We are here!

Hello from Hong Kong! What an adventure it has been! I don't really know where to start. So, the flight over here was SOOO long! Marian did OK. We weren't able to take her car seat on, but there were extra seats so we had three seats by each other. We tried giving her Benadryl but it didn't do much. She slept about 6 hrs of the 15 hr flight. I slept about 5 hrs. At one point I lay down on the floor in front of our seats because I couldn't get comfortable in the seats.

Anyway, the attorney Adam is working with here, Mike Jensen, met us at the airport with a senior missionary couple, the Newells. It was so nice to have them there to meet us! (By the way, to answer some of your questions--we are here for Adam's externship with the church's legal office here in Hong Kong.) They got us on the train from the airport to Hong Kong island then a taxi to our apartment.

So, we get to our apartment, open the door, and have a look. I seriously felt like crying when I saw it. From the pictures I knew it was small, but it seriously is tiny. I just measured it right now using my own wingspan (approximately 5 feet). It is 1 wingspan plus about to the elbow wide and 2 wingspans plus an arm long. Stand up and do that yourself to visualize. I’m guessing 6.5 feet by 12 feet and that’s being generous. I don’t know where they got 220 square feet, but that would feel like a mansion! Anyway, I don’t mean to complain, but it has been a struggle for me because it’s so small. We’ve managed for 5 days now, so I’m sure it’ll be fine.

Other than our apartment, it is amazing here!! The city is so spectacular. The island really isn’t that big so they compensate by building straight up. There are huge skyscrapers everywhere! The architecture is incredible. When you’re walking along the sidewalk, it feels like a normal big city but then you look up and see these 75 story skyscrapers looming above you!

We’ve already had some fun adventures. Saturday we went out to breakfast with the Jensens and Newells (the same missionary couple—Elder Newell works with Mike) and they showed us around the city a little. We spent the day shopping, napping, and getting things we needed. We crashed that night at 7:30.

Sunday we went to church in the English speaking branch. The area presidency goes to that branch so three general authorities were there (Elders Garn, Perkins, and Hallsworth). Church is a 12-story building with three chapels and the area offices on the 8-10 floors. It’s beautiful! Adam works on the 10^th floor.

Monday was Buddha’s b-day, so no work. We rode the tram to Victoria Peak which overlooks the city. It is an impressive sight!

Yesterday, Adam worked so I explored. I went to Victoria Park, which is beautiful. I found a playground for Marian and she played for a long time. Being with her is like walking down the street with Tom Cruise. Everyone loves her! People want to take pictures with her all the time! Here is how it went at the playground: 2 teenage girls came up and asked to take a picture with Marian. Then a man and a woman walked up and said they were from a local magazine and were introducing this particular playground in the magazine and would it be OK if my daughter was in some of the shots. The man took pictures while the lady talked to me about playgrounds in America, why we chose this particular playground, etc. They left after awhile and Marian and I left to see more of the park. As we were walking, a group of 4 teenage girls surrounded Marian and started posing and taking pictures with her! So I got a picture too. What a celebrity!

Here are some pictures. This is from our Sunday afternoon walk.




These are the girls that loved Marian.

As you may have noticed from the picture, I chopped my hair! Hooray! I donated 10 inches to Locks of Love. It’s so great to have a change! Thanks to my cute friend Hanna Farr for doing it. (If you’re in Provo and need a good hairdresser, she’s amazing. And she does it in her home, so it’s convenient.)

Sorry, blogger is being really slow, so I’m not going to be able to do all the pictures I want right now. Keep checking though as I’m sure we’ll have more to report soon!