Hong Kong Saints...

So we're slowly adjusting to our new life in Hong Kong. Sunday we went to church. The church is on Hong Kong island. It's about a 40 minute train ride from where we are living. It was really neat... And quite comforting. Even though we are so far away and everything is so different the church is the same everywhere. I'm so grateful for that. There was so much diversity in our ward. The counselor that conducted sacrament was British....so many different cool accents. Our branch is English speaking but there were still some Chinese people and lots of other ethnicities. There was one couple there from Provo that are teaching English in Hong Kong... They knew another couple from our ward in Springville... And apparently they told them we were coming and to watch for us. Such a small world.

Sunday night we ate in. Jordan and Ruth cooked a beef stir fry that was delicious! We're going to try to do a lot more eating in. Rice is cheep and so are veggies from the markets... So we'll be eating lots of stir fry type dishes. Yesterday Ruth and I went to drop off our laundry and and check out the markets. One amazing thing about Hong Kong is the fruit and veggies here are amazing! I've never seen fruit like this before. So fresh and perfect. We bought a bunch to cook meals with. The women at the markets just loved Mylan! I wore him in the baby carrier on my chest today and everybody went crazy over him. I felt like a celebrity... Or like my baby was a celebrity rather. We got swarmed. It was funny at first but it got to the point that I couldn't do my shopping or even walk... Such a little ladies man already. :)

It was extremely hot and humid yesterday so after the adventure at the markets I was done. I've found myself taking a couple of showers or baths a day here. The humidity is like nothing I have felt before. A dip in the pool is nice too. Our hotel has great air conditioning... so that helps a lot!

Mylan is doing well. Last night he slept almost all night... which is such a relief because up until last night he was waking up several times. Last night was the first night I feel like I got pretty good sleep... I can finally get over the jet lag now. Hopefully he'll continue to sleep like he always does at home. We started Mylan on rice cereal a few days ago. His first spoonful he didn't quite know what to do... he kind of just let it sit on the edge of his tongue and lips... but he figured out what to do... So much fun. I can't wait to introduce him to more solid foods in the coming months! He's rolled over a few times since we've been here. It always takes him a few minutes to figure it out.

Tim's first day of work was on Monday. He's working on the 32nd floor of a building in Kowloon. Has a great view. He's loving working daytime hours. He's used to working from 4pm-1am so 9-5 is a completely new experience for him. And I'm loving having my husband home in the evening. We had dinner in again last night. Beef and broccoli stir fry this time. Yum. The hotel guest services here is awesome. They have been so great to us since we've been here... They don't speak a ton of English though and we've had some funny miscommunications with them... For example last night when we were cooking we called and asked if they could bring us up another pan... Instead they brought us a pen. Haha... Then we asked for another knife to cut up vegetables... and they brought us a butter knife wrapped elegantly in a napkin... They were so apologetic when they got it wrong and would bow to us... "so sorry." Pretty funny.

So things are good on this side of the world. Still pretty overwhelming... But especially after going out without Tim yesterday I feel a little bit more comfortable... Still need to figure out the best way to go out with the boy. Using the stroller by myself is a bit too much. Hong Kong is not very stroller accessible. But wearing him in the baby bjiornn gets so hot... Good for shorter trips. So I need to figure that out before I feel like I can get around the city by myself.

I hope all is well with everyone in the good old U.S. of A. Wish I could have been with my family yesterday for my Grandma's funeral. She was 93. What a life!

Peace out everyone. Till next time.

Posted some of the sights we've seen. Enjoy!

The Subway Station at rush hour.
Subway

Mong Kok. The most densely populated place in the world. Would this overwhelm you?
View of the city from the ferry.
This is the building the church owns... This is where we go to church!

Jet Lag and Culture Shock

Well... We are finally here. After a super super long day... 18 hours of flying and airports we arrived in Hong Kong. As soon as we walked outside it felt like I walked into a hot steamy shower. And it was 11:00 at night! We got a cab to take us to our hotel. We are living in the New Territories which is kind of further away from everything so it was a longer drive but it gave us a chance to see a lot. I have never seen so many skyscrapers. SO MANY! Our hotel is incredible. If i never get used to this city, I feel comfortable here. First of all the view is stunning. The window overlooks a beautiful Bay and of course a bunch of skyscrapers. (See the picture I posted) We are living in a 2 bedroom suite. So there are two bedrooms connected to a living room and kitchen. Tim's colleague Jordan and his wife are staying in the other room. We have maid service too which is really awesome. I'm going to be so spoiled here. They have an awesome pool. When you get there the staff lays towels out for you... and there's a bar where you can get drinks while you sun bathe. It's pretty sweet.

Yesterday (Friday) we went to the grocery store and a mall. This was quite the experience. First of all... I was expecting everybody to speak much better English. Communicating is difficult. Tim and Jordan speak fluent Mandarin... but in Hong Kong the language is Cantanese... A lot of people speak some Mandarin... So usually Tim uses a mixture of Mandarin and English and can communicate a little better with people. Everything is really expensive here. Baby formula was 20 bucks (US dollars) that's twice what I pay in the states. We're going to get visas this week so we can go into mainland China and go to the Walmart or Sams club there. Everything is much cheaper in China so hopefully we can start buying diapers and a lot of the things we need there so we don't spend all of our money. We took the subway to a mall in Kowloon yesterday. The subway is pretty cool. Its a really fast way to get places. It's very crowded though... And people are pushy and not like they are in the US. In the couple of days I've been here it's made me appreciate the U.S so much. I'm pretty sure anywhere in the states if a woman with a baby in a stroller walked onto a Subway... people would move out of the way to make room... People here look out for themselves only. We were trying to get onto an elevator today and about a dozen people pushed their way ahead of us and never offered to move or take the next elevator for the people with a stroller... We had to wait for the elevator to come back... There was even a sign that said handicaped or people with children had priority... Still nobody let us go ahead. I was shocked. Today we went to Hong Kong island. I've never seen anything like it. This Idaho girl is totally out of her element. We took the ferry back to downtown Kowloon. That was a beautiful sight... Such a gigantic city.

So we're still pretty jet lagged. Last night we went to bed at 8:00... Tim even fell asleep at 9. Mylan is having a hard time adjusting to the time change. We tried keeping him up all day yesterday... Put him to bed at 7:30.... He slept till midnight pretty soundly but then woke up and really didn't want to go back to sleep even though he was really tired. Since we share a room with him now... it's hard to just let him cry it out like we usually do at home... He was up 3 or 4 times from midnight to 5. So not the best nights sleep. Hopefully he'll get adjusted soon... cause at home he sleeps through the night like a champ.

Tomorrow we're going to church. The church has a whole skyscraper on Hong Kong island. All of the wards in Hong Kong meet there. It will take about 40 minutes to get there on the subway. I'm excited to meet the members and see how different it is. We're also going to eat in tomorrow since it's Sunday... We've been eating out since we got here... And it is getting pretty expensive so we need to figure out how to eat cheaper here. Monday the guys get to start working in their office. Tim and Jordan rented an office space near Kowloon. They're really excited to get cranking. They have some big demos this week with some big companies and universities here in Hong Kong. They feel there is a lot of potential in this city and some of the surrounding Asian countries.

Hopefully our jet lag will pass and will become adjusted to the time here... I'm also hoping some of the culture shock will also pass. There is so much more I want to see... but it gets overwhelming going out, especially with a baby. Hopefully I will adjust. :)

I miss home already. We'll send updates often and lots more of pictures. TTFN.



view of part of Kowloon from the ferry.



Tim and I on the ferry from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon.

This is the pool at our hotel. It is awesome!

This is the view from our room.