Today I met with a local grandma (Popo in chinese) and she is giving us her piece of farming land (gardening spot) for us to use with the school camps in the fall. It hasn't been used in awhile so it is going to be a lot of work. There is a wetland type thing where all the locals grow veggies and stuff, and the spot is in the middle of all the locals gardens so its really cool. We need to build a fence around it so the buffalo do not get in and we also need to clean up all the garbage. They put wood and beds down ontop of the land so weeds do not grow, so it is really really a mess. Myself and a few others who work here have to get it up and running so when schools come they can help plant and take care of the garden and learn about growing your own food as part of the sustainability program we are going to start to teach here. Along with gardening they are going to learn about solar energy, composting, carbon footprinting, recycling, organic cooking,and things like that. It's really cool because we don't just teach them about it, the school does that, so they come here and they actually do hands-on things such as build toy car that runs on solar power, building fences for the garden out or recycled material, and making and caring for a compost pile.

A professional surfer is up for the weekend, he arrived last night and is here at Treasure Island till sunday. His name is "Wingnut" and he starred in a few popular suft movies, such as Endless Summer II. My boss invited me out to dinner with them last night. Today he surfed with the kids and signed posters, and on saturday there is a big surf party for him, and I think it is some sort of promotional thing for a movie or somthing. Anyways, it is pretty cool.

The video I guess didn't upload right, so no video till I figure it out.

The pictures are all of Pui O. So all these are where I live. One is of a wild buffalo, there are about 30 left and they roam around, mostly in the wetland thing, but they go out into the strrets and sidewalks too. There is also pictures of the marsh and the trails tht go through it. Then a picture of me surfing! Shawn - I tried calling you a few times, do you still have the same number??? Get a ticket home on the 22nd.... because its a weekday and I can only have a flight home on a weekday. This video is of the villiage and my walk home from work. It moves around alot, but I was trying to walk home without people seeing I was video taping.

A few days ago in the middle of the afternoon when everyone was at work our atp. was broken into. They got everyones electronics and some peoples cash. They took my computer, ipod, the ipod for emma, my old camera, my gerber letherman, cords, chargers, and all that kind of stuff. I had my credit cards, cash and passport well hidden, so none of that stuff got taken. One guy here is a filmmaker, he worked for Survivor last year, and he got his camera and all his tapes which he had 4 completed documentaries on. They got like atleast 25 of his tapes, pretty much his life's work. The police came and (it was crazy!) They finger printed all the apts and took pictures and stuff, it looked like CSI or something. I doubt anything will be found, all our belongings are most likely are sold on the streets of China already, but our boss is checking with the locals to try and find who did it (it is a very small town located on an island, people have to know who did it).

My new camera was with me at the time, thank god, so I did not get that stolen. The day after we got everything stolen I broke my phone... I have been having some pretty bad luck. But it's not just me, my one boss Phillipe, he was watching the new in a taxi on the way home and he saw that a building was on fire, and it turned out it was the laundrymat that he just had brought ALL of his clothes to that morning, and every article of clothing he owned was burnt. Pretty crazy. An no there is no insurence to cover either his clothes or any of my stuff. I guess 2 of the girls have travelers insurence and they might get some money back.

Yesterday was my day off and I did some shopping and some site seeing. We went to some outlet stores, actual stores not sketchy streetside shops. Seeing that it rains a lot here I finally bought some rain gear. I got a really nice lightweight waterproof colombia rain jacket, it was about $40US, but still better price than back home. I got some skirts and stuff too. I didn't pack enough shorts and stuff but the asian shorts and pants sizes are way too small, so I have to do with skirts. After those outlets we went to Koloon, it is part of the New Territories in Hong Kong. It is not actually an island I think; I believe it is attached to mainland. I bought a very nice camera in Koloon. It is a Olympis 8mp waterproof up to 3meters and shock resistant. Seeing that I broke 3 digital cameras already from dropping them or getting them wet i figgured I should just invest in one that is shock resistant and waterproof.

After shopping and spending a lot of money we went to a temple. It was beautiful. The buildings were amazing and they were surrounded by a stream and pond filled with turtles and awesome looking fish. Then in the main temple they dive you a container of sticks and you kneel on a mat in the temple and shake the sticks while you think about a question. There are numbers on the sticks so you shake the container till one stick falls out then you remember the number on it and each number has a meaning and then you can get it translated and they tell you what it means related to your question. It was pretty cool.

Now that I have a camera I will try to add more pictures soon

Hong Kong is made up of several different islands. I am on Lantau Island, but it is a part of Hong Kong. There is a Hong Kong Island and that is what makes up the city of Hong Kong.

Treasure Island, Corporate Adventures and Ooh La La resturant are all located in the same place, so I don't have to hike at all to treasure Island. The tress are all pretty meshed together and each person helps out in all 3 areas. For instance on Sunday one of the ladies who works at Ooh La La is away so myself and another person from Treasure Island are waitressing. It doesn't happen often, but if theres like a big party or somthing we may have to work in the resturant.

To answer Mark and grandpa's question, surf camp is not just surfing. The younger kids surf before lunch and the older kids surf after lunch. The remainding of the time the kids do beach games, crafts, kayaking, hiking and stuff like that. I won't actually be a surfing instructor, we have staff that are surfers and know how to teah surfing. I will most likely be leading a game or activity.

The rain finally stopped. It hasn't rained in two whole day! It was very very very hot today. My day off is Sat. and I think I wil go to Tui O which is an old fishing village on Lantau, and then to the big buddah.