I Heart HK

We spent last week in Hong Kong.  I loved it!  Maybe HK is simply a great city, maybe I was in desperate need of a vacation, maybe HK is the Anti-India, or maybe just something else.  It was a bit like New York without all of the things that I HATE about New York:  HK was clean, orderly, people were polite (I could just be warped from my Indian experiences), no Yankees fans (had to throw that one in there for my sister-in-law Christine!).   The food was great.  We gorged ourselves on dim sum, dim sum, more dim sum, and then some Thai food thrown in for variety.  :)  Cory got on pretty well using chop sticks, and only occasionally had to resort to the "stabbing" method.

When we first arrived the weather wasn't great.  Foggy and cool.  The main sight I wanted to see was going up to Victoria's Peak (aka "The Peak") for an amazing view of the HK skyline and harbor.  Since it didn't clear up while we were there, our eventual trek up to the Peak resulted in some foggy and not so spectacular shots:

After 3 nights in HK, we headed off for the highlight of our journey:  Hong Kong Disneyland.  It was definitely wise of us do Disney at the end of the trip.  It was great incentive for the girls (namely Sammy) to behave.  On several occasions we said "Well, only good girls get to go to Disneyland, I guess you don't want to go."  Or some variation of that.

Disneyland.  The word itself brings a smile to your face.  Just like casinos pump oxygen in to make everyone feel good, Disney must pump in happiness.  With the notable exception followin decent from the Teacup ride, thanks to my spin-happy husband, I had a silly grin plastered to my face the entire 2 days we spent at the park.  FYI:  HK Disney is AWESOME for little kids.  There are tons of rides for them, the shows were great (an impressive improvement from the "Tiki Room" I remember as a 5 year old), and the park was crawling with Characters.  I'm not sure there are any we missed!  

Sammy made drawings for the characters, (spelling their names all by herself) and she gave them out as we met each one.  

As a result, she got tons of hugs!

Now we're back India, and I have to go cook dinner...man I miss vacation!  :)

New Year, New Resolve...

A New Year always brings new resolutions or revisiting old resolutions.  One thing I'm going to work on is increasing my blogging frequency, or more specifically: I'm going to increase my blog publishing...I have several partially written blog entries awaiting 'creative inspiration' or some witty remarks before I publish them.  Perfectionism rearing its ugly head again...Boo Perfectionism.
  
Now it's January and I feel time speeding by.  Some of our very good friends will be leaving Hyderabad this year, while we plan on staying longer.  Having a looming deadline of time to spend with friends, has made me realize that I need to stop putting things off in all areas of life.  As a result, Cory has started golf lessons (a little college planning there).  I have signed up for lessons as well since there is no better time than now to improve.    The more I play, the more I play the same way...it's time for a change.  Bill has said that we can't leave India until my handicap is below a 25.  The clock starts now :)

Another thing I'd like to do this year is to take some Thai cooking classes...in Thailand.  :)  I will give credit where credit is due and say that it was Bill's idea.  Of course, he would benefit directly from that, but I agree that it sounds like a lot of fun and also really yummy.  I will ask around among my girlfriends to see if anyone would like to join me :)

So in light of my first resolution, I will be publishing this post immediately rather than have it sit unread in my 'Drafts' folder.  Click!

Life is Good

I've said for a long time that we really live a good life here.  Case in point:  the maid came this morning, and the house is nice, neat and clean.  Bill just called up saying that instead of all of us going over to friends' house for pizza tonight, they're all coming here.  My response "Ok, see you soon..." No panic, no stash and dash...Life is good.

A Little Helper in the Kitchen

This little guy surprised me yesterday when I was preparing dinner.  I looked onto the stove and there he was sitting next to a burner.  He later hid under the countertop oven, and later in the evening, I found him in the sink.  Since geckos eat bugs, I was happy to have his company, and wasn't about to do him any harm.  This morning, I was very surprised to find him still in the sink.  Was it a cool place to be and comfy for a little nap, or was he stuck?  Yup!  Stuck.  :)

In case you're wondering, that is Sammy's voice on the video.  She has started calling me by my first name...and she calls Bill...'Billy Goat'.  :)

Getting back at Mom

Sometimes I wonder if teachers ever try to get back at parents for the things their kids do at school.  On some level, I can certainly understand the desire to do so for the kids who are troublemakers, or constant misbehave-rs.  My guess is that Sammy isn't either of those, but in a category of her own: the unbridled enthusiastic student.  Sammy talks constantly about animals and will sometimes even address people as Mr. or Mrs. (favorite animal of the day).  I can see how this might wear on a teacher who deals with a classroom of children 4 and younger day in and day out.   Now, I have a sneaky suspicion her teacher is trying to get back at me for this.  We received notice that Thursday is going to be "Dress Up as your Favorite Animal Day" for Sammy's class at school.  Sammy's favorite animal: a porcupine.    Thanks Miss L, that should be a snap!

I can handle the Truth!

We were warned before coming to India that dealing with the locals could be at times difficult.  In particular, Indians have a 'talent' for telling people what they want to hear or they'll tell you what they THINK you want to hear.  What they don't realize is what I (and probably all Westerners) want to hear is the TRUTH!!!

This evening, the girls and I went to a Lindt Chocolate event at the Hyderabad Westin.  They were handing out small boxes of cookies to everyone there.  I instructed both girls, who are allergic to various nuts, to check with me before eating anything.  Inside this little goodie box were small shell shaped madeline cookies with chocolate chips, and seemed innocuous enough.  I asked the girl handing out the boxes if there were any nuts in the cookies.  She didn't know and said she would find out.  She quickly returned saying, "No, no nuts".  Ok, Cory go ahead and have one of the cookies.  Within a few minutes, she looked distressed: "My lips feel funny, I think I'm going to throw up." Hack hack, small splat....Yup, there are definitely cashews or pistachios in those.  Cory and I spent 20 minutes in the ladies room while her little body tried to rid itself of the offending nuts.  Sammy was a good girl and told my good friend what had happened while I ran off with Cory to the loo.  Thankfully Cory's reactions are so quick and noticeable, that she doesn't ingest enough to cause any breathing problems: just swollen lips, and vomiting.  I've never had to use her Epi-pen and I am grateful for that.

Once we returned to the event, I gave the 3rd degree to the staff including the girl who initially reported to me "No, no nuts."  Up the ladder I interrogated, until an assistant manager returned from speaking with the pastry chef who confirmed, "there are walnuts and cashews in the cookies".  Cory figured that out quite a while ago.  They gave apologies, I gave a lecture, they gave more apologies, I spoke with the manager.  All I want is the Truth, and I want someone to discover the Truth if they don't already know it.

Home and Home again

The girls and I spent 5 weeks this summer outside of India.  Bill, being the breadwinner, had to work so he managed a trip to Shanghai, China before returning to India a week before us.  We spent our time away enjoying a long weekend in Dubai, a speed trip to Boston (and a Red Sox Game) and time at our home sweet home in Virginia. Before packing up and heading back to Hyderabad we managed to squeeze in a week visiting Bill's parents in Myrtle Beach.

It's always surprising how easy it is for us to slip back into our comfort zone.  Settling into our own house was like slipping on a comfy pair of slippers after a long winter.  Although we hadn't been there in a while, it felt just like home.  Strangely enough, I felt the same way after returning to Hyderabad.  After a 32 hour journey: car, plane, layover, plane, layover, plane, file complaint about missing baggage, car, I walked into our home here in Hyderabad, sat down in our living room, and amazingly, it felt like home!  I'm pretty lucky that I can leave home, travel 9,000miles over 32 hours, and arrive back home.