First day of school....

I missed Changunnie's first day of school because of my business trip. I eagerly called home at 12:45pm yesterdaty to check on her. (School finishesat 12:15 and she should be home by 12:45).

Well, she went but for an hour only (instead of three) and she cried her eyes out. Grandma didn't go in with her (as she's now a BIG girl!) so we wouldn't know what happened. Poor thing wouldn't stop crying and the school principal had to take her to the waiting area to find grandma. They went home early as a result and Changunnie was all happy again (and ate all her lunch like a tornado sweeping anything on its way). Then in the afternoon, she told Grandma, "I think I can go back to school tomorrow."

I am at the airport lounge waiting for the flight back home. I will find out if she stayed in her class or not!

Cricket - Sport or insect?

I had a very weird work dinner in Singapore last night. Our new global head visited Singapore (our regional hub for anything non-equities) and our business manager decided that the bigger "management" team in Asia should have dinner with the new global head in Singapore.

Most of us are (the second tier managers) actually based in HK and because of the cost control plan, we had to take an 8am flight from Hong Kong to Singapore. We were half awake when the plane landed at Changyi. The high temperature and humidity was not a very nice welcome. Lots of people said "Isn't HK the same?" Similar but not quite. Singapore is at least one notch hotter in my opinion. Anyway, 3 hours of meeting with my boss and colleague before dinner and drinks with the new global boss. By the time I got to the Equinox, I was exhausted.

The new head seemed like a smart guy and nice. The one thing that he shocked me was how talkative he was. Lots of managers are strong believer of "silence is golden" but not this one. He was very willing to share his thoughts and seemed t e willing to listen. A pretty good sign. However, we all stood around in the corner of the private dinning room for over an hour before we could sit down. Unlike a normal cocktail, we were just standing there in a circle. Couldn't really stretch or switch my mind off.

The conversation at the dinning table was typical business conversation. The vision, the strategy, the execution. Then someone, in the hope of lightening up the atmosphere, asked about cricket (of the 14 people there, 6 Indians, 1 Kiwi, 2 Australians, 1 English. The remaining are 3 Chinese and 1 French). The conversation became so biased towards Cricket that for 40 minutes, it was nothing but how important Cricket is to some very senior management......

I don't mind listening to a sport that I am not familiar with. I can't expect others to watch diving and baseball as religiously as I do. What struck me hard is whether I belong. There were supposedly funny story of how a group in London plays every weekend for 8 hours for 9 months and how someone got a pretty bad injury and the captain (read boss) didn't want that person to leave for medical care. It wasn't that funny 10 minutes into that conversation. I think there was a lack of cultural sensitivity. If I started talking about Tai Chi, it would be me being rude....

It wasn't pleasant and really made me think of what I should do next.

Activist against schools?

I'm not going to defend schools in Hong Kong. I was angry because some activist decided that it's an awful idea to have a school in the neighbourhood and they wrote to the Town Planning Department to stop the grantin of license. We lived next to two very prestigious schools on Kennedy Road and understand perfectly how bad traffic in the neighbourhood can get. However no one complained. Maybe the children of the rich and powerful are students there.

We were lucky to find a place for Changunnie at a preschool 10 days before the new school year. I did more research and found the memo of the July 09 meeting of the TPD wich detailed the ground of rejection of license application of Changunnie's preschool. The reason? Parents sending children to school will significantly intensify the congestion on Hiram's Highway during the morning peak hour. Someone decided to make pretty strange postings of the otherwise obscure minutes on discussion forum.

I don't like being stuck in the traffic myself but I think a situation like that can have a solution. The school can start after 9. The peak hour in this area should be around 8 to 8:45 so that people can be at work in town by 9:30 or so. Why did the activist have to take out the opportunity for kids to go to school in the neighbourhood??

I still do not know if the school can get the license in Oct in the appeal hearing. I do know I want to do two things. Send a petition to the TPD and ask those activist why they didn't complain about the schools on HK island?

First step of separation

It's almost 11pm and I should be sleeping so that I don't wake up as a big grouch at 5:45am tomorrow. I'm not crazy enough to book myself on an 8am flight for business but my company wanted to have more robust cost control in place and we ended up having to fly a cheaper airline that has, let's just say, very day trip friendly schedule. The thought of being on the same flight with a bunch of people whose company I don't particular enjoy, the prospect of a speak no evil, hear no evil meeting and dinner don't make it any easier for me. However, I'm sleepless for another reason. Tomorrow will be Changunnie's first day at preschool. I think I'm more nervous than she is. To her, it's a place with lots of games and cupcake. To me, it's a lesson of let go.

We gotta be the worst parents of the year by HK standard. We didn't submit any application for school when Changunnie was born. Rather than a deliberate effort, it was a result of ignorance. Shouldn't you apply the year before you start? What does a 10 months old baby know what to say in an interview? According to my dad, I was known as the dummy when I was two. Watching Barry Manilow made my day (oops! My age secret!!) Anyway, it struck us really hard when we went to the last few playgroup sessions with Changunnie. The other kids are all moving on to preschool in September. Changunnie will be the only one left behind in her playgroup and she'll have to hang out with a bunch of two years old.

It was mid August when all that happened and all the schools we know of have no space for anyone. We drove around one day and saw the sign of "Woodland school in Sai Kung" and decided to give it a try. To cut a long story short (read the next post for details), Chanunnie's in and tomorrow will be her first step towards independence.

I'm not sure if it's because she knows she won't be annoyed by mummy asking for hugs and kisses for two days or she knows it's new school year, she's been very clingy this weekend. Maybe it's my dependence on her oozed out through my pores and she took pity on me. I am so positively nervous that I can't sleep now.

A friend once told me that it was fun to see children learning how to walk but before we realize, they run and all we could see is their back. I don't want to be Changunnie's best friend forever. I believe I should be a good mother which is a bit different from being her friend at all times. Anyway, I hope she will remember to let her aging mummy to catch up. It would be nice to see her happy face than her back all the time. Should get some sleep before I turn into the hulk....

Butterfly in the stomach?

More like tornado in my stomach. Not sure how it happened but daddy got a stomach flu first and then I got it. Daddy's symptoms are textbook standard. He felt tired and he had diarrhoea. Mine was strange. I made frequent trips to the bathroom but the consistency was far from what you would describe as diarrhoea. I didn't have fever but just have body aches. Worst part, my stomach was filled with gas and it stuck out like a drum. Sleeping on my back was next to impossible. I couldn't eat or drink.

Have been on medication. It's not as bad as before but I still am bloated.

I had to stay at home and when I looked at Changunnie's food, I couldn't only swallow my saliva back. On the bright side, I might be able to lose a few pounds that I desperately need to.

I speak pidgin English

I recently met someone who's not English nor a native speaker but lived in England in the past ten years. That person loves to say "That's how we say it in England". That really annoys me. What does that suppose to mean? Is he trying to say my father wasted his hard earn money to send me to school? To make it worse, he says it a lot in front of another colleague who's of the same enthnic group but grew up in the motherland. I consider that reverse racial discrimnation.

I was angry. I don't like anyone who is condescending. Then, a smirk appeared on my face. That person is so pathetic that he has to validate his identity with such a stupid reference. Does he really think he can write "Anglo Saxon" under race?

I don't understand why some people think the fact that they can speak English means they are better. From an economics perspective, it makes sense to speak Chinese or Hindi or some Indian language these days. If I want to settle in the US, I pick Spanish any day. For the purpose to learn to be a good pastry chef, I want to learn French.

What annoys me even more is that person's pathetic attempt at a posh accent. You are fluent in a language if you can express and communicate clearly. Being able to joke in a language is even better but just an attempt at the accent?

I decided to speak my version of Pidgin to that person from now on! In the meantime, he can mipupu smell. (smell my poop!)

Talking about dodos

Dodo American Heritage Dictionary: n. A large, clumsy, flightless bird [(Raphus cucullatus)] formerly of th island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, that has been extinct since the late 17th century

When I was young, I always dreamed of dinosaurs living under my bed and they would come out when everyone was sound asleep. They never left us (which, as I learned later on in my life, is not entirely wrong. Birds are closely linked to dinosaurs).

So, when I think of Dodo, I can tell you that they are with us still. Of course, they appeared to be different but they are definitely around and can be found in a place called OFFICE and most of the time, they dress in a suit.

I don't know whether it's ignorance or a deliberate effort, some people simple don't use their brain before they make a comment. Couple conference calls and meetings from the past 36 hours exemplify my theory of dodo's existence. It's excruciating for me to repeat the content of the calls. (ok, I might disclose some of the dialogue I endured if you take me out for nice lunch)

I gotta do something to prevent Changunnie from turning into a dodo. Frankly, I am not happy with schools in Hong Kong. They are not very good at teaching kids the vital skill of learning. They force children to learn couple alphabets, writing...etc and so long as the kids eventually gain a place at "prestigious" schools, the pre-school/kindy is a success and you have a flock of parents in front of the school to submit entrance applications. It doesn't matter if the children have no creativity or the ability to act and think independently.

I am struggling if I should let Changunnie attend pre-school this September. On the one hand, she needs to social skills. On the other hand, I don't want people to dummify her. I am happy to see her being a little naughty at home. In fact, I was very happy to see how she tried to get more treats from grandpa and the way she runs after (NOT away) from a cockroach. Am I depriving my own daughter of a ticket to a better future?

Freeze it, baby, freeze it!

I guess biological clock is something that we cannot avoid. I spoke to couple of friends recently and the subject of freezing some eggs came up in each and every conversation. The egg we are talking about here is not your organic free range chicken egg or the cute little Japanese quail egg. We are talking about the egg that can eventually turn into a human baby.

What's my view on it? Well, my way of thinking is heavily biased because of my job. I think if the cost is not too high, a woman should freeze some eggs so that we have the option to use them in the future if we so choose.

The thing that got me thinking is why we even need to freeze our eggs. Of the three friends who is thinking of freezing, one is getting a divorce, one is happily married but getting old, one is single. The older we get, the harder it is to get pregnant and in the modern world, two of my friends are not sure if they can meet Mr Right when they are in their most productive years. So, the issue is where the heck is Mr Right?

I always prefer guys looking and acting like a man. I don't remember ever being attracted to anyone I met in Hong Kong. I think most of them are either shorter or thinner than me. The same goes for their maturity. Hanging out with guys of the same age group means I have to effectively look after a younger sibling. I am not a princess but I want to be able to talk to the other person as an equal.

Is it the parents, schools, the society? I don't know. Perhaps a combination of the above. Please please, can guys be more like men from all the stories of heroes we heard as a kid?

You are important only when you are needed (to be blamed)

The week after my holiday in Korea wasn't pleasant. It was good to hang out with Changunnie but daddy and I both got hand foot and mouth disease towards mid week. According to the doctor, we were a bit too old for the disease as it's very common amongst young children. Strangely enough, Changunnie showed no symptoms so far. Hope she didn't get it. Anyway, the look of our doctor's face (we know him really well) was saying "Are you two the bubble-boy type?" So, we quarantined ourselves by staying away from Changunnie. The three days in the dungeon (what we call the study room on the ground floor) was awful. Ice cream diet was good at first and turned into a nightmare after a while. It was totally lonely to have food delivered to the room. I gotta be a law-abiding good citizen as I don't know how to deal with life in a jail cell!

Anyway, the HFM was bad but not as bad as having to do work whilst I was on Mandatory Time Away (i.e. cannot lead any work as a compliance policy). Helping out is fine but was told to fix things or someone else's screw up is my screw up!?! I absolutely hated it and not sure if I want to go back to work after my quarantine.

Changunnie is at the age when she's very attached to me. When I took her to school, everyone told me how much happier she was. She hung out with me the whole time and we had meaningful dialogue. She told me what she likes and dislikes. We made little pizza together. Those are moments that no amount of money can buy! Do I really want to miss that?

Treasure Hunting

As if the big dinner at one of the cousins' house the night before was not enough, we had another BIG breakfast before heading to Kun Jib( the house of Grandpa's eldest brother) at 10:30am. They live in the Northern part of the city and a stream from the mountain actually flows through the house. It's the type of place where you can have a pretty happy childhood as it's close enough to school and yet can be running around in the mountain 30 minutes after class.








It was good to see everyone. All the babies we saw last time are big now. Changunnie was happy to hang out with all the unni's and oppa. There were dogs at kun jib and the latest addition, Jasper, was a very shy one. He probably was used to the abuse from the kids at home, he had no issue of Changunnie pulling his tail or pinching his nose. Strangely enough, he was afraid of adults. Turned out that one of our cousins rescued the dog from a cruel neighbour. I didn't want to ask about the details as that may include Jasper being a dish on the dinning table.



Lunch time was gamja ttang (potato soup with pork ribs) and a table full of side dishes. They grow their own veg at Kun Jib and the food was good. There wasn't a need for any MSG as the soy sauce, chili pepper paste, dweng jjang are all home made (and not to mention the kimchi which are done the traditional way by burying the urn under ground!) Changunnie ate well as her unni told her that there will be no play nor snack unless she finished her lunch.



We went to the bookstore after lunch to get Korean books for Changunnie and ended up having four bags of books and magazines for everyone. We also got out chili pepper flakes. I was wondering why we were buying different types. It turned out that you need different type for kimchi and chili pepper paste. Wondered if we could check everything in.

It was finally time to say good bye. I want to go back to see everyone soon. Maybe Christmas so that Changunnie can go ice-skating with her cousins.

Namdaemun Ajumah

If you a firm believer of "I would shop till I drop", think twice before you say it in front of Grandma in the morning of the "shopping day".

We were whisked out of bed at 8am as couple cousins arrived at the hotel for breakfast together (yes, how wrong I was to think the Park Hyatt was far away enough...) Myung Hee hyunsoo nim was there to my rescue. I took Hyun Jo and Changunnie (Hyun Jo stayed with us the night before because Changunnie would not let unni go) to the restaurant when I saw the cousins at the table. It was strange to see a bunch of men, looking very much alike and eating together. I think the clan ate enough to trigger a reevaluation of pricing of the Park Hyatt breakfast buffet.

We headed to the Hyundai Department Store and Changunnie bought three pairs of shoes (it should have been me buying shoes!!) I have no plan to spoil Changunnie but the shoes were so cute and I simply couldn't find anything I like in Hong Kong other than paying a fortune. Why do people think that it's ok to make really crappy shoes for children? The healthy ones are simply ugly (poor design, look like something from comic books) and the nice looking ones are impossible to walk in. Children's feet are different from ours and they need lots of support and enough flexibility. Some genius out there use hard leather to make the sole for children's shoes. I know I would sprain my ankle if I wear those shoes...

Next stop? KIMCHI FRIDGE!! Making Kimchi is no simple matter. The water has to be good, the temperature right. We can't dig a hole in front of the garage to bury the urns and so we turned to Kimchi fridge. You can have different compartment (thus different temperature) to assist the fermentation of keeping of kimchi. Don't underestiamte them. A 180L one easily costs more than USD 1,000. They looked beautiful too. I think ours is arriving in 1 month.

We met up with Grandpa and daddy at the Coex Mall so that Changunnie can go for her pororo show (a penguin like cartoon/educational programme character on SBS) whilst Grandma and I can do more shopping. My legs were already a bit shaky at that point but we decided to be the trooper.

We wanted to buy traditional Korean dishes but it's harder than you think, even in a place like Korea where people stress the importance of traditions. We asked around and were sent to new department store to buy those made by Hankook brand. Those are nice but not exactly what we were looking for. We want something made by hand. We finally located one shop behind the food court of the mall, the kind of forgotten place that you wonder why people open shop there.

We spent about 1.5 hours there, picking all the dishes, bowls, cups, pots....etc. Grandma joked with the shopkeeper that she could close shop for the day and the shopkeeper actually said "You bet! I will after I packed up your order". We ended up having three boxes of dishes (delivered to the hotel) and my wallet a lot lighter.

We wondered where we could go to get Korean pillows, quilt, and underwears (don't laugh, you get really good quality undies at low price in Korea) and the pottery shop lady told us to go to Namdaemun. Namdaemun was one of the four city gates in the old time and now turned into a major market place. A while ago, the city gate building (a landmark in Seoul) was burnt down and people cried. Anyway, we decided not to repeat the experience of being trapped in traffic along Han Kang River and took the subway instead.

You think you know the art of negotiation from working in finance? Wait till after a shopping trip to Namdaemun Market. Those guys can smell what you are up to the moment you get within 15 ft of their shop front. We walked back and forth (sneakers please if you go) and haggled about the price of everything that we wanted to buy. The big breakfast was protein rich but the release of energy was faster than we thought. We stopped by a roadside mandoo jib. The pork and veg buns they sold smelled good. KRW 3000 for 5 buns. Not the cheapest but not costing an arm and a leg either. When we were about to pay, the ajumah at the shop picked up a bun that rolled off the tray and tried to pass it on as a fresh one. Being a mother, I am a believer of the three seconds rule and I was sure the bun was on the floor for less than 3 seconds. However, the floor was NOT my floor and I was a paying a customer, I protested and another ajumah intervened and threw the bun in question into the bin. Warning for all your travellers: Get the ones fresh out from the steamer. Even if they were on the floor, the high temperature would have killed the germs.

We got our shopping done and hopped into a cab for dinner at another cousin's house.

Lost in Seoul

After a week in Jeju, it was strange to be back on the mainland. Seoul looked too modern, in terms of architecture and food outlets.

We stayed at the Park Hyatt near the Coex. The plan was to be able to go shopping in the Coex area and be a bit far from all the relatives so we have the excuse not to do crazy outing all the time. Well, how wrong was I.....

We arrived at Kimpo airport around 4pm on Friday and it rained a lot. The ride from Kimpo to the Park Hyatt was hell. We were moving at the speed of me crawling on the floor using two hands on the Olympic Expressway. That really gave me a good look of the Han Kang River. Was able to see the markings of the last flood which apparently was really bad.

The decor and setting of the Park Hyatt was nice for the hip and chic. It isn't practical when you have a curious toddler. Yes, they have blinds and frosted glass panels but having a big standalone tub means your toddler wants to swim with you or go behind the blinds to play hide and seek at the most inappropriate time. Last thing I wanted was being a caged animal, being observed when I am responding to nature's call. The sliding doors are another safety hazard. I got my fingers caught once and I used the four-letter word that I should not have used in front of Changunnie.

After a short break (including Changunnie destroying a chocolate bar in a record time of 2 minutes), we went to see Yong dong-pu Uncle (Grandpa's brother). His second son lives in the same building to look after the parents. Even though I don't want to be with relatives all the time, I always have a soft spot for this branch of the family. Myung Hee hyunsoo nim is one of my favourite and her children, Byung Hwa and Hyun Jo, are adorable. The first time I met Hyun Jo, she was an infant and now she's a 12 year old who won awards for her poems! Byung Hwa was a chubby little muchkin and now a very handsome young man. Seriously, anyone out there is a star scout, I have a good one for you.

Changunnie loves Hyun Jo unni and in no time, they were downstairs to see Hyun Jo's pet chicken and quail. They picked a quail egg from the cage and cooked it. The egg tasted like... well real egg! In fact, the yolk colour was darker and floated on top of the white.

The entire family moved on to a soondae jib around the neighbourhood. In Hong Kong,you get a "full" menu at Korean restaurant. In Korea, each restaurant sells one thing only. The place we went to sells nothing but soondae and organs. The serving was big but with the Son-sshi men around, the food didn't stay in the tray for too long. I didn't really get to eat because Changunnie tried to cross the street in search of ice-cream.

In order to let the others to eat, Myung Hee hyunsoo-nim and I took Changunnie and Hyun Jo to a near by park. It was peaceful until I smelled cigarettes. Turned out a bunch of middle school kids were smoking under the protection of the slide. They stopped when we approached them and unlike kids in HK, didn't talk back or anything but all that made me wonder what's going on in the world right now? Is it not cool if you don't smoke?