Dear Family & Friends,
The past 15 months have been a whirlwind of events and emotions. My one regret is not keeping up with this. I am doing one last entry so I have it for a book that I want to make - blog to book - so we have a little keepsake.
In my last update - JANUARY 2015 - you read the news that Tom was moving back to Northwest Arkansas in mid-February for a new position with Walmart. I remained in Hong Kong to wrap up our life there- finish the school year, do some last minute bucket-list trips, get relocation items settled (movers, renters out of our home back in Arkansas, etc). Tom went back and forth from February till the end of May between Hong Kong and Arkansas - about a visit once a month. He mastered jet-lag! Below is a LONG update.... and final blog entry from this chapter of our lives. Contains lots of pictures - that captured our fun filled goodbye :) The sad hugs aren't included :)
February
Tom finished up his project with the Japan team in Toyko then took off to start his new position in Bentonville, Arkansas. This was the beginning of the many good-bye parties for Tom. He had one every time he flew back in town.
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| Japan office co-workers |
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| Don't leave daddy!!! |
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| Dudes day lunch |
Patrick enjoyed annual Sports Day at school - held at the Hong Kong Football Club. He played most of the games alongside his best friend at school, Jaiden.
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| Chinese New Year 2015 - year of the goat |
We also rang in the Chinese New Year. We had the lions come and do the lion dance in our home to rid of evil spirits. The boys participated in various Chinese New Year activities during the week. Many parties!
I also began to take full advantage of our year long passes to different parks in February and took the boys out often on outings in the afternoon. Wanted to get my money worth before departing in May.
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| My roller coaster buddy |
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| My favorite exhibit at Ocean Park |
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| Fun-zone - Evan still talks about Funzone and the car |
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| Disney - did a lot of Disney before we left! |
While Tom was working in America, he had the opportunity to visit family on the weekends so he wasn't too lonely. He visited his mom in New London and got to catch up with his brother, Adam! Later in the spring, he went down to Florida to visit his sister's family, his father & Trish.
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| New London COLD |
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| Family & Florida & Sunshine |
March
Daddy came home in March for a week visit - and it coincided with a few days that one of my best friends from growing up, Mirella, and her husband Giuseppe came to visit. Mirella & Giuseppe are living in Milan, Italy and came to Hong Kong and Beijing on holiday. The three days they visited were jam-packed with shopping, site-seeing, and eating. It was so great to catch up with them. We hope to plan an Italian vacation with them soon :)
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| Mirella and Kathy - trouble since early 90s |
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| Touring HK |
Of course, Tom's weekly trip wasn't complete without a day at the beach. And when all three of them go to the beach - they are usually pretty famous!
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| Famous |
Other March happenings - gym days, chill days, hair-cut days, Shenzhen shopping days, more Disney days, Ocean Park days, party days, playroom days. I was beginning to get sad that I was leaving Hong Kong. We were trying to enjoy every day to its fullest. Looking back at these pictures makes me smile on how much fun we had. Of course, there were bad days, tantrum days, terrible pollution days, sick days, but I block those out ;)
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| Life as we know it in HK |
April
The first week of April, we fulfilled our last bucket-list family trip. We went to Australia for 10 days. We flew into Sydney than took a road trip by car up to Brisbane stopping along the way at different beach towns. We loved Australia. It is so similar to America at times we felt like we were in America. Sydney is breathtaking. The boys enjoyed waking up in the hotel and seeing that the Easter Bunny visited with candy and a few toys. Here is a few snapshots from our unforgettable 'trip'.
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| Family at the Sydney zoo - koala encounter! |
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| Beach time |
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| Sydney Opera House |
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| Beach boys |
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| Trying Australian pies for dinner - ehhhh wasn't impressed |
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| Bondi Beach babe |
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| Building a hole |
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| One of our air b&b cottages |
April/May:
Also in April/May - there were more of the same... podium days, Sunday fun-days, lots of shopping days to start to get everything HK I wanted to bring home to America. I took a trip to Bali with my friend Millie - because that was a place I had wanted to visit and I might as well go while it was close. Upon returning from Bali, I was home in HK for about 23 hours then got on another plane with a friend, Deanna, to go visit our friend Nicole who was doing business in Abu Daubi. She opened up her hotel room and let us crash with her. Never thought I would go from Asia to the Middle East - but why not! I certainly was taking advantage of traveling while I could. After returning from Abu Daubi/Dubai - the goodbyes seriously started.
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| Millie and I - trouble in Bali, Indonesia |
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| Bali paradise |
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| Abu Daubi |
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| Dubai - Camel riding - YES!!! |
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| Sand patterns |
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| SAND |
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| Sand jumping.... |
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| More sand jumping (or cheerleading...) |
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| Sand duning.... it was scary fun! |
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| Hotel view - abu daubi |
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| Getting ready to brunch! |
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| The reason I was so excited for the Middle East - camels |
May - The Final Tour:
Tom was busy in Arkansas with work during the day and relocations things in the evening (I'm sure he had some fun in-between as well). In May he moved back into our home and started getting it ready. He planted flowers on the weekend, car searched since we would need cars upon moving home, and moved in things from storage. He returned to HK mid-May and spent about a week in HK with us wrapping up stuff and doing our farewell tour of all of our favorite HK things. It was an amazing month - we all had a blast.
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| Disney days with your best friend |
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| Best Buds |
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| Kathleen's Going-Away with the ladies :) |
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| Norlie - packing some of her things to send home to Philippines |
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| Tom/Kathleen at the pool going-away party |
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| lots of boxes |
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| Another last dinner out with the girls |
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| Walmart Asia - a lot of goodbyes! |
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| Dragon-i lunches on Friday that lasted all day |
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| Podium playdates |
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| Patrick hanging out with some of his BG buddies |
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| My boys living it up in Asia |
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| Goodbye Pool Party - :) |
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| Friends! |
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| Tim - our relocation expert!! |
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| Even Valerie flew in from Singapore to say goodbye! |
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Final BBQ at Deep Water Bay with our cousins- FAMILY
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Bamboo Grove: A goodbye photo tribute
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| Day - view out of our family room window |
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| Night - it must be a Wednesday - the horse track is lit up |
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| view on the walk home from Hopewell |
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| View straight up to our home. Floor 26 |
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| Another night view from floor 26 |
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| Evan's first home! Goodbye Bamboo Grove |
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| I love this shot of our building - center of picture on the left side |
Arriving Home / Final Thoughts:
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| On our way.... it was over a 50+ hour journey home.... that could be an entire blog entry itself :) |
Leaving HK was difficult and even though I had months to prepare - it was hard. The expat community there is one-of-a-kind. I made some lifetime friends there and saw things I never thought I'd see and as a family we were able to experience a whole new way of life and culture. It was amazing. On the other side of the coin, we were excited to come home and give our kids a bit of an 'American' way of life. I can't say I was 100% ready to arrive home, but I remember not being 100% ready to move to Asia. Sometimes in life, you just gotta roll with it and know change is hard, but change is also exciting! Back in the states we returning to a home I loved, a yard, and would have easy and convenient shopping. Our life there was so different than our life here - the two can't be compared. We have been truly blessed by this experience in Asia.
I often get asked, would I go back. Absolutely. Would it be hard to go back. Absolutely. Moving is hard. You sometimes forget once you get back into settled lifestyle.... but moving is like a 6-month process. It's not just about getting your stuff and house organized.... whenever you move, you have new things to figure out - and when put in a new country - lifestyle and routine look totally different. When we moved to Asia - we had some really difficult days. Living there wasn't always easy like my FB posts and pictures show. But in the end, it was more good days than hard days. I'd be on a plane tomorrow and ready to tackle 6 months of transition to do it all over again! I'd say our family transitioned pretty well back to America.... we missed our HK family and the uniqueness of the life we left there.... But here I am - 10 months back and I feel like we've been back for years. It feels normal again.
The other thing people also ask about is Norlie. She was our 'additional' family member in HK and we brought her back to America to help us transition back. She helped me raise my two boys and has been a huge part of our family over the past 3 years. Domestic help is the norm there. Usually people with 2 children have two helpers. If you have a car in HK, it's likely you have a driver. It is a different world. Things are different. It was a luxury to have help and I am so lucky to have found her! She made the early years of my boys growing up (some say the hardest years on a mom) a lot easier. We didn't say goodbye to her in HK - and I think it helped the boys transition (okay, let's be honest - it helped me ease back into house work & cooking - lol).
Her time with us in America was different. I couldn't send her out to the store to pick up stuff because she couldn't drive. She couldn't take the boys on an outting - unless it was outside to play. It was probably more isolating for her.... and I didn't want her to feel lonely so we tried our best to keep her having fun with our family. There wasn't a question of her liking America & we really enjoyed experiencing 'America' through her eyes for the first time. I wish I would have remembered to write down some of her 'A-ha' moments. Watching her walk through a WalMart for the first time was pretty amazing. I think she took a photo of every aisle. In Sams Club she couldn't believe the bulk sizes. She actually took out an ice cream tub and took a picture of it. She saw some geese once in Indiana and asked Tom - "who owns those geese?" She was amazed at my driving ability and navigation skills. She pointed out bushes or trees and told me how pretty they were in open spaces. Like Hong Kong, Arkansas is hot - however, in Asia it's completely normal for you to open an umbrella to keep yourself in the shade. Once when we were walking into the gym (at most, a 100 meter walk from the parking lot to the gym doors) she popped open her umbrella - needless to say we got a few stares...we still laugh about that. She fell in love with TJ Maxx, Cold Stone Ice Cream, and agrees with almost all Americans that pizza is better here than in Asia. She sent two HUGE boxes home of American goodies to the Philippines - food, clothes, toys, etc. It was fun filling the boxes with her. She had fun meeting some of my Arkansas friends and providing cooking lessons for us. She tried to teach me as much as she could in the kitchen before she left... and stocked our freezer full.
I imagine America wasn't all fun for her here.... before arriving I remember trying to explain to her
that her life would be harder here because she couldn't just walk out the door and head to the grocery store - walking out the door usually meant a walk around the neighborhood in the heat. We were prepared for that, but not sure that entirely sunk in for her until she arrived. Our home in HK had a back entrance by her room so she could come and go when she pleased... but here in America - it didn't. And she didn't have the privacy or the socialization that was so easy for her to have in HK. Even calling her family and friends was limited because of the huge timezone difference. Bamboo Grove was filled with other families and other domestic helpers. In HK, after her day with us - she could walk down the street for a walk or to meet her other friends.... In Arkansas.... not so much. Unless you are in a big city in America, driving is almost necessary.
While she was with us this summer we went to Indiana, Chicago, and Connecticut to visit family so she saw a little bit more than just Arkansas. She also took a trip to New York to visit a friend. I was her driver in Arkansas and would drop her off at church or the mall so she could meet up with some friends that she met in Arkansas (Social media - it was her lifeline). Even though her life with us in Arkansas was different than it was for her in HK - we treasured it and I think she had a good time working and being part of our family. Saying goodbye to her was hard. The boys were sad, but questions on where she was going didn't happen immediately. Over the next few weeks and months they would (and still do) ask about Auntie Norlie, why she moved on, when will she visit, etc. We text and talk with her on the phone every few weeks. We have pictures of her up and the guest room is forever named 'Norlie's room'. When she finished working with us she ended up going to California and after a few weeks there - found love. I always tease her that she should be a reality show or write a book. She found love and is now married and living a life in America she used to dream about. I know - crazy world we live in! She is very happy and we hope to see her sometime this upcoming year. I wish her all the best!!!
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| final week with Norlie - LOVE - forever family |
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| Our first week back in Arkansas!! June, 2015 |
So that's the end everyone. It's been a whirlwind since we've been back. We've seen family.... We've reconnected with old friends....We've made new friends. Etc. Etc!!!! I'm sure you've seen some stuff we've been up to on Facebook since we've been back in America, so I won't bore you all with more pictures. This blog was for our Asian Adventure. Maybe someday I'll write another one ... but, for now - I'm sticking with FB statuses because I'm obviously not very good at blogging since it took me over a year to update. Lol. Thanks for reading everyone! THE END and THE BEGINNING.
Kathleen Alessi
