Kirst Afloat

3 more weeks

until Christmas break!!!  Can't wait. The kids & Tom fly out on the 17th and I head back to the US on the 19th.  :) :) :)

Christmas Cards

Christmas cards are one of my "things".  I LOVE Christmas cards although will admit to being annoyed by receiving a card with just a signature inside.  What's the point?  I love that fact that people you don't ordinarily keep up with on a day-to-day or month-to-month basis will send a yearly greeting. 

I hate electronic Christmas cards (or e-cards of any form).  I rarely, rarely, rarely open the link.  Ick.  (Normally I try to be environmentally friendly with my actions but Christmas cards are an exception.  So is wrapping paper.  Christmas presents need to be wrapped.  Before kids, I used to spend A LOT of time making each present beautiful.  No longer.)

We typically shoot our photos for our card around Halloween.  It's right before Tom leaves for the big automotive aftermarket trade show in Vegas.  This year it just didn't happen.  So today, November 29th, our fantastic photographer, Chris Lee, came out to Stanley to shoot the photos.  Unfortunately the only time we had was between Claire's Sunday school class (which ended at 11:00) and her Alice in Wonderland rehearsal (which began at 2:00 in Sheung Wan).  That is not a great time for light (outside).  Late afternoon is SOOOO much better.  But I'm confident that Chris will not disappoint.  He never does and our cards have been a tradition ever since Claire was born in 2000.

We will choose photos tomorrow night for the card and I'll need to write the copy ASAP.  It will take a few days for printing.  The big question (now that I've admitted that I had signature only cards) is when will I find the time to write in them all?

The Joys of Photobooth

brought to you by Claire, James & me:

  

Happy 12th Anniversary

Tom will be in the Middle East this weekend which is our anniversary.  (Technically we were married in Hong Kong sometime in October '97-I don't recall the actual date without looking at our marriage certificate.  We consider our wedding at the Cathedral in Macau to be our actual anniversary.)  These are the flowers that Tom sent to me today. 

A benefit of living in Stanley:  the height of the arrangement is no longer a consideration!

Sick in bed

I left work early today and have been spending the afternoon dozing off and on.  I am SOOOO tired.  Woke up because of James.  He was very LOUD in his room.  (I actually thought he was one of the multitude of loud people outside-the noise level in Stanley can be high, especially since our air cons are not on at the moment.)

Claire has also been sick.  She claims that she's worse today but seems fairly perky this afternoon.  Her strep test was negative but her throat and ears still hurt.  She also has a low grade fever at times.

No fever for me but my throat was sore this morning.  It doesn't hurt much now but I am feeling sluggish and generally unwell. 

Heading back to bed.

On a colleague's door...

Baby, it's COLD outside

 
  

 

Wait...that was Beijing last week.  It snowed twice during our Grade 6 trip.  However, it's quite chilly in Hong Kong at the moment as well.  According to my iPhone, it was 55 degrees F this evening.  It feels a lot colder here, though, due to the high humidity and wind.  The fact that most places are built from concrete and that there's no heating also add to the cold.

Leaving for Beijing

Bright and early Monday morning, I head to Beijing along with the 40 students that we teach.  There will be five teachers (each responsible for eight students) and one nurse in our group.  And my own two children will be in Hong Kong with my mom and our helper.

It's odd to be leaving James and Claire alone in HK.  It's the first time that I'll be separated from James (apart from sleep-overs at Grandma's house).  I'm not sure what tomorrow night will look like but I imagine it will be emotional.  Claire's been especially touchy lately.

I have a multitude of items to attend to:  packing, rereading our trip notes, making a list of details for my mom, finding Tom's leftover RMB, etc.  We have mass/Sunday school in the morning and Claire has a birthday party from 1:00-6:00 (drop-off in Repulse Bay, pick-up at the Grand Hyatt).   It will be another action packed day, I'm afraid.  I also need to buy a birthday present (Dymock's, here we come!) as well as a warm hat, scarf and gloves.  It's forecast to be cold in Beijing although it appears that there may only be snow flurries on one of the days that we're there.

Nick Vujicic at HKIS

Just got back to the classroom after an inspirational and funny presentation by Nick Vujicic.  All middle school and high school students were able to hear Nick speak.  Our dyad ended up having front row seats-we were seating on the floor (with the rest of the MS students) and wear right up at the front.  I didn't realize that he was going to speak on top of two tables.  After deciding to sit on the floor with my students, I was surprised by having such a fantastic view.

Nick is a fantastic speaker and the entire audience was riveted by his message.  What amazed me was that it was completely silent in the gymnasium at times.  No one made a sound at times and there were at least 1300 people present (by my estimation).

I scrapped my Beijing Power Point presentation at the moment because I though reflecting on Nick's presentation was more important.  All of my students are writing about the presentation at the moment or are writing to Nick (the latter being their suggestion). 

The main point of the speech was to never give up hope, keep trying and that everyone is loved.  You don't have to change to be loved.  If only one person present is changed today, Nick was successful.  I imagine, though, that quite a few people have been changed by what they heard today.

I am thankful to have been there.