Thanks Redmond Pie!

Ok, iphone is fully functional again thanks to Redmond Pie, my source for all jailbreak questions.

So, yesterday.
Yesterday was Sunday and for me that meant McDonald's breakfast.  It's way too tempting to have those hashbrown patties right across the street, so I decided the best way to cope was to just make it a once a week event that I could look forward to.  I know, I know, I'm ashamed.  So after my Egg McMuffin, hashies and coffee meal, (the Chinese call this a "set"), I decided to wander around to some of the Catholic churches in my area to see if any of them have masses in English.  Thanks to the Portuguese, there are quite a few to choose from.  And conveniently, the one nearest my house has a Saturday service in English at 5:30.  Yay!  I didn't get much of a chance to check it out or get a photo, because there was an old woman cleaning up there and she was about to lock the gate with me inside, so I just hustled out.  I'll post one later, assuming I like it. One of the others I looked at was near St. Michael's cemetery, which was really old and interesting.  Packed full of big elaborate graves with statues as tall as me on them.  In this photo you can see the wall around the cemetery at the bottom right.  I took this photo because I thought it was an interesting juxtaposition of different elements of the culture: old Portuguese architecture in the foreground, hard working Chinese man on the roof in the midground, and the big flashy casino in the background.  Will have to go back to check it out more thoroughly when it's less than 90 degrees. 

After that I found myself down toward the southern end of the island, near an area that is called N.A.P.E. (Novos Aterros do Porto Exterior), meaning "New Landfill Outer Harbour" and pronounced NA-pay.  My Lonely Planet book mentioned it a lot, so I'd been wanting to check it out since I arrived.

There is a large park perched atop a high hill near our apartment.  Beth goes running there and we'd discussed previously how it tapers down to a very thin strip at one end and that judging from the map it would be easy to just cut through that small bit of park to get to NAPE. I could see the top of the hill from where I was and made off in that direction.  Soon I saw a sign for said park and the steep incline of the street I was on reinforced the idea that I was getting close.  After several uphill blocks I came to a crest and saw the view in the photo at the right, with detail below.  I could see some lovely buildings in the distance.  That must be it, I thought.  (See the light peach-ish buildings in the midground?)  I'm now employing a literary device called foreshadowing...

Well I now knew just where I was on the map, but the little stretch of park I was planning to cut across turned out to be incredibly steep and wild.  There was a path going down in one spot, and some forlorn looking playground equipment, but it was all overgrown and jungle-looking.  And it smelled like homeless people, whom I have seen none of since I arrived.  I decided cutting through the park was not the thing to do, so instead I started back down the road that seemed to wind along it's edge.  This was a major road and so I found it ironic that it had no sidewalk and in some places not even a shoulder.  I guess it was the Macau equivalent of a freeway, even though the cars were probably only going 30 at most.  After checking and rechecking my map and doubling back to look for other options I finally decided to just take the road and try to find my way down.  I could literally see where I wanted to be just below me, and there was no way I was walking back all the way I had come in the heat.  (I'm now in the full sun, water finished, purse strap line getting burned more darkly into my shoulder with every passing moment.)  So I set off down the road - luckily there wasn't much traffic and the cars that did go by gave me a wide berth.  At one point I had a totally awesome view of the Grand Lisboa in all it's enormous glory, but decided not to press my luck by stopping to take photos. 
 
When I got to the bottom my only thought was to find a cool place to drink something and rest my feet awhile.  I knew I wanted to go down to the water and had seen a famous Macanese statue during my descent that looked intrigueing, so I decided to head that direction.  When I finally made it to the waterfront, I found the perfect spot to have lunch, (perhaps thanks to Kun Iam since she is the Goddess of Mercy).  I sat down in a nice cushy booth with a view of the water in the air-conditioned restaurant and peeled off my purse and hat.  Had a big sweat line where my purse strap had been - super attractive.  Meanwhile none of the Chinese patrons coming in looked the least bit hot or sweaty or disheveled.  Maybe they're used to it.  Or maybe they just know better than going walking out on such a hot day.  Anyway, I ordered from a menu that was in English, but still confusing so I was thrilled when my drink arrived and it was cold.  It was listed as Lemon Red/Green Tea, so I wasn't sure it would be.  Delicious.  I also ordered the fruit salad and some friend noodles.  I didn't know what to expect, but canned fruit cocktail with mayo on top was not it.  Luckily I was able to scrape the mayo into one corner with my chopsticks and enjoyed the rest.

About halfway through my relaxing lunch I noticed a birdcage hanging from one of the trees outside the restaurant.  It had a bird in it.  I've seen patrons tie their dogs up outside restaurants plenty of times, but a bird?  Why would you take your bird out with you?  Did it belong to one of the employees?  I couldn't think of any possible solution that made sense.  Another item to ask Carol about.

Feeling completely renewed I set out again and stopped to buy a sun umbrella (or sunbrella as I like to call them) to protect my skin, even though I have like 5 hand-me-down ones at home.  I crossed the street and approached the unusual statue pictured below.  It is Kun Iam, Buddhist Goddess of Mercy and she is a 20 meter high bronze atop an Ecumenical center that has information on Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism.  The white structure is a lotus flower, not an igloo as I jokingly called it in the video from yesterday.  Those who watched yesterday's vid will probably have noticed the haunting music playing.  This was piped out on speakers so you could hear it gradually getting louder as you approached the statue.  It was really a powerful effect.  Looking up at her, with the clouds behind and the music playing gave me a very mystical feeling and had it not been so hot I would have stayed and gazed longer.  As it was, I went inside and enjoyed reading about the process of creating the statue, which they had posted with photographs of the various stages of production.

That done I wandered north along the water's edge, still making my way toward the beautiful buildings.  I came across Macau's Art Museum, and since it happened to be free admission on Sundays I went in and cruised around to check out the collection.  It was small, but had some cool stuff.  I especially liked the abstract floor - this painting was my favorite.

When I'd finished there I set off again, still seeking the distant buildings.  Compared to the rest of Macau it seemed strangely hard to get around here, like it wasn't set up for pedestrians.  It was hard to find crosswalks and sidewalks abruptly ended.  And there was no one around, just a few others looking lost and hot and miserable.  Finally I made it to my destination, only to realize I'd been had.  The reason it had been hard to get to was that I was in Casinoland and it's not set up for wandering.  They want you to get inside and stay there.  And the beautiful buildings?  Trashy Vegas style replicas of ancient Roman buildings.  This amphitheater is supposed to look like the Coliseum and has shops all around the outside wall.  There was a fakey volcano looking one too with an arcade in the bottom, the whole thing was just so lame and I was totally annoyed that I had walked all day for such a letdown.  I had some fruity ice cream and dragged myself back to the bus stop.

When I got home I took a long shower and soaked my feet with epsom salts and soon felt good as new.  Beth and Angie came back shortly afterwards and after telling our stories of our day, we watched Ocean's 12 off my movie hard drive.  A very satisfying way to end.

Today was pretty mild in comparison.  We all set out to shop for a couple kitchen appliances.  I wanted a rice cooker and a convection oven so I can bake stuff.  It took a couple hours to find them and make a decision and lug it home, but I'm pleased with what I got.  Once I get the kitchen set up with them I'll take another photo. 

Angie offered to make dinner from some of the leftover ingredients our upstairs neighbor left us, so we had a noodle soup with shrimp and fish balls and choy sum.  Tasty.  Then we watched Ocean's 13.  Gotta enjoy our chill nights while we can.  Lesson planning will start soon enough.