The Process of Getting Away

Jen here. Our getaways this year have been limited (though we don't have a long history...only married 2.5 years). With Roy's work, we are busy during the school week and when students have holidays we are even busier with all-day camps. We don't get out of HK much (and we so need that!).

Like I said in our last post, we had 4 red days for easter (Sat-Tues). We pondered going to China, but we waited too long to get our visa. Hence, we had to remain in HK. Alas! What shall we do? So Roy proposed that we go on a little trip, even just overnight somewhere off Hong Kong Island. I have a long list of approved hotels and guesthouses, so I began calling to find out their rates. What an adventure. So many of the people spoke little english, so I had to pull out my Cantonese dictionary to find how to say guestroom. I called and called and called. It was difficult for me--I hate awkward situations!! Here's how a typical phone convo went:

Ring...
Receiver: Wai (Chinese way to say hello on the phone)
Me: Hello
R:Wai
Me: Hi. Um... I am calling to find out if you have any rooms available
R: Mei? (What?)
Me: Um... I...
Click
Me: Hello?



I literally called at least 50 numbers. I mean, if most of the convos are 15 seconds long, you can get a lot of calling done, right?

Once I broke out my Cantonese, the convos went like this:
Ring...
R:Wai
Me: Yau mo ban gun a? (Do you have a guesthouse?)
R:Mei? (What?)
Me: Yau mo ban gun a?
Click

or

Ring...
R:Wai
Me: Yau mo ban gun a?
R: Yau (Have)
Me: Gay dor chin a? (How much is it?)
R: saam baat ng sap mon ($350)
Me: saam...baat...ng...sap... mon... (trying to comprehend the numbers)
R: three hundred fifty dollars
Me: Oh ok, thanks *laughs* Is the room available tonight?
R: Gum maan a? (tonight?)
Me: Hai a (yes)

Believe it or not, there was one convo where we communicated decently in Cantonese (with a little English thrown in)...and a few others where the people spoke great english.

In between calls, I did some searching online for places to kayak. Roy and I have been kayaking a few times in the states and we enjoy it! On that rabbit trail of kayaking I heard of a place called Palm Beach. Palm Beach is a water sports company on Lantau Island (the larger but less populated of HK Islands). Aside from the water sports equipment, one thing makes them unique. They have tipis (teepee). You can have a get together with friends/family for the evening or even stay in one overnight. How cool!

I tossed the idea to Roy and he said, "Let's do it. It'll be an adventure!" I called, booked a tipi (that's how they spelled it...) and we packed and headed to the ferry. I was so excited!!!

(On our way there, we passed cows grazing along the road...the road where huge busses zoomed by! The cows didn't even flinch when the bus passed. What? Strange...)

Cantonese Class

Jen here. I've mentioned my Cantonese class in passing, so today I will tell you all about it! I don't know why, but I desire to learn languages. I haven't become fluent in any language (except english), but I have taken classes in Spanish, French, Italian, Sign Language and now Cantonese (I also had a friend teaching me some Mandarin while I was at OU...).

Upon moving to HK, there was no question that I wanted to learn "Chinese", but should I learn Cantonese or Mandarin? Everyone had their opinions. Some said, "Learn Mandarin, because more people in the world speak Mandarin. It's more useful and it's easier than Cantonese. Hardly anyone speaks Cantonese outside of HK and southern China." Others said, "Learn Cantonese; it's the local language." A few said, "You don't need to learn either. You can get around just fine with English." And my friend from China (who taught me some Mandarin) said, "Learn Cantonese, because I don't know it!"

Between this dilemma and trying to find a class to fit my desires(language and $), I put off taking a class until January. In January while searching online I discovered a class that started two days later. I called, signed up and started then!

The class is subsidized by the government and is for minorities. Some of the worksheets we get in class say "Migrant Workers Class". Funny, I didn't know I was a migrant worker. :) It is solely conversation; we aren't learning how to read or write Chinese. The goal is to learn spoken Cantonese useful in daily life. My fellow students are from India, Nepal, Mongolia, Japan, the UK and the Philippines. The ages range from 18 to 50s or 60s. I'd say the median age is 40. Some of the students have lived in HK for 15-20 years and are just now deciding to learn Cantonese (of course they picked a little up along the way). The best part of the deal is the price: $100HK for 50 hours. $100HK is about $14US. I get 50 hours of class for 14 bucks?? Craziness. Here's our class picture:

Our teacher, William, is very patient, fun and enjoys teaching. He answers any questions we have (such as, how do you say "close the door slowly" or "speak quietly" or "duck" or "apple" or "please stop" when you're riding the green minibus--my question) and thoughtfully tells us about HK culture and some Chinese culture. I've learned a lot about China's history through this class!

This photo is from our "yum cha" outing. Yum cha literally means drink tea, but if you say, "Let's go to yum cha", what it really means is "Let's go to a Chinese restaurant and eat dim sum!" We went as a class (not everyone made it) but it was fun. We had so many questions, "How do you say shrimp dumpling? How do you say we need more chopsticks? How do you say red bean soup?" Mmm...it was delicious, filling and only cost us $50HK each (~$8 US)...funny, the cost of yum cha was half of what we paid for the class...

I try to use my Cantonese daily, but I am nervous to! What if they don't understand what I say? What if they do, and I don't understand what they say? :) One of my small group girls is teaching me to say important things, such as "I want one double cheeseburger please" and "Green tea bubble tea, very sweet please". I haven't tried the cheeseburger one, but the next time I go to McD's I will. :)

All in all, I am so thankful to be taking this class and living in another culture with a different language. It's fun and I hope to grow better at speaking Cantonese!

Cookies and Neighbors

Jen here. Wow, what a tiring few days it's been. God is good; He keeps being more than faithful...praise Jesus.

I woke up yesterday hearing the sound of raindrops on our air con. Oh no! I left the clothes out on the line! I ran upstairs and quickly removed them from the line and hung them up on our window guards, my rainy day clothes dryers. The A/C dries them out quick...sometimes when the clothes are outside, they don't dry out completely...must be all the humidity.

As those of you who are married know, marriage is challenging at times. Well, now is one of those times. Poor communication, grumpiness, sin, etc are at their best right now...ugh. I would appreciate prayer for Roy and me, for our relationship. Pray that God would teach me to be selfless and loving, and that God would guide Roy as a shepherd.

Ok, so now I will explain the photo at left. Here is a small snapshot of my kitchen, and more specifically, the half of the kitchen that has a range in it. The white pitcher is standing on the range (the stove). Our stove has two burners and I enjoy using it now that we have metal pans. Above the flowers is a hood thing...so I can vent out smoke or heat or whatever. Today I baked Snickerdoodles (cookies--you can see two of them on the right side of the photo) to give to our neighbors. My kitchen is small, so counter space is a commodity. I realized that the vent is metal, and we have a magnet, and I could take the recipe out of my book and stick it to the vent, so I can use the counter space that my "Better Homes and Gardens" cookbook usually takes up. Thus, that paper hanging from the vent in the photo is my recipe. Yeah!

Oh, and the flowers...Roy bought me flowers today!!! :) I did not expect them (remember I told you we have had a rough couple of days)...praise Jesus. They are purple roses...and smell like roses...mmm. The last time I smelled roses was in Washington, on a Sunday, after the 11:30am service at Mars Hill Church, after I walked Mildred to her apartment. There is a rose garden by the senior living apartments; it contains beautiful roses of all sorts of colors and sizes. Mmm... nature. So Roy chose to remind me of his love for me by buying me roses. Aww... :) I often miss Roy's other actions that declare his love for me, like working hard, letting me know when he'll be home, taking me out to eat, confronting me about my sin, serving Jesus, being generous with me, letting me bake freely, eating and enjoying the meals I make for him, etc. I need to broaden my view of love and how love is expressed.

So I baked cookies today...Snickerdoodles to be exact. I made them to give to our neighbors. Once the last ones came out of the oven, I divided them into three groups and put them on two plates and in one bowl (we only have two small plates...). Off I went to ring doorbells...the first doorbell I rang, no one answered...and I am pretty sure I heard noise in the apartment before I rang the doorbell, but after I rang it, no noise. Hmm... :) I rang two more doorbells, but no answers. Okay...it's 8pm at night, is everyone really out? Not to worry, though, we have many neighbors.

The next door has a creepy red light over it (but a red light is probably not creepy in Chinese culture) and one of those little pots with Chinese burny sticks in it...I don't know how to describe it. It's either a shrine to a god, or to ancestors, or something. It is something spiritual and we see these little shrines tucked in buildings everywhere. In the evening, we'll see food sitting by the shrines; sometimes the food has sticks stuck in it and the sticks are on fire. A burnt offering? Feeding ancestors? No idea. To clarify, our neighbor's little shrine never has food by it and is never on fire...it is just there. I ring the doorbell and an old lady answers (about 50 or 60?). I awkwardly try to introduce myself to her through the metal gate in front of her door, but she does not understand english (and I don't understand Cantonese...), so she gets her son to come over and interpret. He seems to understand, but then he goes and gets his sister. She is nice...and they all seem surprised by the cookies. They accept them and say thank you and bye. I know they understood that I lived upstairs...

I made two more cookie deliveries, and on both of them an older person answered the door...but when they heard me speaking english, they called a teenage kid over to interpret. The third apartment's teenager didn't really get it... but they eventually understood that I didn't need them to let me in to our building, I wanted to give them cookies. The mom and dad turned away the cookies at first, saying ng gaw (thank you)...but they eventually accepted them as a gift. They had an ADORABLE little 1-2 year old son...he was so cute!

What an experience it is to communicate with people without using the same language! The people at Babel must have had a terrible time. I so want to learn Cantonese...

Oh, by the way, the other day our doorbell rang. Roy answered the door and there was a Jehovah's Witness! What? IN HONG KONG? They're everywhere! Those JWs...I hope our neighbors didn't think I was a JW...maybe that's why some didn't answer. Good thing God is sovereign...He is at work, even if people may think I am a JW and not answer the door.

Pray for us to be able to build relationships with our neighbors. After delivering the cookies, I have a desire to teach people english(and to learn Cantonese!)...people who don't have much opportunity to learn it. Kids who go to international schools pay big bucks to attend and most, if not all, instruction is in english. But I bet students who attend local schools have more of an exposure to english as kids in the US have to spanish. "Yeah, I took Spanish for four years...but I only remember Hola, como estas!" Just a guess, I have no evidence to support such a claim.

Thanks for reading...and as always, I love to hear from you, so send an e-mail or leave a comment!