Sapa

The town of Sapa is in the North West corner of Vietnam, about a 9 hour train ride from Hanoi....yikes. Anyway, once you get past the train ride, Sapa was awesome. With some 50 groups of ethnic minorities in Veitnam there is no other way to describe the experience other than somewhat like walking through an issue of National Geographic.

Erin buying a basket from one of the ladies at the local market. The lady was a member of the Red Zhou minority group.
More local people walking around the market.

All the hills are cut into terraces for rice farming. Its hard to take a picture that could do justice to the scenery. Trust me, google "Sapa terraced hills" and you will get a lot better pictures that we could post...although Erin and I probably won't be in those.

We also walked through some Black Hmong (another ethnic group) villages to see how people lived. Its best described as very basic.

All the Black Hmong kids running around...they were a fan of me. Although I'm fairly certain they just wanted me to buy something.

Hanoi Trip Pictures

Hello All,

This is Chris and I'm going to post some pictures over the holiday weekend. Erin and I went to Vietnam not to long ago, we spent a week going to Hanoi, Sapa, Tam Coc, Hoa Lu, and Ha Long Bay. We had a great time and would like to share it with you...enjoy!!

Lets just say the traffic in Hanoi is insane. This picture was taken in the French Quarter, somewhat near where we stayed.

We also went to the Hanoi Hilton where they kept the US prisoners during the Vietnam War. This is a picture of John McCain's flight suit.

A picture of the guillotine in the Hanoi Hilton the French used on the Vietnamese political prisoners before the French left the country.

This is a picture of a huge Catholic church in the middle of Hanoi.....very old, very cool. We were able to walk around the inside and check it out.

Erin and I were a little sad we weren't able to spend Thankgiving with our family, but wouldn't you know it, we walked into a resturant for dinner and they were serving Thanksgiving Dinner. The manager/owner was from Chicago and hung out with us for a bit. Anyway, Thanksgiving dinner in downtown Hanoi

More to come......

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

The temperature dropped quite a bit today and is supposed to stay cool for the next day or so. It's not exactly below zero and there isn't a ton of snow like there is in Milwaukee & Chicago but it most certainly is turtleneck and sweater weather today and tomorrow. That is sort of nice. Hong Kong is decked out to the nines with Christmas decorations and everyone is out and about doing their Christmas shopping. Sort of funny for a mostly Taoist & Buddhist country but having so many people wish me Merry Christmas today made me very happy.

I dropped my good friend Amy off at the airport train a few hours ago. She was here for 12 days and we spent 5 days in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam together. So much fun. I will post pictures and stories this weekend. It was incredibly sad to see her go as I'm not sure when I will see her next and we always have so much fun traveling together. The good news is we're already planning our next trip together. Not totally sure where it will be but we're keeping our options open.

Amy marked our last of numerous visitors we've had over the last four months. First it was Paul Blaha, then my cousin Dani & Alex, then the Semraus followed by my mom, Jim, Aunt Kim & Uncle Tom. We took a quick jaunt to northern Vietnam only to return in time for Jay & Paula to visit and then Amy a few days later. It has been a lot of fun to have so many people come and see our lives here but it has also been exhausting.

Chris and I are looking forward to a nice quiet weekend at home. Thanks to the English, Chris has Boxing Day (a.k.a. December 26) off from work so we will have a long weekend to catch up on things, enjoy our Hong Kong Christmas together and get ready for our next big trip. Three weeks from now we head to Jamaica for Jay & Paula's wedding and then on to South Africa for a safari.

We would like to wish all of our family and friends back home a very Merry Christmas. We are incredibly sad to be missing another holiday with our families. It's the hardest part of living so far away for both of us. We do, however, have a nice Christmas Eve dinner planned at a nice restaurant and then will spend Christmas Day with our good friends, Murray & Catharine.

Lots of love to you all.

4 Lessons from Vietnam

So we realize that it's been more than forever and a day since we've written on our blog. It's mostly because we have had visitors basically non-stop since the end of September. It's been great, but just insanely busy between Chris working and me now being the President of the American Women's Association. Blaha started the trend off at the end of September/beginning of October, then Dani & Alex, then The Semraus stopped by on their 8 month trip around the world and finally my parents & aunt and uncle just left on Wednesday after 11 days.

I haven't been all that interested in posting on our blog lately. In all honesty, it's a lot of work and I'm not sure that there is a whole lot of value behind it. Nevertheless, when I mentioned to Chris that I was thinking about being done with this whole thing, he wasn't all that excited. So here we are, 12 hours in to our trip to northern Vietnam and we've had enough lessons to write about.

1. Always confirm your flight48 hours before you leave...even if you have a travel agent - this will help when the airlines fails to contact you or your travel agent to let you know that your flight is leaving 12 hours earlier. I, however, never even thought about it utnil I got an email from our Vietnam travel agent asking us when we were going to be at the airport since we weren't there when our flight arrived on Thursday morning (note, we were supposed to leave Thursday night). Complete nightmare. Let's just say that I completely freaked out but thanks to Chris being completely calm in these kind of situations and a really nice Hong Kong travel agent, we were booked on a different flight out at 6 p.m. and made it to Hanoi earlier than we originally thought.
2. Don't fly Hong Kong Airlines - they changed our flights, cancelled them and anything else you can imagine, including not telling us about the changes. The good news is, we ended up actually flying on Dragon Air/Cathay Pacific so we get frequent flier miles and get to fly on a nice airline
3. Be careful what you sit on - even if the toilet paper is covering the toilet seat in a public toilet. You might just find a small bug crawling on it after you get up.
4. When the local tells you food is spicey, it probably is. - Chris's satays that he had for dinner last night weren't exactly satays. They were more like fajita style meat with the spiciest sauce ever. Erin Bilot would have loved it but Chris hasn't sweat that much since the middle of the summer.

That's all for now. Probably won't post anything until we get back and after Jay & Paula leave. Our hotel happens to have a computer in our room so I'm writing now. We would have preferred hot water but I guess that wasn't at this place.

Shoot 'em up

For those of you who didn't know, I was back in the U.S. for my very good friend's wedding. Robyn and Erich Parker tied the knot on August 31 in Oak Park, IL. It was an awesome weekend - their guests were in from all over the country and so friendly. I was flying solo for this trip because unfortunately, Chris still has his Johnson Controls - U.S. vacation time (i.e. not very many days in today's market). Here are some pix from the wedding.
All the gals: Me, Renee, Robyn, Heather, Tara & Becky. We're just missing Amy Fassbender.
Renee & Bob's nephew, Dan, got to join us at the wedding. We all adore Dan so it was great to have him there, although I'm not so sure that he thinks weddings with a bunch of 30-somethings is all that much fun.
The happy couple at their rehearsal dinner. For some reason I didn't get a picture of them together on their actual wedding day.

I got to spend some good q.t. with family and friends while back in town. I also went to a Brewers game (and watched them lose a 4 run lead in the top of the 9th) and a Badgers game with my other group of UW girls - these ones from MBA school. I'll post a picture later. I just have to find it.

Unfortunately, I flew back and forth on frequent flier miles and had to fly coach - or economy as the rest of the world calls it. Actually, it was fine but flying business class is MUCH nicer. But a little melatonin goes a long way so I did actually get some sleep on the flights there and back.

Now, what's with my blog title? Aah, never a dull moment. I flew Japan Airlines back which obviously has a lot of Japanese on it (duh!). There were almost no economy seats on the plane compared to other international flights but I did get lucky enough to be sitting kitty-corner to a not so nice looking Japanese guy who busted out his syringe just after the first meal, pulled up his shirt and shot himself with whatever medication he had. I mean, o.k., fine. Diabetic or whatever. But couldn't you just walk in to the bathroom so the rest of the plane doesn't have to watch you shoot yourself up. Gross.

Our second wedding anniversary was two days before I left for the U.S. so we didn't go anywhere for the long weekend. Instead, we went to a new, very posh, stupidly expensive restaurant on the 25th floor of a building in central Hong Kong. The views of the city and harbor were incredible. Here's a picture of the two of us on our anniversary with the new camera that Chris bought me!

The building on the left is the Bank of China building (which the HK people hate because it has bad feng shui) and the building on the right with the red & white is the HSBC building.

Chris left for Singapore the morning after I got back for a work trip so I went to meet him for the weekend. I'll post pictures and a message soon.

Our first in a long line of visitors comes on Wednesday so I'm sure we'll have some good stories from our guests as well.

Kudos to MChange

Here's the email I just received from the Marquette Interchange Project. Kudos to them for doing such a great job. I lived downtown for a year and on the south side (or Bay View as Chris calls it even though we didn't really live in Bay View) for another year during the heart of the project and I have to say I was utterly impressed with how well the project went and how well they communicated all of the changes.

Yes, I know I haven't been there for a year+ but I still get all the emails about any closures and news. While it may have been confusing for people who didn't really travel through downtown all that much, Chris and I both drove through it every day and were repeatedly impressed with how smoothly it actually went. For those of you who thought it was rough, think of the people in Boston. I, myself, am looking forward to driving through it in a few weeks.

O.k. So now here's the email.

"The Marquette Interchange is Open We are excited to announce that the largest road construction project in the history of the state, the Marquette Interchange, has been completed ahead of schedule and under budget. The new and attractive Marquette Interchange is safer with wider ramps, greater distance between ramps, longer merge lanes and exit ramps on the right side. We want to thank the community for their cooperation and patience, and everyone who changed their approach but not their destination.

The new interchange has many new ramps and changes to existing ramps. To acclimate yourself and learn how to make it work best for you, click here to view the Owner's Manual for your new Marquette Interchange. If you would like a copy of the Owner's Manual mailed to you, please e-mail your name and mailing address to: MIPownersmanual@gmail.comThe Marquette Interchange is open - enjoy the ride.

Jump-Off

I attended my first and only 2008 Olympics event this evening - Equestrian Jumping Qualifications (3rd round) and Team Jumping Competitions (Final Round & Medal Ceremony). Unfortunately, Chris is traveling all week. Not very much fun for him but very fun for my friend, Sara, who got to come with me instead. I'd like to give a big Thank-You to my friend, Katie, who had the extra tickets and let me buy them from her. And another big Thank-You to Richie who very kindly left his pocket radio and dual headphones for me to listen to the commentary at tonight's event.

You can watch tonight's performance on the Oxygen channel from 5-7 p.m. on Monday night. If you haven't checked the internet and don't want to find out what happened...STOP READING HERE :)

Let me just start by saying a few things. I love the Olympics. I love America and I love our hearing our national anthem.

The great things about the Olympics is that you get to watch sporting events that you only watch every four years. Even better, you don't have to know anything about the sporting event you are watching the enjoy it. My sisters and I found that to be true back in 2002 when we were at our first bobsledding event. The same happened tonight with the show jumping.

Granted, I have a basic understanding of the sport. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that the horse should go over the jump, not stop in front of it; the horse shouldn't knock any of the poles off the jumps; and the rider should say on top of the horse. These are all basic.

The cool thing about the Olympics is that now I know words like "cups" - the things that are holding the poles up and phrases like "he chose a 5 instead of a 6" - meaning the rider had the horse take 5 strides in between the jump instead of 6 strides. I also learned things like, there are colleges in the U.S. that have collegiate level riding programs (this one really blew us away). Or things like, the Americans and Canadians generally take the shorter number of strides and the Europeans generally take the larger number of strides.

Why do the Americans and Canadians do this? Maybe it's because we're better! The American rider was the last to go and her ride (only one jumping fault but no times faults for a total of 4 points) brought the Americans in to a 2-way tie with the Canadians for the gold medal. Time for a jump-off! I think that we were the only people in the stadium who really had no idea what was going on, but it was worth the text to our friend, Lorraine, sitting on the other side of the stadium to figure out the rules. Fewer jumps but the fewest penalties and total time dictates the winner. Three Americans and two Canadians later, the Americans had it locked and we were cheering for the gold. It was awesome. Really so cool. So, so cool.

I will try to post pictures tomorrow, especially of the very interesting medal ceremony. Let's just say that the horses really would prefer to be in the stable and not out with the very noisy crowds. Right now it's after 1 a.m. here and I'm off to bed.

Olympic Lessons

Hopefully many of you watched the Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 Olympic Games on Friday night. Unfortunately we couldn't watch it on our slingbox because NBC decided that they shouldn't broadcast the opening ceremonies live. Bummer for us...or me really because Chris worked until 9 p.m. and isn't all that excited by the Olympics. After some TV issues (not surprising), we were able to watch them live at our friends' house. Fortunately, we had an English channel to watch.

The pageantry was nothing short of incredible, but we really enjoyed seeing how the Chinese culture would come through in the evening's performances. It was very cool to learn more about Chinese history but also very interesting to watch some of the things and think "that is so Chinese." For example, the "cheerleaders" who lined the border of where the athletes gathered after the procession. Did anyone happen to pay attention to them and find them slightly hysterical? None of them could really keep a beat and they kept doing this really funny looking dance. The sheer volume of people, fireworks, etc. was also very Chinese. Not in a bad way at all. But I'm sure you noticed that everything was amazingly over the top. The Chinese call it "Face" the Americans would say "Go big or go home."

Even though the opening ceremonies were awesome, the athlete procession is a little bit like a graduation ceremony. Did anyone notice? The poor countries who came in first. They were just sitting down, taking a nap, trying not to be too bored for the next 2 hours while the rest of the athletes trailed in to the stadium.

All in all, it was a quiet Friday night for us, accompanied by a little bit of education. Here are some of the things that we picked up just from watching the Opening Ceremonies.

• During the procession of athletes, countries entered the stadium in alphabetical order, alphabetically according to the Chinese alphabet that is. I didn't quite catch what it was based on given that the Chinese have a character based language and not really an alphabet, but it explains why it went from Ghana to Argentina (or whatever the order).

• I need to spend more time in Africa & the Caribbean - I started keeping track of how many countries we have never heard of before. Out of 204 countries participating in the Olympic Games this year, we were bound to have a few that we didn't know. Sadly, the list got sort of long: 15+ and then I stopped counting. We worked out that all of the countries that we didn't recognize were in either Africa or the Caribbean. Before living in Hong Kong, I probably would have had the same experience with countries in Asia. You obviously get more familiar with an area of the world when you spend time there. Thus, I need to eventually head to Africa & the Caribbean. Hmmm, maybe for someone's wedding in January?

• The Bartolotta fireworks are no longer the best that I have ever seen. Unless, of course, the Bartolottas were helping the Chinese out on Friday night.

A Year in Review

...or just a little bit more than a year. July 6 was the anniversary of us leaving the U.S. July 7 was the anniversary of us arriving in Hong Kong. Incidentally, these were the same days that I left the U.S. and arrived in Hong Kong this year after being back for my friends', Heather and Dave, wedding. My travel itinerary wasn't planned to coincide these anniversaries, it just sort of worked out that way.


It is really hard to believe that we have been here a year already. I've just met a couple of people who have been here only a month or so and we were talking about all of the adjustments that you go through. I'll never forget the day that I tried to catch the mini-bus to go to a meeting at the American Women's Association. I thought I was such an idiot for not being able to figure it out. Ah, if I only knew then what I know now. Funny thing is, I had the exact same thing happen to me about a week and a half ago. You can see my entry on July 11, 2007 for a reminder of what happened. The nice thing was, this time I knew it wasn't my fault for not being able to catch the mini-bus. They just happened to be completely full because of the morning commute. But it doesn't change the fact that it took me over an hour to get somewhere that should really take only 10 minutes. I was a half hour late for my meeting. Unfortunately, it was a meeting that I had called and was running. Ugh. Note to self, don't schedule any meetings at 9:00 a.m. It's just impossible to get anywhere with traffic.


Looking back on our year, we've learned a few things about Hong Kong, being an expat, moving half way around the world and trying to live in a country where you really don't speak the language. Here they are:

1. I really do have too many vases - when we were getting married, Chris kept saying that his life is now complete because he has more serving platters and vases than anyone could ever need. I of course disagreed with him because you can never have too many of those things, especially when you're entertaining. That is, of course, unless you move out of a house with a basement and in to a small apartment without any closets and very few cupboards.



2. A week after deciding what you're moving across the world and what you're not, review your list again and then get rid of anything you don't use everyday- otherwise you end up with too many vases


3. Don't wait for your life to start - As a corporate expat, your life "plan" is no longer your own. This might sound more negative than it is because it's a hard thing to describe. When a company sends you and/or your family to another country for a job, you quickly become much more dependent on them than you initially realize. Whether it's with having movers to get all of your things through customs, an agent to help you find an apartment and set up your utilities or having someone file your ridiculously complicated taxes thanks to the U.S. federal government, you quickly realize that there are parts of your life that you don't have as much control over as when you lived in your "home country." Mostly though, it's the time factor that really gets you at first. For example, Chris has a two year contract. However, within that contract, it states that they can move us back to the U.S. or anywhere else in the world at any time within those two years. And then there's the whole notion of extending the contract longer. The good news is, a lot of people are in the same boat. The bad news is, if you don't get past it, you end up sitting around, waiting for your life to start...two years down the road. Lesson being, don't think of your assignment as temporary otherwise you'll never be settled.


4. There is only one season in Hong Kong - CONSTRUCTION! - In the 13 months that we have had this apartment, we have not had one day (except for Sunday) where there isn't pile driving going on outside or drilling or pounding above us. The same holds true on just about every main street here. They love to do renovation work here. We think it's partly because labor is so cheap but also because they do such a crap job of stuff to begin with so it has to be redone all the time.


5. Do learn a little bit of the local language - your life will be so much easier. Just a few words here and there really go a long way. Especially when your toilet, water heater and air conditioner are broken. All you need to know is "broken" and then just point. It's a life saver. If that doesn't work, sign language is key.


6. Go outside of your comfort zone - and I don't mean go bungee jumping or something. I mean do stupid things you would never normally do. For example, going to someone's house who is having a knitting get together to show you how to dye sock yarn (did anyone know this actually existed?). You never know who you'll meet.


7. People really like to hack lugies all the time here - we haven't figured out why but the local people are constantly making bodily noises, spitting and other gross things. I don't think you ever get used to it.


8. $0.50 is a lot of money - if there's one thing you become good at while living in China, it's asking for more than what people originally want to give you. Whether it be a lower price or more of something, you have to ask, especially as a Westerner. If you don't, you end up paying way too much. The problem is, it becomes a psychological thing and you find yourself arguing over $0.50 on a $200 purchase.


9. Health insurance is more of a pain - anyone who knows me well knows that I have a deep loathing for the health insurance industry in the U.S. I'm not a fan of high premiums and large out of pocket expenses but I just might be able to stomach it if everything wasn't always a fight. The bad news is, depending on how your insurance is going to work if you're an American working abroad, it becomes an even bigger nightmare. You have to pay for doctor visits at the time of the visit, then submit a claim to an international department who then processes the claim and codes it in to American Insurance Speak and then send it to be processed through your U.S. insurance plan. If you're lucky, 6 weeks later you might just get the reimbursement you deserve for having to pay up front. If you're not, you get to stay up late to call the insurance company. You think at 10:00 a.m.; it's much worse in the middle of the night. I have to say that it is one of my least favorite things about being here. You apparently need at least a PhD to keep track of everything because having an MBA doesn't cut it.


10. Try not to push old ladies out of the way when crossing the street in the U.S. - survival in Hong Kong means that you have to stand your ground, bump in to people and take out the old ladies trying to steal your cab, spot in line or anything for that matter. It's not that personal space doesn't exist in Hong Kong. It just exists among the Hong Kong Chinese with people they know. There's no "ladies first" or moving the umbrella out of your way so they don't poke your eye out. Oh no. It's a serious free for all on the streets. The good news is, as a Westerner, you generally have size on your side. The bad news is, it quickly becomes a habit and you don't realize you're doing it when back in the U.S

There really are a million things we've learned in the past year, but I think the best thing is that we can be "home" wherever we choose. Home for us is where we are together. Everything else just sort of follows and comes together after that.

I'll post pictures soon of some of our adventures over the last few weekends. There are sure to be entertaining.

Record breaking rain

It looks like both places that we like living have had record rainfalls this past weekend. I say "weekend"today (Monday) because it was a long weekend here in Hong Kong. Yet another one, which was sort of nice, but you can't have a Dragon Boat Festival without a day off of work.

Milwaukee had record rain over the weekend with 4.4 inches falling at the airport and 7 inches in some other areas (at least according to JSOnline). Sounds like there was lots of flooding and probably some sub pumps that stopped working and a few people who got water in their basements.

While we're not trying to trump people in Milwaukee, I think we take the cake on rainfall this weekend. We had a "black rain" warning for half of the day on Saturday and we couldn't see across the street for a few hours. In our neighborhood, we had 15.75 inches of rain in about a 12 hour period on Saturday with crazy amounts of flooding and landslides. Sadly, there were 2 people killed in a landslide here. They were Chinese immigrants living in huts on the side of a hill. There are even villages here without electricity and water because of the landslides.

In addition to streets and parking stuctures, Chris's office also flooded on Saturday. He had to go in to work (not that uncommon for a holiday weekend) so I went with to do some shopping and work on my computer so that we could sort of hang out for the day. When we got to his office, the window was leaking and all of the papers on the console next to the window were completely soaked. A bit of a mess. Good thing he had to go in to work afterall.

Thankfully things cleared up for Sunday and the Dragon Boat Festival. We watched a few race but it was so hot and packed that we spent most of the day having a late lunch and drinking beers outside.

Today was Sex & the City movie and dinner with some friends. All in all a nice and relaxing weekend not totally rained out.

How many pairs of shoes does one woman need?

I am trying to pack for our trip. We leave tomorrow for just a long weekend to Bali. Very, very excited. We arrive in Bali around 3 p.m. on Friday and leave Monday around 4:00 p.m. How much stuff could I really need? Problem is, I am having serious issues packing a reasonable number of shoes. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe it's that I just need new summer shoes because mine apparently all suck and don't really go with any of my clothes but sort of go with my clothes all at the same time, depending on my mood. Or maybe it's something else. Either way, I think I am going to end up with 10 pairs of shoes or something ridiculous.

I'm just waiting for Chris to come home from work tonight and make fun of what I have out on the bed to pack.

Oh well. As my friend Kim Gio says, I love vacation problems!

And one more random thought on this being a small world. A couple of weeks ago, I met a woman who is from Whitefish Bay. They've been here 9 years but spent the 30 before that in "The Bay". Now, it's even more random to find out that she lives directly above us, 4 stories up and I had no idea. Yes, small world. Today I also met a girl originally from Superior, WI. We're apparently much more global than I thought we were.

Happy Memorial Day weekend to you all. Have a great, safe official start to Mid-west summer. Ooooh, just checked the weather and it is 42 in Milwaukee, granted it's 7 a.m. but it's only supposed to be 58 F. Not exactly summer. We'll soak up the 90 F this weekend for everyone :)

Even more cultural differences

My guess is that many of you have heard about the two major natural disasters that have hit Asia in the last few weeks: Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar on May 3 and a 7.8 earthquake hit Sichuan, China just outside of the city of Chengdu (think pandas) on Monday. Both disasters have been just that, complete disasters and loss of countless human life.

The rescue efforts in Myanmar have been blocked by a "government" that has been reported to be keeping food & water to sell on the black market. The UN has only been able to reach 270,000 people so far (according to the AP today) in a country where millions of people are without clean water or food. It is raining hard there again and the U.S. Joint Typhoon Center is predicting that another cyclone could hit the area again in the next few days. It makes Hurricane Katrina look insignificant, and I am by no means downplaying that devastation.

On Monday, while friends of ours were taxiing down the runway of the Chengdu airport to return to Hong Kong, the earthquake struck about a 30-minute drive away from them. They thought that their plane had run over something. No such luck. With over 19,500 already confirmed dead, the outlook doesn't look very good. The country is rallying in support for one another but it is a pretty awful situation all around.

So where do the cultural differences come in to play? Well, it's certainly not in the way that the general public responds. People here have had the same reaction as they would have anywhere else in the world. The difference comes in the slight nuances in which this stuff gets reported in the media.

Quite predictably, news of the earthquake covered the front page of the main English newspaper today. Updates and statistics accompanied a picture of the school that collapsed on the front page . But it wasn't a picture that we would see in the States. When this kind of thing happens in the U.S., the front page of the paper has a picture of parents crying out in sheer terror for their children or someone looking completely lost and devastated. I hope you can imagine what I'm talking about. Here, when this kind of thing happens, there is a picture of the actual school, collapsed, and dead children being pulled out of the rubble by rescue workers. It's one of those pictures you don't want to ever have to see yet it's plastered on the front page of the paper. I've decided that today's picture topped the one last week of dead bodies and cows floating in the water after the cyclone in Myanmar.

This is one of those subtleties in cultural differences. As my friend Sophie pointed out, in some parts of Asia, people actually need to see the dead bodies to believe that a person is dead. It's not really that way in China but you can sort of draw a comparison. It's just a different level of sensitivity that you don't really think about until you pick up the morning paper and see 5 limp children, covered in cuts, being pulled from wreckage. I keep telling myself that it's not better or worse, it's just different from what I'm used to. However, the more I think about it, the more I really think that it doesn't make me feel any more sorry for the victims. It just makes me more nauseous as I'm drinking my coffee.

Happy Birthday, Buddha

So, yes, it has been a really long time since I last updated our blog. I apologize for that but I guess I was just feeling a little bit like I just had nothing really to say. In some ways that's true, in others, not so much.

Until the last couple of days, we have had a very busy 6 weeks. My aunt Beth, uncle Mike and cousin, Courtney, came to visit for 10 days over Easter. We had our first official visitors and had a very fun time together. I think that they left Hong Kong loving it as much as we do, or at least I know Courtney did. She was one of the most adventurous 16 year-olds I've ever gotten to hang out with. In true Wosick form, we ate and drank our way through most of Hong Kong, trying just about every type of cuisine that Hong Kong has to offer.

We had about a 10 day break to clean our house and get things organized again for my sister, Ashley, and cousin, Katie, to visit us. We hadn't had any visitors for 9 months and then got two sets right in a row, but it was very fun to have them. Unfortunately, Chris had to spend 4 days in Beijing for work but we had a bit of girl time so that was nice. The last day that that Ashley & Katie were here, we were supposed to head out for a junk trip. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans and Typhoon Negouri landed ashore in China not far from us. Hong Kong had a signal 3 warning which is a bit like saying that there is a severe thunderstorm warning...maybe we'll get rain and maybe we won't. Well, the maybe yes won out that day and we had our wettest day since arriving in Hong Kong. Needless to say, we didn't make it out on a boat. Instead we spent the afternoon with friends having lunch and then progressing on to our friends' house where we proceeded to drink a case of wine. Yes, a case. Let's just say that Chris and I were happy that we weren't getting on a trans-continental flight the next morning.

Chris's boss from Milwaukee was also here for a week so that kept us (but mostly Chris) busy as well.

In the meantime, I have managed to get myself elected to be the next president of the American Women's Association (AWA). I am actually very excited about it because I'll be responsible for things that I haven't yet had the opportunity to do in any of my previous jobs. It's an unpaid position but it will occupy quite a bit of my time each week. So now I am trying to get up to speed for when I officially begin my position on July 1.

Along with the AWA thing, my friend and I are looking in to starting our own jewelry business so I have been very busy doing stuff for that as well. It's going pretty well and we seem to have a good amount of interest but we'll see how things progress over the next few months. I'm also very excited about this opportunity. I've always wanted to run my own business but never thought I would because I couldn't come up with an idea. So we'll see.

That pretty much brings us to today, Buddha's Birthday - a bank holiday in Hong Kong (obviously). Chris finally gets to actually not have to go to work when the rest of his office is closed (the last week public holidays he has had to go to work - including international labour day on May 1). We're relaxing this evening and just put in Juno so I'll be signing off. See some of you in 6 weeks when we're back in the U.S. for my friend, Heather's wedding and Chris's work trip.

Chiang Mai, Thailand

I thought that I would upload some pictures from our trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand. We absolutely fell in love with the city and, as my first time in Thailand, I fell in love with the country. If we could do anything over again, we'd spend more time there because there is so much to see and do. We were only there from March 14 to March 17. I would definitely go back in a heartbeat.

But before I do that, we'd like to say congrats to my dear friends Adam and Kelly Hook. They had a beautiful baby boy, Brady Adam, on March 1. He was almost a Leap Day baby but managed to wait it out so he can be sure to have a real birthday every year. Everyone is happy and healthy just outside of Madison.

Back to our trip. We had a full but relaxing weekend in Chiang Mai. The Shangri-la just opened a few months ago there and was offering special rates so we got to stay in the lap of luxury. We have both decided that it's hard to do better than the Shangri-la and are very happy that they'll be opening some in the U.S. Since the hotel just opened, we practically had the entire place to ourselves. We barely saw anyone all weekend and the staff was amazingly friendly and accommodating.


The city is incredibly safe so we headed out to have local food for all of our meals. Only breakfast in the hotel and then we gorged ourselves on delicious Thai food everywhere we turned. One day was spent at the Maesa Elephant Farm and then a trip to the biggest, most important temple just outside the city, the Doi Suthep. The overall experience with the elephants was cool but we ended up feeling badly for them because they've been trained like monkeys. Sort of sad in some respects but amazing when you consider that they are smart enough to play harmonicas, paint pictures and do a variety of other "tricks."

On Sunday, we headed to an all day cooking school at a local organic farm. We started out at a very local market where our teacher gave us a bit of a tour. It was different than the markets in HK so we enjoyed it. Then we headed out to the farm/school where we both cooked some very yummy food. Other than it being crazy hot (100 degrees F), it was a very fun day.


Monday morning we got up and went to see a few of the many, many temples that are located in the city center. The detail on all of them was incredible but we wished we both had a better understanding of Buddhism to really be able to appreciate all that we were seeing.

Since we seem to have a habit of going to places we've never heard of before we moved to Asia, I thought I'd include a map to give you an idea of where Chiang Mai is. Also, just FYI, Myanmar is formerly known as Burma.





Here we are on our way to dinner our first night. The tuk tuk was our main mode of transportation and you can get just about anywhere for less than US$2.




Here's me with the baby elephants at the Maesa Elephant Camp. Aren't they sweet! I was obsessed with them. We bought bananas and sugar cane to feed them. It cost less than US$1 so we figured it was worth it.


Part of the elephant show (the equivalent of a monkey show). I am thinking of recruiting this guy for Team Tryers.



Chris and I on our elephant ride. Until the 1920's, the only way to get to Chiang Mai was on an elephant. Let me just tell you that the "saddles" that they had were not comfortable. We were only on for an hour. I can't imagine traveling days but we loved our elephant.

At the local market we went to with our cooking class, you can buy pre-made food. For those of you wondering what this is, just take a closer look. Yes, those are deep fried worms, cockroaches, grasshoppers, frogs, etc. Needless to say, we saved our appetite for the actual cooking class!

What a difference a day makes

I was about due for a really bad day, and this past Tuesday brought it in full force. It's hard to explain some of the emotions that I sometimes go through but I think the movie Lost in Translation can sort of give you the idea.

It was an all around bad day, with way too many hours spent looking in Ikea and then my cell phone getting stolen while I was there, I pretty much lost it. These are the days when I wish I had my car so I didn't have to hold every shopping bag under the sun and when I wish there were about half as many people in Hong Kong as there actually are.

Nothing that a little wine and sleep can't fix.

Wednesday was completely opposite. An amazing day. Perfect weather and I headed out for a 5 hour hike with a few women and the author of a great Hong Kong hiking book. It was spectacular and I was planning on posting pictures but they managed to get deleted from my computer without me knowing (please note that it's now Thursday and apparently one more day later wasn't so lucky for me). At least the hike was fun. I got to enjoy the beautiful weather (75 & sunny) and then we had a really nice dinner with some friends we haven't seen for awhile.

Thursday has been about as annoying as Tuesday but it's not worth writing about. It just about did my head in so I can't imagine what it would do to people reading it. The great news is, in about 9 hours, we're heading to northern Thailand for a long weekend. Can't wait. I just have to run and finish some packing.

Love to everyone back home! Grandpa, we're thinking about you and praying for you on Friday. I am sure everything will turn out great. We'll talk to you from Thailand.

Sunburn

After a month long visit to the very cold and snowy Midwest, I was very anxious to get back home to Hong Kong. For those of you wondering why...well, today I went on an all day hike in shorts and a t-shirt and actually got sunburn. Granted, it was my fault for forgetting sunscreen, but I think you get the picture.

The Best Christmas Party Ever

Friday night was the Johnson Controls Annual Holiday Dinner. I'm not sure if all of everone's spouses got invited or if it was a special gweilo thing but I got invited to go with Chris. I don't think that either of us were looking all that forward to going because work parties are generally not that much fun unless you work at a beer company but then again, it's still a work party and you have to more or less behave yourself.



The party was a traditional Chinese banquet in a traditional Chinese banquet hall in the mall across the street from Johnson Controls. Translation? 52 tables of people in a massive restaurant that is large enough to hold at least 100 tables. Something like 12 courses are served over the course of the evening with wine, tea, water or soda. The food was delicious. Here are some of the highlights:

• Pork with really fried & crispy skin on top - I could do without the skin but Chris loves it


• Some sort of fried mozzarella stick but it had shrimp, pineapple and some sort of lighter cheese inside - very yummy


• Unknown, but very tasty, vegetables


• Shark's fin soup - this course is often served at important events to show that one has money because it's very expensive. It's tasty but very controversial. Yes, it's actually made with sharks' fins. Therein lies the controversial part. Sharks are hunted, their fins cut off and then thrown back in to the ocean to die. This is why it's so expensive. To have face in China you buy very expensive things to show to people that you have money. Seeing as how there's enough politics going around right now in the U.S., I'll refrain from any editorials.


• Duck web w/ veggies - sort of like chicken's feet but much bigger and webbed, obviously. I wouldn't go near the web but Chris is really brave with all the food and tried everything. Even he didn't really like it though.


• Steamed fish - my fav


• Rice & noodles to finish out the meal

Now, a few other funny things about the evening. When we arrived, we found out that we were sitting at one of the two head tables. It was a way to be very respectful to us as foreigners but a little bit you feel like "It's the Gweilo Show!" There were a couple other people from the Milwaukee office in town for some meetings so they sat with us, along with the other American expat, Raj. He's my favorite. It's sort of like having your dad around and since I really like my dad, Raj and I get along very well. The President sat at the table next to us which is good because the Chinese never like to sit at dinner with their boss.

The president gave a business update and various service awards were given out. This is all run of the mill sort of stuff...until you realize that we can't understand a single word of what anyone was saying. Yes, I am still taking Cantonese lessons but really, I caught about one out of every 20 or 30 words. So funny. It was almost as entertaining as the people walking up and down the aisles of tables holding signs that said "Silence Please", in Chinese of course. I think only about 1/3 of the people were paying attention to the sign and do the president's speach. Everyone else was talking.

The entertainment was undoubtedly the highlight of the evening. There was what would be deemed a "Talent Show" in the U.S., karaoke style. Erin Bilot and I have always stood by the rule that karaoke and work parties should never go together. It's a pretty safe bet when you think about it, but like so many other things from the U.S., that rule has absolutely no relevance in China. There were choreographed routines with costumes. One group sang a few songs that must be similar to Bon Jovi's Livin' On A Prayer because the entire banquet hall was singing along, all while the president sat and thoroughly enjoyed the show. We were clapping along; Raj got up and was dancing. We had a really good time. The Johnson Controls Tea Lady won the talent show (she sang Chinese opera which is awful) which must have been the highlight of her year because the president shook her hand and congratulated her. Any other day of the year she would never even make eye contact with him and she was shaking his hand last night. So sweet.

As soon as the last raffle prize was handed out, people were literally running out the door. I have never seen anything like it. There was absolutely no lingering, all 52 tables were gone and the room was empty by the time I got back from the bathroom.

We ended the evening in Lan Kwai Fong with some friends at Al's Diner and the Beijing Club. They've become staples in our weekend plans but we thankfully got home a little earlier than normal. We promise to take any visitors there for a very good time.

This will be my last posting for awhile. I head back to the U.S. on Monday for my sister's wedding. It's so exciting and I can't believe it's only two weeks away! I can't wait to see everyone, get to catch up and really get in the wedding spirit. Chris will be here by himself for about 10 days and our friends have promised to keep him entertained. I think that involves beer but I'm not totally sure.

Looking forward to seeing everyone very soon!

All Dressed Up

I just got this picture sent to us from the wedding we went to in December so thought that I would post it. Don't we look fancy :) Too bad the pollution was so bad that day that you can't really see the view from the Peak. You're sensing a theme with the pollution, aren't you? Apparently winter is bad because the winds are coming in from mainland China. Not sure if that's true but that's what they tell us. Regardless, the picture turned out really nice.

I'll post again this weekend to tell you about my dinner on Thursday night with my Chinese teacher. In the mean time, Happy Friday and Go Pack!

Our 6-month anniversary

Happy New Year, everyone! We hope you had a safe & happy New Year's celebration. We had quite the New Year's extended weekend and spent most of last week recovering from two very late nights.

The weather has warmed up a bit and is back in the upper 60s with lots of sun. So nice to not be "freezing" anymore. How quickly the blood thins.

Crazy enough, yesterday (Jan 6) marked the 6 month anniversary of when we left the U.S. We marked the day with a very nice hike on the south-side of the island with great views of the north-side of Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon side.

The pictures didn't turn out the greatest because of the brown "haze" that has seemed to plop itself over Hong Kong for the last month or so. It is such a shame because you can't really get an appreciation for how many buildings there are here and what a beautiful place it is. The weather was great, though, and we had a nice hike for a couple of hours.

Here's Chris at the trail head.
Views of North Point, Quarry Bay and Kowloon side neighborhoods.
What was supposed to be a good picture of the Kowloon side with all of the mountains in the back.
In this last picture of the Kowloon side, you can see where the old airport was. The flat stretch of land in the water is the old runway. Talk about scary. The new one is far out on a different island with plenty of room for landing a plane. The red building in the middle is the new Megabox mall, as if Hong Kong needed another mall, but it is a good marker for Chris's office. He is just on the other side of that building.

Since today is our 6-month anniversary of arriving in Hong Kong, we're heading out for a nice little dinner at what is hopefully a good Italian place. The last 6 months have flown by. It's really hard to believe. The good news is, we're enjoying ourselves and our new home and looking forward to discovering so much more in the next year and a half. Even better is that I easily got on and off the 28 mini-bus today that got the best of me in our first week.

I'd like to give a big shout out to my cousin, Natalie, who left for a semester in Rome yesterday Depending on what time she left the east coast, she might be just about landing as I'm writing this. I'm hoping that my guide here that says the Chinese Farmers' Almanac claims Jan 6 to be a bad travel date is crazy and she hasn't lost any luggage or anything.

I'm also thinking it must be wrong because Jan 6 also marks the 10th anniversary of when I left for my semester in Seville, Spain. (I have decided that I am really starting to get old.) I had the time of my life for those 6 months and I'm sure that Natalie will do the same. Kudos to her for making a jump across the big pond. It's not easy, but is so worth it.

We're starting to get ready for our trip back to the U.S. for my sister, Bridgette's, wedding. We're looking forward to her and Kevin's big day and can't wait to catch up with friends and family.

In the mean time, wishing you lots of health and happiness in 2008.