Day 34: Packing Day!

October 11, 2012

There are things I will miss about Kennedy Town.  For instance, every 20 minutes the bus leaves for Central from the garage inside the building.  Stores are just a block away as are restaurants, dry cleaning and parks.  It is a quaint feeling to see and hear people playing Mahjongg in the garages—the tiles clack on the tables and the men are very intent not noticing a parade of 6 marching by!  On the one hand there are amazing skyscrapers but on the other the laundry flapping in the wind and the bamboo scaffolding are definitely Asian.  (I wonder if they ever loose their laundry from way up there?!!) There are roof top gardens to watch from above.  The comings and goings of many ships into Victoria Harbor.  Constant rushing waves of people are one thing I will not miss.  I will not miss the smells of gas, strange food, sewer, bad fish and other things best left unidentified.  I will miss the smell of spice shops.  The rows of arm chairs with old men that line the sidewalk is a fun memory.  How about the chop restaurant where the lady notices how tall Devon is and remembers what we like to eat?  Yes, there are lots of things here that I do like.  Now zip the bags and ready for a new adventure!

Day 33: Celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving

 

This morning Mom and Dad called and wished us a Happy Canadian Thanksgiving.  We were in a festive mood all day!  (Of course, with the time difference it was really yesterday!) To celebrate—JP and Emma went swimming and we took a photo of some fall colors here!  Only 3 days left until we get into our real  apartment!!!

Day 32: Ice Skating and Other Fun

Today was crazy.  Oliver called and had Devon and Alexis meet him to go ice-skating at the Elements Mall that has the Kowloon MTR running underneath.  So, Alexis and I had an adventure of trying to find a phone before sending the gang off across Victoria Harbor for a wonderful fun filled afternoon of ice skating and lunch!  Of course this is all good except of course Emma, JP and I had to do something fun and exciting as well.  So, we headed to this wonderful 3 story Science Museum.  Emma drove a real car (simulator) and crashed something awful.  I think we will wait a bit before trusting her behind the wheel of anything.  JP made a wonderful fort of huge vinyl blocks.  We played with giant human sized bubbles, found out we could not tip toe without being caught by the sensors and spent ages looking at ourselves in mirrors.  I think everyone had a great time.  Alexis and Devon encountered a man who wanted to test Devon’s TKD expertise.  The elderly man found it humorous to easily overcome a giant American teen with no effort on his part at all.  We all eventually ended up meeting at the bus in Central at the same time which is a strange coincidence considering the geographical locations of our varying activities!  Hong Kong is a small place.

Day 31: A Friend for Jason

-->

October 8, 2012

The anticipation of Friday and our apartment is just making things tense this week.  The girls were exhausted after their adventurous weekend and just wanted to hang out.  Jason was bored.  He wanted a friend to play with.  So he hatched this elaborate plan of taking some toy cars to the park to share with some kids his age.  (It was so funny to hear him plan this strategy!)  We could not convince anyone to come with us so off we went with a pocket full of cars and a head full of dreams.  We came to the park and there were kids older and kids younger so he chased them with cars and gained interest a few times.  Then he saw this little girl in a pretty dress and he wanted to play with her so bad but she was with some other girls.  Jason kept following her and giving her his car and chasing her.  Between the language difference and maybe the age difference (she may have been six to his nearly four) it just did not work out well!  Anyway, I rescued the poor girl and distracted the well meaning “wanna-be-friend” but I did happen to have my phone in hand and had just taken a photo so I snapped another really fast.  Candid moment but you have to feel for the poor little girl—notice how she is trying to peel JP off of her arm!  You need to know as well that there was an entire wall of adults(some she was related to I am sure) sitting watching and laughing—I do not know what they were saying but they were not going to interfere at all!

Tim, you’re a bit slow…

Tim, you’re a bit slow…

In the office, I received some light-hearted feedback that I talk a bit slow.  After wrapping up a meeting early, I claimed credit by saying, “I talked fast.”  The response was that it was probably the other person that talked fast.  I felt a little defensive.  It’s not that I’m dim-witted.  I’m just thoughtful and contemplative when I express myself, or something along those lines.

Today I sat in on a meeting in which I was the only foreigner.  I didn’t play much of a role in the meeting, but they spoke English for my benefit.  Listening to the cadence of the exchange among the Chinese was enlightening.  The speed was on fast-forward, only the pitch was not Alvin-and-the-Chipmunks  high.  It was like a two-minute conference that had to cover 30 minutes of information.  But the countenance and expression was not hurried at all; somehow it was conversational.  Rapid fire conversational.  It was then that I had to concede that the Chinese are just fast talkers.  The Cantonese is fast, but that’s hard to appreciate because I don’t understand anyway.

I’ve thought about the reason I haven’t noticed my speaking disability before.  I think when people speak to me one on one, they are actually slowing down so I can comprehend.  (My note taking capabilities are even slower than my speaking abilities and sometimes they will pause until I quit writing.  They are gracious enough to not get some tea while they wait.)  There are a few other foreigners in the office, but to my knowledge they are all British.  While the British are also slow in speech, I have to admit that they are probably a little faster than me – I’m sure for the Chinese, it’s still like listening to Eeyore talk.  What I wouldn’t give for an expat from Mississippi in the office for a favorable comparison.

Day 30: Girls Home from Hebe Haven

-->

Day 30 October 7, 2012

Today we went to Aberdeen to church at International Baptist Church but we had to leave early to pick-up Alexis and Emma from their sailboat slumber party experience.  Dinah and her mom gave the girls a ride to Central and they waited in a familiar spot for us to ride the bus from the other side of the island and get them.  Alexis said she had a terrible time keeping Emma from lying down on the floor of the IFC Mall and flat out snoring!  They were pretty tired!  (The great thing about this is when Tim and I put them to bed early and go have a few minutes alone on the deck at a restaurant around the corner just being together!)

An easy place to find--even when you are tired!  I think people are starting to recognize our family.  Someone needs to tell Apple that they need more comfortable seating for my kiddos just outside the store doors.

Day 29: Hebe Harbor and Sai Kung

It is Saturday--hooray!  Today we will take the apartment Shuttle to Central MTR and then 2 trains and a bus to Nancy's birthday party at Hebe Harbor.  We all decided to go take a look.  Nancy and her family spent 5 years living on their sailboat and sailing around the world!  Amazing adventures and so peaceful.  Today Molly(Nancy's sister) is competing in the 24 hour sailing contest.  Everyone is excited and there are booths all over the Yacht Club selling things and like a carnival!  We took a Sampan out to where the sail boat was moored.  What a great birthday party!

After leaving the girls (with Jason's very loud objections) Devon, Jason, Tim and I went over to explore Sai Kung.  We ate some lunch (not nearly as good as what the girls ate--we can't order very well yet!)  Jason found some puppies and a friend.  Also, we looked at some really cool seafood.  Their food here rivals the Omaha Zoo's aquarium!