A little background for those that may not know our story..Mark and I were happily going about our hectic lives in small-town USA, when he suddenly came home from work and said something along the lines of 'how does living in Hong Kong sound to you'? I responded, 'not very European.' There are many spots throughout the world I have dreamed of visiting or living, however, Hong Kong was not one of them. Fast forward many discussions, we went on a 'looksie' trip here last February, and moved here in July with our two littles, C (6 year old) and E (4 year old).
We have spent the past 6 months settling into our new 'house', discovering the city, and filling our schedules with TONS of activities. The kids are both in school, in a British based system. They are doing fantastic in their school work and have caught-up to their peers. More on that later.
A great perk to living in a large city and in an expatriate community is that everyone wants to stay active. C is in a phonics and science club, plays baseball, football (soccer), and takes swim and basketball lessons. He is waiting for tennis lessons to begin, as well as, trying to learn some ping pong. E is busy with dance, gymnastics, and is waiting to take an art class. There are also weekly play dates with kids from the school and lots of time for the parks, scootering, swimming, and exploring.
Overall, our life is very different from where we moved for many reasons. Mark spends a majority of his time traveling Asia, so we do see a little less of him. However, I no longer work, so the kids see A LOT more of me, some days this is good, other days I question my sanity :) we have decent weather most days, so we have tons more outdoor time than before. Our main mode of transportation is our golf cart, no private vehicles allowed here. We also have trains, busses, and ferries at our disposal and use them for visiting different parts of Hong Kong that our not on our island, which is called Lantau.
The kids are receiving a fantastic education, and I am amazed at the things they realize and are exposed to that I am sure I did not know about at their age. For example, C's friends are primarily from Europe. He spends time weekly looking at a world map and placing the locations of their residence to various spots we want to vacation so we can visit them. He can say 'hello' in many languages and is learning some Mandarin. The school has food -culture days, where Moms bring in native dishes from their homelands. I always volunteer to help at school on that day...hello tiramisu from a multi-generation Italian recipe without the Americanized short-cuts! Anyways, C comes home and explains the origins of a dish and what makes it special. I am sure that when I was 6, I just wanted ketchup or dip, who cared if it was Danish or Italian or whatever!
I believe this is a good start and I need to change my frozen pea bag on my knee. Once I figure out how to post pictures in a timely fashion, look-out friends! I will also try to do more specific types of posts, once I get the hang of this so the posts aren't so 'word-y'.
Great job Jen. I hope you feel better soon.
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