JUNE 2016!!!

It's June and that means only 3 more weeks till we get to go home for a visit. We are all so excited! We are all excited for different reasons though...Lizzy wants shoes and clothes, the boys want food, and I want American groceries! Just want to go to the grocery store and be able to purchase food in large quantities.. You know, a weeks worth! And not have to schelp it home in a trolley... I wanna drive a CAR! And turn on the radio and sing out loud.

But anyway, we will be in the states for a month, spending a week in Oshkosh, WI! Then down to Alabama. Ahhhh....just saying it makes me happy!

John rowed on our church's dragon boat team this year. Called the Two by Twos, the team did great this yea. They earned third place in the community race and 5th team (out of 40 teams) overall. It was a fun day, though hot, but a nice community day out.

 

Beating the sun the Chinese way...umbrella style.

Lining up...two by two. GET it??

Heading out to the starting line.

Watching from the shore

Finishing a heat

End of the community race!

 

We spent the day with a friend from church, who volunteered to show us around the neighborhood in which she teaches. She is an English teacher in an all boys Catholic school. The only westerner in her school. She loves it and the neighborhood. It is a solid working class area. Here is her school. They leave at lunch each day to eat in the local area, home or restaurant or a packed lunch in the park.

This is the nearest park.

Lots of turtles!

Lovely pagodas.

Old banyan trees

Then we walked to the Sam Tung Uk museum. This is area refurbished into a museum for the cultural arts. It was originally a Hakke walled village of the Chan clan built in 1786. The clan lived here until the 1980s then were moved out, the village restored and made into a museum. Very interesting place, with exhibits showing what life was like in the early days of the villagers.

 

Entrance

Kids with Moira, who is originally from England, but has lived in Hong Kong for over 20 years, raised three kids here. Her husband is a computer programming expert of the PhD in math variety. Super nice folks.

Scale model of the village

Traditional Chinese dresses in the Hakke style

Paper crafted masks, used for traditional dances during parades and festivals

Dinner table and benches...they must have had skinny hind-quarters.

A handmade Qin, an art form being saved by the cultural arts division.

Puppet theatre

Huge wet market

It was four stories in one building and the length of two streets! All kinds of food available....Fish to ginger root.

The younger kids and I joined some homeschooled friends and went to the Hong Kong Musuem of history - Roman navy and Pompeii exhibit. We went via MTR. Here we are waiting on the train and making silly faces.

No pictures were allowed in the exhibit, but it was really cool. Lots of ancient artifacts of the Roman navy and also some of the body casts of the Pompeii victims. It was a very enjoyable day out.

Photo op!

 

We enjoyed some of our regular activities, including gymnastics, church, and homeschool play days. Then the school year finished and half of Discovery Bay left town... No kidding! We enjoyed one week of just hanging out with friends before they left for holiday and then concluded the week with a visit to the HK Philharmonic. Turns out, we know 7 of the members from church and scouts. One of them, Sheleigh-cello player married to a viola player gave us tickets. It was a very cool experience for us all, especially for the kids.

About to board the Star Ferry

On the Kowloon side of HK.

 

Waiting for the concert...John and Paul sat in the balcony with a couple other church friends.

 

Warming up...Truly, this group is amazing.

Hopefully, the next time you all hear from us, it will be in person!! Pray for safe travels for us. We cannot wait to see everyone!!

 

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