What have we been up to?

The last few months have been busy and very exciting.

We visited the United States during the first half of October, spending time in Washington D.C., Chicago, and South Carolina. We attended two fantastic weddings and spent time with our families and friends.

I started my new job at Hong Kong International School. I love my job and have learned so much from the experienced teachers I am working with.

But the most exciting news of all..

We are expecting a baby due in June! We call him Junior and can't wait for him to arrive this summer. :-)

Our blog will be updated much more in 2011, primarily in pictures, so we can keep everyone updated on our adventures and the progress of Junior.

Colleen visits Hong Kong

We had a great time with Colleen in Hong Kong. I tried to convince her to take a teaching job and move here. I don't know if she'll make the move to Asia but she is considering living abroad in Ireland. That would be very exciting!

She came to visit during one of the hottest months of the year so as I mentioned our sightseeing was spaced out with lots of stops for food or drinks. We weren't even hungry a few times but just wanted to sit in the air conditioning. :-)

 

Chi Lin Nunnery and Gardens

Heading to visit the Big Buddha

We almost literally melted at Ocean Park. Can you spot us in the photo? Why did I wear pants?

Venetian Macau

Beer on a stick!

Cool exhibits at the Science Museum

In addition to checking out the sights of Hong Kong during the day, we had some fun and crazy nights on the town. It was here in Hong Kong Colleen was introduced to the Flaming Lamborghini. If you haven't had one of these yet, boy are you missing out. The glass is filled with some crazy alcohol concoction and a giant bottle is placed on top of the glass and doused with liquor. The top is lit on fire and you have to drink up what's in the glass before the fire reaches the bottom. She obviously really enjoyed it!

We hope she'll come back to visit soon. What a fun two weeks they were! :-)

Shanah Tovah 5771 & 5772

Happy new year! And boy has it been some year so far. This morning we went to make some coffee and what do you know? There was a giant bug behind the coffee maker just waiting for us. Maybe he also wanted to wish us a new year? Maybe, but unfortunately I didn't wait to find out. Using my quick reflexes I was able to get myself out of harms way by jumping back 3 feet and calling for Kelly. I was safe, but for how long? We needed to make coffee because I was still half asleep. Yes, it was 3 in the afternoon and yes we've slept for at least 9 or 10 hours the last few nights, but we were slumbered. One of our special abilities as humans with abilities (HWAs) is that we can sleep for hours on end. I think we missed a weekend once because we went to sleep on a Friday night and didn't wake up until Monday. That really screwed us up though. I think that's one of the problem with having an ability, it's not easy to just switch it off. Many people would give anything for an ability such as this one, but they don't realize how difficult it really is to have one. I really feel like Five for Fighting is talking directly to me when they sing :

Even Heroes have the right to dream
It's not easy to be me

If it wasn't for the coffee, then I think the bug would also have got us going. It looked kind of like a baneling which is a little bug that contains a bag of acid in its body- dealing massive damage to anything near it when it explodes.


When Kelly came to see why I had jumped, the bug was gone. We didn't know where it was but we figured that it was probably in one of the pots or pans which was in the drying rack in the area. Kelly was brave enough to look though each one, one by one, until we found it. Kelly "the cat" knew exactly what to do next. She threw the pot at the wall. I'm not sure specifically why she did this, but there are so many good reasons to throw a a pot with a bug in it at the wall that knowing exactly why she did this is irrelevant. Like an elephant.

In our tag-team effort, it was now my responsibility to make sure the bug would never find its way back into our apartment. The bug had now crawled out of the pot and fallen on our floor. I had to kill it. I had no choice. I took a mop and proceeded to spear the bug with the handle end. Unfortunately I missed the bug and he crawled into a small opening under our stove. In the end, we made our coffee and it was delicious.

You may have noticed that I am wishing you a happy 5771 AND '72. As you may have realized we don't update our blog that often. There's a real chance that a) we may not update our blog again for 2 years or b) you might not check our blog again for two years since you know that it may not be updated until then (unless you're Jodi, in which case you check our blog every day.) Either way, I want you to know that 71 or 72, we're hoping it's a happy one for you.

Until next time, blogfully yours, Daniel

PS Are you a HWA? If so, let us know what your ability is below!

Summer Recap

So it has been quite awhile since our last blog post!

In July I finished my job at Greenville and I led my kids in a performance of "I Just Called to Say I Love You" at their graduation ceremony. In my humble opinion, it is one of the cutest things ever. Only a few kids actually remembered the words and actions I taught them, but with two year olds performing on stage you can't go wrong! I had a great experience teaching and watching the kids grow throughout the school year. Most importantly, all of the parents expressed how much their kids enjoyed coming to school.




After wrapping up the school year at Greenville, I made a very big step in my career and started a new job as a Teaching Assistant at the Hong Kong International School. I am so lucky to be working with a very experienced group of teachers at the Kindergarten level in the Lower Primary school. I am learning so much from my colleagues and I'm loving my new work environment. I couldn't be happier with my new job!

I had about two weeks off for my "summer vacation" and what better way to spend it than with my amazing sister? She came to stay with us for two weeks and we had a great time. It was close to 100 degrees  and humid every day so we had to space out our sightseeing with lots of meals and coffees inside air conditioned restaurants.

After a busy and exciting summer, the weather is finally starting to cool (meaning 85 degrees instead of 100) and we are settling into new routines. We have a visit to the USA coming up in just a few weeks. We'll be visiting Washington D.C. for Courtney and Chris' wedding weekend and South Carolina to celebrate with Lara and John. In between, we'll be doing some sightseeing in Chicago with Mom and Dad A and Colleen. Yay!

Surprise... Happy Birthday on a Tram!

Since we've moved to Happy Valley, Daniel and I sometimes ride the tram to get to work or to go out to run errands. We both noticed an advertisement in the tram for the "Party Tram," which you can rent out for private parties and events. You get an entire tram to yourself and ride through the city enjoying the night views. I casually mentioned that this might be a fun idea for our birthdays.

Around the middle of May, I decided to contact the Tram Hire company to inquire if any of the weekends in late May or early June were available. I was told they were all booked up except for June 12th. I thought this could work for a joint birthday party because it was the day after Daniel's birthday. We talked about the idea and Daniel said he'd send an email out at work and to our other friends to see who might be free and interested in a Tram party. He told me a few days later that everyone thought the idea was lame. ;-) I was disappointed but I went to work on alternative birthday celebration ideas.

Little did I know what was in store for me or why the tram was booked up when I called! On Friday May 28th, Daniel asked me if I wanted to meet with some of his coworkers after work to grab dinner, play some games, and possibly go to a club. I happily agreed and dressed up for a night out at bars/clubs.    Daniel came out of the office that night with our friend Ki and suggested that we grab a coffee at Starbucks before we meet everyone else for dinner & games. I should have immediately been suspicious because Daniel is not a fan of Starbucks (but he knows I am!). After a coffee break we hopped in a cab because the restaurant and computer lab where we were going to play games were in another part of town. The cab pulled up in a pretty deserted part of town I'd never been to before. Why would we go to a restaurant all the way out there? Because it was the tram depot and all our friends were waiting on the Party Tram to greet me!!

I was shocked and so happy!

Daniel had thought of everything for my surprise party. He had balloons...

Amazing cupcakes (including red velvet!)

He gave a wonderful speech and had everyone sing Happy Birthday in Cantonese..

And a beautiful piece of artwork as a gift from everyone at the party.

We all had so much fun drinking, laughing, driving through the city and enjoying the sites. It was an unforgettable experience and great way to usher in my 30th year. 

Thanks for an amazing surprise - I loved every minute of it!

Happy 2nd Anniversary!

Time really flies when you are having fun in Hong Kong! We just celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary. We had a great dinner at BLT Steak overlooking the city skyline. It reminded me of our wedding venue overlooking Manhattan. 

I love you Daniel. Cheers to us!!

Wine & Cheese Tasting

We've moved to Happy Valley and are loving our new location. It is so much easier to get around and enjoy many of the things Hong Kong has to offer. For example... wine and cheese tastings on the weekends! While strolling around in Causeway Bay after lunch, we walked the lobby of a building and saw tables set up and people sipping wine. Upon further investigation we realized they were attending a wine and cheese tasting. We walked in to find out how you sign up and were told the tastings are sponsored by France and are free. Most of the tastings for the next few weekends were booked up but we put our names on the waiting list. Much to our surprise, we received a call a few hours later to say they had an opening at that afternoon's tasting. We hopped in a taxi and five minutes later had a plate of cheese in our hands.

And five glasses of wine to sample

We were asked to analyze the pairings of wines and cheeses and Daniel took that job very seriously..

Lightweights that we are we got pretty drunk by the end of the tasting. It didn't help that we both really loved the first wine (actually a champagne) and they filled up our glass quite a few times. We hopped on a bus on our way home and rode it around several times because we forgot how to ask the driver to stop in Cantonese and we wanted to see where the bus went after our stop. We also took turns taking the "Lee Gardens" sticker you see on Daniel's shirt and putting it on each other's foreheads. 

Such a fun day!

Family Bonding

My parents and Uncle Glenn arrived in Hong Kong on April 2nd to visit us. We had such an amazing time with them! We explored the city, including places familiar to Daniel and I and some new spots. We also relaxed and enjoyed hanging out at our place and playing with the Wii.

The days were very busy. They handled the jetlag like pros and were up and ready to go by 9 am every morning.  We saw some of the best sights of Hong Kong (and Macau too).

hazy day at Stanley Market

The nights were spent trying out different restaurants and enjoying drinks together.

What did they enjoy most besides the quality time we all spent together? Happy Foot!!!!!

South Korea Marathon Weekend

This past weekend Daniel and I went to Seoul, South Korea so he could participate in the marathon there. We had a wonderful weekend and the race was a huge success.

We arrived in Korea late Saturday afternoon, picked up his race number, and finally settled at our hotel, the stunning Imperial Palace.  We were looking for Italian food for dinner because it is all about the carbs the night before a marathon. Since the Italian restaurant at the hotel was booked up, we stopped by the "Guest Relations"  (hee hee) desk to ask for advice on where to go. The woman working at the desk spoke fluent English and Korean, which was very helpful when she called to book us a table at Antonio's restaurant. We asked her where she was from originally and the conversation went like this:

Kelly: Where are you from originally?
Her:  New York
Kelly: Cool, so are we. Where in New York?
Her: Long Island
Daniel: No kidding, so am I. Which town?
Her: Oyster Bay

Small world I tell you. I find it so random we are visiting South Korea and run into someone who grew up just miles from Daniel. Anyway, she was very nice and friendly and helped us out during our entire stay at the hotel.

The next morning started very early at 6 am as we made our way towards the starting line. Lucky for us, we keep some warm winter clothing in storage in Hong Kong because it was FREEZING. I don't know how the runners stood around in shorts. Daniel took off his warm clothes at the last minute and gave them to me to hold on to, but there were guys standing for an hour in shorts. Meanwhile I was cold in this jacket!

Here is Daniel warming up for his run and trying to stay warm until the start at 8 am.

Feeling the energy of the crowd as they get ready to start the race. It was very exciting!

After the race started and the runners took off, I left to find a spot to cheer them on as they ran by. After a quick stop in a coffee shop to get some tea and the feeling back in my fingers, I found the 17K mark and hung out until Daniel ran by. I chose a great spot to spectate. There were women drumming and tigers dancing. I found Daniel in the crowd when he came by and he looked great!

After this, I had some time to explore while the runners finished another 25K so I decided to check out the Gyeongbokgung Palace (try saying that five times fast!).  It was beautiful and I arrived just in time to see the changing of the guard.

This outfit is pretty awesome, no?

After exploring the palace, I made my way to the finish line to cheer Daniel on in the final stretch. The last part of the race was a lap around Olympic Stadium, which is a pretty cool way to end the race in my opinion.

Soooooo... How did he do? Daniel did an amazing job in the marathon! He ran a great time and he felt good the whole way. He even picked up his pace at the end of the race and flew past thousands of people to the finish line. Yay!

What better way to reward yourself for a marathon well run than Korean BBQ and raspberry wine? Delicious. And cheers to a fabulous weekend!

Moving to the Valley

Happy Valley that is! At the end of April, we'll be packing up our apartment in Discovery Bay and moving to Hong Kong island. There are many fabulous things about our new neighborhood:

1. We will be right next to the Happy Valley racetrack. When the horses aren't racing on Wednesday nights, it becomes a running track. YES!

2. We get to ride a tram to get to work.

3. Shorter commutes for both of us. Daniel will be home in half the time. He can even run home now!

4. California Pizza Kitchen delivers to the new place. This is both very good and very dangerous.

5. Living on Hong Kong island is more convenient for almost everything. 

6. It is called Happy Valley.

We are very excited. We found a great new apartment and if all goes well we'll move in sometime between April 15th and May 1st.

Running and Running...

We woke up very very early Sunday, February 28th. Like 4 am early. And stood waiting for the bus to take us from Discovery Bay to Hong Kong Island.

We rode on the subway, where the only other people with us at this time also had race numbers pinned to their shirts. 

We were so excited and nervous for race day! I was running a 10K and Daniel was running the full marathon. Daniel had been training since December, including running laps around the ship on our cruise to Australia and New Zealand. We had to get off at different stops because our races had different starting points in Hong Kong. We waved goodbye and said "See you at the finish line!"

My race started at 7 am. The course took us along a major highway in Hong Kong with a beautiful view of the water and Kowloon. Unfortunately, the view was somewhat obscured by the humid weather conditions. It wasn't quite as bad as this photo taken a few days before, but it was definitely not a clear day.

I made it to the finish line in one hour and thirty-four minutes. Since my "training" runs never really exceeded two miles or so, I was pretty pleased with the results. I was even more excited when I checked the results a few days later and saw that I was in the middle of the pack! When I finished the half marathon in NYC I think I was literally one of the last ten people to finish so I was happy with this race. :-)

Once my race was over, I was very excited to make my way back to the finish line and cheer on Daniel when he finished the marathon. I found a great spot very close to the finish and had a clear view of the runners as they turned the final corner. 

I had a great time watching the runners finish - including a guy in a shark costume protesting shark fin soup (how he wore that in this humidity I'll never know).

I saw Daniel come around the corner and screamed and cheered! After training for so many months and working so hard, it was amazing to see him run across the finish line. I was so so proud of him!

So you would think now that he finished he would be taking a rest for a few months. Nope! We are headed to Korea so he can run in the Seoul Marathon on March 21st. We'll have to see how recovery goes from this marathon but he will at least participate in the event, which is going to be very exciting.

Post of Cuteness