Our apartment, finally!

Hello Friends!

There is so much to tell that I could go on writing for hours! However, this will have to be a short post as it is almost 11pm and I need to get up early tomorrow. I enjoyed a good message and fellowship at church this morning and then out for lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant with some friends (almost the same group as last week!). Instead of visiting a new church this week, I decided to go back to ECC since I know how to get there by myself and have several friends there now. John Paul is away on a trip, so I had to go by myself this week. (By the way, JP is in Hawaii right now - so I sent him a Wal-Mart list that includes comet, syrup, a potato masher, grapefruit spoons, vitamins and a can of cranberries for Thanksgiving!)
After lunch today, I walked around with Amy, Sum, Jesse and the kids (Evangeline and Elijah) and they showed me a well-known market on Temple Street in Jordan (where you can bargain for things!), and a German bakery. After they went home, I had a couple hours to kill, so I wandered around Central and found some shops and then watched a celebration/festival from the Philippines (singers, dancers and a beauty pageant). There were Filipinos (mostly ladies) ALL over....lined on the sides of the street, in the tunnel going under the road, on the grass...so I just picked a spot and made myself at home with them! Many Filipino ladies live and work with families in Hong Kong and Sunday is their day off, so they often leave the house where they work and mingle with other Filipinos on their mutual day off (Sunday). Many come from sad situations back in the Philippines. One girl that works and lives in our building has a job taking care of the two children in a family who lives here (originally from Spain). The Filipino lady has a 4 year old of her own back home in the Philippines, but she can only see her daughter once a year or so. She (the 4 year old) lives with the dad and the mom works in Hong Kong to raise money for her. The mom said that if she stayed at home with her 4 year old, there would not be enough money for food so she needs to live here to earn money.

After killing a few hours, I went to the last day of the Hong Kong International Piano Competition finals. Both of the finalists for the evening played Rachmaninov's 3rd Concerto. Vladimir Ashkenazy was conducting the orchestra (sigh!). I am going back and Tuesday and Wednesday nights to hear the judges perform! Hong Kong is not so bad, is it?! :) I am so thankful to my new friend Mary Wu for inviting me to go with her and giving me tickets too!

Speaking of "not so bad" - every day I grow to like it and feel more at home here. Thanks to a little store called Japan Home which is in the basemet of where we live, I've been able to buy little things here and there to make our apartment more like home. So now, what you've all been waiting for:
OUR APARTMENT!

First let me start by showing you the outside. This is from across the street next to Tung Chung Park.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogHDs9NYVsA

Here's a still picture:

Since I was across the street, I (we) decided to show you the park. Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vNSYKi7eao

It was a bit hazy, but a very pleasant day.

We saw a grave on our hike.

Looking down to the MTR and road

Looking back at our apartment complex

A sign along the way...

We decided vere off the main path to see the "Olympic Green." We climbed a lot of stairs.

And then some more...

And more!



Turns out..it was just a sign! But it was pretty along the way, so it was worth it. (Who needs a stair machine when you've got "real" stairs to climb, right?!)

So now...here is a tour of our apartment from the INSIDE! (It starts at the elevator [or 'lift' as they say here]  - though the elevator was stopped on floor 32, we really live on floor 15 - don't let that confuse you!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYZwbVGu3yg

I will try and get some pictures of the outside of our apartment, but it will probably be late this week or next week before I am able to do it.

Just two more things before I say goodnight:

1. Shopping - just thought I'd show you some pictures I took from one of my grocery shopping adventures:







Here is the receipt: 248.25!!





And here is what I bought.

Don't worry - it's not as bad as it seems. USD that would be about $32.24.

For those of you who were wondering about gas prices, I took a picture for you. I'll leave it to you to do the math - don't forget it's per liter, not gallon. (and it's HKD, not USD, of course). We don't pay much attention to gas prices since we don't have a car here.



2. John Paul and I went to the Space museum on Wednesday. It was a lot of fun! I went on a 'ride' that simulated zero gravity in space. Two guys strapped me into a harness and I walked to the wall and back to the stairs twice. Just to be funny, I said, "So am I really in space?!" One of the guys was like, "No, it's just a ride." I guess he was probably thinking "Dumb American!" HA!

Goodnight everybody! I'm going to bed! (So much for being 'short' huh?! Oh well...)



Sunday

We enjoyed an uplifting church service at Evangelical Community Church (ECC) today and some fellowship over a Chinese meal with some folks from the church. Sum and Jesse who I mentioned last week (from Alabama) invited some others and we all went out for Dim Sum.

(This is me with Sum - Evangeline, her daughter is next to her).

My favorite was the shrimp dumplings. John Paul was adventurous and tried the chicken feet (I tried one bite of his)! (See below)

At lunch, I was also able to meet Mary Wu - a fellow pianist! She is artist in residence at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and faculty member at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. 

We sat by her husband, James, in church last week. She wasn't able to be there last week because she was judging a competition.

After lunch, we walked with Sum, Jesse, their kids Evangeline and Elijah and a new friend that we met at lunch, Amy. We went to a park and then went to a department store where John Paul and I bought big, fluffy towels! Finally! We've been using paper thin ones so far. I'm looking forward to using these nice new ones! Here are some pictures of us at the park:

(Sum and Jesse)

(Me - tall? What? - and that's with flat shoes! HA! See how I feel here?! :)

So - we're thankful for good fellowship and such nice new friends.

Have a wonderful Sunday to all our U.S. friends who are just getting up now or soon!

Home day

Just a quick update for today.
Yesterday I went to breakfast with another pilot's wife here. She and her 2 year old daughter filled me in on what it has been like for them so far. They have been in Hong Kong since February. After breakfast, she and I went to the gym at our apartment to work out. I didn't last very long! - I haven't worked out for a while! Anyway, we enjoyed sitting in the sauna after our workout. The clubhouse here has a steam sauna and a dry sauna.
The ammenities at our apartment are great, however, I found out that you pay for each individual thing. Everything costs in Hong Kong it seems! They have 4 pools (2 indoor and 2 outdoor along with a kiddie pool as well), bowling alley, workout gym, karaoke room, outdoor tennis court, miniature golf, table tennis, squash court, a piano room that you can rent, billiard room, banquet hall (2), Japanese spa, barbecue area and a rock climbing wall. When you pay for something, such as the gym, you get an arm band that allows you to return for the whole day. I didn't realize that you need to pay for each thing, so after working out in the gym, I thought I'd take a dip in the pool and see what it was like - well, I was told that I would have to pay for that and get another arm band to use the pool. You pay for each activity either by the day, the hour, such as renting  karaoke room per hour, or each use, such as the climbing wall. There are different prices, too, based on if you're a resident, elderly, a guest or if it is a weekday or a weekend day.

I enjoyed the gym, however, and met some girls there. One was from Spain and one was from Venezuela. The one from Venezuela didn't speak much English, so the pilot's wife translated for us!

After lunch I took a nap! I thought about cleaning the apartment, but that made me even more sleepy! :)

Last night when the pilots returned, we all (the pilots and their wives/girlfriend) went out for pizza. The pizza wasn't exactly like what I'm used to - very, very thin crust and not a lot of cheese with some different things on it, like feta - but very good. I was going to take a picture of the 3 pilots, but I forgot. They were in their 'costumes!' :)

Today, John Paul was on call, but he was home. We enjoyed sleeping in and then talking and catching up with what has gone on since we weren't able to communicate much while he was away. We went grocery shopping and bought some other household things like hangers and laundry soap. Then we decided to wash laundry. HA! Let me explain:

Welcome to our apartment: apartment 15C (The doorbell is underneath but doesn't work very well right now...)

Here's our front door (ok...only door except for the balcony!  - yes, that is a peep hole..it is positioned lower than my shoulder!)

So, once inside (pictures to come...it's not clean yet!), you are in the dining room/living room  - it's tiny, let me tell you. If you turn left, you are in the kitchen. Here's a picture of my kitchen:

The door is ANNOYING! I have to shut the door in order to get into the fridge which is directly behind the door, but I really don't want to keep the door shut for long because it's SO small in there I feel claustrophobic and also the air conditioning won't be able to get in there so it will get hot and stuffy very quickly. JP might take the door off, but we just don't know where to put it! Our apartment is really small.

Just to the right of the stove is the sink. That's the whole kitchen. And no, we do not have an oven. Sadly! What looks like a dishwasher is actually my washer and dryer. I don't have a dishwasher - but of course that's not a problem because I don't have many dishes to wash anyway!

Here's the washer/dryer:

It's SO tiny! We decided to wash a load of laundry today. We started the load at 12:20 this afternoon. 3 hours and 20 minutes later, the washer was done! We turned the dryer on as soon as the washer was done and just now, at 8:00pm, we stopped the dryer and decided to become a real Chinese family and hang our clothes outside on the porch! The dryer, even after all that time, hadn't finish drying the clothes! From what I'm told, dryers here don't finish drying the clothes. If you want to dry them, you either do what most everyone does and hang them outside on the porch or else take them to the laundry. We have done a few loads at the laundry downstairs, but they don't have coin laundry - you just hand the load of dirty clothes to the lady and she washes and dries them for you (and she does not sort them - just puts them all into the washer together) - and it costs you about $10 (USD) for one load of laundry. (depending on the weight).

So, besides laundry, picking up our apartment, fixing a broken light and shopping, we enjoyed checking out the park across the street and eating at the same restaurant where I cried that first day in the apartment. I did not cry! In fact, we loved the delicious food! John Paul and I each had the same thing: sweet and sour pork with rice, tea and soup. Yummy!

Well, John Paul just found out that he has a trip in the morning, so I guess I'll be going to church by myself! I'm looking forward to the fellowship of believers.

So long for now! Have a blessed Lord's day.

Visit to Central, Hong Kong

Hello!

Ok, for all of you who have emailed me asking to see the apartment, don't worry! I'll show you - I am just waiting until JP returns and finishes unpacking his bags before I take pictures! It looks a little messy right now! :)

I heard some bad news today - one of the other pilot wives said that it took 2 months for their boxes to come when they moved here! Yieks! Wish I would have stuffed more into the 2 bags I brought with me on the airplane! Oh well...it will get here when it gets here.

Before I moved to Hong Kong, I did a lot of reading about it online. One of the sites that I frequently went to was for expats living here. On that site, I began emailing a girl from here who wanted to meet me once I got here. Her American name is Erica. She was born in Hong Kong and teaches english in a local high school for boys. She wanted to talk in english while she showed me around town. Needless to say, I was a little nervous to actually meet her! I had many warnings - Mom, John Paul, Grandparents, my new friend Gabby, and others. I left my engagement ring at home, hid my passport under my clothes, took very little money, and met her in the crowded subway station downtown (in Central). She texted me what she was wearing so I could find her and I told her that I was 31, tall and blonde (let me tell you - I'm VERY easy to spot here! HA!). Well, clutching my cellphone tightly ready to dial while screaming for help, I went ahead and met her. As I was walking up to her, she looked at me and then kept looking behind me. Turns out she saw me but since I had told her I was 31, she was looking for someone who looked older. She said, "I thought most Americans looked older than their age, but you look younger." So, she won my heart right away! - Just kidding! ;)

Turns out, I had nothing to worry about. She was lovely! We spend 3 hours together exploring Central - which is about a 35 minute subway ride away from where I live (in Tung Chung). http://hong-kong-travel.org/MTR/

She showed me around a grocery store, told me how to make stir-fry, showed me where to buy cheaper clothes, where to "look at" expensive clothes!, and we enjoyed a little snack at a local restaurant. She had me try a drink that is popular here - it is half tea (British tea) with half coffee and milk. After about 3 spoons of sugar, it was really good! :)

The funny thing was, she had me try a special treat - fried bread. Well, when it arrived, I saw what looked exactly like french toast with a little butter, a little honey and some sweetened condensed milk on top. That's exactly what it was - french toast but without syrup! It was yummy! :)

(Me with Erica with an old police building from 1919 behind us- at least I believe that is what it was ...I saw a lot of buildings today! -  and little street shops all around us)



She took me on the "world's longest escalator" - which is basically a series of regular escalators one right after another. So you ride a little, walk a little and then ride again! You can get off between and shop or look around. Here's a picture:

Sadly, I'm afraid many Americans have left a bad impression on a lot of the Hong Kong people. I'm seeing that more and more. Erica immediately asked me if I wanted to see the bars in the western part of the city. When I told her that I don't drink alcohol, she was shocked. She said that all the Americans that she has met want to know where to find other Americans and where to go to the bars. As we went past the more western area, I saw more bars than I could count with a lot of westerners in them.

I'm afraid that many people I have met start out with a bad impression of westerners, and Americans in particular. They have seen many American men, married or not, come to Hong Kong to find Asian girlfriends and drink their time away while they're here.

Erica was very pleased to see that I was interested in trying the local food and seeing the sights here. We did a lot of walking today! I was getting a little tired near the end, but since she is so used to walking, she was fine! - and I found out that she is 4 1/2 months pregnant too!

I enjoyed seeing a few places where I can buy some more inexpensive items and clothes,

and she even took me to a local grocery store and showed me how to shop! She told me how to make stir-fry and filled me on on what she eats and how she cooks.

On a side note - I am learning to bring my water bottle everywhere I go. I have only seen one drinking fountain so far! Most people here bring drinks or buy them. Also, ordering water with your meal usually comes in a tiny little glass and if you order a cold drink such as pop, it will cost you a few HKD more than a hot drink!

I enjoyed seeing Hong Kong at night! Erica took me down by the water and I took some pictures. My pictures aren't very good, and being there was MUCH more beautiful than it looks in the pictures, but it will give you an idea anyway.

(Erica thinks this is Hong Kong's tallest building - sorry it's blurry).

(Blurry again, but it's still pretty!)

 

(Beautiful view of Central)

(Across the bay looking at Tsim Sha Tsui)

So - that's all for today! I'm looking forward to John Paul's return tomorrow night!



Life so far

I guess I'll start at the very beginning of this adventure:
A few weeks ago, John Paul was promoted to captain at his job (AirMed International) to fly the Hawker 800 jet that is based here in Hong Kong. We thought this would be a fun opportunity and a perfect time in life for this adventure.

With the help of many friends and family, we packed (and packed and packed) our apartment (who knew so much stuff could be in one apartment?!) and put everything into storage except for 6 boxes which the company shipped over (well...we're still waiting for them, actually - they're on the "slow boat to China!), 4 bags and 2 computers which we brought with us on the airplane.

(Looking all teary-eyed leaving Birmingham)

On October 10th, we said goodbye to my family and boarded the airplane. It was SO hard saying goodbye! I had been so busy getting everything ready that I don't think I had enough time to think about just how far away I would be living! When I hugged my family goodbye, it all hit me!

The airplane ride was SO long! We flew for 2 hours to Chicago, had a 2 hour layover and then spent 15 1/2 hours trying to sleep and watch movies from Chicago to Hong Kong. At one point I thought, "We have got to be about there!" When I looked at the time left, it said 9 hours still remaining! We were given 2 hot meals (not exactly delicious, but food anyway) and a snack.

Arriving in Hong Kong was so exciting! It was 5:00pm here, so still light outside. The weather was warm. We went through immigration and Kin met us just beyond the baggage area. Kin is the office manager for AirMed here in Hong Kong. He is the nicest guy! He is from Hong Kong so he spent the next 3 days going around with us and helping us find what we needed, taking care of paperwork, and getting into our apartment ( a few days later...)

(This picture is us with Kin. We look terrible because we had just been through 17 1/2 hours in the air plus immigration and separation tears! - well, I had tears, anyway)

We stayed in the Novotel (hotel) for the first 3 nights while our apartment was being cleaned from the guy who stayed here before us. Meanwhile we spent our time applying for Hong Kong id cards, buying octupus cards (used here for bus fares, fast food and subway charges - like a pre-paid credit card), applying for Chinese visas, getting a work phone for JP, etc.

The day we were able to move into our apartment, John Paul was called for a trip. AH! I had breakfast with him at about 8:30 before he left, and then I waited in the hotel until 2pm when apartment was finally ready. Kin came and helped me get a taxi to take our bags from the hotel over to the apartment. After loading our bags into the apartment, Kin left and I started to unpack and make the apartment our home. Unfortunately, I felt sea sick! We are on the 15th floor (well - it would be, except that some of the numbers are missing - such as 13 and all 4s - so 4, 14, 24 ect - due to Chinese superstition) and I felt dizzy, nauseous and like I was swaying back and forth. This lasted for about 3 days, but thankfully I am over it now!

I wrote down some things I needed, such as food for breakfast, a trash can, sheets, towels and soap. I thought I'd just "run and get them" before dinner. HA! No such luck! I guess I'm used to WalMart where you just go into the store, get what you want and leave! I went to the wet market and bought some eggs at one stand, some flowers for the table (and a vase) at another stand, and some fruit at still another. I stopped by the grocery store, but was rather depressed with the prices and I didn't know what to buy! I don't have an oven, so everything I make is either on the stove or in my rice cooker. I bought some bread (a tiny like half loaf!) and some precious butter - imported, of course. By this time I had as much as I could carry so I walked home.

Walking - I do so much walking here! In one week I've lost weight! Great weight loss program - walk all the time and eat fruits, vegetables and rice! :)

(Our first breakfast - brown eggs from the wet market, bread from the tiny loaf with imported butter, strawberry jam, orange slices and bananas! - Also notice the flowers and vase I bought at the wet market!)

After I got back home and put my groceries away, I decided I should eat dinner. (I had only eaten breakfast at 8:30 that morning and it was now 8:30 at night). So, remember that I was tired, hungry, overwhelmed, and lonely. John Paul was gone and I by myself. I tried to talk to some people but unfortunately those who I talked to didn't speak english. I went downstairs into the little mall that's under our apartment complex. I found a little fast-food Chinese place. I pointed to the picture of what I wanted (sweet and sour pork), paid and then picked up my food when it was ready. Well, I realized that I needed chopsticks to eat with, so I asked the lady there if I could have some chopsticks. She didn't understand me, so she just said, "no!" and shook her head. I didn't know what to do. I sat down and thought, "do I eat this with my fingers?" I was so depressed! The guy sitting in the next table over spoke english and said, "Do you need something?" At that point it all came crashing down and I started sobbing! Poor guy didn't know what to do! I said, ''I...just (sob)...wanted...some...chopsticks!" He was like, "It's ok! You don't want yours?" and pointed down to my tray. Silly me! My chopsticks were black and had blended into the black tray so I didn't see them! I thanked him through sobs and apologized while still crying! His wife gave me a kind smile (though I don't think she spoke english) and the guy said, "How long have you been here?" I proceeded to blurt out my whole story, crying all the while. In the end, the food was DELICIOUS and I managed to stop crying. I did burst out into tears again when John Paul came home, of course, but I felt a lot better after that! :)

Crying - I did have a few more times of crying, such as when I tried talking to people and they kept looking down and wouldn't make eye contact and I felt like a super tall alien! I cried in front of everyone on the subway - so the big, tall, blonde alien had red glasses from crying! I'm sure that was really cute! HA! I cried for joy on Sunday morning when we walked into the church and I heard singing in english of songs that I hear at Briarwood! They even sang "In Christ Alone"  - one of my favorites.

I'm done crying, though. I'm meeting friends and getting settled. On Sunday, I was able to meet in person a sweet gal named Sum! She and her husband and adorable 2 kids go to the church that we visited. Sum and I have a mutual friend in Tuscaloosa (Christie - we miss you!) who introduced us through facebook before I got here. Sum is from Hong Kong but lived in Tuscaloosa (Alabama) for 10 years where she met her American husband, Jesse. Now they live in Hong Kong where they've been for 1 year now. John Paul and I were able to go out to lunch with them after church. They took us to a Mongolian restaurant and then walked around afterwards and showed us some things that we should be sure to see while we're here. We might look around for a church that is a bit closer, but if not, we would be happy at the church that we visited. It takes us 55 minutes to get there, though, so we're hoping for one a bit closer!

Oh yes, I must tell you about Saturday! A friend, Jim, from the US, flew into HK for work so he met up with us while he was here! His daughter, Julie and her husband Kevin are good friends of ours from Tuscaloosa. Kevin is in school with me....and BETTER not beat me in finishing his degree before I do! - the race is on! ;)

(Me with Andre Watts)

After dinner, John Paul and I went to the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra concert. They had a special guest - pianist Andre Watts - playing the Grieg Concerto. It was WONDERFUL!

JP has a 3 day trip right now. He's off to mainland China and Australia. Meanwhile, I'm not lonely at all! I've talked to Mom, Dad, Andy, Ben, Bjorn, Grandpa, Grandma, Megan and Gina on Skype, I went out for a yummy Chinese dinner with a new friend here, Gabby, and I'm meeting another new friend for lunch today! Meanwhile, I've unpacked my bags and organized most of the house. I still have a lot of cleaning to do though.

Hopefully that will catch everyone up to speed on our life here in HK! I will try to post more frequently so that I won't have such long ones after this! :)

Until then....