Saturday in Sai Wan Lan

This is an area close to where we live, called Sai Wan Lan. However getting here is not for the faint of heart. You have to take a taxi down a road that winds along a mountain and the road is only wide enough for one car. So as we are flying around sharp corners of the mountain, we almost had a head on collision 4 times! I literally screamed out loud several times. Blair says that was his last time to Sai Wan Lan.
After all that excitement, we hiked down to the beach and we also hiked to that lagoon area. Alot of people were cliff jumping, including Blair surprisingly. I was a total wimp! The water was pretty clear and a great temperature for swimming. After we swam, we hiked up a hill to wear the roads are. It was SOOO hot, we were about to pass out. Blair was getting dizzy and couldn't feel his fingers. The only thing that got him to finish was to distract him with conversation about Alabama football! True story! I guess we're pretty out of shape. Our next hike will be when the weather isn't so STIFILING (4th grade word of the day). Sorry if you already saw these photos on Facebook! Miss you all so much.

My Sweet 4th Grade Class

This was the first time my class got to swim in our school's swimming pool!

Playing kickball at the Back to School Bash

My class is so sweet. I have 26 students that are very smart and talented. They are bilingual and many of them trilingual. I am blown away by their work ethic and attention to details, at such a young age. That being said, they also love to be silly and cut up. I'm enjoying teaching interesting subject matter, like solar eclipses and polygons, etc. I'm so used to teaching the letter sounds and the numbers to my kindergartners. 4th Graders are independent and can work silently without needing me to help with every little detail. It's a nice change.

Home Sweet Home

We have been waiting to show you our new apartment, because we haven't decorated it yet, but I am gonna show you before and after. Today you'll just see the "before" pictures. After I go to IKEA and spruce it up, I'll show you the "after" pictures. It's much bigger than we expected. It is completely furnished with really nice, matching stuff. I was pleasantly surprised. We have floor to ceiling windows in our living room and bedroom with a private balcony off of both. There are really high ceilings and plenty of storage space. Two tiny issues: The mattress is ROCK hard, you would die! Believe it or not, I have gotten use to it and it doesn't even bother me anymore. Also, the walls are concrete and I'm not allowed to drill, so I can't really hang anything on them. So that is why it so stark white! As I mentioned, our apartment is on campus, but the funny part is my classroom is directly below me, only one floor down. I thought I wouldn't like being so close, but I LOVE it!! I just wake up, get ready, and 30 seconds later I'm at work. It's effortless! They wouldn't allow us to have our puppy live here, but if they would, we would totally stay here the whole time. In May, we'll move off-campus and then get to bring our dog, Asia, here to live!! Alright, here are the before pics.....

The bathroom

The view from our balcony

Blair's desk in the living room.

The ROCK of a mattress.

First Week in Our New Home

A Few Pics of Our First Week

Our Apartment Building (I wish)

Wittle Blair in his wittle chair

Resorts on the Beach

We met him while walking in the city

Downtown Hong Kong

We have seen so much already and it's only been a week! Blair is loving it. When he saw the view of the skyline, he literally was speechless. That's very rare! He is adjusting so well. His main complaint, which is totally ridiculous, is that restaurants cook with dark meat chicken. He only likes white meat. So he is claiming that he hasn't been full since we left Florida. Other than that, our apartment is extremely nice and fully furnished with great stuff. We have plenty of space. We just got internet and cell phones, so now we feel better connected. I have been at school each day going to meetings and at night Blair and I explore. Hong Kong has grown since I left 5 years ago, but all my favorite spots are still here. There are the same restaurants that I loved. I have seen both my old roommates Hannah and Athania. Many of the teachers I used to work with are still here. My school really is like a family and I feel so blessed to be here. It turns out that they only hired 2 teachers in the elementary this year, and I was one of them. It really is evidence of God's perfect timing! They had a 4th grade teacher back out, at the same time I was asking about a job here. I know we made the right decision to come here. We are so excited about this opportunity. Miss you all and love you!
Heather and Blair : )