7 Quick Takes: Fun Outings, Sore Feet and Content Hearts

Happy Christmas everyone!
Here is a quick update on where we’re at and how we’re feeling.

1/ We found a home! After viewing about twenty apartments and many, many hours spent online late into the night, trawling Spacious (the local rental website), we have signed and confirmed the place that we get to call home for the next season and we move in on Friday. Yay! Amazingly, it meets 99% of our wish list for a home in Hong Kong. We are so grateful for Gods care and provision and we are SO ready to make the space our new home.  Now just to fill it. Thank goodness Ikea is epic! I have always dreamed of walking through Ikea and pointing away at what I want. The reality didn’t play out quite as romantically as I imagined. Note to self: Do not take kids along next time.

View from our new apartment

2/ We have walked ourselves silly. I really wish we had started tracking our steps on the day we arrived. It would be impressive. Hopefully it is counteracting all the food we are tucking into. We are going through plasters at an impressive speed and have quickly learnt that pretty, dainty Pick ‘n Pay sandals just can’t handle the Hong Kong pace. Two weeks in and Sierra’s shoe collection is officially two down. Christmas scooters hopefully will help a lot - thanks to Granny Jen and Papa.

These troopers can be found navigating the streets of Hong Kong with scooters and back packs :)

3/ About ten days in we hit a giant wall of exhaustion. I have come to realise that Kev and I are not ones to sit around and waste time. Easing in slowly was supposed to be our strategy, but we have done so much since being here and probably put a little too much pressure on ourselves to have everything pinned down immediately. Going to bed passed midnight every night probably hasn’t helped either. However, it does fit right into the Hong Kong culture. On a few occasions, I have looked out the window as we turned off our bedroom light, only to see that the majority of the windows in the high rises across from us, were still lit up. We do plan to break this night owl pattern soon, as it probably doesn't produce the most patient version of us. 

4/ In amongst all the admin, walking and apartment hunting, we have managed to include some super fun outings for the girls. We took them ice-skating for the first time and they loved it! Never have I seen such small, mini-cute ice skates! Parent points to Kev and I,  because as fun as it was, it also felt like a serious act of love. Holding onto a wobbly-chicken-legged-child, on ice, was a sight to behold and my biceps are firmer for it.  Another great outing was Ocean Park. When we left Cape Town we were given an amazing gift – the annual family pass to Ocean Park. Thank you Common Ground Congregation Leaders! We had limited time, so I feel like we only touched the surface of what there is to see and do, but we got a taste and look forward to seriously maxing out on that in the year to come.

Mini ice-skaters

Ocean Park Fun

5/ Christmas was different to other years and I found myself often thinking of Cape Town and family and all I know to be a usual Christmas celebration. We decided to spend Christmas eve doing some exploring and so we hit the streets to see some amazing Christmas lights, along with everyone else in Hong Kong who had the same idea. It was crowded, festive and fun. We joined a lovely family from Watermark Church for Christmas lunch. As I reflected on the day I was freshly reminded of the true meaning of CHRISTmas and the greatest gift we have been given to celebrate. I was comforted by the thought that no matter where in the world I am, whether with precious family, new friends, or strangers, the gift of Jesus doesn’t change and that is enough to satisfy completely.

Christmas eve - looking across the water at Hong Kong Island from Kowloon side

Obligatory Christmas day family photo and a post-lunch walk

6/ Finally, how are we feeling so far? This one has really taken me by surprise. I really thought I would feel shell shocked initially, especially thinking back to when we were here for two weeks back in May. That trip was overwhelming in so many ways. We are both amazed by how normal it has felt being here. Despite feeling a little exhausted, we are both feeling so peaceful and excitement about all that lies ahead. I am fully aware that it is very much the early days and there is so much ahead of us that is completely unknown, but for now, we are celebrating the easy transition. I keep wondering when this bomb of reality will hit me and l will crumble. Maybe it will. Maybe it wont. I even have thoughts of ‘is it possible that I am actually really not coping but covering it up so well that I am not even aware of it?'. I don’t think so.

7/ Before I end this, I just have to make mention of my husband J Watching him bursting with excitement here, brings me great joy. I am extremely thankful for how he leads me and that I get to do this by his side. He is a pretty phenomenal father too and his new bedtime story telling series called ‘The Adventures of Shaddai’ have not only gripped the girls, but I caught myself delaying my time in the bathroom (which is just off the girls bedroom) so that I could catch the end of the gripping adventure too. Love you my hero! 

To many more fun outings, admin trips, blisters and broken shoes - Cheers!