Ohio!

Jen here. I have many photos to post to summarize our past few months being back in the states. I'll try not to skip too much, or to talk too much. Enjoy. :)
I flew back from Hong Kong earlier than Roy for one reason--PARTY! My family sneakily organized a surprise 60th anniversary party for my grandparents. When I say family, I mean FAMILY. All of them. My parents, aunts and uncles came up with the idea several months ago when they were all brought together for a funeral. The story is that Dad volunteered the farm and the planning began. It was super secret and super amazing. I cry just thinking about it (Yes, even now).
Grandma and grandpa were brought to tears by all the people who came (even some of their siblings whom they hadn't seen for decades) and all the effort given for a wonderful weekend-long open-house celebration. The M&M's were perfect and delicious. Check out grandpa and grandma's wedding photo etched onto the M&M's! It was a blast.
All of our cousins came and people flew in from all over the states (and me from HK!) and we just sat outside in lawn chairs, chatted, ate hotdogs and burgers and had a great time. One of my favorite parts about it was seeing my nieces and nephew. Oh how I've missed seeing these little ones growing up--and now I get to see them all at once(all the Ellis ones, not the Almasy ones)! In this photo, little JoJo is experimenting with (his great-)great Aunt Laura's hairbrush as she laughs. I took every chance I could to walk Jo Jo around the farm, going to see the "baa" or the "cok cok" (sheep and chickens).
And here's the newest niece in the family--little Eowyn Lynn! Dan and Christie had Eowyn in April, so this was the first time I got to meet her. I delightedly volunteered to bounce her and hold her while she napped. She's an adorable cowgirl! As mentioned earlier, we had lots of good cook-out food, and got to spend lots of time with cousins. Here's Corrie and her boyfriend.
My cousin Brian spotted Dad's tractor in the shop and asked a few people if they thought Dad would teach him how to drive it. Uh yeah, actually I bet Dad would love to! And thus began the first of many tractor driving lessons. First Brian, then anyone else who wanted to learn! It was quite comical. The tractor has A/C but lest you think it's new, look for the CD player and you'll find an 8-track player. Wow. I saw some 8-tracks in the house and was really confused. What in the world are these giant cassette tapes? I thought. Weird. Oh, they're for the tractor. Ha.
You can't have a two-day open house party without having a few country games--hillbilly golf and of course corn hole. Oh yeah! Cousin Stephanie played hillbilly golf with Noelle. :)Saturday was the day when everyone was present who was going to be present, therefore we took family photos. The same couple who shot Mom and Dad's wedding (and various other weddings of my family members) shot family/group photos of everyone and anyone for free. Hooray! If only Roy was there... :( He still had one more week of work to complete before he could leave HK. BTW, isn't Dad and Mom's house looking sweet? They blasted the white paint off the bricks, Uncle Mike made and panted new shutters and it was a wonderful background for the family photos. Lookin sharp!
Here's the Ellis family photo (except for my Ishi Roy!). 3 grandkids so far...I hope there will be many more! :) Noelle was so cute, she would say "Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese" until she knew the picture had been taken, which was hilarious and caused everyone to laugh and smile, hence our smiles. Ha. :)Hmm...looks familiar...except I think I like this version better (they're smiling)!

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.

Youth at Church

Jen here. In the middle of December I decided to volunteer in youth ministry at our church. The youth program had recently (I believe) switched to a small-group model, but had many students and few leaders. They cried out to God and asked the church for volunteers and many people stepped up! Praise God! We started newly-made groups in January and have been meeting weekly ever since.

The first student pictured is the photographer. I took my camera to youth one night and she excitedly asked if she could run around and take photos, and I agreed. She loves taking photos...and enjoyed the added element of the on-camera flash and surprising people. She's a bit eccentric and goofy, as you can tell from the photo. She is wonderful and I'm so glad to know her! Enjoy. :)


I'm in a group with high school girls and it's been great. I love getting to know them and seeing their hearts for God. I was there...at all stages of the stages they are at. From not-sure-about-this-Jesus-thing all the way to totally-sure, the girls are a wide range, and I love it. I love them.

Our church is english-speaking, so all our youth are fluent in english, whether their backgrounds are 100% Chinese, 50%Chinese or 0% Chinese. Two of my girls are from the states, with both parents from the USA as well. One girl is all Chinese, but is from New Zealand. Another girl's parents are Chinese, but from Canada (I have met WAY more Canadians here than I ever met while living in the states). One girl's dad is Chinese and mom is American and I believe one of my girls is from Central America (or one of her parents). And my last girl's parents are from Wales, so she speaks with a distinct British accent. :)

Every time we get together, we hang out and eat pizza for the first 30-45 minutes. Then our youth and sometimes youth staff lead us in praising Jesus in song. Loud music, guitars, keyboard, drum set, and great songs. At first I didn't know many of the songs, but now I know them well and they are near and dear to me. I haven't been keeping up with contemporary Christian music recently, but am realizing the songs we sing are new David Crowder Band songs, Chris Tomlin, etc...Sweet! In the photo at right is one of our middle school students chowing down on a piece of pizza and a shy volunteer. :)






We have students age 11 (I believe) to age 18 there for youth on the same evening. After praise, we split up into small groups and head to different areas to study God's word. Each small group is age and gender specific and has about two leaders (my group has three, others may have one, depending on volunteer commitments). In the photo at left are two youth volunteers and one youth staff.

It's a great time and we see God at work in the hearts of these students. Yay!

A Simple Dinner

Jen here. Here are a few photos of the handiwork on a Chinese temple. Enjoy while you read.

The parents of a Chess student invited Roy and me for "a simple dinner" recently and I just have to post about it. :) Before I begin, I realize the term "simple dinner" may be used in order to allow for flexibility for the host. Simple dinner could mean anything from finger foods to pizza to a bowl of soup. And if one is expecting a simple dinner, it's hard to be disappointed. On the other hand, if one is expecting dinner and only a simple dinner is provided, one may be disappointed. I just found this situation humorous.

Our host poured all adults present a glass of white wine and brought out a bowl of salad and plate of fruit and thinly sliced ham. Simple, but nice.

Their helper brought out a plate of sashimi (various types of raw fish, salmon, tuna, shrimp) and some tempura (shrimp, pumpkin, peppers and egg plant, prepared in a way similar to deep frying). Mmm...I love tempura, I thought. We munched and conversed and enjoyed getting to know some of the Chess parents in a better way. As the plate of tempura got eaten, it was replenished by a fresh batch (this happened maybe 3 or 4 times). But not to worry, with four adults and two kids (and the two kids were gobbling up the tempura shrimp in a fury) you need a larger portion.

And out came some escargot in shells, topped with butter and garlic. We tried some and they weren't bad! They were actually similar to the conch we had at Lei Yue Mun. I asked the host how she prepared them and she actually bought the escargot and the shells separately and then put them together. Interesting! I could make escargot (if I can find the canned meat...and the shells...).

As our host told us earlier, out came two scallops for each person. Everyone's scallops were raw ("fresh") except mine...the host asked me earlier if I would prefer to have them seared. I definitely said yes. :) These scallops were huge--about 2.5 inches in diameter. And they were delicious. Around this time, the husband poured each of us a glass of red wine, and earlier in the meal, the wife poured us a glass of mineral water as well. So here we are, eating deluxe scallops and we have three beverages to choose from: white wine, mineral water and red wine. I've never had so many options at once. :)

So, are we finished? Is the simple meal complete? Almost. The last entree was linguine pasta with mussels and a cream sauce (delicious). Once we seemed finished, our host brought out some Chinese tea, cherries and blueberries for dessert.

What a meal! We enjoyed the conversation and time to get to know people more. And the meal was extravagant! :)

Lei Yue Mun Seafood (Part 2)

Jen here. Thus continues the description of our seafood dinner at Lei Yue Mun. I'll make this post brief.

In addition to the seafood previously mentioned, we also had razor clams. I've heard of razor clams, but never seen them. Their appearance is very peculiar. The shell is a narrow, long cylinder and the meat is pretty tough. A friend in Washington once told me razor clams would be great for clam chowder. I believe her. The clams weren't bad; in fact, I had many pieces of it. They were just a little tough and chewy. I'd like to buy some and make clam chowder!

Squid. We didn't select this one from the tank; I believe G chose it off the menu. I would have liked to see this squid in real life. Its tentacles were thick. It was meaty. I enjoyed it. The squid wasn't as tough as the razor clams, but it wasn't tender. If you took the end of one of his tentacles, you would have a hard time biting through it. If you tried a mid-section of a tentacle, it was like eating a solid, homemade, thick potato fry. Not too fishy. Good.

I don't remember if we had anything else--so much to remember! What a delicious seafood feast. :)

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! :)

Hike with Monkeys

Jen here. We had a fun adventure a few weekends ago. Roy's boss invited us, along with another friend, to go hiking at Kowloon Reservoir with her family. Though we enjoy hiking, we haven't made many attempts to check out the hiking options in Hong Kong (and there are many places). Delighted in an invitation to hike, we accepted and eagerly prepared. We met them at 2:30pm on a Sunday, so we attended the morning service at church--we usually attend the 5pm service--and then made our way to Central.

Grace and family picked us up and we were off. We don't ride in cars very often since we don't have one and because public transportation goes practically everywhere. There's something fun and relaxing about riding in a car with people you know all heading to the same destination. It's cozy. It's familiar. :)


When we pulled into the parking lot at the beginning of the trail, we saw a monkey! Wah! (The HK version of "wow") This monkey was only the first of many we saw during our hike. This photo was actually taken at the end of our hike; this time many more monkeys came to be fed by the people.

Grace was nervous the monkeys would be aggressive, especially if we had food. A little way into our hike, Roy asked for one of the oranges we packed. I discreetly passed it to him and he began to peel it. At this point, only one monkey was in sight, and it began to make funny noises and bear its teeth. It ran towards Roy and a few seconds later we saw other monkeys running our direction. Uh oh. :) By this time the rest of our group noticed Roy with the orange, and moved away from him...and the monkeys kept coming. Big ones, little ones, even a few tiny baby monkeys attached to their mothers' belly. Roy had an audience and they wanted food. Roy stood his ground, stared them down and ate the orange in a handful of bites. Haha, the monkeys did not succeed. Out of pity Roy tossed the monkeys the peels of the orange, and we moved on. Comical. They weren't physically violent, just as aggressive as the guys selling watches in TST (a prominent tourist area in HK).

All in all, the hike was great. Seeing monkeys roaming around the forest was exciting and new. They were kind of like the squirrels in Athens, Ohio. They are just there...living life...and pretty well-adjusted to people. We got to chat and see a bit of God's creation (as well as a man-made reservoir) and spend time with co-workers.

Great day! And wait until you hear where we went after the hike...more to come.

R66

Jen here. A co-worker recommended we go to a revolving restaurant for the buffet lunch...so, one day we went. It's called R66; R for Revolving (I think) and 66 because it takes 66 minutes to complete a revolution. We were one of the first people there for the lunch buffet and had a lovely little table by the window (yay!).

Our revolution began with Central and then shifted to Happy Valley Racecourse. Happy Valley (Chinese name is Run Horse Place) is an exclusive district. There are but a few buses that go there, or you can ride the slow tram. I know a few people who live there. :) It's known for the horse racing. Who would have thought that with 7 million people and minimal space there would be a massive horse track on HK island? There is...in Happy Valley (see photo).








The meal was delicious--an all-you-can-eat buffet. Salads, noodle soup, fried rice, veggies, broiled fish, roast beef, chilled seafood, etc...more than we could ever try! Dessert was most tempting, as they had all sorts of sweet cakes and pastries, and a chocolate fountain! One of our dessert plates is at left (notice I said one...). As we ate, we got to chat about our hopes and desires for the future, and of course take the occasional photo. It was a fun date! :)







Looking at the photos, you may ask "Is it always smoggy in HK?" No. Though I was beginning to think it was, I now know it isn't always grey yucky yuck outside. For a long while we had a really bad pollution index (or something). It was so bad that they (whoever they are) advised people to reduce their amount of time outside. It was so smoggy. Yuck. I missed the sun and the sky. But I can attest, I have seen lots of blue sky recently and we have had many sunny days (as all my clean and dry laundry confirms). So, Praise the Lord for that! About a week ago, we had a terrible storm, but the day after the sky was so crisp, clean and beautiful! Thank You, Lord! The photo at left is of southern Happy Valley/Wan Chai. The standout building fascinates me. It is just so huge! One of our schools we teach Chess at is near that building. Every time I pass it I wonder how strong it is...and if it would ever fall over. Enjoy!