Comforts of Home

I got home late on Tuesday night, and as I walked out of the airport at midnight watching an adoption "Welcome to America" party to greet a toddler Chinese girl with balloons and crying new grandparents, I was so overwhelmed with the joy of being home. Kendyl lovingly (and begrudgingly, if we're honest, though it was WAY past her bedtime, haha) came to pick me up, and we hauled it home to see if jet lag would let me sleep...

I keep thinking about my last week or so in China - I may be going back again but it's possible it was my last ever, and I was sad to leave. I had fun with my friends that week, we went to International Day at the local international school, and Curt and I got out and enjoyed the motorcycle a few times... I fear he has gone native - he's a crazy driver and in denial about it, and even honks his horn at no one just like the Chinese do! Next thing I know he'll be walking around town in his underwear... haha. I got some last minute shopping in, filled my suitcases to within 1 pound of their 70 pound limit, and then I was off!






Here's a picture of one of my last minute purchases - a scroll silk painting we bought that Curt and I are excited about. Long story short I'm not a huge fan of Chinese art or decor, but I realized that when we do move home, if you walked around our house you wouldn't be able to tell at ALL that we have spent a year and a half in China, so I decided I would go hunting for a piece of art that I *did* like. It took awhile, but Curt and I went to Bar Street and stumbled upon this one... it's as large as a door, and is a painting of white cherry blossoms. We loved it, and negotiated like crazy (we make an incredible negotiating pair), and landed it - WHOOP!




The flight seemed long - I watched 4 movies: Leap Year (love!), Book of Eli (had never heard of it but loved it - it's one of those movies that you think about even days later), When in Rome (satisfactory), and something else I can't remember now... I did get some sleep, probably 3 hours total, which isn't great for a 14 hour flight but better than none, and was actually a few minutes early into Newark (someone mark that down, I'm pretty sure it's Newark's first since their air traffic control is always screwed up), so got to relax instead of run to my gate, or miss my flight all together like last time.

So now I'm home, and though my first day back was hard - missing Curt and unsure when I'm going to see him next, and didn't have Maverick's happy face yet, and Kendyl at work (Mom and Dad are out of town), and had to go see my empty house and unsure if we're going to get to move back in it, thinking about the million things I have to do, etc. - I was also relieved to be back! Just to inhale clean air is a huge thing - we definitely take it for granted and over the past two days I have found myself breathing very deeply whenever I'm outside, LOL.

Yesterday was better - I had lunch with friends, went shopping at HEB (the convenience of grocery shopping is another thing we take for granted), a good walk with Maverick, and got a lot done on my list of things to do, caught up with a few friends on the phone, watched some TV shows that my fam has saved for me on DVR, and have a beautiful bouquet of flowers from Curt sitting in the kitchen...




Today I have the walk through of our house with the renters and relocation people from their company, and lots more items on my to-do list that I'll be slowly whittling away at!

And here's a pic of Maverick modeling his new vest... it fits him perfectly and he totally cracked me up - I think he likes it but he was totally posing as I was trying to get a good shot! LOL

Singapore Sun

So last week Curt and I went to Singapore - he had a big meeting there where people were flying in from all over the world, and they decided Singapore would be the meeting place - fine by us because I got to come along for my first tagalong business trip - Whoop!

We had such a great time, though of course it was a little different than a normal "vacation" as Curt was busy doing work stuff most of the time. We did tack on a weekend at the end so that he could see Singapore, too, so that was good, but for the most part this post is going to be about what I saw of Singapore... which thanks to Heather, was a lot!

Singapore is such a great city... very clean, metropolitan, friendly, and SUNNY and HOT! Curt and I were in heaven and before we even got out of the airport were already commenting how lucky Singapore expats are... for real. Everything smells floral, not just clean, and everything is so technologically modern. That's one thing that's kind of weird about the city, too, though - it's SO modern that it seems to be a city lacking history - you really have to dive deep for it which is unlike any other city we've visited in the East thus far.

Singapore's claim to fame is shopping malls - huge ones, small ones, luxury ones, and everything on every spectrum. Heather took me around and showed me many, but as everything there is ridiculously expensive AND neither of us are huge shoppers, it was mostly admiring window shopping and her just showing me the sights.

Heather also took me to the famous Orchid garden inside the Botanical Gardens where we had a photo safari day, so below I've posted a few of my favorites (of the 300+ pictures I took, haha). The orchids were truly breathtaking and they were everywhere you looked... such a dainty flower in my mind but here they grow like weeds and in every color of the rainbow! The rain came later that afternoon so we slowly made our way back - their public transport is as well organized and easy as London's and I suspect fashioned after London.

We had to eat dinners mostly with Curt's work group, and went to Clarke Quay which is this adorable outdoor eating/pedestrian area along the river, but also fit in a couple of dinners with Heather and Ben, too! Heather also took me to see Boat Quay, Robertson Quay, Chinatown (really nice compared to China, even!), a wet market, a hawker center, the Ion (most expensive real estate in Singapore), the Esplanade and to see the Merlion, and the MOVIES with their friends to see Iron Man 2 ("it's gonna be Siiiiick!") LOL

We had such a great time, and I was so grateful to have a friendly and willing tour guide!

Coming from cold China to hot Singapore took its toll on me and Curt though - after a few days we were dehydrated, and always felt tired despite the copious amounts of water we were drinking.

Over the weekend the two of us hit the zoo - Heather told us it was a must see as a lot of their monkeys kind of run "loose" around the treetops near their habitats. And it was amazing... a cotton-topped tamarin was within a finger's distance of touching me - it touched Flat Stanley instead and I was so excited! - and we got to see orangutans up close and personal. What was so neat about the zoo is that I guess since Singapore has one climate all year around, the animals are all acclimated and despite it being in the heat of day, everyone was out wandering around!

That night for dinner we went out to Chijmes, a church and converted cloisters area that is now a popular dining place for night life. It was so cool and a neat concept... we didn't get to go in the church as there was a wedding that night, but we ate at the churrascaria there and had our fill of meat.... yea for being a carnivore!

Our hotel was on Orchard Road which is a big shopping district and tourist area, and usually every night after dinner we'd go hang out at this Irish Pub that was close by. I had some great cider, and Curt his Guinness after some VERY fine meals, and we really enjoyed hanging out with Curt's colleagues and coworkers. They were mostly all men slightly older than us, and a mix of Scottish, Irish, German, and other cultures, so we had the best time ever joking and chatting. I even finally met someone who has given a Glasgow kiss... how exciting is that?!

One night after an evening at the pub, one of the guys who had visited Singapore numerous times decided Curt and I in our young and innocent ways needed to be educated on the "other" side of Singapore. Just down the street, in this building that is I think an indoor strip mall by day, is the Four Floors of Whores... LOL. Heather had told me it was around somewhere while we were out walking Orchard Road one day, so I was kind of prepared, but then I wasn't, because apparently everyone here is a woman that used to be a man... picture a very surprised face here! Oh my goodness!

It was shocking, and while I could tell mostly that these women were really men, I'm sure 90% of men out there would not be able to at ALL which is highly scary... gone are the days when Adam's apples and bigger hands are the give away, these she-men were dead ringers for the finer sex which just goes to show you how far cosmetic surgery and hormones have come... I felt like I was an anthropological observer!

So we go into this bar, and I mean it was ok, they aren't lewd and aggressive,and it's not disgusting, they're just there hanging around - we were told not to make eye contact if we didn't want any "attention," but it didn't matter because they can apparently spot a real woman a mile away and didn't try to come over to our group. I must have served as some sort of repellant which was fine by me - so we sat down to take in the "scenery." It was interesting, that's for sure... what blew my mind is how can Singapore get so crazy bent out of shape over chewing gum and litter and allow this? Doesn't really make sense to me...

We didn't stay very long at all, as it was more of watching a freak show than anything else, but I had such a mixture of emotions! On one hand, part of me wanted to laugh, and on the other, I wanted to cry - it was so strange. But yes, an education. We left and I felt glad that I had seen it, and yet relieved that I was leaving... the world is a strange place and I don't ever want to be naive enough to think that this kind of stuff is out there, even if it is disturbing and way out of my personal comfort zone.

All in all, though, Singapore was fantastic and really we are jealous of anyone that gets to live there, despite of how expensive it is for literally almost everything! If we had gotten to stay longer we would have taken the 2 hour flight over to Bali - how awesome is that? - or possibly gone to KL which would have been really cool, too.. oh well, for next time, I guess?

We did love getting to hang out with people that we knew though - between Curt's coworkers and all of the dinners, and Ben and Heather and Heather's girlfriends, we had such a great time! Seeing Iron Man 2 was just so awesome, and we even got to watch a movie and Ben and Heather's place while enjoying some caipirosca's - umm, YUM!

In the airport on our way home we were sad to leave,though... I got to "pet" some koi fish, we enjoyed the butterfly garden, and got free foot massages for the two hours before our flight after some Burger King and Mrs. Fields cookies... yep, we were definitely sad to leave such a paradise!

Here are a few favorite pictures from our time there!

Pics of Chinese Interest

So here are the purchases from Hong Kong that I wrote about in my previous post...

The magic heating pads and Maverick's new vest!



And here is how the heating pads work - they are AWESOME!



And here are a few miscellaneous shots of our new place and China life in general... don't be fooled, these were all taken on the same ONE sunny day (I've counted a total of FOUR since I got here almost 2 months ago)!

Our very messy guest room, with the desk and my computer :-)



The Koi pond right below the guest bedroom window



The pathway leading up to our building



The little river with a boat and sculpture - I think this area is so sweet



Curt on "Bella," his Chinese toy before we take her for a spin... don't worry, we're bringing her home!



My beautiful South Sea pearl ring - my own custom design!

Hong Kongers!

What a great weekend, and interesting, too…

We woke up in Suzhou on Friday morning to the first sunshine I have seen since I got here almost a month ago, and of course, we had to high tail it to the airport to leave it… sigh! Of course when we landed in Shenzen we were welcomed by more clouds, as it’s a 2-hour flight away and south of Shanghai, so the weather and climate are completely different. Oh well…

Even though we left so early on Friday morning, there was so much time padding everywhere that it ended up being a full day of travel… We went from Suzhou to Shanghai to the airport, waited, flew, landed in Shenzen, taxied to the ferry station (and missed our ferry by 10 minutes, so had to wait for 3 more hours til the next one), waited, ferried over to Hong Kong for an hour, taxied to Kowloon, and finally at 8:30 p.m. we got to our hotel – ouch!

While waiting on our flight over from Shanghai to Shenzen, I went up to ask the gate agent if Star Alliance Gold members got to board after first class, etc. She didn’t understand me so I thus ensued in pointing to my plane ticket which had my Continental One Pass number on it, and with pantomimes and a few Chinese and English words tried to ask again, she said, “Oh, VIP?” And I nodded – “Sure, why not ?” It’s close enough being Platinum/Gold, right? What was hilarious was then before they called the plane to board, she nodded for me and Curt to come over, and we boarded the plane FIRST before anyone else in front of all of these waiting people. We were a little embarrassed, but laughed it off… we could be VIP’s after all, right? I guess with the communication barrier, the gate agent felt it was better to be safe than sorry!

In all of the traveling though, we did get to see a lot of Shenzen, the water/islands/surrounding areas, and a first glimpse of the city at night. We dropped our things off and quickly went out exploring the Kowloon side and got a late dinner at the Spaghetti House, which was delicious.

While eating and enjoying our pasta (Curt) and soup (Me) and iced tea (Both – yum!), a song came over the loud speakers that never fails to remind me of my childhood… “The Way it Is” by Bruce Hornsby… I told Curt as the piano started playing how much I loved the song and he cocked his ear up to listen, and he’s like Bruce Hornsby, huh? I didn’t even know who sang it, haha, it’s just one of those songs that when you hear it, it instantly triggers a memory, you know? I told him to close his eyes as I began…

Dad is driving the brown BMW, Mom in the front seat, me behind Dad, and Kendyl (so small) on my right... I’m thinking I may have been 5 or 6, and Kendyl 2 or 3? We were on some sort of road trip, and it was morning, and all I could see for miles was yellow brown fields of high grass. Dad had turned it up a little, and it was just… peaceful. Maybe that’s why I remember it… usually I’m sure Kendyl and I were playing games, or talking, fighting, or something, but I just remember looking and all four of us were just silent, looking out the windows listening to the music… and I was happy.

As I described the scene to Curt (he had opened his eyes by now), I started to get choked up. He was half laughing and was like, “why are you crying?” And I blubbered out that I just hoped that someday when we have kids they’ll have such happy memories of our family like I have, and that they’ll love us as much as I love my parents (I’m totally crying right now again, and have the song on in the background as I write this… Mom, Dad, I love you, and you gave me and Kendyl the best childhood memories ever – even the simple ones… thanks).

After I composed myself – they were happy tears, so it didn’t take too long to recover – we went out on the city again and walked the city until maybe 11 p.m. or so. Hong Kong is another city that never sleeps, as it was still packed when we were heading in! The lights were so bright and blinding, and it was almost overwhelming. We went down by the water and walked along looking out at Hong Kong (we were on the Kowloon side), and just had fun checking things out. We even saw Jackie Chan’s star on the Walk of Fame and the statue of Bruce Lee – pretty cool, I have to say.



The next day, we slept in a little and got on our way to Stanley Market before lunch. We had to catch the Star Ferry to go to the Hong Kong side to catch our bus, and as we were approaching I saw the “Boarding” light flashing and some Chinese people started running, so I shouted at Curt to hurry with paying for our tokens and we started running, too. Down the ramp, and then the gate started to automatically close just before we got there, so we slipped in laughing as I had squealed a little in surprise when the gate and I almost collided! The people behind us didn’t make it, and I said, “When you see Chinese people running, you should be too,” which Curt seemed to think was hilarious (and true) so it became one of our quotes for the weekend.

Curt told me we didn’t really need to rush so much for the Star Ferry though because one runs almost every 10 minutes, but after Friday where missing our ferry had meant *3 hours of waiting* in a dark and dingy terminal, I didn’t pause to go for it as I didn’t know, LOL.



Once on the HK side, we had to catch a bus that took about an hour and 15 minutes to get to Stanley Market. It was actually really nice! Since we caught the bus at the bus station, we were the first ones on and sat in the front row on the second deck of the double decker bus, so I felt like it was kind of like a tour!

Driving along the coastline and seeing the islands and mountains was really cool. After a great – and sometimes crazy trip (the bus driver was much like the one of the Knight Bus in Harry Potter; he definitely did not know my family’s phrase of “Don’t sling the beans!”) – we arrived at Stanley Market.

We did some shopping at first to look around, and then went over to the Pickled Pelican for a lovely lunch overlooking the water. I know the point of traveling abroad is to take in the sights and sounds of the culture you’re in, but honestly, what was so refreshing about this day was how Western it all was… There were foreigners everywhere – little kids playing on scooters as their parents ate lunch, and people out walking their dogs. And they weren’t tourists, like we were – it must be where a lot of the expats in Hong Kong reside, because we hardly felt like we were in Asia! And yes, it was nice… we were in heaven as I sipped my cider and Curt his Guinness – splitting a burger and a club sandwich.



And wouldn’t you know it – what song starts playing to polish the perfect moment off? “Time to Say Goodbye” by Andrea Bocelli. Sigh… Curt and I both noticed it immediately and he glanced over at me to see my reaction… we chatted about Vegas, and Pap, and then he said, “Don’t cry” not two seconds before the tears started to come again as he laughed gently at me saying, “Gosh, I so know you!” To which I couldn’t help but laugh through the tears, too… What is it about HK and crying over meals, anyway?! This time was a little more bittersweet, but I take these moments as a “Hello, I’m here” type sign from Him, so I got it out, and we went on with lunch – all the more perfect for the unexpected visit.

Afterwards it was getting a little chillier outside, so we hurried down to the pier to snap a few photos, and then back to the shelter of the market stalls to do a little more shopping and browsing. We ended up buying A yellow reflector vest for Maverick for him to wear out on the ranch (lest he be mistaken for a deer – he is the right color and size), a dress for me, and these AWESOME heating pads that use some sort of chemical reaction! They last for about an hour, and then you boil them to return them to their first state, and you can use them as cold packs, too! I can’t wait to try one – we bought the 4-pack for roughly $12.



We hung out walking some more, and as it was getting late and we had other plans for the evening back in HK, we decided to go ahead and go find our bus. We lucked out again and got the first row on the double decker, and knowing when some things were coming up, I got to snap a few shots of what we were seeing (even though it was a little maddening trying to get the shots because of the trees and mountains constantly getting in the way)!



After we got back and cleaned up, we got on our way to go catch the Star Ferry again so we could go up to the top the mountain behind Hong Kong to view the lights. There is a tramway there that is pretty historic – built over 100 years ago to help take western tourists and expats up the mountain, to ease the poor Chinese from carting them up individually by sedan just for picnics, LOL. It seems very British to me (not in a bad way, you can just totally see it, I mean), and reading about the history as we were waiting in line for about an hour was really fun.

The tram ride itself was impressive, and Curt had prepared me for a roller coaster ride, which in some ways, it is! It is a pretty heavy little thing, and carting up 70ish people at a time, it moves FAST, and what’s more, it goes literally STRAIGHT UP THE MOUNTAIN! Forget switchbacks and hairpin turns snaking upwards – I guess that wasn’t in the budget. Literally your head gets heavy from holding it up, LOL! The scenery was amazing, and all I kept thinking was how in the world did people carry sedans (with people in them) up this mountain side? Holy smokes!



We were pretty hungry by the time we got to the top, and had a few moments of indecision… I wanted to go see the sky as daylight was beginning to fade, but I guess Curt’s stomach was doing the talking for him and he ushered me into the first non-Chinese restaurant we saw which was Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. I was kind of like, “huh?” because I had in my mind we were going to eat this slow, romantic meal by candlelight, and I wanted to go take pictures. Well, miscommunication I guess, and we were seated…

I was still puzzled and Curt noticed, so he asked if I wanted to leave? I said no, it didn’t matter too much but I was kind of pouty for a few minutes… UNTIL I reminded myself how lucky I was to even be in Hong Kong in the first place, um, hello Tasha! LOL! Dinner was delicious, too… I got some salmon that I have been seriously craving, AND one of the best desserts of my life… “That Chocolate Thing.” Basically a flourless chocolate cake in a Ball jar, topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and covered with whip cream, drizzled with raspberry sauce. Oh. My. God. This is my personal heaven.



I scooped off the ice cream for Curt, and quickly dove in to the warm and gooey cake… flourless chocolate cake is really more like warm cake batter, which makes me love it all the more. And oh my goodness gracious it was so good, I could have died right there and been happy. I wasn’t able to finish it, which was a true shame, (after only one bite Curt said it was way too rich for him so he just ate the ice cream) but it really made my night… all that would have made it better was my baby sister to make a vicious scene with me if we could have devoured it together (you should see the two of us eat a chocolate molten at Chili’s – it’s a little gross, haha)! So I ended up being very pleased by our restaurant choice, after all it is only the dessert that REALLY matters, right? At least for me…



Then we finished out the night on the Sky Terrace, enjoying the city lights and after awhile, the HK light show. We were too high up to hear the music that the lights are choreographed to, but it didn’t matter… it was a blast. I told Curt that I was a little happy about dinner even though he kept feeling a little bad about it... I told him I was glad (truly!) that I'm glad he's not a smooth operator 100% of the time - the whole thing made me laugh and just glad that he's real, and he's mine. Afterwards we wandered about, then caught the tram back down the mountain (just as crazy sliding steeply down, and my head was even heavier this time)!



The next day was laid back – a travel day as we had to get back to Shenzen, so we piddled around walking the streets in the morning, grabbed some lunch, and started to make the logistically complicated way back to mainland China.



When we got to Shenzen we settled into our hotel there (more like a 3 bedroom apartment – nice!), and went out wandering to find a movie theater in hopes there was a movie playing in English. We were in luck! Clash of the Titans was playing, so we wandered the shopping mall until it started, were assigned our seats (yep, assigned – you pick your seats when you buy your tickets like a concert), and issued our 3D glasses.

The movie was subtitled in Chinese – and here’s a random question… Shenzen speaks Cantonese, which I didn’t realize at all until we had been trying to communicate unsuccessfully in Mandarin and English that we wanted to know if any of the foreign movies were actually in English, because sometimes they’re dubbed over with another language, etc., but the movie was subtitled in Chinese for obvious reasons. So, if Mandarin and Cantonese are so different, is the written language the same? Hmm…

Anyway, it was a little annoying because the Chinese people kept going in and out all during the movie, and were talking incessantly. I tried not to be too annoyed, though, as I was sure the talking was due to people translating for their peers, etc., haha, and was really just thankful that we got to see a movie at all… I really miss my Netflix and movie theaters, so it was a special night!

The next day Curt had his training in the morning, and when he was finished we went out to lunch with all of his work friends that had also flown in. Then back to the airport, where I napped for an hour and a half like a ragamuffin homeless person on a bench, LOL. Once we were on the plane, we were then delayed for an hour – Chinese airlines always are delayed somehow, I’m not being dramatic. Literally the entire time we were waiting the announcements of all the delays were literally back to back… I can still here that woman’s automated Chinese accent English speaking voice: “…. Due to….”! What fun, though… it’s these times when I am so thankful for Curt, but not in the way that you might think... You know it’s something special when a day of basically full travel, which is miserable for the most part, is actually fun because of the person you’re with.

Then safely home, which strangely enough was a relief. We still miss our place back at Horizon, but our new place at the Crowne has become home now as well. It’s a little strange in fact, how easily and quickly that happens! It was a great weekend, though, and we saw a lot… Hong Kong is a wonderful and bustling city. We kept saying how cool it would have been to be assigned there, but after spending time in another Chinese city (Shenzen) which is not as nice as Suzhou, and where we had a lot more difficulty because almost NO ONE spoke a word of English, we’re really thankful to be where we are! In fact, I’m starting to get sad about leaving soon…

A Day In the Life (or Two)

Sometimes people ask me what it is I do over here while Curt’s at work, so here’s a good sampling from the last couple of days.

Yesterday: Wake up as Curt is leaving for work.

Make oatmeal, or if I’m feeling like a treat, fix myself some Lucky Charms. Lucky Charms are a treat (read: to be rationed) because it’s expensive here and you can hardly ever find it. Our market here got a shipment in last week and Curt and I spent $100 US dollars on the 8 boxes – every box they had – and they are small boxes at that… When you’re here and missing things from home, it’s worth it. Yesterday was a Lucky Charms day – it was raining… again. :-/

Chat with family and friends from home online (thank the Lord for the internet).

Depending on what I have going on for the day, here I either work out or shower. Yesterday, I showered because I had lunch with friends!

Usually though, I just make my own lunch – usually leftovers, or something like PB&J or mac and cheese, or Chef Boyardee (things that I likely brought from home).

Before my lunch outing, though, Han took me to go pick up my new cashmere coat, and not a moment too soon, the rain was turning into sleet so my hooded coat came in handy!




Lunch with friends was great. We went to a Tibetan restaurant and ordered WAY too much food… it ended up costing about $7 US dollars per person and we were stuffed!




The afternoon is usually for errands, or working out, or if it’s gross outside, maybe a movie or a book. Yesterday after lunch me and my friends went to the Flea Market to kill a couple of hours and did some exploring. It was indoor, which was great because it was sleeting, and still freezing inside because there is no heat… the weather has been crazy. At the flea market you can buy pretty much anything you could ever imagine. My purchases included two pairs of earrings, totaling about $7, so not too bad! Definitely a place to remember though, in case I should need... anything!

By the time we were finished, I still had time to run to the Pearl Market to get some jewelry to send to family back home.



Then I made dinner, we enjoyed the fountain and firework show from our living room, and settled in to watch a movie, and then reading before bed.




Today: Wake up when Curt’s about to leave.

Eat oatmeal for breakfast while I talked to Mom and Aunt Whitni.

Got some work done around the “house.”

Packed a little for Hong Kong this weekend!

Showered up, got some more work done, made chicken nuggets and leftover mac and cheese for lunch.

Met Lisa downstairs so we could go get rings made near Pet Street for our Sea Pearls! I brought some “old” gold from home, and am having a custom ring made here… wax mold should be ready in 4 days, woohoo!

When we were finished with “Jimmy,” Lisa showed me Pet Street, which was… interesting. Not as horrible as I imagined, actually, so that’s good, but I still found myself praying for the poor animals as I passed by stalls. Some of the dogs didn’t look too healthy, and I think I noticed a Rottie with kennel cough… some of the dogs are beautiful, though, and I’m hoping all of the animals will find good homes. The good thing is that the Chinese seem to adore their pets, so just hoping they aren’t in the shops for too long…







Then we bought some flowers, and some fish for her kids’ tank on the street over. The flowers were so pretty! The Chinese definitely do have some green thumbs!



Then, back in where we live (everything here is spread out, so to get to each place is usually 20+ minutes), she dropped me off so I could go get a massage! I usually get one per week, and it’s heaven… bliss, even. Sigh! Afterwards, I walked home... even though it's cold (in the 40s), it was strangely clear outside, and it was nice to see things without looking through haze. (Below picture is our old home, Horizon on the left, and our new home, the Crowne, on the right).



Then home, and quickly got ready for a company dinner at a local hot pot restaurant, where we spent our evening with Curt’s coworkers.

Then finished up packing as we leave for Hong Kong in the morning, and now writing this post!

All in all, I can keep myself “busy” here, but of course my definition of “busy” here is different than my definition of “busy” at home. Everything is relative! And yes, as good as it sounds here, remember the grass is always greener! :-)