Being Still

Today I have stopped; I'm taking a day to be still. The past few days have been full and busy. Busy in the new Hong Kong lifestyle kind of way at least. Busy socialising, exploring and jostling with the locals on the streets. It's surprisingly exhausting, just being out with new people and more to the point, being out "there"... in the city. Of course I am not a city girl so this probably has a lot to do with it, and neither am I 21 any more, but I believe there is more to it than that. On the streets of Hong Kong, the air is polluted, the streets are busy, people cannot walk in a straight line...or faster than snail pace (sorry, my particular pet peeve at the moment) and it's humid. It takes it out of me in a whole new way. I marvel at how tired I can get from having a day "out". It's as though all of those things sap my energy. I feel less exhausted after I've been hiking. So today I am recouping my energy, catching up on things "inside", in more ways than one, so that I can venture out again tomorrow.

For charity

I had a new experience today.

For the last 2 weeks, I have been collecting random articles from the South China Morning Post. Not because I love reading the newspaper, in fact prior to February 1st, I honestly cannot remember when I last bought one. I confess to avoiding the news on a regular basis. I figure the good stuff or the stuff that I need to hear, need to be aware of, will find a way of reaching me, and it always does. For years now, listening to the news or scanning a newspaper just seems to depress me, so I gave it up. Now I let the BBC deliver the highlights in bullet form into my email box. On the days I don't want to know, I simply hit delete, but mostly I scan it and occasionally read an entire article.

So having to flick through an entire paper for the last two weeks has been interesting for me. I've read all sorts of things I'd rather not know about and they have stirred up all sorts of emotions for me. That in itself was an interesting experiment; noticing my limits, my boundaries. After the scanning and some reading, I made my daily selection, duly cutting out my chosen articles and filing them away. Two weeks later, today in fact, I gathered my pile of 30 articles or so and made my way to the Hong Kong Society for the Blind where I spent 2 hours recording myself reading the articles. I felt like a news reader, only less glamorous. The room was barely big enough to contain me, a PC and a chair and it was cold. By the end of the session my hands were actually numb. And, ironically, my vision was suffering badly. I don't often need to read small print these days and never for that length of time and my astigmatism was really challenging the task in hand! For the first time though, I didn't actually get angry with my eyes, the way I normally do when they start to fail me in this way. It was surely because I was aware of where I was, and why I was doing this thing today. Instead I felt grateful that I could do this..it was hard, but I could do it.

After my eyesight, the next most challenging thing was having to navigate my way through all the rather tricky pronunciations. Now I fully understand why they ask that you clearly spell out any words you are not sure how to pronounce! Despite my careful selections with this in mind, lets not forgot where this paper was printed! There were many tricky words and it was time-consuming. Maybe I will do that "beginners cantonese" class next month.

So, in case it's still unclear from my ramblings, today I recorded news articles from the local newspaper for the HKSB where the blind will listen to the cassette to not only catch up on national news from the last 2 weeks but also they will use it to improve their spoken english. It felt good to help. It's such a simple thing. I hope many will benefit from those few hours I donated. I'll be back but according to the rota, not until April.

Thank You AWA once again, for presenting me with this meaningful opportunity.

Gung Hei Fat Choi

Gung Hei Fat Choi...or Happy New Year!

Yes, I've been talking about this for a while now but that is because it is a really big deal here. For natives, it is christmas, birthday and new year all rolled into one big celebration which spans, to the best of my knowledge, about a 2 week period. The exact timing varies each year depending on the lunar calendar but this year, New Years Day co-incided with Valentines Day, February 14th. A double celebration or just inconvenient timing? Apparently businesses who normally do very well out of the romantic holiday have been hit hard this year. Florists and restaurant owners in particular have suffered as the majority of locals have opted to spend this festive time with their extended family rather than opt for a romantic evening with their significant other at a quiet restaurant. The two holidays, to me, are a world apart and yet, certainly in Hong Kong, this year many had to decide where to place their priorities.

Easy for us of course, as it's just the two of us here and our family celebrated christmas and new year some time ago. We got to enjoy a quiet Valentines Day as a public holiday on the 14th and then on the 15th, Day 2 of the Chinese New Year, with a very special firework display thrown in over dinner. We'd heard a lot about the CNY firework display over the harbour so we booked our harbour-side restaurant table well in advance. We enjoyed a rather over-priced, but tasty meal before pausing midway through for a 20 minute firework display that could not fail to impress. I was particularly happy with the evening because I got to see some great fireworks without any crowds attached...it was all very civilised - just the way I like it :-)

Despite any difficult decisions about who to spend time with on 14th February 2010, surely it has to be a good omen to start the year with a day associated with Love.

February so far

Taken on my hike to Tai Tam Tuk Reservoir

The westerly view from the apartment...pretty much every day this week.

Half way through February already and almost into a new year. I still can't quite get my head around that concept...a new year in February, but Hong Kong is certainly gearing up for something this week. Decorations are up all over the place and consist of lots of red and gold and lots of tigers. I even saw a fantastic tiger made out of flowers today and was kicking myself for having left my camera at home. Shops are also packed; more so than usual. People buying gifts and new outfits for the holiday, and I'm guessing that the sales that have been on since early December will finally come to an end now? The supermarket queue was a bit of a shock too. Normally the abundance of shop assistants makes for a fast moving line but clearly the shops DO shut for a few days as everyone was clearly stocking up. I can't quite imagine Hong Kong "closed", so I look forward to witnessing it.

In addition to all the activity and preparations going on around me, the weather has been weird. Horribly humid and as you can see from the pics, extremely grey. The sun did break through in Stanley, on the south of the island on Wednesday for a few hours; that I know because we finished our hike there and stopped for lunch. Very nice it was too. Made me wonder if it's always like that there and whether we picked the wrong location when we were flat-hunting...

Oh, and did I mention I saw my first snake on our hike this week? And no, I didn't stop to take a photo...that was the furthest thing from my mind, I can assure you!

February so far has been surprisingly social for me and with Alan travelling this week, I've barely had time to enjoy the peace and quiet in the apartment :-) Seriously...I mentioned that something shifted in January, and I was not wrong. The pace is definitely picking up. I'm not the sort of person who needs or wants to fill every minute of the day with social activity, or indeed activity of any sort, and I actually feel "sufficient" on the social front right now! It feels as though friendships are slowly starting to build...although it has to be said, things here seem to move at a faster pace. It's as though everyone acknowledges they are probably only here for a certain period of time so they just jump right in there. Naturally it takes some people longer than others to be ready for the HK social scene, but once they are ready, it's full steam ahead!

Well, my travelling husband is due home shortly and I expect this will be my last entry until The New Year. I'll try and take some photos but I have a feeling it's going to be MANIC out there and I think I'm going to have to take a few "chill pills" before I head out on Sunday evening...wish me luck!

The Year of the Tiger

Apparently yesterday - 4th February - was a very auspicious day. Although the chinese/lunar new year does not begin until the 14th, yesterday was the solar new year which basically means it was the first day of The Year of the Tiger. The Golden Tiger. This is all new to me, until yesterday I was completely ignorant about such things. Today, I'm still largely in the dark but I did learn some interesting things at yesterday's Feng Shui presentation which was run by Jill Lander, a Brit who arrived in HK with her husband 32 years ago for a 2 year stint and never left. She raised a family and then followed her heart and against all the odds (being a western, blonde woman) she trained with a feng shui master in Asia and now has her own business here as a feng shui consultant. Quite a story, and I find that in itself quite fascinating. Moving to a new country can be so very daunting and so foreign, so unsettling and yet many people are able to break through that or even use it to follow their heart and start something completely new. I did it in Canada. I trained to be a yoga teacher, something that had never even crossed my mind in the UK. I'd done a few yoga classes but I wasn't hooked by any stretch of the imagination at that point in my life. It took a new beginning and a fresh start in place where I had yet to build an identity, for me to realise that this was something that I really wanted to do. I can't help but wonder if I will have time to find a new part of myself here in Hong Kong - but I digress...!

So, we have begun the Year of the Tiger. A challenging year awaits us but that does not mean it will be bad year - challenge can be a good thing too and of course, ultimately life is what we make of it. It will be a year of creation - that I like the sound of. A lack of compassion possibly too - that didn't feel so good but with all the uncertainty in the world right now, I can see how that might occur. Being compassionate is much easier when we feel good and secure...less so when the odds are against us and times are challenging.

Of course I am only touching the tip of iceberg here, I have much to learn about all things feng shui but I do intend to use the energy of the Tiger - his patience, his focus and his determination to make 2010 a successful year!

Pics from our Historical Walking Tour of Macau on 30th Jan 2010

Time flies when you're having fun!

Wow! I cannot believe it's been 2 whole weeks since my last entry. I've just re-read "Surrender", my last entry on January 21st and I have to say, I think I did.

Something has definitely changed since I wrote that! Something within me shifted. Whatever it was, life's pace has changed and so has my schedule. All of a sudden, pretty much over night, it has filled up. Filled up with things that I want to do! It was almost a tangible thing... that shift in energy. Quite remarkable. I just took a scan of my calendar, reviewing the last two weeks and what I've been up to. I've wanted to blog on several occasions but I just couldn't find the time...if I did find myself with a moment to myself I was too tired and couldn't quite get my words together so it never happened, but actually, although I've missed logging my thoughts here, it was a good thing. I was being present and I was living my new life. The things I've been doing have been varied and some have been a completely new experience...even somewhat surreal at times. All have been fun in their own way and some have been very enlightening. Most importantly, some of them have been repeated since because they were so good and will become a regular part of my life here.

I have a lot to thank the AWA for. Much of my activity has been as a result of joining and attending a wide selection of events, ranging from Afternoon Tea Buffets at a posh hotels, hiking, photography outings, a guided tour of Macau and a presentation on feng shui. I've met some interesting people and even made a few friends...just when I was beginning to wonder if I ever would. As usual, it just took a certain amount of letting go.

Equally though, some of the paths I've started to explore, I've found for myself or have been nudged towards since I opened my eyes and began reading the signs! Life is good. Life is still challenging but then again, it always has been, there are just degrees of challenge and how much we are able to embrace that challenge depends on all sorts of things; our health, our state of mind, the support networks we have around us....and without commenting on any of those things in relation to my life right now, I am pleased to say that I'm enjoying this particular challenge...finally, it's fun!