Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

The day before the MAF celebration my school in Wan Chai had a celebration of their own. All the students came to my classroom and they danced to music with their lanterns, which was probably the most exciting party they have ever been to.   :) I enjoyed seeing them excited and happy... here's a photographic recap....

It's blurry, but you get the idea...It was dark, their lanterns were illuminated, kids were running....

Some of the boyz....there were TONS of angry bird lanterns, haha!

The teacher to my left is one of my favorite ladies. She is in charge of the English department, so we've been able to converse a lot. She is so funny...cute kiddos, right?

This is Isaac. He latched onto me from day one, so of course we're buddies. He made his own latern and was more than happy to pose for a photo opp.

They were so excited about Mid-Autumn Festival! :) Love them...

These are some of the gifts given to me by the kids and my two schools. I received a lot of baked goods and fruits that didn't survive to be a part of the picture :) Oops...

Shouldn't the manufacturers have the spelling down by now? It gave me a good laugh anyways...Now on to the carnival that night...

This picture would be perfect without the weirdo and his blank stare...sigh

No asian carnival would be complete without...what?...Irish clogging??? So very random! Don't worry though, I've already bought everyone tickets when this group tours the North American circuit. You can thank me later...

All made of individual lanterns...it was gorgeous in person. Why can't my camera capture how I see things...
I wanted to get more shots of families and their illuminated lanterns, but I never saw that going on. Happy holiday anyways! :)

The Light Show and Stanley

I went to the light show one night with some of the teachers. It's basically a laser show you can see from the Harbor. I recorded a video of it, but it doesn't really capture what you experience in person. The lights are coordinated with music, and they put on the show every night.

My roommate took this picture after the light show...

This is a view of Stanley. I like to go there mainly for the flea market, but it has a decent view. 

Me...obviously

We walked up a trail to get a better view...not all that great, but I did like this picture.

I wanted to take this cat home, but the whole litter was too scared to get near. Makes me think they must have a reason to be terrified of people...sad :(

One last view...

This reminds me of Greece for some reason.
Well, that's it for now!

English 101: Room 503

I've compiled some pictures for you all to see of my two different schools I work at. Enjoy!

This is my desk at the school I visit on Fridays. The entire office is messy like this. It stresses me out! Since I have no classroom here, obviously I travel from room to room. I feel like Asians are pack rats, at least, in Hong Kong. I cleaned out my cabinet at my other school and threw out 75% of it since it wasn't necessary. I like to organize though, so I didn't mind doing it too much :)

This is the girls bathroom. I'm so amazed at how the schools spend their money. Awesome bathroom though, right? I'm getting inspired on how I want to decorate my own children's bathroom some day, haha! The door frame has LED lights installed. You can see in the picture a very small part of the frame in green.  I think you have to call the toilets "thrones" when the rooms are this fancy.

The faucet area. I apologize if this picture is superfluous. I need Bob Barker to help me edit my blog. You know, have him yell "that's too much!" when I need to take things out. Does anyone know what game I'm referring to??? Anyways...

This is the HK Design Institute entrance. I walk past it every Friday on the way to school. Do you notice how crazy long the elevators are?? I'm pretty sure I would've been way more impressed if Rocky would have run up these steps instead of the place in Philly. Maybe I'll do it and record it for proof...maybe.

One of my walls in my Monday-Thursday classroom. My decorations are not impressive, because I intend to be much more hands on with the children. How exciting would it be to the kids for me to point to a picture?

At the end of each unit I will post everything we have learned relating to that particular phonics sound. Parents are very involved at this school, so I wanted them to be able to see the children's progress.

Wall three...

Wall 4...

World's Tiniest Treadmill. Is that not the cutest piece of athletic equipment you've ever seen?

These are the K1 teachers, me, the headmaster (in navy), and the Mandarin teacher (in gray). The lady I am sitting beside is Yen. It was her birthday, so we celebrated during lunch. She is also one of the teachers I have become closest with. I suppose it's because she is also an English teacher, so we can converse with one another! Very sweet lady...

I'm so bummed that I could not get this picture to rotate, but I still thought you should see the wide selection HK Subways have :) Hmm, so many choices!

These pictures are of a cemetery on my way from my school in Wan Chai to Happy Valley (the area that has a subway). I just thought it was ironically beautiful...

Apparently, there is a holiday where every family cleans their relative's grave, so that should make for some interesting photographs as well.

This is the MTR on the way home. I wasn't even sure what my shot was going to look like. I was pushed into the train by the crowd behind me trying to get in...absolute craziness, but I promised you a picture, right?