looking forward to showing her around, and enjoying some of my favourite parts of Hong Kong again.

Library Photos

The new library isn't finished. It won't be finished for weeks. I think of computers, ipads, displays, kids' work, teacher reference, digital stuff... it certainly won't be finished by the time I leave, but all my libraries are like that so I'm not worried. I WOULD be worried if I got to school one day and there was nothing for me to do!

Anyway, here are a couple more photos.

From the entrance looking up to the far windows where my office is.

From the entrance looking through the shelves towards the teaching area. A great before and after shot!

At the far end of the library - my spacious teacher reference area waiting to be filled on one side, and my office and workroom on the other.

Left - looking into the teaching area

Right - looking out of the teaching area back into the main part of the library.

At the front of the library is the circulation desk. I love the purple and green together.

One of the kids told her mum the library is "impossibly fantastic". Another said it was "jaw-dropping and awesome".

I'm back!

Well here I am again, back in Hong Kong about to start my second year here. I have had such a fantastic 6 week holiday in Australia - I got to catch up with SO many people and do SO many nice holiday things :-)

I actually was going to stop writing this blog, as I thought a record of one year might be enough, but I was really surprised to hear a few people say they quite like reading it. Hooray! And here I thought I was just writing to myself...

Anyway, so I've only been back 2 days, and I've spent most of that time at school, playing in my new library. It's so nice! It's going to take me about a billion hours to set it up just how I want it (not to mention unpacking the 25,000 books), but I am having so much fun doing it.

I'm only putting 2 photos here for now, but I'll post some more when there are not so many boxes lying around.

The first one is taken at the front entrance, where the green and purple stripes are a bit eye-catching. Nearly all the purple, green and orange is a kind of felt wall covering.

The second photo is of the hole-in-the-wall reading spot. It is padded, and very comfortable! The kids are going to love it!

The last photo is one I know I've posted before, but I just love it. Chris and I were up checking out the view from the library rooftop. It was such a clear, sunny day that I could have stayed looking at that view for hours, if not for the fact that the weather makes me melt like an icecream. Dumb humidity.