Kung Hei Fat Choi and update

So here we are, one year - almost - after J and i moved to HK, and my hot news updates are crap!

YEAR OF THE GOLDEN PIG
First of all: happy new year! don't think i'm that late wishing this to you all, my friends, but since Sunday, we are experiencing our first CNY (Chinese New Year). Festivities are in the street and at work, at home and with our friends. Traditional New Year’s is so much different that ours: 15 days of New Year’s celebration and 3 days of holidays, family visits, temple pilgrimages, house cleaning, and most important of all, lai sees. In Chinese tradition, you give/receive money from your family, colleagues, and you give money to your building doormen and cleaners. They are given in a red envelope and you have to wish them a good year + to make good money if you give it to a man or to remain eternally young if you hand it to a woman. How cool is that! So J and i, who never fail to follow a hongkese tradition, exercised ourselves to our first lai sees, went to the Temple Wong Tai Sin, watched the fireworks on the second day, and cleaned the flat. J I now feel ready to enter the Year of the Golden Pig, this very special year which only comes every 60 years.

CHRISTMAS
So many things happened since the last update i gave you. I came back to Europe with J for Xmas. J stayed in London and caught up with a few friends. I went back to London with him, then took the Eurostar to Paris before heading off the next day to Geneva where we were meeting up with all my Mum’s family for Xmas. We stayed there two days, and then back to Paris before taking off to Tunis where my parents wanted to show me a potential future house for them to have a second holiday home. It’s so nice! The potential lies in Sidi Bou Said, coastal village close to the capital which has been recently classified as a World Heritage village. It’s a cross between North Arabic and Greek style, famous for its grandiose view and established blue and yellow doors. Nothing is certain, but how great would that be? I met fabulous people when in Tunisia, friends from my parents, all welcoming, interesting, and passionate people: Khaled, a talented interior designer and house converter, Memia, his partner, a creative and ingenious architect, Ali, who heads a sheet and towels factory where they make Descamps, Delorme and Kenzo’s house linens, and his wife and kids. After a few interesting days with all of them, I came back to Paris, where 19 friends came for supper. The customary Raclette Coscas happened around a bog table with lots of news to share.

VISITORS
Since our last visit by Dan and Owen, Daphne and Aurelie came for a week. We got back from Europe on New Year’s day with James, and they were gone to the Philippines after we left them the keys to our small flat. One week later, they came back to spend 6 days with us, and explore our daily non-routine. On the girls’ last week-end, Jack and Russell, on their way back from Vietnam, came for 1 day-1 night. It was so good to see all of them! It seems like we barely have time to miss our friends: as soon as we miss them, we have a visitor! These guys visits was followed by James and Buffy, on their way to Oz. They left grey London after years of residence, to settle in sunny Byron Bay. Woohoo Oz! After Adam and Jess, Leebo and Philbo, and James and Buffy, I reckon J and I have NO excuse not to come and see them all! So Oz here we come, hopefully 2007, year of the Golden Pig will be THE year.

CRIKEY
Back in September, James convinced 2 mates, Paddy and Chris, to enter this short Hong Kong film competition called I Shot Hong Kong. The unique rule is pretty simple: it has to feature Hong Kong. After 1 week of ideas drafting, 2 days of shooting, and 5 days of intensive editing, the boys submitted their shorty named ‘Subtitle’, and learned in December, that the jury decided to choose it for the public viewing of the selected 20 shorts. The adventure begins! On the 25 and 26 January, the 5 of us (the 3 boys + subtitle maker Cynthia and active appearance me) sat there in the Agnes B cinema in HK, watching the rendering of Subtitle on a big screen. The film features a 30 year old banker who hates his job, and wants to commit suicide whilst the subtitle, matching the images, tell a different story, a boy trying to seduce a woman, but failing miserably.
By far the darkest film of the selection, the audience chose James as the best film on Friday while he won the total 3rd place by the jury. NOT BAD!!! So let’s encourage him for the next film to come… James would have got the bronze medal if it was the Olympics, but instead we all won the worse headache after 3 days of film parties sponsored by vodka Pravda… Oh well. Next time.

I’ll try and write soon, hope your enjoyed the stories.

Lots Of Love
,
Little Elo and filmmaker Jimbo

I (heart) Hong Kong

I am as regular as a Paris paved street... I always tell myself I will write and I will update our info, but the temptation to sit my arse in a comfortable sun bed on our terrace watching a film on a big screen is somehow a little... too good. So while James still figures out how to connect his downloaded films to our projector (oops sorry! There’s only a couple, promise!), I decided I would update the blog.

The last big news is that we've purchased a spider-shaped three-in-one DVD player, projector, speaker, to put on our terrace and view films on a big, huge screen which James bought from a company which was closing down. It's amazing! If you think of the drive-in cinemas of the sixties, well... take out the cars and place the decor in HK, and here you are, in the JimElls Palace. I guess it does prevent you from going out every night. Hong Kong does not have the excuses of the London cold nights to be staying watching a film. So you have to create the excuse, which we wonderfully have done.

James is well, still trying to improve his wakeboard.. Will, his dad, came to visit for a few days. He did very well try to stand up, but the temptation of the muscles-by-the-beach call probably was too strong. Will was a very good visitor. One of these visitors for whom James and I felt a particular pride in showing around our city, where we live and in which environment we blossom. I think that putting away the positive nostalgia of the 1970's, decade when Will was in Hong Kong with the Navy, his love for the place still remains. This is when we had this strange sensation and great feeling that we've actually made the right choice. Coming to Hong Kong was natural for us. We barely knew where we flew in. I mean, I'd never been, and James had been here when he was a kid; not that I want to criticise his memory, but you will all agree that nappies must be uncomfortable enough to think about which bar or beach to go next. And yet, the place suits our needs, suits James’ need for water sports, my need for sun and outdoor sports, and our need for new adventures and travelling. I guess it does mean that we’ll be here for a little while, but may European friends and families be reassured, that only that should be for a few year. One or two?

Love to all, and hopefully see you at Christmas.

An artist to believe in

This is a great way to support the new music that you believe in. Just read below.

My friend Daniel Ward-Murphy has been playing music for years. I first discovered his music in London 2 years ago, when he played with his band Bullet Galloway; I loved his style. You can hear that his influence comes from a bunch of different artists like (to repeat his words) Billy Joel, Jackson Browne, Tori Amos, Keane, The Charlatans, Kasey Chambers, Sandy Denny, Ryan Adams, Nerina Pallot, The Rolling Stones and Tom Petty. People say he sounds like Damien Rice or Tracy Chapman (!), but to me he sounds like Daniel WM.

I'm not advertising just because he's a friend but because I believe in him and his music (and also because he is a friend, actually), so I invite you to listen to it, and do the same! You can listen his tunes on www.danielwm.com and invest in his talent by going on another website www.sellaband.com. The latter puts artists in a position where they have to sell parts to people who believe in them. You put in what ever amount of money you can or want to. When Dan reaches his goal, then he will be put into a studio with a renown producer and will record some spanking new tracks for your listening pleasure. All revenue will then be generated via Sellaband and divided between the artist, Sellaband, and their believers!

I really do think his music is great. When I turn on my ipod and listen to his earlier tracks, it brings smile on my face for the rest of the day.

So if you believe in him like i do, please go on these two websites and help an talented artist fulfill his dream: playing music for a living. Je compte sur vous.

So much to say

It's been a month (again), and I have so much to catch up with you! So let me recite chronologically:

First of all, James and I both celebrated our birthdays: 6th July for me and 27th July for James. We had a double birthday bash for a bigger party. Fifty people turned up and spiced up our terrace with jokes and good mood, including friends from Paris - merci Caro et Francois, l'anniv n'aurait pas ete le meme sans vous! - Gilemon from the Shek O crew, appeared out of nowhere with a jellabah, a Binladen mask, and a massive flower bouquet!!??? Some guys climbed our garden's structure whilst I hugged the loo and passed out (oops! The London girls' crew: thought of you my darlings, especially in these ver difficult moments. haha.). The cops also paid us a visit as 'surrounding neighbours' complained about the noise we were making (don't know why). The dudes were cool, asked us at 00.30 when the party was over, we told them it was immediate, but we carried on until 4.30 in the morning. We missed the absent friends a lot, but that should give them a good picture of our HK parties and make you want to come ;-)

A week later, it was J's birthday, I got him a surprise week-end to Beijing. Until the Captain announced on the plane: 'Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard to this Dragonair flight to Beijing...', he didn't know where we were going! It was very exciting. Got there, and were tourists for two and a half days. Our first impression was Tien AnMen square, the biggest people's square in the world. It is meant to belong to the people (i.e. do what you want there), but there is more police than Mao pictures around there, "et ce n'est pas peu dire". A people's square where you can't sit on the floor, you can't run, and you can't even hold a revolution... but still belongs to the people. The place is IMMENSE, impossibly huge, massive, endless, colossal, enourmous, excessive, extensive, gigantic, monumental, monstrous, immeasurable, giant. I had goose bumps just looking at this vast square and thinking of 1989's massacre. Vicissitudes of democrates' revolution are invisible. It overlooks the entrance of the Forbidden City, and separates the Museum of Chinese History and Revolution and The Great Hall of the People.
We then left and went to the hutong area (= little old alleys) next to Hoihan. We carefully chose our rickshaw cyclist: one with some sort of Lance Armstrong calves, and a big smile on his face. He took us around the lake, see old houses, and we met his wife and baby as he was sprinting next to his rickshaw to go across the bridge.
The next day took us to the Badalin section of the Great Wall, and we made it! We climbed the wall until we couldn't go further. The fog lessened the limitless view you have on good days, but it was still worth the climbing. We headed down to the Summer Palace, where the Emperor was working from April to October for a fresher aired place. The end of our tourist day took us to Beijing's biggest temple, Lamma Temple, before admiring the elastic acrobats of the Chaoyang Theatre. The magical Forbidden City also satisfied our curiosity... A bit too many tourists to my taste, but three hours in there allowed us to plunge ourselves in the Qing Dynasty's time.
The week-end ended with a fabulous lunch at the most hidden local restaurant behind the ambassies' area.
We'll certainly go back, and so should you!
Let me know separeate our adventures ino to chronicles... I need a rest on my terrace. Sorry!
Speak to you soon, and see you in Paris if you are there between the 9th and 17th September. Lots of love to all. we miss you.

Et ainsi vient la vie / and here comes life

Ca y est! Je suis marraine! Elle s'appelle Lilla, Zoe Joguet, et ce petit bout de femme est la fille de ma tres bonne amie Teeva et de son mari Johan... et ma filleule! Elle est nee le 30 juillet (le meilleur mois de l'annee, hehe!) a 4h du matin et pese a peine 3 kilogrammes. Je la verrai pour la premiere fois en septembre lorsqe je rentrerai a Paris puisque je ne peux malheureusement pas rentrer avant. Quel cadeau! Merci Teeva et Johan de m'avoir rendue maraine, c'est un role que je prendrai tres a coeur, et j'ai pour intention de lui apprendre beaucoup de langues et de la faire voyager au bout de la Terre (tant que vous me le permettez ;-) )

Alors voila la Nouvelle du Jour. 'Elle est po bonne??'


So here I am... Godmother! Her name is Lilla, Zoe Joguet, and this little woman is the beautiful daughter of my very special friend Teeva and her husband Johan. And she's my goddaughter! She was born on 30th July (the best month!) at 4am, and she weighs almost 3 kilogramms. I will only see her forthe first time in September when I will go back to Paris for a few days as I unfortunately cannot make it earlier.
What a present! Thanks Teeva, Johan, for having me as godmother, it's a role that I relish and look forward to carrying out. I plan on teaching her a few languages and take her around the world (of course, should you let me to ;-) )

Here is the News of the Day: isn't it great??