Take 2! And a verry Merry Christmas to all!!
I think the last blog was out of date before I actually published it -but hey, one can only cover so much at any one time!!
So, now that we are settled??? Perhaps not, but I suppose that I can say we are a "little" more so...
Andy is actually busy upstairs painting walls at the moment, so I suppose that is progress! We have things actually hanging on the wall, the cats are home and settled, and while I don't think I could say that things are any less hectic, at least we are starting to learn our way around and get into some sort of routine.

We have actually just started a week break - so what better time to catch up on chores such as this! Ever the pessimist though, this could well be a work in progress over the next few weeks unless things slow down!

Where to start? Well, just so that you understand that life isn't boring, 4 weeks after our school started we experienced our first ever earth tremor. Came as a bit of a shock (shock - get it??!!), as we are not in an earthquake zone, but the news broadcasts reassured us that these can happen anywhere in the world. Actually I vaguely remember the "earth moving" for just a tad of second when I was about 11 in Tas. This one measured 3.2 on the richter scale, so I am not exaggerating - the earth really did shake us up for a few moments! Sidhonie and I were sitting on the couch, and I kid you not, the couch did a little dance and things shook and rattled. My first thought was that a huge truck had just gone by - but it soon registered in my aging brain - that we never even hear traffic from our "house" so that was exceptionally unlikely. Our "helper" came up the stairs in a semi-hysterical state. Ah well, no damage done, and we can just add it to our experiences. Can't imagine what it must be to actually experience anything larger!! (Don't really want to either!).

Other than that, we finally got into the middle school almost 4 weeks after school started...There was still a lot to do, but we were all going stir crazy, and really needed to just get over there. It then, however, took us another 2 weeks to get access across from the primary school building. Boy what a loooong 2 weeks that was! As you are already aware - if you have read the earlier blog = HK is full of steps, and the school is no exception. There are (for a recap) 85 to get to the primary school, and then 6 floors in the school and not an elevator in sight. So just to add insult to injury, to get from one campus to the other entailed going down the 85 steps from the primary school (not counting whatever floor of the building you had come from), and then up 161 steps to the middle school! It was taking us forever to get back and forth! And just think about the grade 1's coming over for Art and PE! Thankfully, Andy and the business manager managed to come up with a compromise with the bureaucracy involved, that now allows us to just cut across sort of a bit above midway, and only tackle about 55 steps - HUGE improvement!

You would think that after a few weeks of tackling the whole up down thing, plus back and forth, it would be getting easier...It is not!!! I guess I have to put this down to the aging body, but it is perversely reassuring to see my students huffing and puffing too (and not an overweight one among them!). I am told it takes about a year - something to aim for I guess!

Things are school are improving, but very gradually. We are both putting way too many hours in, and are recognizing that Donie, as a result, is the one suffering. It is hard to know just how to rectify the situation, but we definitely need to. I will leave further details to the more anonymous email form of communication. Needless to say this has been, and continues to be very hard work, with very little sign of it abating. Some of it is "small-schoolitis", but other aspects are much more complicated.


Sidhonie with some of her class at Ruby's (front and centre) birthday party

On the upside, the weather at the moment is absolutely beautiful, and we are hopeful of getting another month or so. Daily temps are around 28 - 30 celsius, and the humidity has dropped significantly. We are loving sitting outside eating whenever we have the chance - either in the village, or in our courtyard. Speaking of the latter, we have finally tidied up and bought some plants too, so it is feeling more and more like "our place". We continue to love Stanley - although for the sake of the bank account, I am trying hard to limit my visits to the market - or at least to go with limited time and a definitive shopping list! Each weekend I walk down to get my weekly bunch of flowers, and while it is nowhere as cheap as Vietnam was, it is definitely affordable. I am SO enjoying having flowers in the house all the time again.

The cats have been home for several weeks now, and have settled in remarkably well. They hid for the first 2-3 days - as we had expected - but now are very much at home. While neither seem to like being handled quite as much, they are getting better, and I think we just have to persevere. Cookie LOVES the grounds around the compound, and we are having a hard time getting him inside. Infact he stayed out most of last night, and I haven't seen him since breakfast time this morning. Not sure what to do about that! Biscuit has developed the unfortunate habit of waking us every morning at 6.30 regardless of whether it is a school day or not. Jumping on us is one thing, but the continued miaowing is getting a bit much - this is the cat that never used to utter a sound! In fact they have both become far more talkative! Positives are also in evidence though, they don't try to scratch the furniture anymore (can't quite work that out, but we aren't complaining), and they get along very well together (I guess that comes of sharing a tiny space for 4 months).

We still haven't spent much time looking around HK or surrounds, but will try to rectify that a little this week, as well as catch up on home jobs. We intend heading up to Xenshen on Friday (just over the border) to what the HK'ers fondly refer to as the "Great Mall of China" to do a little shopping and looking around. While shopping is still good here (if you know where to go) evidently this is still the bargain centre. So we shall see! We have also managed a day at HK Disneyland...Sort of pales next to the visit to Disneyworld this summer, but Sidhonie still enjoyed it!



Hong Kong Disneyland


As predicted - this is a late update/ instalment!

Let's begin with Sidhonie's teeth! What a subject. The poor little lady has been desperate to lose a tooth, but nothing was happening. A few weeks ago, she came to me complaining about a "blister" in her mouth, and sure enough, there appeared to be a small mouth ulcer behind her front bottom tooth. Thought about it no more for a few days until she started to complain about a rough spot...Ah yes - there was tooth coming up behind her existing teeth, and quite crooked. SO - mum did a panic and raced her off to a dentist trying to prepare her for the worst (you know - the injections, extractions scenario). Much to my surprise - he basically laughed when he looked, and said something along the lines of "wish I had a dollar for every panicked parent I had had in over this issue over the years! Hmm. We were reassured that the inside tooth, over the course of several weeks would move forward and gradually push the other one out. Doubting Thomas me - was proven wrong. The offending tooth has now given up the fight thanks to the gentle nudging from the one behind, and while it is not yet straight, it is certainly looking better. I guess as he assured me that it would take 7 - 9 months to straighten, I just have to have faith! Anyway, the whole experience was made worthwhile by - a. finding a very nice (Aussie by chance) dentist (that Donie LOVED), and b. the tooth fairy finally having a chance to visit! We now have two further "wigglers', so it is all happening, and we may well have those "toothless" Xmas shots that every child seems to have.

The saga continued as Donie rang us at work one Friday evening to let us know that the "tooth" had come out on the way home on the bus. Great celebrations - and one colleague who had enjoyed a couple of beverages (we can do that here),and whom Donie loves, grabbed the phone and told her that the tooth fairy was sure to bring at least $100 as she had been such a good girl (think she was getting her a bit mixed up with Santa Claus)!! Gee thanks!! Now we may have been talking HK dollars - but even so! Much "discussion" was had on the subject when we arrived home - the tooth fairy has had so many children losing teeth lately....I think you get the picture. It must have worked as she seemed very happy with her $20 the next morning (only double what we had originally intended!)

The Xenshen visit has been and gone, was remarkably effortless, and very profitable (I think!). Much fun was had by all as the group of us that went (3 couples and Donie) came home with 4 sets of golf clubs (evidently excellent quality copy Calloways - complete with travel bags and other bits and pieces which will remain nameless as i don't know what they are called!), 3 copy handbags, and numerous new clothing items - in the making. The clothes etc are supposed to arrive here, at our doorstep, after the weekend, and if all turn out okay - were fantastice value ( I may never touch my sewing machine again). Of course we shall have to wait and see, but it is likely that you will find out before I finish this blog!! We also managed to fit in a couple of pedicures, and an all you can eat dimsum lunch at the Shangri La over the road ($68 HK = $10 Aus, and about $9 US). Excellent!! We shall venture forth again! Even the visa process at the border was pretty easy (for Aussies).

Since then, Andy and I have been to Bangkok to the EARCOS admin. conference, and it was great to catch up with old friends and acqaintances in this region. It was a tad sad though, as the director of the region, a good friend and supporter of ours who had been in the NESA region until a year ago, passed away just before the conference, We will certainly miss him. His wife, Linda, carried on brilliantly - I certainly couldn't have done it! Sidhonie, in case you were wondering, stayed here in the house, with the "tooth fairy" lady and her husband!! I was sort of hoping Donie would lose another tooth while they were in charge! No such luck!

Currently, things are busier than ever. With our elementary principal search well underway, there have been many late nights meeting with the committe of parents and teachers to determine the final list. We had over 40 applicants, and a "long" short list of 10 to weed down. Boy - what a difference to Kuwait!! We almost had to beg people to apply there! Actually, quite a few friends and acquaintances applied - guess we can't be too horrific to work with!!

OKAY - latest update - as predicted this has become more of a Christmas blog!!

We now have an elementary principal - a lady we both knew from Dubai, and who is very excited to be moving to HK with her journalist/writer husband, three year old son (who thinks he will be living where King Kong lives), and her 7 year old daughter, so another companion for Sidhonie. Can't wait for 2007/8 - we desperately need the help!.

Other than that, it seems that HK is definitely in to celebrations! Halloween went on for what seemed like a month! Our little complex had a party at the pool for the kids, followed by trick & treating around the neighborhood. A good thing really, as we don't celebrate anything at school (board policy) and so Donie was feeling a little disoriented after all our celebrations in Q8!. I ran out of sweets at about 8.00pm, and the doorbell kept on ringing. In the end I had to put a sign up! I guess all of the other nearby complexes were doing similar to ours...Doors were decorated etcetera. Quite something!


Halloween in Hong Kong

And that just paled into insignificance as Christmas approached! This city is totally ablaze, and looks amazing! I have never seen such wonderful decorations, and all of the apartment buildings, business buildings etc are all decorated and lit up. We took Donie over to see the lights from Kowloon on Saturday...Definitely worth it! Despite nothing happening at school (except for the little Xmas tree I couldn't resist putting in the middle school staffrooom, and the Xmas dinner we did at our place for the staff last Friday) there is a definite Xmas feel to the city.



Christmas lights and the Page-Smith's in Hong Kong



A couple of weeks ago we went over to Macau where my silly husband (and a few other silly staff members) did a half marathon. He actually did pretty well, and didn't seem to be too exhausted afterwards (although I don't think he would have let me know anyway!). The trip was sooo easy...Taxi to the Macau ferry terminal, 15 minutes later, on a ferry, and an hour later - presto! The city has certainly changed since we were there 20 years ago, and seems in some parts to be styling itself on Las Vegas...Casinos are definitely the to, and a new "Venetian" with 3,500 rooms and the same design as L V's is about to open, with Circus de Soleille basing itself there in Asia. That wil definitely be worth a visit!! All in all it was a really good weekend, and definitely on the list when we feel we need a quick "getaway".



Macau fun!

Sidhonie is settling in well now, and has a busier social life than we do! Play dates are definitely the go here!! Unfortunately her closest little friend, Mackenzie, is about to move to Tokyo, but I think she will be okay. She is coping at school. Academics I think, will always be hard work for her, but she continues to try sooo hard. If her enthusiasm remains, she will always be fine! Strangely (and much to our surprise) she seems to be doing quite well with Mandarin....And of course still loves Art, Technology, PE, and Music - and does well in those areas. Her latest goal is to get really good at reading chapter books so that she can read hers on holiday like Mummy and Daddy - by the pool! Sounds good to us!!

with Mackenzie

The weather continued to be kind, and winter has only just arrived - this weekend! Today is the first day I have been in a sweater. While we have heating at home, school could be a bit more of a struggle... Just one tiny oil filled heater in each classroom. Thankfully I have one under my desk! Of course, the temps don't get really low, but everything is relative, and as HKers are a bit like Tasmanians and seem to ignore the need for adequate heating,it will be interesting for this wimpy body!

2 and a half more days and we are off back to Tasmania for Christmas! A week there, and then pure holiday for the remaining week in Queensland. Our good friend Brian Berneking will be coming with us, and I think we all feel well and truly in need of a break.

In the meantime, a very happy holiday season to you all! I am sure there was much more I could report on, but enough is enough, and this has already become at least 3 chapters long.
Excuse my lack of Christmas cards this year - hopefully this will suffice...
Our love and best wishes to you all for the Christmas and New Year, and remember, we still have that guest room ready to go!!

All our love,
Merris, Andy, and Sidhonie
xxxxxx