Pre-Christmas Activities

In Macau, the days before Christmas are busy as they are in Canada. There has been last minute shopping to Senado Square which is beautifully decorated at this time of year. There have also been trips to the Venetian Hotel where the school choir (with Emily as a member) has been singing Christmas carols for all of the shoppers and tourists.
We would like to wish all of you a fantastic Christmas!!

U of A Centenial Celebration

The University of Alberta hosted a ceremony and banquet in Hong Kong in October to celebrate its 100th anniversary. The celebration was open to any current or previous graduates, so a number of us from the school decided to attend. I particularly enjoyed the experiences as all graduates were introduced and then allowed to walk across the stage to receive a commemorative certificate from the Dean of their respective faculty. I also received congratulations from the U of A President and was able to take a photo with her after the ceremony.

Terracotta Warriors

After visiting Beijing, we flew to Xian to see the Terracotta Warriors. While Xian (pronounced Tchee-ann) is a large city (eight million population) that has much more history than Beijing (it was a major stop in the silk road and has over 2000 years of history) most people visit Xian to see the Terracotta Warriors.
The Warriors did not disappoint as the Chinese have done an amazing job of displaying what some call the "8th Wonder of the World".
The Terracotta Warriors were discovered by a local farmer in 1974 who was out digging a well. Since then, three "pits" have been unearthed and opened to the public for viewing. Some of the warriors and horses unearthed are in incredibly good condition although their original color has faded. Some areas of the pits have yet to be fully excavated while some of the Warriors have been re-buried and preserved for future generations.
Overall, it was an amazing experience seeing an entire Terracotta army that was buried over 2000 years ago.

Bird's Nest and Watercube

Beijing is full of many historical sights but two modern structures are getting many visitors as well. We visited both the Bird's Nest and the Watercube and were able to go inside of both of these buildings. They looked as impressive in person as they did on TV during the Olympics!! We left the Watercube shortly after dark thus getting to see it lit up in the Beijing night.

The Great Wall

One of the must-see sights in the Beijing area is the Great Wall of China. As the wall is over 15,000 km long, there are many places to see the wall but there are a few popular ones that have been well maintained for the many sight-seers that visit.
The area we went to was called Ji Long and it offered two different sections of the wall to walk on; one steep and one very steep. The six of us took the less steep route however there were some sections of stairs that were almost vertical. We all walked as far as we could with the time we had (Danielle was the fastest) and enjoyed the beautiful fall colors the surroundings had to offer.
Overall it was an incredible experience for us all.

Trip to Beijing

The fall break saw the four of us plus Andrea and Marlene travel to Beijing with five others from the school to see the sights. On our first full day, we visited Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is the world's largest square (thankfully as is gets so many visitors) and it was very crowded when we were there. The majority of the people we saw were native Chinese visiting their countries capital city.
The Forbidden City was the countries imperial palace for approximately 600 years and it has been magnificently restored for everyone to see. The palace is incredibly large and makes royal palaces in Europe look very small indeed.

Family from Canada Arrive!

My mom Andrea and my sister Marlene arrived in Macau last Tuesday for a visit over the fall break. The girls were especially excited to see their "Gammy and Aunty" and get caught up in the cuddles department. Andrea and Marlene have already been out to explore the Venetian and the Wynn casinos and have visited some of the local shopping areas as well. We all leave Friday for a tour to Beijing and Xian; after this Jackie and I will take Marlene to Hong Kong for the weekend.