My GoogleMap of Hong Kong

Today I was playing with GoogleMaps and learned you can customize a map for yourself. I decided to make one of Hong Kong, including the apartments I lived in and where I went to Church in each area. Somebody from my family please show it to Dad as he loves maps and things like this but proudly proclaims himself a member of America Offline.
Here's the link: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=107430669963652242883.000450cb972d57c88ed83&ll=22.387287,114.113682&spn=1.216418,2.39502&z=9

Leisurely Weekend

Saturday was spent getting acquainted with the neighborhood and getting things organized at home. We went and visited the local supermarket. After getting out of our complex, it can be reached by walking a couple blocks and then down roughly 15 flights of stairs or cutting through another building and taking its elevator. On the way down we used the stairs, on the way up we took the elevator. Shopping in Hong Kong is different than home. Many of the items I love are expensive over here and I think my diet will be pretty basic the next few weeks when I’m not eating out.

I woke up this morning at 3:15am and couldn’t get back to sleep. Obviously my jetlag issue is not disappearing quite yet. I went to the Victoria 1st Branch (ex-patriot) which started at nine and it was enjoyable. Over half the congregation is gone for the summer and there are a fair amount of guys left to work while their families go play in the States (like my boss). Elder Hallstrom came up to me and chatted for a few minutes and afterwards I had to introduce myself to Elder Garn to pass along all the greetings from Mesa I was asked to extend. This being around General Authorities thing is a little strange but I’ll be going to wards I served in as a missionary the next month so Sundays won’t be a worry.

My boss serves as the Branch President in one of the Filipina branches over here so he’s busy all day (still not home at 9pm as I write this). I walked home for the first time in Hong Kong and enjoyed being back out among my peeps. For a while I even walked along one of my street contacting routes. Foolishly I decided to take the 15 flights of stairs back up to our building (in long-sleeve shirt and tie) and was dripping in sweat by the time I made it to our complex. The weather hasn’t been overly hot since I’ve been here (80s, maybe hitting 90) but it has been really rainy and muggy (I haven’t seen the sun yet in Hong Kong). Things are supposed to clear up Wednesday and then I’ll try to start taking more pictures. All in all, I am still loving being back in Hong Kong and think the next six weeks are going to be wonderful.

Pictures are of the Hopewell Center. It is the building a couple blocks down the road we can take the elevator in as a shortcut. The next picture is of the view from our living room window. We don't have a view of the Peak or Victoria Harbor, but we can look nearly due East towards Causeway Bay and Happy Valley. I like it because I covered those areas and spent lots of time walking amongst the tall buildings you can see. Finally, the last picture is looking down from the same window at one of Hong Kong's crazy mountain roads.

Be Careful When You Hit ‘Reply to All’

Yesterday I got an email from my boss about an issue in Sri Lanka. I replied with an FYI about my friend/convert from Sri Lanka who worked for the government and has helped the Church with legal issues there in the past. Unbeknownst to me one of the recipients of my boss’ original email was Elder Hallstrom from the First Quorum of the Seventy and the Asia Area President. He read my email to my boss about my Sri Lankan connection and five minutes later had my boss and myself in his office. He asked us a bunch of questions about the issue and my friend and gave us an assignment to work on. It was a little intimidating but he was really nice. The Area Presidency’s offices are about 50 feet down the hall from mine, guess I better be on my best behavior.

This picture is of the Church’s new multi-purpose building here in Hong Kong. There are three chapels inside that take up floors one through seven. The Asia Area Offices are on floors eight through ten. The top floor is three apartments for the Area Presidency to live in. My boss’ office is the last two windows on the top left (10th floor) before the building gets smaller for the floor where the Area Presidency lives. My cubicle is just outside his office.

I Love My Job

I started work about four hours after getting off the plane and have been hard at it ever since. After some orientation exercises and being led through the 3 floors of the Asia Area Offices being introduced to everyone, I settled into my cubicle. Shortly thereafter my boss had me into his office to discuss some of the issues he’ll have me working on and gave me my first assignment. I can’t really discuss specifics of what I’m doing but I think generalities are OK. So far I have worked on visa issues in two countries, proselyting restrictions in another, altering the Church’s legal structure in another, and reviewing Power-of-Attorney documents in another. Some projects are big and some are small, but I have already come to the conclusion I am going to have no problem being busy here. To be honest I am really surprised how substantive the work I will be doing is and how plugged into the Church’s resources I am. I have access to its computer networks, databases, and can email anyone from President Monson to a random Church employee in Mongolia (at least it looks that way, I haven’t tried either yet). Please feel free to email me at my new Church email: LaytonYa@ldschurch.org.
My work environment is awesome. On top of a great boss, I sit next to an old friend from my time in Hong Kong and at BYU, and on our floor there are a bunch of senior missionary couples. I have always enjoyed interacting with elderly people as they always have great stories to tell and are usually a lot of fun once you get to know them. The senior missionaries here are no different. They eat lunch together every day and have adopted me into their group. I’ll do more detailed posts on things related to work but for now I will just leave it at I’m loving it!
Pictures are of lunch with Senior Couples and the road where I work, downtown Hong Kong.

Blogging - What to Write?

Last year it was real easy to blog as I was doing something new almost every day and in a new location every couple days. This year things will be different. I don’t think I’ll be leaving Hong Kong the entire six weeks I’m there except for a day trip to Macau. As a result I probably won’t be posting every day and if I do I’ll have to come up with random stuff to write about. I doubt my job will be worthy of a daily post, really, the life of a prospective lawyer has to be boring right? To come up with more material I think I’m going to write about my mission occasionally, the Church in Asia, and whatever else pops into my brain. I am totally open to suggestions. If you have questions about Hong Kong, what I’m doing for work, or whatever please pass them along. I would appreciate the ideas.
I’m getting ready for bed after making it through the day yawning all the way but avoiding falling asleep. Greeting my arrival in Hong Kong was a crazy rain storm. It was so different than Arizona I didn’t mind walking right out in it. The picture is of the water running off the mountain side and stairs a couple bocks down the road from where I’m staying. Work seems great so far and I’m already doing some exciting projects. Time for bed!

Here We Go Again

Current Stats: Time To Destination = 3 Hours, 53 minutes
Outside Air Temp: -45 Deg F
Miles to Dest: 1981
Basically over the ocean between Japan and Guam

I figure I’m close enough to Asia I can fire up the blog again. My coke/caffeine body regulation scheme didn’t work as well this time as I fell asleep by 4am Los Angeles time and quit sleeping about 8am Los Angeles time. That translates into going to bed in Hong Kong at 7pm and waking up at 11pm. Basically, I think I’m going to get my trash kicked by jet lag this time. We’ll see…
The flight has been pretty good for not sleeping as much as I wanted to. When I checked in the ticket agent informed me that he hooked me up with an emergency exit row. Even though I’m in the middle seat the unlimited leg room easily makes up for it. I think there might be a couple empty seats on the plane but the coach section is close to 100% full. Good luck with your flight Mom and Don!. In the future I think I’m going to be investigating Dramamine or whatever the popular sleeping pill is that lots of people use for transoceanic flights. My neighbor to the left is a guy named Derrick who works for Qualcomm and is coming to Asia on business. He is nice and hooked me up with his iPod recharger cord as I packed mine in my checked baggage. Lifesaver! To my right is a nice lady from Vietnam. She has some awkward sleeping positions but is cool. Across the aisle we have an unhappy baby and a poor grandma who somehow got the duty of taking care of him flying across the Pacific. Needless to say, when I’m not sleeping I’m pumping the iPod and drowning out the baby, jet engines, and air conditioning. Occasionally I mix in laps around the plane and steal snacks from the food galleys. It’s amazing what flashing a smile at a flight attendant will get you.