On spending a month alone

Don't do it. Tomorrow Daniel comes home after spending the last 4 weeks in China. It has been hard. The longer it's gone on, the harder it has gotten. Thank goodness for family and friends. I've had meals at each parents as well as my grandparents a couple of times. I've had friends help entertain me. Last Saturday I went with some good friends to go shopping, do a session in the Oquirrh Mountain temple, and dinner at Johnny Rocket's in Farmington. Very yummy, I may say. My back door neighbors even sent over some soup. (Thank you Craig & Melissa!)

You never know how much you depend on just having another person present, until that person is gone. I was only able to talk to Daniel once a day, at the end of my day, because of the time difference. This meant that by the time we talked I was worn out, tired, fed up, finished and exhausted. Making for a few whiny conversations on my part.

I've learned a few things about myself during the process. Some things I didn't want to learn. But don't we all have those kinds of lessens? Unfortunately the journeying isn't over yet. He'll have a few more trips to China before this is over. And even then he'll take regular maintenance trips once a quarter or so. Can I just say that, often, being a grown up sucks? Yup.

Another blogger, Kenna, wrote about being safe under her boulder. I must say, she put it well. I can sympathize. I've been hiding on my wingback chair in the TV room escaping into the world of Psych for the last month. I'm on episode 67 or something - in just a month. I think I have a crush on Shawn Spencer. Besides work, and the times I've come out to get fed, I have holed up in my house with my sometimes wonderful, sometimes obnoxious, dogs. I have retreated. But tomorrow I have to get up and come out and be a grown up.

Fortunately I'll have my wonderful, patient, hard working husband back to stand by my side while we battle the foes and challenges that come at us. I'll recharge and we'll be able to deal with the stuff that keeps getting in the way of our progressing to our goals.

I'm glad Daniel has a good job, but I'm also glad that we have been promised there will be no more 4 week trips. Hallelujah.

My Chinese, locked out, Mexican food, Thanksgiving.

Yes, each of those happened to me. Today alone.

To start, I woke up early and taught seminary. I am grateful for this opportunity for many reasons. I have never been very good at the Old Testament. I'm at least passable with the other books. The Old Testament is like me doing calculus. And if you know me, I haven't had math since I was about 16 years old. Not my thing. So now I am learning the Old Testament much better and I love that. I also get to start my days, every other week, with an hour of spirituality, despite the dead pan attitude of my skype attendees. Seriously, teenagers in the morning is bad, but over the internet where you can't stare them down? Worse.

But the best thing is the preparing of the lessons in which I learn and feel the spirit and grow according to my own knowledge. I believe I need this specific boost at this time, partly because of the challenges of living in China, but also dealing with the challenges that life is giving us in general right now. Things are hard and the gospel is good.

After this, I go back to bed for about 2-3 hours. I am not a morning person. I need that morning nap. It gets me going for the rest of the day. And apparently I need it when I roll over and find it is three hours later. Today I exercised, thank you Pinterest, and then called my mom for a good chat. Then I finished getting ready, had some leftovers for lunch and headed out the door. Without my key. As the door slammed shut I remembered that I saw my key outside my purse. Lovely. Now this isn't Utah, where the doors are unlocked until you lock them. I have no door knob. Just a pull lever. The latch will always catch. Which means it always locks. Always.

Fun, huh? Since it was 1 o'clock and I had stuff to do for a while I didn't worry about it much. I called Daniel and  told him I was a dork and to make sure he comes home on time. then I went with a woman that goes to church with us and we walked like around our nearby shopping centers for nearly 3 hours. I was successful in what I was looking for and came home with about 30 kuai in my pocket. (That's like 5$). This can't do much.

While shopping we found these little treasures.

In any of you understand what these are supposed to mean, please let me know. We are making a little bit of a collection of bad translations or just bad English in general. It's awesome.

When I got back I went to see if the building managers could let me in. Nope. Not unless I wanted to partially destroy the door and get new locks. Not happening. So I called Yimi, my translator, and had her call my maid to find out how she got in when the door was jammed. Turns out Ayi was in the neighborhood and she ran her key over to me on the condition that I pay for her taxi fair. Let me clarify here, that this is not a greedy move. For someone who only makes 130$ from me, a taxi fair is a luxury that is not indulged. So I said gladly, and 15 minutes later she came running into the building, handed me her key, told me to pay her tomorrow, and ran back out. Thank heavens. I was in.

Then Daniel and I talked about dinner and what to do. He text me on his way home and said "Let's do Coyote." sounds good to me. So I turned on Pushing Daisies, which by the way should never have been cancelled, and started to organize things for my trip home. 45 minutes later, Daniel text me and said he was at Coyote and was I coming. Well, yes. I had no idea that I was supposed to meet him there.

There are two times at which it is a nightmare to catch a taxi. During shift change, from 4:20-5:00 and after the work day, 6:00-6:30. It was not 6:15 and I had to wait nearly 15 minutes for a taxi. But I got to the restaurant (using 9 of my 30 kuai) just fine. I had a delightful dinner of soup that burned my throat a little, a quesadilla with black beans, and some guacamole (new recent favorite acquired taste). To top it off we indulged in this rare treat:

Look carefully and home made pumpkin cheese cake with white chocolate chips made in China and eaten at a Mexican restaurant. Jealous? You should be. It was amazing. We bough 2 pieces. One we shared there, and the other we will share tomorrow night for out at home date. It was so good.

Then we had the fun of giving our taxi driver directions home because he didn't know where it was. This, by the way, is only the 2nd time this has happened.

All in all, it was a pleasant day, though, despite the challenges. It made me grateful for things like cell phones with translation apps and cheap taxi rides.

I am looking forward to being home on Tuesday and seeing as many of you as possible. I can't wait to taste things like my grandma's cranberry jello. Oh,. So. Good. To sleep on a soft bed, to smell fresh air, to indulge in quiet. I know, "quiet you say," well yes. Even though I am often home alone, I can hear cars, wind, boat horns, the songs blared over the loud speaker for the kindergartners to exercise and have recess with, and the grinding. The jack hammers have quit for the time being, thank heavens, and all it is now is pounding with like a sledge hammer.

Well, have I been entertaining this post? I hope so. I hope all of you Americans that read my blog are grateful for the traditional Thanksgiving that will be yours this year. Enjoy some pie for me, okay?

Hong Kong Visa trip

I am going to post this trip in pieces. I want to separate the bad from the good.

Part 1

The Bad.

You are going to need to refer to this map throughout the "bad" part of the experience. Note the Airport, the Central/Hong Kong stops and the Wan Chai stop.  They are all on the lower half of the map. Also, note where the large Buddha is in the bottom left corner, that was our Friday.

To ride the Airport line all the way into Hong Kong is 28 minutes, just for time reference.

Now begins our journey.
Join me along the long path that is the trip for our Visa Z (Residency Visa).


The journey began months ago when we were asked to move to China. We then had to gather a number of documents. I put together copies of our birth certificates, marriage license, and college diplomas. When we went to China in March we did part 2, we'll call it. The health exam. We got that back. Here is what it looks like:

There are three pages each plus an 8 page booklet.

We passed this test. We have no contagious diseases.

We entered China on travel visas the past two times. You can only stay for 30 days at at time on this visa. So we needed to leave the country before May 15 and re-enter with a new visa. So we traveled down to Hong Kong.

To get a visa from the Chinese Government, as an American (we are special like that), we had to get it from a Chinese Consulate outside of Mainland China. We should have done this while in the US, but the time got short. Just another lesson learned.

We knew where the building was. It was just off the Wan Chai (see above) stop on the blue line. We had hoped to get to the Consulate before 9:30. We woke up at 8:45 and had to get ready. When we got down to the lobby we bought the tickets to Hong Kong Disneyland, as we were hoping to be there by about noon, maybe a little later.

We got out of the hotel at about 10. Okay, we can work with this. Daniel, where is the paperwork? Dangit. Back in, get it.

On our way. (We stayed in the Marriott Sky Harbor, by the airport.)

We got on the train and realized we were out of money on our octopus card (a RFID chipped card used for the metro and in many restaurants.) So we had to add cash. The trip to Hong Kong station was HK$95. Expensive. We walked underground for like half a mile, I swear, and got on the blue line to Wan Chai, two stops.

(Now 11:20)

When we got off we had to figure out which exit to take. There isn't just one for each side of the street. There are like 15. We followed the map and ended up on a raised walkway that got us right there. Sort of. We ended up walking a figure 8 around the exact building we needed, because the signs were confusing. We got down to ground level and had to go around the corner. Through security (toss the crackers - can't take food in.)

Level 7 and it looks like a more functional version of the DMV. Get a number. But before you can get a number you have to fill out this application, both sides. We thought that was already done. Okay.

Dangit. Who is our inviter? We call Daniel's assistant. She tells us to put Paul Tsao. We get his address and phone number. Get the address of the factory. Get our number and sit down. It's 253.

 They are on 197. Great.  That's gonna take forever. Not really. In about 15 minutes they are at 230. Let's check our paperwork. What happened to our pictures? Oh my gosh Daniel, where are the pictures we just had? Gone. Nowhere to be found. Not in any garbage, on any counter, not handed in. Lovely. Dangit. It's our turn. Where can we get our picture taken? There's a photo booth that does sets of six photos for HK$40 (US$5). Great. Do it. It won't take the money. 10 times. Then it does. Done.

Gorgeous, I know.
Awesome. The lady cuts them for us. Now, get another number. What? It's time for lunch?(Lunch is from 12-2) Please, let me get a number? Here - have the last one. Thank you!!! It's 281. Great. Sit down.

Daniel: "I hope I don't need my old passport with the active visa in it."
Ashley: "Don't say that. As soon as you asked about the photos, we lost them. Don't say anything about the passport, or we'll need it. It's back at the hotel and that would make me cry."

#281:
Desk 5: "Where are your photo copies?"
Daniel: "What photo copies?"
Desk 5: "The ones of your medical records. You need to give us the photo copy."
Daniel: "Where can we do that."
Desk 5: "By the photo booth. Where is your passport with the visa?"
Ashley: "d*%$^*t!"
Daniel: "I don't have it."
Desk 5: "You can come back after lunch. You don't have to queue, just come up to desk 5."
Commence Ashley's tears. It's now 12:30. We have to take the 45 minute ride back to the hotel to bring them the last piece of paper. I started tearing up as we waited for the elevator. This was supposed to take half an hour, not half a day. I need food.

There is a McDonald's on the way back to the station. Finally, food. I never thought I would turn to McDonald's first. But they are good here. And when you are upset, familiar food is the best thing to do quickly. Plus, we didn't eat breakfast and we were getting weak kneed.

Back to the Hotel. Ashley's done walking. I'll wait here while Daniel runs in. Awesome. 19 minutes later we get on the next train leaving. Sit down and the doors shut. Perfect timing. And we're back.

We still have to make 6 copies of our health document. We were not prepared for this because the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco wanted originals. These guys want photo copies. Grr. There is a line for the copier. You can only make one copy per transaction. One coin, one copy. It only takes HK$1 coins. Cashier to exchange HK$2 into 1's. We finally get them done.

By now it's 3:30. Yes. 3:30. Today sucks. My feet hurt. We walk in and Desk 5 has the curtain down. We march up there anyway and knock on her window. Up it comes. In go the papers. Rush. Pick up Tomorrow about 3.

AND WE'RE DONE!!!! Finally.

Let's go to Disneyland. Yay. Back out on the orange line to the Pink. And to Disneyland we go.
Tomorrow's post.