Our Elements Excursion

   Elements is a large shopping and entertainment center located in Kowloon, which is approximately 20-30 minutes away from us. Elements houses a large multi-lingual cinema complex and an ice-skating rink, in addition to the stores and restaurants. To get there, we have to take a bus from Discovery Bay to a MTR station and then take the MTR (subway) directly there. I have been promising Evie an ice-skating trip, so one Sunday in February we ventured out, after much bribing of C. (C is very hesitant to try anything new in HK that does not involve some type of sporting event. He did not feel that ice skating qualified as a sport until he actually tried it).
   We arrived during the intermission from the morning to afternoon skate, so the kids were able to watch the zamboni in action. This also allowed us to be first in line for the penguins. The penguins are these cute little weighted objects on skies that glide across the ice helping new skaters with balance. They also have polar bears and a dolphin for taller people. At the point of the picture above, the kids were all smiles and happy to be skating! Please take note, that I am in the picture by myself with the kids. Mark decided he needed to be the photographer for the day, capturing all of our happy memories from above the ice. He found it perfectly acceptable for me to take both children, whom have never skated, out onto the ice, in Asia, by myself. (People that have been here, may understand what I mean by that comment, ask my Mom about crowds/etiquette/DisneyLand). Anyways, turns out, Mark doesn't know how to skate and he was too wimpy to rent a dolphin for his own use, so I was on my own!
  I manage to get the kids onto the ice, when Evelyn realizes that she actually has to move her legs to skate and it's slippery! She was under the impression that the penguin would do all the work and she could just stand there. She took a little coaxing and a lot of arm muscle at first to get the idea, but by the 3rd lap I could let go for 3-4 seconds. She skated for 20 minutes and then needed a break. Unfortunately, while she did not have her skates on and was on the outside of the rink, she feel off of a ledge, scraped and bruised her back pretty good, and now hates ice skating.

 Carson used his penguin for the first 30-45 minutes and then decided he had enough of the idea that he could skate by holding  my hand. By the end of our skating session, he was skating to the wall, unassisted for about 5 meters or so. He does like skating and wants to play ice hockey, but I think he's in enough activities for now :)  Mark did capture some nice video of the skating, but I don't know how to download that yet. Carson has a couple of good spills from trying to wave to the camera!

As a side note, we only have indoor rinks here. We are dressed warm for the skating, but in reality it was about 70 outside...just sayin' in case you want to visit!!!!
 

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!

The little man's beach trip

In November, C's school took a class trip to one of the beaches on our island. We left school on the bus and drove about twenty-five minutes. I was a chaperone for the trip, and my lovely little group of four boys decided the best possible place to sit on the bus was in the very back. I have a tendency to get sick in a vehicle that I am driving if the roads are bendy, and the trip to the beach was around multiple mountains, yippie! My group pretty much had to fend for the,selves on the bus, as I was solely focused on not losing my breakfast, but they did well.

Anyways, I was told we were about to the beach, so Imstarted looking out the window, when the bus suddenly stopped to let us off. We were in the middle of a road, with curves on both sides of us, and a cliff. We had to depart and walk single file about fifty yards before we reached a safe sidewalk to use.  Now we had about fifteen adults and sixty-five little, excited kids with us, talk about a chaperones nightmare! Amazingly, no one was killed or hit by a car before we made it to the beach, but then it was a free for all!

My group of boys were absolute lunatics and were covered head-to-toe in sand within the first ten minutes. In fact, every other adult was laughing because I was responsible for cleaning them up prior to lunch and the again before we left for school again. They decided tackle American football would be great fun, as evidenced by the pictures.

The beach was actually very beautiful, and one that I believe we will visit again. There were shark nets surrounding the swimming area, so we want to do a little investigating to see of this is a precaution or there are actually sharks that frequent the area. On a side note, Hong Kong is known to have a pink dolphin population, so maybe we do have lots of sharks here too.

C was also lucky enough that this trip took place while his NaNa and PaPa were here visiting. Mark, NaNa and PaPa took a taxi out to the beach and met us around lunch time. We had beautiful weather, so it was nice for them to see one of our beaches.

Finally, we ended the day with a community sand castle competition. My group did not succeed in winning the best design, but did dig the biggest trench, which is really all they accomplished!

Overall, it was a very fun day for all the adults and kids alike. Many fell asleep on the bus ride, including C :)

Living in a large complex has advantages...

In case anyone missed talking to my mother about the July & August weather in HK, I am here to tell you it is HOT. We are talking over 90 degrees with humidity to match. The meteorologists' on Channel 7 would have a hay-day describing the heat index here. I think they start calling something like 70% humidity "oppressive" in Ohio, well Ohio ain't got nothing on Hong Kong.

Anyways, my wonderful mother was nice enough to help us move from Ohio to HK. For the first 5 days, we lived in a hotel with one king bed and a twin size pull-out chair. If you are good at math, you realize this was too many people and too few beds. So we were already all a little grumpy, jet-lagged, and tired of sweating the minute we walked outside. We were so happy on moving day to see the swimming pool at our complex!

NaNa was brave enough to take the kids swimming during the day while I worked on moving stuff. Then in the evenings, after dinner, we would all go back out to swim again. Hong Kong generally only has a 5 degree difference in temp from sun up to sun down, so it was still a nice warm 92 degrees in the evenings:)

Our complex also had a "welcome back" pool party. Mark and the kids had a blast. It was decorated with all sorts of blow-up animals, a raft, buckets, water guns, and beach balls. We were really hoping to meet some new people here, but it was pure chaos! We also had Carson's school open house, so NaNa and I didn't want to mess our hair up, hence no swimming.

Here are some pictures of our pool and the kids prior to swimming.  I'm still working on uploading pictures without crashing my computer, I do have some really cute action shots of the pool party. Hopefully I can figure it out, or my wonderful husband could just buy me a properly working computer ;)