Umm April, May and June where has the time gone???

Well yeah i've been slacking on my blog I know but I just haven't been feeling the writing mojo lately and so therefore no blogging. However, i am back and will be a bit more attentive from now on....hmmmm but where to start.... I guess I shall start in April after my last posting. So since the last post I did in fact go to Bob Dylan which was truly amazing! I have no idea how he could make it through a concert at his age with such charisma. His voice is still golden and I had a blast at the show.

So after Bob Dylan was just a lot more work, I was working at three schools with Typhoon Club and still working in the afternoons at Macmillan as well as doing the promotion for Warren on Weds nights so things have been pretty full. Ah but then Easter came and that was awesome! I went to Koh Samui for 10 days and got horribly burned but had an absolutely amazing time! My mom came with me for the first half and we had beach days and beach nights, chilled out and relaxed and did some shopping from the hawkers on the beach. We also went to some pretty fantastic restaurants. We went to one called the treehouse and it was literally up in the trees and had a phenomenal view, another night went to a restaurant called the Farmer and it was in a rice paddy field. My rice came wrapped in banana leaves and  each one was a different color, red, blue, green, and yellow. We also went to a place called the Cloud which has a great view of the main street in Samui and the most delicious food I have ever had. Plus the owner was super nice. the last half of my trip I spent with friends I had made online or in Samui itself. I spent most of my time with a girl from the UK named Anna but she was clearly on the prowl for a muscle bound Israeli man and by the looks of it she preferred he be bald as well. That was ok though I also met a girl from Russia, some guys from Ireland and the UK and a guy that i think was also Irish but lives in Oman. It was super fun and nice that I did some it on my own and still had fun. It's always a bit scary to be on your own with the possibility that you won't meet anyone to have a good time or talk with. I also me a lovely couple by the pool who are British but live in HK as well. 

We also went to the tiger show and the bird show which was pretty cool but still made me feel a bit sad for these animals, especially the tigers, they seemed like they were afraid of the trainers and it made me feel a bit sick in the pit of my stomach. There were quite a few other animals there too though.

he was one of my faves!! He's so cute!

a sea lion show!

a lot of exotic birds on me!

Most of May was taken up with working and with looking for a new job, both here and abroad. A lot of  resumes were sent out and very few interviews set in place. All the places in Europe want only EU citizens so that pretty much discounts me thanks to the magical workings of my wonderful father who just didn't think it important to register his children in Greece. So now it is an impossible pursuit to get my EU passport, I may try to take my stuff with me when I go to Greece and see if the consulate there can help me. Anyways after searching and interviewing I got a job offer at my mom's school in Kwun Tong, so that should be interesting next year. It does mean another year in Hong Kong but maybe I need it to figure things out I guess. I'd much rather be somewhere working with refugees or with the UN but I guess everything comes in time....I just hate waiting.

So now it is June and in the first week a lot has happened. I met this epically amazing man who left me after three days to continue his journey through China and Russia and back to the UK where he lives so that is pretty much that then! haha I have the knack!!! grrr i also just got this email from a company in Greece that might be willing to get me a Greek working Visa to work with their company but this comes on the same day that I have to sign the contract with the School in Hong Kong so I guess that also is a no go and my three times lucky curse is that I got an email from my Father saying that he won't be coming to Athens to see me and if I want to see him I will have to go to Skopelos except I will have neither the time nor the money to do so, so once again a no dice deal. I am on a roll here! I guess I didn't expect to be so disappointed but with that being the third crappy thing in a week I find my spirits to be rather in the dumps and that i am super emotional, even as I write this I feel like I could cry (I'm not though) So for the next 7 weeks it will just be saving money and working as much as possible to be able to do something and be able to live when I go away. I looked up tix to Skopelos from Athens (well Skiathos as there is no airport on Skopelos and it's about 221 Euros. A bit too pricey for me but I haven't quite decided what to do, i would like to see my Giagia in Greece before she passes and probably my father too as his health is really not so good so I will leave it for a few days and try to communicate with any family I have in Greece and see what I can come up with but I'm not sure there's no point if he doesn't even really want to see me. Anyways, major downer!!! haha 

I did just spend a couple days in Macau soaking up the sunshine and am hoping to do a lot more of that on my days off here in the future. It's super hot so I might as well take advantage of it and go to the beaches and do outdoor things. I also bought these cool cd's to help me learn Greek. The program is called Earworms and you learn basic phrases and words through music so we'll see how that goes. 

pool at the hard rock hotel in Macau!

Life goes on....

So yeah not much has been going on lately, went to the MGMT
after party in Wanchai but it was way too busy to stay for long. Work has been pretty good, I'm working in two schools plus the tutoring center and help Warren with promotions on weds nights. All in all it's been pretty busy that way. I've also just paid for my ticket to Europe so from here on out no more spending money or doing anything as I have to save save save! My flight is from Hong Kong to Athens and back because the other ones were far too expensive. So far my trip will be ending on the 20th of September but I'm really hoping to book something else that will let me stay longer. Also coming up very soon is Bob Dylan, which should be pretty incredible.












Today is also a holiday for everyone because it's the Ching Mun Festival, this is a chance for everyone to go and sweep the graves of their lost ones. It's also a nice beautiful day outside for us to go to Zane's birthday BBQ. The BBQ was super fun, tons of people I haven't seen for ages and some great laughs and great food on a beautiful rooftop terrace. Zane got two birthday cakes, one was a blueberry cheesecake and the other was this extraordinary chocolate mousse professionally done by Monica herself.
Tomorrow is back to work and just going to try and take it easy until Bob Dylan.

Philippines adventure

Feb. 3,2011- The adventure begins....

We had left Hong Kong and were ready for a wonderful relaxing holiday in the Philippines in Palawan. So after flying into Manila for Hong Kong, we waited in the worst airport ever for our flight to Puerto Princesa, Palawan. Finally at about 6 pm we flew into Puerto Princesa, we were here and relaxing could begin. We waited for our bags and then went to the counter to find transport to our hotel in Coron. The guy looked at us very confused and told us our hotel was in Coron, we said we knew so how do we get there. He said you can't, not from here. There are only two flights that go to Coron and they leave on Tuesday and Sunday but today is Thursday. There are no boats, vans,cars, tricycles anything that can get us to our hotel. So we were going to have to stay in Puerto Princesa for the night and try again in the morning because everything at the airport was closing. Being Chinese New Year of course, everything was booked.  The tourist center guy was nice enough to call around and try to find us a hotel. He found us the Circon hotel. The air conditioner fell apart so I had to help the guy who worked there try to fix it because he couldn't. (good thing I was there) then he was trying to show me how to get hot water for the shower but instead he just looked at me and said, "Oh well, not working tonite, but maybe tomorrow." Haha alrighty then! The roof was caving in and the paint was peeling off the doors and walls, there was no phone and no fridge, or well anything really for that matter but there was a bed and that's all we needed to get us through until the next morning at 6 am when we would be back at the airport trying to get a flight out of here to our proper destination. Everything is sold out as far as they know but we will try. We're going to have to get a flight back to Manila and then fly to Basuanga and then forfeit out tickets back that we already had. If we can't get a flight we're going to try to book a hotel in Narra but only tomorrow will tell.

Feb. 4,2011- Leaving our dodgy hotel to continue the adventure

So today did not start off too well. We hadn't gotten much sleep due to a power failure in the middle of the night so we had no air-con in a boiling hot room, so it was more like a sweat box than a room. Also the thought of not knowing if we would have a place to stay the next night was weighing heavily on our minds. We checked out of our hotel and got on a tricycle to the airport at about 6:30 am. However, the tricycle that we happened to acquire on this fine morning didn't work very well and kept stalling on the way there. We did make it to the airport at 6:45 am despite the constant task of our poor driver having to start his bike every 5 mins. The airport doesn't open until 7:30 though so a 45min wait for us. The problem was that I had not been feeling very well so I took some very strong drugs to try to fight the infection but I took them on an empty stomach so my waiting time consisted of my puking up my green pills for about 10 or 15mins. NICE!!! My mom went off to try to find something open at this stupid hour in the morning as I sat by my green and blue vomit hoping that it would stop. 

At last the airport opened and we both ran to different airline kiosks to get a flight my mom went to Air Cebu and I went to Air Philippines, both had flights but mine was cheaper at a whopping $11,000.00 PHP. So we booked them and then found out that they only take cash, so I stayed as collateral and my mom went all over Puerto Princesa with a very nice tricycle driver. She ha to go into five different banks before she found one that would take her Hong Kong card. The tricycle driver had started coming in with her for the last three as I think he thought she was doing something wrong or something. He'd squish himself inside the tiny little kiosk with her and tell her which buttons to push. haha! When she got back, 20 mins before we were supposed to board we paid the tix which with tax came to $11952.00 php and the guy looked at it and said, "Oh I don't have change" to which my mom calmly replied, "just keep it" The flight to Manila was very nice, brand new plane (from Canada) and was very short with a lovely cabin crew. I sat beside this little old lady who clutched her rosary with both hands for the entire 1 hr flight. The second flight was not as nice it was only about 50 mins but the plane was smaller and older and you could feel every bump of turbulence in the air. after landing in Basuanga we had to find a form of transport to get to Coron. So with fingers crossed we attempted to find a van or something to take us. We found one right away and were packed into a van with 10 other people and their luggage for $150 php each. Slowly the van emptied out as people were dropped off at their hotels. Finally it was our turn, so the driver drove towards the water which I would consider a good sign. Sweet hotel on the water but then he stopped and looked back at us and said, "oh boats not here yet." okay bad sign! WE need a boat to get to our hotel? Where the heck are we staying? So he went to drop off the rest of the people in the van and come back to us later. We went back to the pier and still no boat. We were beginning to wonder if our trip to our hotel was ever going to end. The van driver called our hotel and they said they would send a boat for us. So the boat finally came and after a 2 day journey we were finally here! We got to Uson Island where our hotel was and found that this island is probably only named because it has one small resort on it and nothing else. Our room was okay but one of the first things we noticed was that there was no tv. they gave us some welcome drinks which were some coconuts with straws, I love those ones. The resort has a pool and free sea kayaks and wifi although neither of us brought a computer to access this free wifi with. After unpacking and getting settled we decided to go into town for dinner and drinks. So we got a boat back to town (which is about 10-15mins away) and then walked around and had dinner. It gets very dark very fast here as there are no street lights or anything but you get a wonderful view of the starry night sky. While we waited for our boat to come back to pick us up there was a tiny little boat that came in full of vegetables and such. First it was just a few little guys unloading this boat but slowly more and more people just came down to help out. It was really dark though so I couldn't really get a great pic though, but it was very cool. We got back to our resort and had some margaritas that would burn your insides out and then went to our room to play some cards games, read our books and go to bed. Also feel as though I should add there is no power here between 9am and 6pm in order to conserve the generators. 

Feb. 5th -The day to work it all out so we can enjoy the rest of our trip!!

We got up and went for our free breakfast which was a very lovely American breakfast with loads of fruit. We also met the manager of the resort, Jo, Jo had heard about our flight delays and problems and wanted to come over and offer her help. She spent all afternoon on the phone while we swan and sunbathed by the pool. Once she made some progress she came over to tell us she had found us some flights out of Busuanga and to Manila but she couldn't get a flight to HK as no one dealt with out of country flights in the town and we would probably have to book them online or when we got to Manila. So we said no problem and went into Coron town to pay for our flights. The lady at the counter was the worst cow ever and told us we had no booking and basically to get lost. Finally after great urging to keep checking I told her I was going to phone Jo and her boss and miraculously our reservation was found! TADA! So we got our tix and went a walking around town. It didn't really take very long and there was really anything to do but we did find this amazing little village all on stilts. I'm pretty sure that every town in Asia has one though since they don't really seem all that rare to me anymore. I did take pictures of it of course though. then back to resort for dinner drinks and games.

 Feb.6- Pool day
Not much happened swam, got burned, had some drinks and food and booked an island hopping trip for tomorrow.

Feb. 7- The day I was supposed to go back to work but didn't/ island hopping

So an early start today for island hopping. We had our breakfast and arranged our lunch and off we went in our little boat with the two best tour guides ever. Our guide from the resort was Jimson which was awesome cuz he's totally my fave from the resort, and our driver was a guy names Solomon who was the nicest guy ever, not super English but super nice and beautiful. (too bad he's married) The first place we went to was the twin lagoon, which has an indigenous tribe that you can see there. We had to get off the boat and right into the water and then swim through a cave into this gorgeous lagoon. It had mountains all around and amazing coral underneath. It's also one of the cleanest lakes in the world and is 20% fresh water and 80% salt water. Unfortunately our camera died here. Next we went to Kayangan Lake, you have to climb up 150 steps and you can go into this amazing cave and see this amazing view of the water below. and then go down 150 steps to get to this gorgeous little lake with Crystal clear water. Here the mixture of water is 30% salt water and 70% fresh water so it's easier to dive under and look at the fish and coral. There was a cave that you could swim into although it was a pretty tight squeeze to get into so if you're claustrophobic probably not a good plan. Then back up the 150 steps and down 150 to get to our boat. Onto the last island Banol Beach which was amazing because you could go snorkeling an see so many different kinds of fish. It was amazing and fantastic i wish I could have just held my breath and stayed under water for way longer it was a whole other world. 

That night we also convinced our tour guides, Jimson and Solomon, to come and do video Karaoke with us which was very fun and lasted for hours. 

Birthday busy-ness

So much stuff has been going on, I went to see this wonderful little 10 year old boy play at the Wanch about a week and a half ago. His name is Yuto Miyazawa and he's from Japan, he's made the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest professional guitar player in the world. He got to play with Les Paul and Ozzy Osbourne among other great musicians. It was absolutely amazing to see him play and sing and he really truly is a prodigy. Plus he has the coolest guitar ever!!! If I played the guitar I would want to have this one.


In other news I went to a pub quiz night on my birthday on Tuesday and did not come in last but also Tessa and I decided that we will be quiz masters and have our own quiz night!! So we are half way through making that but not sure when Kila will want us to do it yet. After the quiz we went to a little place called the Buddha Lounge which is very tiny but very cozy and cute! The decor was very Thai and all the people that work there were really nice. 


On Sunday I went out with a travelbuddy from Italy and met some lovely Greek people as well. So now I will have somebody to teach me Greek and practice with. And one of them actually found his way through Hong Kong to come to my birthday party last night and got me some very cute little presents that I totally love! I also learned that South Africans and Greeks love the fat from meat when we went out for a late night dinner and my meal was practically all fat so they joyously ate it all up for me. lol!


On Thursday I went out for the pub crawl in Hong Kong and some of my co workers from Macmillan came with me. The night was fun and a lot of tourists came out for the night. There were a lot of Americans and British another Canadian like me, some Aussies and some Austrians. I think there were other countries represented but I can't remember where from. 


Which brings me to Saturday night...my birthday parteeee!!!! It was a James Bond theme and despite the amazing and fun idea very few people dressed up but a lot of people made the trip out to my house which was nice. I dressed up as Fatima Blush from Never Say Never Again, Danny dressed up as Baron Samedi from Live and Let Die, my Mom dressed up as M from a whole bunch of James Bond movies (the Judi Dench version), Aileen was Moneypenny from a whole bunch of James Bond movies, Sophie was Jill Masterson from Goldfinger, and John was Sheriff J W Pepper from Live and Let Die and The Man With The Golden Gun. Everyone brought lots of good food and drinks and I got some beautiful gifts. I got this fantastic ring and 2 scarves, some wine and chocolates, some Lily of the Valley bath stuff from Crabtree and Evelyn, a bulldog bank, a little music box that plays When you Wish upon a star, and a book. The house was a little packed but everyone had a lot of fun and it was very kind of everyone to come and pack themselves in here. So now here I am on Sunday morning/ afternoon writing this blog and I will post pictures as soon as I get some.

James Bond Character I was for my party

Catch up

Ok so last post was a half a month ago....anyways since I got back from Canada a lot has happened. My friend Sam was here so I got to play tour guide for a bit which is always kind of fun because then you can see Hong Kong through someone else's eyes in a new and exciting way, like when I first got here. We went around Tsim Tsa Tsui and the harbor to the Avenue of stars, I know 8 stars on the avenue of stars, I counted and I think that that's not too bad since they are all Asian stars. We went up to the peak and walked around and got to go to Bubba Gumps Restaurant (a take off of the Forrest Gump movies, and best shrimp ever!!!!) We visited some museums and went to Central and Wanchai of course. We also spent some time experiencing the local cuisine, dim sum not so much of a hit for him but hot pot was a definite favorite! i think the hot pot night may have just been one of his favorite nights. Of course we also got a taco tuesday in there becasue how could you pass up $10HKD ($1.27 cdn)tacos and $29 ($3.70 cdn)HKD margaritas. We also had a texas hold'em night here which Sam waged until the bitter end before finally losing out to my brother. His trip was fun for me but also a bit frustrating as I had to work quite a bit more than before Christmas. which brings me to next thing going on...I started a second job in Hong Kong......
I figured while I was here I might as well take all the money that Hong Kong can offer after all that is kind of why i'm here instead of working in jobs that involve my degree. So my second job is in the mornings on a rotation and I work for Cyclone Publishing, going out and teaching certain seminars for their company. The one I'm doing right now is all about the workplace like how to find a job, how to apply, how to write a cover letter/resume etc etc.. the next one I will be doing is teaching social issues to form 4's (13/14 year olds) which is kind of using my degree so that's a plus. I'm really enjoying this job a lot as the kids are older and the topics are really interesting for me as well as for the kids.
I'm also gearing up for my birthday to come, we are going to have a James Bond themed party at my flat, so everyone has to dress up in some sort of James Bond character so i'm pretty excited for that, the costumes should be really fun provided everyone dresses up but then again why wouldn't they its such a fun dress up idea. I know that my mom and brother already have their costumes ready and mine is almost complete just a few odds and ends to get all the details right.

hot pot 

Last night I went to Oyster with Emily and Lucia for $10 beers and then we hopped over to The Wanch to watch Corey Tam play with Gabe and Zane. Definitely a great show as those are three of Hong Kong's best musicians on one stage. So a really great night all and all. As for my volunteer jobs happening in August so far the only one that is a go for sure is the archeological trip in Macedonia, I'm still waiting to hear back from the Sea turtles trip in greece and trying to make up my mind about Oct/Nov/Dec's trip. I was going to go to Nepal but I am really feeling an African vibe and feel like that might be where I'm supposed to be going. I guess I'm just kind of reading and researching right now and hoping that something will jump out at me and I'll get a definite feeling of needing to be there. So wish me luck, pray for me and if you have any suggestions or places tat have been put on your heart please let me know. My next post probably won't be until my party on the 29th but maybe if something interesting happens i'll squeeze in another post. Thanks for reading and write to ya soon!!

Christmas Time!

Ok so Christmas has come and gone and I have left my blog to wither for far too long…. so here I am back and jet lagged as heck! So Christmas time was very interesting, very different but very interesting. I flew in on the 19^th spent the evening getting reacquainted with my niece who will probably promptly forget who I am once again until the next time I come back and she has a faint recollection of when I visited last time. So good times on the 19^th and then the 20^th came and my sister and I went to go and pick up my mum and went to the States for some girl time and some mother/sister/daughter time. So after three days of madness and a bit too much spending of my hard earned bills, we ventured back to the land of reality and Christmas madness. On the 24^th I went to a family Christmas time event at my sister’s boyfriend’s family’s house and had a wonderful Christmas dinner. Great food and wonderful wine! Which pretty much brings me to the big day…Christ’s birth, and family time, and presents. Then of course another dinner at my Uncle Mel and Auntie Sarah’s house which was amazing of course, along with some awesome cousin time. Trish had just flown in from Korea that day and Anne had just come back from New Zealand two days before and Shawna had also just come back from Korea for a bit so finally the fam was all back together and the cousins seem to be staying for the birth of their first nephew due to come into this world on the 1^st of January…Happy New Year!! Boxing day was quite interesting as well since it’s the first one that I have not worked in the last decade, sweeeeeeetness! On the 27^th I had a bit of a get together for all my friends since I was home for such a short time and I really wanted to see everyone I really tried hard to make sure I could somehow see everyone in one night since I was supposed to leave the next night. Unfortunately a lot of people couldn’t make it and some of the people I thought to be real friends sold out on me so that was that. On the 28^th there was a baby shower for the up and coming little boy about to grace my Aunt and Uncle’s family, who knew someone could get so much stuff! Wooooo Jamie made a killing there I’m pretty sure she won’t have to buy anything for her little boy for like two years…maybe three!! After the parteeee I was supposed to be getting ready for my 2 am flight back to the HK unfortunately it got delayed not once, not twice, not three times but four times and so finally 14 and a half hours after I was supposed to leave I was getting on a plane with my oldest friend Sammy. So that pretty much brings my life up to date. I will be getting ready for New Years eve to go on a super awesome Junk boat and have some great fun watching fireworks and meeting some new peoples and having some bubbly. So far I have no idea what I’m going to wear but don’t worry I’ll be sure to keep you posted. Lol!

life heh!

       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.

sea turtle conservation center

nepalese orphanage

macau centro

fernando's

The Venetian

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!