days like this...

whew. today was just unbelievable. so much accomplished, yet so much more to do...

we started the day by looking at apartments. one was really good. most of them are about the same size (977 sq ft) but how they choose to distribute the space seems to make a huge difference. this one had a nice big living area, and still managed to have a decent sized master bdrm, and even a tiny storeroom (for yarn?!). the kitchen needs a good cleaning, and there are a few doorstops* missing, one of which is in the bathroom, and would prevent the door from hitting a full length mirror, so it will need to be replaced ASAP.

between apartments, we picked up M's school uniform and some registration forms. We also got A's school interview done, picked up his uniform, etc etc etc. all of this stuff is needing to be paid in cash at the moment, because our HK bank account won't be fully set up until the end of the week, and nobody likes our visa card very much (actually, that's not true, the electronics store, Fortress, has no problem taking our visa. go figure).

so we finally decided that we should just go with the 'good' apartment, rather than keep looking for days for a 'better' apartment. we meet the landlord, we sign papers, make arrangements, lo and behold, the visa doesn't want to work for the real estate agent either. to make a long story short (too late) we have a place, we have the money to pay for it, but we don't have any way to access the money at this point. i think we're going to be doing some sort of wire transfer with my ILs, so hopefully this won't actually be a huge deal.

So on to other things. both kids start school on Wednesday (though M just for an hour, kind of an introduction day). the schools seem much more structured and official here (or maybe the schools in Kingston were just really lax?) but i think it will be good (I'm sure Miles will cope, not so sure about Asher, but here's hoping).

We got home from our trip out at about 6pm and we all just passed out, didn't even eat dinner (the boys both had some bakery treats on the way home though). Hence why i'm up at 4:30...

we're all well, though tired and smelly. i still haven't found the usb cord for my camera. pictures forthcoming when i do.

miss you all!

*the word 'door stop' is apparently not in the chinese english vocabulary. there was a fair amount of pantomime (and a few sketches) necessary to get the point across. we all had a good laugh once it was sorted.