Sorry I've missed a few days! Kids have been sickly and on top of that we were super busy attempting to get ourselves more settled in while B was home last week/weekend.

Our Ikea furniture purchases will get delivered tomorrow. And the boxes will sit in a pile until B gets home this weekend to assemble all of it. Partly because we are too cheap to pay for their assembly service and mostly because we are too perfectionist and don't trust anyone else to put together our crap furniture.

We are still not over the lack of instant gratification around here. In the USA it's all buy now- pay later, same day delivery, put in in the bed of your truck and take it home. Here, nothing is instant unless you physically carry it yourself or it will fit in the taxi with you. But even taxis charge extra to haul your junk along with you. On the interior part of the door in the taxis, the rate schedule that's posted goes so far as to declare the fare amount to carry a pet bird or fish.

Anyway, it was a major bummer to go on a big shopping trip for pieces of furniture we truly need and head home completely empty handed knowing the stuff won't be in use for a whole week. But I am so glad we took care of it and found stuff we like. Mostly. I mean as much as anyone can "like" anything from Ikea.

Even the grocery delivery gets me. So convenient! So wonderful that they do it for free but you come home without all your pantry items. So you get home all grocery stored out and put away your produce and perishables and then a whole 24 hours later during the vague delivery window you get invaded by the stinky guy who is working so hard for his money in this heat.

Cardboard boxes are dropped inside the front door all taped up. You have to get the scissors out to open the boxes and then put away all this stuff. And then you are looking at all this cardboard box trash. It's crazy to me. The waste. The vague delivery scheduling. (But remember, everyone has a helper to receive the delivery and put the stuff away for them. So no one thinks it's weird or inconvenient unless of course like me they don't have a helper. Yet.)

Even trying to get the kids enrolled in classes around here is different. In the USA we ALWAYS signed up for stuff online. Swim lessons, classes through the parks department or whatever. Here the schedule posted on any given website is not even for the current season. There is no way to enroll online at all. And I swear maybe I have bad luck but there seems to be a waiting list for EVERYTHING. G is on a wait list for ballet and for a Mandarin Chinese play group class. And for both I have repeatedly stopped in to these places to check her status or phoned to see if she has been placed yet.

I just want to log in, send the form, get confirmation and show up on the first day. Is this so weird? I would like to remain anonymous and be a number. I was a number in college and I was a number at my airline job. And I am ok with that. I like to maintain a bit of mystery. And really I just love the internet and the magic it can do. But it's not magic here on the internet. B and I agree that the functionality of websites and the internet are way behind US standards. You would think with the language barriers it would be easier for everyone to communicate electronically. But no. The phone. My arch nemesis.

I haven't even attempted swim lessons registration yet. You actually have to take the kids in for a swimming assessment so that they can be placed in (or wait listed for) the correct class. It totally makes sense. Everyone is coming from different places so everyone would have different swim lesson experience... G has taken seasons and seasons of swim lessons but I still think she would go in the beginners category for her age group: one of the descriptions for a 4 year old class talks about stroke swimming for 5 meters. I have never seen her do close to that. But apparently there are 4 year olds than can? Anyway, that whole thing is going to have to wait!

Check this video out:
http://www.timessquare.com.hk/timessquareataglance/
It gives a great time lapse day in the life of the city and I really like watching it.