Hockey Night in Macao - Loving the GoPro!

I'm already getting some great mileage out of this camera! It is so durable and versatile that you can virtually use it anywhere you want. Here is a video of hockey this week. After I placed it in the net, my buddies were asking if it would be safe if it got hit with a shot. I told them I'm there to stop the pucks from getting to the back of the net and judging by the video, I didn't do the best job!

Christmas in Canada

This past Christmas, we traveled back to Canada for some fun in the snow and cold. We arrived in Calgary around 8 pm and the temperature was around -16 Celsius...bbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! It was so cold that night! Near the end of the holiday, I can say that I adjusted to the cold, but Amanda definitely still hated the cold temperatures!

First thing on the agenda was for Kaidyn and I to go meet my new nephew and his cousin Gage! Erin and AJ definitely make cute kids and he is so smiley and cute. We met him at Earl's, and since we had just arrived, I was quite out of it and Kaidyn actually fell asleep at the table! Despite the jetlag, we were able to spend a lot of time with him over the entire break.

During past trips back home, we had made so many plans to visit people and travel around everywhere, but we are now learning from that and just giving ourselves some time to relax and spend some time together. Upon our arrival, we spent a few days just lazing around town etc., but then for Christmas, the four of us were fortunate enough to spend 3 nights at the Bourne cabin and have our own Christmas, just like before our move to Asia. This was probably my favourite part of going back this year. It was so cozy with the wood burning stove, tree, snow and our dogs!

After Christmas, we had made plans to stay with Carly and Cory and check out their new house in Leduc. After living in an apartment for the past 3.5 years, it was nice to check out a new home with so much room. We also visited Dan and Lynn, who have also moved into a brand new home. It was funny because both of the new homes have almost the exact same colour scheme inside! While we were up north, we also planned to meet Mark and Jolene in Edmonton for an Oilers' game and some dinner. Its been a few years since I've been to an Oil game and it really hasn't changed much at all. They still suck pretty bad and the music at Rexall is absolutely terrible.  I don't know how they allow this to continue, but they need to ramp up the tunes during the game. Many times I found myself thinking that the song playing was so lame and putting me to sleep. Change it up already!!!!!!

Over the last few days, we spent some time with J and L Bourne and their kidlets. All of the kids just get along so well together and the had a great time playing inside and reluctantly outdoors too! They are all growing up so fast!

Now that we are back, we are back into our routine with work and school. We are hiring cleaner/helper full time to help with cleaning, cooking, shopping and babysitting. We have a half marathon in HK this weekend, and Amanda is headed to India with Vicki at CNY! How exciting and nerve racking for her. Kaidyn and I will spend a few days in HK during the break and putter around Macau for the rest of the week.

For Kylisha's grad, I bought her a GoPro camera for documenting all of her adventures and I fell in love with the camera. Amanda realized my enthusiasm and surprised me with one this xmas! I put together a little video with some of the clips I recorded since then and I hope that I can put together many more videos of our adventures here.

Busy Weekend!

What a fantastic weekend! Just look at how blue and clear the sky was these past few days. Despite the temperatures dipping down to 13 Celsius or so at night, the days have been glorious and warm for the end of November!

This past weekend, Amanda and I had some time to do some xmas shopping as Kaidyn was at a sleepover birthday party Saturday night. There is some good shopping on the strip, but maybe a bit too high end for us! I had the half marathon the next morning, we just relaxed at home and watched 4 episodes of Breaking Bad that afternoon. Finally, after hearing all the hype about the show, we have started to watch it, and I just can't can't help but think that Lois will be busting into the scene to give Hal an earful about something Dewey did! We had a great late dinner at Tuk Tuk before hitting the hay so I could rest up for the race.

The rest was not long as I found myself awake at 2:30 AM, but I managed to get back to sleep and was up at 4:15 AM for the 5:30 starting time. There were 4 of us running this year and we all had personal best times! Kudos to Amanda who was out on the streets in the dark to cheer us all on. Great job to Nicole, Martin and Kirsten for an excellent run. Next up is the January China Coast Marathon in HK.

If running 21.1 km in the morning wasn't enough, we had tickets to Clockenflap, an arts and music festival along he waterfront in HK. What is a Clockenflap? Who knows..........I knew I would be tired, but actually felt better than I thought I would considering the morning exercise. Again, it was an awesome day out in the sun.

Our main reason for attending the concert was to see Tegan And Sara perform, but it just so happens that Amanda's cousin Craig is an engineer for Tegan and Sara. After the fantastic show that they played, we were able to hook up with Craig and catch up on things. The number of miles this guy puts on is just crazy! Anyways, it was great to see the show and catch up with Craig in this part of the world!

International Hockey Flavour

Over the past 3 years, we have been talking about how great it would be to play some other teams, rather than just shuffle our teams every Tuesday night. We have had some rec games against the Macau Nationals, but definitely not frequently enough. This past weekend, we traveled to Shenzhen China to play a group of expats that find themselves in the same hockey bubble as us. Here in Macao, we play 3 vs 3 on a small ice surface. In Shenzhen, this was the first time that many of our players had played on a full sheet ever, or in a few years at least. You could definitely tell that the other team regularly played on this ice 5 v 5, as our team was pretty scrambly and wasn't used to skating the full ice. In the end, we ended up losing 5-2, but a great time was had by all on the ice including drinking many Tsing Taos out front of the nearby 7-11! Our team is in the white jerseys in the photo above. Next up? Possibly a tournament in Shanghai!

Deck the Halls!

The Christmas season is creeping up on us all and things are beginning to get festive here in Macao. The temperature this morning was 13 Celsius and I was freezing! The last couple of days, I've had to wear a long sleeve shirt or carry a light jacket around.....BRUTAL!!!! hahaha.  Anyways, Kaidyn has been busy with the TIS crescendo choir performing at various resorts throughout Macao. Here is a news video of their performance at the Galaxy Macao tree lighting ceremony! Fast forward to 26:30 to catch a glimpse of Kaidyn!
http://portugues.tdm.com.mo/evideo.php?vid=7008

So Long La!

Whoa! I can't believe that we haven't blogged since May. Time just flies and life just keeps us busy, especially this year! Well, let's get you caught up with what has happened since the spring........

As usual, this summer we headed back to Canada for some family time and to get our fill of the western lifestyle. It is always so relaxing being back and having the 2 months off together as a family. We spent a lot of time out at the Bourne cabin out west as well as just relaxing and doing absolutely nothing for days on end!

To celebrate the completion of high school, Amanda treated Kylisha to a quick trip to New York! After all the hard work of finishing school, Kylisha deserved a break before the real work started. They spent a few days watching Wicked, checking out Central Park, the Statue of Liberty and Times Square. I'm sure they may have each gained a few pounds based on what they told me they were eating during the trip! I was so jealous!

We did however, have a small mini vacation planned to Vegas for our good friends' wedding in August. Our friends Scott and Danielle, who have been in Macao for the past 3 years, tied the knot this past summer. Not only were we celebrating their new life as husband and wife, but also their new beginning back in Canada, as they decided to return home and continue their careers in the Edmonton area. Man did we look cute in those slim fit suits Olsie! I was honoured to be the Macao representative in the wedding party!

As summer drew to a close, we were also preparing to say farewell to our precious daughter, as she would be remaining in Canada for college. It was always the plan for her to stay, but yet it wasn't any easier to say goodbye that morning before we left for the airport. Many tears were shed that day on both ends, but Amanda and I are confident that we have raised an honest, ambitious and responsible young woman who will follow the path to a successful career. It was a big summer for Kylisha, as she had to cram in many hours of driver training in order to get her license before school started, she got a job in the cosmetics dept. at Shoppers in Innisfail, and she inherited my beloved 2000 Malibu to cruise Lakeshore Drive on those hot summer afternoons! She is currently attending RDC taking the U of L Bachelor of Education program! Good luck to her and from the sounds of it, she is totally embracing college life (maybe a little too much!).

Upon our return to Macao, I was excited because I had been asked to coach the Sr. Boys volleyball team. My good friend Ed Tse had coached the team the previous 2 years, but this year, they had lost the majority of their players to graduation and only 3 of the players were returning. Once the final roster was selected, I ended up with one G12, two G11s and eight G10s! This was a young team! After a couple of lacklustre tournament performances, we were off to Hangzhou which is just SW of Shanghai for the big ACAMIS tournament. Although our team had improved during the 2 months of practices and tournaments, I was not prepared for the amount skill my boys showed me during ACAMIS! These guys were phenomenal and were fully dedicated to winning our school's first ACAMIS medal. After some nail-biting sets, we triumphed over ISNS and won the bronze medal! Surprisingly, they team was happy, but also very disappointed as they thought we should have at least come home with a silver. It was a great finish to the season and I had a total blast coaching these young men. The other schools will definitely be worried about us next year because we only lose our one G12 student and we have our core for at least a year or two.

For October break this year, we decided to head to Gili Trawangan in Indonesia. It is a small island that is boat-only access and there are not motorized vehicles allowed on the island. All transportation is by foot, bike or chidomo (horse drawn cart). We spent the week with our university friends Jason, Lisa and their boys Jake and Josh. We had a great week, snorkeling, swimming, biking and playing truth or dare every night.

Well, that pretty much catches you up with our adventures since May, but I promise to update more regularly from now on. Volleyball is over so that will give me some extra time. Also we have the Macau half marathon next Sunday then its off to Canada for Xmas!!!!! So long for now!

Torrential Downpour!

Last night was a crazy and stormy night. After hockey it started raining around 11 PM. It continued to rain, thunder and lightning all night until about 8 AM!!!!!! I found this video taken last night on the Macao peninsula.....so much rain!