Moving Thoughts

Oh the noise! I think I've done well not to mention it for quite a while but this morning it is as if they are making up for the time they have lost by having 2 full days off over the Christmas break. This is something I will be so pleased to leave behind. I've never been tolerant of noise, perhaps because I grew up in quiet surroundings with no siblings until a relatively old age, for a child, but whatever the reason, today I'm counting down.

We move out officially on January 8th after 2 full days of packing. It was a long way to move so much stuff for just a year (and a bit), but I'm glad we had some home comforts while we were here. It has definitely helped me to settle easier, having some personal things, not to mention our very own furniture, around.

I am looking forward to one thing in particular, by moving back. A peaceful space in which to practice yoga, in all it's forms. On a positive note, I can see that my ability to sit with the noise during my practice has increased over the past year. Like anything, some days are easier than others, but on the other hand, it has also impacted my yoga practice. I've had to take it off the mat, so to speak on more occasions than I would have liked. Instead, I find myself writing, blogging, walking....rather than being on my mat. My body has noticed...this coupled with the vast array of amazing restaurants here in Hong Kong and the tiny unappealing kitchen space here in the apartment, has lead me (us) to eat out and indulge in ways we just don't have the opportunity to at Home. Bizarre as it may sound, I am looking forward to a simpler life...more peace and less food! :-)

So this is Christmas...in Hong Kong

Christmas to me is never just Christmas. How can it be with a birthday just 2 days before? It becomes a beautifully intense time, with much to look forward to and many things to think about...I always used to wish as a child, that my birthday was in the summer, so that I could have an outdoor party and more importantly at a young age, have something to look forward to at a more convenient interval rather than it all happening within 2 days! As the years have gone by, I no longer wish for such a thing, clearly that's a waste of time as it can never be...instead I relish the intensity and do my best to pack all the excitement into a very small box of time!

This year was no exception on that score. I spent my birthday in Macau. We had a relatively leisurely morning although it did involve a quick "inspection" by the management company here, in anticipation of our move in the next few weeks...making sure we had not trashed the place. Thankfully they acknowledged that we've been well behaved and our list of things to "fix" is minimal. Phew. So with that out of the way, we headed for the ferry terminal and swiftly boarded and departed HK Island. One hour later we arrived in Macau - the sun was still shining there and the temperature was pleasantly cool. Perfect. We checked into our hotel right next door to the show venue for that evening, all very convenient and before we knew it, it was time for our pre-show dinner at a wonderful little place called Antonios, a tiny Portuguese restaurant in the heart of Taipa Village. If you are ever there, it comes highly recommended by us and several of our friends, which is why we ended up there in the first place. The show followed dinner and quite simply...Wow! What a show. I've never been to Vegas, but this felt very "Vegas" to me, for all the right reasons. It was colourful, exciting, beautiful, awe-inspiring, edge-of-your-seat-gripping, with some acrobatics that I would have believed impossible in a theatre. Amazing. We rounded off the evening with a first for me...a visit to the casino. Quite eye-opening really. And surprising...as I decided to see what all the fuss is about and found a Roulette Table to try my luck on. And Lucky I was...put it down to beginners luck or detachment...whatever it was, it worked and I walked away with enough cash to pay for our hotel room that night! ;-)

On Christmas Day itself, we were lucky enough to be invited by some of our best friends here in HK, to their home, for pre-dinner drinks where we enjoyed a glass of champagne or two and some festive spirit before heading back to our place to cook our own fairly traditional Christmas Dinner. It was nice to part of a larger "family" for a few hours, when ours are all so far away.

I wonder where we will be next Christmas.

It seems I will miss Hong Kong after all

As the days go by and the Move gets closer, I am realising that I actually will miss Hong Kong. At least bits of it.

It's been a fun place to be for a year but I'm ready to shift back down a gear, to a different pace of life, but all the same, I suspect there will be days when I will look back somewhat wistfully on all the very convenient things, the perks if you like, of living in a city where you can get almost anything you want at any time you want it. I'll miss the ease and numerous opportunities to meet new people from all over the world, who also find themselves living in a "strange" country where things are not familiar. Although I have to say, settling in Hong Kong has been relatively easy, all things considered. Or does it just feel like that because it's over now? :-)

There are so many available support groups and information is just easily accessible here in it's various forms. They have truly mastered service too. The locals are friendly and seem to genuinely want to help you. Those who aren't locals also want to help because they know how hard it can be to find yourself in a foreign place. There is a somewhat "safety in numbers" feeling here...you know you are not the only one and if you have a question, someone not so far away from you, will know the answer to that question because they have already been there and done it. Just knowing that can be very reassuring.

So, what will I actually miss about Hong Kong? After all, don't I just complain about the weather and the noise all the time? Maybe I won't fully realise this until we've vacated, as is often the way; you don't know what you've got until it's gone.

I was going to write a list of the things I think I'll miss about Hong Kong and then realised that it felt a bit familiar...I did that at the half way point and upon reviewing that list, I find that nothing much has actually changed. My feelings at 6 months pretty much echo my thoughts and feelings now, as we approach the end of this assignment. So I won't repeat myself.

However, I do already know some of the things I'll appreciate even more upon our return to Canada, and it certainly doesn't hurt to be reminded to be grateful for what we have. In these somewhat material and very convenient times, it's easy to take the simple things for granted. These simple things are likely to be different for all of us, but it's important to realise what they are, what makes you feel happy, content, relaxed, grateful to be alive. Hopefully I will return Home with a greater sense of what's important to me and build on it, because life is too short not to.

I would like to take this opportunity, whether they see it or not, to thank all my Hong Kong friends and acquaintances for their support and friendship along the way. Without them, it would have felt very lonely and definitely not easy. The ease in being and doing comes through the support of others and I won't forget these heady Hong Kong days! ;-)

I'll miss the smell of incense wafting from the numerous temples that I pass on my daily travels...sometimes unexpected and uplifting and surprisingly calming amidst the noisy traffic and other much less pleasant city smells!

In-between Worlds

Less than a month to go until we move out of Bamboo Grove. I feel a bit dazed this evening...in a kind of limbo land...not quite here and clearly not there yet. That said, I'm determined to stay present and not either wish this time away or get so swamped in thoughts and concerns about packing and moving that this final month slips from my grasp. This is a festive month with lots still to look forward to and I intend to make the most of it despite the lists that must be made for Canada Customs and the thoughts about what I'll do when I get back.... those things can wait. Well...Customs won't wait for anybody but Plans for my Future are less demanding right now.

This is truly a test of my ability to be present, a meditation of sorts. When the mind wanders to thoughts of "but what will I do when I get back and there are no organised weekly hikes or Tai Tai Afternoons to attend..." I remind myself that I am still here and that as excited as I am to return Home...Canada Home...I have some great things to do here still so long as I remember to breathe and take it one day at a time. Enjoy every last day...enjoy the friends that I've found here while I can and just breathe it in...else it will be gone in a flash!

Today we had the chat with the people who organise our move for us and once again I need to get my head around packing. Well, that's not quite accurate...we are lucky enough to have the packing part arranged for us but I do have to sort out what we take, what goes by air and what goes on the slow boat from China. That's simple enough really, especially on the return, much easier than it was coming out here as this time it ALL comes with us, one way or the other, I just may not see it for a couple of months.

Transition is an odd thing, more challenging to some than others but I believe it definitely takes a degree of awareness and presence to do it well. Ahead of me lies another shift in culture, a change in climate, a change in lifestyle, different food options, different people with different outlooks on life. It's a shift, no doubt about it, regardless of having done it before. This time will be different too...coming from Hong Kong will feel different to having come from England last time. So just another Adventure really...and of course another new Chapter. The Canadian Chapter Part 2! I'm excited.....

Solo in Singapore

It's unusual for me to be the one travelling solo, especially in Asia. I feel brave but lonely. It is of course all for a good cause though; a sneaky yoga teacher training to study with a teacher who only teaches on this side of the globe, before we return to Canada and I start to incorporate all these trainings into my life and return to doing some yoga teaching. It's been nice to have a rest and focus on learning and absorbing with no pressure to pass that on for the last year or so but that era is coming to an end. A new chapter awaits and is not that far away now. In a month from now we will be packing our bags and indeed everything we have here in Asia and sending it back to Canada on that slow boat.

In the meantime, I have one more day to immerse myself in the study of postnatal yoga, which naturally follows on from the prenatal training. Not a Mum myself, I've found it totally fascinating and extremely eye-opening. All yoga trainings have a tendency to make you question things and look at things differently and this is certainly no exception. I thought I was coming here to learn what postures I could safely teach pregnant women and women who just had a baby....and I did...but I got a whole lot more into the bargain and my head is full of subjects that are totally new to me and as a result I feel just a little bit more alive...very tired, but alive!