summer's arriving

grant's on holiday. it makes me want to be lazy in the mornings.
we went to shanghai over the weekend for a tournament. BEAUTIFUL fields - soft grass to walk barefoot through, to lay out on... and gave me a rash. everywhere the grass touched me, i broke out. dang my allergic body. i'd like to believe it was some sort of pesticide, and not just my general allergies to nature.
the only thing off-setting the great venue was the polluted air. i'm so glad i live in hong kong and not in mainland china. we sometimes have blue skies. there, a clear day means you see an outline of a sun amidst a whole lot of haze.

we go back to the states next week. i'm ready to be away from the heat and humidity. it's a beast this week. we're going to be incredibly out of shape for singapore: de-climatized, jetlagged, and no disc playing for months before. love it.

just a random post

i realized that, once again, it has been ages since i've updated our blog. whether or not there's actually anything to write about has yet to be seen.

summer has arrived in hong kong. this past week has been consistently hitting 30 degrees (celsius) which is basically high 80's/90...plus humidity. i have to admit, i'm quite excited to visit the States if for nothing else than for the nice weather! i've also realized how well my body has acclimatized as i wore jeans most of the week. scary. when you see me this summer, and i'm complaining about how cold i am while you're in a tank top and shorts... just laugh at me, and have pity on my sub-tropical body.

grant and i went on a hike the other day, and the beauty of this particular hike is that it finishes at a beach. there's no better way to finish a hike than with swimming! in my opinion, all hikes in hong kong should finish with a beach.

as mentioned before, david loomis visited us for a few days back in april. i have to say, it was really fun to see someone from a "former life," if you will. my life has become quite segmented into "high school," "college," "zionsville," and now "hong kong." as there's very little overlap of these lives, when someone crosses over it's a strange experience. probably the epitome of this was sitting on the walk of stars in tst, looking at the skyline of hong kong, and laughing at stories from high school. it's been a long time since i've remembered all that and seeing david brought it all right back as if it were just a year ago...and not 10!! (yeah, get that: 10 years ago, i was finishing my freshman year. i feel old).

for those of you who want to see us this summer, here's our approximate itinerary:
*Grant in Rockford, June 23-July 10
*Both of us in Chicago: July 10
*Door County, WI: July 12-18
*Michigania: July 18-25
*Indianapolis: July 25-28
*Elkhart: July 28-July 31
Fly away to Hong Kong: August 1

sweet, sweet victory

i don't often post about our ultimate league, and today is a great day to do so :-) i've had nowhere to brag as much as i've wanted to.

last season, my blue team took on the name "smurfs," simply because i couldn't come up with anything better with blue. we finished on top of the regular season standings over black, 5-5-2 vs 5-5-1 or something ridiculous like that. anyways, we lost in the finals with a lot of our players being gone.

this season, my blue team was allowed to stick together if they wanted to, and we had 11 players stay with the smurfs, and picked up a few more great people (ie, grant) which made for some fun comraderie and also teamwork. all season, we've been regularly winning against the red and white teams, but never against black. the black teams relies solely on a non-traditional zone defense that exploits weaker players. the last time we played them, we came within 2 points... sooooo close!

last night, we finally did what we've needed to all season: eliminated our own drops and errors and played with solid teamwork. one of the newer players commented to me, "i keep cutting but i'm never open! should i stop?" we told her, "NO! keep going, because you're letting other people get open!" sure enough, she kept running her butt off without touching the disc, but keeping defenders occupied. anyways, we beat our nemesis black by about 6 points because every person on our team played to the top of their abilities.

not gonna lie, it felt REALLY good...
and, for some personal bragging, because i can:
grant played like a man on fire, and like someone who's been playing a lot longer than just under 2 years. he was cool, confident, and quick as a handler. i'm in love... ;-)
i put up 3 huge throws (against wind too!), 2 of which were caught by my receivers. (the other one was a bad throw). and, i got to run deep for a goal. that RARELY happens, and i still can't believe my legs moved as fast as they did.

oh and david loomis, who's visiting this week in the midst of his travels, played with us and scored 2 points for us. pretty sweet.

i love the smurfs.

boracay open 2009

last weekend (21-22/3), we went to boracay (see the other posts about that glorious place) for a frisbee tournament. it was a short trip: we arrived saturday morning early and left midday monday, but 100% worth it. frisbee tournaments are always fun, added to the beauty of boracay, we couldn't go wrong.

there were 6 of us from hong kong, and then we picked up 3 peace corps volunteers stationed in the philippines, including laura van't land from valpo. they'd seeded our team 9th, which made us the top of the b bracket. it meant we got to win a lot :-) overall on the weekend, we were 6-1, but that only made us the b bracket champs since we didn't play the top teams (who would have DESTROYED us).

amazing time, and then grant left last week for kota kinabalu for a teacher conference (he can post on that if he gets to it!!)

here's a photo of the hong kong musclemen (and woman)
(l-r) mike, rob, jeremy, grant, kristin, sandy

11 march 2009

it was a very good day.
i slept in an extra half hour, for no reason at all.
grant bought me about 12 new books to start reading and left them all over the floor for me to see when i woke up.
i talked to kari, erik, mom and michelle.
i went to work and accomplished a little bit, but spent time reading the facebook messages that kept popping up at me.
but spent 2 hours at lunch with pastor marybeth and sheri.
then we had tea with the rest of staff and olin, complete with homemade carrot cake. mmmmm
i hung out with natalie and sharon and played guitar hero... oh, and did some mentoring lessons.
then we went out to dinner in soho with lots and lots of friends. we ate lots of tasty lebanese tapas and smoked a hookah.
janice gave me the funniest book present ever- veggietales birthday!
came home and fell into bed happy and blessed.
oh, and facebook left me a birthday message.

thanks everyone for your love, near and far.

30-hour famine (union church version)

see if this link works:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/album.php?id=693318141&aid=92249
or this one:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/album.php?id=693318141&aid=92250

these are my awesome kiddos doing the 30-hour famine this year, photos compliment of garland, my awesome volunteer. (there are more hiding somewhere).
we had 20 kids participate for church, and i'm guessing they raised over $80,000 HKD to be donated to World Vision. incredible. they were great sports, in good moods, and willing to do everything!
we had a local ministry group come and lead a simulation exercise called "monsoon" which simulated being rural farmers dependent on the monsoon for our livelihood. my family had one member die :-(
we also made blankets for another local ministry. wrangling middle school boys to be interested in something like that is NOT easy.
played lots of games, and spent quiet times learning from Scripture.
i still think my favorite prayer of the weekend was "dear God, thank you for giving us all different abilities...and disabilities."
some quotes from the evaluations on what they learned:
"god loves everyone equally, no matter how clever, smart, rich, or poor they are. it isn't god's fault [that there's poverty] - we can't blame him for something we don't help."
"there is no way to give too much"
"He (God) is worried about everything but it is us that have to help."
"it is hard being hungry. but i have faith in god and he gave me strength."
"that when you really concentrated on God, nothing else seems to matter. when i felt hungry, i thought about God and forgot about being hungry."

oh, and all these kids were junior high age. pretty amazing to hear how God was working on their hearts.

grant did a 30-hour famine with his students this month too, but i'll let him give details if he wants ;-) i don't know what highlights he saw from his students.
also, for those of you who heard grant was having knee problems: he got his MRI done last Saturday, and he has NOT torn his ACL, PCL or anything else. he did tear a tendon that rehealed itself, and he does have inflammation, but no surgery needed. yay!!

the mundane

i've had a realization lately that nearly all of our posts revolve around somewhere we've recently travelled. i can't deny that we've been incredibly blessed financially since we moved to hk. both of us have steady salaries, and very few expenses or debts (darn school loans!). we end up travelling a lot, and then we post about our travels, because those seem like the most interesting parts of our lives.

and recently, i've become really sensitive to the fact of how unusual this is - we travel about once a month, and we love it. but the truth is that most of you who read this blog are living in the states where unemployment is rising, recession is really hitting hard, and finances aren't as loose as ours are right now.

it makes me wonder if we're insensitive for posting frequently about all these great places?
in truth, this blog started as a way to keep our family and friends updated about our lives as we started off life in hong kong, a new culture, another continent, another way of life. now we've been here for approaching two years (1 year, 7 months), and the novelty and shock has worn off.

since the novelty has worn off, writing about daily life feels less interesting to us. ferries, taxis, subways, double decker buses are ways of transport and life for us. seeing skyscrapers is expected. an 11th floor, 558 square foot apartment is home. we go to work, we play frisbee, we hang out with friends, we sleep, we eat. life in hong kong settles into a routine, and, in many ways, is not so different from a life we'd live in the US.

for instance, i went to outback for lunch with our friend anna who lives and works in china. she was visiting hong kong to get her visa renewed.

outback, lunch with a university friend who's passing through, catching up on life stories. all normal occurences in our lives.

visa runs, maybe different.

at this point, i think we focus on our travels in our blogging because they are the new, the novel, the exciting, the interesting spices in our lives.

in short, i apologize if writing about travels seems insensitive in these economic times. i apologize if you've wanted to hear more about our daily lives. if you let us know that, we can try to work harder at sharing those events.

chinese new year 2009

it's the year of the ox... my year baby!

to celebrate, grant and i left gray, smoggy, chilled hong kong for boracay island. here's the island from the plane. we were hanging out in the narrow strip in the middle, but on the farther side from this angle. google boracay, and i believe it's one of the best beaches in the world.


to get there, we flew to manila, then caticlan, then took a boat across the channel to the island...

so i forgot to rotate the picture before uploading... oops! here's one of the really good sunsets.

while we were there, we got to hang out with laura van't land, who's in the peace corps near-ish to boracay. go valpo!!

we also did a lot of skimboarding (so fun!!), sleeping in, laying on the beach, reading books, cribbage, drinking fruit shakes, and eating big dinners. what a life. back to the grind now!

on a more entertaining note

on a less weighty note from my last post of recommendations...

grant and i are currently addicted to 30 rock, the tina fey sitcom that's won massive numbers of awards. we bought seasons 1 and 2 in shenzhen last time we were there, and it has been my favorite evening activity for a week now. we've finished season 1 and part of season 2. absolutely hysterical.

my favorite part of our set of discs is that each disc starts with the FBI anti-piracy warning.
ironic really, if you notice where we bought them...

new books

at the national youth workers' conference in pittsburgh last fall, i was able to hear a lot of great pastors, writers, theologians, etc teach in seminars and in general sessions.  two who stuck with me were margaret feinberg and phyllis tickle.

at the conference, i bought one of margaret feinberg's books: the organic god.  loved it.  if i had to pick an author that i'd love to sit down and have coffee with, she might be the one.  her basic question is "Why do you love jesus?"  now think about that for a few seconds...

it's much harder than you anticipate.  i can think of all the proofs, 

examples, reasons that god (and therefore jesus) love me, and i can think

 of reasons why i worship him... but love him?  that opens up an entirely different picture of jesus all of the sudden.  what i liked about this book was it took you back to some of the basic characteristics of god and who he is.  check it out... i'm hopefully going to start reading another book by her soon.  (sacred echoes)

next interesting book i just finished: the great emergence by phyllis tickle.  

this one is probably a bit more polarizing than my other choice.  her premise is that we are in the middle of a semi-millenial "rummage sale" by the church.  when it's over, we'll have a new expression of the church as we know it, as well as a re-formed and re-traditioned version of the church that 

we previously knew (in this case, protestantism and roman catholicism).  i appreciated how she looked at seemingly unrelated cultural phenomena and pointed out how they have changed the church over the past century.  from inventions such as the automobile, to philosophies ab

out life and the soul: all of them have (in some way) affected christianity.  the other thing i appreciated was that she didn't make a judgment about whether or not this "emergence" is wrong or right in culture or in the church.  simply that it is, and as a church we will have to learn how to understand what it will be and how it will affect christianity as we know it.  

am i an "emergent" or an "emerging christian?"  (because these apparently have different meanings, though i'm still unclear on the difference).  maybe?  probably?  i'm not exactly sure, though i do feel that my theology and my practice of religion tend to be a blend of denominations and practices.  do i believe in the authority of scripture?  

yes.  do i believe that faith alone saves?  yes.  but do i also believe that we need to be the living embodiment of jesus's teachings?  yes... and if that puts me in the category of "social justice" christians, then so be it.  do i have liturgical leanings?  at times, yes.  based on my very limited understanding of this "emergence," i probably fit, as i can't clearly be categorized in one "quadrant" of the north american christian map.  (see the image, taken from her book).

anyone else have any thoughts on books for me to read? :-D

my monthly ramblings

Good grief, my ability to upload blog entries in a timely fashion is terrible.

Christmas this year was lovely. Lots of time at church and with friends. As much as a downer as it is to be "working" on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (and I don't even have to preach!), it really is a blessing in disguise. In this strange city of warm weather, commercial focus without cultural/spiritual significance, and leaving for vacations, church services that I'm "required" to attend become a centering experience. From a family service with "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever," to an all candlelight evening service, and then back again in the morning for a celebration of Christmas Day, I felt like I was able to really live and experience the Christmas story in many forms.

Grant loved his iphone. I'm such a nice wife ;-)

We left for Vietnam on Christmas night with some friends. There was a hat tournament in Ho Chi Minh City that we went to last year also. Lots of fun, sunshine, and ultimate :-D Grant's team won, and my team did alright :-P Following the tournament, we went to Mui Ne, a beach town nearby. VERY relaxing, and there were about 12 frisbee people there (more or less, depending on the day) who we hung out with.

It was a good holiday indeed.

I've had an interesting month of learning, discussing and thinking about church, ministry, theology, etc. It's been fun, challenging and overall good times. It's also helped me learn to be gracious with people who have differences from me. Difficult lesson, really, but super important. Some days I wish that I could do that all the time - read, think, discuss. I know, I'm an eternal scholar at heart.

I'm really excited for our upcoming "Faith Discovery Course." It's a chance for our students to meet with a mentor and prepare for baptism or confirmation. So far we have 8 students doing it! Keep them in your prayers :-)

As opposed to Grant's last blog entry about the "cold" warning, it actually has gotten cooler lately. This morning, temperatures were in the 40's across Hong Kong, and there was a frost warning even! I know that most of you in the States think I'm a wuss, but I am eternally grateful for space heaters in my flat and my office!

I've been dreaming and thinking a bit lately about the future, in several ways - leisure time and professional time! Various ideas and thoughts I've had (most have been briefly discussed with Grant!)

*doing a summer around Europe next year by rail (unpaid leave maybe?)

*planning a huge excursion the summer we decide to leave (no idea when)

*perhaps going to school for a teaching license - it makes Grant more marketable, and gives me a "practical" skill if I decide to change professions

*being more diligent about writing - journaling, blogging, etc (probably more in the journal than the blog)

*ditto on the reading

*what is my life calling? I'm not convinced that it's youth ministry forever, though I'm not questioning the call God has on my life at this moment. Part of me really wants to know what might be next! I suppose it's better that I don't know, so I can't get over excited looking forward and forgetting where I am.

ridiculous

merry christmas to all of our friends and family that read this!

anyway, i just noticed something that reminded me of how weird hong kong can be. it's currently 13 degrees celsius (or 55 fahrenheit) and our official HK weather site posted the following:

"COLD WEATHER WARNING
Cold Weather Warning

The Cold Weather Warning is now in force.

The Hong Kong Observatory is forecasting cold weather in
Hong Kong today.

As Hong Kong is being affected by a cold winter monsoon,
people are advised to put on warm clothes and to avoid
adverse health effects due to the cold weather. You must
also ensure adequate indoor ventilation.

If you must go out, please avoid prolonged exposure to
wintry winds.

If you know of elderly persons or persons with chronic
medical conditions staying alone, please call or visit them
occasionally to check if they need any assistance.

Make sure heaters are safe before use, and place them away
from any combustibles. Do not light fires indoors as a
means to keep warm.

Whatever the temperature, please ensure that there is
plenty of fresh air in your room when you are using an
old-type gas water heater.

DISPATCHED BY HONG KONG OBSERVATORY AT 06:02 HKT ON 23.12.2008"


can you believe it!?
it's well above freezing, and we're experiencing "wintery monsoons!"
i can only imagine what they might say if HK looked like illinois or indiana right now... "run for your lives! set anything combustible on fire! do whatever is necessary to stay warm from this apocalyptic nightmare!"

then again, i suppose that kristin and i are heading to vietnam to escape the cold and relax on a beach. wish us safe travels, and we'll post some pictures when we return!

:)

why i am picture-less

i realized that i regularly write "pictures to come," and i was planning to do that again. then, i realized it's all one big lie. i write my blog posts at work, and i don't have access to my photo library since it's on our laptop. someday that will change. either i will upload photos to my work computer, or i will stop blogging at work. (sorry charles, you've discovered my secret now).

last week was thanksgiving. the holiday itself was very anticlimactic. as in, we didn't do anything. kathy, scott and grant went to the light show - does that count as exciting? nope, probably not. saturday, i cooked my first thanksgiving turkey. whoohoo! the picture of that one is on stu's mobile phone. i'm not sure he'll ever email it to me. i felt like i needed proof of a cooked turkey - mostly because that's what mom and dad always did. anyways, the turkey was great, if a bit pink in the middle. oops, the microwave has since killed off all salmonella, e coli, and whatever else comes in raw turkey. we had an american thanksgiving - turkey, stuffing, potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, and veggies - at a british flat.
for those of you who missed the turkey saga... i bought the smallest (and only) turkey i found at our grocery store. weighing in at a massive 8.8 pounds (for nearly 20 USD), i thought i better snatch it up. once i arrived at home, i realized that mr. turkey was about one inch too tall for our oven. luckily, i'd already invited michele and stu to eat with us, so we ate at their flat and cooked there as well. yay for bigger ovens than mine!
we had apple crumble for dessert, courtesy of michele and stu - and grant was requesting whipped cream or vanilla ice cream prior to the meal. when i asked them about this, i was given a blank look. apparently british people don't put cold cream on their hot apple crumble. instead they make hot custard. it was a first for me, but tasty indeed.

that's all i've got for thanksgiving. now life is calmer, but christmas is starting soon. funny how that happens.

hasta luego amigos...

pictures to come...

i went to the US for a week and left my camera in Hong Kong... go figure. i'm relying on family and friends to give me their pictures, and i need to upload a few off my phone.
quick highlights:
*playing cards with the siblings
*being amazed at how grown up they all are

*kim driving 6 hours round trip to hang out

*dinner with the zpc ladies and lindsey d, aka lindsey muntz (i can't not call you that!)
*coffee at the malott home
*sunrises, driving, music, long conversations
*coffee with steven wilco, the coolest ever
*the conference: well done youthspecialties. margaret feinberg is my new fave, audio adrenaline reclaimed a place of love in my music fan-dom, and my motivation and inspiration for reaching out to kids and wanting them to experience the transformation of the Lord
*a campfire, hotdogs, and s'mores at the larew home
*watching a colts game - i do love american football, it's true
*getting a free book by meeting an author at the airport
*making all my connections in both directions and having no problems with the airlines!!
*getting home and seeing grant
it was a beautiful, relaxing, amazing trip, and it was easy to slip back into normalcy of the US - being at home with my family, and driving around and going to a conference with joy. conversations came easily with people i haven't seen in over a year (or longer!), and i was encouraged just by seeing people and talking about life, marriage, work, faith. yet, at the end of the week, at the airport with joy, i was excited to be getting back on the plane. i had a husband to see, a ministry to work on, kids to love, and frisbee to play. some of my heart will forever be in the USofA, but my home truly is in Hong Kong.

grant and i leave for indonesia on monday - pray for the kids' hearts to be transformed through service, and for safety.
oh, and grant's birthday is tomorrow (november 7). send him an email or a facebook message. frankeg [at] ics [dot] com.

one more side note, Go Obama! :-D i know that he's not a messiah/savior/fixer of all evils in america, but i am excited to see what happens under his leadership.

a wild weekend

thursday night was passion: hong kong.  absolutely amazing and fun!!  the venue was small enough, and set up in such a way that you could CLEARLY see the stage, no matter where you were sitting.  the blog said there were 2100 people present - mostly young people.

i haven't been to a huge worship event in a long while, of jumping up and down, singing loudly, and hearing a great preacher (hats off to louie giglio... may we all be fruitcakes for jesus!).  it was really clear that the Spirit was present.  grant and i were talking about the challenge of slipping into emotional highs in those kinds of settings, but i also know that there is something refreshing in having those moments from time to time.  no, my faith doesn't thrive on exciting, high paced, crazy moving, loud, lights, pizzazz, and such... but those events are a chance to be lost in worship, singing to the King of all, and celebrating with thousands of others around you.  and then those moments provide refreshment for later.  i think one difference between something like passion and church worship is that i don't have to think about anything when it's not at church :-)  when i'm at my own church, i'm sometimes leading, always aware of the students i'm with, etc.  when i'm at someone else's church, i'm looking at how they do things, noticing what's different, unique, cool, could be adapted for our church, etc... at a big event like passion, those distractions aren't present - we can't put that in our church, problem solved! :-)

the whole thing got done at 11:30 or later, and then getting home on a school night was pretty late.  our sleep schedules are so messed up.  when we got home, i was still on a bit of a rush from the concert - ears ringing, eyes tired, but wide awake inside.  i said to grant, "concerts give me a better buzz than drinking does!"

for more photos and the "official" blog, visit this blog.

less than 24 hours later, i was at a youth camp in fanling (aka, almost china, in the new territories) for a youth retreat.  we had just over 40 high school students from at least 4 different churches attend this retreat: love actually - aka, a relationships and purity retreat.  praise Jesus that He can take care of logistical issues, nitty gritty details that we haven't planned for!!!  saturday night was a prime-time example.  we decided it would be a cool idea for the guys to surprise the girls with a "nice" dinner - dress up, flowers, escorts, etc.  the camp said "no, you can't bring in nice food.  you have to eat in the cafeteria.  maybe you can decorate tables...."  well, saturday night rolled around, and we were about a half hour behind schedule and found out that the cafeteria would be closed, and there was no chance of us eating in the cafeteria.  the teens and adult guys hauled tables and chairs to our meeting room, set up candles and roses, and ordered pizza and soda while the girls primped.  in other words, the whole thing happened exactly the way we'd wanted in the first place!!  what was cool was that the girls were able to feel really treasured, valuable, and special - even though they were being served and treated by guys they may have only barely known.  anyways, God really did work, and i heard enough kids comment on my talk saturday night that i can just pray God lets it stick, take hold of their hearts, and remind them to stay committed to purity and living in the light!  

now, it's time to sleep a lot tonight on a SOFT bed (you thought camp beds in the US were bad?  wait til you try hong kong...) and not do ANYTHING tomorrow!!

september recap

wow, it's been a long time since we posted.

blank blog pages have started becoming a source of writer's block for me.  looking at the blank entry, i feel a need to write something exciting, profound, unusual, unique.  in truth, life feels fairly normal right now.  though, normal is go-go-go.  we've had a lot going on in the past month.  youth group kicked off at the beginning of september with messy games and a junk trip on friday-saturday.

that Sunday, there was a beach hat tournament for frisbee.  i played as a pick-up after church was done, and grant captained team fluorescent yellow:

the next weekend, there was a public holiday, and grant volunteered his time to help me with a youth ultimate tournament for kids at our church and around other churches and schools.

just when things seemed they would get calm for me, grant was in the throes of planning middle school camp.  200 students plus faculty and adults!!  oh, and it had to be replanned twice because a typhoon came through, cancelling school.  of course.

here's a picture of grant in his fat suit:

the other big event of september was "super 'stache september."  grant and a bunch of other teachers decided to have a moustache contest.   they grew beards, goatees, etc, until the one monday when they had to shave them into a moustache for people to vote on the best one.  (we used mascara to darken grant's).  grant landed somewhere in the middle.  here's a picture of the moustachioed men.  

i think those are basically the highlights of september.  we had a few typhoons, lots of frisbee, and general life.  the next few months don't look any slower either.  this weekend will be the "Love Actually V" retreat - an annual HK youth retreat for high schoolers talking about dating, relationships, and purity.  next weekend is the hong kong tournament.  the day after, i visit the states for a week for a conference.  mid-november will bring grant's school service trip to indonesia (and i'll be a chaperone).  then a few days later, kathy and scott visit!!  

don't expect lots of posts anytime soon :-)  sorry we've been so slow!

singapore: mud, food, and frisbee

we went to singapore last weekend for a tournament. i'd say it was probably one of my favorite tournaments this year. we played fairly well as a team, won more games than we lost (4-3), finished 5th (per usual), and had a good time. less anxiety and tensions overall :-) the first day we won our first and last game, which put us 3rd in our pool going into Sunday. this meant sleeping in and getting a first round bye! we won our pre-quarters game, and then lost a close quarterfinals game :-( that was the most frustrating game, by far.

grant had an amazing tournament - great defense, lots of blocks, lots of layouts, and great cuts. oh, and a great huck to the endzone for a score!

my play wasn't spectacular or terrible. i was happy (overally) with how i played, minus a few stupid drops. we played a lot of zone o and d. zone d is super tiring, and somehow i end up in the cup a lot which runs the most... on o, i handled a lot, and i don't think i really turned it over in a zone as handler, so that was good, right? :-)

food in singapore is so good. the fields were across the street from a hawker market: cooked food stalls with singaporean, chinese, indian, sri lankan, and more for REALLY cheap prices. then, saturday night, lily and jon invited us to go with them to chinatown for food (we skipped the party... oops :-P) basically there were two streets that were nothing but food stands, so we ate our way down the row! good times. lily has all those pictures on her camera... (if you read this, i want those!)

but here are a few pictures from the second day of the tournament:

*i'm not altogether certain what grant's doing in that picture

*can you find the feet under the mud? tough, i know.

update...

so that typhoon 8 we had?  escalated to typhoon 9 - the first time in 5 years that the T9 has been called by the HK observatory.  cool.  we had a direct hit by typhoon nuri.  now as exciting as this could have been, it was a bit of a letdown, we felt.  i think our last typhoon 8 felt much windier and rainier overall.  still, pretty cool to have a day off work and school.  a bunch of teachers came over to our flat for lunch, olympics, nerts, and hang out time.  

speaking of olympics [digression begins here]... i'm very sad they're over.  nothing left on TV to watch and discuss!  i also have a really mixed perspective on this year's.  on one hand, there were some AWESOME events, athletes, etc to follow.  and really, china did pull them off without a tactical or organizational hitch (except having swimming and gymnastics during the work day... boo NBC).  at the same time, i read a lot of the news articles surrounding some of the human rights issues with the olympics, protesters, volunteers, etc.  and that then makes me sad.  maybe it's the western, individual culture side of me that says "each person should have their basic rights" whereas china views the overall group/state/government as more important.  i don't know.  but some of it was pure showmanship.  "sure, we'll have protest zones.  look, nobody is using them!... did we mention that we hadn't approved any of the protest applications?"  

so am i against the olympics?  no way.  i think china did a heck of a job, but at what cost?  (a yahoo article).

back to actual life in hong kong: probably the best thing about the typhoon was saturday's weather: cool, low humidity, and absolutely stunning views because of the air clarity.  in other words, a great day for each disc, dinner in the plaza, and a night out in soho with the new teachers (and some old ones).

i love weekends!!

T-8

I think this is our 3rd T-8 this summer.  I'm excited.

[Clarification: T-8 means there are high winds because there's a typhoon in the neighborhood.  Everything shuts down, you're not required to go to work, etc.]

Grant's even more excited.  He had a late night last night at Back-to-School night, and now he gets to sleep in!

Rumor has it, there may be a direct hit on HK tonight.  Could be exciting!!!

a week of superlatives in hong kong

saturday, august 3 = most perfect summer day

 we woke up early and went wakeboarding for our first time with john and lily.  (wakeboarding = snowboarding on water)  very very fun.  grant got up relatively quickly, and i'd had a tiny bit of practice one other time, so i had no problems, until i would try to go outside the wake, and then i would fall.  can't wait to try again! 

we stopped by lily and jon's flat, then changed clothes for a day out on a junk trip.  junks are pleasure boats that people take out for a day (either renting or owning), stock up on food and drinks, and drive out to a bay somewhere around the many (200) islands of Hong Kong.  our boat had about 45 people on it, was paired up with another boat of the same number, and i knew about 15 :-)  good times.  lots of sun, diving into the water, trying to catch frisbees while diving, diving through inner tubes, etc etc.  in other words, a perfect summer day.  here's a picture of michele and me towards the end of the day.

 

Wednesday = Craziest weather

it was a typhoon 8 day!  where we live, nothing too exciting happens, but windspeeds in parts of hong kong reached 150km/hour.  however, it meant that grant's first day back to work was cancelled, i didn't go into the office, and we stayed home and watched the three Bourne movies. 

Friday = awesome Olympics opening

i'm an olympic junkie.  i'll admit it without shame.  every four years, i get very excited in the sports i don't follow the rest of the time - gymnastics, diving, swimming, even volleyball and basketball!  so when the opening ceremonies come on, i try to watch the whole thing, and i love the pageantry and showiness of it all.  this year's was amazing.  we'll give china some props for that.  my personal favorite? the little 9 year old carrying the flags next to yao ming from china.  

Saturday = best beach ultimate

every saturday (almost) we play beach ultimate in the summer.  this week was my favorite.  we went to a beach that grant and i hadn't been to yet called shek o.  the sand was super soft and didn't hurt my feet, the water was clean (or as clean as it gets in HK) when you wanted to cool off, and there was a great thai restaurant nearby.  

Sunday = best food day

dim sum for lunch, and sushi for dinner.  could it get any better?  no, no it couldn't.