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.