A Philipino Chinese New Year

As I mentioned in the last post, I never paid attention to the Chinese New Year (CNY) very much, but I am certainly appreciating it this year. I don't claim to be any expert, but this is what I know about the holiday:

1. It celebrates a new lunar year, and this year will be the Year of the Horse
2. It is tradition to give red envelopes filled with money (hong bao) to people who work for you, children and single people. The money should be new and not have the number 4 in its amount (4 sounds like death in Chinese).
3. Everybody goes home or at least travels, it's the largest human migration in history.
4. Everything closes, and for China, which never ever shuts down, it's a big deal, restaurants, schools, stores, and sometimes for more than a week.
5. It's a huge deal. (I put this one on the list because I didn't want to be unlucky and end with 4.)

So on Wednesday, I gave out our hong bao, a large amount to Amy, a small gift for her son, and for my assistant and cleaning lady at work. Everybody seemed pleased, so hopefully I didn't offend anybody, even though they probably wouldn't tell me if I did.

The boat over to Boracay

Thursday was the start of our CNY holiday and we were headed to Boracay in the Philippines. So we set off bright and early for our ferry to the airport at 7:45am. It was a smooth travel, no lines and no long waits for anything and we were even early to catch our connection in Manila. Unfortunately, when we went to check in for our flight, it was cancelled. :( Our flight was originally booked to Caticlan, a small airport right across the water from Boracay, but instead of flying there, the airline booked us into Kalibo. Kalibo is a two hour bus ride to get to the ferry to get to Boracay. So instead of arriving at 5:30pm like we had hoped, our next flight wasn't even until 5:45pm. We killed some time in the airport, shopping, eating and letting our hotel know we would be late. Our flight was late of course, and we arrived at Kalibo around 7:30 where we boarded a bus. The bus ride was reminiscent of our ride from Panama to Mexico, bumpy, winding and long. We finally got to the ferry jetty around 9:30 where we paid our way onto a small boat that sped us across to Boracay. Luckily, the kind staff at our hotel had waited for us and escorted us to our lovely hotel by way of collectivo-style truck (a pick-up truck outfitted with benches in the bed and a cage or cover over your head). It was an adventure to say the least. We were happy to settle into our sweet one - bedroom condo and unwind before falling asleep close to midnight.

So happy to be done traveling!

All I could think when I fell asleep last night was, this better be worth it. It became very clear pretty much as soon as I woke up that all of that travel was more than worth it. Our hotel is located up on a mountain in Boracay, about a 10 min ride from the main part of town and the famous White Beach. The hotel is a collection of apartments around a really nice pool overlooking the island. The staff is so friendly, the food is delicious and not expensive, and they run a free shuttle to and from town every hour.

So we woke up early (even with the late night) and had breakfast by the pool. Paul could barely focus on a few bites of pancakes before going for a morning swim with Donnie. Thankfully, we borrowed a pair of the puddlejumper swimming floaters like the ones he had in Hawaii, so we all felt comfortable while he was swimming.

After convincing him that the beach would be just as fun as the pool, we jumped on the shuttle down to the White Beach. It's called that because it's a huge stretch of white sand with incredible blue water. The water is super shallow and gentle, and besides being a little bit crowded, it was perfect. We set up camp at some loungers with an umbrella, made friends with a local, Richard, who kept us stocked with whatever we needed and actually hung out with us for most of the day. After four hours of fun in the sun, we were all ready to head back. Paul fell asleep on the way home, and Donnie and I had a yummy lunch by the pool while he slept on a lounger, then we all napped for a long while.

We had planned to go back out tonight for dinner and to see the fireworks for the new year, but the sun took it's toll on us and we're all nursing minor sunburns and room service with Disney Junior is our big night in. :)

I'm in love with the Philippines, it feels so much like Mexico and that feels like home. It's vibrant, beautiful and filled with adventure. You can pretty much do any outdoor activity you want to and it's not cost prohibitive like HI. People are super friendly, the food so far is amazing and the weather is awesome. I'm not sure I ever want to leave. The funny thing is, if you had asked me a year ago to point out the Philippines on a globe, I would have had difficulty finding it. And now here we sit, in a place I never thought I'd come to, that I never want to leave. Life is pretty amazing in that way.

Another amazing thing happened today unrelated to our vacation. As many of you know, my dad just took a new job with Apple and moved to California this past month. One of the perks (in my eyes) is that he has to travel to China to check in with suppliers and such (I won't pretend to know what he does really...). He emailed me that he's coming to Shenzhen at the end of Feb! EEEEK! I am so excited for him to see our lives here. I know he'll be busy with work, but just seeing him will be so fulfilling. :) I hope it's the first of many trips, and I'm so glad.

Life is good. Happy Chinese New Year. Hope the Year of the Horse is lucky for you. Love to all..

China Moments

Party night :)

So there is a feeling that is hard to describe that can only be labeled as a "China moment." I think Donnie and I are the only ones that use this terminology, but I'm pretty sure everybody who has lived abroad has had this feeling at some point. It is an overwhelming reminder that you are not part of the culture, merely living among people you understand very little. My exact thought is something along the lines of "I can't believe I live in China." Sometimes it's a pleasant moment, sometimes it is not.

Examples of this include looking outside our apartment window and marveling at the massive city we live in. Or walking to work instead of driving or puzzling over a menu we can't figure out. It can be small things like a really good bowl of cheap Muslim noodles or an electric scooter stopping right in front of you in the crosswalk.

Zack and Honey at the party

So this past week has been full of these moments, mostly because we tried something new. Saturday was our staff winter party, so we asked Amy to watch Paul while we went out to the restaurant where it was being held.

Fireworks?!

It was a huge restaurant on the fourth floor of a mall, the whole fourth floor it felt like. Our company had rented out a huge room (about the size of a school cafeteria), with a dance floor and stage included.  The view looked over Window of the World, so the Eiffel Tower stuck out in the skyline. The room was separated from the rest of the restaurant, but connected to the most spectacular buffet I've ever seen. There was every kind of food you could imagine, and some I couldn't imagine. It was delicious and overwhelming in the same breath. I only braved it twice, once for food, once to wait in the longest line ever for one scoop of Haagen Daz ice cream (it's super expensive here). For the remainder of the party, we danced, drank and smiled at a spontaneous fireworks show (China moment). The reserved room was only until 10:30, so we meandered our way out in front of the mall and tried to catch some cabs. We piled into a car with a couple who mirrored our lives in such a way it was eerie. (Her name is Jessica, they have the same age difference as Donnie and I, they are our exact ages, we both have 3 yo sons, and they are from TX.)

Lost in Translation style

The cab took us to a karaoke bar. It was unlike any place I'd ever been, with glamorous decor and exclusive karaoke rooms. We were invited to join some co-workers who had already arrived in room 666. It was a large room with a huge couch, glass table and 3 karaoke screens. You could select your song from a touch screen on the wall, and there were two microphones circulating throughout the room.

Enter if you dare...

It was a China moment. I sat there and soaked it in. I looked at all the faces of people I've only known for 6 months, people from all over the world, singing, laughing and enjoying life and I realized that these people will shape my life for the next years to come. It was a moment I felt so far away from everything that had been so familiar just a year ago, but it was ok. I struggle with feeling disconnected both from happenings back home, but also disconnected from my surroundings here. These moments are fleeting, and I can usually chase away the homesickness by calling or texting someone back in the States, but it dawned on me this past weekend that soon this place will feel like home. I don't think my China moments will ever go away, it's just so different here, but hopefully the will make me smile and not frustrate me.

Needless to say, we were a little slow moving on Sunday, but it was a glorious day of relaxing. The week started with nothing new, except for me feeling sick still. So I took today to rest and it's made me feel much better. :)

Next week is our trip to the Philippines, I fully expect there to be difficulty traveling, since we've already had to change our flights once, but I'm looking forward to it. It's Chinese New Year, and I've never really taken an interest in this holiday before, but suddenly I'm fascinated.

Hopefully I won't run into any Lai See faux pas, since I did some research on the red envelope giving today. But it certainly will be a China moment. :)

Love to all.

Back to Routine

Home.

Things have gotten back to normal this week except for it was Donnie's birthday week! He is officially one year older, and of course wiser, so we celebrated that all week.

The beginning of last week was sort of a blur because we were getting so little sleep, because of jet lag and sleeplessness of a certain 3 year old. We took turns staying up in the middle of the night with him, which took its toll. But it didn't stop us from enjoying some birthday festivities on Thursday for Donnie's birthday.

Matching on Quiz Night

Donnie wanted to celebrate by going to quiz night, so we set off after school for a fun evening with Zack and Honey. We wandered around Sea World for awhile, marveling at how much had changed in such a short time. It went from dirt to magnificent walking mall in just 3 months. Crazy. We stopped for some snacks at a new beer garden, and it was actually cold enough for them to turn on the heater by our table. From there we headed to quiz night, where we capped it off in 2nd place. Not too shabby, except I lost the prize :(

goofy kid. love him.

We ate before sharing with Daddy.

By Friday the lack of sleep was overwhelming, and I was in bed by 7pm, and didn't wake until Saturday at 7am. I felt refreshed for another day of birthday festivities. I let Donnie stay asleep while I got up with Paul to make breakfast. He helped me make pancakes and coffee with our awesome new coffee machine, and we brought Donnie breakfast in bed. From there we donned our running clothes and headed out to Shenzhen Bay to have a walk before meeting up with Zach and Honey for an early dinner.

Beautiful walk

We have been searching for the fastest/easiest path to get to Shenzhen Bay, but we just took our normal route with the plan of backtracking to our apartment in a new way. It's about 3k down to the promenade, and after walking towards Sea World along the Bay for another 4k we realized we probably wouldn't make it home before we met up with Z and H. So we resolved just to walk straight down the water as far as we could until we ended up in Sea World (which ended up being a 10k walk). Again, there had been so much construction while we were away, that parts that had been walled off when we left, were now open and filled with people. It was an especially clear day, you could see all of Shenzhen across the water, and you could see across the bridge to HK, which is rare. Usually visibility is about halfway across the bridge, and on bad days you can't see past the first third of it. It was sunny and warm, and Paul fell asleep, so we enjoyed the walk and ended up at a large grassy area where we bought a kite for Paul. We weren't really able to communicate well with the kite seller, so he sold us the one he was actually flying. It seemed like it was at least a quarter mile up in the air, so it took a while to get it down, then we were on our way again.

Happy Birthday, Donnie!

Honey wasn't feeling well, so we had a great meal with Zack. The German restaurant here is so authentic and we were able to eat on the patio and blow bubbles to entertain Paul. It was a great day, but Donnie and I were tired, so we ended up back home and in bed early.

Over the next few days, Paul, then Donnie, now I have become sick with whatever is floating in the hallways at school. It's no fun, including extreme fatigue and a vicious head cold. Hopefully we won't suffer into the weekend because it's our school's winter party, and I'm really looking forward to it.

I'm not sure if you've noticed from the tone of this post, but despite the fact that I'm sick, I'm actually happy to be back in China. Before the break, I was missing Western culture so much I couldn't stand another minute, but I seem to have fallen back into the Honeymoon phase of culture shock. Maybe I'll skip the depressing second step this time, but if not, I think at least I'll be prepared. We have Chinese New Year holiday in a short two weeks and we're headed to the Philippines. After that will be the true test, three and a half long months of teaching with no break longer than two days. Yikes. And I'm already looking forward to summer.

The Beginning

Bridge from Shenzhen to HK on a clear day.

A new year means a new blog, not only because my last blog had 2013 in the title, but because each new year brings a fresh outlook on life. It inspires a new perspective and of course, a short look back over the past year. I blog mostly to keep track of our travels and experiences, to keep people back in the States up to date with our lives. I like to go back and review my blogs sometimes because I can relive and remember the moments so much clearer. My true wish is that someday, Paul will read these and know what it was like to take him all over the world. He's too young to remember a lot of what we do and where we go, so hopefully this will be something he'll be able to enjoy. If not, it satisfies my urge to journal, which I've been doing for 15 years.

So here begins another year in the life of the Hales. So much changed in 2013 that it's hard to fathom a more significant year than the one that just ended. This time last year I was dreaming of teaching abroad, making steps to make that dream come true. Somehow it happened, and now here I sit in Shenzhen, China. I still marvel at the amount of work and effort it took to get to this place, both emotionally and physically. It's been about 5 months since we moved across the Pacific ocean, and we are slowly starting to feel at home. I think by the time the school year ends we'll be better settled in. :)

My thoughts and our actions may seem mundane some weeks, but by keeping track of the events and sharing them, I hope you feel a part of our lives. Being apart from so many loved ones can make us feel disconnected, but hopefully you are more connected through this blog.

Whatever 2014 brings, be it boring, exciting, scary or thrilling, I promise to do my best to record it here for you and for our family. Thanks for reading...more to come...love to all.