Mark Gets a JOB!!!!!

This has been a crazy, hectic week that has ended with fabulous news....Mark was offered a job doing IT at a lawfirm here in Hong Kong. It's pretty much the same type of job he had back in the U.S. so he'll be great at it. Since we've arrived in Hong Kong he's considered a few different career changes including teaching English as a second language, but in the end, IT is his talent and it's he's really happy to have found such a great company to work with. It's a New York based law firm with offices all over the world. He'll be doing IT for the Hong Kong branch.

Speaking of Mark's other career choices, I just realized I never wrote about his teaching! Before we left the U.S., Mark got certified in teaching English as a second language in case he wanted to teach over here. He started applying for teaching jobs a few weeks ago and was immediately offered a job. In fact, during his interview, the interviewer asked whether he could teach classes the very next day. Mark figured, "Why not?" and spent the next day, a Saturday, teaching from 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. straight. Six classes at 1.5 hours each with students ranging in age from 3 to 12. What's funny to me is kids LOVE Mark. He has a way about him that makes kids feel really comfortable around him and want to be around him. Does Mark like kids? Not so much. After 1 day of teaching, he decided teaching was not for him. Instead, he signed on as a substitute teacher until he could find an IT job. He's taught a few more classes since then and although it's enjoyable, he's thrilled to put it all behind him and work with adults from now on.


Office Christmas Party
The other big event in my life this past week was our office Christmas party. My boss treated both our Hong Kong and Taiwan offices to an overnight trip to Macau. We had dinner at the swanky Wynn Resort Italian restaurant. There were 40 of us and we had a fantastic time. Macau is only 1 hour ferry ride from Hong Kong and it's a gambling, casino mecca. The Las Vegas of China. Macau was under Portugese rule until just recently when it was handed back to China. So, the town still has a very Portugese feel to it. Very European. Even though we were in gambling central, I didn't gamble one cent. We did some shopping in the afternoon, had our office Christmas dinner, hit some night clubs and called it a night (at about 3 a.m.).

The next day Laura and I awoke at 6:30 a.m. to a panicked phone call from her boyfriend Richard because their puppy Baz was missing!!! Laura and I immediately hopped on a ferry home to join the search, but fortunately, Baz was found right before our ferry docked in Hong Kong. Whew! Wasn't even my puppy, but losing a dog is the worst! Bailey better not wander off or I'll have a heartattack.

Christmas vs. Chinese New Year
It's funny to think Christmas is only 4 days away. Christmas is not a huge holiday in China. Most people don't even exchange gifts! The stores put up Christmas decorations and there's cheesy Christmas music playing everywhere, but it's all for looks. The average person here takes the day off to relax and usually don't even have family get-together. That all happens on Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year is when everyone gives presents and families get together. (This year it's Feb 18-20, 2007) Actually, they don't really give presents, they give "red envelopes" filled with money. The elders and those who are married give single people and people who are younger than them red envelopes. Makes for easy shopping, but as one of the oldest and one of the only married people in my office, I'm going to lose big in this deal. Oh well, when in Rome.....er, China.