School and end of the year things

We only have a week left of school before summer vacation. I'm having a hard time believing that my first year is almost over here and that I'll soon be headed back to the States for the summer. First, I'll be here a few days and then taking a week-long trip to Chengdu, Lhasa (Tibet), and Xi'an, China.

Spring fever is definitely in the air at school, with end-of-the-year events and general lazyness. This past Friday we had Book Character Day. I dressed up as Emily Elizabeth from the Clifford books, and found that a couple of the kindergarteners were Clifford themselves.

There were lots of King David's from the Bible...almost as popular as the Spiderman costumes.

And, there were lots of princesses, too...

I had to post a few school pictures before the end of the year. These kids are just too cute.

visitors

I got to do a few things I hadn't done before...like visiting the 10,000 Buddhas monastery near my home. There are literally 10,000 Buddha images...all different from one another.

We also went to the HK Heritage Museum on one of the drizzly days (we're in the rainy season now). This is a replica of a Chinese opera house.

One local artist's portrayal of The Last Supper...also in the museum.

Suz and I out on the town on her first night here. It was interesting to hear her comparisons of HK and Shanghai. Although both are large, modern, developed cities, she said Hong Kong was much more Westernized and was surprised by how many people spoke English. It's easy for me to lose sight of that here and take some of the comforts of Western life for granted.

I have been very fortunate this year to have a few visitors pass through Hong Kong. Last week, my friend (and former ODB co-worker) Suzanne came to visit. We went to the International job fair last year in Iowa together, and she took a job in Shanghai the same time I took this job here. Because of a holiday (Labor Day, I think), she had a week off, and I had a long weekend, so she flew down for the week. It was refreshing to see a familiar face and to talk about our International teaching experiences together. We spent our time exploring Hong Kong and the surrounding islands, reminiscing and laughing about last year, and just hanging out.