I have not met one family (although I did hear there was one) that does not have a helper. Having managed childcare help since the kids were born and having an au pair for the past 3 years, Brian and I were comfortable and used to having someone in our house helping us with the kids - what we have never had though was someone who helps with everything in the house - from cooking, grocery shopping (which is a HUGE deal here because there is no Super Stop and Shop or Costco!), laundry, cleaning, ironing, childcare, and everything else in between - basically, she is Alice! Let me tell you, she is out of this world good! We found her because as you know, I will talk to just about anyone and I struck up a random conversation with a woman in the elevator when we lived in Parkview (serviced apartments) and she gave me Zenny's info. For as many good stories about helpers that I've heard, I've also heard just as many horror stories. It comes down to fit - you need to find a person who will fit with your family. As I watch some of my new HK friends navigate the helper arena, I think we had a bit of an edge because we knew what kind of person would fit with our family. But, you never really know until you live with someone, right? It's all good! In fact, it's even better now that she lives with us!!! I definitely feel blessed (and maybe a bit lucky) to find her.
My point in sharing this information is that over the past 6 weeks, I've realized that I was seriously on a CRAZY TRAIN back in NJ! Although I love Ozzy, it was so good for me to get off! Between work, the kids, the house, just everything...it was like we were on a ridiculous roller coaster that never stopped to get new riders. You know, up, down, all around, up, down, all around...it just never seemed to stop. I recently said to Brian that I felt like these past weeks have been the first time I have really thought about things - had the time to just think - like we were always making decisions reactively...something happens, we react, something else happens, we react again, again and again and again. I used to joke with my friends in NJ that I was going to write a book entitled "I'm totally $#^$^#$!# exhausted!" And now I realize I really was - and I had some help! I don't remember feeling that way in KS, but our kids were still young and weren't involved in anything so I don't know if it was just NJ, but I definitely know I felt that way when I left there. Who is this crazy person who insists you can do it all - I'm here to tell you that you can't. Well you can, but it's a pretty good possibility you'll end up in Betty Ford! I was on my walk/hike the other day when I was thinking about this and all of a sudden The Brady Bunch popped into my head - did Carol Brady work? No, she didn't and she had Alice! Everyone with kids needs an Alice! That might be the title of my new book! It's true what they say about it "taking a village." The Asian culture has it right - everyone with kids should get some help! You'll be a hell of lot happier - I know I am:))))
You can see how this life is very enticing and easy to lose your sense of reality. Thank goodness my family will never let me do that! I say this as I just finished reading (yes, reading again! Love it - it reminds me of my summers before I had kids, I could just sit on the beach and read!) "Never Enough." For those of you who are not familiar with this story, it is about the infamous Milkshake Murder story. It's really sad to be honest - in a nutshell, it is the story of the Kissel family who moved from the NYC area to HK back in 1997. In 2003, Nancy killed her husband by drugging him in a milkshake and then literally bludgeoning him to death and rolling his body up in a carpet. They had 3 kids - so totally sad. The book is a good read - interesting to me obviously because we live here, but also, they lived in Parkview and their kids went to the same school our kids go to. Also interesting is that we have some friends in Madison who lived in HK at the same time and their daughter was in the same class - such a small world! Back to my original point - I think it would be very easy to lose yourself here if you are not grounded. Folks (men and women here!) start thinking this is the way you will always live. IT IS NOT! I remind Brian of this every now and again - certainly don't want him getting used to this! Although it may not be the way we will live in the States, I'm going to enjoy it now! I love being able to go on a field trip with one of the boys and not have to worry about juggling work or other kids to make it happen.
So in 3 very short weeks, I will be solo, on a plane with my 3 boys for 16 hours...do I sound excited? That's probably because I'm not. To be perfectly honest, I feel like we all just got settled and now we are upheaving our lives again. Not that I am not excited to see our family and friends (YES!! Very excited for that!) - but I'm now dreading leaving, particularly because I'll be on my own for 6 weeks with no help and then we'll all have to re-acclimate in another 8 weeks ...wish me luck!
Had to add in a couple of pictures for everyone. This one is of an entree we had at dinner with friends called Wild Boar - take a close look!
The second one is window art at a place in the Lan Kwai Fong area. I had to stare for a long time to be sure it wasn't real.
Food for thought! hahaha - see everyone soon!
Rubbing it in are we??? Glad someone is enjoying some down time. Keep it up. And by the way... when you are posting there is a "Link" button in the tool bar. Hit that when you have a site you want others to go to.
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