December in Hong Kong - a really lovely weekend.

I would like to tell you about my new favourite place in Hong Kong;- and yes, before you ask is it a food establishment (predictable I know!) I am taking you all there when you come because by that point, at the rate I am going, I reckon I will be pretty knowledgeable about the menu!
Not only is it a five minute wander from my flat, it is filled with an array of english magazines and papers to peruse and buy whilst you wait for your table. There is also an in house bakery where you can buy ACTUAL Western bread..after months of, I don't know how to describe it, but definitely NOT Western bread.
For the St Andrews folk, think upscale North Point! This place does muesli, greek yoghurt and fruit, cloudy apple juice (!), pancakes as well as amazing cakes and they specialise in cheesecake! I am half proud and half ashamed to say I have been there three consecutive weekends now which is a little indulgent to say the least but its just the loveliest place to sit for hours and eat good food and catch up at the weekend! Enough said, I am taking you all there when you come! (thank you Lucy and Hayley for hours of wonderful brunch club chattering!!)

Afterwards, Hayley and I took a wander to nearby Victoria Park, which sadly was more like a construction site in parts since they were setting up for the East Asian Games which began on Saturday and is taking place across the city. It's quite exciting to see the people in the branded tracksuits wandering around the city and on the MTR. It was beautifully warm weather as you can see from the photos and not at all like I am sure it is back home! I have almost given up on it ever getting cold here and am sort of embracing the fact you can still be in t-shirts in early December!

As well as this, I am attempting, (rather unsuccessfully I should add!) to learn how to write Chinese characters, as it is sort of necessary if you are learning to speak Chinese, since the words written in the pinyin, the Roman alphabet, are purely for kindergarten children and Westerners trying to learn the words. It's a fascinating thing to do though since there is so much meaning in their characters which reveals so much about traditional Chinese society and life. For example, the symbol for woman and the symbol for child put together makes a whole Chinese character and means good, because in traditional Chinese society, a woman having a child was good for the family line etc. AND, within that,the symbol for the woman has developed and still bears some resemblance to, a woman sitting respectfully crossing her legs and arms. It's so very interesting. It does not mean, however, that I am learning to write anything - attention to detail is often not my strong point, and if you put a dot or a dash in the wrong place, it means something totally different! Hmm, maybe more time writing, less time eating should be a new years resolution..or maybe not.

Last night, I went to the Hong Kong Cultural Centre to hear a teacher from my school perform in the Hong Kong Guitar Ensemble. They performed a variety of beautiful guitar pieces, both classical and contemporary which ranged from Titanic, to Beethoven. The youth guitar ensemble also played and had some children from my school in which was so lovely. They looked so adorable in their suits with their guitars almost as large as them. But , in typical Hong Kong fashion, the talent was incredible and the standards extremely high and I really enjoyed it. My lack of musical ability was brought home to me sharply as I sat by a 7 year old holding her sheet music I could not even decipher before she got up and played.I am sure she does not spend her weekends at the brunch club...

I will leave it here, sufficed to say I had a really lovely, calm weekend to ready me as much as possible for a super busy week at school.

xxx