musings from michelle

post #400 and a fresh start

2011-07-12T23:22:00.004+08:00

After a year a half of not blogging, I think I'm ready to come back. I've missed it... for multiple reasons. For one thing, I've felt much less productive sans blog. Much less creative. And frighteningly less observant. It may sound silly and sappy, but blogging helped me to appreciate life's details, and to see the humor and beauty in seemingly mundane interactions and situations. I think without this outlet and the reflection that it encouraged, I've become more irritable and impatient, more prone to complain and find fault.

Facebook has become my major outlet for internet self-expression in recent years, and while it's been perfect for sharing the odd photo and quick thought, I haven't felt comfortable sharing anything of much depth (not to imply that this blog is deep... at all). I don't like thinking about everything I post (which occasionally might be solely for my own amusement) being forced upon all of my FB contacts. I prefer the idea of friends choosing to come to my blog, and reading only if they want to.

I also miss writing. And the personal record that my blog is for me. If no one else reads it, so be it.

It feels good to be back. :)

owlily

2010-01-02T10:09:00.003+08:00

If you are reading this, the following statements are [almost definitely] true:

- you have made it to 2010! Hooray and congratulations!
- you are among the small, elite group of priviledged people who read this blog.
- you have noticed a sharp decline in the number of posts over the past few months.

What you might not know is:

- I am still alive and well.
- my good friend Salome and I are caring for a newly-hatched owlet who has required a lot of our time and attention. This owlet, called Owlily, has a website of her own, which you might want to check out. She's even started a blog, and for each day in January, she will introduce you to a new hand-made owl friend.

Thanks for reading! I plan to continue using this blog, but can't make any promises about the frequency and quality of future posts...

sorry

2009-11-01T18:25:00.003+08:00

A very belated hello! I'm listening This American Life episode #388, entitled "Rest Stop"... good stuff! I used to listen to TAL while sewing, but stopped... can't remember why. Today I was working on a lino print and decided that the already wonderful crafting experience would be made even better with some good listening material. If you've never listened to TAL, I suggest checking out their page of favorite episodes first. Subscribing to their free podcast is also a good idea. :)

Since I haven't posted in a while, I thought I would show a couple of the lino prints I've done recently. Though you wouldn't know it by looking at my blog, I have been quite busy with crafts, especially printing and sewing. Salome and I even had our own craft day recently, which was great. Hopefully I'll have some news soon regarding our much anticipated (by us at least) website. In regards to the prints above, the bathtub was commissioned by my lovely sister, who wants to use it as a graphic on her blog. The slug print is the latest in a series of cards that I have in the works. I'm really pleased with how it turned out -- he's quite cute for a slug, no? -- though I'm not sure how often people send "sorry" cards. I might have to turn up the rudeness these next few weeks so that I have some good reasons to use them. Or maybe I should send cards to my readers to apologize for the three-month silence...

pass me a kleenex!

2009-07-22T17:14:00.002+08:00

Here's one of my recent sewing endeavors -- tissue box covers! I'm quite pleased with the way they turned out -- quick and easy, but they serve their purpose ... covering those tissue boxes (which in HK tend to be quite garrish). Now I'm considering making covers for other unsightly things... the stack of junk mail on the table, or maybe the pile of clothes in my room.

latest purchase

2009-07-22T12:49:00.005+08:00

I bought these super cute cookie cutters at Ikea this morning... definitely not a premeditated purchase. I noticed the squirrel first. Then the moose. Cute, cute, I thought. Porcupine, even cuter. But even then, I figured I could do without them. And that's when I noticed the snail. Not sure why or when I developed a soft spot for molluscs, but I do indeed have one. I guess I'll have to throw a woodland-themed party sometime soon, and let these little guys see some action.

super-villain

2009-07-19T16:53:00.005+08:00

I've made a horrible, horrible discovery -- homemade ice-cream sandwiches. Cookies. Ice-cream. They are two things that, independently, I already had a dangerous liking for. Dangerous, because I have no self-control when either of them are in my kitchen. Now that they have combined forces, they are like a super-villain, and I am powerless against them...

The cookies pictured above are among my favorites -- oatmeal -- very similar to this Betty Crocker recipe, but sans walnuts, and with cinnamon added. The ice-cream is Dreyer's Vanilla.

hello

2009-07-03T13:39:00.006+08:00

Here's my latest lino print. This little guy might look harmless, but carving this print cost me: a deep puncture wound to my left index finger! Ouch! I guess sometimes I need a little reminding -- be careful when handling sharp objects!

bach choir

2009-05-27T03:43:00.004+08:00

My choir made it onto TV! Here's the clip:

Unfortunately there's a lot more footage of the orchestra than the choir, but oh well -- you can at least hear us!

pouch bag

2009-05-24T21:08:00.015+08:00

I purchased a card reader today, so can once again blog with pictures! Hooray! This is not the post I was planning to write the other day, because since then, I have had some major sewing inspiration!!

I borrowed a rather non-descript, fold-up grocery-store tote from my mom the other day, and was inspired to copy it using some fun fabric. So far, I've made two, and I'm really pleased with how they've turned out! I experienced some challenges -- I'm still getting used to sewing with bias tape, and my sewing machine decided to throw a couple tantrums -- but it was a positive experience overall. Here are the finished bags:

Folded up, to fit nicely in your purse.

Unfolded part way.

And in use! The little pouch doubles as a handy outside pocket.

I want to make some more, but will need to take a trip to Sham Shui Po first, to stock up on bias tape... in many colors!

I'm sure there are patterns out there for similar bags, but if anyone would like me to put up a tutorial, I'd be happy to share the steps, so that you can make one of your own.

recent travels

2009-05-22T20:13:00.006+08:00

Since I can't post new photos, here are some older ones from recent travels, posted on FaceBook with links here for those poor, unfortunate, non-FB-using souls...

Taiwan: I went to Taipei and the Taroko Gorge with three friends for the long May Day weekend -- we had a blast!

Malaysia: I spent part of our March spring break at a conference in Kota Kinabalu... the other part was spent snorkling, exploring the rain forest, and sitting by the pool. It's a tough life...

photo-free for the moment

2009-05-21T21:26:00.002+08:00

I had a post in mind to write this evening, got to the photo-adding stage (step #1 for me), but found that my camera and computer are not on speaking terms. How sad! It looks like I may need a new USB cable, or -- what I'm leaning towards -- a card reader. So no more blogging from me for now. I'll take this as a sign from above that I should go to bed early.

plant friends

2009-04-29T17:55:00.004+08:00

One day I'd love to have a garden. A real garden. With soil to dig in. And included in said garden would be a decent-sized herb garden. I love fresh herbs, but am always reluctant to pay supermarket prices for them.

Until the real, get-my-hands-dirty-in-the-soil garden materializes, I'm determined to be happy with a potted indoor one. I just started the herb section of my indoor garden the other day (well, not counting the rosemary that I tried to grow that died almost immediately). I picked up some basil and mint the other day at the Mong Kok flower market. I'm hoping that the basil will really take off so that I can start harvesting some leaves. Basil seems to grow well in HK, as seen by the basil bush that my parents had growing in their yard a year or two ago. Hopefully being inside will not hinder my new Mr. Basil.

Basil. Grow like crazy, please.

Mint. I realized recently that I love the way a little mint tastes in a smoothie. Really. You should try it if you haven't. And then of course there are other favorites -- yogurt mint sauce... my mouth is watering.

And I don't think any part of this plant is edible, but I couldn't resist buying it. It looked so intriguing, just barely starting to bloom... I just had to see how the blooming would progress. If you know what this flower is and how I should care for it (i.e. will I need to regridgerate the bulb at some point?), please do share your tips.

I feel a little silly saying this, but these plants have made me so happy in the past couple of days. Even this morning, they looked so friendly and cheerful that I was tempted to call in sick and stay home with them. Yes, you heard me right... stay home with plants. Staying home with a human loved-one? Acceptable. Staying home with a pet? Well, if it's a creature as adorable as Templeton, people would probably at least understand. But a plant? I think I might have gone off the deep end...

prints

2009-04-19T14:48:00.008+08:00

There are a lot of things I could and probably should update you on (though nothing life-changing like an amputated limb or an engagement). I realized after posting my pictures from Tianjin that there are a couple other trips I've taken this year that I have not shared via the blog. So I will attempt to get caught up on the travel side of life soon, or at least before my next trip, which will hopefully be in early May (spring traveling has been a bit on the excessive side, I know). But for now, here's a little craft update.

I wasn't feeling too well yesterday, so decided to stay home from church today and get some rest. The weather was conducive to staying in as well -- close to 100% humidity with periodic torential rain storms. Lovely. Definitely the time of year that one regrets any complaints about the coolness or dryness of winter.

I allowed myself to do only restful things today, and so, besides some reading and a moderate amount of cooking, I got back to work on a series of prints that I had started some time ago and not done anything with.

I designed them to be greeting cards, and am quite pleased with how they look. Some of them need some cleaning up, but overall I'm grateful that these got done with no major hiccups. I find that linoleum is so smooth to carve, that sometimes you end up cutting away more than you intended, and if that happens to be a part of a letter in a word, or a critical part of a picture, there's not much you can do to fix it.

This one is what I worked on for most of today (yes, these tend to be quite time-intensive for me, but maybe I'm just slow). The ice-cream cone idea came to me quite late in the process, but I'm very happy with the end result. I love ice-cream.

I did this one a few months back. It probably needs a little cleaning up, though I tend to like the imperfections and roughness...

Another one I did a few months ago. I still like the concept for this one, but wish the pencil was at a slightly different angle.

Another thank you card, also done a while back. Not sure this one fits nicely into the mix, but I guess I like it well enough.

So, if you have a birthday coming up (or one that I missed!), are expecting, or are owed a thank you card, there's a high probability that you will be receiving one of these soon.

On a related note, I might be selling some prints like these online in the near future. Sal and Kaiser have been working on a new website for us to use to sell our handmade goods. They showed me yesterday what they had come up with so far, and it looks great! (But how could it not, with Salome's artistic flare and Kaiser's web sense!) So stay tuned for some shop info, especially if you've been wanting to purchase a cozie, cards, and whatever else we end up selling!

easter in tianjin

2009-04-12T16:57:00.007+08:00

I'm making good on my promise to post photos of the kiddos. H ere's a link to an album I created on Facebook... an album that even stubborn, non-FB users will be able to see. ;)

Happy Easter everyone!

taxi driver welcome

2009-04-10T21:08:00.008+08:00

I'm in Tianjin at the moment, enjoying the long weekend with my sister and her family. I will post photos of the kids soon. But first, an account of my welcome back to Tianjin.

...

I landed in the TJ airport close to 1 am, disoriented and groggy after having slept almost the entire 3-hour flight from Shenzhen. I had told Amy that I felt comfortable finding a taxi and getting to their place on my own -- definitely didn't want anyone out that late to meet me -- and so, stumbled over to the airport taxi stand, ignoring the touts I passed on the way. I got in a reputable-looking taxi and did my best not to butcher Amy's address (it'd been 4 years since I'd visited (!!), but I hadn't forgotten how to say Fu Kang Hua Yuanr). I was still very tired, and would have happily napped there in the taxi, or stared mindlessly at the passing scenery... but very soon realized that would not be happening. Like most Chinese taxi drivers I've met, this gentleman was very friendly.

He seemed to consider me for a moment in the rear-view mirror, and soon the usual questions were flowing.

Where was I from? What did I do? Why was I visiting Tianjin?

A short pause.

How old was I this year? Any children?

I was a little confused by this question, because I had just finished telling him that I was here visiting my jie jie and her family. Was he asking about her, or me?

Oh, of course, me.

I said politely that I didn't have any children, and added that I wasn't married yet. This seemed to bother him.

Twenty-eight and still not married? Why not?

Let me just pause here and say that this is possibly my least favorite question to be asked. It's such a loaded question, and I'm never quite sure how to answer it. I get asked this question from time to time at school, by elementary girls, and am often tempted to say very dramatically, "Really? Do you really want to know?" And then go into an hour-long lecture about the many facets of singlehood and the possible reasons why I am still in its ranks, and how, when it comes down to it, I would much rather choose singleness over being married to someone I was less than crazy about.

But, since my Chinese is limited, I opted to tell the driver that I just hadn't met the right guy yet.

Once again he was incredulous. I guess it makes sense, though. I hear that a lot of women in China are spoiled for choice, what with the imbalanced male to female ratio. Unfortunately, I have no such ratio working in my favor. To show me how shocked he was by my situation, he repeated to himself a few times while shaking his head, "28 years old and still not married, no child. 28 years old..."

Maybe he sensed my annoyance, because soon he was trying to lift my spirits. Did I at least have a boyfriend?

No.

Even longer awkward silence.

At this point, I think he must have begun analyzing why someone as old as me would still be unmarried. He said something to me that I couldn't fully understand. "You Westerners don't care much about ___."

I told him that I didn't understand and asked him to explain.

"I think you foreign girls don't care much about fixing your hair, wearing nice clothes, putting on make-up. Is that right?"

...

Ouch.

I took a deep breath and told myself that I wasn't going to take this personally, even though I was probably the basis for this impression of his. Another deep breath, and I told him that no, a lot of Western girls cared a lot about their appearance. "Right now I don't care about my appearance very much, because I'm very tired, and I've been on a plane for three hours."

It must have been obvious that in spite of myself, I'd taken his comment personally. His next words were almost apologetic. "Yes, I'm sure when you go to work, I'm sure you look very pretty... very pretty."

...

So thank you Mr. Taxi Driver. I will work hard on making myself more presentable, and if you know of any eligible bachelors, be sure to send them my way.

visit from sharon and roger

2009-03-15T17:48:00.006+08:00

I just realized that I had this post-in-the-works that never got published. Oops.

Back in February, we had a visit from my dad's second cousin, Sharon, and her husband Roger. They were taking a cruise from Shanghai to SE Asia, and HK was one of their ports of call. I had the pleasure of visiting them in Wales last summer, but my parents hadn't gotten to meet them yet -- so we all had a great time catching up while seeing some of HK.

We took the Star Ferry over to Central, and then had dim sum at City Hall.

Then we took a minibus up to Victoria Peak. It was windy and a little hazy, but still a wonderful view!
From the Peak, I took Sharon and Roger to Stanley (though none of us ended up doing any shopping!), and then to TST for dinner. Here's Roger showing off his chop sticks skills.
Then we went back to the harbor to catch the light show. There was a beautiful light display out for Chinese New Year.
It was great to see you again, Roger and Sharon! Till next time!

day-tripping in macau

2009-03-15T16:18:00.007+08:00

My blogging record has been appalling these past few months... anyone who's still actually following this blog or checking from time to time for updates -- please accept my apologies. I've had plenty of blog-worthy material, but little time and even less motivation to get things up. Maybe this post will be the new leaf that is figuratively turned..

I went to Macau yesterday, with friends Mike and Ken. We joined a service project sponsored by Mike's church, and spent a couple hours at an English center holding a free English corner for local adults and teens interested in improving their conversational English. The experience reminded me of my time teaching in Xianyang, where we would hold weekly English corners for our college students. To be honest, English corner wasn't always my favorite part of teaching. If I wasn't prepared with some topics to discuss, I would get stuck answering questions that were all too familiar (i.e. "Do you know how to use chopsticks?" "Do you like Chinese food?" "Which is better, China or America?"). But anyway, I ended up really enjoying the English corner yesterday, and found myself actually feeling quite nostalgic for those days in China (I think the fact that I've started rereading River Town is also a contributing factor). I got to talk to two very nice Chinese ladies -- one was from near Shanghai, and the other was born and raised in Madagascar(!!). We talked about everything from family to work, history to travel. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos from the event, but might be able to add some soon, if friends are kind enough to share theirs. :)

After the English Corner, most of the service group took a ferry back to Hong Kong, but Mike, Ken and I headed to the Venetian -- the world's largest casino -- instead. I'd only ever seen the Venetian from afar, so was curious to go inside and see for myself what all the hype was about. We got there in time to get tickets for a matinee showing of the Cirque du Soleil show, Zaia. It was my first Cirque show, and wow, was it brilliant! But I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, because if I'd been paying attention to the signs, I would have known that it's "the most dazzling spectacle ever staged in Asia." (I suggested that Mike and Ken strike Zaia-esque poses, but apparently, this is the best they could come up with.)

After Zaia, we spent a bit of time checking out the Venetian. You could easily spend a couple days in this place and still not see everything. Thus the map that Mike is studying in the photo below. We made it to the actual casino section, and I had my heart set on playing one of the slot machines... but couldn't for the life of me figure it out! Maybe I should take that as a sign from above that I should never gamble.

After my poor luck with the slot machines, I decided that we couldn't leave until we'd at least found the canal that the Venetian is so famous for. Here are Mike and Ken standing on one of the many canal bridges. I've never been to Venice, but I'm sure it's just like this...
Look, it's a gondola!

And us on another bridge. Check out the amazing blue sky!

Then we headed out to my favorite restaurant -- Fernando's! We had quite a wait, but I think it was worth it. They have the best tomatoes... and garlic prawns... and sangria.

We left Fernando's with a decent amount of time to get back for our ferry. We had tickets for the last ferry to Kowloon, and thankfully didn't put ourselves through the stress of cutting it close. After an uneventful hour's ride (no sea-sickness either way -- hooray!), we were back in HK.

So that concludes this post about my very fun day in Macau. I have some catch-up posts in the works, but am not making any promises about how many of them will actually get written. But stay tuned! :)

happy valentine's day!

2009-02-15T14:21:00.010+08:00

I celebrated the day by going on a very long hike with a few friends. It was a 24k trail that I've done before (Maclehose stages 4 and 5 in reverse -- Beacon Hill to Ma On Shan), but it seemed longer thanks to some very strange weather. Mist and fog covered the mountains for most of the day, giving us very low visibility (sometimes down to 20 ft!). Thankfully, the Maclehose is very well marked, otherwise I think we might have gotten lost. But the fog did obscure the normal landmarks, which made it hard to gauge how far we'd gone... which gave it that general is-this-ever-going-to-be-over sort of feeling. Anyway, it was still a good hike and a fun day. I needed to do a longer hike to help me prepare for the Green Power 50k, which I'll be doing again this year. It's coming up in just 2 weeks -- February 28th.

Another V-day highlight involved some very romantic text messages that I received... from my cell phone company! I should explain. Sometimes my service provider will send out cute little animated SMSes on various holidays, with the thought that I'll want to forward them to all my friends... which I never do. Anyway, for Valentine's day, not only did I receive one of those, I also got a couple text message poems that are very... umm... interesting. Take a look for yourself:

I lie awake in the dark... feeling your nearness,

your soft lips and the warmth of your touch.

I wish you're here with me.

Happy Valentine's Day.

You are hard to forget coz you were hard to get.

I never regret that I made your heart my target.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Grammatical errors aside, I can't imagine sending these to anyone. And frankly, the thought of a person forwarding a poem from their phone company to their significant other on Valentine's Day makes me want to cry. But the poems did provide a good chuckle after a long, tiring walk. Thank you Smartone-Vodafone!

china road

2008-12-30T16:38:00.004+08:00

I just finished reading China Road by Rob Gifford and highly highly recommend it. I started the book quite a few months ago, but took my time reading it -- there was just so much to be savored, digested, and reflected upon.

Rob Gifford was NPR's correspondent in Beijing for 6 years, and before he left China to return to the UK, he took a 3,000-mile road trip along China's Route 312 -- a road that runs from Shanghai to China's western border with Kazakstan. The book is mainly an account of his trip, but also includes numerous anecdotal insights into the state of the country, collected by him during his stay in China.

This book made me feel much the same way as Rivertown (by Peter Hessler) -- another favorite China book. I learned a lot of new information, but also came across much that was familiar. And that which was familiar was so well put, giving words to some of the complex feelings I have had about China but never fully expressed. I think during my recent trip to Yangshuo, I realized that a lot of the emotions that I felt about living in China were left unresolved when I left and moved back to Hong Kong almost 5 years ago. I guess I've always had an intense love-hate relationship with the place, and it's been good to have to sort through some of that, and also somehow comforting to find others that express similar feelings (and do so more eloquently than I ever could!).

I am about to loan out my copy of China Road, so before I do, I felt compelled to go back through and find those parts that I really wanted to share. There are many other parts that would be worth adding here, and I could have spent hours re-reading sections and agonizing over what is really most blog-worthy, but here are a few excerpts that I found to be especially poignant. Please sit back and allow me to virtually read them aloud to you.

from Chapter 5: "A Single Spark Can Light a Prairie Fire"
"Pity the poor, long-suffering Chinese peasants. This was supposed to be their revolution. They form the majority of the Chinese population (some 750 million people), and they have suffered long and more deeply than anyone. They were promised so much. They were supposed to be liberated by this great experiment in social equality called Communism, but they have ended up back at the bottom of the pile. It is a betrayal of monumental proportions, considering the roots of the Communist revolution and its original aims, and a betrayal that could end up having monumental consequences for the Communist Party."

from Chapter 6: Silicon Valley
"There are nine cities in the US with more than one million inhabitants. In China there are forty-nine. You can be travelling across China and arrive in a city that is twice the size of Houston, and think, I've never heard of this place."

from Chapter 9: Power
"The tendency is to think of contemporary China in terms of the United States, because of their similarity of geographical size. Actually, to understand China today, the best comparison by far is Roman Europe two thousand years ago: lots of people with different languages and dialects, different customs, different artistic styles, even different cuisines, all with a shared heritage, but ultimately held together by force. It makes no more sense to say you're going out for a Chinese meal than to say you are going out for a European one."

from Chapter 23: A Road is Made
"It's impossible to be neutral about China. Some foreigners hate it from the moment they set foot here. Others love it so much they put down roots and never go home. I wonder if other countries divide people so intensely in their emotions. For myself, I have always tried to retain my own unity of opposites, attempting to keep love and hate in balance."

i heart hk cozy

2008-12-28T10:02:00.004+08:00

This one's for my brother. His birthday is coming up in January (I cannot even begin to understand how he's almost 22...), but he's heading back to California and school tomorrow. He had a short trip back this time -- less than two weeks -- and we're having to celebrate his birthday early. Not sure how much he'll be coming back this way in the future, so I wanted to make him something to help him remember his roots. :)

Like all the cozies, it's reversible, and the other side is made of the same grey star fabric that the letters are made of. It's very masculine, and available for those days when he doesn't feel like walking around with a big pink heart on his coffee cup.

holiday home

2008-12-27T10:29:00.003+08:00

I realized recently that I never posted photos of my apartment. Here are a few of the living/dining room/kitchen area decorated for the holidays. It took my roommate and I a while to acquire furniture and get things up on the walls, but I'm happy to say that it now feels quite homey.

Notice the thoughtfully-placed television. We bought the TV second-hand before we got the second-hand Ikea wall unit, and quickly found that the nice old television was too deep to fit in the unit. So it's placed off to the side, which I must admit has started to grow on me.

The couch and radiator, which I have found myself using occasionally.

Here's the dining area and a peek of the kitchen.

I'll post some photos of my room soon, including my precious sewing table. Right now there is fabric strewn all over the floor, so it cannot be photographed.

templeton-inspired cozy

2008-12-27T10:20:00.004+08:00

Two of my favorite things finally meet:

This is a Templeton-inspired cozy for my mom for her birthday. My mom doesn't go out for coffee much, which is why I hadn't made her one earlier. But then the other day when we were in Macau, a few of us went to Starbucks for some holiday-inspired caffeine, and my poor dear mother had to use a cardboard coffee sleeve. I'm glad that the cozy situation will now be rectified.

handmade christmas: stockings

2008-12-26T21:19:00.005+08:00

I was inspired by Sal, and made a couple stockings this year. Here they are.

For my roommate, Rebekah.

For my friend, colleague and crafting buddy, Sal.

We were both inspired by a project by Alicia Paulson of Posy Gets Cosy, found out about here. I think I will make more stockings in the future -- it was a fun process!

handmade christmas: gifts

2008-12-26T20:40:00.003+08:00

Gifts for my nieces and nephews. Monogrammed coloring cases for the older kids, and a bib for the smallest.

And here's my labor of love for my brother. I got the pattern from The Domestic Scientist.

And here's everything wrapped and ready to take over to my parents' place. I bought the ribbon in Sham Shui Po at the last minute, and am very happy I did.

handmade christmas: stackable oragami stars tutorial

2008-12-07T20:44:00.014+08:00

I saw these oragami stars on the Zen Crafting site (via Craftzine), and was immediately set on adding them to my oragami Christmas decorations. Unfortunately, I could find no tutorial. But instead of giving up, I persevered, devoting a good chunk of time to fiddling around with oragami paper, and finally got the process figured out. Turns out they're so very easy to make, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity for a first tutorial from yours truly. Try it out!

You will need 5 pieces of oragami paper. Any size will do.

Fold each paper in half and then into quarters.

Now fold each into eighths, by folding down the open corner diagonally.

You should end up with 5 triangles.

Open one of the open corners, and slip the open corner of another piece inside. The two pieces will now share a fold. This step isn't as complicated as it might sound -- just fiddle around with the papers for a while until you get something that looks like the picture below.

Keep adding pieces in this way. When you get to the fifth piece, insert the open corners of the first piece into the open corners of the fifth to close up the star. You can add a dab of glue to the open corners to keep them from flapping around.

handmade christmas: oragami wreaths

2008-11-30T22:06:00.005+08:00

I saw this tutorial (via Craftzine), and made a few of these wreaths this evening. They're cute and very easy. I'm glad I had some Christmas-y oragami paper on hand.

handmade christmas: lino prints

2008-11-30T19:38:00.006+08:00

A few crafty updates:

I bought a sewing machine about a month ago. A nice one. I got a good deal on it, but it was still quite pricey. I will post some photos of the beautiful machine along with some of the things I've made with it soon. But for now, I mention the machine just to say that the purchase pushed me a little further in the handmade Christmas direction. I attempted a handmade Christmas last year, and didn't get too far. This year, because of forethought and new sewing capabilities, I think I might be able to do it. And I'm excited! I've tried making a lot of new things, and am having a blast!

I took a break from sewing this past week and devoted a lot of time to making linoleum cuts. Not everything worked out perfectly, but here are some prints that I was pretty happy with.

Christmas cards...

... and a set of book plates.

sophie and other thankfulnesses

2008-11-30T00:08:00.005+08:00

My sister and her family came down for Thanksgiving. I finally got to meet my newest niece, Sophie. She's a cutie. Here are a couple photos from today.

I had a lot of fun playing with the big kids, too. They've grown up so much since I saw them last Christmas. Anna especially. She's a very small two-year-old (so small that I wondered briefly about the possibility of her being a primordial dwarf... but no, she's not), but listening to her talk, she could probably pass for four or five. She's very precocious and talkative -- a delightful conversationalist. Here's a conversation we had tonight, before she went to bed. I think we were talking about how she's a big sister now...

Anna: Sophie has a big sister just like you had a big sister.

Me: Do you know who my big sister is?

Anna: I don't know.

Me: Your mommy is my big sister.

Anna: I don't know. I don't think so.

Me: No really, she is.

Anna: I don't think so.

Of course, I then showed her photographic evidence that Amy and I grew up together, and finally she believed me. Makes me wonder who she thought I was, and why her family was making the effort to see me. But I guess she does have a lot of unrelated "aunties" and "uncles," so maybe she thought I was just another one of those.

The Sonnichsen six are all heading back to Tianjin tomorrow morning, but will be back for Christmas. I'm really looking forward to more hang out time with the kids. I attended a conference that my school was hosting this weekend, so that sucked up a lot of my time. Aaron attended as well, which was one of the reasons they all came down in the first place. I wasn't originally planning to attend many of the workshops -- figured I'd go to a couple things and then leave early each day. But the sessions far exceeded my expectations, I found the workshops helpful and enjoyable, so I ended up going to most everything. It was a strange experience, though. I actually found myself feeling disappointed that the conference was so good, because it meant that I wasn't skipping out more to be with family. Well, just a few more weeks until Christmas!

yangshuo trip

2008-10-11T08:14:00.004+08:00

We had a couple days off for Chinese National Day and Cheung Yeung Festival this past week, which made for a happy 4-day weekend. I took a trip with a few other teachers to Yangshuo, a place in China I'd been wanting to go for years. While there, I also got to meet up with my dear friend Laura from W&M, who was doing a little traveling in China before a big conference in Beijing. It was a wonderful trip for many different reasons, four of which I will outline below. :)

1. Natural beauty. Yangshuo is absolutely gorgeous. You could easily just spend a couple days admiring the unique beauty of the dramatic karst peaks. The area around Yangshuo has inspired Chinese painters for centuries, and it's the kind of etherial beauty that you would easily think was just imagined if you didn't know the place actually existed.

2. Many outdoor activities. I went biking twice, rafting, caving, and kayaking. These activities would have all been fun on their own, but the fact that we could do all of them in just a few days, and all with the spectacular mountains as a backdrop was just mind-blowing to me. I could easily go back and do more of these things. I think I could spend a few days just kayaking. And I originally hoped to go rock-climbing too, but that didn't pan out. Next time.

3. Relaxing. Even if you weren't into doing any of the activities listed above, Yangshuo would still be a great place to go. It's one of those layed-back little back-packing towns that is full of fun little coffee shops and bars. I didn't get a chance to do this, but I think I could've happily spent a whole day in town ordering coffees and reading.

4. I love China. It hit me as we were flying that it'd been about a year since I'd been to China, which is quite a long time considering that it used to be home. The way I see it, I've had a love-hate relationship with China for a while -- almost as long as I can remember -- and in the past year or so, our relationship has been especially rocky. But during this trip, I felt like I really rediscovered my love for the country and its people. I really enjoyed chatting with the locals, getting in some much needed Mandarin practice. I use Mandarin occasionally here in HK, but it's usually English and broken Cantonese when I'm here. Everything from talking to my first taxi driver, to eating familiar dishes and desserts (caramelized apples and bananas -- yum!!) left me feeling so excited to be in China again.

I have some more stories from the trip, and photos too, of course. Will share those soon!

...and i'm back!

2008-10-01T16:24:00.003+08:00

It's been a while since I blogged. The main reason for that is that I moved to a new apartment and spent about a month and a half without internet at home. In fact, my roommate, Rebekah, and I just got it installed a couple days ago. We could've gotten it earlier, but dragged our feet in the name of finding the cheapest provider. In the end we went with the HK telephone/internet version of McDonalds -- PCCW -- a decision that will probably induce some self-loathing very soon. I was already less than thrilled with their service when the installation date kept getting pushed back. And that was before the Monday midnight phonecall I got from my sales rep, Jeff, reminding me that I would be charged for extra services if I didn't call and cancel them over the phone.

It's nice to be online again, but I have to say that going without internet at home for so long made me realize something: I was spending WAY TOO MUCH time on-line. After the initial settling in (which I should add, is still going on), I was floored by the great amount of free time that I seemed to have. Time to read, write letters, hang out with friends, play sports, go to sleep early. And I am sure that most, if not all, of this newly-found time was previously spent on FaceBook and Google Reader. We're talking hours wasted each week. It's a scary thought. Hopefully I have learned my lesson. Not to slam the internets, or say that I won't be using them at all. I still plan to blog and email, to use Skype, and even to be on FB from time to time. But there will be no more long sessions of Scramble and WordTwist, and definitely no more aimless clicking through FB.

So there you go. I've turned over the proverbial new leaf. Feel free to call me on it if you ever see me on FB for hours at a time. Tell me to read a book or go running. I will appreciate it, I promise.

same same, but different

2008-08-28T20:21:00.003+08:00

Well, it happened again... at Back-to-school night, no less.
Here's an earlier post about another time this happened to us...

I have a lot to blog about, but haven't had the time or the internet access to do so. I've been at the new apartment for almost 2 weeks and have been busily aquiring furniture and appliances. Most of the stuff I've found has been from Asiaxpat, which, I have to say, is a great place to look for deals. It's a site that allows you to place free ads for almost anything that you want to buy or sell. So far I've bought a chest of drawers, a sofa, an arm chair, some sofa cushions, a TV, DVD player, and will get a wardrobe sometime this weekend. As I said, there are a lot of deals, but boy, all the address-hunting and picking up has been exhausting. I'll be glad when I'm done... but I think I'll definitely keep tabs on what's available for a while. I have some interesting stories about my pick-ups that I hope to share soon. Stay tuned.

another cozy...

2008-08-12T19:09:00.007+08:00

... but surprise! It's not around a coffee cup! Or even a tea pot. Instead, it's around... a gas station. Pretty weird. And amazing. Note the gas pump cozies. I love the attention to detail! It's the work of artist Jennifer Marsh. I saw this post just now on the Craftzine blog, and though there's a lot of blog-worthy stuff going on for me personally right now (school starts tomorrow, I'm about to move into a new apartment, the Olympics are in full swing, the Friendlies are literally EVERYWHERE!), I'm choosing to blog about a ginormous cozy. Go figure.

And I haven't forgotten that I promised a couple more UK posts... I need to make a "to do" list.

cake wrecks

2008-07-28T21:01:00.003+08:00

Please check out this blog that I found today, via this post on the Craftzine blog. It's called Cake Wrecks, and is absolutely hilarious. It features only professionally-made cakes, and just to give you a "taste," the labels include "Close-Your-Eyes," "Creative Grammar," and "Oh-So-Ugly." Here's one that falls under the "Creepy Cakes" category, and scarily enough, features my name...

photo links

2008-07-23T21:01:00.004+08:00

I've posted a bunch of photos on Facebook, but would like to share them with others who are not [yet] on Facebook. I've noticed that other links I've posted like this have stopped working after a time, so if that happens, please let me know. They should be fine for a while though...

In chronological order:

Around Edinburgh
Scotland day trips
Oxford
Wales (I plan to write a few blog entries about this part of the trip, since it was so special to see where my great-grandmother grew up, and to meet my distant cousins there! But for now, here are some of the photos. Aunt Sandi -- don't worry, I will send out a lot more!)

I plan to add one more album of some of my photos from London, and will add the link here once I do that.

A few days in London

welsh cakes

2008-07-14T18:11:00.005+08:00

I'll admit that this is an odd first post to be writing after getting back from my trip. I have lots of stories and photos to share, but for now, I'm blogging about Welsh cakes.

My lovely Welsh relatives offered them to me often while I was in Wales, usually for tea. They're a little bit like scones, or American biscuits, but fried instead of baked. I liked them so much that I vowed that I would learn to make them when I got home. Lucky for me, they're really quite easy to make, and I already had a recipe in my handy Wycliffe International Cookbook.

The Welsh version.
My version.
Here's the Wycliffe recipe I used:

Combine:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt

Cut in:
1/4 cup shortening (I used butter)

Add:
1/4 cup raisins (I'm not usually a fan, but I like them in these cakes)
2-4 tablespoons milk, enough to hold batter together

I rolled them into about 1 inch balls, and then squished them flat. You should end up with something about 2 inches across and about 1/4-1/2 inch thick. Flour both sides, and then cook in a pan or on a griddle, over low heat. Cook them until they're golden brown on both sides. Sprinkle them with a little sugar, and they're ready to eat!

scotland so far...

2008-06-30T06:33:00.003+08:00

Sorry for my silence! I've been busy seeing things and a bit under the weather. I caught a cold in Edinburgh -- fancy that! I think I'm over the worse of it now, though, but even when I did have a hacking cough, I didn't let that stop me from seeing things. I really want to post photos, but feel a bit overwhelmed by the idea. Not surprisingly, I've taken a good many. Scotland is a beautiful, beautiful place.

I've enjoyed exploring Edinburgh very much -- and spent my first few days here doing just that -- but I have also been able to take some day trips to other places in Scotland. To save time (since I should really be in bed right now -- leaving early tomorrow for Loch Ness!), I will make use of bullet points.

Tuesday: took a short bus-ride to Rosslyn to see the Rosslyn chapel (made famous by the Da Vinci Code). It was a bit tourist-trappy, but still lovely, and in really pretty spot of countryside.

Wednesday: I bought a Historic Scotland Explorer Pass, and used my first of three valid days to go to Edinburgh castle. Very interesting, and in a beautiful spot overlooking the city.

Thursday: took the train and a bus to St. Andrews. I used my pass to go to the castle there and the cathedral ruins. The cathedral used to be the largest in Scotland, and is in a breath-taking spot, right on the water. Since falling into ruins, it has been used as a cemetery (for some few hundred years...!). And of course, I saw the golf course, too.

Friday: spent the day in Glasgow. Walked around the city, which has quite a different feel from Edinburgh... more urban and edgy. I explored the city for most of the day, and then met Jon and some of his friends for the Radiohead concert in the evening (!!). We had an interesting time getting back to Edinburgh on the train (since there were so many Edinburgh-ers at the concert)-- the initial crowdedness of it reminded me of rush hour in Hong Kong, or worse. Thankfully, ScotRail spontaneously added another train to help deal with the crowds, so we ended up not so squished for the 50-minute train ride back.

Saturday: took the train to Stirling, with the aim of using my pass once more. Stirling Castle was very grand and had some lovely gardens. The town itself was very quaint as well. On the train ride there, I noticed some beautiful ruins at a stop called Linlithgow and realized that that was a Historic Scotland spot as well. So on my way back to Edinburgh, I "broke journey" (which I was happy to find was perfectly legal) and stopped at the Linlithgow Palace. It was gorgeous. Set right on a loch, and though only the skeleton of the original building still stands, you can get a feel for what a sight it must have been in its prime.

So there you have the bare bones of my stay so far. I hope to fill in some of the blanks with photos and stories soon. As I said earlier, I'm going to Loch Ness tomorrow. Will also see Inverness, too. It's a bit far from Edinburgh, so I decided to sign up for a day-tour package. So it looks as though I'll be one of those tourists on the tour buses. I guess I'm OK with that. With all of the navigating I've been doing on my own, I'm quite happy to take a break and have a guide take me places and tell me what I'm looking at. Anyway, more to come soon, hopefully. And I might get a chance to add a few highlight photos to this post at some point in the next few days.

Looking ahead, I leave for Oxford on Wednesday morning, will spend a couple days there before going to Wales to visit my distant cousins (more specifically, my late grandfather's cousin, May, and her children and grandchildren). Should be great! After a few days in Wales, I'll head back to the London area, spend a couple more days seeing the sights, and then fly home.

greetings from scotland!

2008-06-21T05:59:00.003+08:00

I've made it to Edinburgh! I flew in to London early this morning, dropped my pack off at King's Cross and spent the whole day walking and tubing (?) around London. I wasn't sure how much I'd be able to see in one day, so had a conservative plan of just going to Westminister Abby. Well, I was there when they opened at 9:30, and then left after an hour or so of touring, so had plenty of time to sight-see before my 4:30 train. I went by the houses of parliament and Big Ben, had a picnic lunch on the Thames overlooking the London Eye. Then I went over to London Bridge, and in my wanderings happened upon none other than St. Paul's cathedral. Then I walked all the way back to the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. From there, already being exhausted, I took the tube to Green Park and walked through the park to Buckingham Palace. Then finally it was back to King's Cross to pick up my bag and take the 4.5 hr train ride to Edinburgh.

There's so much more I could say about today, but as you can imagine, at this point I'm barely coherant. It's 11:15 pm here in Scotland, and the sun just went down. Seriously. That's probably part of the reason why I'm able to still be awake right now -- the ridiculous amount of summer daylight. But in HK time it's 6:15 am and I've pulled an all-nighter. Jon has been a very gracious host, and is offering me his room while I'm here. Not sure I should take him up on it the whole time I'm here though... we'll see. I can't wait to see more of this amazing city tomorrow. It's spectacularly beautiful, but still quite quaint for a capital city. Another cool thing is that it seems to be the perfect size to explore on foot! I'll try to post a few photos soon!

a few parting words...

2008-06-19T18:22:00.003+08:00

I 'll be leaving in a couple hours for the airport, so am feeling extra giddy at the moment. So what to do with all this nervous energy? Why not BLOG?!

Here are some highlights from today... a day of last-minute errands.

I was out around lunchtime, so decided to enjoy one more cheap meal while I still can. Eat Together comes through again -- $22!
Then I happened to pass by a Hui Lau Shan (a.k.a. The Mango Drink Place), and decided to enjoy one more delicious mango treat before I go. I don't think I'll be eating much mango while I'm in the UK. Haggis and blood pudding -- yes -- but probably not much mango.

While waiting for my drink to be made, I noticed these mango-themed cautionary signs on the wall. How did I miss these before?

And then I got home and back to my packing. It seems a little bit strange to be packing a lot of my winter clothes for a summer holiday, but that's what I've done. The highs and lows that I'll be experiencing, especially in Scotland, are reminiscent of a HK winter. I'm only taking my backpack with me, which should be interesting, as it's as light as I've ever traveled.

Here's one of the little bird buttons that I put on my pack a few years ago. I still like them, which is a good thing, because the backs are completely rusted, making them irremovable (I'm quite sure that's the first time I've used that word...). That's all I have for now. I'll try to update my blog from time to time while traveling. Stay tuned! :)

vote for goodbye lenin

2008-06-19T10:12:00.003+08:00

While in Scotland, I'll get to visit my friend Jon who, in addition to working on a theology degree, plays lead guitar in the band Goodbye Lenin. They're attempting to go to Lollapalooza this year, and to do that they need to make it through a few rounds of voting. Please go here to listen to their music and vote!

http://www.sonicbids.com/lollapalooza08/BandProfile.aspx?candidate_id=4981

The deadline for the first round of voting is fast approaching, so don't delay!

final cozy post, for a time

2008-06-18T21:02:00.004+08:00

I think this will be my last cozy post for a while. I decided to try to get the sewing bug out of my system since I most likely won't be anywhere near a sewing machine for the next few weeks. It will be weird, especially since the machine has become a virtual appendage these last few stay-at-home rainy days. But I think I'll cope. Being in new places and seeing new things should serve as a good distraction if I do start missing the Singer.

two-eight and one more cozy

2008-06-15T17:35:00.003+08:00

I turned 28 today, which feels a lot younger than I thought it would. My birthday falls on Father's day this year, just like it did the year I was born. Happy Father's Day/Birthday to Dad/me!

I'm having a good day. It started with my brother arriving home from college early this morning -- the "ultimate birthday present," as he puts it. Then I joined some good friends on worship team at church this morning, had a joint Father's day/birthday lunch with the family, and finally came home for what else -- cozy-making. I hadn't planned to sew today, but then just felt compelled. I had a friend in mind to make a cozy for, and suddenly had the realization that she might not be crazy about appliqué. Yes. You read that correctly. I've accepted that appliqué might not be for everyone...

So here's the plain cozy that came about after that realization... and I've got to say that I really like it! Part of the draw for me is the pearly snaps. Sal and I bought them the other day at Sham Shui Po, and I realized while hammering them in yesterday that they pearly part shatters easily. But I've found a way to put them in with minimum breakage, and really like the way they look.

I'm about to meet friends for Indian food and [fingers crossed] karaoke (I haven't told anyone else about this, but that's where I'd like to see the evening end up...), so all in all, today is turning out to be the best birthday ever.

record-breaking cozy-making

2008-06-14T18:38:00.004+08:00

I had a record-breaking day today -- 5 cozies. I've decided to make multiples of designs that I like, since it saves time cutting and planning. The top two are the same, as are the bottom two (showing front and back sides). The middle one is for my dad. I hadn't made him one yet, because I wasn't sure what to appliqué onto it. Then I thought about all the hikes we've been on together, and decided I'd appliqué a whole mountain scene onto it. I'm quite happy with it -- I hope he likes it! This was the first time I'd considered appliquéing scenes, and it opens up a whole new realm of possibilities... :)

some updates

2008-06-14T00:18:00.003+08:00

Crafting update:
I'm in the middle of making a few new cozies (surprise, surprise!). One of them is a very special Father's Day cozy for my dad. Stay tuned for photos...

School update:
I finished cleaning up my classroom today, and officially checked out for the summer! That being said, I will be returning mid-July for a couple weeks of summer school.

Travel update:
I mentioned that I'll be going to the UK soon. I'll spend a little over 3 weeks there -- visiting friends in Scotland and England, and then meeting some of my distant cousins in Wales! I'm ecstatic!

Templeton update:
The cat-child is doing well, and amazingly enough, seems to be getting furrier!

rainbow thread

2008-06-12T20:22:00.004+08:00

I will now be able to appliqué to my heart's content for quite some time... and in rainbow colors... and each spool only cost me HK$2 (less than a US quarter)! What a deal! And what made it even more of a satisfying purchase was that the man at the first place I saw the thread for sale wanted to charge me $5 a piece. I guess the saying is true -- good things come to those who wait.

The thread (and some other goodies) were bought in Sham Shui Po (where else?). Here's a little shop cat in a place where I bought some twine. She was cute. And as you can see, she had a lot to say.

In other news, today was our last school day! I'm going in tomorrow to sort through a few things, and after that, the summer holidays will officially begin! I haven't mentioned this in my blog yet, but I'll be going to the UK for a few weeks this summer. I fly to London a week from today!! But more on that later...

for posterity's sake

2008-06-09T20:53:00.003+08:00

Two interesting things noticed on the walk home from the train station:

1. A sparrow taking a dust bath in a dried up mud puddle (yay, the rain stopped!).

2. A man with tattoos all over his bare chest and arms riding a bike with training wheels.

olympic pandas

2008-06-09T17:57:00.002+08:00

For those of you who, for whatever reason, are not interested in coffee-cup cozies, this little hiatus from coziness is for you. It's a photograph of one of the many Olympic displays around HK. There are no Friendlies present (though you'd be forgiven if you thought you saw Jingjing there somewhere -- he is indeed a panda, too), but still, pretty impressive stuff. I think the light-up sign in the foreground says something to the effect of "Beijing and Hong Kong sharing Olympic spirit."

more shooting stars

2008-06-09T12:08:00.003+08:00

I'll admit, all this cozy-making might seem a tad on the obsessive-compulsive side. In my spare time yesterday and this morning I turned out 2 more, almost identical shooting star cozies. On a positive note, I think I've cut the time on making these down to about an hour. Which might still seem long for something so small. But in crafting terms, very doable. I've promised to start working on the tetris quilt I talked about so much last year once school is out (3 more days!). That will be a slightly more time-consuming project.

hko logo

2008-06-07T19:25:00.003+08:00

I just checked the HK observatory website to see if any new warnings were posted, and accidentally clicked on the observatory's logo, thinking it would take me back to their homepage. Instead, it took me to an explanation of their logo, which for some reason, I found amusing, and felt like sharing here:

one more...

2008-06-07T18:50:00.004+08:00

I had a very productive crafting day today. There was a black rainstorm warning up when I woke up, so I had no desire to go outside (it would have meant immediate drenching, with or without an umbrella). So I stayed in, sewed and watched TV all day.

Here's my latest appliquéd cozy: shooting stars. It's one of my favorites so far.
Another view, so that you can see the reverse side. It's weird how different the colors look with no flash (above) and with flash (below). I need to figure out a consistent angle and formula for photographing these little guys.

cozy update

2008-06-07T15:44:00.003+08:00

Here are the latest cozies I've made.

Appliquéd flowers.

Star on stars.

Button flower...

...which needs to be unsnapped to get the full effect.

More posts to come. My camera is full of photos of stuff I've been meaning to blog about... stay tuned!

reconciliation

2008-05-23T19:28:00.002+08:00

MT doesn't usually show much affection for Templeton. In fact, he often hisses at him for no apparent reason. But I found the two of them sitting together in the window when I got home today. There was even a prolonged grooming session. I hope they've reconciled.

stop and think

2008-05-23T18:27:00.004+08:00

I'm usually one who raves about HK public transportation. It's efficient and convenient, and then of course, it makes environmental sense. But then there are times like this past Monday for instance, when all of these attributes are but a distant memory. On Monday I waited for 45 minutes for my bus. Forty-five minutes! I didn't get in line at the bus stop expecting to wait that long. It's usually just a five to ten minute wait. I made no I-will-wait-for-45-minutes-and-no-longer decisions, but somehow managed to put in that much time. At the 15 minute mark, I found myself slightly irritated. We approached 30 minutes, and slowly but surely, my annoyance tuned into fascination. How long could this bus possibly take? And then with each extra minute that I waited, the more certain I became that 1. the bus was just around the corner, and 2. if I left and attempted to take some other conveyance, I would look up just in time to see the bus speed by.

But the longer-than-usual wait did allow me some time for some bus stop photography. I snapped the photo above just minutes before the bus actually came. I like the way everything but the bus stop sign is blurry. And no, that effect was not intentional.

And here's a picture I'd been wanting to take for a long time. It's from the "stop and think" campaign (i.e. stop and think before you get a pet because they're a big responsibility, and they shouldn't be abandoned just because their cuteness has worn off). Whoever had the idea for the time-out-signaling cats and dogs was a genius.

book character day

2008-05-18T21:30:00.002+08:00

Last Friday was Book Character Day at school. What fun! Here are some photo highlights:

Salome as Olivia (great ears! ;) -- next year I'll crochet you a coffee-cozy snout!), with three of her girls. I really think she should have won a prize for this -- what a great costume!
One of two first-graders who claimed to be George Washington.

Me as Ella Sarah, with a fellow pajama-wearer. I happened to already own sheep pajamas (though, as quite a few kids pointed out to me, "they're not exactly the same as Ella's"), and my mom and I made the stuffed cat the night before.

Encyclopedia Brown solving a mystery. What a nerd!

Encyclopedia Brown, a musketeer (with wig and beard!), Olivia, The Paper Bag Princess, Ella Sarah, and Miss Frizzle (complete with orange hair and specially-made dress!)

Woohoo! I'm already thinking about what I want to be next year...

my old friend, sham shui po

2008-05-17T21:33:00.005+08:00

I made a long-anticipated trip to Sham Shui Po today... first time in months, which must be a record for me. I decided to hold out on going until I'd used up more of my sizable fabric stash. But then things became desperate when I realized I was almost out of coffee cup cozy insulation... so I had no choice but to head to my favorite crafting destination. I limited my purchases to non-floral fabric, and of course, the insulation batting. I'm digging stars at the moment, so was thrilled to find two cool star prints. And then I came close to squealing when I found robots... not sure what they'll end up on, but I couldn't resist their cute little robot faces and all the zeros and ones.

And of course I managed to squeeze in lunch at my favorite 24-hour chain, Eat Together. (Check out this older post for a more detailed account of the Eat Together dining experience.) This time I thought one photo would suffice. It's a shot of the billboard outside the restaurant. I think the very serious-looking gentleman with the crew-cut must be the owner, because his picture is a fixture at every restaurant. Pretty inviting, huh? Makes you just want to run in and place your order, doesn't it?

more helpful signs featuring doraemon

2008-05-13T21:38:00.006+08:00

I noticed this collection of escalator etiquette signs today (on an escalator I use almost daily -- how did I miss this?!). They happen to feature everyone's favorite robo-cat from the future, Doraemon (or Xiao Ding-dong, if you know him by his Chinese name). I might have to go back and take some better shots of this, because it's hard to make out his facial expressions in some of these. However, I'm pretty sure he's doing a winky-smile in the top-left sign. And I'm almost certain I see a winky-frown (just like this one) on his face on the top-right sign.

more fun with appliqué

2008-05-13T21:07:00.003+08:00

Here are my latest appliquéd cozies. I'm learning a lot (mainly through mistakes -- of which I've made plenty!), and am having way too much fun.

snappy

2008-05-12T18:12:00.004+08:00

Sal has been kind enough to share her snaps with me so that I can add them to some new coffee cozies I'm working on. I like the snaps a lot. And for how "finished" they look, they're actually very quick and easy to put on. All you really need is a hammer!

another tee

2008-05-12T17:20:00.002+08:00

I keep finding more fun t-shirts. This Tony the Tiger caught my eye... then I noticed the misspelling and couldn't resist. I think this one will go to my brother too.

happy mother's day... to me

2008-05-11T18:45:00.007+08:00

I was wished a happy mother's day at church today.

The older man who did the wishing then asked me if I was a mother. I said no (I didn't feel like explaining my adopted cat-child, Templeton...), and then he proceeded with, "Well, a soon-to-be mother, then?" I smiled and gave another, more vehement "no."

I know, I know. He might not have meant that I looked pregnant. He might have meant that one day eventually I would be a mother, which I do hope is true.

But this conversation came at a bad time. Just this week at school, I had a student ask me if I was "having a baby," and she wasn't the first who's asked me that. It's usually a cheeky kid trying to get a laugh out of his friends, or a child too young to understand either the biological requirements or the social implications of Miss Pardini being pregnant. And it usually happens on days when I'm wearing especially loose-fitting clothes. I'm a big fan of the empire waist, so quite a few of my shirts could easily double as maternity clothes.

Anyway, to celebrate looking pregnant, I decided to take some photos with two truly-expecting friends. This is me looking more pregnant than the two who are with child(ren). (I promise that I did not buy this shirt in the maternity section... though it does look like I could have!)
Ok, they probably would beat me out for the "looking pregnant" prize in the end. Congrats again Christy & Tom and Helen & Mike!

crossroads saturday

2008-05-11T18:30:00.005+08:00

I had the opportunity to go back to Crossroads yesterday, and convinced Morganne to join in the fun. We spent the morning working in the kitchen with two amazing women -- Enala and Cecilia. The four of us prepared lunch for all the Crossroads volunteers.

Here's Mo "doing what she does best" -- dishes -- after the vegetable lasagna rush was over.
Cecilia, Enala and Morganne.

Minus Mo, plus me.

cat skull cap

2008-05-11T18:20:00.002+08:00

Time to do some catching up...

here are some photos I took a while ago. I spent ages trying to get Templeton to sit still long enough for a photo...

... and then realized there were other, more willing models just lying around waiting to be photographed. Thanks MT.

appliquéd coffee cozy conclusion

2008-05-06T19:56:00.003+08:00

Salome posted some photos of the finished cozy here... I'm stealing one for this post though, and hoping that she won't mind. I love the snaps, Sal. Very cool.
I'm eager to do more appliqué, so if you're in need of a cozy or some other appliqué-able item, drop me a line... yes, I'm really offering to make you something. Yes, you.

other musical commercials

2008-05-05T22:20:00.004+08:00

Jon Allen is not the first artist I've found out about via a commercial. After writing about today's discovery, I recalled two more commercials that led me to great musical talent, and they just happen to be two of my all time favorite artists/songs/commercials -- all of the above.

The first time I heard Nick Drake was back in college, courtesy of this very cool Volkswagon commercial...which I'm sure sold many Cabrios.

And then there's this Lacoste commercial featuring Feist.

uniqlo

2008-05-05T20:09:00.003+08:00

I'd been in the Japanese clothing chain Uniqlo a few times, but until today, didn't really understand what all the fuss was about. But I stopped in today after work, took a look at their T-shirts, and was completely blown away. They have some really really cool, creative stuff. There were quite a few that I had my eye on, but in the end I only left with this one for my brother (Steve, if you're reading, I hope you like). I think I'll be back again soon...

jon allen

2008-05-05T19:51:00.004+08:00

Sometimes I wonder what I did before the internet... really. How did I find anything out, or answer any of the silly little questions that seem to plague me? I'm pondering this because I just had one of those internet zen moments. Here's what happened: I saw (or heard, rather) an intriguing song playing on a Land Rover commercial. And after just a minute or two of googling, I knew that the song was "Going Home" by the up-and-coming British singer, Jon Allen (click his name to get to his site, where you can download "Going Home" for free). And here's the song compliments of Youtube... for some reason I'm not able to embed the video.

days like these

2008-05-04T17:56:00.004+08:00

On days as beautiful as today, a HK$1.70 ride on the Star Ferry is a must. (This is my very tentative do-you-know-how-to-use-my-camera smile.) (In case you're wondering, yes, I got a hair-cut. It was originally supposed to be a trim, but the top layers kept getting shorter and shorter... and then, in the blink of an eye, they were practically bang length. Then came the horrifying realization that I had a bona fide mullet. Seriously. I'm not exaggerating. I insisted on a few more inches being taken off the back, and this is what I was left with. It wasn't really what I was wanting or expecting, but there was no fighting back tears, so that's good. I know from experience that it could've been much worse.)

Beautiful skyline and charming reclamation. Oh, and on a side note, you can barely make out the very enormous, very controversial Calvin Klein ad that has apparently been covered up in green mesh... for modesty's sake...? I can still see those tighty whities though...

We grabbed some cold Starbucks beverages and headed up to what I think must be one of the best-kept secrets in HK -- the sitting-out area off of the International Finance Center.
In case you were wondering...

crafting day part 2: appliqué rocks!

2008-05-03T23:51:00.006+08:00

The results of an afternoon (and part of an evening) of sewing: a tote bag and a coffee cozy (the original, quilted variety). Looking at this, I'm wishing I'd made those straps just a tad shorter...

And now we get to the cool part. Appliqué. I'd never tried it until this evening. Salome and I wanted to make something special for a friend of ours, and decided that the mystery gift for unnamed friend needed an appliquéd electric guitar. Note the zig-zag stitching around the perimeter of the guitar, the strings (this is a 3-stringed guitar), and my favorite: the French-knot tuning pegs. I can't wait to appliqué something else... I think I've found my new addiction...

crafting day part 1: prints!

2008-05-03T10:55:00.004+08:00

I love long weekends. Especially when I manage to use the time well. This one has been great so far. I went to Crossroads on Friday (which we had off because of the May 1st Chinese Labor Day), and got to spend the day with the good people at "incoming," packing and moving boxes of donated goods. It was a good work-out, and as always -- good fun!

Today -- day 2 of aforementioned long weekend -- has been set aside by Salome and myself for crafting. I got up bright and early (I'm finding it hard to sleep in lately -- what's wrong with me?!) and started with some printing.

I just got some new water-based block-printing ink the other day, and wow, I love it! I was using an oil-based one before, and that was a pain. Everything had to be washed in turpentine... yuck.

Here are just some of the prints I did (I got carried away when squeezing out the ink, and couldn't stop until I'd used it all up). Once I'd finished up my special white paper, I printed on any and all blank cards I could find, and then finally moved on to newspaper. I think the newspaper is actually my favorite... and I'm planning to use it more in the future. I got the inspiration from some cool stationery that I bought at Ikea some time back, so can't take the credit for the idea.

And then I experimented with some fabric paint that I bought recently... this direction excites me greatly.

Templeton displayed some very undesirable behavior while all of this was going on. He decided to walk across all items put on the floor for photographing. And when I'd push him off, he'd just come right back. I'm beginning to regret spoiling him rotten...
Now I'm off to Sal's house for some sewing.

cat hat/coffee cozy update

2008-04-28T21:28:00.004+08:00

I promise this will be my last post for a while. Just thought I'd put up a picture of this evening's finished crochet project. With Templeton... who still looks a bit irritated, but probably less so than if I'd made him wear the cozy on his head again. Oh, and by the way, this photo shows him in his brand new cardboard box (he's surprisingly easy to please).

cat hat/coffee cozy

2008-04-28T19:27:00.004+08:00

I don't know about you, but whenever I start crocheting a new coffee cup cozy, I'm always tempted to stop prematurely and just make a little cat hat. And seeing those international cat hats last week didn't help. Today I gave in to temptation, and tried the coffee-cup-cozy-in-progress on the ever-patient Templeton.

Doesn't he look thrilled?
I soon realized that this was too small (for a coffee cup, not for a cat) and had to redo some of it.
The resized cozy in progress.

more weekend fun

2008-04-28T18:39:00.003+08:00

I got a chance to visit the Steuernagels this weekend and had a lovely time.

Here's a photo of Owen, Robyn and Eliott (I think Jeff was busy flipping blueberry pancakes when I took this one). Eliott sure has grown since I saw him last!!
A couple funny things about this picture:

1. It's a little fuzzy because -- as I found out while taking it-- my camera is now permanently on the macro setting! I can't change it. Trust me on this one. Oh, and I'm talking about my old camera, not the new baby (which explains why I'm not in hysterics at this moment... oh wait, it would be under warranty anyway... excuse the inner monologue).

2. Owen is very interested in cameras at the moment (as you can see), and mine was no exception. I showed him how to view pictures on my camera, and after that he loved pressing the button and looking at this picture of himself holding his parents' camera. Too bad their camera doesn't show a picture of him holding another camera, and so on. That would be trippy.

peak saturday

2008-04-28T17:50:00.004+08:00

April and I hiked up to Victoria Peak on Saturday morning, via the Central Green Trail. The weather was nice, though quite smoggy (as you can see from the photo below). In fact, I didn't notice just how hazy it was until looking at this picture now...
We had a great time though! Here we are squinting up at the camera (and sun)!

We had lunch right above the tram rails -- here's the tram making the steep climb up.

If this post seems at all familiar, it's probably because I blogged about the Central Green Trail last year when Daniel visited, here. It's actually worth comparing the photos in the posts -- the skies were much clearer in October (which is surprising considering that fall and winter are the dry season here, and usually much hazier than spring and summer...).

olympics olympics everywhere!

2008-04-26T19:03:00.005+08:00

Here are more Beijing Olympics signs that I've noticed since my last post... they're really popping up everywhere.
Looking south on Nathan Road.
And here's a shot of the Olympic Games countdown clock in the Central MTR station. Only 104 days left!! (But I'm sure you all already knew that. You probably have your own countdown clocks at home...)

april excursion

2008-04-24T18:16:00.007+08:00

April's back in HK for a short time, and we had a chance to get together for dinner last night. What a great evening!

We started out with dinner at an old standby -- Taj Mahal in Chung King Mansion (a restaurant that was very popular with some of us in high school). April had never been to Chung King before, and timidly suggested it. I, of course, was thrilled to have an excuse to eat Indian food! And it wasn't even my idea!

I guess you're always your own worst critic, but I have to say, I'm not crazy about the way I look in the picture below. I thought about not posting it at all(the benefit of having your own blog -- you are free to post only flattering photos of yourself), but it was our only photo from the restaurant. Looking at this picture makes me think that I need to do one (or more) of the following:
1. get liposuction on parts of my face.
2. get a tan (real or fake).
3. get a hair cut.
4. comb my hair more frequently.
Hopefully you're looking at the lovely spread on the table (samosas, baigan bharta, seafood pulao, and rhoti), and not critiquing me or my outfit.
I love this one!! We just happened to walk by this sign that said April! How could we not take a photo?!

After we finished eating, I looked at my watch, and then on a whim we were off to the light show. Or more specifically, the Symphony of Lights, the world's largest, longest-running, daily light show... or something like that.

A blurry April with the light show in the background. I've been to the Symphony quite a few times, but always enjoy it. My favorite part is when the participating buildings get introduced individually, and then do a little small-group light-up dance together with the buildings around them. I guess you just have to see it for yourself to understand what that looks like...

After the Symphony, we wandered around near the Cultural Center and came across some Beijing 2008 promotional posters.

And some promoting the torch relay. I guess they're now calling it the "Journey of Harmony." Hehe.
And then, who did we happen to run into but my five favorite Olympic mascots, the Friendlies!!

And that was just the beginning! We soon stumbled upon a huge Friendlies exhibit on the TST promenade. I was in Friendlies heaven! That's Beibei (the whale with arms and legs) windsurfing in the foreground.
And then we noticed this interesting scene. Couldn't really figure out what Olympic sport Huanhuan and Jingjing were supposed to be demonstrating here... wrestling? Figure skating? I don't think that I have a particularly dirty mind, but even I couldn't help thinking it looked like they were up to something else... and I'm sure I'm not the first to have had this thought.

"light the passion share the dream"

2008-04-22T18:45:00.007+08:00

The Olympic torch is coming to Hong Kong on Friday, May 2nd. We won't have school that day, so I'm debating whether or not to go out and see it. How many times does the Olympic torch pass through HK, after all? Not often, that's for sure. I think this will be the first time. (Correction: The torch has passed through HK before -- on its way to the 1964 Tokyo Olympic games)

There are lots of posters up promoting the torch relay.
The smaller version:

"Light the Passion Share the Dream." It seems like there should be some punctuation in there somewhere, doesn't it? A period, a semi-colon, or even a comma would be nice.

I guess this is more of a generic Olympics ad, but I'll post it here anyway.

mike and helen meet ben and jerry

2008-04-21T19:50:00.004+08:00

I'm trying to convince them to be my guest bloggers... I know you'd like to hear first-hand about their first Ben and Jerry's encounter.

seoul train

2008-04-21T18:00:00.002+08:00

Last night I went to an event organized by a couple friends and colleagues to raise awareness about the plight of North Korean refugees in China. They showed the documentary Seoul Train, which if you haven't seen it yet, is very much worth watching. The film follows three small groups of refugees, all passing through China with the hope of ultimately making it to South Korea. Though escape into China provides a degree of relief from the poverty and oppression experienced by the majority of North Koreans, the Chinese government does not recognize North Koreans as political refugees, and will arrest them and repatriate them if caught (in NK defecting is a capital offense). All this is done in violation of the UN High Commission for Human Rights 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol, which China is party to.

I thought the film was very well done -- an excellent piece of documentary journalism. The facts and events were not over-politicized or emotionalized, but instead allowed to speak for themselves.

The three groups of refugees in the film each try different means of gaining refugee status. The first group travels to the China-Mongolia border and attempts to cross over to Mongolia, where they can finally be recognized as refugees. The second tries to enter the Japanese embassy, where they can be granted amnesty. The third group attempts to follow Chinese foreign affairs protocol and applies for refugee status (apparently the Chinese government once claimed that North Koreans were only arrested because they were not going through the appropriate legal channels -- so this group of refugees decided to put this to the test).

I was glad to learn more about this issue, and plan to do more research on my own (the Seoul Train website has a lot of resource links -- looks like a good place to start). They do a good job of suggesting simple ways that normal people can help -- most of which involve applying pressure to the political bodies central to this issue.

hello kitty politics

2008-04-19T19:48:00.009+08:00

Without further ado, here is the promised follow-up post. I think this whole display was called "Telford Plaza (name of the mall) X Hello Kitty." Genius. Pure genius.

Hello Kitty, My Melody, Bad Badtz-Maru and others dressed as pandas and participating in Olympic sports while climbing bamboo.

Some of the cartoon characters celebrating the Olympics above Tiananmen square (I love that Bad Badtz-Maru is Mao Zedong! Oh my!). Tiananmen is in Beijing, where the Olympics will take place, so overall, yes, this makes some sense.
My Melody and others hanging out at the Temple of Heaven. This is another Beijing landmark, so yes, also makes sense.

Bad Badtz and friends on the Great Wall (not Wheel!), China's most recognizable landmark, so yes, again, this makes sense.

So what was the fourth landmark chosen for this wonderful display? Another Beijing landmark maybe? That would make sense. Or maybe the HK skyline, since we're so proud of hosting the equestrian events? No and no -- none of the above. The fourth scene is the Potala Palace, icon of Tibet. And you might not be able to see this, but both animal characters are wearing shirts that say "China." If this is not a political statement, I do not know what is.

Children posing with a medaled Kitty.

Portraits of Kitty posing in front of various HK and Chinese landmarks in the background. Kittys-dressed-as-pandas-and-doing-Olympic-events dioramas (diving and basketball) in the foreground.
More of the same. (Dioramas featured: ping pong and gymnastics)

My Melody, the Olympic marksman (or homicidal gang-banger?). Note the Hello Kitty outlines on the bricks behind (it's all in the details!).

Proof that it's not just children posing with these things...

jackie, and other highlights from this day

2008-04-19T17:53:00.006+08:00

It's been an interesting Saturday. Here are some of today's highlights:

We're in the middle of a typhoon signal 3, complete with the kind of wind and rain that sees you drenched immediately after stepping outside, regardless of whether or not you are carrying an umbrella. But I left the house this morning anyway...

I recorded some monologues for an ESL website that some friends are putting together. I've been exposed to a large number of ridiculously bad English listening exercises in my lifetime, so I can tell you with some confidence that these do not fall into that category. I might be a little biased, but I think they're pretty good. I will be sure to share the link to the website once it's up and running, so that you can listen to me introduce myself as Millie Smith from Boston (I thought about trying to do the accent, but in the end chose comprehensibility over authenticity). The recording was done in Kowloon Bay, so after finishing up, and having lunch with everyone...

I went to Megabox (I was already in Kowloon Bay, so how could I not?). My favorite (read: only) Hong Kong (Australian) craft store, Spotlight, was having a sale, so although I didn't really need anything, I felt compelled to go and check out the deals. The sale was less than spectacular, and I left with only a few skeins of yarn.

After all the shopping, I decided it was time for a break, so got a latte and a slice of dulce de leche cheesecake at the Cheesecake Cafe. It was as good as it looks.

While enjoying my cheesecake, I tried to zone out the California Fitness promotional event that was going on nearby. I'm actually quite surprised by how easy it's become for me to ignore blaring techno music, shrill nasal voices shouting over loud-speakers, and the like. I might have heard Jackie Chan's name a few times in the shouting, but didn't think anything of it. He's been the California Fitness poster boy for a while now, so I wasn't surprised at the name-dropping. But then I happened to look up from my cheesecake just in time to see Jackie himself going up the escalator. Just like that. Unfortunately, I had no time to get my camera out -- otherwise, maybe I'd have proof of the sighting. I thought briefly about running out and following him, but he had quite the entourage with him, and then there's the fact that I would have had to leave my cheesecake, which would have been down-right unthinkable. I guess I should point out that although Jackie calls HK home, and probably spends a good deal of his time here, I don't run into him often. In fact, my only other Jackie sighting was in Virginia, when he spoke at William and Mary (on a tangent, I attended that event decked out in everything HK that I owned, hoping that Jackie would notice me, but he didn't).

While heading back to the train station (through another mall), I noticed some very interesting Beijing Olympics decorations. There were no Friendlies (don't get your hopes up), but what there was was possibly more amusing. Think along the lines of Japanese cartoon characters (1) dressed as a certain charismatic Chinese species, (2) participating in Olympic events, all the while (3) making strong political statements. Stay tuned for my next post -- complete with photos!

international cat hats

2008-04-18T20:00:00.005+08:00

I just got this undeniable urge to blog, but because of my exhausted state, had to spend a minute or two just trying to remember what I'd come across today that seemed so blog-worthy. And then it hit me. This morning I read about a craft blogger who is knitting international cat hats. International. Cat. Hats. At the moment, she has patterns for a Thai headdress and a French beret posted, but it seems like more are in the works. There's no question that Templeton would look fetching in this beret, but it's also equally certain that I would have a difficult, nay-I-say impossible time trying to follow this pattern. The hat looks pretty complicated, and I have little knitting-pattern experience. But maybe it would be a good learning experience. And maybe if I worked really hard, I could have a little tricolour hat finished up just in time for Bastille Day.

Oh, the blog is Spindles and Spice. And if you want to see something really interesting, check out her tutorial on how to spin dog hair into yarn. (I know, I think it's kind of gross too... but then as soon as I think about how gross it is, I have a little argument with myself in my head that goes something like this: "well, we make yarn out of sheep and rabbit fur, why not dog fur... and cat fur? the yarn can be washed before it's used so it won't smell like a dog"... "but it's still gross. some fibers should just not be spun into yarn"). Have I mentioned that I'm tired and really should go to bed?

great wheel of china

2008-04-16T20:04:00.005+08:00

This is no joke. I just saw something on the news about the new ferris wheel in Singapore, the Singapore Flyer. It beats the London Eye by a few meters, but will soon be surpassed by the Great Wheel of China, to be completed in Beijing in 2009. What a name!

I found the picture below in this Shanghai Daily article, which has more info on the Great Wheel if you're interested.

It looks like you'd be able to see a lot on a clear day... but really, how many of those does Beijing get in an average year?

scam X 2

2008-04-14T19:24:00.004+08:00

I'd heard about African internet scams some time ago, but it wasn't until this month that one of the emails made it past my spam filters and into my inbox. And then less than 2 weeks later, I received the exact same letter with only the names changed. The first one was from a Mrs. Jennifer Bruce, telling me about the death of her husband, Mr. Abram Bruce; the second was from Mrs. Anita Adams, the wife of the late Mr. Adams Johnson (?). In the letter, both Mrs. Bruce and Mrs. Adams identify themselves as Kuwaiti nationals (apparently done to explain the millions of dollars in the bank), but really, do "Jennifer Bruce" and "Anita Adams" sound very middle-eastern to you? I'm tempted to write back and give the scam artists some believability coaching... but I won't.

From Mrs Jennifer Bruce/ Mrs Anita Adams

N [38 Rue Des Martyrs Cocody

Abidjan,Cote d'Ivoire

ATTN:
DEAREST ONE OF GOD

I am the above named person from Kuwait. I am married to Mr Abram Bruce/Mr Adams Johnson, who worked with Kuwait embassy in Ivory Coast for nine years before he died in the year 2004. We were married for eleven years without a child. He died after a brief illness that lasted for only four days.

Before his death we were both born again Christian. Since his death I decided not to remarry or get a child outside my matrimonial home which the Bible is against. When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of $2. 5 Million (Two Million Five Hundred U.S. Dollars) in the bank here in Abidjan in suspense account.

Presently, the fund is still with the bank. Recently, my Doctor told me that i have serious sickness which is cancer problem. The one that disturbs me most is my stroke sickness. Having known my condition I decided to donate this fund to a church or individual that will utilize this money the way I am going to instruct herein. I want a church that will use this fund for orphanages, widows, propagating the word of God and to endeavour that the house of God is maintained.

The Bible made us to understand that blessed is the hand that giveth. I took this decision because I don’t have any child that will inherit this money and my husband relatives are not Christians and I don’t want my husband’s efforts to be used by unbelievers. I don’t want a situation where this money will be used in an ungodly way. This is why I am taking this decision. I am not afraid of death hence i know where I am going. I know that I am going to be in the bosom of the Lord. Exodus 14 VS 14 says that the Lord will fight my case and I shall hold my peace.

I don’t need any telephone communication in this regard because of my health hence the presence of my husband’s relatives is around me always I don't want them to know about this development. With God all things are possible. As soon as I receive your reply I shall give you the contact of the bank here in Abidjan. I want you and the church to always pray for me because the Lord is my shepherd. My happiness is that I lived a life of a worthy Christian. Whoever that wants to serve the Lord must serve him in spirit and Truth. Please always be prayerful all through your life.

Contact me on the above e-mail address for more information’s, any delay in your reply will give me room in sourcing another church or individual for this same purpose. Please assure me that you will act accordingly as I Stated herein. Hoping to receive your
reply.

Remain blessed in the Lord.
Yours in Christ,
Mrs Jennifer Bruce/Mrs Anita Adams.

spring flowers

2008-04-13T16:42:00.005+08:00

I'm posting another link to a Facebook album here... just some pretty flowers that I've photographed recently. I was going to post the photos directly on this blog, but they're very large files, and thus take a long time to download (I know that I could resize them, but can't be bothered)... so a FB album seems to be the easiest way to go for now.

I've really enjoyed being able to take these kinds of macro shots that were impossible with my old camera.

riddle me this...

2008-04-07T17:47:00.004+08:00

Last week in a departmental meeting, I was presented with a new job prospect. I guess I should back up a little and tell you that one of my current responsibilities is admissions testing. When a prospective student applies, I test their English ability to see if the student is a good fit for our school, and vice versa. We've had quite a few students to test recently, as the school is in its final stages of expansion, and thus has a number of spots to fill. Anyway, the ESL portion of the admissions screening is quite short and doesn't take long to administer, and in the past has been carried out by both myself and the middle-school ESL teacher. Having two of us giving this portion of the test simultaneously has been a bit on the unnecessary/excessive side, and we've both been left with a considerable amount of down-time between students. So I brought this up in our last meeting, sure that there was a better way to divvy up the testing load. Our director thought it over and suggested that during our next screening session, the middle school ESL teacher will do the ESL portion of the test on her own, while yours truly will do a chunk of a whole different test, more specifically, the riddles portion of another test.

Yes, you read that correctly. It looks like asking riddles will soon be part of my job. This might sound strange, but let me assure you that the test is legitimate and well-respected, and the riddles are not meant to be confusing. On the contrary! They test a range of sub-skills from vocabulary knowlege to problem solving, but do get progressively harder.

Quite a few questions came to mind when the new arrangement was first suggested, and I'll leave you with some of those.

1. Can I require prospective students to address me as "The Riddler"?
2. Can I write my own riddles and throw some of those into the mix?
3. Can I show up to testing dressed in a court jester's costume?
4. Can I preface each riddle with the words "riddle me this"?
5. Can I play a few notes on a recorder after each riddle, like this guy?

great wall of hk

2008-04-06T17:52:00.004+08:00

I'm sending this postcard to a friend (who used to live in HK and knows that the city is nowhere near the Great Wall of China) as a joke, and am hoping that it doesn't further any pre-existing geographical ignorance among those who might see it.
So, I wonder why they produce and sell this postcard in Hong Kong. Admittedly, it's pretty hard to find here -- I've only ever seen these at the Temple Street night market -- so was it an accident? Has it been reprinted as a joke?

Any other hypotheses?

buttons!

2008-04-06T16:55:00.007+08:00

Sal let me try out her new button-maker the other day, and boy was it fun! Here are a few that I made. They were pretty quick and easy to make (especially with Sal there to show me the ropes), and a great way to use up all my little scraps of fabric. Salome has generously offered me more time with her button-maker, and I plan to take her up on it. Hopefully, I won't wear out my welcome... :)

cat's in the bag

2008-04-06T15:12:00.003+08:00

Has anyone ever figured out why most cats seem to love plastic bags so much?

I don't know where this bag came from, but when I got home today, Templeton had already made it his new home. I took him out of it, and put him in his basket (one of his many other "beds"), but he went straight back to the bag.

the yak

2008-04-02T19:35:00.005+08:00

I was just doing the last of my unpacking, and was happy to come across one of my favorite souvenirs from India: my matching yak mugs. I got them at a handicraft store in a Tibetan refugee village near Haridwar.

Simultaneous front and back views.

The best part of the mug: the yak emblazoned cover.
A little background: My admiration for the yak developed when I taught at a Tibetan school in China and heard stories about the noble animal from my students. I recommend the movie Himalaya to anyone in doubt of this creature's majesty.

Here's the mug with the toy yak that I bought some time ago in China. (It might look familiar because of this post)

problems and solutions

2008-04-01T18:31:00.007+08:00

Problem #1: I accidentally leave the book I'm reading on the plane after disembarking in Delhi (and at a very pivotal part of the story, too!).

Solution: I buy a new copy in India, which turns out to be a great place to buy books. Bookshops have excellent selection, and sell books at a considerable discount off the cover price. This one was about 40% less than what I would have paid in Hong Kong.

Problem #2: The lens cap on my new camera (that, amusingly enough, I'd been worried about losing) is knocked off and follows a trajectory directly into a train squatty potty. It's now somewhere on the tracks between Haridwar and Delhi. *

Solution: Knowing my affection for all things crocheted, Susie jokingly suggests that I crochet a new lens cover. Little does she know that I already have one ready! I'd brought my yarn and hook with me, and had made another coffee cozy, which I now realize can easily double as a lens protector of sorts.

*(Why did I have my camera with me in the train bathroom, you might ask? Excellent question. There were few moments on the trip when I wasn't the stereotypical camera-clad tourist. Even when I was sleeping, my camera was never far away. See, I was determined not to miss anything, and wanted to make sure I was prepared for any and all interesting photo opportunities. Yes, even train bathroom photo opportunities (actually, in my defense, I was thinking about opening the [moving] train door and taking some photos -- something I'd done on our previous train ride -- on my way back from the bathroom). Needless to say, I've learned my lesson, and in future, will be happy to sacrifice one or two obscure photographs for the well-being of my camera)

incredible india

2008-03-31T21:58:00.007+08:00

I'm back in HK after a phenomenal week in India! My mom and I stayed with my friend Susie, who's been living in Delhi for about a year and a half. We spent most of our time in Delhi, but also took a trip with Susie and a group of college students (who she was showing around -- part of her job) up north to Haridwar and Mussoorie, and then did a day trip on our own to Agra. I'm quite sure I'll be blogging about India for a while, once I'm unpacked and the laundry is done -- it was really an incredible experience, and I'm already thinking about going back -- but for now I'll just share some photo highlights of our trip. Here are two albums I posted on Facebook (so if you've already seen them there, feel free to forgo a second viewing). Apparently, they can be viewed by anyone, including non-Facebook users, via the links below.

Trip highlights (it was hard to choose which of my 700+ photos should be in this 60-photo album, but I did my best...)

Islamic art (I love the simple yet intricate geometric patterns found in the Islamic decorative arts. I ended up taking a good number of photos of these designs whenever we were at a mosque or a tomb. India was part of the Mughal empire from 1526 to 1828 (when the British came in and took over), so there are many beautiful examples of Islamic architecture and craftsmanship, especially in northern India.)

simply life

2008-03-21T14:36:00.004+08:00

My mom and I will be leaving for the airport in a few hours, and then it's off to New Delhi! It's just starting to sink in that we're actually going to India, and we're both starting to get a little giddy with excitement.

In an effort to free up as much space on my camera(s) as possible, I'm putting a couple photos up -- both of food eaten at a relatively new restaurant in Festival Walk called Simply Life. A friend at school recommended the place to me, and boy is it good! They use high-quality, organic (I think) ingredients. I'm not much of a foodie, but even I can taste the difference! And the beauty of it is that Simply Life took over a spot where a McDonalds used to be. Anyway, it's so good that I've managed to go there twice in the past week... this could be dangerous!

Here's a delectable salad at last week's dinner. Prosciutto, rocket, tomato, mozzarella, and grilled eggplant. I'm not usually much of a salad person, but this was heavenly.
And eggs Florentine for brunch this morning. Yum.

my new baby

2008-03-18T20:18:00.006+08:00

I know what you're thinking, and no, it's not another cat. I got a new camera! I'd been wanting to invest in a better camera for a while, and thought that with my India trip coming up soon, it was a good time to take the plunge.

I did some research on digital SLRs and ultimately decided on the Olympus E-510. The reviews were all very positive (especially this one), and it seemed like a good price for the amount of special features that it has. It's much more complex than my current camera, but still seems pretty user-friendly. I think I'll have at least the basics down before the trip!

I've already had a couple photo shoots with Templeton, and was very pleased with the results. I might post those later... For now, here are a couple pictures of the new baby taken by her older point-and-click brother (OK, this analogy can only go so far...).

Front view. Looking good.

Back view. Niiice.

birthday bowlout

2008-03-16T23:09:00.007+08:00

We had the traditional bowling birthday bash for Sal yesterday -- and as always, it was great fun! Here are a few pics:

Female coworkers and friends! Let's go with bowling names here: Mrslo, Sallups, Jen (with one "n," not two...), M Strike, and Strikoline (though, in retrospect, I wish I'd spelled her name "Strike-o-line").
K jai, Grandpa, and Bubba waiting their turns.
Here I am pretending to help Alison with her child-sized velcro shoes. Yes, I'm kind of a jerk. I just have a hard time feeling sympathy for people with small feet, since I personally have the opposite "problem" -- which, funnily enough, was pointed out to me later in the evening by someone in our party. Let it be known that I have big feet.
After the bowling was over and we'd had a nice meal (which included one of my faves -- Peking duck!!), we headed back to the Tam-Lee household to enjoy some Wii and some boardgames.

Here's Helen experiencing Peeps for the first time. (Guess they haven't found their way to Australia yet).(The Peep is decapitated in that last picture -- in case you couldn't tell from the coloring and/or Helen's sad expression)

Wii entertainment.
Another shot of Helen. This time she's watching scary bunnies being pummeled by plungers.

peanut butter kiss cookies

2008-03-16T22:51:00.004+08:00

I had a long nap this afternoon, and then this evening suddenly had this unstoppable urge to bake. Peanut butter cookies are a stand-by for me, but tonight I decided they needed some complementary chocolate. So I ran to the store for some Hershey kisses, and voila. I made a double batch which turned out to be no less than 7 dozen cookies. That's right, folks -- 84!

Which also meant 85 kisses that were unwrapped and squished on (though one of them was lost to the floor).
Amazingly, I was not tempted to eat any of the dough, kisses, or even a freshly-baked cookie. I did eventually eat one, but only because it was broken and by that time I had decided that it was really my duty to test them out and see if they tasted OK. But seriously, I think I would usually gorge myself on cookies -- which is why I don't make them more often! -- so something must be wrong with me. Maybe I'm coming down with the dreaded influenza.

ch-ch-changes

2008-03-16T18:28:00.003+08:00

This past week I was reminded just how quickly things can change. On Wednesday, I went to school as usual, and even attended a staff meeting after school. The very next day, school was closed.

Why, you might ask? There have been a high number of flu cases recently (though in HK we still prefer to use the more formal -- and scarier -- "influenza"), and at least two children have actually died from it. Though of course I feel sad for those families, I was still a little surprised by the Health Department's decision to close all elementary schools and kindergartens. It seems like quite an excessive response, but then, considering HK's recent run-ins with bird flu and SARS, I guess it's an understandable step to take.

On Thursday, the Education Bureau issued this statement:

"In order to prevent the spread of influenza in school campus, the Education Bureau announced that all kindergartens, kindergartens cum child care centres, primary schools and special schools will begin the Easter holiday starting from March 13 up to 28. During the non-prearranged period of school holiday, these school campus will remain open. Students could go to school as usual, if necessary."

So we teachers will continue to go to school, and students whose parents have no other options can send their kids to school. It's an interesting time. Classroom teachers are arranging work for students electronically, so as not to fall too far behind. This will hopefully prevent us from having to make up the lost days over the summer or on weekends.

A very cool thing about these arrangements is that we teachers, being less busy than usual, have had more opportunities to enjoy each other's company. For once, there's actually time to go out to lunch, and schedule fun PE "workshops." On Friday about 15 of us played a game of dodgeball -- I love dodgeball! And how many years has it been since I last played?! It was such a great stress-reliever, and absolutely hilarious to see respected colleagues diving out of the path of foam balls. Even after just two days, I feel like we've all grown a lot closer, and I look forward to more quality time together (with some work in there too, of course!). And hopefully kids will all stay healthy and have positive learning experiences outside of school.

Good Friday is the start of our Easter holiday, and also the day on which my mom and I will be leaving for Delhi. But more on that later...

the kennys

2008-03-13T22:37:00.003+08:00

I keep seeing commercials promoting Kenny G's new album (yes, he's still around), and they've reminded me of this poster that I saw a while back for a musician named Kenny B. I'm sure their names are just a coincidence...

scarves

2008-03-13T22:28:00.007+08:00

Here are my most recent yarn-related projects, modeled by the lovely friends they were made for.

April enjoys a latte in a freezing cold Pacific Coffee (it may not be scarf weather outside anymore, but thanks to over-zealous air-conditioning in most shops and restaurants, these scarves might still come in handy...)

And Sal models her pencil scarf, next to the kid who was the original inspiration. I did a combination of knit and crochet on this one, which was a first for me. This scarf got me thinking about other long, linear objects that could be scarf inspiration. I have some ideas, but they're top secret right now... :)

I've been knitting and crocheting so much these past few weeks -- on the bus, train, and any available minute -- that now that I'm finished with these, I'm sort of at a loss. I took my first crochet-free train ride today, and really felt the absence of the hook and yarn. I'll probably start another project soon, but for now might try to get back into reading. I started reading The Kite Runner a couple weeks ago, and though I'm still near the beginning, am pretty sure I will soon reach that critical stage where I can't put the book down.

dragon's back

2008-03-13T21:52:00.005+08:00

I haven't posted anything for a couple weeks -- time for some catch-up!

After seeing the beauty of Dragon's Back during the Green Power hike, I decided that I needed to go back, and under more relaxing circumstances. It was nice to go with friends, and to take our time enjoying the beauty around us.

Here's everybody with the view of Shek O in the background.

And Maria took this one. It was windy up there -- can you tell?

A slightly hazy view of Big Wave Bay -- our destination.

Simon and Anish tried carb gels for the first time. I tried to warn them about the apricot-banana flavored ones (I believe my exact words were something like "everything unappetizing about bananas distilled into slimy gel form"), but they didn't listen.

We made it to Big Wave Bay a little before noon, and enjoyed lunch at a quaint little cafe right on the beach. Afterwards April and Maria took naps on the sand. (Note all the surfers in the distance -- it's not called Big Wave Bay for nothing!)

Anish, Simon and I walked up to a pagoda with a great view of the bay.

It was a beautiful, very relaxing day. I'm glad not to have anything big to train for (for a while at least), and am looking forward to more fun hikes like this one!

introducing olivia jean sonnichsen!

2008-03-03T17:56:00.006+08:00

My niece is officially adopted! Though my sister and brother-in-law had been fostering her since she was a few weeks old, they couldn't start the formal adoption process until Amy turned 30 (bizarre adoption policy -- go figure!) last year. They finished the paper-work months ago, and today finally received the formal letter making it all official! Woohoo!

Here's a picture I took of her when they were visiting over Christmas.
I love you Livy! You've always been my niece -- I'm just glad the Chinese government finally knows it! :)

_____________________________
A correction: It looks like they'll have to make a trip to Guangzhou for the adoption to be finalized -- but that seems to be just a formality.

green power completed

2008-03-02T21:39:00.010+08:00

I did my first official fund-raising hike yesterday -- the Green Power 50 km! The hike follows the HK trail around and over the mountains of HK island -- starting at the Peak (which still seems a little like cheating to me...) and ending at Big Wave Bay. I'd only hiked part of the trail before, and that was years ago, so most of the sights were new to me... so I decided to bring my camera!

We arrived at the Peak at around 7:00 am and had a 7:30 start.
The starting line up ahead.

Dave and Cindy before the start. Dave hiked with my dad and I, but Cindy ran off ahead, and ended up coming second in the Master Women's category! Go Cindy!
Dad and I at the starting line.

Before the start with Cindy.

And the rest of these photos are pretty random... shots that I took quite haphazardly whenever I got a chance to take out my camera.

I really would've enjoyed riding a horse for at least part of the time, but alas, they were not allowed on this trail. This sign (and the others like it) seemed a bit strange... but their presence makes me think that horseback riding is permitted on some HK island trails. Who would have thought?

Lamma island in the distance.

Aberdeen and Ap Lei Chau.

The Daves on the trail. I took this right after dropping my camera -- thankfully it bounced on a patch of grass (absorbing some of the shock) before landing on the stone steps. It decided to take a break for a while afterwards though, which is why I have no pictures of the quarry and Mt. Butler -- the parts of the hike that I found most challenging.

I'd all but given up on taking more photos, but when I got to the top of Dragon's Back (the final 8 km or so) and took in the view, I decided to try my camera one more time -- and it worked!! It was such a beautiful day, and Shek O beach down below was just gorgeous.

And there were people para-gliding -- what I would have given to trade places with one of them! But I had to finish what I'd started. Still, I'd definitely like to try this sometime!

And finally, the hike ended down at Big Wave Bay.

Dave borrowed my camera to take a picture of the winner's board and Cindy's Master Female 2nd place time. The funny thing is, looking at this picture just now, I noticed that my friend Kevin came third for the men! I got a message from him on Facebook telling me that he'd done the hike, but he failed to mention his placing and super-fast time. Congratulations Kevin! And kudos on the modesty! :)

We finished in about 9 and a half hours. Didn't break any records, but had a good time!