Ex-Pat Summer

This was our first experience of an "ex-pat summer".  I have to tell you, I don't particularly like it.  Now, to be fair, our summer was crazy busy and hopefully not every summer would be that way.

The vast majority of ex-pats in Hong Kong go "home" for the summer.  Many own homes in the country they are from or even in another country.  I have a friend from Ireland who owns a home in Florida and that is where they go for a portion of their summer in addition to going to Ireland.  Some don't own a home and they spend the summer going from one relative's house to another or renting a house for part of the summer.

For us, going home meant spending part of our time in Pennsylvania visiting friends.  Travelling to see family in New Jersey, Tennessee, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Virginia and Michigan.  Spending some time in San Diego where we now own a house and where Kaylin stayed to work for the summer.  My parents are in San Diego also.  Of course there were a few camps and college visits for PJ along the way.  It was very important to all of us that we try to see as much family as possible.  While we were not able to see everyone, we were able to see many, including Dave's 96 year old grandfather and my 94 year old grandmother.  Dave was able to see all of his siblings and I was able to see two of mine.  Sorry Maude and Kit:(

There was many a car ride where someone complained about the hours spent in the car.  Thankfully our time at the destination always made it worthwhile.  One of those rides was a particularly bad drive from Pennsylvania to Rhode Island.  The drive took 3 hours longer than it should have and complaints were at an all time high.  Then we walked into Dave's grandfather's room.  His hand went up in the air and he said, "Oh, oh, it's my family from Hong Kong!"  PJ looked at me afterwards and said, "That reaction was worth the drive."

While we did enjoy all of our time spent with family and friends, this left us feeling like we were on the road most of the summer and living out of suitcases.  I will say everyone was ready to return to Hong Kong by the end of the summer to see our dogs, sleep in our own beds and unpack.  Now some of my friends who have been ex-pats for awhile told me that I will learn.  They say everyone does that their first summer or two and then you learn to just park yourself and let people come visit you.  I don't know that I am capable of doing that.  One of the hardest parts of being in Hong Kong is not seeing family and missing family events.  I know that if we just stayed in one place all summer we would not get to see a lot of our family.

We are very thankful to all of our family and friends that housed us or came to visit us throughout the summer.

Another display and some observations

Today's displays come to you from Causeway Bay.  This is the section of Hong Kong where Dave works and where Hong Kong's Times Square is located.  There is almost always a display out in front of Times Square.  It seems to change monthly.  Today there were a few different displays.  One in the covered, but open air area and three outside.  I truly have no idea what the significance is of the displays.  Perhaps someone can give me some insight after seeing them.  Two of the displays had lines of people waiting to get into the display area to take pictures.  This brings up a couple of points: (1) I do not look like a foolish tourist as I walk around taking pictures because everyone does it.  (2) The Asian people love to take their picture with any display.  It does not matter what age they are.

Here are the displays:

Below are pictures from another display in Causeway Bay.  This one is from Hysan Place (a mall).  There was a display set-up both inside and out.  There was also a store set-up selling all types of smiley face dolls.

Now for my observations.  First, electronics have taken over! I know this is true everywhere.  As I ride the bus or the MTR I notice that everyone has their face stuck in their phone.  Some are playing games, some are reading something, some are watching shows.  I will be the first to admit that I am guilty of reading my emails and checking Facebook while I'm on the MTR.  This is also noticeable walking down the street, although it isn't as prominent out on the street (thankfully!).  I will say, it only takes one person glued to their phone walking down the street to quickly make you annoyed.  They don't walk in a straight line or at a steady pace.  It is a little sad to see and I am trying to put my phone away a lot more.  Because of the phones, I think that we are not as observant of our surroundings as we should be.

Second, obesity is not a problem exclusive to the U.S.  I do believe processed food and electronics are huge contributors to this.  I won't get into that anymore other than to say my belief stems from my observations.

Last observation for today.  This morning I attended a 9th grade parent welcome meeting.  There are a lot of "Tiger Parents" here.  I am amazed by parents' comments every time I attend one of these functions.  Now, there were plenty of comments in the U.S. at similar functions that amazed me, it's just that here those comments are coming from the vast majority of the parents rather than a select few.  Parents who are wanting their kids to prepare for college in 9th grade.  By that I mean chose a college and let that dictate what you do or don't do in high school.  Parents who want to know exactly how much homework their kids should be doing every night.  Parents who are constantly checking on their kids' progress on their homework (even in high school). Parents who want to know how many AP/honors courses and activities their kids need to be in as a 9th grader to get into the best colleges.  My parents never harassed me about my homework or activities.  I was left to take care of it on my own.  Most importantly, I learned how to take care of it on my own.  I take that same approach with my kids.  This is probably why I am amazed at these meetings and why my kids don't particularly care for the "competitive nature" of this school.  That is not to say they don't like the school, just that they don't like how competitive everyone is when it comes to grades, scores and where you are going to college.  I will end by relaying what one of the student ambassadors said in response to some of these questions.  He is a 12th grader and wise beyond his years.  "Don't push your kids to decide where they are going to go to college now.  They won't enjoy their time in high school the way they should if you do that.  Then they will always be looking at how can they achieve the next goal and they will never enjoy the path along the way. It will just be getting from one goal to the next and then they'll die."  The room erupted in laughter at this last comment, but how true it is.

Displays in Hong Kong

I will say that I have seen some of the coolest displays in Hong Kong.  This year I am attempting to take more pictures of the displays.  Yesterday I went to Pacific Place, a mall in the Admiralty section of Hong Kong.  I venture there occasionally to go to a grocery store.  While there, I noticed one of the coolest displays I've seen.  It is called "Elephants on Parade".  I went back today with my camera.  Here are some pictures:

Here are some pictures of three displays that were not a part of "Elephants on Parade" that I thought were pretty cool.  There first one is made of pencils and the second one is made from gold kazoos, recorders and whistles.