Steps Forward

A sunset view from our apartment: Nanshan Mountain

Another week has disappeared, and now we are on the eve of our October break, which I cannot wait for! It's been another eventful week, busy with events and busy at work. I think I last wrote on Saturday, waiting for Typhoon Usagi to arrive. It was a pretty big storm, heading straight for Hong Kong...

A bay view facing away from Shekou

I was going down.

Shekou, facing Shenzhen Bay

Despite the impending hurricane, I woke up early and went for a longer hike up Nanshan mountain with my new friend Honey. We walked from her place, to the mountain, then up as many steps as we could manage (I think around 500 steps). They are big steps, steep and precarious. Most of the walk is sheltered by trees, so the view eludes you until you reach a viewing platform (which is as far as we got). Unfortunately, it wasn't a very clear day, but the view of Shekou was amazing and you could almost see the whole Shenzhen Bay. I can't wait to see it on a clear day. I'm going to drag Honey back up the mountain this Sunday to see if we can get any further up. ;) Poor Honey. 

A super refreshing drink

We made it!!

After my hike with Honey, I grabbed some treats from a bakery, and headed home to settle in with Donnie and see what the storm would be like. We checked it's progress all day, and by evening time, the wind had picked up. Luckily, the storm moved and hit north of us, so we just had a pretty rowdy rainstorm, and not much else. But since the typhoon warning was in effect for Monday morning, school was cancelled!

So Monday, instead of going to school, we bummed around the apartment until the rain stopped, then took Paul for a bike ride over to Decathalon. We ended up buying a treadmill, which is a whole other story, which I will write about in a follow up post. From there, we headed back home for an early night and an episode of Downton Abbey. :)

Usagi in action

I know that time moves faster as you get older, but this past month has been ridiculous. It seems like the weekend was just yesterday, and tomorrow is the weekend again! Anyway, Tuesday was uneventful, our meeting was short, so we grabbed a few beers and a pizza with our friends Honey and Zack, then headed home. Wednesday was busy with another soccer game, and Thursday was Quiz Night!

Los Dos Duos: Donnie, Jessica, Honey, Zack

We've been attending Quiz Nights on a regular basis. Our team is called Los Dos Duos, because it consists of two married couples. We have a blast when we go out, it takes place at a restaurant that gives an awesome special. For Donnie and I to eat as much Italian food and drink as much as we want for the evening, it is only 50 USD.  The quiz is fun, sometimes hard, but the company makes it a blast. We goof around, try to answer the questions and compete with the other teams from our school. It's hosted by a different person each week, so the quiz varies from sports to music to art to pop culture to farm animals. It's pretty random. It's our one date night a week, and we look forward to it every week. :) We hardly ever win anything, but it's not about winning, right?

Quiz night sometimes makes Fridays a little bit hard to face, but it's only one day and since today is the day before break, it makes it even easier to face. :)

I do have to spend a moment to brag on Paul. He's been having a rough time settling in, getting used to going to school and generally adjusting. He still struggles with interactions with strange kids, and he does have a hard time right now not pushing his friends, but he's making improvements! This week when we had to put him on the bus, he bounded up with such happiness it made my heart glow. I'm glad he is excited about going to school and seeing his friends. I hope the momentum isn't lost after our week away from routine. And today was Water Day at school, so he got to play all morning in the water.

Proud mama of this guy.

But, I am so looking forward to the coming week! We will finally get our passports back today, after a month of not having them. Resident and work visas are complete, and we are free to travel! So Monday we will take the ferry over to the Hong Kong airport and fly to Seoul to see the Bates family. Kell made an awesome itinerary, way better than anything I could have dreamed of, and we've got a lot to keep us busy in the company of great friends. Hopefully the travel over there will be smooth, and easy, but somehow it never seems to go that way. ;) I'll try to post from over there, but if not, look for an update about Korea in a couple weeks. 

Love to all!