A Month of Busy

Since I travelled to Vietnam my days have mostly been focussed towards learning about the SK world. I enjoy most of my students and there are challenges as well as some really bright spots. They are overall a really cute group, have so much potential and are of course, all individuals. I have a grandparent from last year’s PreK group (one of my most challenging children) bringing me homemade rice wine and bread. Awesome!! No ipad gifts yet like some of the other teachers J

I’ve attended a few symphonic performances and have pretty much been laying low, working and trying to save a bit of money. I still go out for a few meals, some wine dates (don’t get excited for me -it’s not with Mr. Wong- it’s been with other females, so thanks anyway for having that ‘momentary bit of excited’ feeling for me).

A few weeks ago I had quite a scare! While taking a shower I noticed a huge bruise behind my knee and a lump. I can’t complain how I was looked after (since I was paying for it, but nonetheless it was promptly paid attention to.)  I saw a doctor at the clinic and was referred to a surgeon, had an MRI all in one day. My blood pressure had skyrocketed. I had my sister Michele, advising me and consulting with me via email and facetime. I further requested an ultrasound to rule out deep vein thrombosis this last Thursday. I have 6 items wrong with my knee area and won’t explain it now but am doing alright and trying to minimize further damage by wearing a tensor brace. I have no idea how this all happened but hope to narrow it down as it could be caused from trauma, a tumor, or arthritis. Like, honestly, all I’ve been doing is walking so it is beyond me what happened but the damage is in the leg that I had orthoscopic surgery on 20 years ago. My other thought is that the ultrasound and the MRI results are probably only as reliable as the people reading them.

I’ve organized a cooking club which takes place once a month. This month I hosted and we were full guns ahead with the Ukrainian theme. There is a small group which works very well for us, as our kitchen and dining area is very small. In January, we are thinking of cooking Korean food. I can’t wait!

For the Christmas break, I am flying into Vancouver from the 16^th to the 19^th and will visit with Stacey and her crew. Then I am flying to Phoenix to visit my very good friends Phil and Carol until Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve morning I land in Edmonton and will be spending Christmas week mostly in Lloydminster, flying back to Macau New Year’s Eve which is already New Year’s Day this side of the world. Hope to see many of you and if not I’ll still keep in touch with this blog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vietnam-September 30

My Vietnam travels began with flying Friday evening out of Macau landing in Hanoi quite late but that gave me alot of Saturday to explore the ‘Old Quarter’ and participate in the walking/cyclo street food tour. The one tour that was fascinating was the van/sampan/hiking tour to the ‘Perfume Pagoda’. I didn’t realize the pagoda was in a cave. What was fairly uncomfortable with the river ride was the absence of lifejackets and oars tied to the boat with strips of rags. It was a stimulating day of conversation travelling with a group of Canadians working at the Canadian Embassy in Hanoi. The next day I took in the ‘Water Puppet’ show-an ancient form of puppetry originating in Vietnam. Hanoi was exciting to see but it’s not a place that I would return to once visited. I thought the scooter traffic was horrific in Macau but in Hanoi it’s downright dangerous.

A van picked me up the fourth morning for the four hour drive to the Halong Bay Cruise. Another interesting experience-lucky to get to our destination. Hire a good driver in Vietnam because it could save your life- they make two lanes into three and three into two at will and large busses pass at any point along the road. The seatbelts usually don’t work.

The boat with only 12 cabins, had few English speaking tourists, an incredible chef, and great activities.  I paddled a kayak for the first time in my life! We spent a couple different times swimming at secluded beaches and visited a floating fishing village-lifejackets a must any time that we were off of the cruise boat. Many of the people from the floating villages have been moved to the land by the government but have returned because they didn’t like the city life. Tai Chi for two mornings makes me want to try more of this judo based activity.  The sunrise and sunset, if you can catch it, is a wondrous sight.

After this three day cruise I rode back to Hanoi in the tour van and they were kind enough to let me off and call a taxi to catch my flight to Danang. I had a transfer prepared ahead of time to go to Hoian for three days. There I participated in a unique cooking class. We walked to the market (common occurrence) to purchase the ingredients, rode a boat to an island (again without lifejackets) and there we cooked our meal outside at the cooking school. I definitely would like to prepare a Vietnamese meal for everyone at home sometime.

During my time in Hoian I took the opportunity to hire one of the numerous tailors and shoemakers that I had sourced out ahead of time. In between fittings I toured this World Cultural Heritage Site not far from where I was staying. I wasn’t very happy with the shoe outcome. The clothes, after three fittings, ended up well-made. I spent most of Sunday laying by the pool and flew out at 9 p.m. from Danang. It was another educational, interesting, and fun trip in Asia.

 

 

             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

September Blog

I returned to Macau late August and went right into work the second day back, mostly attending meetings and professional development. Later in the week I attended Blue Man Group which was an excellent performance at the Venetian theatre. What creative minds must create shows like the one I had the pleasure of seeing. I’ve also purchased tickets for Stomp showing next week.

The five-year olds are settling in well and learning all of the routines. It’s been busier than last year at this time so am hoping it will slow down a bit. My co-teacher Linda Steib used to explain it as ‘hardly catching your breath’. The busyness could be a factor due to having to prepare for a whole day now without allowing for a nap for the children in the afternoon. We have a daily prep or more but only two per week are individual preps. The rest are team prep time, co-teaching prep time, Mandarin and class teacher prep time.

I had a long weekend this weekend (only one of the year) and ventured with two other people over to mainland China to Schenzen to visit Dafen Village. Dafen village was a revitalization project by ‘artists’ to clean up an area and set up stalls at which they create and sell representations of famous artworks. There are a few artists there that create original works which I am interested in returning to purchase one of their pieces. I hadn’t taken enough yuan with me when I went and didn’t carry a credit card. I just need to go back, I guess. Take care all and hope the autumn is enjoyable.

 

 

 

 

 

New Wynn Palace is opened. What you see in both of these photos is all real live flowers.

 

Only in Asia

 

This week I'm posting some items that may make you smile, sigh or have no reaction at all. I've noted these as I walk to work, teach or travel. They made me sometimes gasp, sometimes smile, and sometimes say 'I can't believe it."

A sea can converted into a home-just add a couple windows and leave it on the lot-squatter's rights. This is just behind where I live. The laundry hangs on the fence just outside the home.

 



I spotted this as I walked the streets of Macau -they've tapped into an underground spring and send the water through plastic pipes and collect it in barrels for their make-shift home-free running water for sure

The children caught a big green shiny beetle. The little red head on the right was informing the others that Chinese people eat bugs 'you know'.

A lime that forgot it needed some more fruit inside-the pith just kept growing and growing.

 

 

An electrical cord running from the swimming pool to provide power to a

construction site putting up an escalator to a tower.

 Note the backhoe on top

of the building-How do they

get it up there?

This fella is delivering gas bottles on his motorbike.

On our way to the lounge and outside of the elevator a rack of frozen ribs - mmm- is this where they're meant to thaw and will they be served on my plate?