Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Endless Errands and Tasks

Oy, I don't know how it is that every time I return to my blog posts I realize that another week (or nearly another week) has gone by.  My only excuse is that Michael and I have been caught up in an endless whack-a-mole of work, errands and tasks.

Pregnancy

I'm now one day shy of 33 weeks and it's starting to feel REAL.  I am getting more tired and feeling a bit more swollen and bulky than before, though still moving at an okay pace.  If I walk too quickly now, I get some pangs in my lower abdomen.   I am also feeling very hot nearly all the time - something I am really not used to!  I have to consciously remind myself to slow down and take things more easily.  This does not come naturally. 

It's also getting harder to force myself to exercise.  I am starting to dread some of the poses in yoga (like downward dog or ardha chandrasana) because it kickstarts my heartburn.  I really should go swimming more often... for now walking has probably become my "exercise" of choice.  I listen to podcasts and then walk home from work, which takes approximately 20-30 minutes (although the second-hand smoke and bus exhaust I inhale along the way makes me question whether this could truly actually be "healthy").

I still have to sign up for antenatal classes (although, are these classes actually helpful?  I'm starting to think I'll just skip these), figure out what to pack in my hospital bag, and get some remaining basic baby supplies in order.   I haven't gotten any stretch marks yet, although I am watching my burgeoning belly every day with bated breath.   I have started, for lack of a better word, basting myself in oil every day and night, in an (I understand futile) attempt to stave them off.  I'm horrified (HORRIFIED) by the astronomical price of Burt's Bees body oil and Bio-oil in Hong Kong. 

Baby Shower BBQ

I'm hoping that the weather starts to cool down.  It's been an unseasonably hot summer and fall and I feel like I'm not going to get a break from the heat and humidity anytime soon!  We're throwing a barbecue to welcome the baby for a bunch of friends (men and women, I was adamant about that!) in our building at the beginning of November. One of my friends was alarmed that my baby shower was so late (almost exactly a month before my due date), but it was just how the times and dates worked best for maximum turnout.  Fingers crossed!

Nursery

The "nursery," if it can even be called that, is a disaster zone right now - seriously.  We have diapers, a diaper changing pad, the skiphop playgym, a stroller, a car seat, all haphazardly piled up all over the place, with a pile of clothes (some washed, some not) in a range of newborn to 6 months sizes, piled on top.  We need to sell the guest bed that's currently in there, before we will have room for a crib and a rocking glider/chair.

I did, however, buy two black and white prints of a baby zebra and a baby giraffe, for the wall.  They look a lot like these, but not exactly.  Because, you know, decorations vs. a crib?  Priorities.

Helper's Room

The helper's room has been transformed since I last wrote about it.  Michael built an entire frame bed with storage on top (where we are keeping our suitcases and mahjong table), and four clothing drawers under the bed.  We ordered a custom made mattress.  Michael also built little corner desk and we paired it with a cushion seat that we weren't using, which rolls underneath the desk.  We're outfitting it with a little desk lamp, blue area rug, and matching green flowered sheets and quilt.  I have to say, it looks very different than it did about two weeks ago!

We are keeping our fingers and toes crossed that everything goes smoothly with the processing of this helper's application.  

Taobao

I've also made some progress on Taobao - I'm still barely proficient, but definitely improving. I've since ordered a jigsaw (for Michael's woodworking), a set of shoe closets, and we are now looking at dining room chairs and a big bookshelf for the living room.  Encouraged by a friend's beautiful supply of home wares, I'm also looking to purchase some dishes, plates, kitchen utensils, etc. to round out our supply.

I spent hours on there trying to buy a soda-maker (the amount of sparkling water we consume is ridiculous and also really expensive), but no one will ship to me in Hong Kong due to the CO2 cartridges.  We had the same problem when we tried to bring one back from the U.S.  It's times like this that I get so frustrated with living here.  In any other country, this would be a simple task completed with two clicks of a mouse.  Here, it's been two years and we still haven't managed to figure out how to make our own carbonated water.

Education Fair

Last week I was invited to, and attended, an education fair hosted by Bloomberg showcasing about 20 different private schools in Hong Kong, and my takeaways from that are: (1) Bloomberg has an amazing snack pantry (the sheer variety of rice crackers alone, and the Greek yogurt, and fresh fruit, and their flavored water, dang)! and (2) Hong Kong is such a rat race.  I thought Manhattan private schools were bad.  Ugh.  I know there is a huge gap between rich and poor throughout the world, so it's not unique to here, but it feels so fraught when you dip a toe into the educational system.

Expats typically do not send their kids to local schools here (although that's not to say they can't) and instead opt for international schools.  There are a variety of reasons for this and I can't speak for everyone's reasons, but I think some of the typical considerations are: the language (local schools focus on Mandarin and Cantonese, with English introduced at a later point), the workload (local schools tend to give out far more homework) and the education principles (closely aligned to the former, local schools may focus more on rote or standard exercises, rather than creative or exploratory approaches).  Obviously, cost is a huge factor as well.

The fair that I attended was thrown by a huge corporation for corporate folks in the banking, legal and corporate sectors.  All of the schools had set up booths with fancy brochures and glossy packets, pictures, pamphlets and tuition information, and spokespersons were armed and at the ready to pitch their schools.  At one point when one of the schools handed me a tome (seriously, it weighed like 2 pounds) I couldn't help but think that that money could have been so much better spent... well, on anything except that.

Most of the schools had brand new facilities with state of the art gyms, labs, classrooms and facilities, very small teacher-student ratios, and either offered an IB and/or a bilingual (whether it be English and French, English and German, English and Mandarin) curriculum.  Here is also another feature of international schools that tend to really appeal to expats. 

The crazy part, though, is when talk gets to the admissions process, which is naturally where everyone seems the most anxious.  They've got a whole set of terms here that remind me of Harry-Potter speak, i.e., when your kid is old enough for "Reception," (kindergarten) whether the child is "matriculating" "pre-Reception" or only in "Primary," (often increases or decreases your chances because after a class is filled spots only open up when children leave), whether you have a "corporate debenture" (like the concept of legacy, but definitely prioritized and guaranteed, because - money) whether the child makes it past the "first round application" (yes, like a college application) and gets a "callback for the interview" (invited back for an assessment).

For Pete's sake.  Do we not have enough of these hoops when it comes to high school, standardized tests, SATs, college, entrance exams, graduate school, and life in general (job interviews, feedback sessions, upward and downward reviews, dating) that we need to start at birth or 2 years old?  And yes, at some places, the baby is eligible to be added to the waitlist as soon as they are born - while at other places, they take the more relaxed approach of waiting until your child is 2. 

After all that information, I still can't figure out, and couldn't get any of them to explain, exactly what criteria they're using in the assessment to determine whether the toddler is admissible.

Taxes

All I have to say is, they're done. Hallelujah, praise be, and thank goodness for our amazing accountant.

Attorney Registration and CLEs

Of course this turns out to be the year that I owe the NY bar $375 and have 20 credits of CLE that need to be fulfilled in the next month.  One of the not so great things about being dual-qualified as a Hong Kong solicitor and a New York attorney is the double dose of credits that you need.  I've just finished fulfilling my CPDs (for the Hong Kong Law Society) and now find myself in the unpleasant position of turning to the other set of requirements.  While you can get both CLE and CPD credit for certain courses or seminars (those are VERY worthwhile) often they are mutually exclusive.  Doh.

One Fun Thing

So amidst all of these errands and tasks, I am very excited to report that I'm getting a new fancy wallet!  I've been lusting after a Celine or a Bottega for a while to replace the very wonderful, but also very old and very abused, Kate Spade wallet that Michael bought me nigh seven years ago.  That wallet has accompanied me to SO many countries, so many places, and been such an integral part of my time here in Hong Kong to date, but alas, the snap closure is no longer really holding and I want something a bit more secure.  A friend is in London now and picked up a nice navy blue Bottega with a bright cobalt interior for me.  I am very much looking forward to handling that soft, buttery lambskin, woot woot!
 

3 comments:

  1. Perhaps this is beyond the scope of what can be discussed here, but does your firm cover any of the costs of international school? I practiced in Tokyo for a while and my firm covered international school tuition as part of our comp package. (Not for me personally, since I don't have kids, but this incredible perk was something that was automatically offered up for those that did.)

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    1. Oh, I very much wish my firm would cover international school tuition as part of our comp package! I think in the past it was a thing, and for some executives in the big corporate (especially banking and PE/hedge fund sectors, perhaps?) it may still be a thing (though when I do hear about tuition being covered as part of an expat package, it's discussed like it is a rare golden unicorn). With the influx of expats in the HK legal industry, I never hear about school tuition being included as part of the comp package. Too bad! Clearly I'm in the wrong profession!

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    2. This is good to know. Even in the two short years I was in Tokyo our firm's comp package was scaled back.

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