It Was A Good Day

It really was.

It started out with a two year old boy named Bobo in the elevator. Though it sparked some heartache as I thought about my favorite two year olds in Canada, he sure made me smile. I hope I run into Bobo again.

Next I made it to the gym before 9am. That's a feat!

I love going to church, but today was especially good. The Watoto Children's Choir from Uganda were visiting. What a treat!!! They had some great songs, awesome dancing (I wish I could move like that!), but it was the joy that really made it all come to life. Awesome. The Watoto team sure seems to be making a difference.

After that we had lunch at one of my Sunday favorites- a cafe with a definite warmth and personal touch often lacked in a place like Hong Kong. They even know our names! I like that.

Then it was time for tennis. I joined my tennis pals in a local tournament, and today they held the first two rounds. The other gal didn't show for the first match, so I took a bye to the second, which started very terribly. Fortunately, something came to life when the score was 1-5. I'm still alive in the tournament- the final score was 7-5. Exciting!

I met a new friend in the tennis shop. He sold me the best grip in the world. That's what he says. His name is Uncle Chen and he showed me all of his trophies, and how to hit a forehand like Federer.

And lastly, supper at the Vietnamese restaurant- an old standby. Delicious.

Some of my favorite days in Hong Kong happen when I have the chance, and make the effort, to connect with the people here. So here's to little Bobo, the Watoto kids, the lady at Cafe Zambra who remembers my name, my tennis friends, and my new friend, Uncle Chen, who sold me the best grip in the world. It was a good day.

Jetlaaaaaggggged

Hong Kong Harm is officially back in business, back to work, and feeling the effects of having fastforwarded 14 hours on my clock. Oh the wonders of jetlag! Sometimes a person can jump right back into life and you'd wonder they had crossed even one timezone. I enjoyed that on return to Canada. No such love this time round. It's 4:30am and I'm wide awake. That is NOT a good thing! What's a poor traveler to do? Might as well get back to blogging!

So I'm back. Back to...
-smog
-sticky, humid air
-hot air (really hot air)
-skyscrapers
-people
-people
-people
-converting prices
-the 32nd floor
-public transportation
-Cantonese
-people
-and egg tarts

Summer was sweet, and saying goodbye was hard, as it always always is. With a ton of great memories and wonderful visits with friends and family, it's hard to keep the highlights to a minimum, but I'll aim to write a bit of a review post/novel in the next couple of days.

Perhaps I shall try sleeping again. It's a bit of a far fetch, but it sure would be nice to catch a couple more hours before.....work!!!! As we say in Hong Kong... AI YA!

Along the journey, just a few...

Two Pairs of Sisters, Three Aunties, One Mom, One Sweet Nephew.
Lovely supper together tonight.

Some of the finest friends a girl could find.
A couple days away in Canmore. Memories!

Nice scrunchy face effect.

Sisterly Squish.

Mikey and Me.

Today I flew from Yellowknife to Calgary with a 2 year old on my lap. I'm glad Tara packed a bag full of distractions (hey, I should have used the camera- that would have given me at least 5 minutes and we'd have pictures to show for it!), and one magnificent soother. We made it, Elijah is one mighty cool dude (we're working on that word), and the people beside me were patient with our sloppy Goldfish and apple juice plus floaties spilling and such. My appreciation for parents was, as expected, again stepped up a notch. It's great to be an Aunty!
Tomorrow I will drive down the number one to Regina. The last three weeks sped away, and now we're over halfway through the summer recline...and still loving it.
See you in Regina?

Back in YK

From Cowtown to the Knife...big sun, big sky, trees, rocks, and squishable babies. Yes, I'm back in Yellowknife, enjoying the small-town feel and the great people of the North. It's always an enjoyable place to be in the summer. I am staying at a friend's place, my parents are staying on the next block over, and Tim and Tara are across the street from them. I love that!

In keeping with the summer theme of nieces and nephews, Yellowknife has been no exception. Andrew, Autumn and I have been out riding bikes, playing tennis and going to the beach. Michael is 6 months old and just so sweet (yes, he's very squishy too). I love babies. Although, I can tell I've been spending more time than usual with little ones because last night I had a dream (or was it a nightmare?) that I had quadruplets rolling everywhere and I couldn't stop them from rolling, and I had no husband, and there were no Aunties or Grandmas to be found. It was terrible!

Anyway, being an Aunty is much better. Elijah makes me laugh time and time again. He's so much fun and all-boy. What a cool kid. He really likes cars and wanders up to every car he sees and tries to get in. Again, we're off the charts when it comes to cuteness, folks.

Other than hanging out with family and friends, I was happy to join in the big NWT Open. I think I have a match with Sharapova tomorrow. I've heard she's in town. I guess Nic hasn't, because he's still griping about Northern tennis. Serious though, it's fun that I'm here on the same weekend as the local tournament. It's great experience and tennis is such a good time.

A couple other random things I'm excited about- my friend Mary and I got our tickets for the Women's World Cup in Shanghai in September. I can't wait! I'll definitely be waving my Canadian flag!! And, I just read on Jason's blog that my favorite group, Caedmon's Call, has a new album coming out on August 28. This is fantastic news!

Signing off from the land of the midnight sun...

We Love Photobooth

It's a great babysitter, I tell you! Ha ha. I think Aiden took over 150 shots of himself and the babysitter this afternoon! I'm sure we'll have another hour long photo shoot tomorrow. He enjoyed the headless version the best. Good times on photobooth...we love our Mac!

Birds and Big Skies

Let me say it is great to be home. When you live overseas and travel home, you receive the gift of realizing all over again, that we live in a wonderful country. I wish that it weren't so easy for me, for most of us, to have this kind of fresh love and appreciation fade into something that is very normal, expected, and taken for granted. So what does a traveler notice as she steps back onto Canadian soil?

As a lifelong prairie girl coming from a year in a squishy skyscraper stacked city, I cannot understate the pure goodness of space and sky. One of my favorite things is looking out the window onto the perfect patchwork fields as I fly into the Regina airport. The pent up air starts seeping out, just looking at the open space! And then breathing in the fresh air, what a treat for the lungs! I can breathe again for the first time in 11 months. When I woke up the first day, I heard a strange sound coming from outside. It wasn't seven billion cars zipping down the road 32 floors below me. It was birds. I'm not really a huge bird lover, but did they ever sound lovely. Birds, and quiet. My, is it ever quiet here. The auto-pilot driving experience from Regina to Calgary is one of my favorites. When else do you get to drive through "The Friendly City", the city "Where Life Makes Sense" and "The Gas City"?!

As refreshing as it is to return to Canadian scenery (did I mention sunsets?! They don't really look the same when covered by a layer of smog), of course it is the return to the people you love most that is the best part of home. I've had a great kickstart to my summer of seeing friends and family. My sister came to Regina to hang out for the week and we found ourselves frequenting friend's homes, and, the tennis courts. Yes! It was awesome to be with Autumn, Andrew, Mom and Dad for a couple days. I have missed them so much. We spent time in Kennedy visiting my nearly 70 years married grandparents, driving Grandpa's scooter to town (and pushing it back), playing crokinole (and losing), and also seeing three cousins. It was great. Back in Regina I was glad to stop in on a ball game and connect with my old teammates. It's always so good to be at the diamonds again, though it makes me itch to get out there.

Now I sit in Heather's living room, up too early on a Sunday morning, hoping that Federer will bring home the Wimbledon title. It's wonderful to be in Calgary with the single goal of being with family. I must say that my littlest niece, Mareesa, has an overwhelming load of cuteness. I don't even know what to do with myself, she's off the charts! A week will not be enough, but I'll enjoy every minute! You can be assured that pictures will follow. Of course it is so, so good to see each one of my nieces and nephews. It's amazing how they grow and change in a year.

I will stay here for the week and wrap things up with a camp-out next weekend with some of my best friends from Regina. Then it's on to the next stop- Yellowknife. A fine place to be in the middle of summer. There's a little nephew I have yet to squish, and another I've been waiting to play with! Plus, my parents and A & A are there, too. So I'm looking forward to that. Anyway, that's all for this morning. I thought I'd better check in on the other side of the journey. Go Roger...

Time to Fly

Hong Kong Harm is ready to exit the big city for awhile. Bring on the big sky! Give me a breath of that fresh air! Ahhhhhh! I fly out of Hong Kong at 12:35pm. I arrive in Regina, Saskatchewan, CANADA at 4:35pm. It always throws my mind for a loop, the whole time zone thing. It will actually be 6:35am in Hong Kong by the time I arrive in Regina, and for those of you who know me well, you are well acquainted with my disposition at this time of the day! Ha ha! Nah, it will be sweeeet to be in the homeland. Can't wait. Hope to see you soon!!! (I'll be in Calgary, Regina, Saskatoon, Kennedy, Yellowknife and Victoria over the next 7 weeks, so I hope to have great visits with many of you!)
Signing off from the 32nd floor...
Harm

5 of My Favorite Hong Kongers!

The tennis ladies came over tonight for fondue and cake! I love these gals! It was so much fun to have them over!

Hark! Tis My First Medieval Feast!

We are down to 2 teaching days left! It's hard to believe! A great part of me is extremely excited, and another part is creeping towards sentamentality (is that a word?). The final days with the first group of kids that have been "mine" for a year are here. It has been good.

Today we capped off our medieval study with a Feast. Thankfully, yesterday was a holiday in Hong Kong (dragon boats), and so I had the day to prepare. It ended up being quite the adventure, and finally ended late in the night/early in the morning with the final touches on a castle cake and the fastest possible home-made tinfoil costume for a knight. The day included a desperate search for icing sugar (eventually found), a more desperate search for a "herald's" costume (which was not found and resulted in a run to Toys'r'us for a knight's sword and shield), the making of my first stew (medieval style), and two trips to the Island.

It was worth every bit of a time that went into it, though! I was lucky to have 5 wonderful moms come and help out, which made the morning so much easier. The students came up with some impressive costumes! We had lots of peasants, a most entertaining jester, a number of damsels, princesses, Robin Hood, and a very elegantly dressed King and Queen! For entertainment, our little jester had us all laughing (and a couple of surprise jesters stopped by with a juggling and yo-yo act), the minstrel was great, and then capped off by a performance of St. George and the Dragon. We learned some old English, so I was pleased to hear students asking me "whither is the privy?" and "good morrow!" throughout the day. Our classroom was ready for the occasion as we've been doing this unit for some time now. We have monstrous castles, a door that is a castle drawbridge with a moat, a castle wall, coats of arms, and stained glass windows. We had cheese, crackers, "ales" and fruit to start the Feast, followed by the main course of medieval stew (it turned out pretty good, Mom!) on trenchers (bread), and big drumsticks to gloriously rip apart like those big fellas on all the medieval movies. We had apple crumble for dessert, as well as my not-so-authentic but high in fun castle cake. We also played chess and Capture the Flag later on.

I'm tired tonight, but it really was a fun day and I'm surprised by how well it all went over! A nice way to finish the year! I see no reason to stop the flow of parties at this point- tomorrow we'll do the bowling/pizza party, and then on Friday we'll cap it off with a "monster smartie party".

Well, I'm more than ready to hit the hay tonight. Farethee well!

While You Were Out

The cupboard fell.

Cracked Pot

This is a post I never ended up posting a couple months back...

One way that God strengthens my spirit and lifts me up in times of weakness is through pictures. I've had two pictures in the corners of my mind for the last three months.
The first was inspired by a Brian Jones e-votional. It was timely encouragement for a shaky heart.

"Jars of clay" is a powerful analogy. At the time Paul wrote this passage, clay pottery, dishes, and cookware were common. Clayware was common because it was so inexpensive to make-clay from the ground and fire to harden it were all that was needed. "Jars of clay" were also very brittle. Our minds and bodies are a lot like those jars of clay. We're frail. We break. We crack and fall to pieces. Clay pots don't hold up real well under extramarital affairs, depression, and bankruptcy. When we manage to keep our lives intact when they should be scattered across the floor in a million pieces, we-and others-realize that something supernatural is holding us together.

His comments gave me a clear picture of my heart at that time- cracked but held together. I found resilience in that, and felt Christ's "holding me together". Paul says it best:

We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.

The second I'll save for another day!

MTR Song

This is the fastest way to travel in Hong Kong, and it's even more fun now that I've heard this catchy jingle...

Life is a Verb

Enjoying...the facebook frenzy
Listening...to Jason Mraz, Jim Brickman
Reading....Grade 5 poetry, and not much else
Watching...the French Open (go Roger)
Thinking...about a barbecue on Barb's deck
Missing...the red dirt at second base
Loving...my tennis club
Anticipating...finishing those blasted report cards
Eating...Greek salads
Drinking...water (it's smokin' in Hong Kong)
Disliking...my feet
Celebrating...my Dad
Counting...days til June 30
Trying...to finish well

Heart Change

I wish it didn't have to take a mess-up to bring me to my knees before God, but it usually does. I'm frustrated with that, but at the same time, I'm glad for the moments that remind me of my brokenness.

I messed up yesterday. I mess up a lot, but yesterday I actually felt it. Prick. A guilty conscience, an awareness of something...not right, not pure. And I'm glad it happened because it helped me see my heart more clearly. It's dirty. It's easily calloused to sin. And I am blind to the dirt. But I saw it yesterday, and I loved God's love in a more real way than I have in awhile, and I saw his desire to change me into someone with a heart like his Son.

"Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart with new and right desires, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new, obedient heart. "
-Ezekiel 36:25-26

Three Nights in Bangkok

My friend Mary and I went to Bangkok for our long weekend. Our goals were three-fold: 1) shop, 2) sit by a pool with a book and come back a shade darker than we left, and 3) eat Thai food as many times as possible in two days. I'm happy to report all goals were met, in addition to a late goal, 4) get a massage, or two. Although, I didn't try the Thai massage because I was slightly too roasted by the achieving (over-achieving actually) of goal #2. A foot massage was a fine substitute. As for goal #1, Bangkok boasts Asia's biggest market. It was ridiculously hot, but really fun to wander through the endless stalls. The accomplishment of goal #3 was a glorious thing- very rewarding. Mango sticky rice, spring rolls, pad thai noodles, a couple colors of curry, and some fresh fruit shakes. Ahhhh, so good.
Here's a short video of the weekend...

Too Long

Other than trying to fit some new Mandarin into my brain tonight, you four were on my mind and stuck in my heart. I miss you Mom, Dad, Autumn and Andrew!!!

Singing in the Rain

For the last three weeks I've been glad to have extra company around my flat. I have been hosting a student teacher during her pre-internship at the school. Tasia and her mom, Venee, are from Salmon Arm. They have brought many laughs and new friendship to my life, and as my good friend Deb notes in a recent post, that's the stuff of life! Yesterday I took them out to Sai Kung, one of my favorite fishing villages in the Hong Kong area. From the village you can go on a hike out to a couple quiet and scenic beaches.

The weatherman has been saying it's going to rain like crazy for the last two weeks, and he has been consistently wrong. Why should he be right on a pleasant Saturday? He was wrong for the first half of the day, and we enjoyed a nice hike over a couple hills, past beach one, and enjoyed fresh squid and rice at beach two. And then he was right, and it poured...and it poured...and it poured. We had pruny skin and pockets full of water. It was glorious! There is something fresh, fun, and freeing about running in the rain. Ha ha! Anyway, it was a memorable day, and it was topped off by a monstrous meal at my favorite restaurant- Habibi! Mmmm...Egyptian. Here's Tasia and Venee...thanks for the good times, ladies!

Busy But Better!

Hey all. I haven't devoted much time to the old blog lately, but I thought I'd drop by with a bit of an update on life in Hong Kong, as of May 15.
I am honestly thrilled to write that I am physically feeling so much better. I am still having some of the same "buzzing" symptoms in my feet, but aside from that, I'm feeling almost back to normal. Yes! I'm so thankful to feel like myself again. Almost. And I'll take almost- it feels good after feeling less than myself for quite awhile. This bug is still unidentified, but after a clear MRI (praise God!), and a lessening of the bad buzz, things are looking up! I do really wonder if it could be the pollution. That is scary! Thank you, again, for your encouragement and your prayers.
The last couple of weeks, and the present one especially, are flying by in a busier fashion than I'd like. At school, we have a field trip on Friday and we're busy preparing for the spring musical next week. It's hard to believe we have just over a month left of school!
I'm still playing a lot of tennis, and finding that I have a love-hate relationship with this sport. I love the game, I love the challenge, but sometimes it really ticks me off. Grrrrr. The more that I learn, the worse I become because I figure out that I am doing more wrong than I had even realized. So my backhand goes from inconsistent to plain ugly. However, I want to get it right, so I guess it will have to be ugly until I get it right. Good thing the club players are so gracious...they didn't know what they were getting in for when they let me in!
Enough tennis talk. The only other news I have is that next week my friend Mary and I are going to Bangkok for the long weekend. Fun! Thai food, a swimming pool, and the biggest market in Asia. Sounds like a good time to me.
And I must say, go Steve and the Suns. What an intense series! How can anyone not like Steve Nash?!

The Hong Kong Wedding Wish

Well, it's official- congratulations to Matthew and Tamara Tucker! Missing weddings is one of the definite downsides to living overseas. Sigh. I made up a video from Hong Kong as a way of sending my congrats to Matthew and Tamara. I thought I'd post it, as it is a small window into my life in Hong Kong and we should keep the well wishes for M and T rolling! Enjoy, and again, congrats my friends on your wedding!!!

Don't Miss Out!

I'm thrilled to announce an AMAZING deal on flights from Vancouver to Hong Kong!!! Seriously, friends. You must take advantage of this stellar deal! 600 BUCKS ROUNDTRIP. That's ridiculous! The sweet deal is coming from Oasis, a new airline.
Let me know when you're coming!!!!
600 bucks to fly to Hong Kong...and priceless memories to last a lifetime! (Oasis hired me)
Oh yes, and also- other than me :), three other fun reasons to come to China...1) the Women's World Cup is in China in September (I'm hoping to go to the finals in Shanghai), and 2) the Master's Cup is back in Shanghai again in November (I'm hoping to be there, too!). If that's not good enough for you, try 3) the Beijing Olympics. China is the place to be, folks!