This Timely Adventure

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...

2018 rolled into 2019 and here we are, already two weeks in... 1/  I have been far less intentional in thinking about the new year and preparing for it, compared to previous years. In Cape Town, everything slows down quite drastically following a mid December public holiday and only ever really picks up after the first week in January. Office closed and two weeks of guaranteed 'down time' each year allowed for a slightly slower end to the year and start to the new year, and with it, some space for new year dreaming and planning.  2/  Things don't slow down quite like that over Christmas time in Hong Kong and Kev didn't take any leave other than the public holidays. The other difference in Hong Kong is the school year starting in August rather than in January, in line with the year calender. So, with the girls continuing in same classes, with same teachers as last year, we miss another contributing factor to the feel of a new year.  3/ Although I am not...

Its a regular Tuesday evening for us. Kev knocks a whopper 14 hour day and I knock to do lists. I should put my feet up and get lost in a book, but I never do. This particular Tuesday, I have snowflake shaped gingerbread cookies in the oven for a Christmas craft I am running at Sierra's class Christmas party this week. I have Rattie running furiously back and forth along the couch beside me, or more honestly, all over this keyboard. Any typos, I blame her. Before me, the Hong Kong skyline twinkles. Spotify provides the background playlist, intermittently drowned out by an aeroplane on its flight path overhead. And I wonder where to start.  This night a year ago, we were at 'The Last Supper' with parents, siblings and cousins in Cape Town. I distinctly remember that hard to swallow, lump in my throat, throughout the evening. Savouring the last hugs, laughs, sharing of food, conversation. The next morning we would give the final hug, smile and goodbye and I would leav...

Last weekend, we began the journey of Advent in our home. Not only was our home filled with much excitement and preparation but so was my Instagram feed full of green foliage and sparkling gold baubles. It seems we weren't the only ones in full Christmas swing. As we prepare for another ‘first’ in Hong Kong, we have been thoughtful about what we want this season to look like for our family. Although we were here for Christmas last year, it felt very different. Having landed on Hong Kong soil just less than 2 weeks before, we were still navigating the most basic necessities in life such as food, transport and a place to live and make home. Christmas's prior to that, were very stripped down for us. We chose to start marriage and family life with as little of the Christmas commercial fanfare as possible. We are not great fans of santa, kitch Christmas decor and an overload of gifts.  A favourite tradition which we introduced for Sierra's second Christmas wa...

I think this shot above pretty much captures everything I want to articulate in this post, more accurately than I will manage to.  It was taken on Monday at Inspiration Lake, a new gem we discovered in Hong Kong. We spent Monday together as a family following our church retreat. This last weekend was a date in the calender that we had been anticipating and preparing towards for months - our first Watermark Church Retreat. It was a date we looked forward to and now its a date we look back on as a highlight of the year.  Here are some quick takes from our (inspiring) Watermark Retreat and Inspir(ing)ation Lake: 1/ Doing community (life) in close proximity is inspiring!  There is something about going away with (150) other people that brings you closer, tighter, deeper. The girls had a gang of friends whom they stuck closely to for the duration of the weekend and I watched as older kids helped look after them and they helped feed younger kids their meals. We ...