Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! 2008 should be a great year since the number 8 is my favorite number and is a lucky number in Chinese culture. Also, it is the year of the rat, and Erik and I are both rats. I always like New Year's and a fresh start. I enjoy making resolutions and like the feeling of positive things on the horizon. We are both eager to establish a life routine in Hong Kong. Up until very recently, our lives have been more reactionary than planned. We need to get back to our hobbies and sense of “home-life.” When reflecting back on 2007, we deemed it “The Year of Hong Kong” since the whole year was focused on the concept, planning, and execution of moving here. Now we can exhale.

Over the weekend, I got sick again. I have been sick three times in the four months of living here, which is horrible. I am a healthy person and would only be sick 1-2 times per year in the US, at the most. It is just a bad cold with maybe a touch of the flu since I feel feverish. I am confident the increase in illness is due to being around so many people in so many public places. I am careful to wash my hands and not touch my face, but it isn’t working. In Hong Kong, there are lots of public service advertisements focused on not spreading germs. People do wear surgical masks here, but contrary to what you may think, the sick people wear the masks to be polite and not spread germs. I am like a child who first goes to daycare. So, one of my resolutions is to do what I can to keep healthy, including taking my vitamins.

Since I was sick, we were low-key for New Year's Eve. I was supposed to work on Monday, but I called out sick. On New Year’s Eve we had a nice dinner at home and watched the fireworks from our balcony. The next day, New Year’s Day, we had a nice Chinese lunch in the mall by our apartment and did a little shopping. For dinner I made lasagna with homemade sauce. It was very tasty.

Love, happiness, and prosperity to all for 2008!