It's been 6 months since we...

Wow - time is just flying by.  April 15th marks 6 months of living in Asia.  It's hard to believe sometimes!  I thought it would be a good time to reflect on our life here... and how different things can be.  So, without further ado...

It's been 6 months since we:

1.  Drove a car.  It is hard to imagine life in the US without a car.  Brian and I both drove our cars nearly every single day, however, here in Hong Kong, we do not have a car, nor do we need one.  We walk/take public transportation to work, and, on the weekend, we normally just walk to the grocery store.  Maybe this counterbalances all of the CO2 emissions from my constant airplane travel?

2. Had a majority of our meals at home.  In the US, most of the time we cooked at home.  We both were home around 6 or 6:30, we made dinner, and sat down together to eat.  Here, our schedules are a bit crazier... I normally don't get home until 7:30 or 8, and by that point I'm not super excited about dinner.  Brian luckily gets done much earlier than me, so when I do get home on the earlier side, he is a saint and has dinner on the table (hello - luckiest wife in the world!), but often times we just eat out to make things easier and less stressful.  Plus, we don't have a dishwasher, so the clean-up part of cooking is not super fun (hello - lazy expat woman!).  Hey - just being honest!

3. Run more than 5 miles.  This one, I'm not so proud of... In Portland, I had my wonderful running group, and we met religiously every Saturday morning for nearly 9 years (wow - typing that makes me tear up just missing all of you!).  It was an accountability, plus just such a nice way to pass the miles. We all know each other so well, and have been through so many of life's major changes together.  I am mad at myself for letting this habit go, however, in Hong Kong I am missing 1) my motivation to get out of bed on a Saturday and 2) just stepping out the door to such a great variety of places to run.  My workouts are pretty much limited to the gym here, but, I guess that is better than nothing.

4. Have done any yardwork.  It's a concrete jungle here in Hong Kong, and we live in a high-rise building with 48 floors.  What a difference from our Multnomah Village house with a nice backyard.  I can't say I miss yardwork!  :)

5.  Drank tap water.  Just. Don't. Do. It.

6.  Have been in the same country for more than 2 weeks at a time.  Seriously.  My job requires a lot of travel, which always provides a lot of great learning opportunities, however, I'm on the road.  A lot.

7. Had a microbrew.  The best beer we drink here is Asahi... can't wait for that first great beer in Portland this July!

8.  Have been able to find shoes (Kristen) or shirts (Brian) that fit.  My feet are simply larger than the largest size that most shoe stores carry here, and Brian's arms are too long.  So, when we arrive to Portland, just know that I might be barefoot and Brian may be shirtless until we can make it to a mall.  ;)

9.  Worn shoes with swooshes on them.  Pretty crazy for a girl who used to have over 50 pairs of Nikes.  It's been a transition for me, but I am truly happy with the move, and the job was an amazing opportunity for me.

10. Woken up to the sound of birds chirping and wind whistling through the trees.  Here, we get honking taxis and the buzz of the city.

In all seriousness, we are really happy here.  We are making friends and finding our way, although I wouldn't say it's been a fast transition.  This crazy city can be overwhelming at times, but I've taken a colleague's advice and try to find my "moment of zen" when I can.  With that said, we can't wait to spend three weeks back in the US this July.  Miss all of our family and friends back at home!  :)

The Olivers Take on China!

It's Monday morning here in Hong Kong, which is thankfully still a holiday!  Brian and I have spent the past 10 days with his mom, Joan, dad, Randy, sister, Lisa, brother-in-law, Ryan, and our nephew, Oliver (AKA Ollie).  They were our first official guests in Hong Kong, although we have had a few non-official visits by friends passing through for work, which have been nice.  :)  I've been off work the whole time, and I have to say, it's been nice!  The pace that I've been going at is a little crazier than even this crazy girl likes to keep, so having a big pause was fantastic (although those pesky blackberries make it pretty hard to truly escape!).  We had a great visit, spending time both here in Hong Kong and also in Beijing.  I wasn't sure how traveling with a 6-month old would be, but it was easier than I thought - Ollie was a champ and attracted throngs of fans everywhere we went!  :)  Most importantly, it was just nice to get to see our family - being out here does make everything feel really far away, so getting to see the people that we usually only see on Skype dates was really, really nice.  Unfortunately, Skype hasn't created a "hug" feature that really simulates the real thing just yet.  :)

Anyways... everyone arrived late on Thursday evening, the 30th of March.  We had a nice evening at home, and Lisa and Ryan even got to see the famous laser light show from our window that night before Randy and Joan arrived (they were staying at a hotel just down the street).  It was so fun to get to see Ollie playing - the last time Brian and I saw him, he was only 2 weeks old and was just barely opening his eyes.  Now, he smiles, laughs, listens, and focuses... he's really fun!  :)  

Brian had a teacher in-service day on Friday, so I ventured out with the family to the Peak.  Now, I have to admit... I was very nervous.  Why?  Well, I've hardly spent any time in Hong Kong, and we had to take a bus I was unfamiliar with to a place I didn't know.  Sounds like a recipe for getting lost, eh?  With my trusty iPad in hand, we managed to get on the right bus, get off on the right stop, and even made it to our final destination - the Peak Tram.  The weather was a little iffy that day, but when we got up to the top, we were rewarded with some pretty decent views of Victoria Harbor and Hong Kong.  A pretty fun way to get oriented with the island!  :)  Brian met us there later, and we managed to see a few other sites without even pulling out a map!

Getting ready for the train up to the Peak!

This little boy became Randy's adopted grandson at the Peak - he reached out to Randy and was just perfectly comfortable!  Too funny!  :)

We tried to take things pretty easy for the first two days, since we were working with a 12-hour jetlag and weren't too sure what the baby would do.  He really just rolled with things... it was great!  Saturday, we went down to the Stanley Market, where we haggled our way through the souvenir shops and enjoyed a little less densely populated area.  That evening, we took the family to our favorite hot pot place.  Hot pot is basically Chinese fondue, to make it simple.  You have a pot of boiling broth on your table, and you cook various things in it, like meatballs, veggies, or cock testicles.  We had a bit of a heart-stopping event just before we got there - Ryan left his wallet in the taxi, and we were sure we were never going to see it again... a ways into dinner, Brian got a call... a domestic helper had found the wallet, and Brian's phone number was listed on Ryan's discharge papers that were in his wallet.  We couldn't believe it, but she returned the wallet.  Whew!

Sunday, we were up at the crack of dawn to leave for Beijing!  We got picked up at the airport by Wang, the husband of our private tour guide for the week, Qing.  The couple was fantastic... Wang confidently drove us around the crazy streets of Beijing, and Qing kept us entertained at all of the sights with her little clap of the hands and announcements that it was "Story Time!".  It was a great way to see the city, and nice that everything was planned out for us.  We saw a lot of Beijing, but it was laid out in a really understandable way.  Brian and I both felt like we learned a lot about the history behind Imperial China.  Plus, Qing took us to some fantastic restaurants that I'm pretty sure we never would have found otherwise. 

Tiananman Square

During the trip, we did a lot of jumping shots - this one is at the city gates, and we are making ourselves into 5-point stars... in ancient China, 5 was a lucky number, just so you know...  ;)

Another constant during the trip was that the Chinese people LOVED Ollie!! Everywhere we went, people wanted their pictures taken with him, and there was just an absolute swarm of activity around him.  One lady even gave him a kiss on the cheek - hello, disinfectant wipes!  It was sweet - here are just a few of the pictures of Ollie's adoring fans:

Ollie at the zoo - he got more attention than the baby pandas, and they were pretty cute!

Ollie with the "concubine" at lunch on our second day

As I mentioned, we loved our tour guide!  She took us down another layer in understanding Chinese history... like this.  There are bats everywhere at the Forbidden City.  It's not because these people were pre-Twilight vampire fans... no, "bat" in Mandarin sounds similar to "happiness", and this was a symbol of happiness and longevity (although EVERYTHING is a symbol of longevity in China!  :))

We had so many amazing meals, including Peking Duck - certainly did not lose any weight on this trip! 

Our third day in Beijing, we got up early to hit the road to the great wall.  It was about 2 hours away, and it was a holiday in China, so Qing was nervous that the tourist sites would be really busy.  We timed it perfectly - when we got there, there were hardly any people; when we left, it was packed!  Seeing the Great Wall of China was one of those surreal moments... it happened to me also when I saw the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa... all of those iconic things that you see in text books growing up that you never in a million years thought you would ever get to see in person.  Sometimes, I just pinch myself.  Anyways... the wall was built to defend China from Mongolian invaders, and... it is truly impressive!  It went on as far as the eye can see!  We walked about 1/2 a mile, and it was quite a trek - lots of uneven stairs!  I guess there is a marathon that runs on the Great Wall - um, no thank you!  :)

Checking another of the 7 Wonders of the Modern World off our list!  :)

It was quite a trek to the top, but we made it!!  Ollie christened the wall up here with a wee tinkle!  :)

Dumplings for lunch!  I could have eaten these yummy things all day!

After the Great Wall, we rested a bit and then went to see the Chinese Acrobatic show - it was fantastic!  I nearly had a heart attack several times - these folks were absolutely fearless!!  For example, one of the acts involved having SEVEN motorcycles in one of those "metal globes of death" or whatever we call it in the US... I had seen TWO motorcycles in there before, but never seven!!  Oh, and the drummer from DMB was sitting in front of us.  I never in a million years would have guessed that, but my pop culture pro husband pointed it out to me.  Kind of random...

We had nearly a full day there before our evening flight, so Qing continued with the great tour and took us to see the Temple of Heaven in the morning.  These are probably some of the most famous Beijing buildings.  It was great to see them now, because they were all rennovated for the Olympic games in 2010, so they had a brand-spanking new coat of paint on them!

Temple of Good Harvest

 That afternoon, we got a slice of modern Beijing life.  We went to to District 798, which used to be a factory, but has now been converted to a bunch of outdoor sculptures and art galleries.  It was really cool to walk around, and Brian and I both agreed that if we came back to Beijing, it would be fun to go hang out here for an evening - it looked like a cool place to sit around, have a glass of wine, and people watch. 

Cool take on the Venus at 798 Art District

Qing, our wonderful guide.  She is expecting her own Dragon baby this year.  :)

We got back to Hong Kong late on Wednesday evening, and had a pretty relaxing day on Thursday.  Joan, Lisa, and I had some girl time at my favorite foot massage place, while the boys checked out the electronics supermall in Wan Chai.  That evening, Brian made a stirfry at home and we watched The Last Emperor, since it was filmed in Beijing at the Forbidden City where we had just been.  So cool to get to see all the sites we had just learned about on the big screen!

Friday we ventured out to see the famous Po Lin Monastery and the world's largest bronze, seated, outdoor Buddha.  Now, if you remember back to our Christmas trip, in Phuket, we saw the world's largest MARBLE, seated, outdoor Buddha.  I wonder if they consult each other before they start constructing these things??  :)  We took a cable car up to the top of the hill, which was especially cool because we were in a "Crystal Cabin" with a glass floor.  We got some super cute photos of Ollie - it looks like he is totally super-imposed on lots of interesting backdrops.  The Buddha was majestic as always, and it just blows my mind how they got these large pieces of bronze up the hill!

Ollie enjoyed our "crystal cabin" cable car ride up to the Buddha

Braving the misty weather at the Giant Buddha

Our last day, we had one of the quintessential Hong Kong experiences - we took the ferry across the harbor from Hong Kong island to the Kowloon side of Hong Kong (Brian and I live on the island of Hong Kong, but across the harbor is also considered Hong Kong, even though it is part of mainland China... just so you know!).  There is a Hong Kong "Walk of Fame", where we had a fun time posing Ollie in his little Asian outfit with all of the movie star's stars.  We had one last Cantonese dinner (I think everyone was getting tired of chopsticks by this point!), and then watched the laser light show from a rooftop. 

Catching the laser light show on our last night together!

Future Kung Fu Star?!?

All in all, it was a fantastic trip.  Both the times we were sightseeing and the times when we were just hanging out as a family were so nice.  I have to say... I truly lucked out in the in-law department.  Brian and I both feel so blessed to have the extended families that we do.  We are missing everyone already, and looking forward to our next visitors - mom? dad?  ;)  xoxo

Welcome to Herzogenaurach!

Welcome!!

It's about 2:30 in the morning here in Hong Kong, and I'm wide awake... why?  Well, jet lag is a beautiful thing.  I've just returned from yet another trip to Germany.  I'm working on a really interesting project that will probably send me back a few more times before I can say I'm finished.  It was a great, productive week, although I did miss Brian terribly.  The good news is that I don't have to travel for work again until April 21st!

When I left, Brian gave me specific instructions - he wanted to see what this village in Germany (whose name is impossible to pronounce by non-Germans... so we call it simply "Herzo") is all about.  So, when I arrived last Sunday morning, in order to fight the jet lag I was experiencing on that end of the journey, I took a stroll around this quaint town that is the home of not only one, but two sporting goods companies.  

First... to take a step back in time.  Adidas (which comes from the name of the company's founder, Adolf Dassler... not "All Day I Dream About Sports" as some young men in junior high used to say) was started in 1924 by the Dassler brothers, Adolf and Rudolf.  At some point in time after WWII, they had a falling out, and Rudolf formed his own sporting goods company - Puma.  When I joined the company, I read a book called Sneaker Wars that talks about the history of the industry and this famous falling out.  Fascinating read for sneaker heads.  :)  The two companies are still headquartered in Herzogenaurach.  In fact, I drove by the Puma HQ every day on my way to the adidas HQ.  It's actually quite amazing that these two companies (and another large company not in the sporting goods industry) are able to find enough people to work - Herzo is seriously waaaaaaay in the country, and is just a tiny little town.

I actually enjoyed being there very much.  After being in Hong Kong, a city which doesn't really sleep, it was a nice change of pace.  I got up every morning and went for a run, and I didn't have to dodge cars or millions of people on the sidewalk.  In fact, most days I didn't even see anyone!  The air was so clean and crisp - a nice break for my poor lungs that have been inhaling smog from China and bus fumes in Hong Kong.  Sunday is an interesting day in Germany.  I think you either absolutely love it or you can't stand it.  Everything, with the exception of a few restaurants, is closed on Sunday.  Coming from a country where not only are most things open on Sunday, but open 24 hours a day, I think this would be a tough thing for some people to get used to.  I have to say though, I kind of like it.  When I went for a run on Sunday, I ran through a neighborhood, and in just about every yard, the kids were out playing and the parents were reading, chatting, or gardening.  I saw neighbors walking with a pie to a dinner with friends.  I didn't see a bunch of stressed out people in cars running from one place to another.  It's a pain not to be able to go to the grocery store, but I suppose you could get used to planning your errands on the other days of the week, and really enjoy that day of rest.  I certainly did.

Without further ado, here is my photo record of my walkabout on Sunday:

This is a football town.  Er, soccer.  This football is the main landmark, and my hotel was just around the corner, so it was easy to tell taxis, "Drop me off by the football".  :)

This is SUCH a cute little German town.  Feels almost like a movie set, but it is real!

 

Cute little neighborhood

Quintessential German Church

Puma HQ

The main building of the adidas HQ - this used to be a US air base during WWII

The main building I work in - it's called Laces and was just built - one of the coolest buildings I have ever worked in.  :)

So, hope you enjoyed the tour.  Every time I go, I meet more and more people and start to feel more and more comfortable.  I got to have dinner with an old friend from Nike that also came to "the dark side".  It's always nice to have someone to sanity check things with.  :)  I also got to see a friend of mine at the Amsterdam airport on my way back to Hong Kong.  Sometimes, the world amazes me... it's really not all that big anymore.  My friend Zoe and I both landed at about 7:45pm, met for a quick drink, then she went on to Utrecht and I went on to Hong Kong.  You know,  just two friends meeting for a drink.  :)

Our exciting news is that we will have some very special visitors in just a few days!  Brian's parents, sister, brother-in-law, and our nephew will arrive in Hong Kong on Thursday night!  We are so excited to see everyone!  We will take a short trip to Beijing, and try to give them a feel of what it's like to live here.  Pictures to come!  :)

Cambodia

Last weekend, I added a new country to my list.  Those that knew me while I was living in Amsterdam know that I set a goal of seeing 30 countries before turning 30... I did it, just by the skin of my teeth, and, yes, Luxumburg IS a country (so is Vatican City, but let's not go down this path...).  There are a long list of places that I still want to visit, but, recently, I've been mostly going to the same old places that I've been going to for the past 6 years that I've been working in the footwear manufacturing industry - Korea, Taiwan, China, Vietnam, and Indonesia.  Well, as labor gets more and more expensive in the typical manufacturing countries, manufacturing starts to spread out to where labor is still relatively cheap.  You probably have noticed that when you buy a printer, it no longer says "Made in China" all of the time... it most likely says "Made in Vietnam".  Same with footwear... what used to be made almost entirely in Korea and Japan then moved to China, and what was then made in China moved to Vietnam, Indonesia, and, in the past two years, Cambodia.  Which is why footwear prices are virtually the same as what they were ten years ago.  Which is why I was there last weekend.

I arrived on Friday night, then spent the whole day on Saturday visiting three of our footwear factories.  It was really interesting to get to see how things are developing in a new country - there are different laws, different challenges, and different ways of working.  For Cambodia, for example, the people used to all be farmers.  So, it's still quite typical during farming season for people to leave the factories to go to the fields.  New country, same challenges.  I think, however, that in no time, Cambodia will have just as much infrastructure as Vietnam.  Right now though, it's easy to understand why people would rather farm... once you get out to the country, where one of our factories is, there is NOTHING TO BUY... no restaurants, no shops, no nothing, so there is little point to trying to earn more money.  Once people start to get more and more money to open shops, buy scooters, etc, I think the economy will start to take off.  It was pretty cool to see things now... in 5-10 years, it's going to be a different world in Cambodia.

On the way to the factory... lots of farmland and skinny cows

These flat lands flood every summer, so the houses are all built up on stilts so the houses are protected.

One of the footwear factories in Cambodia... it's still relatively undeveloped, so the only signs of life nearby are this factory and a brewery nearby!

Typical interior of a footwear factory

Even monks have to get around somehow...

A new record for scooter transportation - family of 5!

On Sunday, my colleague and I had some time to explore Phnom Penh, the capital and largest city in Cambodia.  I was pretty impressed, to be honest.  I was expecting a smaller version of Ho Chi Minh City, but it has a charm all its own.  It was clean, which is a characteristic hard to come by in a lot of large Asian cities.  It was also hotter than hell... 38 degrees Celsius, which is about 100 degrees Fahrenheit!  We took a "tuk-tuk" all over the city.  Luckily, this time we didn't get kidnapped the way I did in Bangkok (okay, okay... I didn't really get kidnapped, but they did take us on a wild goose chase all over the city - stopping in at lots of shops that they thought we should buy things in!).

Independence Monument

The Palace - Beautiful!

Monument at the Palace

Lots of dried fish - um, no thank you!

Next stop was Vietnam, where I had meetings with the rest of the footwear management team for a week.  I also had the pleasure of a dinner with my costing team in Vietnam.  It was one of my team member's birthdays, so we celebrated with a yummy cake!

The whole VN Costing Gang!

I got home late on Friday night, and was so happy to see my wonderful husband!!  I have to say, I am really lucky... Brian never complains about all of my travel... if he did, it would make it even harder for me to be gone so much.  He just always asks me, "You're coming home, right?".  We always just try to make the most of our time together.  I had a strange realization in HCMC - I think I know that city better than I know Hong Kong, which is where I technically live, even if I am never here.  So... on Saturday, we decided to be tourists for the day.  We took a double decker tourist bus all over the city to see the sites.  It was fun!  :)

My love

A touch of new and old in Hong Kong

This is the building we live in... wave if you can see us!  ;)

I'm happy to be back at home, even if it is just for a few days... I leave again on Saturday to go to Germany.  Then, one more week until Brian's family arrives to Hong Kong.  We are looking forward to the Easter Break, when we will all go to Beijing for 4 days.  We are slowly but surely finding our way in this crazy city, and, I have to say, we are pretty darn happy.  :)  Brian and I are both really enjoying our jobs and the experience of living in a different culture.  Much love to our friends and family back home!  We miss you!

A Nice Reminder...

Yesterday, I was at the train station in Guangzhou, China, getting ready to come home to Hong Kong (it's about a 2 hour, 20 minute train ride between the two cities).  I have been traveling an awful lot lately, and I'm getting pretty worn down.  In China, when the doors open to board the train, people disregard the line that has been forming for the past 45 minutes, and there is a mad stampede for the escalator that takes you down to the train platform.  (In fact, sometimes, when I'm traveling with Brian, I yell "stamp-ede!" just for fun...  ;))  Yesterday, it was no different.  I had lined up about 20 minutes before the doors opened, because I always have just a glimmer of hope that maybe THIS TIME, people actually will get the concept of a line... but they don't.  I was weary from two (very good and productive, but still tiring) days of meetings, and really not in the mood to be jostled and pushed from all sides.  Taking the stairs rather than the escalator usually is a ticket to beating the herd, so I took the stairs, only to get behind a mom and her young daughter, who was happily trying to hop down the stairs on one foot.  This didn't amuse me at the time, as I WAS IN A RUSH (um, to sit down for two hours?) and I wanted to get where I was going!  I was able to pass by the mom and girl, only to get blocked by slow moving traffic at the bottom of the stairs.  I then was walking by them, and, was embarrassed to find that my suitcase had moved sideways and was actually running into the girl.  I immediately realized that I was being crazy, and said "I'm so sorry."  That was the moment.  The little girl looked up at me, made eye contact (not many little kids look a stranger right in the eye), gave me a huge grin and said, "It's okay!".  I teared up and realized that I was once that little girl... happy-go-lucky, not in a rush to get anywhere, and hopping on one foot if that was what I wanted to do.  I've been going at a pace that's not healthy, and not taking the time to enjoy this journey that we're fortunate enough to be on.  Sometimes, life's little reminders don't come from the big boss or even your closest friends... sometimes, it's a happy little 6-year-old, who will hop on one foot and not care about how fast she's getting to her destination - her pleasure comes from the journey, which is something I had forgotten over the past few months. 

Here's to the journey, my friends... hop along!  :)

Pics of our Place... Finally!

Okay, so this is a little late... With all the crazy travel I've had, it took a while to get our flat looking presentable enough that I was willing to take pictures.  It's never going to be perfect, but it's good enough!  :)  So, without further ado, I present to you our little love nest:

We really like the living room - it's got a lot of space, plus, we can watch the laser light show every night at 8:00pm.  :)

Our entry way

This is an interesting one... we use it as our pantry/storage, but this is actually the "maid's quarters".  The door to the back is the "maid's bathroom", but we keep Brian's bike in there.  So far, we have decided that having storage is more important than having a live-in maid!  :)

The Kitchen

The Hallway

Our tiny little office

Spare Bathroom

Guest "bedroom" - if you can call it that... it's tiny too!  :)

Our bedroom... with an awesome closet!  :)

Another view of our bedroom - ask Brian how much he loves all these pillows!!  ;)

View from our bedroom down the hall

Our bathroom

 

Dining Room

Overall, we really love our place.  It's about 1000 sq. feet, which is a huge luxury in Hong Kong.  I won't post what our rent is exactly, but I'll just say that for about a third of the size our our house in Portland, we pay more than three times for our rent.  Actually, work helps with that, so don't feel too sorry for us.  ;)  This town is pretty ridiculously expensive, but, we're finding our hole-in-the-wall places that don't cater to expats, which cuts the price down to about a quarter of what some of the other, more western places, cost.  We did figure out one to avoid... I got food poisoning at a Vietnamese noodle place a few weeks ago.  I'll take that meat cooked WELL DONE the next time, thank you very much.  :)

Sometime in the near future, I'd love to give you a glimpse into what our daily routine is like... we don't have cars here.  Instead, our commute consists of walking to the world's longest escalator, going down the escalator, taking the public train, and arriving at work about 45 minutes later.  A longer commute than I had planned on for an island only 7 miles long, but that's what it is. 

Hope you all have a nice weekend!!

And... if you missed it, we just booked a trip home!!  :)  We can't wait to see all of our friends and family.  Tentative plan is as follows:
June 30th-July 1st - Portland
July 2nd to July 8th - Ohio
July 9th to July 13th - Alabama
July 14th-July 20th - New Orleans/Austin/Grand Canyon/Moab/Portland - AKA KPO's 1st cross-country road trip!  :)
July 20th-July 22nd - Portland

Mark your calendars!  :) :) :)