One more week...

I am coming home for Christmas in a week, and I'm getting pretty impatient for it to come. As much as I've loved it here and as much as this is an incredible experience, it's still not quite the same as home. This has been a semester of emotional highs and lows, and I think coming home will help me to feel a bit more settled and recharged for next semester. I'm looking forward to a lot of things next semester with traveling for Chinese New Year, spring break, and this summer.

I have also never celebrated Christmas so much as I have this year. I think working at a Christian elementary school really adds to the feeling. This past weekend I went to see "The Nutcracker", put on my the HK ballet and the HK orchestra, which was the best production of anything I have ever seen. It was incredible.

Here are some pictures that are odds and ends that I enjoyed, but haven't posted yet.


Here is a fishing boat in Sai Kung. They had just caught these fish and had the different varieties organized in buckets on their boat, where people were buying them live from the pier.



This is the tackiest Christmas tree I have ever seen, which I pass by every day on my way to work, right outside my subway stop. It goes up 5 stories high...giant lego bears and cameras sticking out of the glittery purple tree, with branches shooting out of it every direction.

emily's big accomplishment

This past weekend I went to Macau to run my first 1/2 marathon (yes, that's 13 whole miles or 21 kilometers), and finished successfully. 4 of my co-workers ran as well, and we had a good support team come with us too. It was really hard, and I'm still sore, but I'm glad I did it.

We ran across a 3 kilometer bridge and back, and along the way, we ran past some of the big casinos and construction for more. Macau has always been a gambling destination, but it's becoming more Vegas-like. In fact, I found out that in the last financial quarter, the small little island of Macau grossed more revenue than Las Vegas. Fascinating.



action shot of me and running partner Christine towards the end of our run


They let all of us pose on the winner's blocks. I didn't win, that's for sure.