Settling In

Wow...taking a look at my poor, neglected blog, I note it's been a month since I last updated it.

More surprisingly, that means it's been nearly a month since we moved to Hong Kong. Where has the month gone??

• Setting up our apartment. At approximately one-third the size of our house in Manila, we're much closer to each other than we were previously. Shelly refers to our kitchen as a "one butt kitchen." I'd say that's about right.

• Setting up Shelly's office. Admittedly, this has been mostly Shelly's job, but I have pitched in here and there, running errands and delivering things while Shell waits for the company's secretary to start work a couple weeks from now.

• Walking, walking, walking. I've spent most of my free time outside, walking around this incredible city. This has been the real reason I haven't blogged much. I'm rarely home, prefering the beautiful autumn weather of Hong Kong to spending time in the apartment.

• Enjoying the beautiful autumn weather of Hong Kong. Hey, it's cool again! I can wear pants without sweating! (That doesn't mean that I actually am wearing pants, just that I can from time to time.)

• Looking for a church. We've been to several different churches as we look for a new church home. We've been to an Anglican cathedral with loads of Brits and Filipinas, an international non-denominational church with an interesting cross section of nationalities and a Lutheran church with lots and lots of Americans. We're getting close to finding one, I think.

• Adopting two cats. Most Perfect Princess Ernestine and Fat Choy moved in a couple weeks ago after we adopted the sisters from the cattery at the Hong Kong SPCA. I used to make fun of people who used names like Princess or Fluffy for their cats -- we planned to call her Ernie -- but Princess fit Ernie's personality to a T when she moved in when she needed lots and lots of attention. Ernie has relaxed a bit, but Princess seems to be sticking as a name. Fat Choy is the trouble-maker of the two, already finding her way past all of Shelly's cat-proofing efforts to a perch on the narrow ledge outside our 7th floor window (more cat-proofing has since taken place) and spending the night at the vet after eating something that made her throw up 18 times in 12 hours.

• Using the words "weeing" and "pooing" with the British vet at the SPCA.

• Enjoying the convenience of grocery home delivery. Don't want to lug cases of beer and Coke up the hill to the house? Just call for delivery!

Now that we're settled in, I should be back online more often. Sorry for the delays in getting this update up. I'll get some photos up soon.