Lost cable

I don't know if you have noticed the recent lack of photos on our blog....But during our move I misplaced the little cable that connects the camera to the computer. So I can not download the photos. Hopefully I will find it soon enough so you will have to bear with me....

Our view of living in Hong Kong

As you have been reading up to now we are really enjoying our stay here in Asia. We have been very enthusiastic about our way of life which includes a lot of luxuries. We are very much aware of that. We realize that we live in a bubble and that our life is in no way representative of the life of others. As expats we have a lot of advantages like a full-time helper, a luxurious Club with gym and pool, security guards, home delivery of groceries, a beach in front etc. We are soaking up every bit of the luxuries we have...realizing full well that it's temporary. But we are sometimes painfully aware of the fate of others. Hong Kong is a very rich place but even here there are lots of people that have quite a hard time surviving. Not so much in the city but more on the outskirts and beyond.
As much as we have a hard time sometimes with the painful differences we also realize that it's almost necessary for us to live in a community of people with a similar background. Living amongst the Chinese would be very hard since there is that language barrier. It is as hard for us to learn their language as it is hard for them to learn ours. If you think of it: there are 9 different ways of saying the word 'ma' in Cantonese for instance. What you're saying all depends on the intonation....This makes learning and therefor communication quite hard. In recent years the public schools have not been teaching English in contrary to the past. The older generation still speak English a little bit but a lot of young people are very limited in their use of words.
On top of the language barrier there is the difference in culture. Based on my experience with other cultures I personally think that there could not be a bigger difference. This makes it extremely interesting. But I realize that living in a bubble has it's advantages in the way that I can interact with people without having to question the deeper meaning of everything. Maybe that can change the longer we're here and the more we start to understand their culture. I do really want to learn about the Chinese and their ways. I have noticed that the more I learn the more I am fascinated and the more I want to know about them....

Robbing people

I keep forgetting to write about this. Months ago we bought a car. A very modest Honda CRV for our trips to the beaches. We got a parking place for it in the garage behind our building. But we needed to get a sticker for the security guards so they know that we are here legitimately. There are 3 posts with guards and the big one is the first one. We've had some problems with communicating with them before as their English is not always great. One night we came home late after a nice night out with a few drinks when we got stopped at the gate. The sticker was still missing and we were trying to explain that we had ordered it but had not received it yet. The guard did not understand a word of what we said. We kept on repeating but no success. We started getting giddy with the situation. So Carl suddenly said: "We are just here with our car to break into an apartment to rob people". He looked at us, nodded and let us through.....We couldn't stop laughing. The poor man...............

Friendly chinese lady

Today we were at a mall and we bought some fruit to eat before going out into Hong Kong Park. Ella, Eva and I each had a plastic container with our own assortment of fruits. Unfortunately we had forgotten to get some forks. Ella didn't want to eat her mango with her hands and I ended up feeding her. All this time there was an old Chinese lady sitting next to us. She didn't seem to notice us at all. She was busy reading her newspaper. But after I put the second piece of mango in Ella's mouth she opened up her bag, pulled out a bunch of (wrapped!) toothpicks and handed them to us without really looking at us...If I didn't know that it's impolite to look somebody (older generation Chinese) straight into the eyes I wouldn't have thought she was friendly! I nodded at her, she bent her head and continued reading her newspaper....and never looked at us again. We gladly ate the fruit with the toothpicks....
This seems to be normal here. People don't always seem to be friendly at first. Once you realize the differences in culture you see that you could easily miss the well-meant gestures. I also realize that you only get to know the Chinese on their home turf. In Europe and America I felt that I never was able to reach them. Here I am being welcomed into their world. And I really want to learn their culture hidden by so many subtleties.

Eva's allergy test

Recently Eva had a skin test done at the allergist's office. We wanted to find out if there were some other options foodwise since she is so limited in her choices. Amongst a lot of other things the doctor also tested her for the yeast "Candida". This is a yeast that can grow inside your gut. According to the test she is very allergic to it (she has had some problems with it before!). When she heard the news she burst out in tears. It was really heartwrenching but we didn't understand why...First of all she didn't exactly know what it was. Second of all it's not something good to eat or anything. After she calmed down I asked her why she had such a problem with it. She replied: "I don't want to be allergic to Canada because then I can never go there again!!!" The doctor and I tried not to laugh too loud before we explained to her that she can still visit her family in Canada!!!

Ella's Valentine poem

The romantic spirit as she is Ella has been writing cards and letters to everyone. I just found one of her poems by accident. I don't know who it's for but I thought it was funny.
"Harts are red
the oshen (ocean) is bluo (blue)
sometimes I love you..."

PS for post below

The cookies tasted awful.....