Greetings and salutations from the future!!
Great news all! We have finally moved out of the hotel and into our apartment. YAY!! We have all our stuff unpacked and put away. We did lots and lots of laundry. The apartments in Hong Kong are very small and have these combo washer/dryers. The machine itself is quite small and you can't really do a whole load in the sense of what we're used to being able to do. It's probably about a 1/3 of what we could wash at home. It also takes a long time to do a single load - about 3-4 hours! And since we haven't had access to laundry for over 3 weeks you can imagine how many loads we had to do.
We took a trip to Megabox and Ikea over the weekend and got ourselves some things to make the place feel like our own. We bought the most adorable and entertaining duvet cover and pillowcases. Looking at these creatures just makes me smile! The bed - not so much - it's really hard and not comfortable at all. I really miss my sleep number bed!
Another thing we learned this weekend is that they don't use top sheets over here - they just sell the fitted bottom sheet and pillowcases. People just use their quilt or duvet as their cover. I also going to be able to get some plants for the apartment. Back home, I can't have any plants because my cat eats them (and then throws up the leaves or flowers as a present for us - lovely).
Random musings on life in Hong Kong...
Groceries are expensive. We are lucky to have a fairly well-stocked grocery store nearby, but a quick trip to the store adds up really fast. Most people in Hong Kong eat out a lot and we're starting to realize why. You can get a really tasty meal for a really good price so it's not worth cooking much. Plus, the kitchen isn't really much to speak of so what you can cook is limited. The thing I'm confused about is how do the people stay so thin? The portions you get are pretty generous so if you're eating out all the time - and eating lots of rice and noodles - how come they aren't overweight??? I hope to figure out their secret and when I do, I will share it with all of you :)
Communication with locals can prove to be challenging sometimes, but also entertaining, as you both try to figure out how to express what you are trying to say, but in different languages. Many people speak fluent English here, but depending on where you are, there are plenty of people who don't. Recently, we were at a drug store and I was looking for a small plastic pill box. I was repeating "pill box", "pill container" and met with a look of confusion. We walked all over the store with her and couldn't find what I was looking for. She finally (or so I thought) realized what I was asking for and led us to where they would be. However, she didn't understand what I was asking for and took me over the the pregnancy test and birth control section! I guess she understood the word "pill" but in a different context that I meant!
The packaging on products here is, simply put, awesome! They have all kinds of animated creatures selling all kinds of products. Sometimes you can make the connection, but sometimes, not so much. Here are some samples:
The bag on the top tasted like beef flavored cheetos. The other two bags are flavored potato sticks. The green ones are spring onion and were very tasty. Haven't tried the spicy red ones yet but I bet they are good too.
These were little Koala bear shaped cookies filled with chocolate. A co-worker gave these to me. I promptly devoured the entire bag!
That's all I have for now. TGIF!
Carla
Great news all! We have finally moved out of the hotel and into our apartment. YAY!! We have all our stuff unpacked and put away. We did lots and lots of laundry. The apartments in Hong Kong are very small and have these combo washer/dryers. The machine itself is quite small and you can't really do a whole load in the sense of what we're used to being able to do. It's probably about a 1/3 of what we could wash at home. It also takes a long time to do a single load - about 3-4 hours! And since we haven't had access to laundry for over 3 weeks you can imagine how many loads we had to do.
We took a trip to Megabox and Ikea over the weekend and got ourselves some things to make the place feel like our own. We bought the most adorable and entertaining duvet cover and pillowcases. Looking at these creatures just makes me smile! The bed - not so much - it's really hard and not comfortable at all. I really miss my sleep number bed!
Another thing we learned this weekend is that they don't use top sheets over here - they just sell the fitted bottom sheet and pillowcases. People just use their quilt or duvet as their cover. I also going to be able to get some plants for the apartment. Back home, I can't have any plants because my cat eats them (and then throws up the leaves or flowers as a present for us - lovely).
Random musings on life in Hong Kong...
Groceries are expensive. We are lucky to have a fairly well-stocked grocery store nearby, but a quick trip to the store adds up really fast. Most people in Hong Kong eat out a lot and we're starting to realize why. You can get a really tasty meal for a really good price so it's not worth cooking much. Plus, the kitchen isn't really much to speak of so what you can cook is limited. The thing I'm confused about is how do the people stay so thin? The portions you get are pretty generous so if you're eating out all the time - and eating lots of rice and noodles - how come they aren't overweight??? I hope to figure out their secret and when I do, I will share it with all of you :)
Communication with locals can prove to be challenging sometimes, but also entertaining, as you both try to figure out how to express what you are trying to say, but in different languages. Many people speak fluent English here, but depending on where you are, there are plenty of people who don't. Recently, we were at a drug store and I was looking for a small plastic pill box. I was repeating "pill box", "pill container" and met with a look of confusion. We walked all over the store with her and couldn't find what I was looking for. She finally (or so I thought) realized what I was asking for and led us to where they would be. However, she didn't understand what I was asking for and took me over the the pregnancy test and birth control section! I guess she understood the word "pill" but in a different context that I meant!
The packaging on products here is, simply put, awesome! They have all kinds of animated creatures selling all kinds of products. Sometimes you can make the connection, but sometimes, not so much. Here are some samples:
That's all I have for now. TGIF!
Carla
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