Kiwis (Brenda, Amber, Richard & Jonathan)
Hong Kongers (Peter & Anita)
Us
We really enjoyed our time in Hong Kong. Peter and Anita, upon hearing we would have one less day than we thought in Hong Kong, took us on a single day's grand tour of Hong Kong like no other. We ate wonderful home town food, with chopsticks of course, and took a ferry from Kowloon, the part of Hong Kong where we were staying, to Hong Kong Island in order to visit the Peak and truly see the town. We made it back to the Kowloon side just in time for the nightly 8 pm laser show which involves at least a dozen buildings in a coordinated masterpiece set to music on our side.
On Sunday, we met up with my friends the Leotas, who just happened to be visiting parents/grandparents in Hong Kong for the first time in four years. They are from New Zealand in case the Kiwi reference got past you. We attended the Hong Kong Church of Christ, which was a very lively and uplifting experience. Then we went out for lunch and did a little shopping but no buying.
So this week, I arrived back in the US late Monday night. Isa, the girls, and Zoz (Marie-Josee, Isa's mother) finally arrived last night (Friday night). My week spent waiting was rather eventful. Tuesday was the inauguration. What a party. Wednesday, I found out that my manager, and my manager's manager's manager were getting laid off in the first wave of Bank Of America's promised 30,000 over the next three years. My manager's manager used to be my manager and is again now. Thursday, news broke that the CEO of Merrill Lynch, John Thain, had been a bad boy. BOA just acquired/saved Merrill in Q4 of 2008. Mr. Thain spent $1.2 million to redecorate his office last year, and he authorized and paid $4 billion in bonuses in December, during a quarter in which Merrill lost $15 billion, so that BOA would not be able to put a stop to it which they would have had the bonuses been scheduled for January which is the customary timing for such disbursements. So Mr. Thain also got laid off.
Friday, the weary travelers arrived, altogether, but their bags, thanks to some changes in the flights they took as opposed to the flights they were scheduled to take, came at all different times. One came on the flight before theirs. Two came on the flight after theirs (which was their originally scheduled flight). The last came on the flight after theirs but then got loaded back onto the next flight to Chicago. So we arranged first for it to be delivered when it arrived, at midnight or so, and then reconsidered and requested that it be delivered this morning after 8. Instead, we got a call at 2:30 am and it was delivered then. This was among Julia waking up to vomit earlier than that, and then to eat cereal later than that. Eleven hours of jetlag is no picnic. I managed to stay in bed until 10 am, though, somehow, and woke up to home made waffles, so I can't complain. Tonight, Julia and Josee fell asleep before dinner was ready at 7 pm or so.
We finally got our pictures on the PC after these many months, so we'll try to post some more of the best of those in the near future.
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