Photos from Jemilla

This is my good friend Griffin.

I am getting better at using chopsticks. This was a Japanese restaurant.

This was an excursion my whole school went on to hear the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. I liked "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and the Star Wars song. My teacher is on the right.

My school is having a Spellathon in May. I am trying to raise money for our school library, and I am asking people to sponsor me a certain amount of money for each word I spell right on the day of the test. These are my 40 English words...

...and these are my 20 Mandarin words. Would you like to sponsor me?

I like having Manou here in Hong Kong because we go to the playground, and for bush walks, and she cooks us porridge every morning for breakfast.

There are three different buses we can take to get to our house at Forest Hill, but the 275 is my favourite bus. I always sit up the very top at the front where I can see everything and watch television.

These photos were taken before Easter from a chapel service at my school. Mr Lok the Principal told us all about Jesus' Last Supper and how the Israelites celebrated the Passover with a special meal.

We didn't taste these foods but we looked at them and learned what sort of meaning they had.

This is my friend Lynn. I like going to her house to play, but she is going back to Holland next week.

This is the recorded message we hear on the train ALL THE TIME!

Pot luck

Tonight we enjoyed a pot luck meal at our kids' school. You can see from the photos that there was plenty of food. I think I even ate some chicken feet, but I have to admit I didn't look too closely at what I put on my plate.

It's official (by Craig)

Norwegian International School  (our kids' school) and Small World Christian Kindergarten (my school) have merged. 

This statement was released last week.

The Board governing Small World Christian Kindergarten (Small World or SWCK), together with Norwegian Lutheran Mission (NLM), the owners of Norwegian International School (NIS), are delighted to announce the transfer of NIS to Small World which became effective on April 1, 2010.

Gail Maidment, Principal of Small World said “The shared common goals of providing a caring quality Christian education built on a foundation of God’s love and Biblical values make Small World the ideal new Sponsoring body for NIS”. 

“I’m very excited as we’ll see the strengths of Small World’s highly respected Christian educational programs align with NIS’s quickly expanding Kindergarten and Primary campuses” said John Lok, Principal of NIS. 

Magnar Olsen, Superintendent of NLM says “It is with great happiness and peace that NLM transfers the ownership of NIS to Small World”. 

Small World Board Chair Sonia Lee said “We are excited to be given the opportunity to help NIS continue to develop its unique character in accordance with its vision, mission and values which mirror Small World’s values”.

NIS was started in 1981 by Norwegian Lutheran Mission and the Norwegian Missionary Society.  Originally named The Norwegian School,  its purpose was primarily to provide education for the children of Norwegian missionaries.  During this period of the school’s history, Norwegian was the medium of instruction, with English lessons conducted by subject teachers. In the early years the school was located in a building on Cox Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. In 1994, NIS moved to its two current locations (Kindergarten and Primary) in Tai Po and became "international". In 2004, NLM discussed the future of NIS as the numbers of NLM missionaries in Hong Kong were rapidly declining. NLM decided to look for new owners who would be willing to take over NIS and run the school with the same visions and goals as the founders. In the autumn of 2008 NLM approached Small World Christian Kindergarten (SWCK) and discovered that their vision for running their school was similar in many areas. This has now resulted in the transfer of NIS to Small World.

SWCK commenced in January 1986 with eight students and now operates nine classes each day including programs for children with special needs and a unique LEAP based class. SWCK has implemented curriculum and educational consulting for a number of schools both in Hong Kong and overseas. SWCK has also successfully provided excellent education across cultures, churches, and economic strata.

My role was created among other things to help bring all this into reality, and I'm very excited to see many good things happening already. This is the main reason why we came to Hong Kong.

Over the last 8 months I've been really blessed to work closely with the servant-hearted Principals of these two schools who do so much for Christian education in HK and also have big dreams. There’s more to come later on that....

Just one of many stories I can share. Earlier this year, a 24 year old woman from Japan contacted the Kindergarten just before a short visit to HK with her mother. It turns out that when she was just four, she attended Small World for twelve months. She still remembers her Principal (who’s still here today), the classroom she was in, the small playground area that she played in, the class photos and more than anything, the love and value that she felt as a student at Small World. It was amazing to hear how this twelve months in her life at such a young age has shaped her career desires and remained engrained in her childhood memories. After a tertiary education in the USA she now works in Japan for an International Finance NGO who provide support to children in need. She shared how she took this career path as she wants to make a difference in the lives of children who have so little; wanting to provide them with hope in the way that her life received it when she was a young student at Small World.

Many people have asked me to tell you more about what I've been doing at work. I promise you an update is coming soon....

Wordless Wednesday (nine)

Americome

I can't believe I've lived in Tai Po for seven months and only just discovered an American food store here.

The range is small, but the prices are affordable, especially the "specials" trolley.

For those of you reading this blog from just a short drive away from a Woolworths or Coles supermarket, this may not seem a terribly exciting discovery. However, having grown up with Americans and  appreciating their brands,  I was absolutely thrilled with the breakfast cereal, cheap packet mixes, and chocolate bars I could now freely purchase in Hong Kong.

Drooling yet, Carla?

I've included a map because Lauren would be interested to know the location...

Signs

Shenzhen

This is Shenzhen.

This is the mall called Commercial City in Shenzhen.

And this is Renee doing some serious shopping at the mall called Commercial City in Shenzhen.

My friends Sarah and Bethany often go to Shenzhen for shopping, but this was my first time across the China border. First we took a taxi to a homewares centre and enjoyed looking at the wide range of products there. We ate noodles and dumplings at a restaurant for lunch, then walked to a wholesale office supplies/toys mall for some more shopping.

I was astounded at the Lego imitations for sale. They look so real!

Some of the differences I noticed between Hong Kong and China were the lack of English, crazy drivers, people smoking everywhere (including inside our restaurant), and generally lower standard of cleanliness here.

 Some of the architecture was different too.

Commercial City was our last shopping hurdle to tackle.

It's five stories tall and is notorious for its bargains.  If you  like the idea of all the consumer goods you could ever desire in exhaustive and exhausting quantities, then Commercial City's the place for you.

I had a vision of myself swinging gracefully around pillars and sliding down escalators...belting out Annie's "I think I'm gonna like it here" at the top of my suddenly harmonious voice...cheerful male shop keepers parading their jewellery, watches, electronic goods, and handbags before me...with a careless flick of my wrist I decline or accept  offered selections of footwear, textiles and souvenirs...while petite uniformed Chinese women measure me for clothing alterations, and perform a speedy manicure.

In reality, once inside Commercial City's doors you are accosted by numerous sellers in crowded stalls attempting to hawk their cheap plastic goods and Chinese replicas of designer brands, for which you need to haggle mercilessly. It was still fantastic.

And of course Amanda will accuse me of not buying much at all on my so-called shopping spree, so I've taken photos of some of my purchases in Shenzhen.  They are as follows:

Three educational posters in Chinese for the kids' bedrooms (Can anyone spot the errors on the first one?)

 

 

 

  An Iggle Piggle toy for Tirzah

 

Polly Pocket sets ($1.50 AUD each)

 

Chinese souvenirs for gifts

 

And a gorgeous wooden food set for Tirzah when she is older.

Carla, I also bought the backpack you requested from this particular shop, but you'll have to wait until your birthday to find out which one I chose.

I didn't even get to look at clothes, so Shenzhen, I'll be back. And next time I'll bring a bigger bag.