“You awake?” “Yup.” “You?” “Yup.”

It was 1:00 in the morning of our first night in Hong Kong and the jet lag and the jitters of being in a different hemisphere conspired to wake us both up in the middle of the night. Julie and I lay in bed chatting about all that had transpired in the last 24 hours and all that needed to be done in the days ahead. It became pretty evident that Julie was feeling a little overwhelmed. The school was gracious enough to stock the apartment with some food (cocktail wieners, really?). But it was only enough to get us through lunch the next day and Julie had no idea where the grocery store was.

We would have settled for a convenience store, but we didn’t even know where that was. And we’d heard a rumor about an IKEA in town, but we had no clue where that was? And how do you get all your stuff home anyways? On the subway? And let’s not even talk about the need for school uniforms. Does Annika really need to have her school uniform for Monday morning’s orientation?

So many questions, and no answers.

So we prayed. Very specific prayers. Right then. In bed. At 2:00 in morning.

And then we both managed to get a few more hours of sleep.

All four of us were up before 5:00 a.m. (have I mentioned the jet lag?) and were busy unpacking and getting settled into our new apartment. At 6:50 we heard what sounded like a knock on our door. None us moved. Instead, we looked at each other as if to ask, did someone just knock on our door at 6:50? In the morning? Sure enough, there it was again. We opened our apartment door and there stood Ruth. Of course, we didn’t know it was Ruth yet. But we were about to find out.

Ruth is our across-the-hall neighbor. Like me, she’s a first-year teacher and is here with her husband and two boys. While new to the school, she and her family have lived in both mainland China and Hong Kong previously. For the next 25 minutes she talked non-stop. She not only answered all the questions we had been wondering about (The Park and Shop is one subway stop south), she answered questions we didn’t even know we had.

To be honest, it was a little like drinking from a fire hose. We only caught about twenty percent of the information she was giving us (have I mentioned the jet lag?), but knowing that answers to all of our current and future question were 10 feet across the hall, gave both of us -particularly Julie- a tremendous sense of peace.

When Ruth pulled the door shut behind her, the first words out of Julie’s mouth were “Thank you, Jesus.”

Over the next two days, Ruth, her husband Tony, and their two boys, quite literally took us by the hand and took us shopping all over our little corner of Hong Kong helping us get all the things we needed to make it through the week.

Now granted, Ruth has been living in Shatin a little longer than we have, but she is one of those people who just knows things in a freakish kind of way. No matter, how obscure your request, she knows a guys. “Hey Ruth, we could really use an eight-foot extension cord. Any ideas?” “Oh! I know a guy!” And sure enough, she takes you three blocks up and five blocks over and yup, there in a store about nine feet wide is a guy who speaks English –granted, he’s bareback, but he speaks English- who will make you an extension cord to whatever length you want.

Oh, and I am happy to report that we now have Kellogg's Honey Nut O’s in the cereal cabinet.

-Jack

Loosing My Train of Thought

Our baptism into our new life in Hong Kong was by full emersion today. We got in rather late last night and today is our first full day in China. We have so much to do, but the first order of business is to make a trip to the immigration office on the main island to fill our some paper work. Thank goodness, we will be escorted by Ms. Gostick Kan from the human resource department at our school. Of course, we will be traveling by train. Six of them to be exact. You see, you can’t actually get there from here. What you have to do is take the brown line to Tai Wai station and then transfer to the blue line and go to Kowloon Tong where you will pick up the green line . . . well, you get the idea. So for almost an hour and half, it was walk, walk, walk, walk, get on a train, walk, walk, walk, get on a train, walk, walk, walk . . . well, you get the idea.

(Before our arrival I was concerned that I would be able to find a means to get some exercise while in Hong Kong. But with all of this walking we’ve been doing, I don’t think that is going to be an issue.)

The trains in Hong Kong are incredibly clean, very efficient, and generally quite crowded. But because we didn’t start our little quest until almost 10:00 in morning –well after rush hour- I suspect we have yet to see what a really crowded train in Hong Kong looks like.

The trains are both high-tech and very user-friendly. Every rider has an electronic card called a “value added card” because whenever the amount of money left on the card runs low, you simply go to one of the kiosks in any of the train stations, insert your card, and put in however much money you choose. Don’t put on too little or you will just have to do it again in a couple of days. Don’t put on too much in case you loose your card. When you get to your destination, swipe your card again and the proper amount will be deducted from your card depending on how far you've traveled. Oh yeah, don’t forget to glance down at the turn-style as you pass through, it will not only display how much it deducted from your value added card, but it will tell you how much you have left.

If you enjoy people-watching, then trains are the place for you. The girls and I enjoyed soaking up all the diversity we saw on the trains. The people of Hong Kong come in all different sizes and shapes. Some are short, and some are tall. Some were nattily dressed and some were disheveled. Many of them were listening to music, playing video games on their hand-held devises, or even watching movies on their ipods. More than a few were on the phone. Some of them were trying to get some sleep. Some of the schools must already be in session because we saw more than one student in uniform.

If you are ever in Hong Kong for the day and wanted to get a feel for the city, you could do a whole lot worse that riding the trains for a morning.

-Jack and Annika

Missed It by That Much (i.e. Visa Trouble)

This spring our school applied for our Hong Kong work visas on our behalf. They were issued on May 8. They're good for 90 days. So far, so good. If we had left July 24 as planned we would have been fine. But because of my accident, we left on August 8 and arrived on August 9 . . . 91 days after the issuance of the visas. Oops.

It didn’t really cause a problem at customs in the airport, they simply stamped our passports with a tourist visa. But is has gotten a little more complicated since then. We spent our first full day in Hong Kong traveling to the immigration office, filling (and re-filling) out lots of paper work, and praying that they could expedite the process.

Coincidently, right about the time we got to the immigration office, I decided it was time for me to air out my right arm. I peeled off my protective bandage and plopped that bad boy right on the counter top. The entire time we were pleading our case to the immigration officer, my beet-red and splotchy arm was sitting there front and center. I was hoping that 1) it would confirm our story about why we were late getting to HK and 2) engender a little good will and mercy. We were hoping that we could get our new work visas issued that day; but alas, it was not to be. So now we wait and pray. It could be a couple of days, or –heaven’s forbid- it could be a couple of weeks.

Problem number one is that without our permanent residency visas, Julie and I are technically not allowed to work and the girls are not allowed to attend school.

Second, without our permanent residency visas we can’t get our Hong Kong i.d. cards. And without our Hong Kong i.d. cards we aren't allowed to do much of anything. We can’t get cell phones. We can’t get internet service in our apartments.

All because we were one day late. Arggh.

In the mean time, people are starting to stare. I better put my arm bandage back on.

-Jack

A Whole Lot of Nesting (or the Apartment, Part 2)

Our apartment is beautiful. And furnished –well, kind of. In addition to all of the big pieces of furniture, the apartment came with . . . well, let’s see, two small garbage cans, two pots, four bowls, four plates, four coffee mugs (no glasses) and two shower curtains. A good start, but not exactly enough to get us through the next year. So while I feel completely unprepared for the classroom and I have ten-thousand things I could and should be doing to get ready, we –on this our third full day in Hong Kong- are setting off in search of a dish drainer. So with some rather vague directions from our across-the-hall neighbor, off we go.

Hudson may have set off in search of the hoped-for northwest passage through Canada and Cortez may have spent his life in search of the elusive city of gold, but these four intrepid travelers are setting off in search of the fabled Japanese Home Goods store in hopes of buying more hangers, some post-it notes, and a clothes hamper.

This was actually our first time riding the trains and navigating various neighborhoods on our own without a guide. I am happy to report that we did quite well, thank you very much. Granted, our destination was only one train station away, and the mall we were looking for is relatively big and lit up with giant neon signs. But none-the-less, mission accomplished. We now have wash clothes and drawer organizers for both of our desks.

We are doing some serious “nesting” here. It reminds of being newlyweds and setting up our first apartment. It has been both stressful and fun –mostly stressful for Mom and Dad; mostly fun for the girls. For the girls it amounts to playing house on a large scale. But admittedly, it is kind of rewarding settling in and making the apartment our own. Nothing brings a family together like trying to decide if the kitchen table should be positioned left to right or front to back (left to right, it gives a better view out the window). When your life seems to be nothing but variables, its gives a sense of satisfaction when you all agree that these three bottom drawers should be for storing shoes.

For twenty hours there while we somewhere over the north Pacific, I had no drawer for my socks. To be honest, it’s a little unsettling when your socks have no place to call home. But, I am happy to report that I now have a sock drawer (second one from the top, black socks on the left, white socks on the right), and I feel a whole lot better.

Well, now that I have know where I am going to be stowing my toothbrush for the next year, I had better find my way down to my classroom and figure out what I and going to be doing with that classroom full of eighth graders I have been told will be showing up in a couple of days.

-Jack

You Carried that 10,000 Miles with You?

We arrived at about 8:00 p.m. last night and did little more than wash up and fall into bed after being up for 30 hours. Because our internal clocks are not adjusted to HK time yet, we were all up at 5:00 this morning. Since we were all up, we decided to start settling in. After moving a few large pieces of furniture (sorry next-door neighbors whom we haven’t met yet!), we helped each other begin to unpack our bags.

After packing clothes, cosmetics, books, and medicine, we had just enough room for each of us to pack a few discretionary items in our suitcases. While helping each other unpack, it was fun to discover just exactly what each of us had chosen to bring. I brought juggling balls. Annika brought her bead kit. Elise brought her sticker collection. But the biggest surprise was that Julie brought her held-held garlic press.

When we arrived in Hong Kong, our kitchen was a little Spartan. We haven’t had a chance to properly outfit our kitchen, so currently it consists of four coffee mugs, four each of spoons, forks and knifes, four bowls, four small plates, two pots, and . . . a garlic press.

I’m glad I married a women who has her priorities straight. She may be willing to travel the world, but not with out her garlic press.

-Jack

Those Ubiquitous Golden Arches

We quit our jobs, packed up our lives, and traveled thousands of miles to a far-a-way land so that our family could see the world and have an international, cross-cultural experience meeting new people, seeing new places, and eating new foods. After being in Hong Kong less than twenty four hours, we had our first meal in a Hong Kong restaurant. And what was our first meal? Wait for it . . .

McDonalds, of course!

At first, I was so disappointed. Really? McDonalds. After we’ve come all this way? Seriously? My first meal in Hong Kong is not going to be dim sum. It’s going to be Mickey D’s? Couldn’t I have had something a little more authentically Hong Kong-esque?

But then I realized, Hong Kong is such a melting pot of cultures. They have absorbed influences from so many sources: Britain, Japan, the Philippines, and yes, the United States. What’s more, Hong Kong is such a thoroughly modern city.

So really, what could be more authentically Hong Kong than eating McDonalds?

Not much.

-Jack

(We've now been here five days and I still haven’t had any dim sum.)

A Room with a View (or The Apartment Part 1)

After we landed on Thursday, a teacher from the school met us at the airport and brought us and our sizable mound of luggage directly to our apartment which is on the seventh and top floor of our school. It was 8:00 p.m. and we had all been up for over 30 hours. We dropped our luggage and were all pretty anxious to fall into our new beds, but not before checking out the place that’s going to be our home for the next 10 months.

Our apartment is fantastic. It –along with the school- is less than two years old. It is very large by Hong Kong standards; I would guess about 900 square feet. Our apartment is actually two studio apartments adjoined by a set of doors similar to what you would have in a hotel suite. One on side, Annika and Elise have twin beds and dressers. On their half is also the t.v., sofa, and chair; a desk, large book shelf, and a mammoth wardrobe, their own bath; and a kitchen –which is currently being used as storage. All the furniture was provided by the school.

In the adjoining studio apartment is Julie's and my double bed, a dining room table and chairs, another desk, another mammoth wardrobe, a dresser, the kitchen we are actually using, and a second bath. Because these are studio apartments, they don’t have separate bedrooms. Instead, the bedroom area is defined by using the mammoth wardrobe and the bookshelf to cordon off a portion of the apartment. It actually works pretty well. Thank heavens though for that set of double doors that separate us from the girls in the evening.

The apartment has ten-foot ceilings and the walls are white. Both the floors and the furniture are blond hardwood. Overall, it has a vaguely IKEA look to it, which isn’t all that surprising since several pieces of the furniture and most of the kitchen utensils did in fact come from IKEA.

Combined, our apartment(s) measures about forty feet by twenty feet; it’s a long narrow rectangle. And the coolest feature of the apartment is that on one side the long wall is all glass –floor to ceiling. It lets in so much natural light and gives us a great southern view. We have a balcony (actually, it’s two balconies) that runs the entire width of the apartment. In the next month or two, we are hoping to by some used patio furniture off of Craigslist, Hong Kong.

We have a great view from our apartment. Our view is framed by two brand new (they're not even occupied yet) 40-story apartment buildings. But in-between these buildings we have a great view of Shatin, which is the region we live in. We can see a big cluster of tall buildings, the canal, and the bike path. We have a great view of the commuter train line that runs right past our home. And in the distance, beyond the buildings, we can see some of the steep, green hill/mountains that make up 90% of Hong Kong. If we look down just beyond the brand new apartment buildings is a small cluster of relatively modest one-story apartment buildings or houses right next to the canal.

Altogether, our view provides a pretty good snapshot of Hong Kong: skyscrapers, green hills, bike paths, and commuter trains.

I’m Leaving on a Jet Plane

The airplane flight could not have gone more smoothly.

Early Wednesday morning, we ran next door to say goodbye to our kitties and then said goodbye to our grandpa and grandma Oskarson. A few minutes later our friend, Mrs. Hrinowich met us in grandma's driveway. It's good thing that she was available to take us because we needed every inch of her twelve-passenger van! Total, we had sixteen pieces of luggage. United Airlines allows each passenger to check two suitcases but they can weigh no more than fifty pounds each. Mom was up until midnight last night weighing and re-weighing the big bags on our bathroom scale and moving things around so that each bag weighed between 48 and 49 pounds. We were also each allowed one carry on and one purse or laptop-type bag.

Checking in and security went very smoothly. They made us take our shoes off!? They stopped my dad and checked him with an electronic wand and took a swab of the palm of his hands. Maybe they thought he was smuggling something under those bandages.

The plane ride was LONG. We were served two meals and two snacks. They showed four movies but none of them were kids movies! Well that’s not exactly true. They showed Hotel for Dogs . . . starting at 1:00 in the morning after all the kids were asleep!

Once we were on the ground, we sailed through customs and it took us less that five minutes to find all of our luggage. We were met by two people from the school who drove us to our apartment.

-Annika & Jack

Knocking on Our Own Front Door

As we walked out of the house yesterday, I turned to the girls and said "Well, its official, next time we come here, we'll have to knock."

We have handed the house over to the renters -Todd and Jennifer Nagel and their four kids. On Saturday, they were moving in as we were finishing up. We would walk one of our suitcases out to our car, grab a box from their car and walk back in.

We are staying next door at Julie's folks until our plane departs. As I type this Annika and Elise in the back yard playing with the Nagel kids. After living without neighbor kids for 13 years, the girls are enjoying having playmates next door -for four days.

-Jack

Delayed but not Defeated

Well, July 24 has come and gone, so why are the VanNoords still State-side? Well, we've been delayed by a slight medical set back.

On Tuesday morning, July 7, Jack was injured while burning brush in the back yard. He spent 13 days at the burn center at Loyola Medical Center in Chicago -the first three days in the i.c.u. He had first and second degree burns covering 15% of his body namely his right arm and leg.

After a couple of arduous weeks, he is on the road to a full recovery. The doctors believe that he should have no long-term side effects including scarring.

We managed to get our airline tickets changed and we will be flying out around noon on Wednesday, August 5th.