...and we're off!

Here we go...

New Beginnings

It's hard to believe that a week from today, I will be in Hong Kong. The movers come tomorrow to pack up our worldly belongings.  Some will go into storage for the time being, the rest going into the miniscule apartment which A & I will call home for now.

I am excited about this new phase in my life.  This will be one of those crazy travel-filled summers, with the family split into three different countries for part of the time.  W prepares to go to college, Z will start on his junior year in engineering school, A & I will adapt to being empty nesters.

I am not sure how I will feel three months from now, when I have to say farewell to W when I leave him in the US to start school, while I head "home" to HK.

Impressions from China - 再见; a finale

Well, it's "zai jian" again soon, in less than 3 weeks.  It's hard to believe that it's been almost five and a half years since this entry, when we said goodbye to Singapore and embarked on our Chinese adventure.

And what an adventure it has been!  Living in China has made me feel more Chinese and feel less Chinese at the same time, if that even makes sense at all.  I've seen first hand the land of my ancestors, and by a quirk of fate, if not for an adventurous forefather, I could very well be still living in the hinterlands of Fujian!  Being here has also made me feel more alien than ever.  Despite being ethnically Chinese, culturally, I have realized that I am a mixture of South-east Asian cum American cum Chinese as far as beliefs and morals are concerned.  Definitely not PRC.

Thank you Beijing for all the friends you have helped me make and the wonderful memories which I will carry with me for the rest of my life.  I will come back and visit one day.

Goodbye China....hello Hong Kong!

The Avengers Movie

It's been a long time since I've been excited over a movie.  Yesterday I watched one that I had been looking forward to for months: "The Avengers".  I must admit that the first thing which drew me to this movie was the "Hunk" factor!  Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Chris Evans as Capt America, Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man...what more could a girl want (although Hugh Jackman as Wolverine would have been the icing on the cake!)

It was action-packed almost from beginning till end.  Joss Whedon, who also directed the Buffy series (one of my all time favorites) directed the movie, and a great job he did too.

A new addition (kind of new, I guess) to the Marvel movie world was Mark Ruffalo who played Dr Banner/The Hulk and he was the one who was surprisingly engaging.  His Dr Banner has a wry sense of humor that Edward Norton's didn't have, and his angst of being burdened with this monster within himself was very convincingly portrayed.  In one scene, and I don't know how he did it, there was even an apparent involuntary  facial tic that one sees occasionally in someone going through extreme emotional upheaval.

Chris Evan's Captain America was rather underwhelming here, compared to the Captain America movie.  I somehow did not get the vibe that he was the leader of the group, and he rather paled in comparison to RDJ's Tony Stark personality or even Thor.

One of my favorite scenes in the movie was a very Buffy-like Girl vs Bad Guys fight with the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) managing to defeat 3 (or was it 4?) villains while still tied to a chair in the middle of an interrogation!  Joss Whedon's touch could definitely be seen here...

I want to watch the movie again, because with so much happening on screen, I am sure there are bits & pieces here & there which I missed while trying to absorb everything at once.

I hope a sequel is in the making!

intermission

....a combination of sheer busy-ness, laziness & melancholia has prevented me from updating this blog as often as I would have liked/wanted to. Regular broadcasting will resume as soon as possible. Over & out for now...

Finale

Today marks the last day of "real" school for W. He & his classmates go on study leave from tomorrow onwards, as the IB exams start next week. Two years ago, I wrote this post about what was in store for him in his last two years of high school. Tonight, I attended IB Film Premiere Night featuring the final movie projects created by him & his classmates. I was/am a proud parent, and am amazed by the creativity and artistic efforts I saw tonight. W has written songs, and made a movie and written essays ad nauseum as part of his requirement towards the IB certificate in a few courses. He will graduate in just over a month. As I said, I am a proud parent.

Complex

I wish I could skip over June July and August & jump straight in September. All this planning is giving me a headache. Whoever said that Stay-At-Home-Moms do not do real work should be in my shoes for a while. I should get the COO of the Year Award, at this rate.

Lack of Momentum

I know W will go to college this fall. I know we have to start looking at housing options, meal plans, etc etc etc very soon.

With spring cleaning & getting ready to move, it's hard for me to get the momentum up to start the logistical planning for W's transition & leaving the nest.

aliendoc needs a boost.

:(

Profiles in Happiness: Which Physicians Enjoy Life Most?

With our impending move, people have been asking me: "So are you going to go back to work in HK?"

My face value answer has been either "I don't know"; "maybe" or "I haven't thought about it". My inner me answer is a resounding "NO".

Why? Well, I have tried imagining myself going back to work, visualizing the daily grind that I would have to endure in clinical practice. And my visceral reaction to these thoughts & imaginings have been dread, and a sickening shudder in my insides. I would not be happy. I know that with certainty. I have accepted the fact that clinical medicine was not something that I was passionate about. I was not happy in my career as a practicing physician.

So what's next for me? Something that is related to medicine but in the non-clinical areas, perhaps. Or maybe something entirely different? Who knows? I am going to take it one step at a time. Deal with this move, then deal with my "baby" leaving for college, then deal with my own future plans.

I am so glad that A has been supportive in my decisions & all I've done. I feel blessed.

Decisions

We are in the midst of Decision Time, when many colleges start releasing admissions decisions to the hundreds & thousands, if not millions, of high school seniors. It's a time of stress, disappointment, elation, relief for both students and parents and sleepless nights spent worrying about whether one will get in to one's dream college or not.

In the last few years, the number of applicants to colleges in the US (I am not aware of the situation for colleges in other countries although I think the situation is similar) has soared & competition has become increasingly stiffer for students wanting to enter the more "popular" & brand-name colleges. Previously "safety" colleges are no longer as "safe" as before. I suspect a large part of it is due to the increase in the number of applicants coming from international students (read: Chinese students).

W was recently accepted by a university in Florida. This year they received a whopping 28,000 students competing for 2,000 places in the freshman class. That means an admission rate of 7%. SEVEN PER CENT! This kind of number was only previously seen in the elite schools & Ivy Leagues.

This is getting crazier & crazier every year. Thank God we are done with this!

Spring

Spring Cleaning. That's my task next week during Spring break.

That's an understatement for sure. We have to move from a 3,000+ square feet house to a 1,300 sq ft apt. There'll be a lot of trash bags lying by our garbage bin in the coming week.

Have I said that I hate moving?

Feeling the pressure

With two impending life-changing events coming up (moving, and a young 'un leaving for college), coupled with the responsibilities of planning a couple of big events in school, one can't help but feel the pressure building up. I've never been one to feel easily flustered; and I like to think that my medical training + experience in working in the medical field where keeping a cool head in emergent & urgent situations was a plus (and a must in many situations) has helped me handle stress.

But human I am, and sometimes I succumb to the pressure and frustrations that build up. And sometimes, I have to remind myself to lower my expectations when dealing with people; otherwise I will be repeatedly disappointed by those who fail to live up to them.

Time to take a breath, aliendoc...
I think I need a beach holiday...

...and so it begins...

The clearing out, I mean.

Getting rid of stuff.

Sorting out what we need and what we don't.

It actually feels good, this whole process of sifting through one's belongings and getting rid of things which, over the years, have become dust collectors. I have started selling away excess furniture and things we won't need in HK. It's therapeutic. You don't realize how much junk you accumulate over the years, how much "baggage" one keeps holding on to.

Here's to a new beginning...

Hong Kong

Yes it's crowded. But I have to say that after living in Beijing for over 5 years, this is a breeze. At least most of the people (I emphasise - "most") have basic common courtesy, spit a lot less, obey traffic rules and speak at decent decibel levels.

And I can at least read the road signs here to find my way around fairly easily.

:)

Productive

In the last three days, I have
a) found an apartment, our next "home"
b) applied for an ID in HK
c) opened a bank account with A

Nice to be productive.

Fragrant Harbor

It's crazy how small apartments are in this small island city. Put a double bed in one of the bedrooms and you won't have room to move around in let alone fit in a side table.

The hustle & bustle of Hong Kong Island is where we will call "home" next. At least for A & me anyway. We are house-hunting (the word house is used figuratively since one needs to be a multimillionaire in order to afford renting or buying one in the stupendously expensive metropolitan, full of high-rises & skyscrapers). It pains me to know that I will need to figure out what to do with the furniture that we have especially since we will be moving from a house made for four (or more) to an apartment for two.

Counting Down

The time of transition is looming ever closer. I am viewing it with trepidation, not so much because of the change, but because of the change-ing.

out of sync

This I have to say:

Traveling & living through 3 different time zones within a week sure messes with your diurnal rhythm.

Precious times 2

We return to Beijing tonight, after a few days spent with Z.

Sigh.

Precious times

W & I are spending a few days with Z here in the Mid-west. We haven't seen him since last summer. It's just a few days of just hanging out together. Meals, some shopping, just chilling. Seemingly mundane activities but spent together.

We grab these moments where we can, when we can. Such is the life of an international family...