Now Available in Chinese

Very strange to see these books and Corona translated in Chinese.

Bilingual Baby Toys

We plan to teach Sophie Mandarin. I was excited to buy a bilingual English/Mandarin toy for her at Toys "R" Us. Good schools in Hong Kong are incredibly competitive and difficult to gain admission. Some schools accept names for the waiting list on the day of birth. Bilingual nursery schools start at 6 months and come with a hefty price tag. Standard nursery school starts at 2 and kindergarten at 4 years old. I never thought I would need to think about choosing a school for Sophie so soon, insane!

Starbucks Asian Style

Currently at Starbucks in Hong Kong, are featured summer Frappuccinos, a la bubble tea. These drinks have chunks of coffee flavored jelly, i.e. jell-o, at the bottom. I am guessing they don't have these in the US.

Lycheeeees!

It's lychee season. Fresh lychees are so yummy, tasting similar to grapes with a lot more zing. A vendor sent several cases to my job, and we each got plenty. I ate enough to give myself a stomach ache. Fresh lychees are a small but wonderful treat of living in China.

Happy 4th of July

The 4th of July passes quietly in Hong Kong. It makes me reminisce about our recent trip to the US. It was a great visit with both families and fun to introduce Sophie. Fortunately, Sophie did great with the flights and jet lag. As usual, we did lots of eating and shopping but didn't take enough pictures. The time just flew. I miss everyone dearly.

Here are some of my favorite pics.

B-Day

For how many years can I celebrate this birthday? ;-) Erik and I went out for a delicious Japanese meal followed by a drink at the world’s highest bar. The Ritz-Carlton finally opened atop the ICC building next to where we currently live. The hotel occupies the top 15 floors and the bar, Ozone, is on the top, 118th floor—that’s high. You can see I coordinated my dress to match our car.

My colleagues had a cake for me in the office.

New Apartment

Now that Erik has finalized the terms of his localization, we will move into a new apartment. By new, I mean new to us and brand new. We opted for a nice place with good space and wonderful amenities, but will be farther away from downtown. There is a nice mountain view, and I am super excited to have a built-in oven.

Hong Kong's real estate was recently named the most expensive in the world followed by Sydney, London, and New York. The cost for buying has risen 50% in two years. As expected, competition is fierce. I feel very lucky to have secured this place.

Out of curiosity, we looked at the show flat in a new building for sale. In less than 24 hours, 2/3 of the apartments were sold at a cost of about US$1,000,000 each. People keep saying the bubble will burst, but I don't see any sign of it.

I'll be sure to post pictures once the place is decorated.

A Coffee Worth the Wait

On Friday between 3-5:00 p.m., Hong Kong Starbucks donated all sales to Japan disaster relief. I never need a reason to patron Starbucks, so I was happy to wait 45 minutes in a line of about 150 people. The line length remained constant and flooded into the mall. It was awesome to see so many people supporting the relief efforts. I was very proud of my fellow Hong Kongers. Check out an image here.

Stay Tuned

Shortly, I will be back to blogging and will update what happened in the past three months. This blog is as much for my benefit as it is for any of my readers. As you all know, I gave birth to a sweet baby girl, Sophie Madeline. Now that she is two months old, I am getting my sea legs. I plan to keep this blog focused on living abroad, not about Sophie, although I am sure she'll have a presence here. Thanks for continuing to read.