Colin's Baptism

Ahh, how nice it is to be home sweet home again! I had almost forgotten how wonderful my own bed feels. The Sunday following my return, my nephew/Godson, Colin James, was baptised. This, as most of you know, is my main reason for returning home. 'It was a beautiful ceremony' was the retort of many church goers as they exited the church after the ceremony and congratulated the parents, Colin, and us Godparents. We were all just relieved that no one thought it was a zoo. Well with 5 Barlow little ones, all under the ages of 3 and a couple of months, it could have been much worse we all decided. All in all, the kids were excellently behaved! And I have to say, my favorite part, other than receiving the honor of being Colin's Godmother and pledging to always be there for him (which of course was my obvious favorite part), was when during a moment of silence at the end (we thought we had almost made it through), Julia (2 years old), sitting at the baptismal font in front of the whole church, jumped up and yelled 'Shea Shea', doing her impression of a Chinese person. Haha, probably no one else in the church knew what she said, but we all did. As respectable adults, we were all trying to hide our undeniable laughter at how cute she was and how awful, or perfect, her timing was.

The main part of the baptism was absolutely gorgeous though! Colin is a few months shy of being 2 himself and as such he can walk and even talk a little bit. When the priest asked him if he was ready to be baptised, he replied in his ever so quiet voice, "yes". Then when the priest picked him up and put him in the baptismal pool there was a moment you were sure he was going to cry, but he must have decided he was okay with standing in inches of water and getting his white trousers wet. That, was of course, before the priest started pouring water over his head. After the first bowl of water Colin was SOAKED! He let out a little muffle, almost ready to cry, but again, in his ever so happy nature, must have decided it was okay because the big guy just turned and seeing the comfort of Daddy right next to him he smiled at the priest, letting out a little chuckle. We were all so proud of him. The kids were a bit obsessed with the baptismal pool the rest of the ceremony. Us in the front row thought we would for sure have to pull one out before the end came. Thankfully, we never had to.

After the ceremony, we reconvened at Kate and Jim's house for an after party barbecue. It went swimmingly, literally. The kids swam in Erin's new blow up pool all afternoon. And we couldn't have asked for better weather. The sun was shining, but it wasn't deathly hot out. There was hardly any wind, and the bugs were at a minimum. The kids played and played all afternoon. Some refusing to nap (Will, I'm talking about you little guy). But they were all well behaved and happy as clams. I am sad to say that that was the only time that wonderful pool will ever be used. The next day Murphy, Kate and Jim's boxer puppy, who is much more of puppy in mentality and not size, got to the pool and had his own day of fun with it :(

For me, the baptism was a special experience that bonds me to my nephew forever, in more than one way. Seeing the kids play with each other all day was also very exhilarating for me as it is something I have missed out on this last year and a half, and I only get to hear about playtime. I also very much enjoyed seeing other family members, aunts, uncles, cousins, and of course my Grandma Barlow. I really enjoyed the day, which I think it is fair to say most did. Thanks to everyone for being there. Hope to see you all again soon, with maybe a little more one on one time; because as fun as they are, we all know big family gatherings are not always conducive to catching up. But I am thankful for what time I did have with each of you, as large or as small as it was :) Cheers!!

At the end of the night, it wasn't only the Moms and Dads who were exhuasted. These two little party hosts were ready for bed too, wearing their new jammies from Aunt Anny!

For more pictures, go to

http://picasaweb.google.com/find.barlow/HomeVisit2009ColinSBaptism#

Hong Kong... 11 years later!

It has been 11 and a half years since my parents and I moved to Hong Kong. Which, back then, when I had seen no other foreign places, I thought HK was a crazy place! Now from the perspective of an adult who has seen other major Asian cities, I still think HK is an absolutely A-mazing place! It is truely incredible and CRAZY! It definitly beets out any other city I have been to on my favorite scale. The craziness lies not only within how the buildings are built into the mountains, or just how organized the place is for such a massive population, but the thing so incredible- that I can't believe I forgot about- is just how gorgeous the place is! It is a huge city, built on a tropical island. Actually HK is made up of 250+ islands. And from the north side of the main island (now Hong Kong Island, previously known as Victoria Island before the handover from British rule) you look across the inlet to mainland China. But as you go around the island, out to the east, west, and south HK is speckled with lots of tiny islands, which make for spectacular views, especially now that the new government has gone to great lengths to clean up the environment.
As I landed I remembered just how instrumental Hong Kong was to my development into who I am today. I think it would be fair to say that the traveler I have become has stemmed from the experience of living in such a unique place as a young teenager. And for that, I thank you. Thank you to Hong Kong, and thank you to my parents for putting me there. It changed the person I was at the very core and I could not imagine my life if I had not gone there. Needless to say, I have many emotional ties to the place. It was funny realizing just what the mind remembers. Like I forgot the view from my bedroom window had tons of islands in the picture, but I remembered a sign on the back of a building that you can only see for a second while the bus turns a corner! As I took the ferry to the island, my feet found their way to the bus stop automatically, without asking anyone or looking for signs. My feet just knew where to go. I remembered which buses to get on and the routes that they each took. As I passed certain buildings and fields, I knew their names. Names I haven't thought about for 11 years! Incredible. But I still can't believe I didn't remember just how AWESOME the view was from my bedroom window.
For those of you who visited us while we lived there, you might remember a place called Stanley Market. We took all of our guests there, it was a great place for good deals. I was amazed to find that the meat markets here no longer existed. Instead they have been replaced by a municipal building. The markets themselves were a lot less crowded and the bargaining not as good as it used to be. Now, each stand/store is selling something different. Therefore, you can't haggle with the 'sales associates' as much as you used to because they know they are the only ones with that item. There are a lot of western clothes and other things as well. The back of Stanley used to be a fisherman's area, kind of dodgy. Now it is all built up with cute little western cafes. I enjoyed my afternoon there seeing how much it had changed.
That night I went up to 'The Peak'. When we lived there, my mom and I used to hike up to the peak a lot of weekends. This time, I did the tourist thing and took the tram. Up on the peak you look down on the whole city of crazy and wonderful lights. I stayed up there for a couple of hours just gazing in wonder at the city and appreciating all the wonderful things that place has brought into my life.
The next day I had a flight out in the afternoon, so I spent the morning going to Lantau Island. This is the home ot the biggest Buddha in the world! It is made completely out of bronze, which for those of you who know about metals, you can appreciate this terrific feat. I have been waiting almost 12 years to get there. I never made it there before because as some of you may remember, I spent a lot of my time in Hong Kong very very sick and was even hospitalized at one point for a little while. But when my sisters came to visit, they each went to Lantau. Then when my brother came, I thought I could make the ferry ride with him, but I didn't make it the whole way. I became so ill after the first ferry, I turned around and went home. So now it was my turn, finally, and it was well worth it! After visiting the Buddha, I boarded the ever so familiar flight to LA and thought, 'next stop HOME'!

More pictures can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/find.barlow/HongKong2009#