This Timely Adventure

On Monday morning, I woke with a very heavy heart. Another dark weekend of protests - pain, violence, anger and destruction fills this city - Hong Kong. The 13th weekend in a row. Once a very peaceful Hong Kong, now an unpredictable, boiling pot of emotions. Lashing out on the streets, in the MTR stations, in family homes, and especially in the hearts of the millions of people who call Hong Kong home. On Tuesday evening, as I placed my head on my pillow to rest, in reality there was no rest. Instead, a restless and even heavier heart. Yet another life taken in South Africa. A beautiful, young girl, murdered, raped, lifeless body discarded, like a piece of inconvenient and unwanted trash. Another name on a long and growing list of womens' lives taken in a similar way. How long, Oh Lord? How long?! Two very different places I get to call home for different reasons. Both aching. Both mourning. Both anguishing. Anger, injustice, fear, disregard for life, tu...

As we furiously tick off a long list of to do's, we simultaneously moved towards ticking off one of the last 'firsts' in this adventure: our first visit back to Cape Town. It has been 18 months since we lifted off South African soil and landed in Hong Kong and we can't wait to place our feet back on that rich soil for a couple of weeks. The girls kept up their tradition of the countdown calender and so they have been faithfully ticking it off every morning since 91 days. Now we sit with 1 number unmarked, ready to be coloured over, come dawn. No doubt it will make its mark earlier than usual as two very excited girls rise with excitement. It feels like another point in this journey to pause and reflect. It's the end of the first chapter. We have also spent time pausing as we process what it will be like to go back for the first time and we have gleaned much wisdom from those who have gone before us! It can be a mixed bag of emotions. I have not blogged in at ...

1/ Turnip cake, red packets, flower markets, spring cleaning, red clothing, family, holidays and who even knew? I spent the whole of my Cape Town life clueless that so much festivity took place across the waters during this time of year: Chinese New Year. Its the biggest holiday time of year here and includes three consecutive days of public holidays. They don't mess around! Its the only time of the year that the majority of the city goes into shutdown mode, especially on day one. There is a whole lot of meaning and 'good luck' beliefs behind much of what happens, but we are quickly learning to enjoy the break it brings and some of the fun elements. We are far from celebrating it in any appropriately traditional way, but for those who have no idea what this time of year looks like, this is a bit of a snapshot of our last few days. 2/  The first two days of Chinese New Year are spent visiting family. Traditionally, the first day is for visiting paternal relat...