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.