A cloudy Sunday

The weekend before I go back to Phoenix to spend time with the family is filled more with excitement and anticipation than anything else. This weekend, in an attempt to keep myself occupied, I watched a couple of movies, read, went to church. At church I was asked at the end of sacrament meeting to come up and bare my testimony. I found it strange to think that the week prior my wonderful wife had spoken on Easter Sunday about the atonement of Christ and I was not there to hear her testimony. And here, half way around the world, she was unable to hear my simple testimony of Christ. Though I did not need this experience to be away from my family to gain a testimony of the importance of family, it certainly has etched even deeper into my soul the importance of the family. Nothing can make up for those moments. No money, no prestige. No career is so important. I heard a great quote from Elder Oaks today in priesthood where he said so many people focus on prosperity, prominence, property and prestige - but there is no evidence that any of these things have any importance in the next life.

I watched a movie yesterday that I had never seen before - mostly because it is rated R but I'm sure it has been on TV. It was Good Will Hunting. I know this movie won many awards, but watching it I thought it had such a great theme. It was written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, which I find ironic since I don't believe they truly live their lives by the theme of the movie. But maybe they do. The movie came down to the fact that the most important things come from those we love. When we truly open ourselves up and give ourselves to others. When we stop thinking of ourselves. That is when we become happy. And millions of people saw this movie - and I'm sure it won awards because that resonates in people's hearts and minds. But so few truly act upon it.

The other movie I watched was an old chinese movie called Jasmine Women and starred Zhang Zhiyi. One of the characters lived her whole life living and thinking about one moment of her life. Once that moment passed she never was happy again. She always thought about what could have been. Once again, I think so many people fall into this trap. We are always living in the past - or the future - and fail to live now. We must open our eyes and our senses and live today. It seems so easy.

I was invited to lunch by a family in the branch here - the Sanders. What a simple gesture can bring happiness to someone. It was great to have an American meal with homemade chocolate chip cookies and talk about the interesting things they've had to deal with since being here in Hong Kong. I will most likely never really see these people again - though maybe in church a few times when I am back next month. But that didn't stop them from offering me a small place in their home - and a little bit of love. I hope that I can take my experiences in Hong Kong and expand my love to more around me when I return to the USA. I am not a mean person - I don't think anybody would ever say that about me. But am I a kind person?

the cliffs, the rescue, the injury, the giant sand dune

Desert Trip 2008
Here are some pictures for the blog record.

Shanghai Trip Pics - Using Jumpcut

Easter eggs

Here are the eggs we colored this year. It was fun. I love seeing what the kids come up with. We made deviled eggs with them and Malik and I were the only ones that ate them. Jarek is so picky these days. He cried for about half an hour because I told him he had to eat a tiny portion of ham. He is so emotional about everything. It is hard to reason with him, but we finally came to a compromise. He decided he hated the ham less than the potatoes. So instead of having to eat his potatoes he ate the ham. The crazy thing was, he was crying and complaining about it for a half an hour, but when I told him if he ate the ham he wouldn't have to eat his potatoes, it only took him like 30 seconds to gag it down. Oh well.

Happy Easter (late) to everyone.

Pics of Suzhou

Suzhou, China March 2008

Desert trip 2008

Thursday, March 20th-
Dad, Grandpa Wall, and Jacob left about 9am for Moab. The weather was cool, but sunny.
A second car, containing Kathy, Tom, Andrew, and mom left about 3pm. We arrived at 6, and found the men waiting for us and ready for dinner. We enjoyed hamburgers, and set up camp before it got too cold.
Dad and I had bought 2 new sleeping bags, and they kept us very warm. We were lucky to get to sleep on Jacob and Cari's 'high' air mattress, which tried to attack us during the night and enveloped us to the point that we burst out laughing and woke everyone up. The next night we traded for a different one. No other major interruption of the night occurred, but there were a few cool howls of the coyotes.
We had ham and eggs for breakfast, and drove the vehicle we rented, an Acadia, GMC, and dad's suburban, over to the Gemini bridge area. It was a very rough road, and dad did a great job driving over the crazy terrain, being very careful with the vehicle because it was rented. It took longer than I remembered, and we went up the infamous scary road along the cliff. Yikes.
We stopped at the place dad calls Bulls canyon, where there are steep cliffs. super steep. It was much more scary than it used to be for us- watching our kids get even close to the edge just about drove dad and I crazy. We couldn't be comfortable there at all. I couldn't even imagine having the little boys there. I would have freaked. Well, somehow Andrew managed to fall down a short cliff, thank goodness not the 7oo ft ones. He got hurt, and we could see he was bleeding. We all heard the fall. He could not get back up. He also is still recovering a bit from his ACL surgery. Jake, Tom, dad, and grandpa all had to figure out how to get him back up. Grandpa had a tow rope in his vehicle, and Jacob climbed down with dad and Tom and they pulled him up. Lucky for us, mom came to the rescue next. At the last minute, I remembered to bring a small first aid kit. I dowsed his leg with water, and had some cleansing wipes to wash it with. I did not do a real thorough job, as I didn't want to hurt him. The wound was quite open and large, as his shin had hit a rock. I did have butterfly bandages, and they worked well to pull the skin together. We wrapped a clean sock around it, and gave him some tylenol. He rested while we had lunch there. He will have a scar, no doubt. We found a nearby store later and bought peroxide and neosporin, which we applied at camp. Jacob had brought some larger bandages, which worked well over the butterfly ones to keep the area clean. Poor Andrew. He did not get to hike any more that trip.
The Gemini Bridges were amazing. They did some hiking around there. Grandpa found a blackberry, which later we were able to call the first name on the list and got the owner's wife in Colorado. He was still in the area, so were able to leave it at the Arches visitor center the next day for him to pickup. I hope he got it.
We had nice sun and perfect weather that day, not too hot, no wind, about 64.
We all slept well. Andrew took a tylenol pm, as did mom, and I found it a new way to sleep well while camping.
It was colder the second night, but I was warm.
We had pancakes for breakfast, and then headed over to the Arches to see the Windows. Grandpa stayed back at camp to hike around there on his own. He was happy to be there this year, and seemed healthy and happy the whole time.
It was cooler than the kids expected up at the Windows, so they didn't stay long. Andrew and I stayed back and read in the vehicle.
We headed back to camp and had lunch and got ready to go home.
Oh, the first day we also went over to the water to play. The kids found some quick-sand type of muck to sink their feet into.
We saw tons of lizards, a few cottontails, and some saw a jackrabbit. We saw antelope on the way there and back, and tons of deer.
I personally missed having more people there. It was beautiful, serene, and the weather better than we expected. Too bad the Woodlands chickened out.
The kids stayed up late each night at the fire, and hiked to the cave during the light of the full moon about midnight one night.
I got to read a bit, hike a bit, and the air was so clean and pure.
I really missed having Jarek, Malik, and Enok there. Really truly.
I was glad we went, and feel sad that Kathy nor Tommy will be able to go next year.

Suzhou - Easter 2008

On Easter Eve with the rain slowly drizzling in Shanghai I spent the evening on dinner and a movie. The dinner was, oddly enough, Brazilian food. I had noticed a Brazilian Churrascaria down the street and decided I should try it. I hadn't had Brazilian food in a long time and where better to eat it than in China! I was hoping with all my heart that they would have black beans and rice. I'm not a big fan of all the meat, but I love me some beans and rice. Thankfully they had some. I loaded up on black beans and rice, some potatoe salad and a little meat. I could only eat two plates. I was even able to speak portuguese with the waiters. It was a wonderful meal for a mere $10 USD or so. Much better than the $30 I'd have to pay in the States. The movie I bought at the market was Jumper. I had wanted to see this since it came out - and being in China we are lucky enough to get movies on DVD that are still in theatres. It had gotten harsh reviews but I was still thrilled to see a movie with Anakin, Mace and Summer from the OC. And in the end - I loved it. Perhaps the best movie I've seen in a long time.

Easter morning I woke up and got ready to go to the train station. It was supposed to be good weather and so unfortunately I didn't get to explore to find a chapel here (which I don't think they have anyway). I took the metro to the Shanghai train station and bought a ticket to Suzhou. The next train was an hour from then, so I had to wait a while in a crowded station with a bunch of smoking Chinese. It ended up that the train was one of the fast bullet trains. I wasn't sure which train I would get. I boarded and enjoyed the 20 minute trip or so to Suzhou. The train went about 250 km/hr or so, which seems fast but will be nothing compared to the Maglev I'm taking tomorrow. Upon arriving in Suzhou I bought my ticket back and was glad I did as they only had tickets for trains after 7PM. Not as many people speak English in Suzhou so I was able to practice my Chinese. I hoped she understood my "One ticket Shanghai" and in the end she did.

I had been given a route to take by one of my friends who lived in Shanghai for some time. Upon starting out a man approached (as they always do) offering a tour, etc. In the end I just paid him to drive me to my first stop at the big Pagoda. This is an old buddhist temple about 8 stories tall. I climbed to the top and looked over the city. The city, by the way, is beautiful. On the trip over on the train I had noticed that many of the cities had rivers, or canals, through them - a lot like Venice. Suzhou was similar. I then headed over to the Silk Museum. I was hoping to see live silk worms as I was told they had them years ago, but I only saw dead ones. It was still nice.

From there I walked over to the Humble Administrator's Garden. This is the largest garden in Suzhou and was pretty crowded. But it was beautiful. From here I grabbed a guy on a bike that pulls a little chair behind it that you can sit in. For 50 cents or so he drove me to a place to eat. I entered and did my best to order some Kung Pao chicken (a suggestion from Mark) and something else. I had fun speaking with the waiters and staff and was proud that I could get through it with little English. I then picked another guy on a bike and had him drive me to the Master of Nets garden. This garden was the most highly recommended by my friend and I can see why. It was far away so less crowded, but much smaller than the other garden. I spent quite a bit of time here contemplating the fact that I was in China - miles away from my family on Easter. I enjoyed the warm sun and beautiful scenery.

From there I walked along the canal over to the Blue Wave Pavillion or something like that. It was also beautiful and I spent quite a bit of time here. After that I headed over to the Confucian Temple across the street. At this point I thought it interesting that I was visiting these temples of other religions on Easter Sunday. And though they were certainly beautiful, serene, and peaceful - they did not hold the spirit of the Lord.

At this point I walked back to the train station - which was quite a trek. This took a lot of pushing off people wanting to drive me back, but I gots me some feet and after a few miles I was back at the train station. I waited another hour or so there in an even more crowded room with people spitting and throwing their garbage on the floor. Spitting, littering, and even peeing on the street are quite common here. When we walked down to the train I realized I wasn't getting the nice bullet train back, but the common train (should have recognized as the ticket was cheaper - only a couple of bucks). Here there weren't seats at all but benches. I squeezed into the spot where a faint number was written above the bench. The floor was completely covered in peanut shells and fruit rinds. People were smoking and I put my headphones on and drifted off to Harry Potter's world. I had thought it funny that in the morning there was a sign for waiting rooms for two sections: soft seats and rigity seats. Rigity is how it was spelled and I wasn't sure if they meant rickity or rigid. Funny. I got home around 9, grabbed a quick Big Mac and blogged about my day. Tomorrow afternoon I head back to HK.

Shanghai'd

Yesterday was my first full day in Shanghai where I didn't have a conference to attend or go to work. So I planned to fit in a lot. In the morning I had to switch rooms out of the big suite and ended up in room 310. I actually like this room much better. It is smaller and warmer and seems more cozy. I'm glad I switched.

I had eaten a couple of jiao zi (dumplings) for breakfast for the hefty price of 50 cents. After switching rooms I headed out to Yu Yuan Garden. It is an old part of Shanghai that has been rebuilt but still looks very old and Chinese. It is a tourist trap, but I knew this going in and didn't have any issues. I ate lunch there. I had these huge xiaolongbao where you actually drink the soup out of the middle from a straw. They were great. I didn't go into the garden as I was told the gardens in Souzhou will be much better so I kept my money and will do that tomorrow. I ignored the shopping but watched the people. I have been able to get around the city either by foot or metro, so it is both cheap and easy. I had also spent some time in the morning right down the street from my apartment at Jing An Temple. It is like 100 yards from where I live and was an old temple that was destroyed and then rebuilt (common in China). It was also beautiful and I enjoyed the religious aspects of it. It is a buddhist temple.

In the afternoon I took a long walk up to the Jade Buddha monestary. It was a good walk to see many parts of the city and people. There aren't nearly as many "westerners" in Shanghai - at least not the parts I have been even the tourist places - as in Hong Kong. That is a little different. It is also nice to hear Mandarin being spoken as I try to glean words from time to time and use the little I know when I can. The monestary was very nice. The monks did some singing and I took lots of photos (will post next week). I walked back and it was getting towards the evening. I ate some "spicy" chicken mcnuggets at McDonald's which are quite yummy and I haven't even seen them in Hong Kong.

This morning the weather was a little rainy and overcast. I had chosen to do my "indoor" things today. I went to the Shanghai museum in the morning and found a huge line. I therefore vetoed that idea. I met a nice Chinese couple who I spoke with in Chinglish (their term). They were so nice and impressed with my little Mandarin. I then headed over to the "knock off brand" market. Here you can buy fake anything. Most of it, like in Hong Kong, is all high end brand stuff, which I don't like, but they had some more normal stuff. I bought a couple of sunglasses and some shoes and some shirts. All for under $30 total or so. Not bad. It is now later in the afternoon and I'm just relaxing a little. I walked a lot yesterday and expect to tomorrow, so I don't want to do too much. I bought a movie at the market as well and will probably watch it later. It is the movie "Jumper" which is still in theaters. You can buy any movie here on DVD for cheap.

Zai jian.

Kathy's Visit

I find that I have not been very motivated to blog much of late. It is not that I don't have a lot to blog about, but I seem to find myself occupied with other things and don't quite make time for blogging. But no more excuses. I will start then with Kathy's visit to our house.

Kathy and I had talked about her coming out to visit and when the inspiration struck, we wasted not time in finding tickets for her to come out here. We were able to plan her arrival on a weekend when Bret would be here, right before he had to leave to go back to Hong Kong. That worked out nice since then Bret was able to see his sister before he left to be on the other side of the world.

I am not going to go into great detail of the everyday things we did. Mostly, I just want to say how very, very grateful I was that Kathy was able to take time off of work and school to spend a week with the kids and I. It was a great blessing having her here especially since Bret was gone. Thank you so much Kathy!

The week leading up to her coming was fraught with much anticipation from both Jarek and Malik and they asked on a daily basis when she would be getting here. They were under the impression that she would be coming on a Friday and were sorely disappointed that it wasn't until Saturday that she would be getting here. Malik kept telling me that he was so excited for his favorite aunt to come and play with him. I think he hurt my sister's feelings a little bit as he wouldn't let up with his exuberance about having Kathy come. (Good thing Risa is a big girl and got over that slight quickly!)

We really didn't do all that much in way of excitement. The kids had school and I was somehow swamped with a very busy week. I have to say that I was quite negligent in entertaining her. But, I think that she felt happy being able to have time to read and rest and play with my kids. She was amazing at helping me keep my kitchen clean. As you all know, kitchen duty is one of my least favorite jobs and she made my life so wonderful by emptying my dishwasher and keeping the kitchen VERY tidy! I loved it. It reminded me of having my brother (Jacob) around. I think that the week she was here was the least cluttered my counters have EVER been. Sorry to say Kath, but it is right back to piles of stuff all over again. I guess that is in part because I just got back from a trip and just unloaded everything from the van onto the counter.

We did get to go to Thunderbird park one day for a picnic and a walk around. The flowers were out and the day was lovely. We had such beautiful weather while she was here all but the last day, which ended up being cold and windy.

She also went with us to Jarek's pinewood derby. It was nice for Jarek to have a cheering section and he got the loudest cheers by far!

We tried to go to the zoo and the botanical gardens, but because of a meeting I had in the morning we didn't leave the house until much later than we should have and there was just nowhere to park. Both places were the most packed I have ever seen them in my entire life. So we opted to go to the McCormick Ranch train park. That place was very crowded too, but thanks to Malik's keen observation skills we were able to find a parking spot and ride the train. We didn't stay long, but it was nice being outside.

Enok was a pill most of the week. He had a very bad temper and was very clingy. I felt bad that Kathy had to be witness to his bad mood. In the end, I realized that he was cutting four teeth and that, in addition to missing Bret, he was in some pain.

Kathy was so wonderful with the boys. She played Nintendo with them, helped Jarek bake cookies and make a smoothie (from the book grandma bought him for Christmas), read books with them and played with them. She is a good aunt and my kids love her very much.

I was also so happy to have her here, not just for her cleaning skills, but because I loved getting to know her again and talk with her into the wee hours. (well, they were wee hours for me since I am an oldy moldy now) I find that I haven't really been that great of a sister to her while she has been at BYU. I was grateful to spend many nights talking with her, and seeing what an amazing woman she is becoming. And I enjoyed so much talking with her about the Twilight series. I love that we have opposing views and it was fun to hear her perspective on things like love and relationships! She is so easy to talk to and has grown up so much from the little girl I knew when Bret and I were first married. I cannot tell you how much I value Kathy as a person and as a friend.

Anyhow, thanks again Kathy for taking time from work and school to be with us. The time you spent with us will be valued forever as memories for myself and my children. We love and miss you!

Enok's First Haircut

Well, I have waited far longer than the other two boys to give Enok his first haircut. The other kids got theirs at or close to 1 year old. I just couldn't bear cutting Enok's for so long because he looked so adorable with his long fluffy tresses!!! But alas, they started getting on my nerves. Every time he woke up from either a nap, or in the morning, his hair was an absolute disaster, and since I am not that great at combing my kids hair, I just decided that it had to go. He did pretty good during the haircut and only ingested a small amount of hair.

He doesn't look like a baby much anymore, but is still as handsome as ever. What a cutie pie!!

Xingqi si (Thursday)

I woke up early at the Shangri La Hotel and had some breakfast. I then went out on the riverside terrace as it was a beautiful sunny day. I sat out on the river and watched the boats go up and down. It was cool seeing some of the big boats with huge trees (lumber) on the boat. I then headed back, checked out and headed off to the Shanghai office.

After work I had to go to my new "hotel." Nicole, who runs our China business, had arranged a place that was fairly cheap and she was nice enough to actually take me over to the new place. It really isn't a hotel - but more of a temp living place. So there isn't like a check-in desk. I think I would have gotten by without Nicole, but it was GREAT to have her there. They actually were out of rooms for the day so I got put in a place across the street in one of their suites. It is quite nice. It has a kitchenette, a nice bedroom and internet and illegal satellite. I have to move out to a normal room tomorrow, but this is great. A convenient location right by Jingan Temple. I then returned to Nicole's home which was a beautiful loft. It was very nice and I ate dinner with them and saw her new baby Madison.

I then walked home, got some Hot Vanilla and since it was cold decided to call it night tonight. I'll head out tomorrow to do some shopping (mostly window) and see some of the sights in Shanghai. It is supposed to rain Saturday - but if it doesn't - and I'm here, so why would it? - I will go to Suzhou Saturday. Otherwise I will go on Sunday as it is supposed to be sunny and warm. That'll be an adventure as I'll have to catch a train and won't have much help in Suzhou with English or anything. Sounds fun. March Madness starts tomorrow and I HOPE this satellite can pick up some of the games. That might keep me in the house in the morning if it does.

Shanghai - Wednesday

Ah, the conference is over. Though I didn't attend much today. Most of the afternoon we spent as a management team discussing issues and priorities. It gets to a point that people are so busy the most time we have as a team is while on a business trip. Afterwards our Exec VP of EMEA and APAC (that's Europe, Middle East, and Africa & Asia Pacific for those not in the know) sat with me to talk about my future and the fact that I am not returning to Asia for a long term assignment. He was very kind and certainly flattering. He does not want me to leave Prudential/Pricoa and also asked if I would come work in Europe. He asked what I'll be doing once I get back to the US after this short term stint. I told him I have no idea but assumed I would just go back to the project they had moved me back for in the first place.

After our meetings I headed out to eat and see more of Shanghai. I ate at the Blue Frog bar and had a fantastic burger with onion rings and BBQ sauce on it. I tell you - I think my favorite burgers are all in Asia now. It was a little cool so afterwards, knowing I would be out in the cold, I grabbed a hot vanilla at the Coffee Bean and Tea (a fav of mine - oh I wish they had these in HK) to get me warm. I walked down to the riverside terrace here on the Pudong side and took some pix. Then I searched for the subway (which they call the Metro here like in France) which was more difficult than I had anticipated. It certainly is not as easy to find as the MTR is in HK with its big signs. But I found it, bought a ticket and went under the river to the other side.

I walked down Nanjing road which is kind of a famous street where tons of people offered me DVDs, shoes, Tshirts, you name it. I then walked down to the Bund and looked out over the Pudong side. It was very nice. After being offered several "lady" massages and even an outright proposition for sex I thought it must be getting late and headed back home. I found, by accident, this tunnel that goes under the river where you travel in little "cars" and go through a bunch of flashing lights and lazers. I had seen it on the discover channel and thought I should do it for the camp fun. The cars are really like a tram car. The ride is short and certainly not impressive. But it was funny and campy. I took a small video which I'll post one day once I'm back in HK (remember the great firewall of china).

I'm back in the hotel now. I will study a little Mandarin, get some sleep and then tomorrow I check out and head over to our Shanghai office and then my other hotel. I'm not sure if the new hotel (which really is more like a temp living place) will have internet, so I may be offline for the next few days. Hopefully not.

Shanghai Day 2

Today started off great as I woke up, showered, and headed over to our Shanghai office across the river. Three of us took a taxi over there. I had always thought taxis in Hong Kong were wonderfully inexpensive compared to the USA and other countries I've been to. China is even better. For a good 20 minute ride it was about $3 USD. You can't beat that. The office was in a nice building and it was great to see some old friends.

In the afternoon we headed back to get ready for our company's cocktail party we were having up in a restaurant next door. I dressed smart (one of my fav new terms since being in Asia) and the place was very nice. It had a beautiful view over the river to the other side of Shanghai - the older side. This is the side The Bund is on, and since I can't access Wikipedia behind the great firewall of China I won't provide a link at this point.

For the next two hours I entertained clients and suppliers and exchanged countless business cards. Though I had to be picky on this front as I am limited in my cards here (I hadn't ordered more as I thought I was going back to the states). Afterwards we went to a restaurant with one of our clients and then after that went up to the bar on the roof of the hotel for drinks. I just got back at a fairly reasonable time of midnight.

A few observations: I bet some people would kill for this lifestyle. To get free drinks, socialize, flirt with girls, etc. For me I realize that for the most part it isn't all that great. Obviously I don't drink or flirt. The socializing is okay when I find someone I'm genuinely interested in - but the reality is most people aren't all that fun as they seem to be out just for business. I'm truly not built for sales. Another observation is that things at the mall are very expensive here. I thought HK was expensive, but due to taxes here and poor dollar exchange rate I was thinking of buying some underwear until I realized they were $30 for 3 pair. Nope, not that great of underwear. Last observation: so much of this socialization walks the tight line between fake politeness for business sake and genuine interest. I can see how many people get turned off to this and put up their nose at corporate gatherings and business. I even find myself doing it (walking that line) as there are some people I truly am just interacting with because I feel I have to since they are a client. But others I truly enjoy. So for my part I choose to just say the good comes with the bad. And though I would rarely volunteer to go to the bar at night with a bunch of the guys for drinks, I can enjoy the social aspects of it and enjoy the stories and learning about others. I think my presence - since I don't drink and obviously am not drunk - has somewhat of a calming effect as well. And I think that is good.

Martin Wall mission call

For those who don't know yet, Martin has been called to South Carolina. Yep, that's what I said.
Dallan Woodland is going to Guadalahara. (sp) Tom plans to have his papers in by May 22.

First Night in Shanghai

Yesterday I woke up, worked out and went for a hike. I hiked down to the big reservoir which I had hiked to nearly 6 months ago. This time the reservoir was nearly empty due to lack of rain. Not nearly as pretty, but still a great view. I then decided to walk around the mountain and eventually hook up to the trail that goes behind our old Repulse Bay apartment. This ended up being a great plan as I spent a nice, warm morning getting some nice exercise and talking to my family from the trail.

In the evening I attended the reception of one of our employees here in Hong Kong. There were several people from work, so I knew I would have someone to talk to. I realized that wedding receptions all around the globe appear pretty much the same: boring. We were served one of the 15 or so course meals that I still can't get used to. It's no wonder I gain weight here. How do the locals stay so thin??? It ended up being a late evening. There were plans to go to Lan Kwai Fang, but I passed.

Today I woke up and went to church. I found our regular chapel empty upon arrival and thought maybe I had the wrong time. But I was informed that church was on the 4th floor today instead of the 1st floor. It was good to see people again and the talks were wonderful as usual.

But what I had been waiting for all weekend - indeed all week - was to get on the plane and fly to Shanghai. I am here. I am staying at the Shangri La Hotel, which is very nice. I arrived pretty late as it took nearly an hour to get here form the airport. On the way back I will take the maglev train - which I would have done to get here, but one of our other employees was on the same flight and she wanted to take a car service, so I said I would go with her. Here is a pic from my room. This is the Pearl Tower which is the most famous landmark in Shanghai. (Interesting, as I tried to make the link for the Pearl Tower - Pearl is a TV station - since I am in China I am unable to access Wikipedia. In fact, you can't even search for the term as the search page comes up blank.)

I believe a bunch of the guys were going to go out tonight, but being the loner that I sometimes am when it comes to going out to bars, I grabbed my long sleeve shirt (it is a little chilly) and camera and headed out. I walked over to the tower and then down to the river. Upon walking back I stopped at a huge mall and grabbed something quick at McDonald's (I like to try different McDonald's in each country). The vanilla shake was awful - and I threw it away so as not to waste the calories. The Coke, on the other hand, was perhaps even better than Mexican Coke. I looked at a few stores and realized that this part of Shanghai is VERY expensive and thought I'd save any shopping for later in the week when I am in the more local parts.

What is interesting is that unlike Hong Kong, hardly anything is in English and almost nobody speaks English. I know quite a bit more Mandarin than Cantonese, but I found that I mostly just told people, after greeting them, that I don't speak Mandarin (wo bu shuo hanyu) which is ironic since obviously I know how to say that. So I definitely will get a chance to practice this week. :-) I've also learned that crossing streets here is different from any other city I have been in. There are no crosswalks in the sense that little green lights or hands show you to go or stop. There aren't many streetlights at all, in fact. So pedestrians just go. You go and hope the cars stop. It's pretty cool.

Now I'm back in my room and await the awakening of my loved ones. Then I'm off to bed and start my week in mainland China.

Malik's Restaurant

While in Hong Kong several times we passed a restaurant called Shaffi's Malik Restaurant. We always had said how we wanted to go to the place since it had Malik's name. Unfortunately we never did as a family. Last time I was here I wanted to make a point to go as well but it never happened. Today a bunch of us went for lunch and they had picked out an Indian buffet place. We walked quite a ways and I said to them that this was almost where this one restaurant I have always wanted to go to was. In fact, it WAS the restaurant. So today I ate at Malik's restaurant. It was actually pretty good. Dang the good food in Hong Kong. I am trying so hard to eat less and work out more to lose some weight. I ate a little too much so I will have a small dinner tonight. And maybe work out again (I worked out this morning). It was fun eating there and thinking of my son.

Today was one of the rare days where it was overcast and layer of mist was surrounding my apartment. Though Hong Kong usually gets quite a bit of rain, as most of you know my powers of good weather usually prevent rain. That has definitely been the case as it hasn't rained much the last 8 months. So today was a good change, though it didn't rain.

Work has been extremely busy. This has been good as it makes the time go by quickly and isn't such an issue since I can stay late and not worry about not seeing my family as going home early doesn't get me any closer to them at the moment. So it is hard to believe tomorrow is Friday. The reality is 3 weeks from tomorrow I fly home, so time is going quickly. I let my company know of my intention not to stay long term in Hong Kong. I have not heard back from them so I am curious what will come of it. I have really been at peace since making the decision. I didn't blog about that experience and should probably fill you in.

Last time I was in Hong Kong Tevia and I had decided to make this decision and then take it to the Lord in the temple. Though we were thousands of miles apart we actually both had the opportunity to go to a temple on the same day. She was in Snowflake and I was here in Hong Kong. I went to the 1 PM session on Saturday. It was a cool experience as the session was in Mandarin. I had to wear headphones for the English but for the most part I just listened to the Mandarin. Though I am far from knowing Mandarin enough to understand much of what they said, it was fun to recognize certain words and phrases. As I'm quite familiar with the English version, this also helped. I really enjoyed it.

Afterwards I sat in the celestial room and prayed hard about my decision. I was soon overcome with a strong feeling - but a feeling I hadn't expected. I felt - sad. I have prayed many times for answers and almost always felt an actually very strong happy feeling while receiving the answer. So this was a little confusing to me. I didn't know if this meant my decision was wrong or if my decision was right but I was sad about the response. I spent quite a bit more time in the room (this was the last session of the day and I was the last one in the room and I started feeling a little pressure to move on) thinking about it.

In the end I spoke with Tevia and after discussing with her I was sure it meant that our decision was confirmed - and that indeed I was sad about the decision not to move back. But I know this is the right decision at this time. Who knows what will happen later on this year, but I know that it is not for us to be in Hong Kong in the near future as a family.

I am extremely excited about going to Shanghai next week. We have a business conference next week and then I will be staying for the rest of the week as we have Friday and Monday off in Hong Kong for Easter (yes, isn't that ironic?). So I plan on spending some time in Shanghai and then also visiting Suzhou and probably Hangzhou. I am super excited to speak some Mandarin (though locals speak more Shanghainese) and eat the Shanghai food. Of all Chinese food Shanghainese food is my favorite! I also look forward to attending church in mainland China on Easter Sunday. How cool will that be?

On the road again

Well, here I am again on my way to Asia. Who would have imagined a year ago that I would have beeen spending the better part of the next year in Hong Kong? Not me. And though it started out wonderful, this being away from family stuff really sucks. I am sitting in the Singapore Airlines lounge taking advantage of their wireless to pass away the time until I board around 1 AM. I then arrive in HK at 6 AM on Tuesday - so I completely lose my Monday. I figure this is my 5th trip to HK now and so I have lost nearly a week in time. And yes, you can argue I gain that back when I fly back, but do you count a day in an airplane as gaining back time??? I don't think so.

I also never imagined going to a place like Hong Kong would not get me excited. It has almost completely lost its exotic appeal and leaving PHX today was as sad and uninspiring as going on a normal business trip. But I do look forward to going to China next week. That should be fun. I am very curious to see how all this plays out. I will be informing them of my decision not to go on a long term assignment this week. I'm not sure if they will be upset about that and just send me home, or if they will still want me stay through the next few months. I am not sure if they will be upset and completely ignore my career progression or if they will actually pay attention to me now and let me utilize my talents where they can best be used. It is the first time in a long time that I really feel I don't have control over what is going on. I feel like I should not only be looking for other opportunities because I perhaps need a change, but because I need to in case I get laid off. As we enter a recession and the company I have loved continues to change and look less and less like the company that hired me years ago, I really do fear that I could be at risk. It is strange to think that. Though I think the chances are quite low, it is still a new feeling I have never really felt before.

So let's see what the next few weeks bring. It seems every meeting I am asked to attend I approach with trepidation and caution. I feel like for the first time in a long time I worry about what I'm going to hear. And this is just weeks after the president of the company tells me how important I am and how much they need me. It seems I am paranoid. I know most of this just comes from not knowing what is going to happen. The unknown creates fear. Fear is not something I like to feel. So I must be prepared. But I also must avoid paranoia. :-)

cedar point is growing!

Good news! Now Rachel wants in! She is planning on it, so we need to decide for sure if we are doing this. Kathy's family plans on staying 2 nights in the hotel at C Point, and 2 nights at a hotel with a nice pool in Cleveland. she will let you know which hotel she picks, because she knows the good ones. She said it would be great if you all stayed at the same hotel she did. The kids could all swim. I am excited. Michael and Marsha are also in on the Friday night get-together, and they will tell Jesse. we can meet at a park,, but Kathy will look into using one of the rooms at the hotel in case of bad weather.

Spreadsheet

As some people have indicated a desire to buy us (well, Hazel really) a gift, Jacob and I put this spreadsheet together so as to avoid overlap problems and give people a general idea of things we need and would want.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pAaEZKnzkVZP0jfnovo2rKw&hl=en