HAPPY ONE MONTH ANNIVERSARY!!! - 30th September - 7th October

So normally anniversarys are used to celebrate happy things like a wedding, birthdays are technically anniversaries, relationships. Being away from your home country and everything you love doesn't exactly seem as the ideal happy clappy one month anniversary. But I've had a great month, surely that sort of counts for something being happy around here? Today is the 7th October, exactly one month since I arrived in Hong Kong. And honestly I did not plan this and I look forward to seeing if there are any other month anniversaries to celebrate on the day I update.
Following a lazy National Day on Tuesday, the majority of our group met up in Pizza Hut in Yuen Long, north of me and towards the border of Hong Kong/China to celebrate Tom's (another gap) birthday on the Wednesday. It was a fantastic evening with plenty of entertainment from each other, two attempts at Happy Birthday which did leave the staff and other custmers just that little bit confused but as long as we had a good time, which did involve several pizzas taking ages and wrong orders. There are photos below of deliberately silly and kinda awful faces but hey, that's what being a student is all about!
On Friday, Will, Katie, several other English teachers and I travelled to the main sister school to Siu Lun to talk about an event that is happening for the second year running. The English teachers of main school, Siu Lun and our other sister school in Shan King, put on a play of sorts. We spent the entire morning, 9.30 to 1.15, talking about what our play could be about, ranging from 'A Box Full of Kisses is better than no present at all at Christmas' to 'Superstar Santa' (followed by a short murmur of Jesus Christ Superstar) to different fairy tales, to an updated version of the Nativity feature Jeremy Kyle...to the play we decided on, a story of people who were supposedly too busy, coming together to do a Charity Christmas Carol Singing event all because of someone's persistence to help the poor. It involves 11 of us and 4 Christmas songs so we are short on time and space but it is the determination and enthusiasm that I think will get us through.
On Saturday, rather than heading back out clubbing, we had a film night at my flat, it was nice and loud and full for a change! We ordered curry (first time in a while and it was good, although nothing beats a good Brick Lane curry) and found The Tourist on TV with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. It was a fantastic night that was chilled and relaxed, an opportunity to hang out with each other with a couple of beers but not getting totally wasted, the Bethia way of having a good time without the need to get wasted!
Sunday held some nostalgia for me as worship at The Vine, my new church, started with Happy Day and ended with Oceans, two songs that have been highly influential on my life both over the last couple of months and the last few years. Added to a talk on family...well I was glad that I got to talk to them at the end of the day! It reminded me how grateful I am to have family and friends who have supported me and for that I am so grateful.
Overall a satisfying week, friendships built upon and fun had. I look forward to seeing what this week will bring and to many conversations that cover goodness knows how many topics!
Signing out,
Batkinson

Cantonese word of the week: pronunciation - see you (spoken as one word); translation - smile! NOTE: often used to encourage children or people to smile while taking a photograph
Quote of the week: 'The ones that love us never really leave us. And you can always find them, in here (points to heart).' - Sirius Black
Prayer points:
- I'm getting ready for change when my new flatmate arrives next week, it's kind of daunting to have to face the idea of change once more

Happily waiting for pizza while celebrating!

Murray posing for what was supposed to be a natural shot...

Lucy and Becky discussing the finer details of some kind of reality TV show I didn't quite understand

the natural down the table shot

another strange pose, not quite sure what Murray or Ben was planning

We aren't quite sure what happened but half the shopping mall at Town Centre get shut down!

My first attempt at an English beakfast: streaky bacon, fried egg and fried bread...at least the second attempt was less burnt!

Film night fun!

Garlic naan and chicken curry, something that was a joy to have!

'Oceans' by Hillsong playing at The Vine, such an incredible song bringing back such amazing memories of Focus 2013.

The red of the sun going down over the bay was just incredible to watch earlier on Saturday.

The reflection of the golden setting sun over the water of Butterfly Bay provides such a gorgeous view from the bedroom window.