Photos from Christmas

I arrived home for Christmas 2 days earlier than expected, for my Nanna's funeral.  The only good thing about that was seeing Matthew before he was whisked away for Christmas.   

The weather was beautiful!  It was so nice to have dry, sunny days with blue sky. Mum and Dad's garden was looking so pretty after all the rain.



And we had a different Christmas to what we normally have.  We missed Nanna, and Elizabeth, Mark and Matthew weren't home, so Mum and Dad and I had Christmas at the coast.  David joined us a day later.  Different, but still great.  Roast... mmmmm

The coast was relaxing.  I love it down there.  I even went fishing with Dad and David.  Well, I didn't actually fish, it was just a great place to read my book.

Then it was back to Canberra for New Year, and to squeeze in as many cuddles as I could with Matthew.  Look how well he fits in my suitcase :-)

Photos from before Christmas

I saw massive traffic jams outside my place one night, and after a couple of hours my curiousity got the better of me and I wandered down the street to see what was going on. A building was on fire! And it looked like the social event of the year, as it looked like the entire population of Sheung Wan was there to watch.

I took these photos as I walked home from school.  I know I've put up photos of the bamboo buildings before, but I am still always amazed by them.  Look at how huge the cover is that they've put around the bamboo!

Causeway Bay is the busiest shopping area in Hong Kong I think, and I braved the crowds during the Christmas rush. It was fun at first to be in amongst the sixty billion shoppers, and then I got sick of it. They had some amazing displays around - not all completely Christmassy, as you can see from the photos!

Wicked weekend ahead!

I was reminded today that it has been quite a while since my last post - nearly two months! I just got kind of busy before Christmas and forgot about blogging for a while. But I'm back, and will do a couple of posts next week with November and December photos. I'm about to kick-start 2012 with a trip to Singapore - I'm about to leave right now, actually! A group of us from school have tickets to see Wicked, the musical, tomorrow night. Can't wait! The weather has been a bit crappy here, so I'm also looking forward to nice hot weather and lying by the pool with a good book tomorrow. That's all for now, I'm sure there will be a great group shot to add next week.

Same Same

I copied this from Google the other day.  It must be the most similar weather that Hong Kong and Canberra will ever have.  It is really nice weather here at the moment!  The humidity has dropped, there is sometimes a nice breeze, the temperature is just right.  There was even a night last week when I slept without the air conditioner on! (Ok, so the minimum temps might not be that similar...)

Of course having the temperature in the mid 20's means that the shops are now full of clothes like this, and people are actually wearing them!

Official library opening

We did it!  The new library has had its first party and first bottle of champagne, and the ribbon has been cut.  We invited all the parents and staff to the party, and all the important people from the department, of course.

Debra and I worked our butts off getting everything ready so the library could look its best for all its visitors, and I must say we were pretty proud of ourselves.

Elections coming up

I have known for weeks now that there is a local election coming up.  I know this, because of the young politicians standing at the bus stop outside my building EVERY WEEKEND with megaphones and loud recordings.  They are there from about 9.30 - 6.30, and sometimes on weeknights as well.

I do admire them for spending so much time on their campaigns (they all seem very young and dedicated) but I can't wait until it's over!  It is driving me nuts.  I think it must be very close to election day, as today there are about 5 different parties down there, all with their loudspeakers. 

They are on both sides of the pavement, and both sides of the road, and I think they are having a competition to see which one of the parties can bug me the most.  I walked through them to the shops and it felt like I was walking through a human tunnel, as they were all holding their banners over my head.  I now have my ipod plugged in and cranked up but it's not helping much.  Sometimes I wish I was on the 30th floor instead of the 7th.

Random bits

I haven't blogged for a while as I haven't done anything very exciting since I got back from China.  But I have taken random photos in the last few weeks so will dump them here all together.
We had Diwali a couple of weeks ago, and the lovely Indian teachers and staff at our school put on the most delicious morning tea for us - home made samosas etc.  Yum!  It was so nice that Chris and Chris and I decided to have Indian again for dinner that night.  I meant to take a photo and do a Diwali blog but forgot... so here are the left overs of our dinner, and Chris about to enjoy the last of the curry chicken :-)











I went shopping last weekend over at TST - the massive shopping centre that always has huge decorations of some kind.  The current display is a massive skateboard ramp looking thing with a car on top!  Not very clear photos :-(

There was also a big car display - in the middle of the shops!  I think it was the release of some new Audi.  Don't know, but I liked the look of this one.

I seriously didn't ever realise Barbie has her own entire fashion stores!

And here's the good old Star Ferry.  Such a classic old boat, and so cheap to get across the harbour in just a few minutes!

Today Chris C and I were wandering the streets of Sheung Wan and had a good giggle at the man working from the back of his truck.  Need fire?  No problem, just carry one with you for when you need it!

This last photo is for Jane and Amanda.  Last year we all went to dim sum for brunch, and the restaurant was so busy they put us in a room the size of a cupboard, out the back of the restaurant.  I haven't been back since, and neither had Chris, but we did today.  We joked about being in the cupboard... and then they sat us in a cupboard room again!!  Too funny.