The McGrew Crew

A Day at Stanley Beach

2011-06-12T10:10:00.000-07:00

In July (the 1st?) there was HKSAR day. A day that celebrates China turnover day. When Hong Kong was turned back over to China from the UK. We were invited to go to the beach with our good friend, Nica, and some of her friends. So we headed out to Stanley Beach for a day of hot weather, excellent food, swimming, and site seeing. Here is a slide show of some pictures taken throughout the day. Sorry you have to see me in a swimming suit... not a very pretty sight.

LEARNING A NEW CULTURE

2011-06-12T07:35:00.001-07:00

I wanted to post a list of some of the fun things about getting accustomed to Hong Kong culture... Things I liked getting to know, things I thought were strange/different, exciting....

1. A NEW LANGUAGE
It was hard getting used to not knowing what people were saying around me. Thank goodness a lot of people speak English. I have been asked if I have learned how to speak any Chinese... I have learned only a little bit such as: Good morning, Hello, How are you?, Numbers, Sit down, Don't cry, children, Thank-you, Excuse me, Bus Stop Please.

2. PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION AND DRIVING ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE ROAD
I was so used to just driving everywhere in my own car but we don't have a car out here in HK. Trust me, I don't want to drive here. It was weird getting used to the cars driving on the left side of the road! It freaked me out a little bit the first couple of times I rode in a taxi/bus. It was also fun getting used to riding on the subway. I had to get used to the MTR, as it is called here, and how to navigate getting around the big city.

3. THE FOOD!!!
Hong Kong has some pretty dang good food!! There are a lot of good places to go out to eat. I love Dim Sum... Which is a variety of steamed dishes such as dumplings, siumai, fried rice, rice balls, sesame balls, and my favorite the custard bun!! There are so many different types of foods that you can get here. I mean foods from different countries... Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Hong Kongese, Korean, Japanese, Italian, French, etc. Hong Kong has it all... The only food that I think is really lacking is the Mexican food. I haven't had any REALLY good Mexican food out here... which is a shame because Mexican is my favorite!! I have really grown to adore Indian and Thai food though!! There is a teacher at my school from India. Her name is Sue and she is a great cook. She has brought some awesome food for us to try. We have enjoyed going out for curry together. Here are some pics from our most recent outing... a restaurant inside the CHUNGKING MANSIONS of all places... The food was SO
DELICIOUS!!!!

4. BREADS AND GOODIES
Hong Kong is big for their love for breads, buns, and pasteries! There are so many bakeries here! The best bakeries are the hole in the wall types. My favorite types of breads are the sausage rolls, cheese breads, and pineapple buns. David really enjoys the egg tarts, coconut buns, BBQ pork buns, & banana bread.

We also love Gai-daan-jai. This is a waffle type snack that is made with a special type of waffle iron. They are like waffle balls. Here is a pictureof what they look like...

We also like waffles covered in peanut butter... super yummy!

We are also really into frozen yogurt. They have these really good fruit ball things that you can have as a topping. I think they are called poppers. They burst in your mouth when you bite them. Here is a pic...

David likes Sai mai lou drinks-they have coconut, milk, tapiocca balls, & mango.

5. THE OCTOPUS CARD
In Hong Kong you must have an octopus card. It is a card that you use for so many things... to pay for the bus, subway, 7-11... Lots of places accept it. You add money it and swipe it on the card reader to pay. It is so convenient.

6. MCDONALDS AND 7-11
Hong Kong is obsessed with McDonalds and 7-11. In some places you can see 2-3 McD's and 7-11's on one street within one or two blocks!! Who knows why they need so many of them!!

7. THE DOMESTIC HELPER
It is the norm here for people to have a domestic helper. If you do not have one you are the exception. Most children here are raised by either their grandparents or the domestic helper. Most of them come from the Philippines or Indonesia. They work hard and get paid what seems like hardly anything, but supposedly they get paid quite a bit if you convert it to their native country pay scale. Most of these ladies send the money they make to support their families back home. Many can build houses with what they make here. It is funny to go to the beach on holidays... swarms of domestic helpers everywhere!!!

8. NO PERSONAL BUBBLES/SPACE
There are A LOT of people in Hong Kong. Especially in the really busy parts ofthe city. During the busiest times of the day get used to packed subway rides. I had to learn not to be so nice and worried about bumping into people. It takes you by surprise when old ladies push their way through crowds and don't worry about bumping into you.. or saying excuse me. I had to learn to drop my shoulder and push my way through when times call for it.

9. REALLY TALL BUILDINGS
Being from Utah I have not seen a lot of tall buildings. Since there are so many people in HK and not a lot of space they have learned to pack the people in by building a lot of tall buildings. The girl I tutor lives on the 42nd floor!

10. AWESOME SHOPPING
Shopping is a big highlight of being here. There are many fun street markets where we like to buy souvenirs for our families and friends. I have also bought a lot of clothes since I have been here... my favorite places to shop are H&M and Cotton On (an Australian store)

11. CULTURAL SITES/ THE TEMPLES
There are so many things to see! There are a lot of temples around and they sure do love burning incense.

12. THE WEATHER
Hong Kong has some pretty fun weather! (a hint of sarcasm there) It is so so so
humid here!!! Especially in the summer. It is freakin' hot and humid!!! You go outside for 10 minutes and you are sweating up a storm already! No wonder they dress skimpy here! Pretty much I like to stay inside during the hot months. It also rains a lot here during certain times of the year... rainy season. We have had a few typhoon warnings too. Fun stuff. Winter is nice though... it gets cold only for a little bit... but when it is cold the humid makes it a piercing cold!

13. BEACHES
There are many beaches out here! We have one that is about a 20 min. walk from our place. I should go to the beach more often!!

14. WORK, WORK, AND MORE WORK
People out here work a whole lot and for long hours! That includes the kids... they go to school for a big chunk of the day followed by different extra curricular activities such as music, dance, swimming, art, and language lessons!!

15. COACH, LOUIS VUITTON, AND EVERY OTHER NAME BRAND
The ladies out here love their name brand items. Especially purses. You see a lot of ladies carrying around very expensive items... I like to go with the fake stuff... saves me lots of moo-lah!

16. DOGS IN STROLLERS
Dogs are often treated like babies out here. We have seen many people pushing their dogs around in dog strollers... interesting!

That is it for now... if I think of any more I will add it to the post!

Pics from first days in HK

2011-06-12T05:51:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would post some pictures from our first days in Hong Kong...

We live next to the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. There is an awesome view from the school. Here are some pics we took. I think this was during the first week we were here.

Here is a picture of David trying to find our way around... I think we were navigating around Tseung Kwan O or Hang Hau trying to find my school.

Here is one of our favorite statues of some fat lady dancers in the Choi Hung subway station! I get a kick out of these statues!

Saw this awesome van on our way to the temple! Had to take a picture since it has my maiden name on it!

Getting Settled...

2011-06-12T05:14:00.001-07:00

So we found our place and started getting settled. It was really hard to adjust and took a while to get over the jet-lag. I also had major culture shock.. which lasted quite a while! I didn't have much time to see Hong Kong and relax at all because I started my job only a few days after getting here... Got here the 27th of May and started work June 1st. I was really nervous to start my new job because although I had been through student teaching and other practicums at school I had never had my own class and didn't know what to expect... Plus I had never taught a bunch of ESL kids!! Fortunately my new school, Greenville Kids World Kindergarten, had me observing and helping out other teachers during June and July to get used to how they run things at their school. So those two months were pretty easy going, thank goodness!!

I quickly made friends with some of my new fellow teachers. Here is a picture with my new friend, Sandy. I spent most of my time in June/July helping her in her class. We had a lot of fun and became friends quickly. She is such a sweet girl... one of the nicest people I have ever met in my life!! She helped me out so much and made it a lot easier to adjust to being in a new place and new job. Behind us is the room they gave me for my class... it is decorated a lot differently now.

Unfortunately (well I guess not for her) Sandy moved back to the states after the school year was over. Wish she had stayed and worked at the school for another year but I am very glad I was able to meet her! Here are some pics from her farewell party... Here are some other fellow teachers I work with...

People in the picture from left to right (on my side of the table).. Ronnie, Me, Kaylee, Christy, Sandy, Sue, Christina on the opposite side next to the guy who I don't know (Sandy's friend)

Moving in and first few days in HK

2011-06-05T11:27:00.000-07:00

Since I didn't want to stay in Chungking Mansions long, we chose the first apartment we even looked at. We had a realty place helps us find it and they and a few other options for us to look at but after David saw the place, the location, and the price we quickly decided on it. We live in a smaller village, called Tai Po Tsai, up on a mountain. It is really close to my work (10 min. ride by mini-bus) and is out away from the really busy parts of Hong Kong. So it is pretty quiet out where we live. It is also close to a beach... you can walk to it in about 20 minutes. I really like where we live!! Here are some pics of our place!

The Journey Begins... First night in Hong Kong

2011-06-05T08:53:00.000-07:00

So we left bright and early for our flight to HK on May 26, 2010. We were filled with tons of emotions... excitement, nervousness, fear, anxiousness, relief, happiness, sadness (to leave family and friends), overwhelmed, and did I say excitement. I was really excited to see and experience a new place and learn about a new culture but I was also scared... I had never lived that far away from my family and/or friends, and Hong Kong is pretty far away.

The flight there was pretty awesome! Once we got to LA and to the international terminal at the airport it felt like we had already left the US. We flew on the airline China Air from LA to Taipai, Taiwan. The flight seemed to fly by even though it was like a 17 hour flight. I spent a lot of the time watching movies and playing games on my personal tv screen. Oh and the food they served us was really good... 3 full meals... awesome. Once we got to Taiwan I didn't want to get off the plane I enjoyed it so much. hehe

We flew into HK around 11:45 pm on May 27. We rounded up all of our bags... 6 suitcases and 2 smaller bags!!! Yes we had a ton of luggage... but it didn't feel like a whole lot until we made the not so fun trip to our hotel! We caught a bus from the airport and headed off to our hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui. It was fun looking out the window checking out the view of the city that would be my new home for the next who knows how long. We got to TST and got off at what we thought was the correct bus stop... and then David realized that we should have gotten off at the next stop. So we tried to walk the rest of the way... that was a dumb idea!! Our bags were heavy and we both had 2 large suitcases and a smaller bag. And it was hot and humid outside... even at night. Welcome to hot Hong Kong summer weather!

So after walking a little ways... very slow and sweating up a storm, we decided to get a taxi. Thank goodness!!! We finally arrived at our oh so lovely hotel.... The CHUNG KING MANSION... Name sounds nice right? HA! Just wait... We get out and there are a bunch of guys (kinda scary looking) just hanging out by the entrance of the hotel.

(This isn't my photo... I found it on this site: http://www.ytravelblog.com/chungking-mansions-hong-kong/ There is more stuff about the Chungking here if you care to read about it.)

David had forewarned me not to let anybody get close to or touch our bags... So these guys come up and start offering to help me carry my bags. Some of them rather insistent-pretty much trying to grab my bags from me. I was pretty freaked out at this point.

We had to continually tell them no thanks. Until this one guy offered his help -he was insistent to the point of us giving in... he seemed nice and safe enough and he knew where to take us. So we had to weave through this maze of stuff to find the correct elevator... street vendor type shops and Indian/Pakistani food vendors, cell phone booths, etc.

We found the elevator and shoved our luggage inside... and boy did that place stink!! Especially the elevator!! So I pretty much had to hold my breath to help keep me from throwing up! Well we got up to the hotel office and the lady said that we had too much luggage to fit into the room that we had booked so luckily they had another room for us... we got to our room and loaded all of our luggage onto one of the beds. After looking around at the scary sight of the room, I plopped myself onto the bed and yes.. I started to cry!

Here I was thousands of miles away from home... jet lagged, tired, exhausted, covered in sweat, just survived a bunch of scary guys trying to grab my bags, in the biggest city I have ever been in, new place, new culture, about to start a new job in 4 days, completely overwhelmed, and THIS was the hotel we were staying in!!! I was thinking... DAVID! WHERE HAVE YOU BROUGHT ME?! Let me post some pics so you can get an idea of what this place was like... unfortunately we didn't take any photos ourselves but I found some decent ones online that will give you an idea....

So the pics of the bedrooms aren't the actual room that we stayed in but it has the same kind of set up. We had two beds... one loaded with all of our luggage and one for us to sleep on. The sheets were so gross that I did not dare sleep on them... so I slept on my towel. The bathroom was really small... small closet size, with the toilet and a sink with the shower head right above the sink, right next to the toilet as well. The bathroom along with the entire room was also not the cleanest. And yes, the view from the windows are what it looked like outside... trash everywhere, really old/run-down building. Spectacular!!

Well after I got my cry out and we had everything somewhat settled we decided to get some rest... And I told David he better start hunting for an apartment and find one quick! I didn't want to stay in that hotel long. Every time I walked into the building I had to hold my breath cause it stunk so bad! Oh and you walk out of the hotel and either 1 or 2 buildings down is a nice Holiday Inn!! I would walk by and think.... We could be staying there!! Fortunately, David found our apartment on either the first or second day of being here and moved into our place the following Sunday. (I think we stayed at the hotel 4 days)

So that is the story of our first night in Hong Kong. At the time it was a tough experience for me and not the funnest way to start our adventure in Hong Kong. Now looking back I am really glad we had that experience. It really was a true ADVENTURE. It is now a fun story to tell and laugh at. Even the teachers I work with said... Ewe! you stayed there? Why would you stay at Chungking?!

Also, having that experience also makes me really appreciate how lucky we are to live where we do now. Although our apartment is really small I am grateful for it. I'll post some pics of our apartment in my next post!!

Goodbye Party... Off to Hong Kong

2011-06-05T08:11:00.001-07:00

Over 1 year ago, David and I planned to start an adventure and move to Hong Kong... We knew we wanted to get out and see the world and why not Hong Kong! David served his mission there and had been dying to go back! I swear almost everyday the first 1 1/2 years of our marriage he mentioned wanting to go to HK. Since I majored in Early Childhood Ed. and Hong Kong is always looking for Native English Teachers that allowed me to easily find a teaching job. So we packed up and set off to the foreign land of Hong Kong... But before we left we had a goodbye party with my family and some friends. We had a BBQ in my family's back yard and had a crazy time! Here is a slide show of some pics we took while just goofing off....

Adventures to come!

2010-05-26T19:33:00.001-07:00

So I haven't posted anything for quite some time... Life as gotten a little crazy! But now that we have made it to Hong Kong I am going to have to keep everyone posted on our adventures out here! I don't have any pictures yet but I will be posting some very soon!

OUR FIRST YEAR

2009-12-20T22:45:00.000-08:00

We can't believe be have been married for over a year already. Man does time fly! We wanted to highlight some of the things that have happened throughout the year. So hear ya go... ENJOY!

November 26, 2008-The big day!

DECEMBER 2008-
David got promoted at his job! He got promoted to full-time as a supervisor over a team of phone agents at Nu Skin.
Christmas-We enjoyed our first Christmas together. We spent the holiday with the Foster family in Orem. Fun times!

FEBRUARY-
Grandma Foster celebrated her 90th birthday! David loves making crazy gifts for good ole Grandma and Grandpa Foster! David surprised Grandma with a goofy version of her "will". Here is a small portion of it! David's gift was a hit! Grandma (and everyone else) loved it!

Some of our most exciting moments from the year 2009 happened in the summer! We went on some fun trips and attended David's family reunion in Spring City. Here are some pictures...

JULY- In July we went to Monterey, California to visit Scott, Anna, and Jason McGrew! We had so much fun!

Also in July, I was able to go on a trip to Texas with my family for my niece, Sydney's baptism! What a fun trip! Here are some highlights from the trip...

Shelly and Johnny on the drive there.

TEXAS RANGERS GAME!!

We did lots of swimming in Jeff and Suzi's pool! So fun!

Sydney's Baptism... One crazy family (Fosters and Dodsons)

AUGUST-

David's family reunion in Spring City, Utah. (Lyman family reunion) I got in a four wheeling accident right before we took off at the end of the big shindig! Thank goodness Gracie and I were ok! Just some bumps, bruises, minor whiplash, and a sore tailbone...

Me before the accident-

VEGAS! I took a trip with my cousin Tam to Vegas in August! We had lots of fun shopping, seeing the sites, and hanging out with my best friend Lisa and her family!

SEPTEMBER-
I started my final semester at BYU! Student Teaching!! First, kindergarten! Then Second Grade!! That pretty much consumed my life from September to December 14th! David was such a great support for me during this stressful semester!

OCTOBER-
David has really developed some of his talents this year. One of his favorite past-times is making clay figurines. He LOVES it!! Well, David decided to make a Foster Family chess set for my Dad. He started and gave the first few pieces to him for his birthday on Oct. 4th. Here are pictures of some of the figurines he has completed so far...

NOVEMBER-
Thanksgiving Day we celebrated our 1st Anniversary!!! Yay! We decided to take a trip to California to celebrate Thanksgiving and our anniversary. We brought my brother, Spencer, with us! We had so much fun!!!! First, we went to San Francisco! We had lots of walking through China Town and taking craaazzy pics! Check out us crazy people...

We then went down to Seaside to stay with Scott, Anna, and Jason. We had a yummy Thanksgiving dinner! We had fun at the beach, Fisherman's Wharf, and playing lots of Wii! Such a fun trip!!

DECEMBER-
I just graduated from Brigham Young University with a Bachelors in Early Childhood Education!!!! Official graduation date- December 18th! I am so thrilled to be done!

2009 has been a great year!! We have made some great memories! 2010 will bring some new and exciting adventures. David and I both plan on looking for jobs that may take us to new places... maybe across the world! (Hong Kong)

WE WISH EVERYONE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

KEEP VISITING US AT OUR BLOG FOR UPDATES ON WHAT WE ARE UP TO!!

2009-08-12T23:06:00.000-07:00