Friday, July 29, 2011

Hello from Shropshire!

Welcome to Shropshire

Hello lovelies.  As crazy as it sounds, we were in Hong Kong for only 2 weeks, and now we are in Shropshire, England.  It was all very last minute, to fit in a long overdue visit with the Shropshire boys family before Abbey starts at her new Hong Kong kinder.

Red phone box cuddle

I hope I get my fill of red phone boxes while we are here, gosh I love them.

I will be back blogging again in a week or so, when we get back to Hong Kong.

Cheers for now, Cat.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Drunken chickens

Drunken chickens, anyone?

Sounds interesting, don't you think?

Lost in translation (possibly)

Happy Monday to you.

Cat

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Our first week in Hong Kong

Wow, we have been in Hong Kong for a whole week already, how did that go so quickly?  Our flight over seems like weeks ago, some how.

I am so grateful and relieved to finally be here.  The last 7 months is behind us.  No more solo parenting for me. The Shropshire boy must be in shock, all his 3 girls back: noisy, loving, cuddles, singing, dancing, tantrums, parenting again.

In some ways, it has been a huge week.  Adjusting to life in a new country.  Adjusting to being a family again.  Swimming in the pool most days.  Or should I say, pools.  This is the view of the pools from our apartment.  Two of the pools can't be seen in this photo.  We do like the pools. A lot.

Pool view

Today we visited the kinder we have enrolled Abbey in, and they have a space available, yay! (not many do)  It is a short walk away, looks to be clean and friendly and offers Chinese as part of the curriculum. Abbey was not too sure today, but I know she will love it after a few days there.  Zoe will miss her terribly (so will I)  Kinder does not start till August, so we still have time to explore Hong Kong together.

Our shipping has arrived. 51 packages in all, most of them big boxes. All for me to rummage around in and re-discover what the heck we bought with us.  I am so grateful and relieved that they all arrived.  Of course, the first boxes I unpacked where the ones containing my sewing machine and overlocker.  Second, I found two wine glasses, the Shropshire boy and I are using them right now.  The rest of the boxes can wait, there is no hurry. We need some furniture to put most things in or on first.

Boxes and more boxes

Tomorrow we are off exploring.  Hopefully to see some sights, drink some fancy tea and eat some local cuisine.   I am quite excited that our Hong Kong adventure has (finally) begun. 

Have a lovely weekend peeps,

Cat.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Goodbye Melbourne, Ni Hao Hong Kong

Cheers!

Well, we made it.  Late last night we landed in Hong Kong.  A wave of 32 degrees celsius heat greeted us when we got off the plane.  Quite a contrast to the cold, windy 10 degrees celsius we left behind in Melbourne.

I am so relieved to finally be here.  7 months of solo parenting, separated from my Shropshire boy, was very challenging.  We are a family again.  All is well in my world again.  I hope I can start sleeping again.  I have almost lost the ability to fall asleep, and stay asleep.  I guess stress does that to you.

The Shropshire boys company flew us over business class.  It was so luxurious compared to economy class.  I enjoyed my glass of champagne, while still on the tarmac at Melbourne airport. The staff know your name, and use it often (Thank you for flying with us, Mrs Raspberry Rainbow*)  I can juggle a 22 month old wriggly Zoe while sipping gulping down champers.

I best be off.  Abbey is running around in her swimmers, wearing her blow-up swim ring, eager to get to the swimming pool after Zoe wakes up from her sleep.

I hope you are all well, I have missed you, my bloggy friends.

Zaijian**, Cat


* Not my real surname
** "See you again" in Mandarin
(Ni Hao is hello in Mandarin)