Saturday, July 2, 2011

HKG122 & HKG123: The Start of a 3-Day Weekend

yesterday was another public holiday for hong kong, HKSAR Establishment Day. that sounds incredibly fun, doesn't it? this day is the anniversary of hong kong becoming part of china again. i had a shift at the SPCA yesterday morning, and i asked the woman i was working with what she was doing for the holiday. after she finished looking at me like i had just cursed out her mother, she explained to me that it's not a holiday, per se, just a public holiday. she mentioned that there would be many, many protests around town all day and that most hong kongers do not celebrate the day. i did see many gatherings surrounded by cops, but i couldn't read the signs, so i didn't realize that the gatherings were protests about the holiday.

josh was off work yesterday, so our family spent a very fun day with our chicago friends. josh and the kids met up with the b family to ride a really cool cable car up a mountain to check out the giant budha. they all came back with rave reviews. the outing took longer than anticipated, so i ended up not meeting up with everyone until late afternoon (i had planned to catch up with them for lunch as soon as my shift with the SPCA was done, but they were just starting up the mountain when my shift finished).

we all met up at silver mine bay beach after they were done checking out the giant budha and having a late lunch. the beach was pretty amazing. it's in a very remote part of lantau island, and the surroundings are breathtakingly beautiful. this was my favorite beach BY FAR at this point. my only complaint is that the water is murky and has some debris in it...not nearly as clean as other beaches we have been to.

after playing at the beach for a while, we all headed over to an italian restaurant and had some delicious pizza, pasta, and appetizers. it was a pretty awesome day. i am pretty jealous that i missed out on the giant budha adventures (and we will go again soon so that i can check it all out), but i also had a great time at the SPCA. i worked in the cattery again.

la fu came THIS close to getting a sister, but for now, the verdict is he stays an only kitty. this little girl cat i was thinking about bringing home is listed as "needs home urgently." i asked why she was listed as such, and the woman i was working with said that she's been hard to place because she bites and scratches. i played with her quite a bit, and she is a very physical kitty, much like la fu. she does paw and bite while playing, but i didn't find her to be aggressive at all. i asked some more questions about her and did learn that she will not be euthanized. this is the reason i did not bring her home yesterday. i will keep my eye out for her, though, and if she becomes more urgently in need of a home, i will be scooping her up to bring her home. i am a little hesitant simply because i am possessive of my waffle kitty. i don't want to share him with anyone; i LOVE being his playmate and cuddle pal. oh, and i have enough small people and pets to care for as well ;-p

today was a pretty low key day...we just ran a few errands, endured another construction invasion, and hung around the apartment. the big event for the day was cleaning out the fish's tank and changing out part of their filter. i managed to lose one of the clips that holds the top of the tank in place correctly, so now we are having to run more interference to keep la fu out of the tank. poor fishies.


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