Chinadian Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has to be one of my favorite holidays, for so many valid reasons (at least I feel they’re valid). To name only a few of these reasons:

-It’s a time for family and friends to gather (at my house that means to come together with food, drink and a dance or two in the kitchen).

-October is a wonderful month. It’s a month of fresh air, fall colors, blushed cheeks, boots and scarfs and the sound of leaves crunching underfoot.

-It’s not a holiday about presents; rather, it’s about good company, interesting conversations and laughter. 

Although I couldn’t be home to celebrate this wonderful Holiday with my family and friends I am very thankful to have been able to celebrate it with my China Family in our own way.

I would like to first begin by explaining (in not too much detail) that my Thanksgiving had a rough start this year on account of a bout of food poisoning. I suppose my body was trying to get Everything out of its system before the feast on Sunday…either way, it made for a difficult Thursday night and Friday. Nevertheless, Jennie, Kathryn and I were able to make it over to HK for the day on Saturday where we bought Kathryn’s new iPhone and my new iPod (mine was stolen at the gym), exciting stuff! We puttered around the great city, had a deliciously light lunch at Life Restaurant & Bar (first 'meal' since Thursday) and then headed home on the bus. I do love living in a city where I can pop over to HK for an afternoon, for the price of a cab into downtown Fredericton, NB…

I woke up feeling much better on Thanksgiving Sunday and was ready to try to adapt some of my beloved Hooper Family Traditions of The Day of Thanks. All the while being well aware that this could be difficult as the weather is very different here and my kitchen is the size of my dish washer back home. But! I did my best with what I had.

The day began with a lovely walk around the park with Kathryn (in shorts and a tank), a stop at the veggie/fruit stand and a fresh mango smoothie. {At home I would have gone for a walk with family but the sights, sounds, smells and clothing choices would have been very different.} After cleaning my house while dancing around to The Blues Brothers (frequently played in the Hooper family kitchen) Kathryn and I successfully created a healthy gluten and wheat free version of apple crisp in my little oven and enjoyed taste testing with some coffee and sharing with friends J 

Our delicious Thanksgiving creation in my mini-oven!

At 6pm the ISNS China family gathered on the 3^rd floor lounge for our Thanksgiving Potluck and My Goodness the amount of food was incredible, it all smelled so delicious! I suppose this is as good a time as any to quickly thank food poisoning recovery/being gluten and wheat free for making me have what turned out to be probably the most healthy, balanced, non-indulgent Thanksgiving yet…

Although I was not able to spend Thanksgiving at home in my lovely little town with my family, I do feel extremely lucky to have been able to spend it here in Shenzhen with my China family; the next best thing! I am very thankful not only to be surrounded by so many wonderful people here but that I have so many special people to miss around the world.

Feeling Thankful. 

Peace & Love Everyone

October Holiday in Phuket, Thailand -The Glass House

Well, it is now October and I am finding it hard to believe how quickly time is passing again this year. I am of course trying to embrace each day and enjoy the present but I do find myself looking forward to the holidays and hoping for time to keep right on ticking (I'm only human…or maybe it's just my career choice?).  

This past week was spent in Phuket, Thailand with 11 friends and fellow teachers from ISNS. I know, living abroad really offers no travel opportunities and you’re not sure why I keep coming back!? Haha We were all separated into groups for flights but the 4 of us (Patricia, Krista, Brittany and I) left for the Shenzhen airport on Friday evening (our thought process: why wait until Saturday when holiday begins as soon as the kiddies are gone on Friday afternoon) and were off to Singapore for the evening. We got a little shut-eye on the flight to over but we arrived around 4:30am so we decided that rather than sleep we may as well have some breakfast and get our Saturday started. We arrived in Phuket with no problem and it was there that we met up with Patrick, Jordan, Michael and Emma. Mr. Man was awaiting our arrival (with a poster board) and took us, in our private van with leather interior, to what truly was a Glass House Paradise. Our villa was spectacular! 

                                                                               
Our very own beautifully designed mansion on a hill with an infinity pool and it’s own private beach to boot…we clearly accepted quite quickly that it was going to be a terrible week... Once room assignments were complete a group went off to get our first of 3 rounds of groceries in the city and the rest of us lounged; Meg arrived a few hours after us and that afternoon celebrations began. We laughed a great deal and the evening ended with all of us howling to music while dancing in the infinity pool during a very large storm (high winds and insane amounts of rain). On Sunday Ross and Mariya arrived which completed the arrivals, we were all at The Glass House and ready for a week of luxury.

Now, we had to keep reminding ourselves that October is rainy season, everywhere, and therefore it was ok that we didn’t luck out with pristine weather BUT we did get some sun. We also really couldn’t have been in a better place for a storm; a glass house full of windows, yes please! I read 3 books while away and it was a treat! The house was big enough that people could be all together or go off on their own and do whatever it was they wanted to do (watch a show on the big screen, lounge by the pool, sit in the living room, etc..).

The food in Phuket is ridiculously delicious and therefore we all left very well fed. We made group breakfasts and dinners and found ourselves eating on the beach for lunch, going into Patong Beach or walking to The Ship’s Inn so that we could enjoy some Pad Thai, curries and spring rolls (among other things). Thank goodness I can have rice (kind of), I would have had to starve if not since all meals included either rice, rice noodles or rice paper!

Wednesday was by far my favorite day on vacation! A group of us got up early and Mr. Man took us to catch our boat over to Koh Phi Phi for the day! I was beyond excited to go as I had already fallen in love with this crazy island over Christmas last year. It took us about an hour and a half to get to the beautiful island of Phi Phi and we had the best time! We began puttering through the markets as soon as the boat docked and were on a mission to buy matching Chang Tops and Thai pants. Once our mission was complete Patricia took us to eat ‘The Best Pad Thai in the World’ which truly wasn’t far off, it was delicious! Due to the stunning weather that Mother Nature provided us for the day we couldn’t stay away from the beach any longer. After scarfing down a large plate of Pad Thai we made our way to the beach. 

We grabbed some drinks and waded out into the crystal clear water where we parked ourselves on a sand bar and soaked in the sun while admiring the beautiful view. The time to leave the island came much too quickly as we were all ready to stay forever but we grabbed some buckets (classic Phi Phi drinking glass) and made our way back to the boat. We piled in and made ourselves comfortable at the back of the boat where we proceeded to laugh harder than I had laughed since…probably an hour beforehand. My God we had fun. Mr. Man was ready and waiting for us and was such a good sport while we howled to music and indulged in some pretty wild car dancing all the way home. After launching ourselves into the infinity pool and splashing around for a bit we all got on our matching Chang shirts, played some games (including two-story beer pong) and then headed out to Patong Beach for what turned into a great evening of dancing at Seduction (we teachers were all convinced we went to a place called Sed-ucation....). 

Our final day of vacation the four of us traveling together departed our Glass House with heavy hearts and made our way to Singapore. Our hearts weren't heavy for long as a lightness and joy took over, Singapore is a spectacular place and the weather couldn't have been more perfect! We left our bags at the airport (locked up of course) and went into Clarks Key where we enjoyed a delicious meal with margaritas and beer on the water, a walk through the bar and restaurant district, a putter through the mall and a beautiful boat cruise; all of which allowed us to take in some of the famous sites of this lovely city. 

Again saddened with the idea of leaving another wonderful place, we hopped on our flight and we were home before we knew it (thanks to a long chat with Patricia)...physically in the right place to begin work on Monday but perhaps mentally still somewhere else. 

I <3 Holidays 

Mid-Autumn Festival

Time for another September update J

Tall People Problems...

After a great deal of flight searching many of us decided (on account of prices) that staying in Shenzhen for the long week-end was the wisest decision and man am I glad that I did. This past weekend was eventful yet uneventful, a lovely balance if I do say so myself! I have little problem admitting to you that I have not been as lazy as I was this past weekend in a very long time – apparently my mind and body needed the rest. Kathryn, Jennie and I spent hours upon hours each day lounging on my bed against mountains of pillows and blankets with our laptops. We finished the last season of How I Met Your Mother and then started the last season of Modern Family (with some movies thrown in to change things up). Of course with all of this rest through the days we found the energy to gather and socialize in the evenings, can’t be full-time hermits.

Patricia had some of the ladies over to her flat for wine, aps and a movie (He’s just not that Into You…fitting for a girls night haha) to kick-off the long weekend and it was delightful. We polished off a few bottles of wine, had some yummy treats, laughed a lot and had some entertaining conversations about the movie and life in general…oh, and of course we enjoyed some great tunes when the movie was finished. When it came that time to say good night Jordan and I decided that dancing the night away was probably the best decision, so we did. The two of us headed to Shekou, ended up meeting the boys at Viva and it was there that we created a dance floor and sang at the top of our lungs into the wee hours of the morning; a Great way to say goodbye to the short week and hello to the Mid-Autumn Festival.

On Friday morning I was woken up around 8am by the musical sound of a jackhammer jumping around above my house. At the time the only vision that I had in my mind was The Grinch…but instead of drowning out the noise of Christmas joy it was drowning out the quiet of a Thursday morning off. Not ok. Of course the noise was not only heard by me but also by everyone else on campus and therefore we all got an early start to our first day off. It only seemed fitting to gather in Jennie’s room for some food and then shift over to my bed to watch tv shows, all day, and go through pinterest with fine-toothed combs. We enjoyed being such lazi individuals that we did it until it was time to get ready for Ladies Night in Shekou (Every Thursday night is Ladies Night at Viva and drinks are Free, all night). 

A group of us went to eat at Mexican first (which is always delicious), had a meal and a drink in a bowl before heading to Viva. Due to the amount of sugary drinks that were consumed and the general tiredness of everyone no one lasted very late; Kathryn, Patricia and I were at the rear of the going home bus … dancing of course.

Saturday was spent on my bed lounging, again. Kathryn and I spent hours upon hours planning our Christmas adventure with Mom while watching How I Met Your Mother. The day of laziness had us up and raring to go for Tapinyaki, which was a total success. We filled a room upstairs and our personal chef cooked us delicious food (in front of us) while being served countless bottles of wine (all for 180rmb). After we couldn’t ‘all you can eat or drink’ anymore we shuffled over to the Terrace where we danced the night away for the phenomenal Pilipino Band that we have come to know and love.

Sunday turned into quite a day when we found out that Typhoon Usagi was in fact coming straight for us and school on Monday would be cancelled. Of course with this news in mind Jennie, Kathryn and I had to brave the increasing winds and spurts of rain to get a delicious breaky at the boathouse before grabbing food, water and wine and heading home to hunker down (priorities). The rest fo the day was spent relaxing, trip researching, struggling with the internet and preparing for an afternoon of Typhoon madness. Leave it to Patrick to come up with the brilliant idea of making a delicious bucket of Sangria and having everyone over for some games – we piled into his place, had appetizers, drinks and played catch phrase until our stomachs hurt form laughing so hard. 

At one point in the evening I was even able to get through on Skype and had a great chat with my family – what a treat!!

Having a Monday off was a blessing and I finally was able to get myself into my classroom for a few hours of productivity before going to the gym and then resuming my position on my bed with the girls to relax and later cook a delicious meal.

What a wonderfully relaxing, eventful and thirst quenching weekend!