Dear 2010

Dear 2010,

When we first met, I wrote you a letter; do you remember?  I had just left two very bad relationships with 2008 and 2009 and I begged you to be kind and loving and help me recover from the abuse I had suffered.  So I will end as I have begun; with a letter. 

2010, we knew you were just the rebound year and rebound relationships rarely last long or work out long term. It was just a matter of time.  You were the time for transitions and flux. Mabo transitioned from student to worker to stay at home dad. Kai transitioned for baby to big kid and from daycare to home school.  I transitioned from director of a university language school to elementary school teacher. We all transitioned from the US to HK. I realized at the end of this year that 2011 had to be a time for my personal growth and development.  This realization also accompanies a transition in my way of thinking and feeling about myself and my life, so it was appropriate for it to begin in 2010. 

I must thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing us to make these transitions painlessly, lovingly, and safely.  2010, you have fulfilled your promise to provide and protect and help me recover.

I do deeply love you and will never forget you.  And I honor and appreciate our time together and what you have done for me and what you have taught me.  Because of you, I am stronger, happier, and healthier.  I can face 2011 without fear, regret, or hesitation. I am ready for the path ahead, and I owe that all to you.

Thank you.                

Farewell.  

Its 11:30 and the club is jumpin!

Ladies leave your man at home

The club is full of ballas and their pockets full grown
And all you fellas leave your girl with her friends
Cuz it's 11:30 and the club is jumpin jumpin

Ah, Christmas eve.  The time to get together with loved ones, sip hot cocoa by the fireplace, sing carols, and hug your darlings before you send them off to dream of sugarplums and santa claus.  

Or, if you live in my neck of the woods, the time for dancing your booty off at the hottest club in Tin Shu Wai.

That's right.  11:30 I was headed home from having a nice dinner, and when I got off the shuttle bus, heard club music and saw flashing lights coming from Kenswood Court Clubhouse.  Intrigued, I stepped in.  

Woot Woot, there was the Clause, Kickin it on the lobby counter top as his elfish compatriots laugh and take pics:

And in front of Santa was a large group of middle aged and elderly women, in sparkly clothes I haven't worn since I left my 20's, dancing to "I'm a Barbie Girl in my Barbie world, wrapped in plastic, it's fantastic!" 

Since everything in China is plastic, I found this rather apropos to dance to.  

But where were the men?  Looking up, I noticed a large herd of them lined up and down the staircase on either side of the lobby room floor, watching their Barbies dance in perfect unison to English and Canto club song after song.  

Well, ok, perfect unison is a bit of an overstatement. 

But more in unison than it should be considering none of the songs have particular dance routines.  This is not the Electric Slide or the Macarena. 

Why are they dancing in unison?  My husband gave me a clue: these ladies are the ones who often can be seen practicing these dance routines outside in the mornings.  IT'S THEIR EXERCISE ROUTINE EVERY DAY!  Hahahahahahah!  So the more coordinated ones obviously take their exercise class more seriously.  The men, clearly, are working and thus not able to join the class so they cannot participate in the hopping dance scene below.  But they are there to support the women folk show off their fantastic exercise routine.  

And that is why there aren't any youngsters there either, except the kids, who are of course awake because HK kids don't go to sleep until midnight most days of the week anyway. 

Oh HK, you never cease to surprise me!

A good day

today was a good day for so many reasons, but here are two:

First, I am just so gosh darn proud of my kids and their incredible efforts.  Today I stayed after class for a few minutes and I was alone in the room with the kids, who were happily coloring on the board (which I suppose they are not supposed to do considering the glee on their faces that I was letting them do it). 

Suddenly I heard a roar, turned around, and behold, Student A was crying hysterically, and student B was looking fit to kill with chalk all over his face.  I asked them to 'fess up who did what to whom.  Student C and B explained that they were fighting over a piece of chalk.  A pulled the chalk out of B's hand and B hit A then A hit B in the face repeatedly with chalk and then B really hit A and A started to cry. 

Now my kids are 6 and have been studying English for about three months, so this complicated explanation was achieved using gestures, sound effects, and every English word they knew (and obviously the chalk marks all over B's face explained a lot too).  I took the boys aside, we had an actual conversation that they both seemed to understand (the gist of), and in a few minutes, both had made up and were laughing together.

I am so proud of these kids, who really put in alot of effort explain things to me and listen to me and work things out together with me, instead of giving up because I was just prattling along in a foreign language. 

The sad thing is these kids do extremely poorly on school tests, and next week will likely do a  horrible job on their final exams, if today's pre-exam mock test has anything to do with it. Given that some kids I know completely understand me in general conversation and can answer any question I pose, yet miserably fail school tests, I have to question the validity of the assessments used in Hong Kong to measure achievement and proficiency in English. 

The other thing that made this day good is it occurred to me that the gratitude exercises I have been doing are really paying off.  It seems so simple, but taking the time every day to note the things that happened in the day that you felt grateful for really can change your whole life and outlook. 

The good folks in Berkeley posted a new article that research suggests people who take time out to also think about what they have received every day really helps too.  not in terms of thinking about materialistically what they got, but from whom they received, who in the world thinks enough of them to give something of themselves to you.   I've only tried that for a few days, but it is mind changing. 

And another thing that made today good is a boy in my class reached up to me and said something in Cantonese while touching my tummy and gesturing to my face as I was leaving the classroom.  In the hallway I asked the local teacher, "did he ask if I was pregnant?" (because I get that a lot from kids)  She said, "No, he was saying he thinks you've lost a lot of weight.  Probably because you are sick..."  lol!  Well, i have dropped at least one or 1.5 pants sizes, thank you very much, and at least one person has noticed! 

Sick indeed.  I have had the sniffles for only two days....

Why not?

Thursday my principal told me because she was going to make me work Saturdays forever, i could have Friday off (since the school would be closed anyway and the teachers would be having a day long series of meetings in Cantonese).  We took the opportunity to renew Kai's passport, as its due to expire soon.  My munchkin is old enough to have an expired passport! 

On the way back from the US Consulate, it occured to me that I could totally do that job, and the liklihood of me getting a post with a consulate was much higher than a RELO, since there are only 19 RELO positions in the world and a few hundred consulates/embassies. 

But then a little voice said "you couldn't get that job" (because that voice is always trying to tell me im not smart enough, pretty enough, funny enough, capable enough, etc). 

As soon as the voice said "you couldn't get that job" a huge double decker bus stopped on the opposite side of the street, painted in black, with the words "WHY NOT?" written in fantastically HUGE letters.  this must be some kind of new slogan for some thing, but i never figured out what comapny was advertising "WHY NOT?" and i made it a point to recognize the fact that this bus was answering to my insecurities. 

Paulo Coehlo taught me a lot about recognizing signs.  this was clearly one of them.  Why not?  Why not?  This should be my mantra from now on.

We went to Stanley to do a bit of window shopping, and I ended up spending way more money than I usually spend, but all, every penny, on Kai.  We found a bookstore that was selling everything 1/2 price, and there were so many super cool race car things and dinosaur things.....we bought only one proper book, and everythign else was loosley related to reading, but was mostly games.    He was the happiest boy on Earth all weekend as a result.  I am very sure i never bought so many things for kai all at one time...he was overjoyed.  We carried two huge shopping bags out of that store.  But I kept thinking, why not, just for today......why not?

 I can see how some parents fall into the trap of thinking money can buy their kids happiness.  in the short term, it certainly seems true. 


Since my bank account was pretty tired after the furious spending on Kai on Friday, Saturday and Sunday we didn't do much at all.  I tried, half heartedly, to shop for a birthday gift for a kid i don't really know, but didn't buy anything except a sweater and a turtleneck  for myself, as my washing machine seems to enjoy eating my clothes. 

Plus, Kai and I were hacking up lungs both days, with no other symptoms of being sick.  I don't think either of us ARE sick, but we both have developed smokers cough from the air pollution.  But just to play it safe, I kept things low key, and Kai was perfectly content to stay at home and play with his new toys anyway. 

Today I'm going to start looking at the US state dept website and see what exactly people need to do to be consulate officers.  Why not? 

And, no, I'm giving up my dream of being a RELO.  but what fun is it to achieve a dream in your 30's anyways?  Then what do you have to look forward to?  Life is about the journey, not the finish line, right?