Ms of Hong Kong

Jen here. My sister requested to see more photos, so here are a few more from our tourist adventure to the Peak. The landscape photo is of HK Island (buildings near) and "Kowloon side" as we call it, which is still part of Hong Kong, but is connected to the mainland. The other photo is of a fancy building on top of the peak, shaped like a half-moon. It has a mall inside and an observation deck on the roof. We ate at Bubba Gump's inside this building and looked out at the view through the windows you can see.

The other day I was inspired to write a post listing words beginning with "m" and explain the importance of each word, if necessary. Here goes:


Ms of Hong Kong

Muggy -weather from April - October
Moisture -all over our windows in the winter
Mold -trying to pretend like HK is WA, mold popping up on window sills and outer walls
McDonald’s -first time in many years that I want to eat at McD’s. I am a frequent customer at its McCafe (fruit frappe goes great with nuggets!)
M goi -means “thank you” and “excuse me” in Cantonese. Use it all the time.
Millions -stairs we climb to get to our apartment (~150) from the street
Marriage -God is using this time to refine our relationship, how we treat one another, how we communicate and to teach us to treasure one another’s presence
Multi-cultural -we’ve encountered people from HK, China, the Philippines, Pakistan, India, the UK, France, Malaysia, Australia and Canada(lots of people from Canada)!
Mangos -available fresh in stores; also, there are some dessert places that specialize in desserts full of mango. The other day I had mango pudding with sago (tapioca beads), topped with fresh mango, pomelo and strawberries. Mmm..

Tourists

Jen here. Though we may stand out in Hong Kong in more than one way (blonde hair, blue eyes, definitely American in appearance and language), since we moved here we haven't truly been "tourists". We haven't rode the double-decker, open-top Rickshaw Tour bus; we haven't gone to Ocean Park. We haven't wandered around taking pictures of things, until now.

A few weeks ago, we picked up a travel-sized Monopoly game. Upon inspecting it, we realized it was Hong Kong Monopoly! How sweet! Instead of Park Place, there's Repulse Bay. Instead of St. Charles, there's Mong Kok. Wouldn't this be cool to have as a keepsake from HK, we thought. So we bought it, and played it that night.

On the topic of tourists, we realized that we need to get out more in HK. We need to venture beyond HK Island and all that is familiar (which is mostly just HK Island...). And we shall use the Monopoly game as our itinerary! Every Thursday we plan to go to one of the spots featured in the game. Last Thursday we went up to Victoria Peak, which is on HK Island. But this time, we were tourists. We rode "The Peak Tram" to the top. We looked around in classic tourist gift shops. We took tons of photos of the view from the Peak, etc. It was an evening of fun. :)

As Roy is busy, I get the pleasure of choosing where we'll go. Not sure what we'll do this Thursday, but we may go across the harbor to Kowloon...who knows!

What's new in HK

Jen here. God has much in store for us in Hong Kong. I delight in seeing His working and leading in our lives. Being in HK has brought about some new things for me. Here are a few of them:

For starters, I am now a Chess student. One great way to serve Roy is to play chess with him (whether he is blindfolded or not) and to let him teach me. I am actually putting effort forth to improve and to learn chess, and I'm growing! Every Friday night Roy runs "Quads" which is a group of 4-person mini tournaments. What happens when 11 kids show up (11 kids= 4 + 4 + 3; one quad only has 3 kids in it)? Roy's wife steps in to beat the little kids! Ha! Actually, I have won all my games except two. Last week I played a boy, and he was beating me most of the game point-wise, but I was holding my ground and looking for checkmates. We took so long Roy put a clock on our game (which happens every time I play...ha)...and I lost on time. NO! My heart was pounding. He had two queens...I just promoted one of my pawns to a queen and began checking his king over and over so he wouldn't use his two queens to kill me off...but alas, it did not work. He won, on time. :( Boo. Next time...

I am now a Chess photographer. Yep, Roy's making a flier or homework assignment and he wants a chess graphic: "Jenny, could you take some photos for me?" It's sweet because I get to use my camera and flash...and it's helpful to Roy. And look at that handsome man I get to shoot photos of once in a while!

I am coordinating a Christmas tea for women. Kathy Hamilton, director of women's ministries at IECC, volunteered me to "help Phyllis with something"...I later received an e-mail thanking me for coordinating a tea with Phyllis. Hmm... interesting. :) I have enjoyed meeting with Phyllis and working out the details...and may God provide people and ready hearts and fun times. I'll be making Christmas cookies for it...so I look forward to that as well! Now to find some cookie cutters!

More later! Ciao!