Day 40: Homeschool Day at the Bee Farm

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October 17, 2012

The outdoor pool was a little chilly so we decided to check out the indoor pool which was amazing!

Well today we missed this one.  We spent a half hour waiting for the bus and then on closer inspection noticed it only ran on Weekends and Holidays!  Getting used to getting around is relearning everything now that we moved from Kennedy town.  How disappointing!  Well, we went home and headed to the pool instead.  There are gorgeous pools here!  It is a pleasure just sitting on the patio looking at the ocean.

Some observations--by Tim

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Some observations about dining out…

In Stanley, there is a strip of outdoor restaurants facing the bay.  We were walking along looking over the menu of one particular restaurant being enlightened by the hostess of all the differentiating merits of her restaurant from the ones farther down the strip.  The menu looked good, boasting tacos and BBQ ribs, but I noticed that they didn’t have a table for six that I could see.  I often wonder if small families get the same hard sell we do or do they just see our big family as pay dirt.  Well, in her eagerness to close the sale, the hostess said it would be no problem to prepare a table for us so we had a deal.

As we walked towards a table for four, the waitress grabbed a small round table for two.  I’m pretty flexible, but I wasn’t excited about the notion of butting a small round table against a square table so the six of us could gather around a lower-case “i” formation.   However, my worry was for not.  The waitress took the small round table over to a couple that was sitting at a square table for four.  She muttered something in Cantonese to them and the couple held up their drinks while the waitress swapped out the tables.  We ended up with two square tables for our party of six and the couple enjoying their drinks carried on with their conversation completely unoffended.  Proprietors often shuffle patrons in a human game of Tetris to maximize capacity, even pairing strangers at larger tables.  It’s all good.

Another oddity I’ve noticed is the practice of carrying miniature dogs in purse-size carriers and setting them at the table in a restaurant.  Maybe this sort of thing is common in other places, but I don’t recall seeing anything like it in the Midwest.  But plain as day, these women would hold their dog in their lap while they eat.  I can tell you that if I were seated next to someone with a dog in their lap and the dog made a move for my Pad Thai, his little doggie friends would be talking about his Last Supper for some time to come.   But, the new refined cosmopolitan in me wouldn’t do something so brutish and uncivilized.  Probably.

Day 39:Shopping in Stanley

This is outside the grocery store in Stanley.  All over in fact, there are dog potties too!

October 16, 2012

Survival issue. . .must shop or won’t eat!  Today we worked on some school work and then headed to Stanley for grocery shopping.  You should have seen Devon carrying  all the boxes tied up in string!  I bought a food processor, mop and bucket, kettle and tons of groceries.  (Literal tons as in weight, it is not really that much food, not like a Costco run or anything.) We all had bags and we stumbled out onto the street to call a cab to take us back.  Cabs are about $20 to our apartment. When you translate that to US dollars it is about $3 and well worth it!

Day 38: Shopping on Peddar Street

Peddar Street Gang

Entertaining at Ikea

October 15, 2012

Today the girls, Jp and I headed to meet some other homeschoolers in Central for a little seasonal shopping.  Interesting place.  Jason found some things that he wanted so bad—a big spider, a creepy arm and hand that moved, a skeleton that danced.  He settled for a blue dinosaur hat and a ball that has a big blue light up eye on it that stays looking at you when you drop it and it rolls.  Somehow the shop keeper thought that he should have it as it was the same color as his eyes.  It was really kind of funny when he dropped it in the middle of millions of people that were walking on the sidewalk. They all raced to the side and pointed. Then they started laughing and said—“that’s really creepy!”  I think they thought his eye fell out for a minute.  Anyway, I confiscated for the remainder of the trip.  Alexis scored a blue wig to go with her Morph suit and Emma scored an 80’s wig.  We stumbled on this really great Thai restaurant.  Then we headed to Ikea.  I desperately have to have some book shelves and drawers so I can get sorted out!  Unfortunately, they cannot deliver for another week!

Day 37: Happy Birthday Jason!

October 14, 2012

Jason is four years old today.  Wow! How fast time runs.  It is Sunday and we headed to church in Aberdeen again.  It is so far to go.  Alexis and I will send the others back to the apartment and make a longer trek over to Kowloon Tong on the other side of Victoria Harbor to check out an electric piano.  We decided it would work great and the Chinese couple called a van for us (they are kind of like taxis) and we headed back to the apartment.  We got home and set up the piano but then it was 5pm and everyone was hungry.  So much for making cake.  We headed in to Stanley for dinner beside the beach.  Tacos and Pizza everyone's favorite $100 meal!  Happy Birthday JP!

Okay, the rest of us enjoyed pizza and tacos but the carnivore had ribs!

Day 36: Forget unpacking—let’s go outside and explore!

October 13, 2012

We slept great in our own beds with our own pillows and bedding.  Although, we woke-up at dawn because the sun shone brightly into our eyes through the huge wall of windows in our room!  One of the first things we found was the Van Dyke garage door opener.  (It is doing great and enjoys the breeze from the sea!)  The kids were so excited to get their rip-sticks and JP’s tricycle!  Our stuff feels great but also makes us homesick.  For the past 5 weeks we felt like we were on vacation but now things are starting to hit us.  We really miss home at this point.

Day 35: Moving Day

First time Jason slept through the night since we left Kansas and he slept by himself on the couch!

Girls in the way while they bring in our things!

The pool in the clubhouse just across from us!

Maybe we packed too much.

They covered walls and floors to prevent damage.

Yep, too much.

Kids waiting for their things after everything is inventoried.

They look happy but it was really tough to see everything but have to wait to unpack until it was all checked off!

Good thing we have so many electronics--you would not want to miss out on life!

October 12, 2012

One little wrench in our plan to relocate from Kennedy Town to Tai Tam was 12 suitcases and 6 people.  How many Taxis would that equal?  I called a couple of vans but kept getting hung up on because they could not understand me.  Oh, no!  What to do?  Fortunately, one of the really nice homeschooling families that we are getting to know are Cantonese!  So, I called up my new friend Cam(they have the sail boat at Hebe Harbor) and she took care of the van in short order!  Thank Goodness! Now for the new apartment and moving van Hooray!