Back to the land of cold and ice

It's literally 5 more sleeps until our flight back to Toronto. After having arrived in Hong Kong in February 2009, it's time to go "home" and visit friends and family, but most importantly, to update our various ID and health cards. Just kidding but really not.

Whilst I can't wait to go back to Toronto, I am dreading the flight back home. We are flying 10:45am on Saturday 3 December. Not the best time to fly for anyone, let alone two kids under 6. Not sure what our strategy would be...would it be a) keep them up all night the night before b) keep to our regular sleeping schedule and just make sure that we are prepared for the flight with games, toys, movies c) drug them. Just kidding about c), maybe just a little bit of whiskey mixed with orange juice.

After being in mainland China where the car seems to rule just like in Canada, I'm not sure if I would get freaked out when I return. In Hong Kong, there are more pedestrians and mass transit users than cars so the first two kind of rule. When I return to Canada, I'm not sure if I would be able to handle so many cars, so long distances between places, and if I would be able to drive after not having driven for almost 3 years. Not to mention also that in HK, they drive on the "wrong" side of the road (e.g. like in the UK and South Africa).

But I will certainly enjoy and relish the space. The space to walk, the space in which to live, and just a general sense of having space and not having to bump into someone or have someone cut you off because there is no space. However, I have also gotten used to having so little space, I might not know how to deal with big spaces like my parents' house or those of my friends. Living in a convenient and efficient living space has proved to me that a family of four does not need much more than 1,200 sq ft of space. This, however, is contingent on having accessible and conveniently placed shared facilities like swimming pools, gym, playgrounds, bike and car parks, grocery stores, etc. Without a good infrastructure, living in a tight community like the one we live in HK will not work and people will get irritated.

The girls have said that they don't miss anything about Canada except the snow so we hope that there will be some. Here we come (back)!