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Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Kaid's graduation, awards and good-byes

There are a lot of graduation ceremonies here. There's a grade 6 grad, a grade 9 grad, a grade 12 grad and a kindy grad. Because there are 3 kindergarten groupings- PreK, Junior K, and Senior K that means there are 3 years of kindy. Kaid is in Senior K and he had his graduation ceremony last week. Kaid got to wear his graduation cape and walk up on stage to receive his diploma. The kids also sang some songs and then there was a little reception. Kaid is pretty excited to go into grade one and mentions it quite a bit. Almost as much as he mentions the 60 days he will have off this summer!!



A little singing in English and in Mandarin...


Kylisha's had a great first year of high school and we're just so proud of all of her accomplishments and the wonderful adult she is growing into. This year she has been consistently achieving honours. At the athletic awards banquet a few weeks ago she received MVP honours for both soccer and basketball. She also received the Female Athlete of the Year award! At the academic awards last week she received the PE 10 girls award and the English 10 Pure award. Let's hope she still wants to come home to graduate...


Good-byes suck. It seems like we've had our fair share of them in the last year. Saying good-bye to our friends and family in Canada was tough (especially for Amanda and Kylisha). It was an emotional few months as we prepared to come over here. But, we made it through and quickly came to realize that it was the smartest decision we ever made.

You would think that our good-byes ended last August, but it's only gotten worse since then. As you know we have been lucky enough to have several visitors this past year. This is both a blessing and a curse. Obviously we love spending time with our friends and family who come all the way here to spend time with us. But, the good-byes are really horrendous when they leave us to head back to Canada. Maybe it's because we're the ones being left behind this time or maybe it's knowing that we won't see the people we are saying good-bye to for a LONG time. I just know that it's really tough for the females here in 22J!!!











There's another new set of good-byes that we also have to worry about. At the end of June each year some teachers go back to their country of origins and don't return. We've made some really great friends here this year and it is going to suck to have to say good-bye to them. These friends are actually more than friends, they are our family over here. It is hard for us to imagine life here next year without them.





Good byes suck!

Saturday, June 18, 2011

38. Hire a tailor to make us something

We've actually had a few things made since moving here. When I went to Vietnam with my brother last December we went to Hoi An and I had some pants, some shirts and a pair of shoes made. Amanda has been to a tailor here in Macau many times and as I mentioned in a previous post, he doesn't speak a lick of English. Here's a picture of her wearing a dress she had her non-english speaking tailor make for her for the year-end staff party (the dress was made according to a drawing she gave the guy):



49 DONE...51 LEFT.

Friday, June 10, 2011

The Sequel

Here is another video chronicling our recent adventures to Beijing, Xi'an, Chiang Mai and Hong Kong!

Sunday, June 5, 2011

97. Go to the goldfish and flower markets in HK

When we found out we were moving so close to Hong Kong we started researching what types of things we could do there. Amanda really wanted to check out the various markets and last weekend the girls stopped at a bird market, a flower market, and a goldfish market in Kowloon. They also visited the Ladies Market and the beginnings of the Temple Street Night Market. Sounds like a lot of markets to me. The girls took LOTS of pictures of birds, flowers and fish. There was also a questionable video on the camera of a totally different type of merchandise?? Not sure what other market they visited, but the video in question showed some treasures that wouldn't be sold at a goldfish or flower market, that's for sure!!

Birds from the bird market:






Flower market:




Goldfish market:







48 done...52 left to go

53. Get our fortunes told

On Saturday Amanda and some of her pals went on a walking tour of Kowloon in Hong Kong. They had hoped to find a tarot card fortune teller and finally find out what the future has in store for them. But, they couldn't find one. Instead, they found a little old lady and some birds. The lady has her birds pick an envelope out of a stack. Inside the envelope is the fortune in Chinese and English. For those who are wondering, Carly's future is bright; The bird said that love is in store...



The plan is to continue the quest for a proper tarot reading. Will keep you posted.


47 down...53 left