Another Year Starts

This school year is our third since returning to Macau. The girls continue to grow and develop in so many ways. This year, Emily is a member of the volleyball, Jr. soccer and swimming teams while also playing with the TIS Jazz Band.  Danielle has taken to sports as well, joining the volleyball development team and the swim team. She is also house captain for her grade.
Both will take part in experience week activities as well. Danielle traveled to Qingyuan, China in October and Emily travels to Cambodia in March.

Emily's Achievements

The one thing I noticed this year was how focused and hard-working Emily was when it came to her classes and athletics. Her hard work paid off when she collected one athletic and three academic awards at the year end awards celebrations. Academically, she receive the Grade 8 English, PE and ICT (computing) awards. From the swim team she received the Most Improved Athlete award. She was shocked to get as many awards as she did but nevertheless, she felt honored that her teachers thought so highly of her.

We Are Official Residents

June 3 was a big day as the Varga family became official residents of Macau. The process was long and arduous and not everyone gets approved. For us, it was a twenty month process that included sharing of letters and documents as well as multiple finger print sessions. Nevertheless, the hard work is done and we can enjoy some of the benefits of being a resident. These include:

• shorter queues at immigration
• part of the profit-sharing scheme with the government
• free health care and medicine at government hospitals
• money towards tuition fees (we still pay some here at the school)

School Photos

The girl's school photos have arrived. They are looking so grown up!

Emily the Musician

Emily has been busy improving her saxophone skills this year and she has improved greatly since last year. Yesterday the entire Grade 8 band played at the DSEJ music festival in Tap Seac Square in Macau. Here are some photos of the performance.

An In-depth View of Macau

Macau is one of those places you have to visit to truly get a sense of what it is really like. This blog offers you of some glimpses of Macau but probably not enough to get a feel for the place.  Anthony Bourdain recently visited Macau to film an episode for his TV show "No Reservations". The video is great and will give you a good look at not only Macau food but also Macau culture. Click here to view it.

Danielle the Actress

Danielle recently took part in the TIS musical production of "Alice in Wonderland - Jr.". She played two roles in the show: 1) Matilda - Alices's older sister, and 2) Rose - one of the girls of the golden afternoon.
She had numerous speaking parts so there was plenty of practice and rehearsal leading up to the production. Both shows were held at the MUST auditorium and each show had a large audience. Overall it was a lot of fun...but tiring.