Lately...

Wow, no post in a while. It seems like there has been both a ton going on and not much at all--that is, work has been hectic for the last couple of weeks, so I have been tired and not done much interesting that's worth reporting. Let's see; here's what's happened since my last post:

Obama streamed to victory in the elections (yay!!), which I celebrated with my Swiss employer by having a lovely glass of French wine. (To all of my dear, dear Republican friends and family members, I know that, to you, there are multiple things wrong with that sentence)

I explored the less populated side of HK Island--namely Stanley Beach. There is a great street market there where I picked up some fun stuff (yes, Mom, I'm spending myself into poverty here). I can never get over how gorgeous the beaches are here; I could just sit and stare all day.

We moved into the house finally! The renovations are great; everything is very stream-lined and sleek. It's exhausting going up and down the stairs 20 times a day--the house has 4 levels (5 if you consider the rooftop deck). On the side facing Repulse Bay, the walls are entirely windows, so we have a fantastic view of the water. It's great to wake up to. Henry's school is just about a 5 minute walk away, so that's really nice. Alessio fell down one of the sets of stairs yesterday, taking about 10 years off my life. I thought surely he had broken something, but he was absolutely unharmed. It's amazing how indestructible kids are--he stopped crying after 2 minutes, I was shaking for 20. He's just so fearless, and he thinks he's older than he is, so he's always just bum-rushing into things. Anyway, I'll put up pictures of the house when I get a chance.

Chris arrived last night, and I was so excited to see him!! I was practically jumping out of my skin waiting at the airport for him to arrive after his 16 hour flight. As a lovely welcome, we had an early Thanksgiving dinner here at the house. Victoria ordered it from a local restaurant, and they covered all of the bases--a full turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, potatoes, gravy, brussel sprouts (eww). It was really delicious. This morning Chris and I got up early, walked Henry to school, and embarked on our day in HK. We took the bus out to Stanley Beach--the bus ride is terrifying and exhilarating from the front seat on the upper deck of the bus as it flies around the curves on the incredibly narrow streets. It has some great views, which you notice after you stop thinking you're going to die in a bus accident. After that, we took the bus into Central and went to Maxim's at City Hall for Dim Sum. It was delicious!! They bring various types of food around on carts and you choose what you want. It's one of the things that everyone has said I need to do here, and I loved it. After lunch, we walked around Central/Lan Kwai Fong/SoHo for a bit, then hopped on a double-decker tram to Wan Chai where we took the Peak Tram up to the Peak to take in the amazing view of the HK skyline. The weather was amazing today, and really clear (clear for HK that is), so we have some good pictures. We sat at one of the restaurants and had a couple of drinks and appetizers--a perfect way to spend an afternoon. After decending from the Peak, we took the tram back to Central and walked around there a bit more before taking the MTR to Times Square, which is really lively at night and lots of fun. We took the MTR over to Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon for dinner at Chao Inn, where we had a table with a fantastic view of the HK Island skyline. It looks incredibly at night, which made up for the struggles with the waitstaff as none of them spoke a word of English (it's the first time I've encountered someone who doesn't at least know a few words of English; maybe it's because we were on the Kowloon side). Then we popped up a few more floors to a bar called Aqua to take in some more amazing views. We took the Star Ferry back across the bay, and caught the bus home because both of us were way too tired to go have a drink in Lan Kwai Fong as we had planned. It was a fabulous day.

Tomorrow morning, Chris and I leave for Bangkok, where we will spend a day before traveling through Cambodia and into Vietnam. Expect awesome pictures a week from now...

Chinese Drinking Games and the Big Buddha

Who ever thought you'd see those two things lumped together?...Anyone who's spent a good weekend in Hong Kong, that's who. 

So it was Halloween weekend, and as such the city was crazy. I had some inkling that Hong Kong would go all-out for the holiday because when I took Henry to one of the outdoor markets last week to get a costume I had trouble finding anything for a 3 year old boy among all of the "slutty nurse", "skanky pirate", and "really skanky...prostitute with bunny ears?" costumes. I stayed away from Lan Kwai Fong, the biggest party area, assuming it would be too crowded to even be any fun. Instead, I went with Jasmine, a really nice local girl that I've met and hung out with a few times, to a party at a bar in Times Square. A couple of her friends, who are French/Chinese (just the right mix for me, I suppose) reserved a section of a bar and, for a small cover charge, kept the Chinese beer coming all night long. They taught me to play a couple of the dice games that the Chinese people are generally obsessed with. The first was basically a version of poker played with dice, so that wasn't too hard--the person with the worst hand twice in a row had to drink. The second game was a version of bullsh*t, which is too complicated to explain here. The third, 789, is played by taking turns rolling the dice, then doing the corresponding action--7 means you fill the communal glass, 8 means you drink half of that glass, and 9 means you drink the whole glass. All other numbers are inconsequential, unless you get overzealous when rolling the dice and one drops out of the bowl, in which case the offender has to drink whatever is in the communal glass. The unlucky guy sitting next to me was nicknamed "Mr. 9" by the end of the night. He was fun. I talked to a very nice French guy named Franck for part of the night--he's in HK starting up a high-end lingerie company with a friend of his; in 2-5 years, look for the brand PIMP in a store near you. I'm pretty sure he wasn't lying :)

I was worthless all day Saturday. Sunday, I got my act together and went out. Just outside of Lan Kwai Fong, I came across a biker rally--I think it may have been a premier of Ducati's 2009 line. I was just excited to see a Chinese biker gang: 

After that fun, I made my way to the central pier to catch a ferryboat out to Lantau Island--the largest of the many islands surrounding HK. Disneyland is there, which I plan on visiting at some point. I went to see the Po Lin Monastery and the Big Buddha. The Big Buddha is so named because it is the largest outdoor Buddha statue in the world; it is quite impressive. The monastery is pretty amazing too. I find that the Chinese, in general, aren't big on subtlety--everything that is meant to be impressive or luxurious is pretty over the top, often edging into gaudy. It works in the temples though; they are awe-inspiring, covered in gold and flowers and always smelling strongly of the incense lit by the people who come to pray. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. I had lunch at the monastery; you can buy a meal ticket for the vegetarian restaurant on the grounds and receive a 4 course meal: soup, fried egg rolls, sauteed bean curd and mushrooms, and sauteed peppers, served with tea and a big pot of sticky rice. Really delicious. I'm getting better at eating with chopsticks too. My technique is fine, it's just that my muscles fatigue about half way through a meal...I'm working on it. Anyway, enough talk; on to the pictures:

First thing I saw on the island--when they have to point out that it's a "Cooked Food Market," it just makes you less confident. They're overselling it. 

These guys looked like fun...

Yes, those are Sunkist oranges, direct from the USA, being offered to the diety. Do you think they get a special discount?

I followed the Wisdom Path from the monastery and found this outdoor exhibition. It's an ancient philosophical passage about finding enlightenment, written in caligraphy on a series of wooden planks set into the mountainside in a figure 8 (a very lucky number in China). I only wish I had some clue what it said...it probably has the meaning of the universe or something, but I don't get to know just because I don't understand ancient Chinese characters...darn.

This was just a cool mountain. It looked like the clouds surrounding it 

were about to swallow it whole.

Being A Celebrity

If you've every wanted to see what it's like to be famous and hounded by the paparazzi, just come to Hong Kong. I'm trying to be sensitive to cultural differences, but I find this really weird. Whenever I go out to a tourist-y place, especially if I'm with the kids, all of the tourists from India or other parts of China ask to take pictures with me/us. I guess they really just aren't used to seeing people as pale as we are, and they are super excited at having the opportunity. It's a little uncomfortable to be asked to pose with random strangers, not to mention being unsure where the pictures are going to end up. The tourists seem very nice, and basically harmless, but they are very insistent.

Yesterday, Victoria and I got a little annoyed with it all. We took the boys to the beach for the afternoon, and we happened to go to the beach that all of the tour buses stop by. Loads of Chinese tourists got off a bus, and as usual they began taking pictures of the kids from afar, sort of pretending to be taking pictures of the scenery. They slowly get bolder (this happens every time the boys are at the beach), and eventually they come over to take close-up pictures. This doesn't seem to bother Victoria really, since she knows they just think the boys are adorable; the idea bothers me a little bit. Then, a couple of women came over and without a moments thought started picking Alessio up to pose with him. Henry was freaked out, so he was sitting between Victoria and I, but Alessio is more laid back so he seemed okay. This really bothered me--you just don't go touching someone else's kids; it's not okay. Alessio was fine for a bit, but then he became annoyed or scared and started crying, which the women seemed to ignore while striking their poses. I jumped up to take him from them and set him next to Victoria. Next thing, the woman grabs my arm and forcibly pulls me next to her to take a picture. I get that we don't have a common language, so she doesn't have a way to ask politely, but I don't understand how anyone thinks it's okay to yank on a stranger's arm and hold tight to take pictures. I was standing there in my bathing suit, surrounded by a half dozen people taking pictures of me and taking turns posing with me. They started doing the same to Victoria and the kids--crouching next to her while Henry cowered and Alessio cried, even trying to take Alessio from Victoria's arms for a better picture. Really, we just wanted a relaxing afternoon at the beach--yesterday was particularly bad, but something along these lines happens most of the time when we take the boys to the beach. Again, I understand cultural differences and am willing to make allowances for it, but I just don't get how anyone thinks it's okay to go grabbing at someone else's children. The picture-taking is bad enough, but I draw the line at them manhandling the kids. Am I being too sensitive? I don't want to be rude to these people, because really they seem harmless, but it's frustrating and uncomfortable. I have a newfound sympathy for celebrities--though at least the paparazzi generally keeps a small buffer.

On an entirely different note, here are some recent pictures from around HK. I'll have better ones soon--my camera has broken, so I've been taking pictures with my phone, but I have to buy the proper cord for importing those pics onto my computer.

Hong Kong Weekend

So I made an effort to get to know my new home away from home this weekend. 

I walked around town on Saturday, engaging in the official sport of Hong Kong--shopping. In SoHo, the up-and-coming trendy district where all of the expat bars and art galleries are, there are some great little boutiques. I happened on some sales and bought a really cute dress and skirt. It's really odd to hear that your total comes to 600 dollars, but then I remember that it's Hong Kong dollars, which have a 7 to 1 ratio with US dollars (so 600HKD is about 85USD). It's difficult to adjust the mind to such an odd ratio--how often does one divide something by 7? I'm using the calculator on my phone constantly just to reassure myself that I'm not spending my life savings, because even knowing that the ratio is broad it still seems crazy to for over $70 for a cab ride. I suppose it will just take some time to adjust. 

I'm liking urban living--taking cabs and the metro line everywhere. It makes me feel very cosmopolitan :) The pollution in this urban center, though, is extensive. Just walking around outside for an hour or more, I feel my eyes and throat stinging. The smell of stale cigarette smoke in most of the cabs isn't very pleasant either. I think the idea of breathing so much pollution would really bother me if I was going to live here for an extended period. 

Today, Sunday, I went into the Central district to find some authentic Chinese food. I'm not brave enough to venture into the shops where the menu is only in Chinese--the cleanliness of those, and the source of their ingredients, is questionable at best. But I found a place in the mid-levels (between Central and SoHo) that had it's menu in both Chinese and English, so I thought is was a good compromise. I ordered Tsing Tao, the pre-eminent Chinese beer (really light; a lot like a Heineken), and Kung Pao Chicken. It was phenomenally spicy, which I had missed out on in all those weeks in France, and completely delicious. I managed to use chopsticks for the entire meal, which I was excited about--the rice is tricky; I need more practice. I've heard that Hong Kong has the best Chinese food in all of China, so I want to make sure that I go out and try a lot because I'm pretty much eating the same things with the family as we ate in France, which is kind of sad. An additional note about food: I am so excited to be in a place with proper customer service! I got used to the complete lack of consideration for paying customers that is displayed in most of Europe, but the service industry here reminds me what a dining or shopping experience should be like. Here, unlike in France, waiters don't act like you're inconveniencing them by ordering food, it doesn't take 20 minutes to get a tea at Starbucks, and I can ask for a different size in something without eyes rolling. How nice. 

One of the many super-cool sky-scrapers:

Typical street in Central:

After lunch, I took the metro (blissfully easy to figure out, clean, and cheap) over to Kowloon to see the Wong Tai Sin Taoist Temple. It's in the middle of a bunch of run-down, high-rise apartment buildings, which seemed to me an odd place for a temple. To be honest, it looks a bit contrived--more like what a bad Hollywood movie placed in the China Town of an American city would produce. It looks like a characature of what I thought it should look like. But what do I know? Apparently, it's genuine. People go to pray to buddha, lighting big bunches of incense sticks that make the whole place smell fantastic. They cup the incense and bow forward over and over again, wishing for whatever is on their list, and then leave the incense in big pots on the alter. 

It's also the place to go to have your fortune told. In the main temple, you pick up a cup of bamboo sticks, kneel at the alter with a question in mind and then rock back and forth, praying, shaking the cup until a stick falls out. The stick has a number on it, which can then be given to one of the fortune tellers outside who will find the corresponding fortune paper and interpret it. I went to a women who read my palm and my face for an overall picture of my future, and also explained my fortune from the bamboo sticks. Of the sticks I asked, separately, whether or not law school would go well for me (number 55) and whether or not my time in Hong Kong would be enjoyed (number 11). She said that law school would be rocky at first, but that by January or February of next year it would smooth out. That makes sense I suppose--rocky in the first semester, smoothing out in the second. She said my time in Hong Kong will be well spent; that I will develop some good relationships. Reading my palm and my face, she first said that I am very independent, I like to make decisions on my own, I'm a bit stubborn, but (based on the depth of the center of my palm) I am deeply loving and caring with my friends and family. The plumpness of the sides of my palm indicate that I will make plenty of money (yay!), and apparently I should invest more in property than in the stock market. Until the age of about 28, money will be kind of easy-come-easy-go, I won't be very good at saving (accurate for the moment). But after 28 my career will become more steady, I will be better at building wealth, and the money will flow in. I should not get married until age 26 or later (certainly wasn't planning on that any sooner anyway). I can have 3 kids if I want to. After age 30, I can start my own business and prosper if I so choose, and it would be beneficial for me to take on a partner (this is so because my index and ring fingers are the same length). I should continue to move around, either within the US or abroad, because that will bring good fortune to my career. I will bring my husband good fortune, too, so he will apparently also make plenty of money, which the fortune teller told me I can spend (that's how she phrased it: "you can spend your husband's money" Awesome). Around 38 or 40, I can stop working as hard, maybe retire. My life line is long, though I will have some trouble around age 55. She said something about not driving by myself around that time, and that I need to have regular check-ups so that whatever problem is going to come will be dealt with and not get too big. Lucky years for me are those of the horse, the dog and the pig--my husband, my kids, my business partner should all be of these years, and I should undertake important decisions in these years. Bad luck for me are years of the snake and the monkey--but I try to avoid those anyway :) 

The Temple:

Funny random side-note:

On Friday we (me, Victoria, Henry and Alessio) got into the elevator along with a Chinese man. As are most of the older Chinese people, he was quite short. Henry, my infinitely curious 2 year old, asked Victoria "why is the man tiny?" She tried to ignore him, because he had spoken pretty softly, but he's endlessly tenacious so he asked 2 more times until Victoria clamped a hand over his mouth and hurried out of the elevator on our floor. We burst out laughing hysterically. We can only hope that the man didn't hear him...gotta love kids. 

An American in China

I can’t believe I’m in China!

I’ve been here for 4 days, and it’s still incredibly surreal to think that I’m in Hong Kong. This was so unexpected, but I’m so glad that I’m taking this opportunity. So far, my impression of Hong Kong is pretty good. I can’t say that I had a really good look at it when I was driven from the airport in Kowloon to our apartment on the opposite side of Hong Kong island—following the 15 hours or so that it took me to come from Geneva, my mind wasn’t really open to taking in the sights. What struck me most was the apartment buildings surrounding downtown—there are dozens and dozens of high-rise apartment buildings, in blocks of 5-8 completely identical buildings, which makes me think that development must have been very rapid here, with companies undertaking massive construction projects all over the city. The apartment buildings look incredibly run-down; the humidity here plays havoc with everything, making it all look kind of deteriorated and rotten, except for the places with enough money to refurbish every couple of years. From what I’ve been told, the local Hong Kong citizens prefer to spend their money on ridiculously expensive designer clothes and cars, and live in really cramped, kind of dirty housing. To each his own, I suppose.

My apartment complex is basically like a hotel. It is a series of 7 identical, 25 storey buildings in a circle around the common facilities—the pools (outdoor and indoor), gym, children’s playroom and tennis courts. I have a studio apartment, including a big comfy bed, sitting area, bathroom and kitchen, connected to the family’s 2 bedroom apartment. I have more space here than I did in the house in Geneva, plus housekeeping service, so I really can’t complain. Everything is incredibly convenient—the gym is just across the street, the supermarket (with a wonderful selection of American and British goods) is next door, and there is always a line of taxi’s waiting. I’m incredibly excited to have proper customer service again in restaurants and from staff here, as in Europe they always act like they are doing you a favor by selling you a product or serving you food. Really, everyone here has been incredibly friendly and helpful. We had a great cab driver yesterday—he spoke French, in fact, and informed us that he can say ‘I love you’ in 10 different languages. He taught me how to say ‘I love you,’ ‘thank you’ and ‘hello’ in Chinese.

On Sunday I went to the Hong Kong Museum of Art—I’ve decided to be super cultural and cool here in HK. They had some really nice exhibits; the one showcasing calligraphy over the centuries was amazing, and it made me wish that I knew Chinese characters so I would have some idea of what was written. I’ve been told that the SoHo district here has all of the really cool bars and restaurants, along with some great vintage shops. I’m hoping to check some of that out this weekend.

I think I’m going to really have to make an effort to meet people here. From what I can tell, most of the people in the complex are young married couples with small children—not exactly the friend set I’m looking for. I think I’ll look into some local classes—cooking or exercise or the like—to see if I can meet some people that way.

The kids have been as good as can be expected the last few days.  Alessio has had a lot of trouble adjusting  to the time change, I think. He keeps waking up during the night, then sleeping late and not taking his afternoon nap. He’s been a bit tired a grumpy. Henry started school on Monday. That was a bit more dramatic than I expected.  He was so cute, with his little backpack and lunchbox. I could tell Victoria was having a hard time letting him go. He’s generally willing to go to a play group or school, but I guess he’s feeling a bit disoriented so he threw a fit when we tried to leave. Victoria talked to him for about 20 minutes, he still cried when we left, and then he was apparently fine about 10 minutes after we were gone. Today was a national holiday, so there was no school, but we’ll see how it goes tomorrow. It’s odd, but both of the kids seem younger to me here than they did in Geneva. I think it’s because they are out of their comfort zone, so they strike me as more vulnerable.

We went to see the house that we will be moving into in mid-November. It is being completely re-done, so there was a lot of construction going on. I find it oddly funny to see the scaffolding made from bamboo. It’s a nice area, just about a 10 minute walk from Henry’s school. It’s built on 3 levels; a traditional townhouse. We looked at a house that is finished out in a way similar to ours, and from the looks of it the house will be really nice. I’ll only live there for about 3 weeks before I leave, but I always look to live in comfort J There is a pool and a playground just outside the house, so the kids should never fail to have entertainment. 

Part of the Hong Kong skyline:

This is the view from my current apartment:

The outside of the house we will move into in mid-November:

The Inside, first floor:

The view from the living room:

Oktoberfest!!!

I survived Oktoberfest!! You will all be happy to know, I’m sure, that I returned to Geneva safe and sound last Monday after a weekend of debauchery in Munich, where I celebrated the ## Oktoberfest beer festival. Truly, it was an adventure.

 

I and 4 other nannies rented a car, drove 6 hours from Geneva, through Switzerland, to Munich, where we camped in an old stadium with hundreds of other festival-goers for 2 nights. The drive wasn’t bad. I made sure that I was the one driving when we crossed into Germany so that I could experience the thrill of driving on a highway with no speed limit. To be honest, that was a little scary—the highway is very poorly lit, and while I was travelling quite fast there were others who sped past like I was standing still; I hope they were experienced enough not to kill themselves.

 

Anyway, we arrived at the campsite around 3am and settled down to get some sleep before waking up at 7:30 to go get in line with the rest of the alcoholics at one of the dozen or so “beer tents” set up on the fairgrounds. These beer tents are not actually tents; they are enormous barn-like halls with wall-to-wall picnic tables and (thank goodness) indoor plumbing. Because it was the first day of the festival, it was necessary to line up early to make sure that we managed to get into a tent and get a table. Despite that we were seated by 10:15, we did not actually get our first round of beers until about 12:30—first we had to observe the parade of beer-maidens, horses, traditional German bands and so on, all leading to the ceremonial tapping of the first keg. Only then did our waitress (“beer-wench” as one guy next to us put it) come bearing 10 liter-size glasses of Paulaner beer (Paulaner was the sponsor of our particular tent; a local brewer).  Seriously, I felt like a kid with a sippy cup because the huge, full glass was too heavy to support one-handed. The very nice foursome of British people who we had allowed to take the unused end of our table bought the first round, which was a nice bonus. After a hearty ‘Prost!” we all commenced drinking.

 

Looking around at the time, I couldn’t help thinking that the atmosphere of the place was truly wonderful—everyone was drinking, yes, but no one was being rude or obnoxious, everyone was so obviously there to have a good time. Every so often the band in the middle of the room would start a traditional song that all of the German people knew and the everyone in the tent would stand up and sing, pretending (in my case, at least) to have some idea what we were toasting/singing about. It was phenomenal. The afternoon was a little bit ruined when someone stole my purse with all of my money, but after a little time I philosophically decided that it was just money and not the end of the world, and I moved on. We were at the beer tent until about 8pm—a hearty 7+ hours of fun, not including the time waiting in line that morning. We left to get meter-long bratwursts at the food stands outside, and then somehow managed to get on the right subway to go back to the campsite. In the bar set up at the campsite (yes, there was a bar there too—just in case one needed to drink even more after leaving the fairgrounds), I was forced to dance—literally dragged from the table—by an Italian guy named Flavio. He and his friends were the worst dancers I have ever seen, but my girlfriends and I decided to just run with it and dance just as badly as they did. It was great fun, even though Flavio spoke no English and so could only say my name, which he yelled over and over again to no one in particular.

 

The next morning, none of us really felt like drinking anymore. We wandered around the fairgrounds a bit in the morning, and then went off to explore Munich a bit. Truly, it is a gorgeous city. My perception of German culture as utilitarian, harsh and to the point made me think that a German city would be kind of bland and stark, but Munich has so much romanticism, so many beautiful buildings. We started at the Glockenspiel, which is an amazing example of neo-gothic architecture—though I must say the world-renowned clock in it is a bit of a let-down. We happened to get information for a free bike-tour of Munich; and American guy founded the company 6 years ago, and he runs it, quite well apparently, just on tips from the participants. I’m so glad that we did the tour. Not only did I face my long-standing fear of riding a bike, but we got to see far more of Munich than we otherwise would have, and our tour-guide (the founder of the company) was great a telling history in an entertaining and fun way. We stopped half way through the tour at the Hoffenbrau beer garden—the second largest in Munich, and in the world, seating more than 9000 people, while the largest (also in Munich) seats 14.5 thousand. I know that on first thought, stopping for a (or several) beers in the middle of a bike tour sounds like a bad idea, but all’s well that ends well and no one was seriously injured. My friends and I all had a conservative half liter beer, so we were fine, if a little giggly, after that.

 

The bike tour ended, and so did our time in Munich. We hopped back in the car for the drive back to Geneva and all of us safely, if exhaustedly, made it to work the next morning. And that was my Oktoberfest experience. Here it is in pictures:

These are the "Beer Tents" on the Fairgrounds:

Hofbrau Haus is the oldest, and most famous, brewer in Munich

Here we are waiting in line at 8:30am to get into the beer tent:

First Round:

We all thought this was just about the funniest thing we've ever seen:

Day 2:

We formed a biker gang to tour Munich:

This is Lauren, in front of the central government building erected by the Nazi's--notice the glass siding, which demonstrates the "transparency" of the Nazi regime.

The guy in this statue looked like John Belushi: