Christine in Hong Kong

You Know You've Been in Hong Kong too Long When...

Wed, 13 May 2009 12:11:39 GMT

You're playing Pictionary and have to draw the word 'barbecue' and immediately draw fish balls on a skewer.

Weather

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 05:53:36 GMT

It's colder in Hong Kong during the day than it is in Milwaukee during the night. That's not right. So, to all of my friends and family who have had to endure me telling them how it's 80+ and sunny while you're in the middle of a blizzard, well, now's your chance for revenge.

I broke out my winter coat today. And a hat. And mittens. (Though it's not quite cold enough for mittens. I just really like my mittens [I made them myself, and they're the colour of tomato soup] and it's rarely cold enough to wear them here.)

And it's raining. It's a cold, dreary day. And to think that two weeks ago I was out hiking in that 80+ and sunny weather. I just wanted to stay at home today, warm and cosy in my flannel PJ pants and oversized sweatshirt. But, alas, I had to go to work.

On the plus side, I had yummy pad thai and hot coffee for lunch, so score.

I'm Ba-ack!

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 03:38:35 GMT

I was excited to come back to Hong Kong and get away from all of the electioneering in the US. So, lo and behold, I come back to Hong Kong and they're in the middle of an election season here, with banners all over the place. Plus, I see John McCain ads on the train. What? Why? Why are there American political ads in Hong Kong? Why?

Anyways, I'm back, I had a great summer, and have had very little jet lag. But coming from 50/60 degree dry weather to 90+ degree insanely humid weather is a bit of an adjustment. The weather has been a much bigger adjustment than the time zone.

I have a new roommate this year, and she seems incredibly cool so far. We've got a lot in common and she seems pretty easy-going, which should make for a good roommate.

I've started talking to my various supervisors about what I'll be doing this upcoming year, and it's going to be busy. Really busy. More on that later, when I know more about what's going on.

Mid-Autumn Festival pics (and video!) coming up soon.

Nam Lian Garden and Chi Lin Nunnery

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 06:43:34 GMT

Last week we had all half days at school, and since Thursday was a beautifully sunny day after nearly two weeks straight of rain and thunderstorms, I decided to take advantage of it by going to see the Nam Lian Garden, which I had heard good things about but hadn't seen yet.

The gate at the entrance.

Across from the entrance gate.

This building had scale models of famous Buddhist temples and life-sized exhibits on how the wooden buildings were built. Pretty interesting. No photography was allowed, though, and they had a guard standing there to make sure no one took pictures, so I have no photographic evidence of that.

Some shots from around the park.

If you look closely, you may be able to tell that there's a restaurant behind that waterfall. It's vegetarian, since it's run by Buddhists, and I had afternoon tea there.

Across the street is the Chi Lin Nunnery. The nuns are the ones who run and take care of the garden. Unfortunately I got there too late to go on a tour, but I did wander around the courtyard a bit.

And, for a bonus picture, I took this at a park near where I live. I went there on Saturday because, again, the weather was gorgeous. (The weather's still gorgeous, incidentally. Though the typhoon signal #1 has been raised, so that probably means the nice weather won't last for long.)

Tuen Ng Festival

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 03:44:45 GMT

A few weeks ago was the Tuen Ng Festival, otherwise known as the Dragon Boat Festival. For this holiday there are, obviously, dragon boat races, and people also celebrate by eating rice packets. (Sticky rice, sometimes with beans or meat, wrapped up in banana leaves and then steamed or boiled.)

On Sunday (June 8) my roommate and I went to Stanley Beach to see one of her friends compete with the Dutch women's team in the dragon boat races.

These are just a few photos of the festivities. Most of the teams were wearing typical athletic wear, but a few were wearing funny outfits, or lobster hats, or whatever. There were men's races, women's races, co-ed races, and mixed-age (adults and pre-teens/teenagers together) races.

A short video of a race. Each boat has a drum on it, which is used to set the rhythm for rowing. After the race, there is a ritual dunking, where everyone gets thrown in the water.

There was a band there, which I thought was funny. Here's a video of the crowd, with the band in the background. You can also see one of the teams start to head towards the starting line. I think it's the Japanese team.

The next day was a public holiday because it was the day after Tuen Ng Festival. Since we had had a few nice days in a row (it had been really rainy before then. And I mean really rainy, record-setting rainy, even.) we decided to go hiking. We opted to hike the Dragon's Back trail, since it ends at a beach.

The sign at the beginning of the trail. The beginning of the trail also had something I haven't seen before - a squatty potty Port-O-Potty.

The view as we started up the trail. It's at the eastern end of Hong Kong Island, near Stanley Market.

Some scenery shots as we hiked up. I really enjoyed this trail. It was more clambering over rocks and streams and stuff as opposed to lots and lots of stairs, which is what a lot of the hiking trails in Hong Kong are like. To me, stair climbing is a lot different than hiking. Plus, you get a gorgeous view and it ends at a beach. You can't get much better than that.

Proof I made it to the top!

Isn't this a gorgeous shot? The beach down there is the one we ended up at.

I like this picture a lot because the boats look like a mama duck with her ducklings.

A stream we came across.

Hillside cemeteries.

Such a fun two days. I've got a lovely tan from it, too.

Why I'm Turning into a Hong Konger

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 07:42:59 GMT

With only a month left to go before I head back to the US, I've begun to realise just how much I've assimilated.

1. I can use chopsticks like a pro. I've even passed the chopstick 'tests' - I can pick up two peanuts at the same time, and I can cut things with chopsticks using only one hand.

2. I automatically look to the right when I'm crossing the street.

3. When I say good morning or thank you, I invariably say them in Cantonese, no matter who I'm speaking to.

4. I wear heels all the time. If I'm not wearing heels, I'm wearing flats. If I'm not wearing flats, I wear Converse. I don't wear athletic shoes anymore unless I'm actually doing something athletic.

5. I eat lunch late. Really late.

6. I stay up late. Really late.

7. I've mastered the art of sleeping on a bus and waking up just in time to get off at my stop.

8. I carry an umbrella, a sweater, tissues, and hand sanitizer with me everywhere I go. The sweater may be the frigid Hong Kong air con, or it could just be that I'm turning into my mother. And yes, my purse is huge.

9. When people talk about football, I assume that they're talking about the kind you play with a round ball.

10. I'm starting to internalise British spelling. Though I still maintain that kerb is not a real word and aluminium sounds like you're putting on airs.

11. I drink tea. Lots of tea.

12. I actually enjoy drinking hot water on occasion.

And an anecdote to further prove my point: When we were hiking last week, we were trying to come up with other cities that are similar to Hong Kong geographically. I came up with San Francisco - you have the big city with the tall buildings, but it's got the bay, lots of green space, and hills surrounding it. When I was talking about the suburbs of San Francisco I referred to them as territories, which is a Hong Kong thing, not an American thing. I got teased for that. I guess I've been living here too long.

So I'm going back to the US in just over a month. I'm nervous about the reverse culture shock, and I'm terrified of having to drive again. I've become very used to the amazing public transportation system here. And I'm going to miss the cultural diversity of the restaurants here. I don't know of a single Indian, Thai, or Vietnamese restaurant near where my parents live. Though, on the bright side, they do have lots of good Mexican restaurants in the area.

Midnight Hike

Mon, 26 May 2008 04:28:27 GMT

Last night I hiked up Lion Rock with some friends. We started at 10PM and finished about 1AM. While Lion Rock isn't one of the highest peaks in Hong Kong, I do believe that, other than flying in, it offers you the best view of the city.

Here is where I would show you pictures, but I didn't bring my camera. Smart, huh? But I found these pictures, which were taken in '97. The city (and the trail) looks nothing like that any more, and he hiked it during the day, but you can see what the peak looks like (It really does look like a lion's head from certain angles, doesn't it?) and you can see just how much of the city you can see from up there.

It really is a fantastic view. And you can see not just Hong Kong Island and Kowloon (the most built-up and populous parts of Hong Kong) you can see quite a bit of the New Territories, too. Not all the way up to where I live, but close.

And despite the heat and humidity, it was a pretty nice night for a hike. There was a good breeze, so even though my shirt and hair were completely soaked (and I mean completely - we all looked like we had gotten caught in a rainstorm) we weren't too hot. And it was a fairly clear night, which is somewhat unusual. We actually saw some stars! We counted four.

Four of us went on the hike - besides me there was my roommate, the vicar from the seminary here, and one of his friends, a girl from Beijing. She was really nice. Within five minutes of meeting, we were talking about our recent trips to Bangkok and speculating on what the big fascination with Thai ladyboys is all about. We had some interesting conversations while hiking - we talked about the end times, and about how at least three major religions (Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism) have scriptures that say as the end of the world gets closer, the problems in the world are going to get worse and worse. We also talked about global warming, if being vegetarian is really better for the environment, the US's dependence on corn, about how nice it would be to be able to fly, feng shui and how some of it's practical and ~~some~~ all of it's highly superstitious, and a whole bunch of other things. It really was a nice night, and I had a lot of fun.

And surprisingly, I'm not that sore now. My feet hurt a bit, and I can't put weight on or completely extend my right knee, but other than that, I'm good. (Last night was a different story - I was limping severely.) We've decided to hike the Ma On Shan peak in a few weeks, which is a little bit higher, but it's also supposed to be a really nice hike with great views of the New Territories. Plus, I can see that peak from my bedroom window, so it would be nice to actually have been up there.

So I need to start training. I've set myself a training regimen - take the stairs at school every time I go up or down. (My staffroom is on the third floor [and this is with European floor numbering, so it's like the fourth floor in the US] so this will be a good workout.) Go for long walks every night. Go on practice hikes on the weekends. I'm giving myself a pass for today though, to let my legs rest.

If anyone comes to visit me, and they're up for the hike, I'm going to take them. It really is a spectacular view, and totally worth it.

Mon, 12 May 2008 16:47:32 GMT

On May 2nd, I had the opportunity to do something that I've been wanting to do for a long time. I got to see the Olympic torch as it came through Hong Kong! And thankfully, unlike in some cities, there were no disruptions or violence or anything like that. So it was perfectly safe. I took lots of pictures and videos to document my day.

As always, click on the pictures if you want to see a bigger version.

The closest place to me that the torch was coming through was in Sha Tin. I wanted to go to the race course, since that's the actual Olympic venue for the equestrian events, but I wasn't entirely sure how to get there. The KCR (train) goes there on race days, and I was hoping it would go there that day, since there was an event there, but no such luck. So I took the train to the mall in Sha Tin, hoping that I'd be able to get a bus to the race course, but I couldn't find one. So I started wandering around, hoping to figure something out.

Well, in the mall I found a large crowd, many of them wearing the red "One China" shirts, gathered around a large TV watching the earlier parts of the relay.

I figured this would be a good place to start. I stood there and watched the relay for a while, but then I noticed that some people were lining up to get Hong Kong flags. So I queued up with everyone else, got my two small plastic Hong Kong flags, and then started following the crowds outside.

When I got to the street that the torch was going to come down, I wandered around and took some pictures, since the torch wasn't due to come for another two or so hours.

These are the Fuwa, the Olympic mascots.

The English-language banner for the torch relay.

This is the banner for the equestrian events, which will be held in Hong Kong.

A secondary school was there on a field trip, and they made this banner. I have no idea what it says.

After wandering around a bit, I found a place to stand where I thought I'd have a pretty good view of the torch when it came by. I took some pictures of the crowd.

And because I like pictures of lots of umbrellas (yes, it was raining, and slightly miserable):

There were no demonstrations where I was, but there were a lot of people waving Chinese and Hong Kong flags.

After a loooong wait, things started to get exciting. Less and less traffic was coming down the road, and more and more police cars, vans, and motorcycles were. Then the floats started to come. These were just for advertising for some of the official sponsors.

And then, finally, I start to hear cheering from the other side of the street. The first to appear were the police guards.

Next were the buses with the torch bearers.

And then, finally, the torch! Hong Kong made, what was in my mind, a stupid call. They only blocked off one side of the street. So not only was it difficult to see if you were on the wrong side of the street (like I was) it would have been easy for someone to drive by on the other side of the street and throw stuff at the people running. Thankfully, that didn't happen, though. A bus was blocking my view for most of the time the torch was coming down the street, but I managed to video it. About halfway through, you can see the torch. The torchbearer is wearing red, and the Chinese thugs (as several of the torchbearers called them) are in blue.

After the torch went past, I went back to the mall, intending on grabbing lunch. Instead, I saw that there was a celebration of Chinese culture in honor of the torch relay in the mall atrium. So I stuck around to watch that. I saw the dragon dancers waiting in the wings, and I thought I'd take a picture of what they look like without the dragon on.

First up was a Cantopop performance. In case you've never heard Cantopop, I videoed a bit of it. Cantopop all sounds the same to me, but then again, pop in general all sounds the same to me.

Next was the dragon dance! I wanted to see a dragon dance here, but since they're generally performed around Chinese New Year, and I was in Thailand then, I didn't get to see any then. So I was really happy to get to see this one.

After that I ate lunch in a sandwich shop that overlooked the atrium, so I could see a display of belly dancing that was going on. If you're asking what belly dancing has to do with Chinese culture, well, I was asking myself the same thing.

As I was walking towards the train station to go home, I noticed a huuuuge crowd:

Makes Christmastime in US malls look like a piece of cake, doesn't it?

I decided to go check out what they were looking at, and I got around to the back end of the crowd just in time to see this:

The torch being lit at the equestrian venue! Yay! A big cheer went up when that happened.

Here's another picture.

So that's my story. I left my apartment around 9AM, and got back around 2PM. I was exhausted, my pant legs were wet, and my bum knee was sore, but it was worth it. I was really glad that I went.

My Incredibly Busy Week

Fri, 02 May 2008 16:40:30 GMT

This week at school was Life Wide Learning Week. (I don't know why it's called Life Wide, I'd think it should be Life Long, and I keep calling it the wrong thing.) Anyways, this means that the kids have mandatory educational activities outside of school. Some of the older students go to China or spend the weekend at a camp on one of the outlying islands, while the younger students go to a museum or something like that. I had to go to one event, and other than that, I had the week off.

Friday
We had a half day, since the evening was Parents' Day. There was a reception, talent show, and other activities to try and convince primary six students and their parents that they want to enroll at our school. Part of the talent show was the "Do-Re-Mi" scene from The Sound of Music, and my roommate was Maria. Students were the Von Trapp kids. So I went to go see it, and our church's intern came up to see it, too. Afterwards the three of us went out for a drink. While we were at the pub, about seven cops came in, made them turn off the music and turn up the lights, and checked the ID cards of everyone in the bar to make sure that they were in the country legally. So I've now had my first encounter with immigration. Everything was fine, though, the cop checked our cards, asked us where we were from, and what we did in Hong Kong. And that was it. It was weird, though. There were a lot of cops. We figured it was pressure from Beijing to make sure that the torch run went smoothly.

Saturday and Sunday
I stayed in, relaxed, did laundry and cleaned. Nothing eventful.

Monday
Monday was my day for supervising a field trip. I went with the third form to the Hong Kong Coastal Defence Museum. It was interesting. There's a building with displays and exhibits, but the main part of the museum is a walk along the coast where you can tour the magazines and see the cannons and guard posts and stuff. There are even a few bunkers that the British built during WWII. You can still see the mortar holes and the bullets in the walls. And in the museum, they have artifacts and displays dealing with the different eras of coastal defense in Hong Kong, from the Ming Dynasty up through the British handover in 1997. Most of the information has to do with WWII and the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. I really don't know that much about the war in the Pacific, and what I do know is about the American naval battles. I knew nothing about the land war in Asia (one of the classic blunders) before I got to Hong Kong. But the Japanese attacked Hong Kong two days after Pearl Harbor. Hong Kong at the time wasn't well-defended at all - just two British regiments, two Indian regiments, the Hong Kong volunteer force, and two regiments of Canadians who weren't yet fully trained. By Christmas day the Japanese were occupying Hong Kong. A lot of the Chinese residents of the city either fled to mainland China or were killed by the Japanese soldiers. For an example, the Japanese soldiers used live Chinese civilians for bayonet practice. All British residents were rounded up and put in interment camps. During the almost four years that the Japanese occupied Hong Kong, the population of the city fell from 4 million to 1 million.

Anyways, I recommend the museum, especially if you're a WWII buff.

Afterwards, I went out for Thai food with some of the other teachers. Mmm. Thai food.

That afternoon I also had to teach the after school class I've started recently. I need to write a separate post about that. It's for students from other schools, which is why I still had to go to that, even though we were off.

Tuesday
This was meant to be a relaxing day. The only thing I needed to do was go to the library to pick up a book I had reserved. Now, the library is two miles away, and I usually walk. So I walked there, picked out some books, get up to the counter and realize that I don't have the slip of paper that will let me get my reserved book. So I walk all the way back home, drop off my books, get the piece of paper, and walk back to the library. So all in all, I wound up walking eight miles that day.

Wednesday
My roommate and I left the house at 7:30 AM (!!!) so that we could be downtown by 9. We met the other English teachers for a girls' day out. (The entire English department at our school is female.) We spent the morning walking in the hills up above the city. It was nice - there's a really great view from up there. Plus, a lot of rich people live up there, so we got to see lots of fancy houses. After the walk we went to Stanley Market, had some dim sum, and did some shopping. Then we went to the British military cemetery. Most of the people buried in that cemetery are not in fact military. They were citizens who died in the Stanley interment camps during WWII. And most of the people who died were in their sixties and seventies. There were also all the soldiers who died in the battle for Hong Kong. I was surprised to see how many policemen were buried there - they wound up fighting with the military to supplement the troops. So that trip, while sad, was very informative.

After this, my roommate and I left the other teachers. They were going to the beach. It was the perfect day for it, too - hot and sunny, with just a slight breeze. But they weren't going to swim, they were just going to walk on the beach. But we had other plans for the evening, and besides, going to a beach and not swimming on a day like that, when we were all hot and sweaty, would have been torture. So we went back into town.

One of the ladies that we go to church with is turning 60 in June, and since a lot of us won't be around in June, we decided to have her birthday party a bit early. So we went out for Vietnamese to celebrate her birthday. The food was okay, but I've found that the cheap, hole-in-the-wall places have much better food than the fancier, more expensive places.

Thursday
May 1st! My brother's birthday! Labour Day in Hong Kong! This was a public holiday. My roommate and I decided to brave the crowds, though, and we headed into town for Mexican food. Mexican food and a margarita taste sooooo good when you haven't had either for a while. Being in that restaurant is so strange, because you really feel like you're back home in the States. The decorations are the same, the food tastes the same, and virtually everyone else in the restaurant has an American accent. It's really bizarre. But good. Really good.

After that we went to go see a movie. We had planned on seeing The Other Boleyn Girl, but that was sold out, so we saw Once instead. Neither of us knew anything about it except that people had told us that it was good, and that it won the Oscar for best song. And it is a really, really good movie. There were parts when I wished it had English subtitles instead of Cantonese, because the Irish accents were so strong, though. But the music was great, and the story was just beautiful. And even better yet? There was a violinist who was actually a violinist. I hate when people in movies/on TV fake playing the violin. It looks terrible. And my roommate was impressed that people were actually playing the piano. But then afterwards we found out that the leads were musicians rather than actors, so that made sense. And then we found out that Marketa Irglova was only 18 when the movie was filmed, which blew me away. I thought she was at least as old as me, if not a few years older.

Friday
The Olympic torch run!!! Yes, I managed to see it. That will be a separate post. But it was another day of getting up early, and then I stood outside in the rain for over two hours.

So I've been running around and getting less sleep than usual for five days now. I'm exhausted. I almost was going to go to Macau tomorrow with our intern and a friend of his who's in town and who is kind of a friend of mine (as in we know each other and have lots of mutual friends), but that fell through. I can't say I'm too disappointed, since I am dead tired, even with the three hour nap I took this afternoon. I could use a day of rest.

Olympic Torch Relay

Thu, 01 May 2008 03:53:54 GMT

Tomorrow the Olympic torch is coming through Hong Kong. I'm trying to decide if I should go or not.

Pros:
-While this isn't quite a once in a lifetime opportunity (it came through Columbia, SC in 1996, but I wasn't able to go see it then), it is an opportunity that doesn't come along very often, unless you live in Athens.

-I have always wanted to see the Olympic Torch.

-It's a 15-minute train ride away.

Cons:
-It's going to be insanely crowded.

-There are bound to be pickpockets.

-There will definitely be Chinese military and tons of Hong Kong cops.

-The HK cops will almost certainly be checking IDs to make sure that people are actually legal.

-The HK cops will almost certainly be arrest happy. They've stated that they will arrest anyone waving the Tibetan flag, even though that's not anywhere near illegal under Hong Kong law. I fit the profile of a lot of protesters - young, western, middle class. If there's confusion, there's a small possibility that I could get arrested, even though I'm not going to do any protesting at all.

-The US State Department has issued a travel warning telling Americans to stay away from any Olympic-related events because they're terrorist targets.

-There's a pretty big chance that even if I go, the crowds will be so big that I won't see anything anyways. (This is the big thing for me.)

View Poll: To Torch or Not to Torch?

Only Two and a Half Months Late...

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 14:35:32 GMT

So, my trip to Thailand was tons of fun. My flight over was a breeze. Emirates Airline is great. Hot meals on every flight, even short ones. Plus free wine and a TV in every seat back. Anyways, the flight landed at midnight. By the time I got my luggage, made my way through customs, and got a taxi to the opposite side of the city where my hotel was, it was 3 AM. The hotel I had booked was on Khao San, which is a big backpacker hangout. This basically means that the street is a 24-hour party, but I wasn't aware of this before I got there. So at 3 in the morning I walk into the lobby of the hotel I had made a reservation at. This is where the problems began. They didn't have my reservation on file, and they were completely booked. So I started walking down the street, dragging my suitcase behind me, going in and out of hotels until I finally found one that had a vacancy. It was a hostel, and the only room left was a triple, but it had air conditioning and a private bathroom, so that was good enough for me.

The next morning I retrieved my booking number from my e-mail and went back to the first hotel, but still no luck. So I reserved my room at the second hotel for the rest of the week and decided that it was okay, since it was quite a bit cheaper.

My routine for most of the trip was to get up earlyish, shower, go out and eat breakfast, walk to a touristy site, wander around for a few hours, come back, have a snack/light lunch, take a nap in the lovely air-conditioning, then go out again for dinner and people watching.

The food was AMAZING. And super cheap, too. There's something really nice about being on vacation in a tropical location. The weather was hot, I would eat things like pad thai or cashew chicken outside, people watch, and drink cold beer. It was great. And for breakfast, there would be women selling freshly cooked egg rolls on the street, and other women selling freshly squeezed orange juice. And stands selling fresh fruit. And other stands selling banana pancakes at night. (They're more like crepes, with bananas and chocolate.) Everything was just really, really good.

But enough about the food, you want to see pictures!

That's just a teaser, click here to see all 80-odd pictures. They're not currently labeled, but I'm going to work on that for the next hour or so.

And a video! I took this outside of the royal palace. The changing of the guard! (Sorry, I would have embedded this but YouTube doesn't want to work for me today.)

Typhoon!

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:30:17 GMT

Hello, all! I have been rather bad about updating this. So here's a bit of news.

I'm in the middle of my first typhoon! That's right, Tropical Cyclone Neoguri is heading towards Hong Kong. It's weakening, though. There have been wind speeds of 68 km/h (42 mph) recorded near the coast, and we've had 150 mm (6 inches) of rain so far today. Nothing too dangerous, though, unless you're wearing shoes with no traction or attempting water sports. (The first one is from personal experience, the second one is not.)

Easter in Hong Kong!

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 16:27:42 GMT

Happy Easter!

My parents requested a post on Easter in Hong Kong. And since the last entry I made was about Christmas, well... this just goes to show that I'm bad about keeping up with my blog. I have a few other posts that I'd like to make, and since I have all of next week off, hopefully I'll be able to do that.

Easter in Hong Kong is completely non-commercialized, which kind of surprised me, since Christmas is, possible, even more commercial than in the US. And when I say non-commercial, I mean non-commercial. I can't even find Easter candy in the stores. (Though I did find a bakery that sold homemade Peeps. Too bad I don't like Peeps.) I was really, really hoping to find some Cadbury Creme Eggs, because I love those, but no luck. There's Cadbury EVERYTHING here, but no Creme Eggs. Sad.

Anyways, I did manage to find this:

A Kinder Surprise Egg!

As you can tell, it's basically a chocolate shell with a toy inside. Mine is a mouse with a thimble helmet, a button shield, and a broom. He's protecting my army of Doraemon stamps that I got as freebies from 7-Eleven.

I was all excited about finding Easter candy, until at dinner someone told me that the Kinder Surprise Eggs are, in fact, available year-round and are not Easter candy. Oh, well. I still had fun.

A bunch of people from the church I attend went out for an Easter dinner together. And we got some presents!

You can see a purple candy wrapper - that was a chocolate, rice krispie, and peanut butter candy, sent from the US. There were also jelly beans, and then each household got a can of French fried onions. This triggered a conversation about how to best make green bean casserole in a microwave, since very few of us have ovens.

One cool thing about Easter in Hong Kong is that, like the early Christians, this is when Hong Kong Christians have their baptisms. Unfortunately, I couldn't find out when the churches near me had services, so I wasn't able to go. I think that would have been neat to see.

Christmas in Hong Kong!

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 06:31:01 GMT

So, I spent Christmas in Hong Kong. I didn't go anywhere special, but I did use the time to relax, see a few movies, and do some sightseeing. This post is going to focus primarily on the Christmas stuff. There will be later posts about the sightseeing.

The last day of school all of the classes had Christmas parties. I stopped in at most of them, meaning that I went to approximately 20-25 Christmas parties that day. I also did some Chinese fold dancing to "Jingle Bells" and played some games with one of the S7 classes, which resulted in me getting bruises all up and down my left side. (I tripped over a stool. I'm graceful like that. The funny thing? My Chinese name means "wisdom and grace".)

We also had the faculty Christmas party that night. There was a door prize, and I won a Chip 'n' Dale vacuum flask. There was also lots of good food, and I got to meet my colleagues families, including some really cute babies. There was also a talent show of sorts... a lot of the teachers' kids played piano or flute or whatever, and one of the receptionists and the music teacher's mother sang Cantonese opera. And then, of course, the foreign teachers had to sing! We sang "Joy to the World" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" in a group with some of the other younger teachers. It was kind of a disaster, because we all sang different words for the verses of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".

The day before Christmas Eve I went to Tsim Sha Tsui with three of the people from my church. We went to Asia's Walk of Fame. On the way there, we stopped by the Landmark Hotel to see how it was decorated for Christmas. The Landmark is probably the fanciest hotel in the city. (They have green Rolls Royces to pick people up from the airport.)

Anyways, the Asian Walk of Fame is similar to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, except that it's for famous Asian people. (And really, I think it's just Chinese-speakers, since there doesn't seem to be any Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Vietnamese, etc. people represented.) So there's a huge statue of Bruce Lee, a shop devoted entirely to selling Jackie Chan souvenirs, plus the handprints and signatures of people like Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh, Ang Lee, Chow Yun Fat, and a lot of people I've never heard of. The best part of the Walk of Fame, though, is that it lies right across Victoria Harbour from Central (aka downtown Hong Kong). All of the buildings are lit up and decorated for Christmas.

There's also a light show. This happens every night of the year, but it was pretty neat because you can see the light show and the Christmas decorations all at the same time. I took some videos of the action. Warning: I spin a lot, so if you get dizzy from that sort of thing, watch with caution. Plus, I have a cheap camera, so the quality's not very good.

Just click on the video, and then click the play button. If you're interested, there are many other (better quality) videos of this on YouTube. You can get a good idea of just how many people were there, though. This picture should also give you a good idea of just how many people were out and about.

After the light show we took the ferry across the harbor. But not before I got a picture of what is supposedly the busiest McDonald's in the world.

We went to Wan Chai (the former red light district, and still where most of the bars and clubs are) to the Old China Hand, which is a famous British pub. Many shenanigans happened, none of which will make any sense if you don't know the people involved. Then a guy from Atlanta came up and started talking to us, and then a Scottish couple started talking to us. When the three people I came with left, I decided to stay and continue talking to the three people we met. It turned out to be worthwhile, because they were interested in what I believed, so I was able to share my faith with them. We also talked about the presidential elections coming up in the US. (Politics and religion, those are the things that polite people aren't supposed to talk about, right?) It was an interesting evening, ending with me missing the last train by about five minutes, so I had to take a taxi home.

Christmas Eve I spent getting my Hong Kong identity card, which was painless, unlike what I'd expected. I was in and out within half an hour, which was pleasantly surprising. Too bad that the round trip to get there was over two hours.

Christmas Day I spent at the flat of two friends from church, along with a lot of other people. We had ham, lamb, green beans, mashed potatoes, rolls, a lot of good hors d'oeuvres, and... something for dessert, but I can't remember what. They had a real Christmas tree, which was nice. Better yet, I got to talk to my parents, my brother, and my grandma on the phone Christmas morning, while they opened the presents I sent them.

I also have a few pictures of the Christmas decorations in Tai Po, where I live.

This is in the mall that I live in. (I live in a different block of buildings, and obviously not in the mall part itself, but it's part of the same cluster.) It's a Christmas show with clowns and acrobats. Some people have asked me if there are Chinese Santa Clauses. I've seen a few, but not really. You may be able to see a Christmas Village set up behind the performers. Most of the malls have something like that, but they don't have someone dressed up as Santa or elves or anything like that. Kids go up and get their pictures taken sitting on the empty chair, or sleigh, or whatever.

I don't know if this last picture has horse racing in it because it's such a big sport in Hong Kong, or if it's because the equestrian events of the 2008 Olympics will be held in Hong Kong. Quite possible both.

What China is Doing to "Illegal" Churches

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 03:16:16 GMT

Mom and Dad (especially Mom), you might not want to read this. I don't want you to get worried.

I got this article off of our intern's Facebook page.

China Intensifies Clampdown of 'Illegal' Church Activities

China has witnessed an increase in the number of “illegal” Christian groups who have been arrested across the country after a crackdown ordered by the Chinese Government last month, reports a leading Chinese persecution watchdog.

Since mid-July, a string of arrests and other forms of persecution in at least eight Chinese provinces has taken place including Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Jiangsu, Henan, Shandong, Shanxi and Anhui, according to China Aid Association (CAA). At least 17 Christian leaders of unregistered churches have been detained.

Chinese Christians are only allowed to worship in Communist-controlled churches. All activities outside of designated churches are deemed illegal and members of the underground church face fines, imprisonment and sometimes even torture.

Authorities have imprisoned some while others are punished for hosting Sunday schools in their homes by having their water and electricity cut off by the government.

“The Chinese church believers are faithful peace-makers in building a stable moral society in China,” stated the Rev Bob Fu, president of CAA.

“We call upon the Chinese Government to correct this grave misunderstanding by allowing these faithful to contribute more social services without fear of arrest and retribution,” he urged.

Among the arrested are seven church leaders, including four pastors, from Inner Mongolia during a house church meeting. In the Jiangsu province’s Jianhu city, three other church leaders were wounded and detained after a house church raid during a Sunday worship service. The same church was attacked on July 11 during its summer Vacation Bible School for 150 children.

Meanwhile, prominent Christian businessman Zhou Heng has been under criminal detention since August 3. He was arrested when he tried to pick up two tonnes of Bibles at a bus station sent by someone from another province to distribute to local believers. His detention paper read that he was put on criminal detention for “suspicion of illegal business operation”, according to CAA.

Zhou could be imprisoned up to 15 years if convicted as the Chinese Government only allows officially sanctioned churches to print and distribute limited numbers of Bibles.

The crackdown order by authorities is part of a national campaign against crime and economic disorder in the villages, according to The Associated Press.

“Strike hard against illegal religious and evil cult activity; eliminate elements that affect the stability of village governance,” read a directive posted at the official website of the Ministry of Public Security on July 6, according to AP.

China has increasingly clamped down on Chinese house church Christians and even foreign missionaries as the next year’s Olympic Games in Beijing nears. Between April and June more than 100 foreign missionaries were expelled from China as part of a government-sponsored campaign to prevent evangelisation during the Olympics. The government has also reportedly escalated its campaign against unregistered church activities to prevent protests or other disturbances at the 2008 Olympics.

However, the persecution has instead gained international media attention with many human rights and Christian groups calling for people worldwide to boycott the Games if China does not change its ways and show greater respect for human rights, including religious freedom.

So that you don't worry, I won't be traveling to any of the provinces mentioned. However, the church body that I belong to (as well as many other church bodies and religious organizations) have missionaries, teachers, and other religious workers all over China. I have a friend teaching near Beijing, and while she has not been arrested or anything like that, she is no longer allowed to host Bible class in her apartment. Since she lives in an apartment on the school campus, she has also had the number of visitors strictly curtailed to prevent her from having any more Bible classes.

Please pray for all religious workers in China and around the world. Also, I would ask you to pray specifically for me, since I am going back to China next month. When I am there, I do participate in home churches and Bible studies, so yes, I am breaking Chinese law. (And Mom, if it makes you feel better, if I were to get caught, which is not likely, I'm pretty sure that I would just be deported.)

What Do You Get When You Combine Portugal, China, and Vegas?

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 09:29:21 GMT

If you answered Macau, give yourself a cookie.

Last Friday the roommate and I to the day off and went to Macau. Even though we did have a lot of fun, this was not a trip for fun. We had obtained our work visas and we needed to leave Hong Kong so that we could come back in through Customs/Immigration and have them activated.

So, we got up early on Friday morning and headed down to the China Ferry Terminal to pick up our tickets and leave. We get our tickets, check in, and then go through customs. I manage to get through without a problem, since I still had almost two months left on my (second) tourist visa. However, since my roommate was sick and couldn't go to China when I went, she was still on her first tourist visa, which was good for 90 days after her arrival date of September 7. We figured that meant that she could stay until December 7, right?

Wrong. Her visa expired on December 6. She was pulled aside into one of those little rooms for questioning. They started questioning her before they even got to the room, and I could hear the customs official ask her (not very nicely) why she needed to stay in Hong Kong for so long. I hang around waiting for her, hoping that everything will turn out all right. Ten or so minutes later, she comes out (still with the customs official) and tells me to go on to Macau and have fun, that she has some things that she needs to do and she doesn't know how long they'll take. I start freaking out. She (appears) to remain calm and cool and collected, and disappears back into the room with the guard. I go on to the waiting area and wait to board, still nervous.

My paranoia escalates when a woman wearing a dark suit and a badge approaches me. I start worrying that someone has found out that we've been working here illegally for the past two and a half months and I'm in trouble. Turns out that she actually worked for the Tourism Department, and just wanted to know how my stay in Hong Kong was going.

Right before we start boarding, my roommate comes walking into the waiting room. She had to fill out some paperwork for a visa extension of one day, and pay a HK$160 (US$20) processing fee/fine, and if she's has any more visa violations she'll be prosecuted. But other than that, everything was fine.

(Note: all links, except for the last one, go to Wikipedia articles, if you would like further info/pictures on the places mentioned.)

So, Macau. It's a really neat place. You don't feel at all like you're in Asia; it feels very Mediterranean, with all the palm trees, and the sea breezes, and the pastel-colored buildings with the open balconies. Besides, it was the warmest day in a long time, so I was wearing just a t-shirt. The weather was so warm and sunny. It was lovely.

Here is the Largo do Senado, at the center of the city. Check out the buildings on either side of the square, and also the tiled pavement. Very pretty.

It's also rather surreal to see Portuguese everywhere, as this sign shows:

We didn't really get to see too much of the city. We saw most of the main tourist sites in the historic part of the city, such as the Ruins of St. Paul
and Fortaleza do Monte.

After walking around the old part of the city, we went to the oldest restaurant in Macau for an authentic Macanese meal. Really good. Macanese cooking is a combination of Portuguese and Chinese flavors, with spices and influences from all over the world mixed in, since Macau was a stop on the Spice Road and the Silk Road. (Plus, it was a pirate haven back in the day.) My roommate had African chicken, which was good but very spicy, and I had a chicken and onion dish with a sauce that was somewhat similar to the sauce in a beef paprika. We also had some almond cookies, which are supposedly the most common souvenir from Macau. Many of the bakeries give out free samples to entice you to buy from them. They're good - like shortbread, but crumblier.

After dinner we went to the new part of Macau - the strip. I don't know if this is true, but I have heard from several different people that Macau is now the number one place for gambling in the world, and that the casinos there make more money than the casinos in Vegas or Monte Carlo. We didn't go into any casinos, but we did look at all the neon.

This is the Casino Lisboa, part of the Grand Lisboa Hotel.

After that, it was time to catch our ferry back to Hong Kong. We made it through customs/immigration with no problems, except that the person checking my passport didn't believe that it belonged to me at first. (My passport photo was taken when I was seventeen; a lot can change in eight years.) Also, our work visas are only good for one entrance into Hong Kong. So now we have to apply for residence cards, and once we have those we're allowed to leave and come back again. Since my roommate is going to Morocco for Christmas, she stood in line and got a provisional one a few days ago. Since I have decided to stay in Hong Kong for Christmas, I made an appointment to get mine. (You can make an appointment and have a guaranteed application time, or you can show up at the office and wait in line and hope that you get in that day.) So I can't leave Hong Kong until I get my Hong Kong identity card.

Oh, and guess when my appointment is? Christmas Eve. That's right. I get to spend my Christmas Eve dealing with immigration. Fun times.

If you would like to see more Macau pictures, head here to my album. There are captions on the pictures that explain things a little bit better than I did here. Click on a picture to see a larger version.

A Weekend of Firsts

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 06:45:16 GMT

Last week was a short school week. Tuesday was a half day, Wednesday and Thursday were sports days, (this is basically a two-day in-school track meet, but with the houses competing against each other) and Friday we had off. However, my week was much shorter. I'm battling a stomach bug, plus I've been having chronic migraines lately, so I left early on Wednesday and didn't go in on Thursday. Too bad. I really wanted to see this - it was interesting. But there was lots of cheering, yelling, and clapping, not to mention all of the makeshift drums made out of empty water cooler bottles. I just couldn't tolerate all the noise with a migraine. I would have been in agony.

I felt better by Friday, though. So I decided to check out MegaBox. I had been told that MegaBox is the closest thing Hong Kong has to a Target or a Wal-Mart. Well, that's not really what it is. It's a huge mall (though, really, there's no other kind here). What makes it different from the other malls is that the stores are bigger. And by bigger, I mean American-sized stores.

Most of the stores here are small, except for a few department stores. The best example of this is if you go into Mong Kok near where the seminary/church is located. This is the home improvement area of the city. There are many small stores, each selling something that you might need for renovation. One sells bathroom tiles, one sells toilets, one sells wood flooring, one kitchen counters, etc. etc. It's a lot of fun. My roommate and I "pick out" a new toilet seat cover every time that we walk by a store that sells nothing but acrylic toilet seats with designs suspended in them. Our favorite by far is the one with the seahorses.

Anyways, MegaBox has an honest-to-goodness hardware store like the kind I'm used to in the US. There's also a large sporting goods store, as well as a store that's a combination of a Bed Bath and Beyond and a Michael's. (Seriously, they have the best yarn selection that I've seen anywhere. It was heaven.) I will definitely be back.

After MegaBox I headed into Causeway Bay to meet a group of people from church. We ate dinner and then went to a concert. Every year the Hong Kong Philharmonic puts on "A Symphony Under the Stars". Of course, with all the light pollution (as well as the air pollution) you can't really see any stars, but it was still nice. The program was good, too. A nice combination of popular favorites ("Fanfare for the Common Man", "Three Dances" from The Nutcracker, the "William Tell Overture") and some pieces that aren't as well-known (one of Rachmaninoff's "Variations on a Theme from Paganini", a classical Chinese piece about the moon reflected in a lake) and it was finished off with Handel's "Music for the Royal Fireworks" - complete with fireworks.

Now, normally I'm not a fan of fireworks (long story), but these weren't so bad. They were timed to go with the music, and there weren't a lot of them. Plus, there was the added bonus of the fireworks being shot so close to the musicians that we were watching in terror that the violins and cellos might go up in flames. Good times.

On the way back from the concert we rode on one of the double-decker trams that run on Hong Kong island. This was another first. They've been around for about 100 years, and they're pretty scary. fun, though, and insanely cheap. (HK$2, about US$0.25) After that we went to Tsim Sha Tsui, which is on the mainland, right across from Victoria Harbour from the downtown area of Hong Kong Island. All of the buildings were lit up for Christmas. It's too bad that I didn't have my camera, because it was really pretty. Hong Kong goes all out for Christmas.

Before church on Sunday I went to the Hong Kong Art Museum to catch a collection of "The World's Ancient Treasures" on loan from the British Museum. I only just found out about it, and the exhibit's last day was Sunday, so I had to go. It was pretty neat, though extremely crowded. My favorite was the artwork - pieces from Dürer, Whistler, Rembrandt, and pretty much everyone who had a Ninja Turtle named after them.

After battling the crowds for a few hours (and I did it in heels, too!) I had to decompress and go someplace with fewer people, so I headed for the gold and jade gallery. They museum has an impressive collection of ancient Chinese jewelry - it was a lot of fun to look at.

While I was out, I took the opportunity to go to Starbucks and drink coffee, since they only place I can buy coffee in Tai Po is at McDonald's and one Chinese cafe. I had my lunch there, too. If the Starbucks near you have a turkey sandwich on cranberry focaccia bread, I highly recommend it.

After that, church. I have to say, going to church only every other Sunday makes the church seasons really fly. One Sunday was Reformation, the next was Thanksgiving, the next was end times, this Sunday was Advent, and our next service is going to be our Christmas service. Crazy. There are usually three or four Sundays in Advent, not to mention the usual Wednesday night services.

Anyways, we decided that our Christmas service was going to be a song service, with three mini-sermonettes, one preached by each of the available ministers (well, two ministers and one vicar). We took nominations for which hymns to sing. I nominated all of "From Heav'n Above to Earth I Come", which was promptly rejected. (In case you're not familiar with that hymn, it has 15 stanzas.)

So, it turns out that I probably won't be going to Thailand for Christmas. I have a few invites, and a place to spend Christmas Day. I'll use my time to do some more sightseeing and lots of sleeping. Instead, I'm going to go somewhere for Chinese New Year. One of my co-workers tipped me off to a special deal where I could get a round-trip plane ticket to Beijing for less than US$200. I have two friends in or near Beijing, so hopefully I wouldn't have to get a hotel room, which would really help with the costs.

My other option is Vietnam. A bunch of people from church are going on a cruise to Vietnam and Hainan Island. I'm thinking that this might be a good idea, since I wouldn't have to travel alone. We'll see.

On Friday my roommate and I are taking the day off to go to Macau to take care of our visas. I'm looking forward to it. I'll make sure to take lots of pictures. And the good news? When I get back on Friday evening, I will be a legal resident alien of Hong Kong. I'll still have to apply for an identity card, but I've heard that isn't too difficult. Plus, once I have the ID card it will be much easier for me to travel between Hong Kong and China. Plus, I'll be able to get a library card.

Thanksgiving in Hong Kong

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 04:34:03 GMT

So, just in case you were wondering what an American does for Thanksgiving in Hong Kong, well, I'm going to tell you.

Thursday: School as usual. However, a bunch of the other teachers took us out for dim sum for lunch. Dim sum = masses and masses of food, so that part at least was pretty Thanksgiving-y. Here's a shot of the table:

It's good stuff.

That night for dinner, my roommate and I decided to go to our favorite Thai/Vietnamese restaurant. She ate curry, I ate seafood and pineapple fried rice, and we split some vegetables cooked in garlic. Really, really good.

Friday: We had a half day at school. We had a Thanksgiving service in the morning, which was interesting. After that, we had an around the school race, which is exactly what it sounds like. The students (and a few of the teachers) run around the school. Points are awarded to the houses that had the most participants and the most winners. (My house won. Yay!) When that was over, a bunch of teachers went over to the head of the English department's brother's house. We had a Malaysian feast. Really, really, good, again. We ate food wrapped in banana leaves. It was pretty awesome. And there was cheesecake, too! Not quite like what I'm used to, but pretty close. It was more like cheese torte (a little drier and not quite as sweet) and it didn't have a crust, but still. Cheesecake! Most of the teachers went hiking after that, but I wasn't feeling very well so I opted out. Instead, I went home and slept all afternoon and evening so that I would be ready for...

Saturday: This was our traditional, American Thanksgiving with the turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and lots and lots of pie. We went over to the apartment of one of the ladies we go to church with. We had a lot of fun, what with the eating and swapping tales of travel disasters. (My two favorites: one of the UW Madison students who's over here on an exchange program tried to go to a beach in the Philippines for scuba diving, but instead wound up at an abandoned US military base with not much to do; and the former president of the synod told us how when he was first elected president, he had to fly from Saginaw, MI to Milwaukee with a large ceremonial gavel, and airport security was convinced it was a pipe bomb.

Also there was one of the missionaries from Taiwan and his wife. They're really nice people, and they've invited my roommate and I to Taipei for a visit. We're seriously thinking of going for a long weekend later in the year.

Though this wasn't part of Thanksgiving, to top off the all-you-can-eat bonanza of the weekend, Sunday was SALEM's (Southeastern Asia Lutheran Evangelical Mission) 30th anniversary, so we went to the service for that and then the banquet. The service started at 2:00, and dinner started at 6:30, so we figured that there would be a chunk of time in between the two. Since the service was being held at the school that my roommate and I teach at, and the banquet was being held in the next building over from ours, the vicar here invited himself over between services. We extended the invitation to everyone else from church, and on Saturday morning we cleaned the apartment, dusted off all of our spare chairs, and put beer in the fridge. However, the service lasted nearly three hours, and then afterwards there were lots and lots of pictures, so we wound up going straight to the banquet from the service. All that cleaning done for nothing. Oh, well. At least I have cold beer now. And also, I did see one of my friends from college. I hadn't seen her in a little over a year, and I didn't know that she was teaching in Beijing. So she invited me to come visit her, also. So many places to go, so little time to travel!

Anyways, the banquet was really nice. It was a formal Chinese banquet, with twelve courses. Normally, at dinners with lots and lots of dishes, I just take a little bit from each so that I don't get too full. However, this was a fancy dinner and we were served. So I wound up eating nearly twice as much as I normally would have. It was fun, though. The ALS (Asia Lutheran Seminary) gets a guest professor from the WELS seminary in Wisconsin every semester or so. We just got a new one into town, and he used to be a pastor in Atlanta. We had a really long discussion about all things southern, ranging from SEC sports to the Varsity Restaurant to the prevalence of high school marching bands to how football is a religion and ending on just how awesome Waffle House is.

China Picture Post!

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 14:29:56 GMT

Hello, all! I meant to do this a week ago, but I'm a procrastinator of the worst kind. So, here goes.

The bus trip was all right - I slept the whole time. Crossing the border into China was a lot easier than I expected. I always expect to have more trouble than I do, because my passport photo was taken nearly 8 years ago, and I don't look much like it anymore.

The only bad part about the bus trip - well, let me just say this. If you go to China bring your own toilet paper and hand sanitizers. And ladies, get used to using a toilet that's just a hole in the floor. Thankfully my hotel had a western toilet.

I thought I was going to Siu Hing, but it turned out that we went to Xinxing instead. Xinxing is much smaller - only about 40,000 people, which is incredibly small for a Chinese town. So small, in fact, that very few westerners go there. So I was something of a curiosity.

I toured two of the high schools in town. Both were very large, well over 3,000 students. Quite a few students board. Apparently this is common in China. I taught a lesson on advertising to a class. It went over really well. They enjoyed the lesson (especially when I acted out a mascara commercial for them) and they responded well. They also treated me like a celebrity. I signed autographs, took my picture with every possible combination of students, and answered lots of questions. Oh, and also, they told me constantly that I was beautiful, which was a great ego boost. I showed them some family pictures (and for the record, my mother is very beautiful and my father is very handsome, and my brother is very, very handsome and all of the girls want me to bring him to visit them.)

The students were absolutely thrilled that I was from Milwaukee. They asked me lots of questions about the Bucks and Yi Jianliang. They were also thrilled that I wrote with my left hand. (This is also pretty rare in Asia.) And then I sang for them (Jingle Bells) and that just really knocked their socks off. It was probably the most fun I've had in a classroom in a long time.

Besides teaching, we went to the hot springs, which was fun. There were pools of different temperatures, including one that wasn't heated at all. I swam laps in it. That's right. I went swimming, outside, at night, in the middle of November. It was a bit chilly, though.

We also went to KTV. (Karaoke television.) Basically, the words you sing are displayed on the bottom of the music video. Except that most of the time they don't have the rights to the music video, so it will be some random video that has NOTHING at all to do with the actual song. Sometimes it will be a couple with 80s clothes and hair wandering around looking lovey-dovey at each other, or it might be the word CANADA and then a bunch of videos of Canadian scenery. It's pretty funny. Unlike karaoke in the States, you rent out a private room and it comes with beverages and snacks. Our beverage? Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, served in shot glasses. I found this highly entertaining. Also, I'm ashamed of just how many Backstreet Boys songs I know.

However, I do believe that the highlight of my trip was a trip to MFC. MFC stands for Making Fried Chicken, and, according to one of the teachers from town, it is the unholy union of KFC and McDonald's. It is a blatant rip-off of both of those places. It sells chicken and burgers, fries, shakes, all kinds of things. One thing it doesn't sell, though, is mashed potatoes. (Look down at the pictures and you'll see why this is funny.)

There are four other Americans in this town, teaching at two different high schools. They are the only westerners in town, except for the occasional German (there's a German factory in town.) We made quite the impression, the six of us walking through town. Especially since four of us were blonde, two had curly hair, and only one was under 5'8.

It was nice hanging out with them - one afternoon we played Scrabble and watched The Office, which seemed like such an American thing to do. Also, I found out that one of the guys there is a big Doctor Who fan, which was fun.

Another thing we did was have a private worship service. The four of them are in a town with no English-language church. There is a church in town, but it doesn't have regular services - only when a pastor from Hong Kong or Macau comes up. Since the guy that I went up with is studying to be a pastor, he conducted the service in two of the girls' apartment. It was really neat - it felt like the New Testament congregations, with missionaries traveling between them, and with worshipping somewhere where it was illegal. It really gave me a new perspective on why exactly I'm over here, and what I'm supposed to be doing.

All in all, it was an amazing trip, and I can't wait to go back.

Oh, and this is how small of a synod I belong to: the one guy that is in Xinxing went to the high school that I taught at last year. I know his mother, because she landscaped the courtyards of the dorms, and I taught his younger sister. Weird, huh?

This is the class that I taught. Actually, it's only part of the class. There were over fifty students.

The church in Xinxing. It's been around since the 40s.

The parking lot near MFC. No, there's not a motorcycle rally going on. Everyone rides mopeds.

MFC.

The promotional poster for MFC. Look closely. Can you see the bad photoshopping? Also, can you see the mashed potatoes? I'll give you three guesses as to which restaurant that was ripped off of.

Here's the bottle of PBR from the KTV place. Too bad it's a blurry picture, or you could see the Chinese characters.

Here's a type of car that you see driving around. It looks like it belongs in a museum, but no, they're out and about on the streets. It has an open engine, a truck bed in back, and no actual seat. They're pretty nifty looking.

China!

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 15:27:16 GMT

This post is for my dad, who's recovering from surgery. Hope you get better soon, Dad!

So, it's official. I leave for China tomorrow morning. I have my visa, and my bus ticket, and I've changed my HK$ to RMB, and I have spare batteries for my camera. Unfortunately, my roommate is too sick to go, so I'll be heading up with the vicar (pastor trainee) to meet our supervisor in China. We're going to Siu Hing in Guangdong (Canton). Siu Hing is a tiny village, so tiny, in fact, that it does not have it's own Wikipedia page. And by tiny, I mean tiny by Chinese standards. There are actually about 250,000 people living there. We're going to be teaching at two local high schools on Saturday. (Yes, they have school on Saturday.) I'm going to be teaching a lesson on how to put ads on television. I don't have the slightest idea how to put an ad on television. Should be interesting. I've been told that if all else fails to pull out my laptop and show the kids pictures of my family, which generally goes over well.

Other than that, we're just going to be bumming around. There are hot springs in the area, and I've been told to bring my bathing suit, since people will want to take us there. We're also going to go out for dinner with the other Kingdom Workers teachers. Should be fun.

So, a funny little anecdote about changing money. I was asking a few coworkers where the best place was to go to get money changed, and it turned into a big old discussion (in Cantonese, of course) about which bank had the shortest lines and the lowest exchange rates. This ended with one of the other teachers handing me 800 RMB (90ish dollars) and telling me to pay him back sometime next week. (I did run to the ATM to pay him back as soon as possible, though.) But how nice was that? No exchange fees. My co-workers are awesome.

I had turned over my passport to the secretary from the seminary, along with my visa application, so that she could get the paperwork processed. I went to Sha Tin to meet her last night to pick it up, and we decided to go out for sushi while we were there. I can now add another strange food to the list of things I've tried - eel. It was surprisingly tasty. I still think that jellyfish is the strangest thing that I've ever eaten. But anyways, the place had one of those conveyor belts that had the sushi going around, and you just grab plates off when you see one that you like. It was a fun experience, and the food was really good. And while I was at the mall I bought Christmas cards. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to find any. Thank goodness for Marks and Spencer!

And now I need to go, since my alarm clock will be ringing in about six hours. My bus leaves early tomorrow, and I need to leave the apartment before 7 AM.

Looooong Post

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 06:34:37 GMT

Happy Halloween! Happy Reformation Day!

This week at school is uniform testing week. Uniform tests are pretty much the same thing as standardized tests. I don’t know what these particular tests are used for, I just know that they’re not the super-important tests that the fifth and seventh form students have to take. This means that I have virtually nothing to do. There are no after school activities, so I don’t have groups of students coming to practice for their English oral exams, or coming to practice reciting their poem for speech festival. I don’t even know why I have to come in at all, considering that I pass a number of students leaving school as I come in in the morning. I’ve just been dinking around at school – yesterday I talked to people while organizing my iTunes. And today I fixed my sticky space bar. In fact, I’m writing this at school now. We were told that we needed to come in in case we had to hand out papers. We don’t have to invigilate (and really, isn’t ‘invigilate’ a much better word than ‘proctor’? It’s much more fun to say, too. British terms crack me up sometimes. Though I still don’t like ‘kerb’.)

On Monday we had staff fellowship once the students left. There was a devotion, and I understood almost none of it, because the whole thing except for one song was in Cantonese. The theme for the day was God-given talents, so there was a short video of different staff members showing their talents. One man played the guitar, one lady talked about her skills at bird watching, another showed some paintings she had done, one teacher played the piano and sang “Your Song” by Elton John, one demonstrated some martial arts, and one showed off some of her quilting. Then we had lunch. Chinese potluck, which is, I think, the best kind of potluck. There were all kinds of fried rice, noodles, vegetables, and fake shark’s fin soup. (It’s supposed to taste like shark’s fin soup without actually having the shark’s fin in it. Personally, I didn’t care for it too much.) There was also dessert – lots of fresh fruit and ice cream with red beans. Again, I’m not a huge fan of the red bean dessert genre. Afterwards there were prayer groups. My roommate and I were put into a group with the other native English speaker (a teacher from Australia) and a few teachers with very strong English skills. We had to talk about things that we’re talented at, and I had to explain, yet again, what exactly crocheting is. Crafty stuff like that isn’t too popular in Hong Kong, and most of the people that do stuff like that knit rather than crochet. I keep explaining it as knitting with one needle, but that doesn’t do a whole lot to clear up the confusion. I think I’m going to have to bring some in one day to show people. Overall, it was enjoyable. I keep meeting new people (there are almost 70 teachers here, so there are quite a few) and I haven’t met a single person yet that I don’t like.

Tuesday our supervisor took my roommate and me out to lunch to see how things are going. That was nice. We went to Ruby Tuesdays, which seemed so American compared to what we were used to. It was kind of strange – there were quite a few westerners in the restaurant, and one of the managers was American. It’s weird how you get used to seeing people that don’t look like you, and then when you do see someone who looks like you, you do a double take. Anyways, I had quesadillas, and it was very nice to eat something Mexican-ish again. Chinese people tend not to like Mexican food very much. My supermarket, which has shelves upon shelves of Indian and Italian food, had two shelves of Mexican food, and each shelf is only about four feet long. There are tortillas, refried beans, salsa, and guacamole. That’s about it. Not to mention that it’s nearly impossible to find cheese. I went grocery shopping yesterday, and I found Kraft parmesan cheese, blocks of white cheddar, cream cheese, and lots of processed American-type cheese. That’s it. No mozzarella, no fresh parmesan, no feta, no Swiss, no sharp cheddar. It’s sad. I’m a Wisconsin girl, I need my cheese! I’m pretty sure that one of the grocery stores in Kowloon that caters to foreigners would have a better selection of cheese, but I would hate to have to take a 30 minute train ride just to buy cheese. I can always stop in on my way back from church, when I have to pass through Kowloon anyways.

Anyways, we discussed business over lunch. Things like “Have our work visas come in yet?” (Not sure – we should find out today.) “Are we definitely going to China next month?” (Yes – we’re leaving Friday, November 16 and returning Sunday, November 18.) We also found out where in China we’ll be going. It’s a “small town” of 400,000 people. In China, anything under 1 million is considered a small town. I’m pretty excited. Haven’t been to China yet, so I’m really looking forward to this. We’ll be teaching on Saturday, but Friday afternoon and evening we’ll have time to sightsee (not sure what there is to see, but I’m sure we’ll find something) and we’re apparently have a big Chinese dinner Saturday night, and then do something Sunday morning before our bus leaves. That’s right, we’re taking a bus into China. I’m kind of curious to see what happens when we go from Hong Kong, where people drive on the left side of the road, to China, where people drive on the right side of the road. I’m sure it’s really not that interesting, but I really am curious. I’m pretty sure that this is going to mess me up when I cross the street, though. I just got used to looking the opposite direction from what you would do in the States, and now I have to revert back to that.

We also had a really long, involved conversation about the differences in the American educational system and the British educational system (which is what Hong Kong uses.) Hong Kong only guarantees public education up to S3, which is about 9th grade. After S3 you take a test, and if you score high enough, the government will continue to pay for your S4 and S5 education. If you don’t score high enough, you get a job and start working, or, if your family can afford it, you try to find a private school that will accept you. After S5 (approximately 11th grade) you take another test. If you pass, you can go on to S6 and S7. Most students don’t go on to S6. Students who leave school after S5 might become secretaries or enter a trade school. You can also go to a special school to become a kindergarten teacher, but that’s changing. Soon you will have to have a college degree to be a kindergarten teacher. Only students who complete S7 can apply for university, and university admissions are extremely competitive. You have to apply to specific programs at university, and once you’re accepted you stay in that program; there’s no switching majors. I’m going to be conducting practice interviews for the S7 students, so I’ve been reading up on the university admissions program, and it’s so confusing. I really don’t understand exactly how it all works. The difference between the US and Hong Kong seems to be the overall level of education. It’s pretty much expected of students in the US to complete high school, and nearly everyone can go to college if they want to. You might say that the US has a more highly-educated population. But in Hong Kong, it’s not expected to complete secondary school. In fact, most students don’t. However, if you want to have a job where you’ll be making a decent amount of money, you need to go to university. In Hong Kong, there are a few highly-educated people controlling the country. We decided that it dates back to the European system of feudalism – keep the peasants down by not allowing them to be educated. The upside to only allowing a small percentage of the population go on to higher education? You won’t be in debt for the rest of your life just to pay for college. Hong Kong universities haven’t been hit by the insane inflation that US colleges and universities have.

Yesterday was a first for me; I cooked! It was the first time I cooked since I got to Hong Kong, with the exception of the tuna melt I made this weekend. (Teriyaki-flavored tuna and pineapple-flavored cheese is surprisingly good together.) I made my own spaghetti sauce, and tossed in some zucchini (or courgettes, since that’s the British term and therefore what they’re called here). It was very good. I just wish I could have found mozzarella cheese. I had to make do with Kraft parmesan.

I’m still working on picture posts. I know you’ve all been waiting patiently, and I promise, they’re coming soon. I’m going to get them posted, and after that, don’t expect too much from me during November. I (quite possibly foolishly) signed up for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and I am going to attempt to produce a 50,000 word novel in one month. (Note that I did not say ‘quality novel’.) This is not an attempt to be a published writer; this is just to be able to say that I wrote a novel. Plus, LiveJournal is blocked in China, so I will be out of touch while I’m there. I’m not sure if e-mail is blocked or not. Shoot, I don’t even know if I’ll have internet access while I’m there. I will make sure to take lots of pictures, though, to post when I get back.

Well, this post so far was 1,670 words. Since the daily target for 50,000 words in one month is 1,667 words a day, I think I can make it if I keep up. Wish me luck!

Pictures! Finally!

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:43:16 GMT

September 25 was Mid-Autumn Festival, aka Moon Festival, aka Lantern Festival. My roomie and I went down to the local waterfront park to see the lantern displays. Supposedly the display in my town is the best in the New Territories.

These are all pictures of some of the different lanterns in the park. Pretty, huh?

This is a general picture of the crowd, as well as the basic lanterns that lined the walkways. It was pretty crowded, even though it was raining.

This was a picture of the wish wall. You would write your wish on a piece of paper and hang it on the wall.

I'm Terrible, I Know

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 07:58:34 GMT

I know, I know, I know. I still have pictures to post from Mid-Autumn Festival, which was over a month ago. And I'm terribly sorry, but there are no pictures in this post, either. But I do have some good news.

1. I am teaching geometry again. Not an actual class, but I am doing supplementary lessons for Form 1 (approximately seventh grade) students. The lesson that I'm currently teaching combines geometry, British history, and art. It's a lot of fun. I really enjoy the teaching part, and the kids seem to enjoy the lesson, too.

And I have to say, I'm incredibly impressed by their math skills. They are 12- and 13-year-olds, and they're doing what I would consider high school geometry. They don't do everything that a high school geometry class would do, but they do a lot of it. Part of that is because the Hong Kong math(s) curriculum doesn't pigeonhole the classes into algebra, geometry, statistics, etc. You learn a little bit of everything each year. Integrated math, I guess you could call it.

And also, they don't use calculators. At all. As in, not a single student even brings one to school. I was in shock. (Good shock.) They had to find the area of a rectangle that was 5 m by 45 m, and they did the multiplication in their heads. It was amazing. And they know how to treat pi as a variable, and not multiply it out before the end of the problem! Seriously, I am very impressed.

These might seem like minor things, but after encountering so many students who can't multiply 6 times 7 without pulling out a calculator, it's so refreshing.

2. I am officially going to China on November 14. I'm still not entirely sure where I'm going in China, just somewhere in the Guandong (aka Canton) province. I also don't know what I'll be doing, but I did hear something about sleeping on a board. That part I'm not looking forward to. I'm also taking a bus into the country, instead of the train like I thought. I'm going with my roommate, who also teaches at the school I'm at, one of the missionaries/seminary professors in Hong Kong, and the vicar/intern/educational consultant from the seminary. (Technically he's a vicar, as in pastor-trainee. But since in Hong Kong 'vicar' means 'Anglican clergyman', he goes by intern. But when in China he goes by 'educational consultant' to try and keep the government in the dark about the religious part of his job.)

Anyways, I'm excited. I just hope this trip actually happens, because I've had two cancelled already.

3. I contacted a travel agent to look into going to Bangkok for Christmas break. Eee! I'm so excited! And please, no Brokedown Palace/Bridget Jones 2 references. I'm not going to smuggle drugs for anyone, so I don't anticipate being thrown into a Thai prison.

Location, distance, and price-wise, I had in narrowed down to two places that interested me: Bangkok and Seoul. But then someone more practical than me pointed out that Seoul would be rather chilly at Christmas, so I decided on Bangkok.

Bullet Points Are Fun!

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 16:19:56 GMT

Hello, all! I've had some complaints that I'm not posting enough. (Okay, so I had one complaint, that was more of a comment, from my parents.) It's kind of late right now, and I'm too tired to upload pictures, so this is just an update. I have two picture posts worth of pictures, though (at least) so pester me in the comments to get around to that. You have to remember that I'm lazy and forgetful and need a swift kick in the pants every now and then.

Things I Love About Hong Kong
- Dim Sum, or, as it's called around here, Yum Cha (which means 'drink tea'). Dim sum originally meant different types of dumplings, but it's grown to mean pretty much any of the food that's eaten at yum cha. Yum cha is a very social event - it's at least four or five people, and usually more. You order a bunch of dishes, and everyone shares. Everything I've had has been very good. (Though, admittedly, I haven't been brave enough to try the chicken feet yet.)

- Hot water heaters. Showers here have their own gas water heater in the shower. You can actually see the flames in the box as you're showering. This is great, because you can shower while the washer's running, or while your roommate is doing dishes, or whatever. It's great.

- Crossing the street. Around here, the crossing signal comes on for all four directions at the same time, making it safe and legal to cross even the busiest intersections diagonally.

- Public transporation. It's amazing here, absolutely amazing. And the Octopus cards make is so easy to use. I'm actually planning an entire post that will be nothing but an ode to the Octopus card. It's genius, I tell you.

- The people. They're great.

- I live in a mall. 'Nuff said.

Things I Don't Like So Much About Hong Kong
- No one wears sunglasses. This isn't so bad, except that the pair I brought with me has gotten scratched, and the only sunglasses I've found for sale have been the really expensive designer ones. I just want a new pair of $15 Target sunglasses!

- The lack of seating in public areas. Malls don't have benches. Parks don't have (many) benches. There are more people than seats on public transportation.

- I can't find grape jelly. I have strawberry and raspberry jam, but it's just not the same for PB&Js.

- I have plans for Thanksgiving, but I'm going to be spending Christmas alone. (Yes, I might be in Bangkok, or at least Macau, but I'll still be alone.)

Something that's not necessarily good or bad, but is strange: I've begun to think in British English. When I think things in my head, I use British terminology and, increasingly, I think in a British-y accent. I'm still speaking American English, but I'm not thinking it. And I still can't spell the British way for the life of me.

Mid-Autumn Festival Post 1

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 13:02:41 GMT

Hello, everyone! Internet accessibility has been spotty at best, so posting has been difficult. Because of the spotty access, I'm not going to attempt to post any more pictures, though I do have some.

Next Tuesday is Mid-Autumn Festival, aka Moon Festival, aka Lantern Festival. I took a long walk through the Waterfront Park tonight, which is in the process of being decorated. There are lanterns and lights all over the place - it's gorgeous. I can't wait for the actual festival. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures.