Who has been looking at my site?

Every week I get an email from Sitemeter, telling me a little information about visitors to my site. I get to find out the location of my visitors, how long they were on my site, how they got to my site (google search or clicked a link from some one else's site) Usually I just glance at the information, but I recently read my sister's blog and she did a post about her site's stats. So this time when I got the email, I decided to look to see what drives people to my site.

There were quite a few people that used Google for searches which lead to my site. The #1 item googled to get to my site: "Sound of Music Sing Along" I was amazed. Before I went to the SoMSA, I had never heard of it. So I decided to Google it to see what else comes up in the search results. Apparently, I am missing out on entire world of Sing alongs.

Some other interesting topics that were googled:

1. croutons or bacon bits
2. Answering machine messages
3. crazy carrots
4. stupid questionnaires
5. super sample hong kong
6. carrot tacos
   

Quite interesting topics.

Another interesting thing is where do all my visitors come from:
The number one place is Evansville, Indiana. Big surprise, since that's where most of my friends live.

Some other interesting places people are from:

1. Appleton, Wisconsin
2. Greensboro, NC
3. Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
4. Northampton, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom
5. Waukegan, Illinios
6. Chicago, Illinois
7. Mississippi
   
8. Bombay, Maharashtra, India
9. Canberra, Australia

And these were just in the last week.

My total number of hits on my site are 1,456.

So many people have visited, but hardly anyone leaves me comments. How about leaving me one today. ;)

Learn Chinese

You must read them aloud

Chinese (English)

Sum Ting Wong (that’s not right)

Kum Hia Nao (see me ASAP )

Tai Ni Po Ni (small Horse)

Wai Yu So Tan (did you go to the beach?)

Ai Bang Mai Ni (I bumped into a coffee table)

Chin Tu Fat (I think you need a face lift)

Wai So Dim (it’s very dark in here)

Wai Yu Mun Ching (I thought you were on a diet)

No Pah King (this is a tow away zone)

Lei Ying Lo (staying out of sight)

Yu Stin Ki Pu (your body odor is offensive)

Su Pa (Great)

I hope you enjoyed your Chinese lesson for the day. Keep practicing and one day you will be fluent like me

That's so Chinese Raven

ok I admit it, I like to watch the Disney Channel. I don't know why, I just think it's fun. So I was watching TV recently and saw that "That's so Raven" was on. So I clicked it on, and was ready to watch. But what did I hear...CHINESE. I couldn't believe it, it was dubbed. Talk about funny. Remember those bad movies from the 80's that were dubbed over, the mouth is moving but nothing is coming out or the mouth is closed and the voice is talking. That was what was happening on Raven. CRAZY!!

12 Days of Christmas and More

I got an email this week from my friend Karla with a link to the video below. I thought it was pretty good so I wanted to share it with you.


After watching that video, I watched a few more of their videos and found this one that brought back some good childhood memories.


It's amazing that something good can actually come out of IU.

Guns N Roses Lyrics Cause Teacher to Lock Herself in Classroom

ROXBURY, Conn. — Karaoke can be scary, but threatening?

A school custodian's impromptu after-hours karaoke performance prompted a police response when a teacher thought she was being threatened over the loudspeaker.

State police say the teacher at Booth Free School barricaded herself inside a classroom Wednesday when she mistook someone singing a Guns N' Roses song over the public address system for a threat.

She was working after hours and thought no one else was in the building. Then she heard someone say over the loudspeaker that she was going to die.

Six troopers and three police dogs showed up and found three teenagers, one of them a custodian at the school, who had been playing with the public address system.

Police say one of them sang "Welcome to the Jungle" into the microphone. The song contains the lyrics "You're in the jungle baby; you're gonna die."

The teenagers were cuffed for about 15 minutes while police investigated. They didn't realize anyone else was in the school at the time. No charges will be filed, said state police Sgt. Brian Ness.

*******************

In light of the many school shootings and other acts of violence that have been occurring lately, I can see why this woman would have been scared, but you have to admit it is pretty funny. I know I shouldn't be laughing, but I am. Sorry!

Ugly Christmas

So when I think of Christmas, I usually think of Red and Green, silver and Gold. Sometimes white, maybe some burgandy, mauve, pink, or blue. But have you ever thought of purple. Not the color of purple that royalty wears, but rather a bright purple that is almost leaning too much towards florescent purple. Yes, I said Florescent. Well one of the largest malls in HK decided that that is the color they were going to use to decorate this year. It could be ok, but here's the thing, it's not the ornaments that are this purple but rather it is the tree itself. I'm sure you are having to re-read this over and over because you think how could this be, how could a nice shopping mall actually decorate with Purple trees. I have been asking myself the same thing and the only thing I could think of was that someone was smoking something really bad when they did their ordering of decorations this year. Are you ready for the pictures? Here they are:

I took this picture from the 7th floor looking down on the tree. The theme seems to be a musical theme. The tree is actually sitting on a drum which is about 10 feet tall and then hanging from the tree and leaning at the base of the tree are other musical instruments. I think the total height of the tree is about 4 stories.

The treble clef really adds that special something.

Along with the big tree in the middle of the mall they also have small 6ft trees scattered about the mall. Nikelle couldn't resist playing the little violins.

Luckily one of the other malls in town decided to actually do a nice classy christmas. Here's a pic of their beautiful tree.

Time Waster

If you want to waste a lot of time, I would recommend "The Impossible Quiz" Leave me a comment to let me know how far you got on the quiz. I have no idea how many questions there are, as I haven't made it to the end yet.

Follow this link and then click on "Play this game"

Enjoy!!

Whatever

"Whateva" Baby

You have to check out this video. It is so funny. And Minori if you are reading this, this is you when you were young, isn't it?

Simple things

Tonight as I was writing some e-mails, I was listening to my music in I-tunes. I love that I can have all my music there and it will shuffle through all 5000 songs. So tonight I heard some songs that I haven't heard for a while. One song that jumped out at me was Simple Things by Jim Brickman. Even though it's a love song, (and I'm not in love) it's still a great reminder of looking at the beauty of life in such simple things as leaves falling off the trees.

Hey, Time won’t wait, Life goes by, Every day’s a brand new sky, Every tear, comes to dry. All that really matters, In this crazy world, Is you and I together, Baby just remember.

Chorus 1:
The first leaves off the tree, The way you look at me, A thousand chiming church bells ring, The simple things are free. The sun, the moon, the stars, The beating of two hearts, How I love the simple things, The simple things just are.

So here we go, Let’s just dance, Teach my soul to take this chance, Put my heart, in your hands. Out of all the moments that, We leave behind, Turn around and tell me, Baby we’ll remember.

Chorus 2:
The thunder and the rain, The way you say my name, After all the clouds go by, The simple things remain, The sun, the moon, the stars, The beating of two hearts, How I love the way the simple things, The simple things just are

Chorus 3:
The ocean and the sky, The way we feel tonight, I know that it's the love, That brings the simple things to life, The sun, the moon, the stars, The beating of two hearts, I love the way the simple things, The simple things just are.

I love the way the simple things, The simple things just are.

Interesting Names

In Hong Kong, the HongKongese people are given a Chinese name at birth but when they get into school they go by English names and their surname. But the names that they come up with sometimes are (to be nice) Unique. I recently came across a list someone put together of names that they saw when out and about, like on the name tags of the workers at McDonald's.

Male
- Walkman - Credit - Gayford - Rock - Pillar - Dummy - Vegas -Freeze -Lego
-Burger -Paper -Kettle -Hercules -Virus -Bible -Candy -Susan(yes for a guy, this is actually one of my students) -Winky -Dolphin -Devil -Pacman -Genius -Joker
-Oxygen -Tornado -Energy -Happy -Goofy -Champion -Spaghetti -Timber -No
- Elf

Female
-Grape -Color -Eureka -Panda -Flower -Wave -Kinky -Piano -Fanny -Telephone
-Chilli -Cinderella -Mango -Fanta -Lotion -Wincy -Purple -Circle -Strawberry
-Seven -Fantasy -Cream -Icy -Dancy -Dior -Puppy -Aries -Lychee -Yo-yo
-Tomato -Ivory -Tissue -Tomorrow - Swanny -Glassbowl

UGH and YEAH and UGH all on the same day

So this morning, I'm walking to meet my friend Liz at the train to go to church. I'm late and I'm trying to walk as fast as my little feet will carry me. Well, Hong Kong is known for tearing up their sidewalks and not making them smooth when they repave. My sandal caught on the uneven pavement and I went down hard. Luckily, I had on a skirt, otherwise I would have ripped a hole in a nice pair of pants. Unluckily, I had on a skirt and my knees had to suffer. One knee really bad and the other leg is scraped down the whole side. I must have looked very funny. I called Liz on her cell phone and she met me at the steps of the train with band-aids from 7-11. Because of this we ended up being 25 minutes late for church. The singing is always my favorite part of the service and we missed it all.

After the service we met up with Harmony and Maria and headed for Subway Restaurant. I had no idea there was a Subway here in Hong Kong. Oh, my gosh I think this was the best sandwich I have had in forever. I got a turkey with cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, black olives, green peppers and oil/vinegar. Oh so good. and then sour cream and onion chips. Thank God for Subway. I will be eating there frequently. I really should have gotten a foot long and brought the second half for my lunch tomorrow. Next week!!

So after an eventful start to my day, I got home, took my shoes off and put my feet up. That's when I realized my shoe looked funny. Yes, you guessed it. Another pair of shoes is going into the trash. The fall in the morning made them rip at the thong part. Basically they are being held together by two threads. The sad thing is that these are my really nice Chico's sandals. But I guess 2 and a half years is good use out of them.

Interesting Food

One thing about living in HK that's great is that I love sushi and it's cheap here. It's also a fun thing because you sit at a counter and there is a train of sushi that passes by. You just choose off of the line what you want and at the end they count up your plates. I went with a former student recently and took some pictures to share with you. This is the counter you sit at and the sushi just goes past on the little conveyor belt. If you want something you just take it off. The little faucet below the train is for hot water to make your tea.

Here are the plates that Giovanna and I ate when we got our sushi.

I also went out with a some friends after church one Sunday to a Chinese Tea House. One of the girls ordered a tea that was interesting as it brewed. I made a video of it as it was brewing.

Another pair bites the dust.

Okay, since moving to Hong Kong in August I have killed 3 pairs of shoes. Basically a pair a month. But actually they have all been in the last month and half.

The first pair to fully bite the dust: So Nikelle and I got out of her car at the shopping center in Admiralty. As I'm walking across the parking garage, I realize that I'm having difficulty keeping my shoe on. Well that would be because the side of the strap has started to come out. By the time I take a few more steps it's done. So here I am on the island with a broken shoe, but luckily we are at a mall, but I still have to get into the mall and find a new pair of shoes. So I walk up 2 flights of stairs(because apparently there is no such thing here as Americans with Disabilities Act and they don't have elevators everywhere) Where we walk into the mall is through the grocery store. So here I am sliding my foot along so that my shoe doesn't come off. One of the store's staff looks at me like I'm a major freak, so I pull up my pant leg to show her that my shoe is broken. She says that she can fix it with some string. So I tied my shoe to my foot with yellow plastic string. Quite humorous. Luckily my pants were long enough to hide the string. I ended up finding a pair of shoes to buy, but by the time I got home I had some of the worst blisters I have had in a long time. Needless to say, I won't wear them again. Luckily they were only $150 ($20 US) Still more than I would have liked to pay, but cheap considering most shoes here start at about $400 ($50US)

The second pair that bit the dust: This pair actually started down the bad road early in my time in Hong Kong. I don't know how, but somehow the sole of the right shoe just split in two crosswise. I could still use the shoe, but I had to make sure that I didn't do too much walking in it. Well two weekends ago, I played Tour guide here and my shoe didn't like that. Before the day was over, I was saying small prayers with every step I took that my shoe wouldn't go. Thank God, I was able to make it home in one piece. When I got home and took off my shoe, I realized that it was gone, there was really nothing holding it together anymore.

Third pair: This just happened yesterday. I was with two friends and we were walking down the street to run an errand. All of a sudden, I got that funny feeling in my foot again. I knew what was happening...I was having a shoe attack. Again my shoe's strap started to come out from where it was attached. I told my friends I had to go back. I couldn't continue on my errand. So we turned around and one of them said she knew where there was a shoe repair. So we went and he said that he could fix it for $20 ($3US) So I sat in at his booth for 5 minutes barefoot while he "fixed" my shoe. I put it back on and it seemed to be fixed. I decided not to try to do my errand again, so I just headed home. Good thing because about halfway to the train. It broke again. The glue didn't hold. I made it home ok, but had to throw out another pair of shoes. UGH!!!

Hopefully I can make the rest of my shoes last until I'm ready to part with them. Actually I have another pair that is starting to show a bit of stress. I hope that I don't have another "shoe attack"

Free Christian Music on Fridays

I recently heard about a site called "My Free Music Friday" Every Friday they offer free Christian music for you to download. So today, I decided to try it. I am so glad that I did. This week they were offering 3 free songs:

1. "Time has Come" by Mercy Me
2. "Everything Glorious" by David Crowder Band
3. "Live for you" by Connersvine

I hadn't heard of Connersvine so I went to their my space page to find out a bit more about them. They are from Indianapolis and Hunter Smith from the Indianapolis Colts is one of the duo. They have three songs from their cd to listen to on the page. I really like it.

So check out the free music friday and the new band Connersvine.

USS Essex

This weekend I got to tour the USS Essex when it was in Hong Kong.

This is the end of the ship where we entered from the ferry. The ship was anchored about a 40 minute ferry ride from the pier on Hong Kong Island. It was too big to come into the harbor.


Once inside the ship, we came to two large boats. These boats are released from the back end of the ship and will go closer to land to put vehicles and personnel on land. As you can see from this picture of me and the boat, it's pretty big and it is inside the Essex so obviously the Essex is huge.Another view of those boats.

I also got to see the morgue

There is a huge hangar for the helicopters and planes. The black part coming out the front of the helicopter is a machine gun.

Next we went up on the flight deck. It was about 7:30 pm so it was already dark and so I really couldn't get any pics. The 2 means that this was the second boat of this kind made.If you look really close in this picture you can see the outline of a helicopter in the middle.


Safety jackets that they sailors wear when they are on the flight deck.

I got this tour because I joined up with a program called "Meals in the home" to host sailors for dinner as they come through our port. I was supposed to host 3 but only hosted 2 for dinner. I did meet the other one though here are their pictures.Gary and Diane

Tom

Interesting Train ride part 2

Ok, So I have had requests to hear this story. So I recorded it. You can hear it here.

But there's more...this morning (Wednesday, Nov 7th) I got on the train in about car #8 and started walking back to car #11. (I like to sit there because: 1. I can get a seat and 2. it's right next to the exit closest to my school.) So as I enter car #11 whom do I see? Yes, none other than "talk to imaginary friends" boy. I almost lost it.

Interesting Train Ride

Every day I ride the train to and from work. It's nice early in the morning when there is hardly anyone on the train so I am always guaranteed a seat, but not so in the afternoons on the way home. Well the other morning, I saw a very funny situation. I got on the train, car #11 and sat down on my bench. On the bench across from me sat a guy about early to mid twenties. Each bench holds 4 people and he was sitting near the other end from me, but not right at the end (kind of in between seat one and two) I quickly realized that he was talking to his two imaginary friends. He had one sitting on either side of him. This wasn't just a person talking to themselves, this was him full-on having conversations. He would turn and look at the person and then turn and look at the other person. This went on until the next station, so about 3 minutes. Then at the next station I guess his invisible friend on the right side got off, because this guy moved completely into the first seat on the bench. Also at this stop an older gentleman got on and sat on the same bench but the other end. The guy continued to talk to the one friend and he also got a book out of his bookbag. In doing so, he dropped a paper on the floor, so the older gentleman tapped him and pointed out the paper. The young guy bent down and picked it up, and then proceeded to give the old man the finger. Well at least that is whom I thought he was giving the finger to until he then gave his imaginary friend an hard fast elbow in the stomach. I guess the paper on the floor was really the fault of the invisible friend.

But really folks, you know sometimes invisible friends make mistakes, but do they deserve to be elbowed in the stomach and given the finger? I think not! Treat all of your friends with respect, invisible or not.

That's great. Over.

Have you ever watched the news when they have a correspondent that is overseas and there is a big delay for them to get the anchor's questions? You are watching the correspondent nodding away, but the anchor has stopped talking for some time and then they finally start to answer the question. Well, that is kind of like talking to me on the phone. Apparently there is a huge delay for what I say to get to America. My mom and I talk frequently and sometimes the delay is minimal and other times it is unbelievable. The other day the delay was so bad that we kept talking over each other and the conversation was very hard to maintain. So we decided that the best way to work this would be for us to say what we had to say and then say "Over." Oh my gosh, it was so funny. We laughed so hard. The conversation went something like this.

Margie: How was your day? over.
Katie: not too bad, I taught a few classes today. over.
Margie: how were the students? over.
Katie: overall, not to bad. over. oh, I want to say something else. over. I mean not over yet. the students don't want to talk when I ask them a question but do when I don't want them to talk. over.
Margie: wait you can't say over and then start talking again. over.
Katie: ok. over.

And of course through this entire conversation we were laughing so hard. Needless to say the conversation didn't last too long.

Listen to my stories

So I have recently found out about a way for you to hear my stories. I find when someone tells me stories I usually laugh more than when I just read them. So I decided to go back and record some of my stories for you to listen to. Click the link below to go back to the original posting and then click the new link at the beginning to hear me tell the story.

The Sound of Music Sing along
Mother Sit Down
Changing Noses
Just Leave
Religion during the week


I hope you enjoy them.

I thought you might like to see some of people that I work with. So here are some pics.

Koey and I are cubicle mates. She teaches English. She is so funny!

Natalia sits on my the other side of my cubicle wall.
This is her first year at this school and she teaches English.

Mr. Tom (his surname is Tom) when I lived here before he is the one who gave me my Chinese name. Kind of my adopted dad. (my dad's name is Tom)

Daphne is also an English Teacher. She takes great care of me.

May teaches English, too. She and I both love Fashion and enjoy spending time together.

Denise Jim (everyone calls her Jim) teaches English.

There are more, but those are the ones that I have attacked with my camera. They are a great bunch of people and have been so helpful in getting me settled in my life in HK.