It's been a while!

Hey all!

Sorry it has been such a long time since my last post! Finals week starts tomorrow, so studying has begun in full swing! I only have 4 tests, and I'm not too worried about most of them, but I am worried about my Finance one, so I'm crossing my fingers and praying for luck!

On a much happier note, Izzy and I will be venturing to Beijing China this weekend to see all of the sights and sounds there! It'll also prepare us for going back home, because Beijing is about the same temp as Wisconsin and Ohio and we get back to Hong Kong only 3 days before we leave for home! I do have to thank the pastor at the church Izzy and I attend, though. Were so worried about the cold, because neither of us had prepared for it when we packed in the summer, so we thought we would have to buy coat and everything. However, out of the kindness of their hearts, the Pastor and his Wife loaned us winter coats, gloves and scarfs so we wouldn't have to pay or freeze! Makes Beijing even more exciting!!

Getting the visa was far less of an ordeal than I expected, the hardest part was getting the picture to turn in with the application! It has to be a formal photo, which neither of us had, so we went to find these photo booths that are stationed in the subway terminals around Hong Kong. So we entered the closest station and asked the service desk where to go, and they directed us to Sha Tin, the opposite direction of where we needed to go, saying it was the only one. We didn't think that was right, but who were we to disagree with a worked and we had to have the picture, so we had little choice. So off we go to Sha Tin's service desk, where they tell us we have to go to the government office outside the MTR(Hong Kong subway system), which doesn't open for more than an hour!So instead we Google the Photo Machine, turns out there is one at our destination station! We were so mad we didn't start with Google. So, finally, we make it to the station, nearly an hour later, and we get our pictures and make our way to the Chinese embassy to get the actual visa, only to learn they had a photo machine in the visa room!!Gah! we were so in awe of the situation, the only thing we could do was laugh! After all of that, it only took about an hour to get in and out, and only 4 days for the visa to be processed. We received the visa Friday, so it official, someone is crazy enough to let us into China!

We've got lots of plans for our 4 days there, and I wish we were able to stay longer and see more! Ill post my adventures when I get back, but I should really stop procrastinating and head back to studying! I do have a test tomorrow.