Bakery Buns and Melon Soy

Sitting here on the park bench beside the man-made lake, soaking in the warmth and the sun, familiar sounds of the birds and the buses busy on their routes and trucks rattling in the background, I’m relaxed and chatting – in this moment it’s like I never left this place, my childhood home. I’m introducing Ben to egg tarts and hot dog and ham and egg bakery buns and melon soy milk and Vita carton lemon tea.

It’s surreal, bringing Ben and Ole to this place and yet it’s so… comfortable here. It has that know-you-like-the-back-of-my-hand familiar “homey” feel like only the places that you’ve lived in for almost 10 years can have. I can close my eyes and relive so many childhood memories. And the little details that I forget about, which all together make up this atmosphere in Fairview Park that I know so well. Like the street sweepers, completely covered with their wide-brimmed straw hats and big carts cleaning the sidewalks, and the way you put your (small) trash bags out by the trees on the sidewalk for trash pick up which comes every day, the mail carriers on their purple and green bicycles – the colours of HK Post, how we would meet friends at the flagpoles and get slushies at the corner store, and as kids we’d “race to the gate” when taking a family walk around the lake. Sometimes we’d feed the fish, and remember how the big catfish would come, just once or twice, and we all waited in suspense for his arrival to watch the humongous mouth and whiskers? Cygnets are baby swans; I remember when the first pair of white swans came to Fairview Park. The flower shop for special occasions like Mother’s Day when we would make excuses to run an errand, and “the Guy’s” store by the fresh market where we always bought diapers and such, and the high wall that was such a mystery of what was on the other side, until we had a club membership and one day we too could be on that side enjoying the pool! By this time of year it was too cool to swim, though now I’d think differently. The windows are open and fans on for air movement because it’s “such nice weather” and “the best time of year in HK” at 82 degrees F (28 deg. C). It’s also “very dry” at 60% humidity, and some people think it’s “cool” – definitely the end of swimming season and time to pull out a sweater. Coming from MN this is perfect for my favorite sleeping weather with the windows open and the fan directly on you and a light sheet for your only cover.

I got to visit my old room today – the one that us three girls were in with our white bunk bed and Daddy’s homemade tailor-made bed for Anna so we could all fit in a room the size of a walk-in closet.

It was so much the same in our old house – crazy to think all 10 of us squeezed in there! The kitchen where you can stand in one place and reach the fridge, oven, sink and stove. The white tile floors that are refreshingly cool and smooth on bare feet on warm days. The attic, that was mostly for storage and always so stifling hot.

Many thanks to the current resident who let us look around and take pictures!
Some things are different, like the hero tree is gone, and so is Caleb’s tree that he planted from a seed. But much is just the same, like where the washer sits outside and the white cement fence that was what we painted when Daddy taught us to paint. We’d ride our trikes and scooters around the tiny “yard” space, also tiled for our mandatory hour outside every day, courtesy of Mom! The street lights were our night lights, and all summer long we’d fall asleep to the rattle and hum of the window air conditioner. There was carpet upstairs – indoor/outdoor type though I didn’t know it at the time (plush carpet was at Grandma’s house and only in America) and blue toilets and sinks. I loved all our bookshelves, and the piano. We did our school at the dining room table in the main room because 1,000 sq ft is not enough to have our own desks. It was small but we were happy in our grates-on-the-windows across-from-the-fire-station home. I had a beautiful childhood and am blessed to have this opportunity to bring Ben into my other world. 🙂