I'm home!!!

Hello all . . . Just wanted to give you an update . . . So I arrived safe and sound in Hong Kong last night. I had an interesting trip to get to China but I made it. I flew from Atlanta to San Francisco and waited what I thought would have been 3 hours turned out to be 5 hours!! UGHH!! Yeah a 5 hour lay over really stinks but OH WELL. Then I get to Hong Kong after flying for 14 hours another UGHH but it's all good. Got to watch TV on my own television which was kind of cool. On the back of each head rest is a personal television that you can also play games on too.

So I get to Hong Kong as I said before and my flight was supposed to land at 6:40 PM but due to the long lay over we did not land until an hour later. Then you go through customs much like in the states. Then you go through them again....not sure about the doubling up process but its cool. Then you have to get your bags. Well normally that is not such a problem but it took FOREVER. So I got all three heavy suitcases, my carry-on and my purse/bag and went out to greet/find my husband. He was in the process of having me paged it took that long. So because the long delay and arrival we had to hoof it to a taxi because China borders were closing soon. So Dylan has his friend Paul with us and Paul is Chinese but only speaks Mandarin (I think or Cantonese) either way it wasn't what the driver spoke. So Dylan had to call his boss to translate where we needed to go. By the way the drivers in Hong Kong only drive on the wrong side of the car and road too. Kind of weird but again COOL. So we finally make it to Shenzhen's border which is China. Go through their customs too. Had to tell the customs agent that I was a visitor visiting some friends of mine. And I was admitted entrance to China.

We then all found another taxi and this one took us to our apartment. Dylan had to pull up the directions on his phone to show the taxi driver. Then the driver got lost . . . eeek. But again Dylan's boss Rick saved the day and explained to the driver where to go. Paul helped us lug all of my luggage upstairs to the 31st floor. Can I say and AMEN to elevators and escalators. After we walked in the apartment I saw Lucy for the first time. She must have really bonded with Dylan because she didn't remember me for the longest time and is still acting funny. So Dylan calls his boss again to see if he wants to hang out including Dylan's other friend who lives here and recently married a Chinese girl who is super sweet. His name is Marshall and used to live in GA but moved to China for business and got married. We went to eat (at 10PM which is not uncommon) at a place that is above the KFC but is not KFC. I know weird. We had some good stuff then we decided to go and have a massage. Yeah a massage!! I think it was 11 PM when we decided to go. I had a my feet soaking in a barrel with milk and rose petals. Neat. Then I got the best massage which was soooo needed after lugging the luggage around like some crazy person.

Today Dylan and I went to a neat restaurant and I had Chow MeFun which is rice noodles with pork. They serve hot tea like how they serve water in the states. When you sit down out comes the boiling hot tea. It comes out hot because of the bad water but the bad things are killed when it is boiled so its all good. Then we took a taxi to the Wal-Mart. I was so mad I forgot the camera. It was a sight to say the least. You walk in and you are on the bottom floor which mainly consists of food. Then you grab a buggy and take it on this weird escalator. We were looking for me some towels because Dylan only had one for him and one for the dog. We also found a small wastebasket, a deodorizer for the bathroom (don't ask) and some other necessities for the place. Dylan was supposed to go out when we got back to work on a project while I stayed home and unpacked but he told me it was going to be shorter and he wanted to show me his office so we took Lucy this time (our dog) all over the place and to his office. Its so weird being able to take the dog in stores and in a large corporate building and no one saying anything about it. On the way back from his office we ran into my new boss who was riding his bike around the local area. He's pretty tall and white so you can't miss him. Which by the way on a different note is funny because people stare at Dylan and I all the time. There aren't a lot of white people here in China so we stick out. It's funny. So my boss invited me to a Brazilian restaurant on Friday for the staff at the school including the cleaning staff which totals to 190 members at the school I am teaching at. Beat that at your school. Not the number of staff but the idea of going to a nice restaurant and being paid for by the school. UNHEARD OF!!

So I finally unpacked EVERYTHING and it all fits. We are going to IKEA tomorrow to look for some small furniture to put in the guest room, a basket for my dirty clothes, and maybe something to put my shoes in. As for now Dylan is asleep at 7:30 PM on the couch in the dark with the dog on the other side and I am in the bedroom blogging. We are going out tonight (possibly) for drinks with Marshall and his wife Hongsha (I know I botched it up but it is exactly how it sounds). Oh and the weather here is really muggy so it is best advised to shower at least twice a day if not three times. I might be asking you to mail me some more Burt's Beeswax body soap. However, the shower will have to wait due to us washing the towels and "line drying" them. Yeah no dryer but nature's dryer. MMMM smells good huh??

Hope this finds your thoroughly entertained. Best to you all . . .
Amanda and Dylan