Hong Kong Part VI

Fret not blog readers, I have not abandoned you. The first two weeks of the new semester have already passed and I have been quite busy with my procrastination and then running around when it bites me in the ass.

That being said, things have been pretty good since coming back. It wasn't until the welcome back assembly that I realized I did miss my kids (the grade tens mostly... the grade twelves not so much). These grade ten kids may be the only thing that keeps me here an extra year. But that would really screw up my plans of working the centennial jamboree in summer 2010, subbing for a bit, then shipping down to Antarctica for a few months and then starting grad school. We'll see. If the girl of my dreams ends up here at Woodstock then that would be an extra incentive to staying and would make that extra kink in the chain that much more bearable.

Anywho, enough of that. I think it's time to get on topic (HK). Here's some pictures from the parade. It was at night so it was dark and my camera was new and I didn't (and still don't) know how to take good low light shots without them going blurry. Suggestions would be gladly accepted. I ended up taking a lot of videos because they came out much better. However, I can't post them because of WS's internet connection. It's not designed to be uploading videos and hence, it times out.

Well, like the little old lady said in the Burger King commercials, "Hey, where's the beef?!" (interrobang). Here it is (in reverse order... I can't be bothered to reorder things right now):

These are the red envelopes that married people give to single people during Chinese New Year. They stuff it full of money. Maybe that's something we can start up for the calendar new year too?

These lions marked the end of the parade. They were dancing and hopping all over the place.

Probably the coolest part of the parade (aside from this Korean group that made some killer tunes on things from the dump). This was a pair of dragons that weaved all over and dipped into the crowd.

Large poles with suspended lanterns. Men were balancing these 30+ft poles on their shoulders and various other parts of their anatomy. I'm not positive but I think it might be similar to one of the Festivus Feats of Strength.

The Thai float. It was huge and pretty rad as well. Beautiful women dressed in gold followed behind.

In my humble opinion, no parade is complete without an appearance by the Michelin Man. I was obsessed with a keychain I had of him as a kid. I think it was because of his striking similarities to a certain 70 story tall marshmallow man.

Women strapped in at the top of really tall poles and waving their arms. Behold the majesty.

I hate Mickey Mouse.

Part of the parade was representing peoples from all over the world. Apparently, the US is full of lasso toting, sequin wearing cowboys (And cowgirls, let's be PC here people. I should probably throw in transgender cowpersons just to be safe.)

I laughed. So did the three Aussies just out of view.

The theme of CNY was "World's Happiest Party!" I guess it was. The whole time I was there I really didn't see a whole lot of smiling Chinese people. Stoics...

Send in the clowns. They were the first in the parade. I knew them.

You can just barely make out a certain female clown in this picture. Spooky ghosty.

In other (yet again off topic) news, I just got home from a basketball tournament. A few of my grade tens roped me into joining their team. We did terrible but it was a lot of fun. I decided to dress ridiculously in hopes of distracting the other teams. Apparently it didn't work because we lost all three games. Here's a few pics (I can't apologize for the pics because, as evidenced by my being in the pictures, I didn't take them) :




And in other, yet more different and further off topic, news, I will be definitely coming home for some amount of time this summer. I applied to take an AP class that just happened to be a block from the house in Jacksonville and the school is willing to help pay for it. Just how much I'm not sure yet. I'll post details about when I'll be where when I know them. I expect to be home mid-June for at least two weeks, hopefully more.

And, lastly, a few pics from my terrace:

This is what's known around here as the 'winter line.' Apparently it has something to do with being at just the right elevation so that when the light refracts/reflects off of the air molecules, you get this effect. I think it's supposed to have something to do with molecule densities. This is also supposed to be one of two places in the world you can see it. The other is somewhere in Europe.

I call it a sunset.

The Dun valley by night. 6os exposure. What are you shooting with these days for lowlight?

One thing that I really do love about being here. The sky is so starry. The picture doesn't really do it justice. You have to be here on a new moon night to see some amazing skies. Click to enlarge and see stars.