Change, change and more change

It's been a little over a week since we arrived in Hong Kong.  It's been alternately exciting, terrifying, overwhelming and amazing.   My dreams have been very vivid and strange (although they are often strange - I once had a dream that my cat was wearing a police uniform.  I won't tell you the rest or you might think I'm bonkers!).  After my second day of work I had a dream that I just went home.  But being a dream, of course it wasn't actually my home but some bizarro home where strangers had inhabited the place and made a mess of it to boot!  They were also letting my cat, Owen, wander around outside.  I yelled at them - " What are you doing ? I told you he is an indoor cat!". Naturally, they disregarded me and kept letting him outside so I had to keep yelling at them.  I woke up exhausted.  The funny thing is that I know my home and my cat are in such good hands right now that I have nothing to worry about on that front!

The first week of work was really busy.  Lots of meetings.  I worked until 6:30 - 7:00 PM Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  The office is very quiet. This I am not used to and find a bit disconcerting.  My office is NJ is a bustling place where everyone is either on the phone or talking to a colleague about a situation or project.  I am finding that I don't like quiet in the workplace and I miss my work peeps a lot.   The other difference is that even though I am in Hong Kong, I have quite a bit of dealings with people in our NY office.  So it's kind of like being on a 24-hour work cycle.  I am reading my emails at ALL hours of the day and night. 

This picture is of a place called Megabox. 


Hong Kong has got to have more mall/shopping/food emporiums than anywhere in the world.  This one is a block away from my office and is filled with shops and restaurants, even an Ikea for when I have a hankering for some Swedish meatballs!  It really stands out and is a helpful landmark when getting a taxi to go to work.  You just tell them "Megabox" and they know where you need to go. 

Tuesday and Thursday we spent the afternoon looking at apartments.  Space is at a premium in Hong Kong so most one bedroom apartments are about 500 square feet.  We do think that we've found a place we like and should know by Monday if we get it.  

I have already embarked on my first trip out of Hong Kong.  As I write this post, I am at the Westin Hotel in Dhaka, Bangladesh.  My company has an office here and I have a meeting there tomorrow.  Being more than a little concerned about the water, I bought three large bottles of water, along with some peanut M&M's and breath mints at the airport.  I also brought a variety of healthy snacks - trail mix, granola bars and banana chips. It was dark when we arrived so I didn't get the whole experience yet but I can tell you the traffic was INSANE!!  Buses, cars, taxis, these small cars that I think are called tut-tuts and are basically metal cages - motorcycles, bicycles and rickshaws all honking and flashing their lights just fighting to move forward.  There are lanes on the road but they seem to be little more than loose guidelines on where to go.  There were people riding on top of the buses also.  It's quite hot here, so I imagine it's a bit cooler up there.  Here's what it's like: 


I need to get some sleep now and get ready for tomorrow.  Love to all and thanks for following along!
Carla

Our first few days in HK

Greetings all! It's been a few days since we landed and we are adjusting fairly well.  The flight over was quite long - about 16 hours - but fortunately we got to fly Business Class which takes the sting out a bit!  We were immediately greeted with a glass of champagne and then fed almost non-stop for the next two hours.  The highlight of the food for me was the cheese course with port and then the ice cream sundae with toppings.  I felt like Jerry Seinfeld when he got to fly first class while poor Elaine was stuck in coach. 

I had arranged car service through the hotel they were waiting for us at baggage claim.  A wonderful feature this hotel has is that once they pick you up, they start your check-in process.  This was awesome because we got to the hotel around 10 PM and were whisked off to our room where we were told that since we were staying here so long, they were upgrading our room to a suite at no extra cost.  YAY!!!

We woke up early Saturday, enjoyed our breakfast and headed out to explore.  We walked along the waterfront, up one of the main shopping streets and ended up in Kowloon Park.  It's a beautiful park surrounded by commerce and high-rises.  There is an aviary in there and we saw some really cool birds. We then walked down Nathan Avenue which is like Fifth Avenue in NYC.  All the big designers have stores there and naturally we had to go in the Tommy Hilfiger store.  It was like a little bit of home for me on the other side of the world :)  The crowds in this area were a bit overwhelming at times, but the worst part was these guys hawking "copy watches" and suit tailoring services.  Every two feet some guy is trying to get your attention and they are very persistent!

Oh, by the way, it is really, really hot here.  Like sweat through all your clothes hot. We've been to New Orleans in August so we've experienced some heat and humidity but this is beyond that. Thankfully, our hotel has a very nice pool so we know we can cool off and relax when we are done sightseeing.

On Sunday, we decided to take the Star Ferry over to the Central District on Hong Kong Island.  It's super cheap ($3) and super fast.  The Ferry goes back and forth all day long and runs constantly so you have virtually no waiting time.  Once off the ferry, we tried to navigate what was a very busy area.  There are a lot of covered walkways which are great for beating the heat.  We walked to the Peak Tram which takes you to the highest point on the island.  Unfortunately, many others decided to do the same thing so we were met with a line that was going to mean an hour and a half wait in the sun.  We quickly changed our plan and decided to head to the nearby Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Garden instead.   Much better choice.  This park was even more beautiful than Kowloon Park. The zoo consisted mainly of monkeys, lemurs, a few orangutans and of all things, one raccoon. The raccoon was kind of an odd addition.  This park also had an aviary with an even greater variety of birds.  

 

Tomorrow is my first day at work so wish me luck!

Counting down the days...

The last few weeks have alternatively gone so fast but seem to be taking forever!  We're a few days out from leaving.  Friday was my last day in the office.  I have handed off my projects and tried to think of everything I could before I left. They threw me a really nice Bon Voyage lunch complete with cards and gifts.  That was so unexpected and so touching. 

One of the gifts included an assortment of Peeps products.  Many of you know that I have an affinity for all things Peeps - my mom sends me holiday care packages that always include Peeps and every Easter I anxiously await the results of the Washington Post's Peeps Diorama contest.  Every time I see the winners I wish I had some artistic talent so I could submit my own diorama.  Sadly, I do not.  Here is a recent picture of me at the Peeps store in Bethlehem, PA:

 The delicious assortment of Peeps treats in my gift bag:                                   

I am so lucky to work with a great team of people. I am truly going to miss seeing them every day.  

All of the travel details have finally been completed.  Flights are booked.  Hotel is reserved.  Transportation has been arranged.  The biggest remaining task is the packing.  I started today and there are now piles of stuff all over the place.  Now to get all that into the suitcases...

As Zack mentioned in his blog, I signed up for the Hong Kong Groupon.  They send a lot of restaurant offers and it's interesting to see the different types of food that are available.  There is a lot of variety - Indian buffets, a taco truck, seafood extravaganzas and of course many styles of Chinese cooking.  Some I think sound exciting and delicious, others make me a little queasy.  Here is a sample of the latter:


This is described as "Classic South African Abalone and Goose Paw".  OMG they just chopped the paw off and served it with sauce!  We do like eating a variety of cuisines and this trip will definitely expand our culinary horizons - but I believe I will also find out what my limits are!  I do appreciate the two asparagus spears though so you're getting your veggies :)  

The other things I've seen in the Groupons include passes for studios that have yoga, Zumba and even Bollywood dancing classes.  I think it would be really fun to try Bollywood dancing classes so fingers crossed there is a studio near us that will have it. Jai Ho!

Thanks to all our family and friends who have come out to wish us well on this journey.  We couldn't do it without all of your love and support.  I can't wait to share this experience with you. 

Let the adventure begin...

You just never know where this life will take you.  One minute you're sitting on a beach in the Outer Banks, relaxing with your family. The next minute you are contemplating what it would be like to live and work in Hong Kong.   A short week later you find yourself filling out an Application for Entry for Employment for Professionals form for the government of Hong Kong.

I am fortunate to have been given an amazing opportunity to work in my company's Hong Kong office for the next 3-6 months.  My husband, Zack, will be joining me on this journey and I am so happy we are going to be able to do this together.  A good friend will be house-sitting for us and taking care of my wonderful cat, Owen (who I am going to miss like crazy!).  It seems pretty surreal when I think about what we are about to do - but it is very real and very exciting!!


We leave on August 16th which is coming up so quickly.  We are trying to figure out so many things - how you pack for that long, what kind of shots do we need (typhoid and Hep A it turns out), scheduling visits with family and friends and lots more.  We have been reading several books about Hong Kong and have already learned a lot that will help us navigate the country and the culture.


We will be staying in a hotel for a few weeks while we get the lay of the land. The hotel is in an area called Tsim Sha Tsui which is about 20 minutes from where I will be working in Kowloon. We will then get to look at a few furnished apartments and hopefully find one that will be conveniently located for my commute and also have plenty of restaurants and stores nearby.

I am going to miss our daily life here in the Garden State but I know we are going to learn so much about a part of the world we might never have seen.  On a personal and professional level, this trip will change our lives in ways I can't begin to imagine.  I can't wait to begin this journey and share our adventures with you.  Stay tuned!