Nikon D60 = Sweet!

It's been a busy 24 hours for us. After school on Friday, Jamie and I stayed after to get some work done. We then went immediately to a co-workers apartment for some fellowship. We stated for a couple of hours and then I went to play poker. Ended up doing pretty well.

Saturday morning we decided to take a different route to Hong Kong. To make an extremely long and complicated story short, we took a cab for about $3, a bus for $3, a metro line for $3, and another metro line for $1. Total time of the trip, including going through customs ended up being about 2 hours. It only takes about 45 minutes to go via the ferry. Now, we went at the busiest time period and went as a large crowd, so that slowed us down. I think we might go this way more because it is so much cheaper, especially if you can split the cab ride. The picture above is at the customs crossing from Hong Kong and China. I once again got in trouble for using my camera. Turned out pretty good though.

We decided to go ahead the try and get the camera that I wanted. I had done my research and was prepared for what I thought might be a decent deal. Not really any to be found, but I did decide on the Nikon D60, which is a DSLR camera. So far, I love it! Came with a nifty bag and I'm charging it now so it'll be ready to go! I am excited about taking it on the trip to Cambodia at the end of the month.

Jamie and I found an English bookstore where we spent entirely too much money, but it was well worth it. We also found the Hard Rock Cafe and I've put some pictures in the Hong Kong slideshow below of it. Not too many though. Hong Kong was rainly and cloudy today, so pictures were somewhat out of the question.

We rode the Star Ferry across the bay from Kowloon to Hong Kong central. What is neat about this little 10 minute ride is that you get to see the entire Hong Kong skyline on one side of the ferry and the entire Kowloon skyline on the other side. Once again, no pictures because it was getting dark plus it was cloudy. I'll get some great ones on a clear day.

We have come back and collapsed for the evening. Jamie had thought about going for a massage, but she has turned in instead. The massages here are semi ful body and they really concentrate on your feet. Massage lasts about 45 minutes and total cost I believe is around $7. I don't let people touch my feet, so I'm not going to do it although Jamie is trying to talk me into it. We'll see.

Sorry for the short post. Sure does seem like we saw and did quite a bit today yet I have said much. A little birdy told me I should talk more about school and my students and the differences some of the issues I face with that. I think I will start doing that and fill you all in what Jamie and I deal with every day.

All for now, I'm loving my new camera, books, and adventure into Kowloon! Great day. Trying to find the Bulldogs on the internet, but having difficulty finding a radio feed.

Don't forget!!! Become a follower of the blog by clicking the link at the upper right hand corner. Also, if you are just joining our little party here, please feel free to browse the pictures at the bottom of the page as well as the archives to the right. I post every day, I think so far, and try to make it entertaining. You can comment on that too at the bottom of each post.

Thanks for reading!

Hard Rock Cafe Hong Kong

This one is for you Melania Floyd! Jamie is seen here drinking an Alabama Slammer. I refused to drink it thinking it would dull my senses and intellect. We were at Hard Rock Cafe in Hong Kong. Good old Western food of chicken wings, grilled chicken salad, and a hamburger and fries. This meal, unlike the ones in China, did not cost us $1.20.

Welcome to Hong Kong

I'll go ahead and warn you, this might be a long post. Jamie and I went into Hong Kong today. I have placed a slideshow at the bottom of the blog that will be up for a while. The pictures tell our journey in order. We woke up at 5:00 and ate breakfast at a little western hotel breakfast buffet across the street. We met a family at the Shekou ferry terminal so the ferry cost would be cheaper. If you have 3 or more people in your group, you get a discount from $160 rmb to $110 rmb per ticket ($23 to $16). On the ferry ride, I was able to take some amazing photos of the port. You can easily see all of the cranes that lift the tractor trailor size crates on and off the barges. These type ports are all over the place on the 45 minute ferry ride to Hong Kong Central. Literally, miles and miles and miles of cranes, barges, and crates. As we approached Hong Kong, thousands of boats and barges were waiting to be loaded up or unloaded in the Bay.

Jamie and I really didn't have a set schedule. We had to be back on the ferry by 6:00 pm, so we had the entire day. We took off looking for an English bookstore and figured we'd be able to see the city in the meantime. At the bookstore, I was helped by a nice lady who helped me purchase a great map and guide us in the direction of the the long long long escalator than ascends up the hill of the city. I've been told it's the world's longest escalator, but I think Japan has built a longer one. I was able to take a couple of pictures of us on this escalator. Victoria Peak in Hong Kong is about 700 feet above sea level and the city is built on the side of this mountain. The escalator probaby ascends about 600 feet of that. It stops at every street level and all on either side are shops, restaurants, and businesses to visit. Pretty cool little experience.

Once we reached the top of the escalator, we decided to check out the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens. It was nice, free, and gave us some shade for the hottest part of the morning. I have taken several pictures of some monkeys, flowers, and the best are from the fountain, like the one taken in the photo above. Quite proud of those. The Hong Kong skyline can dominate every picture you take and you should allow it to do so. Simply amazing.

A history and economics lesson. Hong Kong is practically a true market economy. This can be both good and bad. Positives include providing businesses free realm to open and close and control the business the way they want with almost true profit. The negative of this is that there is no safety net for those business, so fortunes are made and lost almost daily. What this means is that all of these pictures you see, the skyline, the massive skyscraper, have all been built within the past 25 years. Hong Kong was a major port, but still basically a fishing village in the early 70s.

After lunch (an amazing Spanish restaurant called Rico's), we then went over to a section of the city that the map called the "western distict" where the streets are steep and hundreds of small shop criss cross throughout a street called Ladder Street. By that time, we only had about 3 hours remaining, so we made our way back to the ferry terminal area and went back to that same bookstore to purchase some books. I found a David Baldacci, but Jamie was unable to find anything she liked. She settled on a couple of magazines.

We bought some gelato and then rested while we waited for our ferry back to Shekou. I can comment on every photo, but I took over 80 and deleted about 10. Just ask me what certain things are and I will be happy to tell you. Hong Kong is a must see. Our goal is go about once per month while we are here. Everything is in Chinese and English and getting around is easy and cheap. Public transportation is top notch. The only bad side of the city is the cost. Everything New York City dollars or the equivilent to Tennessee/Georgia prices times about 15%. Our lunch was a 4 course meal for about $30. Not too bad, but would've been about $20 back home.

So much to write about today. I'm just skipping around but hopefully with this post and the pictures below, it'll give you quite a bit to read and view. Let me know if you have an comments or questions.

As I type this out, Jamie is napping getting ready to watch UGA/Georgia Southern on pay per view. I decided to stay up and write this and watch College Gameday. Her alarm clock will go off at midnight! She'll watch the game (I'll watch until I get tire), then we'll wake up and be at the school Sunday morning to watch some games with some co-workers on Jamie's projector using Slingbox. We even had the sense of mind to save some pizza from the middle schools social Friday for the occasion.

Have a great Saturday everyone!

Life is GOOD!

Just a quick note for you all before we head out to Hong Kong at 6:00 am. Going to have a full day of it in the big city! Truck is SOLD! Thank goodness! Thanks a million to Kathy for getting this done. Also, the DVR is working and we'll be ready for college football weekend via DVR and Slingbox. The #1 question everyone had when they heard we were going to China was "But, how will you watch college football?" We figured it out and we'll be sitting in Jamie's room Sunday morning at around 7:00 am watching it on her new Smartboard and LCD projector via a fast Internet connection and Slingbox. Ain't technology grand! Well, you all have a good day. I say Go Vols! and Jamie says Go Dagws! but I refuse to spell it correctly (he he he).

1st Week Over!

Our passports with one year work visas are in! We can now go to Hong Kong, and the ferry leaves out tomorrow at 7:45 am. We'll be on it. For about $20 each, it takes us to Central, appropriately named for the heart of Hong Kong. We are not exactly sure what we are doing yet, but I will burn the camera up taking pictures and will have them for you when we return. We are hanging out right now at a middle school social and have the slingbox set up on Jamie's LCD projector in her room. It looks pretty good. We'll come here Sunday morning early (6:00ish) and begin watching the evening games. Jamie will stay up on Saturday night when Georgia plays at 12:30 am. We might be able to order it on pay per view, but we are not sure. Having trouble with the DVR, so I'm not sure how the UT game will work out for Monday. How dare them play on Monday and not consult me. Don't they know I'll be teaching school Tuesday morning?!

Our first week with the students came to a close this week. I am still really happy about teaching here, and I think Jamie is slowly warming up the the younger kids. They are just so well behaved, which is refreshing. The rowdiest student is one which literally may be working on another assignment or reading silently rather than working on your assignment. All you have to do is begin to walk over to their desk and they will immediately get back on task.

I think we are going out tonight with some other co-workers to play some pool and hang out. Early morning for us, so it won't be too late of a night. Hong Kong, here we come!!! I've waited 8 months for this.

My New Pin!

Check it out! A co-worker from Tennessee gave this to me today. For those flag illiterate, it is a lapel pen of the Tennessee state flag and the Chinese flag. Apparently, Phil Bredeson, Governor of Tennessee, came to China, and this was one of the gifts they distributed. I'm going to wear it daily and with pride and will wear it when I return home for summer. I'm really excited about it, as you can tell.

We are winding down our first week with the students and getting into a routine. We will receive our passports and year work visas tomorrow, so we will be able to go into Hong Kong. We are both excited about going to Hong Kong. For me, I just want to see the city. For Jamie, she is excited about going to an English bookstore. Please pray that she will not spend all of our money on English books.

The students continue to amaze me at their ability and eagerness to learn. They are so well behaved and are truly a delight to teach. I have started my Mock Trial "specials" class, and it is going fairly well. They are amazed at the American legal system, although I'm not sure they understand their own legal system. Nonetheless, we are putting Roy L. Kingsman on trial for agitating Humpty Dumpty enough that he fell off of the wall. Of course, all of the King's horses and all of the King's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again. I'll let you know how my students decided the fate of Roy L. Kingsman.

I have a percentage of the students who are attending QSI Shekou this year. There are 47 nationalities represented. The nationalities break down as follows:

27% Korean
16% USA
11% European Union (8 countries)
9% Brazil
9% Japan
7% Taiwan
6% Hong Kong

For those looking for Chinese students, the school is not allowed to enroll Chinese nationals. Not sure why, but I'll ask. Why so many Koreans? Well, aparently, the Koreans are the builders of the world now, so they are moving all over the world to build factories, high rises, and other buildings. The Korean students are very well behaved and are excellent at Math. They are eager to learn English, and I will often get responses on their papers that mention they can't wait until the master or perfect the English language. Many also want to "make their parents' proud." How many American students would write that down as one of their "3 wishes."

Thanks for those who have been posting comments. I really enjoy reading them and the emails you send. It keeps me closer to home. Feel free to drop me an email anytime. If you really want to correspond, you'll download Skype on your computer. We can then correspond for free. Google Talk is also a way to do this, but I've never used it. Let me know if you get Skype and I'll add you to my contacts. It is quite amazing to watch via webcam and listen to someone 7000 miles away.

Long post but I've slacked lately as I've gotten busy with school. Things will settle down a little bit. We are 100% positive we want to go to Cambodia for our first break. We will be flying into the capital, Phnom Penh, and then taking a boat across a lake to Siem Reap. From Siem Reap, we'll be able to see the world's largest religious temple of Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat was the capital and center of the Khymer Empire of Southeast Asia. It was only uncovered in 1861. Truly amazing! I will take more pictures than I can snap and will share all of them until Google shuts me down. I'll keep you posted. We won't go until the end of September, but I'm down right giddy thinking about it. How many people do you know have been do Cambodia?

Have a great day America! College football starts Thursday night! GO VOLS!!!

Typhoon = No School

For those that do not know, a typhoon is basically a hurricane in the Pacific Ocean. There are different types, none of which I will describe here. Typhoon Nuri is approaching Hong Kong as I type this morning and has already killed 7 people in the Philippines.

Don't worry, we are only expected to get some high winds and rain and have been told to stay inside because debris might be flying around. As of 7:36 this morning, there has been no rain or wind. Because of what you see in the picture above, school was canceled last night for today. Check out the red blob just south of Hong Kong.

This is certainly a new one for a boy from East Tennessee and a girl from Northwest Georgia. Funny that it happened on the 2nd day of school.

For those curious, we'll be safe. They sometimes ask people to place boards over their windows in the apartments, but we are surrounded by a billion tons of concrete that they use to construct these apartments. We'll be fine. As long as we don't go walking around outside, it'll be fine.

I'll keep you posted throughout the day if we have any major changes.

2008 Summer Olympics Beijing

Jamie and I kicked off the Olympics by going out with a couple of friends to McCawleys, an Irish pub. Apparently, many Americans had the same idea. The Sea World area which we live next to was jumping with excitement for tonight's opening. I have posted a few photos of the evening, but most did not take well because of the lighting.

I was going to do a run down of all of the performances and such of the opening ceremony, but decided against it because they were truly amazing to watch, so I don't want to spoil it for you. If you can, watch some of the opening. It is by far the best opening ceremony that I have watched. It is rather lengthy, so settle in with some food and your choice of a beverage. You can always take a break when the countries walk into the stadium. At minimum, watch the first hour. The Chinese have gone far and beyond what any other country has done as far as artistry and aesthetics for these games. I believe they want to shut up the skeptics in what they can do as a country and just how "one" they really are. There were over 20,000 volunteers in the opening ceremony, and from what I hear around here, volunteering for the Chinese is just something that is not done. Many of the performances are ones that have never before been seen and are spectacular. I'm not sure how many U.S. stations carried the games that early in the morning, but everyone should watch them on Friday night. I believe the coverage begins for you all at 7:30 and goes until midnight for the lighting of the torch.

The picture above is of the flags that were hanging at Sea World. As I type this at 1:00 am, there are still plenty of people down there celebrating.

Email me and let me know if you thought it was as cool as I thought. It may just be because everyone around here is caught up in the fever. The closest Olympic event in in Hong Kong for some equestrian. Everything else is in or around Beijing, clear across the country. We can't go into Hong Kong because of our single entry work visa. I'm sure the stations around here even on our basic cable will be telecasting many of the events though.