Family reminders

We can't go anywhere without thinking about our family. Yesterday, we saw my dads favorite steakhouse and today we went to a market called "STANLEY Market". It totally made me think of Papa Bear Carter (his name is Stan). Then, we were parked at Victoria Peak off of "STUBBS road" (kim, our sister in laws maiden name). Isn't that just crazy?!

It's so fun for us that we get to kind of share this experience with our family. Well, today we took our tour of Hong Kong. It was really cool. We got to see all these neat sites and experi- ence some of the scenic areas of Hong Kong. It was so beautiful! I know i keep saying that but I dont know how else to describe it. This island is just filled with so much history and rich culture. We went to the fisherman's village. Its this place where all they have this HUGE floating restaurant and there are about 10,000 people just living in these really crappy boats and they just fish. Its so crazy. Our tour guide told us that there were about 50,000 people in this village 20 years ago and now they are expecting it to eventually deteriorate within the next 10 years. We are so fortunate to have seen such an amazing part of Hong Kong.  

Along my trip I also found some Diet Coke. Actually it's Coke Lite but whatever. I'll take what I can get! Sorry...tangent! So, we also went up to this place called Victoria's Peak. I think it was our new favorite place. It viewed the Island Perfect. Unfortunately it was really cloudy so we weren't able to go up the whole way but it was still beautiful. We have a lot of really great people in our group. Everyone just thinks Shaw is so cute. Thank you girls, I already know that ;) We took some of the girls to that dumpling place again. It was good.  Then we just relaxed and chilled at the hotel. Tomorrow we leave to go to mainland. I'm really looking forward to getting into a routine and finally starting to teach. I hope everyone is ready because we have a lot of work cut out for us. Although I'm really excited to go to mainland China tomorrow it will be sad to leave Hong Kong. We always hear sirens outside our hotel window. Shaw likes to watch the drama unfold if he can. hahaha Eventful huh? Well Hong Kong was great while it lasted but on to bigger and better things. Wish us luck!!!!!

More fun!!!

WOW! Hong Kong is great! Shaw and I got a good night sleep and woke up refreshed and ready for the day. We had a traditional breakfast....MacDonalds. It was nice. Shaw ordered for us in Chinese.

I'm just so proud of him. Although they mainly speak Cantonese in Hong Kong we have still run into quite a few people that speak Mandarin. Its nice that my little pocket dictionary is Shaw. After our traditional Chinese breakfast we went to the temple and the Missionary office for Shaw's brother Seth. On our way to the metro we ran into the Elders by coincidence. One of them happened to be Elder Crowder which was Seth's missionary companion. Were kicking ourselves in the butt now because we forgot to take a picture. Sorry Seth :( But seth, you will be happy to know that Elder Crowder received his beef jerky (from you) right there on the street outside the Mong Kok metro. Anyways, we got on the metro all by ourselves. I was so proud of us! We made it to the temple and it is beautiful. The missionary office is connected to the temple so we delivered Seth's other package to Elder Jackson. Shaw told them that he was Elder Carters (seth) brother and apparently Seth has legendary Chinese speaking abilities. I was so proud to say I was his sister in-law. Anyways,  it was nice to just go explore the city without any help! We're pretty much master travelers. I mean getting lost twice doesn't really count right? haha The other group members came in today. Man there are a lot of us. I got to meet the rest of our group. They all seem very laid back and ready for adventure! After our day adventure on the metro it was nap time. Man I was tired. This time change is going to take some getting use too.

We went to this authentic Chinese restaurant for dinner. We just started walking around and picked this random place. As we were walking past this one restaurant this Chinese guy stood up and just stared out the window at us. It was very awkward! hahaha Everywhere we go, they stare and try to guess where were from. They always guess Shaw is from America but I keep them stumped. Apparently I dont look American. At the restaurant I got some noodles with Chicken. It was really good but very greasy. Im going to have to adjust to the food. Shaw got white rice with chicken curry of some kind. His was really good. Just a side note....there is NO DIET COKE! I know! I thought I was going to die but at least they have coke zero!Anyways, after dinner we went to this laser show down at the port. I thought it was going to be this really extravagant laser show.....yeah, sure. Shaw said the music was like Mario Cart when you get the star power. I think that's a fair analogy. All the buildings on the port kind of light up and are synchronized to the music. The littlest blinking light impresses people here. It wasn't that special but the view by the port was BEAUTIFUL.

I have never seen anything like that. We are so blessed to be here in this wonderful city. Tomorrow we are taking a day tour and will be hitting all the cool spots I hope. I have made it my new goal to be as Chinese as possible. I guess we'll see!

Oh yeah we also saw one of my dads favorite restaurants, Mortons Steakhouse. So I took a picture for you dad! Eat up! (It's a little blurry but you get the idea)

In the Beginning...

WOW! Where do I begin? Shaw and I arrived at the airport at 6am on Tuesday only to receive the news that our flight had been canceled to Chicago.  Isn't international travel so much fun?!!! They rerouted us and we barley made our connecting flight to Hong Kong but thank goodness we did. It was quite the event. We had to run to our gate! Im sure we looked so funny. We met one of the other volunteers, Kimberlee, in Chicago. Although she didnt sit with us, we all traveled the LONG 17 hour flight together. Did I mention LONG? And just to add a little extra fun in the mix, we were crammed in the middle seats in the very back next to the Vietnamese man that kept playing footsie with me. I think he was cold. hahaha We both got sick from the airplane food. After the 1st meal we opted not to eat the rest of the flight. Note to self...China+airplane+airplane food+sleep deprivation=No Good. But after our obnoxious adventure we finally made it to the Hotel with all of our luggage. (YAY) And the Adventure really begins. HONG KONG IS BEAUTIFUL! It reminds me of Moscow a little bit but better. Unfortunately, we are both missing Seth right about now because all they speak is Cantonese here. SETH....WE NEED YOU. I cant believe were already here. It all happened so fast. We ate dinner at this place that sells dumplings and these fried things filled with beef and chicken and all sorts of goodness. Our hotel is really nice but funny thing....They gave us separate twin beds! Haha I guess your prayers were answered dad, separate beds :( Unfortunately for us I'm just too tired to worry about it right now.  Not only are the twin beds providing us with a few laughs but the survey card the hotel gave us provides us with some laughs too. It reads "In order to further improve our service and facilities, we would be most grateful if you could generously spare a few minutes to give us comments on our operation. Your INVALUABLE comments will be highly appreciated." Haha I hope that gives you some laughs.

Tomorrow were going to the temple and were going to deliver Seth's request to his missionary companions. The rest of our group will arrive tomorrow and we will finally meet all the people in our group. Oh yeah, just a side note. China is not meant for curly headed people. I straightened my hair before we left the US. Yeah well good thing I didnt bring my straightener because its FRIZZY. UGH, i hate frizzy hair. So, not only goodbye America but goodbye straight hair.