Holiday... Extended!

We packed and said our goodbyes to Boracay on the 27th... but our flight from Caticlan (the small local airport) to Manila was canceled and we had to reroute to another airport about 70 minutes away. The only problem was that this meant we missed our connecting flight from Manila to Macau. Needless to say, I wasn't in a great mood trying to book a hotel room at the terminal at ten p.m.
We finally got to our rooms at 11:30 p.m. and crashed for the night. The two positives of all of this were:
1) We got to see a bit of Manila, and
2) I purchased travel insurance so the additional expenses will be covered.
We slept in and then spent the afternoon at the Mall of Asia, a Canada-like mall that had many excellent shops. Jackie and Emily picked up some tops while I picked up a new Timex watch to replace the one that conked out just before Christmas. The one impression I was left of Manila? Crazy traffic!!

Boxing Day in Boracay

Boxing Day was our last full day in Boracay so we wanted to spend most of the day on the beach. We headed down after breakfast and made ourselves comfortable on the sand. The parents did some hiking along the beach which included a pit stop at Starbucks while the girls spent their time between building sand structures and swimming in the emerald green water.

Spa Day

December 23rd was spa day in Boracay. It started with a couples massage at the Nami resort for Jackie and me. The spa area overlooked the beach and we could feel the sea breeze and hear the waves while we had our massages. It was heavenly...
Later in the evening, the entire family went to a fish spa for a 20 minute "session". Danielle had been wanting to do this for some time so we all went to have small fish nibble our feet and lower legs, thus removing dead skin etc.
It was definitely a weird sensation and Jackie couldn't stop squealing throughout! We all left with very soft feet.

Hike Along White Beach

Boracay is famous because of White Beach

, a six-kilometre long stretch of one of the nicest beaches to be found anywhere. We are presently staying on Diniwid Beach which is a five minute walk from White Beach. Jackie was feeling particularly energetic today and wanted to go on a hike down White Beach so we headed out after breakfast. I'm not certain how far we walked but I'm guessing at least 4 km. The sun was out and it was very hot, so we had to stop a few times to jump in the water and cool off. We walked as far as D'Mall and had lunch there before returning to our Hotel via the shuttle.

Boracay - Day 2

Travel day left us tired and weary. So we decided that our first full day we would do nothing but relax. After breakfast by the pool we planted ourselves on the beach; the girls swam and the parents joined them after spending some time in the sun.
We had to take a short trip to D'Mall area of Boracy (10 minute shuttle) to get some money, buy a few snacks and have lunch. Upon returning, the girls swam in the pool while the parents had a nap. We finished the day with dinner on the beach.

Travel Day

Our journey to Boracay turned out to be a long one. Check out this itinerary:
1) taxi to Taipa ferry (5 min.)

OK, the cool part of this was that all of the retired NBA players who played the previous night at the Venetian were on our ferry. While walking to the ferry I had a chat with Scottie Pippen. He was very well spoken and he asked where we were traveling to. We talked for five minutes and shook hands prior to taking our seats.

2) ferry to Hong Kong (1 hour)
3) ride to airport (30 minutes)
4) flight to Manila (2 hours)
Up until this point everything was going fine...

5) flight delay (2 hours and fifteen minutes)
6) flight diverted to different airport due to darkness (&$%#&@)
7) bus ride to jetty port (1 hour and fifteen minutes)
8) water taxi from Caticlan to Boracay (15 minutes)
9) transfer to hotel (15 minutes)

We ended up arriving at our hotel five hours later than scheduled. After a late dinner we all crashed for the night.

PBAA at the Venetian Macau

The Venetian hosted a Professional Basketball Alumni Association game Sunday night. I was fortunate enough to get a VIP ticket and watch Clyde Drexler, Penny Hardaway, Gary Payton, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman among others play against each other. It was a bit like an all-star game, plenty of offense and very little defense.
Earlier in the day Emily took part in a clinic led by the two PBAA coaches: Moses Malone and Nate Archibald.

It's Holiday Time

Hooray, school is over for 2011. It's been a busy four months since we arrived in Macau. We've been looking forward to the break for some time and we are busy preparing to depart to the island of Boracay in the Philippines for some rest and relaxation. We are staying at two separate hotels/resorts: the Microtel and the Boracay Beach Club.

Preparing for Christmas

We spent Saturday morning decorating our tree and hanging stockings in the apartment. The girls especially enjoyed it as we had brought many of our decorations with us from Canada. Danielle's only concern was the stockings were hung rather high and she was worried that Santa wouldn't be able to reach them. I assured her that Santa would have no problem filling the stockings!

Dumpling Town

Last weekend we were in Senado Square

for some shopping. Located there is one of our favorite restaurants which expats have nicknamed dumpling town. It a small, hole in the wall type place where groups of two are regularly placed at small tables with other groups. We have three bowls of ox-tail stew and two plates of fried dumplings. Yummy!!

Korean BBQ

Last week we joined another family for dinner at a local Korean restaurant. The son of the owners is a student of mine so he agreed to teach us about Korean food (cooking and eating it). Some of the food arrives at the table cooked while the meat arrives raw and must be cooked on a small grill in front of you. The service and the food were excellent and the kids especially enjoyed it as they cooked the meat for the adults.

Trip to the Market

This past Saturday we all headed to the Three Lamps district in Macau to do some shopping and visit one of our favorite restaurants for lunch. The girls each bought a toque for the cool weather to come in January (even though it won't get colder than ten degrees) and they also picked up a plant each to liven up their rooms. Danielle picked out a small cactus that had yellow and pink blossoms while Emily close a small plant/tree that resembled bamboo.
Jackie tried on shoes but didn't buy any (I'm worried...) while I had seven shirts hemmed at a street tailor for about $19 CDN. We ended our trip with lunch at Cafe Honolulu and with a short visit to Lou Lim Lok garden.

It's Christmas Season in Macau

Trees, lights and ornaments are going up everywhere in Macau. The hotels and casinos are also following suit with tree lighting ceremonies. We attended one last weekend at the Venetian Resort as Danielle was singing with the choir from school.
The students not only got to sing with Santa Claus but also with two movie stars from Hong Kong (no idea who they were). The place was packed with tourists so it wasn't the best time to watch the students sing but there are other, smaller events scheduled over the next two weeks.

The Tooth Fairy Has Been Busy

After a checkup at the dentist, we were told that Emily had a cyst in her jaw that had to be removed. Unfortunately this meant pulling out 2-3 teeth but fortunately they were all baby teeth. We were also told that Emily has been holding on to teeth that should have come out two years ago. As such, she has lost six teeth in the last six weeks; three were removed by the dentist and the other three she removed herself. Funny enough they are all on the same side of her mouth.

Dinner in Coloane

Another busy week has come to an end and we joined some friends from school for dinner. Nga Tim's is an outdoor restaurant in Coloane, approximately a ten minute drive from our home in Taipa. The restaurant specializes in Macanese food (a mix of Portuguese and Chinese food).

Halloween Thriller

Emily and Danielle joined the Macau Glee Club in order to take part in a Halloween performance of Thriller. It was a short Glee session as there were only four practices to prepare (12 hours) for the performance; they performed to a large audience of parents, friends and Asian tourists in St. Mark's Square at the Venetian Hotel and Casino.
The girls looked great in their make-up!

MMA in Macau

As a big UFC and MMA fan, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see some live MMA action in Macau. The "Legends Fighting Championship" was held at the City of Dreams Hotel & Casino in a rather intimate setting. Our regular admission seats ($90 CAD) had us sitting only five rows from the ring! There were nine fights in total with fighters hailing from China, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Philippines and Mongolia. Overall it was a very entertaining night!

Thanksgiving... Macau Style

Approximately sixty staff and their families celebrated Thanksgiving on October 15. Our celebration was a bit late as the first week of October was fall break at the school and many staff were out of town. The dinner was held at a restaurant near the beach in Coloane and the menu included Turkey (obviously), mashed potatoes, stuffing, and veggies with pumpkin pie and apple pie for dessert. Dinner started after a rousing edition of 'O Canada was sung!
After dinner many of us headed down to the beach to soak up some sun and watch the young kids play in the water (it was +28 that day).

Shenzhen Part II

There was fun to be had on top of all the shopping we did. We also visited Happy Valley

, an amusement/water park with two other families. All the kids had a blast on the various rides and even I went on the sling shot with Danielle (it went very high, very fast). Gotta love the warning signs in China though...

The adults also had some fun when the six of us went out for Japanese teppanyaki. The food was amazing and for approx. $30 CAD per person each of us got unlimited food and alcohol. The kids stayed back at the hotel and ate pizza, watched movies and jumped on the beds; no injuries were reported.

Trip to Shenzhen

Fall break occurred the first week of October so it was an opportunity to take a short trip away from Macau. We traveled to Shenzhen for some fun and shopping. We hit stores that you can't find in Macau such as IKEA and Walmart while experiencing a new one called Decathlon. Decathlon is an amazing sports store that has basically everything from clothes to items for every sport imaginable. Really high quality and very inexpensive; we bought two spring/fall jackets, three shirts, knee braces, swim gear for the girls, three pairs of shorts, a vest and socks. Total price was approx $290 CAD.

Typhoon Nalgae Heads Toward China

The second typhoon in a week is heading toward China although this one is going to hit land further away from Macau than the previous one. Some brisk winds here already but nothing major; check out the typhoons projected track in the photo.

Emily's Post

Hey everyone!!

I MISS YOU GUYS SOOOOO MUCH!!!
We have been really busy lately settling in to our new home. I am having a blast here, but I have been very homesick. School has been great, I have met new friends and have seen old friends, but I miss all of my friends and family back home so much!!!

In school, we have to wear uniforms (which really sucks!) We have one for P.E. and one for class. They are kind of ugly (mom thinks they're adorable.)

I also play alto saxophone. It is super fun to play, but it is really heavy, and EXTREMELY loud. (I attached a video of me playing.)I am also on the swim team and the girls volleyball team. I take swimming lessons, and I plan to take horse-riding lessons at the Macau jockey club!!!

Since we live in Macau and go to a Canadian school, we get the Chinese holiday's and the Canadian holiday's off!!! So on our long weekend, we went to Ocean Park! Everything was totally new! The had a HUGE new aquarium with every marine creature imaginable in it. There were turtles, hammer-head sharks, ginormous manta rays and even divers were swimming around in there aquarium!

We also hit the rides. I attached a picture of Danielle screaming her guts out right in my ear on the crazy galleon! Everyone around us was looking around at us. Some guy was even rubbing his ears because she was screaming so loud!

How are you guys doing?? I would love to hear from all of you. My email is:
evmacau@gmail.com

I MISS YOU GUYS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!

Emily :)

Typhoon Day

That noise you heard was the collective cheering of children in Macau and Hong Kong as school was canceled today. This was due to an approaching typhoon; typhoon Nesat recently passed through the Philippines and is now approaching the Chinese coast somewhere south of Macau. Although Nesat is 200km away, the winds are quite strong already.
This happens in Macau 2-3 times a year and it really isn't that big of a deal; lots of wind and rain for the most part. We are safe and snug in our apartment and I'm sure the Wii, DVD player and the computers will get a lot of use today.

Danielle's Birthday

Danielle celebrated her 9th birthday on September 14. She got to choose where we would go out for dinner (Mexican) and her best buddy from school (Dimity) and her parents joined us for dinner. After dinner we returned to the apartment for chocolate cake and ice cream. She also received birthday wishes from both sets of grandparents. The evening was topped off with a gift from Andrea, Chuck, Mom, Dad and Emily: an iPod touch! She was so surprised and socked that she had a little cry. The iPod will be well-used.

Trip to Hong Kong

The second weekend in September was a long weekend in Macau. We decided to take a trip to Hong Kong to celebrate our first 30 days in Macau. We spent the first day shopping and shopping followed by dinner at Tony Roma's in Times Square. We spent the second day at Ocean Park

, one of our favorite spots in HK. Plenty of exhibits, rides, and of course... pandas! Lots of fun (and lots of walking) so needless to say we were wiped when we returned to Macau.

Perogies...in Macau?

We do miss certain dishes from Canada so when the wife of a fellow teacher started making perogies to sell, we jumped at the chance and bought three dozen. They were really tasty but unfortunately the three dozen only lasted for one meal!