English, Physics, & Culture Shock

I had a beautiful little blog all typed up and then my computer went byzerk (hey, my mom says it) and it didn't work. So here's a second, probably not as good, attempt.

This morning we left bright and early for our first journey ever to Hong Kong. We had a taxi driver pick us up this morning from our apartment and he showed up (on time! wow!) wide-eyed and excited about his one hour trip with two whities. He's a nice man and we probably shouldn't be complaining but had we known it was going to be an hour or so of English language tutoring we might have mentally prepared ourselves a little better. Don't get me wrong, we appreciate what patience it much take to tutor people who butcher the language. Trust us, we're proficient at butchering. But he spent the entire trip practicing what little English he knew with us, which wasn't so bad until he got to the point that he was more focused on learning English than driving. He kept asking Brandon how to pronounce words like 'cell phone,' 'what,' and 'friends.' Whish is fine, but at one point he was focusing so much on Brandon speaking that we almost slammed into the median. Brandon reached over to the wheel just in time for him to realize we were a little to close to the huge concrete embankment. He kept slowing down at each billboard or street sign that had English on it so he could ask us the meaning. It got so bad at one point that when he asked Brandon how to say 'What Time?' and pronounced it, "Wha tie o' clock?" Brandon just said, "Yes, Yes, that's right...look!" and pointed towards the road that we were swerving off of. Alas, we made it to the airport in one piece and we'll probably stick with just being the guy's friend and language helper only without the local transport!

Our next taxi ride was incredible compared to the first...but really, what wouldn't be? First of all, Hong Kong, having recently recovered from being owned by the British, still drives on the left-hand side of the road. The man that drove us was amazing...flying down the highway, swerving in and out of cars, buses, motorcycles. Brandon called the front seat since I've experienced the left-hand side before so he got a better view of all the action but I think this guy was probably breaking numerous laws...maybe even defying the laws of physics. It was unreal. And what's crazy is how much safer we felt with him than the previous driver.

Hong Kong is not your usual China experience. Its got its own "Chinese" feel to it, but I think that any city with a Pizza Hut just around the corner is not really 'authentic.' But that's probably just because I haven't seen the likes of such Pizza beauty in three months. We didn't think that traveling within the same country (even though flights to HK are "international"...but don't get me started), would give us such culture shock. In one evening we've had carry-out from the Pizza Hut just 100 yards away, ate Haagan Dazs ice cream from the 7-11 across the street (sorry H, not Dr. Pepper slurpies here!), and visited a mall with a Toys R' Us. At the mall there was a huge grocery story with sliced turkey sandwich meat, hot dogs, & CEREAL! A whole aisle of just cereal. We'd forgotten what it looks like. We stood in awe for about 10 minutes before we decided that on our way back we're going to have to mail a huge box of just cereal to ourselves. Seriously, what a gift to be able to live in China AND eat Cinnamon Toast Crunch. We've yet to experience it.

So that's been our journey in the left-side-driving, formerly-ruled-by-a-Queen, cereal-loving, land of Hong Kong...and it's only the first day!

Here's a video. It's not very exciting, but it'll give you a little glimpse of HK.

Go Carts

Yesterday we did what we do just about every day...went out to see a little part of the city we haven't seen yet. Only this time, we found a nice little run-down theme park/creepy carnival. I don't think the place is very old, but like I've said before, acid rain really does a number on things. Those carousel horses did not look happy at all. It's not your usual theme park though where you pay at the gate...although it may look that way from the outside. We actually just stepped over a chain that went across the gate and went on in to venture around the park. There were lots of old men there flying kites and a few fishing from a small pond, but other than that we were pretty much the only people wandering around the place. That is, until we saw a man in a bumper car. I've never done bumper cars by myself, but he sure was. I think it kinda defeats the purpose of the name "bumper cars" but whatever. So we decided that since he was doing his thing in his bumper car that apparently these other rides were up for grabs too. There was the carousel that I told you about, a "roller coaster" that I wouldn't dare get on, one of those plane things that goes around in a circle that little kids like, and bumper cars. None of them looked like they were up and running but apparently if you go over and wait long enough, someone will come over and help you. But we decided not to do any of the rides and just continued our walk throughout the rest of the park. And then we spotted...drum roll please: The Go Carts. Brandon's automatic response: "Hey Honda engines...ooohh I bet those things go fast!" Again, this theme park is going for the more 'creepy carnival' type look, so this is what the go cart place looked like.

Look closely and you'll see chickens, and one rooster, fenced in behind the Go Cart building. Now, you're average creepy carnival visitor might not risk their money and life at this sort of Go Cart business, but keep in mind that as of yesterday we've been here six months, haven't driven anything for just as long, and therefore that disqualifies us for having any sort of sane reasoning. So we went over, did the waiting thing until two men came out of the shack in front of the chicken coup, and we paid our dues for Brandon to ride No. 01 Go Cart. (I wasn't quite as brave...and besides, someone had to take pictures) So Brandon gets in and the man straps up Brandon's seat belt, which was one strap that looped around his left arm...which in all actuality would probably do better at making him lose his left arm if he were to crash and roll...into the chicken coup.

And Brandon takes off!

I took video as well but someone decided to ride the airplane ride while I video-d and so there's some sort of strange laser gun sound in the background of the entire video. oh well.

So that was our outing to the creepy carnival, which I'm sure we'll be visiting again as soon as Brandon needs to drive something again.

6 Months

Well today marks our 6th month here. I can't believe it has been 6 months since we arrived in the big chicken. At times it seems to fly by, but other times I seem to just be caught in the moment. Things have really changed a lot, and will continue to change. The Father has grown April and I in many ways. We are continuing to learn to lean on Him in all things. Many funny things have happened, many goals met, many challenges and difficulties, many successes, and we have many more opportunities in the future. Thanks for all the support and continue to keep us up to date on your lives as well.

Valentine's Day Came Early

We've never been Valentine's Day people. We've always both thought the holiday was a little silly and did our best to bypass the gift giving. Even while dating we both convinced one another it'd be best to save what little money we had as college students and just go out to eat and see a movie. So living in the 'Big Chicken' we both knew the non-gift-giving would continue, especially since this year we won't be surrounded by stuffed lips that read 'I love you', bouquets of 2 dozen roses, or the Hallmark magnetic lipped bears. We'd actually already decided weeks ago that we've got double the reason not to celebrate this year because within two days of the 'holiday' we're leaving for a neighboring country. So, this year no Valentines day for us.

.........until yesterday.

While out seeing some of the city yesterday we stumbled across a cute little flower shop. Thinking, "we've got a few weeks before we're leaving...if I get some flowers now they'll have long enough to look pretty on my kitchen table for awhile before we have to toss em out" we ventured in.

Now in America at this time of year if you were to purchase 2 dozen roses I'm guessing they'd cost at least $100...and that's probably just in an ordinary arrangement. However, when you live in the Big Chicken you can easily purchase 2 dozen roses including a glass vase without spending more than 50 kuai = $6. So we splurged. After we paid for them the shopkeeper asked us if roses were expensive where we're from. We told him how much it would be in America if we'd gotten 2 dozen roses there. I thought he was going to faint. Probably because he thought that was absurd but also because he just realized he could have charged us quite a bit more and we still would have bought them.

So, my friends, this being the first official year of us 'gift-giving' for Valentine's Day, I'd say we did pretty well with our spending limit. In return for the $6 roses Brandon splurged at Fu Mart today when he saw that they just imported some Reeses Pieces! He also reminded me that he'll probably never buy me that many roses when in America.