Joyce's Hong Kong Blog #12 plus a half

Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009 It's a holiday today: National Day; the 60th Anniversary of the People's Republic of China. Everyone is happy to have the holiday, but I have heard comments about "China's several thousand years old. Why are we celebrating only 60 years?" And, "Mao brought terrible conditions to the Chinese people and killed millions. Why are we celebrating him?" But then, this is Hong Kong. I doubt those sentiments would be expressed publicly in China. Ernest and I went hiking this morning on Lamma Island. We took the ferry from Aberdeen. Many people were loading the ferry with containers of fish and food. We saw several floating fish farms as we got closer. They look like dozens of barrels that have been hooked together outlining a large rectangle, with tires tied to the outsides of the barrels, and boards crisscrossing the area in between the barrels. I think they might have the area surrounded with fishing nets, but we couldn't tell by looking. After getting off at a very small village, we hiked over the hill to the main town. There are no roads on Lamma Island, so there are no vehicles. But there are walking paths. The cloud cover the weatherman predicted didn't show up until we were almost at the end of our 2 hour hike. It was beautiful, walking along the tree lined paths and overlooking the bay in some spots. We did end up in a turtle protection area. We could hear people laughing and playing in the ocean, so we went to inspect the area, thinking the signs didn't include the area we were in. Well, we walked right into the inspector's camp and he sent us packing. Ernest recognized him - we had sat by him on the ferry over. At the top of the hill a very old lady was selling cold drinks for half again the normal price. We figured it was probably her only source of income, so Ernest bought a Chinese rendition of Gatorade and I drank an ice tea. It was definitely refreshing. On the beach we met a couple who spoke English. She was French and he was Australian. They had been living there for 5 months. There were only about 3 houses that we could see near the beach, so it was quite isolated. Further along the path we came across a lady who we think had heat stroke. She had been sitting in the middle of the hot path with an umbrella over her, but when she saw us coming, she moved up the path into the shade. By time we reached her others had stopped to assist her and she was lying down. A short time later a helicopter started circling, so we are fairly certain they were going to try to evacuate her. However, we kept walking so don't know if the helicopter ever found a place to land. We passed a shaded area where there were many old, large graves. They were cemented in and many were circular with pictures in the headstones. There were also many mosquitoes in the damp, shaded area by the tombs, and I was under serious attack. For some reason they don't like Ernest! At the larger village, they had rows of restaurants with large covered decks on the bay for tourists. Ferries were beginning to bring in the lunch crowd. However, the meals were $ 26.00 for two, so we decided to catch the 12:30 PM ferry and eat in Aberdeen at Fairwoods. Fairwoods is the Furrs of HK and it doesn't have any MSG, so it is safe for Ernest. Besides which we could both eat for $ 8.00, it was quick, indoors, and quite cool, for which we were grateful. Flora, one of Ernest's co-workers, invited us to join her family to watch the fireworks down at the Central Piers. The police were out in force and were separating out the viewing areas, so we weren't able to get up where we could see Victoria Harbor. But, we were just behind the building and we had no touble seeing the fireworks. They were spectacular. They had smiley faces, hearts, stars, and lots of regular, colorful and bright fireworks. Every time they went "boom, "we could hear an echoing" boom "to the left, then another echoing" boom "behind us from the high-rises. It was earsplitting and continuous for 30 minutes. The finale was Chinese writing that said," China, 60 . "That was quite amazing. Of course, Flora had to tell me what it said. Everyone oohed and aahed in unison throughout the show, which was funny. Afterwards we walked 20 min. to a bus stop that was not as crowded as the main one, but then we had to wait almost 30 min. for a bus to come. We were tired, but it was a fun way to celebrate. When we got back to Aberdeen, we rode the ferry across to Ap Lei Chau. The new praya is open. It's beautiful. They've had it roped off, so we couldn't see what they were doing. They have 3 foot massage areas like we saw in the sitting out areas on our hike down from Victoria Peak. On the first level, all the rocks are the same height. It hurts to walk on them, but a lady told Flora that it only hurt her feet the first 3 times she walked on them. If you keep doing it, your feet toughen up. There were 2 other paths of rocks but the rocks were uneven, so they are for "advanced" feet. Friday, Oct 2 When the doorbell rings 9 times, we know it's Jung (Yoong) next door. She walks around our flat and talks up a storm. Of course, we have no clue what she's saying. Ernest can say, "I don't understand" in Madarin, but that's it. We all laugh a lot. She's quite animated. We were getting nervous because she often seems to be warning us. Plus, she'll go to the bathroom sink and pat the sink and pretend she's washing & drying her face. Ernest secretly taped her and took the tape and some of her writing to his boss. MK said that we shouldn't be worried at all. She's a traditional Chinese woman and she's trying to welcome us and make sure we have a good time in Hong Kong. Recently she's written things like, "Be considerate when doing things;" "If some difficulty, trouble matter, I am willing to help both of you," "I am visiting sister," meaning she is identifying with us as a relative; "Blessing you, harmony, happy." Before she was always telling us to beware of thieves--she works with some in a restaurant, I guess. MK said she is just trying to make sure our "Feng Shui" is good. It means "wind and water," but it is a big deal in China. It's trying to have a harmoneous relationship with everything in ones life and house and neighborhood. For example, if your flat is overlooking a cemetary, that is bad Feng Shui. If you have water nearby, like a waterfall or a fountain, that is good Feng Shui. Everything in life has to be balanced and they even have practitioners who will come to your home or work and help you rearrange your furniture and life for better Feng Shui. People who have a run of bad luck will often go to a Feng Shui practitioner to be told what to do to improve their situation. Saturday, Oct 3 We rode the minibus to the other side of Ap Lei Chau Island with the intent of hiking over the mountain and back to South Horizons. Unfortunately, the only paths over the hill we could find were official paths for workers and were gated and locked. We followed one path up the hill to the resevoir, then climbed a set of very high and narrow stairs to the top where they had a sports area. It was surrounded by a fence and had some exercise equipment and a walking path/track. Several people were there utilizing the area. We headed down the path and, when we came to the bay, we climbed over a wall so we could walk out on the large rocks. There were several people out there fishing. Red wax writing was on some of the rocks. We learned that this is a new grafitti tradition for Mid-Autumn festival that the police are trying to stop. The wax is messy and doesn't absorb into nature very quickly. It was very pleasant to sit for awhile and watch the water splash on the rocks. Mid-Autumn Festival is here. This Festival is as significant to the Chinese as Thanksgiving is to Americans. It's a celebration of the full moon, of family, and that it will cool down soon. (By the way, this was the HOTTEST September on record in Hong Kong. Just for me!!) Families get together to eat and celebrate. In the evening they go to the beach or out in the woods or parks and they give the kids lanterns so they can run back and forth with abandon. Traditionally they put candles in the paper lanterns, but now they often used battery operated lights for safety. One of our elders, Boon, and his wife, Christine, invited us over for dinner with several others. They served crab, noodles with peanut sauce, greens from their garden, a pork roast, we took a fruit salad, and they had several other dishes. Dessert was very traditional--moon cakes. Moon cakes are individual sized cakes that have bean paste inside and a boiled egg yolk hidden inside. Ernest eats moon cakes, but doesn't really like them, and I've merely tasted them. Somehow having beans in dessert doesn't taste right to me. However, the more expensive type, like they served tonight, are creamy and quite tasty. The tradition says that during the time of the Mongols, the Chinese patriots hid messages in the moon cakes. Since the Mongols didn't eat them, (go figure,) the patriots could communicate secretly and were able to overthrow their rulers. It was a delightful evening and we stayed until almost midnight. Sunday, Oct 4 At church the series is on parenting. Whew!! We made it through that part of life. Praise the Lord, all three of our kids love Him. Since it's the first week of the month, we had a catered dinner afterwards. We once again ate with the Doctor and his wife, who is a nurse. They began attending church about 5 mo. ago after our former pastor visited him during his serious illness. She was telling me how difficult it is to be a nurse here in Hong Kong. The hours are long and the patients and their families are very demanding. She said it's difficult to stay calm and explain things to them so that they will accept what is happening in the hospital. In the evening we walked to the end of the new praya. Everything along the walkways has a boat theme. At the end of the paths (in some places there are 6 parallel paths) there is a large stucture that looks like a boat. We walked up the 3 levels to look out over the harbor and Aberdeen. It is beautiful and many people were strolling along, jogging, or sitting on the benches. Monday, Oct. 5 In the evening I left at 5:50 for a 7:00 ladies' meeting at Island Evangelical Community Church. Rujon, a clinical psychologist, and her husband, Steve, have a ministry called "Healing for the Nations." They give seminars, mainly for couples, based on McGee's book, Search for Significance. They are in Hong Kong to do a weekend retreat, but Rujon presented a special evening for women. My bus was caught in a traffic jam, so I was very frustrated that I didn't get there until 7:30. I hurried onto the elevator, which was crowded, and got off on floor 8, or so I thought. As soon as I got off and the doors closed behind me, I realized I was on the wrong floor. The floors aren't marked, so I asked a receptionist what floor it was. It was 7, so I decided it would be faster to walk up the stairs rather than wait for the elevator again. I knew where the stairs were between the 1st and 2nd floor, so I walked down the hall looking through the door windows for the stairs. I spotted stairs and pushed the door open. When the alarm blared, I looked down and realized I had pushed open an emergency fire door. Everybody came running out into the hall and I slunk back to the elevator. But, all things work together for good. When I got off on the 8th floor, a new gal to HK was getting off too, so I could show her where the seminar was. They were serving pizza so I hadn't eaten dinner and I was starving by time I arrived. But I got my pizza and got in on 2/3rds of the seminar. She said that the world feeds us 4 lies: we must be productive, be beautiful, be powerful, and/or be popular. These lies make us feel we always have to measure up. Instead, God offers us unconditional love and we have significance because He created us. I chatted with Rujon for a few minutes afterwards and found out she'll be at our church on Sunday. Wednesday, Oct 7 I attended Priscilla's study today. I rode the bus to the Macau Ferry terminal, then walked through the subway. This time I came out on a different street than before, but I didn't have to get out my compass or my map to figure out which way to go. That's progress! In our discussion group, the first question asked us to talk about the last time we were angry. Did that ever open the flood gates!! Jenny had arrived very frustrated because her live-in maid wouldn't listen this morning. Her maid is pregnant and has diabetes so spends a lot of time lying down. Of course, the maid signed her annual contract before telling Jenny that she was pregnant. I learned all sorts of things about maids in this discussion. One lady has had the same maid for 20 years and is very happy with her. The other 4 ladies have had negative experiences. The law says that Jenny has to give her maid 10 weeks of paid leave when the baby arrives. Then the rule is, the baby cannot come back to the house. So, the maid either will quit work, which is unusual, or send the baby back to the Philipines to be raised by the grandparents. Two of the ladies are looking for maids right now and they are both very stressed about getting a lazy or uncooperative maid. If you fire a maid, you have to pay for 2/3rds of their wages for every year they've worked for you. In Jenny's case, her maid has been there for 7 years, so she would have to pay her $2000.00 HK times 7 times 12. Wow! But Rose kept saying, "Just pay her. It's not worth it. Just pay her and let her go." One of the ladies had a maid that stole from her. She reported the maid to the police, but dropped the charges when she found out that the maid would have a mandatory jail sentence. The police told her that stealing is the common reason they see Philipinas, and the Indonesian maids are generally turned in for child abuse. (I mean the ones that they police see, not most of the maids, of course.) I was amazed at the level of frustration the ladies had when talking about their maids, but here it is uncommon to have money and no live-in maid. Jenny had 3 maids when her boys were growing up and was happy with two of the three. Now that the boys are grown, she only has one maid. I'm very glad we live in a small place and I can take care of it by myself! Kathryn picked me up afterwards and we went to the COVA restaurant in Pacific Place for high tea. They are know for their cakes and Italian wine. Wow, the food was beautiful and delicious. They served shrimp on small croissants, tiny meat tarts, and mini dessert tarts. We split each tart, which was one bite per each. Everything was absolutely delicious. She had an appointment afterwards, so I hopped a bus to get home. I called this Blog #12 plus a half, because I generally stop after Wednesday, but since I'm leaving for The States next week, I'll finish up by combining these blogs. Thursday, Oct 8 We invited Ernest's boss, MK, and his wife, Natalie, to join us for dinner this evening. MK has been giving Ern hints that it's his turn. We've had Flora and her family, Nok and Juliet over for dinner, so he was waiting impatiently. He took us out to the fish market and then to a fancy restaurant where you bring in your own food when Amelia and I were here in March. The first week I arrived he took Ernest and me, Flora and her husband and son, and Nok out for lunch. So, it's definitely our turn. We made Jumbalaya and they really liked the Creole seasoning. We also had a tossed salad, although typically the Chinese like their veges to be cooked. We also served carrot salad and for dessert we had ice cream and fancy cookies from Italy. Natalie works for a company that imports fancy Italian purses; an angel is their company emblem. She said that half of the people in Hong Kong can afford their purses, but only 10 percent of the people living in China can afford to purchase. They brought us a fancy bottle of wine from The COVA restaurant and a beautiful menu with pictures of all the fancy cakes they make. We were going to share it with them, but we didn't have a means of opening it. Guess we'll have to remedy that. They were surprised when I told them I had eaten high tea there yesterday. MK was remarking that he has never eaten at the Mandarin Oriental, The COVA or the Peninsula, and I've only been here a 3 months and I've already been to all three. (Thank you, Kathryn!!) Afterwards we taught them how to play Flinch. They remarked that it is a little bit like Mahjong, the game in China that "everyone" plays. Well, the adults, anyway. Since it involves gambling, they don't let the kids play. In the afternoon I often see ladies at the sitting out area on Ap Lei Chau Main Street playing Mahjong. MK does the cooking in their family. He cooks once or twice per week at home, then the other nights they go out to a restaurant, usually the same one. When they walk in, it's like being with family. Since they always order the same food, it's brought to them quickly. They both eat lunch out everyday. On Saturday evenings, MK cooks dinner for 14 at his mother's house where 4 of his siblings and their families join them. (There were 8 kids in his family of origin.) They play Mahjong all evening. MK's Fourth Brother (that's how they refer to each other) is 60 and he quit work early to stay home with their mother. Most of the other siblings send Fourth Brother and their mother money every month to help cover expenses. They are all very grateful to him so that their mother could stay home. Here they don't have retirement centers with differing levels of care like in The States. Generally, people don't want to go to a nursing home because they know they will never go home again. Friday, Oct 9 I rode the bus to Stanley to get my hair cut again. The hair washer was a different one this time and the neck message was good but not outstanding. I found out later that I should have tipped him. Oh well. Sophia gave me a great haircut and admonished me to not let anyone cut it while I'm gone. Well, she said, I might need someone to trim the "fringe" (bangs) and the neck, but nothing else. She's just getting it the way she wants it!! I found that amusing. But I'm very happy with her, so I'm not complaining. Jenny told me on Sunday that others who do expats hair often charge $1,000 HK and she knows some who charge $6,000 HK. WOW! I'm even happier with my $188.00 haircut. ($100 HK=$13.00 U.S.) Bruno broke his leg so I only had Arnold tonight. Dawn, who is quite tiny, had to carry 4 yr. old Bruno, who is quite stocky and heavy, blocks to get to their Chinese doctor. She said it was very difficult. Kathie is leaving on her mission trip on Thursday, but she asked me to continue tutoring her when I get back. She said she's been looking for an English tutor for years. The last teacher she had was mean and demanding. I'll take that as a compliment. When riding a bus, we always try to get downstairs when the bus stops one stop before our stop. That way we can move down the stairs while the bus is stopped. Well, we headed down too soon. The bus lurched, and I banged into the man sitting by the stairs. I apologized profusely, then took a step down the stairs as the bus jerked again. The first thing I knew, I was sitting on the stairs. I looked at Ernest and said, "I'm sitting here until he stops." As soon as the bus stopped, we scurried down the stairs to grab a rail to hang onto until our upcoming stop. I'm just thankful I fell into a sitting position and didn't fall down the stairs. I have heard people fall down the stairs before, but I've never been sitting where I could see the accident. Saturday, Oct. 10 Shopping day. We headed out the door about noon to return a suitcase we had purchased that had a broken piece. It's very unusual to be allowed to return anything in Hong Kong, but that is one reason we like this shop, and the suitcases have large wheels with ballbearings which makes them easy to maneuver. The lady remembered us and took the suitcase back without hesitation. We then purchased two more suitcases, so I should be set for my trip back to The States. We went to an alley/market on the NW end of HK Island that has many stores and booths; one has some great deals for trinkets which I was buying for a friend of mine who will use them in her business. While I was there, Ernest was scouting for a booth to purchase shawls. He found a good deal, so we stocked up (the girls put in their orders for their Christmas gift giving.) As we left there we found another booth with the same shawls that were cheaper. Oh well! But it was still a good deal. We put our purchases in the suitcases and headed home for a break. Now for the night market. The girls also "ordered" a certain style of purses for gift giving. Ernest had seen them at the Temple Street Night Market, but it doesn't get going until 8 PM. Unfortunately, it's clear up in Kowloon. We arrived about 8:30 and found the purses right away. The price was 3 times what we wanted to pay. We walked blocks past stall after stall of "stuff" but couldn't find the purses we wanted for a reasonable price. We were nearing the end, so I started praying we would find the right type of purses for the right price. Within 2 blocks we came to the end of the main market, and crossed the street to a different section. There were the purses, hanging right in front of us! Ernest told me to ask how much they would cost if we bought 10, before asking for the price. I did, and the price the man quoted was exactly what we had hoped to pay, 1/3rd what the 1st lady was asking. YEAH! God even aswers simple prayers. Sunday, Oct. 11 It was our turn again for Sunday School since 2 wks ago we were just covering for someone else. So, we missed Rujon's talk. We only had 7 kids, but Ernest was able to engage them, so it was a good class. Afterwards we were invited out for lunch with a group of friends and Rujon and Steve. We went to the Jardine Restaurant where Boon and Christine took us a few weeks ago. They had a table that seated 17 with a HUGE lazy Susan. They brought out a roasted chicken with its comb and beak intact, a roast duck with the long neck and head, bar-b-que pork dumplings, shrimp dim sum, rice noodles with pork chops and sauce, broccoli, spinach, etc., etc. We kept eating and they kept bringing out more food. It was incredible. Rujon is exceedingly allergic to any shellfish, so they made special dishes without the sauces. That afternoon I started packing for my trip home. I leave Tuesday morning and I'm excited. Here's my schedule: Colorado Springs Oct. 14-16; Canon City from the evening of Oct. 16 through the 21st; Utah at the XanGo Convention the 22nd - the 24th, driving there and back; Canon City the 27th through Nov. 1st; Phoenix Nov. 2nd through Nov. 15th; Tulsa, OK, Nov 17th - 29th; back to CO until my plane heads back to Hong Kong on Dec. 3rd. If you have time to get with me while I'm in your area, call me on my cell phone at: 719-371-3144 I'm looking forward to seeing many friends while traveling. Thank you for sticking with my Hong Kong blogging. It's been fun, but I'm not sure whether or not I'll continue when I get back. We'll see. Take care. Love, Joyce

Joyce's Hong Kong Blog #11

Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2009 Yes, I know, I usually begin with Thursday but I forgot to tell you about my journey to my women's group. I had taken the bus to the Macau Ferry Terminal with the plan of walking through the MTR tunnels to exit E1 which was near my meeting. Well, after walking underground a few blocks, I realized that I would have to pay to ride the subway in order to get to E1, so I took the last exit I found before actually having to pay. That meant that I wasn't sure where I was when I came out of the subway. So, I got out my trusty map and figured out where I was and where I needed to go, which was about 3 blocks away. Unfortunately, I wasn't sure which direction I needed to go since I didn't know which way was North. I whipped out my trusty compass, turned my body to face North, which was looking back down the stairs into the subway, and figured out which way to begin walking. About that time, a very nice young woman came up to me and asked me where I was going. Now what do you suppose made her think I might need help?? I gave her the name of a store near my destination, and she pointed me in the direction I had decided to go. I thanked her kindly and headed EASTWARD down the street. The Lord keeps sending His angels to look out for me. Thursday, Sept. 23 As I left for my Daniel Bible study, I decided to walk a different direction to catch the bus at the 2nd bus stop right before Ap Lei Chau bridge. That gives me an extra minute or two in case I "just barely miss the bus" at the first bus stop. This walk took me by the Baptist pre-school as kids were arriving. They were SO CUTE. They were wearing bright orange shorts, white shirts and orange backpacks. As the bus wound around Lei Tung we passed other little kids in bright yellow shorts, white shirts, and yellow backpacks. Next we passed kids in light blue shorts with white and blue tops that had extra wide collars so they looked like little sailors. Of course, they had their parents in tow. They were so cute. The Chinese are big on uniforms, both at school and in the work place. The Daniel Study at Island Evangelical Community Church with Beth Moore was interesting. She is challenging us to have RESOLVE, like Daniel and his friends, to not defile ourselves in the midst of a pagan world that tries to pull us into an ungodly lifestyle. Afterwards, I decided to try to find Sunita's jewelry shop in Central, so hopped on the MTR and headed that way on the Island Line. (The MTR is "safer" than the bus because it has a little flashing arrow on a wall map that shows where you are and the direction you are going. It's more difficult to get lost, as long as you know which exit to go out.) Once up to street level, I asked a lady where Queen's road was, which she knew, and if she knew where a restroom was located. She told me that there was a very nice one across the street in The Landmark Mall at the 360 grocery store. Ernest and I had been to the store before, so I thought it would be nice to see it again since it has food items we can't buy near us. Well, the mall is much larger than I remembered, and I couldn't find 360. As I was looking around, Janet, from our Thursday evening small group, appeared. She was just getting off the escalator near me! She couldn't find the 360 either, but she asked someone in Cantonese and got me headed in the right direction. I was so amazed to see someone I knew - and just when I needed directions. Unlike in Canon City, I rarely see anyone I know in Hong Kong while walking around. By the way, the restroom was quite nice. Some are great, and some are awful!! The best 2 were at the 5 and 6 star hotels that Kathryn took me to where attendants in uniforms brought paper towels over for us as we were washing up. The worst were at a McDonald's downtown, at the sports field, and in an older market. The first one was filthy and the last two only had "squatty potties." The nicer ones have toilet paper in the stalls, but many of them have the toilet paper on the wall as you come into the restroom, or toilet, as they call it here. I rarely think to look for it until too late. That's where the trusty "Tempo" tissues come in. Everyone carries the packets here. I wound my way up the hill with the map Ernest had drawn for me. Sure enough, after a few blocks I found the right building. Unfortunately, no one was there! Sunita told me later that she is usually in the store during lunch while her workers go out to eat. However, today she had been invited to see a fashion show of Indian clothing at a restaurant, so she had gone out for lunch. Since I was there, I decided to wander around. There were small streets, many closed to traffic, and a myriad of restaurants, bars, and fancy shops. I rode the MTR to Causeway Bay where I met Lucy at the XanGo office. She doesn't have much energy, so was investigating the mangosteen. I headed home and had two hours before leaving for our small group. During dinner we had an animated discussion about domestic helpers. Rajiv and Sunita have 3 helpers from India in their 3500 sq. ft. house. Shirley, our Aussie friend, declared she could never give up her privacy but would consider having someone come in to help clean or cook during the day. Most of us agreed with her. Rajiv laughed and said that, even though he understood how some people don't want to give up walking around the house without a shirt on or other privacy issues, he LOVES having his tea brought to him in the morning and that's worth giving up his privacy. We discussed how hiring domestic workers is a social obligation for rich people in a poor society. In India, there is quite a hierarchy for helpers. Cooks are usually from the Brahman class, which is the highest caste in India. Rajiv and Sunita are from the next caste down, ///////////////// Drivers can also be Brahman, but don't have to be. Maids who are not from the lowest class can't clean toilets or take care of the floors, so Rajiv hires another lady to come to the house to do that work. Their live-in maid wasn't trained as a maid, so Sunita had to train her. However, she was the daughter of their former driver who had to quit for health reasons. He asked if they could help her out, so they hired her. That's part of the social obligation and relationships in their society. Their workers go home once per year. Their driver's wife, who lives in India , is having a second child soon.

It sure is interesting to have a small group where people come from 6 different countries!

Friday, Sept. 25

I rode the minibus to South Horizons. Ernest did some research and found that there are almost 400 non-Asians living in South Horizons and only 35 in Aberdeen. Therefore, we figure we can find more food items we want at the large grocery store in South Horizons. The massage chairs were still in the mall, but I was in a hurry so kept going. I found everything I needed for a three bean salad except the wax beans. While I was choosing the beans off the shelf, a bag in the cart next to me moved. No one was nearby, so I kept watching the bag. Pretty soon it began moving again. I finally figured out that the bag held a live fish. Ugh! Back at the bus stop I found a Filipina who agreed that the 37A was the right minibus for Ap Lei Chau, so I rode straight home rather than wandering throughout the Island on the 37.

Made up the 3 bean salad for the bar-b-que tomorrow night, then headed for the bus stop to tutor Arnold and Bruno. As happened last week, the 90B bus didn't come. Ernest had told me that I could also take the 91, so I hopped on it when it finally arrived but found out it has a longer route. A young lady, BoBo, sat with me and we had a delightful chat. She is attending university to get her early childhood education teaching degree. (The Chinese don't usually use the article "the" in front of the word, university.) She works at a Montessori School during the day and works with some British and American ladies, so her English speaking ability has been improving. The universities in Hong Kong teach in English, so students have to know how to read and write English, but speaking it clearly is often difficult for them. She was a half an hour late for her class and I was late for tutoring , so we were both frustrated, but we enjoyed the ride together.

Saturday, Sept. 26

Ernest and I decided to ride the tram up Victoria Peak and walk down. After getting off the bus, we walked through Hong Kong Park. It was impressive. The pathway meandered up the hill. Several photographers were out snapping pictures of butterflies. There was a manmade "waterfall" coming down a "mushroom" top; it had a small mote and a path over it so you could walk around under (behind) the waterfall. The office for the Registration of Marriages is in the park so we saw several wedding groups in their finery. It's a beautiful place for wedding pictures. After signing the paperwork the wedding couples generally also have a ceremony and a banquet. It's generally a very expensive affair.

After a 20 min. walk we arrived at the tram. It's a 2 car tram ride that takes about 10 min. to the top of The Peak, as everyone refers to it. The views of the city and bay were awesome. There was a mall and many restaurants. Ernest had remembered to bring his Hagen Daas ice cream coupons. :>) He sighted Aberdeen and we headed down the street in that direction. After walking about 6 blocks we came across the path through the trees which came out in Aberdeen. The shade was wonderful! There were two small parks, or sitting out areas, as they are called, next to the path. The first one we came to had two people there who looked like they were camping. They had tree fungus drying on a picnic table. There was a "foot massage" area. It was made of medium size rocks partially embedded in cement with poles in the center to hold onto as you walked in a elongated circle. I didn't try it because it was in the hot sun. After an hour of walking downhill we arrived in Aberdeen then hopped the ferry home.

After a two hour rest at home, we headed for Mailing's bar-b-que which was in the New Territories. We rode a bus to the N end of HK Island, then caught another bus take us across Victoria Harbor. Unfortunately, the bus passed our turn-off and kept going--we had hoppped the wrong bus. We got off as soon as we could, walked aways, then stopped to look at our map. A few minutes later a lady followed us from the bus stop and asked if she could help. She told us which bus to get on in order to get where we were going. We never would have figured it out ourselves. Another angel!!

After 2 hours, we arrived at the bar-b-que. People move out to the New Territories so that they can have more space. Mailing lives with her daughter's family which includes 2 yr. old twin boys. The grounds of their apartment complex were beautiful with lots of space for her grandkids to run. There were several parties utilizing the bar-b-q pits. The food was abundant and our 3 bean salad went over well. We caught the 10 P.M. shuttle from their complex which took us to the MTR, then we rode that to HK Island where we caught a bus home. We were home before midnight! Oh to have a car... (Not really, I wouldn't drive here.)

Sunday, Sept. 27

Church, a visit to some stores in Aberdeen, a walk around Ap Lei Chau Park, and we called it a pleasant day.

Monday, Sept 28

Nok and Juliet, both are Ernest's co-workers, came over for dinner. We had a great time together. I fixed bar-b-que chicken, potatoe casserole (sans the cheese since we didn't think Nok would like it,) tossed salad with the HK version of Ranch dressing, and corn on the cob. I had made brownies from a mix for dessert, a real treat. Unfortunately, they had to work late so didn't arrive until 8 P.M. Nok was leaving for a vacation back to Thailand in the morning and Juliet had an hour and 15 min. bus ride/boat ride home, so we didn't get to teach them how to play the card game, Flinch.

Wednesday, Sept. 30

Attended the ladies' group today. We break up into groups of 4 to 7, and I really like the ladies in my English speaking group. The other groups all speak Cantonese. I was gone for 5 hours to attend the 2 hour study.

Dawn brought the boys to our house tonight for tutoring. They were SO WOUND UP and excited to be in my house. Plus, tomorrow is a holiday, the 60th Anniv. of the People's Republic of China, so they were excited to have a holiday coming up. AND, they were tired from a long day at school. But, we did get some learning accomplished.