mobile phones are fun

i'm a fan of mobile phones here. first of all, the price is ridiculously cheap. i believe that grant's plan is about 20 dollars (US) per month. we had to pay most of that upfront as a "deposit" on his phone (which will come out to be free). so, we end up paying closer to 8 dollars a month, because of the rebate on the phone. nice stuff. and that's for about 2000 minutes.

and texting is free intra-network. which is awesome.

and they come with pretty sweet cameras. which is great when i forget to take my camera with me (quite often).

what i haven't learned is how to rotate the pictures, on my phone or on blogger... so turn your head.

in front of the IFC building while we were waiting for the bus to church.

in front of the ferry pier... again, waiting for the bus for church (it's a perpetual wait)

at a lookout tower in hong kong park. those cool looking buildings are the lippo buildings. i think lippo means legos in chinese (JK)

and this was the day i got my phone and we were practicing taking self photos. it was fun.

first try for everything

here's a few pictures that i have. we haven't taken many unfortunately! (at least not on my camera). i promise that i'll work on getting pictures of our flat, but it's still sort of in a state of disarray!

we took the tram up to victoria peak (which i believe is the highest point in hong kong) on the island shortly after we arrived in hong kong. ics arranged a trip as part of orientation... it was a way to learn the public transport. regardless of the annoyances, the view was great. it was apparently a really clear week when we arrived which is not ALWAYS the case (pollution, haze, clouds, etc). so, the view of all the skyscrapers was fantastic. as a reference point, the north side of hong kong island is where the majority of the skyscrapers are (at least the huge ones!). The middle of the island is country park, victoria peak, etc. then the south side of the island is more residential and western. north across the harbor is kowloon, which also has a fair number of skyscrapers right on the water in Tsim Sha Tsui. We live just a bit east of there.

it's like another honeymoon type picture, holy cow!

the REALLY tall building is the IFC building (International Finance Centre) - one of the tallest in the world.

finally...

I meant to post this as soon as we knew it... and then we didn't know how to write it because addresses seem a bit more complicated here! so, copying off our gas bill, this is what you get:

Frankes
Flat G, 11/F, Block 14
Cherry Mansions
9 Shung King St
Hung Hom, Kowloon
Hong Kong

and for those of you interested in making international calls (haha), the numbers are:
kristin: +852 9684 2806
grant: +852 9136 1317

until the next time...

and back again...

we've got about 12 hours left in the states on this trip!

it's been a crazy week... lots of emotions, lots of ups and downs, but also some good times with family and friends. we've stayed up late a lot with people coming over to the house just to hang out. the memorial service went really well. close to 160 people came, many of whom grant had never met but who knew todd well. i even got to see my parents which was nice.

on the other side of the world, we've had some people who have been just wonderful to us - moving us out of the hotel, waiting for our mattress to be delivered, stocking our fridge, and just generally taking care of us with love and prayers. it's amazing how people show love even though they barely know us. we really did find a great community to be a part of - both ICS and union church.

as for me, i'm ready to get back, and GET SETTLED!!! to finish moving into our apartment, laying things out, setting them up, and then settling into a routine with work, life, etc. some regularity will be nice :-)

returning to the states

kristin and i are making our way back to the united states for a quick trip into rockford, IL. you may be thinking, "wow, they didn't stay in hong kong very long!" or "they must really like experiencing jet lag!" sadly, we have a much graver reason for returning. my father, todd franke, died suddenly, and we're returning to pay him his last respects and to bring some closure as a family. please keep us in your prayers during this time.