I'm on A Boat

Our friends Christine and Garland, along with a large group of Christine's coworkers, rented out a junk boat on November 7th to cruise around Hong Kong for the day. We were so excited to be invited along because this is one of those quintessential Hong Kong experiences we have been wanting to try. Junks used to be traditional bat winged wooden boats but these days they are often small yachts with their own crew onboard. In our case we were upgraded to a pretty big boat because we ended up having a large group.

We boarded the boat around 10 am and lounged on the top deck as we cruised along Victoria Harbor. We were very lucky because we had a perfect day weather wise.  The weather had been windy and cold (well as cold as it gets in Hong Kong) since we returned from the US on Nov 1st so I was very surprised by the perfect sunny weather.

(photo above from Garland)

We cruised over to Lamma Island, which like Discovery Bay, is one of the picturesque outlying islands in Hong Kong. We stopped off for a delicious seafood lunch, which in our case was more like chicken, noodles, and whatever non seafood items we could find on the menu. We did get some before and after photos of the seafood everyone else was eating though.

After lunch was when the craziness began. It was about 1 or 2 pm and we boarded the boat to head towards Stanley. Since it was now the appropriate hour to really start drinking, our shipmates started doing just that. We docked the boat near Stanley and many people jumped out into the water for a swim, beers still in their hands.

(Photo below from Garland)

Daniel and I decided that this was the perfect time to play a game of Catan. Christine and Garland had suggested people bring games so of course we brought the only game we every play anymore. It just so happened that we met a really nice couple on the boat from the Netherlands who were also huge fans of the game. So they challenged Daniel, Garland, and I to a game and we happily obliged. Catan on a boat - does it get any better? As we played the crowd started getting a bit rowdy behind us. This picture is just a PG rated glimpse into some of the happenings we witnessed as the drinking continued and the boat made its way back to Hong Kong harbor as evening approached. The woman in the photo is one of the crew members. Even she got involved in the fun. :-)

We had a great time the entire day. Renting a junk is a perfect way to see the harbor, explore some of the outlying islands, and relax with your friends on the weekend. The only thing missing..... nobody played the song I'm on a Boat!

Long Time No Post

It has been almost three months since our last blog post! It has been a pretty busy time around here. At the end of August I started a new school year at the kindergarten. I have a new class of 24 students whom I adore. Seriously, how cute are they?

I also signed on to teach at the United Jewish Congregation (which we recently joined) on Sunday mornings. I am teaching six and seven year olds. I teach a Jewish studies and Hebrew lesson every weekend. So far I am loving it and learning quite a bit about lesson planning from the experience.

We also spent two weeks in October at home in New York. We spent a week on Long Island, a week in Buffalo, and attended two weddings during the weekend in between. We had a great time, it was wonderful to see our families and friends.