the journeys begin...

What's this you ask? Oh, just the view from the window next to me. I'm in Hong Kong, staying at Mason's parent's apartment. I've been here for only three days so far, and so far, I'm having the time of my life! Due to jet lag, I woke up really early today, which is good, cause it gives me some time to blog about my current adventure.

We'll start with last week... It was kind of horrible. I had to take tests early, write papers very quickly, and stay up really late to do my homework that I'd be missing whilst abroad. I was under-rested and overworked, and really just couldn't focus due to intense levels of excited anticipation.

I finally got out of a class that felt like it would never end on Friday morning, ran home, finished packing and getting ready for 24 hours of travel. My mom came to get me and bring me to the aiport (thanks so much for everything mom!) and then we met Brooklyn and Brittany, my lovely sisters, for lunch, which they provided (thanks sissies! love you!) and then I was off to the airport! That whole day is a bit of a blur. I was exhausted and still a little bit in shock I think that I was actually off to the other side of the world. Just didn't seem real.

LA, my city!

I flew into LA, and at Mason's suggestion (thanks Mason!) I spent about 6 hours there. LA is where I served my mission, and I have a lot of love for that place and those people. My dear friend Farnoosh picked me up and brought me to her apartment where she had prepared a feast!

Farnoosh and I

It was amazing! We had fish, and persian rice (with tadig!) and tons of little treats: pistachios straight from Iran (sooo good!) little pastries, and delicious fruit. After dinner we sat and visited for hours drinking this amazing Persian blossom tea (herbaland talking about everything from dating and Persian weddings to Iranian politics and underground movements.

The Persian feast

She eventually brought me back to the airport where I waited for my 1:00 am 15-hour flight. The flight was good... good food, and decent enough seats. I've discovered why sleeping on planes is so hard for me... it's because I always sleep on my side or my tummy, and if I'm on my back, I really just can't sleep at all. The means I can't sleep sitting... Despite all this, I was able to get about 8 hours of less-than-quality sleep, but it was fine.

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When I got to the airport, I'll admit, I was a little nervous. Well excited/nervous. I had no reason to be though, cause as soon as I saw Mason all the nerves left and I was just purely excited! It's so good to see a familiar face in a crowd of strangers.

We went to the Victoria 1st branch for church (the Hong Kong LDS chapel is so beautiful!). It was fun to meet some of the people there (Mason's parents included!) I was super tired and was still lugging around my luggage. I had changed in the bathroom at the church into somewhat wrinkled church clothes. After church Mason and I went on a walk and just kind of looked around. We caught the bus and went back to the apartment for lunch - super yummy fajitas. This apartment building is so cool by the way. I love the front entrance and the way it's all designed. I'll have to get some pics later.

Later in the afternoon we went to the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Museum. It's this beautiful old mansion that the LDS church owned for a couple decades and then sold. Now it's a museum. Obviously. Mason used to go to church at this place, and even baptized his little brother in the font which remains near the front entrance. It was so cool to see how they'd restored this old building, and super fun to have Mason pointing out little details, and explaining how it used to function as a church. That evening we went to the Peak - which provides a lovely view of Hong Kong. We took this little trolly car thing up the hill and hung out for a bit up there and took a cab home.

At the old church building/new museum

I was exhausted by the end of the day, but it was such a fun day that I didn't even mind. Hopefully before too long I can write about day 2!