Shrek 3 beats out fireworks…
Sunday evening, July 1st, we took the kids to my office in IFC to watch the Handover Fireworks. Anticipating lots of traffic and crowds, we arrived two hours early. IFC is a large office complex and mall, also attached to the Airport Express, so we knew there was plenty of ground to cover to keep the kids occupied. Remarkably, two hours before the fireworks there were far fewer people than I expected. After finding a second bank machine (the first ran out of cash – can you imagine? …in Hong Kong!), walking around half the mall, buying bananas at a chic supermarket (we splurged since we were "right there" and needed bananas) we ended up at McDonald’s to buy the kids a “special treat” for dinner. Now, of course, there were crowds at McD’s! Despite picking the shortest line, I also picked the slowest line. Lesson learned: never get into a line with a lot of foreigners because the ordering will be slower (language barriers)… always pick a line with people who look as though they are speaking the same language as those behind the counter. Finally, with four chicken nugget meals, a double cheese burger meal and a Big Mac meal in hand, we headed up to the 32nd floor to enjoy a quiet McMeal in my office. The kids were incredibly well behaved, probably because of their hunger – by then it was 7:15 PM and 75 minutes past their normal dinner hour. (At left, the kids wait patiently while Tess ran to buy upscale bananas. Then Sebastian insisted on taking the next picture… no kidding… Sebastian took the second picture!)
After a round of jaunts to the washrooms, the kids settled in to watch the fireworks along with a dozen of my colleagues and their guests. The novelty of the fireworks lasted, hmmmm… maybe six or seven minutes? Then the kids were far more interested in the whiteboard and markers. (Note to self: arrive early to work on Tuesday to clean-off whiteboard.) Truthfully, Tess and I didn’t blame the kids for being bored by the fireworks… so were we! The fireworks were a non-event. The only spark worth noting was the opening act: small fireworks simultaneously shooting off of the roofs of buildings along the harbour in Kowloon. We figured out later these were matched by sister fireworks in Central on the other side of the harbour. (Out of our view… it would have been very difficult for anyone to see both sets going off at the same time unless at (1) The Peak (2) in a perfect spot on top of the Bank of China, IFC, or Hopewell buildings or (3) in a plane or helicopter.)The first picture above is from the pre-show in TST… I thought it a neat shot: the pyrotechnics look like Chinese characters. (Special prize to anyone who can translate what the characters say!) Not intentional, though, the camera jiggled. Second pic is of the finale over the harbour… note the new Star Ferry Pier aglow at bottom.
I had a small incident as we left the office. One of my colleagues, also a foreigner but one with lots of Asia experience, had brought some friends, wife and two year old daughter. Lovely people, great opportunity to meet out of office hours. Everything was fine – oh, except for the sudden whining that emanated from our kids for the last fifteen minutes in the office. No matter. As I locked up my office our four kids – along with Tess – were gathered outside my office door, jumping up and down about something that I think had to do with sipping leftover Mc’OJ. I had slung over my left shoulder a cooler bag holding supplies and contingency items: three water bottles, extra juice boxes, microwave popcorn bags (just in case) and a few other items… kinda heavy. As I leaned over to mediate OJ sipping, the two year suddenly appeared and stepped into the middle of our crowd rather innocently but unexpectedly. As… she… did… the cooler bag slid off my shoulder in slow motion. With building centrifugal force the bag swung into the mini-crowd of toddlers, giving the little helpless girl (who by the way was also holding a cookie, which was about to disappear forever) a full-on smacking national hockey league body check that sent her immediately to the ground. Career limiting move. I groveled, pouring on as much daddy concern as I could muster. Yikes. ("Aiya," as the Chinese would say.) Moving on… all in all the kids were great until after dinner, about ten minutes following the guests’ arrival. They then got whiney, uncooperative, oh boy. I said to Tess later, “I always leave events like tonight wondering what people say about us and our parenting on their way home.” Naturally I set myself up with the NHL body check incident because Tess quipped back, “Well, I’m sure they think I’m a good parent.” (At left, the front page of a special section the South China Morning Post ran on July 1.)
To give the kids a really big holiday handover treat, today Tess and I took them to see Shrek 3 at a real cinema. We bought the tickets online last night to insure we had the best seats – we were in the first row of the second section. Several months ago I took Sebastian to see “Mr. Bean’s Holiday” at the same theatre. I am pretty sure that was Seb’s first time in a movie theatre. He walked into the cinema, turned the corner, stopped in his tracks when he saw the size of the theatre, and said quietly but shockingly, “wow.” When Sebastian heard at lunchtime that the “surprise” we’d been telling them about all morning was seeing Shrek 3 on the big screen he was beside himself. The triplets had no idea what was coming because today was the first time the Terrific Trio had ever seen a movie on the big screen. But “wow,” did they have a good time. Tess and I did everything possible to manage expectations by explaining to the Trio what would happen at the theatre. Then we took a taxi, swiped the Amex card to pick-up our tix, bought a boatload of popcorn, pop, apple juice and nachos, and finally settled into our seats. Suddenly wee wees… Tess hauled the Trio off to the bathrooms while I stayed with Seb. This was actually a good thing, because a very frightening preview for the next Harry Potter film appeared. Alas, they returned just in time for the start of Shrek 3… and they were mesmerized for about 90% of the film as they wolfed down popcorn, drank their juice, stole sips of Tess or Dad’s diet Pepsi, or munched on the odd M&M with mischievous looks on their faces. The other 10% it was easy to re-direct them back to the screen and of course they loved Shrek and Fiona’s baby triplets. All four kids were incredibly well behaved and a great time was had by all. One of the funniest moments of the movie was at a particularly suspenseful part when, with the whole theatre completely silent, Sebastian blurted out, “Maybe Shrek will save them!” (At left, at the end of the film the kids polish off what was left of their popcorn and assorted treats.)
The credit for seeing Shrek 3 as a family goes to Tess. She’d made plans to see the movie with Sebastian and friends last week but upon hearing how distraught I was at not seeing Shrek 3 with her and Sebastian, Tess changed her plans. (I have an amazing wife and my kids have an even more amazing mother!) It worked out to be a win-win for everyone. We came home and the kids barely made it through dinner. Tess and I had made a pact to have them in bed by 6:30 PM. We were pretty close. The Terrific Trio were asleep within about five minutes of "lights out" and Sebastian within about ten minutes of crawling into bed, despite huge, whiney objections he wasn’t tired. Each night Seb takes a small toy to bed and tonight he wanted two toys. I put my foot down and said, "no." He was determined to prove to me he could stay awake. Ten minutes post-prayers I walked in to check on him… when I’d left him earlier his head was resting on the edge of his bed, as if watching TV from the corner of his bedroom all the way into the far corner of our bedroom. He fell asleep in that position. Darn… that would have been a classic picture. (Left, the front page of the South China Morning Post on July 1, 2007.)
Despite the media, wet fireworks, indifference from a lot of friends, the Tenth Anniversary of Hong Kong’s Handover to China is important to us. Do we like Hong Kong? Yes we do. Do we plan to stay for a while? Most likely yes. Hong Kong has been very good to us… what’s in a decade (ok, eleven years!)…? Hong Kong has been good for my career, good for us starting a family, good for the triplets who had excellent care from our faithful and wonderful support team – Lita, De and previously Mila. No one can argue with the medical care we received from Queen Mary Hospital nor the supportive and loving community we found in Union Church. I watch my friends David Brightling (stay tuned for that story) and Ray Everett leave Hong Kong and often wonder what that would be like for me.
To see some of the posts on our web site from the actual Handover and the One Year Anniversary, click on the links below.
Day-by-day, play-by-play, of the few days leading up to the handover, please click here.
The Handover… who cares?
We are halfway through the weekend and there are various levels of indifference towards the 10th Anniversary of the Handover. Yesterday, traffic was snarled all over Hong Kong Island as Chinese dignataries whisked about here and there. It was quite annoyingas major arteries were stopped entirely for 15 – 20 minutes at a time while other roads were shitdown completely. Some of the media are making a big deal of the anniversary. Others see the event as no big deal, such as the BC Magazine at left.
For Tess and I it is a milestone, mainly because it is a marker in time to show how much ground we’ve covered since 1997… engagement, marriage, Sebastian and the triplets. On Friday night I had a quick drink with a friend of mine, Ray, who arrived in Hong Kong in May 1996, the same month I arrived. We met in the Mandarin Oriental hotel Captain’s Bar. We talked about how much Hong Kong had or had not changed. We agreed the place feels more cosmopolitan and diverse than eleven years ago when we first arrived. Other than that, however, Hong Kong feels about the same. The last year it has also felt more vibrant with all the economic activity across the region and especially north of the border in China.
Ray and I met for drinks for the last time in Hong Kong for quite a while… Ray left this afternoon to take up a new job in Dubai. Along with Sebastian and Sela, I drove Ray and his wife Lucy, son Max, to the airport this afternoon. Tradition in a way… in 2002 they left for New York and Tess, Sebastian and I drove them to the airport then, too. The kids have just finished ice cream cones and in an hour we head into Central to watch the Handover fireworks. To see some of the posts on our web site from the actual Handover and the One Year Anniversary, click on the links below. (At left, Sela and Carys one morning this past month.)
Day-by-day, play-by-play, of the few days leading up to the handover, please click here.
Sebastian’s Handover
My friends, this is Handover Weekend: a three day holiday weekend. This morning on the way to work I explained to my wonderful children that Sunday, July 1 is Hong Kong’s birthday. This idea went right over the Terrific Trio’s head… they were oblivious. But Sebastian was quite interested in the concept of a location having a birthday. “Would Hong Kong have a cake for everyone?” he wanted to know. “Probably not,” I explained. That would be a very big cake.
The point, though, is that Sunday we will all head to Dad’s new office in IFC to see the fireworks. I explained that we would get to stay up late… the fireworks start at 8 PM, after the triplets’ bedtime. “Yeah,” said Sebastian! AND, we would probably go early to avoid traffic and also have dinner at some place like… McDonald’s. “Oooooo,” responded Jasper. We would then go to Dad’s office, make popcorn, sit next to the big window in Dad’s office conference room and watch the fireworks. “POPCORN!” exclaimed Sela with delight. AND, I explained, the fireworks will have a lot of noise, like thunder, but no one should be scared. “We won’t be scared,” reported Carys, matter-of-factly. The kids dropped me off at work. I rose up the escalator to look down on the car as De drove away. Sebastian smiled and waved. I mouthed, “I love you,” and I could clearly see him screaming back, “I love you, Daddy,” even though I didn’t hear him through the car window.
I was sad. Sad because today was a milestone: today was Sebastian’s last day of school. So, so hard. Should I be sad? Is that wrong? How is it possible that some moments kids can drive you crazy and other days they melt your heart? I remember Sebastian’s first day of Kindy… not even a full three years old. I recorded that day on my little Sony Cybershot. Through the window Sebastian screamed in delight, “Bye bye, Daddy!” I went to work to share the video with my dear friend Paul. We looked at it, Paul’s an MBTI “F” so he was all misty, and we both agreed, “These moments don’t last forever.” The sweetness, the cuteness, the innocence. Today looking down on Seb, while I rose up the escalator, all these thoughts and memories swarmed through my head. As 11:30 AM approached I prepared my mad dash from work for an early lunch that would really be a quick visit to Seb’s school. Tess called to say she was on her way to Small World. I told her I would be there in ten minutes. A little while later I arrived as Sebastian exited his classroom. We took pictures, congratulated Sebastian, and said good-bye to his teachers. Sebastian wanted to know why Tess and I were both at school. “Because this is an important day,” I explained to him, “You have finished kindergarten and now you will go to Kennedy. This is a big day, Sebastian!” Seb smiled and over the next few minutes we took several pictures, walked out into the rain, hustled everyone into the car and drove off. We have started the handover of Sebastian from Kindy to Primary, which will be a very different world for him. Meanwhile, Hong Kong celebrates its 10th Anniversary of its handover from Britain to China. Stay tuned for lots of cool and melancholy updates. It’s Handover Weekend.
Tess and I were both in Hong Kong for the handover. To read a day-by-day, play-by-play, of the few days leading up to the handover, please visit this link. The page still lives on the old site where we originally posted. Almost – we had to migrate ISPs once. There is no avenue to leave comments on the site. If you are moved to comment, you have to come back here… sorry!
Clean air is winning…
We are experiencing the most incredible scenery each day, thanks to a return of the southerly winds keeping ours and China’s pollution north of the territory. I have taken some fantastic pictures to capture how clear the air. Clear air is very typical for the summer but usually doesn’t happen for another few weeks. The panoramas have been breathtaking, and a potent reminder of how gorgeous Hong Kong can be when not polluted. Meanwhile, it is the end of a weekend that has tired out both kids and parents. I thought I would take a moment to throw up a few pictures from the last few weeks.
When I returned from Toronto I brought with me mini-ice cream cones that the kids have enjoyed on a number of occasions. The small cones are ideal for training them how to eat an ice cream cone without ending up excessively covered in ice cream. Big cones melt too fast but a little tongue can keep up with a melting small cone. A few pics below for you to appreciate the scene.
School is winding down with Sebastian’s "graduation" this past week from kindergarten. I will post a video of that poignant moment in time in the near future. There have also been a number of field trips, with Jasper going to Pizza Express to make mini pizzas and the girls going to a fire department. Thanks to a gift from Auntie Penny several years ago for Seb, and the kindness of a neighbour, we were able to outfit the girls in firepersons’ coats. A grand time was had by all until the firemen attempted to take a group photo of their visitors. Carys wanted nothing to do with that activity and a small meltdown ensued. Emotional flames were quickly subdued by attentive teachers.
Finally, amidst the incredible noise and chaos in our home – of which there always seems to be an endless supply – every once in a while we’ll ask during a brief lull, "where is so and so?" One Sunday morning while Sela, Carys and Sebastian were causing havoc in the playroom, I had such a moment. "Where’s JJ?" I found Jasper sitting quietly at the tiny table in the living room… glass of milk at his side… book in hand. The picture tells the rest. Wow, how fast they grow up. Sniff. Have you had similar moments?
And the winner is…
Trinie in New Zealand… never underestimate the creative mind of a Kiwi! Many years ago when Igor’s was a popular, haunted house dinner theatre in Hong Kong, I was on a business trip to New Zealand. (I was in Auckland – north island. Personally I am a Speights Beer boy, that would make me south island, but never mind.) Walking down the central shopping district I was amazed at the variety of shops that lay before me… wide variety. In one of the shops I managed to score Tess a sexy Cat Woman suit that she subsequently wore to Igor’s on a number of occasions, including on their closing night in Hong Kong. Igor’s moved to Singapore and then after a good run, shut down. Now all we have are the great memories. Enuf rambling… yes, Trinie guessed correctly… the bag contained a used condom.
What’s in the bag?
Hong Kong has lots of interesting street scenes such as this restaurant owner writing the evening’s delicacies on a menu board outside his restaurant. Another common sight is little shops full of chinese crockery, where one can buy all sorts of neat chinese plates, bowls, spoons, tea pots and the like. Several years ago Maureen and I went into one of these shops in Mid Levels to buy some chinese tea cups that Mo wanted to take back to Canada. (The traditional cups that come with a cover.) Maureen made her purchases and the shopkeeper ~ a man who looked as though he was about 75 years old ~ placed all the items into a plastic bag before handing them over to us. When we got home Maureen was proudly washing her cups and preparing them for safe travels to Canada inside her suitcase. I, on the other hand, was looking inside the plastic bag with disgust at the item on the bottom of the bag. SHOCKING!
That was about three years ago, and this past weekend after running some errands in Mid Levels I was in search of Diet Lemon Coke for my evening’s Myers Rum & Coke. Lo and behold the same shopkeeper had dirt cheap Diet Lemon Coke (HK$ 5 each) outside his shop entrance. The cans of coke ~ perfectly chilled ~ were calling to me from inside a cooler. "Charles… pick me, pick me… I’ll be perfect with rum." I grabbed three cans and went inside to pay the 75 year old man.
"You want bag?" he asked me. I looked at him very skeptically but slowly nodded yes. Before placing the cans inside the bag I scanned the bottom to make sure there wasn’t another offending item in the bottom. Fortunately, the bag was clean.
Any guesses what was in the bottom of the bag three years ago? It was truly quite disgusting. Take a guess!
Guesses so far: sorry, not porn, not a cockroach. Much worse.
