New Apartment

Now that Erik has finalized the terms of his localization, we will move into a new apartment. By new, I mean new to us and brand new. We opted for a nice place with good space and wonderful amenities, but will be farther away from downtown. There is a nice mountain view, and I am super excited to have a built-in oven.

Hong Kong's real estate was recently named the most expensive in the world followed by Sydney, London, and New York. The cost for buying has risen 50% in two years. As expected, competition is fierce. I feel very lucky to have secured this place.

Out of curiosity, we looked at the show flat in a new building for sale. In less than 24 hours, 2/3 of the apartments were sold at a cost of about US$1,000,000 each. People keep saying the bubble will burst, but I don't see any sign of it.

I'll be sure to post pictures once the place is decorated.

A Coffee Worth the Wait

On Friday between 3-5:00 p.m., Hong Kong Starbucks donated all sales to Japan disaster relief. I never need a reason to patron Starbucks, so I was happy to wait 45 minutes in a line of about 150 people. The line length remained constant and flooded into the mall. It was awesome to see so many people supporting the relief efforts. I was very proud of my fellow Hong Kongers. Check out an image here.

Stay Tuned

Shortly, I will be back to blogging and will update what happened in the past three months. This blog is as much for my benefit as it is for any of my readers. As you all know, I gave birth to a sweet baby girl, Sophie Madeline. Now that she is two months old, I am getting my sea legs. I plan to keep this blog focused on living abroad, not about Sophie, although I am sure she'll have a presence here. Thanks for continuing to read.