The weeks seem to be going by faster and faster here in Hong Kong as we get settled into our new lives. It's already Wednesday and I haven't even updated the blog yet! My trip to Shanghai was last week Monday, Sept 25-Wed, Sept 27th and I've been back for one week. Shanghai is huge and sprawling. Above are pictures of the main city area in a neighborhood called the Bund and it almost looks like downtown London in some spots. The blurry picture of the skyline has some of the Vegas-like buildings and lights. No sightseeing on this trip to Shanghai, so except for the view from a car window and 2 very nice business dinners in some trendy areas of town, I can't really tell you much more about the city. Maybe another trip in the future....

Last Thursday, Sept 28th, we finally got our shipment of stuff from Troutdale. Mark was at the apartment to receive it and said he was overwhelmed with the quantity of crap we needed to squeeze into the little apartment. We have since packed most of it away appropriately and I actually feel like we need more stuff! The only thing we haven't fully unpacked is our pictures. Our walls are basically cement that have been painted over with white paint. How do you hang a picture on a cement wall? Until we figure that out, all our pictures, mirrors etc are stacked against the walls where we'd imagine them hung. As soon as we get the place looking presentable, we'll have a housewarming party for our new friends in Hong Kong so everyone can meet the infamous Bailey and see pictures of all the family members we've talked about.(The pictures above are Bailey on move-in day and all the fun she had playing in the paper from the moving company's boxes.)

This week is a short work week in Hong Kong. Monday, October 1st was National Day and was a day off of work. We also celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival this week and I have 1/2 day work on Friday. Taiwan and mainland China take the whole week off! In Hong Kong, they celebrate mid-autumn festival by eating moon cakes (a very dense cake made out of lotus paste that tastes much like a super dense, less sweet pumpkin pie filling, but it also has a salty egg yolk center. As someone who has never met a dessert I didn't like, I have to admit I love moon cakes, but I don't eat the egg yolk center which many Chinese consider to the best part).

Another part of the mid-autumn festival is a big lantern festival and the fire dragon dance. This will all start tomorrow and go through Saturday in Victoria Park which is the giant park in the center of the city. Mark and I plan to check out both the lantern festival in the park and the fire dragon and hopefully will have pictures to share next week.