Gratitude

Somedays when I am feeling a bit Bleh I sit down and try to write Five things I am grateful for. This helps me to dig myself out of the whole in which I often take residence and remember that I am, actually, very blessed

I am grateful that after my bad start to the day (tears) I felt prompted to pray (whilst on the train) and God has swept a path before me today. I have felt blessed by little things. Like the caffeine in the coffee I had just before Ethan's kindyroo class worked brilliantly. And my throat didn't hurt until after we got home and had a rest. I also bumped into a friend at Kindyroo who was taking her littley to the class after us and we're going to meet up for lunch next Friday after Kindyroo. :)
I am grateful for a great night out with Julian last night. We went to a seminar about Australians living in HK and how to deal with tax issues (so fun, I know!) and then we had dinner together afterwards. The seminar was really informative and we're going for another consult with the company in October to sort stuff out. We had great pizza for dinner at pizza express and then we had krispy kremes for dessert :)
I am grateful that Ethan is such a cutie. He stood at the door this afternoon saying to Julian as he was leaving : "Bye, love you I miss you, see you tomorrow" - so cute
I am grateful that I have a stocked fridge and can make a yummy and nutritious dinner for Ethan and I.
I am grateful that in less than one month Julian and I are going to Vancouver for a few days, just the two of us!! Wow.

Hutong and Frog Ovaries...

Some of the delicious food at Hutong:

I had a night to remember last night. It's not often a young mummy gets to go out on the town, but last night off I went with Yvonne (Julian's mum) and her sister and mother who are visiting from the US and UK respectively.

We started in TST (Tsim Sha Tsui) with a walk along Nathan Rd. There are lots of 'helpful' Indian men patrolling the road there trying to offer you the best deal on 'copy handbag, copy watch' - They actually promote it as a copy!! We had fun looking at some shops there but avoided the 'copy' places (I want the real thing! LOL!).

The main event was dinner at Hutong with Yvonne's boss, Helen, who treated us to an amazing meal! Hutong is situated on the 28th floor of 'One Peking' (1 Peking Rd, TST) and has a spectacular view of the Hong Kong side harbour. At 8pm there is a light show on that side of the harbour so it was fun to finally see it after living here for nearly a year. The food just kept coming and tasted different and amazing.

Okay, not a great photo, but this is the view across from where we sat in the restaurant

I am sure you're all wondering about the Frog Ovaries... well... that was dessert. It was hilarious. Yvonne ordered this yummy sounding soup, Double boiled coconut and hashima soup. Trustingly she didn't ask about what hashima actually was until she'd eaten quite a bit of it. The conversation that followed with the waitress via Helen was quite hilarious!

Yvonne: "Helen, can you ask what this nice jelly stuff is?"

Claire: "Do you think its sago?"

Helen asks the waitress in Cantonese

Waitress: "Um, it is an organ of frog"

Yvonne: *eyes popping out of her head* "An organ? Of frog?"

Waitress: "Yes, the part that keeps the eggs. That saves the babies"

Yvonne and Claire: "... the .... ovaries?"

Waitress: "Yes"

I laugh hysterically and then realise that I have, in fact, tried some of it too.... "Oh no..."

Needless to say lots of frog jokes followed all night and I don't think Yvonne will live this one down for quite a while!

~Our Menu~

Hand Shredded Salty Chicken

Mixed vegetable spring rolls

Wok fried prawns with egg yolk puree

Crispy deboned lamb ribs in Hutong Style (wrapped in pancakes similar to Peking Duck)

Crispy eggplant with minced prawn and lotus root

Vegetable dish

Braised mandarin fish fillet with preserved vegetable sauce

Shredded beancurd with ham

Double boiled coconut and hashima sweet soup

It was such an experience to dine with Helen - she knew what she was doing and helped us all with our chopsticks! It was a very special treat.

Being a girls night out, it couldn't just stop there so we all hopped into a taxi and went on to The Lobby at the Peninsula Hotel for coffees and then on to Felix for cocktails. I had a Venus cocktail : Orange vodka, Cointreau and Orange Juice - way to easy to drink - at Felix.

We arrived home at midnight - a wonderful night out enjoying this City we live in.

Feels more like home

There's something about being 'home'. It's your sanctuary, it feels safe, it is familiar but most of all, for me, home is the place where you have friends.

Because we have moved States (within Australia) and then Countries it is easy to begin to have friends everywhere... so where is home? Home has had to take on a slightly different meaning. We do say that Melbourne is 'home' to us, as in home base - the place we'll move back to one day. But for now Hong Kong is our actual home and we have to treat it as such, or else we will never be happy here.

In the last few weeks I have been so blessed to have met a few people who are making Hong Kong feel more and more like home. Just this morning I had a time of prayer and fellowship with two ladies that live in Tung Chung (the area we're in) and it was such a great blessing to be with two mums sharing similar ideals and struggles. We have great friends all over this Earth but it is so great to have some friends nearby to talk to about the daily ups and downs.

Ethan is growing up so quickly

"Take a picture of me drinking milk mummy"

We had a HUGE day yesterday! (More about that later) - but we got home at about 6.30pm and Ethan had such a big day that he didn't get to nap. But, he did fall asleep in the stroller at about 5.45pm on our way home. So he slept the whole night through until 5am apart from a quick snack for dinner at 8.30pm when he woke. Fortunately for us he read books in his room until 6am and "the sun came up" (that's a direct quote from Ethan). He was so happy during breakfast and just looked so grown up eating his weetbix on his own at his little table that I could not resist taking a few pictures. While I was taking pictures he said, "Take a picture of me drinking milk, mummy". He is talking so well now, I love his little words.

Yesterday we left home at 8am for bible study - meeting our friends Anne, Sarah and Hannah on the way (Anne is the mummy!) and with coffees in hand went to the MTR (train). Bible study went from 9.30-11.30 - it was just awesome to see all the ladies again after the Summer holidays and spend some time praying and planning our next study.
Then we were off to MEGABOX. This is a huge shopping centre in Kowloon Bay and it has a Spotlight!! Anne found curtain material for their apartment and I went on a stamping and scrapping spree! It was so much fun. We even managed to control our two 2 1/2 year olds and four year old! After Spotlight we found a great cafe called "The cheesecake cafe" and had delicious cheesecake for afternoon tea and the kids had strawberry and banana smoothies.

We had to stop off at the kids level to look at some fun stuff for them before we headed home. It was a long day but so much fun.

Just the two of us...

What a blissful day we've had.

Yesterday I received an email from Julian's mum asking if Ethan would like to go and have brunch with her today. So this morning at about 9am Ethan went over to Granny's house and enjoyed a lovely brunch with her.
Julian and I weren't sure what to do with ourselves initially but then decided to hit the gym and the pool. We both had a good run on the machines and then did some weights before heading to the pool for a cool down swim. It was so refreshing to get out and do some exercise and to do it together was even better!

Then my Mum-in-laws helper, Glesilda, brought Ethan back to our house and he had a little nap. Julian and I were able to go out for a nice lunch in an area called Discovery Bay. We had Souvlaki (Kebabs) with hot chips and greek salad - it was so great. It is nice sometimes to get away, just the two of us, even just for a short while. It is funny how Ethan's little words and quirks still made their way into our conversation, even though he was at home with Glesilda.

Our day ended in the usual way - dinner (lamb chops, salad, baked pumpkin and baby carrots)and a fight to get Ethan to sleep - but that's life!!

Watoto children's choir

We just had the most amazing service at church today. I didn't realise it but when we turned up at church (just me and Ethan - Ju is in Canada), the friends we'd travelled to church with said that the Watoto children's choir would be performing today.

Well, I was wiping away the tears before the children were even on the stage. These children, once homeless and without hope, now, trusting in Jesus, have a home to live in with other previously orphaned children and a house mother, their mama. They sang many songs about Jesus saving them - my favourite one being 'Cast your burdens onto Jesus because he cares for you'. There is such sincerity in their smiling little faces. It's bittersweet to see them and know that it's such a blessing for these children to have a home and a better life, but also to remember there are so many more children in Uganda still begging on the streets, living a life with no mummy or daddy.

Each child introduced themselves to the congregation and told us what they would like to be when they grow up... doctors, teachers, lawyers, nurses, pilots (shame Julian wasn't there, he'd have loved to talk to those kids!), choir director! They were amazing children and one day will be amazing adults because God has rescued them through this brilliant organisation of Watoto.

Please have a look at their website and see if there is anyway you can help them out. If you ever get the chance to see these amazing children perform, take it!

Well, I should get this thing started!

I'm Claire! Welcome to my blog. I'm new to this blogging thing so bear with me...

...you'll probably hear a lot of tales of life with my two and half year old, Ethan and how we try and live and learn and love in this interesting city of Hong Kong! We are Aussies working in HK for a few years and listening to the Lord and His guidance in our life.

We've been in HK since October 2006 and my hubby, Julian is flying as a second officer with a low cost international airline that has just recently started up in HK called Oasis Hong Kong Airlines.

Before we were here, we spent about 18 months living in North East Arnhem Land (In the Northern Territory of Australia) in two Aboriginal communities. We worked for MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship). We still really have a place in our hearts for the work that MAF are doing, so may be back there, or elsewhere in the world with them, one day!

We're going to an awesome church, Island ECC (Evangelical Community Church) and are so blessed to have met some brilliant people through the church. We're at a point now where we are keen to be involved and are trying to establish what area we'd best serve in.

My life revolves around my family and home, making this a cozy place for us to be. I try to fit in a bit of scrapbooking or cardmaking when I can (which is fairly rare, these days!) and I love pilates and swimming to keep fit. I have been making more time for reading these days and am currently reading "The Pact" by Jodi Picoult. I am hooked...

I am also currently taking Cantonese lessons and hoping to do some volunteering in a nearby orphanage. We're also praying about fostering at the moment. Lots of things to consider in that.

Well, that's a rough overview of us - stay tuned for more :)