Eva's compliment

Eva: Mom, you look so pretty!
Me: smiling
Eva: You look just like a beautiful poodle....
Me: Thanks Eva! (to her it really was a compliment)

Lin Heung Tea House

As some of you know I have been following a dress making course with the ultimate goal of creating a basic black dress (also known as The Little Black Dress). There are two other women in the class and we decided to buy the fabric together. Buying fabric can be quite tricky (=more expensive) if you don't speak a little bit of Chinese. Since one of the women was Chinese (married to an Englishman) Chikasan, the other Japanese student and me decided to tag along. We succeeded quite quickly and decided to have lunch together before heading back home. I had told them about our recent grasshopper experience so I guess Linda Bella (not her Chinese name) realized I was open to some more unusual eating experiences. So she brought us to a very old establishment. It was called a tea house but it was also a restaurant. You had to walk up some stairs (fortunately, since this has kept it a bit of secret) past a bakery counter. Upstairs we walked into a big hall, very basic, just white walls, dirty grey tiles and lots of round tables. The people eating there were mostly old Chinese people. Not one tourist to be seen except for this very tall one....We sat down at the same table as an older couple.
Immediately the 'waiter' asked us for our order of tea. There are no other drinking choices! Next thing they brought us a big bowl of water and we washed all our cups, bowls and chopsticks in the scolding water! Looking around I realized that that was probably quite necessary.The floor didn't look all that clean.....When the bowls were all washed they poured hot water from large old metal kettles onto your choice of tea leaves. You let it steep for a little and with the lid on an angle you pour some of this in the smaller cup. If it gets too dark and you want your tea less strong you take of the lid and leave it on the table. Within seconds an old man with a white Chinese jacket fills it up for you. I kept doing this many times but everyone else drank it quite dark and bitter. This whole process was quite sloppy and dirty. At this point our table was covered in hot water and tea leaves and the water eventually started pouring into my bag....The kettle is also being held very close so it's up to you not to get burned. After this tea experience we were able to order some food. Big metal carts were being rolled around with stacks of dishes and bamboo steamers on top of it. When they pass your table you ask for the choices or you lift of the lids and pick the ones you like. We had dumplings, a rice dish with pork and herbs and spices, a soup and at the end a small package of thin crispy dough (or skin?) with a little leg and sweet potato in it. It could have been quail. I forgot to ask. But there were many more choices, like crispy pork belly, tripe, eel stirfry etc.
I was quite in my element! I was soaking up the old world charm and the amazing food and on top of that listening to Linda Bella who had travelled around the world for almost three years by herself.....She was telling us these most amazing and fascinating stories of her (dangerous) adventures. Quite a feat if you consider that she's half my size and very petite. After many hours af talking and enjoying good company, great food, tea and sights we decided to move on. At the cashier counter I offered to pay and my new friends said that we would split the bill afterwards. When I got the check I had to laugh and told them it was my treat this time. It was 10 US dollars for three people and we were absolutely stuffed!!!

Eva's 'disabilities'

Ella has been quite sick with fever. Usually she bounces back after a day but not this time. I have been taking care of her a lot and she's getting a lot of attention. Eva has been watching this and was not too pleased. Normally she is the one that is sick and needs attention. So after 2 days of this she decided that something has to change. She started having aches and pains, feeling pain in her belly etc. At first we 'bought' it because she also had a version of what Ella has. But pretty soon it was clear that there was more acting than anything else. Today she had me laughing so much with her actions. She insisted on having a candy. When I said 'no' she walked to the sofa and sat down and asked me to get something for her. I told her she could get it herself. She cried and cried because according to her she couldn't walk. Her legs were not working. This went on for a while.....Finally she stopped begging and crying and minutes later she was standing next to me. I said: "I thought your legs weren't working?!" Eva: "Oh yeah...I just forgot about my arms". Me: "What do you mean?". Eva: " I forgot that I could use my arms to push me of the sofa"..........Hahaha!!! It still makes me laugh.

Stanley Dragon Boat Festival

I am going to participate in the yearly held Dragon Boat Races in the village of Stanley. This is a fishing village (now also tourist attraction) close to where we live. A very lively place with lots of expats. There are multiple teams with participants from all over the world. There is a Dutch team also but I'm rowing with the Latin womens team. They have convinced me that we might not win because of our skills but because of our outfits! We'll see. I was quite impressed with the two women rowing in front of me at practice yesterday. It's incredibly hard. My arms started shaking after only 20 minutes of rowing. I hope I am not going to disappoint my team members....
Anyhow check out this website for more information (go also to the film and history section): http://www.dragonboat.org.hk Wish me luck!

Eva's magical powers

Eva: "Mom, you know, I can sometimes see through things. Like for instance the mote (Eva's name for TV remote). I can see through it when I look at the TV."
Me: "Well Eva, those are amazing powers you have there..."
Eva (very proudly): "Yeah, I know"

Snacking the Thai way

Carl and I were in Bangkok recently for the engagement party of Alex and Joanna. It was good fun! We enjoyed the huge amount of Buddhist temples, the great food and even the grimy parts of the city (especially the tuk-tuk motor taxi's). After one night out in the city we were looking for a snack. In any other western country you would easily find a street cart with either hot dogs, shawarma or street meat. What did we bump into??!! A cart laden with bugs! There were larvae, big black beetles, beetles that looked like cockroaches and grasshoppers. All deep fried and served with a choice of herbs or soy sauce. We were fascinated by it. After seeing someone order bags full of bugs we decided that our experience of oriental dining should not be limited to what we know....We opted for the grasshoppers. Please keep in mind that we had 'luckily' drank some alcohol. We both put them in our mouth at the same time. The legs were like little brittle sticks. Very crunchy. The body had a greasy taste that I can not compare with anything else. Not my favorite kind of flavour. Carl laughed as I put the second one in my mouth. He stuck with the one!

Ferry to Macau

This story happened a while ago but is worth mentioning. It happened the week after our move. We decided to get some furniture in Macau since it is significantly cheaper than in Hong Kong. One of the main reasons being that it is closer to the factories on mainland China.
I had planned to go by myself on a Thursday really early. When I got to the Ferry Terminal I discovered I had not brought my passport. Normally you only need a HK Identity Card but since they ask for a passport sometimes I decided not to take a risk. Carl sent his assistant over with my passport and I was on my way. A lot later than planned but I thought that wouldn't be such a problem. Funny enough this incident made a big difference in what happened afterwards. Would I have gotten on an earlier ferry the following incident would not have happened (to me)......
The ride over was smooth. We had good weather and an hour later we arrived at the Terminal in Macau. People started getting up around me and were moving towards the exits. I couldn't get out of my seat because my seat exit was blocked. (By the way did I mention that I was one of the only two non-Asians on board?!) Anyhow we saw the pier in front of us and everybody was waiting in the aisles when we suddenly heard a loud bang! The boat had hit the pier! The impact was quite hard and all I could see was all these Chinese falling over like domino stones. All the same length and the same color hair...One on top of the other. It was actually quite funny.
After what seemed a very long wait there was an announcement made in Chinese. People started talking left and right and when they finally got to the English part I could not hear a word. I started asking around but nobody spoke English. Slowly I realized there was a hole in the boat....Apparently they had sent for a welding boat and were waiting for them to arrive to fix the hole. The strange thing was that we were not let off of the boat. We could see all the crew on the dock looking at us from every angle and land seemed so close.....The welders worked on the hole for quite a while but we were still not allowed to get off. Every time one of the ferry men opened the door to look out at the process everybody else moved towards him with bags and all. I started getting nervous since I had no idea how big the hole was and I wondered if we could sink it with all these people on one side (the hole side!). Not being able to communicate didn't make it easier on my fruitful imagination. I was very thankful though for the fact that it was just me that day. I knew I would be able to swim to the dock by myself without having to worry about kids and all. People around me started getting really restless and fearful. One Chinese man who was talking to the only other non-Asian kept saying it was irresponsible and dangerous etc. So after more than an hour things were getting a bit nerve wracking. We had a few more announcements but I missed each English translation due to the loud exclamations of the Chinese. The only information I got was from the conversation I overheard and one time where I found an English speaking crew member....Finally they released us after 1 1/2 hour! It turned out that the boat had been stuck on the pier. The welders had actually made the hole bigger in order for the boat to be able to pull away from the dock. It could have otherwise ripped the haul. What a relief to leave that densely 'populated' boat behind after 1 1/2 hour of tension! I quickly got a taxi and made it to the stores. At the end of the day I missed my return trip and made it to the Terminal about 1 1/2 hours late. I explained to them that I was on that particular boat and that I was not going to pay for another ticket. After much hand and footwork (talking) they finally let me on.....Pffffff what a day!