Hey Hey's birthday

Yesterday is my nephew, Hey Hey's birthday. He is fourteen years old now. He is the youngest of our family. To celebrate his birthday, we went to Outback in Hunghom to have dinner. He was happy that he had a birthday ice-cream cake for his birthday.

A Macau trip

I went to Macau with my 'tribe' on 23rd and 24th December. There were eleven of us. We stayed in the Royal Hotel. This hotel was quite good - clean, quiet and newly renovated. It was not close to the town centre but easy to get to.

Macau is quite different to the old days now. It is full of high buildings and lots of casinos. People say it is more 'Las Vegas than Las Vegas'. I have watched a programme interviewing a resident there. He said if you wanted to see 'the old Macau', you have to go to Taipi. Actually, we like Macau because of its tiny, old and simple ways of living and because of its Portuguese style buildings. It has changed a lot nowadays.

I need a break

Today is the last school day in 2008. Hurrah! The long vacation starts at last. I have been longing for this holiday and I need this holiday. I had flu twice in December which was my new record ever. I felt lethargic at the end of the day.
I didn't know if it was caused by too much workload at school, too long the working hour or caused by my getting old. Prolonged lethargy affects my immune system. I became vulnerable and easily attacked by viruses.

I hope I have enough rest during the holiday and get back in good shape. I love being healthy.

A staff common room

Something good about the school I am working at present is its staff common room. It is clean and tidy. I took the photos in the morning of the Open Day. It has no table clothes in the ordinary days but it does not matter. I think if we can watch TV there will be perfect :-)

Shenzhen

The school's Open Day was held last Saturday. I worked from eight o'clock in the morning until six o'clock in the evening. So I think I deserved the day off yesterday. It was also my brother-in-law's holiday as well. So we joined my parents, two sisters and my nephew to Shenzhen.

First we went to a place where there was a big stationary centre. It was a wholesale as well as a retail market. The stationary was very cheap there and I bought quite a lot of high light pens, correction tapes and shuttle cocks as presents for my students. I have bought a magnetic dartboard for my husband. It was my favourite. We can play a game of dart at home now :-) It reminds me of the old days.

In the evening, we went to an area where the whole road was full of I.T. shops. We also went to a big department store. Inside, there were lots of very expensive clothing. I did not know how much an individual earns in a month in Shenzhen. I just couldn't imagine how they could afford to buy the trendy fashion. What surprised me was that many people were spending lots of money there. My brother-in-law said lots of people in Shenzhen were involved in the stock market. Maybe that could explain the astounding phenomemon there.

Stay healthy

I haven't written for nearly two weeks. I had a flu two weeks ago. Since then I have not recovered completely. I keep coughing from time to time, feeling very uncomfortable. One would realize how important to stay healthy when you are ill.

However, compares it with my old friend (anon), a flu is nothing. My dear old friend has brease cancer. I went to see her in the hospital this evening. It was pleased to see her looking fine after her surgery yesterday. I hope she will be strong enough to face the agony of chemotherapy later. She is not the single case recently. One of my friend's mother suffers from uterus cancer. Knowing people suffer from cancer really makes me feel very depressed.

To avoid the chance of having diseases physically, all one can do is to keep healthy and stay happy mentally. Of course, there are other reasons nobody can tell. Maybe that's life.

3 in 1

Three things happened in one day yesterday. The school's sports day was held in Wong Chuk Hang, Aberdeen. The weather was beautiful, not so cold and not so hot, a typical autumn in Hong Kong. My Blue House was the Champion of all the races as well as of the cheer-up group :-) My class came third in the overall event. A great harvest!

After the sports day, I rushed to the funeral parlour to attend the memorial service of my ex-teacher, Mr Alan Wu, who died in a motor cycle accident a few weeks ago. I have expressed my condolences to my teacher, his wife, Mrs Miranda Wu. I felt sorry that I could not control myself and I cried in front of her. This morning, I read his "sweet memory" and I found it so touching and sweet.

After the funeral service, we (my old friends) took cabs to the reunion dinner of St Catharine's. It was the 40th anniversary of the school. An interesting episode on the way - while we were getting on the taxi, we saw a girl also getting a taxi. We shouted to her if she was St Catharine's girl and she said yes. We shared the taxi and we laughed in the taxi because St Catharine's girls are unique and easy to tell :-)

During dinner, we talked a lot (of course, we were girls). I met quite a few familiar faces that I have not seen for years. I felt quite excited. We were happy that we had the chance to talk and share the lost memories. We took photos and nobody knew if the food tasted good or not. I met my old 'little friend', "Pony Ma' and we took photos together. We brought home with a 40th anniversary newsletter, a lovely teddy bear in school uniform and most of all, the sweet memories of the night.