A few of my favorite things so far...

Although there have been a lot of challenges over the past week I thought I would post a few of my favorite things so far about China.

* We have been visiting the park up the street a lot. Every time we go there is someone cleaning the play area. They keep public areas so clean (if you can look past all the air pollution)!
* Everyone loves to say hi to Kay. There is a little old lady who sits right out front of our apartment door and peels what look like a green tangerine all day. She then strings the skins on a string and hangs it on the rail out front. She loves saying hi to Kay. I never see anyone buying them, but surely she must sell some for as many as she peels. The picture below shows her fruit stand. Notice in the background of the peel strands the McDonald delivery bike riding up the sidewalk. Also, our door guys always love to help open the door and then lift Kay to hit the elevator button. They are so helpful!
* Everyone shares tables. I love that if there is not an empty table you just join with someone else. How nice would it be if people did that back home?
* You have to know people. See the unmarked door in the picture below? That is the towel lady's shop. First you have to wait for someone to let you in the locked door, then you take the elevator to the first floor, knock on the mysterious unmarked door and wait for the towel lady to let you in! I never would have found it if it were not for the lady helping us find a flat! What a fun adventure. She gets new stuff all the time so now I have to find my way back.
* You never really know what you are going to get. I went to order a pizza for Kay and I last night. The lady taking my order explained it was buy one get one free. I tried to explain we could not eat two and I could not carry all that home. When I came back to pick up my pizza I got pizza and free egg rolls! Who knew?
* Kay continues to love taking her purse everywhere. Yesterday we had to stop in the middle of the sidewalk for her to get her "money" out. I looked down and she had unzipped her purse and pulled out some hand wipes. Everyone likes to stop and smile at Kay when she takes her purse. I have also lost count of how many people have asked her if her thumb tastes good.

An Exciting Night...

We were walking home from dinner last night and we noticed about 30 buses lined up. We thought it was strange and we kept trying to figure out what was going on. As we turned the corner we saw a huge wall of smoke and about 15 fire trucks. There were police, firemen, ambulances and people everywhere. We found a side road to go one block further to our apartment. Once we made it to our apartment (on the first floor) the smoke was so bad we decided we needed to get a hotel for the night. We put Kay in her PJs and found the nearest hotel with an opening. We had a long night in a small hotel room with Kay on the floor trying to sleep. Poor thing has had so many changes in the past week. Another new bed was not really what she needed!

The evacuation brought back memories for Craig and I. We had to evacuate our house in the US a few years ago because of a chemical plant fire.

It was also strange to not really know anyone to stay at their house or what news channel to turn on to get updates!

Our Street...

The street our temporary house is on has a lot of character. We have figured out that stores are often organized by street. For example, you go down one street and it will have all antique furniture. The street our house is on appears to be the dried fish street. It is very fragrant, but we are getting used to it.


There are also a lot of crab shops on our street. Each shop must sell hundreds of crabs. The store workers wrap crabs all day long.



There are stairs everywhere! This would be frowned upon so much in the US. Here, now one even thinks twice about it.

Week 1...

We have had a successful week so far. We have figured out a lot of the various forms of public transportation. We have Kay signed up in a preschool starting next week. This was no small task as they are very competitive in Hong Kong. It seems to be very hard to find openings. I think we lucked into a great school with an opening. We hope to get her in one that will do a little more Mandarin as she gets a little older.

We found a great park right up the street from our temporary housing. Kay really enjoyed being able to run around and play with stuff. She also really enjoyed watching everyone do Tai Chi. She is really missing toys and other kids. I think school next week will be good for her. It will also help once I meet some people so she will have other kids to play with.




I read there was a kids street event that was Sesame street themed. Kay was so excited to see the Elmo parade. When we arrived everyone was lined up for the parade and we heard music. We thought for sure we were in the right place. Kay was on Craig's shoulders so excited! Next thing we know... lady dancers were coming up the street. We were at the wrong street event! Kay was disappointed, but her daddy was excited. Soon we found the right event. We saw Elmo coming and Kay was waving and squeeling in excitement. Once Elmo came up to her, she got scared, screamed and ran toward me. We captured the classic child mascot picture!

Waiting anxiously for the parade...



Ooops....Not a Sesame Street Parade!



Found the Kid Street!



We found Elmo!




NOT a fan of Elmo once he tried to come up and say hello to Kay!

House Hunting

Last night we were exhausted and tired of trying to find a "kid friendly" restaurant for Kay so we had our own take out picnic. We dont really see anyone out with their kids. The Chinese food here so far has all been yummy. Poor Kay was so tired we had to wake her up from nap. She was so asleep I was able to go in her room and take her picture. It is hard to see in this picture but she fell asleep with her leg in midair.

Today we spent the day looking for preschools and house hunting. It was pouring rain so we were glad to have a driver. We would have been soaked trying to find all the places. There is a wide variety in the type of flats. Small with huge terraces, tiny but very fancy, small in the middle of everything...the list goes on and on... We are going to have a hard time deciding. Tonight we are going to try to investigate the furniture rental places to understand our options.

Tomorrow is more house hunting!

The name of the game....survival!

Our plan for this week is..survival! We are all exhausted and waking up in the middle of the night. Kay is not napping well either. She is in a new "big girl bed" and has fallen out twice. Thankfully, it is very low to the ground.

We accomplish about 1 thing a day and are excited when that is done. Everything is a learning process. There is no Target to stop and get everything at! So far we have successfully 1) set up a cell phone for me 2) purchased shampoo and soap (I had assumed that would be included since they described our flat as an "hotel" type experience)(this was harder than it sounds) 3) Figured out the metro and purchased a card for me to be able to ride it easily 4) bought a printer 5) bought umbrellas 6) bought adapter plugs

One tired little girl....We are trying to find the best way to get Kay around the city. I look longingly at the other children that are not jet lagged, sleep deprived, used to walking all over and not getting tired, and used to holding their parents hand at all times. Kay will get there, but right now we are struggling! On day 1 we took our stroller in hopes it would speed up the process. Well, this is not a stroller friendly city. Steps everywhere! Day 2 we took the ergo which helped, but Kay kept wanting in it and out of it over and over. Day 3 Craig had to go into work for a bit so I lugged a 27 lb sleep deprived, wiggly child all over trying to find my way around. I now completely understand why there are foot massage places everywhere!

Small victories...I am so proud of myself! While Craig was at work I managed to get Kay to two pediatrician offices. I wanted to have one ready to call in case there is an emergency. After entering the same building three times I finally realized it was the right place. Buildings and streets are marked very differently here. I have never been so thankful for GPS on my phone! I am not in love with them yet so I think I will keep looking...

Will try to post pictures of our flat soon...Here are some pictures of Kay in the morning (happy) and afternoon (exhausted).

on the plane for a LOOOOONG time...

I think that might be the understatement of the century. First we flew to Chicago (about a 2 hour plane ride) next to HK (about a 17 hour plane ride --- or course it was delayed!)

All things considered, Kay was amazing. She slept for about 6 hours on the overnight flight (Craig and I just a few hours). The flight attendants loved her. They brought her crayons and tucked her in once she fell asleep. Kay loved all the new sights and sounds. She has flown many times before, but this is the first time I think she got into it. She loved watching the planes take off, using the warm hand towels they hand you before meals, enjoyed the several course meals that were served and even drank her milk out of a wine glass! The big bag of new toys and books definitely helped make the time pass as well. I am sure all passengers around us groaned when we boarded with our two year old, but I don't think she woke up anyone! There was a pediatrician sitting behind us and she commented on how well behaved Kay was for the flight. We all survived (and the other passengers did not hate us (too much) so I consider that a win!)



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