Ian's Birthday

Happy 7th Birthday to our fun-loving, good-natured, deep-thinking,

LEGO-loving, tow-headed boy!

Ian's been looking forward to another birthday since summer time.  For months, he's been giving me very specific birthday gift ideas, like Epic Dragon Battle, Shard the Ice Dragon, Lasha's Bite-Cylce, Fangpyre Wrecking Ball, or a number of other LEGO sets.  I'd listen politely but quickly dismiss the suggestions believing those ideas would change as his birthday grew closer and new toys fads would come and go.  But Ian is remarkably consistent and six months later he still only wanted a Ninjago LEGO set.

Fortunately, we've discovered there's some great places here in Hong Kong to get LEGO sets at fantastically low prices.  The inventory changes constantly and there's not a large selection of sets so it's hard to go with a specific purpose but as luck would have it, they had the Fangpyre Wrecking Ball.  

And as you can see, it made this boy very happy!  

He spent 2 diligent, uninterrupted hours carefully following the step-by-step instructions to put this special LEGO set together.

Ian is our master LEGO builder!

What better way to celebrate Ian's birthday then with a LEGO party and a few friends.  The boys played LEGO Bingo, 

created their own LEGO MiniFigure,

built all kinds of neat things with Ian's LEGOs,

opened presents,

and just had fun being together.

An added bonus to an already good birthday party was a special surprise guest - Ian's best friend from Macau.  He and his family were in Hong Kong for a little holiday vacation and they were able to come to the party and stay and visit for a few hours.  The boys had a great time being together again, just like old times.

Happy Birthday Ian!

Our Christmas Card

Here's the links to the blog posts about the places we visited this year.

Singapore Vacation

USA Vacation - Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

South Africa - A business trip for Kyle.  He LOVED South Africa!

Philippines Service Project

Cade's account and Kyle's summary

UAE, Dubai - A business trip took Kyle to Dubai.

Borneo - Girls' Trip

Hong Kong Visit when my parents came to visit us in Macau.

Here's a few more posts about Hong Kong since we moved here in September - 

HK 1, HK 2, HK 3, HK 4, HK 5 .

France Vacation

Soccer Season

In previous years, soccer practices and soccer games dominated our lives for 8-10 weeks every spring and fall.  It was always exciting for the soccer season to start but after weeks of crazy schedules, I found it a relief when the season finally came to an end.  Still, we (especially Cade and I) have missed those days.  We were unsuccessful in finding a soccer league last year in Macau so we've been anxious to find a league here in Hong Kong.  

As luck would have it, our local soccer club, the Hong Kong Dragons, meets weekly at the soccer pitch across the street from our building.  Despite being mid-season, Cade jumped in and was super excited to join and play soccer again.  Ian's a little more timid since his soccer experience is limited to a 1 year season of mom coaching his 5 year old team.  He plans to officially join in January after watching Cade for a few months and finding a friend who also plays soccer.    

The Hong Kong Dragons hold practices twice a week with very enthusiastic and experienced coaches, primarily from Australia and Europe (I love to listen to their different accents).  The kids are from all parts of the world but speak English to some degree.  During practice the kids are divided according to age and do a number of different exercises, drills, and mini games.  Cade's learning to play soccer on hard-surface pitches where the ball rolls and bounces differently from grass.  We found out that rain or shine, practice goes on.  Only thunder and lightning or level 8 typhoon signals will cancel practice.  Here's some pictures taken during practice in a downpour.

With a layer of water on the ground, it was perfect for sliding on their bellies after practice - the boys loved it.

If a kid practices twice a week, they're eligible to participate on Saturday.  We mistakingly believed playing on Saturday meant an actual soccer game but it's just another fun practice.  We soon learned that kids who practice twice a week, show commitment, and demonstrate good skill level, are invited to be a part of the team that plays in the Hong Kong Junior Football League where "real games" are played.  After only a few weeks, Cade was invited to play with one of these teams.  

For a couple of weeks, Cade and a few of his buddies played in tournaments with an older team.  They played great and had a good time.  For one of these tournaments, they played 3 games back-to-back.  I was not able to go but Kyle sent me play-by-play text messages including this "Cade Gooooooooooooooal".

Now, Cade's on a U11 team that plays games weekly. 

They play on artificial turf fields in different areas of Hong Kong.

As a natural left-footer, Cade usually takes the left wing position.

One of their first games together was on a beautiful sunny day.  They played well together ending in a draw (2-2).  As a spectator, I was enjoying the warmth of the sun, the smell of salt water, the sight of tall buildings on one side of the field and boats in the harbor on the other side (sorry no pictures of the harbor), and the sounds of kids playing soccer and having fun.

It was a perfect day for soccer!  

We're so happy to have soccer back in our family schedule.  Plus, we're glad it won't be jam packed into 8-10 weeks because soccer can be played all year long in Hong Kong.

Returning the Love to the Philippines

Dear Friends and Family, 

We hope that you are all enjoying this holiday season. 

I am sure you are aware that recently the Philippines was hit by a powerful typhoon. We were saddened to see the loss of life, and the survivors' difficulties. Our family loves the Philippines and its people, who embraced and blessed us in Macau and now in Hong Kong. 

We decided to spend our holiday time and resources this year giving back to them, albeit indirectly. With several other families, Cade and Kyle will travel to the northern part of Panay Island, to Manoling, a small village near President Roxas. These villages were hard-hit by typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda, but too small to get significant help like the larger cities such as Tacloban (which needed help, for sure).

We have coordinated with local community leaders in that area to make sure that our efforts and resources are directed to the most need. Our plan has two parts:

First: we will bring funds (our own and hopefully some from you) to purchase supplies in the larger cities a couple of hours away (Iloilo and Roxas) that were not affected as much, and help distribute to the smaller communities. Items we have been asked to purchase are things that were blown or washed away, including school supplies, kitchen and household supplies, and building materials for a school that was flattened. We will work while we are there to help clean, rebuild and repair. 

Second: we are coordinating with  Soap Cycling (www.soapcycling.org), a non-profit organization in Hong Kong that we work with to deliver soap to these communities. This combats the diseases that often afflict areas hit by natural disasters due to unhygienic conditions. We have assembled thousands of kilograms of soap that will be shipped this weekend and distributed upon its arrival in Roxas.  

We're grateful for this opportunity to love our neighbors back. If you would like to join us in this project, please see below for some options. 

All our love,

The Kisebachs

How you can help:

1)   If you are interested in just showing up and pitching in, let me know. We are going from the 13-18 of December, and planning on sleeping on the floor of or outside to keep our costs low.   

2)   For those in the US who want to pitch in funds, our long time partner and US registered non-profit organization, HelpOneFuture, has agreed to helpwith the funds transferring. Please send with your donation the note "Roxas" so that the funds are correctly allocated. 

Paypal address: 

helponefuture@gmail.com

Physical address for checks:

Help One Future

PO Box 41272

Nashville, TN 37204

3) For those in Hong Kong who want to pitch in funds:

Bank transfer information:

Soap Cycling 

Bank: HSBC

Account Holder: Soap Cycling Limited

813-657178-838

Physical address for checks:

Soap Cycling

2C, Greenburg

Discovery Bay

Hong Kong

Silvermine Waterfall

Finding more than high rise buildings, shopping malls, and crowded streets in Hong Kong is not hard - you just have to know where to go.  Luckily we've made some friends that love the outdoors and know where the outdoor gems are located.  One of these fun places is Silvermine Waterfall in Mui Wo.

Located on the eastern coast of Lantau Island, Mui Wo is a quaint, rural town with nothing taller than 3-story village houses and bicycles are the main form of transportation.  Water buffalo and cows are also known to roam freely in the area and often slow or stop bus rides to and from the town.  A short, leisurely hike from the center of town leads to the Silermine Waterfall.

One Saturday afternoon, we joined a group of our friends for a picnic lunch at the Silvermine Waterfall. 

We climbed rocks,

explored the area,

played in the water,

enjoyed the beautiful sunshine,

visited with friends, and ate good food.

We had a great time in the beautiful outdoors.

A few weeks later, the kids and I returned to Mui Wo to hike to the Silvermine Waterfall again with some of our homeschool friends.  The water was not rushing as hard but it was still fun to climb around the rocks, play in the water, and get to know our friends better.

Leah loved the camera and wanted her picture taken on every rock.

We also hiked a little further uphill and found the entrance to a silver mine that was used in the late 1800s.

The mine has been sealed off for safety reasons but climbing to it was well worth it because of the beautiful view of the bay.

We had another wonderful time at the Silvermine Waterfall enjoying time with friends and the great outdoors.

Learning As We Go

Kyle and I have entertained the idea of homeschooling our children for years.  This year, with all of it's uncertainties and unknowns, seemed like the perfect time to start.  We hoped that homeschooling would not only provide a healthy environment for learning and development but also provide a stable foundation for a year that looked so uncertain.

During our summer vacation, I talked with my experienced homeschooling friends, got some great advice, and found some good resources and curriculum ideas.  I was really excited and felt that homeschool would be a good fit for our family.  But, I was also very overwhelmed.  In fact, it was a challenge to get things started and put into practice some of the thoughts, ideas, and advice that were overrunning my mind.  Finally, with a desire just to start and knowing there would be lots of adjustments along the way, we officially kicked off the school year at the Kisebach Homeschool in September 2013.

Our homeschool is far from perfect.  It doesn't run smoothly.  We don't have all the tools and resources we want.  Schedules and goals keep changing.  We're constantly experimenting with different ideas and methods, evaluating and making adaptions, and trying to find the best fit for each child and parent and the family as a whole.  We're learning as we go!  

During a typical school day, we try to start with a little devotional.  The kids and I take turns sharing an inspirational thought or scripture.  I've been touched by their sweet thoughts and messages.  Then, the kids rotate doing work on either the computer (a large part of our curriculum is through Time 4 Learning and Khan Academy), in workbooks, writing in their journals, filling out worksheets I find online, or reading books.  I float from child to child for one-on-one time to help explain a topic, review their work, or just observe and encourage them.  Some subjects, like History and Science, we study together as a whole group and then do more fun, elaborate, enrichment activities.  Our recess time tends to be snack time, free time which usually means play with LEGOs, or go to a park or shopping mall.  At least once a week we do a field trip or meet up with other homeschooling families.  

Some days are fantastic and the kids and I are so excited to share what we did and learned.  Other days are more ho-hum as we try to get through the prescribed work.  And yes, occasionally we have a what-were-we-thinking kind of day.  But, overall, we love homeschooling.  I love to see how learning and education is transforming into a way of life and is not just for "school time".  It's fun to watch the kids turn a simple trip to the grocery store or a walk to the park into a learning opportunity.  Cade and Abby even made a long evening of babysitting into an educational evening filled with activities and arts and crafts that they forgot to watch the movie they picked out for the occasion.   

History has become one of the kids' favorite subjects.  We're using The Story of the World curriculum by Susan Bauer.  This series recounts history in an engaging, read aloud format perfect for children.  It also has an Activity Book filled with additional reading material suggestions, maps, crafts, and other excellent enrichment activities.  We're currently studying Volume 3 - Early Modern Times and have already learned about the Holy Roman Emperor, religious rebellions in Europe, the colonization of the Americas (North and South), warlords of Japan, empires in the Middle East, and the Triangular Trade.  

Some of the extra activities we did during our study of the colonization of America included reading additional books about Jamestown and Pocahontas, playing a stockholder game about the London Company who financed the expeditions to the New World, making corn bread, and creating our own Thanksgiving decorations.

The kids looked up Native American names and became Kwahu (hawk), Keezheekoni (burning fire), Kangee (raven), and Jaci (moon) for a day.

After reading about the Japanese warlords, we learned about sumo wrestling and some of the rules and rituals associated with this sport.  The kids turned into a rikishi (wrestler) with pillows and the girls put their hair in the traditional chonmage style.  Our area rug became the dohyo (ring) as the kids took turns competing with each other, including acting out some of the traditional rituals like the chirichozu (squatting at opposite ends of the ring and clapping once), shako (the exaggerated foot stomping to drive away bad spirits), and shikiri (tossing salt into the ring and glaring at the opponent).  This was a hilariously fun activity!

During our Japan day, we also learned how to write Haikus.

Ian's Haikus

I saw a fat guy

With a pie of jelly beans

He jumped off a cliff

LEGOs are so fun

Many, many things to build

Play with my brother

Abby's Haikus

Butterflies

Butterflies are bright

You can see them flutter by

Colors in the sky

Gymnastics

Tumbling 'cross the floor

Front flips, backflips, cartwheels too

Score a perfect ten

Cade's Haikus

Glistening Moonlight

Sparkling all night long,

Take a look, it’s magical,

The silvery light!

Swaying Breeze

The wonderful breeze,

It’s gentle, quiet, perfect

Rhythm is so sweet! 

A quick study of Persia explained the many different nations that have ruled this area.  One of these rulers was Shah Abbas, who is known for the building of roads, bridges, and ports.  The most famous bridge is the "Bridge of Thirty-Three Arches".  Out of paper, we made a small version of this bridge.  Our model was not strong enough to hold a toy car but it did support a LEGO alligator.

When we studied the Triangular Trade we learned about Queen Nzinga of Angola who fought against the Portuguese and the slave trade.  For a fun art project, we created our own traditional, African adinkra patterns with stamps made of sponges, potatoes, and chopsticks.  

Homeschool is a learning process for all of us but we are really enjoying this opportunity to learn and develop.  The kids already claim this is their best school year yet and Abby repeatedly tells me I'm her "favorite teacher ever" (it's an easy title to receive since she's comparing me to her teacher last year).  Really, the kids just like being more in charge of their education and having input to the things they study and do.  We'll continue to share our homeschool lessons, activities, and work periodically on this blog.

Tung Chung

Since Hong Kong has over 200 islands and an area of over 425 square miles (1100 km), there's a lot for us to see and explore.  We live in Tung Chung (which sounds more like Duhng Choong) on Lantau Island.  Exploring in our own "backyard", we found some interesting history and culture.

During a beautiful Sunday afternoon walk, searching for the Tung Chung Fort, we discovered a quaint, little, Chinese village.

Situated along the water, the village included homes built on stilts, 

 people fishing,

and boats and canoes lining the pier.

 

Walking through this cute, old village, we felt like we'd stumbled upon a whole, new world.  The busy, chaotic, materialistic lifestyle of Hong Kong was not there.  It was quiet and peaceful and so inviting.  

 But, in the background, was the towering concrete jungle taunting and reminding us that we were still in fact in Hong Kong.

Eventually, we found our way over to the Tung Chung Fort.

It was built in the early 1800s to defend against pirates and break up the illegal trade of opium.  There a few canons,

arched doorways, 

a stone wall surrounding the fort,

barred windows,

outdoor artwork under the eaves, 

and beautiful, contrasting textures.

During World War II, the Japanese occupied the fort.  Since then, it's been a police station, a college, an office, and today it's a public school.  Not far from the Fort is the Tung Chung Battery site.  

Hong Kong is an interesting place with a mix of old and new, west and east, intense urban city and natural green areas.  We look forward to exploring more of this diverse place.

Halloween in Hong Kong

A few weeks before Halloween, many stores started selling simple costumes and Halloween themed candies.  Although the quantities were small compared to what we're used to in the States, it's considerably more than we experienced last year in Macau. We found some basic costume props and the kids dressed up as witches and skeleton ghosts.

On the Saturday before Halloween, our apartment complex hosted a Halloween party in the club house.  There were different booths and stations with Halloween themed activities.  Of course, being Hong Kong, there were lots of people and long lines for all the activities.  My boys enjoyed getting scared in the haunted houses and playing a few silly games for Halloween prizes while my girls made a flying bat at the arts and crafts station and had fun in the bouncy house/slide.

Even with their costumes on, my kids still stood out in the crowd.  I'm not sure if it's their blonde hair or fair skin or what but there were a few people that took their pictures at the party.  One woman even had Leah and Abby stop and pose for her so she could get a good picture with her phone. 

On the day of Halloween, we went to Disneyland to experience their Haunted Halloween.  The park is transformed into a haunted land with ghosts, monsters, pumpkins, cobwebs, spooky trees and they "dare you not to scream".  For every scary or haunted thing in the park you see or ride and don't scream, you get a sticker. 

Our favorite scary addition was the Baby Head from Toy Story.  We also explored Disneyland's newest land, Mystic Point, which is home to the eccentric explorer Lord Henry Mystic.  His collection of ancient artifacts comes to life with an enchanted music dust on the ride Mystic Manor.

The girls got a little scared in this ride but didn't scream so they could earn a sticker.

We also enjoyed some of the other favorite and less scary rides and lands, like Tomorrowland and Fantasyland.

While waiting in line for a ride in Fantasyland, we were again reminded how much of a novelty our kids are here in Asia.  Four Chinese adults (who are at least my parent's age) made their way through the line acting like they were trying to meet up with some friends but stopped in front of us and behind an Australian family (cutting in line is common practice here and there are many signs and often pamphlets passed out to discourage the practice).  After a few minutes of staring and admiring the kids, one man became even more bold and started gently petting Ian's arm.  Ian rolled his eyes while the rest of us tried to disguise our laughs.  The man giddily smiled and then made hand gestures to show me he was impressed that all 4 kids were mine.  We're still surprised by the reactions to our family.

Trick-or-treating was not part of our Halloween activities but we still had some Halloween fun this year.