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.

Did you know that if you are at a restaurant here in Hong Kong and order "nachos" you will get pretty much what you expect. Except they use generic Doritos as the chips. Isn't that weird? At first I thought it was a one time deal but we have confirmed with several other people that the standard base for nachos in Hong Kong is generic nacho cheese flavored Doritos.

Last night we went out to dinner with a few friends. The waitress (who was not Chinese) spoke with a sort of Indian British accent. She was reciting the specials to us and mentioned "pan fried groupa fish bla bla bla" and I was like oh grouper--that sounds good, man this girl is kind of hard to understand. I got the fish. It was delicious. As we were eating I noticed the specials were written on a chalk board. It said "pan fried groupa". Groupa? Is that the same as grouper? Who knows. It seemed about the same. I mentioned it to the people we were with and they confirmed that they had seen this "groupa" before and wondered if it was the phonetic spelling of how a British person would say grouper. I think it is. I googled groupa and couldn't find anything. It just asked me if I meant grouper.

Recently a new library opened close to our house. B and I went to check it out last week while the kids were at school. The public libraries here pretty much look exactly like a library in the USA. I am kind of a library junkie so I like to pop in and check them out because I am curious. I get the impression that it's about a 60/40 split with 60% Chinese books and 40% English. The Chinese books are arranged separately from the English books but they are still shelved Dewey decimal style. But it's a little different here because libraries are NOT kid friendly.

At the old library location where we went to apply for our library cards there was no separate kids area and while I was dealing with the beaurocracy filling out the paperwork, B took the kids back to the kids corner to read them a story. When he began to read out loud he was immediately shushed. Um, our kids are 2 and 4, lady, they can't read to themselves. We're just trying to keep them quiet and contained in the "kid's corner". Way to make it seem like they aren't welcome here. Thanks for scaring them into thinking the library sucks.

I digress.

This new library is really beautiful. It's in a much better location for us too. We were delighted to see a huge separate colorful children's area right by the entrance on the ground floor. Yay! So we immediately headed in there to check it out and see if they had story time in English and what was in there for the kids to do. No English story time. Only Cantonese. I am considering begging them to let me spearhead an English story time. There were internet gaming stations and art on the walls and cute colorful benches and little kid tables. It was adorable.

Then we took notice of the built in signs hanging everywhere. The signs said things like "No playing." and "No talking out loud." It was a totally separate area! Why the harsh phrasing? Somewhere the whole purpose of a library has been lost in translation I think. Everything is always SO literal around here. Learning is serious business I guess. I can't wait to take my kids and see if we get shushed in a room that looks like it should be so much fun. My kids are going to be so confused. It should be entertaining if I can refrain from being annoyed.

Both of my kids have had a lingering hacking cough. For like a month. After hearing people talking about mono or walking pneumonia or worse, I finally took them to the doctor today. It was the first doctor visit since we've been here.

I think it's both lucky and miraculous that my kids can go 5 plus months without a doctor visit.

The doctor's office is located about an 8 minute walk from my house. It's 5 shops further away than G's dance school.

We have heard nothing but great things about our insurance and the group of doctors that is available to us here in Hong Kong. Even with high expectations, I was still impressed.

My kids were not diagnosed with anything at all really. Thankfully. Just a lingering cough. We were given a few prescriptions and if they aren't better within the week we will go back. The doctor's office actually has the pharmacy right in it. The doctor enters the Rx order into the computer in the examination room and by the time you leave to head back to the waiting room your drugs are ready and waiting. How convenient is that?

I brought D this morning and then brought G back this afternoon. For 2 separate visits and 2 prescriptions for each kid I paid less than $5usd TOTAL. $2.30usd per child. It's cheaper to get prescription drugs and see the doctor than to go buy a bottle of Robitussin. Unreal.

I am still recovering from my first trip to Shenzhen, China a few days ago. It was my first time to cross the border into China and my first time to hang with The Professional Shoppers (other wives). I had a great time and I am looking forward to going back. Even though the shopping is GREAT and cheap, it's still a fairly expensive endeavor so I think it will be something I do every couple of months. Some of these people go a few times a month! I would be exhausted! And broke...

A few weeks ago I had to go to apply for a China visa. Which relatively speaking, is like going to the DMV. For your first visa, they will only give you a two entry visa. I have been told that if you use those 2 entries in a short time they are more likely to issue you the 6 month unlimited entry when you go to re-apply. I am hoping that works out! Once you factor in the cost of the visa, the cost of transportation, and the cost of the shopping it can start to add up. But if you have realistic expectations and you get good deals then it's totally worth it.

Shenzhen... how do I explain it? Well first of all, it's a city. I went to a single mall in this city that is directly outside the train station and customs and immigration. Like, we got off the train, went through customs and immigration, and then went to the ATM to get China money (RMB it's called). We walked out of the doors, crossed a little bike path/street and went up an escalator into the mall. I was told that this mall is kind of the obvious place to go and it has a bit of everything offered inside.

You could also head to the art district, the home goods district, the antiques district, or one of the other malls. It could take years of going there regularly to see it all. We spent 9 or so hours at this one mall and by the end of the day I still wasn't able to keep track of what floor we were on. The mall had 5 floors. I think.

What did I buy you ask? I got two handbags. One is a knock off, one is by a Chinese designer. And I got 3 dresses and a shirt for D. All of them with intact designer labels. Are they real? Are they fake? Who knows. I paid TJ Maxx prices for everything.

So, more about this mall... Where do I begin? Take your idea of a Western mall in middle America and erase it completely from your mind. The aisles are narrow. The ceilings are low. The stores are tiny. The biggest stores were maybe 20 feet by 20 feet. The small stores are the size of a walk in closet. 5 floors FULL of tiny little stores. And then instead of Macy's or JC Penney as the "anchor" stores, there are huge open areas with a million (ok hundreds) of vendors all selling the same things. There was a huge jewelry area. Actually there were 2 because there was one on the 2nd floor and another one on the 3rd floor. And then there is an even huger area of fabric vendors and tailors. So you can go get whatever you want tailor made with whatever fabric you want. Also the shop keepers sit on little stools outside their stores and talk to you (shout and touch you) to try to get you to come in and shop. While they smoke cigarettes and simultaneously eat noodle bowls with chop sticks. It's a smoking mall.

When you go to shop for the handbags and shoes they have all these illegal knock offs on the shelves. They can only display these knock offs because they are the "obvious" copies. My untrained eye has no idea what these obvious signs are... If you want the really good knock offs you have to weasel yourself an invitation to the "warehouse". Which is either in a totally different location (like a 10 minute walk down the street up in an apartment building) or behind a secret hidden door at the back of the store (that appears to sell bedding).

Some of the things purchased by the other people I went with:
custom throw pillows and matching throw blanket
entire set of custom made curtains and custom bedding (including sheets and the whole deal)
barstools re-upholstered (she brought the seats)
a huge framed print
many many pairs of shoes and even more handbags
clothing was brought up to be altered
a few pieces of custom clothing were commissioned

Most of the custom stuff will be ready in a week or two so this is the type of stuff that necessitates repeated trips up there.

For my first trip I just wanted to observe this interaction and learn the ropes of how to get things made. I stuck to shopping at the tiny little stores full of ready made clothing. Where everything has designer labels. It's like being at a really high end TJ Maxx or Nordstrom Rack. But NOTHING has prices. You have to bargain for everything. And you have to try things on over your clothes in the middle of the store.

I think living over here is totally going to warp me as a shopper.

I don't want to let too much time pass between my posts but there is nothing too exciting to write about...

The kids did well at soccer. They actually both loved it and they are both asking when they can go back so that is wonderful.

Today D brought homework home for the first time. Two Chinese characters, the words for "people" and "big" and the letter S is what he's working on this weekend. And he can confidently count to 6 or 10 in Chinese depending on his mood. His teacher phoned me today to tell me he got hit (or hit himself? Her English isn't perfect so I really don't know what happened.) and to expect him to have a little bit of a black eye but not to worry he's happy and singing and he's fine. His class is 9 or 10 boys and one poor sweet little girl. Can you imagine those poor teachers with all those little boys? Insanity.

There's a tropical storm happening here right now so we have had lots of heavy rain and wind and cloudy dreary skies. The best part is that it cooled the air and the temps have been a lot more comfortable. Makes me excited for winter. Mind you, winter here is Florida mild. Well I guess it feels colder than that because it's so damp... but it doesn't get too cold. I am looking forward to it!

I also got the order form for winter school uniforms today which is another reason I have winter on the brain. But it's still a ways out as the kids don't change to winter uniforms until November 15.

Looks like a soggy weekend ahead...

Met up with a friend of mine for a quick afternoon of looking around in the garment district or fashion district of Hong Kong. It is so interesting and really overwhelming! I am not a crafty person AT ALL and I get inspired and want to make shit when I walk around there. I cannot imagine how it must be for someone who is into crafting, sewing, jewelry making or whatever. Like my friend. She was really working hard trying to control her ADD and attempt to focus on what she went there for.

Whole stores with nothing but buttons. Entire stores with nothing but zippers. Whole stores with nothing but ribbon. Whole stores with nothing but beads. There are actually streets of the beads stores. Street after street of reams of every type of fabric imaginable. There was a store today with aisles full of different types of elastic. Aisles and aisles of lace. Stores with the materials and hardware for jewelry making. And one of my favorites are the stores with the costume type stuff like endless rolls of feather boa in every color and beaded/crystal patches (for prom dresses?) up to the size of a dinner plate.

I love Sham Shui Po.

And I love that I can get my kids ready for school, drop my kids off at their bus, go catch a bus of my own and then be home in time for dinner and all the while M has cleaned up the lunch mayhem that we left behind and started yet another load of laundry. And she's here to pick up the kids from the bus and keep an eye on them so I can have an extra hour out.

It takes roughly 50 minutes to get to your destination around here, no matter where you're going. Or if you time the bus/ferry wrong call it 70 minutes. And that is for anywhere normal that you'd need to go. If you are really branching out to see something, say on the other side of any given island, you can count on 2 hours in transit.

So that 3 hours my kids are in school is all well and good if I am staying local around my neighborhood here. But if I need (or want) to go to the city I would not have time to accomplish much before having to turn around and head back to meet the bus. I am very thankful for M!

My kids have their first day of soccer tomorrow. Oops I mean football. They both are way excited which makes me excited. Thankfully they are in different lessons (or on different teams--I am not sure of the terminology at this point but they don't have games for the little kids, just practices...). And thankfully their practices/lessons are at the same place during pretty much the same time footprint. Very convenient! If we don't melt or have a heat stroke it should be fun times.

It's official--my little D has been in K1 for less than 2 full weeks and he can confidently count to 10 in Mandarin. I am so proud of him!

We were reading books before bedtime last night and he was counting the stars in the illustration in the book aloud in English. I asked him if he could do it in Chinese and he got all shy and said he couldn't do it even though he counts it with G sometimes. I knew he could do at least to 3 or 5.

And then he made some comment about how he couldn't do it because only G knows how to count in Chinese. !!! I felt so bad for that little squirt. He's got a sister who, like her daddy, seems to be effortlessly good at stuff right away. He knows he doesn't know as much as she does so he was really sheepish about trying. I didn't pressure him but I gave him a big pep talk about it and let it go.

So tonight, we were looking at the exact same picture as last night and I asked if he wanted to try the counting in Chinese. He jumped right into it and flawlessly counted to 10 in his most commanding little voice. He owned it! I asked him to do it again and he got a little out of order between 7 and 10. What a hoot! He makes me laugh. I told him I was so proud of him and I could tell he was really proud of himself.

I got a phone call from his Mandarin speaking teacher today because somehow he had misplaced his bus id. She was just calling to tell me it was at school and they had found it, not to worry. She then told me that D is very good at school now (he cried a few times in the first few days) and that he is happy and seems to enjoy being there. That was great to hear. She is intimidating. She is a teeny tiny little Chinese girl with a BOOMING very in-charge voice. Which is why, I am pretty sure, D used his commanding little voice to count those numbers out loud.

Today after we sent the kids off on the school bus, B and I headed to Kowloon to buy a giant wok for his mom. We found it for $8usd. How cool is that? And even cooler, this was a very productive day!

We have decided that shopping is a totally different sport over here. Especially since we are so new I think. You always have your list of things you'd like to accomplish for the day when you are out and about, but in addition to that we have developed a Master List.

Like today, the errand was specifically to go buy a wok for my mother in law so B can take it home to her when he goes to the USA later this week. Mission accomplished.

But that Master List is tricky. It has the stuff on it that we would really like to buy or places we'd like to check out in the city but we haven't found where to buy it or we're never in the neighborhood with enough time to spare.

Today we crossed three things off the Master List which is huge. First we walked by a school that we are considering for our kids after next year. Looked like a nice building in a nice area. Great information.

Second, we have had our eyes peeled for a globe that wasn't too expensive and had Chinese as well as English--found it today! Kids love it. G was spinning it very gently between the USA and Hong Kong just checking it out and then she said "Daddy, where is Japanesa?" I had to exit the room in a hurry because I sure didn't want her to see me laughing at her but man it struck me as so funny. B said "You mean Japan?" And she stood her ground with "No I want to know about Japaneeeeza. Where is Japaneeeeeza?" We got that all cleared up. I think this globe is going to spark some pretty amazing conversation around here. And right before bed tonight I asked her to find Hong Kong on it. She spun by herself to Asia and pointed to Macau which is just west of Hong Kong. She was SO close--check google maps.

Third, we have been on the lookout for chalkboard paint. B swears he saw it right when we first moved here but since that day when he should have bought it, we've never seen it again. We were walking on the opposite side of the street today from a big paint store. And I just knew with the size of that store they had to have it. And they did. The had the magnet paint and glow in the dark paint and every kind of fun paint in the world. The guy working there had to make two different phone calls to see how much he should charge. I don't think they sell much chalkboard paint around here.

I mentioned a few days ago that I am beginning to be able to hear Cantonese a lot better with help from my pilates/yoga instructor. Today we were on the MTR (subway train) and I was noticing I could her the names of the stops a lot better during the Chinese portion of the recorded announcement. (There's an English announcement following the Chinese.) And then a bit later the recording said to exit from the "left side" of the train and I UNDERSTOOD IT. B happened to be looking at me right when I realized that OMG I just understood that announcement when the lady said "left side" because I hear "jaw bean" in my yoga class. I think I made a really amazed face--and I was pretty excited about it.

It's fun to get back in the habit of writing something every day on the blog. I hate that I let the summer get away from me with out keeping you all in the loop.

M came to work for us the first week of July and it just seemed like those first few nights when I wanted to write something, all my thoughts and all my stories were centered around having her here in the house with us. I just found it impossible to put my many thoughts into coherent sentences that could adequately explain how things were around here. I am not a good enough writer...

I know you are all curious about what exactly it means that we have a domestic helper and what she is doing for us. Keep in mind the cultural gap is ginormous and please don't think I sit around eating bon bons all day. I definitely do get to sit down more often--that much is true! But really life is just so much busier over here. And not that it makes any difference to you but, for real, most everybody over here has a helper. Especially people with young kids. On a scale of 1-10 (1 being she's got it super easy and 10 meaning she's treated like a slave) our lucky M ranks about a 1.5.

M arrives at about 9am. My kids get up at 6:45 or 7am. Since they have afternoon Kindy we have the luxury of a leisurely morning and we cook a hot breakfast most every day. When we finish breakfast, I make sure the table is cleared and cleaned so I don't have to look at the mess on the table and that's it. M does all the dishes (we do not have a dishwasher) and finishes cleaning the kitchen when she gets here.

She does most of the normal household chores like putting away the clothes that were hung to dry from the previous day, straightening the kids rooms, laundry. I make my bed every morning and she remakes it because I guess I don't do a good enough job. ??? Depending on what we've got going on, she may watch the kids while I go to yoga if B isn't here or she may watch D if I take G to ballet and he doesn't want to go. If we all leave the house as a family she will deep clean something like the bathroom or the floors or she'll change sheets on our beds.

I do not direct her too much. She has a little routine for cleaning and I am generally happy with how she does things and the amount she gets done. She's a hard worker. But some people do say they have to tell their helper exactly what to do all the time. That would make me crazy! I love that she just does stuff. I would feel like a major bossy lazy lady if I was demanding her to do things all the time.

I usually let her prepare (and clean up) lunch and while she is doing that I spend time with the kids doing arts and crafts or, now that school is back in, helping them with homework.

The kids get picked up by the bus at 12:45 for school. It is AWESOME to have an extra set of hands to help me get them dressed and ready when B is gone! M takes a long lunch while the kids are at school. I tell her she doesn't need to be back until 4pm but she always gets back around 3:30.

Sometimes she cooks dinner, sometimes we cook. It depends on what we're having and how much I feel like cooking. B and I like to cook so a lot of the time we want to do it. If I want her to cook, our routine is that I set out the recipe for her and tell her what time I want it to be done. When dinner is done she cleans up the kitchen and does dishes while we bathe the kids.

While we read bedtime stories she tidies the bathroom.

She leaves between 7 and 8pm.

Jealous? I know. That's why I have a hard time writing about it. But I want to lay it all out there. It's a fine line between sharing the awesomeness without making it sound like I am bragging. So I hope that it never comes across that way.

I want to write more about what M had to deal with while working for her previous employer here in Hong Kong... but it's long. If our house is a 1.5 on the scale of ethical treatment I mentioned above, the house she used to work in was a 9.5. This is a great deal for M. I will write more about it from her perspective soon.

B and I went to the mall today for 2 hours while the kids were at school. That alone is blog worthy and amazing. We have both kids in school half the day. I am not over it.

You know how in China there's that stereotype about no respect for personal space? It's totally true and never more apparent than when you are at the mall. Looking at the size S on a rack in a store? It's only 12 inches wide but so are 3 other people.

Trying to get on the escalator? So are 10 other people so get in line. Never in my life did I think I would come to see waiting in line to get on an escalator a normal event.

Trying to get into the mall? Well so are a bunch of other people, not to mention the people who are trying to come out. So deal with it. And don't expect any body to hold the door for you.

Did I ever tell you the story about the time I took my kids to McDonald's when I opened the door and held it open FOR MY KIDS and a grown man totally about knocked them over as he walked through the door as I held it open FOR MY KIDS. And then he proceeded to get in line in front of me! I was so annoyed! But karma is awesome--a new line got opened and he was .001 seconds too late because Flo Jo here was on it. And I totally gave him the stink eye as I flew by and threw my purse into his elbow (which honestly was an accident but I let him think it was on purpose). Ha!

There was a point today--we were in the Adidas store with 300 other people--when I said to B "Is it just me or is this store full of exceptional people who are purposefully trying to get in our space?" He just replied "I'm out" and headed to the door. We were cracking up.

I want to buy a hair straightener. I have never owned one so I am just seeing what brands I can find and getting some prices. We went to Fortress today which is a Best Buy-type place to see what they had. The sales guy asked if we had any questions and saw that I was looking at the flat irons. He was very helpful and directed me to some that I hadn't noticed further down the aisle. He picked up a box that contained a straightener that came with multiple accessories like a curling iron, crimper, etc. I barely looked at it--not what I want. But the conversation was THE BEST.

Him:"Here is one with many accessory. You get curl iron (which sounded something like kew el iwo) and uh... this to do what picture on box show." Which was crimp.
Me: "Oh wow you never know when you might need a crimper." Then I realized I was about to talk too much so I switched gears. "No need for accessories, only straightener."

But he was intrigued.

Him: "Um what word you say for this style of hair in English?"
Me: "It's called crimping. Uhhh... to crimp is the verb." (I paused to make sure this is the type of information he wanted and clearly it was.)
Him: "Cwimp?"
Me: "Yes, crimp."
Him: (thinks about that damn dreaded r really hard) "Crimp. Crimp."
So I continued "Yes. Crimp. You say her hair (girl on the box) is crimped. This tool (pictured on the box) is called a crimper. Like C R I M P. Crimp."

He then took his index finger and wrote imaginary letters on the box to spell it out in English in his mind which must be a mental tool they learn in school because I've seen that often.

B laughed and told the guy he picked the right person and if he had any English questions he should ask me. We all laughed. It was funny.

But I think I made that guy's day. Talk about a near useless word in English--he's totally going to be the first of his friends to be able to throw that one around.

D did great getting on the bus today and was in a fantastic mood when he got home. Whew! What a relief that is. And I had 3 whole hours all to myself today. How weird. In a good way.

G and I sat down this morning to take a look at her first bit of homework for the year. It was the Chinese workbook. It opens backwards. I knew this. But I still opened it my way first anyway and I opened it to the last page. So they seriously do read backwards. Or we read backwards, however you want to look at it. So we talked about that for a minute--the idea that Chinese books open backwards is not insignificant!

And then I looked at the pages she was to complete in the workbook. I was underwhelmed. The page was a grid of squares (their equivalent to that wide lined paper that a grade schooler would use to write sentences) so she can begin to practice character writing. In the example square was a dash centered in the middle of the box. - Just like that. That was it? Seemed a bit juvenile... but then I decided to be grateful it was simple! G tends to use Chinese words when she does her Chinese homework. She was counting and saying numbers--I know that much by now. And a few minutes later it dawned on me!

- is the number 1 in Chinese.

Oh my goodness--it's not juvenile, it just happens to be a very simple Chinese character and a very good place to start.

When she got home this afternoon I checked out her assignment that we'll do in the morning. It's the English numbers workbook. Tomorrow morning we practice writing 1.

This is going to be a neat year! I am so interested to see how she does!

On Saturday, D asked if he could go to school. He was bummed when I told him no. I was excited he asked. On Sunday he asked again. I briefly explained what "weekend" meant and told him he'd go tomorrow. Today he got ready willingly and was eager to get out the door. And then he cried when we got there. Poor little man. He loves it, I know he does. He just got overwhelmed.

Tomorrow will be his first day to ride the bus. G started the bus last Friday since she's K2 and rode it last year. It's old hat to her. I am keeping my fingers crossed that he willingly gets on that bus tomorrow. We shall see.

For the past 2 months I have been doing a yoga/pilates class twice a week. The same instructor teaches the pilates on Mondays and the yoga on Thursdays. I am the only native English speaker in the pilates class. Thankfully the yoga class has a few other Western girls now. It's such a hoot in so many ways and I love it.

First of all, I am TERRIBLE. I mean it's shameful really. I am like a board. Completely inflexible. I think at first the teacher couldn't understand that I seriously can't do some pretty normal things (like sit on my heels). And with the language barrier it was comical having her try to figure me out and me attempt to explain myself to her.

After the very first class we attempted communicating. I said "I'm kind of a mess. I had juvenile arthritis when I was young so I lost a lot of mobility. It really causes pain when I bend my left knee more than this (I show her my limit). And my right hip got dislocated when my second baby was born. I couldn't put weight on it for like 3 days. So it causes me pain when I do this (show her the bad angle). I've never been very flexible. That's why I'm here! I am excited to see if pilates can help me to improve my range of motion and I hope you can have patience with me."

She blinked twice and then did the short giggle that translated to "I'm sorry. I don't understand a single word you just said."

Damn. I hate it when that happens!

So I did the short embarrassed giggle and then said "oh... sorry... old injury, hurt long ago, long time problems" while I pointed to my left knee and then my right hip and she nodded. She got that.

I really think I lucked out--she is an amazing instructor. And the soundtrack on her iPod is something else. We jam to REO Speedwagon, The BeeGees, Avril Lavigne, local Asian pop music, Whitney Houston, Selena (the real Selena, not Gomez)... I could go on. It's the best mix tape ever.

And I am learning Cantonese. For the first month she was really good to me saying "right" and "left" and "inhale" and "exhale" and using short phrases in English to direct me. And since I'm so awful and I don't speak Cantonese she spent a lot of time physically helping me to make sure my posture was correct and all. But now I've been in there long enough that I get very little English and she will come position me if necessary. I can understand most of what she is telling us--just from the repetitive nature of it and I know what to expect. But right and left, inhale and exhale, back to center... I am picking up a ton of little phrases like that.

So if I am ever lost and can't find an English speaker--well basically I won't know how to say anything... but if they direct me to breathe deeply, sit up straight and tilt my head to the left I'd totally know what they were telling me.

I can't believe how many random emails I've gotten from people harassing me to write more on this blog. And not just from my mom either. So I'm back. I do really enjoy writing and sharing our stories here and I am not sure what exactly I've been doing all summer that has made me too busy to blog...

Now that my kids are officially back in school, and D is now going every day, I have no excuse. Technically I should have plenty of time on my hands, right?

We've had a fun summer. B has been on reserve, meaning he is on call for a few hours a day for half the month. Reserves usually only have to go fly when something crazy happens like someone calling in sick in the middle of a trip. So he really didn't have to go to work too much. I think he went twice. Like all summer. We spent a lot of time at the pool and had more fun than should be legal.

Our helper M has been with us now for about 6 weeks. It's working out very well. It is awesome actually. There was definitely a bit of a learning curve at first. I had to get used to someone folding my underwear (oh yes she does). And I think she has finally come to understand that I honestly enjoy cooking and I want to be in the kitchen doing it. I think at first she thought that I didn't think she was a good cook (--and she is a very good cook). But now she's figuring out that I'm just the weird American lady who bitches about missing Mexican food and doesn't even own an iron.

Having M has allowed me and B to go out and do things with our friends here in Hong Kong. It has been wonderful to be able to have date nights a few times a month. I was explaining to M that we appreciate her very much for everything she does for us but that getting to go out for the evening was the biggest treat. I was telling her how much it costs to hire a babysitter in the USA per hour converted to currency she knows. You should have seen her eyes! She couldn't believe it! And then to tell her that normally a babysitter literally sits with the kids and watches tv or whatever--there's no house cleaning, cooking or anything expected of a babysitter other than watching the kids and making sure the house doesn't burn down. She really couldn't believe it.

School started the middle of last week. D is now in K1 (he'll be 3 in October) and G is in K2 (she's 4.5 and would be PreK in the USA this year). So far I get a good impression from all of their teachers and both kids seem happy to be going. They get SO tired though. I wish we would have lucked out and gotten spots for the morning but I'll take what I can get. They get picked up by the bus at 12:45pm and dropped off at 4:05. Monday through Friday.

G has got a big year ahead. She will be learning to read which is super exciting (for me--I hope she is excited!). And also, of course, she will be learning more Mandarin. She will actually be learning to read and write Chinese characters which is amazing. The teachers are very cool. They know the curriculum is completely overwhelming and though we parents have all been warned to expect 20-40 minutes of homework every night, they are realistic and have told us to encourage the kids but not demand them to do it all. I am really curious to see what will be G's favorite homework to do and how she will take to all of this.

That's it in a nut shell. See you tomorrow.

We have been patiently waiting for the iPhone 4 for months and months. It has been physically painful for B to hear about his friends in the USA getting them. Hong Kong just began to sell the iPad and iPhone 4 (for pre-orders only) yesterday.

B has been stalking the Apple website for so long that he was most likely the very first person to sign up to be notified as soon as it was possible to pre-order. A few nights ago he got a text at midnight (!!!) to tell him he could pre-order the following afternoon. He was like a kid on Christmas Eve and immediately set his alarm for the designated time.

What we didn't realize at the time he pre-registered was that it would only count for one phone. We were making American assumptions that our "family" was pre-registering, not just him. But alas this was not the case. B got an email this morning telling him he could come pick up his iPhone 4 today. Today is the very first day they are available for pick up in HK.

I, however, was not on the list so mine is back ordered. What a bummer. Will we ever learn how things work around here? Honestly I don't mind being kept on my toes. Never a dull moment.

And if you are wondering, cell phone plans are way cheaper here. I think we'll be paying about half of what we paid in the USA for monthly service.