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!

The heat is on!!!!

The main adjustment to life in Macau has been the heat and the humidity. There have been numerous days when the temperatures have hit the mid 30's with the humidity hovering around 80-90%. That's a lot of sweating one has to endure. Thankfully our apartment building has a pool to cool off in; it has gotten much use the past four weeks.

Back to School

Emily and Danielle started school late August. Emily is wearing the secondary uniform as she is in grade seven while Danielle is wearing the primary uniform. Mom and Dad are happy as there are no more issues about the choice of clothes in the morning.