Walking in Sheung Wan

Met up with an old Dragon Boat friend for brunch at Oolaa in Sheung Wan.  What a nice place for brunch.  It was open to the street and several people we knew walked by us and stopped for a chit chat.  Nice place I will go back again.  Then we walked through some streets in Sheung Wan.  I was interested in all the graffiti.  Usually you don't see graffiti in Hong Kong, but in Sheung Wan there were lots of artistic paintings on walls and doors.  At the end we stopped for a refreshing drink and made our own artistic creation.

The Mandarine and Le Boudoir

 Wood carving panels in the Mandarine.

 Luscious chandeliers in the Mandarine.

 Real flower displays in the Mandarine.

 Bowls with floating white orchids in the Mandarine.

 Another flower display.

 Extra flowers meeting up in the Mandarine lobby.;)

 Le Boudoir interior decorations.

 Le Boudoir chandelier.

The absinthe machine.

Sometimes you need to get some girls together, get all dolled up and go to fancy places.  It is good for a girls soul....haha  So I got some of my crew together to meet up in the lobby of the Mandarine Oriental Hotel in Central.  Then we walked to a secret French bar in LKF called Le Boudoir.  I like this place, because it is small and private.  A perfect spot for ladies to recline, drink and gab without the other half of our sex gauwking at us and being loud, rude, or annoyingly drunk.  They were actually filming a movie that night and asked us if we wanted to be in it, but my crew decided to retain our privacy and left before they started filming.

Team Planning

Our own take on the Beatles.

Halt traffic we are crossing the street.

 The front view of the elevator.

The back view of the elevator.

Eating at the Pumpernikle in Lai Chi Kok.

Let me introduce my new team of teachers.  Every year I have been at this school my grade has grown by one class.  I have gotten close to five different people over the past 4 years, training, working, planning, and developing a team.  Sadly those five people have moved on to other places in the world.  One of the little downsides of international school teaching; high turn over.  This is year one with three new teachers on my team.  It can always be a little challenging at first to know how people communicate, what they like and don't like, how they process information, and how they deal with problems.  We had our first full day of planning and I decided to take the team off campus to a cute, yummy restaurant for lunch.  Though there are challenges ahead of us, it really helped the group to bond.  Very grateful!  Building a community of people is my passion.  Wether it is in the classroom, with other teachers, or in a small group of a church, community is something that stirs my blood and it can be a hard road to build that unity.  Ultimately, it is God's hands and He will lead me to lead others.

Waxing, Walking and Eating

 Art work as you walk up to the escalators.

 Yesterday after school, I went with a fellow teacher to get some leg waxing done.  We walked around SOHO for a bit and then ate at the Life Cafe.  I always enjoy the Life Cafe.  It is a Vegan/Vegatarian restaurant.  Totally makes me feel like I am back in the NorthWest.  Probably one reason why I like it.    Sometimes I miss my native place so much and when I can find a place in a foreign country that reminds me of it, then it becomes one of my haunts.

 Eating at Life Cafe.

AS we were walking I came across a news stand that was closed.  It was covered in stickers and graffiti.  I found it quite interesting to look at.  Local news art.

Open Kitchen

Open Kitchen is a healthy affordable dining restaurant I enjoy going to.  They have the most amazing grapefruit kale salad which I adore.  The kitchen is open to the restaurant so you can see them cooking, too.  It is a branch of Simply Life.  So last night I was enjoying dining alone and the staff was so lovely to me.  I originally was going to have them take a picture of me and then some staff decided to jump in the picture.  They are so sweet.  They think I am funny, because I ask for hot water with my food.  Not many westerners do this as it is more of an Eastern tradition so they think I am funny.:)

Walk on the Peak

 Waterfall

 The trail...a concrete path.

 An amazing banyan tree along the way.

 Tarzan?

Once again I drove up to the Peak after church to enjoy the sunny day.  There was another walk-a-thon going on.  The one today was for breast cancer.  I joined the groups walking.  These pics are the view along the trail.  It was much easier to get up to the Peak today, because the police have been clearing some of the blockades and roads that the protestors had taken over.

Pink in the City

 Asian Scottish pipers on the Peak.

 The top of the world in HK.

 The Peak of HK.

 My pink delicious drink.

So since I have my baby back---my sparkly black Vespa--I drove up to the Peak to enjoy the view.  At the top was this full on Scottish piper band blowing loudly for all to hear.  I love the pipes, but they really are very loud.  Something about the pipes makes me want to run into battle crying....FREEEEEEDOM!!!! Must be a bit of the Scotch blood in me or perhaps the Cherokee.  After reading a book my great uncle wrote, Jerry Oney; super proud of him for writing books in his retired years, I discovered some of my wild warrior ways.  "So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart then sing your death song and die like a warrior going home." Chief Tecumseh This inspires me to die like a warrior, because I will be going home to my people when I die.  And yes pink in the city is a warrior for I ride my noble steed Sparkle up the mountain and to the beaches of HK and I brave the traffic of the city daily.  Watch out double decker and red mini bus for I am a warrior on a Vespa.

Japanese Drumming

My new blue lace dress from Zara.:)

Rocking young Japanese drummers.

Me having fun on some red drums.

Today I enjoyed a lovely high tea at the Peninsula with some dear Malaysian friends.  Afterward we walked along the Avenue of the Stars to enjoy the sights and the amazing weather.  We came across some youth rocking it up on these red drums.  They were performing Japanese drumming.  I love Japanese drumming.  This is the stuff of total drama, martial arts, and super cool beats.  Hearing these drums makes you want to kick ass!!!!!

Chablis, Beethoven and My Pole Dancer

So I am sitting here with my lovely glass of Chablis some Turkish delights a friend gave me today and my good friend Beethoven.  There is so much to life....so much to see, feel and think about.  My friend Beethoven helps me feel those things.  Even though I can feel them without him, some how he helps put life into perspective.  Trials, yes you will have trials.  And they will bring you anger, sadness, and grief, but you will overcome and triumph.  You must press on.  Yes your cat died...yes your grandma reminds you, you have no boyfriend and you can't help but feel like a failure in this area.  The last guy you went out with you really liked, but somehow just wasn't right.  Possibly because he was a Buddhist and you are not.  Well when will it be right?  I like Buddhists, but I don't want my future generation being Buddhists.  I want my future generation walking in the freedom that comes from the Spirit of Christ.  Beethoven reminds me to fight, to fight for life.  But I am going to be sad and let myself feel those feelings of sadness....I miss my cat....I miss the hugs from a man, his beautiful skin. He was so beautiful.  Yes I think men can be very beautiful in a manly way.  I met him while on a Wishing Tree walk over the Chinese New Year.  First guy who has asked for my number and immediately messaged me the next day for a date. My precious pole dancer, magician, chef, salsa dancer, competitive ballroom dancer, pianist, chemist, IT banker dude.  So glad I met you and got to know you...I am going to miss you...

Glitter on Your Butt Kind of Day

Well what a day of crazy school teaching, but it is fun, though exhausting.  One of those days where you are getting in the groove of teaching, but also having those daily discipline struggles and playing a balancing act between smoothness and craziness and "listen to me boys and girls."  There were several moments of being in my skin, or how to see me completely being my goofy self in front of kids and they love it....those are the best moments.  When you can play, joke be yourself with the students and they get it and respond.  For me those moments are when I use my voice, different voices, silly voices, playing with words, to say things and joke and laugh.  In the midst of a stressful situation in trying to teach a lesson on magnets and maintain some sense of order to the chaos.....a student informs me that there is a glitter hand on my butt.  I am like what?  I can not see it, but I put my hand behind me and discover one of our glittery gluey hand projects attached to my butt.  I peel it off while it leaves a lovely green glittery print.  I can't help, but laugh and then all the students laugh. Sometimes you just have to laugh, because the chaos can get crazy, but it is still fun.

Meeting a Stranger at the Ritz

So today after work I went to the Ritz for a nice afternoon tea.  I enjoy the ambiance and the live music.  The musicians know me and they were like you're late today.  I worked later than usual....Anyways as I was leaving, I struck up a conversation with an American in the elevator.  We ended up sitting down at the lobby for a conversation.  Turns out he doesn't like HK very much, because he has been staying in Chung King Mansions.  Now I am going to highly advise anyone wanting to come and stay for cheap in HK DO NOT stay in Chung King Mansions.  That place is out of a horror movie.  Super creepy, gross and dirty.  Plus you feel like you are being followed by people from India and Africa, as that is a hang out for a lot of under cover black market deals.  So no wonder this guy thought HK was waco.  I ended up giving him a ride on my scooter to meet someone and thought that was it.  But after several emails turns out he is coming over to spend the night.  Yep I am letting a stranger spend the night on my couch.  I have a roommate and both our doors lock.  So you never know what will happen when you start a conversation with a stranger at the Ritz.  PS You may never hear from me again as I have been murdered....just kidding.;)

OMGWTFBBQ

So I went to a OMGWTFBBQ yesterday, and I must say I am so glad I did.  Yes that is swearing...every initial is representing a swear word.  Life is so crazy!  People who you think are going to be your friends(the God-fearing, Bible reading, church going people) are not...people who you don't expect to be your friends(the OMGWTF people) are.  There are times in my life when I need the Oh My God What The Fuck people in my life.  This life can be pretty f*# up sometimes and I need people around me who will call shit, shit and not analyse, philosophise, compassionate, rationalise the crap around you.  If someone steals from me, then I need someone who will be like WTF.  If my cat falls 23 stories to her death, then I need people who will be like OMG.

My Bike is Back

So for the past two weeks my vespa has been trapped in Central HK.  Now this is an unusual incident.  My bike was trapped, because of the current protest that is going on.  I was brave enough to get it and drive illegally to get it out.  I had to drive on the sidewalk with pedestrians walking and go down a one way road the wrong way.  But I have it!!! Ahhh the freedom to have your wheels back.  To embrace and celebrate the freedom of my bike, I drove up to the Peak today and then to Deep Water Bay to jump in the water and soak up the sun.  It was quite glorious.....