First 5 days. Last 4 months.

When we arrived in Hong Kong we were met at the airport by Wayne, family of a friend, and he brought us back to his home where we stayed for the next few days. Quite gracious of them to allow us to stay in their home far longer than the one initial day we had planned to stay. They had a beautiful home in between the Sha Tin and Tai Wai metro stops, both of which were only a 10 min walk away at most and were easy to access. Their house was only 3 stories tall which is very unusual for Hong Kong, most everyone lives in skyscrapers or rural shacks it seems like. Wayne and his family, Krista and one of their sons Eric, lived on the middle floor of the house. The house had a lot of history having been used as a Japanese Interrogation house during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, it had been originally built by the Portuguese? and was now owned by the Lutheran Church. Anyway, here are some pictures of the place and the surrounding houses in the small little complex. In the house there were loads of little lofts and niches built into the house, one of which we lived in for the first week.

After 5 days living there we soon realized we were quite spoiled with the ability to eat breakfast, have air conditioning, and some couches and beers to relax with. Our quality of living quickly declined when we moved into the dorms with small rooms, a/c you have to pay for, and thin mattresses. It was incredibly hot the first night as we did not have fans, or any money on our ID cards to pay for the a/c, we quickly remedied that the next day as we suffered heavily that first night trying to sleep. We share a bathroom with two other guys from Sweden, Rikard and Janne. They are fun and we have gone out to the bars with them and shared some conversation over beers. There are lots of international students living in the dorms from all over the world, and we are struggling to remember all the names. But, the dorm does provide lots of opportunities with a swimming pool, snooker rooms, gym, and yes - even a karaoke room.