ENT: Play by Play

There are some things that I don't want to forget about HK life. With our impending move back to midsize city America, I have a running list of blog entries I want to do so that I can remember this crazy urban life we've been living for the past three years. One of them occured tonight: taking Maddie Rae to a doctor's appointment. This doesn't sound that exciting or noteworthy, but in a city of 7 million, it's a stark contrast from throwing her in her car seat, driving five minutes, and walking 10 steps into a doctor's office. So here goes the play by play.

9:30 am Call ENT office to schedule a morning appt that won't interfere with naptime.
9:31 am (indecipherable Chinese) "Hello? Do you speak English?"
9:35 am After several lost in translation run arounds, we finally establish that I must bring her in this afternoon when the audiologist is there. Ok. 5:30 it is.
4:00 pm Pack diaper bag with lots of snacks, drinks, and wipes (got caught once on the MTR with Jonah, a blow out, and one lonely wipe. Won't make that mistake again.)
4:20 pm Tell the boys to be good, leave them with the helper, put Maddie Rae in the stroller and walk to the ferry pier to catch the 4:30 ferry.
4:30 pm On the ferry. Maddie Rae is surprisingly calm and sits on my lap most of the time. Make a few phone calls.
4:55 pm Put her back in the stroller, load up the bag, and wait in the line to disembark the ferry.
5:00 pm Lift the stroller up several sets of stairs and get on escalator number 1
5:03 pm Dodge my way through the throngs of people on the walk way and into IFC mall.
5:05 pm Pass Mango (no time to look), Dolce and Gabana, Armani Exchange, and McD's. Exit mall onto walkway.
5:10 pm Haul stroller down another flight of stairs and dodge more people on my way to the Landmark building.
5:15 pm Walk through the Landmark, past Armani, Armani Underwear (wonder: how much would a pair of those would set you back?), Tod's, Louis Vuitton, Harvey Nichols, and Tiffany. Go down 3 more escalators to ground floor.
5:20 pm Exit Landmark onto street level. Surrounded by huge buildings, honking cars, double decker buses, and lots of Chinese people in black designer labels. I'm in JCrew pants, an American Eagle sweatshirt, and sporting my new blond highlights with my Chinese baby. Ya think I stand out?
5:21 pm Cross Pedder Street and walk up one block to Shanghai Tang/Pedder Building. Again...dodging people.
5:22 pm Reach Pedder Building. Haul stroller up one flight of stairs and get in the lift to the 7th floor clinic.
5:25 pm Arrive at the doctor's office.
5:30 pm Secretary tells me there are several patients ahead of me, so I should go to the 5th floor and shop. Can do. Back down the lift.
6:13 pm Phone rings. It's the doctor ready to see me.
6:15 pm Meet with the ENT.
6:20 pm Audiologist does middle ear test
6:25 pm ENT breaks the news that she does have fluid in both middle ears and will need tubes put in at her next palate surgery. Not such a big deal except that she can't get ANY water in her ears for the next year. And she's the only one of my kids who actually likes water at this age. Figures.
6:30 pm Pay the bill
6:35 pm Catch the lift down to street level. Haul stroller down flight of steps and repeat process back to ferry pier.
7:00 pm Get on ferry. Maddie Rae is not calm. She is a wild woman wanting to run throughout the ferry.
7:25 pm Get off ferry. Walk home.
7:30 pm Haul stroller up steps to our building and down steps to our flat.
7:31 pm Open door. We're home!

Stay tuned for my upcoming "Park n Shop" post (where there are 5 checkout lanes to 16,000 people) and my "Shopping in the City" post (where Carol and I spend an entire day searching through several grocery stores for elusive items that were "just there" but are never there when we actually need them).