Out & About in October 2012

Sienna Park Pond

 October in Hong Kong remains incredibly hot and still very humid, no fall-like weather here! It was typically in the upper 80's to 90's everyday with humidity to match. Dehumidifiers are a must in this climate, and we run 3 of them around the clock in our 2100 sq. foot place. Despite the humidity, we were outside most of October enjoying the parks and beaches. This post is going to include several "events".

Although we live in a sub-tropical island, the usable green space is lacking a little. Discovery Bay offers much more grass and trees than Hong Kong Proper, but parks are still the best place to go and play out in the open. Lucky for us, we have a fantastic park 5 minutes away. Sienna Park is located right next to our recreational club, Club Sienna. This park hosts several ponds, open spaces for running, a jungle gym, playground, and "wildlife". If you look close, you can see gigantic fish that the kids love to feed. These fish are very well trained and will swim right on up to any person that stands remotely close to the edge of the pond waiting for their bread. There are also turtles that love bread as well. The kids get a kick out of "tricking the fish" by laying the bread on the stone-edge so the turtles can crawl up and eat it without the fish attacking. (Obviously, when bread is tossed into the water, the fish can out swim the turtles).

Also on our list to wear the kids out is beach time. We have a couple of beaches in Discovery Bay, however, the really nice ones are located about 15-30 minutes away, which involves ferry/taxi/or bus rides. Our beaches are quite fine for playing in the sand though. Typically, E and I play in the sand, while Mark and C have to play some type of sport. C is not happy unless a ball is being thrown or kicked and he can be covered in sweat and sand!

 Remember, it's 90 plus degrees here. That doesn't stop him from needing to dress in a full-on American football uniform! This is the beach that is by our ferry pier, which makes it not great for swimming because of all of the fuel that I assume is in the water. The kids don't care to swim though because the pools here are so nice, and they don't have to worry about sharks!  It is the larger of the beaches here, something like 400 meters long, so it's large enough to give us some space. It also hosts a playground, volleyball nets, and is alongside the bars/restaurants :)

It's not a snake, just a piece of seaweed.

Finally, October is the Mid-Autumn festival in China. This means the kids get 1 week off of school plus and additional 3 days for some other festival that no one seems to celebrate, so I don't know what it is. Mid-Autumn festival celebrates the new moon and is also known as The Paper Lantern Festival. The kids make red lanterns in school and eat "moon pies". (Unless, you are a Bills' kid, which then you are automatically allergic to the things because it's an egg in some type of pastry. I don't really think they are missing out).

Anyways, Discovery Bay celebrates by gathering on the beach in the evening for complete chaos. We had dinner first, by the beach, and bought our supplies for the night. (Glow sticks for the kids, beer for the adults). We then staked our claim on the beach, covered the kids with glow sticks, hung a paper lantern around their neck, and watched them run around like little lunatics with the other thousand kids here. The glow sticks were multi-purpose. You could keep track of your kids better in the dark, plus 30 came in 1 box, so you could make all sorts of designs to keep the kids busy. 

We were a little naive at this event. We thought the lanterns were going to be released into the sky in honor of the moon. Well, apparently that only happens in like one spot of China, and Discovery Bay was not it. So the kids were a little bummed. Luckily Kai Lan, the Nickelodeon show, does an excellent job of explaining this festival and they actually release lanterns, so the kids could watch that and be satisfied. In fact, I would refer you to that episode should you desire any more information on the Mid-Autumn Festival as she does a much better job than me at explaining :)

Start of the celebration

End of the celebration! She was done :)

He was drenched from the water, as he and his friends had to "check some stuff out down there".

Finally, we did celebrate Halloween here. It's actually a very big holiday and people love to trick-or-treat. I took the kids to a house party with some other Americans for the night because Carson still had soccer practice during our buildings trick-or-treating. We decorated with pumpkins and bought loads of candy since  we have tons of kids in our building. Sadly, no one came to our door because apparently you had to register on a list that I did not know about stating you would have candy. At least I'm in the know for next year...

C's First day of School

Inside the classroom, at his cubby, on Open House Day.

C began school on August 15, 2012. He entered into Year 2 at Discovery Minds Primary School in Discovery Bay, which is located in our community. We were very fortunate that he was accepted into this school because it is so close to our house. Schooling in Hong Kong for ex-patriots is EXTREMELY competitive, expensive, and overall a nightmare for every parent. There are limited spaces available and loads of students who need to attend English speaking schools. When we toured in February 2012 to decide if we wanted to relocate to Hong Kong, we were told by all of the schools that we had already missed the deadline for enrollment into the following year! (Apparently, even if you have no idea that you may relocate to Hong Kong, you may want to put your children on the school waiting lists now. This way, in 4 years, they will have a spot, should you so choose :))

Anyways, C & E were  numbers like 178 and 220 in most of the schools. Oh, and I forgot, to apply to the school it costs thousands of dollars$$$$. If you would like your child moved to the top of the list, some schools are willing to take an additional $100,000-$500,000 (Hong Kong dollars) from you. But be warned, this does not guarantee a spot, you just move up the list. We were fortunate the hubby's company does have an excellent reputation with the American school in Hong Kong, so we were offered spots for our children there. We reluctantly had to decline because the kids would have an hour commute, since we could not live on that island due to my motion sickness :( Luckily, our lovely new primary school opened in DB, and we actually were able to apply on time for that one, so places were given for the kiddos!!!! I am very serious about the school situation, there are some people here who have children in 3 different schools or have to home school because there are just not enough places.

Back to C. Discovery Minds Primary School is a British-based, English speaking school. C is in Year 2, which is similar to 1st grade in America. He has 22 children in his class, and he is the only American. He has lots of kids from Europe, several from Australia, and several from Asia in the class. All of the children speak English plus their native language(s). He takes Mandarin classes several times a week, in addition to citizenship, music, numeracy, literacy, handwriting, art, physical education, sciences.

All of the children wear these lovely little uniforms, as C is modeling on his first day.

Outside his school, without the hat!!

That's his teacher, Miss Simpson, in the line speaking to the children. He is acting pretty brave for the picture, but it was pretty tough for him (and Mom & NaNa!) NaNa was actually here for the kids first days of school. Mark was traveling back in the USA and I couldn't handle all of the stress of the first days of school, moving into the duplex, finding my way around Db and Hong Kong by myself! So thanks Mom!

His school day runs from 8:30-3pm. He was very excited to see us at the end of the day, but he did a great job and was very brave for us!

A quick hug for support from E! She started 2 days later.

Big Buddah Trip

In September, we took a ten minute bus ride to the nearby community of Tung Chung, for a visit to Big Buddah. This was really our first adventure to a tourist attraction with the kids, aside from the ferries. To reach the village, Ngong Pong, which is on top of a mountain, you must first ride a 20 minute cable car. These cars, at various points of the trip, can range from 20 feet above ground to 200 feet above water! I was nervous as all ****, but the kids and Mark were walking around our car taking pictures, which of course made it sway, and me more nervous!

We were greeted by free-roaming cattle in the village upon arrival. We then walked around and eventually made our way over to Buddah. The kids thought the statue was pretty cool, but their interest in a giant statue only lasts so long! We then walked around the village and visited some of the shops and had a beverage, at where else, Subway. Nothing quite completes an Asian cultural visit like visiting an American food chain restaurant :) Enjoy our pictures!

 The kids in our cable car, riding up to the village. It's higher than it looks!!!

This is the view of Buddah from the cable car ride.

Mark and the kiddos about 2/3's of the way up the 100 step climb to the Buddah. I have no idea why I can not rotate the picture, but if anyone knows how, let me know!

We made it all the way up!

Evie needed to be carried, just because that is how she rolls. The weather was typical for September, 90 degrees with 90% humidity. She was busy yelling at Mark about being hot and sweaty, while she demanded he carry her up all the steps!

C posing up at the Buddah. Those are mountains in the background.

Victoria Harbour

One of Hong Kong's famous destinations is Victoria Harbour, which is actually the waterway that separates Hong Kong Island from Kowloon. Boats and ships of all sizes pass through here daily, from one-man rowing boats to cruise ships and cargo ships. The area across the water is actually quite small and can be crossed via a 7-minute ride on The Star Ferry or underground via the MTR system. A tourist must-do is to take The Star Ferry, as these boats are very old and have served residents in Hong Kong since 1888 (not a typo!)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Ferry

The second major attraction to Victoria Harbour is the skyline view. Many skyscrapers line the Harbour and it is simply fascinating to view both day and night. Every night, at 8pm, Hong Kong puts on a laser-light show. Many of the buildings participate in this show with lasers of various colors flashing through the sky. Many buildings also have either large lights cast onto their building or change the lighting in the windows to make various shapes and sayings to go along with the season. There were Santas at Christmas, Snakes for Chinese New Year, etc, etc. 

We took my parents down to the Harbour for a waterfront dinner and view of the show, which you see in the pictures. 

This is the International Finance Center, or IFC building. It's the second tallest skyscraper in Hong Kong. It was opened in 2003 and has 88 stories plus 6 basement levels. It is supposedly similar in size to The World Trade Centers. The IFC is 418 meters tall! This building houses a MTR station (subway), 55-story hotel, a shopping mall, offices, and restaurants. The picture of Mom and Dad was taken across the Harbour opposite the IFC. The one of the IFC was taken on the same night, just about 100-200 yards from the base.

That's all for my cultural lesson today! I am hoping my computer will be fixed soon, so I can catch up on the blog. I've been doing it on the iPad, but its a little difficult, hence no postings for 3 weeks!