Have you ever seen...? (five)

...a taxi queue this long?

I counted 68 people waiting. It was during Chinese New Year.

Welcome to Hong Kong, Manou!

Tonight we all trekked out to the airport to welcome a special visitor from Australia, "Manou" (my mother). We hope she will stay until June, but nothing has been decided yet. We are just so excited to see her and her suitcase full of goodies from home! (Carla, I have to say that the first item opened was the Coco Pops cereal. Craig is enjoying a bowl of them as I type this at 10:30 pm.)

Email from the Sheriff

Good afternoon, Renee.

I am pleased to advise you have been excused from Jury Duty for the week of 27 April 2010.

Helen 

Sheriff's Office - Jury Services

Ph 089425 2925

Fax 089425 4406

Alice

A local shopping centre currently has an "Alice in Wonderland" display. Jemilla took all the following photos for her cousins who recently saw the movie in Australia.

Saturday: Part Two

If attending a birthday party on Hong Kong Island wasn't an exciting enough adventure in itself, yesterday we ended up on a bit of a how-many-different-forms-of-transport-can-we-fit-in-one-day kind of spree. Let me explain...

We left Forest Hill for Tai Po Market Station on the estate shuttle bus (1) around 9 in the morning.

We then took a train (2) from Tai Po Market to Kowloon Tong to Yau Tong to Quarry Bay.

After we went to Isaac and Abigail's birthday party, we travelled by tram (3) to Causeway Bay.

View from the tram

Eleanor, we thought of you when we saw this sign, but I'm sorry to report that this is as close as we came to the 2010 Hong Kong Flower Show.

The library held more interest for us. It has a massive children's section.

We then took another tram to Central where we walked to the piers.

You can see some supporters of Earth Hour on the trams we passed.

Tirzah fell asleep.

We then took a ferry (4) to Tsim Sha Tsui.

View from the ferry

We walked around the shops for a while, then caught a double-decker #271 bus (5) back to Tai Po.

Last we caught a taxi (6) from the bus stop back to Forest Hill, arriving home around 6:30 pm.

 

Saturday: Part One

Another Saturday means another birthday party to attend...but we're not complaining! 

Today it was a time to celebrate two birthdays in one family: Isaac turning 4 and Abigail turning 2. They are the children of parents from Craig's school. 

To get to the party we left two hours early to take a shuttle bus and three trains to Island Evangelical Community Church in Quarry Bay on Hong Kong Island. The church meets on the eighth floor of a city skyscraper, and the party was held in the Children's Worship Room.

Birthday girl, Abigail

Birthday boy, Isaac

Upon arrival, the children were given tambourines to decorate with stickers.

The first party game was similar to pass-the-parcel.

Then everyone had a chance to try out their tambourines as they danced to music. Our children were happy they recognised the songs "One Way" and "Rainbow" from Hillsong.

After tiring out from dancing, we all enjoyed a huge buffet lunch.

Look at the two gorgeous birthday cakes.

 BC (Before Cake)

AD (After Dessert)

 Lots of stickers and goodies in the party bags to take home

Chapstick

I find it at the bottom of Mummy’s purse.
I run my fingers over the smooth cylinder.
(Anticipation)
Then I slide it through the zipper-opening into daylight.
I turn it around in my chubby hands to find the right end.
(Concentration)
I frown slightly and my muscles tense as I pull and pull,
Until with a satisfying “pop!” the lid comes off.
(Triumph)
I carefully place the lid on the seat beside me.
My focus is now on the artificially red and glossy interior.
(Approval)
I can smell its strawberry candy fragrance,
And I marvel at the convex curve over the tip.
(Appreciation)
Taking action, I rub it across my lips in dual horizontal slashes,
Then follow-through with a tell-tale smear along one cheek.
(Delight)
I twist the tube’s base,
Watching the slow emergence of the red core out of its shell.
(Amusement)
Retrieving the lid, I mash it down,
the surplus now coating the outside.
(Admiration)
As I return it to the purse pocket and zip it back up into its dark hiding place,
My tongue darts out to taste a residual strawberry globule on my finger.
(Glee)

Happy second birthday to...