Our New Apartment

So we settled on our new apartment and we have signed the contract. The apartment owner gave us everything we asked for with the exception of a microwave. That's okay...they are very cheap to buy and we have no problem with that.
We were told that we could pick-out our own furniture since the place was furnished but she hadn't picked-out furniture. In the end, she had picked it out...she just wanted our approval on the things. So we go to this huge warehouse where they have every piece of furniture you could ever want...and for cheap!! We run all over the store as she shows us her picks. We love everything she has picked out!! She picked out REALLY nice stuff, and she has great taste. We are all happy!!
The best news is that everything will be moved in and ready by Saturday with the exception of the couch. They are expecting that to be ready early next week. That's fine by us, we are just ready to move in! So Saturday we will move into our new place with the few belongings we have and wait for our air shipment to arrive. It will be like Christmas when we get all those boxes of stuff!
Our new place has 3 bedrooms, three bathrooms, a den, a living room/dining room, and a tiny kitchen. It is actually like 1600+ square feet...a little bigger than our old house. These are the pictures I have so far. I will post more once we get our stuff settled in and we decorate. Enjoy!
This is Andre standing in the middle of our living room/dining room.

This is a picture of our tiny kitchen. On the patio just outside the kitchen is where our washer/dryer will be.
This is the view from our main patio. It is quite big, and I would really like to get some furniture for it. I think we would sit outside a lot in the evenings.

This is the master bedroom.

This is the master bathroom aka MY bathroom. Andre will use one of the guest bathrooms to get ready in the morning...unless of course we have guests!! :)

Dining Debacles

Ok...so I have two stories to share with you about dining experiences we have had here at our hotel. They aren't about the food...just more about the embarrassing experiences we have had. Enjoy. :)
I am not the most adventurous eater...let me start out by saying that. HOWEVER, you can ask Andre...I have become MUCH more adventurous. You pretty much have to be here. I will pretty much try anything these days with the exception of sushi and most other fish. I am still not a fan, but hope to be one day. So anyway, there are only like 3 or 4 restaurants in this hotel. There is a Japanese place, a buffet, a "European" Cafe where you get dishes a la carte, and then there is a Chinese place. One day we are deciding where to eat, and I suggest that we could TRY the Chinese place. We walk across the lobby to the place, which is on the opposite end (away from all the other places). As soon as we pass through the threshold I see a sign that says "Seafood and Shark Fin Restaurant." I haven't seen these words associated with the Chinese restaurant in any other place in the hotel...so this is news to me. As we walk by the sign I say to Andre..."Uhhhh...are you sure they have other things to eat besides seafood here??" "OH YEAH!! Of course they do." He says. Ok. We proceed to a room filled with tables and I notice that across the hall there are like 50 fish tanks. Filled with fish. Sorry little fishes...someone is going to eat you later, but it won't be ME! So we enter the dining room and the whole place comes to a screeching halt. Silence descends on the room as everyone stares at us. We get as quickly as we can to the table and life resumes in the restaurant (for the most part). They do careful work to set up our place settings and then bring us our menus. I quickly page through the menu to find that it IS all seafood. I was right!! My heart drops as we have already ordered tea, and our place settings were so meticulously cared for. I frantically whisper to Andre that they not only have just seafood...it is WEIRD seafood. Nothing I had ever heard of. Ok...so we decide to leave. In any other country you would just get up and walk out...but not here. We call a waiter over and Andre tries to explain that we have to go because I don't eat seafood and we did not know that was the only thing they serve. Huh? He doesn't understand so he gets someone else, who gets someone else, who gets someone else and eventually we have like 10 waiters at our table and the whole restaurant has come to a standstill once again. Finally we find someone who appears to understand. She escorts us out of the restaurant and then walks us halfway across the lobby while explaining that the other restaurants are across the lobby. Ha. We know. We have been staying here for like 5 days. Oh boy. Dumb Americans.
Our other experience occurred in the European restaurant. Andre decided he really wanted a ham & cheese sandwich and that is one of the 3 American things they have on the menu. So he orders that and I order some rice. We make it through most of the meal when all of the sudden...I hear Andre crunching on something really hard. Ham & Cheese, fries.... what would make that crunching noise??? He makes a horrible face and tries to retrieve the object(s) from his mouth. He pulls out a little tiny piece of something and then keeps crunching. Finally, after making many attempts to get the substance out, he takes a large drink of water. He tells me that it felt like SAND in his mouth. Yuck...that is gross. Then he begins to study the little pieces he pulled out. Glass! He has glass in his food!! Did it come from the fries? Who knows? My guess is that is came from the ketchup...maybe a chipped bottle or something. He decides to tell the waiter...we don't want this to happen to someone else!! Again, like 10 waiters gather around our table as we try to explain that this glass was in either his ketchup or his fries. He confers with all the waitstaff, makes several phone calls (on his cell phone and the hotel phone) and comes back to offer us his apologies. He wants us to have some coffee or complimentary juice. We say no thanks...we are pretty turned off by this situation and just want the Mai don (bill). He leaves and does some more talking with staff and on the phone. Meanwhile all the waiters keep walking by our table and staring at us. The guy disappears. After waiting like 5-10 minutes we think maybe he didn't understand that we wanted the bill. So we ask another waitress for Mai don. She leaves and picks up the phone...I guess she is calling the guy who disappeared. "Just a moment," she says when she comes back. More waiting. Eventually the guy reappears with an enormous plate of fries and fresh ketchup. Oh my. We really do not want this...we were almost finished with our food anyway. Andre declines. He shakes his head and says..."You must accept it." Okay, we do. They all stand around and stare at us...waiting for Andre to eat the fries. He eats one...very tentatively and with no ketchup. :) I tell him to mess the rest of them up (so it looks like he ate more than one), and let's get out of there. We finally get the bill and leave. Every single waiter and waitress says "Thank you bye-bye." as we leave. We haven't been back since.

Andre's Blog

If you notice, on the side of my page there is a link to Andre's blog. His is on the Klipsch website. He updates his with similar updates but he is also doing a Chinese word of the day. Check it out when you get time!

Numbers

The Chinese people are VERY superstitious about numbers. They do NOT like the number 4, because when it is said in Chinese it sounds like the Chinese word for die. On the flip side, 8 is a very lucky number. If you look in the US, a lot of the Chinese places incorporate the number 8 into their restaurant name because they believe it brings good luck.
They are so superstitious about the number 4 that when you go into a hotel or apartment building they won't have a 4th, 14th, 24th... floor. Instead the floors will go 1, 2, 3, 3F, 5... and 11, 12, 13, 13F, 15... We were also told in a cultural class we took before we came to NEVER give anything to the Chinese people in groups of 4. Like if we were to give our neighbors cupcakes, you wouldn't want to give them 4....they probably wouldn't accept them!!
I find this very interesting, and I like to look for ways in which they have avoided the number 4. I suppose their is a certain superstition in the US for the number 13, but I really don't think we go to such great lengths to avoid it!

We found an apartment!!

We spent three long afternoons searching for places and we have finally found the apartment we will call home for the next three years. It is located in a complex called New World Garden. NWG is one of three complexes that is known to have the most ex-patriate people. Ex-patriates are non-Chinese people living in China. Many ex-pats are from America but there are also some from the UK, Australia, Germany, etc. Anyway, New World Garden is in the Dongcheng area, and there are many ex-patriate hang-outs in this area. There are several restaurants, clubs, and grocery stores where you can find Western foods. We liked this area just because we will be able to meet many English speaking people here and we will be very close to the places we will visit most often.
The apartment is on the 5th floor of a six story building. It is brand new, and has never been lived in, which I like. Because they just finished the apartment, there is no furniture in it yet even though it is sold as a furnished apartment. Because of this, the landlord said we can come with her to help pick-out furniture we like. We are excited about that!
We are in the process of getting the money and lease situation handled. We hope to sign our contract and go pick out furniture next week. When we sign the contract we will send for our stuff that is being held in the US. As soon as I get pictures, I will post them!!

Skype

Ok, if you don't have Skype and you want to talk to Andre or I, you must get it NOW. It has been a godsend for us so far, and not even half the people we know are on there.
What is Skype?
Skype is FREE software that allows you to make calls over the internet. If you are calling another Skype member computer-to-computer the service is TOTALLY free!!
How can I talk to you on Skype?
If you have a computer, you download Skype. At the very least, we can chat back and forth like any other instant message service. If you have a microphone, you can call us and we can actually chat voice-to-voice (it sounds just like you are on the telephone...only a slight lag). If you have a webcam, we can video chat!!
How can I get Skype?
All you have to do is go to www.skype.com. Follow the instructions to download and install the program on your computer. Trust me, it is all free!! Once you have downloaded the program, search for us so we can chat!! My user name is kelly.larouche and Andre's username is andre.larouche.
Why should I download Skype?
You should do it because you love us and because it is the best way to keep in touch with us. Seriously, I cannot imagine what my life in China would be like if I did not have this service to keep me in contact with my family and friends. Because it is free, I can talk as much and as often as I want. I think I would use this service even if I weren't in China because it has been an awesome way to keep in contact with family you don't get to see often.
If you have ANY questions about Skype or how to download it, e-mail me.
See you all on Skype SOON!! :)

Andre's 1st Day of Work

I feel like a proud parent, sending their child to school on the first day. Haha...I know Andre felt dumb when I took his picture but hey, we have worked hard for this and it is exciting to finally be here!!

Anyway, he had a good first day. I walked up to his office (about a 30 minute walk) and met him and a couple of the girls he works with for lunch. It was a great place. After that I walked back to the hotel, and as soon as I walked in he Skype'd me and said that we were going to look at apartments. Yay!! We have spent the last two afternoons looking at apartments. I will post more later...as some decisions are made and some pictures are taken!! :)

Jet Lag

We finally arrived in Dongguan City today after a little bit of confusion this morning. We were scheduled to take the ferry from the Kowloon ferry station this morning and then a car hired by Klipsch was going to pick us up from the FuYong ferry station on the mainland and bring us to our hotel. We arrived with plenty of time to the ferry terminal, but were shocked to discover that the ferries don't run on Sundays anymore. Apparently, Andre had an old schedule. After many calls to Emily, the girl from the Klipsch office who arranged this for us, we hightailed it back across town to the Hong Kong ferry terminal and found a ferry that was in service on Sunday. It took us to SheKou where the driver would be waiting. It was a minor wrench in the plans, but it all worked out. It was a little longer in the car, but it's not like we were in any hurry!
It seems that Andre and I are having the hardest time adjusting to the time here. I think it is just because we don't have any pressing plans. We fell asleep last night at 5pm (5am Indy time) and slept until about 5am this morning. Now twelve hours is pretty normal for me(ha)...but not for Andre!! We are trying to stay up later at night, so we aren't up at the crack of dawn...but we are just so tired. As I type this, Andre is dozing on the bed...it's 4pm here by the way. What a slacker!! :)
Andre is reporting to work in the morning, and I will be here at the hotel by myself. Hopefully I can find some things to keep myself occupied. We also hope to start looking at some apartments tomorrow or Tuesday. Yay!

We Are Here!

We arrived in Hong Kong last night around 5pm! That would have been 5am your time....we are exactly twelve hours ahead here.
Our flight went REALLY well. We purchased upgradeable tickets, and were fortunate that they had room in business class for us on the trip from Chicago to Hong Kong. Andre actually got upgraded to First Class on our first leg to Chicago. But they didn't have enough seats, so it was just him...I sat with all the other Joe Six-Packs in the back. :) Anyway, business class was amazing!! When we boarded the plane we got glasses of champagne. They also had a little goody bag filled with things to make us more comfortable on the flight. The food was good, there was little to no turbulence, and we were able to recline our seats and have quite a bit of room. When the seats were all upright and I pointed my toes straight out, I couldn't reach the seats in front of me. That changes a little bit when everyone is lying down, but it was still so nice compared to Economy. We slept and watched movies, and time actually passed quickly.
We took about a 30 minute taxi ride into the city from the airport. The cab driver we had knew a limited amount of English. He was quick to talk about the economy with us, and I thought it interesting that the economy is on everyone's mind. When you live in the USA, you tend to forget that we are having the same problems globally.
We arrived at that hotel which is very nice, but our room is tiny. We barely have enough room for our luggage. But that is okay, because our view is SPECTACULAR!! I will be sure to post some pictures later when we unearth our camera! :) We ordered pizza and showered and fell promptly asleep at 10pm (10am Indy time). We were exhausted from not sleeping much on the plane. The downside of this is that we were both wide awake this morning at 6am (6pm Indy time). Hopefully we will be able to make this time switch relatively easily.
We are making the trip to the mainland tomorrow morning. We want to be settled into the hotel near Andre's office and rested so that he can report to work on Monday morning. Hopefully we will start looking at apartments also, but I am not sure what they have planned for us. Stay tuned...now that we are actually here I hope to update quite a bit!

This is the view we had from the two windows in our room. We could see this when we were lying on the bed in our room. Awesome!!


This was the same view...just at night. This picture doesn't even begin to do justice to the Hong Kong skyline at night.

The Eagle Has Landed

We received our passports from the Chinese consulate in Chicago this weekend!! The first thing we did, after we jumped for joy, was crack our bottle of champagne and have mimosas! That was the best mimosa I have ever had!! :)
We have booked our flight, and we are leaving on Thursday, October 16, 2008. The movers are coming tomorrow morning to pack our air shipment. Tomorrow evening we will be moving out of our house and into a hotel. That way we can clean everything up and make sure it looks nice, as it is still on the market.
We will arrive in Hong Kong on Friday evening, and plan to stay there for the weekend. We will make our way to Dongguan City on Sunday afternoon so that we are rested and ready to begin the search for an apartment.
I will update as often as possible between now and then, although it is certain to be somewhat of a whirlwind. We love you all and thank you for your support over the last couple of months. We are grateful to have had the chance to see MOST of our friends and look forward to seeing everyone when we come home for Christmas!

Finally...the last step!!

Our paperwork has been received by the consulate in Chicago. Yay!! It will probably take about 5 days, but who knows these days. Andre and I have a bottle of champagne ready for when we finally hear that our passports are being couriered back!!

Are you ready for this? It's pretty shocking!!

We are back to having no departure date again!!! Ugghhhhhh.... We are so frustrated with this situation.
Our paperwork was finally ready to be sent back to the US and we were right on schedule. Then, the lawyers decided that we not only needed a contract with the Klipsch office here, but we also needed a contract with the Klipsch office in Dongguan. They put a hold on our paperwork while they worked to draw up a contract. It is finally done and our paperwork should be arriving in the US today. However, the consulate in Chicago (where we have to send our passports for our permanent resident visas) is closed for a Chinese holiday until Monday October 6th. Once our stuff arrives there it will take 5 working days to process. So HOPEFULLY we will have our paperwork back and we will be able to leave sometime during the week of October 13th.
Stay tuned!!