Thursday, December 11, 2008

Fenghua







QSI Shekou will have a new Secondary School soon. I have been visiting the new site and taking some photos of the construction. The new school is slated to be finished by the end of February! Construction in China is very different. There is a lot of sand involved and some fairly crude techniques. Few tools other than hand tools, a welder, (no face shield), and a drill. That pretty much is it. This building has at least 120 on site workers. They live sleep and eat at the job site.

The name of the School is to be Fenghua which means... Well the jury is out on that one. Our director says it means Brilliant Dragon. But I have had Chinese tell me that it does not. I have heard everything from Rising Dragon, but really that is Funghua to Wind Dragon, to Wind something to Elegance, Talent, and Grace. The last one makes some kind of sense since it is also the name of the Theater next door that is getting remodeled at the same time.

This building was a few stores, I bought something in a sports shop there, and it had a large round restaurant on the first floor. The rest seemed to be empty.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Ax of Murder










Our secondary school had their Fall play production the past two nights. It was a play based on a cast and crew working in a theater that had a murder in it. With a Sergent trying his best to determine who of a the cast and crew had committed the crime. The students were awesome and the play was a resounding success. Here are a few pics.

BTW Tim was in charge of the Lights and the Production of the program that was handed out to attendees.

Merry Christmas From China


Tim and Bev wish you a very Merry Christmas. Our Christmas plans this year include a trip back to the US to visit friends and family, with a short stop in Seoul, Korea to rest and rejuvinate on the way. We hope that you can count your blessings and be thankful for all the wonderful relationships, friends and family that surround you.

Elements Mall

Elements, Hong Kong












Mikmoto Pearls











Bev takes a rest

New upscale housing tower

One route we take to Hong Kong involves taking a bus (#19) from our nearby border crossing and traveling to the drop off point called Elements. Elements is a upscale mall in the heart of Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is primarily upscale shopping (List of Shops) but also has a lot of upscale housing as well as the mandatory ice rink, full cinema etc. It has a primary location on the water and straight across from the central part of Hong Kong.

We love this place as it also contains all major forms of transportation; rail, bus, taxi, and is an underground metro stop that can get you anywhere in Hong Kong quickly and swiftly. It also has a grocery store, the 360, which is the closest thing to a Whole Foods that I have seen in Asia.

Elements is a million square foot mall themed after the five Chinese elements. The pics will give you a sense of what this mall is about, but don't be fooled into thinking no one is shopping. I carefully timed these shots to include few people. While I wouldn't say it was packed it was busy.

Elements Christmas Decor

About the Mall

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Thanksgiving Dinner



This year we have two Thanksgiving dinners to attend. Thursday is a regular work day for us as is Friday. This Saturday our school is having a Thanksgiving dinner for any staff that would like to attend. Tonight (Thanksgiving) we went to a local restaurant for a Chicago style (the owner is from Chicago) Thanksgiving Dinner. We went with some of our friends.

Just Kids


Picture of some School Kids lined up by a wall and being silly while their teacher was away. Click on the Pic to get a larger picture.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Grocery Store

Ren Ren Le is a department store with the grocery area all underground

We like this store because it is pretty clean and many items are packaged


Rice








Complete soups in melamine bowls


Picking out a fish



Lots of dried stuff

Lots of baby things!
On our counter at home, this is what we bought today

Ren Ren Le, (Everyone Happy, loosley translated) grocery and department store is one of our favorite places to get food items. Tim and Bev did a early morning shopping run on Saturday. Total time including 15 min. bus ride each way was 2 hours. You can see what we were able to buy for $32.20 US dollar equivalent. We both go as we have to carry it home.

I had to take pics kind of undercover as no photographs are allowed.