HK Friends

I've had a lot of fun traveling this summer, and HK is no exception. I've made a lot of friends through church. And I also made a lot of friends through playing basketball at the courts next the church I'm staying at. One friend I had some chance to spend time with off the courts. His name is Man.

He's a real cool guy that is from Hong Kong. His parents both grew up here working on fishing boats as a part of the "boat people." Now his mom works at Ocean Park, along with him, and his dad works with a boating company. He is 19, just like me. Although he is finished with high school, he is still not yet in college. The system is different here so he still has to do some more schooling. Although life isn't easy, he has a really easygoing personality. I really enjoy being around him. His family isn't heavily religious but he says that occasionally he will go to the temple with his parents.

The other day, he took me around town a little bit. We first went and had some famous fish soup dish. It was delicious and different then anything I had had before. Then we went the Hong Kong Museum of History. I loved it there so much. We spent almost four hours there looking at all the great pictures and reading all the great information about Hong Kong through the many years. It was the best museum I have ever gone to. Not only was it informative, but lso quite fun. It had many interesting things that kept us entertained. Each section of the museum was designed differently according to what was happening at that time. aFor the Opium Wars, it was designed like a British street from colonial times and also there were many pieces of furniture and such. Another part from before then that was mostly Chinese had big Chinese statues that used to be paraded around in the streets. It was just fun to see all the different things. They really did a great job in this museum.
Later, we went to a couple of street markets. We went to the Ladies' Street and also to a goldfish street where fish and aquariums were everywhere.
It was funny to see but I really had no interest... haha. We took the bus home in order to meet up with more of Man's friends to play some basketball. It was all fun!

I'm really going to miss those guys. When I come back to Hong Kong someday, I'm going to give them a call to hang out. And they all have an open invitation to come stay with me in America!

It can all be said in pictures...

A famous floating restaurant in Aberdeen, HK.


One of the many double-decker buses. One of my favorite things about HK is riding in the front row on the upper deck.


A panda I saw in the theme park, Ocean Park.


The bunch of crazies that I taught English to.


Aw... The beautiful Stanley Market.


Amazing night shot of Central across Victoria Harbor.


Apparently China is hosting the Olympic games...


Similar to our stars in Hollywood, this is in Tsim Sha Tsui. HK is the Hollywood of China. Here I'm with Jackie Chan's handprints.

BBQ and the Beach

On Friday, at night time the church and I went to the Hong Kong Police College where we had a BBQ. The church knows one of the professors/captains so they let us use there BBQ area and grassy football field. It was a lot of fun playing football with everyone and cooking meat over the open flames. It took a long time to cook the meat but it just added to the social aspect of it. I was told that this was a very HK type BBQ. We each had our own metal sticks to use to hold our meat of bread or spring rolls over the fire.

Playing football, I got so sweaty. It was a really good workout for me. Football is not my best sport but I had a good time and did a great job anyway. Afterwards, we took the bus back home.

On Saturday, I got to sleep in for a little bit and then later met up with about 30 of the youth from the church. We went to very nice beach and played games. I wanted to go in the water but ended up not going because we were playing games the whole time. Some guys who just chillin on the beach were tossing disc so I joined in with them. But I showed them my disc and they thought it was much better so we used my disc to toss. They asked where I got it and I told them America. It can be hard to find a good frisbee.

It was fun being the nice beach. It looked like something out of movie or magazine. The weather was so hot but luckily the clouds came out for little bit to protect my white skin from being chard. Most of the games we played involved water guns and water balloons. The hotels and apartments nearby looked really high class. I'm sure it is an expensive place. And out in the water I could see a couple of really nice yachts.

Now tonight we have a youth group and then later I'm going to meet up with some guys to play basketball. The days go by so fast here. Always busy...

Hong Kong

I'm here in Hong Kong. The city is the biggest I have ever been in. The food is great but the city is so crowded. It very busy and alive all the time. It always has an interesting fusion of East meets West. The cars drive on the left like in Europe and the buses are all two stories. It has been a fun treat to ride on them.

I have gotten to see some of the sights like the IFC building that is shown in Batman: The Dark Knight. I went up to the observatory level and saw the amazing view. I also got to travel on this large escalator system running through the city that I was told is very famous. I also got to travel up to The Peak - a very famous look-out area that gives a great view of the city.

I have also been teaching English to children from the church. They are just beginnners so it has been a challenge. Everyone who is caring for me has been very nice. I had dinner last night at a family's house. The food was very good and we all had a lot of fun playing games. Chris(15 yrs.old) taught me how to play Chinese Chess. I learned quickly and even beat him 2 games to 1! It was all in fun. We were also watching the Olympics. They, of course, were cheering for China.

I took a ferry across the water back home. It was definitely different. There is a lot of water in HK. It beautiful. Then when I got home, I saw a basketball court nearby so I got my shoes on and went to go play. It was a lot of fun. I think HK is hotter than TPE. It is more humid at least. Well, I having a great time. I meet up with my classmates next week. Looking forward to traveling to China even though I miss my Debbie.

Preparations

I leave for Hong Kong a week from tomorrow. I will be staying with a church there and the pastor is going to give me free housing. For compensation, I'll be teaching English to the 6-12 year olds. I am taking a "Let's Talk in English" magazine and some other English materials with me. Although I am excited about going to Hong Kong for 10 days, I will miss Taiwan a lot. I really love Taiwan. But fortunetly I won't have to say good-bye, but rather see you later. I will for sure be back to this country I love someday.