A little slice of Americana...kind of.

Austin's college friend Pete was back in Macau (coming from the Philippines and before heading to Thailand) tonight (Monday), so after a massive group dinner at "Pekng Dumplng," we decided to try the bowling alley near the Camoes Garden. As we were walking from Senado up several semi-sketchy alleyways toward Camoes, we encountered this super-friendly kitten, who promptly ran all around/on our feet.

Watching for new people

I've had a chipmunk on my feet before, but this is the first kitten =P

Batting Brian's umbrella

We finally got to the bowling alley and ended up making an East/Midwest (Susan, Mari, Pete, and me) vs. West (Brian, Austin, and Sam) game. The alley wasn't in the best shape - several of the balls had deep scratches that made it impossible for them to roll properly, for example - but we had fun anyway. I'm not even sure who won (the scores were erased immediately after the game ended), but then again, who cares?

After bowling, we still felt rather energetic...luckily, there was an arcade next door! (There was also an ice-skating rink, but the ice looked kind of dirty and none of us are good at skating, so it would seem.) Some of the games you could find in any boardwalk arcade or Chuck-e-Cheese in America, but others were...uniquely Asian =P

Racing each other (and the clock)

Shooting hoops

Pete and Susan trying to figure out the drumming game...
unfortunately, none of us read Japanese!

Between all of us, we got about 75 tickets, but the girl at the prize counter was nice and gave us this little orange elephant stuffy with blue ears, hanging from a keyring, which was supposed to be 80 tickets. It's hanging in our office now - I've unofficially named it Tangerine because it's a really bright orange!

After some classic vanilla soft-serve at McDonalds, it was time to head home...tomorrow's agenda: teach class, hopefully get some grading done, then opening ceremony of the English Festival!

Bunnies everywhere!

Starting last Saturday, I've been seeing a lot of these little guys around:

They seem to be made of wire and fabric - there's also a magenta pink version. At first, I saw them near an advertisement for some sort of children's amusement park, so I thought perhaps the bunnies were the mascots, and they were providing extra-visible publicity for the park opening or something. Today on the bus to work, however, I saw this at the top of a building:

I didn't get to photograph the whole thing, but it has a bunch of animal/vegetable figures interposed with the Chinese characters for "Happy Mid-Autumn Festival" (中 秋 節 快 樂). Therefore, I realized that the bunny statuettes are also supposed to be part of the Mid-Autumn Festival decorations, representing the white rabbit that is supposed to be the pet of the moon goddess. At the New Century bus stop, they even have some that are playing instruments, like this one:

Reminds me of Kevin (-:3

For whatever reason the bunnies are there, they made me laugh in the middle of a crowded morning commute, so it's all good =D

Agenda for this weekend: Fulbright retreat at the Kadoorie Institute in HK!