Okay so it's been a while since my last blog but I'm happy to say that's because I've been a pretty busy girl (with a few lazy periods hahaha). So first off all the goings on...I got a new job that starts Jan. 4th and is just part time and sporadic until the first week of May but it will be 40 lessons with form 5 students (like grade 10) teaching them business English and it pays about $425 HKD an hour so about $125 more than my current job and its pretty easy as the company prepares all the lessons I just have to go in and do it! It's for a pretty sweet company too, Typhoon club, they make an English teen magazine her in Hong Kong. So I'll start that after Christmas.
Also Christmas, yay yay yay, I'm going home to see my family and of course my precious little niece...ooohhhh I can't wait to see her!!! I'll only be home for a short time but hopefully I can get everything in there that I want and need to do. I have to get a criminal records check while I'm there...eeek! and go to the Greek Embassy to get an official stamp on my birth Certificate which hopefully will be coming in the mail to my sisters house any day now...grrrrrr governments and taking their sweet ass time!
As for next summer once my contract here is over I have been working on that as well. I will be flying to Zakynthos, Greece to work at a sea turtle conservation center for the month of August, then in September I will go to Macedonia for two weeks to go on an historical archaeological dig, who knows maybe I took the wrong major in uni, from there I will have two weeks to shower, tour around Europe a bit and then fly to Nepal where i will be working in an Orphanage with Children with HIV/ AIDS for 12 weeks that will finish Dec 24th so we'll see what will happen after that.
I also am meeting with a lady next week to do some volunteer work here while I'm in Hong Kong. I will be working with kids 2-5 from refugee families who have escaped to Hong Kong every Tuesday morning for an hour or so. So that should be cool.
Now on to what I've been doing here, most recently I went to Macau for a few days just to get away from the screaming children that are my students and although I love them all sometimes you just need a break. Macau was beautiful, the weather was amazing and I spend a day and a half just lounging by the pool suntanning and drinking lime margaritas! Awesome. The first day I met my mom there and we hung out at the Hard Rock pool avec margaritas and calamari....mmmmmmmm! Then we hung out until about 10 pm when she had to leave to go get the ferry as she had to work the next day. It was probably the best day my mom and I have had together in a while. WE laughed almost the whole time, i guess this is what happens when your tanning by a beautiful pool and embracing the beautiful sunshine while everyone else back home is bundled up against the coldness of the snow. WE had an absolute blast I was sorry she couldn't call in sick the next day so could continue our madness. lol Anyways that was Sunday, Monday I again sat out by the pool with no one there all day! Just me and this huge beautiful pool. Awesometime!!! After the pool time I showered etc and went to some casinos and walked around and then I went to Fernandos. Oh Fernandos how I love thee, this is probably one of the best restaurants I have ever been to. This restaurant makes me want to move to Portugal just so I can eat this delicious food all the time, in fact as I am sitting here writing about Fernandos I wish I could go there. I ordered my food and there was just so much of it I couldn't eat it all but it was so great, unfortunately beside me I had some mainland Chinese and their idea of eating etiquette is somewhat different than mine. Chew with your mouth closed-my table, chew so everyone can see exactly what your eating- their table, don't talk with your mouth full- my table, eat and talk simultaneously and try to get some food bits on the person sitting across from you by talking as loud and animated as possible- their table. Ewwwww but it was like a bad car accident i couldn't look away I just had to see how many different types of food these people were going to walk out with on their clothes. Also I have often wondered where these mainland Chinese get their phone plans from because they are ALWAYS on their phones, and if they're not screaming into their phones, the phone is in their hand waiting for someone to call them. Once I saw a girl and she didn't have her phone in her hand and she wasn't talking on one so I thought I might be wrong but then I think she just realized that her phone was missing and she furiously starting ripping through her purse and clothing until she found it and after breathing a sigh of relief over not losing her security blanket ie. phone, she just stood there and looked at it for a minute then decided she had to call someone.
Getting to Macau was quite interesting as well, I had to wait in a stand by line as my ferry ticket was for 2:30 but it was 1:15 and I wanted to get to Macau as soon as possible so I went and waited in the 1:45 standby line as the 130 was already quite full. I was standing behind this cute little Chinese lady and she had to go to the washroom so she asked me if I would save her place while she went, being the kind person i am I said of course and off she went. She came back and thanked me very much as if I had just done something amazing for her. A bit later on we realized that the 145 sailing was only for premium class ferry tickets and we only had normal class ferry tickets-boooooooo. So we all left the line, some faster than others, like everyone but me and as I looked around confused on where to go this lady comes running up to me out of nowhere and says, "Missy Missy come this way." grabs my ticket and gives it to her husband and gets me a seat on the 130 ferry. SCORE! See it pays to be nice to people sometimes. That right there was an extra hour of sunshine with my mom at the pool! When I got to where I was going to be staying though it was a bit of a letdown compared to the Hard Rock Hotel. We had booked the Best Western in Taipa, and what a crap hotel. The bed was like a board with a sheet on it, I pretty much never saw anyone working there, and they had this mysterious shuttle that was supposed to go to the Venetian and then to the Ferry but had always "just left" it didn't matter what time it was the shuttle had just left. oh the shuttle leaves at 9:30 OK I'll go down for 9:15 and wait out there for it. 9:35 and the shuttle is still not there so I go in and ask and finally after tracking someone down to ask they tell me oh the shuttle must have just left. hahahahaha No it didn't anyways whatever i had a great time on the day i left I decided to walk after "just missing the shuttle bus" and I got to see a lot of parts of Macau that i had never seen before so it was pretty cool. I walked all the way to the Venetian and got their shuttle bus to the ferry because theirs always runs and I never just miss it.
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| sea turtle conservation center |
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| nepalese orphanage |
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| macau centro |
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| fernando's |
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| The Venetian |
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| Macedonian dig |
I'll also try to post another blog before I leave for Canada but it's going to be busy here the next two weeks with all the Christmas stuff and getting ready to leave so if I don't I'll write one when i get to Canada, I'm sure I'll have plenty to say about my flight. LOL Anyways i better get out there and finish my Christmas shopping before I have to leave. Oh Christmas so much fun and leaves you broke especially when I've just spent all my money on registration fees for my fun next summer. Oh well it will all be worth it in the end!
