Now we are six!

As Winnie the Pooh says, Tori is now six and clever as clever (and her parents want her to stay six forever and ever.) She celebrated her birthday in grand style a week ago, with a some festivities on her actual birthday and then a larger Ancient Egypt theme party a few days later. There was a little confusion all around, trying to figure out the times, dates, and ages across continents, ie. would I still be five in Maryland? But all in all, Tori has accepted the mantle of six with grace and panache.

For Tori’s birthday, we planned to buy her a piano and start lessons. We mainly did this, renting her a "Baldwin" piano for now. The Chinese piano that many people recommend, the Green River brand I think, was sold out after the holidays and thus we concocted the rent to own scheme. The whole transaction, when compared to our purchase of piano in Ukraine, is a little interesting. In Ukraine, the actual purchase was the main event. We bought the piano (what currency? cash?) and it was delivered. Actually, one huge man carried our piano up to the seventh floor, unloaded it, drank a beer, tuned it, and played and chatted for awhile. Here in Hong Kong, we paid for it and then slipped into the endless waiting for the item to be delivered phase. Many frantic cell phone calls later and a couple hours late, some men dropped off the piano, deferred all questions and promptly left. Just when I was starting to miss those quirky Ukraine moments, Tori’s new piano teacher arrived with lots of personality. She greeted us with "Hello big and tall Americans!"