Day Three: Tuesday, July 9, 2007

O.k. I realize that I have to stop counting the days that we're here. Neither one of us really doing that; it's more a good way to keep track of the ridiculous stuff that is happening the first couple of weeks. And like the first two days, the third was really no exception. At least we're consistent.

I had two goals for the day: get to a 10:00 meeting at the American Women's Association and organize our kitchen as best as possible given that we still have rental dishes and stuff. Again, these seem like small and easy tasks when I set them but they inevitably turn out to be some sort of disaster.

Let's take the 10:00 meeting for example. It was a newcomer orientation so I was really excited about going to be able to meet some new people and start to get involved in the city. And, for as much as I fight the notion about being an "expat's wife" and all of the stereotypes that come along with that, it really is what I am at this point. It's really more about this whole internal struggle between my need to overachieve and be independent and my desire to really get to experience as much as possible on a personal level. But I digress; the story of getting there is much more entertaining.

The meeting was not really within walking distance of our apartment so I decided I should try and take public transportation. Basically my two options are the public bus system or a privatized minibus system. The minibuses are just like minicoaches driving all over the island. It's quite the system and quasi-complicated when you're new at this. So I bought this whole book that has all of the bus and minibus routes. It's about 100 pages. The websites I had found weren't very helpful in telling you what routes to take. So I spent at least 20 minutes looking at the book (sort of like an atlas with bus routes overlayed) trying to figure out where our apartment was and where the meeting was. Once I figured that out, I spent at least another 15 minutes trying to figure out which bus would take me closes to the meeting. At the end of everything, I decided I should take minibus #28 that would pick me up about 5 blocks from here where Chris and I shopped the other day, down the mountain. No problem, I could figure this out for sure.

I left at 9:10 thinking 50 minutes would be enough because it really wasn't that far and I knew I could always take a taxi if I had major problems. And major problems I had. When I got to Caine Street where the bus stop was going to be, I walked up and down the street looking for the bus stop sign. I knew I was way too far when I saw a #28 bus turn right in front of me! So I pulled out the book and noticed that the bus stop was supposed to be at 79 Caine Street and I was at about 45. Clearly went too far. So I turned around and back-tracked until I found 79 Caine Street and of course there wasn't a labeled bus stop, just a little indentation in the road to pull off. Lovely. I'll just wait here and flag down the bus when I see it coming.

A few minutes later I see the bus coming. I put my arm out to have it pull over and it drove right by me! At that point, I'm wasn't sure if the bus driver just didn't see me or didn't like me because I'm some dumb American trying to get on the bus. It's now about 9:35 so I am on to Plan B: hail a taxi. Yeah, good luck. You see, 9a.m. to 10a.m. is morning rush hour in Hong Kong. People start working much later here. I waited at least 10 minutes as taxi after taxi kept passing me by already full. Now, if only I had a cell phone to call someone and share this ridiculous story with at the time but, alas, we haven't ventured down that path yet so I'll have to settle for Plan C: hike back up the side of the mountain to our apartment where there is a taxi stand and I'm know that I can get a taxi. This really wouldn't have been all that bad because quite frankly my expectations were very low. But when it's 90 degrees outside with 80% humidity and you're literally climbing at least 20 flights of stairs, you're so sweaty and disgusting. The good news is, I was able to get a taxi at our apartment and I was only about 10 minutes late to the meeting. I am really glad that I made it there because I met some nice people and will likely become pretty involved in the organization.

I did find out during my meeting that the minibus stops aren't always labeled, and, if the minibuses are full (which is common in the mornings), they just don't stop. So maybe the odds were just stacked against me at that point.

Getting the kitchen set up was much less adventurous. I mean, there were definitely some quirky things but nothing too dramatic. I did attempt to wash a towel in our washing machine. That was a mistake. I was pushing buttons and turning nobs and it ran for like 3 hours. That's not even an exaggeration. Apparently there is a manual that we are supposed to be getting in the next few days. I'm just going to hold off on laundry until then.

Chris didn't get home until 8:00 so we walked down the block to the grocery store to get some wine for dinner. Did you know that Franzia comes in a bottle too? We were amazed! The good news is that the Italian Deli next to the grocery store has a much better wine selection and Peroni galore. It's not quite as good as having Bilot around all the time but it makes us think of her when we stop in there.

Here's to Day #4 and figuring out how to use the dry cleaner!