Day 29

To end a nice relaxing weekend, I went and explored Macau with the male student teachers and a fellow teacher from the school. It was nice because it was really sunny and hot out. This was the first time I wore shorts since I have been here, it was so nice!
To get to Macau, we took the casino shuttle across one of the bridges to one of the many casinos and then walked to the square which was about a 20 minute walk- not that bad. When we got to the square we met up with the teacher from our school and started to make our way to the ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral. On our way, we stopped at a local Thai restaurant and it was SO good (however, I was really hungry which is the best appetizer for any meal).

After lunch we continued to make our way up to the ruins of St. Paul. On our way, I noticed there was a free wine tasting and asked the guys if they wanted to go in with me. They did but I was the only one who tried some wine. It was an Italian red wine, very good. I took some notes for my wine journal which I left at home unfortunately. When we got to the top, one of the student teachers went up to  the lookout with me and the two teachers below took our picture. It was really cool! Behind the ruins, there were more parts we were able to explore that had beautiful paintings and ceremonial pieces.We spent some time taking in the culture there and then went over to one of the cemeteries. Since I have never been a fan of cemeteries, I was a little freaked out to spend too much time there. While we were in there, I got bit by a few mosquitoes which was really annoying!

After we left the cemetery we went to one of the parks which was so beautiful. There was a really lovely fountain in the middle of the park and there were plenty of plants and flowers. As I was walking around the park, I noticed there was a local band playing with a singer. I listened to them for a little bit and then moved on. This park had a pathway that went up and around the corner to another part of the park. This was set with different  raised stone platforms where people could play Chinese dominoes, dance, play their instruments, or read the paper. The way everything is set up is so delicate and particular. Everything has its place. Its extremely peaceful. When we left the park we walked around some more and decided to head to an art gallery which had some really intricate pieces of art. Outside of the gallery was another cemetery that we checked out for a little bit before making our way back down the ruins of St. Paul's. We were planning to go to Fisherman's Wharf but there wasn't enough time since one of the student teachers wanted to go to church at 6 and it was already 5. To make everything easier we just all went to church with him. It was a Portuguese Catholic church in English which was nice. Since I don't belong to any religion, I just sat politely and listened but did not directly participate in the activities such as bowing, praying, going to the alter, and giving change. However, it was a nice ceremony and a very lovely church. The teacher who was with us from the school was explaining that when he was younger he came over from the Philippines on a mission trip and lived in the houses next to this particular church for two months while he was studying to become a pastor and then after some time changed his views drastically and now identifies as an agnostic. I thought his process through finding what he is comfortable with was very interesting. The ceremony lasted about an hour and a half. I think this was called Laten Mass since it's during lent.

When the service was over, we were all so exhausted we decided to go home and get ready for school the next day.

I'm really glad I was able to explore Macau and really see where I am living. It is SO crowded! This is the most densely populated area in the entire world! I had such a great time exploring the city.