Ready, steady, go!

The boys and friends pegging it around during Millie's not-a-baby-shower baby shower.

Hundreds, teasers and swan dives

I have started doing Pilates again, at Flex in Wong Chuk Hang. IT IS AWESOME. I cannot express how much I love Pilates. I guess it appeals to the disciplinarian ex-ballet student in me. I love proving to myself that I can still do it, after cough cough, erm, two years of nothing, I love seeing that my mind has way more control over my body than I realised, I love pushing myself further than I thought I could go (literally) and most of all I love staring at the ceiling, thinking about breathing, thinking about where my shoulders are, thinking about engaging my abs.

After the class today, the teacher Victoria (who is also awesome - and let me tell you I am super-fussy when it comes to pilates teachers) said she was surprised I hadn't done Pilates for a long time, because I can still do it all, and she said I had excellent physique. That might just be the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me! I don't care what I weigh, I care how I feel. And walking out of those classes I feel taller, stronger and most importantly happier.

Happy 18 months munchkins!

548 days ago, I was on my way from the delivery ward to the maternity ward at The Queen Mary Hospital.  I had Josh with me, but not Felix, he was up in the neo-natal unit for one night, so I had one night of singleton parentism!

We went to the Aberdeen Marina Club this arvo for a playdate, which was lovely. We don't go there often, and every time we do I really notice the big changes in them, how they behave, how they play, and how independent they are. It's a massive, massive relief that they are finally able to clamber around (padded) climbing frames on their own - Josh even managed to climb up and down the stairs unsupervised a few times so that he could slide. I know I'm supposed to supervise them, but that would involve me contorting myself to fit into the kiddy-sized tunnels and twisty turny slides. And frankly, the joy of being able to see them playing independently is so great that it even outweighs my immense guilt at not being within lunging distance of them at all times.

I had a super lovely afternoon yesterday, partly because I was with my BFF, and partly because BFF's helper Nora the Explorer came to help Vergie with the boys while we tai-tai'd. It is fabuloso knowing that there are two people looking after them and they are happy and active, not stuck inside because one person cannot realistically take them out alone.

Another factor in the loveliness was that I saw the boys from a distance for the first time really. Nora and Vergie were playing with them, then they held the boys' hands as they walked home with us. It was a bit weird to see them like that. They are ridiculously cute, and of course I see that every day, but seeing them as a stranger must see them, toddling across Lie Don Doh was a bit of an eye-opener. Maybe I should remove the blinkers more often.

Josh helping a kong kong doing his exercises in Victoria Park

Felix being a vampire

W, X, Y and .....Zed or Zee?

As the boys get bigger and start going to classes with structure, they are often singing the ABC song. Now if you ask me, that song ends "w, x, y and zed, now I know my alphabet..." then something else, I've forgotten the end. But the version that everyone (including britishers) uses here ends "w, x, y and zee, now I know my ABC, next time won't you sing with me."

This seems weird to me - are the boys going to grow up Americanized? Or internationalized? I expect they will say "heaps" instead of "loads", and they "won't have a bar of it" and spell it "vegies" not "veggies" but that's the Aussie influence (they are already addicted to Vegemite and were born on ANZAC day). Now, it won't come as much of a surprise to you all that I am something of a snob, especially when it comes to languages.

Already friends with school-age kids are worrying that they say candy instead of sweets (just to complicate the matter, the Aussie for sweets is lollies) Why do I feel so strongly that I don't want them to say chips instead of crisps? I think it might have something to do with a fear of them being bullied at an English school. But it's deeper than that too, it's always been there. I don't know, just my own little foible I guess.

Here in Hong Kong we have a curious blend of linguistic habits. The old melting-pot metaphor applies here, and I am only referring to the stuff written in the Latin alphabet. 

Of course it's easy to mock names - like the shop called Wankee Sports, or people with names like Purple, Champagne or Buffet. It's also easy to mock the difficulty that Canto speakers have distinguishing between L and R - see you tomollow, la! But it seems like the influence of many different cultures has seeped into common usage here.

Shroff, for example (Parsi for "one who deals with money") is very frequently used; everywhere from a car park attendant's hut to the hospital cashier's desk is called a shroff. A warehouse is a Godown (from the Malay "gudang"). Nullah is used to describe a sort of concrete reinforced gully for rainwater, it's from Hindi and is apparently hardly used anywhere except Hong Kong.

Hong Kong English has many idiosyncrasies, and perhaps the habit that we mock the most is for HKers to say "cannot". Cantonese is such a direct language, made up of simple units, that there is no custom of sugar-coating, as we would in English. No "would you mind" or "I'm afraid not" or "I'd be grateful if". Just CANNOT. And as much as we take the piss, I don't actually get cannotted all that often. It's more of an attitude I guess. 

It's ironic because the answer is so often CAN - yes, I can come and fix your water heater on a Sunday afternoon, yes I can continue to negotiate your flat rental at 10pm on a Friday night, yes I can bring you a keg of beer on a public holiday. Of couse the flip side of that is yes I can dig a massive great hole in the pavement without any protective barriers around it so that you and your ma chai can fall into it!

ps: I just took the boys out with me when I went to get coffee at Pret in Lee Gardens II, and I dressed them in jeans, socks and shoes and jumpers because it was a bit chilly. I explained this to Vergenia, who asked me what the temperature is, so I just looked it up - 25 degrees. Not exactly chilly.

Felix at the Toy Library

Sliding

homesick

I am lucky enough to have true, loyal friends, lovely (if ma fan) children, an awesome husband, a place to live in one of the world's greatest cities....doesn't sound enormously problematic does it? And yet...

I am still feeling rather empty. Maybe it's the Prozac, maybe it's the twin thing, maybe it's making such a momentous life change so far from home. Maybe it's the way that the concept of "home" has become a lot more relative than it used to be.

What do you say when people ask where you are from? When we arrived in Hong Kong, we used to tell people that we were from London, because that's what most people expect, and of course everyone knows London. Naturally about 50% of the people who asked us thought we were America, Australian or even German, but that's another story.

Now it's harder. Travelling in Asia from Hong Kong, saying "we're from Hong Kong" often prompts a double take - no one expects to hear that from a pair of peely wally gweilos. "London" is usually the easiest response, at least it's easier than "Sawbridgeworth in Hertfordshire, about 30 miles north east of London" which is where we last lived.

What does home mean? These days I often reply that I grew up in the South of England, I guess that's enough. What do people want to know when they ask where you're from? I suppose they want to find some common ground (most people here have a relative who has studied / is studying in London) or maybe they just want a point of reference to try and help them to pigeon hole you.  So perhaps I should just say I'm...hang on, English? British? from the UK? or even from UK, as Chinglish would have it? Then everyone would know that I like to eat crisps with my lunch, and say "lots" instead of "heaps" and have a tendency to drink too much gin occasionally.

Thomas, Felix and Josh at Kiddy Village

I freakin' love Kiddy Village. It's in Taikoo, so it's a little way away - about half an hour by MTR. It just opened in June or July 2011 so it's all sparkling clean. They have a good area for little kids (including a playhouse - the boys like to open and close the wall, rather than just the door) as well as a fairly large soft play area. There's a trampoline, a couple of slides that swoosh down into a big deep ball pit, a room full of balloons, and loads of obstacles and swinging things and little cars to ride in. The boys love it too, and it's only $70, which is a bargain compared to Wise Kids' $120, especially when you are taking two kids....So that's our destination of choice these days, I just wish I had found out about it earlier in the summer.

We're still going to My Kiddy Gym in Causeway Bay. We didn't go one week, as we were in Phuket, but going again today actually reminded me of how good it makes me feel, as well as the boys. They are generally (touch wood) well behaved, happy and co-operative, and I am always so enormously proud of them. Even if there's something they don't want to do, they are usually ok about it, as long as they're not forced, they're relatively quiet while they wait. We have heard quite a few complaints about Mr Reggie unfortunately - lots of mums (and helpers, judging from what Vergenia has heard in Tagalog) feel that it is not appropriate for him to discipline children. Firstly, it's not a school, it's supposed to be fun. Secondly, they are often only 12-18 months old! they just don't understand. Thirdly and perhaps most importantly, I don't think it's ok for someone to discipline your kids unless you know what they are doing and agree with their approach. Most of the time the carers at Kiddy Gym are helpers, not parents, who may not have the confidence to object to the disciplining....that's why I always go with V and the boys, I want to be there if it all kicks off!

Felix looking cute at bath time

T minus 24 hours!

Off to Phuket tomorrow night with Brooke Nath and Aiden. Can't wait, I think we are all in dire need of a break. Vergenia and Doreen are coming so there might actually be the opportunity for a break!
We're going to the Outrigger - I did the choosing and booking which always makes me nervous...if the place is rubbish I'll feel it's my fault.
Anyway, packing has commenced!

Beautiful photos by Jean Gorguet for pandi panda