Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Lantau Island
Yesterday, I went along with Kyra on a field trip for school to Lantau Island. It was a very interesting, enlightening and LONG day. The field trip was centered around "going green". I don't remember if I had included this information in a previous blog or not, but air pollution is a significant problem here. Every day, Hong Kong Island posts the API (Air Pollution Index) and if it is over 100, the kids with asthma-related issues have to stay inside for recess times throughout the school day. The first week the kids were in school, the API was over 100 three out of the five days. Obviously, this is a significant issue here. Also, the three landfills that exist here in Hong Kong are nearing capacity. So, there is discussion to possibly build incinerators to burn the trash, which would obviously only contribute to the air pollution problem.
So, for the field trip, we went to Lantau Island, which is the biggest island of Hong Kong. In fact, it is twice the size of Hong Kong Island itself. We went to a beach that is not taken care of by the government and spent an hour picking up trash. We collected 7 big bags full of debris on a very small section of beach. At the same time, we continued to watch more trash float up on shore from the water. Kyra could not get over the amount of garbage. She asked me several times if they had set it up for us for something to clean up, like as an example of what trash could do.
We then hiked up the side of a mountain to an "Eco home" to learn about organic gardening and more about the 3Rs: Recycle, Reuse, Reduce. We learned some very interesting facts, only a few of which I can remember, because if you know me at all you've heard me complain about the loss of memory cells! One thing that stuck with me is that in just China, every year they use 23 million trees just to make disposable wooden chop sticks. That just amazed me so obviously it stuck with me.
I was hoping to attach a couple photos of our field trip, but I took them with my new cell phone, which I don't know exactly how to work yet. Hopefully, I will have a chance today to figure out how to get the pics to my computer. It doesn't help that it is Windows-based and I'm on a Mac. So...it might be a bit of a process :)
So, for the field trip, we went to Lantau Island, which is the biggest island of Hong Kong. In fact, it is twice the size of Hong Kong Island itself. We went to a beach that is not taken care of by the government and spent an hour picking up trash. We collected 7 big bags full of debris on a very small section of beach. At the same time, we continued to watch more trash float up on shore from the water. Kyra could not get over the amount of garbage. She asked me several times if they had set it up for us for something to clean up, like as an example of what trash could do.
We then hiked up the side of a mountain to an "Eco home" to learn about organic gardening and more about the 3Rs: Recycle, Reuse, Reduce. We learned some very interesting facts, only a few of which I can remember, because if you know me at all you've heard me complain about the loss of memory cells! One thing that stuck with me is that in just China, every year they use 23 million trees just to make disposable wooden chop sticks. That just amazed me so obviously it stuck with me.
I was hoping to attach a couple photos of our field trip, but I took them with my new cell phone, which I don't know exactly how to work yet. Hopefully, I will have a chance today to figure out how to get the pics to my computer. It doesn't help that it is Windows-based and I'm on a Mac. So...it might be a bit of a process :)
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Oh...
So, someone once warned us that you need to really be present when they are boxing up your stuff for the move as otherwise, you just don't know what will be boxed up. We obviously did not take that to heart. I'm not sure where Craig and I were during the chaotic boxing up process, but some CLEARLY marked boxes that were supposed to go to storage ended up here in Hong Kong. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be needing my wedding dress while we're here...oops...wonder what the horrid humidity of the summer here is going to do to that!
Sea Shipment Arrives
It was like Christmas today! It is so funny to be so excited to see your same old junk that you wished before you could replace. We finally have toys, balls, legos and other things to play with. Yeah! Of course, it wouldn't be the Sandness way to have all things go smoothly. What would I blog about then? Everything made it here, so that is good. However, all the kids mattresses and the box springs to our king mattress were loaded onto a truck that had some sort of oil sitting in the base of it. Even though they were all boxed up, the oil seeped into the cardboard and now all of the mattresses STINK! At the end of the day, the moving company had some cleaners come out to try and get the smell out of the mattresses. Unsuccessful! However, the kids had to sleep on them as we had nothing else to use. I'm not sure how long it will take to rectify this one.
Looking around, I'm guessing I'll be unpacking for at least a few days! Well, I better get at it.
Looking around, I'm guessing I'll be unpacking for at least a few days! Well, I better get at it.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
The Game of Frogger
So, as I made my way once again to run a few errands today I had a revelation as to what walking in Hong Kong reminds me of and thought I'd share a piece of our everyday life. If you know the video game Frogger, you can get a better picture of what it is like. I don't enter this blog to say negative things about Hong Kong, because I truly am liking it here, but I've learned there is an art of getting where you to need to go, on foot - SAFELY.
There are side walks the entire way to whatever destination you should choose. The problem is that they are not continuously on both sides of the street. So, you must devise a plan to move back and forth across the road in order to get to your final destination. However, sometimes there are railings along the sidewalk so you must choose to cross before/after in order to get across quickly. And that is truly a key - QUICKLY. The cars DO NOT SLOW DOWN if you are in the street - because you shouldn't be there! And the roads are so narrow that there is not one foot of space for a pedestrian to be in the road. There are no stop signs, no natural pauses in traffic and there are many, many curves to the road. So, the traffic comes around the corner very fast.
The other little caveat for us coming from the states is that it takes some getting used to looking the appropriate way for the oncoming traffic. I still have to remind myself which way the cars will be coming. Trey has become a master at helping me scout for the exact moment to cross. Trust me, we've stepped out at the WRONG time and they just honk at you and expect you to get out of the way - QUICKLY. :)
Another thing I've learned is that there are many ways to get to the same place. Now that may sound quite obvious, but believe me, the optional routes are anything but obvious. Unless you know someone who knows someone who knows someone...ok, that might be getting a little carried away, but basically you do need something that knows the way to show you. There are sets of stairs (100+ steps) hidden between buildings that we have recently discovered.
I've been carrying the stroller down very steep cement steps to go to the beach each time we've gone. Yesterday, a woman tells me there is a way to avoid steps altogether. I didn't believe her, because I've taken at least three different routes there and they all involve very steep steps. Well, I was wrong... I'm ok with being wrong if it helps me out.
FISH UPDATE
Well, so far so good, all the fish are still with us. The kids keep a pretty close watch on them as they are very worried that something is going to happen to them.
There are side walks the entire way to whatever destination you should choose. The problem is that they are not continuously on both sides of the street. So, you must devise a plan to move back and forth across the road in order to get to your final destination. However, sometimes there are railings along the sidewalk so you must choose to cross before/after in order to get across quickly. And that is truly a key - QUICKLY. The cars DO NOT SLOW DOWN if you are in the street - because you shouldn't be there! And the roads are so narrow that there is not one foot of space for a pedestrian to be in the road. There are no stop signs, no natural pauses in traffic and there are many, many curves to the road. So, the traffic comes around the corner very fast.
The other little caveat for us coming from the states is that it takes some getting used to looking the appropriate way for the oncoming traffic. I still have to remind myself which way the cars will be coming. Trey has become a master at helping me scout for the exact moment to cross. Trust me, we've stepped out at the WRONG time and they just honk at you and expect you to get out of the way - QUICKLY. :)
Another thing I've learned is that there are many ways to get to the same place. Now that may sound quite obvious, but believe me, the optional routes are anything but obvious. Unless you know someone who knows someone who knows someone...ok, that might be getting a little carried away, but basically you do need something that knows the way to show you. There are sets of stairs (100+ steps) hidden between buildings that we have recently discovered.
I've been carrying the stroller down very steep cement steps to go to the beach each time we've gone. Yesterday, a woman tells me there is a way to avoid steps altogether. I didn't believe her, because I've taken at least three different routes there and they all involve very steep steps. Well, I was wrong... I'm ok with being wrong if it helps me out.
FISH UPDATE
Well, so far so good, all the fish are still with us. The kids keep a pretty close watch on them as they are very worried that something is going to happen to them.
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