September 29th

Hello to my people who are reading this.

It is “Mid-Autumn Festival” in Macau and I have a week off (the only break until Christmas-no long weekends either) so it is time to write a little about Macau- Macau is the state/province and is comprised of three subtropical islands-Macau/Coloane/Taipa.  I live and teach in Taipa which is one of the islands. This very small island is basically a large city of approximately 75000 who all live in high rises. I explored Taipa when I first arrived so this week it was time to explore the island of Coloane and Macau.  Following will be sights and sounds of the islands and of the festivities this week.  There are 35 sites that have been declared as heritage sites.

All students from PreK to Grade 6 made a lantern to hang in the MPR where our autumn festival was held last Thursday evening.

Every staff member was given a tin of mooncakes. As with every Chinese festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival has its own special food – moon cake. It is a kind of cookie with various fillings and different artistic patterns on the surface depicting the legends of the festival. Generally, it is round, as the Mid- Autumn Festival is a time for family reunion, and “round” has a similar pronunciation with “reunion” in Chinese. During the festival, people sacrifice these cookies to the moon as offerings, eat them for celebration and present them to relatives and friends for good wishes.

Chinese Bonsai and Autumn Flower Show in Taipa Museum Park

Hundreds of cardboard boxes of potted plants comes to the park and the plants are planted for an instantaneous show of blooms.  Even the sod (small 15 x 15 cm squares) is planted for this special week.

 I found myself a hunk of a hulk to take me to the movies at the Galaxy. The ticket was 240 MOP which is about 40 CAD which he did not pay for! You do get to choose your own seat.

When it was time for the movies I arrived back at the theatre and was led to a special room.  Mmmm- this is strange I thought to myself. There's like no people here. Look to the right- my almost private theatre. It was the Director's Club with 15 reclining chairs and popcorn and pop delivery. No wonder it was so expensive but worth the experience. An example of not knowing the language.  

I visited Coloane village on Coloane. This is the chapel of  St. Francis Xavier built in 1928. Interesting fact - for years a fragment of the saint's arm

bone was kept their for years. 

A sidestreet where I explored the very few shops. I bought an artwork here.

There are the two extremes in Macau- the richness of the casinos and the poverty at the other end of the spectrum.   This is very common and very similar to what I experienced in '96 when I was in China last.

a small budhist temple

Part of the rest of the week was spent exploring Macau. I haven't finished yet and will continue to explore this week as well as move residences. This is in Guia Fort- a unique sundial. You can tell what time I took the photo.

It is a long climb up to the top of the Flora Garden in the fort area but there you find the Guia Lighthouse and the chapel of Our Lady of Guia built in 1622.  It is the oldest lighthouse on the China coast and is still operational beginning May every year.  Inside are interesting frescoes just discovered.

Overlooking the city from the fort.

This dragon must be about 8 meters tall inside one of the hotels.

This is a lego representation of Star City just being built. This gives Lego a new meaning.

The Red Market-a place everyone needs to experience. Stalls of fruits and vegetables and a wet market.. Many smells and sights to behold.......  I had to experience it at least once. Not too different than what I had seen in Beijing and other parts of China I had visited.

Now here is a rabbit warren of shopping for clothes, shoes and handbags. 

This is a living wall on the outside the City of Dreams where I use the free shuttle services to different parts of  Macau. I hope you are all keeping well.