I've been too busy reading the latest SC political gossip from fitsnews.com to update you on my lunch breaks so I am tearing myself away from that unfolding drama to give a quick rundown of the past few weeks!

Amelia and I had a blast together! My sister and I were constantly on the go: getting up early for tai chi class on the harbour, hiking Dragon's Back, going for Thai curry with local friends, attending the horse races at Happy Valley, taking in the views at the Peak, taking solo shots of each other around the city, riding the tram through Hong Kong Island, swimming at the pool, teaching kindergarteners about Clemson Tigers, sampling Chinese delicacies, haggling in the markets, riding the Ngong Ping Cable Car to see Big Buddha... really just cramming all there is to see into one FULL week! Along with Tripp and our friends Benjamin and Camay, we headed into the mainland of communist China for an overnight spa stay and major shopping.

Around four thirty or so that Tuesday morning, I got a phone call from Katie Keenan telling me Chris propsed at her grandmother's house in Pawley's! Most of you know she is the person I have known the longest in my whole life-- my first friend (and Sassy Mel's customer)! December wedding... I can't wait! Congratulations, Katie!

The day before Amelia left, we came back from Times Square and Emily Pease had arrived to visit Liza! Emily stayed with us for the week, so she and Liza experienced the same whirlwind tour of the city. The next day, as I mentioned in a previous post, Mel went on to the airport and I chaperoned a field trip.

I met up with my Chinese helper from school Krista Tuesday night after tutoring and tried a new Japanese place in Mong Kok. She ordered a dish where a burner is brought to your table and you crack an egg over the fried pork chops to cook it right there! It was so tasty and right up Tripp's alley that I took him there the next night! Ha! Then we got together with most of the English teachers for our friend Ryan's 24th birthday Saturday night, celebrating in the most Asian way possible-- karaoke!

This past Friday Liza and I had a day off school. (So the night before we tried a Nepalese curry house in Jordan and it was DELICIOUS!) (Curry, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways... Thai, Indian, Nepalese, Japanese...) The next day McCauley Bennett called from Hong Kong! She's from Columbia, the sweetest and prettiest girl you've ever met, and was TriDelt with me at Clemson. She accepted a really cool job in Shanghai and was in transit in Hong Kong. I had e-mailed her my number in hopes we could meet up, so I was pumped to be off work that day and show her around Kowloon! Tripp met us for lunch and McCauley and I got to hang out that afternoon, wandering the markets and fixing her up with a new cell phone. That evening watched the laser light show at the harbour and had a Vietnamese meal. Liza's mom Sissy was landing at that same time!

Mrs. Todd and Liza are staying in a hotel in the bustling TST district, so I met up with them last night. It has been awesome seeing so many visitors from home. They were so sweet and treated me to a really fantastic meal in SoHo, an electic, cool mix of trendy restaurants, bars, and boutiques. We went to La Palma,an Argentine steak house and it was fantastic! Great food,great conversation... I loved hanging out with them!

Well, besides all that, it's business as usual over here in Honkers. I'm tutoring today after school and waiting on the technician to come fix the leaky aircon. Tripp is still playing well and blowing the competition away in his basketball league. He had another late game last night. All his stats are posted online. I am proud of him. Then we are headed with a big group to the horse races on Wednesday night and then Matt Smith, Megan Fleiner, and Ryan Woods (all friends from Clemson) are arriving the day after tomorrow! I'm meeting them Thursday straight from work and I can't WAIT!

Until next time!