Sundays

Our Sunday's we spend an hour traveling by train to our Church. We take time in the Kowloon area where we don't frequent
during the week or we travel to places on Hong Kong Island.





The Museum of Coastal Defence (spelled correctly) in Shau Kei Wan
This is quite a distance for us via public transport our second visit could be our last for the Coastal Defence unless something else brings us out that way. Fun place for the kids to walk around and they liked the computer children's area.



Elliot imitating the face of the Charter Bust


The Ferry

St John's Cathedral




Living in a large city you will find that every weekend some event is going on. Some group or cause is having a parade, display, fundraiser etc. Kowloon Park where we spend a lot of Sundays host some of these. Like the Koi contest, the YMCA event something about being a hero- it was in Cantonese so I was unsure what the campaign was all about.



The video has a lot of different stuff- some of it includes the jump rope routines at the YMCA event

outside from outypants on Vimeo.

Sai Kung

Nathan and Jason went hiking on Saturday and ended up in Sai Kung. After walking around they thought it would be a good idea for us to meet them out there. Bethany and I grabbed the kids and took the MTR to Shatin and the 299 to Sai Kung it only took about 45 minutes.


One of the most exciting things for us to do was to walk pass all the tanks holding the various sea creatures you can choose to eat. One little critter tried to escape. I can't imagine asking them to prepare the fish that was about as big as Elliot for lunch.








I wasn't sure the kids would find it all that fun, but thanks to the variety of playgrounds and the tanks they were amused.



Sai Kung has a good amount of foreigners living there. The good part about that is western style restaurants. We found Paisanos a pizza place that has 24" pizzas! We were excited just to get the 16" aside from Jason who really thought we should have got the 24" Next time.. When we asked the American owner about delivery he said he would meet us halfway. It is tempting to consider it. 

My intentions are to return and take a Sampan and eat some good sea food!

Late New Year Post

I might have posted this sooner had we did anything really exciting for CNY but I didn't feel like I could ignore posting something about the most important celebration in the Chinese Culture. So here it is.
Kung Hey Fat Choi- Xin Nin Kuai le - Canto and Mandarin greeting.


PV CNY from outypants on Vimeo.





Year of the Tiger


Chinese Lunar New Year officially began on February 14th this year.

That week it was 40's(F) with rain on and off. Our plans to see parades and visit places that were celebrating the New Year were changed by the weather.
We are Michiganders, used to temperatures in 20's and 30's and six months of winter.
However we are also used to warm cars and dry winters. This wet wintry weather with two small kids, who don't have much interest in sight seeing, changed our plans to venture out,
 We didn't even visit the Lam Tsuen festival which is in our part of Hong Kong.
 The kids did receive three Hongbao's. These are the red packets traditionally given out at New Year to children, people in service positions and we recently learned, single people. They are suppose to have two bills and the bills should not equal 40 ( 4 is an unlucky number) The number 4 sounds like the word that means death. One of our guards here at Parc Versailles who is always friendly to the kids and who possibly speaks the least amount of English, handed them packets.
There was  also a lady who was randomly handing them out on the subway, and the third packets came from Nathan's boss. They are referred to as Lai See here in Hong Kong.

 We did manage to visit a carnival here at our apartment complex that had the traditional dragon dance and there balloons and games.



The Lam Tsuen orignal wishing tree became too brittle to trust people to throw their wishes onto it. So here is preparations for the New Year festival. This includes a "fake" wishing tree that people can try to throw and catch on the branches.


OUTFITS
















DECORATIONS
and
THE HONGBAO


























Maybe next year we will visit the fireworks or parade. Brave the midnight flower market on the eve of the New Year and brave the traffic to the wishing tree festival. Then again with 40˚ weather maybe we will go to Singapore.

ONE YEAR

We have called Hong Kong home for One year. As an adult one year doesn't always show much change, but we can see the change in the kids. Not only in their appearance but of course in their age and behavior.
Jane has learned to ride a bike, lost 4 teeth and has come into her own sense of humor and personality. Elliot stopped sucking his thumb, is learning to read and we think has found laughter contagious enough to be the class clown.



2009



2010





I remember my first two weeks at our place in Ma On Shan. If I went two stops on the subway with the kids by myself it was a big day for me. Being in a crowded place and very aware that I could not understand a single word spoken around me . Walking through an outside market and seeing headless fish wiggling on a table. Waking up to the view over the Tolo Harbor and seeing the mountains.
I still wake up to a small mountain view in our home in Tai Po, I can venture out on a bus, taxi and a train with the kids. The foreign language spoken all around me is now a familiar hum I hear on a crowded subway, and sometimes I recognize a word or two. I am grateful for all the people that have come to be our friends in our short time. As it happens in Hong Kong, some have already moved on to other places. To have friends who call different countries and different continents there home is a privilege. But more than the rich experience friendships from different cultures brings, they have been a a great comfort, on the days when I miss family and friends. Although living in Hong Kong is exciting and allows us an unique experience, I would not be able to call it home without those people who have welcomed us into their lives.



A YEAR IN PICTURES




Typhoon Molave kept me up till 3 am and did quite a bit of damage

Macau

Disney

Ocean Park

Harbin

Guillin


Japan

Ping Chau

The visit from Mike and Jodie, Chas and Katie, Shane and Shanda was the best of the year.


As our 11 month contract has come and gone. It looks as though we will be calling Hong Kong home for two more years. Anything can happen and that could change, but for now that is path we are taking.
The separation from friends and family is difficult, but I find a lot of peace in making this decision and see God's hand in it. Thanks for sharing our journey with us through this blog, it has helped me feel closer to those who are far away and has helped acquaint me with new people.