Counting down...

Adam gets home from the Philippines in 4 hrs and 45 minutes. Oh boy am I excited to see him and have him "home." We have done OK without him but Marian's tantrums have increased exponentially since he's been gone. Her world is unstable enough right now, moving across the world and all, that I think having her daddy gone has been the last straw.

We have slept at the Jensens' apartment while Adam's been gone (Adam is with Brother Jensen) and they have been so kind to us. They are a wonderful family. Most of their kids are in college or older but they have one 17-yr old boy here with them, Jake. He and Sister Jensen made us feel so at home in their apartment.

Tuesday night they had us and the sister missionaries over for dinner. The sisters are so cute. They are from the Philippines and teach in Tagalog and English. Missionary work is spreading like wildfire among the Filipino women here. They come here to nanny for Chinese families, leaving their own kids in the Philippines. Then they send the money back to support their families. Many of them have husbands in the Philippines who don't want to work (often are too busy with their mistresses) so these women come and work. It is heartbreaking to me. They are so cheerful though and always happy when I see them at church. The Philippines government doesn't do anything about it because of the billions of dollars that these women send into their country. To accommodate these sisters, Sacrament Meeting is held every day of the week, as they only get one day off/week. There is a senior couple (maybe multiple) called specifically to run these branches every day. They have church services then mass home teaching visits at the church because the sisters can't be visited in their homes.

Yesterday Marian and I visited the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens. It was definitely more botanical than zoological, as the zoo consisted of some very lazy monkeys, a jaguar (out for medical treatment), a reptile house with a python and 2 alligators, and birds. It was free though, so what can I say? The buff cheeked gibbons (monkeys) were the only lively thing there. There was a baby that kept annoying the adults to get them to play with him, which was very entertaining. (Maybe we're not so different from monkeys...)

This morning we went with Sister Jensen to Stanley Market on the south side of the island. It's a popular market with all sorts of things to shop for. In the taxi on the way there and back she told me about some of the superstitious beliefs here that I found pretty fascinating. How it came up is that there is this large beautiful hotel right above a nice beach that we drove past. This hotel has a huge hole in it for the sole purpose of allowing the dragon to come down from the mountain and get water. Sounds like a Disney fairytale to me. But I saw the hole myself so these beliefs must be alive and well! She also said that they have "fung shway" masters (I'll correct that when Adam comes home and tells me how to spell it) who go to building sites and tell the builders what direction to face the building, what day to start building, etc. to have good fortune, peace, harmony, etc. There are also lucky numbers, one of which is 8. Hence the reason the Olympics are starting on 08-08-08. Maybe you already knew all this but I sure didn't. I look at the thriving metropolis of Hong Kong with its massive skyscrapers, and it's hard to believe that these people still hold to such strong superstitious beliefs. I guess some people would say the same about Salt Lake City and the predominant beliefs there.

Anyway, I hope I'm not boring you to death. If so, I guess that's really you're problem for continuing to read! Adam has the camera in the Philippines so I don't have pictures from this week. But here are pictures from our old apartment. Here is the bed (a futon or something fold-up would definitely be more effective). The best feature was hitting my head in the middle of the night on the TV.



You can see the very corner of the bed, if that gives an idea of how long it was. The shower was in the little stall with the toilet.


Here's our kitchenette. This counter served as kitchen and bathroom counter. The machine on the left is the dehumidifier (generously supplied by the Jensens).


Yep, I'm glad to be in a bigger place!

That's all for now. May you all have prosperity, harmony, and peace!