Two Hour Hike

Hello Dear Excellent Ones,

The weather here is cooling down.  Its in the teens in the morning and evenings and warms up to @ 25 during the day.  The skies have been beautiful clear blue.  So the weather has been like an Alberta summer.  I mean the 10 days when the weather is actually good during an Alberta summer.  Ouch. 

I still find it strange that so many Hong Kongers are seemingly scared of the "cold."  At plus 15 they are wearing parkas, scarves, some are bundled up like it was  -15  rather than +15.  Many Hong Kongers shake their head when they see me in shorts and  a shirt  in plus +15 weather, some call me strong, but seriously folks, after spending decades surviving frigid winters in Alberta the "cold," here is really nothing.

I live in Tai Wai now which is part of the (600 000 population) "town," of Shatin in the New Territories of Hong Kong.  To get there from Kowloon one has to drive through one of several tunnels bored through the small mountains.  These tunnels are about two kilometers long.  Shatin is in a valley bordered in each side by small, jungle covered mountains.

Yesterday I took a two hour hike from my apartment and climbed one of the mini mountains nearby.  Here is what I saw on my little trip:

Dancing horses on an overpass.

An old man catching some zzzzzzzzz's

Concrete jungle.

A small "real," jungle and marsh in the middle of the concrete jungle.

A lovely koi filled pond.

Chinese market.

A massive construction site.

Lots of steps.  Up to the mountain.

Lovely hills with buddhist grave sites.

Near the top of the mountain.  Lovely views of Shatin.

Shatin.  Ocean is in the background.

Tai Wai.  The small houses in the foreground are built by squatters.  My building complex is the tall highrises, middle left.

Awesome.

Rest stop.  A Chinese woman was listening to Chinese opera on her radio and singing with it.  Kind of surreal, but nice.

Nature and hiking is top notch in the new territories region of Hong Kong.

Going through a squatter's village.

People were quite friendly to me as I walked through.

Not the nicest of places.

There would be trouble if this post ever went down.

Hong Kong the city of extremes.

At least the jungle setting is nice.

A look back at the squatter's village.

The girls of a wedding party getting their pictures taken.

The groomsmen waiting "patiently."

In front of a buddhist temple.

Hong Kong continues to amaze and surprise me.  Have a great week.

Love adios and ping on!


Dirk

Work Day

Hello Dear Great Ones,

My work day is basically teaching PE to five different classes.  So I will see over 100 little eager beavers in that time.  My main goal is to instil a love for physical activity into them so that they will move on their own when they are finished with me.  While kids in Canada tend to get fat due to inactivity and  a high fat diet,  kids in Hong Kong tend to get frail and skinny due to a low fat diet and inactivity.   They also tend to be rather wimpy when they fall or see a bug.  It seems much of my day is spent toughening kids up.  Yet all in all I really enjoy my work.  The kids' smiles, hugs, and excitement for PE and me is great encouragement and I love it.  

Have a great week.

Love adios and ping on!

Dirk

Getting instructions.

Catching a ball with a scoop.   Actually trying to catch a ball with a scoop.

Parachute time.

 Scoop soccer with several balls.

 My school.  The courtyard is my "gym."  I also have a small covered playground for rainy days.

 Before school.

 Demonstrating how to ride and pull a scooter.

 Great fun.

Great exercise and fun too!

A Few Great Faces

Hello My Dear Most Excellent Ones,

I teach about 100 kids a day.  At times they are great, at times they are not so great, but the truth is they are all a miracle. We had a school picnic a few weeks ago so it was a perfect opportunity to take a few pictures.  Here are a few of the faces I see every day.    Thank you Lord for each one.  Have a great week.  

Love adios and ping on!

Dirk