Hello everyone!
How are you doing? We miss all of you.
We just wanted to let you know the status of next year. We had decided that if Matt got accepted to do his TESOL online, that we would stay another year in China. Then Matt will get a contract from the school and will be guaranteed a job next year. We said if things did not work out with the TESOL that we would go back to Canada.
So...Matt got accepted to the TESOL program. He will start tomorrow or Tuesday. This means that we are most likely doing another year in China.
There still is a chance that we will come back to Canada though. I am still quite unsure. Mostly I think it would be good to come back to China, but in a lot of ways I would like to go back to Canada.
Here's a little of what we have been up to:
This weekend I went shopping in Guangzhou on Saturday with Lindsay. I bought 2 pairs of boots! That is very unlike me. I bought a black and a brown pair. Anyways, I only spent the equivalent of about $58 Canadian. I also bought 2 watches!!! They were under $10. I also bought Matt a Birthday present. So that was fun. Then we met up with some friends for a Birthday dinner at a Japanese restaurant. Friday night we had friends over to play games. Today we didn't feel like going to church. So we just did our own Bible reading (and singing!) at home. We went for a walk up the big hill by our house, and read books and watched T.V. shows.
My kids have been pretty rotten at school lately, and so it has not been as enjoyable as normal. I hope it's just the weather. It is so dreary and foggy outside. Everything is damp, there is so much moisture in the air.
This past week, Matt and I babysat for some friends on Monday night. We are still doing our "volunteering" every 2nd Tuesday. The other Tuesdays I go play badminton and then Matt and I go hang out with a few friends - we either watch T.V. or play games. Some Wednesdays we go to Trivia Night. It is at a Canadian owned pub close by. It's nice because it almost feels like we are back in Canada. They have different people host the night and different categories. You play on a team. It's a lot of fun! I am continuing to take Mandarin classes once a week.
We have been busy exploring more of Guangzhou and Hong Kong. A couple weekends ago Matt and I went to Shamian Island. It's an island within the city. It feels and looks a little like Europe. People go there to get wedding photos taken, walk around and also to adopt Chinese babies!!!! We saw quite a few Caucasians with Chinese babies. We went to Hong Kong, not this weekend, but the last one. Matt finally got a multi-entry 6 month Visa which is awesome. We also got a lot of shopping in. I was able to take a day off of work, so we had a 3 day weekend there. We got to see more of Hong Kong than we've seen before. We went to Stanley Market there which is right by the water. It seems everyone in Hong Kong is rich, and the drive out to the market area was really nice, with lots of fancy houses along the coast. In two weekends we might go to Shenzhen and Macau for a friend's birthday.
I think that's pretty much it for what's new with us.
We would love to hear back from you!
Love,
Amanda and Matt
Our Bedroom. There is a big wardrode and a small desk with a mirror beside the bed. The far wall is all WINDOWS!!! Such a beautiful view. We are on the 29th floor, and we have a view of a "mountain".
The View. Right now though, all we see is fog. Fog and more fog.
The Kitchen. We now have a big red oven sitting on the counter that we bought. I don't know how I would make supper (or bake) without it! People in China don't seem to bake anything...
throom. Pretty nice, eh? We even have a bathtub. I was surprised at that. In many places in Asia, you just get a shower head.
