On Thursday, our plan was to go to AMC, Pacific Place to watch Hannah Montana: The Movie (which just opened in Hong Kong). I was organized and bought tickets to the very first showing (11:30 am) when we were in the city Tuesday night (to watch Ava's Faust Festival performance). Unfortunately we never made it to the movie (although we left the boat with time to spare).
We spent 90 minutes in the StepWgn at a virtual standstill on Clearwater Bay Road. (The only progress we made was when other vehicles gave up and turned around, leaving the LONG line of traffic.) Evidently there was a head-on collision with one death and one serious injury. (This photo is from the Hong Kong Standard. No photographer was listed so I cannot give credit to him/her. The story (according to The Standard): `Depressed' woman killed in horror head-on smash .
Claire and James were excellent in the car, even though it was frustrating. Especially the part about not knowing when we would move. James played with his DS Lite the entire time. Claire just sat there. I didn't realize that her books were in the front seat. She didn't mention that fact until later.
We missed the movie. It was after 12 noon by the time we started moving. And during the 90 minutes we spent sitting in the car, I received an email back from HKIS about a Grade 6 LA/SS position that I am interested in. I could interview for it. Today! Aiii-yaaa! I was unprepared, had both kids with me and wearing what I was wearing (which actually was not bad---fortunately I was NOT dressed in my work-out clothes AND I did have make-up in my gym bag).
Have I mentioned that we're flexible? Thus the kids and I headed to Stanley where they ate McDonald's for lunch (their choice) and picked out two books each at Book Buddy (which is a very good place to buy children's books). I also picked up a couple of pens and notebooks for Claire. We then drove to the middle school in Tai Tam (and I was able to see some of the lovely cleaning ladies/O&M workers who still remembered me after 9 years). Both Claire and James were well behaved during the 55 minutes that I interviewed. (Poor kids---they sat around all day.) The interview went well and I should know if I have the job (or not) but next Friday.
Then we raced to Polyvision at Hopewell Centre for eye check-ups. Claire's eyes are basically unchanged (the astigmatism in her left eye is marginally worse) and James has perfect vision, much to his chagrin. He desperately wants glasses like his big sister. It's a good thing that I stayed with him during the exam as he tried to fake out the optometrist. He deliberately called out different letters during the exam with hopes of "needing" glasses. He stopped when I mentioned that Miss Jennifer would be very disappointed if people believed he didn't know his letters. Cheeky son of mine!
Bribery and corruption followed. Both kids had McFlurry's (Claire, Smarties and James, Oreo). Driving home we were stuck in traffic two MORE times. Not sure if there was some sort of bad traffic Feng Shui on Thursday...weird.
I decided that we should do something fun. We went back to the boat and got all of our swim things (as well as items for Tom). I imagined relaxing at the pool in the early evening (it was now 6 pm) and then having dinner. Well that was not meant to be. What greeted us was organized chaos. There were six or seven (swim?) instructors (many of whom were shouting) overseeing swimming exams of many, many cub scouts. ??? Very strange activity for our country club. Tom arrived a bit later (from China) and we did get our swim. The cub scouts finally left and we were able to enjoy the pool for the last 45 minutes or so before closing (at 8).
It was quite a day (just not the one I had envisioned).
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