Because I write on my laptop at coffee shops and not at home on the Internet...I always forget to post things! This is from January 7th...
I love writing. I beam with pride anytime someone asks me what I do...”I’m a writer”...although the second it comes out of my mouth I feel inadequate. Everyone writes - what gives me the right to refer to myself as a writer? My only 2011 New Year’s resolution is to have an open mind...about everything, including the label of writer. My friends will tell you that I have a pretty open mind as it is - much more so than most. However, living in this new crazy culture and having nothing familiar around me has taken a toll on me. I decided that the only way to really make the absolute most out of this adventure was to have an open mind about everything. Food, people, language, activities, transportation, shopping, writing, etc... Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. I’m still a bit hesitant about a good deal of the food here and probably will remain so. The vegetarian in me comes out every time we pass a wet market or a local grocery. All I can say is a rather ineloquent *ick*. You just have to be here!
Our household goods are scheduled to arrive in two weeks. Words cannot express how excited I am about this milestone. Charlie will be away, of course, so Makena and I are going to attempt to tackle it on our own! In the meantime we rented some things - just the basics. Two beds, a dehumidifier, a vacuum, and a kitchen pack. Funny thing, the pots and pans were so cheaply made that they wouldn’t work on our stove! It’s an induction stove and will only turn on if the right kind of pan is used...something about the metal content or something. That first night I ended up boiling water and making pasta in the wok that I got at IKEA for $32HK, which isn’t even $5US! Fun times.
Makena started preschool this week. She is at a Montessori school and seems to be transitioning relatively well given the circumstances. It’s a five-day program, so today is her fourth class. The kids are so cute, but we’re finding that she tends to befriend the kids who are not Asian...which has given her two friends out of the 40+ kids in the three classes. We’re working on that. We made friends with a little girl who was adopted from Hong Kong and she has taken a liking to Makena. I am hoping to help that friendship to grow - I just love her mum!
I started Mandarin lessons yesterday. My teacher, who is rather pushy and impatient, actually complimented my pronunciation and we were able to accomplish two lessons in one class. He said that I was one of his top students and anticipated that I would be able to carry on a conversation by the end of the 30-hours of instruction. I think he’s nuts, but I promise to do my homework! Makena is helping me :).
Our precious baby girl in Rwanda is still waiting. We are not matched yet, we don’t think, but things are definitely progressing. After two months of attempting to locate a social worker to do our home study addendum (which is mandatory and would lose us our adoption if not completed), we find out that our adoption agency contracts with someone up in Guangzhou, China. It’s only a train ride away! Yay! Now we have to cross our fingers that she is able to come to Hong Kong on a day when Charlie will be in town! His schedule gets crazy starting this Sunday. He’s got dinners, trips to China, and a trip to California taking up the next two weeks. We cannot wait to see our baby girl’s photo and learn all about her! Even more, we can’t wait to travel to Africa and meet her! After the movers come with our things we will have a complete nursery ready for her! Not exactly sure where we are going to put all of the things that are sitting as storage in her room now, but we’ll figure it out. With no closets, our baby girl’s 7’x7’ room makes the perfect “closet”!
Since the new year began, we’ve witnessed a Guiness World Record Breaking Lion and Dragon Extravaganza (1111 lions!), hung out on Lantau Island and played on the beach, been to Disneyworld, started preschool, and started Mandarin lessons. All of that along with some relocation battles we found ourselves in the middle of and Charlie’s crazy work schedule! With one exception, it’s been a good seven days - all made possible by one very open mind.
