April 21-23


Monday, April 21st
Made it to Hong Kong! Got our luggage and headed out to the taxi stand. On the way a man asked if we needed a taxi. Stupidly (hey, I was tired and in new surroundings!) told him yes. Then realized my mistake and bumbled a "uh, no we're waiting for someone". He followed me to the restroom to give me his card. Bumbled some more and he finally left us alone. I know better!!

Taxi (a legit one) let us out at the top of a big hill. I left May and Nck on the side of the road with loads of luggage while I walked down the steep street/market to get our apartment keys. Fruit, ducks, fish, shoes. You name it and you can buy it on the sidewalks/street where the apartment is.

Think 750 sq feet is small? Try a studio for 3 nights while our apartment opens up. Mary and I smiled at each other and said, "I'm ok sleeping together if you are". The start to a great adventure! We're on the 11th floor for a few nights. The building doesn't have a fourth or forteenth floor. Guess it's like the US version of #13?

Went out to find the supermarket. Yes! They sell wine! Let Nick loose with a cart, which he proceeded to run into a shelf and knock over several bottles of vodka. I saved two before one broke. Ohhh, they love us there now!Nick apparently can read Chinese, as he quickly grabbed several bags of candy and said "I like these".Can't find sticks of gum. Maybe they don’t want to waste paper for the wrappers? Just have bags of chicklet like pieces of Extra. An herbal flavor that I'm dying to try, but can't tell if they chew gum here in the office. Don't want to appear to be the country American.

Had some great Thai food last night for dinner. Have to admit I wasn't sure if I should order the green curry with chicken - would it really be chicken? And what kind of chicken? But all was yummy! Nick was wound up and wouldn't sleep. Finally collapsed when we turned the lights out at 10:20pm. Then he was up at 4am saying how hungry he was. Growth spurt is here - just in time for us to be scrounging around for food in a new city.

Tuesday, April 22nd
Nick loves the shower. It's the biggest part of our apartment! Of course my 1800 watt hair dryer tried to explode the circuits. Amsterdam all over again. No matter, as it's so humid that my hair dried naturally in 20 minutes. Curly-do for the next 9 weeks - you guys wouldn't even recognize me. The shiny face has got to go. Why wasn't anyone else sweating this morning? How'd they all look so fresh-faced?

Walked out our front door to the street market. First the fresh meat being chopped. Then the fresh fish. Started to walk around a truck and almost got soaked. Realized they were pouring barrels of fish out the back of the truck into a net. The flopping fish were then off to ??? Then we saw a freshly roasted pig. Whole pig. With chinese flags stuck about it's ears. We were all amazed. And then walked right into the local Starbucks. Ahhh-such comfort. So we sat with our latte, tea, hot chocolate, muffin and fruit (had dragon fruit in it!) and then walked up the block so I could leave for work. Mary and Nick turned back after Nick and I had our goodbye hugs. He couldn’t understand why he couldn't come to work with me. Grammy lured him away with the promise of snacks at the grocery store. I then got my map out and headed to the office on foot. Lots of hills and cobble stones. But so cool. Crowded main streets. I couldn't figure out which side of the road to walk on. Work in a tall building by the water with large circles for windows. None of the lobby attendants had heard of Spencer Stuart, but luckily the directory got me to the right floor. Rode up in the elevator with a few associates and they took me to Jill, who introduced me around to the office. I have an office mate. Reminds me of life on the 6th floor.

No suits - kinda casual. No trash cans. No desk drawers - where do they hide their snacks and lip balm? They don't use a lot of paper. Very green. Do they have diet coke here? I'm hiding my trash in an envelope to sneak out with me tonight .

11:30am. I'm starving. Trying to quietly munch on a little packet of almonds and not let my officemate hear. Do they eat lunch soon???!!! Or snack at their desks? Oh thank god-it's Jill's bday and all the females in the office are taking her to lunch! First lunch in HK - Italian. Nothing offered to drink other than water. Hot water. Boiled for bugs? Food waas yummy. Thought I was beating the jet lag, but i looked in the mirror this afternoon and almost gasped. Biggest circles under my eyes. Now that's a great first impression!

Left the office a bit before 7pm. Was late meeting Nick and Mary for dinner. Went to the one restaurant we know. Again ;) Nick was so tired he had bags under his eyes and could barely keep his eyes open. But he gave me a big smile when I walked through the door :) Lots of hugs/kissing/talking of our days, "Mom, the man cut the fish!!!" and "Where's your car?", and then he layed down in the booth in the restuaruant and fell asleep. Had to carry him home, where he woke up, asked to watch cartoons and eat dinner. Two PB crackers and some juice later and he was a wound up grumpy boy! Wouldn't settle down til I asked Mary to turn out her light, after which he immediately fell asleep.

Wednesday, April 23
Nick up at 6am asking "Where's daddy?". We got dressed and hopped outside for a walk to the grocery store. Which turns out not to open til 8am. But 7-11 was open. But didn't take credit cards. So we said we'd be back, went home, came back with cash and they got our items back out for us. Turns out we bought soy milk vs milk. Nick took one sip and made a face. I tried it and made the same face. We named it chocolate water. Starbucks doesn't open til 7:30am. What do the Chinese do with their mornings?

Lunch-Emily took me to an organic market with ready-made food. Salad - yeah!!!! Alarm is going off in the office building and everyone is acting as if they don't hear it. Hmmm-wonder where the stairwells are here…You'd be proud of how calm I am. Must mean this is the real thing this time. Nope, alarm is off and we're all still alive. Thai for dinner again. Ugh. It was really good - a place Jill recommended. But three nights in a row is too much. We move into our new apartment tomorrow, so I'm so hopeful we can eat in for a change.