Holiday (British for Vacation) adventures

School is starting again on Monday, but I had a great holiday (in British English, "holiday" refers to vacation or time off from work or school. I hear "holiday" more often than "vacation" or "break." I also say "lift" more than "elevator" because I constantly remind my students to "be quiet in the lift." My English is becoming Britishized...it also has some heavy Thai and Filipino influences. I guess that's life in a foreign country :).

I went to Hong Kong to visit a family friend on my school break. We had a great time! We rode the tram up Victoria's Peak and we could see all of Hong Kong. It was an amazing view (as you can see from the picture). We went to Lantau Island the next day and took a cable car up the mountain. We had a beautiful view of the bay and the islands. The island is covered in trees, so you can't see much of it until you get to the top. We went back to the city that night and watched the light show from the Avenue of Stars. We even happened across Jackie Chan's hand prints, so I took a picture of course. We went to Ocean Park the next day and saw some different ocean wildlife and rode a few rides. It's a very nice theme park, but make sure you take the escalator to the top of the hill. If not, you'll have a very long walk...I know from experience. We did some shopping at the Ladies' Market that night and I got some great deals on a purse and a watch! I think my favorite part of the day was eating at California Pizza Kitchen though. It was soooo good! Hong Kong is a great city. You can go almost anywhere by train and you can use the same pass to ride the trains and the buses. It's also very clean. I really enjoyed the trip!

I got to go on a church retreat with my Filipino church the following weekend and it was also a great time. We went to a boy scout camp (all Thai students are required to be in girl scouts or boy scouts). There were lots of totem poles and statues of Native Americans. They had covered wagons and animal skulls. It was interesting how hard they tried to make it look American.

We went "trekking" one morning and I felt like I was in the jungle! We were surrounded by tropical trees and the path was muddy. I'm used to hiking in the dry mountains of Colorado. It was fun to experience something new. The only downside was prickly branches that were often protruding onto our path. I tried to move one with my arm and ended up with lots of the small "prickles" in my arm! They were acually quite harmless. They stung a little at first, but once I pulled them all out, I was fine.

I've spent the last few days preparing my new classroom (in a brand new building--Praise the Lord!) and classroom materials for the second semester. We start on Monday!