Week "Lop"

Another quiet week. So quiet I'm having trouble thinking back to what we did. Hmm...We rented Nip/Tuck so we spent quite a bit of time getting through that. School was good last week- my lessons were on the body so nothing too out of my depth. I got feedback from my K1 lessons which was basically slow down and focus on the keywords. There were no criticisms just good advice. I went to see Joel on Wednesday and helped him do some prep work for his lessons- he had to cut up 100 sheets of keywords. Such monotonous work. Friday...Friday...Oh yeah, we couldn't really be bothered to do anything so we watched a lot of Nip/Tuck and also rented Anchorman. It's a great film- I never enjoyed it that much the first time but this time was different. Better company maybe hehe.

Saturday morning wasn't particularly exciting either. We went to the Doctor's to have a set of routine tests done. Then we went to Yuen Long to collect our ID cards- we are now official Hong Kong residents! After that we tried to do some shopping for our holiday but there's only winter stuff in the shops now. Poo. I'm going to get my Mom to post some of the summer clothes I left behind. The evening was a lot more interesting. We went to 180, the 18-30s Worship at church, and listened to a really good talk. They're doing a series called "Preparing For War" about Christian Armour- Saturday was the Breastplate of Righteousness. I still don't know what it means to be righteous though. I should look it up hehe. We got back at a ridiculous time and then got up early to be at church for 11:30am the next day. Another really good service and talk- this time about being a 21st century Christian.

After church we headed up to Lan Kwai Fong- the main purpose was to find a second-hand bookshop but we stumbled upon a carnival instead!

There were loads of stalls set up selling various things and people giving away free stuff. There were also live events in different places. We caught a live band playing:

They were singing "Wonderful World" in that clip. They were pretty good. After we walked around the carnival for a bit we went to look for more shops for clothes but came back empty handed. By this time it was time for the 4pm service back at The Vine so we headed up for that service for the "Worship Undone" service. 3 church services in 24 hours- not bad haha. I am really enjoying worshipping at The Vine, the services are great and the people are so friendly.

This brings me to today. A new week at school. I'm meant to be teaching about Chung Yeung- a festival where people traditionally went to give offerings at the graves of their ancestors. But after failing miserably to teach it I'm now doing Autumn. My lessons are still a little patchy but I'm not rushing them so much now. I'm really, really enjoying it too! I got to name a boy today- the children have a chinese name but they also then get an English name for school. This boys parents didn't know any English so they asked me to choose a name. So I called him Jim. A good, simple name that won't bring any ridicule. If you saw him you'd think he was the perfect Jim hehe. Honestly some children have really odd names like Cream, Olie (like Rolie Polie), Dicaprio (formerly Dick Ho), Mayto, Ringo (for a girl!), Genius, Charmie...the list goes on. Joel plays basketball with a guy called Chicken-baby. No kidding. What were his parents thinking?!

Enjoy the pictures on Flickr, I'm off to bed now.

Busy Busy

Wow what a weekend! We started the weekend off with a trip to the Ballet with Jules and Joel. We saw Cinderella which was good even if they did drag out the whole ballroom scene- everyone danced together, then the Ugly Sisters did a dance, then the Prince did a dance, then Cinderella alone, then Cinderella and the Prince danced together, then everyone together again...Just get on with it! The characters were great-the Ugly Sisters were really funny, and the little squirrels were so cute. I don't need to say they were all great at Ballet and it was a really good show.

Saturday was our trip to the Peak. We took a taxi from somewhere in the Mid-Levels to the Tram station (we were going to walk but it was baking hot and we got lost). It only cost $48 return (£3) and it included going upto the Sky Terrace where we got really great views. Also up the Peak is a Madam Tussaud's- we didn't go in because we wouldn't have known many of the "famous" waxworks. We had lunch in Bubba Gump's Shrimp Restaurant which was very, very yummy and quite reasonably priced too. We walked around all the souvenir shops and then caught the tram back down. The tram ride is a bit of an experience in itself especially on the way up! It goes up at a ridiculously steep angle but it's the stopping that really unnerves me. Going down wasn't too bad since the seats faced backwards and it didn't stop at all. When we got to the bottom about 5:3pm people were queuing round the block to go up!

Sunday was church day. We went to the 11:30am service and listened to a guy called David Wang do the talk. He worked for an organization called Asian Outreach which is Christian ministry in China. He's such a funny guy and he's got some great stories to tell. He co-wrote a book called Still Red about 3 persecuted Christians in China which me and Jo bought together. I not long ago finished Chasing The Dragon and I think Jo is half-way through reading it. Anyway, after the service we went along to a meal for newcomers with cell group leader Vinny, his wife and daughter and a couple of other regulars. Had a really nice time! We're going to try their cell group out on Thursday. After lunch Jo headed to H&M and I found my way to Mong Kok to meet Joel and Jules. I can't believe I did it by myself haha- I didn't pay attention to where we were walking on the way up so didn't think I'd be able to find my way back to the MTR station. Somehow I managed it :) I met J&J in a shopping Mall and we did a bit of shopping. There was some famous chinese singer up on the top level and the place was packed. It was a nightmare trying to get in and out the shops. After Mong Kok we went to a nice Thai place back in Yuen Long. Only cost us $60 for a good decent sized meal! We finished the night at New York's where I had the best Sex On The Beach I've ever had! The cocktail I mean :p The owner is really nice and used to have last year's gap group go too I think. They do really good food too but I haven't tried it yet.

Today was National Day...another bank holiday yay! We decided to go to Lamma Island and try the beaches there. Lamma is about half an hour away from Central and I think it is one of the biggest outlying islands. I could be wrong about that though! The ferry trip is very bumpy. I wouldn't recommend it if you get seasick however there is no other way of getting there. We landed in Sok Kwo Wan and had a meal on the pier there. Then we walked over to Lo So Shing beach. It's only small but it's got nice sand and the sea is clean. We took our swimsuits and had a swim in the lovely warm sea! We didn't spend too long on the beach though because it started to rain and we had to save our stuff. There were fireworks this evening in Central somewhere for National Day and they're meant to be really spectacular but it was half 6 when we got off the ferry (journey back was even worse than the one there) and they didn't start till 8ish so we went home. We've got school tomorrow so it wouldn't be a good idea to stay out late.

Speaking of school tomorrow- my lesson is meant to be about National Day and I have no idea what to do! Argh. 25 mins and all I've got is "I am English, you are Chinese- what are you? Chiiineeese!" Ohh I'll do the "Pizza Hut" song with them again, just so they don't forget it! I tried doing "Do your ears hang low..." with them but it didn't go down to well. I'll try again later in the year.

Bed time for me now methinks!

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!