Out and About

I think I mentioned in the last post that we've been trying to do something fun for Evangeline every day, since she has been spending a lot of time doing boring things like looking at apartments and sitting in banks and shopping at Ikea. So here are pictures from a few Evangeline-centered excursions.

On Sunday we went to the Hong Kong Botanical and Zoological Gardens on Hong Kong Island. It was really, really hot! I thought Illinois was humid, but this was another level. And Hong Kong Island is very hilly, so we were basically headed straight up hill the whole way there. Poor little E had sweat dripping from her curls. But she got to see the primates, which was a huge highlight for her. One of the orangutans peed from the top of its cage while we were close by, a huge fountain of urine. She was talking about that for quite a while, unfortunately!

King Orangutan does not approve of us

"Mommy, he's peeing!"

"Don't take a picture of me; I'm too damn hot!"

On our way we went by a film set, which reminded us that Hong Kong is a big film center for China. They were shooting some sort of protest scene down a street. When we walked by again hours later, they were still there and hadn't moved very far. Ugh, how tedious!

Everyone gets ready for another take

Not impressed by Hong Kong cinema

Another interesting thing we saw was the phenomenon of the maids' day out. Apparently the Philipina/Vietnamese maids (or "helpers," not sure what is worse) only get one day off a week. That day is Sunday, and they all go and hang out together in the public spaces on Hong Kong Island. There were quite a few in the parks and squares that we went by, which makes sense. But I was shocked by how many were sitting in the shade in underpasses and non-scenic areas. They bring something to sit on and a picnic lunch and visit with each other and play games. We used an ATM under a bank building, and all around us was a riot of women:

The view to the south

And to the north

I mean, I guess I'm glad they're having fun. But it seems so weird that it doesn't get any better than sitting on the icky sidewalk in the middle of the financial district. To make it even more strange, there was some sort of Miss Philipina Hong Kong pageant on a street that we walked by:

The stage

Congratulations?

Needless to say, it'll be interesting to see if the whole maid thing gets any easier to swallow after we've been here for a while. 

On another morning, we went to Kowloon Park, which is a really nice oasis in the middle of an extremely urban area. There is a great play structure that E just loved. We were the only ones there, but it seems like people in HK aren't early risers. It's pretty common for stores to not open until 10:30 or 11:00. After the playground, we went to the aviary.

Climbing up to the top!

At the flamingo lagoon

It was pouring today, but we were at our new apartment getting the utilities turned on, so we spent some time in the indoor playroom at the complex. There were other kids there and it was kind of pathetic how excited Evangeline was to be around non-adults. They were a lot older than her, but she still had a great time. So hopefully once we get settled we can get some more kid time!

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

Our big news is that we've officially signed a lease. Yes, we have a new home! It will probably take a few days for us to fully move in, but it's a big relief to end the apartment search. We ended up being pretty restricted because of our non-negotiables: 1) must allow dogs, 2) must have an oven, 3) must have a washing machine. The oven/dog combo was the most difficult, since ovens are pretty rare (our landlady lives in the same building and also has an oven, and confessed that she has never turned hers on in 13 years). Add that to the fact that we were only looking in the New Territories because we didn't want a huge commute for Joseph, and there wasn't an overwhelming number of options. We ended up taking the first place that we looked at; we had such a good feeling about it when we were first there that we debated even continuing to search, but we felt like we should do our due diligence. It was like one of those wedding dress things where the first dress you try on is the one you end up wearing.

We'll be living in Tai Wai, which is a fairly sizable community in the New Territories, over a small mountain range from Kowloon. There aren't a lot of non-Chinese people there, but I think that will give us a richer experience. It's three short stops on the same metro line as the University, and shouldn't take too terribly long to get into the heart of the city for entertainment purposes. Our apartment complex is literally against a leafy hillside, which we love. It has a gorgeous pool, a gym, and a playground that is already Evangeline-approved. Our landlady, Thanh, lives in the same building and is a native Vietnamese who spent a long time in Australia and then married a Hong Kong citizen. She wrote us an email on Saturday night giving us the top ten reasons why we should pick her apartment, which definitely helped to win us over. :)

We went to a very strange apartment complex on Saturday afternoon that I had high hopes for because of its bay and mountain views. It was enormous, first of all, with eight huge towers and thousands upon thousands of units. The only thing we could really compare it to is Las Vegas, with huge decorative pools and fountains everywhere, and all the common areas done up in marble to look like a European palace or some such thing. All the employees had those little earpieces like the Secret Service wears, and they were everywhere, opening doors for you, etc. I was sorely tempted by one of the units we saw that had its own private 680 square foot patio. Evangeline and Fred would have loved it, but we couldn't get over how fake the complex was. And we might not have been able to handle the fact that literally a thousand people could be watching us on our patio at any given moment. Kind of creepy!

Along those same lines, we have a Rear Window-esque view from our temporary apartment. The building across the street has a fitness studio on similar floors to ours, so at any given time when we look out the window we see at least three levels of classes. It seems to be mostly dance-based, which is very entertaining. Almost entirely women, but sometimes there is a lone man, and invariably he is extremely into the dance moves!

We're making forward progress on getting Evangeline adjusted to the new time zone. The first few nights were rough--she got up anywhere from 1am to 3am and didn't really go back to sleep. But the last two nights have been better, and this morning she didn't get up until 5:45, which is approaching what we would expect! She has been such a good sport, considering that we've been schlepping her all around the city. We've been trying to do something every day that she would consider to be fun, and I'll write more about some of those adventures soon. It's amazing how flexible kids are, though. Her life changed so drastically and she takes it all in stride. She loves escalators and is already really good at stepping on and stepping off. And she really enjoys the metro, especially holding on to the pole. Whenever the train slows down approaching a station, she shakes her head and me and says, "Not yet, Mommy!" But her true love is the minibus, which we took once from the Tai Wai metro station to our new apartment and back. It's basically an extra large van, with sixteen seats. I don't know if it's the fact that she gets to sit in her own seat with a big person seat belt, or the fact that it's really bumpy and the drivers go terrifyingly fast, but she adores it. Now whenever she sees the minibuses around, she perks right up and even shouts, "That's my bus!"

More to follow, and many more pictures!

Evangeline on the MTR with her pole

So Far, So Good

So long, USA!

We arrived in Hong Kong last night and everything has been going so smoothly that it's almost scary. Our flights were basically on time, our luggage was already waiting for us when we cleared customs, and our little temporary apartment was just what we expected.  Since I'm a Murphy's Law kind of traveler, I would have gone out and bought a lottery ticket last night if I knew how to do it!

Evangeline has been a real trooper.  She only had one bona fide meltdown, and that was in DFW when she didn't want to get in her car seat when we got on the plane. Given how little sleep she's had since Monday, it's really lucky.  Her favorite part of every flight was the landing.  She would laugh and say, "Again?" once we finally stopped bouncing around.

Our SFO to HKG flight was on Cathay Pacific, and it was nice to be on a non-US airline for the service alone, although it had its oddities.  First, there was the business of our car seat.  They took it from Joseph before boarding "to make sure it would fit."  They never brought it back, so Joseph preboarded to check on the situation while I waited until the last possible moment with Evangeline so she could play in the concourse.  When Joseph got to our seats, the car seat was haphazardly buckled in to the aisle seat and there was a crowd of flight attendants waiting for Evangeline who were very disappointed that she didn't board with Joseph.  He got the car seat properly installed in the window seat; when Evangeline and I finally boarded, once of the flight attendants grabbed her hand and danced with her down the aisle (E was a little weirded out by this). Even though it probably wasn't sincere, it was nice of the crew to at least pretend to be excited to see a toddler coming on board. We are used to being viewed as lepers by 90% of the traveling public and airline employees (not that I blame them), so it was a nice surprise.

Then as we were preparing for takeoff, a group of no less than three flight attendants came over to tell us that we couldn't have E in her car seat for takeoff or landing. According to their regulations, babies over 18 months have to be in a lap. They gave me a seat belt extension to strap her on to my belt, at least.  We had to laugh that the airline thinks it's safer for a small child to be on a lap than strapped in to our FAA-approved car seat with a five-point harness, but when in Rome...

The taxi ride in to the city last night was just gorgeous.  The sun had just gone down, so the sky was a lovely dark blue and all the lights on all the buildings made for a surreal tableau.  I had to laugh when E pointed at the taxi driver as we were zooming along and asked, "Who's this?"  I don't think she's ever been in a car that hasn't been driven by a family member, so she probably thought it was strange that we didn't introduce her.

Our project for today was to apply for our Hong Kong ID cards, which all Hong Kong residents are required to have. We had made an appointment last week, so after finding coffee and a few basic groceries this morning, we headed to Hong Kong Island and the Immigration Building. We went up eight sets of escalators (not easy with a stroller!) to the proper floor and joined the queue. All in all, the process was very efficient and I have to tip my cap to the person in charge for managing expectations so well.  When you first check in, there's a prominent sign that says the process from start to finish takes an average of 75 minutes. Of course, we groaned and were glad we had eaten lunch before we came.  When we made it through all three stations in only 40 minutes, we left with a spring in our step and a positive view of the staff.  Well played, Hong Kong Immigration Department!

We didn't have time for any sight-seeing, as it was time for E's nap and she was obviously running on fumes. She slept well for the first part of the night, but got up at 1am for a few hours and slept fitfully after that.  I'm sure it will be a while before we can get her little internal clock reset, but I'm sure being out in the sun this morning helped a lot.  I'm looking forward to establishing our new routine.

All in all, a great first day.  I'm so thankful!

Backpack? Sunglasses? Blankie? George? This is how she rolls.