Disneyland

We'd been building it up for the kids for months and last week we finally delivered.   It's Hong Kong Disneyland!  

Hong Kong Disneyland is very accessible from our apartment - a 15 minute MTR ride to the Sunny Bay station where we transfer to the special Mickey trains.  

Once we exit the MTR,  there is a wide open area where kids can run around and build up more excitement.   There is also a big fountain/meeting place type area which produced this cute picture.

It's Cinderella's castle!  

 You can't tell from this picture but it's not as big as the American version of the castle.   In fact, the whole place is like that - noticeably smaller.   For bigger kids, it might be a bit of a drag.   For young kids and their parents,  it makes everything easier and more accessible.

First stop:   Toy Story Land.    We thought this was the home of the very popular Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters but that ride was in fact at Tomorrowland.

After we hit Toy Story Land (and Paul Eli had his tantrum because he wanted a toy from its gift shop) it was time for Buzz Lightyear's AstroBlasters.  I was hoping for some action but basically it was a blacklight shooting gallery thing.   So pretty lame for Dad but totally freaking awesome for Paul Eli.

Then Starships.   We assume the standard position of Dad and Esme in one car and Mom and Paul Eli in the other car.   

Paul Eli was in charge of the altitude by that knob in his hand.

They had a very impressive parade in the afternoon.   This next picture is Chandra taking a picture of people taking a picture of our kids.   There is a fair amount of that,  especially for Esme.  The Asians love them some American kids.   I'm surprised they haven't taken pictures of Chandra,  I think she is a lot more exotic-looking than our kids.   But I guess it's only the kids that capture the imagination.

Paul Eli looking really tired.  He didn't get a nap, obviously.   His story was that he got something in his eye but I'm calling BS.

There is a lot of talk in Hong Kong about uncouth mainland Chinese tourists.   As far as I can tell, the biggest pet peeves with the mainlanders are:  1)  public spitting and obnoxious phlegm clearing;  2) public urination;  3)  blatant line cutting and/or pushing people in front of them in line.   There are many signs up at Disneyland meant to curtail this behavior.   We actually didn't see much of it,  except in the Dumbo line.   There we saw it,  and it was sweet.   

These three Chinese grandmas pictured behind me were very efficiently cutting in front of a bunch of meek Hong Kongers until they met their match.   I don't care if they are Grandmas and I'm not moving aside.. even if they are retarded enough to cut in front of children in the Dumbo line.   So once they got to me,  we did a 15 minute tango, where they would pretend to be very interested in something and try to move past me and I would pretend to be stretching and block their way.   Finally they gave up and just pushed on my back for the final 10 minutes or so.  

More pics as the sun starts to go down.   Esme was very happy with her little stuffed Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse shirt.

School Daze, part Deux

We continue the school theme with some more action/scenery shots.   Lots of photos, not a lot of commentary,  just the way we like it :).

Here's how they pose for Daddy:

This is the view when you exit our apartment building.   The mall is straight ahead.   The kids hold hands a lot of the time when they are walking.  So cute.  Don't believe the hype.

We have a special bus that comes to pick up only PE and Esme.   Pretty exclusive. 

This is Greenfield.  Note everybody waiting in line to pick up the kids.   There is a lot of organization at this school.

I got one cute picture of Esme before they shut down my camera.

On our way back to the MTR (subway).   We have to cross two streets and walk through part of a mall to get to the station.

At the subway stop.  Only a 2 minute ride back to our stop at Kowloon station and Elements Mall.

We're home!

School Daze

Chandra here this time.  But don't expect me to be as fun to read as Paul. Isn't he charming online? Worked on me.

We've been here now for three weeks and are settling in nicely.  The arrival of our air shipment and a trip to Ikea have helped to make our apartment more homey.  It's properly called a flat with the British influence and all, but I feel like such a poser when I say it so I'll stick to apartment. Since our furniture and most of our belongings won't arrive until the sea shipment gets here mid-March, we have a few pieces of rental furniture and wide open space.

I'll give you the full tour once we're furnished.

Aside from getting our home set up, the other big task was getting the kids enrolled in school.  Full-day daycare centers are not really available here, just preschools with partial day programs and no summer sesssions, so we'll be hiring a domestic helper to live-in with us like the rest of Hong Kong, more on that in a later post.  But back to school, the kids were able to get into a preschool not too far from here called Greenfield and started March 1.  Here are first day of school pics in their uniforms and school issued backpacks (school-issued windbreakers not shown):

Preschools here are so serious! Aside from the uniforms (the ones above are to be worn MWF and then the green and white sporty one on T/TH, along with only pristine white shoes and white socks), don't forget your backpack with it's "notification bag" and clean towel box inside and temperature card clipped to the zipper.  We are supposed take their temperature every morning and note it on the temperature card and then they get forehead temp scanned by a teacher as they walk into school.  No more doping up on children's ibuprofen a half hour before school, sending them in short sleeves and acting surprised six hours later when the school calls to inform you your child has a fever and you have to pick them up.  Or am I the only terrible mother that does that?

Then there is the curriculum and textbooks and homework! I remember first having homework in the 4th grade, PE's not even in kindergarten yet! I know I should want to be involved in my kids' education and spend quality time with them and encourage academic excellence, but it is a chore I was hoping to avoid for a couple more years. My sisters can attest to the fact that I am an inpatient teacher. And the content is what I would expect to be covered mid-1st grade in the US so of course I'm worried the school will think my child is not smart.  The school also does an hour of Mandarin instruction a day and here is a picture of his Mandarin homework.

All of this is making it much more clear that the Chinese will leave us in their dust.

I'll sign off with a pic of the kids enjoying their "Babyccinos" from a local coffee chain. Mini drinks? Named babyccino?  I couldn't resist.

p.s. can someone think of a blog title for us??

The Peak

We are still getting settled into our new life but we've managed to get out a bit and do some shopping and tourism.  One of the "must-sees" in Hong Kong is the tram up to the Peak on Hong Kong Island.    Hong Kong is primarily known as a high-density maze of people and shopping and food,  but it also has a lot of natural beauty.    

The Peak is a 10 minute walk from the Central MTR station,  which is one stop away from our apartment.  After a considerable wait,  we finally boarded the tram.

We were very fortunate to have a clear day.  Often the views are clouded up with overcast skies/pollution.

I zoomed in a bit to try to find our apartment.   It is located in Union Square,  which has a big mall,  a variety of apartment buildings, and the ICC,  the tallest building in Hong Kong (fifth tallest in the world).  From this angle,  it is blocked by other apartment buildings (the white one and the red one) but you can get a general gist of where we live.

A few more cute pics for the road...