Aqua

Last night Derek (a very nice man I met at salsa) took me out to dinner as a way of saying goodbye. We went to an incredibly posh place called Aqua which served both Japanese and Italian cuisine. It's a completely different standard from what I'm used to (although it isn't particularly hard to beat Macdonald's and Pizza Hut...)! The above picture is of the drinks lounge, on a balcony above the main restaurant floor. The picture below is of the restaurant. I should mention the view from our table- the most beautiful scene of the Hong Kong skyline. We had a table seat so we watched the sun set and all the lights come on, and at 8pm we watched the famous light show while eating our dinner.

Derek ordered some amazing food for us- Asparagus wrapped in bacon, asparagus and cheese risotto with truffle on top (my fave yuuuuuuum), a gorgeous fish steak, beef rolls, terriaki pork, and finally some more beef steak. Beyond delicious, I came away stuffed! After the meal (we were very politely kicked out at 8:30) we went to do some salsa dancing at a bar called Heat in Wan Chai. So, a very pleasant evening all in all!

Day 9

The last full day with my parents. Well...with my sister. Today Katy and I went to Ocean Park with Jo and Theresa. Ocean Park is a theme park here with animals as well as various rides and activities like go-karting. We all caught a coach from the West Rail station which was very efficient (and included in the ticket price).

Once we got there we headed straight to see the pandas. They were all asleep when we saw them, and they looked so cute! There's more on flickr of the others.

We hit some rides next. This was definitely not on a par with Alton Towers or any of the theme parks in Britain, you wouldn't come here especially for the rides. They were really old. Some of them were OK. And they are building loads of new ones, so maybe in a couple of years it'll be worth another visit. After lunch we saw the seals. They were adorable. We saw them being fed, and we could have fed them ourselves but we had to buy tickets from somewhere. We watched them for quite a while and there was this one seal who went and laid right next to another seal, it looked like they were cuddling. And they kept fighting over whose tail went on top!

We worked our way round the park going on rides and seeing the various creatures.

We had to queue for an hour to get onto the cable cars to get back to the coach. The park is built on two sides of a hill/peak thing joined by cable cars and I guess there's always a queue back but because we were there just before it closed we caught the crowds. Still we got back about 7ish.

We met my parents in Tuen Mun and I loaded them up with stuff to take home. We went for our last proper meal together. I wasn't going to go out at first, just get a takeaway, but it was closed. Instead we went to the Federal restaurant at Ferry Pier. This us a favourite of mine and Jo's- they do the best sweet and sour shrimp. I'm so glad I got to take my family there because it's a proper local restaurant and I'm sure they don't get many Westerners. We ordered sweet and sour shrimp, chicken and vegetables, and prok ribs in orange sauce. Yum, yum, yum! And for desert we were brought sweet red bean soup with tapioca. I actually liked this one, normally I can't stand the texture. Mum had fun trying to use the chopsticks too!

So that's the holiday. I met them at the airport the next day and we said our goodbyes again...and there were more tears. At least the next time I see them I'll be back home in Britain. I'm sure my parents will fill most of you in with other bits I haven't managed to write down, and show you all of their pictures and videos.

Day 7

Sunday is meant to be a day of rest, but not for us lot here in Hong Kong. The day started with me getting up early to go down to Central for Church. I was a bit nervous about taking my parents and sister because obviously I wanted them to like it and agree with what they're teaching me. I needn't have worried because my parents both seemed to find it ok. Katy didn't like it much I don't think but I can understand her not liking a really cheesy American DVD. I didn't like that service much either.

Afterwards we went with our Plus group and Jo's family for dim sum! I don't think my parents had had a proper chinese meal before then so I was really glad the Plus group decided to go. We got to try a lot of the traditional dim sum dishes. Here's just a few of them:

We had shrimp balls, rice rolls, Custard buns, BBQ pork buns, prawn and pork balls, beef balls, spring rolls, rice cake, BBQ pork pastries, dumplings...all sorts of things. Yum yum yum. Mine and Jo's families sat together on a table with Marty, his wife plus new baby (she's so cute) and Liza and her two kids. The others had to go on another table somewhere. We had lots of fun chatting and eating.

In the afternoon I thought I'd take my parents to my flat again and give them some stuff I want taking home but when we got all the way up there I realised I'd left my keys on the ironing board and we couldn't get in. Nooo! It's so annoying when I do that! There's no spare keys anywhere either. And Jo wasn't going to be in until the evening. So instead we went back down to the hotel and spent the evening watching TV.

7 Days till Arrival

Wow, only 7 days now until my family arrive here in Hong Kong. That means I'm halfway through my stay in Hong Kong. It's going far too quickly! Anyway, I've been busy planning what I'm going to do with them, finding out about good Chinese restaurants, about the displays and traditions. At Chinese New Year parents give their children "lai see" (red packets) with money in, and also married people to their single friends and bosses to their employees. So I think I need to befriend some married people this week hehe.

On Friday I went to a nice restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui called Paparazzi with Ms Man, Ms Wendy and Ms Pat to celebrate Chinese New Year. I had the most delicious meal ever- veal rolls with zuchinni, sage leaves and mozarella in the middle served with mediterranean vegetables. Mmmmmm! And for desert I had profiteroles with icecream and chocolate sauce, equally as delectable. And when we were settling the bill, I gave approximately what I thought I owed, but Ms Man gave me my money back...I thought it was really nice of them to pay for me like that. Especially since I'm down to my last $500 again. After the meal we did a bit of window shopping...

And that's basically the highlight of my weekend. The hike in Shek O was cancelled because it rained all day Friday and it would have been to dangerous to walk. They had a meal there still, but since it would have taken us 2 hours there and back we decided not to go. Instead we hired the last season of Sex and City and bought lots of chocolate. We have literally spent 2 days sat on the sofa. I did make up for it during the week though- I went to TST 3 times! Once to do the homework club, another time to buy parade tickets and then have dinner with Sam, and again on Friday.

Jo Dau for now!

Jo

is turning Chinese already...she's lying in bed doing this disgusting hacking thing the locals here do a lot. Gross.

I've had a really great weekend- we booked a hostel room so that after 180 we could go to some bars in Causeway Bay and Lan Kwai Fong. We met a cool guy from Holland called Guido and invited him along, some people from 180 including Eric and Sam, and we met some of the other gappers too. We ended up rolling in at about 4am. This morning we went for Dimsum (lunch) with Vinnie, Emi, Mark, Andrea, Kevin, Gabrielle and some others from our plus because it was Emi's birthday. I'm just a bit tired now. I've done a bit of tidying and shopping and I think I'm ready for bed now.

I'm seeing Joel tomorrow! Yay!

Busy, busy

I've had some more feedback from my parent's observations. (Still confused about the apostrophe! My english teachers didn't do a very good job, obviously.) There were comments about my voice being too quiet and discipline and one parent "suggested" that I should clip my fringe back because it looks scruffy! The first 2 were fair enough, I would agree when they said that discipline isn't my strong point, but that last one is just personal. Hmph.

Patrick came and watched me do a lesson last Monday and he didn't really give me feedback but I don't think he disliked it. I had to teach the children about Aunties, Uncles and Cousins. That's not easy when the kids don't really understand words like "your", "have", "the","is", "a"- the filler words. I tried to describe them as simply as possible and then got the teacher to translate to chinese. There's no way they would have understood without the teacher to do that. I also did "U" words that week which was fun- uncle, umbrella, up and under. For "up" I got them to jump and shout "up!", and for "under" I crawled under my chair, and then got the kids to do the same. They found it really funny! I'm running out of songs to do with them, I kee doing the same ones over and over and it's getting boring. Any ideas? I need more ideas for nursery kids too. They are really adorable but it is so hard to keep their attention.

On Sunday Jo and me went to Disney. Everyone kept telling us how rubbish it was so we weren't expecting much but considering it was so small, and there weren't many rides we still had a really good time! We saw the Lion King Show which was brilliant- even Jo liked it and she's seen the proper stage version. We also saw a 3D film called Mickey's Philaharmagic Orchestra. We queued up to get our picture taken with Mickey, Minnie and Winnie the Pooh. Oh and of course we watched the "Let It Snow" Christmas Parade which was really fun. I'll put films up later. We had a really good view, right at the side of the road they go down. After the parade we stayed for the switching on of the castle lights. Had to wait for about 45 mins but it went quite quick. We were practicing our cantonese numbers and this young couple were helping us, they taught us how to say happy christmas and happy birthday- "Sin dan fai lop" and "san yat fai lop". The light show was really good too- it's done to music and there's fireworks and lasers. I'll finish uploading the pictures tonight. I took over 200!

Last night we went out for a meal with Mandy and Bessa, Jo's colleagues. We ate at Chilli 'n' Spice at the Gold Coast shopping centre. The food was very tasty and not really expensive at all. I have pictures of that too I'll upload. It was really nice getting to meet some of the people Jo works with, and Bessa has invited us to go round for a roast dinner one day.

On Friday we might be going to a house party of one of the girls from 180. All depends on how we feel on the day. I'm so tired atm, just gotten back from town. I had to buy a coat because it's so cold today! I'm sitting here with the heater on full...BBrrrrr

Wedding Meal

On Tuesday we were invited to a friend of a friend of Eben's Principal's wedding party. It wasn't so much a party as a throw-together meal. As you can see in the picture below, we had "Poon Choi." It is a big pot with veg, fish, shrimp, chicken, pork, mushrooms and octopus. It was quite yummy- apart from the octopus.

There were loads of tables full of people just coming and going, having a good time, but no sign of a newly-married couple.

Here's a few more pics of the evening:

Matt looks so funny with that hat on!

In other news: Joel should have landed back in the UK now. His Grandad died last week so he's gone to be with his family. That means 10 whole days without seeing each other. I'm missing him already :(

Buddha

So this is the Buddha. It is pretty big. It's on Lantau Island so we caught a ferry from Tuen Mun and then caught a bus to Ngong Ping. The bus journey is a little bumpy and so sloooow. Most of the way there is only one lane for traffic, so we were constantly stopping. When we eventually got there (an hour later) we headed straight for the monastery. As you can see above there are a lot of steps up to the Buddha. While we were at the bottom this Chinese man starts jabbering at me and Jo in Chinese. He thrusts his camera at Jo and grabs my hand. I was err...slightly startled to say the least. Then he gives the camera to me and goes and stands next to Jo. Instead of holding Jo's hand he leans his head in towards her, resting on her shoulder. Haha- served Jo right for laughing at me :p So now some random Chinese guy has pictures of us! We made the climb to the top whilst trying to get as many pictures as we could. It was such a nice day but because it was late afternoon the Sun was behind the Buddha meaning we couldn't really get any clear pictures of it. Most of mine look like silhouettes.

The view from the top is spectacular:

There are cablecars from Tung Chung (the town where the Ferry docks) but they've been closed for quite a few months. There was quite a bit of trouble with them apparently but it would have been great to be able to get to Ngong Ping on them- the views really are amazing!

I don't really know what to tell you about the Buddha. It's big and it's bronze. It sits on top of a building that is filled with offerings. On the walls there are memorial tiles. There are a few gift shops inside too selling little Buddha statues, gem bracelets, keyrings and postcards. There's a part which you have to pay to get in so I don't know what is in there. Maybe if I were Buddhist I'd be slightly more interested in it.

In Tung Chung there is a nice shopping mall with a cinema, restaurants and loads of outlet shops. There's a hotel too which probably has very nice views. I think it is the main town centre. Yesterday we went to the big Taste supermarket they have there. Taste is a shop which imports a load of stuff so we bought Marmite, Walkers crisps, Bisto gravy and cheese. Cheese is so expensive! Some of it was $100/lb. We bought a small block of New Zealand cheddar which is OK I guess...I miss good British mature chedder though. How about for Christmas someone?! We used some of the cheese today, along with the gravy, for our cheesy mash and veg dinner. Ultimate student meal haha!

One more week until the 180 retreat! I'm just a little bit excited hehe. I hope this week goes quicker.

Food, School and Shopping

I did my first full Friday and my gosh it was booorriing. Even after being given 2 lessons to do. Luckily I had a nice meal with Joel to look forward to! He took me to New York's for dinner and we had the best steak ever there. And cheesy potato skins. And chocolate brownie for pudding. Mmmmmm. I love going to New York's cause the owner Randy is pretty cool. He knows Angus from when he was there as a gap student and so now he knows all of us through him. He'll have a laugh with us and do us any drink we want.

Saturday me and Joel went shopping in Mong Kok. I told you basically what happened the other day- we browsed the markets and then went to a few shopping centers. I bought Jo's birthday present, and a few Christmas gifts for people. We went to the cinema to see Shoot 'Em Up when we'd done shopping. It was seriously a bad, bad film. So full of cliches I was left wondering if they'd done it to take the mickey? I don't know... but I'm not really into films where they randomly shoot everyone for no reason so I didn't stand much chance of liking it. Afterwards I left Joel on the train and met Jo in Central and went to 180.

Sunday was our lazy day. We dragged ourselves up to do a bit more shopping in Tuen Mun and then made our way to St John's Cathedral for the service and curry supper. We met Patrick, Matt and Eben there and had a nice chat. The dean (deacon? I don't know) came and chatted with us and was asking about the Vine. He annoyed Jo because he was basically saying "the cathedral is better than the Vine, the Vine isn't a proper church...blah blah." I just thought he was jealous that so many people go to- and enjoy- the Vine. He didn't really do himself or the cathderal any favours by talking like that. I've arranged to meet Patrick tomorrow so we can have a proper chat together. He's already met Jo and Joel, and Jules I think.

Last night Joel came round (after finally being woken up by Zoe) and we watched Evan Almighty. Such a funny film! He cooked me a stir-fry becayse his always taste better than mine, and we made a tiffin cake (?) together. It's got biscuit, marshmallow, and dried fruit in it. Should taste yummmmmmy :) We haven't got an oven so this is like the first cake I've made here. I really, really miss having an oven because it limits what you can cook so much :( I'll be an expert at one-pot dishes by next summer though!

This week at school I'm teaching about the family. It's a tough lesson, mainly because I haven't done any proper lessons in a while. I brought in a picture of my family to show them which they loved- "There's Miss Jenny!" Miss Chan thought Dad was my boyfriend though :/ !!! "He looks so young...your boyfriend or your Dad?" He's 50-something Miss Chan! The kids also all think Katy is my bigger sister. Hmph. So to make it easier for them she has been my big sis this week. I'm doing about grandparents next week which is going to be another tough lesson. It's all talking and not really anything fun for them. Also, I'll be being observed by loads of parents. Argh!

Oops, time to go! I'm going to beg for more help with nursery now- I'm still really stuck! Ideas? Please?!

Good Morning

I downloaded Kanye West's latest album the other day and it is awesome. One of the best albums I've listened to lately. It's been on non-stop since I got it and Joel is probably sick of me telling him how good it is :p Go and get it! Unless you're over 35...because then you'll just look tragic.

I've just got back from having quite a nice lunch in the school kitchen- today we got chicken and onion in a nice white wine sauce, fish with spring onion and ginger with tofu, bok choi and some weird veg and mushroom thing. I've been doing about the body in class today so I'm a bit achey- lots of "Heads and shoulders", "Hokey Cokey" and "Teacher Says..." Oh and now they keep asking for "Pizza Hut!" I've got my afternoon class in a while and I don't know how well the activities will go down with them. I don't dread having them anymore though.

I'm getting into a routine now- which is why I'm only updating once a week. Honestly you wouldn't be reading if I wrote everyday. Weekdays involve getting up at 6:45am, showering, eating and getting onto the LRT for 8:00am. I get back home about 4:45 and I'll pop into ParknShop, the local supermarket. Then one of us will start tea and then we'll put on a DVD and surf the web. It's only Fridays and Saturdays we actually do anything of interest.

Well every other Thursdays we'll now be going to a church plus(cell) group. It's in Central in a really amazing apartment and a bit of a trek on a school night, but the people there are lovely. I spoke to one of the Pastors yesterday though about setting up a plus group in the new territories and he did say it was going to happen soon. Yay!

Last Friday we met with Revd. Kwok and we had a nice chat. He asked us what we want to do for the church. At our plus group meeting we asked them to pray for us and what we were to do for the Revd. so it looks like it worked! We're thinking of going into the high school and doing a fellowship thing with a group of teenagers. I'm so excited about it! Although I have no idea what we're going to do...

Saturday we went out round the bars in Lan Kwai Fong. It's where all the ex-pats go and is meant to be really expensive, but I spent approx 25quid which isn't bad for a night out! Sunday we spent recovering and watching the first series of Nip/Tuck. I eventually dragged myself up for the 6pm service at The Vine. I'm glad I did because Dawn, the speaker, gave a really good talk. After the service I went to a cheap restaurant place and had Prawn Wonton Noodles which were yummmmmy and then did the 1-hour bus journey home. Whilst listening to Kanye. I would be listening to him now if I hadn't forgotten my mp3 player!

Anyway, I must go and prepare my lesson now...

Update

Wow this week is going so fast! On Friday me, Jo, Joel, Jules and Ben went for a curry and then decided to check out the Karaoke place. You get shown to a room to with a TV and microphones and then you're left to it. Was a right laugh! On Saturday we dragged ourselves off the sofa and went to the Gold Coast- the proper beach in Tuen Mun. It's only small but there is white sand and the sea is really clean. There's also a 5 star hotel and some nice restaurants. Me and Jo went to a small Italian one for dinner.

In the evening Jo went to 180 (young adults worship at the Vine) and I stayed home. Because it was the Mid-Autumn festival this week they put on some shows in the courtyard. I only saw a clown and then the raffle being drawn before heading back upstairs. On Sunday we had to go to St Peter's Church, the church we work for, for the morning service. It was nice except for the fact it was all in Cantonese and the speaker went on for aagges! We met the Revd. Kwok for the first time and he's going to phone us soon and let us know what we have to do there. In the evening me and Jo went to the Vine with Joel. Afterwards me and Joel grabbed some noodles in a small restaurant before heading home.

Monday was interesting. There was no typhoon so I still had to go in! It was really windy and rainy though. I had to do lessons on the Mid-Autumn Festival so I blagged my way through that. I don't really get the whole thing, I think it's something to do with harvest and the moon being really big in the sky?! I tried teaching the kids the "Pizza Hut" song because I'm so sick of "Heads and Shoulders"...I reckon they'll get it after a few more goes. I had Monday afternoon off school so I could head down to Yuen Long and sort out my HK ID card. I got lost trying to find the place and it decided to rain torrentially too so I was very late and very wet when I eventually got there. When I got back home we watched Memoirs of a Geisha- a brilliant film! We've got the book somewhere around so once I've finished my others I'll give it a go.

Yesterday was the official evening of the Mid-Autumn Festival so we had the day off school. We had a lazy day in and finished watching Heroes Series 1- just in time for the start of the 2nd series! In the evening we met Joel, Jules, Dan and Ben at Ferry Pier and watched everyone on the beach- it was absolutely packed!

The lights on the beach are hundreds of candles lit in the sand. It was an amazing sight! We stayed for a bit then took the guys back to ours to play poker and blackjack and had a few drinks.

So that was our week. Today is another lazy day but on Friday we're going to the Cinderella ballet and on Saturday we're going to do the Peak. Busy busy!

1st Week

I'm halfway through my first week of teaching alone already! My first day was a bit shaky, I have a class that makes my satan spawn look like angels and they did not respond to me one bit. I'm actually quite fond of my afternoon class now hehe! By the third lesson on Monday I was ready to give up, but the teacher in that class is great and helped me a lot. The theme this week was Birthdays so I used a shoebox as a present and got the kids to open it. It's a good lesson, lots of things to talk about but I still finished 10 minutes early! By yesterday afternoon I could fill the time completely but today we moved onto the story book which only takes 10 mins when I stretch it out to the max. Grr! The kids are getting to know me now and on Friday, when I finished at lunchtime, some of them saw me on the train and they were all shouting "Hello Miss Jenny!"

I teach a K1 class (3-4yr olds) twice a week in the afternoons, and the first lesson I did with them was awful. None of them have English names so that was my first activity down the pan (My name is...). Ms. Wendy the other K1 English teacher said that I could teach them the alphabet song and we'll probably only get as far as "E" when teaching the actions- but they managed to pick it up after me only doing it once :/ After exhausting that I still had 15 mins to go...Luckily the main teacher took over for a bit and we sang "If you're happy" until the time was up. I'm not looking forward to this afternoons class with them. They just sit and stare at you. I've only had one girl cry so far though, so it could be worse.

On Friday's I will be helping the teachers with the maths lessons. When Ms. Wendy went in last Friday though they were expecting her to teach it! I'm going to play dumb, because shouldn't they be learning maths in Cantonese?! I'll just have to see what happens I guess.

Oooh- I'll tell you about the food! I love food here, so far everything I've had has been really good. I've started having cooked lunches from school since it's only $7 and means I don't have to make manky sandwiches. I don't know what I'm eating half the time but it's nice. Yesterday I had pork in a nice pepper sauce and there was also fish and cubed chicken. Today I had scrambled egg with tomatoes, fish, and beef with peppers. All with rice. I've just about got the knack of eating rice with chopsticks- noodles are still a challenge though! Me and Jo went to a restaurant at Ferry Pier the other night and had steamed crab, prawnballs in sweet and sour sauce, and pork ribs in orange sauce. It was all so delicious! Eating the crab was a task though, couldn't get at the meat! It was probably one of the more costlier restaurants but it had an English menu. Didn't matter about anything else as long as we knew what we were ordering! Cooking at home has been fun too. It's mostly spaghetti bolognese, or sweet and sour chicken. Whatever sauces we can buy at the Parknshop we try! My favourite so far is terriaki chicken. I saw steak in the supermarket the other day for $22 each so I'm hoping we'll have that maybe on payday?! Even though $22 works out at less than 1.50 in British money, it's starting to feel extravagant.

I've got to dash to my lesson now. Wish me luck!

The Beach

Gosh it's been hot today! We had a wonderful thunderstorm Monday night, and ever since the sky has been clear and the sun's been out. We had to go to the bank today in the town centre to sort our accounts out. To get there you take the 610 LRT to Ferry Pier, and then change to the 614. We hung around Ferry Pier for a while because we were early and look at the views!

We walked all the way along the coastline until it was time to head back to the station. We met Pet in town and she took us past the town hall and the post office. We've picked up some leaflets for shows and stuff showing soon- we're thinking of seeing the Cinderella Ballet, Over the Rainbow which is show songs, and a musical contest. There's also a dance called the Butterfly Effect but that's showing at the Hong Kong Concert Hall so we might not get to see that if we can't get there and back. Transport seems to be very efficient though- there's LRT trains every few minutes until very late at night.

When we got to the bank we were told that we needed our job contracts and proof of address. So it was a wasted journey! We were also told that we need $2000 deposit to open the accounts, and there is a base limit of $5000 otherwise there is a $50 monthly charge! Bearing in mind we are only left with $4000 after rent! I'm OK because I was going to transfer most of my savings to that account anyway but if you drop below that limit, you have to make sure the next day you deposit enough to make it back up to $5000 plus however much you took out. eg. If you spent $200, you would have to put back in $400. I think. I'm a bit confused! We'll work it out though. I've got to ask the school to print out a letter stating my address as proof. Argh!

Jo and I cooked for the first time last night. It was fine in the end but we had a bit of drama with the jar. We tried everything to get it open, even knocked on the neighbour's door! All it took in the end was a bang on the floor. Tasted so good after all that hehe. And I didn't have to do the washing up :p

OMG the gym today! We walked past a gym in the mall so we thought we'd pop in and ask about monthly prices...bad idea. The woman wanted our details- and having pst experiences with gyms bugging me- gave them fake details. Then we were sat down and asked questions about what we wanted to achieve and how often we could go...and then we were told that a personal trainer would come and weigh us and tell us our body fat and muscle percentage! We weren't comfortable at all so Jo started saying, "Jenny what time is it? We have an appointment soon don't we?" "ohhhh yeah...sorry we haven't got time to do that today! We have to be back by 2" And the woman was going "Can you come back tomorrow? We're having an open day" Jo: "No, we're working tomorrow...we'll come back Friday" and we start to leave and the woman was going "Ask for me when you come on Friday!"...We were like "Don't look back, keep walking! Keep walking!" I only wanted to know the price for a membership! We're not joining that gym anyway heehee. We are going swimming later! We bought costumes in town, and it's really cheap to get in. Can't wait!

In Brief

School: Scary
Church: Twice on Sunday! See diary on right.
Cooking: Disaster!
Weather: Stormy

Anne- I got in contact with Heather! She's meeting me and Jo off the bus on Sunday for a service and then lunch! I'll give you her email once she emails me.

Will update ASAP.

Take a look at one of the churches we're going to on Sunday- St Andrews

Pigs Ears

Day 2 in Hong Kong: Shopping!!

Me and Jo caught a taxi down town to a big shopping mall after lunch today. 5 floors of heaven! We bought our first things from a shop called Wanko heehee! I bought this blue sack dress thing, and Jo bought a gorgeous green skirt. They have these tiny little shops in the mall which are packed full of all odd things. We bought a simcard too so we can txt each other really cheaply, and I can also phone home. Not that anyone answers when I do! We stopped for "lunch"(at 5pm) at a very nice restaurant and ate terraki beef, sun-dried octopus and chicken, and spicy shredded pork belly and ears. Yes- pigs ears! And Yes- they were gross. Too crunchy. And also I couldn't get the image of my dog chewing on an ear out of my head. The belly strips were really nice though. The meal came to $116 altogether which is £8!!! And our taxi ride cost us $20 each way- £1.50! The strangest thing is seeing everything in the supermarket labelled with $89.99 and $65, I did a double take when I saw the cost of milk! I don't know how much I spent altogether today but I bought a pair of 3/4 length jeans, underwear, a skirt and a big leather bag. I have my eye on a new mobile phone but it's over $2000. Maybe on pay-day! Or my Birthday (hint hint mom!).

Tomorrow the schools are having an Open Day kind of thing, so we've got to go and meet the parents. It'll be a chance to see the school and get familiar with the journey. I think they said my school was only one stop on the LRT (train). Jo has a longer journey by the sounds of it. I'm a bit nervous about tomorrow, maybe nervous is the wrong word. I'm anticipating it. Apprehensive! I have no idea what to expect! I'll keep you all updated of course.

I have uploaded a few photos to flickr- if you click on the pictures on the left it will take you to my main page. I woke up at 6am this morning and couldn't sleep so I took some pics of the view from my window. Enjoy! I've had to upgrade to a pro-account because i've used over half of my monthly limit already!