Book Club

Around this time last year, I was thinking that when we move back to Canada I should join a book club. I've always wanted to be in one. Then I realized I could take matters into my own hands and start one up while still living in Hong Kong.

Shortly before I left for Canada for the summer, I approached my friend Mary and asked her "On a scale of one to ten, how would you feel about a book club?". To which she replied "Oh! A seven!". Which is funny because I don't consider seven to be ALL that high, but the way she said it, it came out like a ten or eleven! So I enlisted Mary's help and together we spread the word and got quite a bit of interest from people (mostly from our mom's group) who wanted to join. 

There ended up being about seven or eight "regulars" which meant that on average five or six who would turn up monthly at a coffee shop, where we took turns choosing book titles and leading the discussion. 

These are the books we read (I'm writing this post mainly so I can remember):

September- Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
October- Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
November- The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
December- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society- by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Burrows
January- The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbough
February- The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
March- Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple
April- The Color of Water by James McBride
May- The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer

I think that of this list my personal favorites were Snow Flower and Where'd You Go, Bernadette. I also liked Flight Behavior, but I think I may have been one of the only ones!  I'm so glad it was a success. It was a fun challenge to read a book that I may not have chosen otherwise, and while I was reading it, I'd look forward to the discussions that we would be having. And I think every time we met, there would be things we'd discuss that I hadn't thought of, and it was interesting to hear the opinions of the others. Now when I read books, I find myself wishing that I'd be able to discuss it with the book club members. I'm really going to miss this group. In a way, I'm happy that they want to continue on with it next year. In a way, I'm sad because I'll be missing out. I may need to find a new book club to join next year! 

Mother's Day Tea

Well, another season of Mother's Day Teas has passed. Here is a link to last year's and the year before that (wow! Once again I can't believe how fast the girls are growing!).  I always post about it because it's such a big deal here. It seems to be on the same level of importance as the Christmas concerts, spring concerts and graduation events. To me it seems a bit odd that there is such an emphasis placed on it when it means that the dads all have to miss out! Plus, so many moms in Hong Kong work so they might not all be able to attend, and of course then there's the situation of how does the child who might not have a mother feel? It's been special to celebrate with my daughters, but I think it would make sense if they decided to downgraded it to something more simple in the future. I'm sure Mike wouldn't mind either, as this year it meant that he also had to get in on the action with his class, and it was quite a bit of planning and stress.  

 Here's Leila getting ready to sing the Mandarin component of the program. It's really hard to get a good shot with all the paparazzi! 

 Each of the six kindergarten classes did a musical performance with accompanying videos with pictures of the students and their mothers. Leila's class did a version of "So Happy Together" and it was really cute! I was impressed by the choreography that went with it. 

 Then we went back to the classrooms for goodies, picture-taking, and Mother's Day surprises. 

 The next day it was Annika and Mike's turn. Each of the classes partnered with another class so there were only four presentations to sit through. I mean, enjoy! Annika's class sang "I want a mom that will last forever", which is a song by Cyndi Lauper that I was previously unaware of. Annika has come such a long way when I think back to her first few performances. She now sings so confidently, but she did tell me later that her tummy hurt as she made her way onto the stage. Mike's class performed "Have Patience" from Music Machine. Bringing it to the next generation- so great!

 Then we went to the classrooms for cookies and juice and the students surprised the moms with a performance of Rumpelstiltzkin. Annika did a great job of keeping it secret from me, and she had a main role and unlike the other kids, didn't even need a book to help her with her lines. She was so proud of herself, and I was a pretty proud momma as well! 

 And... lastly, I found these pictures when I uploaded the recent ones. They're from a walk I went on when Mom was here to Tsing Yi park. Everytime we go there I marvel at the beauty and that this park is just across the street from us. I will miss it! 

Celebration

 Last week I had the joy of turning another year older. It's pretty sweet because my birthday falls on Hong Kong Labour Day so we've always had the day off (along with the rest of Hong Kong!). The last two years we've spent it at the beach. Our very first year was actual beach weather, but last year we just decided to go anyway, even though it was cool and grey. This year the forecast looked too wet to even try, so Phoebe came up with alternate plans. Nothing like celebrating your birthday in style at the W Hotel! How am I so lucky?! 

 Annika was ready to dig into the buffet. By the end of the evening she was lying on the bench in a bit of a food coma! I really should have taken a picture of the food. It was a seafood lovers paradise- lobster, crab, sushi, sashimi, mussels, salmon, snapper and more! Even though I'm not so much of a seafood connoisseur, there were still many other tasty things to sample- salads, cheeses, Haagan Daaz, yum yum YUM! 

 We love our friends too and are going to miss them soooooo much! We prayed for new friends when we moved to Tsing Yi, and those prayers were answered, and probably in a way we weren't expecting.  

And... ending this post with two conversations with this little monkey that made us chuckle.
Convo Number One:
Leila: I wish I was alive during Jesus' time. Because then I could see what he looked like. And he loves kids! 
Me: yeah, that would be neat, wouldn't it? 
Leila: Actually, I WISH I was Jesus! 
Me: Oh really? So you would like to die on the cross?
Leila: Uh... actually I wish I was GOD! 

(ha! we left it at that).

Convo Number Two:
Leila: Sometimes I pick up dead cockroaches with my bare fingers, not even using a tissue! [true story, wish it wasn't!]
Mike: Wow! You're not afraid of anything!
Leila: That's because monsters are not real and dinosaurs are dead!