An Update

Everything's been going very well for us. Recently, Vi quit her job and has already found a new job that she's excited about. She left her old job because her boss had both an anger problem and a smoking problem. It was a small office and she smoked more than a pack a day. She employed 3 Chinese girls and 2 quit because they would come home smelling like smoke. The worst part though was the anger. Her boss would always yell at all of them even when she wasn't mad or it was a very small thing. Anyway, she has a new job that she can walk to, doesn't work on Saturdays and she gets a 2 hour lunch so she's happy.

The biggest news is that we received a notice that we've completed the next step in the fiancee visa process. Mom and Dad received a notice in the mail saying that the case is being passed on to the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou. Hopefully, the next step is testing and interviews but for now we're just waiting to hear from the consulate.

After working for 14 months, I got the papers for a work visa so we went to Hong Kong Thursday and Friday so I could get that visa. Vi met up with me Thursday because she had her final interviews that morning.

While I was there alone, I walked around and got some good pictures of Hong Kong island's skyline, their main downtown. I say main downtown because almost all of the city looks like a downtown.

That night, we went back to the harbor to see a light show that Hong Kong puts on every night from 8:00-8:15. The buildings light up to a song and have some green laser lights that shoot off. I was much more excited before I saw the show. It was still nice to see though and the skyline is always beautiful.

The next morning, we went back to the Chinese consulate, picked up my passport and headed back to Shenzhen.

Hong Kong's very beautiful and surprisingly clean for the amount of people that live in such a small area. The people are much nicer, especially the drivers. It really is a great place to visit. The only downfall is that it is incredibly expensive compared to the mainland. A cheap, normal lunch during the week would cost HKD$50 which is about $6, while on the mainland a cheap, normal lunch is about CNY5-10 which is about $1. We stayed in a cheap, small but clean hostel for HKD$400, about $50, that I could practically touch all 4 walls from the middle of the room. I can stay in a Sheraton in the middle of town for a couple dollars more or at a cheap, clean, bigger hotel room for just CNY100 which is $15. Crazy. Anyway, I do love Hong Kong.