Joyce's Hong Kong Blog #6

Joyce’s Hong Kong Blog #6 Thursday, August 20, 2009 Juliet, Ernest’s co-worker, and I met for lunch in Aberdeen. She suggested we eat at a Japanese restaurant, but this time not a chain restaurant. I ordered what she did—pork with noodles. The bowl was huge, about 8” across the top and was FULL of noodles and broth with 3 medium slices of pork and a half a hard-boiled egg. The egg was brown, so I think it had been boiled in tea. I didn’t ask. It was delicious, but I couldn’t eat it all. Afterwards she went back to work and I wandered around the town, exploring a mall I hadn’t been in before. This evening was Bible Study. As usual, the dinner was great and I got warmer and warmer as I ate. I can never tell which dishes are too spicy for me until I’ve tasted them, and my body responds accordingly. Oh yes, as in most homes, we leave our shoes at the door and either wear slippers that are provided, or go barefoot. Ernest and I have been appointed the Bible Study co-leaders, but Ernest is doing most of the leading. I just pop in with comments now and then, which I would do anyway! Rajiv was very appreciative to be able to delegate this responsibility. It was a smaller group than usual and the discussion wasn’t quite as active as usual because of who was missing. However, I was once again impressed with the openness in sharing during prayer time and the caring concern of the group members for each other. It’s been wonderful to “slide” right into a caring community. Because Ernest has been here a year already and has made friends, they’ve accepted me with open arms. It’s sure made this move easier than any others I’ve made. Friday, August 21 Off to a new adventure. Jayne, the new lady at church from England, invited me to meet her at Starbucks in Stanley where she lives now. So, I hopped the minibus to Aberdeen to catch the double-decker bus to Stanley. Minibuses don’t have buzzers, so as we curved down from the bridge into town, I called out in my best Cantonese, “Bosse Chom, mm goy.” (Ernest has been coaching me.) That’s supposed to mean, “Bus, stop, please.” Then someone else called out something, then the bus driver said something back, then he drove right past my stop!! Hmmm. Obviously, something went wrong. I got off at the next stop and walked the long block back to the spot where I had planned to get off. Ernest and I get off there often and the minibus usually stops there. Who knows what happened? Walked over the flyover and found the right bus going to Stanley after a short wait. We live in the SW of Hong Kong and Stanley is in the SE. The ride over there is beautiful: the road twists and turns around the hills with beautiful views of the ocean and small, tree filled islands. I was supposed to get off at the Stanley Plaza, but my bus didn’t turn at the Stanley Plaza sign. Hmmm. So, I jumped off at the first stop in Stanley Market, walked down to the promenade on the beach, and headed back up to the Plaza, a 5 min. walk. Fortunately, Ernest and I had been in Stanley once before and there aren’t any skyscrapers near the beach, so I could figure out where to go. Jayne had just arrived at Starbucks so we met up without any trouble. We had a delightful chat. She’s been a Christian since graduating from college and her husband grew up in a Christian home. The church they attended in England was held in their kids’ school, so they feel comfortable attending our church which is in their kids’ school here. She’s met a few neighbors, one from Ireland and one from Scotland, and the kids began school today, so they are beginning to feel settled. We decided to walk through the market. It’s typical but larger than most: it has several narrow aisles with shops on either side, and more shops, and more shops. Stanley is a tourist town with scores of foreigners—very unlike our part of HK. We looked in a handbag shop and Jayne was certain the leather purses were fake. We found another shop where the purses were very nice, real leather and fairly good prices. Yes, I succumbed and bought a HUGE purse. It’s sheep leather, which is lighter than cow leather, and dark taupe. It’ll be great for shopping—I won’t have to carry a purse and a bag for small purchases. Jayne almost purchased a large green handbag, but decided to wait because she said she has many purses already. I now have two. Time to say good-bye. I jumped on a minibus and sat with a lady from Illinois. She’s lived in Hong Kong for 3 years and loves it here. Soon after she got off, we were headed down a steep hill when the driver hit the brakes hard, about 3 times. Everyone flew forward a half a foot or more. No one said anything: no sharp intakes of breath, no words or yells, just silence. However, it was obvious everyone was nervous by the way they looked around and at the bus driver. I almost hit the man in front of me when I flew forward. They have a saying here, “Death by minibus.” Guess the minibus drivers have quite a reputation. It reminded me of Jayne’s story. She and her kids were on a bus (not a minibus) and were stopped at a bus stop. They felt a jolt and looked around—another bus had tried to pass them unsuccessfully and had hit the side toward the back of their bus with the side toward the back of the other bus. No one on their bus yelled or looked startled—they all acted like it was a common occurrence. The other bus scraped along the side of their bus as it tried to back up, then their driver slowly pulled forward (more scraping) until he was free. She and her kids were in shock. In London the police would have been called and the passengers would have been upset and talking about the accident. Welcome to Hong Kong!! Later I rode the ferry to Aberdeen to meet Ernest to head for his conversation group. Edwin was there and he and Ernest chatted for over an hour. They were talking about technical stuff, so I read a newspaper that Edwin had brought. Then Jimmy and Dawn arrived about the same time. Dawn had her 7 yr. old son with her so I could evaluate his English level and have him read some school books to me. He’s a precocious little kid. He read a book in English and did very well with vocabulary and comprehension, but his tone is very high so it didn’t always sound like English. He just returned from spending 3 weeks in California with his Aunt and there he attended school all day, so his English had improved by leaps and bounds. He chattered away in English non-stop. However, they live almost an hour away from us, a two hour round trip on 2 buses each direction, so I probably won’t tutor him. Saturday, August 22 Once a month there’s a prayer meeting at Rajiv’s, so we headed to Admiralty via bus then caught a taxi to take us halfway up Victoria Peak to his house. (Before we started, two of the ladies were talking about their breakfast: one had eaten sprouts and greens, and the other had eaten fruit. When you couple that with them drinking soup broth and throwing away the food, it makes sense that many of them are skinny!) Although sparsely attended, the prayer time was very special. Afterwards, Janet had her driver drop us off in Central where we were headed to a computer exhibition. There was also a home decorating show and a wedding show at the same convention center. While walking across the flyover the crowds intensified. Every few feet there were people shoving brochures at us for the various shows. Once inside the building the crowd was wall to wall, shoulder to shoulder, and we were all doing the “penguin shuffle.” (If that doesn’t make sense to you, then think about the children’s game, “Mother, May I?” and focus on “baby steps.”) We wound our way through the halls and down the escalator and back and forth through the ticket line, bought our tickets, then had to cut back through the ticket line and go back up another escalator in order to get to the hallway leading to the door into the center. Very poor crowd management. Once inside we saw a booth with beautiful girls in matching outfits with dozens of men taking their pictures. Later there were 2 more booths with beautiful girls dressed alike with cameras flashing. I noticed that there were no women with cameras. They were very conservatively attired, I should add. I was hanging on to Ernest so we wouldn’t get separated. We were constantly being bumped, and I’m sure we were bumping others, also. The prices were good and we came home with headphones and a computer monitor. The computer monitor is extra wide and can be set up for large print. I’m delighted. It is sure easy on the eyes. Walking down the street back in Ap Lei Chau, we walked by the education center and that reminded me that Karin was in today. She was in a hurry to catch her ferry back to Lamma Island, a 30 min. trip, but we did have a few minutes to chat. She’s been working for the center for 3 years, just 2 hrs. on Saturdays, but tutors English for her livelihood. She invited me to follow her to the market and talk while she shopped, but she had to catch the ferry. I stayed and talked with Mr. Fan, who is the co-owner of the education center. He said he has had parents requesting a native English teacher. Also, the Baptist school has asked him if he knew of one, but he did indicate they aren’t able to pay much because many of their students’ families have moved here from mainland China. I took it to mean that the people from the mainland are poor. We exchanged phone numbers and will keep in touch. If this does turn into a job, I will be 5 min. from work and I won’t have to collect money or travel to people’s homes. Interesting!!! Sunday, August 23 While waiting for the minibus to fill, an older lady was struggling to get a large package, about 3 feet long, on board the minibus. The next 2 people to get on had a bag of gifts and a sack of snacks. They all got off at the top of the hill, which is unusual—generally people stay on the bus until Aberdeen. We were watching them as they got off and realized that the large package was a roasted pig with snout and ears intact. It was in a long cardboard box with about 4“ sides and loosely covered with red cellophane. Wow, were we surprised! We had “cardboard testimonies” at church. People wrote words on one side with their “before Christ” thoughts and then flipped it over where they had written “after Christ” words. For example, one was “mercenary” and the flip side said “missionary.” Another said “stress, fear,” then “peace, joy.” Many participated and it was inspiring. While waiting at the stop bus to head home, another couple from church joined us. They were going to eat lunch in Aberdeen and invited us to join them. It was great to get to know Chris and Rita better. At the Japanese restaurant, Ernest received his food then the waiter took the other 2 dishes he had with him to 2 other tables. Five minutes later, Chris’ food arrived. Ten minutes later Rita asked if they would bring us our salad, but they didn’t. A few minutes later Rita’s meal arrived. After Ernest and Chris were finished eating, my meal arrived. I’m sure it was unusual that my plate was so late, but they do take out the plates that are ready as they are ready and don’t wait to serve the entire table at once. Rita showed us various stores and told us that prices in Aberdeen are much cheaper than up north. We bought some white watermelon at the market. On the outside it looks like a watermelon that is twice as long as normal. They cut it in 2” or 3” cylindrical sections because people don’t usually want to purchase an entire melon. The inside is white, it was crunchy and didn’t have much taste. (I found out later that it is to be cooked in soup, not to be eaten like fruit. Whoops!) Monday, August 24 Rita and I went swimsuit and clothing shopping today. I was surprised to immediately find 7 swimsuits to try on. The clerk was very helpful and kept showing me suits similar to the first one I chose off the rack. In the states I have trouble finding any modest suits that are moderately attractive and inexpensive. We also looked at clothing, but finding clothing that doesn’t wrinkle too badly and is the style I like is difficult. The store was Jusco and is the main discount department store in HK. First we went to a bank so I could cash a check. I’m sure glad Rita was with me because she understood what the bank teller was trying to tell me. The check was marked “account payee only” in tiny letters, which means that I can’t cash it, I can only deposit it. Since I don’t have an account in HK, I need to get my name on Ernest’s account. We ate lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant. The entry was at street level, but the restaurant was upstairs above another restaurant, which is typical. When we walked in the hostess told us that we would have to share a table with others because it was lunch time. She gave us a piece of paper with a number on it. When we got upstairs another hostess seated us at a booth for four, then another hostess came and moved us to a table for two. The seats were side by side and the other side of the table was up against a wall. Even Rita seemed surprised, but we were happy we didn’t have to share the table. We shared a large bowl of soup: it had thin, long, bright white noodles and flavored beef chunks. We also split the Portuguese pie which was rice and pork chunks covered with a delicious sauce. Unfortunately, the pork chunks had as much bone and gristle as meat, but it tasted good. Rita said that the Macau Restaurant below us probably would have done a better job with the dish because Macau used to be a Portuguese colony. (Macau is an hour ride on a fast ferry. It’s a Special Administrative Region of China, just like Hong Kong is, and is a good place to go to get a passport stamped. Americans can only stay in HK for 3 months and then they have to leave the country, get their passport stamped, and then they can come back for 3 more months. The gal from Russia I met had to leave every 2 weeks—China has different rules for each country.) After we were done with our shopping trip, Rita and I waited 10 min. for a bus and then it took 45 min. to ride back. That gave us 45 min. before the pool closed, so we went for a quick dip. She swims daily because she has had neck and shoulder trouble and swimming helps keep the pain away. She headed home on the bus and I walked the 10 min. back to our apartment. Tuesday, August 25 Ernest and I met for lunch in Aberdeen so that he could put me on his bank account. We had a statement from his bank and I had my passport, but that apparently isn’t enough documentation. They want us to come back with my U.S. driver’s license, our marriage certificate, or an official government letter addressed to me. But, I got a lunch out of the deal. :>) After lunch I wandered through a very large Park ‘n Shop grocery store. In the bakery section they had a multitude of buns: red bean and pineapple, coconut and pineapple, corn and chicken, cheese and ham, and plain red bean. A lady tried to get me to buy some sort of a fish paste that she was wrapping in celophane—it was a loose “blob” about 3” wide and 2” deep, was gray with white and black pieces. I had no clue what to do with it had I bought it, and I wasn’t inclined to try it. Wednesday, August 26 Decided to go back to Jusco by myself. Walked over to the bus stop where I had met Rita, which was only a 10 min. walk. Caught the right bus within a few minutes. I have a book of maps with the different bus routes listed, but I had trouble following my progress. Many of the street signs are way off to the side on the side streets so I couldn’t read them. A couple of miles before getting there, I figured out which map I needed to be looking at and where my bus was on the map. When I could see Jusco in the distance, I planned on hopping off at the next stop. Unfortunately, the bus didn’t stop; instead, it turned and headed up a hill on a different road. I jumped off as soon as it stopped with the intention of walking back down the hill, but I noticed that a lot of people were crossing the street a short way from the bus stop. I crossed with them and followed them up a sidewalk toward a building. I spotted a sign that said, “subway to King’s Road,” which is the road Jusco is on. (A subway is an underground walkway.) So, I continued to follow the people into a building and down a long corridor beside a mall. At the end of the hallway was Jusco!! Was I ever surprised! I’m not sure if the corridor went under or over King’s Road, but it got me there. They had some blouses on sale, 2/$8.00, so I bought several, and I found some towels that were inexpensive and not too thick. Not too thick is important when it’s time to wash and dry them! After looking around awhile, I was hungry and I had noticed a small café on one floor of Jusco. They had pastries that were the shape of a large Hersey’s kiss and only $3.00 HK, which is about $.37 US, so I chose one with chocolate chips. They also had sesame or ham and cheese as other options. The inside was chewy and fairly tasty, but not very sweet. Headed back down the corridor because I had noticed the “bug” sign for the metro on my way into the building. Rode an escalator down a floor, then got onto another, very long escalator, and continued down into the belly of the earth! There were 3 directions to go, all with the sign of the MTR, but there were no further signs depicting which one went where as far as I could tell. Fortunately, I found a customer service booth and he pointed me in the right direction. I got off the MTR in Causeway Bay and headed for the XanGo office. The XanGo office is on the eleventh floor of the Sogo building which houses a very large store as well as many offices. Steven, the director of XanGo in Hong Kong, spent about 20 min. with me explaining some of the differences in their approach in HK vs. the U.S. We also went over the cost structure since that is also different. He was very helpful and they gave me some free XanGo to drink for my efforts. :>) Found the right bus stop, got in line with about 50 other people, and the bus came before too long. Ernest and I were walking to South Horizons last week (I forgot to write about this) when he asked me what I thought all the water was about. We were on a steeply sloped walkway with a roof/cover. Every few poles had water running from the pole onto the walkway. It hadn’t been raining, so I couldn’t figure it out. Well, in Hong Kong, many people have dogs. They take the dogs for walks and they (the dogs, of course,) relieve themselves on the poles. The owner or helper carries a water bottle and dilutes the pee. If the dogs have bigger business to do, then paper is shoved under their backside before they start, which causes a bit of a dance for the helper if the dogs can’t decide where to do their business. Otherwise, the “plop” is picked up and thrown away after the fact. Owning a dog in HK is a challenge, but there are a lot of dogs around anyway. “Man’s best friend” is true here too. Our friends’ dog was out for a walk with their helper last year. The dog lifted his leg to pee on a pole and his leg strayed out over the street a bit. A taxi came flying by with its wheels in the gutter and that was the end of their dog. They were devastated to lose their pet. Like I said, when you are on the sidewalk, you are very close to traffic, so you have to be very careful. It’s especially difficult for foreigners who come from countries where they drive on the right side. We are trained to look left first, but here you need to look right first. Fortunately, at most street crossings they have painted on the asphalt, “Look Right” or “Look Left” with arrows pointing the direction that traffic is coming.

Joyce’s Hong Kong Blog #5 Wednesday Evening, August 12 We rode the minibus over to Aberdeen to look at some stores. I know it sounds like we go shopping a lot, and we do. We have a list of things we need to buy in order to finish settling in, like a bracket for the rod to dry clothes, a “drawer” to go under the bathroom sink, light fixtures, a laundry hamper, and a love seat since a couch won’t fit into our living room, and it’s very difficult to find items with the exact sizes we want. Besides, we try to only purchase what we can cart home on the bus. Life without a car is complicated, but in Hong Kong, having a car is even more complicated because of the congestion and the lack of parking places. Besides, driving on the “wrong” side of the road is disconcerting!! We didn’t find much but when we got back to Ap Lei Chau, we realized we hadn’t ever walked to the east end of the town even though we can see it out our window, so we decided to explore. (We’ve been the 8 or so blocks to the west many times because that is where we catch one bus and that is how we walk to South Horizons.) At the East end of Ap Lei Chau Main Street is a grassy area that is some sort of sports field, but we’ve never seen anyone in there. Beyond it we could see a large soccer field, only it’s cement painted green, we are pretty sure. There are often people out playing soccer. Beyond that is a basketball court, and beyond that is a tennis court. To the south the road curves back around and there is a large Baptist School. We walked north toward the bay and found ourselves in a very nice park with a cute children’s play area and many benches and some tables. There are many parks in Hong Kong and most of them have very nice children’s play areas with playground equipment. On the north side of the park was the promenade by the bay which we’ve walked on, just not that far to the east. Although most of the 70 ft. fishing boats are gone at night, there is still quite a bit of activity with the 30 ft. sampans and tour boats darting around the bay. We began walking west and saw the community garden with 50 (according to the diagram) raised vegetable beds that are about 5’x5’ each. Next is the local Taoist Temple—we can see its roof and courtyard out our window. We were at our street and walked the block south into our cul-de-sac. Thursday, August 13 Ernest pointed out the group of people across the bay on the Aberdeen Promenade doing Tai Chi. Tai Chi is a Chinese system of exercise characterized by slow and deliberate balletic body movements. (Yes, I got that out of the dictionary.) I’ll bet there were at least 40 people doing Tai Chi together. We haven’t ever noticed them before so don’t know if this is a regular occurrence. It was small group night, so I hopped a bus and Ernest got on 3 stops later. Cell phones are so amazing. What did we do before we had them? I can let him know which bus I’m able to catch, then he jumps on the same one. Everything was running smoothly and I caught the bus without having to wait very long, so we ended up downtown (which is what I call Causeway Bay in the N Central part of Hong Kong Island where most of the large businesses and large shopping areas are located) an hour before we were to meet Mailing. We generally get a Mickey D’s ice cream cone because we eat lunch at 1 P.M. and dinner isn’t served until 8 P.M., so it’s a long time for our stomachs to wait. Next door to Mickey Ds is a food kiosk that always has a very long line so I’ve been curious about this snack everyone buys. Since we had time, I got in line and ended up with the right snack by pointing to what the young gal in front of me had purchased. Later we found out they are called egg cups. They are like waffles only they have round raised sections and they are creamier inside. Very, very tasty. We walked by another fast food kiosk with several types of kabobs and 5” octopus legs. There are such a wide variety of snacks we don’t recognize—and will never try! During dinner, Sunita announced at our table, “Ladies, ladies, we’ve had prayers from last week answered. My shoulder pain is gone and Ashwin’s (her son) allergies are better and I think it’s because of XanGo.” This announcement turned into a multitude of questions and 5 ladies bought bottles of XanGo that night. (That’s why Sunita had wanted 3 cases, so that she had enough for others in the Bibles study group.) Wow, that was an easy way to do business. As usual, we got home at 11:30 P.M. Friday, August 14 Ernest had his conversation class tonight and four people attended. I found out that Anton Garrity, one of the top XanGo distributors, was coming to a meeting at the XanGo office; so I skipped the conversation class and rode the bus to the XanGo meeting. I forgot to push the bell when it was time to get off so I ended up a block down the road. I could still see the building and made my way back without any trouble. Anton spoke in English about his 7 month, rags-to-riches XanGo business odyssey while another man translated into Cantonese. There were about 35 people packed into the meeting area, but I was the only native English speaker. I sat next to a couple whose English was fairly good and they kept me informed during the parts of the meeting that weren’t translated. Afterwards I stopped in a large Wellcome store to find something to eat. They had Japanese finger food that looked and tasted like thick French crepes. Delicious! I shared with Ernest when we met up. Saturday, August 15 They’ve been building a new shop on our corner and today it was open for business. It’s a triangular shaped shop and we are estimating that the back two walls are 9 feet and the front is about 11 feet across. They seem to be selling hot snacks and cold drinks. They were burning incense in front of it for good luck, which is common. (As we walk down mainstreet, there are many small cans along the sidewalk next to the doors or shops with incense being burned to their ancestors or gods and food offerings, also.) When large businesses open, the sidewalk in front is usually lined with many, very large flower arrangements: think the largest funeral bouquet you’ve ever seen. But this was a small shop, so it had one elegant potted plant in front. They had two very small folding tables set up next to the rails on the edge of the sidewalk by the street, which didn’t leave much room on the sidewalk for pedestrians. It seems to be a popular hang-out for the older teens/twenties group. When stores close for the day or night, they pull down large steel “wall” from the top which cover the entire front of the store. There’s an opening for a regular size door to fit in, which is how they get in and out once the metal “wall” is secured. At night it’s like walking through a warehouse district in the states. Erica came over and brought “long ngan,” a small round fruit with a thin skin similar to a kiwi skin but not fuzzy. The fruit was a translucent white with a very black seed in the center. The fruit is larger than a black olive but the seed is a bit smaller than a black olive seed. The fruit is sweet and tastes a bit like a green grape. We mentioned that we were planning to get a larger refrigerator since ours is only 35”x21” plus a small freezer section above it. She was very surprised. “Why would you need a bigger refrigerator? If you buy your food every day, it’s fresher.” Hmmm. Since I had two refrigerators with freezers plus an upright freezer in Colorado, this is quite a change in thinking for me. (Ernest’s boss is amazed that we invite people into our home. He said that they probably feel privileged, but he also added that we should never expect to be invited to his home. I guess it isn’t the Hong Kong way.) We went to the market together so Erica could explain some of the wide variety of food. Some of the bags of herbs we thought were for soup are really for tea. We went in a shop with many dried items like beans, squid, fish gills & fins, white fungus, and much more. Erica gave me 3 different recipes for making soup and dessert and helped us buy the ingredients for carrot soup. You use a green carrot and a red carrot which is much sweeter than regular carrots, some white things that look like a cross between flat beans and small seashells, pork pieces, and dried sugar plums. I don’t remember ever seeing sugar plums before—I thought they were just part of the “ ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” poem. She said we could boil everything for 45 min. but that the Chinese boil everything for 3 hours. Then they take out the food, throw it away, and eat the broth. There are these 14 inch long green veges that I couldn’t figure out: they are rope green beans!! You just cut them before cooking. We also walked through the fish market and she pointed out 4 types of live shrimp; the pig intestines, hearts and kidneys; live eels; and many types of fish. After she left we purchased several food items for lunch from a booth at the market. We pointed at our choice and the lady fried our items. One looked like a muffin, but turned out to be a white carrot fritter. It looked like sauerkraut inside but didn’t have a “bite” like sauerkraut. It was delicious. We think the kabobs were fried tofu. We passed a bread and cake shop on the way home and purchased a red bean dessert muffin and a cream puff. The muffin was sweet and tasty. The cream puff turned out to be an elongated sweet white roll with whipped butter and coconut on top, which tasted good after my taste buds figured out it wasn’t a cream puff. Ernest has been doing research trying to find a three-step stool with wide steps as opposed to a step ladder. We looked in at least 8 stores before he finally found one on-line at a Wing On Super Department Store, kind of like a Sears. We went there after dinner and even had a choice of two stools. The Japanese stool was sturdier than the German one, so we chose that one. Wow, it was a great store with lots of interesting items. We also found some white Corelle dishes that go with the dishes Ernest already had—I’ll bet we’ve looked in 20 stores for large (regular size) plates that match his set. Then we went to Price Right for a cable to reach from the tv outlet in the wall to the tv. In that store there’s about a 12 foot section from one part of the store to another where the ceiling is so low that Ernest’s head almost brushes it. We weren’t sure if the bus driver would let us on the bus with a step stool that came up to Ernest’s shoulder, so he got on first and half hid the stool behind him as he swiped his Octopus card. The bus driver didn’t say anything, so we were relieved. Sunday, August 16, 2009 Today at church one of the Doctors talked about Absalom and “A Bad Hair Day.” He also shared some personal stories about pride and how the Lord has helped him develop a better attitude toward his patients. The family from England returned, which was fun. They are very outgoing. After church we rode the bus into town. We were chatting with Rainbow about how Ernest was trying to help me notice landmarks. She laughed and said that Ernest knew Hong Kong so well that if she got lost she would call him via cell phone to help her find her way. (We think she was born here.) We decided to walk through the MTR tunnels to be in air conditioning. A German bakery looked inviting so we purchased two small, oval individual chicken pizzas and a pineapple pastry. Quite tasty. We had better success at Ikea today and found about 8 items that we were looking for. Ernest and a lady called back and forth many times regarding a ceiling light fixture she had for sale. We were able to connect with her at the World Trade Center and bought it for $13.00 U.S. We were laughing that if we ever have anything to sell for only $13.00 U.S. it would be much easier to give it away than to make dozens of phone calls and have to find a meeting place! ($100.00 HK equals approx. $13.00 U.S. so that is a fairly common selling price for second hand, cheaper items.) Time to try the carrot soup. We first just ate the broth like the Chinese do. We’re not used to sweet broth, so it wasn’t terribly appetizing. But I had kept the food and we ate the red carrots and the pork but not the green carrots, the white “stuff,” or the sugar plums after tasting them. We’ll finish this dish off tomorrow, but I won’t make it again. Too sweet for us. No wonder so many of the Chinese are so thin—they just eat the broth. Also, Erica told us that the Chinese ideal is for women to weigh 100 lbs. no matter how tall they are. Ernest’s boss confirmed it, but also stated it’s ridiculous and that 120 lbs. would be much more reasonable. Rita brought me a swimsuit today and it fits—it’s a XXXL. I really don’t like their sizing system!!! Our neighbor had dropped an item of clothing onto the air conditioning unit below her window awhile ago. Our window is at a right angle to hers, so Ernest decided to retrieve it for her and have me return it to her front door. He took the long pole we use for drying clothes and taped a hook to the end. He leaned out the window and I peered out to watch his progress. At that moment our neighbor opened her window to hang out some clothes. She was very animated that she didn’t want Ernest to pick up the clothing, so he put it down. Then by her gestures we thought she meant she wanted him to get it so he picked it up again. She emphatically indicated he should not pick it up at that point, so Ernest put it down again. It really was funny with us all leaning out the windows, EIGHTEEN STORIES UP, about 7 feet from each other. I had bought a bag of M&Ms for her because she had given me a bag of cashews 2 weeks ago, so I rang her doorbell. When she came to the door, she took the bag of M&Ms but gestured for me to wait while she went back in her house. She kept talking to me LOUDLY in Mandarin, and brought out a red tassel with small glass red, green, blue & yellow chili peppers hanging on it in five groups of four with a colorful bead in between each group. After she gave it to me she ducked back into her apartment and reappeared with two books. They had Japanese ladies on the covers with beautiful white skin and fancy hair with decorations in their hair, somewhat similar to the tassel. She kept patting her cheek and pointing to the pictures and then at me. She continued talking loudly and excitedly for several minutes and we had no clue what she meant. Finally Ernest had her write something down in Chinese so he could take it to work and have it translated. Jong (Young) finished writing and then disappeared back into her flat. She is friendly and animated and talkative!! Monday, August 17, 2009 I holed up and chatted on the phone much of the day. The girls were driving from Canon City to Siloam Springs today (their Sunday) so we talked several times. Did three loads of laundry and managed to find places to hang the clothes up to dry. We bought some hangers that are 33” across the bottom. They are great for drying clothes. We also bought a plastic octopus. Its legs fold up next to its body for storage, but stick straight out when it is hanging up. Each of the 8 legs has 2 clips which is perfect for hanging up socks. Bit by bit we are getting organized! I walked around town and went into several stores. A watch shop had merchandise on only one side and the aisle was only wide enough for one person. I was looking for a clock and found a cute Citizen clock in a small shop where the lady spoke some English. Wandered through the market and purchased some extra long beans and some tomatoes. Then I visited a tutoring center that Ernest had noticed had the name Karin and “native English speaker” in the window. There were two Chinese young men there who spoke some English. They told me that Karin teaches there on Saturdays, and they wanted to know if I was looking for a job. I’m not at this point, but it will be interesting to talk with Karin. She’s from South Africa but lived in the States for awhile. Ernest found out that Jong’s note said something about a piano player and someone who is quick with a gun. We think she must have been writing about the stories in the books. Hmmmm. ANYWAY, Ernest’s boss warned him that we shouldn’t keep giving her gifts, even though she gave us something first, because in Asian culture she will have to keep giving us gifts until she is in the poor house. Tuesday, August 18, 2009 Ernest left early today because he and his boss, MK, and Juliet went to China to visit their factory. I chatted on the phone with a new friend in Hong Kong as well as several in the states. Finished cleaning and organizing our new wardrobe. When the wardrobe door is open it almost touches the bed so we can’t get in and out of the bedroom when someone is using the wardrobe. Now everything has a place—but wait ‘til my 15 boxes arrive. (No, they haven’t been shipped yet! Annoying!) Nok and I went to Aberdeen for dinner. She chose a large Chinese restaurant that was in one of the malls. She had a pastry with fish inside and shrimp and I had sirloin with mushroom sauce. We wandered through several shops and then rode the bus home. Wednesday, August 19, 2009 Jenny from church invited me to a Bible Study in Central led by Priscilla, the former pastor’s wife, using a Joyce Meyer video series. I left early, fortunately. Followed the bus’ progress by watching the bus stop schedule Ernest had printed off for me. I rang the bell and jumped off the bus, then realized I was in the wrong place. The bus had made an extra stop. So, I walked in the right direction and arrived at the Macau Ferry Terminal within 15 min. In route a young man asked me for directions. I wasn’t much help but found out he had been raised in the Philippines but now lives in Spain. There was a public restroom near the sidewalk. There were 5 stalls with “squatty potties,” which are ceramic holes in the tile with places to put your feet on either side. These are the traditional toilets. They almost look like a urinal without the back, but they are down in the floor. Fortunately there was one “modern” toilet. Often the toilet paper is on a roll out by the sinks. I rarely remember to look before entering the stall. However, in HK everyone carries small packages of tissue with them, so this practice has benefitted me many times! It took awhile but I followed Ernest’s directions and found the Bible Study. About 25 women attended. Amy, a new Christian, told about a man who had entered her apartment through an open window and had robbed her at knife point. She kept praying and asking God what to do. He didn’t hurt her and was caught by the police as he was leaving the building, for which she was praising the Lord. She said her apartment is up high enough that she never thought anyone would come in through her window. As I walked back into Ap Lei Chau Main Street, a man was walking by holding a girl about 3 yrs. old. He stopped and told her to say “hi” to me. Of course, she just stared. Then he held up her hand and said, “high five.” So I smiled and gave her a “high five” and spoke to her in English a little bit. He smiled and nodded and then left. I thought that was very nice of him to try to talk to me with his limited English. One of Ernest’s English conversation class participants, Dawn, called today and asked if I would tutor her 7 year old son in English. Ernest thinks I would really enjoy her, but she lives almost an hour away, so we’ll have to see. I asked around about fees and tutors generally include traveling time in their prices. They can earn anywhere from $25.00 to $75.00 U.S. per hour depending upon their credentials and the age of the student. Younger kids take less preparation time so sometimes are charged less. (I think earning more than $50.00 per hour is unusual.) I called Sam, the blond Australian I’d met, to ask about haircuts. She said she trims her own hair until she’s out of Hong Kong, then she’ll go to a hairdresser. She said that most hairdresser here are used to Chinese hair and they either cut it straight across, just below the ears, or else they feather longer hair. A good hair cut for a foreigner/blond costs about $1200 HK, or about $150. Guess I’ll ask around for other opinions, but may end up becoming my own hair dresser. This evening Jong rang our doorbell and invited me over to her apartment. She is very animated, but I don’t have a clue what she’s saying. After about 10 min. she ran down the hall and got a young lady, Cindy, to come interpret. Cindy is mid to late twenties. She was surprised we had been here 3 weeks since we hadn’t seen each other before. Jong’s main theme was pickpockets, again, but this time it made more sense. She works in a restaurant in Aberdeen where there is a pianist and a singer who speak English. They are pickpockets and have a crime ring. Young’s husband came home and I met him, but have forgotten his name already. He fixes air conditioning units. Afterwards Cindy asked if she could bring her boyfriend over to meet us on Saturday. She seems very sweet. Most HK young adults live with their parents until they get married because apartments are so expensive here. We’ll skip the tiny lizard in my kitchen incident. Suffice it to say, he is (hopefully) happily enjoying the flower garden near the temple and our security guard said to me, “You have kind heart.”

Joyce’s Hong Kong Blog #4 Thursday, August 6 Rita from church called and had me meet her at the bus stop, then we walked to Sham Wan Towers to go swimming. Her complex is less than a 10 min. walk from our place. The facilities are beautiful. My swimsuit is pathetic—I haven’t worn it for several years. She offered to take me swimsuit shopping, which is great since she knows where the best stores are and how to get to them. I’m not ready to venture out on my own yet, except within our small area. In the evening we headed back to our small group. This time Mailing met us and we hailed a taxi together. Once again the dinner was delicious and abundant. The interaction was enthusiastic and inspiring. Rajiv even commented on how easy it is to lead our group since so many participate in the discussion. Friday, August 7 I had notes and postcards to mail, so I got up my nerve and rode the minibus to Aberdeen. I found the post office with no trouble, then noticed a mall by the bus stop. There’s lots of construction going on near the bus stop, so we hadn’t noticed it before. As malls go, it’s quite small, but it has the requisite shoe and handbag stores in it. It amazes me that there can be that many shoe and purse stores around. I guess in a land where people walk a lot, the shoes wear out quickly. And since people carry things with them rather than throwing items into the trunk of the car, big purses are popular. It also had several snack stores. These seem to be quite popular and they have many, many snacks I’ve never seen before. Some I might try some day, and some I’ll never try, like the seaweed strips! After exploring the upper three floors, I went down to the large Wellcome Store (yes, that is how they spell it here) in the basement. We’ve been trying to find Hunts spaghetti sauce, so I thought it might be big enough to carry the Hunts. It wasn’t, but there was a very blond young woman in the store. I asked her if she spoke English, and she did. Come to find out she’s from Moscow and visiting her Australian boyfriend who works in HK. Since he works during the day, she’s been exploring HK by herself. She’s braver than me! I’m still staying close to home. Her British English was almost perfect. That evening Jimmy attended the conversation group again and Edwin returned. I had never met him. He brought Eva, who was new. They bought dinner and I was pleased to see several tossed salads among the dishes. I haven’t seen lettuce in the stores or markets and these were nice dark lettuce leaves, not iceberg lettuce. Bacon pieces and croutons made it more inviting so I dug in. After a few bites I started thinking something was fishy. Real fishy. In fact, the “bacon” was fish! It really looked like bacon. It did not add anything to the salad, but I gallantly consumed every bite anyway. The group broke up at 9 P.M. because DeliFrance closed and we walked to the MTR station. When walking downtown I feel like I’m in one of those corn mazes that are popular in the states in October. Only imagine that the stalks are 30 stories high, that there are narrow paths next to the stalks with so many people you keep bumping into them, and with buses and taxis whizzing by in the middle of each row just inches from you. I finally figured out that one reason the traffic is so intimidating here is because there are no parked cars between the sidewalk and the road, and the sidewalks are narrow. We truly are closer to the traffic than in the states. Since I can’t see the Rocky Mountains to the West, and even during the day the sun can rarely be seen from the sidewalk, I can’t ever seem to figure out which direction I’m headed; which means, I don’t know which side of the road I need to be on in order to get onto a bus heading in the right direction. Ernest is pointing out landmarks to try to help me get oriented, but it’s slow going! Ernest and I jumped onto the MTR (the subway) and headed NE to Kowloon which is on the mainland, but near Hong Kong Island. We rode on two different MTR lines. Fortunately, the lines are color coded and each transfer can be made at two adjacent stations. That way, if you aren’t paying attention and miss the first station, you can still transfer at the next one. Actually, I think they have the two spots so that the crowds aren’t all trying to get on and off at the same place, but it is nice to have a second chance. They have sophisticated maps on the wall that show where you are and which direction you are going. Very helpful!! On the MTR you scan your Octopus card when you get on AND when you get off so that you are charged for the distance you travel. We got off the MTR under a mall and then went to the side of the building where there was access to a housing estate of 11 apartment towers. It was beautiful with columns, arches and greenery. We found the right apartment and looked at another wardrobe. It’s quite tall but fits our décor so we gave the man a down payment and headed home. Saturday, August 8 Erica came over at 10:30 with palmello. It has a green skin and is similar to a large grapefruit. Ours was a bit tart so the part I ate after Erica left, I dipped into sugar. We just chatted. She said that after 2 hours with us she begins to think in English. That’s good! We purchased a new curling iron and decided to try to return the old one. The warranty said we had to return it to the authorized importer who is located in an industrial area. We hopped on the bus and headed toward Kowloon again. From the S side of Hong Kong Island where we live, you can either take a bus NW along the bay that stops often to pick up more passengers, or you can take the short cut through the mountain. We took the shortcut. Alas and alack, it was Sat. afternoon and the traffic was horrific. We got stuck in the tunnel for a half an hour. The man in the car in front of us must have dozed off a few times because he didn’t always creep forward when the bus in front of him moved. After arriving in Kowloon, we walked awhile but got turned around. By time we found the place, it was 4 P.M and they had closed. Then we walked to a large mall, the Mega Box. All in all we think we walked about 5 miles! My feet were complaining and it was hot and humid! A “do it yourself” store inside the mall, B & Q (like Home Depot) was going out of business and everything was 40% off. We walked around both floors but didn’t find anything we needed or wanted. Unlike the states, people in Hong Kong don’t tend to “do it themselves,” which is why the store is going out of business! The mall had some cute, life size cartoon figures and displays in the center. Parents were taking pictures of their kids and many teens were taking pictures of each other. Upstairs they had a safari theme area with an elephant, a zebra and other animals that moved, and again, many picture takers. We went outside the mall and I was hurrying to catch the shuttle to the MTR. Ernest grabbed my arm and showed me the line, which was on the other side of the mall doors from where the bus was parked. We got into line which disappeared and wove its way down a hall and back and forth. I felt like I was in a Disneyland ride line! Finally we got to the front of the line and hopped on the shuttle which took us to another big mall which had an MTR (subway) station. We rode it under the bay then caught a bus to head home. Sunday, August 9 Today was Ernest’s day to teach Sunday School, which runs after the singing, during the sermon. He rotates with some other teachers about 1x per month. The kids range in age from 7 to 12. There were four girls who are regulars and there were two new boys. One had just recently moved here from Seattle, an ABC we think, (American Born Chinese) and the other one had just moved from England. (Usually there are more kids, but it is August in Hong Kong.) The lesson went well and I enjoyed participating. Afterwards we chatted for quite awhile; the people are friendly and I’m beginning to remember a few names. When we got back to Aberdeen, we rode the ferry to Ap Lei Chau and decided to walk through the open market. It’s only one side of one row since on the other side is the municipal building which houses the fish market, a restaurant, a sports center, and a library. A voice said, “Hi, Joyce.” I looked around and (fortunately) recognized Wendy, a young lady I had met on the elevator in our building. Her English is halting, but she is very friendly and I can understand her. She was heading to the library. One of the vegetable booths has a cat and a kitten tied with short ropes to a pole. I always feel sorry for them. We bought some mushrooms and tomatoes so we could have egg omelets. I have discovered that the red tomatoes are usually green inside, but if you leave them out for 3 or 4 days, the insides turn red. After coming home and changing, we walked up to South Horizons to buy the bookcase from the Australian couple. It was 3 P.M. and hot. Tony had taken it apart, but it took Ernest about ½ an hour to wrap it up and tie it to the hand truck. We were in the hall because their flat was full of boxes in preparation for their move. The hall was hot and by time Ernest had it ready, his clothes were almost completely wet. I spent the time wiping my face and neck with a tissue. We headed home the long way, following the road, to avoid the stairs. This time Ernest padded his shoulder a bit with our cloth shopping bags, which we always take with us, so his shoulder wasn’t as sore as last time. When were back in Ap Lei Chau, almost to the bottom of the hill, we saw a group of about 8 people coming toward us. We moved over toward the stairs to let them by and to give Ernest a break. After they passed us, they sent their 11 or 12 yr. old girl back to tell us, “There is a slope.” I’m sure they thought we were trying to figure out how to get the bookcase and cart down the stairs and we didn’t realize the sidewalk continued to slope down around the corner. What a kind gesture. I’m pretty sure they live in our building, but there are so many new faces… In general the people in Hong Kong are reserved. They don’t tend to say “hi” to strangers. Even though many of them speak English, they aren’t generally confident enough to try to speak it. So we were touched that this family/group took the time to help us out. After Ernest got the bookcase set up and it had cooled down a little bit, we decided to walk back up to South Horizons to see if we could find some of the illusive spaghetti sauce. There’s a large Park ‘n Shop there. In the mall there is a chain store, Ecosway. It’s a bit like Sam’s or Costco where you get a discount if you join, however it’s quite small. We found a sauce packet for fish that doesn’t have MSG in it. Hooray. Almost everything here has MSG and Ernest is very allergic to it. We did find the Hunt’s spaghetti sauce in the Park ‘n Shop, and headed home. I’m sure the walking is good for me, but it gets old quickly! Monday, August 10 It was rainy today, but the typhoon that devastated Taiwan bypassed us, for which we are grateful. That got me wondering about the hill behind us. What if there’s a mud slide and the hill behind us washes us into the bay? (There are lots of new things to worry about here!) Anyway, I investigated and the sides of the hill that are sloped are covered with cement with openings for some trees. As we walk up the hill, some of the areas are flatter, like where the bamboo grove is, so there isn’t cement there. There seem to be extensive drain systems throughout HK, because after rains we can see waterfalls in different places on the hills across the bay, but they come down controlled areas, usually with cement “pathways” and canals for them to empty into. Some of the runoff must also empty into our bay because after a rain, our blue-green bay turns brown in places. When it’s pouring, we can barely see our side of the bay. I stayed home all day and did 3 loads of laundry, cleaned, chatted on the phone, returned e-mail, and organized our new bookcase and cabinet. Laundry Day is quite interesting. First, we have a front loader that fits under the kitchen counter. That, of course, means that there is no cabinet space under that counter. The washing machine is small so it holds about half a load of what our top loader did at home. Each load takes about 2 hours. THEN comes the exciting part. The Chinese like to hang their clothes outside so that the sun can touch them and sterilize them. Now remember, we are on the 18th floor. Guess what’s outside my living room window? A horizontal clothesline pole!! I’m supposed to LEAN OUT THE WINDOW and reach out with my laundry in my hand and pin it to the pole. My neighbors don’t seem to have a problem with the concept. They put their laundry on hangers and clip the hangers to the poles with very large, round clothespins. I have actually reached out and touched the pole just to see how far out I have to lean. TOO FAR. So, now to find an alternate way to dry clothes without a dryer. If I put the small items on our drying clothes rack and put it in the shower, hang the larger items over the shower sides, turn on the dehumidifier to the “hot” setting and close the bathroom door, the clothes will dry in about 4 hours. It does cause one to get in and out of the bathroom for its intended use much more quickly! We also have a long pole that stretches from the top of our shelf unit (a detachable part of our smaller wardrobe) across the room to the top shelf of our large wardrobe. However, we have bumped it off many times and been whacked by the pole, so we have to be careful. Ernest is going to devise a bracket system to keep it in place. When Ernest got home we went to Aberdeen, which means “Little Hong Kong” in Cantonese. I showed him where the post office is and the mall, then we walked the two short blocks to the plaza. On the way over I looked in a pastry shop window. They had the cutest round, individual cakes: the pink one looked like a pig head, the brown one like a bear, and the black one might have been a hedge hog. Ernest thought they were cartoon characters, and sure enough, the following day we saw the bear on a t.v. ad on the bus t.v. The double decker buses have t.v. screens which run ads in Cantonese. The plaza is called Aberdeen Town Square. It’s has huge, fancy gateways at either end, a large pool with a fountain in the center with wide sides surrounding the pool for people to sit on, tiled sidewalks and benches. Many people sit and talk in the plaza or play games. It’s quite pretty and, of course, it’s surrounded by stores and restaurants. It has a McDonalds and a KFC; shoe stores; a Mannings which is a personal care store; a sports store; a snack store; and a Japan Home which has dishes, towels, fans, pans, and a myriad of other household items. We bought a Korean snack called “Pocky.” They are about 6” long, thin, round cookies that taste a little bit like vanilla wafers, and are dipped in dark chocolate. They are quite tasty. Tuesday, August 11 Today was our day to pick-up the wardrobe in Kowloon. Thankfully Kowloon is way too far away for us to cart the wardrobe home with a hand truck. No entertainment for the locals today! I hopped a bus and Ernest jumped on two stops later. We transferred to the MTR and got back up to Kowloon. Coming up out of the MTR station we saw a Pie and Tart shop. The pies are smaller than Chicken Pot Pies, but larger than tarts. The variety was amazing. I passed on the ostrich meat pie and purchased a beef curry pie and a mushroom pie that actually had cheese on the top. They don’t eat much cheese here. Both were quite tasty and the mushroom pie was quite sweet. They also had a large variety of tarts. This time when we arrived at the entrance to the housing complex, the security guard followed the guidelines and Ernest had to sign a form, she filled out a form for us to carry with us stating where we were going, and then she alerted the security guard for the apartment we were going to. Those who lived there scanned their Octopus cards in order to gain entry. But, the guards were friendly, just formal. While Ernest broke down the wardrobe, I ate my pies and observed the apartment. The living room was slightly larger than ours. In the master bedroom you walked in the door and to the right the bed took up the entire space, wall to wall. There was room to the left for a wardrobe, but very little walking space. Their other two bedrooms were about 9x9 feet each. Two of the bedrooms had bay windows with large sills, maybe 2 feet across, that you could sit on. They also had a large tiled balcony on two sides of the house with great views. The balcony was almost as large as the house. Only the apartments on that floor, the fourth I think, had these extra large, tiled balconies. The other apartments had smaller, sliding glass door size balconies that extended out about 3 feet. Many of them had laundry drying on them. There was a view of the bay between two of the other high rises. From the balcony you could see a beautiful community pool and there were lots of trees and plants around the complex. The renter told us that the landlord was planning to sell it for cheap, only 4 million Hong Kong—about half a million U.S. dollars. Wow! We had hired “two men and a truck” again. The man in the apartment laughed and said he had used them for his move. They had quoted him a price, he himself had broken down most of the furniture and moved it out into the hall, and when the movers arrived, they still acted surprised at “all the work” and raised the price! ANYWAY, only one of them came, the man from India, and he got off the MTR at the wrong station, so he was quite late. Since the truck was busy, he called a van to take the wardrobe, which meant another wait. The wardrobe was very long and went over the back seat. Ernest got to ride the 30 minutes slumped down so it wouldn’t hit his head. But, we got it to our apartment with no trouble, so the locals missed out on a spectacle. Wednesday, August 12 Today I headed out on an adventure to Cheung Chau Island. Ernest had taken Amelia and me there in March, then later he went back and became acquainted with some missionaries who run a retreat center for missionaries up in the hills. About 30,000 people live on the island and motorized vehicles are not allowed. Ernest rode the bus to Central with me, about a 45 min. ride, to make sure I got on the right ferry. There is the slow ferry, 1 hour, and the fast ferry, ½ hr. Sally met me at the ferry and we began the walk to the center. As we walked up the narrow paths in the village with our umbrellas up, they kept bumping the people’s umbrellas who were going down the paths. I was wondering about mud, but the paths were cement the entire 20 min. walk up the hill. We had a nice chat over tea with cream. As I headed back down the path, I heard drums and cymbals clanging and could see a procession coming. I moved to the side where I could get my umbrella out of the way and watched as they went by. I had just passed a temple that is either Taoist or Buddhist, so I’m sure they were headed there. Six men were balancing a large decorative box on a cart. It had incense burning in front of it and about 100 people were following it up the hill. After the procession passed, a man passed me going down the hill, so I quickly moved in behind him as he made a path through the rest of the followers. I grabbed some McDonalds chicken McNuggets just before boarding the ferry since the clock said I had 10 min. before it left and the Mickey Ds was right in front of the ferry. Back on HK Island I wandered around the IFC building, International Finance Center. There were many ritzy stores and they even had a trio playing in the mall center, a pianist, a bass fiddle, and a violinist. I purchased an Anzac Biscuit “I Scream” gelato, which is just an ice cream cone. It was a very sweet vanilla ice cream with tiny nuts in it with a touch of coconut flavor. I found my way to the MTR, but ended up in the orange line. I knew I didn’t want to go to Disneyland, so I rode the escalator back up the stairs and found a customer service person who pointed me in the right direction. There were little shops all along the way into the MTR and also after the Octopus scanner. Then I walked a very long way and also rode several moving conveyors. It was very much like being in an airport only there were no windows to look out since it was underground. I found the purple line and got on and off without any other trouble. I had planned to visit the XanGo office anyway, but while I was riding the ferry Sunita had called and asked me to pick up 3 cases of juice for her. I hadn't taken my credit card with me since I haven’t needed it since I arrived and I wasn’t planning to buy anything when I left home. Ernest had to fax over his # and signature before I could buy anything which took quite awhile. In the mean time, Sunita’s driver was waiting for me in a hotel parking lot a city block away, but he had to keep leaving and driving around the block so the security guard wouldn’t kick him out. Amy, the lady helping me, offered to walk with me to the hotel since I had never been there and because I couldn’t carry 3 boxes by myself. We found the car without much trouble and were relieved to finally connect with the driver. Amy showed me where to line up for the bus home, and I made it back home without any trouble.

Joyce’s Hong Kong Blog #3 Thursday, July 30 Now that we’ve moved, Ernest is only 20 min. from work, whereas before he was 45 min. away. He leaves a little before nine so he can arrive at work by 9:15 A.M. The cleaning lady lets him in because he is almost always the first one there. Nine thirty is the official starting time, but most of the workers come about 10 or 10:30 A.M., then they work until 7 or 8 P.M. Ernest heads home about 6:30. The others work on Saturdays for half a day or more, but they don’t expect Ernest to come in because his boss knows he didn’t work on Saturdays in the States. I chatted on the phone for a few hours this A.M. , organized a few things, and took a nap. What a life!! Ernest attends a small group Bible Study on Thursday evenings at the home of the elder from India, so we headed out the door as soon as he got home. We found a new set of stairs up the hill that doesn’t require us to walk up and over the flyover, which saves steps. This direction only has 110 steps and it’s through a mini-jungle with bamboo and trees lining the winding stairs. We got to the top and caught a bus. It turned into Aberdeen, which was the wrong direction. We jumped off and walked over a flyover and caught a different bus to the N end of HK island. We ran into a couple of stores to buy cables for our cell phones and my camera, then bought a McDonalds ice cream cone for $.30. Ernest usually shares a taxi ride up the hill with Mailing (we would think Mei Ling, but that’s not how she spells it.) Mailing didn’t come so we got into a taxi and headed up the hill. Rajiv and his wife, Sunita, serve dinner every week to our group of 10 or 15, depending upon the week. They have 3 helpers from India and their cook is quite good. Since several of us can’t abide the hot, spicy curry, the cook tones it down for our meal. Several of the dishes are still quite spicy hot, but the spread is wonderful. Often they serve 9 or 10 dishes. Dinner is at 8 P.M., then Bible Study begins at 9 P.M. At 10:00 we stop for prayer requests and prayer time until 10:30 when everyone heads out the door. They are wonderful, friendly, “down home” hosts, even though their home is quite opulent by our standards. They have ornately carved furniture, many ornate silver decorations like picture frames, animals like swans and hedgehogs, scrolls and even some silver tables. Their Armani statues are lovely. We are studying the book of Hebrews using guide sheets with a reading for 6 days per week plus questions for the following week. When Amelia and I were at the study in March, a man named Daryl was there from the States. He had come to thank everyone for praying for his 21 yr. old son who had fallen from a 4th floor balcony while in China. Daryl invited Ernest, Amelia and myself to attend the Rugby Sevens with him, which is like the soccer world cup. It was great fun. Well, his son, Trevor, was there tonight for the first time. He’s been through several surgeries but can now walk and can go up stairs, although not down very well. He has one more surgery to go to try to gain more movement for his right elbow. It was wonderful to have him there with his mother. Afterward, one of the lady’s in our group gave us a ride to the other side of the hill where we could catch a bus closer to home. It felt so strange to be sitting in the front of the car on the left side, but I wasn’t driving! Friday, July 31 Ernest interrupted my “very busy” day with a request to get to South Horizons quickly to look at a couch and a bookcase for sale. He looks through the Ikea catalog and then watches on the expat website for people who are moving out of the country and must sell cheaply and quickly or for those who don’t want to pay to move everything. Some great bargains are available. I hiked up the 110 steps to the bus stop and caught the right bus. I was a bit nervous about getting off at the right stop, so jumped off as soon as I got there. I forgot I was supposed to get off at the last stop. Not to worry. It was hot but not blazing hot, so I started walking. South Horizons is beautiful with marble planters and greenery everywhere, fountains and ponds and waterfalls, kids’ play areas, an exercise room, a large swimming pool, and a wonderful tiled walkway along the bay. They are expanding the walkway and by December it will connect with the promenade in front of our apartment. After twenty minutes I arrived at building 8, convinced the security guard (who didn’t speak any English) that I needed to be there, got to the 40th floor via the even numbered elevator, and found flat H. The couch was too big but I made arrangements to purchase the bookcase for $13 U.S. Tony and Sam (his wife) are from Australia and have lived in HK for 7 years. They are both teachers of English in English speaking high schools. They said that the beginning income for a native English speaker with experience is $6,500 U.S. per month. AND, the HK taxes here are about 15%. Not bad! (This is not TESOL.) That evening I met Ernest in Aberdeen (I rode the ferry over) and we caught a bus to the French restaurant again for his conversation group. Cathy came back and Jimmy joined us this time. Saturday, August 1 Erica came over for 2 hours at 10:30 A.M. for English conversation. This week she brought mangosteen fruit. Yes!! I know what that is. The outside has a thick, purple skin and the inside looks like a small, white tangerine and is quite sweet. This is the fruit that is in XanGo, a nutritional beverage for which I am a distributor. It was great to be able to eat the fruit itself. It is highly perishable, so it is rarely sold in the United States. Then we went into Causeway Bay on the N end of HK Island, about a 30 min. ride, to buy a cell phone from a store that had advertised on the internet. The lady met us downstairs in the mall and didn’t even have us go upstairs to the store, which was interesting. After purchasing the phone, we hopped another bus for Stanley on the SE end of HK island to look at another wardrobe. Many of the wealthy people live in Stanley because there are nice beaches and most of them have cars so it’s not difficult for them to get to work from out there. It’s also where many tourists stay. We had to take a taxi from Stanley to get to the man’s apartment. The security guards were very suspicious of us and wouldn’t let us go up. They had asked if he were Chinese and Ernest said, “no.” Of course, we had never met him, but over the phone he sounded like a Canadian. Since he really was Chinese, they were suspicious. Anyway, he figured out what had happened and came down to fetch us. The wardrobe was huge so we decided not to purchase it, but it was beautiful. He was kind enough to ask the security guard to call a taxi for us and he waited with us until it arrived. Back in Stanley we walked through the market which is definitely set up for tourists. The small stores line either side of a small walkway with many touristy types of items for sale. I found some postcards so bought a lot since they are hard to come by outside of tourist areas. I also bought 2 blouses and capris. We headed home via bus then caught the ferry from Aberdeen. Ernest got a phone call at 6:10. It was Kelly. She was coming at 6:30 so Ernest could help her with a marketing paper she is trying to write in English. She had come early and we were still on the ferry. When we got to our complex, the security guard was upset that he had let her go up to our floor, thinking we were there. We assured him it was okay. As soon as we got in our door, our neighbor from China rang the doorbell. She had a gift of cashews for us. Also, she rattled on and kept grabbing her large bracelet off her arm. We figured out that she had been accosted in Aberdeen. She wrote something on paper and Ernest found out at work on Monday that it said, “Beware of pickpockets.” It was nice of her to warn us. Ernest and Kelly began working on the paper while I ran to the grocery store. It seemed very strange to be running to the store AFTER company had arrived, but here it’s okay. For one, the stores are only a few blocks away, and for two, the refrigerators are so small that people shop every day. Plus, the Chinese put a high value on fresh food. I fixed pork vegetable stir-fry for dinner. We ate about 8:30, which is common. She and I enjoyed chatting over dinner and Ernest said that her English improved substantially throughout the evening as she relaxed. She left about 11:30 P.M. and had a 30 – 40 min. bus ride home. In general, everyone here is on a much later time table. Sunday, August 2 We hopped a minibus a block from our house to take us to Aberdeen. There we waked up and over the flyover to the bus stop. Caught a bus to take us 10 min. up the hill and deposit us a block from the International School building in which Faith Community Church holds services. There were about 75+ people today. The speaker is from Japan, the assistant pastor is from S. Africa, and the 4 elders are from Malaysia, Singapore, India, and Hong Kong. Quite an interesting variety!! The teen mission team had returned and they gave a moving account of their week in the Philippines working with street kids. They built an outdoor playground next to a home for street boys ages 15-18. The mission feeds and works with all ages of street kids but only houses these boys. Afterward we attended the monthly catered dinner in the cafeteria. We ate with Chris and Rita Fung and she invited me to go swimming with her this week. She owns and rents out a flat near us that has a pool. It may not work out because it’s been a rainy week, but it was nice to be invited. Since we can catch a free bus the church hires to take us down the other side of the hill and into the main part of Hong Kong, we decided to go shopping. We stopped at Ikea and purchased a glass shelf for the kitchen and a small stand to get the computer off the floor. The computer store is several stories high with many, many vendors, each of whom has a tiny section for wares. It’s crowded and hard to move around within the stalls because they are so small. But, Ernest found the cables we needed. That evening we went to pick-up a cabinet we had purchased from a lady in South Horizons. It was a 20 min. walk over there, then it took Ernest about an hour and a half to break down the cabinet and get it ready to be moved. We took down the smaller pieces with the lady’s help and caught a cab home. Then we walked back with a hand truck for the sides which were too long to take in the cab. Ernest wrapped them up and tied them to the hand truck. We had to walk home the long way in order to avoid stairs. We were both sweating profusely even though it was 10 P.M. Ernest’s shoulder was sore since he was resting the tops of the boards on it while carting it home. I’m sure we were quite a sight!! Not a very restful Sunday! Monday, August 3 When you get up to the 18th floor of our apartment, it’s 8 steps to our door. We are at the north end of the hall and our neighbors’ doors are to the left and to the right of ours. Their doormats take up most of the floor in front of our door so we won’t need to get a doormat. If you go the other way from the elevator, there are 3 flats, as they say, at the other end of the hall. Each flat sticks out so that there are windows on 3 sides. Since we are on the front side of the building, we have a view of the bay. Those on the back side have a view of the side of the hill and the road on the side of the hill. To either side you see the buildings and roads in our town. While the South side tenants get to watch the buses on the road, we get to watch the boats. At night the bay basically empties out as the fishing boats head out to sea. The sampans are always busy, darting here and there. Sometimes a nice yacht will go by. It’s fascinating. It’s like watching a busy ant colony moving around. When a typhoon comes through, and we had another warning today, the bay is filled with boats seeking shelter. The lights of Aberdeen, the town across the bay, are pleasant. There are about 30,000 people in Aberdeen and about 15,000 people in our traditional fishing village which is 9 blocks long and 1 1/2 blocks wide. In the hall we can hear people talking in their apartments and we hear their televisions or music. However, once inside our apartment, we rarely hear anyone. However, tonight our tranquility was disrupted by angry yelling and door slamming at the other end of the hall. This went on for several minutes. My take is that the boy, about 5 years old, was whining so Dad put him out in the hall and slammed the door. He started screaming. Mother went into action and flew into the hall to rescue him and the door slammed behind her so they were both stuck out in the hall, yelling. Dad opened the door and let them back in again, and he joined the yelling for good measure. Hmmm. We’ll trust this is a rare occurrence. We hopped a bus for 10 min. then walked for 20 min. until we found an apartment where a lady was selling dining room chairs. We brought folding camping chairs from the states, and in addition we have one large chair. Her chairs were quite comfortable and not too large, so we purchased them and carted them downstairs in the elevator. The security guard helped us carry them out to the curb where he hailed a taxi for us. The taxi drivers are used to hauling cargo, so he already had a bungee cord attached to the trunk. Two of them fit in the trunk, one in the front seat, and we had one with us in the back seat. It just seems so funny to me to always be hauling things in taxis and on buses rather than in cars. Tuesday, August 4 Ernest’s coworker, Juliet, wanted to meet me in Aberdeen for lunch. I’m quite pleased with myself that I got on the right minibus (we load only 1 block from our place), got off at the right stop, and walked the two blocks in the right direction to find our meeting place. We ate at Yoshinoia’s, a Japanese fast food restaurant. She is really sweet and offered to take me hiking near her place (an hour away) when it cools down. Ernest went straight from work to a Thunderbird dinner/meeting, his grad school alma mater. Only 4 people showed up this time so he didn’t stay long. Instead he purchased some towel bars. When he got home he used the power drill to install the towel rods in the bathroom. It made quite a racket. A few minutes later the doorbell rang and there was our security guard. “No noise, it’s the law,” he said as he pointed to his watch. We found out that we aren’t supposed to make much noise after 7 P.M. and it was already 10:30 P.M. I guess the neighbors below us and called and complained. Oops! While Ernest was at his Thunderbird dinner, I called Nok and we went to Aberdeen to look at shops. This time she treated me to a cone at Mickey D’s. Wednesday, August 5 I spent about 4 hours on the phone this morning. Thank the Lord for Skype! The U.S.A. doesn’t seem so far away. Nathan leaves tomorrow for a vacation in Belgium where he’ll stay with a coworker who has been transferred there for a year. They’ll hike in Norway then take a boat trip on a fjord.

Joyce's Hong Kong Blog #2 Ernest & Joyce Klemm Flat B, 18/F, Fortune Mansion 20 Hung Shing Street Ap Lei Chau, Hong Kong 719-423-7745 Thursday, July 23, 2009 Moving day arrived. I packed up in the morning while Ernest was at work. He arrived home about 1 PM and the moving truck was to arrive at 3 PM. It was a “two men and a truck” situation. Ernest had traded a very nice computer monitor for a “curb to curb” move using Pert’s (Hong Kong office) truck. We packed for another hour then began hauling stuff downstairs. The first load was our mattress so I could help lug it down the stairs, then the next load included our one and only easy chair. Well, someone had to sit with the piles once the first load was downstairs. The entry to Ernest’s building is in a wide, tiled hallway that goes from Des Voeux Rd. W to Queens Rd. W. Fortunately we could put our boxes and bags in the hallway rather than out on the narrow sidewalk. So, I guarded the boxes while Ernest carted everything else down the elevator, one hand truck at a time. The truck showed up before we had everything downstairs, but the men began to load the truck with what was there. Movers they may be, but packers they are not. They sort of threw everything into the back of the truck. Now had Ernest or my Dad been packing the truck, everything would have fit in with room to spare. But, they began insisting the truck was full while Ernest was still bringing things downstairs. We insisted on a few more boxes and they reluctantly acquiesced. The large man from India saved our office chair for the last item in, then he sat down in the back of the truck and the Chinese man closed the back end. Wow! There was about 8 inches open at the top for air, but it was HOT. Ernest and I hopped in the front of the truck with the driver and we drove the 25 min. to our new home. The man from India was still alive when we arrived. Our new home on the small island of Ap Lei Chau is at the end of a short cul-de-sac a half a block from Ap Lei Chau Main St, which is quite small as Main Streets go. The “two men and a truck” unloaded all our stuff on the curb and drove away. Ernest began hauling stuff with his hand truck up to the 18th floor via the elevator. I, of course, had to guard everything on the street, so once again found a comfy chair on which to relax. I was looking around and thinking we were in quite a nice area of town. There were very expensive cars parked on our street. There is a Cultural Center across the street with a nicely dressed docent at the door. So, I thought, “This is pretty good.” THEN, a very large truck decided to make its way onto our dead end street. I didn’t think it would get by the fancy cars without scratching them, but it managed. Another large truck followed and parked behind the first truck. The men jumped out and began unloading rusted steel beams from the back of the truck. I hadn’t noticed that there was a used steel storage unit behind me, between me and the side of the hill. The truck used a grappling hook as it noisily unloaded the steel. The steel storage owner turned up his radio to a jazz station. Ambience! About this time I realized that our area of town isn’t quite as fancy as I had hoped. Nonetheless, it was interesting. SO, I began taking pictures: fancy cars, Cultural Center, used & rusted steel storage, and the inevitable high rises, which we call sky scrapers. The security guard found this quite amusing. I found out the Cultural Center is actually a nursing home. So much for “culture.” After about an hour, the new security guard came on duty and the one going off duty decided we needed help. So, he and I moved everything that was left on the sidewalk into the foyer of the building. Then, the 2nd guard loaded it onto the elevator and took stuff up to the 18th floor. Now that made everything go MUCH faster and saved Ernest at least 4 trips. We set a few things up in the apartment, including the refrigerator, then unloaded the food. Hmmm. Only one box of food had made it onto the truck. Fiddlesticks. That meant another trip to the old apartment to fetch the second box of food—today. We walked down to the bay and figured out where to pick up a ferry to the mainland. We hopped on using our Octopus Cards and arrived 5 min. later in Aberdeen, the area of Hong Kong Island that is closest to Ap Lei Chau Island. (An Octopus Card is like a debit card. You go to the local 7-11, and they are everywhere, and you give them cash and they add that amount to your card. When you hop onto a ferry, trolley, double decker bus, a mini bus or the MTR [Metro Transit Route, which we call a subway,] you just scan your card on a machine and it beeps and tells you how much money you have left on your card. Octopus Cards can also be used in stores.) In Aberdeen we grabbed some dinner at the local Yoshinoia’s, a Japanese Beef Bowl restaurant, then hopped a bus to head back to Shek Tong Tsui. We found the box of food. Fortunately, we had put some frozen items in the box and they were still thawing, so everything was still cold. We assessed the boxes and items and decided we could get everything in three loads. So, Ernest had his briefcase, a very large duffle bag, and two large plastic bags, one of which contained the food box. I carried my purse, a medium size duffle bag, a shopping sack with a plastic handle, and our floor lamp sans the shade. As we walked out of the apartment, the handle on my shopping bag broke, so I had to cradle the bag rather than just hold the handle. So, there we went, across the cat walk, through two doors, down another cat walk, through another door, down a short hallway avoiding the incense burners that were in front of most of the doors, through another door, down 2 flights of stairs, into the tiled hallway, out to the street and across, down a block, turned a corner and went another block to catch the airport minibus. We rode an airport minibus because they expect you to get on with bags so there are racks on which to place your stuff. On the other end we hopped off with our stuff, climbed the 38 stairs to the flyover, a walking bridge that takes you from one side of the street to the other. On the other side we headed down 52 stairs, crossed a small open area, then down another 64 stairs. Trying to keep the floor lamp from hitting the steps while not dropping the handle-less bag was quite a trick. Once on street level we walked a block, followed the curve to another street, cut through an alley full of motorcycles, fishing ropes and anchors chained to the walls, then out to our street and into our building. We punched in the security code and pulled open the huge doors. Up the even numbered elevator (as opposed to the odd numbered elevator) and off on floor 18, through the security gate and through the door. At last, we were home!! Ernest commented that our trek with all the stuff, especially the floor lamp, was for the amusement of the locals!! Friday, July 24 Ernest headed to a Christian Business Men’s breakfast downtown. I decided to fix toast for breakfast. Popped the bread into the toaster and listened to the “tick, tick, tick” until it went “ding.” Opened the door and found I still had bread. Hmmm. Read the directions on the front of the toaster door. Must turn knob past 6, then can turn back down to 3. Okay. Tried again. Opened door—I still had bread, not toast. I looked around and saw the plug-in on the wall. It has a switch above it. Turned on the switch and a light came on. Wah Lah! Tried again and finally had my piece of toast. I started to clean. The apartment had actually looked pretty clean when we first looked at it, but upon further inspection, this was not the case. After several hours of cleaning, I got a phone call from Ernest that his boss, MK, wanted to include me in their weekly Fri. lunch out. Happy to have a diversion, I began to get ready. Grabbed the curling iron. What? There is not one outlet in the bathroom!! So, I plugged it in in the “dining room.” Still no luck. Tried another outlet—nothing. Must have bumped the curling iron during the move--it appears to be dead. Oh well, very few ladies curl their hair in HK anyway. It was time to head downstairs. The wooden door opened fine, but I couldn’t get the security gate to open. (Security gates are made with bars. Most apartments have them and most are pretty fancy.) I tried and tried. No luck. Called Ernest. He explained the lock and I found out I was using the wrong key. The right key looks way too big for the lock, but it worked. When I hopped into MK’s car, Flora, the lady from Ern’s work who helped him find the apartment, and Nok (Nook) from Thailand were there also. We drove a few blocks and ate at a small Pizza Place. Unfortunately, they weren’t serving pizza that day. Go figure! Ernest ordered chicken on rice with spaghetti sauce and cheese on top. I ordered chicken with mushroom sauce. Flora shared some of her duck breast in sauce with us. It was all tasty. Back to the apartment and up to our floor. The hallway was hot and stuffy and I could not for the life of me get that crazy security door open. Called Ernest again. He explained that after turning the key, there is a hidden latch under one of the bars that must also be pushed up. Ugh! Frustrating. More cleaning. Ernest came home and we left to meet with his Friday evening conversation group at a DeliFrance restaurant near Central, about 40 min. away by bus. (We don’t think it’s truly a French restaurant.) He has been leading conversation groups throughout the year in exchange for friendship and meals. Cathy was the only one who could come this time. The other 3 people were busy. We talked a lot then she read a book out loud. Her English isn’t great, so reading this teen book is laborious. But she is very pleasant and we did get to eat pizza! Afterwards we went back to the old apartment since it wasn’t far. Another trip on the airport bus to carry stuff to our new apartment. Finally at the end of the day. The bed is a double. Queen beds are wider but not longer in China and we had switched to a queen in the U.S. for the length. Since space is a premium, the double bed works better in HK. The mattress/box springs combo (all in one) bed has legs that screw into the bottom of it. Know what that means? It means that you can’t tuck in the top sheet!! Someone keeps stealing my sheet! The second night we switched from a double top sheet to a queen sheet. That works better, but the sheet does drag on the floor a bit. Sat., July 25 Sort, clean, arrange, reassemble. We managed to fit into our bedroom the bed, a large wardrobe for hanging clothes, a narrow wardrobe with shelves, and a shorter unit with 4 wire baskets that we are using for a dresser and a nightstand. We loaded our suitcases with winter clothes and put them under the bed. Now it’s beginning to look like home. Erica, another conversation group student, came to our apartment this morning. Now that we’ve moved, it’ll work well because it’s very near her mother’s house and Erica visits her mother every Sat. She came bearing dragon fruit. It is the size of a large mango and has bright red skin with green “fins” that stick out. I think it looks like a cross between a fish and a dragon. I’ve been wanting to buy some but I wasn’t sure how to peel it. Well, you don’t peel it. You just cut it in half and scoop out the white pulp with tiny black seeds. It was fairly sweet. Erica is a teacher of English but she’s been working with Ernest to sound more American rather than sounding like a Chinese speaker when speaking English. She’s made great progress and she has been accepted into a linguistics program in England. She leaves in September. She was quite impressed with our view of the bay and the hills of HK Island. She said it’s better than most views. We only have a few high rises blocking our view and they are skinny. Another trip to Aberdeen for dinner, this time at KFCs. A bowl of Chicken a la King on rice, a chicken leg, and a soft drink for less than $20.00 HK. $10.00 U.S. is about the equivalent of $1.30 HK, so eating out is fairly inexpensive. There are over 13,000 restaurants in HK. We went to a Shop Rite, a mini version of Walmart without the groceries. We bought a mop, a small plastic 4 drawer organizer for under the bathroom sink and a few other organizational items. There is not one drawer in this house—not in the bathroom nor in the kitchen!! On the way home we decided to walk though the municipal building that is a block away from us. It is the largest fish market in HK. As we walked through the doors, I almost turned and walked out. The stench was overwhelming. Guess that’s to be expected from an indoor fish market. Most of the fish are kept wet and are still breathing. They are intact—eyes, fins, innards, etc. They had clams and huge live crabs and squid. I also saw a pig leg with the hoof attached, pig intestines, a variety of meat pieces, and chicken feet. At least the building is kept quite cool, unlike the street meat sellers. Outside the backdoor were vegetable & fruit booths. I bought 2 bright red tomatoes. When I cut them open at home, they were green inside! Sunday, July 26 We got up bright and early to meet with Ern’s landlord at the old apartment. All went well with the inspection and she gave us back the deposit. YEAH! We only had 2 bags each so this time we rode the double-decker bus. It’s fun to sit in the upstairs front seats for a great view of the city. Got home in time to change and head for church. Rode the minibus to the Aberdeen bus stop. Waited for a bus to take us up the mountain. Church starts at 10:30. They are without a pastor, so different elders have been speaking. There were only about 50 people today. A group of teens and their sponsors are in the Philippines on a mission’s trip AND many people are gone for the hot months of July and August. (However, the heat is nothing compared to Phoenix. It’s more like Miami.) Ernest left for Singapore at about 5 PM, and I settled down in front of the tv. It’s been years since I watched more than one movie in an evening! Monday, July 27 Stayed home and cleaned and organized and chatted on the phone. Nok (Nook) called when she got home from work at 7 PM. I think she was worried about me since Ernest was gone. It's nice to have a friend! We rode the mini-bus to Aberdeen so I could buy a broom, then we enjoyed a McDonalds’ ice cream cone together. Her English is fairly understandable. Tuesday, July 28 I shopped at the local “Welcome” and “Park ‘n Shop” grocery stores 4 short blocks from home. We laugh about the “park” in the name of the 2nd store since only a few people drive and it is difficult to find a parking spot anywhere! The stores are small but nice and most items have English writing. There are many fruit and vegetable items that I don’t recognize. Nok came over in the evening to bring me some postcards. I've been hunting for "Thank You" notecards, but they don't seem to sell them here and postcards can only be purchased in the tourist section of town. My next door neighbor came out as Nok arrived. Her name is "Yang" (almost like "young") and she chatted on and on in Mandarin. Nok was able to figure out that she moved to HK from China 3 yrs. ago, but Nok learned Mandarin 20 yrs. ago so didn't catch most of the "conversation." We decided to walk to South Horizons, a huge apartment complex up the hill from our area. I think they have 34 buildings that are 40 stories each. It’s fancier and where Ern & I had first looked for apartments, but more expensive so we could not have afforded a bay view like we have now. We wandered around the shopping mall which has a much larger and nicer “Park ‘n Shop.” However, whatever you buy you have to haul home, so we walked back the 20 min. to our small shop. Nok showed me where the salt was. It comes in small bags similar to powdered sugar and was back under a shelf. I had been unable to find salt since my arrival. Eggs just don't taste right without salt! When shopping, you are supposed to bring your own bag. Yes, HK is concerned about being “green.” If you don’t have your own bag, they charge you 50 cents for a plastic bag, which is about 7 cents US. Wednesday, July 29 Ernest arrived home about 1 AM. There had been a security breech in the Singapore baggage area, so their flight was delayed and their baggage was sent on a cargo plane. His cell phone, keys and clothes will arrive tomorrow. His presentation at the meeting with potential customers went well. After work we rode the bus to Causeway Bay which is a major shopping area. It was strange to see so many, many people walking around at 9 at night. So unlike Canon City. Ernest and I wandered through the Sogo, a Japanese owned store. It’s HUGE. In the 2nd basement is a large Japanese grocery store. There are 2 basement floors, the ground floor, plus 11 higher levels. Each level is about as big as a small Walmart. Clothes, shoes, purses, and home furnishings are everywhere. The prices were astronomical—even the sale items were beyond my pocket book. The store rents sections to different sellers. There was a Teva shoe section, a Sketchers shoe section, Ralph Lauren and Laura Ashley sections. It was very crowded. Next we bought a few items from Ikea, then found the right bus stop and headed home—exhausted.

Joyce's Hong Kong Blog #1

Ernest & Joyce Klemm Flat B, 18/F, Fortune Mansion 20 Hung Shing Street Ap Lei Chau, Hong Kong 719-423-7745 Note: The phone number is a Pueblo, CO, number and will ring us via Skype on our computer. Feel free to call. The time difference is 14 hours ahead of Colorado, Daylight Saving Time. An 8 PM Colorado call reaches us at 10 AM the next day A huge THANK YOU to all the friends and relatives who helped this year with getting the house ready for the market AND to those who came the last week to help with packing and cleaning. I couldn’t have done it without you!!! Wed., July 15, 2009 It was a hectic day as I finished clearing out the house and completed a few errands. Amelia drove me to Renate & Dee Carrier’s house in Colorado Springs in the late evening where we ate dinner and said our good-byes. Thurs., July 16 Dee drove me to the Colorado Springs airport at 4:15 AM. Ugh. Too early. The flight to Houston was uneventful. I sat next to a delightful young (20 yr. old) lady who was on her way to speak at a convention for a group that helps people overcome addiction. Hers had been cutting, which was surprising given her cheerful countenance . From Houston I continued on Continental to Tokyo. Two friendly Philippina sisters were my traveling companions. They live in the US and were returning to the Phillipines for a reunion with their 11 siblings—it’s been 14 years since the younger sister had been home. The 13 or so hour flight was very long, but more bearable with pleasant seat mates. We each had individual televisions with a multitude of movies and programs to watch. The food was good, too. After a 3 hour lay-over in Tokyo, I finally headed to my new home in Hong Kong. Aga, a man from India who has lived in HK for 8 years, was a fascinating person—well read and well travelled—and made the flight more enjoyable. Friday, July 17, 2009 I passed through the many lines including customs uneventfully and found my bags right away. Ernest was waiting for me in the part of the airport where people are allowed to wait. It was 8:30 PM HK time, but 6:30 AM Colorado time. We hopped on an airport bus and headed for his apartment; another hour of travel. After 28 hours of travelling, it was wonderful to find a bed waiting for me.

Sat., July 18

We rode te trolley and then the bus for 45 min. to our new apartment on the 18th floor in Ap Lei Chau, which is an island SW of the main Hong Kong Island. Our view of the bay is gorgeous, although I was surprised at how many boats were packed into the bay. We exchanged space for the view. The apartment is only 366 sq. ft. Hmmmm. It will be cozy, but it’s twice as large as Ernest’s apartment of 183 sq. ft. It actually has cupboards in the kitchen and you can step into the kitchen and move around. The bathroom sink isn’t in the shower, as is the case in his present apartment. It’ll be interesting to adjust since we’ve been living in a 3700 sq. ft. home for 12 years. Ernest’s boss’ apartment is 300 sq. ft., so it is quite common to have small apartments.

Next we took a ferry a very short distance to land, then waited and waited in the heat for a bus that never came. Many people were mopping their brows with cloths and many had umbrellas for shade from the sun. We finally walked a block to a different bus stop and jumped on a mini-bus. They are faster since they only stop if they have room for more people. The big buses are double deckers so they stop at every bus stop. They are air conditioned, which is wonderful. We went to see about purchasing a wardrobe and a dining room table and chairs from a lady in an area called Stanley, but they were both way too large for our apartment. The lady casually mentioned that the typhoon had been upgraded to a FIVE and that it would be an EIGHT by midnight.

TYPHOON?!!! The levels are, ONE—it’s coming; THREE—get ready and finish up your errands; FIVE—you have two hours to get off the streets; EIGHT—it’s full blown, stay inside. So, we headed home as it began to rain. The wind was blowing as we went to bed about midnight, but otherwise we barely noticed. However, we were awaken in the night with crashing and banging. The scaffolding on the building across from us tore off and broke off part of the fence on the fifth floor outdoor area by the trees. (There is scaffolding on many buildings. It’s made of bamboo then covered with green netting to protect people on the streets below from falling debris when a building is being worked on. It often goes up 5 to 25 stories.)

Awhile later there was more crashing—four window air conditioners from our apartment building fell to the flat roof 2 floors below us, one at a time. Our conditioners stayed put, thankfully. We did get some sleep since our building wasn’t shuddering or shaking. Welcome to Hong Kong!!

It dawned on me that the reason "our" bay was so filled with boats was because they were seeking a safer place to "park" during the typhoon. Sunday, July 19 We left the apartment at 9:15 to catch a bus that took us to a shopping mall. There we waited for a mini-bus that has been hired by our church to take us up the mountain. The church meets in an English speaking school. There are a wide variety of people at Faith Community Church: ABC’s (American Born Chinese,) Mandarin speaking Chinese, Australians, Indians (from India,) Philippinos, etc. Everyone was very friendly and glad Ernest’s wife finally arrived. The church is searching for a pastor, so a special speaker from Australia preached on gossip and slander: we’re not supposed to do either.

Afterwards we ate at McDonald’s. Ernest is allergic to MSG and the Chinese put it in everything as a food supplement like we might put Vitamin C in food, so he can’t eat at most of the local food establishments. Then we rode the bus to the main library. It’s huge and beautiful. You can stand on the main floor and look up to the 7th floor, which they call the 6th floor. They don’t count the ground floor—it’s “zero.” When looking up, each floor has beautiful wood on all 4 sides. We went to the top floor where they have a language department: you can use tapes to learn many languages. I might utilize it for learning Cantanese, although it’s quite a trip over there.

Monday, July 20

Ernest left for work at 8:30 and returned about 7:30. It’s a 45 min. ride each way, but from our new apartment it’ll only be about 20 min. each way. I explored the neighborhood, being very careful to pay attention to where I was. It would be easy to get lost—especially within the apartment building maze. Our door has a outside, steel accordian door for security. It’s difficult to open and close and to lock properly. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get back in, but I made it okay.

There are shops everywhere. Many of the storefronts are only 10 ft. wide and go back 20 to 40 ft. Next to the grocery store is a personal care store, then a restaurant, then a floral shop, then a stationary shop, then a bakery, a 7-11, a McDonalds, etc. There are 7-11s on every street, McDonalds and Circle Ks every few blocks, and some Kentucky Fried Chicken and Burger King restaurants. People are everywhere and you have to be careful not to bump into them or to fall off the sidewalk into the street. The crosswalks have a slow “click-click” sound until it’s time to cross, then it becomes a higher tone and fast “dit-dit” sound. The buses, trolleys, mini-buses, taxis and some private cars whiz by noisily. They drive on the left side, so I have to remember to look for vehicles the opposite way from which I’m used to looking. The window air conditioners from the high rise buildings constantly drip onto the pedestrians.

Tuesday, July 21

Our 30th wedding anniversary. My day was similar to Monday, exploring several shops. I bought several small items with no problem. In Hong Kong currency, ten dollars is approximately $1.30 US. I even went to a “Everything is $10.00 store” which is equivalent to our Dollar Stores.

When Ernest got home, we rode the bus to a Vietnamese restaurant. I ordered a bowl of chicken noodle soup. It was HUGE. The noodles were rice noodles. Ernest had beef stew, which was very flavorful but not spicy hot. Indian and Thai cuisine can be really hot. We sat next to some very friendly Philappina ladies, one of whom had lived in NY on Long Island for 2 ½ yrs. They were very encouraging that I will enjoy HK as they do.

Then we wandered around the “Soho” district which is full of restaurants, bars, and a few nightclubs. This area is full of expatriots (expats) from England, Australia, Cananda, and the U.S. as well as a few from Europe and some locals. There are escalators to ride up the hills and stairs coming down, plus walkways that go over the busy streets. It’s quite interesting. One escalator went up five city blocks, stopping at each street for us to cross, then continuing on up the next block. The view from the top block of the surrounding high rise buildings was incredible.

Wed., July 22, 2009

I’m beginning to pack up the apartment since we are moving tomorrow afternoon. It’s bizarre to go from working 18 hrs. per day with long “to do” lists to having very little to do. Packing up a 183 sq. ft. apartment where one person has been living is sure different from packing up a 3700 sq. ft. house that held 5 people 2 dogs and a cat.