buying groceries at Wellcome

Hong Kong Jul 26

Yeah, Steven came first and the kids and I went to Washington for 3 weeks to visit my parents and relatives. Then we meet Steven in SF and flew to Hawaii for 4 days on our way over. We were trying to eat up the time it takes to ship our belongings here. (4-6 weeks) We are here now and HOPE to get our stuff in a week. It's on a slow boat to China! So we are living out of the stuff we brought in our suitcases and the bare necessities that Steven bought. He bought us beds! We packed one towel, but quickly decided our family of 4 and one towel don't add up, so bought a couple of cheapies yesterday. It's very much an adventure here. We live about 40 minutes from downtown (20 in a car, but we are public transport all the way baby. So our little area only has so much. Can't tell you how much I miss Target!! No such thing here. We bought inflatable rafts today from the market. It's hilarious, the little stand had more crap then my Aunt's Attic crammed to the roof. But the shopkeeper navigated through the stuff and found our items. I wanted to take a photo as I was soooo amazed at the craziness, but was worried it was rude.

Hope all is well. I will send a change of address email out in a few days and then start a blog with photos and updates, for anyone bored at work. Right now I am focusing on buying groceries and just doing the basics.... I get a little uptight in the grocery store as I can't keep the conversions straight in my head and forget how much I am spending and then I forget whatever I buy, I need to carry!! So after putting a watermelon in my cart -- I realized that I wasn't buying much more that day. It's funny to shop. I bought tortillas from San Leandro, berries from Watsonville, apple juice from Washington, peanut butter from England, milk from Australia and eggs from New Zealand. Yeah, I guess, I didn't realize how fresh my food was in CA... Here I am lucky to have 3 days left before the stuff expires!

Take care. Come visit!

Annie

Swimming at the American Club

Reality Hits

Sunday sucked me in. The apartment was beautiful. The views were captivating. The family had fun. Then Monday came.

Monday was the first day Steven went back to work. It was the kids and I against Hong Kong. We woke up and the clear skies had turned to a dense grey haze. If you didn’t know it was 90 degrees and 90 percent humidity, you’d grab a jacket to go outside. We are still living out of our suitcases and have no dressers or places to put stuff. I figured it was one of those times to plug in the kids and turn on the tv so I could power clean. So I turn on the boob tube, but the kids shows were all in Chinese. So I see if I can hook up our portable DVD player to the tv and accidently hit a button. So now I can’t hook up the DVD player and can’t get the tv to work anymore. So I figure I’d call Steven. I realize, I have no idea how to reach him. No phone numbers and he wasn’t able to access personal email at work. Meanwhile, I start to realize the kids and I are dripping sweat. But I can’t figure out the AC. The whole world was against me. Anything with a control button was Chinese to me. Then like a sign from heaven the phone rang. I knew it was Steven as that’s the only person I know here. I ran up the 20 steps to grab it. But didn’t know what phone to answer, the VOIP or the local phone. With one in both ears, I cried hello only to hear dial tones. It was my cell phone ringing and I was too late. We waited another hour till he called back.

Once he called we learned the trick to the AC (point the remote at a specific small spot) and got some phone numbers: mine and his. Now that I knew my phone number I called the one person I met in Hong Kong. While I was apartment shopping in April I met a mom named Betty at a coffee shop when I asked a question. Our whole meeting was 5 seconds long, but she gave me her info. So I called her. Turns out we were both planning on going swimming. So she invited us to the American Club to swim. We are waiting for our memberships so we couldn’t go on our own yet.

I have to say she turned a bad day good. The kids had a great time at the pool and loved the Eagle’s Nest. (Think playroom on steroids) We didn’t get back to the apartment till after 6 pm. After dinner, I couldn’t put the kids to bed fast enough as we’ve all been getting up around 4 am we’re pooped. Steven got home around 8.

Making the Move

Views from our living room: Redhill Penisula on top, Stanley Penisula on bottom.

American Club across the street

View from our living room

First Day in Hong Kong

We’ve been talking about the move so long; now that we’re here it feels surreal. We left San Jose on Monday, July 17th. We flew to Oahu for a quick vacation. The flight was easy, especially for Steven as he was a row behind us. Hawaii was spectacular, but definitely too short.

We left Hawaii Friday morning. We left our hotel at 7:30 am and didn’t arrive in Hong Kong until 10 pm on Saturday night. Just when I commented to Steven that the kids were doing great, the melt downs started. Ally didn’t sleep until the last 30 minutes of the last flight. There were two. Oahu to Japan then Japan to Hong Kong.

I know what hell is like. It’s standing in the wrong immigration line with two sleeping four year olds who scream deliriously and 100 pounds of carry on luggage. Half way through the line they both start screaming “pee pee”.

The good thing is we are adjusting to the time difference almost right away. Got to the apartment after 10 pm and we all crashed.

It’s very hot and humid here. The only thing the humidity doesn’t seem to dampen is our kid’s energy. The apartment is nicer than I remember. Every where you look you see views of the South China seas spotted with islands and green hills. Steven bought the bare essentials: a couch, table and beds.

Since we had no food in the fridge, we took the shuttle bus to Stanley. We had breakfast at the first restaurant we saw that was open. Had a traditional American breakfast. American must equal big. Want to unpack, but didn’t realize how hard that is when you don’t have a dresser or hangers. Went to a small home good store in the area, but didn’t have hangers. Tomorrow, we’ll head into the city and get some.

Then went to the grocery store. Much bigger than I expected. But tried not to buy too much since we weren’t sure how far we’d have to carry it to the taxi. Turns out we were able to take our cart to the taxi stand. What a budget controller –only buying what you can carry!

Came home and went for a swim in the apartment pool. It was the first time I wish the pool was colder. We were amazed at how many Chinese people there were. Sounds weird I know.

Came home we all showered. The kids and I took cold showers as I didn’t realize you have to push a button to turn on the water heater. I cooked pork chops with sautéed apples, corn on the cob and baked beans for dinner. We ate on paper plates and used our four forks

Miss target and trash cans and hangers.

Tomorrow we have to go register with the government and get our Hong Kong ID cards. Then we’ll head to the Philippine Consulate to start on our helper, Evelyn’s, work visa. We are hoping we can get her by September. Then Steven will head to work and the kids and I will try taking the bus home.

Annie

Message from Steven from Hong Kong

Dear King Steven,
I think we are going to have serious challenger readjusting back to life in the USA love, Marion Maiden

"Steven C. Pelayo, CFA" wrote: Tonight I got a little "taste" (a pun you'll better understand in a second) of why expats never leave HK.
Having a live-in helper is cool, very cool. Tonight she prepared my first meal and it was far better than anything I had in the hotel restaurants during the previous week or so.
Perhaps its just my "un-refined" taste buds. Afterall, it was only a simple chicken/veggies on pasta dish.
Or maybe it was the act of enjoying a meal without any "I cook, you clean"
clauses attached.
Regardless, it reminded me of a famous Mel Brooks line from the movie History of the World Part 2. "Its good to be the king", was his mantra as others served his every whim.
While I may not be any kind of supreme ruler, in the Kingdom of Flat 34A having a helper certainly makes me feel like royalty.
Steven