Lewey Lewey

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Ricky Handyman to the Rescue!

Thank goodness for my new friend

Ricky the Handyman.

(This was the cute little man on his advertisement.)

We now have brackets for the curtains,

or as I like to refer to them - window treatments,

installed.

STAY TUNED!! - We're not done yet.

I'll put my do-it-youself-er hat back on and

1: String the wire through the brackets

2: Pull that wire taut enough to hold the fabric drapes.

3: Hem drapes

4: Hang hooks on wire

5: Clip drapes to hooks

6: ENJOY - a little privacy

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

This is not the land of Do-It-Yourself-ers

We have needed window treatments hung

since we moved in two and half weeks ago.

I have installed many a window treatment

I looked at this as an easy task.

I am CONSTANTLY reminded -

I'm on foreign ground.

I have been patiently waiting for the little

D.B. hardware store to open back up,

after a week and a half being closed

for Chinese New Year,

so I could purchase my supplies.

Today was the day -- hardware store OPEN!

I entered, pick up a few things I knew I needed,

then asked for help from the hardware lady.

"Which screws do I need to drill into my wall?"

She asked - "You have concrete block or wood?"

My answer - "I don't know. I was hoping you could tell me.

What are walls made out of here?

My walls are wood in the U.S."

She snorted and said some words in Cantonese

to her fellow employee.

I'm sure it was something like -

"This is the smartest lady I know!"

She showed me something that looked similar to

molly bolts and explained they were for securing screws into concrete, but since I thought the walls were wood I just needed screws. I purchased the screws, the nice tool set pictured below

and headed for home.

LET THE INSTALL BEGIN!

Upon investigation, by simply knocking on the spot we (Caleb & I) planned to drill,

we realized our walls are

made of concrete blocks.

I'd have to make another trip to the hardware store to get the molly bolts.

When I entered the hardware store, there was the hardware lady whom had helped me earlier. When I said "I'm back!" She acted like she'd never seen me before and said more Cantonese words to her employee friend.

I'm sure it was "What a JOY to have her in our store again."

I said "I came in this morning and bought some screws and a tool kit.

I got home and found that the walls are made of concrete. Where are the bolts I need?"

**I did not expect what came next**

DISCLAIMER: I do not believe the D.B. hardware lady has ever gone to

the "helpful hardware folks" school

of customer service training.

Miss Hardware starting yelling at me!

"I told you you have concrete wall! You no listen!!

You no beyeeve (believe) what I tell you."

With that she stamped off behind the counter.

Leaving me to fend for myself.

Wow! I just met the HARDWARE NAZI!

I am not a quiter -

especially when it comes to

installing window treatments.

I walked back to the area

(mind you - the store is seriously 10feet x 15feet)

where she showed me the bolts before,

took them to the counter and paid for them.

I got home with my bolts and new screws and

tried to drill into the wall.

There was no drilling through that concrete.

The Hardware Nazi won.

The do-it-yourself-er has been defeated.

I found a handyman on line and

sent him an e-mail

asking him to quote the cost for installing CURTAINS

(I've also discovered they don't know

what window treatments are here.)

in three rooms.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Danger!! ... of the metal in the microwave!

There have been several things about living in Hong Kong that have gone against everything I know to be right. This is at the top of my list today.

I wanted to defrost chicken for dinner.

The pictures speak for themselves.

Metal Rack

Aluminum Foil

Microwave Oven

THIS is just OH SOOO WRONG!!!

The process was successful though.

Chicken portions defrosted in 5 minutes.

Chicken Curry for dinner!

Friday, February 4, 2011

Our Little Chinese Dragon - our first animal encounter

We were walking home from a FANTASTIC morning of Lion Dance viewing (see previous post)
when suddenly a dark brown SOMETHING runs across the grass right at our feet.
No one but me, Steph, saw WHAT it was - a 6 inch long dragon looking LIZARD!!!
I SCREAM -- Haleigh danced-- and stepped right in the middle of IT'S back!!!
Of course, I was screaming "Danger, danger, danger", Haleigh was dancing the high step and the boys, Fred included, were stunned by my screams. It ran away and stopped about 6 feet from us.

Our little Chinese Dragon was very still when we took this photo (Zoom in on the dark spot of the photo to see the details).
We didn't stick around long enough to find out if he was mortally wounded, BUT we did draw a crowd that was taking pictures as we left.

Chinese New Year Lion Dance

Tradition is that during Chinese New Year
a Lion Dance is performed at the door
of all the major businesses to ensure prosperity
throughout the upcoming year.

Drums and cymbols are played loudly to scare away the evil spirits. Lettuce is offered with a red ribbon & red envelope attached.
The offering is tied high above the door and the Lion must reach to grab it in his mouth.
The red envelope has money in it, the payment for the Kung Fu fighters performing the dance.

Here's OUR little Kung Fu fighter

And our new friend, Isabelle,
doing her own little Lion dance.

The Lion Dance at the North Plaza
of Discovery Bay

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Let the NEW YEAR begin!

The Lunar Chinese New Year BEGINS today.
It is a 15 day celebration!

2011 is the Year of the Rabbit.

Streets and homes are decorated with
red lanterns, little orange trees - decorated with red envelopes with money in them (Lai See),
to be given as gifts, and fresh flowers - orchids & mums.
Red candy dishes are displayed - decorated with Chinese characters with messages of prosperity, luck, health and happiness.
Red banners are hung on doors and gates to bring
good things for the new year.