Goodbye

Jen here. Moving is bittersweet. I could feel the end of our time in HK coming to a close...and I was excited and sad. The lasts began happening in June: last Chess classes, last Chess tournament, last youth group meeting...

At our last "Encounter" (youth group meeting) Marcus asked students to share testimonies of God's grace and work in their lives. Students got up and shared for the next 90 minutes! Wow! God is at work in these kids' hearts; they are learning from their leader's, friends and on their own. Praise God! After testimonies, we had a fun dance party. Those who didn't want to dance could play video games, foosball, ping pong, Chess or just chill and chat. Dancing was a blast, everyone having a great time. Another leader and I brought our cameras and let students shoot photos. Enjoy.


During my last week in Hong Kong I hung out with a few of my small group girls from youth. We met in Times Square (not NYC...Hong Kong has a smaller Times Square) where there were tons on Toy Story aliens, and of course we had to take some photos with them! Next we went to get some Bubble Tea, which I've only had a few times. I wanted to have it one last time before moving back to the US. One of my girls taught me how to order my own, so I did and we walked around Causeway Bay, talking and drinking our bubble tea(see photo at top). We found a place to sit down and thought about what was ahead. I was sad to be leaving and the girls were sad to see me leave. One of them kept offering to help me unpack (in HK). :) We cried and prayed together and it was time to head home.

Scholastic Chess Championship

Jen here. I've almost caught up with our HK adventures...I don't think I could ever write all of them down.

Our last tournament that we put on was the Hong Kong Scholastic Championship, held in June. It was an interesting tournament, as we had many new staff present in order to be trained. Many university students were looking for jobs for the summer and we had lots of camps scheduled. Perfect fit! It was a good tournament. Roy was the man in charge and he delegated duties to the other staff. I helped Roy in whatever ways worked best--taking photos, being a floor tournament director, keeping kids quiet, organizing the trophies, etc. It was a good time. :)

All students received a trophy at this tournament--see the large trophies in the top left picture, down to the small trophies in the top right photos. This tournament was similar to all our others: three age divisions for trophies, 5-6 rounds (depending on age). One difference: this was Coach Roy's last tournament in Hong Kong this year! He announced it to parents and many wished he would stay. He's an excellent Chess coach and he works well with the students. They have improved so much--I would want Roy to stay too! :)

But, not to worry, Roy still had about a month of classes, camps and quads until he would be leaving HK in July.

Hang Time

Jen here. I got to hang out with a few of my small group girls and one of my co-leaders one day in Sai Kung. It was a good time. :)

The outing was a culmination of many conversations, facebook messages and desires for a long time. We wanted to get all our small group girls together and hang out in HK. In March I sent out a facebook message asking when the girls wanted to hang out. One girl said she couldn't hang out until after May 27th because of exams. That's two months away...HUH? Generally, students are very serious about their studies in HK. Yes, there's a spectrum of zeal, but it seems to be higher than in Southern Ohio. :)

We made a plan, and as the day approached the girls dropped off like flies. Oh no! Not to worry because it was great to spend time with just the 4 of us.

Kaishi and I traveled together to Sai Kung (We had to take the MTR and a bus...about a 60-90 minute commute) and met up with our girls. We scouted the area for a good place to eat and settled on Steamer's (or something like that). Good food. Then on we went to walk along the water. I brought my camera, so I let the girls run around with it and take photos of whatever. Some of the photos I posted were taken by them. :)

One interesting thing I had never seen before was along the sides of the pier, there were several boats selling fresh seafood. A customer would look down into the boats where the seafood was alive and sorted into baskets. One who tell the person in the boat what she wanted, and the worker would kill it, gut it, etc and pass it up to the customer in a net. The customer would then put the money in the net and end of transaction. We watched this for at least 30 minutes.

We concluded our hang out time with real Italian gelato and a quick photography lesson. Great time!

Summer Tournament

Jen here. Yes, we are back in the States. Why am I still writing about HK? Because I am behind in my postings...and I'd like to record the end of our stay in HK! So, do know I will be catching you up on two months of happenings in, well, less than two months (I hope!). Enjoy!

May 22, 2010 Chess4Life | Hong Kong put on our Summer Tournament. Yes, May isn't exactly summer, but in HK it is more summer than spring, thus we named it the "Summer Tournament". We had a good number of students in the tournament, and it went well.

I am intrigued by how Roy (Coach Roy) interacts with the students. His classes and tournaments are very orderly, quiet and calm. He holds their respect and they listen to him. In the quietness and order, one would think the students are bored, sullen or apathetic, but they aren't! They are doing what they enjoy (playing Chess), learning new information and tactics and being reminded of old knowledge. They are being challenged and having fun at the same time. How cool! Roy is able to joke with them and find out what they look forward to each day, what activities they are involved in, etc. What a blessing!

Hoi Ha Beach

Jen here. Buddha's birthday is a public holiday in HK, so no work for Roy! We planned a day trip out to Sai Kung, an area in northeast HK known for its beauty and remoteness (compared to HK Island and the like). We had never been there, so I grabbed my handy dandy mapbook and planned our route and end destination.

Hoi Ha Beach caught my eye and the route to it wasn't too bad. We just had to catch the MTR, take a big bus, then ride a green minibus all the way to the end of the line. Yay!



Here's a photo from the inside of the mini-bus--my favorite mode of public transport in HK. Said GMB (green minibus) holds 16 passengers and will stop just about anywhere (you don't have to be at an official stop to catch one). I used to be intimidated by the siu ba (cantonese for small bus)because in order to stop, you tell the driver where to stop. Being on one, you'll hear things like "yau lok m goi," "ba si jaam m goi," "wai hong yau lok," "jien wan m goi" and things I still don't understand. So you can understand why I could be intimidated, especially if I can't speak a word of cantonese. :) This was the first thing I wanted to learn in cantonese class--because I could use it right away (and wanted to!). Otherwise, I was at the mercy of the other passengers and would just get off close to where I wanted to get off. If Roy was here, he would tell you, "If you just say anything and make eye contact with the driver, he'll stop." This is true...but something in me keeps me from speaking english...maybe my fear of being different or other people thinking I'm a silly American. One of my friends told me her husband once said, "Chocolate cake!"and made eye contact with the driver and he stopped. :) To my relief, I learned what to say on the mini bus to stop (Yau lok m goi is best...generic...it means "have down please" or really "stop please") but I can also say other things, with the help of Chinese friends and my Cantonese teacher (Bus stop please, turn the corner, wellcome supermarket, our street name, etc). Onto Hoi Ha...

Hoi Ha is a small beach, far out, so we hoped it wouldn't be crowded, and it wasn't! After hiking around the area and scampering around on the rocks, we had a few cuts to tend to and then looked for a spot on the beach. We made our camp under a tree in a distant end of the beach (see photo). If you look at the photo, you'll see an umbrella on the bottom right, and a Roy taking a nap under it. In the top left is the main part of the beach...that's where people would come in and look, hang around and then leave. Very few people ventured over to our area. We found later that the shallow stream of water we crossed to get to this sandy area began being not so shallow as the day continued on. By the time we left, we had to wade through water up to our waists!

What a fun day we had. We lounged on the beach, sunbathed a little, chatted, read and enjoyed the beauty of His glorious creation! Roy found many hermit crabs and I waded in the water. It was a nice break for both of us...a nice little get-away from the city. :)

Check out what was on the tree we camped under...kind of like a pineapple, but not...? Strange, but very unique.

Lei Yue Mun Seafood

Jen here. After our hike, we hopped in the car and drove to Lei Yue Mun, a fishing village in HK well-known for its fresh seafood. I've been told by multiple people to go there, but this is our first time. Roy's boss hadn't been here since she was a young child and back then it really was just a fishing village. Now it's surrounded by normal HK city-life. Even as we entered the area, we got to choose between paying to park in a normal parking lot or paying to park in a huge parking garage. The actual market that we walked into is to the left of what is pictured right here. This just seems to be a remnant of the old run-down fishing village, so I thought it would make a neat photo. I had a hard time getting photos; I only brought my ~85mm lens...which is not ideal for photos in small spaces or capturing a large environment. Sorry!

As you enter the market place, there are several restaurants and tanks of live, fresh seafood dying to be eaten (or rather, will be dead soon so you can eat them...). Some of the seafood stands have their own restaurants (or vice versa), and so did ours. We sat down at our table and then promptly went back into the market place to select what we wanted to eat that night. A man from the restaurant stood ready with bags and recommendations and we pointed and picked. Roy's boss led the charge, as Roy and I had little idea of cost and taste--we're not that experienced with seafood (although Roy is more experienced than I am). She pointed and picked and asked for our opinions and then we headed back into the restaurant and our guy took the bags of seafood into the kitchen.

Our meal began with 1000 year eggs. Yum. :) Yes, that's sarcasm; they do not look appetizing. They are eggs that have been "preserved" or "pickled" in some black stuff, which makes them black in color and slightly translucent (imagine black jello for the egg white). The eggs are quartered and you eat one quarter with a piece of pickled ginger (which is pink). I was a little nervous to try it--I think I may have tried it before but I don't remember it's taste. Roy tried one first and said it really wasn't bad, so I followed. It wasn't bad. It didn't have much flavor...and the pickled ginger really helped mask any of the undesirable flavor. One of G's daughter's loved them and kept eating them. :)

Next came freshly boiled shrimp, with everything still on--big bulgy black eyes, shell, tail and all. Hmm...this will be interesting, I thought. G had one of her daughters demonstrate how to peel the shrimp for eating. (And I am actually SO excited that I learned how to do this!!) First, you break the head off; I used my fingernail to help separate the head from the body. If you really want a treat, you can suck the brain/liquid out of the head. I passed on that part. Second, peel off the shell. Third, pinch the tail in order to remove it. (Step two and three are interchangeable) Then enjoy! The shrimp were pretty good.

Out came a plate stacked high with pieces of what G called the "Peeing Shrimp"(pictured at right before death). We've head them called Squill...who knows what the real name is. They were huge and had a tough shell that you had to cut and dig the meat out of. The meat was DELICIOUS. My favorite dish of the night. It was sweet and not fishy; it tasted like crab, but more sweet. Mmm...I could eat some right now. :) I could have eaten those for my whole meal. Yum.

I am beginning to forget the order so I'll just write as I remember. We had a whole fish; I have no idea the kind. It was very tender and came right off the bones. It was pretty good. My portion had a little fish skin on it...and I'm still not enjoying fish skin. Apparently it is custom to serve the honored guest the fish head--I am so glad G does not run by this custom. She knew none of these Americans would want the fish head. :) Thank you.

Conch. I had to get a photo of these guys--sorry it is poorly focused. There were enough conch so that each of us could have two. They were brought out in a ceramic pot filled with broth. I fished out one of them and waited for instructions. To get the conch out of the shell, stab the meal with a toothpick and pull it out. Then break off (or cut off) the end part of it, which contains the intestines or something... Then enjoy! Praise God for changing my tolerance for new food and giving me a clear mind to try new things. I ate my first one and enjoyed it. Roy wasn't sure whether he wanted a second one, but I knew I definitely wanted a second one. Mm... It was a little chewy, but not bad. I liked it. :)

This post is way too long. I will continue on another post. Enjoy! :)

Mom in Macau

Jen here. On April 12 we took Mom on a trip to Macau. Macau is another Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China...sort of like Hong Kong, except it was colonized by the Portuguese instead of the British. It has a unique feel of old world and new-world-casino-ness. Roy and I went to Macau once in the late summer, and we took a tour (an organized one, with a bus and all). This time around we wanted to plan our time in Macau. We got a map, rode the buses and went where we wanted to go (namely, the old part of town).

Macau is so interesting! It's my first exposure to Portuguese...which is close to spanish. Check out this street sign.

The Catholic influence is everywhere. From the Rua Da Ressurrecao (Street of Resurrection) to tons of churches, or used-to-be chs, such as these remains of a cathedral (who's that sharp man in the red?):

Chs right next to Chinese temples. It was disappointing how similar the Catholic ch buildings were to the Chinese temples. With statues arranged in little coves of the building, fitted with a kneeling place, candles, etc I wondered, what's the difference? Go to the Chinese temple, offer incense and pray to one god, then go to the catholic ch, pray and offer incense to another statue. Yay. (Sarcasm) I don't know what has been taught in Macau; I just see the buildings set up...

The sidewalks in the old-town were so cool. They were mosaic-like with black and white tiles, and had all sorts of designs. Along some sidewalks, there were waves and along most others, you would see all sorts of sea-creature shapes. See, a crab:

Macau was not without the Chinese feel of Hong Kong. Here's a little shop that sells dried fish. In taking a photo of the shop (ok, mainly the fish hanging on the fence), I accidentally snapped a photo of this guy. Is he giving me the stink eye?

Enjoy!

Food, Food, Food

Jen here. Hong Kong is a great place for food. And boy do I mean great. If you want it, you can get it. Name it, it's here. Chinese (all styles), Japanese, Vietnamese, Indian, Italian, Greek, South African, Mediterranean, Philippino and American--and that's not even all. It's just all that my naive food-mind knows of.

Here are the two dishes we ate at Stoep, an African/Mediterranean restaurant on Cheung Sha Beach: Roy had the rainbow trout(check out how he ate it right off the bones!) and I had fish and chips (yes...I'm not very risky...)

God has been good to me in exposing me to more things. I used to be such a picky eater...but since going to college, marrying Roy, moving to Seattle and now living in Hong Kong, I eat way more things than I used to.

Here are my favorite foods to eat here in HK:

Vietnamese Pho in Quarry Bay. There's tiny restaurant near our church that a few of our friends from church introduced us to. Sure, the first time we were there, there were a few bugs crawling under the glass table-top...but the old lady with the silver tooth who works there is so sweet and always smiles at me. One time she even brought me and Roy forks and napkins (napkins are rare in restaurants--you have to bring your own). How sweet!

Gai dan zai, also known as bubble waffles to me. :) It's like I'm at the Ross County fair every day! I can just walk into our local Park N Shop and tell the lady "Ngoh yue yat ghoh gai dan zai (I want one egg waffle)" and I have an instant, hot, chewy waffle of sorts. I love them! If you come visit, I will definitely buy one for you! :)

Dim sum, but that goes without saying. Who doesn't like dim sum? Little bits of many hot dumplings and rolls full of veggies, meat, seafood, etc. Mmm...

Omelets and tomato soup from The Flying Pan. The only 24-hour breakfast joint in HK, or so they say, and I love it. It's more sentimental to me than it is delicious. I mean, the food is good. A big omelet, with homemade tomato soup (made with real tomatoes), toast and fruit juice, who couldn't like? I enjoy it immensely, but mainly because it reminds me of Coney Islands in Flint, Michigan. It's a sense of home for me there. Breakfast in the evening, in a diner, with Roy, with friends, ah. Familiarity.

A burger at Fatburger. Believe it or not, it's been difficult to find a good burger in HK. Not impossible, but difficult. We tried Freshburger, but it was so not fresh...so frozen and nasty. And sure, there's McDonald's, but I want to real burger, with a thick patty. We tried some other western restaurants, but their burgers were like Red Robin--expensive and not that great either. And finally, we found Fatburger. Sounds so nutritious, right? We don't eat it very often, but when we're desiring a burger, we now know where to go. Mmm...

I'll take a break from listing my favorite foods in HK. I could go on and on. I enjoy having a home here...so that we can eat at home, make our own food the way we like it, try to cook new things and when we want to, we can go out to eat and try something new.

One of the hardest things in moving to HK was staying in the hotel for two weeks while we found an apartment. I know, my life is so difficult (sarcasm)...but really. To be at the mercy of all these strange and unusual restaurants and flavors was super hard for me. I longed to cook my own food, from familiar ingredients. And now, I can. :)

So, if you come visit, fear not, for I can cook normal, delicious food for you out of the same (or nearly the same) ingredients you use at home!

Lantau Get-Away

Jen here. Welcome to Cheung Sha Beach, Lantau Island. It is located southwest of Pui O and South of Tung Chung. I think. :)

Roy and I spent a few days here for a wonderful holiday just after Easter. There were few people, practically no cars, few buses and NO skyscrapers to be seen. Praise our Creator! What a blessing it was to exit HK Island and chill on a little-name beach for two days. Ah...

We stayed at a place called Palm Beach, where the employees were very friendly and the neighbor kids came down to play everyday after school like they were family. Our night-time accommodation was a tipi--we had the larger one. Another couple had already reserved the 12 foot tipi, so we reserved the 16 foot tipi. We wanted an adventure and we got a small one. :)

On the first day we ate dinner at a African/Mediterranean Restaurant just down the beach. Roy had rainbow trout (which we had never eaten before) and I got fish and chips. He received the trout whole on his plate and got to eat the meat off the bones. Glad I didn't order it! :) My fish and chips were delicious. As we ate we marveled at how different Lantau Island is from Hong Kong Island. We only traveled 2 hours from home and there's already a different feel!

That night, the two guard dogs kept waking us up by their barking at rabbits, birds and the random water buffalo walking down the beach. (Yes, water buffalo) Roy knew they were barking at nothing, but my imagination had the dogs barking at packs of wolves or burglars or something. Oh fears. Go away.

The next day we decided to rent kayaks and go out on the water. There was virtually no wind, so the water was calm. We paddled out to a small island about 30 minutes away and looked for a way to pull in, but there were rocks around the whole island so we just chilled in the water and ate a snack. It was fun to kayak once again. The last time we kayaked was in Seattle at Lake Washington just before we moved to HK. Familiarity.

We spent much time chilling on lawn chairs and just enjoying the quiet. It was a really nice rest. We read, played Scrabble and talked with the employees a little. In talking with the other couple that stayed there, we found out they also lived in Kennedy Town on HK Island! How funny. :) They were in their 20s (I think) and from the UK, but were recently from Australia. It was fun chatting with them.

As our last adventure before heading back to HK Island, we decided to hike to the top of Lantau Peak. Being short on time, we took a bus to the pass and hiked to the top from there. Our one-way hiking distance was about 2.5 km and at least 2 km of that was steps. Lots of steps. I absolutely loved the hike. It was exhausting but exhilarating. We were so high up (compared to being at sea level) and the air was cool. It was foggy, cloudy, breezy and misty, which gave our trek an epic feel. At every turn or ridge I would pause and take a huge breath with my eyes closed, just trying to soak up the beauty of it all. Oh how amazing it was. How amazing our Gd is. Mm..

We made it to the top, took a few pictures (before the battery died) and headed back down. We had little time! Oh what a marvelous hike. I can't wait to hike again!

More later...

The ISF Academy 2010 Chess Open

Jen here. March 27th was a big day for Chess4Life | Hong Kong. We held our first large tournament, partnering with one of our schools, The ISF Academy. We watched the sign-up numbers grow and knew this would be big, especially for Roy, head honcho of all things Chess in ActiveKids.

114 kids signed up and we had three sections: Secondary (~12-18), Primary (~7-11) and 6 and under (4-6). I don't remember the final number of schools that turned up, but I believe it was in the teens or twenties.

The day began early, with Roy and me arriving at the school by 7:15am. Check-in would start at 9:30am, and the first round at 10am. Logistically, our goal was to keep things moving--on-time or ahead of time. Tournaments that run behind are difficult for staff, students and parents. No one wants that!

The week prior, Roy trained me and three other staff to be floor tournament directors (I got to watch over the 4-6 year olds!) and The ISF Academy provided multiple parent volunteers that were so helpful in everything from helping students to read pairings, record results, pass out meal vouchers and round up students for the next round. The ISF Academy principal was a vital part of the success of the day as well. Praise God for providing all this help!

And now for my little tidbits of the day. Chess tournament halls are supposed to be quiet, right? Roy did a great job setting the tone for the day (fun, and quiet) and the students (especially my little ones) were very quiet. Sure, there was the occasional student yelling, "Check!" or "Illegal move, take it back!" but all in all, they did well.

When students completed their games, they were instructed to quietly walk with their opponent to the results table to record their result. This table was about 30 feet away from where the 4-6 year olds played their games. Almost every pair of kids would say, "okay" and then run to the results table(feet pounding the gym floor)! A few times, one student's opponent would head toward the results table first, and every time she would yell, "Hey, wait for me!" and run to catch up with her opponent. Oh kids. They made me smile multiple times and laugh out loud at other times.

Between rounds the students could hang out in the Skittles room (Cafeteria) or play outside. Once the students heard the next round was beginning, there was a stampede to the tournament hall. :) Many of my 4-6 year olds would come in fresh from the soccer court, sweating and out of breath.

The kids did an excellent job. My little ones ended up playing 7 rounds of Chess in one day, as did the primary kids. The secondary only played 5 rounds (they had longer rounds). We handed out many trophies and saw many students excel.

After the tournament, we were exhausted (all staff included). Once we packed everything up, a few of us decided to get dinner before heading home. I felt a camaraderie among our staff as we spent all day working and then had time to chat and get to know one another more at dinner. It was a fun day! Roy and I got home around 8pm and went straight to bed! What a day!

More Ms of HK

After writing my first "M" post, I asked Roy for "m" words and he listed off at least 50! I missed so many words, I should be ashamed. :) Here are some more:

MTR- the underground train (aka: subway or metro for US people); So easy to get almost everywhere, except where we live. :) We can take the MTR most of the way and then catch a multitude of buses the last leg home.

Mong Kok- MTR stop where one of Roy's Chess classes is located. It is also home to the "Ladies Market", an outdoor market where you can buy anything from racing jackets and sunglasses to jade buddhas and Chinese wall hangings. Purchases thus far: backpack, wall hangings, jade dragon, and wall hangings.

M47- one of the many buses we can catch to Central, the location of IFC Mall (so western) and Exchange Square (bus depot)

Money-HK money is so colorful. See the photo: The $100 is red, many of the $20s are blue, some are green, $50s are green, $10s are purple and pink, $500s are brown and $1000 are gold-brown. Conversion rate: $1US=$7.8HK

Malaysia- I have met multiple people who are from Malaysia. And apparently just about everyone in Malaysia speaks English, and Malay. Cool.

Wet Market-An outdoor market where you can buy fresh fruits, veggies, raw meet and even cooked foods. They are everywhere! It seems each district has it's own. The first time I went to one to buy stuff, I dropped my wallet and left without knowing it!! Oh no! I was in the Park N'Shop getting ready to buy a few things and...no wallet! I rushed back, scanning the ground and as I went. As soon as I walked onto the floor that had fruits and veggies one of the men flagged me down and told me he turned my wallet into the office. He showed me to the office where I had an interesting time communicating with the officer. He had my HK ID card out, could clearly see my photo and I still had to identify somehow that it was mine. Hmm...how many other blondie girls with brown eyebrows has he seen in Kennedy Town? No, I was actually praising Gd that I received my wallet back! Just a few days prior I memorized my HKID number...and had just learned how to say my numbers in cantonese. So I started out "chat baat....etc etc...luk" hooray! It was my ID after all! Everything was still in my wallet--money, ID card, octopus card (which has money on it useful on public transportation, at 7-Eleven, McD's, Park N'Shop and various other places), etc. Yay!

Motion-sickness-Roy gets this while he's on the double-decker bus heading up to his classes on the Peak. No fun. :)

Movies- We've seen two Asian-made movies in theater and both were not the greatest. One was just really sad (Hyundae--a mega-tsunami hits South Korea) and the other was just...ugh (Warrior and the Wolf). The Warrior and the Wolf just left us thinking, what happened? What's going on? Huh? I'm confused... Must be a lot of cultural stuff we don't know. :)

Miss- family, friends, washington's beautiful mountains, the Puget Sound, cool clean air, the sunset on the corn fields in Circleville, riding my bike, driving a car (but not getting it fixed), Laurelville apple cider, Mom's chocolate chip cookies, and my dear sister Katie. :)

Inter-School Tournament

Jen here. Roy approached the principal and parents of our ISF Academy chess students with the idea of forming a team of students and Roy coaching them as they compete as a school team in local Chess tournaments. All parties being on board, a team was organized and a special team class began in mid-January. Their first team competition? The HK Inter-School Tournament, hosted by HKCF, held Sunday, February 28th (why all day on Sunday? The world may never know...).

I went with Roy to help in any way and to support him--and because I just love to be with him! I know many of the students on the team and am an assistant coach to many of them.

We taxied to the school and arrived at about 8:15am. The tournament room was a large auditorium/gym, and upon inquiring, we discovered they had no rooms available for skittles (aka: a place for students to go when they finish their game, hang out, go over their games, etc). We scouted the open-air hallways for a spot to set up a home base (Thanks to Mike Skidmore for setting such an example for Roy in coaching!) and found one on the floor above the tournament room--4 picnic tables close to the door to the balcony overlooking the gym. As students arrived Roy organized his 12 ISF kids and the rounds began. I've never attended such a tournament; in this one, four kids make up a team and you play a team, sitting shoulder to shoulder with your fellow teammates. Having brought 12 kids, we had three teams.

Between rounds the students reported back to our home base to go over their games, eat a snack and chill. After a while, the parents began hanging out and chatting at our home base (HKCF provided seats to sit inside the tournament hall, so some of our parents were in there for the first few rounds) and I got to meet many of them. They were so excited their children were competing in Chess and growing as a team. Throughout the day they expressed how united the team was and really appreciated Roy's role as coach to the students. :)

The day was long, as the tournament was delayed, finishing an hour or more behind schedule(primary school award ceremony finished at 7:30, secondary had to wait longer). But the kids had a fun time, won many games and grew as a team. The end placing: Our A team earned Second Place, and two students earned trophies for placing in their respective boards. Way to go, ISF Academy!

Nowadays the team is preparing for the first large tournament put on by Chess4Life: The ISF Academy 2010 Chess Open, which will be held March 27th, hosted by the ISF Academy. What an event it will be...please pray for Roy as he is the main TD and organizer of this event--he has many people to organize. Thanks!

Cheung Chau Get-Away!

Jen here. On Chinese New Year's eve, Roy and I packed our stuff and left HK Island for our first get-away since arriving last August. It was much-needed and we praised God for it!

Cheung Chau--one of the outlying islands of Hong Kong--is an old fishing island. I read somewhere that it is the most densely populated outer island. Shaped like a dog bone (see map), most people live in the central part, while the end regions are perfect for hikes. No cars on the island, except for mini emergency vehicles, so all the roads are narrow and there are bikes everywhere.

We stayed in a B & B (more like a hotel than a US B&B) and had a great time. The weather was cold and rainy all 4 of our days there. :( Fortunately we brought coats and umbrellas, and easily face the weather each day. The staff at the B&B always had hot water on hand, so we drank many servings of hot chocolate and tea (which we bought at a Park N Shop on the Island). For breakfast in the morning, we had three choices: soup, eggs (with meat and fruit), and an omelet (with mushrooms and tomatoes, no cheese). Oh, and btw, the "fruit" is a slice of cucumber and a slice of tomato. :) Interesting...

We spent many hours walking along the beach picking up sea glass. Roy loves to do this and this beach was a jackpot for such a thing. There was almost more sea glass than sand (not really)...after seeing it all (and some rubbish with it) we were glad it was too cold to swim.

On our third day there, Roy rented two bikes for us and we zipped around the island, taking in so much more than we saw the two days prior. It was so fun! We biked along the shoreline, past all the little street vendors, past all the tourist shops, past all the locals eating meals and hanging out. We buzzed up the hill (all paths were paved) to a hiking path, where we locked up our bikes and hiked to the "Pirate's Cave", where supposedly an old pirate stored his booty. It was less like a cave and more like a small hole in a rock, but hey, we saw it. The shoreline of the island was full of large tan rocks which the path led us over. At one point the wind caught Roy's hat and rolled it down some of the rocks. After some thinking and investigating, Roy retrieved it and we returned to our bikes and continued on. Up until this day, I thought the island was cool, but a little run down. I mean, if you live in a flat in an apartment complex, who cares how the outside looks? But on our biking expedition, I saw a different side of the island. A side that was quaint and tended to. Neat and painted apartment buildings, brick sidewalks, decorative fences and grass (what's that??). At one point I looked to Roy and said, "This place is kind of cute."

Here are a few more photos of our adventure.
Photo 1: Roy. On our hiking adventure, under a pagoda. Sweet.
Photo 2: Jen on the shoreline. Check out all those boats out there!
Photo 3:The sign in the top left of the photo is to a Christian cementary. I'll translate. No praying to the dead or swinging around those joss sticks. No burning incense. No food offerings (no poultry or veggies, or pigs or fruit--gotta be specific). No fires. Interesting.
Photo 4: One of the many street vendors who cooked food for you on the spot. We ate many a meat on a stick and bubble waffles. Mmm...sounds good right now. The street vendors made for a happening night life. You could eat dinner at a restaurant, or just mosey from street vendor to street vendor. Ciao!

Kung Hay Fat Choi!

Jen here. We're one month into the Chinese New Year--Happy Chinese New Year!! (February 14th was the first day of the new year) Kung Hay Fat Choi is the standard greeting for CNY in HK. My Cantonese teacher told my class that it means, "Congratulations getting rich!" It's an interesting holiday, and completely new to us!

In the days leading up to CNY, there are flower markets at some of the major parks in HK. I went to the main one in Victoria Park with a few ladies from a Bible study at church. Roy and I explored it in the evening as well. There were so many people; we were literally pressed up against one another while walking through the aisles!

True to it's name, this market did have many fresh flowers for sale. Beautiful orchids, daisies and much more, they presented a colorful display for our eyes. In addition to the flowers, there were many booths of tiger items--tiger dolls, key chains, hats, bags, shirts, etc. If it has a tiger on it, it was sold here. :) I thought about buying a tiger hat, but I couldn't decide which one! There were at least five different tiger hats sold.

So, why tigers? This year is the Year of the Tiger. The Chinese have twelve different animals that rotate for the years--tiger, rat, boar, dragon, lamb, ox, horse, rabbit, snake, dog, monkey and rooster. Chinese zodiac. Many fortune tellers publish new books each year to tell people their fortune (or misfortune) in the upcoming year. They speak of areas such as love life, work, riches, family, etc. Interesting.

CNY is the largest celebration--similar to Christmas in the US. We didn't really get to celebrate it, because it's a family holiday. All of our HK/Chinese friends spent their days off work going from home to home to home of relatives and close friends, visiting and snacking. Visit after visit after visit.

My Cantonese class teacher has been my main informant on CNY. I'm so glad I'm in that class! There are many "superstitions" (as he calls them), such as:
-cut your hair before CNY
-wear all new clothes for CNY
-do NOT wear new shoes
-wear red underwear (also when you want to have especially good luck, such as for a test in school)...I totally saw red underwear hanging on clothes lines too... :)
-do NOT visit people on the third day of CNY, you'll be more likely to fight with them

I have one funny story to share with you. One day as I was walking from the bus stop to the church, I passed a parking garage. Many of these have guards, and I made eye contact with this particular guard and he smiled, clasped his hands together and in the bowing fashion said, "Kung hay fat choi!" So I returned with my hands clasped, "Kung hay fat choi!" He seemed delighted and said, "Very good" and I continued on my way, smiling. I could not help it. I giggled and smiled about it for the next few minutes. :) How funny. Ciao.