Finally

I'm home! Just thought I'd finish the year with just some of my favourite pictures.

Going home

...but not yet. Cyclone Nuri is currently headed straight towards Hong Kong and where I am staying (next to the airport at Chep Lap Kok) the winds are already around 76 km/hour. It means no flights until tomorrow. I was due to be taking off at 23:40 but who knows when I'll be flying now! It's all rather boring sitting inside with the wind and rain going... Can't go anywhere or see anyone. I've just been reading the Weather Observatory's website:

"1. Do not go outside. If you are reasonably protected, stay where you are and keep well away from all windows. Close all interior doors and make sure children are confined to the least exposed part of your home. On no account should you touch electric cables that have been blown loose.

2. If the eye of the typhoon passes directly over Hong Kong, there may be a temporary lull lasting from a few minutes to several hours. This will be followed by a sudden resumption of violent winds from a different direction. Remain where you are if protected and be prepared for destructive winds and the change in wind directions. Listen to broadcast warnings.

3. Since seas are very rough, you are advised to stay away from the shoreline and not to engage in water sports. "

All sounds very serious hehe. I'm glad I got to see Lauren, Marty and Sam yesterday. I spent the afternoon with Lauren and Marty down at Big Wave Bay and got to go to the beach with them (the waves really were big! I guess because of the typhoon starting). Their baby Zara is looking very big now! In the evening I went for dinner with Sam in Soho which was cool. Had a wonderful meal at Jaspas. I was meant to be going for a meal with my principal and all the teachers from school today but obviously I can't go now, and I'm really quite disappointed. It would have been nice to have seen them all again.

Hopefully I'll be seeing you all soon! Goodbye Hong Kong...

Brisbane

Guess I should tell you about sunny, sunny Brisbane! I landed just after lunchtime feeling very ill but Mark met me at the aiport and drove me straight to his place where I was staying. Brisbane is a very pretty place and it looks quite tropical with the blue skies, palm trees and the little houses on stilts. After getting to the house (which is huuuge!) I slept all afternoon. When I woke up I met Kalie (Mark's wife), Carolline and Kristy. Carolline and Kristy had been helping Kali paint her new house round the corner, and were staying for the youth night Mark and Kali host every Sunday evening. All the young adults from church come round and have food, games and just somewhere to catch up and hang around. I met loads of cool people. We ended up playing the card game werewolves, prophet and villagers (like the game Mafia) for ages which was fun.

The next day (Monday) one of the guys I'd met the night before, Adrian, took me into the city and showed me all the sights. We walked along the southbank of the river, through the park, across the bridge, went round the museum and art gallery (with decent art this time!) and finally we went to the cinema to see the new Batman film. It was excellent! I loved the joker! Brisbane is a really nice city too- there's some good shops and it's clean and just a nice place to be. We had lunch on the southbank sitting in the warm sun.

On Tuesday I decided to go to Dreamworld which is a theme park on the coast. It took me over 3 hours to get there from Ipswich (the town I was staying in). So even though I left at 10am I didn't get there till 1pm, but at least I got there. It's a very small theme park compared to the ones in England but they still had some good rides like the Big Drop (same as Apocalypse, but higher), the Terror Tower (a rollercoaster like Rita which shoots you up the side of the Big Drop Tower), the Motocoaster (a rollercoaster ride where you sit in motorbikes, very cool idea), the Cyclone..or something...(a shaky rollercoaster with loops and stuff) and then a surfing type ride (a bit like ripsaw but better!). It took me all afternoon to get round all the big rides and some of the smaller ones, even without queues. I wanted to do a helicopter ride because there was a company and helicopter on site but I booked quite late and they couldn't get anybody else to fill up the copter (they needed at least 3 to do the flight) so I got a refund. One of the best rides (after the Tower of Terror) was the log ride because I got VERY wet! It wasn't just a little splash but a HUGE one and I was soaked from head to toe! I did the rapid's ride too but I hardly got splashed on it. I finally left around 5:30pm but didn't get back till 8:30. When I got back my back, arms, hands, and legs were covered in hives. I thought they were insect bites but now I know they're hives from the cat. Didn't know I was allergic till I got back to Jacqui's and was still getting the hives. Mark found me some clarityn though and they soon went.

On my final day in Brisbane Carolline took me to the Gold Coast. Again there is a very pretty town there but with more seaside type shops. There is also a really pretty beach with lots of surfers and sunbathers. Unlike Melbourne, Brisbane is really warm during the day. We went to something called Infinity which is a lot of rooms with mirrors and lights- like a funhouse- that you move through. There are rooms which are meant to be like space, or like the inside of a computer, or with lasers or big bouncy balls you can jump on. It was loads of fun! It's quite a big attraction there. After we'd had icecream (yay for Baskin Robbin's!) we went to a shopping centre and did some window shopping. I could have bought so much but there was definitely no room in my suitcase... Finally we drove back to Ipswich and I went with Carolline to her chuch home group. A few people from Sunday night were there too which was cool.

On Thursday I flew back to Perth via Sydney. I have no idea why I didn't just book a flight direct to Perth but it all worked out ok- apart from that my flight Sydney to Perth was delayed by an hour. Jacqui and Kevie met me at the airport again, Kevie in her cute little PJ's and hat. I was so glad to be back in Perth after flying all day and slept very well that night!

Sydney 3

I'm backdating this as well... I've gotten really lazy updating this blog. That and I'm just having too much fun haha.

So on Wednesday I went to the lovely Chinese Gardens in Chinatown. It was all feng shui-y and pretty. Cost $6 to get in though which I thought was a bit of a rip off. But nevermind. After walking around the gardens I had lunch at a chinese cafe place (BBQ pork and rice...exactly like being back in HK except they understand what I say haha) and then headed back to the hostel for a bit.

In the evening I went to see Dralian by the Cirque Du Soleil! It was amazing! I saw acrobats spinning in suspended hoops, balancing on balls, jumping through hoops, a juggler, dancers... there's so much and I can't remember half. But it was great! And I had seats 4 rows from the front so I had the best view ever.

That isn't my picture btw, I got it from here. No cameras allowed in the show. Oh, they had some clowns as well which were hilarious. They kept picking on this guy making him do silly stuff, but then it turns out the guy is part of the show... And they keep popping up in funny places. I loved it!

On Thurrrsday I went to Hillsong's Sisterhood meeting. They start with breakfast and have a pamper area where you can get your nails or hair done, or have a massage, and while they do it they pray for you which is awesome. I met Celeste again and had a neck massage. Then they have worship and a small service with offering and a talk. For the talk they had 4 different women share something- so we had 4 different messages which was great! The women were all fantastic. I loved it!

Afterwards I went to the Opera House and did a quick tour. It was good but not as informative as I'd have liked. I liked hearing about the architect of the building who was kicked off a few years into the project, so he never got to see it finished. But now he's working with his son on revamping parts of the building. I'll get pics uploaded soon. I still had quite a bit of the afternoon left after that so I went for a walk through the botanical gardens, which was very peaceful, and then went to the Museum of Contemporary Arts. It's rubbish. I'm not an arts person at all but it was all pretentious poop. Won't be going there again... For dinner I went out with my room mate Suzanne to Darling Harbour. We found a nice little place which did cheap meals. I had really nice lamb pie, mash, peas and gravy. It was delicious!

This brings me to Friday. I had to get up extra early to get a tourbus at 7:15 to the Blue Mountains. It nearly didn't happen because there was a forecast of snow but the tour guy phoned and said it was still on. It was a great day to go in the end- sunny and clear. We drove all the way up the mountains and the views were amazing. It's the kind of scenery they'd use in a dinosaur film or something, just miles and miles and miles of forest and lots of mountains. When we got to Echo Point we hiked (or bush walked if your an Ozzy) down to the bottom. My legs were so tired after, I don't know how anyone can do it up again?! To get back up we had to go on the world's steepest railway. There's me thinking the tram up the Victoria Peak is steep but it's nothing compared to this one! I'll upload the video sometime. The tour took all day because we stopped for coffee, to see kangaroos, to do a smaller bushwalk, and for lunch. The final stop was at the Olympic Stadium on the way back, which was a bit boring to be honest. It's nothing special.

Saturday, my last day in Sydney, went really fast. In the morning I treated myself to a massage and pedicure at a spa before meeting a lovely woman named Lee (who I met at the Cirque Du Soleil). She took me to Featherdale farm which has all the Australian animals but you can feed and pet them. I got to stroke a koala! And a kangaroo! And I saw a crocodile, echidnas, tazmanian devils, peacocks (I know they're not Australian...), and loads of others. It was really fun! In the evening I went to another AFL football match- Sydney Swans vs. Fremantle Dockers- which was run by the hostel. I met a group of British people and ended up going out after with them. We had cocktails at the bar at the Opera House, then partied the night away. I had loads of fun but really regretted it the morning after when I had to do the flight to Brisbane hungover and even more sick with a cold.... eurgh.

So that's my stay in Sydney. I feel like I've hardly seen anything Sydney has to offer. Definitely got to come back another time haha.

Sydney 2

I will finish telling you what happened in Melbourne... eventually. I'm just uploading my Sydney pics to flickr so you'll be able to see them here later on.

I landed in Sydney on Saturday evening. It was a very short and enjoyable flight from Melbourne, I think it only lasted an hour and a half and I slept for most of it. Had a bit of a panic at the airport because I couldn't find the shuttle bus the hostel said stops outside the terminal, so thought I'd do the train but they're working on the lines so I had to find the bus which replaces the trains. Got there eventually though! And I found the hostel OK, which surprised me- I didn't have any maps or anything, just the street name. And I didn't need to ask for any directions. The hostel (WakeUp!) is quite nice, clean beds and showers. I'm in a 6-bed girl's dorm but everyone is coming and going- I think I've had 3 different people in the bunk bed under me in 4 days hehe.

On Sunday I went to the Hillsong Church (city campus). They do a free bus service there and while I was waiting I met a lovely lady name Wati, from Fiji. After the service we went for lunch together at the Circular Quay. In the evening I went to the Sunday Night Live service, at Hillsong again. It was great! With worship and a drama sketch with a powerpoint presentation thing...I can't explain it but it was awesome!

Monday afternoon I went with Celeste, who I also met at Hillsong, to Manly which is a coastal town just north of Sydney. It took about 20 mins on a ferry to get there and it's a really nice place- there's a beautiful beach and lots of great cafes. We had fish and chips at the beach, and then amazing hot chocolate at Max Brenner's. The weather here is fantastic- even though it's winter the sun is shining and it's quite warm.

When we get back to Circular Quay Celeste goes home and I explore the Rocks. I think the Rocks are the oldest part of Sydney, but there's a load of restaurants and shops and if you walk through there you can get to the Harbour Bridge. Which is what I did- climbed the many stairs and walked along the bridge. I didn't walk all the way along because it was cold and my legs hurt, and all I really wanted to do was take some pictures of the city. got some great pictures like this:

On Tuesday I woke up feeling awful. I caught a cold in Perth but it wasn't that bad- just a sore throat- and it persisteed in Melbourne where it turned into a cough and now I'm getting a runny nose. But yesterday I just felt soo ill. This Korean girl in the room gave me some vile tasting medicine and all it did was make me feel sleepy. I think it didn't help that all I ate on Monday was the fish and chips and a chocolate brownie. Anyway I dragged myself out of my room and went to Taronga Zoo- it's on the other side of the harbour bridge and you take a ferry to get there. I uploaded just a few of the many pictures I took there... They're mostly the same animals that were at Melbourne zoo. I saw the 2 shows they do- the seal show and the free flight bird show. They were quite entertaining. I also saw the Keeper Talk with the Elephant keepers which was fantastic- the elephants did lots of "tricks" like playing football, balancing on logs and rocks, sitting down like dogs, and finally shooting water at the crowds hehe.

In the afternoon I went back to the hostel and slept... I had such a nice nap. In the evening I went salsa dancing at the Establishment hotel bar. It was fun, even though the lesson was rubbish.

Today I've already been to the Chinese Gardens, which are just up the road from where I'm staying. They're really nice with lots of greenery, waterfalls, and pagoda things. This afternoon (4pm) I'm going to see the Cirque Du Soleil show! I'm really excited! Just have to work out how to get there...

Sydney

I'm here! In Sydney! I've seen the opera house! I've walked the harbour bridge! I've been to Manly beach! Tomorrow I'm going to the zoo! And on Wednesday I'm going to see the Cirque Du Soleil!

Pictures to follow.

Melbourne

Wow I'm halfway through my stay here already! Sorry I didn't update the blog until now. If you haven't already, check out my pictures here. I'll be uploading more from today too. In brief:

• On Saturday Craig drove me to the coast
• On Sunday I went to the Salvation Army church with Craig, then to his friend's for lunch, and then went to an Ozzie football match
• On Monday I explored the city with Simon
• On Tuesday I went to the zoo
• Today I did the Neighbours tour, explore the city, and in a minute I'm going to the cinema.

Will do a proper day by day update sooooooooon!

Melbourne Day 1

I'm backdating all of these since I was really lazy last week and didn't update... I'm so glad I've been keeping my own handwritten diary otherwise I would have forgotten most of it hehe.

Day 1
I landed at 5:30am today after a 3 hour flight. Well it was 3:30 in Perth but there's a 2 hour time difference so my body is probably really confused. I spent 4 hours sitting in the airport cafe reading and writing because Craig couldn't pick me up until 10:30. It went surprisingly quick. Craig is Marty's friend and he lives around 40 mins outside Melbourne. Sounds far but there's a direct train so it's quite good. The first this Craig did was take me on a tour by car through the city and to St Kilda before stopping at his house for a cup of tea. Theeeenn Craig took me down to Torquay and Anglesea which are coastside towns. The views of the sea and beaches are amazing.

We drove right round the coast (it's a big U shape). It eventually joins onto The Great Ocean Road (apparently the one isn't Perth isn't the real one) which goes all the way to Adelaide. On the way to Geelong we stopped at the Anglesea Golf Course and I saw kangaroos close up for the first time ever! I thought kangaroos were meant to be really dangerous so I really didn't want to get so close but apparently these ones were tame. Didn't quite trust Craig though haha. He kept shouting at me to get closer:

I was both nervous and freeeeezing in that picture! I was very wrong when I though Perth was cold haha. Apparently it had been dropping down to 5 degrees at night. Brrrrrr!

For dinner we ate with Craig's sister and her husband and her parents-in-law. The in-law's had just returned from a trip to the UK so we had lots to talk about. It's great to hear about England from a foreigner's point of view because you forget that we have amazing history and great things to see. Craig's sister has 2 boys and they are so sweet. I was playing Guess Who with the eldest, who is about 5, and then he wanted me to read him a bed time story. So I read him a story about a wombat looking for something... I don't know about him but I could have fallen asleep haha. I was very tired by that point. It felt so late at night, but when I did go to bed it was only 8:30pm! And I slept 11 hours straight!

Perth Day 4

Ooo I've been a busy bee these past couple days. On Wednesday I went into the city (without getting lost, yay!) and bought the little things I needed to pick up. I had lunch in a nice little cafe and browsed a book store before heading home in the rain.

On Thursday I met Nick, who is the godson of a friend of my colleague Pat, and he took me to see the Swan Bells in the city centre:

Then to King's Park:

And finally to Soretto Quay for a fantastic lunch. Nick is lovely and we had a nice relaxed lunch by the harbourside.

His friend Rhian met us there and after Rhian drove me along the Great Ocean Road. It was an amazing view- sun in the sky, turquoise sea, white sand beaches... So beautiful. Apparently it's there that you can see dolphins or whales or something. Anyway we stopped in the city centre and went to a cute little belgian chocolate shop. The owner emigrated here from Belgium over a decade ago and said he's never looked back. He told me that I should just do it, don't think about it, just do it. So far noone I've spoken to has said anything bad about emigrating...

In the evening Jacqui and Kevie took me to a nice pub for dinner. I ordered a chicken and chips meal and it was huuuuuuuge! Needless to say I didn't finish it. It was delicious though. I'm glad I've stayed with Jacqui because she is so lovely, and Kevie is adorable, and Jacqui's really filled me in on what it's like to emigrate and live here. I've really felt at home here.

Today, my last day in Perth, I met Jon and we went for fish and chips in Fremantle, then to a chocolate factory and finally wine tasting down by Margaret River. I'll write more about this later when I have the time and energy- in a couple of hours I'm flying across to Melbourne to spend a week there.

Jenny's In Australia!

I've arrived in Perth! Haven't done much so far- yesterday after I arrived I slept all day before going out with Jon for some food. I'm staying with Jacqui, Andy and little Kevie and they've all made me feel right at home here. In a bit I'm going to attempt getting the bus into the city. I need to buy a simcard so I can make some calls, a plug adaptor so I can recharge my phone and mp3, and possibly a scarf and gloves because it's coooooooold! Will keep you updated :)

My last post from Hong Kong

I'm pretty sure this will be the last post I write in Hong Kong. Though maybe if I get bored at the airport I'll find something to write about... I'm nearly packed now. I have all the clothes I'm taking to Oz in a suitcase but I've not yet finished packing the box to ship home, or even started with the handluggage.

I've had a crazily busy week here. Monday was the last girl's group, Tuesday I went salsa dancing at Sugar. Wednesday I met my friend for a movie. Thursday I went to Olé, a spanish restaurant in Central, with my colleagues and had a very nice meal together.

Oh, Thursday was also my last day "teaching". I just used the lesson times to take pics of the kids hehe. In one of the lesson times I was trying to explain to the children that I won't be here next term when a BIG bug landed in the middle of the floor. Chaos ensues. Mostly because I sit there going "eurrgh! Don't kill it! Argh! DON'T KILL IT!" as all the kids rush forward to stomp on the poor thing. Poor bug was squashed by George. Mean boy. And then I had to wipe it up... yuck. I can't believe I reacted worse to a bug than to seeing a boy being sick into his food bowl though haha.

On Friday it was Parent's Day so all the parents were in school to hear how their kids were. It was a bit pointless me being there since all I did was watch Mock The Week on youtube and get pictures taken with some of the kids. I did have one parent ask me what English exams her 4 year old should be sitting... I was just a little stumped. Exams? At 4 years old? I think my reply was somewhat like "oh I don't know I'm not really a proper teacher..." Haha. I managed to blag it all year and then give it away with that. I'm not sure she was very impressed. I think the parents like to have their children sit exams so they can get into better primary schools. Still seems crazy though! The yi yi's (or Aunties) cooked us a really nice last lunch with desert and everything. Then there was a very long meeting in Cantonese which Cat half translated. Most of it was boring stuff for next year. They did thank me for my year here though and they bought me a gift (box of choccies). And the Principal offered me a job if I come back! Also, when I'm back in Hong Kong (20-22nd August) the principal is going to take all the teachers out for a meal and karaoke to which I'm invited! They're so lovely.

In the evening we went out for a meal, then for drinks, for Joel's birthday. I had a great time! Joel even got up on stage at the Cavern with one of the bands and sang a song. Saturday was spent recovering... After lunch we gave the flat a good clean so it's now sparkling! The yi yi's from school will come and give it an even better clean when we've left though.

As I've already written, Saturday evening was my last salsa lesson. I'm really going to miss everyone there. Murray, who hasn't been for a while, said I've massively improved and Joseph too said I'm soo much better. I still can't believe they made me dance in front of everyone- and with Anton too who is just unbelieveably good. Too good a dancer for me! He's going to be teaching salsa soon, which I'd go to if I was in Hong Kong. Grr!

That brings me to today. I had another lazy morning before making my way to Mong Kong Ladies' Market. It was not a good day to go shopping at an outdoor market- 31 degress and 80% humidity. Gah! And I was so, so tired. I was not in a bargaining mood but I was not paying $550 for 2 pairs of PJs!! I ended up paying $330 which is still a lot more than I would have paid if I wasn't melting and half asleep. I'll probably go again when I'm back in HK to buy more souvenirs. For dinner me and Jo went to the Spaghetti House. Can't believe that was the last meal we'll be having together. Can't believe tomorrow is the last time I'll see Jo for a looong time.

It's just starting to hit me that there's a lot of people I won't be seeing again, so far it's been "Bye... but I'll be back in a few weeks so we'll see each other then!" It's too hard to say goodbye properly. It was very sad to be saying goodbye to the kids at school because I probably won't see them again even if I come back to Hong Kong. I just had a really lovely phone call from Cora saying goodbye, and loads of wall posts and txts. Goodbye Hong Kong :(

Crazy crazy crazy

I've been ridiculously busy lately. Just wanted to post a link to Clara's album of my last night at salsa. It was great! Javed asked me to dance so I got up on the dancefloor- and then Joseph made an announcement telling everyone I was leaving and they were going to miss me etc... which is embarassing. But then they made me dance in front of everyone! It was nice because I'd dance for a bit with Javed, then I danced with Anton (who is amazing and made me look so bad haha), then Dereck, then Joseph and Murray and back with Javed. I had the whole dancefloor to myself hehe. It was very sweet of them! Clara took lots of pics which you can see here.

327

I have been in Hong Kong 327 days! That means there are only 7 days left in Hong Kong, and 36 days until I arrive back in England. Hasn't it gone fast?!

I've been quite busy this weekend. On Friday I had a BBQ in Big Wave Bay at Lauren and Marty's new house. Big Wave Bay is on the "back" side of Hong Kong Island and it took us 2 hours on a bus, the MTR, and then a minibus. It's strange to think how far we travel to meet our friends- in England if someone lives 2 hours away then you'd only see them once in a while and you wouldn't travel there just for a BBQ! Lauren and Marty let us kip on their sofa though so we didn't have to do the ame journey home at 11pm. We had a great time with lots of friends from my church Plus group. It was my last ever Plus meeting so Andria made a looooovely Oreo cheesecake, and Lauren bought a delicious chocolate cake, and then put candles on top and sang "Happy Farewell to you"!

On Saturday I made the journey home (stopping at H&M for a good shop) to shower, change and pack for an afternoon of rock climbing and salsa dancing. The 180 summer social was going to be a big bike ride in the New Territories but because of the weather it was changed to rock climbing, so 20 of us met at the YMCA to climb the indoor walls there. It was great fun! I even did a climb blindfolded.

Straight after rock climbing I met my friend and went to the Salsa Congress Party being held at the Cosmopolitan Hotel. There were international guests performing and doing lessons all weekend. We caught the last half of the lesson being given by some instructors, then we stayed to watch the performances. They were amazing! It wasn't just salsa either- there was some African type dance, some Hip Hop and then a guy doing some tricks with a bowler hat. After the shows I did a bit of dancing with people there before heading to Lan Kwai Fong to meet Joel, Jules and Dan.

On Sunday I went to some studio lessons being held by international instructors. The first class was partnerwork and it was very advanced, much too hard for me! But I muddled along and kinda learnt the routine. The second class was bachata- which I love- so it was great to learn how to dance it properly. The last class was styling, so we were kinda taught some body isolation stuff but I was really bad at it. You really need to practise the basic stuff like being able to just move your ribcage before moving on to other stuff. It was all hard work! After the lessons I went straight to church before heading home, exhausted.

Yesterday (Monday) was my last girl's (girls' ?) group meeting at Cora's place. We had a very nice evening of prayer and worship and sharing. This week is a week of "last this and last that." Tonight I'll be going to salsa again (not my last) but on Thursday I'll have my last full day teaching and my last meal with my colleagues, and Friday will be my last day at school...

Here's a picture of the view from my friends Four Seasons apartment. I'm so jealous they get to live there!

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!

Party Time!

This week I've been busy getting the kids to make party hats and throwing parties. It's been so much fun! Here's a few of my fave pics (also on flickr):

We played pass the teddy, musical bumps and over-under with a balloon, and then tried to get the kids to pose nicely for a group picture. Sometimes it worked (last pic) and other times... chaos haha.

Science Museum Trip

Yesterday I joined the K2's on a trip to the Hong Kong Science Museum in Tsim Sha Tsui. It's really not a bad museum at all! There are a lot of hands-on exhibitions and lots of different displays. At first when we arrived I just had to herd the kids around the electronics sections. I think they were a little young to understand anything but they got to try the exhibits.

We then met one of the staff from the museum and he gave the kids a talk about something or other... Was very boring for me. After a while I wandered off and amused myself trying out some of the other hands on stuff. Realised I do quite like science museums, I should find myself a kid so I can go again hehe.

After the boring talks the children got to play again- this time with bigger exhibits like bubble makers, a train wheel game, and a tip-toe game. Some more of the pictures are on flickr.

Primary School Trip

The other Monday (23rd) all the K2's got loaded onto a bus and taken to the Taoist Primary School for an open day kinda thing, so they can see what Primary School will be like. It wasn't particularly very interesting for me since everything was in cantonese and I never get told what's going on...

The K2's were first herded into a classroom with their parents, and the headteacher talked to them for aaaages. Then they got to walk around the corridors just as the other children were coming out for break. Such a bad idea- the big primary kids were just knocking over my poor tiny K2's! They looked so scared! After that they were taken to the IT room and got to have a go on the computers. Here's Hei Hei:

To finish off the day there were some musical performances by the primary children. One group played the handbells (very nice but a bit boring for Kindergarten kids) and then the other group sang the "Hey Mr Postman" song hehe.

Can you see that picture of Confuscious or whoever it is? It's so scary!

I have another trip today, this time to the science museum in Tsim Sha Tsui. This sounds a bit more interesting but no doubt we'll have to rush through everything so we can be back in time for lunch.

Oops!

Haven't written in ages! Everything is great here. Been doing a lot of salsa (4 times in 7 days! And I bought proper dancing shoes so I can finally dance with worrying about my shoes flying off or hurting after an hour.), did some work at a learning centre (earned half a month's wages in just one weekend), and been packing a box to ship back to England. Seriously can't believe I only have 2 weeks left here. 2 weeks!!! Can't even begin to describe how I feel about leaving.

This week at school I'm going to be giving the kids little parties in their english lessons. For their first lesson (they get 2 a week) they'll be decorating party hats, and then the fun and games will be in the second lesson. I've already done one lesson, with the worst behaved of my classes, and they coloured the hats beautifully! I'll be taking a lot of pictures of the party, and I want to get pictures of the whole class with me too.

Next week I'll be having a lot of farewell things. This Friday will be my last Plus group meeting. Next Thursday I'm having a meal with my colleagues Ms. Man, Ms. Wendy and Ms. Pat, Friday I'll be going out for Joel's birthday with all the gappers, Saturday will be my last salsa class, and Sunday will be my goodbye meal with Jo. Will also be fitting in a meal with Sam hopefully, and a last girls' (girl's?) group meeting too.

Gotta dash but will update again soon!

Phil Jupitus -- Category 3 Sighting pt 2

Phil Jupitus -- Category 2 Spiders and Category 3 pt 1

Phil Jupitus -- Category 1 Spiders

Australia

In 4 weeks time I will have landed in Perth!! I've just finished booking all my flights and I've only got to find somewhere to stay in Sydney.

My itinerary looks something like this:

• Monday 21st July- fly to Perth via Singapore
• Friday 25th July- fly to Melbourne
• Saturday 2nd August- fly to Sydney
• Sunday 10th August- fly to Brisbane
• Thursday 14th August- fly back to Perth via Sydney
• Wednesday 20th August- fly back to Hong Kong

Hmm... that's a lot of flying haha. My carbon footprint this year will be huuuuuuge! I was going to go by train to Sydney but it takes 11 hours or something, whereas the flight is only an hour and a half.

I'm planning on going skydiving (Melbourne) and scubadiving (Brisbane), salsa dancing (everywhere), wine tasting (Perth), the Neighbours tour (Melbroune) and rock climbing (Perth? Need to check that out...) as well as doing all the sightseeing. I'm so excited!!

A Pizza Hut

Here's one of my classes singing A Pizza Hut. You might want to turn the volume down unless you want to be deafened by my very out of tune singing!

It's a mystery!

I have a very strange rash on one of my arms which appeared this morning when I got to school. It starts on my hand and spreads all the way up my forearm, it looks like red dots but they're not raised and it's not itchy but the skins really sensitive. I have no idea what caused it but I'm a bit worried because it hasn't disappeared or lessened yet. Of course, reading up on strange diseases isn't helping at all! I'm relieved it's not hand, foot and mouth disease though. Any ideas? I'm going to the doctor's later to see what he says. The deputy Ms. Wong (not so helpfully) just put Mopiko bite cream on it which only made it burn! I'm my own medical mystery heehee.

I Wanna Love You

If you look in the sidebar to the right you should be able to hear a track that's been in my head all week. It's a cover of Akon's I Wanna Love You by Pablo Bachata ft. M. Sosa. It's a bachata song and it's my fave to dance to.

I've been dancing twice this week already- I went to my regular class at the Cosmopolitan Hotel on Saturday and then on Tuesday I went to a class at Sugar in Lan Kwai Fong. The class at Sugar was run by the same guy who does mine but he did it at a much faster pace, and there were a lot more complicated moves to learn. Oh- and Javid the DJ put me on the guest list so I didn't have to pay...yay! I had a LOT of fun, and Javid reckons I've really improved. There were a lot of more experienced dancers who turned up for the party after the lesson at Sugar. One guy was just too good for me! It was a fast song anyway but he did everything really quickly and he was doing a lot of moves I'd never done before. There were a few times and we got out arms tangled which made us laugh. I taught Edmund a bachata (to the track above actually)... and I say taught but it's pretty easy to pick up. Left, right, left, kick...right, left, right, kick.

Not really been doing much else this week. It was the flea market a church on Sunday, and I think we raised about £1000! I should be going to salsa again on Saturday if my budget allows. I'm down to $800 now :( I'm going to cover for Jules in a couple of weeks at his learning centre. They pay him $2000 for 8 hours!! Such easy money!

Love Your Neighbour

It's been a wet week. Last weekend was apparently the wettest since 1972... or so a friend of a friend says. I haven't been so lucky with the weather here- it reached 40 degress Celcius in the summer (admittedly, before I arrived but it was still hot when I got here!), we had the longest and coldest winter, and then we had 3 days solid of black rain.

On Saturday at the Asiaworld Expo arena there was a Love Your Neighbour Celebration event. The band from my church, the Vine, were playing and they asked us all to help out in whatever way they needed us too. I thought I'd go along with Anthony, who works at Crossroads, and some of his colleagues because he was driving there. The expo arena is right next to the airport on Lantau Island and none of us realised that the bridge to the airport was closed because of the black rain. We get stuck in a biiig traffic jam for ages until we could turn off and park at the MTR station in Tsing Yi.

We get the train to the arena and although we're late everything was good. My job was to usher people in and try and get them to fill the rows of seats. It started really late because all the coaches busing people in got caught in the traffic jams. There was some grea worship- with songs both in English and chinese because it was mostly local and mainland chinese people there. Reinhard Bonke gave a great talk, which was interpreted hilariously by some guy on stage with him. Loads and loads of people became Christians which is fantastic. Here is a video of Reinhard Bonke in Africa with hundreds of thousands of people all coming to hear him, it's amazing!

We get the train back to Tsing Yi and Anthony starts driving us back. It was really, really late and poor Anthony got a bit confused and instead of following the signs for Tuen Mun, he follows the sings for the airport which means we're driving back the way we've just come on the MTR! And of course there's no way to turn around. So it takes us an hour to get to the airport to turn around and get back to Tsing Yi so we can finally take the right turning for Tuen Mun! By the time I get back (after taking a taxi from the Gold Coast) it's 2:00am.

Sunday evening after church some of us went out for a meal for Julian's birthday- Jo, Joel, Julian, Dorothy, and 2 other of Julian's friends plus me. We found a nice indian restaurant in Causeway Bay which wasn't too expensive. (My budget is extremely tight this month) We were going to go karaokeing after and we drove to this place but it was really expensive. Jo and me called it a night and the others decided to go and do karaoke in Yuen Long.

Monday was a bank holiday "day after the dragon boat racing holiday" or something like that. They're very literal with their translations sometimes! I didn't see any of the racing because it's in places like Stanley a million miles away. Anyway I spent Monday sorting out all the donations our plus group has received for the flea market next weekend. We've got some really good stuff! We've got a brand new designer brief case worth over £200, brand cosmetics and perfumes still wrapped in plastic, a swarovski necklace worth £75, a Louis Vuitton wallet worth over £200... and then there's all the junk people just needed an excuse to get rid of. Me and Paulina had the lucky job of sorting through all the clothes we'd been given. It took fooorrreeevvver. But we did it! I'm really looking forward to the flea market (...or jumble sale...) on Sunday! We're trying to raise $1'000'000 for Care for Children.

Yesterday I went to the travel agents with Cat and got my ticket home booked! It's been such a pain trying to get the school to do it. They kept telling me Jo's school were doing it, then they told me I had to be on the same flight, then that our flights had to cost the same, then I could only fly within my contract period, until finally I emailed Patrick and they agreed I could have the flight when I needed it. Thank you. I'm flying HK-Heathrow-Manchester on the 22nd August, landing on the 23rd. That's 14 hours worth of flights!

Ooooh I should tell you about the movies I saw on Friday. Me and Jo went to go and see Narnia 2 or Prince Caspian (whatever it's called) and it is fantastic/amazing/incredible etc... it's really very good! You should all go and see it! After Narnia we went straight in to Sex and the City with Mandy and her friend. Not quite the same as Narnia haha... still pretty good. There's some bits that are just really frustrating (why aren't you looking for your phone?!!, just read your emails!) or just really awful ("Samantha we think you look great even if you are fat but are you happy?" ...read: you can't be fat and happy...)! Oh and the black girl is just such a racial stereotype. Apart from that it was OK!

7 weeks and counting!

It's nearly the end of the year! Nearly time to go to Australia! Everything is winding down now at school, or I am anyway. The K3's will be "graduating" at the end of the month and we get a 4 day weekend. Each year the school organise holidays for the staff- it was Taiwan, Thailand, and China. Except the Taiwan one got canclled so they've arranged for a 2 day trip to Disney with a stay in the hotel. I put my name down for the Disney trip because it's free. The Thailand trip would have cost me a couple of thousand dollars because you only get a $1500 voucher and you pay the rest. The china trip is free too but the visa to get in the China would have cost me $800! That's double what I paid before! So 2 days in Disneyland... I hope I don't have to stay with the other teachers all the time otherwise I'll be so bored.

Haven't been doing a great deal lately. Last weekend I went to salsa as normal at the Nooch bar, but the regular instructor was away and there were only 3 of us in the lesson. There was this other guy there who was a really good dancer and he took me to the Jubilee bar, near Lan Kwai Fong. Omg I saw soo many amazing dancers there! It was a bit intimidating at first, but i had a few dances and was fine. When you dance with the good people they don't mind telling you where you're going wrong- I spent one dance just doing the basic back and forward step because I couldn't get it right. Or the guy didn't think I could. I met Joel and Dan later on in LKF and we went to a few bars and clubs.

On Sunday Lauren and Marty arranged a junk boat trip. Lauren won the raffle at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce ball for the trip so she invited all the Vine people who helped out- me, Jo, and Lynette- as well as her brother and sister-in-law, Anthony and Esther from the Beijing mission trip, and Gabrielle, Skip and Kathryn. We all had a really good time. The driver (sailor?) took us to a small cove thing Lamma Island. We got to jump in and swim to the beach, where we explored the little rock pools and looked for pretty shells. The water was really clean and warm. I've put the pictures up on flickr now. Baby Zara came along (Lauren and Marty's little one) and Anthony took this adorable picture of us:

We all brought along some food so we had a feast on board, and the weather was fantastic. A great day methinks!

I don't got no bellybutton :(

I love Veggietales!!

Crybaby

I've made another kid cry today...seems to be happening a lot lately! I have a Naughty Chair at the front of the class with me and it's mostly just a threat- the children hate being made to sit there. The first time I made a boy cry was because he was turning around repeatedly and playing with toys on a shelf behind him, I told him to pay attention like 10 times, and when he didn't I told him to sit in the Naughty Chair. But he wouldn't move. I told him quite a few times and I was getting really, really annoyed. Still wouldn't go and sit there. So I made him stand up and put his chair next to the Naughty Chair and told him to choose which one. And then he cried... haha. I did feel really guilty after.

Today I was finishing the lesson by doing the hokey cokey. Instead of running into the middle, that would be a nightmare, we all put our hands in the middle together and then lift them up again. It's much more fun that it sounds! We were doing that anyway and one boy, G, (who is such a spoilt brat, so naughty and manipulative) decided to slap my hand. Ooo he was in trouble then! I told him that was not a good thing to do and that he had to go and sit in the Naughty Chair for hitting me. Of course, he just stood there and refused to budge. I told him again, and then the class teacher saw and she told him... so he went and sat down and then burst into tears. Bless him. I just found it funny though- he knew he shouldn't have hit me. After we finished the song I asked him to say sorry " sowwy mi junny" and told him he could go and sit back in his seat. But he said no. So he sat there while we sang another song, still crying.

Oh, I think my star pupil in that class is interpreting what I'm saying to some of the slower children. I was explaining to 2 children how to race some "dragon boats" (toilet roll tubes on string- decorated like dragon boats of course) and they weren't really understanding, and I was showing them how to hold the string tight, and I realised that M was telling them how to do it in cantonese. And I've seen him do it before when I ask a question they don't understand... Now that I've noticed I bet he's been doing it for a while. Hmm...

Just becoming a little obsessed...

Bed bugs

I'll start off with the bad news this week- I'm sure you all already know- of the earthquake in the Sichuan Province in mainland China. There's tens of thousands of people dead, and millions left homeless. Chengdu, where we visited the orphanage at Easter, was badly affected. Robert Glover (of Care for Children) has told us that the children from the orphanage are safe. However, in another town where a lot of children had been put in foster families, was badly hit too and they don't know if those children are safe. I've already donated money to Care for Children and if you want to too go to www.careforchildren.com.cn I don't know about in the UK, but here in Hong Kong HSBC are giving like for like when people donate money through them to the China appeal.

It's been a quiet week this week. I've had my second term observation by the parents and it went well! There was one class and I thought they behaved terribly- they were very overexcited, kept turning round to wave at their mom, dad, or gran, kept shouting and talking- but the parents all marked me "excellent" or "very good"! I did notice that this time I didn't get stage-fright like before. I didn't look at the parents, but last time I didn't need too and my hands were shaking and my legs felt like jelly, so that's good too!

This weekend I booked a hostel room for Saturday night, so I could stay out later after salsa, and I could go to the 9:30am service at church. It wasn't a great room. There were ants and there was mould on the wall. And when I woke up I felt very itchy... I hope the bed bugs enjoyed me... Salsa was great though! I didn't see Jo and Eric, but there was a nice couple originally from Sussex who came with their neighbour (who'd been to our salsa class before). I'm trying to remember what we learnt last night...we mostly built slightly on whatever we did last week. It was good during the after part because I got to dance with Javid and another guy who'd been dancing for longer and they were teaching me new moves. I finally got the hang of the bachata dance too! It's sods law that last night most people left at 11:30pm, and there were only 6 of us left at 12pm... I needn't have booked a hostel room haha. Ah well. I got an early-ish night and woke up nice and early for the sunday service.

Ohh yeah, on Saturday during the day I went to a new 180 women's group being run by Cora and Gabby. It's basically a women's accountability group where we can go and have good, strong fellowship and be able to grow through that. It sounds like it's going to be really good. We'll be able to bring up topics that we feel we need help with or need to talk about, Gabby wants to do some study on women in the Bible and she's been reading books aimed at Christian women which she thinks is really useful and wants to share too. I'm really excited to be a part of it!

Sa-sa-sa-salsa

I had sooo much fun again last night! When the lesson started it was literally me, another older woman, and the instructor. But as the lesson went on more people arrived. Jo and her boyfriend Eric, who I'd met last lesson, came with their friend who I think is called Edison or Anson or something. This week we learned the left turn and built the moves into a little routine which ended with the girls being dipped and our leg in the air (apparently we're meant to keep them on the ground but mine always ended being up haha). It's really exciting, and it really makes me happy, to master a new move. Like when we first started doing the left turn I just couldn't get it right but by the end of the night it felt so easy!

At the after party I danced with a few of the more experienced men. No russian guy this week haha! I learnt a few more moves and the Bachata dance. When I was dancing with the instructor we were just making up moves, it was so fun! Me and Eric were doing that too, and practicing the last little bit of the routine with the big finish a lot, oh doing lots of turns and spins!

Eric and Jo went to Sugar which is a salsa bar in Lan Kwai Fong during the week. They said that there's a lot more people and it's a bit more lively. It's only $120 (with 2 free drinks). So I might give that a try too. I want to be good enough by the time I leave for Australia that I can go to a salsa bar and just dance. It's going to take a lot of practice though.

I didn't stay too late that night because I was staying at Lauren and Marty's place in Sai Wan Ho. I'd mentioned to Lauren at Plus that I'd booked a hostel room so I didn't have to go home, and she phoned me later on and offered to let me stay at theirs! They're so sweet :) They let me have a key and they pulled out the sofa bed. I was so tired by the time I got back I just collapsed. All I could hear in my head though was "1,2,3...5,6,7 and 1,2,3...5,6,7 and..." grrr!!

I have tomorrow off because it is Buddha's Birthday...so err...happy birthday Buddha. Me and Jo are planning to go down to the beach if the weather is nice enough. It's started getting very hot lately- on Friday it was 31 degrees and the humidity was ridiculous. It was a bit cooler this weekend though. We're going to go to a restaurant at the beach too make an afternoon of it.

Wow

I've been having so much fun!

On Thursday (May Day) I went for dinner with Sam Ko, Bomi and JP at a very nice Thai place, somewhere in Tsim Sha Tsui. I met Bomi briefly at the last 180 and she is the nicest person ever! So easy to get along with. We then met up with a guy called Nick and did some window shopping- Bomi needed some new jeans. Apparently it is impossible to buy good jeans in Hong Kong, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks that! I recently had my Mum post me some jeans I ordered from Dorothy Perkins. After we browsed through some shops we headed to the harbour to watch the light show. It was great to finally see it- I've seen it from Hong Kong Island side but it's nothing compared to watching it from TST. They use lasers, spot lights, and the actual lights on the buildings. It's all set to music which you can vaguely here if you stand in the right place at the harbour. It's pretty impressive, although I did get bored after 10 mins of it. I then caught the Star Ferry with Bomi so I could catch my bus home.

Friday was an easy day at work- the Olypmic Torch was in Hong Kong so we had an Olympic themed day. They had a mini torch run through school! A child from each class had to run the torch to the next class- it was so fun! They were all chanting "Cheer for China!" (in cantonese) or "Go China!" would be a better translation. All the children and teachers wore red too and had sticks with the same slogan "Cheer for China" on. Ms Kong made me put one on- despite my protests at not being Chinese :p Throughout the morning they had class pictures taken in front of a big "Olympic torch" made from shiny paper on the wall of the hall. I had my picture taken with Ms Lee and Ms Kong's class. My favourite class by the way hehe. In the afternoon they did a similar thing with the afternoon classes, but instead of running round the school (because of the nursery children) they just passed it round the children, who were sat in a big circle. The K2's and K3's then ran around the school with it.

In the evening Jo and me babysat the gorgeous baby Zara. Lauren and Marty didn't need us to babysit but we wanted to because she's so adorable! They went to the cinema while we looked after her. She's only 6 months old and she's so well behaved, and gorgeous...everyone loves her! And she was so easy to look after. Seriously when she started getting a bit moany, we gave her a dummy and put her on her babymat. When we put her to bed at 7:30 she cried a little but once she had her dummy in, and her teddy, she was fine and settled down really quickly. We kept checking on her because we loooooove her and she's just too cute! Marty and Lauren came home around 10:30, and we were home by 12:30. About 10 minutes into the bus journey a man at the back of the bus was sick. Euuuuuurrrggh it was disgusting! And it was the second time in a week we had it happen! We moved upstairs to escape the stench, but we could still smell it. Not nice on an hour bus journey.

On Saturday morning I had to go in to work to help at the "Parents appreciation day" thing. I think it's Mothering Sunday here soon. Anyway, the children had all been working on dance routines, so I helped do kid's hair. You know when you're a kindergarten teacher when you can ignore a child crying for it's Mom. It sounds really mean but it's true. Two little girls from the nursery were bawling while the teachers were trying to get them ready. After an hour of doing hair, make-up and changing their clothes they were ready. The dance by my afternoon K1 class was so good! Here's a video:

After the performances (held in the church next door) I went back into the school. They had different activities in the classrooms so I spent a while watching the kids. It was really boring. In the hall they had a mini talent show, so I watched Ingrid and Candice dance. Ingrid sang "Pizza Hut" for me :) although her Mom had to really convince her to get up! She also sang "My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean".

That night, after deliberating all afternoon, I went salsa dancing! I loooooove salsa dancing, it is so much fun! I couldn't convince anyone to go with me so I went on my own. I was really nervous but everything worked out well- I thought I was going to be late but the bus driver was driving really quickly, and I found a taxi driver who knew exactly where I needed to be, and when I got there the instructor hadn't even arrived! It was held in a bar and it was a nice small group who were mostly beginners. I think there were 12 of us including the instructor. When I did salsa classes back in the UK it was massive group of over 30 people, so it was a big difference! Everyone was really friendly- I met a great young couple called Jo and Allen, and we swapped numbers so Jo is going to give me a txt if she's going next week. After the class there is a "salsa party" at the bar so more experienced salsa dancers came and danced and we could practice ourselves. I danced with a kiwi guy who was really good, he was helping me with the turns. Then this Russian guy wanted to dance with me, which would have been ok if he actually had turned up to the lesson and tried to learn a bit of salsa. He was hopeless. Really, really bad! During the lesson you rotate partners so you never get stuck with one really bad person which is good of course. And also it means if you come alone, like me, you get to meet new people. It didn't cost too much either $150 (£10) and you have an hour lesson, 2 drinks, and then the after party which goes on all night I guess! I was home by 1am though.

Today I went to the 9:30am service which meant I had to be up at 7am. I didn't think I'd be able to do it after having a late night but as soon as my alarm went off I was wide awake. After the service I went for lunch with Lauren, Marty and baby Zara. We had a delicious brunch of Eggs Benendict and talked about my trip to Australia. They're going to put me in contact with people they know in the cities I'm visiting, and maybe even try and persuade them to put me up :p It will be really great to have people I can contact while I'm there. I've been busy booking flights and checking out hostels- only 78 days to go- and I'm getting very excited!

After lunch I met up with Jo (who I hadn't seen since Friday) and we went and watched Iron Man. I don't know if it's out in the UK yet but you HAVE TO SEE IT! I'm not an action movie fan at all but it is just soo good! Me and Jo both came out of the cinema saying "Wow...just wow...that was amazing!" I hadn't seen any trailers so I had no idea what to expect, but whatever I was expecting I was pleasantly and amazingly surprised! Go and see it!!

Britain's Got Talent 2008

I don't know if you've been watching this (I haven't) but I think you should all see this! It is fantastic! I love it! I've watched it about 5 times in a row haha. Simon's face is a picture!

Bugs pt. 2

Last Saturday I decided to fumigate the kitchen since that's where I kept finding those horrible bugs. Look what I found behind the kitchen door! It was so gross! But now...all gone! I've seen hardly any of the bugs since. I did a really thorough clean including all the cupboards. Yay! no more bugs!

I still have spiders in my room though :(