Okay, a lot has been happening this week.
As I mentioned in my last post, Michael has been in the US on a work trip so I've been solo parenting this week. He has had his hands full between work, mediation meetings and negotiations and running around New York seeing people and getting things done.
In Hong Kong, thank goodness we have help - I'm so grateful that we can have a full time nanny and helper! This came in extra handy this week because not only was Michael not at home to keep an eye on things while I was away at the office, Lola also fell sick for the first time.
It actually started off innocuously enough - a couple of small red dots appeared on her upper thighs on Friday which I thought were mosquito bites. But then on Tuesday morning, suddenly and without warning, red bumps appeared all over both of her legs, and then smaller red bumps all over her belly, and by the time we got her into the doctor's office, they were spreading up across her arms. It looked like hives and I was really worried about what could have caused this. We got some antihistamines, Lola had no fever or runny anything, and we couldn't figure out what happened.
The rest of Tuesday and Wednesday came and went without much incident, except for a sudden increase of dirty diapers and a dry cough that Lola suddenly developed which interfered with her sleep.
Then, while I was at lunch on Thursday, I suddenly got messages from both our nanny and helper saying Lola was spitting up a lot of hot, curdled milk, and should we see a doctor? We rushed to the doctor again and to my utter dismay found out that Lola had a slight fever. Our thermometor at home was a complete piece of crap and continued to measure her as a whole two degrees (Fahrenheit) cooler than she was. This time, we were able to conclude that Lola likely picked up a gastro bug from her beloved playgroup. (As my friend says, "playgroups are FILTHY" - I can't say I disagree with her.
The bug is likely the nasty reason linking all of the factors: cough, hives, multiple diapers, milk spit up and fever. Apparently hives can come out ahead of the actual sickness as one of the earlier symptoms. The poor girl!
However, she was still in really good spirits despite having a fever. That morning, she was still chirping and shouting away like a little bird, and ate a whole bunch of organic apple puree (probably still her favorite). She's such a tough cookie.
Other than Lola's illness, this week was also a frenzy of paperwork activity as I prepared all of our documents for our helper's visa.
The good news up front: she was approved and we are heading to Tuscany in August!
Now for the longer rambling story: it was a lot of paperwork to prepare, and our application probably wasn't even half as bad as it could have been because I decided to keep things very, very simple and (1) fly into and out of the same airport (Rome), (2) book one rental car for the entire trip, (3) stay in only two locations (each for one week) and (4) keep all of our movements within the Golden Triangle between Siena, Florence and Arezzo of northern Tuscany.
The Italian embassy in Hong Kong is something else though. I didn't see the main embassy but rather just the little back office for handling visas. There are no windows. There are five counters of which three look permanently shuttered, and of the other two, only one was open for operation. The office looked like a room out of the late 1970s or early 1980s. All of the typed announcements were taped to the windows with yellowing tape and looked like they had been there for a while.
Immediately upon entry into the office, you have to shove your bag through a little hole in the wall, then walk through the door frame which is incidentally also a metal detector. Then you get to pick up your bag. But they never check your bag (like they never even touch it, much less look inside), which begs the question - setting aside that this is already the most rudimentary of security checks. isn't a bag where you would most likely keep a bomb or a dangerous weapon, or, really, anything troubling?
One of the most amusing things about this experience was the extremely limited hours in which you could do anything at the Italian embassy. All of the rules and limitations made me wonder, what the heck are they doing with all of the hours in the day?
First of all, nothing can be done without an appointment (more on this later).
Secondly, they only accept visa appointments from 9 am to 12 pm on Mondays to Fridays. And it appears that it is one available appointment slot for every half hour (from what I could tell, given how we were spaced apart and how there was only one counter).
For any questions that you have regarding the visa process, they only answer the questions via a hotline between the hours of 2 and 3 pm on Mondays to Fridays (but when I called multiple times, it turns out they actually never answer any questions because they never pick up).
Then, they require 3 weeks (I will repeat that, THREE WEEKS) to process the visa, during which time they take and keep your passport. That is a really crazy long period of time in this day and age, especially when I bet all they have to do is print a sticker.
Finally, when my helper goes to pick up her passport THREE WEEKS later, she may only go to pick it up between the hours of 2:30 and 3 pm on that exact day.
I mean, wow, right? Are you getting the feeling that Italy doesn't really like to issue visas?
The most amusing thing that happened while we were there, though, was a really angry and frustrated Italian lady who showed up while we were waiting. She had been issued a driver's license by the embassy the day before that (I'm certain) she had been waiting forever to receive, and apparently they made a mistake on it. When she got to the entrance of the door, the embassy employee wouldn't let her in because she didn't have an appointment.
(They are crazy about the appointments! Everything has to be done via appointment and if you forget to confirm your appointment two days before the actual day, the embassy may cancel your appointment! At which point good luck finding another available spot for another 2 weeks!)
When she finally loudly harangued him to the point of embarrassment, he finally conceded and let her step into the embassy. When she walked in without putting her bag through the wall, he made her go back and go through the process. (Again, isn't it better that she brought the bag through the metal detector?? Someone explain this to me). Her massive eyerolls and huffy sigh were epic. On second thought, maybe she shares my sentiments about their security protocols. Then once she was inside, she proceeded to launch into a barrage of furious Italian and indignant hand gestures. By the end, it seemed like she got what she needed. I guess this is what it takes to get stuff done here!
All of this makes me think that, while I am beyond eager to experience the slow food movement and leisurely, beautiful lifestyle of these quaint little towns in the hills of Tuscany, it's good that I don't actually live there. For me, places like that are for vacations. In my day-to-day, I will take Hong Kong's efficient-to-the-point-of-rudeness method of dealing with administrative matters any day!
As I mentioned in my last post, Michael has been in the US on a work trip so I've been solo parenting this week. He has had his hands full between work, mediation meetings and negotiations and running around New York seeing people and getting things done.
In Hong Kong, thank goodness we have help - I'm so grateful that we can have a full time nanny and helper! This came in extra handy this week because not only was Michael not at home to keep an eye on things while I was away at the office, Lola also fell sick for the first time.
It actually started off innocuously enough - a couple of small red dots appeared on her upper thighs on Friday which I thought were mosquito bites. But then on Tuesday morning, suddenly and without warning, red bumps appeared all over both of her legs, and then smaller red bumps all over her belly, and by the time we got her into the doctor's office, they were spreading up across her arms. It looked like hives and I was really worried about what could have caused this. We got some antihistamines, Lola had no fever or runny anything, and we couldn't figure out what happened.
The rest of Tuesday and Wednesday came and went without much incident, except for a sudden increase of dirty diapers and a dry cough that Lola suddenly developed which interfered with her sleep.
Then, while I was at lunch on Thursday, I suddenly got messages from both our nanny and helper saying Lola was spitting up a lot of hot, curdled milk, and should we see a doctor? We rushed to the doctor again and to my utter dismay found out that Lola had a slight fever. Our thermometor at home was a complete piece of crap and continued to measure her as a whole two degrees (Fahrenheit) cooler than she was. This time, we were able to conclude that Lola likely picked up a gastro bug from her beloved playgroup. (As my friend says, "playgroups are FILTHY" - I can't say I disagree with her.
The bug is likely the nasty reason linking all of the factors: cough, hives, multiple diapers, milk spit up and fever. Apparently hives can come out ahead of the actual sickness as one of the earlier symptoms. The poor girl!
However, she was still in really good spirits despite having a fever. That morning, she was still chirping and shouting away like a little bird, and ate a whole bunch of organic apple puree (probably still her favorite). She's such a tough cookie.
Other than Lola's illness, this week was also a frenzy of paperwork activity as I prepared all of our documents for our helper's visa.
The good news up front: she was approved and we are heading to Tuscany in August!
Now for the longer rambling story: it was a lot of paperwork to prepare, and our application probably wasn't even half as bad as it could have been because I decided to keep things very, very simple and (1) fly into and out of the same airport (Rome), (2) book one rental car for the entire trip, (3) stay in only two locations (each for one week) and (4) keep all of our movements within the Golden Triangle between Siena, Florence and Arezzo of northern Tuscany.
The Italian embassy in Hong Kong is something else though. I didn't see the main embassy but rather just the little back office for handling visas. There are no windows. There are five counters of which three look permanently shuttered, and of the other two, only one was open for operation. The office looked like a room out of the late 1970s or early 1980s. All of the typed announcements were taped to the windows with yellowing tape and looked like they had been there for a while.
Immediately upon entry into the office, you have to shove your bag through a little hole in the wall, then walk through the door frame which is incidentally also a metal detector. Then you get to pick up your bag. But they never check your bag (like they never even touch it, much less look inside), which begs the question - setting aside that this is already the most rudimentary of security checks. isn't a bag where you would most likely keep a bomb or a dangerous weapon, or, really, anything troubling?
One of the most amusing things about this experience was the extremely limited hours in which you could do anything at the Italian embassy. All of the rules and limitations made me wonder, what the heck are they doing with all of the hours in the day?
First of all, nothing can be done without an appointment (more on this later).
Secondly, they only accept visa appointments from 9 am to 12 pm on Mondays to Fridays. And it appears that it is one available appointment slot for every half hour (from what I could tell, given how we were spaced apart and how there was only one counter).
For any questions that you have regarding the visa process, they only answer the questions via a hotline between the hours of 2 and 3 pm on Mondays to Fridays (but when I called multiple times, it turns out they actually never answer any questions because they never pick up).
Then, they require 3 weeks (I will repeat that, THREE WEEKS) to process the visa, during which time they take and keep your passport. That is a really crazy long period of time in this day and age, especially when I bet all they have to do is print a sticker.
Finally, when my helper goes to pick up her passport THREE WEEKS later, she may only go to pick it up between the hours of 2:30 and 3 pm on that exact day.
I mean, wow, right? Are you getting the feeling that Italy doesn't really like to issue visas?
The most amusing thing that happened while we were there, though, was a really angry and frustrated Italian lady who showed up while we were waiting. She had been issued a driver's license by the embassy the day before that (I'm certain) she had been waiting forever to receive, and apparently they made a mistake on it. When she got to the entrance of the door, the embassy employee wouldn't let her in because she didn't have an appointment.
(They are crazy about the appointments! Everything has to be done via appointment and if you forget to confirm your appointment two days before the actual day, the embassy may cancel your appointment! At which point good luck finding another available spot for another 2 weeks!)
When she finally loudly harangued him to the point of embarrassment, he finally conceded and let her step into the embassy. When she walked in without putting her bag through the wall, he made her go back and go through the process. (Again, isn't it better that she brought the bag through the metal detector?? Someone explain this to me). Her massive eyerolls and huffy sigh were epic. On second thought, maybe she shares my sentiments about their security protocols. Then once she was inside, she proceeded to launch into a barrage of furious Italian and indignant hand gestures. By the end, it seemed like she got what she needed. I guess this is what it takes to get stuff done here!
All of this makes me think that, while I am beyond eager to experience the slow food movement and leisurely, beautiful lifestyle of these quaint little towns in the hills of Tuscany, it's good that I don't actually live there. For me, places like that are for vacations. In my day-to-day, I will take Hong Kong's efficient-to-the-point-of-rudeness method of dealing with administrative matters any day!
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