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

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.

What I Did Today (In Brief)

• Took train with Joel at 11am to Mong Kok
• Had hot-choc and shepherds pie in Starbucks
• Browsed the market
• Bought tons of gifts
• Went to Langham Place shopping mall.
• Bought Jo's birthday present.
• Went to cinema.
• Saw awful film (Shoot 'Em Up)
• Went to Festival Walk shopping mall in Kowloon Tong
• Got train to Central
• Went to 180 at The Vine
• Had beef stew
• Got bus home