Hibbets' Happenings

We must be adjusting to the time difference, because we're sleeping later now. Granted, we're also staying up late -- at least I am. The kids seem to be sleeping pretty well. We got up this morning and I fixed breakfast -- scrambled eggs with bell pepper and onion and whole wheat banana pancakes. I had a little trouble with my pancakes sticking, but they tasted good. I'll make those again. (I got the recipe from hillbillyhousewife.com, if you're interested. Though I think she forgot the oil -- I think the pancakes need some oil. I'm going to try to add some butter next time.) After breakfast I worked on grading my exams and David got to visit with his family on the phone. Jayden took a little morning power nap and Joshua watched his Cedarmont Kids Christmas DVD. Then we left; we decided to go to Causeway Bay. There is so much to see and we had only seen part of it so far -- we still haven't seen it all, but we did see more today. We took Bus 25 straight from Braemar Hill to Causeway Bay and spent the afternoon there shopping. First we found lunch; we ate at an Indian buffet. It was about $25, cheaper than our Natural Gourmet. It was very nice and we were the only ones there since we were eating a late lunch. We tried a bit of almost everything. I can't tell you what it all was; there were several vegetable dishes and I tried two chicken things. They brought us Indian bread (it's like a fried flat bread, I guess) and I tried the vegetable soup, which was really good (Jayden liked it, too). For dessert, I tried both -- I can't tell you the name of the one, I think it started with an R. It was pretty sweet and had cake-like things in the middle, like the size of oreo cookies. The other one was rice pudding; not as sweet, but good. Surprisingly, Jayden didn't seem to care for it. After that we started shopping. We found a market right there in the middle of Causeway Bay. It was very narrow so a little hard to get through, but we managed. David got a watch, and I got a lightweight coat and shirt for a total of HK$100 ($13). Then we went in this other store David had seen and got several things; David got a jacket, three pairs of pants, and a sweater for US$88; I got two pairs of pants and a skirt for about US$40. Then we went across the street and I got a dressy suit and a casual sweater for the same price (HK$310, US$40). We shopped in some other stores but didn't buy. By this time we were ready to start finishing up, but we did need to buy some groceries. So we went to the Wellcome store in Causeway Bay and bought all kinds of things, mostly produce. They have a deli-type counter with take-out food; I thought that was neat, and can tuck that information back for later. Up at the front of the store they had some hot food items for purchase (like the chickens and things at the front of Walmart) -- noodles and steamed rice and chicken wings and several things with pork and seafood. We bought a container of noodles for HK$15 (two bucks) and ate them outside the Wellcome store. Jayden especially enjoyed them! We got so tickled at her. I took some pictures. Then we headed to the bus stop, but we did stop in the bread store before catching the bus. We selected three: a peach pastry, a walnut raisin pineapple loaf (it's very good!) and a strawberry jam loaf. You can tell which one we've already dug in to. Speaking of bread, I made my first loaf of "real" bread today. I started it this morning first, before making breakfast, and let it rise all morning, then I baked it and it finished right before we were ready to leave. It looks really good, but we haven't tried it yet. We won't be able to resist long. I'm thinking a slice with some peanut butter.... We did buy some more peanut butter tonight at the Wellcome store; it does have hydrogenated oils but no sugar. At least it's not a double evil. On the bus ride home, Jayden was telling everyone "hi" and "bye." She was the little bus greeter. "Hello, we hope you enjoyed your ride this evening...." She made everyone on the bus smile, and us too. I think she brought a little bit of joy to their evening. She is such a blessing. David and I are going to try to watch a movie tonight. We haven't done that since we've been here. I'm guessing Jayden will crash pretty soon; she only had two short little naps today. Tomorrow we apparently won't have water from 10am until 6pm. We may try to hang around until lunch and then go out; we know tomorrow night we're going to the Christmas program at Kowloon International Baptist Church. I'm looking forward to that. Obviously, we didn't make it to home group tonight, and I don't know how much more home group they'll have now with the holidays. But I guess we'll be able to ask Jamie about it on Sunday. There was a Christmas card from Magdalene under our door when we got home tonight; they left for England today. More later. Aleecia