Friday, February 19, 2010

GameNight 6!

After almost exactly six months (last semester was just too busy), this weekend we finally hosted another GameNight! There weren't any classes this week (because of the Chinese New Year holiday), so most residents had gone home to spend time with their families, but we sill had over 30 people attend.

"Soup's on!"

I made about 5 gallons of Sally's famous chili (both beef and vegetarian versions) and we served it with toasted baguette...

Not easy to find in Hong Kong (except perhaps on hot dogs)

...but, as it turns out, it can be eaten in a rice bowl with chopsticks

I also made four peanut butter pies for dessert

Soon after our meal was finished, the games began...

Settlers of Catan and PlayStation 3 gamers coexisting peacefully

Practicing our acting skills with Moods

Concluding the first of two Settlers rounds

A riotous (and very close) game of Pictionary

The action lasted about 6 hours (ending around 1AM), so we opted to clean up later and hit the sack immediately...

"Good night!"

(Note for posterity: An hour before GameNight began, the line supplying our kitchen sink with hot water burst, so things were a little more exciting than we anticipated. It happened right beside the shut-off valve, though, so we were able to quickly stop the flow. About 50 minutes later we had all the water cleaned up and our guests weren't impacted at all. Close one. ;>)


Friday, February 12, 2010

It's corn AND it's chocolate!

Is it me, or does this brand need to work on their product naming...?

Not exactly the most subtle or appetizing name

It's a Japanese candy we found being sold specifically for people to use as a New Year gift and I just couldn't pass it up.
It tastes exactly like popcorn covered in white chocolate, so I suppose the name is at least accurate (well, for people who consider white chocolate to actually be chocolate). Tasty, but I still contend that the name needs help. ;>

Victoria Park's New Year Fair

Last year I had my first New Year Fair experience in Kwun Tong. This year we decided to up the ante and visit Causeway Bay's Victoria Park to see Hong Kong's largest New Year Fair...

Entering the fair with a few thousand of our buddies

These fairs are split in to two halves, "wet" and "dry", with the "wet" half selling mostly flowers (both cut and potted) and the "dry" half selling everything else (books, clothing, toys, etc).

This "wet" row is but one of many similar rows that stretched through the park

US$4 for a pot of orchids

It wouldn't be a New Year Fair without Nipplefruit!

One of the beautiful potted plants we brought home with us...

...which we had to promptly protect from Fui Fui (he loves to eat flowers)

Happy New Year once more!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Katherine, guest of honor...

This past Sunday, Katherine served as the guest of honor during two graduation ceremonies for primary school students enrolled in the i-Learner English program...

The ceremonies were held at Hong Kong Polytechnic University ("PolyU")

Katherine gave a short address...

...to the students and their parents

She also presented a number of awards

It was quite a lot of fun seeing the students get recognized for all their hard work!

Since this post is English-learning-related, I'll also share an amusing (though slightly creepy/disgusting) billboard ad that has been recently running around here...

"Not only will we teach you English, we'll tattoo your tongue!"

Following the ceremonies, we made our way to Katherine's parents' place for a pre-Chinese-New-Year celebration dinner...

The gang's all here!

Happy New Year!

Friday, February 5, 2010

It's that wedding time of year!

The last month has been rather uneventful, and un-blog-worthy, but we finally have something exciting to report: Hermann Yim, a good buddy of ours from our time in Ann Arbor, just tied the knot! (He and his wife now live in San Francisco, but they have lots of family and friends here, so they actually had ceremonies on both halves of the Earth.) We were honored to join them for their special day...

The wedding site: St Margaret's Catholic Church in Happy Valley

Last-minute boutonnière adjustments

Enter Wendy, the bride!

Hermann waits patiently

A beautiful setting for a beautiful ceremony

Rounding up batches of folks for pictures (after the ceremony)

We loved seeing Hermann again (not to mention meeting Wendy) and we're very much hoping to see them again before they fly back to the States.
 

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