A Muslim Christmas

Well, we've made it back from Langkawi, Malaysia and had a wonderful time on our vacation. Lots of sun, food and fun.

We flew out early and had a short layover in Kuala Lampur where we decided to have lunch at Burger King because the only other option was some scary noodle place. Our bill was 23 RM (Malaysian Ringgit) but we of course didn't have any local currency on us. They said we could pay with US Dollars but, well, none of those either. (note to self: bring back US Dollars next time we're back in the States). Thankfully, they took HK dollars. We gave them HKD100 and got back something like 25 RM. Between the two of us, we couldn't figure out how much we actually paid for our lunch so if someone could do the math and let us know, we'd appreciate it!

It was my first time in a Muslim country (don't feel badly if you didn't know Malaysia is Muslim because I didn't realize it until I got there - I really need to work on these kind of things), and it was interesting to observe their customs. The majority of women had their heads covered and were dressed in long pants and long sleeves, even though it was 90+ degrees everyday. Seeing as how I'm "environmentally challenged" and am either too hot or too cold, I can't imagine having to wear all of those layers when it's so hot outside. However, not every woman covered their head all the time, but we couldn't work out what the standard was and felt rude being too inquisitive with people. This trip was also the first time that I have seen women dressed in the full, black burkas. The local Malaysians weren't dressed this way, but there were several women at our resort dressed this way. I can't imagine how hot these women get.

Really, though, the biggest difference is not in how the women dress but in how they act and how they are treated. Chris and I had quite a few long talks about this. I have to say that I wouldn't classify Langkawi women (these women don't include those dressed in the burkas that I just mentioned) as "oppressed", or at least not in how we traditionally define the word.

Langkawi women work, go about their business freely, cruise around in cars and motobikes on their own. It's not as if they can't do many of the things that "unoppressed" women do. Yet, at the same time, women are clearly viewed as a man's possession, for lack of a better word, whether that man be a husband, father or brother. From what I saw and experienced, women aren't treated badly, on a whole. It's all very subtle. For example, if Chris and I were together, only Chris was addressed. From the taxi drivers, to the waiters to the women at the front desk, no one ever said "hello" or "how are you" to me directly. From the Muslim standpoint, it is considered a great insult to the man (& woman for that matter) to directly address any woman in a man's company. I would be irate if something like that ever happened to us in the U.S. but I have to say that I never felt like I was being treated rudely while we were there. That being said, it is nice to be back in Hong Kong where women are very independent and treated as equals.

Our first night we ate in one of the restaurants in our hotel that had a cultural dancing show. It was somewhat cheesy, as most hotel shows can be, but it was cool to see their traditional wedding dances that have been around for hundreds of years. It makes you sort of embarrassed to think that some of the traditional American wedding dances are the "chicken dance" and the "dollar dance." I mean, flapping your hands like beaks and shaking your butt doesn't quite give you the same feeling as these well choreographed dances but I guess that's what happens when your country is only 200 years old and a mix of all different cultures. Oh well.

We headed to an outdoor night market Saturday evening. Compared to what we have here in Hong Kong, the market was filled with crap but the food was amazing. We had dinner at this place and ate an amazing meal of Nasi Goreng Ayam (fried rice with chicken) and Mango salad, all for the whopping price of $2.50 and that was because we had a bottle of water.

Langkawi reminded us a lot of Maui, which makes sense given that their both small islands, in warm weather climates, but Langkawi is actually made up of 99 small islands, with only 2 of them being inhabited by people. You can see some of the smaller islands in the background of the picture. One of my friends recommended a great restaurant right on the beach called The Lighthouse for dinner and to watch the sunset. This is us at dinner there. We ate all Malaysian food and it was amazing. We've become obsessed with Thai food while we've been in Hong Kong but we're thinking that Malaysian may be our new favorite. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday evening.
On Christmas Eve, we wanted to rent a car to go and see some of the sights on the island. We thought it would be fun to cruise around for the day, even if we did have to drive on the other side of the road. This is where having our driver's licenses would have been very helpful. The funny thing is, we had planned on doing this long before we ever got on the plane, but it never crossed either one of our minds to bring our license with us. We brought our passports and our Hong Kong ID cards but nothing to actually prove we know how to drive. This is one of those things that we'll never leave home without again but we just never thought of it. Oh well!

The good news is, we were able to rent a taxi for 4 hours for about $35 and we got to see a lot of the island. Only in Asia can you spend 4 hours in a taxi for the same amount of money it used to cost us to get from the Milwaukee airport to our apartments downtown.

We had our Christmas Eve dinner at a seafood restaurant in town. The food was amazing, including the massive King Tiger Prawns that we ordered. They were bigger than most lobsters we've eaten but we probably should have paid more attention to the fact that they were about $4 per 100 g. Please don't ask me to do the conversion but all I can tell you is that we had 4 prawn for $60. Oops! Really, though, they were very tasty.

I woke up Christmas morning in time to watch the sunrise. Thankfully, because we were very close to the equator, sunrise is at about 7:15, not too early. This is the view we had from the porch of our amazing bungalow. It was quiet and peaceful and very cool to watch the tide come in with the sun. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the entire water area in the picture was pure sand during low tide.
We found a little Catholic Chapel in town where we attended Christmas Day mass. It was just a room in a strip mall but there was a great community feel there. We also got to talk to our entire family, for a few minutes anyway, which was very special for us since we were both missing our families and Christmas traditions a lot. Christmas night, we went on a sunset dinner cruise around part of the island. The scenery and weather were absolutely beautiful. Here's a picture from our boat ride.

We hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas. It's hard to believe our vacation is already over and we're back in the swing of things in Hong Kong. Relatively speaking, it's freezing here. There is a "cold warning" for New Year's Eve - no I'm not making this up. It's supposed to get down to 11 C tonight (or 52 F). I'm not sure that really deserves a "cold warning" given that Milwaukee has gotten a ridiculous amount of snow and ice in December, but when you don't have heaters in your home, it's a bit chilly. And I have decided I've become a wuss in the short time that we've been here because I have been freezing all day. I may have to buy a hat and gloves :)

'Twas the Night Before...

...Our trip to Langkawi!

We are off to Langkawi, Malaysia tomorrow for a much needed break. Chris has been working just about non-stop since our trip to Cebu so our week off will be filled with lots of relaxation. It is supposed to be gorgeous there so we are really getting excited.

We wish all of our family and friends a very Merry Christmas. We will be thinking of you all.

Much love this holiday season,
Chris and Erin

Transcending borders

Happy Holidays to everyone! From what we've seen and heard, the weather in the Midwest is full-on Christmas-time. All that snow...yikes! Chris and I aren't feeling all that "Christmasy" this year without all of our holiday traditions: Christmas tree hunting, cookie baking, gift shopping and present wrapping. O.k. I'm probably the only one who enjoys all of these things but this weekend we sat outside for dinner in jeans and a light sweater (me) and jeans and a t-shirt (Chris) and that is just a little odd for this time of year. But, mostly, it's going to be very odd for us to not be with our families for the first time ever on Christmas. Granted, we'll be on a beach in Malaysia so we won't be suffering terribly, but we are going to be missing Attack Uno, Midnight mass and lots of presents under the tree.

We did have a fantastic weekend and hope you all did as well. Friday we were invited to the wedding of our new friends, Murray and Catharine, and what an event it was! Murray is from South Africa and Catharine is from Australia but they have come via London. Yes, very worldly but this kind of thing is not all that uncommon here.

The wedding was black tie...Oooooh! We didn't know exactly what to expect since this was our first black tie wedding and the first wedding we've been to for someone outside of the U.S. We have since learned that black tie is actually pretty common in London. I guess this really isn't a surprise when you really think about their culture, but apparently many companies in London even have black tie Christmas parties so just about every guy has their own tux. Who would have thought?

It's funny how there are so many things you really take for granted until you have to go through the motions in a new place. Yes, I know that I should be fully aware of this after the last 5 months but I guess some things still surprise me. For example, what do you buy as a wedding gift? They're our age and have done well in their careers so money seems very inappropriate but what's the right thing to buy then? I still don't know if they're registered anywhere but we assumed not since about 55 of their 70 guests flew in from other countries. We settled on a really nice photo album from Papyrus (which if you think is an expensive store in the States, you're in for a shock in Hong Kong - total rip off) that I'm going to put some pictures and memorabilia from their wedding in.

Next question: do you bring the gift with you? Seems like an easy question until you think about the fact that 1. we don't have a car to leave the present in during church and 2. from church, the entire wedding reception was being transported on the Peak Tram up to the reception on top of the Peak. Answer: we brought the card with a note saying that we would bring their gift by when they returned from their honeymoon. However, I later learned that the wedding planner was collecting gifts from people as their walked in to the church. Oh, and their was no card box or gift table at the wedding (see previous sentence) so I eventually handed the card over to their really fantastic wedding planner.

The evening was a bit of a fairy tale. For those who have been up the Peak Tram (or who will be when you come to visit), you can only imagine how cool it was to have the whole wedding reception, dressed in black tie attire, take over an entire tram and ride up to the Peak together, only to be whisked away like a tour group to the reception where the cocktails were outside with really yummy hors d'oeuvres, mojitos, lychee martinis, cosmos and my new favorite, champagne.

They had the entire Pearl on the Peak restaurant rented out for a 5-course dinner with each course having its own wine. The view of Hong Kong was incredible, as it always is from the Peak, but all of these amazing things were second to the people that were there. It was so cool for us to be a part of a traditional wedding from another culture. Their guests had traveled from 4 different continents to be a part of the wedding and we couldn't believe how friendly everyone was. We were a little hesitant before the wedding because we only knew a few people besides the bride and groom but by the end of the night we had several people planning our visit to Sydney and other parts of Australia.

Now for the speeches. Between Chris and I, we're pretty sure that we've been to probably about 50+ weddings in our adult lives and these speeches and toasts were some of the best we've ever heard. That's not meant to be disrespectful to anyone, especially because we were incredibly moved by all of the speeches at our own wedding, but I think the whole atmosphere really added to them on Friday night.

For starters, the evening had an MC. Yes, really, but I suppose that's necessary when dinner is 3 or 4 hours. Nope, not making that up either. Catharine's brother, Daniel, was the MC and he did such a great job. He is a political correspondent in Sydney and on the national news every night in Australia so I suppose he has a knack for public speaking.

Second, the guys in the wedding party were dressed in morning suits (sans the top hats). In other words, tailed tuxedo jackets, gray striped trousers (this is a British things after all) and a fancy vest & tie. This kind of thing would NEVER fly in the U.S. I'm laughing just sitting here thinking about Chris, or any other guys I know, dressed like that and pretty sure that they would get beaten up by someone if they were ever dressed in a morning suit but in this atmosphere, it really just worked.

Third, there were real, proper toasts to the bride and groom. What do I mean by proper? Well, see pages 365 and 366 of "Emily Post's Wedding Etiquette" by Peggy Post (I hope I've cited this correctly!). You're laughing at me right now, I know it, but my dad and step-mom gave this to me when I got engaged and it has come in quite handy. For those not wanting to make a trip to the library or just can't bear to buy one more thing on Amazon.com this season, I'll give you a synopsis.

• Telegrams and messages sent from guests unable to attend are read by the best man - check
• People stand to toast the bride and groom - check
• If just the bride is being toasted, the groom stands (it doesn't say anything about just the groom being toasted but I can't imagine that really happens and it didn't last Friday) - check
• Both the bride and groom stand when the parents are being toasted - check

All of these things happened, along with the entire reception finishing a toast with saying, while standing of course, "To Murray and Catharine!" or "To Catharine!" It was very cool and it quickly became obvious to us why the English hold on to these traditions. It really does create a truly special atmosphere. You may be thinking to yourself, wait a minute, I know she said that neither one of them is originally from England. Well, their in lies the British influence on all corners of the earth and, apparently, most weddings in Australia are black tie because Australian guys don't know enough to show up to a wedding in an actual suit so this is the way to get around that problem! Well, at least this is what some of the Aussies told us.

Dancing started a little later than we had expected but that didn't matter because Bon Jovi and Cindy Lauper are apparently played at weddings all over the world. Livin' On a Prayer wasn't quite as animated as it would be in the States but it was close enough. All in all, a really wonderful experience and we were so happy to be part of Murray and Catharine's special day.

We left the reception around 12:30 and headed to meet our Hong Kong posse (so fun that we actually have one of these!) out in Lan Kwai Fong. They were all getting together for a Christmas celebration and of course the party headed to Al's in LKF. It is an experience like none other. All the 80s music you could want, jello shots, dancing on tables and swinging from poles hanging from the ceiling. So funny and so much fun. The only problem with Hong Kong is that there is no bar time. We were there for awhile and then the rest of the wedding reception showed up and 4 hours later we finally made it to bed. Not really all that bad considering we didn't have any commitments on Saturday but our neighbors upstairs started doing remodeling work at 8:30 a.m. Ugh! Definitely a time when we were missing our single family home.

Saturday was mostly a wash but we met our friends Sophie and Richie for dinner. Sophie and I went home early but the boys stayed out. Chris has decided that he needs to stop thinking he is 21 anymore because it makes for really bad hangover at 34. He does rally very well but we keep laughing at how ridiculous we are sometimes. We definitely go out a lot more in Hong Kong than we had of late in Milwaukee.

Sunday we went for an amazing hike on the south side of the island with Sophie and Richie. I can be a bit sadistic when it comes to these kind of things and I was really wanting a hike that would be a good workout. Well, literally 4000 steps up and down later, all of our legs were shaking. I got my work out and worked up a good appetite in the process. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera but the pictures probably wouldn't have turned out very good anyway because the pollution was sort of bad.

Anyway, we had a very fun weekend and are now looking to our 9:15 a.m. flight on Friday so we can catch up on sleep.

It's my little sis's b-day today so Happy Birthday, Ashley! She got to see the Packers wallop the Rams in St. Louis this weekend. Woo hoo!

And, in the spirit of weddings, I want to give a big congrats to my very dear friend, Robyn, who got engaged this weekend to Erich. He popped the question Friday night at what looks like was a very cold, but beautiful, night at Lights in the Park in Chicago. Congratulations you two and I know we're all looking forward to a night of "Mystery Drink".

Much to be thankful for

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

We hope you had a fabulous weekend filled with all the things you love about Chris's favorite holiday. I realize that it's Tuesday already but the last week has just flown by.

All in all, we had a very traditional Thanksgiving weekend. Here's the low down.

Biggest Going Out Night of the Year
Yes, that would be the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I realize that we (well, most of the people reading this blog) don't celebrate the night before Thanksgiving with as much enthusiasm as we used to, but Chris and I did head out for the evening. We spent the night at the Happy Valley Racecourse for the Wednesday night races. Our friend Lorraine's parents were in town visiting so a bunch of us headed out for an all-you-can eat and drink buffet in one of the restaurants at the racecourse.

You can tell that we haven't totally acclimated to Hong Kong because we are terrible at gambling on horses. I mean, I picked the horses with "Diamond" in their name or anything sounding remotely cool to win. Let me tell you, that didn't work out so well. I don't totally know what Chris's tactics were but they didn't turn out all that well because I don't think we won one race. Very pathetic considering that there are 10 or 11. I guess next time I will have to study my horses and jockeys beforehand.

Regardless, it was a fun night but much less drinking than normally accompanies this night. That turned out to be a good thing since Chris had to get up and go to work in the morning and I had to get ready for our Thanksgiving feast.

Beijing Politicians say "No Thanks"
For those who hadn't heard, Chris and I, along with our friends Mike & Sara, were planning to host 4 American sailors for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday night. For the holiday weekend, the USS Kitty Hawk and its supporting ships were scheduled to dock here to give over 8,000 U.S. servicemen & women an extended stay in port. We thought it would be a nice way to share the holiday and thank our servicemen & women.

I think we should have figured that there would be a problem when we heard at 1:00 on Wednesday that the ships couldn't get permission to disembark on to Hong Kong and they were sitting out somewhere in the harbor.

Since the 1997 Handover, the Chinese central government in Beijing is required to grant permission to any ships coming in to port. It wasn't a problem in late September when the last ships were in town but, then again, the Dalai Lama hadn't yet received the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal. That happened mid-October which made the Chinese government none to happy. The NY Times reported Tibet's Communist Party Boss as saying "If the Dalai Lama can receive such an award, there must be no justice or good people in the world." Sounds a bit melodramatic in my opinion. Granted there was probably some translation issues going on but I mean, come on. No good people in the world? I mean, really?

So the Chinese were a bit testy with the U.S. and managed to make their point by not granting permission to the ships when they arrived on Wednesday afternoon. I imagine that when the military had enough of the shenangans, they decided to turn around and head back to wherever they were off to next (I was hoping to find out where they were going but Chris insists that it might go against national security if they share these things with me). Several hours after the ships had left, Beijing announced they would grant permission for the ships to dock. Coincidence? Bad timing? Hmm, I think I'll let you decide.

The Standard newspaper here reported on Friday that the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said "We have decided to allow the Kitty Hawk strike group to stay in Hong Kong during Thanksgiving, and it is a decision out of humanitarian consideration only." Again, believe what you may.

It was too bad for us because our Thanksgiving Day plans quickly fell apart when we found out about it but it was much more disappointing for so many family members of sailors on the ships who had flown to HK to spend the weekend with them. They had apparently descended upon HK in quite large numbers.

So, what did we have for dinner? I have to say that after cooking and cleaning all day, I wasn't really up for a big dinner without our guests. If you've been reading our blog, you probably don't need two guesses to come up with what we ate for dinner that night: tuna fish sandwiches and wine. The good news is we like both of them. It was a bit odd to be sitting there by ourselves with nothing to do but at the same time, not really, because it didn't really feel like Thanksgiving. It's hard to explain but I am sure that other people who have spent holidays away from home know what it's like.

Turkey time
Friday was really our Thanksgiving. We got up early and called all of our family in Chicago, Buffalo, Milwaukee and Sheboygan. That's really when it started to feel like the holidays and then Chris went off to work! Not exactly your typical holiday but the businesses don't exactly celebrate Thanksgiving here.

That night we hosted 6 of our friends to dinner. For being away from our family, it couldn't have been a more perfect day. After we talked to everyone and Chris went off to work, I headed down to the wet market to get some last minute veggies. It was a beautiful day and I was in my capris and t-shirt, very happy that I wasn't in the snow in Milwaukee. I managed to get to the market at just the right time. How cool to see half a pig slung over some guy's shoulder as he delivers it to the butcher, a truck full of dead pigs hanging from their hooves and a cart full of beheaded but fully furry lambs coming down the hill. You obviously don't get this just anywhere and the wet markets are very special places here. I love moments like those and am very grateful that I get to experience them.

My friend Sara came over and helped me do a little cooking. I was a bit nervous because this was the first time that I cooked the turkey, stuffing and gravy but it was a relaxing day. Doesn't sound possible, I know, but we weren't eating until 8:00 that night so there was no need to rush through things. I was able to almost recreate my grandma's stuffing, my favorite, and the food turned out better than I could have hoped. We had a really nice night with friends and even watched the Packers beat the Lions! So cool. Our British friends enjoyed their first Thanksgiving dinner and are thoroughly convinced it was a good thing the pilgrims crossed the Atlantic.

Black Saturday
No, there really isn't one big shopping day here in HK. Actually, with the number of malls here, just about everyday is the biggest shopping day of the year. However, I did head out to one of the malls the day after our Thanksgiving to do a little shopping.

Things are decorated to the 9's here for Christmas. The malls are covered in Christmas decorations of all sorts and people everywhere are in the holiday spirit. Well, not really, given that only 10% of the population is Christian but give the Hong Kongers a reason to shop and they will partake. It is strictly a commercial holiday here. Not to say that it hasn't become partly that in the U.S. but not to this extreme. As I understand it, all of the stores and restaurants are open on Christmas Day and the bars are fully packed. The government and businesses are closed so people head out for a good party.

We didn't bring Christmas decorations or anything with us so it doesn't really feel like the Christmas season just yet. I am listening to Christmas music as I'm writing this and trying to get in the mood. I'm only getting away with the music this late at night because Chris is in Jakarta for the night but I'm not sure it's totally working. I may have to go buy some poinsettias or something to at least brighten up the house.

A second meal
On Sunday, we got invited to another Thanksgiving meal. It was a nice afternoon and the food was fabulous but I have to tell you that I am not as excited to eat leftovers after eating a second full meal. It didn't take long but I think I may be turkeyed out.


Chris and I have a lot to be thankful for this year. It has been one of the crazier ones that I've experienced but in a good way. We have been blessed to have had so many new beautiful babies become part of our circle of friends this year, an amazing number when I really think about it. I just realized that I forgot to mention that Bob & Renee Robbins welcomed their son, Brock, on Oct 9. True to Robbins-form, he was nothing close to a small baby but he is happy, healthy and loved by his big brother, Dan and sister, Rachel.

We are so thankful for our entire Hong Kong experience so far. We have had amazing support from family and friends and we couldn't have gotten this far without everyone back home, that is for sure.

I have always been a firm believer that all Americans should live abroad at some point in their lives and the last 4 and a half months have solidified my belief. I am truly thankful for this opportunity at this point in our lives. I am thankful for the ridiculous number of funny stories that have gotten us through the not so good days. I am thankful for the wonderful friends we have made and the small but expanding support network we have built here in our new home. I am thankful for the countless new and wonderful things and places that I have seen in the last year. I am thankful that I can now wear jeans again.

I could go on and on, which is a good thing, but I think you get the picture.

You will hear more from us in the next few weeks but, in the meantime, here I am with my first turkey! It's not exactly the greatest lighting but you get the idea.

Traveling Man

Hello everyone, this is Chris!

Its been quite awhile since we’ve had an opportunity to write a blog entry. The truth is, much like the US, everyday life simply isn’t that interesting, and very busy. Now that it’s the holiday season (in the US anyway) we have quite a few things coming up such as hosting multiple Thanksgiving dinners, charity events, and horse races. I’ll let Erin cover those at another time. I thought I’d give you an update of where I’ve been traveling to, since they lifted the corporate travel ban at the end of September. For those who are unfamiliar with the corporate travel ban, it comes every year in the fourth quarter (in the case of Johnson Controls, that would be July – September) which is our fiscal year end. The thought is if you limit travel, you reduce global expenses, and then you can show your shareholders a larger full-year profit. I’m not sure it actually works, but I’m not in charge. Anyway here’s where I’ve been since October 22nd, when I started traveling:

Singapore
I spent most all of May and part of June here and not much has changed. Its very close to the equator so its really hot at all times and it rains for one hour every afternoon. Very good Indian, Thai, and Singaporean food, although you have to watch out because they put very hot, red chili sauce on everything. This is also the place where I had the most interesting dessert I’ve had since coming to Asia. It came in a medium sized bowl with what looked like (and tasted like) shaved ice. On the ice was a red color on one side and blue on the other. On top of that was creamed-corn. Once you ate into it (which reminded me of a big 7-eleven Slurpee with corn on top) you discovered there were green beans at the bottom. It wasn’t terrible, but didn’t taste good. Other than that there isn’t much to say. It a perfect place if you are moving your family to Asia. Its very green and very clean, but it can feel a little sterile. Its not a bad place to go, but if you are traveling to see Asia I’d skip it, there are better places to go. It is interesting that Singapore gained quite a bit of fame for caneing (probably not spelled correctly, but hitting someone with a cane) a teenager for throwing gum on the ground, but there are more prostitutes operating in the open in this city than you can count.

Bangkok, Thailand
I spent about 24 hours in the city, but I like it a lot and I will be going back. The food is wonderful and my favorite in Asia (although it can be very spicy). The people are incredibly nice and the service in the hotels is incredible. The traffic is nuts, which is why we had a driver. The city is a spectacular combination of super-city and third world. You see brilliant new skyscrapers and condos built on back alleys with vendors selling some type of grilled meat or other food right out on the street. I’m not sure what type of meat it is, but I didn’t see any dogs running around.

(OK that’s a lie, there are actually stray dogs wandering around everywhere….I still wouldn’t eat the meat)

Manila, The Philippines
I was in Manila for two days. Accidentally, the first day I was there was a national holiday. You see a week before the “President” declared a national holiday so the people could vote and no one told me. According to our driver, whoever is in power can call elections when they are ready, this gives them an advantage over their competition…because the competition doesn’t actually know when the elections will be held. Surprisingly the incumbent won. Anyway, Manila is a wild town and the traffic makes Bangkok look tame. There are no traffic lights anywhere. Think about that. In front of my hotel there was a three-lane by three-lane intersection with no traffic lights and a lot of traffic. One side just starts going when they are ready. Its an amazing process and a lot of accidents. The food is also very good, lots of fish, rice and noodles. This is probably a town you can skip on your way through Asia, although it is interesting.

Shanghai, China
I was in town for three days and it was awesome. Because I was there for more than a night I had the opportunity to explore the town a little bit. If you are in Asia and have the opportunity, visit Shanghai. The downtown area is amazing. New skyscrapers across the river from European style buildings built in the early 1900s. The area referred to as “The Bund”, which is basically a river walk on the river that cuts through downtown. They light up all the buildings at night and it is very cool. A friend of mine named Roy was in town, so he and I met up for a few drinks at a bar right on the Bund. Getting to the Bund (or anywhere else in Shanghai) to go and meet Roy was a bit challenging since for the most part no one speaks English. I had the hotel tell the taxi driver where I was going, but about 20 minutes into the trip when he turned around and gave me the “I don’t know exactly where it is” look, I thought I might be in trouble, but I got there. Another area I checked out was Xintiandi (or shin-tan-de for the non-Chinese speakers in the group). Basically it is an entertainment district with about 40 bars and restaurants. It was a bit touristy, but I was able to find a cool jazz bar that served food. Check it out, but be prepared for crowds. Overall, it was a very good trip. Erin and I will definitely go back there before we come home.

Jakarta, Indonesia
I’m scheduled to go to Jakarta on Tuesday, November 27th. All the travel guides I’ve read said it's an interesting city but to be prepared for gridlocked traffic, a lot of pollution, and tons of people. I’m not sure what I think, but I’m looking forward to seeing it. I’ll only be there for about 24 hours, so even if its terrible I won’t be there long.

Last thing, as I was writing this blog entry our building had a fire drill. In the US, this is not a big deal. In Hong Kong I realized that for a drill I would have to walk down the steps from the 20th floor, stand outside for 15 minutes, then wait for an elevator as 2,000 people tried to get back into work. Not good times. Our assistant came up to me and asked if I was going to participate, when I told her I wasn’t sure and I didn't realize I had a choice, she replied that none of the expats ever participate so it wasn’t a big deal. One of the benefits to being the tall white guy in Asia I guess.

Take care, have a great Thanksgiving holiday!

Chris

'Tis the Season

No, not of holly and jolly but of Open Enrollment. It's that time of year when Corporate America tells its employees that their benefits aren't changing from last year (or at least not really) and employees & spouses get to travel down the road of guessing"Which plan will cost me the least amount of money this year?" And let's just face it, your odds are better in Vegas.

Because of my extensive use of health care systems in multiple countries, I have the pleasure of registering for health insurance in our family. Oh, how I loathe this responsibility. In my mind, there is nothing worse than dealing with health insurance companies who do their best to deny you of any small benefit you may be entitled to, but the annual selection of which company to dutifully give your money to is never anything short of a pain.

2008 is already turning out to be true to form. I just logged on to the new online registration system through Chris's work (name withheld just in case!). The first step of registration was a relative success and I am safely guarding my username and password just in case someone wants to change my health care selections at the last minute??? Well, I'm just following instructions.

There is supposed to be this slick new tool that will compare the costs of the available plans for you online. I was really quite excited about this for a couple of reasons. First, the Benefits-At-A-Glance that they gave us requires a magnifying glass to read it. Second, this means I don't have to plug it in to my spreadsheet. Yes, I do have a model for picking our health insurance and it's been useful in the past. You'd be surprised at your break-even so splurging, but I digress.

Any guesses as to what the tool told me? Well, if Swing Low, Sweet Chariot is any indication, I won't wait for your response. I'll just tell you. They're all the same cost. Isn't that amazing! Why? you ask? Well, turns out there are no premiums attached to our available plans. Now, the only place where I've ever gotten free health insurance was when I worked for the University of Wisconsin during grad school, and I have to say, that was a little ridiculous. I could digress again but I'll refrain. Somehow I think something is missing. Now I'm just waiting for a response to my email.

Who knows, maybe I'm wrong? Then again, I'd be willing to bet it has something to do with us being on a different insurance plan than the majority of the company since we now live out of the country. In some respects, it should be easier because it doesn't matter if we pick a PPO or a PPO with a co-pay because there is no such thing as a PPO in Hong Kong. We have to pay everything out of pocket and then get reimbursed. Doesn't that sound like fun? Not so much. Ugh!

So what's the answer? With an election year coming up, I wish I knew or had a solid opinion actually. Our friends from the UK don't have very many good things to say about the National Health Service there. It's fine if you have a god-awful emergency or don't have anything wrong with you, but if you have any sort of chronic, non-emergency type problem, good luck getting the treatment that you need. Here in HK, there's a bit of a mix of both worlds but most people purchase supplemental health insurance because the insurance provided by their employers generally isn't good enough to cover any actual problems. There's very good doctors and hospitals here and they are largely affordable by U.S. standards, even the ones that cater to Westerners (i.e. they speak English). But I know quite a few people who don't know which hospital they are going to deliver their babies at in a month or so when they're due. Women/doctors actually have to reserve a spot on a specific day at a hospital for delivery and it is not uncommon for the fully English-speaking hospitals to be booked up. This because there are floods of mainland Chinese who come to HK to have their babies so that they can be HK citizens.

Really, every system has its positives and negatives and there are trade offs. Chris and I are fortunate to have relatively good health care coverage available to us, all things considered, but I would give just about anything to not have to ever deal with health insurance companies. So the saga will continue, I suppose. I just hope my first haircut & color in HK tomorrow doesn't prove to be as dramatic.

The Answer

Well, I didn't get a lot of guesses about Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, but the one comment posted is the actual answer. Kudos to my friend Alex who is apparently in to European/World sports even though he really doesn't follow American sports. Go figure.

Here are some pictures from the evening.

Swing low, sweet chariot

$5 to anyone who can tell me the words to this song off the top of your head (the bet only counts if you're from the U.S. and you can't use the internet)

Never heard of the song? I'll give you three hints:

1. It's a lullaby
2. It's a "fight song" of sorts
3. Chris and I heard it about 50 times on Saturday night

The 3rd hint is probably your best bet. Now, if you just knew what we were doing last Saturday night!

Our 3-Month Anniversary

It is hard to believe, but this past weekend marked our 3-month anniversary of being here in Hong Kong. Really, I can't figure out where the time has gone! We are, mostly, starting to feel much more comfortable in the city and it's feeling more and more like home everyday. All of our painting is done. Now I'm just waiting for the handy-man to call us back to hang some shelves. Don't laugh. In normal circumstances, I'd insist we'd be able to do it ourselves. I am, afterall, a true Carter, but our walls are made of cement with a nice little quasi-plaster finish over them to make it look like dry wall. So there's no drilling in to these walls, not without a special drill bit. And since our drill got packed in to storage before Chris had a chance to separate it, we'd have to buy a whole new drill as well. At this point, I think it's cheaper to hire the handy man. There's a curtain adventure beginning but I'll save that for another blog entry.

It was a sad weekend for Wisconsin sports, and thanks to Slingbox, I got to watch just about all of it. We watched the Badger vs. Illini game live. I fell asleep at half-time (please remember that it was about 2:30 a.m. here at that point) and decided to go to bed as soon as I woke up and saw that the Badgers were still losing. I consider it a good decision on my part. The Illini part of my family is reveling in the win, and I'm sure that Brad Foster is as well. I watched the Packers blaze through the first half against the Bears and then slowly lose. That was a bit painful but Slingbox is a beautiful thing.

Thankfully, our junk trip turned out to be very fun on Saturday - something to numb the losses a little bit. Here are some pictures from the day. We did a little wake-boarding and then had the banana boat pumped up so we could go for a ride. It's a lot like tubing where the goal is to get you off! Needless to say, we were all a bit soar on Sunday morning. Not the greatest pictures but they're all I've got right now.

Hopefully everyone back home enjoyed their Indian Summer over the weekend. It sounds like the fall is really starting to settle in.

Weekend Preview

I wanted to make sure to sneak in a quick posting before I head out for the evening. It has been a busy week and Chris is feeling a little better, although still a bit under the weather. Hopefully he'll be full force by the beginning of next week.

I would just like to forewarn all of you that when you come to visit, please be prepared for a lot of noise. We don't live on the quiet side of the island, that's all I have to say. There is more construction going on right now than I care to imagine. Jack hammering on our street everyday, all day; pile drivers working on two different buildings, one on each side of our apartment, and the hardwood floors being refinished in the flat down the hall. So not only is there way too much noise but the very nasty varnish smell, or whatever they are using down the hall, has infiltrated our apartment.

I had to wait at home all day for deliveries so there was no escaping the noise for me. I have to say that I am very much looking forward to a peaceful weekend.

Tomorrow we're heading out to one of the more desolate parts of Hong Kong, some islands off of Sai Kung in the New Territories. We've rented a boat for the day with some friends because one of them has a sister in town. We'll be in the sea off of the eastern coast of the mainland part of Hong Kong. We're really looking forward to a day on the water and some good wakeboarding. The last few days have been absolutely perfect, weather-wise. It has been like some of those perfect summer days that you get in WI. I promise to take pictures and post them this weekend.

The Big 10 fever has made it all the way to Hong Kong and will be alive and well on Sunday. We'll either watch the UW vs. IL game live (1:00 a.m. our time) or catch it on DVR Sunday morning. Along with the Purdue vs. Ohio State game (8:00 a.m. our time on Sunday), it is shaping up to be quite the football weekend. At this point, we are loving our Slingbox. Kudos to Scott & Christy Hewitt for letting us hook it up to their TV.

Enjoy your weekend everyone. Hopefully your weather is as beautiful as ours is going to be!

Ordinary Life

After quite the grilling from a very dear friend about not updating our blog, I'm finally writing a new posting. Things have been relatively low key lately, which is probably why I haven't been too inspired to write anything.

How is that possible when we're literally on the other side of the world, you ask? Well, I guess it's just ordinary life. The last couple of weeks haven't been too eventful. No major issues, no major faux pas, no toilets being randomly turned off. There have been a few mishaps here and there, but, all in all, a relatively quiet time. And I have to say that I can't really complain about that. It's nice to have a little bit of a comfort level with the city. I'm sure that this slow time won't last forever, but we're enjoying it while it does.

So what exactly have we been up to? Like I said, just ordinary life stuff, but it's been fun.

Two weekends ago it officially turned from summer to fall and we had both seasons here in Hong Kong. Saturday (the 22nd) was the perfect summer day. We rented a junk (translation: big boat used for cruising around the waters of Hong Kong) with about 10 people and spent the day on the water. We did a little swimming, eating and napping. It was the perfect summer day that we topped off with a very good Chinese meal. Fall came on Sunday and we had the weather to prove it. The day was rainy, cloudy and gross. The kind of day where you want to stay inside all day on your couch and watch football. That's exactly how we started our day - watching the UW Badgers beat the Iowa Hawkeyes, thankfully. We then headed over to our friends' house for a "Proper English Lunch" if you're from England or "Proper Sunday Roast" if you're from Ireland like our friend Lorraine. (Translation: roasted meat, lamb in our case, with lots of veggies, potatoes and Yorkshire puddings. Please note, Yorkshire puddings are basically like popovers and nothing like pudding). There were 8 of us. The food was really amazing and 18 bottles of wine and 10 hours later, we somehow managed to make it home. This is something we could have easily done one weekend with our friends in Milwaukee. See, normal ordinary life stuff.

We have, however, gotten to partake in some of our first Chinese festivals. Last Wednesday marked the mid-Autumn festival, the second most important Chinese holiday after Chinese New Year. It's historically a harvest festival and people spend time admiring the harvest moon and with their families. Kids go out to the beach and walk around with lit paper lanterns. On the beaches, it is supposed to be a beautiful. We were supposed to go out on a junk that evening but it was cancelled due to a thunderstorm warning. There was a celebration in one of the local parks that was a really bad version of the state fair. We went to see it but didn't last long. Nothing too exciting.

Yesterday (Oct 1) was National Day. We signed up to go out on a boat trip to celebrate our Chinese heritage. There was a really great fireworks display that we got to see from the harbour. Definitely Bartolotta's quality. We missed July 4 fireworks so it was a nice treat. I started singing the Star Spangled Banner but Chris made me be quiet. Probably an appropriate move.

See, ordinary life stuff.

Today, Chris is home sick and has lost his voice. Ordinary life stuff, I guess. I promise to write more in the future to keep you all up to date.

The Big Question

"What do you do all day?"

I get this question quite often from most people, and I can imagine that after not posting a real blog entry for awhile everyone is probably really wondering what I can be doing that I don't have time to post a blog?

Since I'm not working and don't have that many friends in Hong Kong, I think that it's definitely a legitimate question. Some quick answers.

No, I don't sleep in everyday (except for today but we had a very late night last night with way too many drinks). I am almost always up before Chris leaves for work at 7:30. He doesn't really like to eat breakfast at home so we don't eat together but I usually check my email first thing in the morning because that's when I generally find all the fun emails from friends and family in the U.S.

No, I haven't really started looking for a job. I have done a little bit here and there but I'm only now just feeling like I'm ready to start working again. Now it's a matter of finding the right contacts and finding something I actually want to do.

Yes, I do leave our apartment at least once a day, even if it's just for a little bit. I promised myself before we moved here that I would go out everyday and I've pretty much stuck to it. I'm happy I've done that because I think I'd go crazy if I was at home all the time just waiting for Chris to get home from work.

I actually do find that I ask myself this same question quite a bit because there are days when I really struggle to feel like I am adding any sort of value to anything. I know I sound a bit like I've been "brainwashed" by the corporate world, but I think it's more about human nature. Human beings need to feel like what their doing is important and "important" has a different meaning to everyone. For me, it's about getting things done that make a difference in my life, in Chris' life and in society in general.

So I try to focus my time on those things. Some days are harder than other because it is can be a bit ambiguous as to what is going to make a difference. Until we moved here, I did this mostly through my job, my personal relationships and some volunteering. Things have obviously gotten turned upside down a little bit but it's probably good for me to have a little less structure for awhile.

And now you're thinking, she still hasn't answered the question. Can you tell that I'm a lawyer's daughter :) Like I said, it's a little bit that I struggle with the answer but I've come up with a one-word answer:

Networking

I know you're all laughing, and rightfully so, but that's really what I do most days. It's a different kind of networking than I've ever done before and there are days when I feel like I'm back in business school where I'm going to events just to meet people and hopefully find a job. But really, networking is what it boils down to.

I have always been a joiner and a relatively social person but I find myself going to do things here just for the sole purpose of meeting people. I really spend a lot of time going to different meetings, events, lunches, etc. that I wouldn't normally go to, but it's the only way to meet people. This whole expat sub-culture here in Hong Kong is really very bazaar and largely surreal. I could write an entire book on it, but the cool thing is, everyone is in the same boat. I mean, there is an entire social scene built on giving people the chance to meet other people and everyone partakes with the hopes of finding some friends!

When I think about it, I don't think it's really all that different than if you moved to a new city in your home country where you don't know anyone. One of the great things about Hong Kong is that there is such a large transient population that it is relatively easy to meet people. I don't think you get that in a lot of other places.

I know my answer is a bit sort of out-there and you may still be thinking, what does she actually do for networking with the purpose of making a difference in someone's life?

Well, three mornings a week I take Cantonese classes (also known as singing lessons from a previous blog). Most people will tell you that it's a waste of time and you don't need to speak Cantonese here. I personally think that's crap, at least for me. Yes, you can get by without speaking the local language, but it is so much easier if you can speak at least a little bit. And the people are much more welcoming if you can at least sort of talk to them in their native language. Honestly, though, I really enjoy it. For me, it is very mentally stimulating and I like learning something new. I also try and spend as much time as I can studying it because it is such a difficult language.

I am volunteering with the American Women's Association on a committee that is putting together a Charity Bazaar. Apparently bazaar's a big thing here so I'm helping out with that. It's been a bit of an adjustment to work on a team of all women volunteers but generally it's a good experience.

I take an exercise class once a week. I like it but it's sort of a pain because it's in the middle of the day on Friday so most of your day is sort of shot. I also try and workout at least 4 or 5 times a week and am working on rehabbing my foot that I somehow managed to hurt right before moving here. So really, I've been spending a lot of time at doctors.

I meet people for lunch just for the sake of keeping connected with people. It's all part of this strange expat social scene but it's good.

I do a few other things here and there and am still working on getting our house totally put together. If I really concentrated and worked on it straight I could get it done quickly, but then I am not out networking and meeting people. That would be really hard for me actually because it's the networking part is the only way for Chris and I to meet people right now. We are at a bit of a disadvantage in meeting people because of where we're from. Just about everyone from the UK or Australia has met people through friends of friends. We don't have that so much but we're getting along pretty well so I can't complain.

I'd love to write a bit more but I need to go and get ready for tonight. We are going to a wine tasting at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club. Sounds official, doesn't it?! Not really but it should be nice. Hopefully we'll meet some new friends :)

Hong Kong Sports According to Chris

Its amazing the things you miss when you move away from home. I don’t miss the fact I’ve only had one glass of milk since I’ve been here and I can even live with the fact the pizza is horrible (think toasted bread, with some cheese and whatever else on top….that’s right, almost no sauce).

The big thing I miss in Hong Kong is that for the most part, no one follows sports. There are no local teams, so on the weekend or in the evening there is no sport everyone is watching. When I walk into the office the next day no one ever asks me about the game last night (although truthfully because everyone in my office is talking in Cantonese, they could be talking about sports and I would never know, but you get the point). I’ve tried to keep up with all aspects from home, and with the internet it’s quite easy. But for the NFL and Baseball, it doesn’t work very well. I do have my trusty slingbox, so on Sundays Erin and I have been able to watch the Badger football games that were recorded. But the NFL is on Sundays, so all the games are done by the time I wake up on Monday morning (and all the Brewers games are played while I’m at work…I watch many of them on the espn.com gamecast…not quite the same thing). Due to the fact I have fantasy football obsession, I need to check the scores and see how my teams did. I could never wait until Monday night to watch the games when I get home (ignoring the fact I usually get home from work around 8:15pm and I really don’t have 4 hours to spend watching a football game). Besides, part of the fun of watching sports (at least for me) is hanging with your friends, cheering during the good times, wondering what happened during the bad.

This gets me to the point of my story, on Saturday night I was informed by our new friends from the UK that we were going to a bar called The Canny Man in Wanchai (fairly close to our apartment) to watch rugby. It turns out the Rugby World Cup is going on right now and we would be watching England vs USA live. This bar shows all manner of European sports live no matter what time they come on. If there is a 3am Cricket game you want to watch, they will have it on. There is no bar time in Hong Kong (which deserves a completely separate blog entry) so time is not a problem. They also record all the late evening games and replay them the next day.

The game started at midnight, so a group of us went to a luau at the American Club Hong Kong (that’s right Polynesian dancing in China, it was more fun then it sounds, somewhat like the luaus Erin and I saw in Hawaii, but much shorter and much better food). We took off and arrived at the bar early which allowed us to watch the end of a Cricket game. I now understand Cricket and how it is played, let’s just say after you understand the rules its just as boring as before you knew the rules. Moving on…luckily Richie (one of the UK guys I’ve meet, please look at the Cheung Chau Island blog entry for more details) took the time to explain to Mike (an American I’ve meet, he’s from Chicago and follows the Bears and Ohio State…I’m trying not to hold that against him, its just nice to be able to discuss American Football with someone who understands what I’m talking about besides Erin. I think she is also thankful I’ve found someone else to talk football with!) and I the rules. Basically its like football but you never stop, there are no pads, and there are two 40 minute halves. So we all grabbed a couple of pints of Carlsburg and got ready to follow the action. It was surprisingly entertaining, and the entire bar was into the game much like an NFL Sunday. Since our table had the only 4 USA fans in the entire bar, we were a bit outnumbered. Did I forget to mention England is one of the best rugby teams in the world? I think you can guess, the US was one of the bottom tier of teams. In the end, England won 28-10 but the US team put up a good effort. It could have been much worse; I was told the US is on par with the Japanese team which had just lost 91-3 to someone. A moral victory for the Americans I guess. On a side note France lost to Argentina the night before; the French people were devastated. The Rugby World Cup is being held in France. France was a top three team and expected to compete for the title, and let’s just say Argentina is on the level of the US (hello Appalachain State!!!).

Richie and I are going back to The Canny Man tonight to check out the USA vs Tongo game and may also try to watch England vs South Africa (another very good squad) this weekend. Its a bit different from what I’m used to, but its great to be out with friends again enjoying sports, especially when you understand the game and its rules. Now if someone would just tell me where Tongo is……


Chris

Back to School

While Labor Day and the beginning of the college football season are being celebrated this weekend only in the U.S., Back-to-School season is being celebrated in much of the northern hemisphere. To help refresh your mathematical skills, I thought I'd share with you a recent exercise I went through at the supermarket. It's a prime example of why everyone needs to pay attention in math class.

The local supermarkets don't really have "deli counters" because the Chinese eat noodles in place of sandwiches. So I have to go to the Western supermarkets to get cold cuts. Anytime "western" is used here, it basically means 2-3 times the cost of what you would pay for it in the U.S. This is why I usually only by 6 or 8 slices of turkey at a time - it's so expensive that I don't want to have to throw any of it out.

While at the very luxurious deli counter in "Great" (the Western supermarket I go to most often purely because it's convenient), I have found this amazing smoked gouda cheese to eat with sandwiches, or really just by itself. I am quasi-obsessed with it. I always feel like I'm being pretty good, too, because the cheese I like is the cheapest in the cooler. Now, pretty much every thing here is in the metric system so I still a little trouble knowing how much I am getting and how much it costs. As I was waiting for my cheese to be sliced on Friday, I decided I should really figure out how much I was actually paying for this cheese. Here is where the math exercise comes in:

"If smoked gouda cheese costs HK$26 per 100 grams, how many U.S. $ does it cost to buy 1 pound of smoked gouda cheese at Great supermarket?"

1. 1 pound (lb) = 453.6 grams (gm) . Therefore, 100 grams = (100gms / 453.6 gms/lb) = 0.22lbs
2. So, the cheese costs HK$26 per 0.22 lbs
3. Now, on a per lb basis, the cheese costs HK$118 / lb. This comes from taking $26 / 0.22 lbs.
4. Here comes the currency conversion :) US$1 = HK$7.80 so HK$118 = (HK$118 / (HK$7.8/US$)) = US$15.12
5. Yes, the correct answer is that 1 pound of smoked gouda cheese costs US$15.12.

This is a great exercise! Some basic algebra, decimals, conversions. All very exciting, isn't it?...until you get the answer. I just about fell over. It never seems like that much money because I only buy a few slices at a time. I should have put my math schools to use awhile ago.

I instantly started trying to remember how much I paid for cheese at Sendiks or the Metro Market. I'm pretty sure that it wasn't ever anywhere close to $15.12/lb, except for that amazing blue cheese that I used to get at Metro Market. The problem is, the cheese is so good! Chris is a fan of it as well. So we talked about it and decided that as long as I didn't buy a pound of cheese at a time, we should keep on enjoying the creamy taste of heaven.

We hope you enjoy your long weekend. It was just a regular one for us - no public holiday tomorrow. The good news is, we got our slingbox working and were able to hear about the fantastic Michigan loss and watch the big Badger win! On Wisconsin!

A New Day Has Dawned

This past weekend marked a couple of big milestones. I turned 30 on Friday (the 24th) and we celebrated our first anniversary on Sunday (the 26th). So we decided to celebrate with a relaxing beach vacation in Cebu, Philippines. Cebu is actually a province (it's also the name of an island and a city near-by where we stayed) in the Philippines. If you have no idea where this place is, don't feel badly, we didn't really know about it all that much until we heard about it from our travel agent. Here's a map of the Philippines and where things shake out in this region.
Fortunately, I didn't have any major anxiety about entering "middle-age" as our HK friend, Daniel, refers to the ages 30 to 60. I've accomplished a lot so far in my life (other than recently quitting a good job that I liked but it was for a very good reason), am married to an amazing guy, am on an adventure of a lifetime and have amazing family and friends. However, I have to say that I always imagined ringing in my 30th birthday with a big party, surrounded by a lot of friends and family. Being on the other side of the world from the majority of our friends and all of our family made that dream a little tough to fulfill. The good news is, I had some really great things happen that I never would have dreamed of last year at this time.

We left for Cebu on Thursday morning but Wednesday afternoon I was planning on meeting up with my friend Sophie for lunch. Much to my surprise, I met her and two other good friends I(Lorraine & Alex) that I have made here for a very delicious lunch. It was a complete surprise and really so sweet of them to do for me. I was really touched and a very embarrassed when the entire wait staff brought me a cake and was singing happy birthday very loudly! Here's the picture to prove it. (Bilot, please note that that is a beaded monkey on tank top - you just can't make it out in the picture)

Cebu is very convenient from HK. Just over a 2 hour, direct flight on Cathay Pacific, and it's in the same time zone as HK. We stayed at the Shangri-La resort not too far from the airport, and it was really an amazing place. We mostly just relaxed, enjoyed the pool, had very good food and hung out quite a bit at the resort. We went on a historical tour the last day that we were there. I'm incredibly ignorant about a lot of history (it's not something to really be proud of) so I didn't realize that Ferdinand Magellan 1. "discovered" the Philippines (or rather, discovered it to the Western world on his journey around the world) and 2. was killed there for trying to Christianize the islands. Actually, he was killed only a couple of blocks from our hotel. We were staying at a small island off of Cebu called Mactan. The king of Mactan at that time was a pagan and didn't want to be Christianized like his counter-parts on Cebu island. Magellan thought he could take the King but attacked during low tide. Not so smart. During low tide, the location is a bit like the beaches in Normandy so Magellan and his men really didn't have a chance.

Enough about the history. My main point was that there really was a purpose to the historical city tour and Chris and I really enjoyed it.

On a lighter note, here is a picture of the two of us on my actual birthday. We ate at a very good Italian restaurant in our hotel and my entire family called me in the Philippines (including my grandparents). That was a real treat! My sisters even figured out how to do 3-way calling so we got to talk to each other all at the same time.

While we were ordering that night, Chris made a comment to me about my birthday ( I think because I was ordering sparkling wine). Well, at the end of dinner, the wait staff came out singing (very loudly) and brought me this cake. I just about killed Chris but it was actually our very good waitress. She overheard what Chris said and did this all on her own. Unfortunately, I only have pictures of 2 of the 3 birthday cakes I got this year. I say 2 of 3 because Thursday night when we got to Cebu, we just hung out at the bar on the water and had some drinks. Well, actually, more than "some" drinks but at midnight the bar / restaurant staff brought me a cake and sang me Happy Birthday, which also was playing over the bar speakers. It was quite embarrassing, especially when the 6 Koreans who were there started singing as well. That was all Chris. He got the bartender to arrange things.
We thought you'd enjoy this picture. The beach was decent size but apparently you could only build your sand castle in this very small, designated spot. It's funny but there just seem to be rules for just about everything in Asia. Very odd.

The one thing we did notice is that everyone in Asia smokes. And when I say everyone, I mean everyone. I personally think it's way worse than Europe, and I didn't think that was possible. I guess we haven't really noticed it all that much because we haven't spent that much time with local people. The resort, however, was obviously packed with Asians from all over but mostly Korea, Japan & China. Being by the pool or in the restaurant was a little bit like what the U.S. was like in the late 70's and 80's. Back when everyone smoked, all the time, and did it everywhere, with little regard for non-smokers but mostly with little regard for kids. It really was very disgusting.

That was really a small thing though. We had a great, great trip. Chris got some well-deserved time off and we got to see a new part of the world. Chris made my birthday really special and we had a very romantic first anniversary. It's hard for us to believe that it's already been a year since we celebrated with most people who are actually reading this blog, but indeed it has. Our move has been a bit surreal for us at times so being in the Philippines on our anniversary has only added to that feeling. The funniest thing Chris said all week was "I wonder if on our 10th anniversary when we're staying at the Motel 6 in Door County, we're going to think back to our first anniversary in the Philippines and wonder what happened?" I'm not a good gambler but odds are good that there is "yes" answer to this question in our future.

We also got some fantastic news while on our trip. Our friends, Bud & Jessica DeGraff, welcomed their second baby. Warren Dale DeGraff III was born very early in the morning on Thursday, Aug 23. Congrats to Bud, Jes and big sister Brynn! I was hoping that he would have held out until the 24th but I know that Jes was more than happy to have him on the 23rd since she was a week or so overdue. We were on Skype with our Mke friends for the fantasy football draft and got to see both Warren, Brynn and Taylor Hannon and they are all very cute. That was a lot of fun. I have to say, especially for people with kids, Skype has been amazing and we highly recommend it.

Hopefully you've enjoyed our update. Believe it or not, it's after 6:00 and I have to get ready for a dinner with a bunch of expat women. If I could explain, I would but that is an entire blog posting by itself so maybe I'll save it for another day.

Mail Call

Yesterday Chris and I had a tiny insight in to what it must be like for soldiers in the military: we received our weekly mail shipment from the U.S.

Now, I say tiny insight because we really have no idea what it's like to actually be in the military. I mean, we've never been to boot camp, never had someone barking orders at us 24-7 and definitely never had anyone trying to actively kill us. But we do know what it's like to get "mail call" which I know is always a big deal to the soldiers who are serving overseas.

The great thing about having your mail forwarded from the U.S. is that they filter out all of the junk mail so we just get the stuff you actually want to see. Everyone likes getting "good" mail and it feels even more exciting when you're across a large pond. Yesterday was quite the mail call for us. We got TONS of cards in the mail and I was so excited. I'm not sure how Chris didn't open them up on his way home; I would have for sure. I guess that's one of the reasons it goes to him at work. And, according to Chris, every Monday a Chinese guy (please note that I have no idea why we continue to feel like we have to refer to people as Chinese since we never referred to a guy as an American guy when we lived in the U.S....but I digress)...every Monday a Chinese guy drops off the DHL package at his desk and says: "Package."

What is a big bummer right now is that this story isn't nearly as funny in print as it is when Chris tells it. His accent really makes the story but I'm sure he'll share it with you next time he sees you.

Moving on. We got lots of mail yesterday and it was a bit like a small version of Christmas really. For those of you who don't know, it's my birthday on Friday (#30, hard to believe) and our anniversary on Sunday. I was half expecting birthday cards but I really wasn't expecting anniversary cards. It was very nice to know that all of these people were sweet enough to think ahead and send cards.

We got some really great cards. One of the b-day cards that I got said: "Don't think of yourself as 30...Think of yourself as $29.95 plus tax." That was from my Aunt Kim & her fam. The greatest thing about this card is that in HK, there is no sales tax so I'd still be <30! Erin Bilot also sent me a very funny one about hamsters snacking and napping but I think you actually have to read it to get why it's laugh-out-loud funny.

We also got a very nice anniversary card in our local HK mail from Chris's Uncle Tim and his family in D.C.! That was so fun! We never get anything good in our mail here so it was a real treat, and all in one day. Ah, it's the little things, isn't it?

That's all for now. Chris and I are off to a beach in the Philippines from Thursday morning to Monday night for a birthday / anniversary celebration. We're looking forward to our first trip out of HK and are hoping that the weather holds up since it is the rainy season around here. Either way, it'll be nice to see a new place and even more nice for Chris to have some time off from work.

I'll post pictures when we get back but if you're looking for something to do over the weekend because there aren't any blog entries to catch up on :), feel free to swing on over to Doylestown, WI for the 8th Annual Dustin Raley Memorial Kickball Tournament (or KBT as it's better known) at Raley's Green Frog bar. Not only are there some of the best kickballers around, there are raffle prizes, great food and plenty of beverages.

I am very sad that this is the first year that I won't be with Team Tryers since the tournament started but I am sure they are going to win it all! Team Sabotage likely won't make it to Sunday but Camp Sabotage is definitely worth a visit. (I had to get a little smack talk in)

In all seriousness though, KBT is a phenomenal fundraiser put on by the Raley family to raise money to fight meningitis. It's hard to imagine that there is anything else quite like it in the U.S. To date, they've raised $96,771.16 and are looking forward to breaking the $100K marker this year. Congrats to the Raleys and everyone who supports KBT. http://www.dustinkickball.com/ Check out the website for the KBT story and entertaining pictures.

Cheung Chau Island

Here are some pictures from our trip to Cheung Chau Island on Sunday. We headed there with some friends for an afternoon at the beach and some amazing seafood. It's only a 30 minute ferry ride from Central Hong Kong. We took a swim in the sea (inside the shark nets of course), had some sun and a little relaxing. It was really a great day.

We ate at the Hong Kee Respaurant. Thankfully, spelling wasn't their specialty. Chris and I were also laughing at the similarities between Hong Kee and Honkey as well. The Brits we were with didn't really get that joke though.


Chris took this picture of our little group at lunch. From left to right: Me (hopefully that's pretty obvious), Richie, Lorraine, Sophie & Daniel. Richie & Sophie are dating and both from England. Lorraine & Daniel are married. Lorraine is originally from Belfast but has been in England for 10 years or something. Daniel is also from England. Chris and I are learning tons of new vocabulary such as, "Brilliant!", "Wicked!" "Bloody hell!" "knickers" (that would be underwear for a girl) "pants" (that would be underwear in the UK) and "trousers" (this isn't really a new word but it's what they use for the US version of "pants").

I see dead people

No, this is not about the movie "The Sixth Sense". This is about my day yesterday, Wednesday Aug 15. The real drama didn't even start until later on in the day, about 3:30.

I had just gotten home from lunch with Chris and doing a little shopping. I was making our bed and doing some stuff in our bedroom when I looked outside and noticed that there were several emergency vehicles (fire trucks, police vans, ambulances) on our street in front of the building across from us that were not there 5 minutes ago when I got home.

Chris and I have this sort of quasi-joke that neither one of us better have a heart attack in HK because people do not move over for ambulances here. It is actually sort of scary but people just keep driving and don't make any effort whatsoever to get out of the way. This is sort of a problem in the middle of rush hour traffic especially in the Midlevels where we live where there is a lot of traffic and relatively narrow roads.

So my first thought when I saw the vehicles was that "Gee, I hope someone didn't die because I'm sure they called 999 (the HK version of US 9-1-1) about an hour ago and they are just getting here." Then I noticed that there were a bunch of policemen standing around on the podium level / patio (this is really the ground floor for apartment buildings but then there is a bunch of parking underneath) and I thought to myself, "hmm, they have it pretty good. Just sort of hanging out."

This is where Erin Bilot would have reminded me that I am not an policeman, fireman or paramedic and I really don't know what these people should actually be doing. And it would have been well deserved because as I was looking outside, I noticed that a policeman was dragging a big black tarp (one of two) that was on the patio. Much to my very serious surprise, I saw legs sticking out from underneath. And then he pulled off the other one and there was the other half of the body uncovered. Fortunately, it was all in one piece but there is a reason that CSI Miami has bodies lying on the ground the way that it does in its episodes. It's because that's how the bodies actually look sometimes. It was incredibly freaky to see a body lying there with one arm sort of up and the other down and blood all around the upper half of the body.

I have absolutely no idea what happened because I can't find it in the paper and I didn't see any windows open at a high level of the building. I of course called Chris to tell him what was going on. He told me to stop looking but I couldn't! Oh, it was seriously so awful.

The reason the policeman took the tarp off? Well, so the forensic photographer could take pictures of course. That was all a bit odd to watch as well. I'm pretty sure I was living through a TV episode.

My luck, however, hadn't yet run out yet. At about 6:15 I caught a bus with a friend to go and meet some people for dinner. I said to her "Should we sit on the top or bottom?" but she wanted to sit on the bottom because it's just easier to get off. So we were able to get seats that were facing backward.

A few minutes later we heard a very loud thump on the bus and two seconds later we saw a massive tree branch fall behind the bus on to the hood of a very nice mercedes heading the other way. It really wasn't my day.

Everyone started getting off the bus so we followed and saw that the front of the second story of the bus had clearly collided with the tree branch. Glass was smashed in a bit and the TV screen in the front of the bus had fallen down. Luckily, no one was hurt but here we were in the middle of a very busy road in rush hour and all traffic was now blocked going both ways. What a nightmare!

We decided not to take any more chances and caught a taxi to our dinner spot. Needless to say, the day had way too much drama for me.

We have, however, had some fabulous news from the U.S. Two different sets of our friends gave birth to their babies. We are really so excited for them and so sad that we can't be there to congratulate them all in person. We have done pretty well so far about missing our friends and family but this is the stuff that is really hard to miss.

Bryan and Fran Hannon welcomed their new baby girl, Taylor Rose, on Aug 15 at 7:07 a.m. and she is just as sweet as can be (we know because we've seen pictures). Bryan says that both Fran and Taylor are doing great.

Amy and J.P. Fassbender welcomed their second child, a baby boy, Jack Steven, as well. Because of the time difference, I can't totally tell but I think he was born at 5:20 on Aug 14 and everyone is happy and healthy.

Congrats you guys! We're so excited for you! 2 down and 1 to go. We're hoping to hear the good news from the DeGraffs in the next couple of days to complete the trifecta.

The Bus Ride from Hell

Hello everyone, this is Chris.

I know over the past month or so Erin has kept you filled in on her weekly exploits. I’ve wanted to write a few things also, but just haven’t gotten around to it. I will try to be better going forward.....

Now on to the Ride:
On Friday around 2pm I had just gotten back from lunch when I noticed everyone in the office standing in groups talking loudly. This isn’t that uncommon, and since they were all talking Chinese, I couldn’t understand what they were saying. Anyway I didn’t really think twice about it. After a few minutes one of the finance managers came up to me and said “Chris, the national weather alert has just informed us a level-8 typhoon is about to hit Hong Kong, you need to finish up what you are doing and go home”. I agreed to finish up and shut down.

For all those who don’t know, a typhoon is a hurricane in this region of the world. They are not all that uncommon; in fact, a level-1 typhoon had actually passed through Hong Kong that morning. Basically it was rainy and windy. Not really a big deal. Apparently what had happened was the level-1 passed through Hong Kong, went out to sea and got stronger, then turned around and came back at Hong Kong.

When a level-8 typhoon is declared, everyone must go home immediately and you are not allowed to stay in the building. The winds are very strong, so it is very dangerous to be outside. Basically as soon as they know a level-8 typhoon is on the way, they send everyone home.

As I was finishing up about 20 minutes later, the same finance manager came back to me and saw I wasn’t ready to go yet. She informed me I had to leave NOW. I got the message and left with my boss and two Chinese finance managers. As we walked outside I could see we were going to have a problem. I work in Kowloon Bay, which is across the harbor from Hong Kong Island.....I will now give you a minute to Google a Hong Kong map........Kung Tong (where Kowloon Bay is located) is one of the most densely populated places on earth. Something like 100,000 people per square meter live there. I don’t know if that’s correct, but I do know when I walked outside and everyone was trying to go home at the same time, it was chaos. We managed to get into a bus and get a seat. Getting a seat doesn’t seem like a big deal until you realize you can’t stand straight up on a bus unless you are under 5’10”, sort of a problem for me. After 45 minutes of sitting on a packed bus in traffic I could still see our office building 2 blocks away. We had only gone around the block. It was during this time I found out they had no idea when the typhoon was actually scheduled to get to Hong Kong and because there are so many people, they make everyone leave hours early. Just to be safe.

After another hour or so we made it through the tunnel and back to Hong Kong Island, where I had to transfer to a train to get me closer to home. Because I live the in the Midlevels area (basically halfway up the mountain) and there were no cabs to take us, we walked home. The good news was since it was Friday at about 430pm we decided to stop at Lan Kwai Fong, which is a big bar district on our way home. Since it wasn’t even raining yet, the place was packed with expats also on their way home. The final line to the story is this, we stayed at Lan Kwai Fong for about 2 hours or so before I went home. The level-8 typhoon never came back to Hong Kong, and, other than a little rain, Erin and I ended up with a quiet night at home.

The next time a level-8 warning is issued I’m going to wait an hour at work, then hop on the train home (of course stopping by Lan Kwai Fong on the way). No more 2 ½ hour bus rides for me.

Take care, talk to you soon!

My first singing lesson

Erin Bilot told me today that I need to do a better job keeping our blog up to date. She's definitely right but I just seem to be so busy! I know - it's hard to believe.

I've been meaning to write about my singing lesson that I had on Tuesday morning. And by singing lesson I mean Cantonese lesson. There are 9 different tones in the Cantonese language which means that one word can be pronounced 9 different ways. The pronunciations are differentiated by the "tone" or "pitch" in your voice. Fortunately, the 9 tones have been grouped into 6 in order to make things easier. Isn't that just peachy?!My teacher's name is "Minnie", as the in mouse, and she told me that people who speak Cantonese are good singers. Thus, the title of my blog.

I'm pretty sure that I didn't add a whole lot to the St. Matthias School choir and things haven't gotten any better since then, that is for sure. The singing lessons made that abundantly clear.

I spent an hour and a half trying to pronounce words at the right pitch to get a feel for the language. Most of my class went something like the following (imagine this in the singing tones of Cantonese):

Minnie: Is this a pen?
Me: This is a pen.
Minnie: Is this a book?
Me: This is a book.
Minnie: Is this the floor?
Me: No, this is not the floor.
Minnie: Is this a pen or a book?
Me: This is a book.
Minnie: Is this a sheet of paper?
Me: This is a sheet of paper.

I think you get the idea. It is all a bit ridiculous and there were quite a few points where I had to just start laughing. I was laughing at how insane this language is but also at how dumb I sounded saying things like "This is a pen" for an hour and a half. Fortunately, I did learn how to say one valuable thing: 70 Robinson Road. That would be our address. Surprisingly, it came in very handy over the last couple of days. I guess it was worth the sore vocal chords.

Tomorrow is my next class. I'm going to try and get them to change the structure a little bit so that it's more conversational. I think I could do without knowing how to say "This is a cat." That really just isn't going to help me in a taxi. We'll see. Hopefully I'll be more in tune tomorrow!

That's all for now. We had a very long day. Chris didn't get home until 9. I painted all day and then made an actual dinner since I'm trying to be more domestic. It's now 10:20 p.m. and Wedding Crashers has just started. I, however, am off to bed.

A few pictures from the weekend

Saturday afternoon we went to the Hong Kong Museum of History. It's quite a good museum that gives a very good description of this history of Hong Kong from ancient civilization to the cessation of Hong Kong from China to the British to the Japanese occupation during WWII to life and culture here today. Here are a couple of pictures we took during the day. It's hard to see it in this picture, but this was a hunting "axe" used by the "cavemen" who used to live on Hong Kong Island. Chris is convinced that this is just some random rock that the archaeologists just picked up and put in the display. We're just not sure that this could be used to kill anything.

Chris and the Hong Kong "cavemen". Thankfully, there isn't much of a resemblance.
Here we are on the Kowloon side (where the museum was) with Hong Kong Island in the background. This is right before we took the ferry back across the harbor back home. The ferry is a fun and cheap way to get from one side of the harbor to the other. For HK$2.20 (US$0.28) you get a fun little boat ride.
A view of "Central" Hong Kong. The tall building is the IFC (International Financial Center) tower, the tallest building in HK. Our apartment is about a mile or so up the mountain from IFC and a little to the right. We took the escalator home once we got to the other side.