Week 16: 7/17/05

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#FFCC80" TEXT="#080000" background="67cc8b83.jpg"> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Random Things to Make You Giggle"><B>Random Things to Make You Giggle</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id77.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hong Kong Disneyland"><B>Hong Kong Disneyland</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id35.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Our Parkview Apartment"><B>Our Parkview Apartment</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 1: 4/3/05"><B>Week 1: 4/3/05</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 2: 4/10/05"><B>Week 2: 4/10/05</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 3: 4/17/05"><B>Week 3: 4/17/05</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 4: 4/24/05 "><B>Week 4: 4/24/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 5: 5/1/05 "><B>Week 5: 5/1/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 6: 5/8/05 "><B>Week 6: 5/8/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id39.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 7: 5/15/05 "><B>Week 7: 5/15/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id41.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 8: 5/22/05 "><B>Week 8: 5/22/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id42.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 9: 5/29/05 "><B>Week 9: 5/29/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id48.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 10: 6/5/05 "><B>Week 10: 6/5/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id51.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 11: 6/12/05 "><B>Week 11: 6/12/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id53.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 12: 6/19/05 "><B>Week 12: 6/19/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id55.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 13: 6/26/05 "><B>Week 13: 6/26/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id57.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 14: 7/3/05 "><B>Week 14: 7/3/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id60.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 15: 7/10/05 "><B>Week 15: 7/10/05 </B></A></div> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f00000cc00.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Week 16: 7/17/05 </B></div> <div> <A HREF="id64.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 17: 7/24/05 "><B>Week 17: 7/24/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id65.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 18: 7/31/05 "><B>Week 18: 7/31/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id67.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 19: 8/7/05 "><B>Week 19: 8/7/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id70.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 20: 8/14/05 "><B>Week 20: 8/14/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id71.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 21: 8/21/05 "><B>Week 21: 8/21/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id74.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 22: 8/28/05 "><B>Week 22: 8/28/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id76.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 23: 9/4/05 "><B>Week 23: 9/4/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id79.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 24: 9/11/05 "><B>Week 24: 9/11/05 </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id80.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Week 25: 9/18/05 "><B>Week 25: 9/18/05 </B></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" width="100%" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Australian Sunrise" ><B>Welcome to Chase family planet!</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Australian Sunrise" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >    |    </FONT> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Welcome to Chase family planet!">home</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Adventures in Asia">Adventures in Asia</A>   ·   <A HREF="id46.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us">Contact Us</A></div> <bR> <div> Week 16: 7/17/05 </div> <div> Howdy Everyone!<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> I feel so far behind that I don't know if I'll catch up before we leave! But here's my noble attempt...<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>Coke Addict</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> This week I started on my own little adventure... I tried to give up Coca-Cola, my personal poison of choice, but not without a battle. It all started with a friend who loaded me up with a stack of books to read since at the rapid rate I read, buying books is just not a good economic decision. One of the books that she tossed in at the last second had to do with healing, and she handed it to me with Benjamin in mind. But as I was reading it, it seemed more appropriate for me. The third chapter talks about how we shouldn't purposely abuse our bodies and then expect miraculous healing. At first she was talking about drugs and alcohol, and I thought great, no problems there, next chapter please! But then she wrote that she personally struggled with caffeine, and when she gave it up, suddenly all her little aches and pains went away. I tried to pretend I didn't read that particular paragraph, and opened another Coke. When I finished it and tossed it into the garbage, I noticed that it was full of empty cheerful red and white cans. Since Housekeeping empties our trash daily, I knew that the collection of cans were all from that day, and there were an awful lot there. I realized that in trying to keep up with my kids, I've been totally relying on the Coke to keep me awake throughout the day, and up at night until Mike comes home. Even our babysitter told me that I drink too much, and she only sees me once a week! Cutting back seemed silly since I have no will power, so I decided to go cold turkey. This ended up giving me a four day long powerful migraine which had me running to bathroom at brunch with friends to throw up the food I couldn't bear more than one bite of. I wish I could say that I truly have cut it out completely, but I'm still having one can (or half a can) a day. But that's a far cry from my normal "breakfast" of two or three cans by 9:00 a.m. I really don't drink alcohol, and this little experiment with Coca-Cola shows a primary reason why... I just don't know when to stop! Also factor in that for almost five years straight I was either pregnant or nursing, two things that don't mix well with alcohol. The funny thing, which I never could have predicted, is that now that I'm not on the roller coaster ups and downs of lots of caffeine followed by a major crash, I have a lot more energy. Which is fantastic, but also funny, as the reason I was glugging it down was to get more energy in the first place...<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>The Palace</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> We finally made it to another movie. Weird thing here is that instead of a movie theater having eight screens and showing eight different movies, each one shows the same movie. At any given time, there are only three or four English language movies playing in Hong Kong. And they mainly show the big blockbuster films. Each one plays for three weeks, then they are relegated to one showing on weekdays at noon. So if you miss the movie you want to see, tough luck, you have to wait for the DVD. Not such a long wait here, though, since all the movies come out later than the U.S., so the DVD comes out right on the tail. So we missed all the movies we wanted to see, and when the rare chance to see a last minute movie came up, it was slim pickings. Sunday afternoon we called up to see if there was a babysitter who'd be willing to watch our kids for a couple of hours after they were already in bed. Normally you have to give 24 hours notice, but surprisingly at 7:30 p.m. a nice lady showed up and we left for The Palace IFC. We have heard this is the plushest movie theater in Hong Kong. We arrived in time to nab the very last two tickets to Fantastic Four, which since you reserve not just admittance to the theater but your actual seat when you buy the ticket, it meant we were in the front row. And what a very nice front row it was! Leather chairs with cup and snack holders, nice carpet, and gorgeous curtains. Amazingly, the movie ticket prices here are cheaper than what we paid in L.A. (AMC was $10 per adult, Palace IFC was $8.40 per adult) and sooo much nicer! The movie itself was pretty good; Michael has turned me to the dark side of actually enjoying all these sci-fi, comic book, action movies. I was dragged forcefully to see Star Wars Episodes I and II, but it was actually me who booked the tickets here to see Episode III on opening weekend while I had a 103 degree temperature. I thought my motives were to please my husband, but after some good natured ribbing from some of our friends here who listened to me discuss plot points and character development for the better part of 30 minutes after I had said "I don't really like Star Wars, but...", I've been thinking maybe I do like these films... See how being the mother of two boys has changed me? Going to see the chick flicks are a waste of my time these days! If only I could go back in time six years and meet the Me that I was... I would have a hard time convincing her that I was the Me in her future.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>Like, Hablas Chinese?</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> We had a high heat warning this week, meaning the temperature gets above 90 degrees Fahrenheit while the humidity is also above 90%. They recommend staying indoors. Silly me, having been feeling rather cooped up and resentful that the sun was shining but we were stuck inside, decided to walk down the hill with the boys to the reservoir with the paddle boats and fish and turtles. Ben's curly hair was dripping wet before we were 100 steps out of the air conditioned lobby, and Nathan's shirt was plastered to him. The sky was clear, but the air was nearly solid with moisture, like taking a deep breath over a pot of boiling water. Before we were halfway to the reservoir, a bus pulled up full of kids who all had special needs and they rented out all the paddle boats for a four hour chunk of time. This was incredibly sad for us, since the thing that kept the boys moving in the heat down the hill was the fact that soon they'd be out on the water. How was I going to get them back up the hill? I was so disappointed in Nathan when some of the kids shared their bread with him so that he could at least throw it to the fish from the dock, and instead of being grateful, he threw it back at the kids, who didn't understand why he exploded. Ben was happy though, basking in attention and tossing bread crust to turtles. We walked the perimeter of the reservoir and came to a waterfall. Nathan spotted a black crab, working his way up the waterfall, which we watched for awhile in the shade before I started the impossible task of getting the boys back up to Parkview. Taxis kept passing us, and I was so tempted to hail one just to be in the A/C. That would have been the wise thing to do. But considering that our clothing was so saturated with perspiration we looked like we had jumped in the reservoir, I didn't think any driver would be too pleased with us. We finally made it back to Parkview, and we all collapsed in our cool living room. Nathan flipped on the T.V. and there was a channel in Cantonese playing what looked like a soap opera. We were too tired and drained to care. Housekeeping came in and regarded us in our pile on the couch, then looked at the T.V. and one of the maids said in Cantonese "Can you understand that" and in English I said no, we can't understand it. Then in English she said "Then how did you know I asked if you could understand it?". I was totally confused. Did I just understand Chinese? Sure enough I did. It took me an hour to figure out how exactly that came about. I have some Cantonese CDs and one of the first lessons was on how do say "do you understand English". That was the only phrase that stuck in my mind from a year ago! The kids would never let me listen to them at home, and in the car they'd scream like I was making them listen to nails on the blackboard or something. So for all of you who are asking me if we'll come home speaking Chinese, the answer is a simple "No". It's not going to happen. But that's a story for another time...<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>Next Week...</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> ...the boys go on an adventure at Parkview without any adult supervision, we hitchhike in the pouring rain, and we leave the country for the day! But while I scramble to get us caught up, you can check out this week's photos!</div> <bR> <div> <B>Happy traveling!</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#00BF00" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <B>Heather, Michael, Nathan, and Benjamin Chase</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="771" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 351 WIDTH="376"><div> <IMG SRC="45668180.jpg" border=0 width="360" height="280" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Heather and the boys went to Ocean Park for the day, these guys were from China and followed us all day long, taking dozens of photos of the boys.</div> <bR> </tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER WIDTH="376"><div> <IMG SRC="458680e0.jpg" border=0 width="360" height="270" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Nathan and Benjamin were the only people on this ride, and instead of smiling and laughing and having fun, they looked somber and sorrowful, clutching the bar until they got off.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 518 ><NOBR><bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="45a680e0.jpg" border=0 width="360" height="270" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> These are real alligators found</div> <div> in the Dinosaur exhibit at Ocean Park.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER WIDTH="376"><div> <IMG SRC="45c68e00.jpg" border=0 width="360" height="480" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> This one is not, but for a second I thought it was when I was looking through this weeks photos!</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 561 WIDTH="376"><div> <IMG SRC="45e68fa0.jpg" border=0 width="360" height="506" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> In the dinosaur exhibit, the grand finale is this giant animatronic T-Rex that jumps up and roars very loudly.  The boys didn't notice it at first...</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER WIDTH="376"><div> <IMG SRC="46068fa0.jpg" border=0 width="360" height="506" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> ... Then they spotted him and ran out as fast as their little legs would take them!</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 443 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="465f48f0.jpg" border=0 width="500" height="399" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>Country of Hong Kong - Everything below the red line.</B></div> <div> <B>We live where the red dot is on Hong Kong Island, which is only six miles from end to end.</B></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>