Little Victories

When you're starting from scratch in a somewhat bewildering place, it's best to focus on the positives. I try to view every acquisition or discovery as a victory. Finding things in the US is so easy by comparison. Need a beach towel? No problem, just go to Walmart and pick one out. Hong Kong is another story. After a week of searching, I finally found a beach towel (and it was Thomas the Tank Engine!) today and almost danced a jig on the spot. So in that vein, here are some of our little victories from the week.

My brother Dave is coming for a week tomorrow, and although we have an extra room, there's nowhere for him to sleep, unless he wants to share Evangeline's bunk bed. So we decided to get an air mattress. It turns out that air mattresses are not easy to come by in Hong Kong. I looked in all the expatriate forums and found this place that sells them, Outdoor Mart. They had a map on their website that was very clear as to their location; they were on the second floor of New City Centre, close to an MTR (metro) station. So on Wednesday, Evangeline and I trucked across the city to find Outdoor Mart. I assumed that New City Centre was a mall, of which there are many in Hong Kong. There's an area near where we live where there are like five different malls that all bleed into one another. It's amazing. And they're always incredibly easy to find. So I thought I'd be able to see the mall from the MTR. When we got off the train, I looked on the station map and had my first warning sign, because New City Centre was not indicated as being in the area. But I shrugged it off because I was so sure about where it was. We walked down the street, no mall to be found. There were restaurants, little shops, apartment buildings, and a big industrial complex. We passed a gas station and worriedly crossed a street. The next building turned out to be a courthouse, and I knew we had gone too far. Luckily a policeman was walking toward us, so I flagged him down and showed him where I was going on my phone. He frowned at the map, said he had never heard of New City Centre, and pulled up Google Earth on his phone. It said that it was the building next to the gas station, so we headed back. It looked just like an apartment building, with rows and rows of mailboxes in the open foyer. But there was a small sign inside saying that it was New City Centre! We went further into the building, and a security guard waved us through to some industrial elevators. By this time it seemed like we were in a parking garage, not an apartment building. But this was New City Centre, so it had to be here! When we got to the second floor and wandered around a little, we saw a sign for Outdoor Mart and made a beeline for it down the passageway. It was a tiny little store, no bigger than our living room in Urbana, completely packed wall to wall with camping gear. I had to leave the stroller outside because it wouldn't possibly fit. But there was our air mattress, and the owner was extremely friendly. He wanted to know if we found the store on the internet, and where we lived. But then a terrible realization - I didn't have enough money! I thought for sure that I had a $500 bill in my wallet, but I had been wrong and I was about $30 short. And of course, a small store like that doesn't take plastic. I told him that I would run to the MTR station and get some money from an ATM, but he said that his partner would walk with me to the station so I wouldn't have to make the extra trip. He tried calling the partner on the phone, but no answer. So he took the phone, closed up the shop, and insisted on taking me himself. I felt so bad, even though there weren't any other customers. But by the time we got to the "lobby," his partner ran up! We said goodbye to the owner, and the partner walked with us back to the station. She made sure to carry the bag, and I wondered if she was trying to be nice since I was already pushing the stroller, or did she think I would try to run off without paying? I had to chuckle at the thought of me making a break for it, trying to run down the crowded street with the bag and the stroller. I don't think we would have gotten very far! Not wanting to put the woman out any further that we already had, I picked up Evangeline's stroller with her inside and carried it up the huge flight of stairs. Once inside, we got the money and exchanged it for our bag with the mattress. And we went home victorious, more proud than anyone has a right to be for just buying an air mattress!

On a different note, I had some anxiety about a social excursion on Tuesday morning. Evangeline and I were invited to join a group of moms at a water play area. I had met only one of the moms before, so I was apprehensive about being in a whole group. I get nervous meeting new people, especially en masse. And we were going to be at a water park, so I would also have to keep an eagle eye on Evangeline, since she doesn't have much sense of her limitations in the water. And Evangeline would be around new toddlers in a new situation, and you always worry a little bit about how that is going to go. But the only way to become friends with people is to spend time with them, so I knew I'd just have to grit my teeth and do it. And of course, things went just fine. Evangeline had a great time, with only some sharing squabbles at the end when everyone was tired and hungry. The women I met were approachable and friendly. Walking back to our apartment in the punishing heat of midday, I declared the morning a victory.

Joseph bought a TV off of Craigslist this week, which went very smoothly. But they had it mounted on the wall, so the stand wasn't screwed on, and they didn't have the screws that came with it. We didn't want to deal with trying to wall-mount it this week, so we decided to try to find some screws. Easier said than done. Joseph had a terrible outing this afternoon where the shop owners either didn't have the screws or didn't want to sell them to Joseph. But finally he persevered, and now our "new" TV is in our living room on its stand. But the big victory from an otherwise unpleasant experience is that Joseph took this awesome picture by the store where he was finally sold the necessary screws. Um, I'm pretty sure Bill Clinton didn't authorize that endorsement, however true it might be:

I'm sure he hits up Guang Dong Barbecue EVERY TIME he's in Hong Kong...but this is perfect because it shows how little respect for intellectual property there is in China.

On an unrelated note, here are some pictures of Evangeline playing at the playground in our apartment complex:

This is in the "toddler" playground

"My mom is so awesome! She can buy an air mattress!"

Which Evangeline is the real thing?

Steering on the "big kid" playground

Monkey bar staredown

"Hey, she's not doing it right! It should be MY TURN!"

You can see the helpers off to the left, making phone calls (to home?). On the right are the elderly people who are wheeled there every day in the late afternoon to socialize and watch the kids play.