The Big Game

Last Sunday, the Notre Dame alumni club invited both Notre Dame and UofM football fans to the American Club to watch the big game. Of course we went, partly to snoop around the club, and partly to have a more exciting atmosphere to watch such a big game. As we all know how the game turned out, it was a happy day in the Kirchner household. I know it's normally "happy wife, happy life," but on game days it's the other spouse's turn.

I did some research on the American Club in Hong Kong, and the stats are pretty astounding. They actually have two facilities, the TownClub which is in the heart of downtown Hong Kong right next to the second tallest building in the city and where we watched the game, and the Country Club, a sports and rec facility on the south side of the island. The membership entry fee is just under $50,000 USD per family plus a monthly fee of $300/month, or $3,600/year. YIKES! And there is currently a wait-list to be a member! Sounds like too many people with too much money. Needless to say, we are not members, hence the snooping. We opted out of the $50/person brunch, for a $5 glass of orange juice and a $5 coffee. The pictures below are shots from the balcony outside of the lounge room where we watched the game. A lot of the shots have interesting discussion points so I will again discuss each pic in turn. 

The pic below shows Victoria Harbor, the ICC (tallest building in Hong Kong) and the Kowloon side of Hong Kong. At the bottom of the pic, you'll see ferry terminals. These are the ferries that can take you to several outlying islands, like Lamma Island, Discovery Bay, etc. Some of Drew's coworkers actually work in Discovery Bay, so they take these ferries (most are about a 30 min ride) in to work every day. Works for some people, but I think my mother would have a hard time. Ginger! Get the ginger!

This pic looks back onto Hong Kong Island. The tall pointy building is in Central. The low, curvy building sticking out into the water is the convention center, and it's supposed to look like a turtle. Give me some fin (slap)...Noggin (clunk)! The high spot behind the tall pointy building is Jardine's Lookout that we hiked on Sat afternoon. Check out the previous post for details. 

This pic looks at the east side of Hong Kong Island, in the neighborhood called Sheung Wan. Most of these high rises are residential, except the really large one on the right of the pic. The high ground on the left is Victoria's Peak, the highest point on the island. This is the best lookout to see the whole city, especially at night. Don't look over the railing Stu.....

This is a close-up of the IFC, the 2nd tallest building in Hong Kong, and obviously right next to where this balcony was. Not sure how many stories it has, but I dare someone to count them! And look! Blue skies! One of the few with no haze. 

Finally, this is a pic of public piers #9 and #10, where the junk boats pick up people for their day trips. This was us exactly one week prior. Remember how I said the boats circled around to pick up people, as there wasn't enough docking room for them all? This picture was taken at 10am, right when we picked up our junk. So, this gives an exact feel of that morning! Chaos :) But look at all of the junks! See how popular they are? And Sept. isn't considered peak junking season any more.

Jardine's Lookout

On Saturday afternoon, Drew and I decided to go for a short hike. The trailhead is a quick 5 min drive away from our complex. That is one of the beautiful things about Hong Kong. Hiking for everyone! When we got to the trailhead, there was a group of about 30 people dressed in a blue government uniform with coils of climbing rope over their shoulders. They also had maps and compasses. The Hong Kong Hiking Rescue Club on a training hike? Except Drew and I finished the hike way faster than they did, so obviously they weren't veteran hikers. Perhaps a police force out for some off-site training? Who knows. 

This particular hike was named Jardine's Lookout. To this point, I thought Jardine's lookout was a neighborhood that we lived next to, not an actual high point on the island. Apparently back in WW2 when the Japanese were invading everywhere, people fought on the island from the Peak to Jardine's Lookout, which is why it is actually named. Very green huh! Could you imagine having to fight a war amongst that stuff? Ha!

Anyways, this hike was more like 25 min of the stair master, climbing up and up forever. No switch backs allowed. Trig was worn out by the end, but that's the idea. The best part of this hike was that you had views of both the north side of the island (where the city is) and the south side of the island (more residential and laid back). I took a lot of good pics, so I'll step through and explain them.

The pic below is of the Tim Tam Reservoir that then goes out to the south side of the island to the South China Sea. Not a house or sky scraper in sight huh! Well, maybe if you look at the island looking thing in the middle of the pic. That's actually Repulse Bay (I think) where several of Drew's coworkers live. 

The next picture is also of the south side of the island but the western part. You can't see it very well, but find the center high point in the distance. The section to the left of that high point has Hong Kong's amusement park called Ocean Park. The view from there must be incredible, even if the rides are mediocre. I will have to take the next willing visitor there!

On the other side of the ridge we were on is the north side of the island, where the majority of the people are, obviously. This picture shows the two highest skyscrapers we have, the ICC on the right, or Kowloon side, and the IFC on the left in Central. The two towers mirror each other in look and almost height. They are often called a modern Colossus of Rhodes, which ships had to sail between to get into the ancient city of Rhodes in Greece around 280 B.C.

I can just hear my mother saying, "Look at all of the haze! So much pollution." It's true; rarely do we get a sunny day here with crystal clear blue skies. A lot of the haze comes in from mainland China, from large industrial cities such as Guangzhou which is not that far away from us. China just does not have the same environmental standards as we do in the U.S., so be thankful U.S.ers.

Aren't my two boys handsome? :) You can actually see our apartment complex in this picture. See the U-shaped depression made from Drew's back and the greenery? The building right in the middle of the U with the X-looking detail at the top of it is our complex. The building just to the right of the X one (They look like they are almost touching here) is our actual tower. Pretty cool huh!



Miss you guys!

Bumper Swimming

Every day for the past two weeks, I have been meeting with my wonderful language exchange partner named Lisa. We practice for two hours; one hour is me helping with her very advanced English, and one hour is her helping me struggle with basic Mandarin. Anyways, we originally met at a Pacific Coffee Company, which is a Hong Kong coffee company almost identical to Starbucks. When the Chinese copy stuff, they do a good job at it!

Anyways, having to buy a latte every day was starting to get expensive for both of us, so we tried to find a free place to meet. There was a library near by, but it was a small one without any private meeting rooms, and the general area was kept strictly quiet, no ongoing conversation allowed. So that wasn't going to work.

In the end, we found a public swimming pool very near to Lisa's apartment that has stadium seating surrounding the pool. So, we go sit in the seats by the pool for two hours and nobody bothers us. The only problem with meeting in there is that there is no A/C, only fans, so the afternoons can get a little hot. 

Anyways, this pool is, by far, the most widely used pool I have ever seen. Whether our meetings are from 2-4 in the afternoon, or 9-11 in the morning, the pool is always packed with swimmers. And those times I listed are not popular, after work, peak work out times. This pool is just always packed. Take the photo below for instance. The first few lanes were being used by swimming lesson groups, so they were not as packed. But the open lanes at the end have 3-4 people per lane, just in the shot of this picture alone, not even down the whole length of the pool. I bet there were 20 people using each lane that morning. It's insane. People can't help but run into each other sometimes as they pass each other. Then, there is the lifeguard with an umbrella for shade. Except this pool is indoors. 0.o

Today, there were old ladies getting into the pool. Instead of wading in like most old people, they dove in, except the dive was more like a belly flop. Old lady ouch. I grimaced just watching them. 

Trig's Vet Visit

Yesterday I had to take Trig to the vet for the first time here in Hong Kong. Nothing serious had happened. He just needed his annual checkup as well as some vaccination updates so that the kennel will still accept him. It really is like getting a child prepped for school; remember those immunization cards? The appointment I made was at a local vet just down the street. Trig and I would pass it sometimes on our walks. Being able to walk Trig to his appointment instead of having to drive him there was a major plus.

So, the day arrives, and we make the 15 min walk from our building down the hill to the vet shop. We arrive at the place where I thought it should be, but the shop sign wasn't there. Have I gone mad? Wasn't the vet right here? I mean, right here..... So I walked all the way up and all the way back down the street thinking I had just forgotten its exact location. Nope. I return to the place where I originally thought it was and see the shop door covered in For Rent signs. Perfect. They closed down and didn't bother to inform their upcoming patients. I quickly google another nearby vet clinic and walk there. Once I have gone out to do something, I really hate not getting it done, so I will improvise to whatever measure necessary to get it accomplished. I walk into this other vet clinic and ask about the previous one. Have they closed down? "No, actually they moved one street over." Oh. I then look at the lady at the front desk who was dressed in scrubs and asked if they had any walk-in appointments that afternoon, seeing as I was already there. She said no, that their doctor is not located in Hong Kong. What? How do you have a vet shop here while the doctor is located somewhere else? Do they ship the sick dogs to him? Most likely he was just on vacation or something, but their answer confused me.

Anyways, we head back towards the original vet office, find it, and manage to be there still on time! Kudos to Drew for instilling in me the necessity of leaving 15 min earlier than you need to.

The appointment itself went fine. I was originally concerned I wouldn't be able to communicate well with the vet, but this one turned out to be from the Netherlands, and his English was very good. Trig was all hunky dory when he was on the floor, and then the moment the vet placed him on the metal table he froze like a statue. At least he wasn't scrambling like some dogs do.

He received a clean bill of health, weighing a sturdy but not plump 36 pounds. He also received his kennel cough vaccine and a 5-in-1 vaccine they use there that is similar to our DAPP vaccine. It was cool; after the vet gave him the last shot, he said, "Just place Trig on the floor and let him sniff about without a lead." Then he proceeded to predict Trig's actions, just as good as any dog whisperer. Sniff about, right. Shake out the stress, good. Go stand by your mom, done. Very cool.

For the examination and both vaccines it cost only $50. I thought that was a pretty good deal! The American tick and flea medication, however, was just as expensive. Will have to stockpile that stuff the next time we go back there.

Junk Trip

Since last Thursday, our friends Ajeet and Rahkee from Denver have been visiting. We have had such a great time going out with them. Probably the best part of the stay was yesterday's junk boat trip. Drew and I have wanted to go on a junk trip since we got here, and since we weren't getting invited to one any time soon, we decided to plan one ourselves, with Rahkee and AJ being the perfect excuse.

So, just before Drew and I left to go to the US, we hired a junk boat and a caterer. After that, we just had to recruit enough people to fill the boat; that's where friends of friends come in. It really wasn't that difficult of an event to plan. I'd say a child's birthday party is harder even.

On the big day, we had 28 people, and the boat max was 30. The boat picks everyone up at a pier right in downtown Hong Kong. As we had catered the food, everyone else just needed to bring their own drinks for the day. It was quite funny; there were perhaps 9 junks all trying to pick up passengers from the same pier, all about the same time. (Apparently the junk companies don't communicate with each other). So, a junk would pull up for 5 minutes, and if all of the passengers weren't there, the junk would pull away from the pier and circle back, letting another junk pull up for a few minutes to collect it's passengers. Well, we didn't know that, so I was on the boat, Drew was on land corralling people, when suddenly our boat pulls away leaving a lot of people on the pier. "Ah, excuse me? Excuse me, boat driver, sir? We need to go back.... We are leaving people behind..." Of course he doesn't speak English, so luckily there was a Cantonese speaker on the boat who conversed with him and got it straightened out. By the end, everyone got on the boat.

We then boated for an hour and a half out of the main city and around the island to a nice little beach called Clearwater Bay. We actually never went all the way in to the beach. We simply swam around at the back of the boat, floating on noodles, and using a surf boat as a cup holder. We had lunch out on the boat, then once it was late afternoon, we turned around and drove back to the city. Overall, it was a very relaxing and fun day out on the water.

We got REALLY lucky, and it never rained once. That was the most stressful part of planning this whole experience. If the weather is bad enough, the junk company makes you reschedule the trip (understandable) but then you have an non-refundable catered lunch to eat alone. Or, if it's only pouring and the junk company won't cancel, then you have to hope your passengers still show up. We made them pay ahead of time to hopefully deter this behavior. It poured on Friday, was on and off on Sat., but by Sun (junk day) we didn't get a drop. How lovely!

There was one other miscommunication with the boat driver that made for an eventful afternoon. For some reason, our boat kept drifting towards other boats; apparently our anchor wasn't doing that great of a job. So, at one point the driver makes us all get back in the boat, turns the engine on, and drives further out in the bay to get away from the other boats. Well, we didn't realize that; we thought he was actually making us leave the bay altogether, which would have been a bad time for two of our passengers that had swum to the beach for fun. Luckily, we again had the Canto speaker converse with the driver to understand his intentions, and the two people weren't stranded. But, they did have a much longer swim back to the boat.

 

Overall, though, great day.

Back to Reality

Drew and I made it back to Hong Kong on Sunday night safe and sound and were quickly reunited with a stinky Trig the following day. I actually think I was more excited to see him than he was to see me.

Being home was incredible and hard at the same time. It was great to spend so much time with everyone. Skype convos do a lot to alleviate homesickness, but there is something un-replicateable about the joy from face-to-face interaction. However, it also made me realize how much Drew and I are missing while we are over here. Do we regret our decision to come to Hong Kong? No. Do we still wish we could have our cake and eat it to? Yes.

The trip was filled with lots of fun. We flew from Hong Kong to Chicago to Detroit, then spent a week in MI seeing both Drew's family and my Mom's extended family. This included several family BBQs, a trip to Frankenmuth, a trip to the Greenfield Village, and a Costco shopping trip where we nearly bought the entire store then were surprised when it wouldn't fit in our suitcases back home. 

Don't forget an amazing wedding in Traverse City, a fun night on the lake in Irons MI, and lots of home cooked food. Also, (I'm sure this will surprise no one) my goal of losing 10 pounds has been adjusted to losing 15. :)

The second week, Drew went to Philly to work, and I went to CO to work and see family. It was weird being in an office again, I must say. What? I have to wear professional clothes? What? I can't just let my hair air dry? (I did anyways, because it dries straight in CO!) But it was actually really great to see my coworkers face to face.

We also went to the Rocky Mountain Wild Animal Animal Sanctuary, where large carnivores are kept when idiots who try to keep these animals as pets can no longer handle them. Some situations were really sad. For instance, some of the lions had been declawed in an attempt to "domesticate" them, and they end up limping for life. It also makes them more aggressive because their paws are constantly aggregated. Go figure.

I also ate my weight in Mexican food, including a few rounds of margaritas at The Rio, a family favorite in Fort Collins.

Went to a park in the foothills to remember Colorado's nature. Went on a bike ride to Big City Burrito
to remember the active lifestyle as well as the CSU staple.

Now that we are back in Hong Kong, jet-lag has set in. Mostly we just can't sleep soundly through the night. I got up at 4:00am two nights ago, then 5:30am last night. Hopefully tonight the pattern will continue til 7am...

But, the hardest part of it all is not knowing when we will be going back to the US. We get one free trip home a year, so essentially we have to wait an entire year before we get to go back. Unless, something big like a wedding comes up. But, the not knowing is weird. Of course, lots of family will be visiting us out here in the meantime, such as Drew's parents this Christmas. But it's still weird. 

FIVB

Tonight I surprised Drew and took him to see the World Grand Prix FIVB tournament at the Hong Kong Coliseum. Basically it was the women's national volleyball teams from Argentina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, and China duking it out. It was really fun to watch. They were impressively tall and very good. China dominated the night. They had everything: killer defense, amazing setting, and a slide hitting scheme that was smoking the Czechs. But it was still fun to watch.

We had really great seats, on one of the ends right in the middle. Made it very easy to see all of the plays as they unfolded. And to see how high the blockers got over the net. It's not fair. Their hands are taller than the net standing on the ground. Plus they can jump, unlike myself. 

A couple quirky things abut the games, one of them being the sweat moppers. They would come out after every play, cleaning up any sweat that got on the floor after a player dived. What an exhausting job, worse than being a tennis ball runner-downer I think. 

Look at the form! Turkey beat Argentina by the way. Drew was like "I don't know which team to root for. Both countries have such good food...." 0.o

Another funny thing about the game were these deliberate cheering sections. Not sure if they were adolescent volleyball leagues or what, but each corner of the stadium had a section that was packed with young girls in matching outfits and pompoms. 2 of the 4 sections would root for one team, the other 2 would root for the opposing team. Even though all of the girls were Chinese; they clearly had no ties to Argentina, or whatever, but they pretended really well, and it make the atmosphere much more exciting. They had cheers and signs and giant Chinese drums they would beat on. Very funny. 

Overall, it was a very fun evening. Good to see some high quality volleyball again. Although I have a sneaking suspicion this has awaken the volleyball addicted beast inside of my husband, and he will be trying to get back on the court somehow sooner rather than later. Since we are leaving for the US tomorrow morning, this will be my last post until we get there. Catch you on the flip side!