Shooting and the Fourth

4 July 2008

Ryan and Bekah each have a rifle and Ryan just bought a hand gun, so they invited us to go shooting. I hade never been before and it was SO MUCH FUN! The handgun was really loud, but the rifle wasn't bad at all and both were fun to shoot.

Mom is an amazing shot, and it seemed everyone else was pretty good too. I didn't really watch Ryan or Bekah shoot, but I'd assume they're good because they go more often than we do.

I wasn't amazing at hitting the pop cans, but it sure was exciting when I got one. We shot at full pop cas so they exploded when you hit them. It was great. It made things so much more exciting.

After shooting we went up to Bridal Falls for a picnic. Mom made yummy salads (there were sandwiches too, but Mom's salads were far superior) and everything was delicious. Anne and I ventured a climb partway up Bridal Falls with Bekah after playing cards with Cami, Abby, and Mom.

After we went back to Ryan and Bekah's place for swimming and dinner. The pool was freezing so we didn't stay long. Anne wanted to see the fire works so we met up with Kemish and his family to watch the fireworks from the Stadium of Fire. It was a great day, but very exhausting!

Cami's Bachelorette Party

1 July 2008

Cami's high school friends threw her a bachelorette party. We had dinner at Olive Garden and celebrated Cami getting married, and Sarah Chapman's birthday. It was a lot of fun, and of course, very yummy!

Afterwards we went back to Amy, Sarah, Joslyn, and Melissa's hotel room for games. Somehow we ended up parading down University Avenue. I joined for a little bit and then went back to the hotel room - I was tired and just not in the mood.

After Abby, Anne and I spent the night at Cami's place and played games. I ended up staying up super late to finish the host. I just couldn't put it down!

GRADUATIONS!

11 June 2008

Anne graduated from the eighth grade! Yippie Anne! That is way exciting. Her ceremony was interesting and semi-boring, but very nice at the same time. I tried to take a picture of her as she was walking across, but the Chinese can be very rude sometimes and no one would let me through, even though Anne obviously wasn't their child. Boo. I was so mad. I sat next to Abby after than and we messed around a little to help calm me down.

13 June 2008

Abby graduated from high school! My little sister is all grown up and graduating from high school IN CHINA! Pretty neat, pretty neat! Good job little sister! I'm so proud of you! Soon you will be in college, living with your most amazingest older sister and having the time of your life!

Abby's graduation started early. I got there with about a minute to 6p, when it was supposed to start, and the first speaker was already going. BOO!

All in all, I am proud of my sisters' accomplishments and graduations, but I am not proud of the rude Chinese who block pictures and start oober early!

My First Pull-Over

30 June 2008

Monday saw me at with Cami trying to buy a bed for her and Kemish. We found one and for a great price. We were all really excited. After, we went to Mari's to get Cami's hair dyed for the wedding. I basically sat there and read a book, checked my emails (It was a good email day! :)) and chatted occasionally. I really wasn't allowed to help out with the hair. The small blessings of being half boy...

I left Mari's and went to pick up Cami's high school friend Amy Barrow from the airport. I was late (not my fault), but other than that the pick up was glitch free. Untill we were almost out of airport limits. Then I went a little fast and got pulled over by and Officer Washington. Patriotic, huh?

He was nice and understanding and told me from the beginning that I would only get a warning. I was so grateful!

Then we couldn't find Cami's car registration. After sitting on the side of the road for a really long time the officer let us go telling me to go slower. I was so nervous! I'm glad I only got a warning. I blame part of it on not driving for two plus months while I've been in Hong Kong. The other parts: All me.

First Class Lounge and Back to the Past

28 June 2008

Dad flies a lot and is a very frequent fly-er so we got to wait for our plane in the First Class Lounge. It was great. We got lunch and I could have showered there if I wanted to. It was crazy. Very nice and peaceful that's for sure. I didn't know places like that existed! And I thought the business class lounge was great. I was wrong.

Well, I guess it's only kinda back to the past. We left Hong Kong at 5pm HK time and got into LA at 2:30p the same day. So we kinda traveled back in time...

The flight was uneventful and 14 hours long. I slept for the first part of that plane ride and then watched movies the second part. I watched Penelope (great movie), Fool's Gold, and Definitely Maybe.

Dad was way cool and bought me The Host for the trip. I read more of that on the flight from LA to SLC. It's way good and you should read it.

We arrived in SLC and had no problams with luggage or anything. Mom, Abby and Anne came and picked us up and life was just great. Ryan and Bekah were at Grandma's when we got back from the airport and we stayed up till nearly 10:30 chatting and catching each other up. It was good to have most of the family together again.

DISNEYLAND!!!!

21 June 2008

Today was my very first trip to Disneyland! Woot woot! It was super fun. Dad and I did nearly everything in the park. We didn't make it to all the shops or to one show and two "experiences", but we also didn't do anything for the last hour. We just played cards and waited for the fireworks to start. And the fireworks were amazing! It really was magical! I didn't think that it was going to be that magical, because I'm twenty, but it was and I loved it!!! Enjoy some pictures of our day in the magical world of Disney.

Macau and the Partners' Conference

23-27 June 2008

The best way to describe this week is BUSY BUSY BUSY! The Partner Conference is an annual event for the Partner's to network and come together to discuss the things of the firm. The event's team I'm interning with sets the whole thing up. My role at the conference was restaurant bookings, conference room bookings, and printing.

Printing was by far the most stressful. The partners' secreataries would need their boss to have this material or that presentation by a certain time. They would need so many copies and a delivery to the room. Some times it was just down right crazy trying to get the things done that everyone needed. But it was a lot of fun. I loved being a part of the events team again. It really is what I love to do. Now if I can just do it outside with jeans on life would be perfect!

Disneyland Hotel

10-13 June 2008

My first real assignment as an intern was to be support at an event for the global partners. The event was held at the Disneyland Hotel and it was great to be there.

I had never been to anything disney at this point in my life, so the Disneyland Hotel was magical for me. I loved the subtleties what I found all over the hotel. Cute figureine's and statues, mickey mouse heads in the carpent, glass slippers in the tiles. The best subtlty of all was the real glass slippers in the chandelier! NO joke. Check out the pictures; they're great.

Swimming with the sisters

9 June 2008

My sisters pretty much never go to school. Seriously. They are always off for this holiday or that holiday. It's crazy. I guess that's the benefit of going to an international school where they have to respect American Holidays and Chinese holidays. It also does make for a long school year. They start mid-August and end mid-June. Icky.

Anyway...My sisters had the 9th off and we decided to play. Abby and Anne both had some packing to do for college and vacation in the States so we left around 11 and headed to the outdoor pool at Phase 1.

The pool was amazing and the day perfect. The sun was shinning the water was great, and we just had a blast. I cut my knee on the side of the pool, not sure how that happened, and the three of us were just silly the whole time.

Abby suggested that we try to get out of the pool with only using our legs. You flip your legs so they're out of the pool and you have to pull yourself up from there. It's quite hard, but doable. It took us a while though - the edge was really slippery!!! And not just because it was wet either, the stone was really smooth.

We only spent a couple of hours at the pool because then Abby and Anne had places to be. It was a fun couple of hours together though. I'm glad we went - even if we did all get sunburned and crazy amazing tan lines...

Pictures from Beijing

Here are some pictures from the places that I went while I was in Beijing. The city was huge and a different experience. Different from Cortland, Provo, and Hong Kong.

Vacation Again

Beginning of June

After getting back from Beijing late Saturday I returned to the office early Monday for work. I was approached Tuesday morning and told that HR didn't want me to work until my work visa was activated. No one informed me, or anyone that I was supposed to have it activated when I arrived in Hong Kong and went through immigration here.

So since my work visa hadn't been activated, I still wasn't legal. I got to go back on vacation until Thursday night.

Thursday night there was a taste testing in Macau for the Partner's Conference that was coming up at the end of June. To enter and leave Macau you have to go through immigration so I would have an opportunity to get my work visa "chopped" - That's how they say stamped here.

In the meantime, I read a few books and hung out with Mom and Sister Collins again (Heather had left for Scotland by then). It was fun and relaxing as any vacation is.

Luke and Bekah

18 May 2008

Luke Beachley and I worked together at Timpanogos Elementary this last school year and found a common connection: Both our parents lived in China. Way interesting. He and his sister decided to come and visit their parents with a stop off in Hong Kong. They stayed with us for the week they played in Hong Kong.

Mom and I went Sunday evening to pick them up. They had a good long trip from the States and they were tired when they arrived. But their tiredness put no damper on their energy for the fun they planned on having that week.

I was excited to have friends in town and people to hang out with. Luke, Bekah and I had some great adventures while they were here. We visited lots of places and took a bunch of pictures.

Cheng Chow Island

16 May 2008

Heather, Sister Collins, Mom and I all decided that it would be fun to have another outing together. This time we went to an island called Cheng Chow. None of us had been there before so it would be an adventure to us all. And it was great fun.

We walked around the little homes and shops that were there and then decided to do some shopping. We shoped for a little bit then went to lunch at this Indian restaurant. It was way good! Indian food is amazing. One of my favorites (Mexican still wins).

We shopped for a little bit longer then headed back home on the ferry. It was a beautiful ride. I really do love being on the water.

Shenzhen: The Art Village

12 May 2008

For my birthday my parents promised me a trip to the art village and a souvenier to bring home. So after the craziness in the "Great and Spacious Building" Abby and Anne left to be home in time for Anne's Mandarin tutor who was coming that night, and Mom and I headed over to the Art Village to pick out my birthday present.

I loved the Art Village. I thought it was great. There were so many paintings everywhere and so many artists and shops! It was great. Many of you may know my struggle with making decisions. I have a really hard time choosing. Picking out my birthday present was no exception. I think Mom and I walked through the whole village twice completely, and then other parts way more than that. There were just so many to choose from. A lot of them were pretty big too, and I didn't want anything huge because, well, I don't really like big things. Normal, moderate size is great for me.

Eventually I decided on two wonderful paintings: One of the Hong Kong Skyline and another of a Chinese fishing boat and hut. I love them. They're great.

Finally, after an extremely long day in China, Mom and I left for home.

Mother's Day

11 May 2008

Basically, me and my sisters are amazing. That is the best preface for my Mother's Day entry.

My sisters and I decided to decorate my Mom's bedroom mirror with things that we admired about Mom. There were a bunch of things listed and we all pitched in. So one mirror has been decorated.

Then we decided to write HAPPY MOM'S DAY on the mirror in our front room. So we did and it was great.

Mom came home and was happy and surprised at our thoughtfulness of writing on the mirrors. We know we're cool.

But the best part is yet to come. See, every Mother loves to have the gift of "Mother's Day Dinner" so my little sisters and I made dinner for Mom. It was a new recipe and YUMMY! But the greatest part was dessert - of course. We made rice krispies. But we shaped it into...dun...dun...dun... MOM. That's right we made my Mother out of rice krispies! It was great. We put candles on it - a 2 and a 6 for the years Mom and Dad have been married, and 5 single candles for the most wonderful gifts in the world - HER CHILDREN! Woot Woot!

We think we're funny.

Abby's Heart Attack

7 May 2008

Abby is my younger sister and a senior in high school. On May 7 Abby was going to be taking her AP Lit exam so the night before I decided to heart attack her. I stayed up with Mom and watched a movie or something. Abby was asleep on the floor with her head in a book nearly the whole time I was making hearts.

There was a problem with hanging the hearts, seeing as there were just a few places that Abby would have seen them in the morning. So I decided to put them on the floor in front of the door. She'd be sure to see them there!

And she did and she liked it and she did well on her exam. Yea, Abby!

My Business Trip to Beijing

This is an email that I sent out to my family when I was in Beijing for the PwC Cup Qualifiers, an event my team put together:

Hello from Beijing! Yup, that's where I'm at. I'm helping out with an event here. Or something. HR says I can't help until I activate my visa because if I get hurt the firm can't pay for my medical bills because I'm not legal. Whatever. My boss Michelle says that I can do things that are "safe," "not dangerous," or "not life threatening". I just keep doing whatever I can. Yesterday we didn't know I wasn't allowed to do stuff so I counted a whole bunch of things. Today things have been slow because copies haven't been done. But wait, let me get there

Yesterday: the flight was good. I watched Dan in Real Life. Good movie, I really enjoyed it. My headphones were obnoxious; they only worked in one ear. I thought about switching, but I wasn't up for talking to anyone. The breakfast that they served was Sausage and egg with hash brown cubes. The sausage was white and definitely questionable- I didn't eat it. But I ate all the potatoes and some of the egg. Something about the egg just did not taste that yummy. We arrived and had a car driver waiting for us at the airport. That was fun. Oh, and before the flight we got to hang out in this lounge area with free food and nice chairs and couches. That was a lot of fun. I enjoyed that. The perks of flying for business.

The drive to the hotel, after the flight, was quiet and uneventful.
The hotel is nice, it's the trader's hotel for the first two nights and the Shangri La for the last night (dad will appreciate those details). After dropping off our stuff we got Lunch at Starbucks on the way up to the office. The conference room we are in has an amazing view. Two of the walls are windows. Don't worry; I have taken lots of pictures. I can't wait for everyone to come in December and see Beijing. So far I LOVE it. But more about that later

We came up to the office and I counted out things for the event.
(Everything is highly confidential due to it being a competition so I probably shouldn't go into more detail) we were here until right before 8 and then we went to a supermarket really quickly. I was feeling terribly, really sick to my stomach and just wanted to go home. I picked up some crackers and water, figuring that this would be okay for my stomach and wouldn't make me sicker. Plus I was thinking of skipping out on dinner because I didn't feel well.

I did end up skipping out on dinner because I felt so terribly. I stayed in my room and read a little in my book. But then I turned on the TV and Back to the Future II or III was on. It's the one where they are back in the late 1800s early 1900s, you know, the one with the train and doc falls for the teacher? Anyway, I watched the rest of that and went to bed at 10p.

I woke up at 5, boo. I finally got out of bed a little after six. I showered and got ready and was utterly board after sitting on my bed, so at 6:45 I decided to go out touring. So I did. I went to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Or at least that was the plan. Nothing was open yet, however, so I just walked around. It was a great adventure and I did it all on my own.

Then we came to the office around 9 and we have had really nothing to do all day because the copies aren't done. But once they're done we'll be busy.

I really like Beijing. It's HUGE! But it's not overwhelming like Hong Kong is. Hong Kong is super crowded and the buildings are so close together. You can't see the sky, you can't breath, and you can't walk any where without running into someone. Here the city is laid out on a bigger area and it's not so over bearing. There are not a lot of people walking on the streets. Or at least it doesn't appear like that because the roads are so huge! 7 lanes ONE WAY. Craziness. Walking around the sites this morning was amazing. I walked through the most beautiful garden and loved it. It was kind of cold, which was nice.
Also, it is dry here and that is a nice change for my hair. You can actually see my curls here. Haha.

Well, I'm going to go now. Maybe I'll actually do something today other than draw and listen to my iPod and take naps.
One can hope.

I love you all and can't wait for you to come and see. I think tomorrow I might venture up to Olympic Park. We'll see though. Maybe I'll save that for later. I don't know how much the taxi would be.

Oh, one other thing. I love how they drive on the right hand side of the street. I don't get turned around at all like I do in HK because I'm going on a different side. That may not make sense, but believe me, it is definitely something to wrap your mind around when you first get here.

Sham Shui Po

I was feeling better by that Tuesday so I went with mom to pick up my new Chinese visa. Mom and I had decided that we would go to Sham Shui Po to pick up fabric for my quilt. Mom called her friend Sandy Lai to ask her directions to Sham Shui Po. As luck would have it Sandy was going to Sham Shui Po that day too and would give us a ride. When we got home I quickly showered and then we hopped on bus to meet up with Sandy and her driver, Ming. Ming dropped us off on this street lined with fabric. I didn't find anything spectacular that I wanted. So we kept going. We walked down street after street of shops: bead shops, jewel shops, button shops, ribbon shops. It was incredible.

And then we came to The Tent.

The Tent is what it sounds like. It's a tent. But a HUGE tent filled with row after row full of rolls of fabric. It's amazing. You think the fabric will never end...seriously. Of course it ends, you silly people who were actually thinking that the fabric tent went on for forever. But there really is a LOT of fabric.

I found some great fabric there: one for jeans, two different ones for skirts, and one for a dress. The skirt fabrics are amazing, but the dress fabric is superb. I think it's so great. It's so bright! My little sister calls it the "Fire Dress" - It's a fitting title.

The Lai Family

The Lai’s are probably the richest people that I know. They have a five story house that looks like another building in Repulse Bay, where they live. There’s an elevator inside that I hear is amazing. I have not been there yet, but Mom says the house is amazing. They have helpers and gatekeepers and the like. They are a nice family: very generous and quite frugal. They have a driver (Ming) that takes them wherever they want. That must be really nice because then they don’t have to wait around for a bus or a taxi.

They’re selling their house, incase any of you are interested: $35,000,000 USD.

Sick

Dad was sick when I arrived in Hong Kong and he was so generous in sharing the bug! Anne was sick and then Mom and then me. Abby was lucky and didn’t get sick enough to not want to do anything. Yea for her.

So I was sick my second Sunday and took along nap that afternoon and slept in late the next day. It wasn’t really all that fun. I was so good at school this year too! Only getting sick with strep by happenstance. I guess we all have to succumb to nasty bugs every once in a while. Let me tell you though…it wasn’t any fun.

Phone Calls!

Monday – 05 May 2008

Today I made my first real calls back to my friends in the states. I talked to lots of people and it was great to hear from them. I talked to Danielle and Mari and Cami and Bekah. It was a lot of fun. Dad has it worked out with Skype that when the minutes run out they will just automatically charge his account with out cutting off the phone conversation. That was really nice because I was on the phone for a really long time and had the minutes renewed before the day was over. Thanks, Dad!

Dragon Holes

Saturday – 03 May 2008

Okay, so some of the most amazing things about Hong Kong are the dragon holes. The Chinese are very superstitious people and so they take certain precautions. Like constructing many of their buildings with huge holes in the middle of them to allow for the dragon’s safe passing through the building. Yup. I’m totally serious. We have one in our apartment complex and there are these holes in other buildings around Hong Kong. Usually they are in apartment complexes and not business buildings. I’m not sure what it is about a building that says it does or does not get a dragon hole. Let me tell you though, if I were a building, I would totally want to be a building with a dragon hole. I don’t want some fire-breathing dragon tearing down my beautiful structure! Haha

Dad and I went up the same Saturday as the dolphins and took pictures from our dragon hole. It was amazing. All eight of the towers of our complex are connected so you can walk from the dragon hole in our building – tower 9 – to the dragon hole in tower 1. The top picture is of the dragon hole opposite the dragon hole in our tower. Here are some pictures from the dragon holes.

The Number 4

Chinese are also superstitious about the number four. To them it is bad luck, like the number 13 is for US citizens. My family and I live in Tower 9 at our apartment complex, but there are really only 8 towers. There is not a number 4 tower. Some places don’t have fourth floors. Just like us and thirteenth floors. Interesting, huh?

My First Solitary Adventure

Saturday – 03 May 2008

I needed to pick up my glasses down in Stanley that Saturday after the dolphins. Mom was still scared for me to travel by myself so Dad was going to go with me. Mom and Anne left for home and Dad, Abby and I were at the bus stop when Dad realized that Mom and Anne may not have keys. So he left me with the charge to go to the grocery store for Mom and pick up my glasses down in Stanley. Not a big deal. I had been to all of those places before and I knew how to get there. Plus, Abby would be coming with me most of the way. I would only be by myself when she left, on our way back from Stanley to go to Jenni’s.

And I did it perfectly. No glitches at all. Abby had me tell her a thousand times that I take a 73 home. Not a 973 or a 6X, what we came on. Don’t worry, I won’t EVER forget.

The Pink Dolphins

Saturday – 03 May 2008

I guess my family had really wanted to go see the dolphins for quite sometime. But they don’t normally have boat rides on Saturdays. They usually have them on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and that’s it. This week was different because the Olympic torch came to Hong Kong on Friday and they decided to cancel their trips on Friday and move them to Saturday to avoid traffic and what not. So we got to go Saturday morning to see the dolphins.

It was a lot of fun. We saw lots of dolphins. Or maybe just a few dolphins many times. Either way it was really cool. Yes, you read the title right. They were PINK dolphins. Okay, actually they are white dolphins. They’re white because the water they live in – the water around Hong Kong – is very dark and they get very little sunlight. Just like people, those dolphins without sunlight are white. They are white but they turn pink when they exercise. So when they come to the surface for more air they are pink. When they go back down below the surface they are white again. It was very interesting. And it was amazing to see!

Shenzhen: Fast Style

Friday – 02 May 2008

Afterward the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra we met up with Dad who was at his office at the church because he has some interviews to do. Dad left the apartment with us that morning and instead of going to the dress rehearsal (it was an activity with Mom’s women organization thing – no boys allowed!) he headed off to pick up my Chinese visa from the immigration place and then to his church office to work on some things for a big activity they were having that night. He stayed at the church while we headed up to Shenzhen.

This is a picture of us on our way to Shenzhen. My sisters were so funny. They read and walked nearly the whole way through the MTR till we got to the stop we needed. My Mom is pulling a trolley that had the fabric and stuff to make new clothes out of. It was pretty neat.

Everything was kind of a blur that day in Shenzhen. We had to make it back in time for my family to go to the mutual activity that night. Mom is in the YW presidency and Dad is the Branch President. So they both go to mutual as well. I had some fun adventures trying to get into Shenzhen but it all worked out and we made it to the seamstress Mom uses. I got fitted for some clothes – skirts, dresses, bridesmaid dress, etc. My sisters and my Mom picked up some clothes that had already been made so they really enjoyed the trip. I was just amazed at how she could copy one of Anne’s dresses to make a dress for Abby in the same style, but her size. It was incredible. They’re amazing seamstresses.

Dad asked me to help out at mutual so I tagged along and did what was asked of me. No big deal it was entertaining and fun. I got to do some event planning for their closing even the following Saturday, so that was fun.

Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra

Friday – 02 May 2008

This day was a crazy day. It was a holiday so Mom, Abby, Anne and I had plans to go to the dress rehearsal of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra at 9:30 that morning. Afterward the plan had been to go for Dim Sum at City Hall. Instead we decided to go to Shenzhen that day so I could get fitted for Cami’s bridesmaid dress.

The dress rehearsal was amazing. I only wish I could have seen the real performance. It was beautiful. I’m not sure if I have ever heard an orchestra live, outside of musicals. It was a memorable experience. I’m grateful Mom arranged for our tickets and what not because the music was incredible. Oh, and the guest director was a man from Austrailia who is known as one of the worlds living wonders. Or something like that. Crazy huh? I didn’t know such a thing existed. How do you become something like that? I want to be a Living Wonder! Haha “Yeah, like that will happen” (That was for all of you movie trivia fans!).