Hi everyone! It’s
Sandra this time. Hope your Christmas or
other holiday of choice was Merry, and Happy New Year to all. As my sister, Lisa, pointed out, “it isn’t a
blog with one entry – it’s a post.” And
I am now getting peer pressure from my brother who is living in London and does
his own very successful blog regularly. There's no way I am going to keep up with David, either in quality or quantity, but here we go anyway, to
officially make this a blog . . .
As I said in our last post, Christmas in Hong Kong is
all about the glitz and glitter. And I mean that is pretty much ALL it is about. I
learned when I was unsuccessfully searching for a unique creche for a gift,
Christmas in Hong Kong doesn’t necessarily come with the religion part. Not
sure why I found that surprising in a Buddhist / Taoist country. But they celebrate big, all the same.
Even my office decorations sported white
lights, multi-colored LEDs and a reindeer!
In the weeks leading up to Christmas, we hit some of the sights around town, including the
decorations and carousel sponsored by Tiffany’s.
Apparently the Tiffany's tree also serves as a popular backdrop for local amateur
models, as two groups of people showed up to take photos in front of the large
tree while we were waiting in line to do an art project.
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| This is S's effort at imitating the girl's pose. I think we will keep him in school for now . . . |
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| Here's the completed crafts . . . |
We also visited a Lego exhibit outside another mall (not really Christmas, but not something this Lego-obsessed family could miss). The crowds were crazy, but the Legos were really impressive.
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| And, yes, Hong Kong in December means the kids sometimes refuse to wear jackets, even in the evenings. It's good to be in the tropics, after Phoenix has thinned our blood! |
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| Really, S was impressed. A relatively regular wave of grumpy had just hit, but ended soon. |
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| The desserts are all made from Legos. |
We did some street shopping for Christmas presents, including fabric for S to make a baby blanket for his newest cousin, due in late June, and beads for the other kids to make necklaces for lucky recipients. The area where we were searching for the fabric market is near Mong Kok, which is said to be the most densely populated neighborhood in the world.
On our way back from shopping, we wandered through a park. I always find it amazing that you can have
total madness, people everywhere, massive congestion, all within a few feet of
an entrance to a peaceful oasis park . . .
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| Can you find the kids? |
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| The umbrellas are intentional, but my appreciation of fine art must still be lacking. |
Of course, there was the usual holiday stuff, too. The kids had their winter performance at
school, with a theme of winter light-related celebrations around the
world. Z sang “Twinkle, Twinkle,
Little Star” in Japanese, dressed in her kimono.
Q narrated much of the explanation of the five-day Indian
festival of Pancha Ganapati, as well as singing and dancing.
and S danced and sang about the Russian celebration of
Maslenitsa.
Plus we got a little Nutcracker, and I would pay money to
hear the kid with the Scottish accent explain Hanukkah again.
As an added bonus, as the parents of a tall girl, we got a
reminder that any future twirly/bendy dancing that Zora does in a kilt on a
raised stage should include wearing shorts under said kilt . . . I couldn't bring myself to add a picture.
There was also the usual decorating, gingerbread houses,
etc., with an added cross-cultural dimension that I loved:
We also learned that gingerbread houses aren't built to stand the kind of humidity we have here. Within hours of completing them, the cookie part turned gooey and the houses appeared to melt. Next year, we will surround them with bamboo scaffolding, like many of the buildings in Hong Kong.
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| The "melted" houses . . . |
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| Bamboo scaffolding. You can find it built 40 stories up from the ground or sticking out, in what appears to be a quite precarious manner, from a single flat many stories up. |
We attended the Christmas party at our complex, quite an event with carnival games, presents and, of course, Asian Santa.
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| I'm not sure what motivated the cheerleader outfit for the holiday party, but Z had enough sugar to get her holiday spirit on in a big way! |
Just before we headed back to the States for the holidays, I also had a work trip to Shanghai for a couple of days. I got to spend an evening in the street markets, and walked around downtown a bit between meetings. I learned (1) there is no such thing as pedestrian right of way in mainland China, and (2) we are spoiled because most everyone in Hong Kong knows some English. In Shanghai, I carried the hotel's business card with me, or a cheat sheet written by the concierge with the address where I was going. Otherwise, I wouldn't have gotten anywhere, including back to the airport.
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| Baby chicks, I believe. (David, do these look like the ones you ate?) A delicacy I passed up. |
In the street market, I found a dumpling place I had to try, as the line at the walk-up window was long every time I passed by. It reminded me of the Soup Nazi episode from Seinfeld, because you waited in line patiently, then turned over your $20 rmb at one window. Thank goodness I saw the person in line in front of me give a 20, because I didn't see any prices and hadn't yet ordered, so I wasn't sure what to do and I just copied him in a panic. Indeed, the woman behind me in line was yelled at because she didn't hand her money over fast enough. It turns out that you don't order, but just proceed to the next window, where they serve you whatever was ready in the next level of the steamer. I was very pleased to find they were the best steamed pork dumplings I have had! And excited to learn that I have gotten good enough with chopsticks to be able to wander the market while eating dumplings with them. I feel like a Hong Konger.
More Shanghai . . .
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| I swear, it's getting hard to tell your Communist countries from your capitalists . . . |
After that, the whole family headed back to the States, where we spent two weeks in Maryland and North Carolina with family. It was good to wander the aisles of Target, eat Wendy's, Taco Bell and spicy Mexican food, and stock up on my favorite makeup remover cloths and Zora's single-serving mac & cheese. But I realized we had left the kids a bit disoriented, when they questioned what language the people in North Carolina were speaking. Little do they know, that drawl is their heritage.
Anyway, it was great time with loads of family that we don't see nearly enough, lots of games and puzzles, some sight-seeing in D.C., and tons of laughter and competition that makes all holiday travel worthwhile. We love you all, and miss you already. Thanks to everyone who put us up, fed us, laughed with us, and dealt with the chaos that follows everywhere we go.
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| Good times with Gran |
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| Hanging with great cousins |
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| Seeing the Air and Space museum at the Smithsonian |
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| Chillin' on the front porch with the Wright brothers |
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| Visiting Lincoln |
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| The Korean War memorial, and the nearby note from someone from South Korea, led to some interesting conversation. |
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| S and Z were glad to see Arizona represented at the World War II memorial. |
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| On to the Natural History Museum at the Smithsonian |
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| At the North Carolina lake house. That's the boat house; the huge "cabin" is behind us. Thanks Granddaddy and Gabby, for the place that holds everyone who can be there, so we can make the most of our time with folks we love! |
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| With Gabby |
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And Granddaddy
Then, as we were on the plane in Chicago waiting to take off for the return to Hong Kong, a well-timed need to visit the bathroom and a cute smile earned Zora a trip to the cockpit. If she becomes a pilot, do her parents get free flights?
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Well, 2012 was a great year for us. We hope the same was true for you, and 2013 is even better. We are thinking of you, and the guestroom is open anytime!
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| Off to new adventures! |
Moving to any other country from the United States, it's natural to assume unit conversions will be needed. Inches to centimeters, pounds to kilograms, US dollars to HK dollars, and the other normal conversions, but there is one conversion not always talked about. The US person to HK person conversion. This lift says it can carry 7 persons, that is HK persons. That roughly converts to 4.16 US persons. Just enough to fit us.
One Sunday morning we ventured out to breakfast close to our flat. The area we went to has an extremely active night life (the red light district from a previous post). We found a patron who in all likelihood had a very good night, decided to grab a burger before going home, and then passed out before it arrived. While we were eating breakfast, he woke up, put his shirt on (urged to do so by management), ate, paid and then left. Maybe that's the reason behind the comfy couches in the restaurant.
Thanks for taking the time viewing the random things I found and hopefully you didn't end up like Zora when she read this post.
