Have you ever seen...? (thirteen)

...a Ducati motorcycle with training wheels?

For Eleanor

I thought you might be interested in this shop at the local market, Eleanor. If you lived in Hong Kong, this is where you would come to buy your balls of wool for your next few knitting projects.

New tennis shoes

Keegan is very active, whether it's cricket, soccer or just plain testosterone, and his shoes can testify to this. We bought him a new pair of sports shoes in Australia in July, and they have already died. Today we visited a local shoe shop in Tai Po to find a new pair of sneakers for school. Was this the same place where you bought your pink sandals, Joelle?

Cheaper than Big W! We'll see how long they last...

Catch-up

I have neglected the blog lately, so I apologise to those faithful readers who daily check for new posts. 

I will try to bring you up to speed on the Hong Kong Harvey Happenings.

A few weeks ago we enjoyed another visit from my friend Natalie, passing through to China from Dubai. I was so pleased that Natalie could come to the school where I work, see my classroom and meet some of my colleagues. Now if only I could just convince her to swap schools!

Keegan's Sunday cricket lessons in Tai Po have resumed, much to his joy.

On Saturday October 16th we travelled to Mong Kok for an afternoon tea launch of the new C3 church in Hong Kong.

Wayne (in photo below) and Mary Simpson from Sydney will be the pastors of this new church which will officially start in the New Year.

Chris Pringle and the other speakers at the event were very enthusiastic about their dreams to add Hong Kong to "one of the world's fastest growing, exciting and powerful church movements". Although it was great to hear about a new Aussie church plant, we think it will most likely be on Hong Kong Island and thus too far to travel. We need more international churches in the New Territories! At the launch the C3 team gave our three children each a gift bag filled with goodies like VeggieTales DVDs, Kinder Surprise chocolates, and toys. I was touched by their generosity and wish them well in leading lost souls to Christ here in Hong Kong.

The return to full-time teaching has been hard for me. I am exhausted at 9:00 every night, and often fall asleep watching my favourite TV shows. I am thankful to have a new full-time educational assistant named Joyce whom I am conscious that I am working very hard. During the past fortnight I met with each of my families as part of the students' IEPs (Individualised Education Programs) to discuss their goals and objectives. This IEP document forms the basis for each child's curriculum. For some students I will work on reducing their sensitivity to having their teeth brushed. For others it is to use their voice at the right volume in the classroom or to learn the right way to behave in a supermarket. Some will begin integrating with the mainstream classes for art, music, cafeteria, PE, etc. My students have surprisingly few behaviour problems related to aggression, but the unpredictability of the nature of their disabilities keeps me on my toes every day. I am enjoying sharing my faith with them, reading aloud from the Bible, practising memory verses, and teaching them how to pray to God. We have had a few amusing incidents with students praying "Dear Mrs Harvey..." or thanking God for obscure items like "cats that open and close". I am comforted with the thought that the Holy Spirit intercedes for my students when they don't have the words (Romans 8:26).

Today was supposed to be a major fund-raising event at ICS; however, I am typing this in our lounge room in Forest Hill. The planned Walkathon/Fall Festival was postponed until next week because a super typhoon was forecast to hit Hong Kong this weekend. For the last few days typhoon warning signals have been hoisted, and we were prepared for the worst.

All the glass windows and doors at International Christian School were taped in a criss-cross fashion to better hold broken glass in place and reduce the possibility of injury should a typhoon actually hit.

However, it has all been a bit of an anti-climax as Typhoon Megi did not hit Hong Kong after all. Today has been a beautiful day.

And yes, Manou, despite the pollution there are occasionally rainbows in Hong Kong!

Tirzah's playgroup excursion

On Wednesday, Tirzah's playgroup had an excursion to the Hong Kong zoological gardens at Victoria Peak. As I was working on the day, Celine took Tirzah and reported that she thoroughly enjoyed looking at the monkeys, birds and reptiles at the little zoo. You can see that Tirzah is getting around fine with her cast. New green Dorothy shirt kindness of Eyres....thank you!

ICS class photos

Please excuse the blurry copies of these photos. They are actually really nice, and if you are a grandparent or a pen-pal of Jemilla's you'll be receiving some spare ones in the mail.

Keegan

Grade 1A

Jemilla

Grade 3C

"Mrs Harvey"

Elementary faculty

It may surprise you how few Caucasian classmates our children have. It's hard to pick nationality based on appearance, however. Here is the latest breakdown of nationality by passport at ICS.

You can see Jemilla and Keegan in last year's photos from Norwegian International School here.

New (and improved!) cast

On Friday afternoon, Tirzah received this impressive bouquet of flowers with a stuffed teddy from a caring person in Hong Kong.

And on Friday night, Jemilla and a friend at Bible study painted Tirzah's cast in rainbow patterns.

What do you think?

New cast

Tirzah has been back to the hospital this week for a different cast for improved mobility and a special (read ugly and expensive) shoe. She is still saying her leg is sore and is not putting any weight on her foot.

Photos from Sham Shui Po

Here are some photos of our excursion to the Hong Kong suburb equivalent to a Spotlight store.

Looking for zippers?

What about some ribbons?

After some fabric?

Plenty of buttons and buckles here!

More buttons...

Imagine a whole shop just for buttons!

This shop sign caught our eye, but it turned out to be full of not very exciting and not very Australian beauty products.

J'aime faire du shopping!

This afternoon Jemilla and I had a mother-daughter outing to a suburb called Sham Shui Po.It's a hotspot for both locals and tourists for three reasons. First, it is considered one of the cheapest places in Hong Kong, if not the world, to buy computer parts. (Boring!) It's also famous for shop after shop selling every colour of cloth, sash, ribbons and buttons you can imagine. (Still yawning.) One side street in Sham Shui Po, however, is known for its wholesale party products and toys. (Now you're talking!)

We stocked up on several Christmas presents for Keegan and Tirzah.

Then...we hit the Barbie mother lode in one street. Check out some of our bargain buys going straight to the present cupboard:

 

Kelly doll $2.65 AUD

 Winx doll and scooter $9.90 AUD

Barbie Fairytopia Pigtail Pixie $2.65 AUD (still has Walmart price tag of $14.94 US)

Barbie Fairytopia Pigtail Pixie $2.65 AUD

 Barbie Fairytopia Pigtail Pixie $2.65 AUD

Barbie pets and accessories $2.65 AUD

Barbie pets and accessories $2.65 AUD

Barbie pets and accessories $2.65 AUD

Barbie pets and accessories $2.65 AUD

Barbie fashion gown $3.30 AUD

 

Polly Pocket Fab Flower $7.95 AUD

Polly Pocket Snow Much Fun $1.30 AUD

Polly Pocket Snow Much Fun $1.30 AUD

Polly Pocket Snow Much Fun $1.30 AUD

Polly Pocket Ultimate Pool Party $4.00 AUD

Sarah, I may be persuaded to pass on the address if you are interested!