Jipps in the USA

Hi Everyone!!

I didn't realize how long it had been since I had written! Ryan and I recently made a quick trip back to the states to see some family and friends and escape the Hong Kong heat. We only were able to stay for a little over a week which meant we didn't have much time to visit outside of Milwaukee. It was a jam packed trip with time with many family and friends and lots of fun!

We flew in on a Friday afternoon and after renting a car, drove up to Milwaukee from Chicago. Even though this is only our second trip back from Hong Kong, we already have a tradition of stopping off at the Lake Park Oasis and grabbing some Taco Bell. There's nothing quite like a cheesy gordita crunch to welcome you back to the USA.

After 16 hours on a plane, this is heaven

Immediately we were welcomed by friends and family and quickly got down to celebrating our return home. The following day we attended our favorite Milwaukee Brewfest. I was pretty excited when we realized we would be back in time for it. This will be the 3rd year we have attended and I am happy that we did not end that streak by living away.

The Brewfest crew

Tents full of beer at Brewfest

Mom & Steve- and the Easy-Cheese

The next day we invited friends over to the house for a barbeque. We were so happy to see so many of our friends come out for the afternoon and to catch up with them. Nothing is better than good friends, good weather, good food and some good beer.

Throughout the week Ryan went to work and I spent my days, well, going to Target. I enjoyed a day of shopping with some friends and then throughout the week got us stocked up on some essentials we wanted to bring back to Hong Kong. We've been able to find most of the essentials we like here in Hong Kong, however, there are still some things we like to pick up in the states.

The other main thing I did while home...was eat. I had a list of the restaurants I wanted to visit and I would say I hit 75% of them. It was so enjoyable to eat some of my favorite foods while back, though it defiantly wasn't part of any healthy diet! 

Cheese curds and a butter burger are a must in Wisconsin

What Milwaukee does best...bloody marys

Wings and ranch...my weakness

After a week of shopping, eating and seeing our friends and family, we wrapped it up with another visit from my Mom and a night out with friends. It was such a great time being back in the states and though it was short, we are very thankful for what we were able to accomplish (and no Ryan, I'm not talking about staining the deck).

Wine night with Mom

Only a few hours before we headed to the airport...nothing like enjoying every last minute

We know we weren't able to see everyone that we wish we could have, but we promise we will be back again and hope to see more people then. Thank you also to all of our friends and family who made our time back in the states a memorable week. We are so grateful for those who are able to pick up with us where we left off as if hasn't been over 6 months since we've been together. Coming back to Hong Kong made me realize that though it may not have all the comforts that we are used to back in the states, this is our home for now and we will love it till the next phase of our lives.

Malaysia Trip

Hello Everyone!

It's been awhile since I've posted anything on here. Ryan and I traveled to Penang, Malaysia last week to spend some time over the Labor Day holiday with a few of his friends/co-workers. We were fortunate enough to have local hosts (2 of Ryan's co-workers are from the area) to take us around and show us everything.

When I asked Ryan and other people who had visited the area what there was to do, everyone said, "Eat," and that is exactly what we did. I wish I would have kept a food journal of the names of everything we ate because we tried so many different things. We tried almost everything there was to try in the time we were there! We ate everything from fried noodles at a road side stand to a full seafood dinner on the river.

Indian breakfast

Spread of Thai food for lunch

Hawker zone full of food stands

Seafood dinner

In between all of our meals we checked out some of the tourist spots in the area. Here is a traveler's tip Ryan has taught me: whenever you don't know what to do for a day or afternoon in an area you're visiting, look up the city on tripadvisor.com and go through the top attractions for the area. I realize this isn't ground breaking news, but it has been how we have planned all of our vacations since we have been here and it is a great help. I also check it out before I book any hotels.

Street art..with a local joining in 

Indian temple

Village on the sea

Tropical Spice Garden

Quick stop at a local beach

Ryan holding a group of giant millipedes

Top of Penang Hill

Indian temple at the top of Penang Hill

Kek Lo Si Temple

Statue of Kuan Yin, Goddess of Mercy

Finding anchors at St. Anne's Church 

Angry, wild monkeys

Jungle trekking 

We had a great time experiencing the local life in Penang and are very thankful for our wonderful hosts! While we were away, Ahri had a great time at a new kennel. They sent us daily photos to let us know she was doing fine. Here are some of my favorites:

And on the day we went to pick her up, we discovered Ahri can swim! They have a few swimming pools at the kennel and the second we opened up the gate to the pool Ahri sprinted towards it and dove right in. Here is a video of one of the later swims as she was too fast to capture the first time.

I am off to China now to meet up with Ryan for a weekend retreat with his work team. I will update you all on our adventures!

Home for the holidays

Happy holidays everyone!

Ryan and I have been back in the states for almost 2 weeks now and have been enjoying every minute of it. There were many things we were looking forward to coming back to and some things that surprised us we were missing that we didn't even realize! Here's a recap of the top 5 things that made our trip back enjoyable:

1) Being able to drive- I didn't realize how much I missed being able to hop in the car and quickly run an errand. To do something similar in Hong Kong may take an hour up to a full afternoon! Sadly though, we weren't driving around the beloved red Jeep as it was sold right before we left so another family could give it more attention than we would. Ryan already knows exactly what Jeep he will buy when we return!

2) The food- now this is more me than Ryan as I am not quite used to the food yet in Hong Kong. I had my list of places I needed to stop at and it's almost done. Some highlights were:
-Taco Bell (guilty pleasure!)
-Panera
-Olive Garden
-Noodles and Company for Mac and cheese
-Culvers for cheese curds
-Soblemans for a burger and bloody mary
-Chipotle
-The Shanti for a Gunderburger (Ryan's one request and yes, he finished it all!)

3) Not feeling like a foreigner- now don't get me wrong, I enjoy living in Hong Kong very much but some times it is nice to just go out, now exactly where you're going, know how to order at restaurants, be able to speak the language and all the other customs that go with any country. It's a comfort that those who have traveled to other countries understand and look forward to when returning home. It's something I have found can be learned in other countries but it is never truly the same as going back to your home country. A great quote I saw that helps me get through frustrating times of not knowing what I'm doing in Hong Kong is "Another country's culture is not a failed attempt at yours."

4) Our hobbies- Now, you may ask, "But you can't do your hobbies in Hong Kong?" which is not necessarily true. We just can't do all of them or to the same degree. Take me for instance. I love to shop and browse around stores or malls when I am bored. In Hong Kong, the shopping is either very cheap in markets or very expensive in malls. My rule is that the store has a line to get in or security guard, I probably can't afford anything in it. My first stop back home was Target, and I have returned several times since! I miss affordable shopping for things in my type of style, all under the same roof. For Ryan, his hobby he was able to enjoy back home was target shooting. Since guns are illegal in China, we spent some time trying to hit the bullseye.

5) Being with family and friends- I can just hear my mom saying, "Awww." The main purpose of our trip of course was to come back and spend time with everyone for the holidays. Fortunately for us, it worked out perfect to spend time in Milwaukee to see all of our friends here and then travel home to Iowa to see family. We had an amazing time with everyone and are very blessed that we had this opportunity so soon into our move overseas to come back. We know there were many people we would have loved to see that we weren't able to but we we thankful for those that we were able to spend some time with. The holidays can easily turn into a stressful time trying to cram as much family time in as possible and as our first married Christmas, we knew there would be even more family time to be had. Luckily this was not the case and we were able to have as relaxing of Christmas as possible as we steadily made it around to each family.

We head back to Hong Kong tomorrow to spend New Year's Eve there before Ryan has to return to work. We enjoyed every minute of our time in the states and look forward to our next trip back. Thank you again to everyone who made it such a memorable time for us!