The arrival of Ox and Elle

So I know I just swore an oath that I would stop skipping my blog and then I went and did it again.  So sorry.  Laid down for a minute after my evening shower and didn't get up again, not even for dinner.  I think my body knew deep down that I had to get up at 5 this morning, and so going to bed at 9 seemed logical.  But first, yesterday.

Yesterday I was finally able to pick up my greatly anticipated belated birthday package from Rachel.  In it were some fantastic drawings from my niece and nephew, Elloise and Oscar (or Ox and Elle as I like to call them.)  There were some equally stellar photos - just see for yourself.  I was reserving the primo spot over the bed for them.

Really, could they be any cuter?  Nice work Rach, both with the photography and the genes.

Also I wanted to include an updated shot of my office.  It's much more colorful since I added
the maps Mom sent, and now,
crazy photos there too.
Yay for crossed eyes!

So yeah, I picked up my packages, stopped by the hospital to check on the open hours for receiving acupuncture and walked home in the rain.  I hung these up and then started feeling tired.  I took my shower and game over.  Didn't get back up until 5.

Why on earth am I getting up at 5 in the morning?  Good question.  The English Language Center administers a number of standardized tests for students in the area.  The primary one is the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language).  This is the language test students must take if they want to study in the U.S.  In addition we offer the ACT and SAT for students who want to go to get their undergrad degree in the U.S.  So I had to be at school at 7 this morning to proctor the SAT Subject test to 2 students.  I was the Associate Supervisor, which meant I was the one who read all the boring scripts about which boxes to fill in and what kind of calculator is allowed.  The main Supervisor was in the next room giving the Reasoning portion of the test.

It went fine, just extra monotonous because we're not supposed to read or do anything but monitor the test, but since there were only two participants, there was no point in walking around much, so I just sat there and stared at them.  For 3 hour-long tests.  And not just me, I had a helper.  Two of us - staring.  But I get a little extra cash for it and the Director asked me to do it, so I couldn't say no.

While I was staring/daydreaming, I thought back to when I took the ACT.  I remember having to get up way too early and being tired.  That was before I started drinking tea, so my breakfast consisted of a coke and some saltine crackers.  I think I drank another one at the break.  Sounds terrible now, but I guess it worked alright because I got a decent score.  So stressful, those tests.  Seems like there should be an easier way.

After that I came home and ran some errands and then went to dinner with Beth and her boyfriend, Chris, who is visiting from Beijing.  Today is Chinese National Day, (kind of like 4th of July without the Independence), so many of the restaurants were closed or full.  We finally decided to try a sushi place near our house that we've never been.  It was tasty, but our usual place is better.  Always fun to try something new though, and it was nice to have a little more time to chat with Chris.  He's pretty funny and is giving
me some insight into the mainland China
lifestyle and way of thinking.  Macau is still separate enough and Westernized enough that it doesn't feel very China-ish most of the time.  As I like to say, it's Kinda-China. 

We got the assorted sashimi plate and a crazy roll I've never seen before. I forgot to shoot the sashimi before we dug in, but you can still see most of it, especially the shrimp.  That white stuff in the middle was octopus, I think, and was actually very good.  The roll had tempura shrimp, cucumber, cream cheese and egg and was rolled in some kind of dried herbs.  Strange, but really yummy.  And isn't this a cool way to serve pickled ginger?  A pretty little box with built-in tongs?  Love it!

When I was out running my errands I saw this parade in progress.  At first I thought it was a protest and then I remembered where I was.  I came home and asked Chris to be sure and he said it could very well be a protest, since Macau does have reasons to protest on National Day, but after watching he confirmed that it was, in fact, a parade.

Tonight is the end of the fireworks competition, and so of course the final spot went to China.  France was up before them and did an awesome job, but I must admit, China's show was best.  I'm a moron, so I didn't remember to bring my good camera, but the most impressive thing about China's display was the colors.  They had a much broader spectrum of color than I've ever seen before, yellows and oranges and cyan and shades of purple.  Toward the end they were shooting little clusters of color in an arc so it suggested a rainbow.  Very cool.  I did manage to get this photo of a coworker's daughter.  Eric is our IT guy and his daughter is only 2, but can play games on his iPhone like nobody's business.  Most of the games they let her play are English language learning games and her mother says her English is getting better than her Cantonese.  Crazy.  Maybe I should bring that up the next time I hear teachers debating the merits of teaching with technology.

p.s. Sorry that some of the vids from yesterday's blog didn't work properly.  I was trying a new method to attach them, I guess it didn't work.  They should be working fine now.