From May 5-16 students have been taking AP exams. Because of this I was able to, pretty consistently, get out of work early. I also had a lot of free time at work.
With that free time I took lots of naps and watched a lot of youtube videos. I also found a nice place to get coffee near work called Gaia Cafe. The place has a nice atmosphere with indoor and outdoor seating. I consistently got coffee there almost every day for the last two weeks.
For the first week I mostly just took the extra time to get to the gym early. As such I was able to increase the intensity and duration of my workouts. I even went on the weekend. I am back down to 86 kilos!
On Tuesday May 6th I got dinner with the guys group, and this time Faye was invited. We went to Taal Indian restaurant in SeaWorld. It was really good.
On Sunday May 11th I got my nails done.
For the second week I continued the fitness trend. I usually just go across the street to the Panatta Gym branch at the Garden City Mall but on Monday the 12th I went to the Hilton branch of my gym to use their outdoor pool. This branch is closer to sea world. I walked home afterward.
On Wednesday the 14th I decided to take a long walk instead of going to the gym.
I got a couple of fancy cocktails at Fannou House and dinner at Gecko in SeaWorld afterward.
After work on Friday I skipped the gym and went to Da Peng Peninsula for a night. I stayed in the Mi Yue Shenzhen Blue and White Holy Island Cliff Pool Hotel. It was beautiful. My reservation included a lot of great amenities and the stay was very comfortable. On Saturday I went to the nearby Sapphire Beach, Da Peng Fortress, Da Peng National Geopark Museum, and hiked on Qi Niang Mountain.
I got back to the bottom of the mountain just as the sun was going down. I was soaked in sweat. I took a long, carsickness inducing, taxi ride to Da Mei Sha. When I got out of the taxi I had to find a place to vomit. After I puked I bought a sprite, sat down, and let my brain return to equilibrium before taking the long metro ride back home.
Over an hour and two transfers later I was back in Sihai. I went home, made a very late dinner, got ready for bed, and was out cold fairly quickly.
Today I just spent the day recovering from my Saturday of adventure. This coming week we are back on a regular schedule at work. I will have my students working on a final project.
Next weekend Faye and I will go to Bangkok. Then on the 26th I need to turn over my passport to have my visa renewed so, much to my and Faye's chagrin, won't be doing any international travel until I fly to the US on June 14th. However, the door is still open for domestic travel within China while I wait to get my passport back.
Chinese New Year brought with it some fantastic new experiences for both me and Faye. For starters, Faye had her first experience as a tourist in the US. It was both of our first times in each of the destinations on our trip. Here is a brief summary of our trip. We landed in LAX on Feb 7th and stayed in a condo in Long Beach from the 7th-10th. Then we drove to Las Vegas where we stayed in a serviced apartment in the MGM Signature until the 13th. From Vegas we drove to Grand Canyon West where we stayed at the Grand Canyon Western Ranch until the 15th. On the night of the 15th we stayed in the Holiday Inn Express and Suites in Lake Havasu City.. We then stayed the night of the 16h in The Ramsey in 29 Palms near Joshua Tree. Then we spent the 17th-18th in a guest house in Santa Clarita. Finally we spent our last night in the Sonesta LAX before flying out on the 20th. After a short layover in San Francisco we took the long flight back to HK. Here is...
With part of our summer plans involving a trip to Mexico, I cannot help but recall my last time there. I dug out my old canon digital camera and scrolled through the photos for a trip down memory lane. In 2012 I was 22 and had just graduated from Kutztown University with a BA in English and Professional Writing and a minor in biology. I was considering my career prospects with that degree and they were bleak. I contemplated getting certified to teach English as a foreign language, which I found out about through a friend at the time who got a TEFL job in Germany fresh out of uni. She didn't even have an english degree. So I figured that I, with an actual degree in the subject, could try it out. So, I found a program to get certified that would have me taking a month-long course in Chiapa de Corzo Mexico where I lived with a host family and take classes. Before buckling down and hitting the books I decided to start the trip with a visit to Cancun....
The remainder of September was peaceful. Faye and I have settled into married life. It really is no different to before we were married, now we are just saving more money because of the benefits my job gives married employees. The housing allowance went up which means we are saving money on rent and the travel allowance also increased so we can afford more travel. This is money well saved for both of us. It means a bigger travel budget and more money for our long term plans. Here is our wedding picture. On September 26 we went to Nanshan Netherlands Plant Market and Zhongshan Park. We went to that a few times over the course of three weekends. Faye has been experimenting with some new and tasty recipes. I have been befriending the neighborhood cats. I had a vacation on September 25-27 but we did not go anywhere. We did however, have a fantastic adventure in Japan for Golden Week, October 1-7. We landed in Tokyo. Our first meal was Nepalese food....
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