Life afer Cambodia

Things have been quite busy since I got back from my trip. I actually came home and the very next day I went into work and gave my two weeks notice. I decided that I just couldn't keep up with my life anymore and I was tired of being tired and stressed and overwhelmed and... well you get the picture.

So I told Doug, my boss that I was quitting. He was not pleased but said he understood my decision if it meant more time with my family. The next day I when I went back to work he called me into his office and said that I couldn't quit and that he would do whatever it took to get me to stay there even if it meant I worked from home. Well I thought about it for the day and the next day I told him I would stay working there and work from home. So I have been doing that for about four weeks now and it is soooo awesome. It works out well. I don't have to worry about who is going to watch Morgan and she is so happy not to have to be dropped off somewhere every morning... And I get so much accomplished at home. I can do laundry while I work or whatever else needs to be done (just don't mention that part to Doug). So I am a lot less overwhelmed. I also don't need to work so many hours during the last two weeks of the month; it is our slow time so my schedule is not so hectic. So work life is really great.

I also just finished my summer semester this week, my second to last. I am actually done at Westminster College. The next time I see that campus will be at graduation, what a nice feeling! My last semester is at the University of Utah because of scheduling issues. Which is nice to save a little money on tuition and to be back at the old stomping grounds. I am looking forward to it; well mainly because it means I am soo close to being done.

Now a funny Morgan story. While we were driving last week:

Morgan: "Mom what would you do if I fell out of the car?" (This is such a typical 4 year old question, isn't it?)
Mom: "I would scream. What would you do if I fell out of the car?"
Morgan: "I would scream so loud that the people in China would hear. No wait, I mean the people in Shenzhen and Hong Kong would hear!"

Can you believe this little girl can remember that I went to Shenzhen and Hong Kong! I don't think John even remembers that I went to Shenzhen and Hong Kong!

She is one smart little girl; with a good memory that she will probably use against me for my whole life.

Day 11

Day 11 involved a lot of traveling. We left our hotel in Shenzhen China at about 8:00am to drive across the border to Hong Kong so we could catch our place to LA. We had to go through China customs again and this time our guide got in trouble because we were all in one big line and they wanted us to be in two lines. The custom agents pushed Stephen, our guide, up against a wall and grabbed him by the neck. That would never happen in the US. It was kind of scary.....

Anyway we flew out of Hong Kong at 1:00pm on Monday afternoon and landed in LA at 1:00pm on Monday. It is weird that you can fly for 14 hours and it is still the same time when you get off of the plane. Now you know why my sleep pattern was so messed up!

We then had a five hour layover in LA before we flew back to SLC. Two of us managed to catch an earlier flight home and I was sooooo happy! We got home at about 3:30 pm and I have never been so glad to drive on I-15. Things seemed so different, I couldn't beleive I had only been gone for 2 weeks... it seemed like 2 years.

That wraps up my 2 week trip and it only took my 5 weeks to blog about! Now I can finally talk about what has been going on since I got home.... but on another post.

Day 10

Day 10 was another Sunday but we were in China and didn't have a clue where we could find an LDS church anywhere so the LDS kids decided to do a sacrament meeting in one of the hotel rooms. One of the guys in our group had gotten permission beforehand to conduct one, good thinking on his part. So we gathered in their room and sang an opening song and had an opening prayer then took the sacrament and then decided to open the floor up to anyone who didn't get a chance to bear their testimony last week in Cambodia to do so here. So a couple of the guys got up to bear their testimony's. What a great meeting this was. I felt the spirit so strongly in that hotel room in China with only 10 of us. I will always remember my church experiences on my trip. I felt like I was right where I should be at that time. I needed to experience the things that I had seen and heard on this trip. The whole trip was such a testimony builder for me.

Well we finished up with a word of prayer and then were off to do our last two business visits. Yes, the people in China were all working on Sunday because they had a day off during the week for a Chinese holiday and were making up for it on Sunday. Our first trip was to see a container/shipping company. This was not cool for us; we got to see a company from on top of a hill looking down on them. Apparently civilians cannot enter container company grounds. Why we went to see one then, don't know!

Our next, and last business visit was to a garment manufacturer (not that kind of garments) where they made women's underwear. It was pretty interesting to go see, the working conditions were better than I imagined a manufacturer in China to be.

That night a group of 12 of us decided to head down to the pier and find a nice place to eat and celebrate it being our last night in China and the last night of our trip for that matter, well one not spent on a plane anyway. So we found this Thai restaurant that was sooo good. We sat at this giant table with this huge lazy susan in the middle. We all just chatted and ate and most everybody drank. It was a good time. Here are Blake and I with our curly kiddie straws that they give you when you order a Coke and not a beer. We were the only two non-drinkers at the dinner and we had to make fun of ourselves with these ridiculous straws.

Here is what everybody else looked like:

Here is the last picture I took on my trip. It is looking out to the ocean and to Hong Kong from Shenzhen China. Doesn't this look more like Hawaii than what you thought China would look like??

Day 9

Day 9 was a very chill day for me. The group went to tour Shenzhen city and go on a couple of guided tours. The thought of getting back on the bus was enough to make me scream. I decided to sit this day out. The hotel had a sweet pool and I wanted to just relax. A couple of us hung back at the hotel and just napped and hung out by the pool. Here is my roommate Angie smoking Joel's cigar....sweet huh?


Then we went out and decided to walk down to the ocean. It was so close to our hotel. We found some cool shops and restuarants and just had a good time. This was a much needed day for me. Here we are down by the ocean, interesting statue, dontcha think?

I don't have any other pictures from this day... what a boring post!

Day 8

Day 8 was another long exhausting day. It may not sound like it from the condensed version of my trip on the blog but we were all so tired from jet lag and from running around everywhere that I just wanted to lay in bed and sleep for a week.

We got up early and had to check out of our hotel; we were driving to Shenzhen China that night but we had a day full of business visits. The first one was to Emerson (I can't even remember what that company did.) I was so tired that I can barely remember even sitting in their conference room...

Next was to the Hong Kong stock exchange; which I was very disappointed with. The traders were all just sitting at their desks trading online. It was so quiet in there, I thought it was going to be like the NYSE where people are running around yelling "Sell! Sell!" But no. As you can see from the picture they were all staring at us while we were staring at them...

Here are Denise and I pretending to be stock traders...



Here is a picture of us going down an escalator into the depths of hell, oh they actually call it the subway. I was having a major anxiety attack right about here going underground two levels into this hot crowded train.




This was the highlight of the day, seeing the torch come through Hong Kong. About 20 minutes after we left the Hong Kong stock exchange the torch was going to come right through downtown. We found ourselves this great spot to stand and see the handoff of the torch. Really cool to see. See the guys in the blue, I think they are pretending to be athletes but are really Kung Foo masters that can kill you with their pinkies. (Sorry, I saw Kung Foo Panda yesterday).

After our business visits it was back to the tour bus for the 45 minute drive to Shenzhen. This drive may actually take 45 minutes but when you have to go through two checkpoints to get there it takes about 3 hours. The first checkpoint is in Hong Kong. Everyone must get off the bus and fill out another immigration form (by this time we have filled out a dozen it seems like) and wait in line for a half hour then present your passport to the officers. Then everyone gets back on the bus. Then you drive 30 more seconds to the China immigration office where again everyone must get off the bus but this time with your luggage and have it x-rayed then show them your passport then get back on the bus. By this time it is about 7:00pm and we haven't eaten for hours, we are all getting car sick and we are still in our business attire and I have totally lost my sense of humor.... I already have a bad attitude about going to China, then I am feeling like we are getting farther away from home and I am getting more homesick! Anyway, we asked our guide "Stephen" (they all have these American names they tell us, when we know their real names are Xi Lui Chang Zguyan) why we have to go through two checkpoints to get to China and he says that one is the democratic side and one is the socialist side (or communist). Ok now I am really wanting to go home!

Day 7

Today we got up and said goodbye to Cambodia. I had such a great time there and really didn't want to head out and move on. I really grew to like it there and could just head out and go find cool things to do and see. But it was time to move on with the trip. We flew to Hong Kong and got the spend the afternoon/night there.

There was a guy on the trip with us who looked exactly like Justin, who is my ex-husband. I finally broke down and told him this and we all had a good laugh. Here we are at the Phnom Penh airport; I thought everyone who knew Justin would get a good kick out of this pic.

The first thing a couple of us did when we got to Hong Kong was head out to find the temple. I really wanted to see it and I was really disappointed to remember that my recommend was in John's wallet! We took a taxi there and pulled up to see about 25 missionaries who were standing in the front. I can't even tell you how comforting it was to see American missionaries. We chatted with them for a couple minutes; they were very curious about why a group of American students were traveling around Cambodia and China.

Here is the entrance to the temple:

We walked around and took pictures of the temple for a while, and then decided to come back at night to see the temple all lit up. So what do a group of American's do with one night in Hong Kong? We go find a McDonalds!!!

It was not good... The fries were really salty and they only had one hamburger that was like a Big Mac that had this really spicy sauce on it. I really enjoyed my Coke if that counts for anything.

So we went back to the temple after dark and got some really good pictures.

After that we took another taxi to this place right off the ocean that was exactly like the Hollywood Walk of Fame with the stars in the sidewalk; except they had all Chinese actors. We did see Jackie Chan's star; which was the only name I even recognized. They had this laser show there that played along with music. It was kind of lame-o but cool to look off of the Kowloon side of Hong Kong over the the Hong Kong side; which are separated by the ocean. There were lots of huge buildings and they lit up along with the music.

After that we walked to Nathan Street; which is like their "main drag". We only stayed there for about 1/2 hour because we were all shopped out and were so tired. Here is my cheesy grin on Nathan Street.

Let me show you the view of the hotel pool from my hotel room door. It was freakin' huge, but it was closed because it was winter; which just made me laugh because it was about 98 degrees outside. The rooms reminded me of the BYU dorms only smaller. I was clausterphobic just standing in the room. You had to walk sideways to just past the foot of the beds. If that is not ironic, that the rooms in Cambodia were far better than the rooms in Hong Kong.