The Wonderful World of Dettol

Did you know one can build muscle with cleaning? I have never cleaned so much in my entire life!! My body aches and it's all because of cleaning. I have a new found respect for housewives!!

So you may be wondering how my apartment-makeover is going and here is the first bit of feedback : I have concluded that the person who lived in my apartment was definitely a big pig who never cleaned and liked microwave - noodles (yes i know that because there were bits of dried up noodles in the microwave). Well first things first! I went shopping and stocked up on all kinds of detergents to begin the near impossible task of cleaning up the place. They sent a cleaner from school who helped me scrub the kitchen while i attacked the other rooms. I've scrubbed every possible inch of the place and have thrown out any bits and pieces left behind by previous owner : 5 socks, 1 pair of calvin klein pants, empty deoderant can and one huge container of protein shake powder(?). Yesterday evening i certified the place to be clean enough to allow food in so I did my first shopping spree and began to stock up the fridge and kitchen cupboards. I also bought plates, bowls, kitchen utensils and cutlery...because the only thing to be found in the kitchen were chopsticks and 2 dirty knives - Yes when i say dirty i mean dirty..like they were dipped in marmite a year ago and left there!! I threw those out with the socks and pants.

The plan for today is pretty busy too. They are coming to install my cable tv and internet so i'm pleased about that. Meanwhile i will be busy removing the dodgy sun & moon curtains in my living room as well as unscrewing the protective bars over the windows (no i don't feel suicidal just yet!) I will also do some scrubbing in the bathroom and tidy up the kitchen. I will also head back to the shops to get some more stuff that i forgot to buy yesterday.

As for school news its been going pretty well! I was so nervous on my first day - even though i've done this before but it's still new place and new faces. I've been assigned the 3-4 year old class and they are quite sweet...no weird ones so far. So far my job is pretty limited..i only teach the kids for 45min and the rest of the day is my preparation time (here i am..updating my blog) but i am hoping that i will have more duties eventually. I also have a very sweet co-teacher Miss Wong ..she is so nice. The other english teachers are very nice and helpful too.

WEll thats really it. I am really looking forward to the weekend because i'm feeling like i've bene running on adrenalin for the past week and i just wanna unwind and relax. On Friday we have a friend's housewarming party and afterwards ill be spending the night at Candace and Saturday we'll have a nice relaxing day! I can't wait... after all this non-stop scrubbing. I can't seem to get any peace..i sit down for a rest and i think ''hmmm maybe i should scrub that cupboard/shelf/table-top!!! Grrrr!

So this weekend will definitely be time off from cleaning!!!

Good news everyone! ... My work visa has FINALLY been approved and I am now a legal citizen of Hong Kong (as opposed to illegal immigrant! :-P ) I got the news just before the weekend and since then i;ve been running all over HK getting stuff done.

Firt step was a visa run. Since i was here as a tourist the first thing I had to do was leave HK, get stamped out as a tourist and re-enter as a working citizen. So Saturday morning my long journey began: bus ride into the city but the bus broke down so i had to get off and wait for another bus! A couple of hours later I arrived at the Ferry terminal that would take me to the island of Macau. The ferry ride is an hour and once i got there i stamped into Macau and then walked upstairs to departures and stamped out again! 10 min later I was on the boat again heading back!! One hour later I was back in Hk being stamped in as an official citizen.
Yes ladies and gentlemen...all that work just for a stamp on my passport!!

In more interesting news I got a first glimpse of my apartment and i'm telling you.. it ain't pretty!! Location wise I can't complain because its actually in the city centre so i'm pretty close to everything. Otherwise its gonna be needing a lot of work!!! I could start by telling you that the first thing i saw when i walked through the door is a GREEN couch. Of all colours green! The walls have wallpaper which is kind of in shiny white with a feather design..but dont fret... because if you dont fancy the feathers you can avert your eyes to the ceiling which is all swirly designs!! I think i'm gonna become autistic in this apartment!! Whatever happened to white walls?!
On the windows in the living room i have 'pretty' bright blue curtains with yellow smiling moons. The kitchen is oldish and the place is filthy. Im gonna complain that they send someone to scrub it down this week but something tells me i'm gonna be doing a lot of scrubbing too! I think this calls for BEFORE and AFTER photos!

So yesterday Candace and I carried half my stuff there and then returned to her place for our last night as official roomies! (Yes meanwhile i was upgraded from gatecrasher to roomie!) First we went for a lovely evening run and then sat down to watch Sex in the City with a lovely glass of wine and delicious cheeses, parma ham, tomatoes with basil, tzatziki, hummus and fresh bread! SUCH a treat! Its gonna be weird moving to a new place without my lilly! I'm gonna miss her so much!

SInce i start work tomorrow, today ill be moving the rest of my things and doing some settling in. I also predict ill be eating fruit for the next couple of days for fear of contracting some disease from my filthy kitchen!!

WISH ME LUCK! xxx

PUG LOVE! :-)

KUNG HEI FAT CHOY

Fiiiiiinally i'm germ freeeeeeeee!!!!!! This has been a long, dragging week. This update has been a long time coming for the simple reason that i had nothing to write about...except flu and poo! so i thought i'd spare you that.

SUN NIN FAI LOK! -- HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!
Chinese New Year is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. According to tradition, on the days leading up to the new year Chinese families give their homes a thorough cleaning. It is believed that the cleaning sweeps away bad luck of the preceding year and makes the house ready for new luck. Celebrations for Chinese New Year go on for several days and are usually marked by visits to relatives and friends. New clothes are usually worn to signify a new year, and the colour red is very popular. Lion dance is a popular tradition as it is believed that the aggressive dance of the lion together with the loud beating drums scare away evil spirits.

As for this year it is the year of the PIG! My chinese zodiac is the Dog and according to my horoscope 2007 will be a prosperous year in romance, relationships and love! It will be a year of change filled with bright energy and fun. I also have an opportunity to become more rich! Hahahahahah sounds positive! ;-) If you want to check your fortunes for this year go to www.proastro.com/

As for us, we're enjoying our holidays! Over the weekend we watched the New Year parade in the city which featured some traditional as well international displays. The streets were packed with people and we squeezed in behind the crowds on the pavements. Luckily chinese people are short so we could still see something! Yesterday we watched the fireworks display in the harbour which was really nice. Overall it has been lots of lazing around for us. Lilly and i invested in yoga mats and over the weekend we did our first yoga session at home. I tried yoga only once before and it wasnt as hard! We followed the movements off a dvd and through muffled breath i cursed the freaky-flexible instructors only to look over to Lilly and find that her leg was in places mine would never reach!! Daunting! Following my week long gastric-flu-slumber-party... this week i'm back into running/yoga mode so i predict lots of aches and pains! :-P

I FEEL SHITTY!

The dreaded words = gastric flu!! Joy oh joy! Yeah i haven't been sick in quite a while... but seriously did i really deserve a gatric flu?? That's just nasty!

Well my friend Aysegul who i met in Malaysia was in HK for a couple of days so Friday we did some shopping together. In the evening our little girl-gang headed out for a good night of fun but my stomach began to feel a bit queasy and puffy and the constant discomfort ruined my night. On the bus ride home i started feeling nauscious and 10 seconds after arriving at our stop i had my head in a flower pot (oh those plants must be growing tall and strong)!! What followed was a long night of painful cramps..trips to the loo...and lots of cursing. Turning on my side in bed was enough to have me running for the loo once again. We had this lovely trip to one of Hk's islands planned out for Sunday which included renting bicycles and cycling around the quiet fishing village and eating delicious seafood for lunch. Of course the only bikes and seafood i saw where far away in my dreams.

On a POSITIVE note....my new found friendship with the loo only lasted through the night and by midday the next morning i was able to keep everything in (from both ends). However I have spent the last day and a half living off crackers, water and rice whilst feeling kinda icky, puffy and tired the whole time. Candace has been my sweet, caring nurse preparing boiled apples and soup for me. It's times like these that you just wanna be at home and have your mama pamper you but she has filled the void perfectly! She even brought me flip flop souvenir from the island trip! Aaaaw love you lilly!

So today I actually ate something so i guess im on the road to recovery. Hopefully i'll be better by Wednesday which is ** Valentine's Day **...not because i have a hot date... but us single gals have a *Valentine's Schmalentine's* night planned out which involves manicures and martinis! Wooohooo! Who needs men?!!?
:-P

Yesterday was my lucky day! It was one of my usual lazy days- watching tv-tidying up- baked some banana muffins. At around midday the post man arrived with a parcel from my sister who sent a really cute top and a box of GODIVA truffles!!! YUUUMM! The scary bit is that a couple of days ago Candace and i were strolling around a shopping centre and we stopped at a Godiva shop window to drool over the exact same truffles!!! weeeeeeeeeird!
Later in the day i got a call from my school with some very boring updates. Immigration have all they need to issue my visa but my school still dont know when it wil be issued. Chinese New Year holidays start off next week and school reopens in the last two days of February, so chances are I will now start working in March. The good news is that they are paying me for February even though i will not be working at all.
Yes ladies and gentlemen....i am being paid to sit on my ass! :-D
I was also going to move into my apartment but some issues arose about the rent so I just decided to stay with lilly until the end of the month. Next week she starts her holidays too so we'll be out and about together anyway! FUN

More weekend update coming soon....
and one last thing...

***!!HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK!! *** :-D
Hope you have a fantastic weekend!
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

SHOE GAL! ;-)

Oooh what a wonderful weekend! Friday night was a crazy-unexpected girls night out which resulted in a looong sleep-in on saturday morning! You gotta love those sleep-ins!!! :-) Needless to say at midday i literally flew out of bed and in wolly-mode i threw open my curtains (actually its a sarong-pegged-to-the-window-make-do-curtain-kinda-thing) and the sun shone in on me and i was like 'oooooh its a beautiful day! lets get some sun!!' Candace lay on the couch and stared at the freak in me through groggy eyes. After a quick trip to the supermarket i decided that we were going to have a mini picnic in the sun so i prepared sandwiches and some fruit and we walked the whole way (ummm...2 min) to the seafront and found a nice, cosy, sunny bench in a non-smoking area (yes this is Hong Kong..they have smoking and non-smoking areas OUTDOORS). We ate our sandwiches, people-watched, and watched people people-watch us! Yes we are the weird aliens..umm i mean foreigners! (Just to remind you...Tuen Mun is way out of the city centre so anything with round eyes and hips is truly obscene). Well bring on the stares! I don't care! I actually have fun seeing the old people almost fall over because they are too busy concentrating on staring!

On a more interesting note... I'm starting to love small dogs!! (Ok i know i said interesting but i'll keep this short.) I was always a medium to big-dog kinda-person but since here in HK people live in matchboxes their pets have to be mini too so all i see are these tiny dogs running all over the place!!! Super cute...i'm so in love! The one that gets my vote is a pug... Cute Cute Cute..and people actually have dog-strollers so they wheel their dogs around!! Hahahahhaha! And before you thinks thats all a bit too quirky for you... the other day i saw a pug in a bumble bee outfit... wings and all! Bzzzzz

Moving on.... as i mentioned in my previous post i've decided to try for the half marathon, so i've been doing some serious training this week. I've started my outdoor runs and i have figured out a pretty route that goes along the river and through a park. At home i used to run on the dusty road near home and cars would drive past and hoot and i'd get the occasional 'psssss baby'. Now its a nice, scenic, serene run and the best part of it all.... there are other runners too!! i am finally part of a community! :-) Oh yes... there are lots of pugs too!

So our Saturday was pretty quiet: picnic in the sun... run in the park at dusk...indian take-out for dinner, all in all a very pleasant day! Sunday on the other hand took us from laid-back-village scene to crowded streets in the city centre!! Our day started off early as we headed into the city for our Sunday lunch... not exactly your typical roast and mashed potatoes but traditional chinese food known as Dim Sum which is basically the asian equivalent to Greek meze! Dim Sum are mostly steamed buns with different fillings and you basically sit at a round table with a rotating centre and the food is shared among friends. Check out this picture for a better idea -




Now you have all heard my chinese food horror stories but you will be surprised to hear that this was really really good!! I loved almost everything i tasted and i can't wait to go back! So contrary to what i always preached so far... chinese food is not always bad!! :-) I take it back.

After a lovely lunch Candace and i did what we do best = shoe shopping! Lilly introduced me to her bargain shoe shop and we went absolutely crazy in there! I'm not a shoe person back at home because i have narrow feet so nothing fits right...but here in Hk ...where everything is made small... my feet are pretty happy! :-) So we each got two pairs of sexy-high heeled shoes (in black and red) and we are really looking forward to strutting our stuff next weekend (followed by limping home with nasty blisters.... shoe obsession and masochism go hand in hand)!

So Monday rolls around and today i spent most of the day running around the city trying to get my visa done! They have finally issued a document that acknowledges that my certificates of studies are true (naaa...didnt have those made in bangkok afterall) so now that i have this the immigration department can finish off the whole visa-do and i can finally have a job! So hopefully everything should be sorted out soon.

On an exciting note...if my visa is issued this week Candace and i will go out for celebratory dinner next weekend and we will wear our new shoes!

See...in life there is a reason for everything! ;-)

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING IDLE...

So here I am! The beginning of a new month and i'm still here: homeless and unemployed!! 3 weeks ago my visa process came to a halt because they needed to get my documents accredited (don't ask?!) and now another department is working on assessing my documents and this process takes officially 15 working days. Tomorrow is the 15th day...hopefully they will stick to deadlines! After that immigrations department can finalise my visa which i'm guessing can take anywhere between 1 day and 1year! (at this rate nothing surprises me!!) I am keeping my fingers crossed that by this time next week I will have a visa and will be one step closer to starting work!

So thats the story. Boring I know. My days have been pretty quiet this week! I was enjoying lazing about doing nothing but now i'm longing to fill my days with screeching kids! hahahahaha! I am so frustrated at immigration... I could walk in there with a dynamite strapped to me and treathen them!!.. well ok.. maybe walk in there and stamp my feet and put on a scene!

On the positive side the weather is just great! Candace apartment overlooks the sea and the last few days have been so amazingly sunny! I've been running on the promenade along the sea and then find a nice patch of shade and do my stretching and cool down. Real bliss! There's also a pretty park at the end of the promenade and in the mornings old men gather under a gazebo and play these weird instruments. It's very idyllic in a screechy kind of way! :-P Candace and I have decided to take part in the Hong Kong marathon on the 4th March. Months ago i had decided that i wouldn't run it mostly because it starts at 6am! but now i realise that i enjoy running more when i can train with a goal in mind...and i guess a run around the city wil be pretty cool. Candace is trying for the 10km and if my training goes well i'll be doing the half marathon..even though i am a bit skeptical about managing that because i'm not sure if i can train well in just 5 weeks. If i find that it's too much i'll opt for the 10km race.

And that's pretty much it. Very soon it's Chinese New Year and decorations are up and everything looks festive and slightly tacky...everything BUT Candace's front door which is an interesting blend of Christmas and Chinese new year decorations! Luckily there is still *some* space left for the Easter decorations! :-P

Fingers crossed for that #**#?!#^#>@ visa!!!