From one qwailo to another

Qwailo - pronounced [kʷɐ̌i lǒu]; sometimes also spelled Gweilo) is a very common Cantonese slang term for foreigners, and has a long history of racially deprecatory use.^[1] Nowadays, Gwailo is simply a Cantonese word used to refer to Caucasians.

As I stepped outside a few days ago to check on the weather, two caucasian women were walking by. One looked at me and with a big smile said hello. Thinking that perhaps she was someone I had previously met I stepped out to return the greeting. Walking to my gate, I quickly realized I did not know this women. But often people come hiking on the island are needing a little help with directions so I stepped out to chat.

Immediately she looked at me and asked "Do you actually LIVE here???". With pride I replied that in fact we did live here. The look of shock on her face was almost enough to get me laughing out loud. Her next question was if I actually LIKED it here? Again, with much pride I replied that infact we loved living on our little island. Her look of shock now had me laughing out loud. Incredulously, she took at step closer to look at me and get a better glance at my house. As she peered quizzically at my clothes drying in the sun, she asked "Do you actually go to....CENTRAL" as if it was a foreign destination that most people would know about, but I most likely would not.
note - Central is what the main area of Hong Kong Island is called. This is where our ferries to and from Hong Kong connect. It is a business and banking and shopping hub of Hong Kong. I can not get to or from Hong Kong without going through Central.
I assured her that yes we do go to central, and I informed her that that we go in at least once/twice a week. I reminded her of the ferry that she had to take to get here, and that it is only a 35min fast ferry ride. She obviously had no issues inquiring further into my life, although her friend looked as if she wished she could melt into the sidewalk at this point. As she heard my kids in the house, she asked what school they could possibly be going to. When I informed her that we homeschooled, she was rather horrified and wondered out loud how my children could have any friends at all then!!! ( funny locals in Hong Kong only wonder how my children could possible be getting ANY form of education from home, and foreigners first thing is wondering if my children are being socialized)

I must say, this is up there as one of the funniest conversations I have ever had. I couldn't stop laughing all the way through. Maybe it is the side of me that still enjoys shocking people once in a while, I don't know. I wasn't offended, rather it was the best laugh I have had in a while.

Then today, a chinese/canadian friend of mine remarked that she thought I was chinese as she was approaching me down the path, again hanging my clothes to dry outside on our railing. As I laughed rather heartily at this, she assured me it was a compliment and that from my mannerisms I must have assimilated to island life quite well.

I will definitely take that as a compliment!!!!

Summer days are upon us

Summer days are here. Although, blessedly enough it is 'unusually cool' here. So the days have been a beautiful 28, very low humidity, sunny days. Well, we did have rain last week, but it was lovely. Walking to the village under my umbrella reminded me of summer camp and sleeping in a tent on raining nights.

Our schedule for now is learning, lunch, chores, unfinished work, then off to the beach until supper time. Wonderful and lovely. Perfect really.
We decided when the temps and humidity soar, we will adjust our schedule.
Then we will go the eat early breaky, swim, learn, eat lunch, learn, wait for temps to drop, then go back to the beach for the evening. Eating many fruits smoothies and salads. I have found the most delicious chicken salad ever, and we are all hooked!

Today while we were swimming we were suddenly chased from the waters as 10-15 jelly fish of varying sizes creeping up. It was amazing to see them so close up. They were perfectly clear, like many big bowls of clear jelly. In some we could even see the fish inside waiting to be consumed! They allowed themselves to be brought to the beach to the waves, then sailed off on the next current. Mesmerizing.

Nefeshya and Sammy have been swimming as far out as their emotions will let them (it gets deep very quickly), and Ethan is learning to close his mouth when he swims so it doesn't taste like he just swallowed a box of salt! These are amazing days that I am so thank-ful for.
There have been days of late that I have struggled with how to be a homeschooling mom while 'on the field'. How to balance my time and effort. There are so many opportunities to get involved in. Opportunities that are some of my hearts greatest desires. But then, being a homeschooling mom is also one my greatest hearts desire, so I choose to place that first, and ask for wisdom for all opportunities that pass my way right now.
Tonight as I kissed Feshya good-night she said ' Mom - you are the best teacher in the world'. Ahhhh, that was some sweet ointment on my soul. Thank-you daughter.

The perfect day

It was sunday, and the plans were only half made. Perfect. Made enough that we knew something would happen, but not every detail was planned. I love those kind of days. They stretch me just a little, but not too much that I can't enjoy the ride.

We walked up the hill for fellowship with friends that are no longer my 'new friends' but just my friends. The fellowship was so sweet. Truly, is there anything better than the enjoy Divine love with others that you love? We prayed for my friends who are returning to the UK. Tears were shed. I have told Dad I am actually not very happy with him for bringing them into my life and then taking them away so quickly again. But my life is incredibly enriched for the moments I have been able to share with them.


The plan was that the wonderful guy to the left was going to take the kids to the beach, and pull in the fishing nets that they had left in overnight to see what they had caught, and us mom's were going to prepare a meal of fish and chips ready to cook and eat on the beach that evening.
They brought us a live catch of small fish, prawns, and crabs to cook. There were a few squeals as we put them into the pot and one tried to jump out. (okay it didn't actually try jumping out, but it did fall to the side and we had to put it back in).

The evening was perfect. Warm enough to enjoy the ocean breeze that cleared the air so we could actually see the lights of Hong Kong. (pollution clouds this view more often than not unfortunately)

The children swam, kayaked, played hide and seek in the dark.
The adults chatted, laughed, went for walks in the moonlight.
I even had my new sundress on. I mean really, it was divine.

These are the moments I live for. The moments that nurture and feed my soul.






I am a blessed women.

I will take this weekend, wrap it up, tenderly kiss it, and tuck it away in my treasure box of moments.

I gave up

I had great intentions this week about getting our schedule going for homeschooling, and just life in general. Great intentions, that was what I had. It turned out to be one of those days. We did do some school, not a lot, but enough.
Last night hubby delivered the rest of the our furniture so we actually had a table to work on. It felt rather revolutionary actually.
This afternoon a volunteer work crew came to help clean up the yard. Now when I say 'work crew' you most likely have a mental picture of kids in jeans, t-shirts, and old runners! Well.......lets just say that would be an incorrect image. These kids were dressed to go shopping and impress every person they passed. High heels and all. And the mobile's never left their hands. Literally. Work gloves were handed out, and you would have thought they were handing out worms to be digested. It was very humorous actually. They did manage to pick up a few buckets of rubbish. The girls were very interested in us qweilo's (foriegners with white skin) who live in this big house, and I found a few of them peering into our windows hoping to sight Feshya.

Anyways, It was another adventure here on our island.

I will post pics as soon as I can.

Happy Easter everyone. May you always be Cross-Eyed!

Today

the boys cleaning up the yard (that are is now a wonderful patio area)

Our last walk from the old house to the new


Feshya in her new room


Hello my few followers. It has been a long time. So much happening. So many pages I could fill with all the goings on. Could. But, today it today, and so we will go from here, kinda,

We are in!!! Finally, and as of tomorrow, completely. The last of our furniture will be hauled up the hill on trolley's tomorrow by the brothers. I made them some chocolate cookies. Hopefully that will soften their hearts towards me after doing yet another heavy haul. I really am so thank-ful for their help. I realize they don't really have a choice, but they mostly do it with smiles, and we certainly could not have done this with out them! It is a very interesting adventure to move without vehicles!
We have been in for just over a week now. I laughed the first couple of days as we all kept ending up in our bed hanging out together. It took some time for us to get adjusted to having space to 'stretch out' in. But, now, man oh man, does it feel good. And I mean really really good. I am overwhelmed with how blessed we are to be in this house. I will post pics soon.

Our very first weekend our home was filled with friends. Bethany House is a five minute walk from our house. Some friends from Hong Kong were staying there for the weekend. It was her birthday, so everyone came over for a little party. We had a potluck lunch, worship/prayer, and the beginnings of community together. Beautiful. I cried actually. To have my new home filled with laughter, love, spirit on the very first weekend was truly more than I could have hoped for!

Thanks Dad for the gifts you give!

a thought on cultural differences

I have been thinking about culture differences (I guess that is a bit of a given lol).
And I have been thinking about moving out of our room (I guess that is a bit obvious as well hehe)

See, when we tell most people here the amount of space we live in, they really are not shocked, or surprised, or give me the sympathy I am desperately looking for. They just nod and say 'Oh yes'. And sometimes give me the look of wondering why I am complaining. Of course I smile politely, but inside I wanna shake them and try to make them understand how it is to homeschool and live in a one room where the bed is our learning quarters, sleeping quarters, eating quarters, relaxing quarters, etc etc.

But then ahhhhhh,
I must stop and think about those cultural differences.

First, homeschooling is completely and totally foreign to them. They don't even have the reference of 'that weird family down the road'. They just don't know anything about it.

So, how can they understand my frustration. They can't. And that is okay.

Yes, most people here live in very small quarters. Even with children and grandparents and a helper in one house. But, the kids are gone for school many hours a day, then they often have tutoring after hours. If they are lucky they live close to a school, but many kids spend a long time traveling to and from school (much like myself as a youngster growing up on the prairies). The evenings you are always seeing the kids running around outside, playing basketball, hanging out. If at home, you mostly see them, doing homework or maybe watching TV. Quiet sit down activities.
So, they don't spend a lot of time in the house.
So how can they understand my slippery slope of insanity of living a life of a homeschooling family here.

Please do not read this as a 'my life is better than theirs and they just don't understand'. That is not were I am going with this at all!!! Just giving you yet another glimpse into the mind of Cristal. Please come again!

a sneek peek if you want to

today was a mix bag. Rainy outside. Wet inside with moisture dripping into pools at the bottom. Clean clothing run to hubby doing a 2 nighter. Picked up more groceries than I could enjoy carrying home. A dog that got loose right in front of the bakery (crisis was averted). Many coughs, sniffly runny noses, soar throats. Wet dog smell. Mosquito bites galore. Attempting to do school. Then the jack-hammering began. And it stayed. All day long. In the suite below us. Kinda gave up at that point. Tried to coast the rest of the way. Did have a successful teaching time. Did watch a movie. Did make a good super. Did have some laughs. Wiped a few tears. Many hugs. And always as many kisses as my kids will allow me to shower on them in the midst of our grumpiness.

Synopsis : Cristal and the children are becoming ever more desperate to get out of our one room and into the house!

Today

Funny how life is so the same, but oh so different. I wake up and have coffee and breakfast while the kids gather themselves for the day. We get ready to do school most days, the same. We eat lunch, the same. We try to keep the house clean, the same. We love cookies and fruit, the same. We learn, the kids fight, they make up, we laugh, we love, all the same.

But as I walk into town to get my groceries for the day, I hear the sound of mah jong being played from an empty window. This is a familiar sound that is never far away, and I often peer into an half opened door way to a game being played in a tiny living room and the laughter and singsong of cantonese spilling out onto the street. Not the same. We pass the temple and smell the freshly lit incense and have another discussion of why people worship a dead god with the kids. Not the same. We chase the wild dogs away from following us. Not the same. We see the many many small shrines on people's front steps with incense and fruit offerings. Not the same. We pass people who's faces have become familiar but we have no ability to say anything beyond 'jo shan' (good morning). Not the same. We pass the fisherman bringing in the fresh catch to be sold to the stalls we walk past every day. Not the same. I carry my groceries home in a red pull cart like most other people. Not the same.

Some days like today I am struck by how the 'not the same' as becoming the same. I love that.

Embracing it all

Christmas. I wonder how many blogs have been written about this. Well, I have been doing a lot of thinking about Christmas.
To me it is cold noses and hot chocolate. Baking and more baking. Tobogganing and classic Christmas movies. Gathering with Friends. Being with family or wishing you could be with family. Remembering old memories and making new ones. Turkey and being stuffed with stuffing. Avoiding the malls yet buying wonderful gifts. The smell of a real Christmas trees. Driving around looking at Christmas lights.......
So, now I move across the world.
And Christmas comes.
And I realize how much emotion is attached with the season.
How much my senses have to do with me 'feeling' like it is Christmas.
There is no snow falling outside.
No oven to bake peppernuts in.
Not many Christmas parties to got to.
No turkey to roast.

We have set up a tree (fake, but I am determined to buy a real one next year!). We are drinking hot Chocolate with candy canes, and watching most of our favorite holiday classics on youtube or youku (the Chinese youtube). The kids are having a blast secretly buying gifts for each other. And because our little island is so safe, they can even go and buy them all on their own. We are going to a candle light service on Christmas eve with friends. Christmas music is the always playing.

I have gone back and forth between loving this new experience in this season, and wishing with all my heart that I was in Canada with friends and family right now. That I was were all is familiar.

Then the other day I remember how I had longed and longed to be here. This is all a part of that. New experiences. Enjoying traditions and creating new ones.
Embracing that and not being frustrated with it.

Not just trying to recreate old ones.

The kids love for me to tell them my memories of growing up and how we celebrated Christmas. Tonight I laughed with them when I told them how one day they will snuggle with their kidlets all cozy in their beds and say

"I remember that one year when we lived on a small island in Hong Kong and we................" That made me smile!


Merry Christmas everyone!!

um.....I thought I remember you asking me

One more house story, just to let you in on my daily laugh.

Remember the other day how I was suddenly asked to pick my paint colors? I am sure I was, it wasn't just a dream.
Well today we went to the house to help Brad and some of the students clean the yard.
As I walked into the house I was more than a little surprised to see some of my kitchen walls painted yellow. A rather bright yellow.

For a moment or two I stood rather confused. I went outside, looked at Brad, then went back into the house for a second look.

3 of the walls were painted the color I had asked for, but the fourth, a rather large wall, was indeed yellow.

Then I had to laugh, kinda.

Remember how I said they had laughed at my choices and tried to show me other colors. Well, this yellow was one of the colors they had really pushed for. It was called Sunflower. I 'told' (see hand motion/pointing/head shaking) them that no I wanted the Manilla color.

Not sure what happened.

I thought of asking. But just couldn't bring myself to do it. I am not sure why. Let's just call it acceptance for tonight.

Some new friends stopped by and said I lived in the rainbow house. I chuckled.

But these new friends did bring some great news. They told us of a couple that is considering moving to Cheung Chau to start an English/Cantonese fellowship. My heart jumped at this. We have discussed this and prayed for this. We hope to connect with them next week.

On another note, Brad and the students found a bright green poisonous snake in the yard with a whole rat in its body. I was slightly grossed out as the kids stood around oohing and aahing as Brad cut it open. Lets just call that 'Biology'. We were told that cats are good for keeping the snakes out of the yard.
I plan on getting about 10.

From now on I shall be known as

"The cat lady in the rainbow house"

Now to find some one to translate that into Cantonese!

Naughty

A few days ago as we were walking on the island, Brad had pulled Ethan aside and was 'talking' to him. Ethan is a very happy 6yr old boy who lives in a world all his own. Most days as we walk we have to constantly call Ethan to move out of someone's way, and honestly, 9 times out of 10 he ends up cutting right in front of someone else.
As Brad was discussing this with Ethan once again, another young boy wearing his school uniform rode his bike up beside Ethan and Brad. In a wonderful Chinese/British accent he asks
"What are you doing?"
Brad replies
"Just talking to my son"
The boy quickly takes in the situation and asks
"Was he naughty?"
To which Brad chuckles and says
"yes"
the boy responds
'I am naughty sometimes too!"
and then rides off showing us his riding with no hands trick.

The house

I must put in here first that I am EXTREMELY thank full for this new house that they are renovating for us. It is VERY rare for a family to live in a private house this large and have the huge courtyard we will have. I really can not stress enough how blessed we are to be getting to live here, so please take the following as just some humor and a bit of frustration
This is me in front of our new house. See, I told you it was pink. Did I tell you I really don't like pink? Just reminding you in case you forgot.

So yes, that is it. Stunning no? And let me tell you, everyone now knows where we are moving to. If anyone asks were we will be living, and I say the big pink house, they know exactly which one I mean. So that is a good thing..................right????

Yesterday one of the staff told me that they had started painting the bedrooms and asked if I liked it. He looked quite excited about this new addition, which in all honestly frightened me a little bit. He saw my 'concern' and suggested that perhaps I should go and check it out the next day and let them know if I wanted it or not.
So, this morning the kids and I stopped at the paint store to pic out some sample colors to take over. Remember, I was going to have to explain what color I wanted in sign language (me no cantonese, them no english). I was excited to see the paint sample strips in a display cabinet. But the glass sliding door wouldn't open. Looking up, I saw that they had taped it shut. I laughed out loud. It wasn't like they only had one of each strip, no, there was a stack of each one. But obviously these were for display only. When I asked if the cabinet could be opened so I could take one or two, I was only met with very puzzled looks. They were very helpful tho and let me take the sample book they had behind the counter until I could return it later.

So off we go to the house.
The kids went running inside and came out very excited telling me how much they loved their rooms and could we please not paint it over. I went in to see that they had done some funky painted multi color layering effect type thing in all the bedrooms. Not necessarily my first choice, but the kids are very excited about it so that is great. The workers were also very happy to see how pleased the children were.

I quickly explained that I did not want that in the living room and received disappointed looks from the workers. They were just about to start in on the living room. Then I was asked what color did I want for the walls and what kind of cabinets did I want.

This is were I got a little confused.

See, when we first got here I was told that I could pick out the counter top for the house. Then they said I could pick out the tile, paint, countertops, cabinets etc. That was very exciting, but when I inquired further I was told all those decisions had already been made. Buy that point, I didn't care nearly as much, I just wanted the house finished so we could move out of our 'one room' house.

Then, suddenly they want me to pick it all out as I stood there. Well, except the countertop. That was already there.

I laughed out loud. Again!!

So I asked them if I could have an hour or so to pick it out. Sure sure sure they said.

When I went back and showed them my choices ( a little more conservative than their rather flamboyant ones ), they laughed at me. They gave me more disappointed looks. They showed me bright greens, yellows, reds. But I held steadfast in my choice.

I mean, can you imagine walking into a red/pink house to find your self in a bright green room. Wow, that is a little more than I can deal with.


And like I said, it is not like the houses here are colorful like that. Just for me I guess.

Another rather confusing aspect is that I was told last week that they had ordered all the cabinets but nothing had been delivered yet, so honestly, I am very confused today. Did I just pick out the cabinets, are there some already on their way? I guess we will find out.......

Here is a few more pictures of the house and yard. Next week Brad will start going with some of the boys to get the yard cleaned up. We asked where the garbage needs to go and was told that they still are not sure where it will go. So, we are going to have a designated garbage corner so at least it is a little more manageable. Brad is also going to show the boys how to cut the trees into smaller pieces so they will burn.

Ethan found this hat in the yard and has been wearing it ever since


these are the trees they cut down from the yard and tried to burn, plus A LOT of garbage


and you can't even see the old mattress, couch, boxes and lighting corner

That's right.....blame it on the Canadians

Well, just a few short days ago we were wearing shorts, tank tops and letting the kids go swimming in the afternoon to cool off. This week............

simply,

WE ARE FREEZING!!

Well, technically not freezing. But it is only 10 out right now. But think of it this way. We live in a cement building. The windows are single pane, and most have large gaps in the corners rather than a snug fit with weather stripping. The floors are slate. We live looking over the ocean, but that also means the wind comes whipping up our hill right at the house. The kids sleep on the floor on inch thick foamy mattress'. And........

there is NO heating.

So we have made a few trips to the storage room to exchange our shorts, tanks and sun dresses, for pants, sweaters and anything that will keep us warm. Extremely strange. But, we were all missing the crisp cool air in Canada, so I guess I could just look at this as a gift.

Tonight when we spoke to Alman he asked us how were dealing with the cold. Then he laughed and said we must have brought it with us from Canada.

That's right, just blame it on the Canadians. Not the many many Europeans who live here, no not them, but definitely the Canadians. Too funny! At least they tell us this is abnormal for here. This is usually what the weather is in January or February for a few weeks.

So tomorrow we head into town and look for a room heater.

And tomorrow as I am all snuggly in my blanket and heater blazing away, I will shiver as I think of my hubby at the school.
Not only will he certainly not have any heater. The windows are even thinner and gaps even larger. And he will not take a nice warm shower before he crawls into bed.
Remember this picture.........


This is where he will shower or rather 'dip and pour' to clean after the day and it is certainly, most definitely NOT heated water. BRRRRRRR! I don't know, if that doesn't produce a little character in the students.....nothing will! Well, maybe just a little hair on their chests, well, hopefully only the male students! If not hair, then hopefully a deep appreciation for the person who created hot water tanks.

Maybe if he thinks of it like camping in the cool fall Canadian wilderness it will...................nah, that is just plain and simply cold. Sorry honey.....really I am....I will think of you as I snuggle in my bed!

Busy days

These last weeks have been busy with much activity. I suppose that is wonderful. Mostly it is. But I am weary of being here and there and everywhere. It has been good to have much going on in our lives with hubby starting work. And his work schedule was very heavy at first so it was good for us to be busy. We have been able to work out a new schedule and we think it will be a good one. He will rarely if ever be gone 2 nights at a time. And will be home every 4th day or so. Seems like a great compromise for everyone!

Of course, now that I sit to write to you of our adventures I can't remember many of them. Weekly and biweekly homeschool group meet ups. This is has forced me to figure out the transportation system here. The other day I went to a neighboring island to go to a girls group for dd, and for my boys to meet some new friends. It is on the next island over. Sounds simple enough. Well, my two options are either ferry into Central on Hong Kong island, and catch another ferry back to Discovery Bay, or take a small ferry to Mui Wo and then another smaller ferry to DBay (as the locals would call Discovery Bay). Well, the first option would take just over an hour if I catch fast ferry's, but cost me over $50Hk per person. The second option would only cost just over $20 HK per person, but the ferries run a lot less frequent. So I went with the second option because I am all into saving my pennies. What an adventure. The trip there went perfectly smooth, other than a mad dash to the bank machine in Mui Wo as I left my children at the second ferry as proof that I would indeed return so they wouldn't leave without us.
But then there was the return trip...........
3 HOURS long

yes I said it

3HOURS!!!!!!!!

That was painful. So yes I saved money. But lost a whole lot of sanity along the way. And to top it all off, we ended up eating McDonalds for super YUCK!!! McDonalds is everywhere here.

However, we had a delightful day. Feshya connected made some wonderful connections at the girls club, and the boys made some great friends that they are very excited to be with again.




And on one last note today, I must share an important news flash.

We were going to check out the new house the other day. As we came up we saw they had painted it. It was a wonderful red. Then we rounded the corner only to see......
hold your breathe......
a little longer......
are you ready.....
you might wanna sit down because I sure wish I could have,
the other 3 sides of the house were
PINK!!!
yup, imagine my surprise.
Now if I lived in a country of colorful houses I would not have been surprised.
But that, here, was a bit of a shocker.
Especially given that pink is most certainly not on any of my even remotely might like list of colors.

So we talked to Alman, and he was told the reason for that particular choice of color,
well, simply put,
They had run out of red.

Pictures to come!

New Adjustments

Been a while. I was going to say life has been busy but that isn't exactly true, so I won't. Hubby started work last week and so we are in the throws of new adjustment. The current roster includes a lot of overnight shifts at the school. We are in the 'we will see how this works for our family' stage. This is a normal schedule for all the staff who works at the school, and so we are going to try it out. There is room for some 'creative' scheduling depending on how our family does. The first day he left the kids cried. The second time I cried. Two nights and three days seems like a long time. Yet, on the other hand, I think it will go quickly. We look out our window to the school lights and say prayers for daddy and the students at night, that helps make if feel not so far away. Here are a few shots of Daddy leaving the first morning.

i love his morning commute
We have been busy exploring and meeting new friends. A small photo journey awaits you.


homeschooler group (8 families) came to 'our island' for the day


the boys went on a hike by our house

as we walked into town one day, this ship was docked at the sampan pier. someone told us it had just sailed from Australia. That is a ferry in the background that we ride to Hong Kong City Center.

me emerging from an old pirate cave on 'our island'

our trip to Macau for our visa run. We were taken on an amazing day to celebrate!

I have just met a local women and will be joining her for fellowship this weekend. She has lived on the island for many years and speaks fluent Cantonese. She knows many families and has a few in mind that we may be able to connect with. She also is a part of some local fellowship here on the island and that is very exciting news for us!!!! One of the big questions that is currently in my mind is how life works itself out here on the island for us. I can not remember if I blogged about this already, so forgive me if I am repeating myself. The kids continue to desire friendships that are closer here for them. Language is of course a huge obstacle to developing many local relationships, so my heart jumped when I met this new friend who could put us in touch with local english speaking families. Trust me, I would rather be speaking Cantonese, but until then, we still need relationships, so English will do just fine!

In the mean time, I am very excited to announce that I have found a local cafe that sells good coffee!!! The only place I had found was McDonald's. Even if their coffee was good (which it definitely was NOT by the way), there just seemed something very very wrong with going there for coffee. Sooo, knowing there is somewhere here that I can go for a nice coffee and a yummy dessert truly makes this feel like home!! Photo to come!

Nothing but the cell phone

My last few days have been here, at home. Monday was my birthday and it was POURING outside (tail end of the storm that hit the Philippines and caused all the tragedy there), so we stayed home. A fellow teacher had invited us out for supper, so we headed out for the evening under the protection of our umbrella's. Just as the food was coming to the table, my dd suddenly felt sick and I rushed her home. Well, 'rushed' as in left the supper and slowly walked home hoping we wouldn't have an 'incident' on the walk home. We said our hallelujah's as we got safely home. We have been home bound since as she recuperates. (Hubby made it up to me by bringing home an amazing chocolate mouse cake and some Tiramisu from a local bakery...YUMMY!!!)

Brad has been taking the boys on outings to save all our sanity, and once every few hours I call him, just to make sure we are not alone in this world. Our place is nicely hidden away but after a few days I begin to feel more than a little isolated.
So, seeing as I don't really have any exciting events to tell you about, I will give you some pictures.


my new house.....




Meeting new furry friends and dreaming of getting her own....


enjoying a free ride thru town.......

local answer to a 911 call,,or 999 here.....

a shot of our walk to town.... haha get it 'shot'....basketball....haha...yes I have been alone for a few days.....

oh ya, don't forget the water

Went to the new house to help, but there was nothing for us to do. So we took a few pictures of the work in progress, and walked down to the beach. Brad went swimming with the kids while I walked into town to get us some water.

There was only one problem. The food stalls.

First the yummy bakery, then the dim sum place, then the soup place, then the curry fish balls, then another bakery...........

I finally couldn't do it.

First I got some steamed buns, and other yummy things. Then a loaf of coconut bread, then a mini chicken tart, and a few other type things. Just a smidgen of this and a smidgen of that. I was feeling quite proud of the offerings I was bringing to my family.

But, then I remembered, oh yah the water. So I quickly counted my change and luckily I had just enough left over for water.

That was close.

The walk home

The walk home is always an interesting one. Every time we ask the question to the kids
"Up and over, or around?".

Most days we go up and over, but if we are carrying our water bottles home (right now we have to fill 5l bottles in town at the restaurant and bring them home for cooking and drinking), or if we have a lot of groceries we go around. The path around is a little longer, but follows along the island and we can see the ocean for most of it. It is beautiful. Most days we pass workers riding some of the few vehicles on the island, kind of a quad on steriods. They use it to haul garbage and building supplies. One of the workers has taken a liking to us, and when ever we pass her we get a big smile and hello. The kids have decided she is officially one of our few friends.

Here is a pic of our hike 'up and over'




This is a small part of it, but what it looks like the whole way up. We mostly don't mind it anymore. Once in a while Ethan reminds us that he only has 'little' legs. But generally the kids are enjoying how 'strong' they are feeling.

Most days we are looking for the giant snails. I will have to get a picture one of these days. Today we saw a snake by our gate in the bamboo trees. The boys were begging me to let them catch it. I thought better of it!!!
Often we see frogs after the rain. And of course the many many butterflies are always amazing to watch.

A homeschooler's science paradise!!

Where does one begin.......

Tonight marks exactly 2 weeks that we have been here, and just about 1 hour short of when we first walked in the door. Really, it feels like so much longer than that - in a good way. Brad and I keep waiting for it to feel 'weird', but it just doesn't. Yes, I stand staring at the shelves in the market unsure what to buy, yes I wish desperately to understand the talk I hear all around me, yes I am still figuring out which alley's to take. But, it seems fine. Not overwhelming. Not that I don't expect to have overwhelming moments......but for now it just feels like a new home.
As I think of writing this post there seems a million and two things I would like to write. I want to explain how amazing it is to watch the ships and boats, big and small. Or describe the intensity of a thunder storm a few nights ago that last for half an hour right outside our door with lightening strikes just about every 5 seconds (literally). To write about the love that we have been shown and how well cared for we all have been. Post pictures showing how our kids were blessed to have been given free passes to Ocean Park already (an amusement park plus here in Hong Kong). But, those are each a separate post, so I will just start with today.

Today we enjoyed the simple pleasure of having clean and dry clothes to put on. See, it has been rainy here for a few days, and that makes drying clothes out side impossible, and the humidity is too high for them to dry inside. We had enough clothes to last us for a while (we are only living from one suitcase right now while we are in our temporary living quarters which are a bit small), but we were running out. The towels all had a nasty smell to them, and never really dried. So, on our way to the beach, we dropped off our stinky laundry bags. And oh, the joy of unpacking those dry and clean smelling clothes and towels - joy unspeakable.
Our day at the beach was delightful. We have a wonderful beach just moments from our door, but we choose to walk into town, see our new house, and go to a bigger beach.
I am so excited about the new place we will be in. About 2000sq ft, and it has a HUGE yard area. And the view.....breathtaking.















Just a few shots of the trees we will look out on. From what will be our new house, it will only be about a 5 minute walk to Kwan Yam Wan Beach.
















So I could go on about the curry fish ball stand, or getting caught in the down pour, oh how we danced a crazy happy dance when Alman Chan surprised us with internet at home, but I will stop for tonight.

I am off to watch a romantic movie with my hubby.