It has been the most wonderfully almost week but this week was the last one I had with Lucy as she left for Vietnam on Monday 10th, after 25 days in Hong Kong. It has been a week of trying to cram in lots of things and having a great deal of fun. This included throwing a surprise party for Katie's birthday, bowling, MacDonalds and a good night out in LKF. All of these added up to being a wonderful week that had a multitude of different emotions, mostly happy.
We were celebrating Katie's birthday on Wednesday but because she had decided not to celebrate it, Lucy and I decided that she had to celebrate it somehow. Plotting on Monday morning with Chris over Skype messaging, the three of us managed to persuade Mike to let us use his centre where he tutors which was the perfect place to have it. Once Lucy and I had sent around the message, we gathered at the centre on Tuesday. Lucy was keeping Katie at bay as a great group of us, half of the people I had actually never met, gathered at Mikes. Having hurriedly made a paper chain made from the paper strips I had left over from making the paper chain at Christmas, we hid in the next door room, turned out all the lights and waited.
It wasn't long before Lucy and Katie arrived. I had forgotten to tell Lucy what excuse Mike was going to make for him taking them to the particular room, it was some poor excuse about having just dinner with the three of them, before we burst out from behind the window of the adjacent room and thoroughly surprised her. With great local food and cake with her name, it was an awesome evening and Katie felt thoroughly surprised. It was a chance to meet new city, celebrate the life of a fantastic friend and get some AWESOME karaoke in! Turns out that Jeff has got an incredible voice and was blowing us all out of the water with his vocals.
On Wednesday, Katie's actual birthday day, further surprises greeted her. We had ordered pizza for lunch which we managed to persuade her from going out to buy lunch and instead lured her to the office where an abudance of pizza and snacks greeted her. Furthermore, she had a lesson at the end of lunch with the K3 whole day class. In the morning, I wrote 'Happy Birthday Miss Katie' on a huge sheet of paper that Sandy had provided and we hid in the classroom. When Katie came in, a chorus of Happy Birthday rose up which was a nice surprise for her and the children all wrote their names on the paper for her to keep.
On Friday, in the midst of packing and getting to say a few goodbyes, Lucy and I managed to have an evening where it was just the two of us, getting a final evening together. We decided to forfeit the idea of cooking and made our way down to the McDonalds by the boys at Melody. The options in Hong Kong are slightly different from England and we both settled on something that we both knew we like, I had the McSpicy Chicken Burger which is really delicious, a little kick to the chicken separates it from a regular chicken burger. Another the great additions to Hong Kong McDonalds, are the McCafe's. These are, as you can guess, little add ons to a McDonalds chain and serve a multiude of drinks as well as delicacies. I have discovered the joys of the New York Cheesecake that is served there and so Lucy and I treated ourselves to a slice each and took them to the bowling alley where we got in a good hour and three games of bowling in. I managed to win the first one, by some strange way, but Lucy thrashed me the next two times. It was a wonderful evening that was relaxed and full of laughter and sass.
It was only fair that Lucy got another night out before she left and so on Saturday, we met up with Chris, Jeff and two of the latter's friends for a night on the town. We headed first to The Globe pub, a fairly noisy proper pub that felt very British in the midst of Hong Kong and served a range of drinks of all kinds and we had great fun trying to decipher what exactly was in these concotions. Afterwards, we had to hit LKF and so went to Graffitti, a club I hadn't stepped inside. It was very packed and there was a lot of people there. However the energy was high and it was hard to tell where all the time had gone when I called it a night and went home, not feeling amazing.
On Sunday, Lucy and I woke up beautifully late and made the decision to get food on our way to The Vine. I realised that Lucy had yet to be treated to Ebeneezers and so we dropped by LKF where we knew there was an outlet and ordered the chicken curry and rice that they produce so well. Great food and company, we went over to The Vine where it was Seeds For The Future Sunday, the annual review looking at what the church's finances were and how we could help. it was actually really interesting to hear what was going on, in the financial aspect of the church, and then to hear about Andrew's heart for the future of the church.
This morning it was a rather heart-breaking but warm goodbye to Lucy. I had to rush off to school and she had packing to do so we were both up and early but we managed to get a final photo together to commemorate 25 days of awesomeness.
It will be strange not having a flatemate for the first time since Christmas, and then before that since October. But I look forward to seeing what the next four months that I have left in Hong Kong will bring.
Until next time,
Batkinson
Cantonese word of the week: pronunciation -
Quote of the week: 'Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get.' - Forrest Gump
Prayer points:
- I am still in great need of sleep, I want to go to sleep earlier again
Tuesday, 25 March 2014
Wednesday, 19 March 2014
Easter Plans - 24th February-3rd March
I am getting so excited now!! It is such a joy to be able to look forward to another
holiday just two months after I have already had another holiday. I always looked forward to the weekends and holidays when I was a student, now I look forward to them more than anything. I know that I have said this a few times but now I can totally sympathise with my teachers, understanding how much work they had to put in to make sure that we behaved in class and that we learnt something.
This last week has been a fairly quiet with the break of noise and excitement on Wednesday. On Monday I realised that I really was in Hong Kong. I know that sounds really cheesy, you're all saying 'well you've known you were in Hong Kong for the last six months'. What I mean is that there are times when I am in Hong Kong, when I am constantly reminded that I am in Hong Kong and in Asia rather than in Europe. This incident came as I went to get lunch on Monday lunchtime. I grabbed a box of salad from 7/11 and when I went to the counter to pay for it, I was asked (through use of hand language) if I wanted something to use to eat it. I nodded, naturally thinking that I was going to be given a fork. Imagine my surprise then, I really shouldn't have been though, when I was handed a pair of chopsticks...
On Tuesday, after a particularly long day, Lucy and I decided to treat ourselves. One of the things that I have to treat myself rather once every few months (like once every three or four months at the least) is a box of pancake mix. I use Betty Crocker because..well it's Betty Crocker, is there any other explanation needed? So we grabbed some chocolate and procceded to melt it, cooking a good deal of mini pancakes. And then, in true full immersion into the culture around us style, we proceeded to use chopsticks to dip them in the chocolate and then eat them. Admittedly it was more amusing to try than actually successful but it was a great time to relax in each other's company.
On Wednesday, Chris had organised a group to go to the races. The races at Happy Valley are extremely well known throughout Hong Kong and huge crowds swarmed to the arena on the island on Wednesday, as they do every week. After having a bit of trouble trying to find the meeting point, Lucy and I joined the group and we made our way to Happy Valley. I, slightly ashamedly, have to admit to breaking my lack of ever eating Subway and had my first sandwich. Despite all that had been said about it, I really enjoyed the meal and it was full of flavour, meat and vegetables I hasten to add.
The atmosphere in the area was electric. I had never seen so many Westerners in one place in Hong Kong, it felt both very homely and very strange all at the same time. We managed to find some seats and had a good place to view the races which happened every half an hour. We got a chance to bet and while I only placed bets on two horses, just to get the experience and have a shot at winning any money, only Chris was successful. Apparently this was to be expected as every time he has been to the races, he has won the most amount of money. There was no pressure to spend money and it was most certainly the electrifying and infectious atmosphere that was the best part of the night.
On Thursday Lucy and I met up with Katie to head to our Plus Group. A Plus Group is a part of The Vine and the idea is that a group of people from the same area meet up to eat, discuss the previous week's talk and pray for each other. We went to a friend's house in Goldcoast and while not everyone was there, there was still a good group of us. We were treated to chilli con carne and then some gorgeous homemade cheesecake. It was a delicious combo and then we watched the first installment of a series called The Truth Project, looking at what is truth and how we can find it in the Bible. While I didn't agree with everything that was said in the video, it made for an interesting watch and the company was wonderful and a great use of a Thursday evening.
The rest of the week was fairly peaceful in comparison. We heard an awesome talk from one of the pastors, Mark Nam, on Sunday about relationships which was really interesting, aiming at the difficult listeners of those in relationships AND those not in.
I look forward to seeing what March will bring now that we are in the third month of the year.
Until next time,
Batkinson x
Cantonese word of the week: pronunciation - ho yam; translation - drink
Quote of the week: 'No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.' - John Keating from Dead Poets Society
Prayer points:
- sleep, more sleep!! I'm struggling at times to get much sleep
- for more control over some of my classes
holiday just two months after I have already had another holiday. I always looked forward to the weekends and holidays when I was a student, now I look forward to them more than anything. I know that I have said this a few times but now I can totally sympathise with my teachers, understanding how much work they had to put in to make sure that we behaved in class and that we learnt something.
This last week has been a fairly quiet with the break of noise and excitement on Wednesday. On Monday I realised that I really was in Hong Kong. I know that sounds really cheesy, you're all saying 'well you've known you were in Hong Kong for the last six months'. What I mean is that there are times when I am in Hong Kong, when I am constantly reminded that I am in Hong Kong and in Asia rather than in Europe. This incident came as I went to get lunch on Monday lunchtime. I grabbed a box of salad from 7/11 and when I went to the counter to pay for it, I was asked (through use of hand language) if I wanted something to use to eat it. I nodded, naturally thinking that I was going to be given a fork. Imagine my surprise then, I really shouldn't have been though, when I was handed a pair of chopsticks...
On Tuesday, after a particularly long day, Lucy and I decided to treat ourselves. One of the things that I have to treat myself rather once every few months (like once every three or four months at the least) is a box of pancake mix. I use Betty Crocker because..well it's Betty Crocker, is there any other explanation needed? So we grabbed some chocolate and procceded to melt it, cooking a good deal of mini pancakes. And then, in true full immersion into the culture around us style, we proceeded to use chopsticks to dip them in the chocolate and then eat them. Admittedly it was more amusing to try than actually successful but it was a great time to relax in each other's company.
On Wednesday, Chris had organised a group to go to the races. The races at Happy Valley are extremely well known throughout Hong Kong and huge crowds swarmed to the arena on the island on Wednesday, as they do every week. After having a bit of trouble trying to find the meeting point, Lucy and I joined the group and we made our way to Happy Valley. I, slightly ashamedly, have to admit to breaking my lack of ever eating Subway and had my first sandwich. Despite all that had been said about it, I really enjoyed the meal and it was full of flavour, meat and vegetables I hasten to add.
The atmosphere in the area was electric. I had never seen so many Westerners in one place in Hong Kong, it felt both very homely and very strange all at the same time. We managed to find some seats and had a good place to view the races which happened every half an hour. We got a chance to bet and while I only placed bets on two horses, just to get the experience and have a shot at winning any money, only Chris was successful. Apparently this was to be expected as every time he has been to the races, he has won the most amount of money. There was no pressure to spend money and it was most certainly the electrifying and infectious atmosphere that was the best part of the night.
On Thursday Lucy and I met up with Katie to head to our Plus Group. A Plus Group is a part of The Vine and the idea is that a group of people from the same area meet up to eat, discuss the previous week's talk and pray for each other. We went to a friend's house in Goldcoast and while not everyone was there, there was still a good group of us. We were treated to chilli con carne and then some gorgeous homemade cheesecake. It was a delicious combo and then we watched the first installment of a series called The Truth Project, looking at what is truth and how we can find it in the Bible. While I didn't agree with everything that was said in the video, it made for an interesting watch and the company was wonderful and a great use of a Thursday evening.
The rest of the week was fairly peaceful in comparison. We heard an awesome talk from one of the pastors, Mark Nam, on Sunday about relationships which was really interesting, aiming at the difficult listeners of those in relationships AND those not in.
I look forward to seeing what March will bring now that we are in the third month of the year.
Until next time,
Batkinson x
Cantonese word of the week: pronunciation - ho yam; translation - drink
Quote of the week: 'No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.' - John Keating from Dead Poets Society
Prayer points:
- sleep, more sleep!! I'm struggling at times to get much sleep
- for more control over some of my classes
Thursday, 13 March 2014
On The Mend? - 17th February-24th February
This last week has been an extremely relaxing one which has been certainly a blessing. Having returned from Chinese New Year in England and having spent the first week of school feeling absolutely rubbish and being off for two days of the week (almost), it was still extremely weird to go back to school and do a full week of lessons.
This week didn't profit much activity until Saturday which was actually a blessing as I am still in recovery and want to get better as soon as possible. My chest X-ray came back clean which is incredible and wonderful but I have still got a persisting cough and cold which of course may be as a result of the poor weather we have had, only on Saturday did it start picking up.
Friday saw February's birthday party! I think these are one of the highlights of the month because as well as different food to what we normally get, this month it was sushi and spaghetti with warm Brosch soup, it is all about celebration and making it all about the kids and especially those who have birthdays in February, or whatever month it is. I was pleasantly surprised by the wonderfully adorable class that is K1Cpm. With the photos of the children that are taken, are a variety of different delicacies, normally sweets and chocolate, that the children bring in to share with their classes. We had borrowed a collection of sweets from 1C and 1D for the afternoon birthdays. When I went to go and deliver the food back to them, the teachers insisted on giving some of the food to me. Win! I can't say that I was complaining about the presentation with me of food! Especially as I reckon it's the cutest class in the afternoon! Of course, I'm not supposed to have favourites but you know...when I don't actually teach them, because then that would really be unfair. But K1 is fair game!
That evening, having been given a lot of food which is always a bonus in the day, I headed over to Melody Gardens to help celebrate Willow's birthday! Of course with the amount of food, which was a good bag full of sweet foods, it was wonderful company and food, as we ordered Ebeneezers which provides extremely good curry and chips (I haven't had the latter yet but I hear it is very good) and then spent the time relaxing in each other's company and the alcohol (of course, what dd you expect?).
On Saturday, Lucy and I got to do something that I have missed out on several opportunities to do and now I finally got to do it, go to The Peak. On the island, it is a peak (funnily enough) with wonderful walks and stunning views. We went up a rather steep hill and found some beautiful gardens with an added extra little trail called the Governor's Walk which had picturesque views but had a ridiculously steep drop on one side with the cliff face on the other. We then joined another trail which we weren't sure how long it would take to walk. It turned to take a good hour or so but the views were incredible stunning and Lucy and I had a lovely time chatting and getting to know each other even better. We made it back in time to catch sunset which was absolutely stunning, one of the best sunsets I have experienced in Hong Kong and that is saying something as I have experienced many a beautiful and gorgeous sunset here.
I am glad to report that my cough and cold have been getting better!! While it hasn't completely gone away, I am now just accepting that I will have to let it get better and wait until it goes away, I feel much more on the ball and I think that the next couple of weeks will see me out of the mask and into warmer clothes, hopefully as the weather has been extremely cold lately.
Until next time,
Batkinson xx
Cantonese word of the week: pronunciation - Hi sam a; translation - the next stop is
Quote of the week: 'it is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the lgiht.' - Aristotle
Prayer points:
- I need to get more sleep as I am struggling to get early nights...
- one of my K2 classes are very curious and always ask questions but it deters from being able to complete all the things in the lesson - I want to allow them to ask questions but I also want to finish the lesson
This week didn't profit much activity until Saturday which was actually a blessing as I am still in recovery and want to get better as soon as possible. My chest X-ray came back clean which is incredible and wonderful but I have still got a persisting cough and cold which of course may be as a result of the poor weather we have had, only on Saturday did it start picking up.
Friday saw February's birthday party! I think these are one of the highlights of the month because as well as different food to what we normally get, this month it was sushi and spaghetti with warm Brosch soup, it is all about celebration and making it all about the kids and especially those who have birthdays in February, or whatever month it is. I was pleasantly surprised by the wonderfully adorable class that is K1Cpm. With the photos of the children that are taken, are a variety of different delicacies, normally sweets and chocolate, that the children bring in to share with their classes. We had borrowed a collection of sweets from 1C and 1D for the afternoon birthdays. When I went to go and deliver the food back to them, the teachers insisted on giving some of the food to me. Win! I can't say that I was complaining about the presentation with me of food! Especially as I reckon it's the cutest class in the afternoon! Of course, I'm not supposed to have favourites but you know...when I don't actually teach them, because then that would really be unfair. But K1 is fair game!
That evening, having been given a lot of food which is always a bonus in the day, I headed over to Melody Gardens to help celebrate Willow's birthday! Of course with the amount of food, which was a good bag full of sweet foods, it was wonderful company and food, as we ordered Ebeneezers which provides extremely good curry and chips (I haven't had the latter yet but I hear it is very good) and then spent the time relaxing in each other's company and the alcohol (of course, what dd you expect?).
On Saturday, Lucy and I got to do something that I have missed out on several opportunities to do and now I finally got to do it, go to The Peak. On the island, it is a peak (funnily enough) with wonderful walks and stunning views. We went up a rather steep hill and found some beautiful gardens with an added extra little trail called the Governor's Walk which had picturesque views but had a ridiculously steep drop on one side with the cliff face on the other. We then joined another trail which we weren't sure how long it would take to walk. It turned to take a good hour or so but the views were incredible stunning and Lucy and I had a lovely time chatting and getting to know each other even better. We made it back in time to catch sunset which was absolutely stunning, one of the best sunsets I have experienced in Hong Kong and that is saying something as I have experienced many a beautiful and gorgeous sunset here.
I am glad to report that my cough and cold have been getting better!! While it hasn't completely gone away, I am now just accepting that I will have to let it get better and wait until it goes away, I feel much more on the ball and I think that the next couple of weeks will see me out of the mask and into warmer clothes, hopefully as the weather has been extremely cold lately.
Until next time,
Batkinson xx
Cantonese word of the week: pronunciation - Hi sam a; translation - the next stop is
Quote of the week: 'it is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the lgiht.' - Aristotle
Prayer points:
- I need to get more sleep as I am struggling to get early nights...
- one of my K2 classes are very curious and always ask questions but it deters from being able to complete all the things in the lesson - I want to allow them to ask questions but I also want to finish the lesson
Sunday, 16 February 2014
Sounds Like I'm Dying... - 10th-17th February
This week, certainly a mixed and out of the ordinary one for such one that was supposed to be spent at school. My cough has seemed to be getting worse and worse since it started after Christmas, I don't think spending nearly 27 hours in a week in a cabin would have helped very much. But this week has provided both it's joys, hardships and perseverence.
Coming back to school was always very strange and difficult at times when I was a student at school, throughout my school career so I was able to understand the fact that the children were not as engaged and quite remembering of all that I had taught them in the last term in the first week as they were still trying to get back into the 'school mode'. This was especially difficult for the K1 children, as I saw just trying to get them to come to school in the first place was a difficulty, as they returned from their first big holiday since starting school. It was slightly easier than after Christmas, which had been their first holiday since starting school, but there was still evidence of children who were struggling to realise it wasn't just a 'half a year' deal, no they were here for the long haul. It is very hard at times not to feel bad for them, given that they are 2 years old and very much still children. But you have to put a straight face on and let it happen, it is something that I have grown to realise I just have to deal with now.
Following a huge day of seeming to want to hack up my lungs on Monday, I only managed to last a single lesson on Tuesday morning before being sent home with sick leave by the doctor. My cough was much worse after my holiday and I spent the afternoon relaxing, sleeping a little and trying to give my body the much needed rest to get better. Wednesday was spent cleaning my room which was very much relaxing as I needed to do it badly and it was good to see my room pretty spotless. Of course there is always a reason behind these things and mine was the fact that an old friend of mine from school, the gorgeous Lucy, arrived in Hong Kong from China on Thursday!!
Lucy was at school with me and it has been wonderful getting to catch up on her travels, I heard many wonderful and often wacky things (when it came to food that is) about China and it sounds like an incredible country. I am definitely planning on making a trip there when I can this year, it isn't something to be missed.
On Friday afternoon, the teachers who weren't teaching lessons, travelled over to a primary school not five minutes away where the next day, we were holding the 'Celebration of the Latern Festival and the Inaugaration of the Parent-Teacher Association'. Our job was to unload all of the things that we would need for the event and then to put them up. This involved unpacking a lot of homemade laterns, created by the children, and attaching them to strings where they were hung from the ceiling in the outside area where the adults and children could come and play games, earning small prizes for the children, another thing to be set up. Lots of the laterns were wonderful and looked very impressive, a lot of hard work had clearly gone into them. I didn't get to see the finished product however until Saturday morning as I had to travel back to teach 2D their PE lesson and then, because Will had stayed on at the primary school, had to teach 2E, a class I didn't know at all but who turned out to be an enthusiastic group of children who tired me out VERY quickly! Isn't that what 3 year olds are supposed to do anyway?
An early start on Saturday saw all of the teachers back at the primary school for the event. Having helped set up the arts and craft area, fetching buckets of water to dip the painbrushes in, I went upstairs with Ivy and Pet and were up with a group of K2 children who were going to perform a dance. We had to help them get ready, they were already wearing their costumes. The biggest challenge that day came in the form of having to put powder on their faces. I presume it was some kind of foundation or something...you can see why it was a challenge! I have only had experience of putting on makeup during school plays and that was only ever the bare minimum so then trying to do 20 3 year olds kids was a little bit manic but I managed it and almost got it completely right...almost being the key word here...while the kids rehearsed and then went onstage to perform, I was left in charge of the room to keep an eye on the bags and while I was sad not to get a glimpse of what the children were doing, I wasn't even sure if I would see it at all even then, it was a good time just to sit down and chill a little bit.
On Saturday evening, pre-drinks were held at our flat before there was a big trip to LKF. As Ruth was leaving the next day, it was natural that we had to go and hit the district one last time. Sadly my lungs were clearly not up to it so I was around for pre-drinks but stayed behind and let in Ruth and Lucy at 5am the next morning, thanks to them forgetting the keys...most people were there and it was a great, relaxed atmosphere. Lucy got on swimmingly with the rest of the group and while it was confusing at first having two Lucys, it worked itself out. I went to bed, exhausted and glad to be asleep.
Sunday was joyfully lazy but it was a sad day as well. Lucy and I offered our assistance as best we could to Ruth who had to fit all the clothes she brought with her and everything she had bought while out here into 30kg of hold luggage. Yeah...it was never going to happen and so there is now a couple of bags of clothes outside her room but she's given us permission to take anything we want which is always a bonus when you get free clothes! We all headed in to Town Centre for one last meal together and the Yuen Long crew, Will, Willow, Ben and Katie joined the three of us at Euro Go-Go, a European cafe/restaraunt where we feasted on lots of delicious food!
It was very much tearful and heartfelt goodbyes to Ruth from there and I was sad to see her go. She's been a wonderful flatmate and while it is a little daunting knowing that I have the flat on my own for the next five months, knowing that I will have people around me and visiting me at various points, is much more of a comfort. Katie and I waved Ruth off in a taxi to the airport and crashing back into bed ensued once more.
I hope that my cough doesn't deter me from any more work this week and that it gets much better, it is far more irritating now than anything. I had a chest X-ray on Saturday so I will see if that brings up anything in my chest that might actually indicate something is wrong further than a cough that has lasted a month and a cold which has now crept up on me.
Until next time,
Batkinson xx
Cantonese word of the week: pronunciation: melega?; translation: what is it?
Quote of the week: "Love is like the wind. You can't see it but you sure can feel it." Landon Carter - A Walk To Remember
Prayer points:
- my cough is starting to bug me now more than anything and I would really like it to heal
- for a continued easy transition back into school life
Clearing up the kid's homemade lanterns after the Lantern Festival
The view across the harbor from Ferry Pier, you can barely see the difference between water and sky!
Red Bull and Vodka, I'm still not convinced that it's a good combination, especially after seeing the hyperactive side effects...
Tom laughing at...something...
Becky trying to avoid the camera!
Ruth and Tom, such lovely posers for the camera!
Mark and Ruth for the last time...
Tom and Will at pre-drinks before hitting LKF!
Lucy H looking gorgeous, trying to open a bottle of something....
A last meal with Ruth at Euro GoGo in Town Centre
Goodbye from Ben and Willow
Double trouble! Two Lucys in town...
Last group shot, oh gosh the expression I'm wearing....
Goodbyes from the Yuen Long crew
Goodbye from Katie
the last shot of the two of us as flatemates, really gonna miss my first ever flatmate!
I love Lucy's cooking, and her Chinese sweet bread is no exception! Condensed milk maybe not such a fan of though...
I think we might have to start giving up on this paper chain...it really doesn't want to stay up....
what better way to finish a Monday than with a slice of Chocolate Decker cake from A1 Bakery?!
Coming back to school was always very strange and difficult at times when I was a student at school, throughout my school career so I was able to understand the fact that the children were not as engaged and quite remembering of all that I had taught them in the last term in the first week as they were still trying to get back into the 'school mode'. This was especially difficult for the K1 children, as I saw just trying to get them to come to school in the first place was a difficulty, as they returned from their first big holiday since starting school. It was slightly easier than after Christmas, which had been their first holiday since starting school, but there was still evidence of children who were struggling to realise it wasn't just a 'half a year' deal, no they were here for the long haul. It is very hard at times not to feel bad for them, given that they are 2 years old and very much still children. But you have to put a straight face on and let it happen, it is something that I have grown to realise I just have to deal with now.
Following a huge day of seeming to want to hack up my lungs on Monday, I only managed to last a single lesson on Tuesday morning before being sent home with sick leave by the doctor. My cough was much worse after my holiday and I spent the afternoon relaxing, sleeping a little and trying to give my body the much needed rest to get better. Wednesday was spent cleaning my room which was very much relaxing as I needed to do it badly and it was good to see my room pretty spotless. Of course there is always a reason behind these things and mine was the fact that an old friend of mine from school, the gorgeous Lucy, arrived in Hong Kong from China on Thursday!!
Lucy was at school with me and it has been wonderful getting to catch up on her travels, I heard many wonderful and often wacky things (when it came to food that is) about China and it sounds like an incredible country. I am definitely planning on making a trip there when I can this year, it isn't something to be missed.
On Friday afternoon, the teachers who weren't teaching lessons, travelled over to a primary school not five minutes away where the next day, we were holding the 'Celebration of the Latern Festival and the Inaugaration of the Parent-Teacher Association'. Our job was to unload all of the things that we would need for the event and then to put them up. This involved unpacking a lot of homemade laterns, created by the children, and attaching them to strings where they were hung from the ceiling in the outside area where the adults and children could come and play games, earning small prizes for the children, another thing to be set up. Lots of the laterns were wonderful and looked very impressive, a lot of hard work had clearly gone into them. I didn't get to see the finished product however until Saturday morning as I had to travel back to teach 2D their PE lesson and then, because Will had stayed on at the primary school, had to teach 2E, a class I didn't know at all but who turned out to be an enthusiastic group of children who tired me out VERY quickly! Isn't that what 3 year olds are supposed to do anyway?
An early start on Saturday saw all of the teachers back at the primary school for the event. Having helped set up the arts and craft area, fetching buckets of water to dip the painbrushes in, I went upstairs with Ivy and Pet and were up with a group of K2 children who were going to perform a dance. We had to help them get ready, they were already wearing their costumes. The biggest challenge that day came in the form of having to put powder on their faces. I presume it was some kind of foundation or something...you can see why it was a challenge! I have only had experience of putting on makeup during school plays and that was only ever the bare minimum so then trying to do 20 3 year olds kids was a little bit manic but I managed it and almost got it completely right...almost being the key word here...while the kids rehearsed and then went onstage to perform, I was left in charge of the room to keep an eye on the bags and while I was sad not to get a glimpse of what the children were doing, I wasn't even sure if I would see it at all even then, it was a good time just to sit down and chill a little bit.
On Saturday evening, pre-drinks were held at our flat before there was a big trip to LKF. As Ruth was leaving the next day, it was natural that we had to go and hit the district one last time. Sadly my lungs were clearly not up to it so I was around for pre-drinks but stayed behind and let in Ruth and Lucy at 5am the next morning, thanks to them forgetting the keys...most people were there and it was a great, relaxed atmosphere. Lucy got on swimmingly with the rest of the group and while it was confusing at first having two Lucys, it worked itself out. I went to bed, exhausted and glad to be asleep.
Sunday was joyfully lazy but it was a sad day as well. Lucy and I offered our assistance as best we could to Ruth who had to fit all the clothes she brought with her and everything she had bought while out here into 30kg of hold luggage. Yeah...it was never going to happen and so there is now a couple of bags of clothes outside her room but she's given us permission to take anything we want which is always a bonus when you get free clothes! We all headed in to Town Centre for one last meal together and the Yuen Long crew, Will, Willow, Ben and Katie joined the three of us at Euro Go-Go, a European cafe/restaraunt where we feasted on lots of delicious food!
It was very much tearful and heartfelt goodbyes to Ruth from there and I was sad to see her go. She's been a wonderful flatmate and while it is a little daunting knowing that I have the flat on my own for the next five months, knowing that I will have people around me and visiting me at various points, is much more of a comfort. Katie and I waved Ruth off in a taxi to the airport and crashing back into bed ensued once more.
I hope that my cough doesn't deter me from any more work this week and that it gets much better, it is far more irritating now than anything. I had a chest X-ray on Saturday so I will see if that brings up anything in my chest that might actually indicate something is wrong further than a cough that has lasted a month and a cold which has now crept up on me.
Until next time,
Batkinson xx
Cantonese word of the week: pronunciation: melega?; translation: what is it?
Quote of the week: "Love is like the wind. You can't see it but you sure can feel it." Landon Carter - A Walk To Remember
Prayer points:
- my cough is starting to bug me now more than anything and I would really like it to heal
- for a continued easy transition back into school life
Clearing up the kid's homemade lanterns after the Lantern Festival The view across the harbor from Ferry Pier, you can barely see the difference between water and sky!Red Bull and Vodka, I'm still not convinced that it's a good combination, especially after seeing the hyperactive side effects...Tom laughing at...something...Becky trying to avoid the camera!Ruth and Tom, such lovely posers for the camera!Mark and Ruth for the last time... Tom and Will at pre-drinks before hitting LKF! Lucy H looking gorgeous, trying to open a bottle of something.... A last meal with Ruth at Euro GoGo in Town CentreGoodbye from Ben and Willow Double trouble! Two Lucys in town... Last group shot, oh gosh the expression I'm wearing....Goodbyes from the Yuen Long crewGoodbye from Katiethe last shot of the two of us as flatemates, really gonna miss my first ever flatmate! I love Lucy's cooking, and her Chinese sweet bread is no exception! Condensed milk maybe not such a fan of though...I think we might have to start giving up on this paper chain...it really doesn't want to stay up....what better way to finish a Monday than with a slice of Chocolate Decker cake from A1 Bakery?!Cambodia? I Must Have Spelt England Wrong! - 27th January-9th February
Okay, so as may or may not know, I may have told a half-truth about going to Cambodia...yes, Ruth went to Cambodia and Vietnam, apparently it was rather warm. I however, have spent the last few weeks telling everyone that I was going to Cambodia however in actual fact I came home for Chinese New Year! It was a wonderful surprise to my family (although I don't know whether "I don't understand, why are you here?" counts as my siblings being happy about me being home or just plain confused, I think it was a bit of both) and as Chinese New Year is all about spending time with your family, I decided that there wasn't any other place I would rather be.
I didn't update the Monday I was back because, aside from wanting to spend time with my family rather than on the computer, I am sure you have no interest in how I spent the three days between the last blog update and actually leaving for home. Trust me, it was rather stressful as I didn't have much hold luggage weight and I wanted to bring quite a bit back including my new ukulele!
The flights home were rather nice. I had not flown with Aeroflot before and after wasting a lot of time at Hong Kong airport, I found myself in a comfortable aisle seat (which I always prefer) and on my way home. We had a wonderful stop off in Moscow which was rather exciting as I have never been to Russia before and while it wa -14 degrees Celsius outside and the snow was thick on the ground, it was toasty inside the terminals and I found myself spending the small amount of Russian roubles I had been able to change from GBP, on an ice cream which was both rather weird and rather nice. The flight from Moscow to London was much shorter (3hr 15 in comparison to 10 hours) and I have to admit it was a perhaps rather hyper from being so tired me that found herself on the London Underground, on my way home!
I did feel slightly bad for turning up at 11.30pm when Al had school the next day but after the initial shock had worn off, it was wonderful just to collapse into bed and sleep! Having rung Mum, who was away at the time, to let her know I was here, I then rung two of my closest friends, the gorgeous Tiff and Shancy, who proceeded to attempt to burst my ear drum with the level of noise they emitted when they found out I was here! We met up and after discovering it was going to be a fruitless attempt trying to get tickets for Corialanus, we went for Italian food and then back to Tiff's for a sleepover. It was wonderful to see these two again and it was the start of a wonderful week, seeing friends and family who I hadn't seen for nearly five months!
Sunday was spent at church, both at St Peter's with the monthly family lunch followed by watching the start of the 6 Nations (and continuing to despair over England, the match having been watched yesterday) and at HTB Onslow Square where it was a great surprise to my friends and wonderful to see so many of the people that I had grown up with and had grown to know and love over the last few years. The week completely felt as if I hadn't left.
After a couple of days of relaxing, walking the dog and making choclate brownies at my brother's request, I found myself at HTB Students on Tuesday night. I hadn't actually been to one of the term time meetings but I was overjoyed to feel so welcome by both new and old friends, feeling warmly greeted and then accepted into the 'Connect Group' who adopted me. With delicious food, great company and a challenging talk from Pete Greig, it was an awesome evening very well spent.
On Wednesday, I got the pleasure of seeing another of my friends, Naomi, after she had finished work. She treated me to a cupcake from the Hummingbird Bakery (for those of you who aren't aware, these are the most delicious things in the entire world!) and we spent a lovely hour together before I headed off to the theatre. Having failed to secure tickets for Corialanus (again), Mum and I popped down the road and managed to get rather good dress circle tickets to see Matilda the Musical, something that while it wasn't Mum's cup of tea, it was something I had wanted to see for ages. The young cast were stunning and a very much enjoyable night out at the theatre, something I haven't been able to do since I left London. A review of it should be coming to the 'Practise for University' blog post in the next week.
On Thursday, I was treated, despite the awful weather, to see my dear from Jemima who is also travelling, I look forward to her hopefully coming to Hong Kong in the near future. We haven't seen each other for nearly 7 months so it was fantastic to be able to catch up and just relax in Caffe Nero with warm drinks and excellent food. Afterwards I travelled back to GCH, my alma mater if you wish, to go back and visit. It was very strange coming back as an 'Old Grey' but it was lovely to see many of my old teachers again and to see a few of my friends in the younger years who are still there! After that, Shantelle and I travelled back to Tiff's where I finally managed to get her Christmas present to her (oh well, I think July is when it gets a little ridiculous but two months late is fairly acceptable) and we spent a couple of hours getting to have a last chat and much laughter before I flew on Friday morning.
It has been very strange coming back to Hong Kong. It now feels like a second home so it felt no different to going back to England and although I made the mistake of falling asleep for nearly 5 hours during the day, resulting in not getting to sleep until 6am the next morning, I was ready to go back to school this morning.
I look forward to seeing what this half of the year brings. It was 5 months exactly on Friday since I had been in Hong Kong and I can't believe that I am now half way through. Ruth is leaving us on Sunday to go back to England (a very long and complicated reason would have to be issued which even I am not sure of the whole story) so it will be very strange. However I have a fellow Old Grey, Lucy, coming to stay with me in her travels across the world so I am looking forward to catching up with another wonderful friend from home.
Until next week,
Batkinson xx
Cantonese word of the week: pronunciation: mo fan; translation: absent/not here (used to indicate a child is not in class)
Quote of the week: "No story lives unless someone is willing to listen." - JK Rowling
Prayer points:
- that the kids come back refreshed and ready to learn
- that I don't suffer from jetlag as I did when I first arrived - it hasn't been too bad so far but who knows
- for healing for my cough. I have had it for over a month now and it doesn't show many signs of getting any better...
Chinese New Year decorations outside school!
When up in the air, expect it to be -40 degrees Centigrade outside...that's too cold for words!
Looking out over Russia, it looks incredible! Maybe one day I will be able to go further than the airport!
Sunset as we touch down in Russia...is that en route to Cambodia?
Sign for an Irish Bar, the translation in Russian...in Russia...right...
Well you learn something new every day, here's Burger King in Russian!
My first sight of snow for a while! -14 degrees outside in Moscow and I'm inside, toasty hot and licking an ice cream!
Looks a lot more like England than Cambodia...
Making these again, haven't done them in a while and it was SO good to get back to baking!
Such a treat getting to see the awesomeness that is Matilda the Musical at the Cambridge Theatre on Wednesday with Mum!! Not something I've got to do very often while in Hong Kong!
Sad goodbyes to these two, again...gonna miss these two crazy cats so much! Again!
Brunch snack of Hoisin Duck wrap (getting in the mood a little...) before heading back to Hong Kong!
Taking the cold weather back to Hong Kong with me via -4 degrees in Russia!
Why do I get the feeling that Aeroflot are proud to have the Winter Olympics in their country? The covers on the seats certainly say something...
She must have really missed me if I come home and find her curled up on my bed, in the coldest room in the house, rather than on Ellie's bed!
I didn't update the Monday I was back because, aside from wanting to spend time with my family rather than on the computer, I am sure you have no interest in how I spent the three days between the last blog update and actually leaving for home. Trust me, it was rather stressful as I didn't have much hold luggage weight and I wanted to bring quite a bit back including my new ukulele!
The flights home were rather nice. I had not flown with Aeroflot before and after wasting a lot of time at Hong Kong airport, I found myself in a comfortable aisle seat (which I always prefer) and on my way home. We had a wonderful stop off in Moscow which was rather exciting as I have never been to Russia before and while it wa -14 degrees Celsius outside and the snow was thick on the ground, it was toasty inside the terminals and I found myself spending the small amount of Russian roubles I had been able to change from GBP, on an ice cream which was both rather weird and rather nice. The flight from Moscow to London was much shorter (3hr 15 in comparison to 10 hours) and I have to admit it was a perhaps rather hyper from being so tired me that found herself on the London Underground, on my way home!
I did feel slightly bad for turning up at 11.30pm when Al had school the next day but after the initial shock had worn off, it was wonderful just to collapse into bed and sleep! Having rung Mum, who was away at the time, to let her know I was here, I then rung two of my closest friends, the gorgeous Tiff and Shancy, who proceeded to attempt to burst my ear drum with the level of noise they emitted when they found out I was here! We met up and after discovering it was going to be a fruitless attempt trying to get tickets for Corialanus, we went for Italian food and then back to Tiff's for a sleepover. It was wonderful to see these two again and it was the start of a wonderful week, seeing friends and family who I hadn't seen for nearly five months!
Sunday was spent at church, both at St Peter's with the monthly family lunch followed by watching the start of the 6 Nations (and continuing to despair over England, the match having been watched yesterday) and at HTB Onslow Square where it was a great surprise to my friends and wonderful to see so many of the people that I had grown up with and had grown to know and love over the last few years. The week completely felt as if I hadn't left.
After a couple of days of relaxing, walking the dog and making choclate brownies at my brother's request, I found myself at HTB Students on Tuesday night. I hadn't actually been to one of the term time meetings but I was overjoyed to feel so welcome by both new and old friends, feeling warmly greeted and then accepted into the 'Connect Group' who adopted me. With delicious food, great company and a challenging talk from Pete Greig, it was an awesome evening very well spent.
On Wednesday, I got the pleasure of seeing another of my friends, Naomi, after she had finished work. She treated me to a cupcake from the Hummingbird Bakery (for those of you who aren't aware, these are the most delicious things in the entire world!) and we spent a lovely hour together before I headed off to the theatre. Having failed to secure tickets for Corialanus (again), Mum and I popped down the road and managed to get rather good dress circle tickets to see Matilda the Musical, something that while it wasn't Mum's cup of tea, it was something I had wanted to see for ages. The young cast were stunning and a very much enjoyable night out at the theatre, something I haven't been able to do since I left London. A review of it should be coming to the 'Practise for University' blog post in the next week.
On Thursday, I was treated, despite the awful weather, to see my dear from Jemima who is also travelling, I look forward to her hopefully coming to Hong Kong in the near future. We haven't seen each other for nearly 7 months so it was fantastic to be able to catch up and just relax in Caffe Nero with warm drinks and excellent food. Afterwards I travelled back to GCH, my alma mater if you wish, to go back and visit. It was very strange coming back as an 'Old Grey' but it was lovely to see many of my old teachers again and to see a few of my friends in the younger years who are still there! After that, Shantelle and I travelled back to Tiff's where I finally managed to get her Christmas present to her (oh well, I think July is when it gets a little ridiculous but two months late is fairly acceptable) and we spent a couple of hours getting to have a last chat and much laughter before I flew on Friday morning.
It has been very strange coming back to Hong Kong. It now feels like a second home so it felt no different to going back to England and although I made the mistake of falling asleep for nearly 5 hours during the day, resulting in not getting to sleep until 6am the next morning, I was ready to go back to school this morning.
I look forward to seeing what this half of the year brings. It was 5 months exactly on Friday since I had been in Hong Kong and I can't believe that I am now half way through. Ruth is leaving us on Sunday to go back to England (a very long and complicated reason would have to be issued which even I am not sure of the whole story) so it will be very strange. However I have a fellow Old Grey, Lucy, coming to stay with me in her travels across the world so I am looking forward to catching up with another wonderful friend from home.
Until next week,
Batkinson xx
Cantonese word of the week: pronunciation: mo fan; translation: absent/not here (used to indicate a child is not in class)
Quote of the week: "No story lives unless someone is willing to listen." - JK Rowling
Prayer points:
- that the kids come back refreshed and ready to learn
- that I don't suffer from jetlag as I did when I first arrived - it hasn't been too bad so far but who knows
- for healing for my cough. I have had it for over a month now and it doesn't show many signs of getting any better...
Chinese New Year decorations outside school!When up in the air, expect it to be -40 degrees Centigrade outside...that's too cold for words!Looking out over Russia, it looks incredible! Maybe one day I will be able to go further than the airport!Sunset as we touch down in Russia...is that en route to Cambodia?Sign for an Irish Bar, the translation in Russian...in Russia...right...Well you learn something new every day, here's Burger King in Russian!My first sight of snow for a while! -14 degrees outside in Moscow and I'm inside, toasty hot and licking an ice cream!Looks a lot more like England than Cambodia... Making these again, haven't done them in a while and it was SO good to get back to baking!Such a treat getting to see the awesomeness that is Matilda the Musical at the Cambridge Theatre on Wednesday with Mum!! Not something I've got to do very often while in Hong Kong!Sad goodbyes to these two, again...gonna miss these two crazy cats so much! Again!Brunch snack of Hoisin Duck wrap (getting in the mood a little...) before heading back to Hong Kong!Taking the cold weather back to Hong Kong with me via -4 degrees in Russia!Why do I get the feeling that Aeroflot are proud to have the Winter Olympics in their country? The covers on the seats certainly say something...She must have really missed me if I come home and find her curled up on my bed, in the coldest room in the house, rather than on Ellie's bed!Monday, 27 January 2014
Happy New Year!!!! - 20th-27th January
I know what you might be thinking, whoa you're a bit late catching on to the fact that it's 2014...but actually due to the content of my other posts you may know why I am saying Happy New Year, or at least Happy Chinese/Lunar New Year! This year will be the year of the horse, so there are lots of pictures of horses all around the place, photos will come as soon as I can gain access to the website on.my laptop. Trust me, it doesn't make sense to me either.
So this week finally marked the end of the first term or semester, at school. And what a term, I thought the Christmas term back home was bad enough!! Term finished today (Monday 27th) and we are back in full swing on Monday 10th February, raring to go for the next 5 months until we break up in July (with various says off and a week for Easter in April when I might be going to Australia, funds have to be consulted there! I'm so excited for my trip to Cambodia, I fly on Friday and I've got an action packed week planned with plenty of tourist stuff because that's what you do on holiday!!
I spent Monday and Tuesday teaching K3 about Chinese New Year, or at least specifically about the Good Wishes signs that are often hung up in homes at Chinese New Year, wishing for good luck on that place for the coming year. We got the kids to write their own ones that they decorated in a later lesson which went down a storm and they all enjoyed it, I hope...
On Wednesday most of the Tuen Mun group plus Yuen Long, met up for sushi. With no battery in my phone and with the only clue of going for sushi, I wandered around a little before remembering the last place we had all gone for sushi which thankfully turned out to be the place where they were. It's very good sushi and a lovely atmosphere so combined with excellent company, it made for a great mid week meet up.
On Thursday I travelled down to Wan Chai as Murray and I were due to meet up with some of the worship team as both of us have been feeling called to this area of serving the church. Sadly neither of us had been told that the jam session, as they had called it, had been cancelled because Jon, Worship Pastor, had a wisdom tooth flaring up so he was in no state to do much/any talking! But we found friends of Murray putting together a collage of prayers that the congregation of The Vine had written on multi coloured pieces of paper last Sunday so we helped stick them on and it looks like an image of Jesus, which was the idea. So it was not an evening wasted, just spent not in the way we thought it would go! Got to love lots of surprises.
Friday was the last day of lessons, although it wasn't really as we had our monthly Birthday Party which was combined with a flower market. These are markets that crop up all over Hong Kong at Chinese New Year and sell a variety of things including flowers, Chinese paintings, clothes and Best Wishes signs. We gave the children fake money and each year came out and 'bought' items that the teachers were selling, ranging from horse piggy banks to the Best Wishes signs that the K3 children had made to flowers. It was hugely successful and all of them loved it. This was followed for each year by a performance from the K3s. In the morning, the whole day class had learnt a dance to show and there were some performing a lion dance which is a huge costume that was very well executed. In the afternoon, the children were shown the lion dance as rehearsed by the afternoon children and two very talented K3 children showed the routine they had been learning in...I'm not quite sure which martial art it is so I will get back to you on that one as I don't want to make a mistake and be highly embarrassed...but they are very impressive, disciplined and sharp, incredible for two 5 year olds.
On Sunday Ruth, Becky, Lucy, Tom, Will, Katie, Ben and his friend from England Tom and I travelled to Tai O, a dishing village on Lantau Island. It was very quaint with rural fishing life mashed with the arrival of tourists and the effect hay as having. It was fascinating to see what as clearly a much poorer part of the city and see it has Hong Kong may have been before it became so modernised.
From there, all of us minus Will and the Yuen Long crew, went on to the Big Buddha. This is a giant statue of the Buddha overlooking beautiful scenery and a monastery and temple. We had to climb up over 200 steps to get to the top but the view was very much worth it it and it strongly reminded me of my visit to Christ the Redeemer on the mission trip I went on in October 2012. We then saw the temple before getting in the cable car that had a glass floor, allowing us stunning views of what was below as well as around us.
In the evening, the same group minus Will and plus Becky and Tom met up for some more bowling. Turns out Ben's friend Tom is quite the bowler and almost managed to get the better of Ruth in the second game. I magnificently lost both games but I did get a strike and a couple of nines which is something to be proud of at least.
Now I am on holiday, I cannot wait to fly on Friday to my holiday in Cambodia. It's going great fun but I cannot promise that I will be able to write my blog so apologies if you don't st one next week, you can have double in two weeks time!
Apologies for the lack of photos again, there's been some trouble accessing the website on my laptop so I've had to do it another way where I can't access my photos to upload...
Until next time,
Batkinson xxx
Cantonese phrase of the week: pronounced - san Lee fy lo; translation - Happy New Year (used for Chinese New Year)
Quote of the week: 'Maybe God has a bigger plan for me than I had for myself. Like this journey never ends.' - Jamie Sullivan (A Walk To Remember)
Prayer points:
- that I feel refreshed by my holiday and don't get overwhelmed by it all.
- that I feel calm as I a little worried about it, flying out again with stopovers...it's a little nerve-wracking...
- that I recover from the horrid cough that has been plaguing me for the last couple of weeks and has not been nice.
Out in a boat on the sea, going rather fast!
Homemade doughnuts, warm and sugary, delicious!
The Tai O market, a fascinating place to be in!
Mis-spelling of the week...I assume it was supposed to say snacks...
This probabaly would have been where several houses would have stood, now all that remains are charred stilts that they stood on
Should we be concerned about this?!
We did it!!!!
Gee, thanks Ben for the photobomb of what was going to be a perfectly good windswept shot!
That's much better!
The view from the top, pretty impressive huh?
The view from the top, pretty impressive huh?
12 of these lined the walk way to the Big Buddha, eaach representing one sign of the Zodiac. This is the dog, the Zodiac year in 1994 when I was born!
The temple we visited after the climb!
The sun starts to set as we begin our descent on the cable car...
The cable car route that seemed to stretch forever!
The glass floor we had in our cabin and the stunning views below!
Cheering on Tom and Will as they took their turns!
Ben and Willow...
So this week finally marked the end of the first term or semester, at school. And what a term, I thought the Christmas term back home was bad enough!! Term finished today (Monday 27th) and we are back in full swing on Monday 10th February, raring to go for the next 5 months until we break up in July (with various says off and a week for Easter in April when I might be going to Australia, funds have to be consulted there! I'm so excited for my trip to Cambodia, I fly on Friday and I've got an action packed week planned with plenty of tourist stuff because that's what you do on holiday!!
I spent Monday and Tuesday teaching K3 about Chinese New Year, or at least specifically about the Good Wishes signs that are often hung up in homes at Chinese New Year, wishing for good luck on that place for the coming year. We got the kids to write their own ones that they decorated in a later lesson which went down a storm and they all enjoyed it, I hope...
On Wednesday most of the Tuen Mun group plus Yuen Long, met up for sushi. With no battery in my phone and with the only clue of going for sushi, I wandered around a little before remembering the last place we had all gone for sushi which thankfully turned out to be the place where they were. It's very good sushi and a lovely atmosphere so combined with excellent company, it made for a great mid week meet up.
On Thursday I travelled down to Wan Chai as Murray and I were due to meet up with some of the worship team as both of us have been feeling called to this area of serving the church. Sadly neither of us had been told that the jam session, as they had called it, had been cancelled because Jon, Worship Pastor, had a wisdom tooth flaring up so he was in no state to do much/any talking! But we found friends of Murray putting together a collage of prayers that the congregation of The Vine had written on multi coloured pieces of paper last Sunday so we helped stick them on and it looks like an image of Jesus, which was the idea. So it was not an evening wasted, just spent not in the way we thought it would go! Got to love lots of surprises.
Friday was the last day of lessons, although it wasn't really as we had our monthly Birthday Party which was combined with a flower market. These are markets that crop up all over Hong Kong at Chinese New Year and sell a variety of things including flowers, Chinese paintings, clothes and Best Wishes signs. We gave the children fake money and each year came out and 'bought' items that the teachers were selling, ranging from horse piggy banks to the Best Wishes signs that the K3 children had made to flowers. It was hugely successful and all of them loved it. This was followed for each year by a performance from the K3s. In the morning, the whole day class had learnt a dance to show and there were some performing a lion dance which is a huge costume that was very well executed. In the afternoon, the children were shown the lion dance as rehearsed by the afternoon children and two very talented K3 children showed the routine they had been learning in...I'm not quite sure which martial art it is so I will get back to you on that one as I don't want to make a mistake and be highly embarrassed...but they are very impressive, disciplined and sharp, incredible for two 5 year olds.
On Sunday Ruth, Becky, Lucy, Tom, Will, Katie, Ben and his friend from England Tom and I travelled to Tai O, a dishing village on Lantau Island. It was very quaint with rural fishing life mashed with the arrival of tourists and the effect hay as having. It was fascinating to see what as clearly a much poorer part of the city and see it has Hong Kong may have been before it became so modernised.
From there, all of us minus Will and the Yuen Long crew, went on to the Big Buddha. This is a giant statue of the Buddha overlooking beautiful scenery and a monastery and temple. We had to climb up over 200 steps to get to the top but the view was very much worth it it and it strongly reminded me of my visit to Christ the Redeemer on the mission trip I went on in October 2012. We then saw the temple before getting in the cable car that had a glass floor, allowing us stunning views of what was below as well as around us.
In the evening, the same group minus Will and plus Becky and Tom met up for some more bowling. Turns out Ben's friend Tom is quite the bowler and almost managed to get the better of Ruth in the second game. I magnificently lost both games but I did get a strike and a couple of nines which is something to be proud of at least.
Now I am on holiday, I cannot wait to fly on Friday to my holiday in Cambodia. It's going great fun but I cannot promise that I will be able to write my blog so apologies if you don't st one next week, you can have double in two weeks time!
Apologies for the lack of photos again, there's been some trouble accessing the website on my laptop so I've had to do it another way where I can't access my photos to upload...
Until next time,
Batkinson xxx
Cantonese phrase of the week: pronounced - san Lee fy lo; translation - Happy New Year (used for Chinese New Year)
Quote of the week: 'Maybe God has a bigger plan for me than I had for myself. Like this journey never ends.' - Jamie Sullivan (A Walk To Remember)
Prayer points:
- that I feel refreshed by my holiday and don't get overwhelmed by it all.
- that I feel calm as I a little worried about it, flying out again with stopovers...it's a little nerve-wracking...
- that I recover from the horrid cough that has been plaguing me for the last couple of weeks and has not been nice.
Out in a boat on the sea, going rather fast!Homemade doughnuts, warm and sugary, delicious!The Tai O market, a fascinating place to be in! Mis-spelling of the week...I assume it was supposed to say snacks...This probabaly would have been where several houses would have stood, now all that remains are charred stilts that they stood onShould we be concerned about this?!We did it!!!!Gee, thanks Ben for the photobomb of what was going to be a perfectly good windswept shot!That's much better!The view from the top, pretty impressive huh?The view from the top, pretty impressive huh?12 of these lined the walk way to the Big Buddha, eaach representing one sign of the Zodiac. This is the dog, the Zodiac year in 1994 when I was born!The temple we visited after the climb! The sun starts to set as we begin our descent on the cable car... The cable car route that seemed to stretch forever!The glass floor we had in our cabin and the stunning views below!Cheering on Tom and Will as they took their turns! Ben and Willow...
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