Alright, so I'm trying to do a better job of posting... I was much better about posting when I lived in Holland (
www.kpittyinthecity.blogspot.com if you are interested...), but at that point, I did not have 1) a husband or 2) a crazy job which required lots of business travel. So... I had a lot more 1) time to write and 2) interest in traveling for fun. Which made for better pictures and stories... but life is not just about the amazing travel and exotic food... a big part of it is the time that is just "normal". Normal is a relevant term... which now includes walking through street markets and among the "helpers"' on a Sunday. But... a short description of "normal", in case you were wondering. :)
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| Normal is pretty amazing restaurant options with views of our beautiful skyline. |
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| Normal is having shirts made by a tailor because we can't find clothes that fit our Western bodies (and, just so you know... this is actually CHEAPER than most nice shirts in the US!! Not so fancy!) |
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| Normal is stumbling upon a shrine that has been set up in the middle of our street for the Mooncake Festival. |
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| More of the shrine... I love the colors! |
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| Normal is witnessing the madness of the "Helper Day Off" every Sunday |
This one warrants further explanation. With the crazy life that is Hong Kong, nearly every family has a "helper". These women are mostly Indonesian or Philippa and come here as guest workers. We have a helper that comes twice a week to clean our apartment, and do things like fold clothes and wash our dishes (we don't have a dishwasher!!). Don't hate... my hours and travel are insane, so spending a relatively small amount of money to have time to spend the little time we have doing fun things is more than worth it to us!! Most families with children have a helper that lives with them, and she takes on the additional responsibilities of taking care of the children as a nanny and cooking. This most likely will be what we do as well when the time comes, as daycare options are fairly limited. This is the culture here. Anyways, Sunday is the day off for all of the helpers. Because they live with the family they work for, they don't have an indoor place to hang out, so they go to big open spaces, spread out cardboard boxes, and have a nice day together, playing cards, doing manicures, dancing, praying, eating their local food, etc. It's amazing to see them all over the city, but it generally looks like a pretty fun time spent with friends from their home countries.
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| Normal is getting new specs... yep, that's right. Ten years after LASIK, my eyes have rebelled. It's time for some glasses, which I think will help with the constant headache I've been having. |
We're slowly finding our way here... we do some of the same things we did in Portland, like meeting up with friends for brunch at our favorite restaurants, and cooking yummy goodness on a Sunday evening. We also do things that we didn't do before, like enjoying water sports nearly every weekend. Our favorites are kayaking and wakeboarding... but not so much windsurfing. It's these normal times that make us appreciate the truly amazing things that we are fortunate enough to experience... like the trip we are preparing to take to India in 3 weeks or the trip to Sri Lanka we just booked for Christmas. :) We are doing as much as we can while we live out here, and we hope you enjoy the stories - normal or not!
