There's No Place Like Home...

...but where is home, really??

I've got a couple of definitions of home.

1) Enon, Ohio - where I spent my childhood, having one of those super normal, dinner together every night, playing with the kids down the street, getting into "trouble" with my group of friends (ha! okay, not so much, we were a pretty good group of kids), mom and dad quizzing me on my spelling list, Ponderosa dinner for good grades, Youngs Jersey Dairy after football games, feeding stale bread to the ducks at the pond in Yellow Springs, going to church at St. Ray's every Sunday, eating Kraft mac n cheese (it's the best, still!), playing Nintendo, childhoods.  My parents still live there, and it is still where I go to unplug and recharge the batteries.  There is something so serene about the country... and I love the view out of the back windows:

 

2) Portland, Oregon - where I moved right after college.  I thought I had it all figured out at the really old age of 21.  I thought that my life plan was SOLID.  What I ended up figuring out is that I had NOTHING figured out.  And, actually, I learned that, sometimes, the best plan for life is to have NO plan, to simply know your priorities and what you stand for, and to follow you heart.  What an experience - what was supposed to be a 15 month assignment somehow turned into 9 years, and what was supposed to be a temporary location quickly became the place that I most definitely now call my "hometown".  That wonderful city changed my life... I got healthy with the help of my "sole sisters", the girls I ran with every Saturday since April of 2003, and I started to figure out who I was outside the safe haven I had with my family in Ohio.  I learned that I'm a person that likes to change it up every so often, which was strange for me, coming from a life up to that point where I had never even moved schools.  Which led me to a pretty big decision... I left this home for another home and a grand adventure in Europe for two years, from March of 2008 to February of 2010. 

 

 3) Amsterdam, The Netherlands - this is the whole reason I am writing this particular blog post.  I just got back from another trip to Europe for work (adidas is headquartered in Germany).  I figured that since Amsterdam was a major hub, I should leave a few days early and get to see all of the dear friends that I had while I was there.  To be honest, I've not been the best at keeping in touch, as the time that I was back in Portland was a bit of a whirlwind that started with a certain date at the Tea Zone on July 16, 2010... but, nevertheless, it was so great to be back.  A part of me definitely still feels like this is home too.  After living in Hong Kong, it was so refreshing to go to a foreign country where people were speaking a different language, yet I could understand (okay, about 50%) of what people were saying.  It's really a strange thing to be in a train in Hong Kong, and have no idea what people are talking about.  I've just started putting on my headphones to be honest.  Anyways... Amsterdam felt like coming home.  It was so nice to know where I was going and what tram to take, where to buy clothes and shoes that fit, and to have so many people to hang out with.  I really didn't want to leave.  One other thing felt very familiar... riding on the back of my friend Leslie's bike!  :)  When you don't have an extra bike, this is what you do... here is the picture from me doing it the first time - I'm much more comfortable now!  :)

4) Finally, the home that doesn't need a place... just a feeling - my husband.  When Brian and I got married, we both talked about the feeling of coming home in our vows.  I think for two people that have decided that life just may not always need a permanent address, this is the best kind of home.  This crazy adventure we call our lives has brought us so much closer together, whether it is wandering through markets trying to decide what fish to take home, or talking about how hard it is sometimes to be living in a crazy Asian city.  Sometimes we look at each other and say, "Holy Cow, look out the window - WE LIVE IN HONG KONG!!!".  I'm not quite sure how this adventure began (okay, I kind of do), and I'm not sure where it will take us next (seriously... Vietnam??  Taiwan??  Germany??), but I know that in my husband I have a home that doesn't need an address, and I feel so very blessed because of this.

Happy to be "home" in Hong Kong after being away for the past 9 days.  :)  Missing all my friends and family in all my other "homes".  xoxo

Happy New Year, Hong Kong Style!

Our New Year's festivities were a bit more mellow this year than last, but on New Year's Day, we got to witness a Guinness World Record in the making!  That afternoon, we got to witness a Dragon and Lion Dancing parade with (supposedly) the most dragons a parade has ever had.  It was pretty cool to see in person... I had seen it on TV many a time.  There was such a variety of participants - everything from young men, running through the streets and moving the dragon in all kinds of crazy motions to young 6-year-olds, proudly walking with their pole and just trying to keep it up in the air.  It was a really fun afternoon, and we were glad we went.  Here are some pictures to give you an idea:

 

 

 

We tried to preserve our families' New Year's food traditions... my family used to eat pork chops and sauerkraut, while Brian's had black eyed peas.  Luckily, we had brought black eyed peas in our shipment, so we were covered there.  The sauerkraut, on the other hand... we tried to find at the grocery store.  We didn't see anything that looked the same as home, so we bought something called "pickeled cabbage".  Um, yeah, so that's not really the same, and smelled absolutely disgusting.  Hopefully this next year is still lucky for us.  ;)

Happy New Year to all!!  :)



PS - You might notice that my hair is remarkably not in a pony tail for the first time since I moved to Asia... I had a miraculous hair treatment called a Brazilian blowout this week which has changed my life... straight hair, no frizziness.  It is the best discovery I've had since I moved here.  Only downside is 1) it took about 5 hours and 2) my hair smells like a strange combination of bananas and chemicals.  :)