Just getting started

So I'm not very good at this but my cousin Jennifer started her own blog and it looked fantastic!!!! I thought this could be a great communication tool for family and friends to be part of my experience.

I arrived in Hong Kong Friday June, 20 around 7:30 pm, the flight out of New York (yes, I said New York we'll just say it was rather long) was delayed by an hour so we arrived later than originally scheduled. Since my apartment was not ready, I stayed at the Renaissance until Sunday when I was able to check into my apartment.

My apartment is a furnished 2 bedroom which is rather nice. Below is a photo of my bedroom, the pillow on top is from home (glad i brought it with me). I actually make my bed everyday which I never did at home.

This is a photo of the second bedroom which I currently use as an office. Today I set up my printer/scanner/copier which is still "configuring". This room will be available anyone who wants to visit (yes, small bed).






After checking into my apartment my new co-worker (Vivian) and I went shopping to purchase items we would need for our "offices". I gotta tell it was really hot, must have been in the 90's and humid no dry heat here! We made our big purchases first which will be delivered later in the week and ventured on to find a stationery shop where we purchased basic office supplies. Next we went to find items for my kitchen. Do you think I could find a coffee maker????????????? Guess I amdestined to quit drinking coffee. So I purchased a plate, cup, knives/spoons, chopsticks, one REALLY small fork, pot, pan and a couple sharp knives. Pretty limited cooking supplies. My kitchen consists of 2 hot plates and a microwave oven so I guess pizza is out of the question. Below my microwave is my washer/dryer (one unit) which I have yet to use. I will add a better picture of my kitchen soon so you can get a idea of what it looks like.

So my next mission was to find a grocery store. My complex offers free shuttle to the two main "subway" lines MTR and CTR, both have multiple stores connected so it is easy access. I found a small grocery store in a mall and purchased the staples necessary to get by for awhile. Peanut butter, cereal, soup, crackers, milk, apples, fixings for salad (forgot the dressing), yogurt, juice, bread (6 slices rather strange configuration), and lots of H2O. Had dinner around 9 pm, went to bed around 10:30.

Monday, June 23rd
I woke up around 3 a.m. (standard wake up time for me while in China) and got up around 6:30. Started my day out with Frosted Flakes and apple juice, yummy! I spent the day getting set up, ordered my internet service and worked on a couple of projects. I was expecting my boxes to arrive from the US and I had to be at the apartment, they do not hold packages at the front desk. By end of day, the packages had not arrived. Dinner consisted of soup and crackers. Tomorrow I might meet Vivian at one of our factories office for a meeting it will depend on when my boxes arrive.

Typhoon Tuesday, June 24th
Again, work up around 3 a.m. but got up around 6:30 and checked my blackberry (first thing I usually do in the morning) which there was an e-mail from Vivian saying a #8 typhoon will arrive in Hong Kong early morning so we probably will not be going to the office. I got up and went to look out my living room window and yep, there was the typhoon. Huge gusts of wind and sheets of rain dancing across the sky. It was pretty amazing. I turned on the TV to see if there was any information regarding what to do in a typhoon but all I saw on the screen was a big number 8 and a thunderstorm icon with the word RED next to it. I had no idea what that meant, do I go in the hallway, do they have basements, where do you go and what do you do???? So my next thought is to grab my camera and find a place to take some pictures. I walked down my hallway and by the elevators are huge windows which you can see the bay from. Attached to the windows where huge Xs in tape (I should have taken a picture of that). As I stood there looking at the bay with white caps and a monsoon rainstorm and rattling windows I thought to myself what the hell are you doing standing by large windows in a typhoon!!!! So I ended up going back to my apartment and organized some more. The city shuts down during a typhoon, nobody goes into work. My internet service should be hooked up tomorrow!!!
Wednesday, June 25th
Rain again, aftermath of the typhoon. Our vendor meeting was cancelled today because the samples were not ready to approve. My boxes from the US arrived today, it was fanastic having clean clothes and all my stuff.

Thursday, June 26th
Rain again, it is getting a little depressing with all the rain but on a brighter note it is cooler which I truely appreciate. Today our meeting is at 10 a.m., I decided to take a cab as it is raining. Well, much to my surprise there is a long line of individuals who have also decided to take a cab. While standing in line I met Marissa and her 5 month old son Jaden who are from Australia, her husband is here working. We exchanged info so I hope to touch base with her in the next couple of days to find out where things are around here. We finished up our meeting around 2:30 and Vivian and I headed to find me a hair dryer. It is a huge mall and she showed me where the MTR is and wrote down which train i get on, where i transfers and also the name of the second train I take. We had lunch/dinner at Pizza Hut (not as good as Guangzhou in April) but still tasted good. I took the right train, got off at the right stop, got on the next train, and got off at my final stop. At first I was apprehensive but then I thought what is the worst thing that could happen? By the way, while I was shopping and on the train I did not see another white individual. Everyone was non-caucasan. I got home around 6 pm and worked until midnight.

Friday, June 27th
Rain again... Our meeting with the vendor was postponed today. I received my first package from home today. I was surprised at how excited I was to open it, I smiled all the way up the elevator and felt like I was a kid at Christmas. Inside was home baked peanut butter cookies and a really nice note from a friend at work. My fax/copier/scanner and monitor arrived today so i spent most of the afternoon getting it set up. Tonight is TV and a conference call at 10 pm HK time.