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.

Crazy X'mas!

In Hong Kong, Christmas is widely celebrated. Since most people are not Christian, the decorations are often non-traditional and rather artistic or bizarre. I love the creativity and off-the-wall ideas most of the time, but this year’s Times Square Christmas display makes no sense. Entitled “Crazy X’mas!” the scene has lots of large spray paint cans and robots. I read the signs and tried to figure out the theme, wondering if it was about recycling, but I couldn’t come to any cohesive conclusion. I have asked friends if they get it, but no one seems to know what it is all about. Regardless, lots of people seemed to enjoy it and took tons of pictures as usual. Here’s to a CRAZY X’MAS!

Work BBQ

My job hosted a BBQ day as a little celebration for employees and their families. It was not the same as a US work BBQ but seemed to be a fairly typical Chinese-style one. The “park” was arranged for large groups to BBQ--no other activities. Each table was provided a container of meat that we cooked ourselves over very simple grills. The menu consisted of raw meat, white bread and soft drinks, followed by two suckling pigs that were grilled by a professional. It was quite an interesting experience.

This Little Piggy

It is common for restaurants to receive food deliveries on the sidewalk, so after three years in Hong Kong, I should be used to sights such as this one. It's a container full of suckling pigs just sitting on the sidewalk. I was quite shocked when I walked past.

Junk Trip

We had our first, and likely last, junk trip of the year in early November with Erik's colleagues. The weather was absolutely perfect. November and December in Hong Kong have the best weather of the year.

Happy Halloween

To celebrate Halloween Hong Kong style, here is a funky mall display. I love the pumpkin-head skeletons in bird cages.

Koh Samui, Thailand

We spent a long weekend in Koh Samui, Thailand. It is a small island off the southern coast, not too far from Phuket (were the tsunami occurred). The mini vacation was wonderful. Our resort was very nice, and we took a day excursion involving a boat trip, kayaking, and snorkeling. We ate lots of very spicy Thai food, yum! There are many more places we want to visit in Thailand, so I'm sure we'll be back soon.