~Spring Festival: Hong Kong~

Aaron, Andrea and I landed in beautiful, modern, CLEAN Hong Kong early in the morning, took a long subway ride into the city, and found our retreat center...we would be meeting up with about 40 fellow FoC teachers and "Workers" serving around China!

Hong Kong, definitely my favorite skyline I've seen thus far in my life :) The tallest building is featured on the movie, "The Dark Knight," and the one with spires in the center is my favorite building ever--if you Google "Hong Kong Bank of China building," it'll show up much better than it does in this pic.

Tired and grungy, we unfortunately had to wait at the retreat center (not-so-conveniently atop a steep hill with no easy way to the top) a few hours until our rooms were available. We had fun talking and laughing with teachers from other cities, meeting new friends and greeting the old.

Sign in the park--I guess that's putting it quite nicely!

Eventually, Aaron and I set off to meet one of my best friends in the world, STANLEY! We became good friends/bro & sis while attending WLC together, and he recently moved back to his hometown of Hong Kong, which worked out quite well for us :D It was a very exciting reunion, and I finally got to meet his parents as well!

Gorgeous area where Stanley took us hiking one day.

It was pretty funny--Aaron and I needed Stanley and his parents to help us buy tickets back to Wuhan, so I called his home phone, trying to get ahold of him. Unfortunately for me, his mom answered...not that she's not a lovely woman, it's just that I can't speak Cantonese (the local dialect of Chinese) :p I stumbled through a few Mandarin phrases, saying I was her son's old friend from America, teaching English in Wuhan, and we were here. She listened & answered patiently, eventually giving the phone to Stan, who told me that actually his mom doesn't speak much Mandarin either, and I probably would have been just as well-off speaking English to her as Mandarin, haha. Oh well.

KTC and J.C. reunited at last!

After their help buying tickets (thanks guys!), Stanley and I went off on a little adventure, and I got a tour of his old apartment complex, playgrounds that he visited as a child, and even a look at a nearby Lutheran day school for kids...it was so much fun catching up and seeing the place that my friend called "home," especially after he's already seen SO MUCH of my country!

Delicious hot pot...fresh and tasty!

Stanley graciously served as translator that night, as we and his parents shared a meal...his mom is an excellent cook, and while she said "it's nothing" regarding the dinner she prepared, I was blown away--she had set out tons of fresh veggies and meat for "hot pot," a famous type of meal in China, that I usually eat at restaurants. But it's the same concept at someone's home too--there is a hot pot of boiling water, mixed with herbs & spices, that you toss delicious food into until it's cooked, and then you eat. And eat. And eat! Hong Kong food is different from Wuhan food...it's not spicy, but in general contains a lot of seafood and just tastes VERY fresh. Example: one of the shrimps on the table JUMPED off and onto the floor before we cooked it :)

Love this one! Though it might be slightly cooler if the skyscraper was NOT coming out of Stanley's head ;)

Our first night there, Stanley and I walked around, catching up and enjoying the fantastic skyline of Hong Kong! Being a native, he knew a really good spot (the parking ramp of a shopping mall, hidden away from tourists) to take in all the lights and less people!

Darin, Andy, Stan, me, Jessica, and Steph (all Wuhan teachers except for Steph, who's in Yinchuan, & Stanley, of course).

The next night, after a morning and afternoon of retreat presentations and talking with teachers from different cities, Stanley escorted a bigger group of us out and about--we went out to dinner, shopped and explored, and hit the skyline viewing spot yet again...if I lived there, I'd probably want to do so every night as well!

So, we naturally decided it would be a good idea to take a ton of goofy pics...this was the best result of our "jumping" attempts.

A colony of Great Britain until 1997, Hong Kong is now a specially-owned territory of China, retaining its own government and many different policies than the mainland, while still being a city-state considered part of China. This means the city's quite Westernized, the recordings of people speaking English are in cute British accents, and that being a foreigner there isn't as big of a deal as in Wuhan or other more traditional Chinese cities. We could use English occasionally, and didn't really get stared at...a nice transition before we hit Wuhan again :)

Showing that it is possible, in densely-populated Hong Kong, to shove 6 adults onto a small subway bench!

With a population around 7 million people, and a land mass less than half the size of Milwaukee, Hong Kong is certainly a crowded little place, bustling with restaurants, shopping (lots of stores make patrons wait outside in a line, 6-Flags-style, until there's enough room inside), and commerce.

One night, Stanley took us out for some curry...it wasn't Chinese food, but oh my goodness, it was so delicious! I had some chicken and green curry, creamy, just the right amount of spice--one of the best meals I've eaten in China, I think! Then he took us to a popular, incredibly crowded dessert spot, where we crammed together around a couple tiny tables, and tried mostly local sweets. Andy did get a tower of ice cream, but most of us tried hot, sweet, dessert soups, featuring sesame flavoring, or ginger. Very different from typical American dessert, but really good!

The lady taking this picture was sitting basically RIGHT next to me, at the next table. Oh, squishy, "cozy" Hong Kong :)

In spite of (or, more accurately, because of) all our fun activities at night, and early morning wake-up for retreat presentations, I was quite exhausted during our entire 4-day stay in Hong Kong...I found myself longing for naps during rare moments of free time, but between socializing, retreat activities, and making sure our flight back to Wuhan was okay (other friends had had problems with flight cancellations), there just wasn't time. It was worth it, though! The retreat itself was very interesting, and each presentation gave me something new to consider during my remaining months in Wuhan.

Rob Siirila and a seminary worker teaching us actions to a popular Chinese house ch*rch song.

Teachers and p@stors serving through China, as well as back in the states, presented for us, on topics ranging from English teaching, relating our own personal experience to our gospel outreach, Old Testament survey, and the reality of heaven & hell. I was blown away from everyone's knowledge, excited to meet former WELS President Gurgel, who was in attendance, and get the chance to know the leader of Asian Lutheran Seminary, Rob Siirila, a bit better. This guy has been in China for over 25 years, speaks Mandarin fluently, and Cantonese quite well, and is such a shining example for all of us aspiring m*ssionaries, of a servant's heart, humor, and drive...listening to him speak is always very encouraging. Thank G*d in your pr@yers for m*ssionaries like him!

About to pig out at Fat Angelo's Restaurant: (starting from left corner, clockwise) Beth, Kim, Stephanie, Zach, Dan, Steph, Stanley, myself, and Nicole).

One thing that really made me think at the retreat was Rob's admonition to set goals for our second semester in Wuhan...I made four for myself: 1) be more positive about teaching (oops, I should work more on that one) 2) pr@y and encourage Sophia to be b@ptized (by HIS grace, that has happened), 3) spend quality time with "old friends" who attend study and know about HIM (it's been going well), 4) look for more opportunities to share HIM with newer friends, like my friend Jess (he's been coming to our study a lot, and even one ch*rch service) and Joy, another teacher at my school (we talk a lot, but I should work harder to witness). We had a nice closing service at a Lutheran ch*rch (HK has freedom of r*ligion, starkly different from mainland), and hit up an Italian restaurant, "Fat Angelo's," for a family-style meal that was just such a nice reminder of home--chicken wings, salad, breadsticks, pasta, meatballs, and tiramisu...yummm!

Pagoda overlooking Shenzhen's botanical gardens.

For our final day in H.K., Stanley's dad wanted to give me a quick tour of Shenzhen, a city right next to Hong Kong, sharing its cleanliness and good manners, yet a part of China's mainland government and policies. Mr. Chan was pretty excited to show us around, and Aaron & Brian came along as well. We took a long subway ride into the city, went through customs, and enjoyed a lunch of beef & noodles.

Fairy-like excitement over "Fairy Lake."

After lunch, we took a bus ride to some botanical gardens...Stanley commented on how bad the traffic was, but I just laughed--NOTHING compared to Wuhan ;)

We walked around for a couple hours, enjoying the beautiful weather, clean and GREEN park, and of course, mastering our martial arts skills!

Before we headed to the airport to catch our flight "home," Stanley's dad took us to a shopping mall with lots of bargaining/knockoff products, etc. Brian got a toy helicopter, which he was pretty proud of :D He also treated us to a delicious Shenzhen-style meal and saw us off at the subway station. I was sad to say goodbye to my friend, but will never forget how amazing it was to meet his family, and how hospitable and kind they were!

Brian, Aaron, and I met up with Sarah & Kelsey at the Shenzhen airport, went through check-in and security, and were having a nice visit at the airport, when suddenly we heard an announcement: our flight was delayed, and all passengers would be shuttled to a nearby hotel until the plane was ready. We tried asking around, but never were able to tell for sure whether the flight would be two hours or twenty-four hours from the present...it was actually kind of a fun end to the trip, hanging out in the boys' room, drinking a beer and reminiscing. About three hours later, hotel staff called the room phone, and we were shuttled BACK to the airport around 2 a.m. Exhausted, we finally made it back to Wuhan around 5, and back to our apartments around 6 a.m. Needless to say, I slept until 4 p.m., tired out but very content looking back on our Spring Festival travels :)

Control switch for the light fixtures in our hotel room. I have no idea what "small pox" is supposed to mean, but it entertained us to no end!

Stay tuned for more stories about "normal" life in Wuhan!