Rewind back to a few years ago.

Back to when we were very first considering making this move to Hong Kong. One of the main reasons we decided to go for it was so that our kids could be exposed to different cultures and languages.

Pretty obvious reason, right?
And in a city as cosmopolitan as Hong Kong it should be simple and straight forward to obtain a bilingual (or even multi lingual) education, right?
WRONG.
Here's what we've learned:

We were lucky enough to arrive to Hong Kong at a really opportune time to drop our kids into the Hong Kong school system. G had just turned 4. D was 2.
Opportune time? Well, sort of. People would argue that. I mean if you actually give birth to a baby over here you get them on a list for school as soon as they get their passport. I am not kidding in the least. 6 week old babies on the wait list for primary school 5 years later. Say what!?!? I personally know one family who moved here when their son was 8 months old. At the urging of their relocation lady, they put their baby on the list for "the" school. This year was his intake year. He BARELY got a spot in Kindergarten. Not even in the morning class.

Just as it is in the USA, kids are not legally required to attend school until the year they turn 6, Primary One (P1). Which is equivalent to First Grade. But I'm not sure who is really waiting that long. Because everybody I've met here is quick to put their kids into some sort of school/play school usually starting at 18 months or so.

There are 3 years of Kindergarten. K1 (the year kids turn 3), K2 (the year kids turn 4), K3 (the year kids turn 5). Intake is based on the calendar year of birth. Like all of G's class was born in 2006. All of D's class was born in 2007.
K1 and K2 are half day (3 hours) and K3 is full day (5hours).
So G was dropped into K1 (she had turned 3 in the year the school year began) and D was put into a play group 5x a week (2 hours).

We were fortunate to enter into an awesome kindergarten that offers a bilingual program (English and Mandarin Chinese) and the kids are now in the midst of 3 years of Chinese and English learning. Perfect.

So we breathed a sigh of relief and started nosing around for Primary schools. I had quickly picked up on the fact that we were behind the times and we NEEDED to get our butts on some lists!

We live on Lantau Island. It's like the suburbs of Hong Kong. There are not too many options on Lantau as far as primary schools go.

There's the International School which seems to be "the" school. For no other reason than it's close? I can't figure out why it's so great. The facilities look dingy. The kids learn Chinese the same amount kids in the USA learn Spanish: only just enough to appear smarter than the help. It's really taboo to talk about it around here. But for real: it costs too much money and I don't see the bang for the buck. I did not move half way around the world to send my kids to school with a bunch of rich white kids. I could have done that for much cheaper and with not nearly as much stress at home. Right? And aside from that it's the school with newborns on the wait list. Next to impossible to get a place if you move to Hong Kong with "older" kids. Unless your company buys you a spot... but that's another story.

There's the English (British) school which is a gorgeous facility. But in a style sort of similar to bussing kids from the city to the "better" schools in the burbs like they do in the USA sometimes, they engage in the use of a lottery for places. So needless to say--it's a total lottery and the wait list for the younger kids has hundreds of kids on it. And many of the places are given to kids who are bussed in from all over Hong Kong. And again--minimal Chinese language. No one is getting fluency in Chinese by going to school there. Just as with all schools it is possible to buy a spot there. It only costs about $50,000usd. !!

There's the rural International school. It's interesting. The facility is very indoor-outdoor. It actually has a very good reputation as far as the curriculum and school spirit goes. But again, no Chinese language (or very little). I visited once. It didn't do it for me. Although I know plenty of families with kids there who love it.

And that's it.

All the other schools are in the city which either takes about an hour by bus or by a ferry plus a bus ride. Once you get outside Lantau your options increase tenfold. Every country you can think of operates and International School here. But any school with the word "International" in the name is most likely out of our budget. I'm talking nearly $20,000usd a year. And the wait lists are outrageous!

Of course there are local schools. The curriculum in local schools in entirely Cantonese Chinese which is what is spoken in Hong Kong. It's a whole different dialect than Mandarin Chinese. And though B and I feel that any foreign language is more useful than no foreign language at all, the curriculum is strict local style. Memorizing and rote learning with no room for creativity and not much assistance provided for non-Chinese speaking kids. We COULD send G to a local school (we actually applied to one) but we didn't think it would be socially in her best interest. And I was afraid her English grammar (written) would suffer.

So then we stumbled on what they call DSS schools. These local schools are given a "direct subsidy" from the government but they have a lot of freedom to tweak the curriculum and make it more western. They attempt to take the good in the local schools and combine it with the good in Western schools. It is like what we would call a charter school in the USA. And as an added bonus, a hand full of these schools use English as their medium of instruction. Sounds perfect! So that is what we focused on. Some of the DSS schools are just as expensive as an international school. Some of them are still operating as very local style schools with zero English on their websites. Some are way too far away. It was still proving to be not too wide a selection. But we found 2 we really really liked. That we can afford. That aren't too far away. That focus on language skills and the arts (and of course math because after all we are in Asia!) So we put all of our eggs into these 2 baskets.

And it's a level playing field: no way to buy your kid in and no wait list. They interview the kids. They interview the parents. The want letters of recommendation from their kindergarten teachers and they want to see their report cards from kindergarten. In the interviews the kids are asked to read English. Identify Chinese characters. Spell words. Write their names. Draw a picture based on a story that is read to them. They make them play games or do tasks in a group to assess how they interact with the other kids and how well they listen to what the teacher has told them to do. And I don't know this because I was informed as to what would happen--I know what G has told me. Parents are not a part of the interview process they do with the kids. These schools are hand picking who they want. And lucky for us not too many white people seem to apply to these schools so maybe we are a sought after demographic? Who knows. All I know is that for both of the schools we pursued, over 5,000 kids applied. Both schools offer about 150 places. Odds are not good for these kids!

The school G has already been accepted into is called PLK Camoes Tan Siu Lin. You can google it. They have a beautiful website. The even have an iPhone app for their school. As a non native Chinese speaker we applied for the English and French stream. So G will learn English and French language and grammar in the same intensity. She will attain fluency in French. Mandarin Chinese will be her third language and they say by P6 the kids can speak like a third grader. I consider third graders to be fluent... So I am hopeful she will have an excellent grasp and useful knowledge of reading and writing Chinese. The people I've had contact with at this school have been lovely. Very welcoming and friendly and G has enjoyed her time there too. It's all good.

The other school is St. Margaret's. We should hear back from them in the next two weeks and if she is offered a spot there I think we'll end up taking it. At St. Margaret's, G will learn English and Mandarin in the same intensity. In P1 and P2 she'll have multi lingual exposure in French, German, Japanese, and Spanish and in P3 she will have the opportunity to choose 2 more foreign languages from those to study intensely for the remainder of her time there. This school engages in a big foreign exchange program so there are constantly kids from all over the world (in the older classes) and if we stay here then G will have the opportunity to study abroad at a pretty young age. Very cool. The other thing we like is that each student must learn to play an instrument. In P1 and P2 they are taught a little of all the instruments and then in P3 they choose the one they want to really pursue. The school also has a fantastic dance team and G LOVES to dance so we know that would be great for her as well. This school has been just friendly enough but it's been all business dealing with them. Not as much of a warm fuzzy but they are a very highly esteemed school around here. They don't have to be warm and fuzzy to be desirable with all they offer! This kids are always smiling and seem happy when we've been at the school so I am confident it's not a bad learning environment once you're on the inside.

Over all we can relax--she's got a spot! But it will be interesting to see if she makes the cut at St. Margaret's. And really it will be interesting to just see how the whole things shakes out.

My kids love to have the occasional bag of microwave popcorn. We use it as a tool for our bribery so they really don't get it too often and usually it is given as a reward. I popped a bag of it a few days ago and was splitting it into bowls for serving and decided to make M her own bowl so we wouldn't eat so much of it.

Usually M doesn't eat here at our house. When we eat something she may have never tried before (like fish tacos, B's baked salmon, guacamole, lasagna) I always insist she try a serving. Which is funny. In a good way.

Anyway. I set her bowl on the kitchen counter and told her that it was all hers. She was really excited about it, more so than I expected. I had shared popcorn with her a few times before so she knew she liked it but had never said it out loud to me. Then she asked at what grocery I bought it and if it was expensive because she would love to get some to send home to The Philippines. Turns out they don't have such a thing as microwave popcorn in The Philippines. They have to actually buy kernals and pop them stove top 1982-style. Can you imagine? I told her that it was for the betterment of their waist lines. Ready made food hasn't really been so good for us big fat Americans. She really got a kick out of that. I think she is starting to get my sarcasm.

I wrapped her a box of popcorn as part of her Christmas present.

If anyone would like to ship us over a Costco box of Pop Secret that would be great.

Well if you thought yesterday's post was bad, I have another one for you.

B and I went Christmas shopping today.

I was trying on some flats at the Hush Puppies shoe store. Just the fact that there's a Hush Puppies store is funny to me. But the shoes are actually really cute and advertised as comfortable. For those of you who know me well--comfort comes before cute for these feet of mine. They aren't pretty and I know it.

As the sales girl was helping me slip into a pair of shoes she paused briefly and touched my bunion gently and said "oh you have... that."

Why yes I do. Thank you so much for pointing that out.

Cut to later this afternoon. The community center by our house does one hour massages every Saturday for just $15 usd. So as you can imagine, I do this whenever I have time. It's slightly different than a massage like you are thinking--you stay clothed and they cover you with a big towel and rub you through the towel. Easy. No oily mess, no nakedness. All in all it's a good deal and worth every penny of $15.

Today was a new girl. When she got to my left foot she actually lifted up my foot and peeled the towel back to assess the situation and see this bunion up close and personal.

Would it be considered cosmetic surgery to have bunion surgery on a bunion that doesn't even hurt?

I went shopping at the mall today. I need a dress for a Christmas party. I think I have decided to just wear something I already have though because I do not want a repeat of today.

Store number 1:

I find a dress. I decide the medium looks too big and the small looks about right. I hand the small to the girl who was helping me to put it in the dressing room. She says

"Oh that one is nice. ---Ah, this size small. I get you the medium. Medium will be more better for you than the small."

Alrighty then.
For the record, the medium was too big. And I let her know.


Store number 2:

Jeans! As if that isn't bad enough they aren't sized in American sizes so I have no idea what size to grab. A guy comes up and asks me right away what size he can help me find.

"Uhhh I really don't know..."

He looks at me for 2 seconds and declares he thinks I am a 27. I was guessing more like a 29 so this was a good rebound from the previous store.

Together we grab a few pairs of different styles in a few different sizes and he disappeared to put them in the dressing room.

I then found another style I liked and a girl asked if she could help me find my size. I tell her I need a 27 or 28. She stopped dead in her tracks and said

"Oh this style only have small size. No big size in this style."
And she walked away.

OMG. I just googled it--a 27 is a US size 4 people! Since when is that a big size????

I had a conversation a few days ago that I still can't get out of my mind.

I was talking with an acquaintance of mine, who is a local Hong Konger born and raised, and after a break in conversation she exclaimed

"Oh! I know what I need to ask you! Can you share with me a good recipe for bacon pie? I had it at a buffet last week and thought it was wonderful. I had never seen it before. But my friend told me it was normal American Thanksgiving food."

"...uh bacon pie? Like a quiche maybe?"

"Oh sorry sorry sorry. Not bacon.
(She closed her eyes and thought. Hard.)
Pecan? With a p? Pecan? You know pecan pie?"

"Yes. Pecan. With a p. I know pecan pie."

I never knew bacon and pecan sounded basically like the same word. Try it.


In other news school is going well for me. My first assignment is due later this week. I finished it already and my brain hurts less every day. I am finding the readings to be very interesting and to this point it is taking exactly as much time to study as I thought/hoped it would.

Sorry I stink at keeping the blog current.

Well, it's official. I have been accepted into a graduate program at Hong Kong University. I am not officially enrolled yet but all the paperwork should be complete by the end of next week. I have to go to an orientation this Saturday and then to an introduction on next Monday.

I will be working toward a Masters degree in "Information Studies" which is a newfangled title for what used to simply be called Library Science. My goal is ultimately to be a librarian in a university setting or maybe work as a reference librarian in a public library.

This program I'll be doing is part time and semi-distance. I think I should only have to physically go to class a few times a month. It should take about 4 years to finish the Masters at the slow pace that they set. It includes a work study and all sorts of fun stuff.

So this is kind of a big deal.
It seals the deal that I will not be going back to flight attending. My logical and rational side knows this is for the best but my heart can't help but to be a little sad. I honestly always thought I would go back. But I left on a high note. Those glory days could never be re-lived.

It also means that we are now more committed to staying in Hong Kong for longer than we had initially planned. I think when we came here we thought we'd spend about 3 years or so. But we are really enjoying it very much. It's a great place for our young kids and we are having a blast. So we are more than ok with the idea of staying longer than we originally thought we would.

I am very excited to take on this challenge! Getting a masters degree in library science has been something I have wanted to do for a long time. I have looked into it in every single city we have lived in and in every city we ever thought we would move to. It was always too expensive, seemed too time consuming, too in the way of my babies or time with my husband.

So now it seems to be the right time. The program the cheapest one I have ever seen, it is part time so hopefully it won't be all-consuming. My kids are in school 3 hours a day, my husband is not commuting and is around a lot these days, and I have M to look after my house. So it's now or never.

I will keep you all posted.

I mentioned a while back that B was going to get back into home brewing beer here in HK. He has had some pretty good luck making some yummy beers over the last few months. It has been comical--home brewing is very uncommon over here. It actually only became legal in 2000 I think. So he can't find any supplies (ingredients or equipment) over here and has had to ship a bunch of stuff in from the USA.

There is one small craft brewery run by some British guys located fairly close to us so he has exchanged some info with them and that has been fun for him. This micro brew is on tap at a few pubs here in Hong Kong so last week when making plans to go out to dinner in the city on HK Island with a few other couples, B took charge and made the plans to go check out one of these pubs. We were not disappointed with this place and I think it has quickly become a favorite of B's (and everyone else who has been there too).

Last night we were meeting some people out for dinner on the Island at an Indian place that happened to be located pretty close to this new favorite pub so of course we had to go there first. We grabbed seats at the bar and, since it was early in the evening, it was pretty quiet in there and the bartenders were stocking some newly arrived bottles of beer.

We got talking with one of the bartenders about beer, life in Hong Kong (he's been here 15 years), having babies (his wife is pregnant with their first child) and all the things you generally chat with a bartender about. The conversation quickly turned into a discussion about food quality (or lack there of) around here and how what we miss the very most from home is fresh food with known (local & clean) origins. I should mention this guy was Nepalese.

I love stumbling into these types of conversations. One of the things I love most is the cultural studies I get completely by chance and mostly when I least expect it. Isn't it funny that people from COMPLETELY different walks of life can have the same impressions of a foreign city and have the same ideas about things like food?

Well... not exactly the same ideas....

As the conversation progressed he told us that he grew up on a farm in Nepal about a 10 hour bus ride from the airport. There they cultivated everything and only had to buy salt and oil. So that's a bit (I mean A LOT) more rural than I have ever lived. Fascinating. He mentioned that they kept chickens, dog, goats... and then I completely lost track of the 5 other animals he so casually listed. Dogs. Such a normalcy. Such a non-topic that it's second on his list after chicken?

Sometimes the world gets really small for me. I can look at my wall on facebook at any given time and see my old airline friends posting from cities and countries around the world. I see comments from my new friends here in Hong Kong who are from all over the world. I can see people who don't know each other at all posting from the same cities because they randomly happen to be on vacation to the same place at the same time.

And then I have a tiny conversation like this with somebody and it blows the whole world wide open and makes it gets big again.

I wish I had time to write more better. But I am way too busy learning stuff about people.