Nesting in Skyscrapers

Have you ever seen...?

2012-02-08T08:14:00.001+08:00

This many mobile phones in one taxi?

Fifteen

2012-02-01T22:23:00.000+08:00

Craig and I celebrated our fifteenth wedding anniversary tonight by eating dinner at Bubba Gump, located at the highest point of Hong Kong, the Peak. Craig tested out the restaurant last month with Aaron Wise, but it was my first time eating here. When we arrived at the restaurant, there was an embarrassingly enormous bouquet of fifteen red roses and other flowers waiting for me. (Thank you, Craig!) Our table had a great view of Victoria Harbour. As I had a professional development workshop on Hong Kong Island after school, our reservations were for the later time of 7:30. It worked out wonderfully, as we could watch the eight o'clock Harbour Light Show from where we were sitting.

Craig enjoyed a steak and shrimp combo for his meal, grilled New York strip loin and skewered shrimp served with mashed potatoes.

I couldn't bypass the "Shrimper’s Heaven" featuring coconut shrimp, chilly shrimp, fried shrimp, tempura shrimp, chips, and three dipping sauces. Yum! My strawberry lemonade glass features flashing lights down the bottom.

Bubba Gump, of course, originates from the movie "Forest Gump", and there are plenty of photos and movie memorabilia items decorating the rooms. The metal sign in the photo, for instance, has to be flipped over if you want a waiter to serve you.

For dessert Craig and I shared the Alabama Mud Pie: "cool layers of chocolate and vanilla ice cream with chunks of Snickers topped with caramel and streams of chocolate syrup, smothered with crunchy peanuts." The ping pong paddle is actually the drinks and desserts menu. Who can remember the quote from Forest Gump about the best thing about being shot in the buttocks?

Do you like Craig's shoes? "Life is like a box of chocolates..."

Here is a close-up of my huge-but-beautiful bouquet with which I may or may not have accidentally knocked over several old ladies while walking through the crowded MTR on the way home!

Op shop haul

2012-01-27T20:26:00.003+08:00

Today I escaped the endless tennis and cricket marathon on television in our household by going op shopping on Hong Kong Island. Certain friends complain that I rarely disclose what I buy from the charity shops here, so I've taken a photo of each item so you can celebrate with me in my victory spoils.

First of all, I did not buy these shoes. I wasn't even tempted.

Nor did I buy this tree trimmer. Anyone interested in decorating a tree with facial features?

And perhaps only the Bissetts can appreciate the chain of events that brought this tee shirt to my store in Hong Kong.

Here are the items that I did purchase in the six Salavation Army stores from Wan Chai to Chai Wan.

Mosaic kit

Felt board pictures to add to our collection

One book (I just couldn't leave it on the shelf after seeing the gorgeous illustrations)

A sensory toy for work

A set of BibleMan toys

Educational resource

A beanie for Jemilla

Huge bag of Lego, regular blocks, no minifigs (for Sweeneys or Kochs if they are interested)

Lots of paint-with-water activity books for the present cupboard

A BibleMan costume

A summer blouse for work

A jumper for me

And two brand new winter jumpers for Craig

I also wanted to show off my new handbag which I bought at the Ladies Market while the Spencers were here.

There you go, Amanda...do you feel like you've just been out shopping with me? Minus the sore feet and lighter wallet, of course!

January 26

2012-01-26T21:50:00.000+08:00

We needed to celebrate Australia Day somehow, even if we couldn't summon any fireworks, sunny weather or Aussie friends.

So we travelled to the most Australian place we could find in Hong Kong...

The Outback Steakhouse

(Which really is not Australian at all, but Craig was in the mood for a juicy steak.)

CNY parade 2012

2012-01-24T16:39:00.003+08:00

So far we have been spending our Chinese New Year holiday lazing around the house in our pyjamas all day. However, we actually made the effort yesterday afternoon to get dressed and travel into Tsim Sha Tsui for the annual parade which started at 8:30 pm.

The range of costumes and cultures on display was excellent. (You can compare the pictures to last year's parade here.)

Our youngest daughter who is normally into all things purple and "princessy" declared this group of sliders to be her favourite of the entire parade.

You can see them in action in this short video.

One surprising new participant in the parade was labelled as the "501st Legion/Rebel Legion Hong Kong Outpost". (I'm sorry Elliot missed them!)

As it is now officially The Year of the Dragon, there were numerous dragons represented in the parade; on floats, costumes, and actual Chinese dragons themselves which were surprisingly long as you can see in the next video.

We all enjoyed the parade thoroughly and sleepily made the long trek back home to Tai Po.

Keegan was thrilled to be going to bed so late. I just wish it meant that he and his sisters would sleep in late too!

CNY 2012

2012-01-23T18:09:00.000+08:00

Spencers, the sequel

2012-01-22T20:41:00.002+08:00

In January 2010 Glen Spencer and his son Benjamin stayed with us in Hong Kong for a few days. This month it was Glen's wife Jenny and their daughter Mady turn to visit on their way back from America, England and Paris. I guess they were used to large crowds after being in Times Square, New York, because our squishy MTR trains barely raised their eyebrows.

The children were delighted to have more visitors after the entertaining Mr Wise left us. Mady won Tirzah over by playing countless games of "I Spy" and anything else Tirzah's imagination came up with. Tirzah called her "the big sister" and told us repeatedly that Mady's favourite colour was purple, "just like me!"

The female Spencers' time in Hong Kong was mostly spent shopping.

At Mong Kok...

Causeway Bay...

Stanley...

and the Tai Po wet market. (Although I seriously doubt they bought anything here!)

More photos of Jen and Mady in Hong Kong...

Jenny is a dear friend whom I have known since my university days. I am so glad that she could see where we are living in Hong Kong. Her visit was a real pleasure because of the lovely lady that she is. Thanks for sparing her, Glen!

Pioneer Day (by Keegan)

2012-01-19T23:14:00.002+08:00

My class had a special day yesterday called Pioneer Day where we could dress up like we were from The Olden Days. I wore Mum's shirt and Dad's ug boots to school.

This was a game called "Loading the wagons". We had to buy supplies like flour, tea and potatoes to last us six months.

My teacher showed all of us how to play hopscotch.

Some people made a doll.

We played noughts and crosses on chalk boards.

I liked making jam, butter (by shaking a jar of cream), and buttermilk biscuits.

I made this toy with a button and string. Do I look like a cowboy to you?

Wordless Wednesday (for Mr Wise)

2012-01-18T21:10:00.000+08:00

Visit from a Wise man

2012-01-16T20:24:00.004+08:00

You might be fooled into thinking that the children were celebrating Australia Day a bit early here, but they were actually at the airport to welcome a visiting principal from Tasmania.

This was Aaron Wise's first trip to Hong Kong.

Although Tirzah was under the impression that "Mr Wise" came to Hong Kong solely to entertain her, he spent most of his time in interviews for a position in Tai Po.

Aaron is a keen jogger and cyclist, but I don't think he was tempted to try out this bike.

However, this one was more his style!

Somehow Aaron convinced Craig to rent bicycles with him, and they rode around Tai Po one day.

Aaron was brave about trying different foods in Hong Kong.

But we do have proof that he resorted to eating from a fast food restaurant at least once!

We are really excited that Aaron has accepted the position offered to him and will be moving to Hong Kong with his family around Easter. (If June is reading this, please don't hesitate to ask me all your questions; I know how you're feeling!)

Bride's Pool

2012-01-05T08:19:00.000+08:00

Bride's Pool is in Plover Cove Country Park. I've read two stories about how the location got its name.

One legend says that a bride was being transported to her wedding in a sedan chair by four porters on her way to meet her groom in stormy weather. As they passed along a path near the pool, one of the porters slipped and the bride fell into the pool and drowned.

A sadder version says that a long time ago a young lady was in love with a young man. However, her parents did not approve of this love affair and she was forced to marry somebody else that she did not love. The new bride was so upset that she jumped into the pool and died.

Regardless, Bride's Pool is a popular place to go hiking as we found out last week. Theses photos are all from our nature walk.

Have you ever seen...?

2012-01-04T09:54:00.002+08:00

...a bus queue this long?

Bike ride

2012-01-02T09:51:00.000+08:00

Manou, you would be proud of all the bike-riding Keegan and Jemilla have been doing these holidays. On this particular day Craig took them all the way to Tai Po Waterfront Park and back. Anyone who has been up our steep Lo Fai Road knows how brutal it is on a bike!

First post of 2012

2012-01-01T10:21:00.001+08:00

Here's a photo of our family just after midnight. We all stayed up (even Tirzah!), partying at a friend's house in Tai Po.

We pray that 2012 will be a wonderful year where you discover God in a fresh new way.

May he reveal himself to you and may you delight yourself in him.

May he satisfy you with his abundant love even as you seek to honor him more.

May he grant you the desires of your heart.

Above all, may he continue to lead you in the path of righteousness and protect you from all harm.

Cheung Chau Island

2011-12-30T21:15:00.005+08:00

After hearing a friend describe Cheung Chau Island, I convinced Craig that it would make a fun day out for our family during his Christmas holiday week. We took the #307 bus to Central, then a fast ferry from there to Cheung Chau Island. It reminded us a lot of Sai Kung, as it is a fishing community.

We explored a nearby beach, finding a few nice shells and treasures and a thumb, of all things! Craig was fascinated by the fact that the island has no cars, but he did spy a full-sized fire truck behind closed doors. We snacked on a fried slinky potato on a stick, then we rented two bikes and tried to avoid riding into the numerous tourists and locals thronging the narrow streets. I was tempted by the range of seafood, but we left mid-afternoon for the ferry and bus ride home. It was well worth the visit!

Wordless Wednesday (for Lauren)

2011-12-28T10:48:00.000+08:00

Kadoorie Farm

2011-12-27T20:21:00.003+08:00

We took advantage of the beautiful winter weather today by visiting Kadoorie Farm.

From its website:

Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden (KFBG) spreads over 148 hectares of land and is located on the northern slopes and foothills of Hong Kong's highest mountain - Tai Mo Shan. Its deep-set valley has streams, woodlands and vegetable terraces - together with conservation and education facilities.

The Farm was established in 1956 to provide agricultural aid to farmers in need of support to help them lead independent lives. Today, reflecting the changing times, KFBG plays an active role in promoting the conservation of biodiversity in Hong Kong and South China, allied with sustainable agriculture and creative nature education.

Here I am with my "friend" Sir Horace Kadoorie.

We started with a picnic lunch.

This sign on our table made me a bit nervous, but we didn't actually see any monkeys today.

There were plenty of other interesting animals, however, such as this Chinese Water Dragon.

Rhinoceros Iguana

Wildboar

Chinese alligator

Red muntjak deer

Brown fish owl

White-bellied sea eagle

Dog-faced fruit bats

Kadoorie boasts some beautiful plant life too. I especially loved seeing trees with autumn-coloured leaves, quite rare in Hong Kong.

One of our favourite sections of Kadoorie was the sculpture park near the cafe. We had to search quite hard to find some of the wooden sculptures as they blended in with the scenery!

I was delighted to find sugar cane for sale at the farm shop as I have fond memories of buying sugar cane around second grade at a border crossing in Nigeria. Our children were a bit dubious and unenthusiastic about tasting the cane in its natural state, but I happily gnawed through mine.

More random photos from Kadoorie

Craig was fascinated by the grassed roofs on some of the buildings.

We missed out on the butterfly garden and several other attractions at Kadoorie, so I'm sure we will come back another time.

Christmas 2011 at the Harveys

2011-12-25T21:09:00.000+08:00

Stockings at seven o'clock in the morning

Church at 9:30

Today our family was privileged to read the Bible passages to the congregation and light the last advent candle to represent Jesus, the Light of the world. Even Tirzah had a Bible verse to say!

Lunch at home with our friends the Sweeneys. (Thank you for sharing this special day with us and for all your contributions!)

Our menu for Christmas lunch:

新鮮麵包 l 意式沙律

慢烤美國火雞配甘巴利醬、火雞燒汁

火雞餡料 l 香滑薯蓉 l 甜甘芋 l 合時什菜

蘋果批
Sounds delicious, doesn't it?

I think there must have been some secret ingredient in the feast that made our children a little crazy!

After lunch the children enjoyed playing together, then Jemilla performed some mercifully short Christmas tunes on the recorder.

I love this remarkable lady! She is a great encouragement to me.

We farewelled the Sweeneys mid-afternoon, then the children were finally able to open their highly anticipated wrapped presents.

Lots of imaginative play toys for Tirzah

Keegan can hardly believe that he now owns a DS!

Jemilla is holding earrings from her friend Joelle and the new Colin Buchanan CD.

Craig is very happy with his Samsung Galaxy tablet.

Craig and I received lots of goodies for our 7:31 cupboard! And certain people can stop making fun of my ancient mobile phone because Craig bought me a flash new one.

The afternoon quickly passed with skype-ing, phone calls, and trying out the new toys.

I felt disturbed this week when I heard someone refer to Christmas as "the Disneyfication of Christianity." It stole some of my joy in this particular season we believers set aside to express gratitude to God for sending Jesus to earth.

I am not denying that commercial exploitation of Christmas exists. It is very evident in Hong Kong in every shopping centre we pass. Look at these crazy, massive Christmas trees currently on display here. What do they actually have to do with Jesus and his birth?

But contemporary Christmas celebrations are not all bad! To put it simply, Christmas is what you make of it. For our family the focus is Jesus' birth...like we found on this MTR billboard.

This nativity scene tucked away behind Tai Po Market...

And hearing Tirzah's little voice sing "Away in a Manger".

Christmas is a time that is used for good by many. There is something about Christmas lights shining in the darkness that seems to stifle adults’ pessimism and soften their attitudes. It’s like we want to become more like the one whose birth we celebrate. The Bible says that "at the right time" someone important came into our world and gave his life for us so that we could have a relationship with God. So I say this is "the right time" to celebrate...not the trees or lights or gifts or food, but celebrate the fact that Jesus came. Our family enjoys all aspects of Christmas, but we remember what has really made the difference. Jesus came! What a cause for celebration!

Ice Wonderland

2011-12-24T10:25:00.008+08:00

This is one of Hong Kong's best-kept Christmas attractions for 2011; an outdoor ice-skating rink in East Tsim Sha Tsui. Our friends the Sweeneys invited us for a skate this week. Tirzah stayed home, as she was too young for this rink.

We loved the pretend "snow", bubble foam blown out of a machine onto the ice every quarter hour.

Jane, Keegan, Elliot and Jemilla

Keegan and Jemilla had great plans for these clumps of ice they collected from the edge of the rink.

Needless to say, the two "snowballs" melted on our hour-long trip back home on the train.

I think ice skating is the closest we will ever come to snow in Hong Kong! Hooray for school holidays and doing fun activities with friends!

December update from Tirzah

2011-12-23T08:58:00.000+08:00

Last week I did a Christmas play at school, and Mum came and watched it. I was an angel.

We had ate party food and played games after the play.

My teacher, Mrs Davis

I like going to Paisano's for tea. The pizzas are so big!

Here are some more photos from my school. We were learning about trains and transport.

One day I did some modelling for a toy company. I got to ride in some toy cars. It was fun!

I like to help Aunty Celine with jobs around the house.

This was an outing I did with my playgroup.

Here I am playing Barbies with a girl called Allison.

I am so excited about Christmas coming soon. One night Mum and Dad let us sleep in the lounge room by the Christmas tree.

Every time we come home to Forest Hill, I like to hold the guard's hand to walk down the stairs.

This is a song I learned at school from Deuteronomy 31:6.

December update from Keegan

2011-12-22T10:43:00.004+08:00

I really like this huge Christmas Toy Story display outside a shopping centre at Tsim Sha Tsui.

This week my friend Hannah from school came to my house for a play.

Here we are playing Bibleman/spies with Hannah's sister, Allison.

Hannah makes me laugh. She is so funny!

Thanks for coming to play with me, Hannah!

I drew this picture called "A Hong Kong Christmas" and the music teacher at school used it for a concert poster.

This is my report on dung beetles. Mum thinks it's funny that out of all the insects in the world, dung beetles are my favourite.

This is my class Christmas party. My teacher was explaining about the present exchange.

One day we were in Kowloon and I saw some kids playing cricket, so I asked them if I could play too, and they said yes.

These photos are from a bushwalk I did with Dad.

Manou sent me a cricket catalogue which I like to look through and imagine owning all the gear.

Note from Renee: Some observant readers have noticed that Keegan's hair is badly in need of a cut. He asked to grow it long, so Craig and I are allowing it while Keegan attends at a school that does not have a strict policy on boys' hair. All Keegan told me was that he wants his hair to look like a certain rugby player's, and I thought, "That's nice." Recently I asked Keegan which rugby player in particular he wanted to copy his hairstyle on, and I looked up Samo on the internet. Here he is!

Now, any ideas on how I can break the news to Keegan that an afro might be difficult for him to achieve?

December update from Jemilla

2011-12-21T10:07:00.000+08:00

These are photos from my December choir concert. Mum said her favourite song was "Badgers and Hedgehogs".

One night my friend Ava came to my house for a sleepover. We went out to eat tea.

My choir did a Christmas carolling event at a local shopping centre.

Here I am with my friend Michael at the American Club.

I am pointing to the Chinese characters for Sha Tin, a place near where we live. Mum took this photo because she could read it.

I had a sleepover for my friend Kayla's party. We made these posters and stayed up REALLY late (3:30 am)!

Mum took this photo of me when I fell asleep the day after the sleepover in my clothes before I could even eat tea. I was so tired!

My class had a Christmas party on the last day of school for 2011.

KIBC Children's Christmas party

2011-12-17T21:47:00.003+08:00

This morning we took the MTR to church for a Christmas party for primary-aged children. The festivities started with Christmas cookie decorating...

...followed by a drama about the real meaning of Christmas.

(not worrying about school exams)

(and not eating too much food!)

Christmas is about the love, hope and peace that Jesus brought to the world when he was born.

After singing some Christmas songs, the children all made little pipe cleaner Christmas trees as a craft activity.

Our table's creations...

Then it was time to eat! What a spread!

Even a cake for Jesus!

The last activity was a gift exchange.

What a fun party!

Personal day

2011-12-14T08:25:00.001+08:00

Last week I took a personal day off work. I spent the morning at Tirzah's playgroup, catching up with the other mothers at the semi-annual toy exchange. We set up all the toys in one room, then waited for our turn to look through the donations.

The toy swap is a great opportunity for me to get rid of a lot of Tirzah's baby things and junky plastic toys.

I didn't bring many toys home, but I did grab a big pile of books. They were mostly A-Z Mysteries.

The children happily played while the mums exchanged toys.

After the toy swap, I took Tirzah to school and stayed to participate in her birthday party celebrations. She was practically wriggling with excitement to have her mother in the classroom.

Besides Tirzah, there were two other December birthdays, Joanna and Duncan. The children are posing with their teacher, Mrs Davis.

I made Angelina Ballerina cupcakes for Tirzah to share with her classmates.

Tirzah and Mrs Davis

Most of Tirzah's classmates had never eaten a cupcake before and needed to be shown how to take the paper off. Some of them asked for spoons even! I'm glad we could provide a yummy cultural experience!