Asia Awaits: A busy couple of weeks - Typhoons, Rugby, Baseball......

We have had a busy couple of weeks since the half term break. We have had lots and lots of sporting commitments, with the boys now playing Rugby, Soccer, Cricket and Baseball throughout the week. This involves training and games, which means our weekends are incredibly manic.

However, the big news from the last few weeks was Typhoon Haima hitting Hong Kong. That week in October led us to having over 800mm of rain in 4 days - it was CRAZY. The actual typhoon was not as bad as expected, just a bit of a windy day and lots of lots of rain. The boys loved having a day off school and also the fun of playing soccer in the rain. It was really late in the season for 2 typhoons in a week, but luckily the damage was reasonably minor in HK.

Both boys played in a rugby tournament last weekend - unfortunately, they were at different places within Hong Kong, so I was with Max (hence only having photos of Max). He played really well for his first tournament and even scored a couple of tries. Jack had a tougher league and the team didn't manage a win, but he really enjoyed it. Rugby is such a huge sport here in HK, that it is incredibly social for all involved.

After our trip to the States in the summer, Jack has been really keen for me to find a place for him to play baseball. Well, I managed to find a club that plays in the HK baseball league, called the Astros. He had tryouts a few weeks ago, made the team, and had his first game on Saturday night. It was a tough game and the team got seriously beaten but Jack didn't make any mistakes and did himself (and us) very proud. I think baseball will take over from rugby next year.

Since the typhoon, I have been enjoying many morning hikes - the weather is now cooler, so it is much more enjoyable. The bugs are still everywhere but hopefully the snakes have started to hibernate, and I can hike in safety.....

I have added a couple of videos of the floods during the week of the typhoon, and also one of Jack's first hit for the Astros !!