Remembering 6-4

On the way home I passed by this major demonstration/parade/protest in the streets. It is in remembrance of the massacre that occurred on Tianamen Square, 6-4-1989. It felt a little bit like Halloween, there were students wearing fake bloody-bandages and this fake Chinese-style coffin that they paraded around. Most of the slogans read: ping faan lohk sei "make amends for 6-4!" or "Demand accountability for 6-4" Its the first public demostration I have seen here in Hong Kong. No way would this fly in the main land. They were even parading with the Taiwanese flag! It was moving to see how they reveranced and remembered that sad occaision, and how it motivates them to exercise their freedom of assembly and speech.

A-Yan

Today after church I went to visit A-Yan, and her son Kieth, they are old friends and have been members for about a year. A-Yan is Thai but speaks fluent Cantonese. Included is a picture of one of my favorite fruits: mangosteen. A-Yan fed me a whole plate-full, and I couldn't stop eating :D

More Cheung Chau

Cheung Chau

Island Adventure: Me and my friend Laura took an excursion to the little island of Cheung Chau. The island is famous for the bun festival that happens once a year, they build huge towers of buns that people climb and then stuff the buns into their bags- whoever grabs the most buns wins. The Island is shaped like a dumbbelll, a wonderful harbour front full of fishing boats, cluttered with seafood restaurants. The southside is wonderful beach- yes I finally made it to the beach!!! The island is charming- it is not very developed as far as tourism goes, it feels and looks like a small village that you would find in the mainland. We only saw five other ngoi gwok yahn "foreign people" the entire time we were there.
Some memorable things from the island:

• Mars Bar icecream bars- the best thing ever! Mars bars here are different, they are more along the lines of a Milkyway only better- made with really good chocolate. Now translate this into an icecream bar-its heaven!
• Crazy over-sized sunglasses- the rainbow pair was my favorite, they look stunning, don't they?
• A helicopter landing on the beach while we were sun bathing. Quite the photo-op!
  
• The taste and feel of salt water- I am somewhat ashamed to admit this, but it was the first time in like two years that I'd been swimming at the beach! I'd forgotten how the salt water stings your eyes and then how the salt crystalizes on your skin when the water evaporates. It felt so good, swimming in the South China See with in view of three other islands, and surrounded by the jungley backwoods of Cheung Chau.
• Ma Pau Temple- this is a vibrantly colored and decadently decorated temple-very ornate. Detracting from the ornateness is the public basketball court that has replaced it's court yard. Ballers lounge on its steps.
  

Dragon Boat Races

Pictures for this festivity will be added later. We traveled down to Stanley- wandered through the market, all over the pennensula in search of the races. It started to pour- just like in Qu Yuan's poem. We were soaked to the bone when we finally figured out they were on the other side of the pennisnula. And from then on it was a blast. Teams race their dragonboats, their strokes in rythmn with beat of the big drum at one end of the boat.

Small adventures- here are just a few random things that have struck me as interesting, odd, or delicious:

• Peanut butter strawberry M&Ms- the strangest things! Its like they wanted to stuff a PB& J into an M&M that melts in your mouth and not in your hand. I love peanut butter M&Ms, but the strawerry after taste puts this in the ODD category.
• Disney Princess Syndrome- this falls in the interesting/odd category. While on an outing last week, I was swarmed by a gaggle of school girls- "Miss- you are so pretty!" I responded in Cantonese, to their surprise, "No! I'm not pretty, you're pretty!" "No, you're prettier!" "No, you are!" (This is how it sounded in Cantonese-"Lieh dieh leng-di!""Lieh leng-di!" etc.) And that's how it continued until one girl had had enough, "We're all pretty!" and that was the end of it. They insisted on having their picture taken with me- that's when I felt like one of those Disney Princesses that wander around Disneyland for photo shoots. I often get stared at- because I am tall with a big nose and fair hair, sometimes peole actually ask permission to stare but usually they just help themselves.
• Percy Pigs- these are actually delicious. They are gummy candies in the shape of cartoon pig heads. They are from Marks & Spencer, and made with real fruit juice-yum!
  

Wednesday- Dinner with friends. My friends from Sam Shui Bo took me out for "Thai food." It was delicious, but it was definitely adapted to Hong Kong taste buds. They even serve garlic bread- since when do they eat garlic bread in Thailand? They spread curry on it and eat it- actually not half bad. I selected the green curry- my frind Tiffany says it looks like beih tai " snot/mucus- etc." "So," she asked me, " You like to eat beih tai?" I smiled and slurped up the rest of the curry in my bowl.

Monday- I was recruited to Family Home Evening with the senior couples to help them with their Cantonese. This weeks theme was in preparation for the Tuen Ng Festival (Dragon Boat Festival- there will be more of this later on), we made jung "rice dumplings"- gobs of rice, meat, duck egg yolk, shrimp and peanuts, wrapped in bamboo leaf and boiled for two hours; and then we went to a big seafood restaurant for a peking duck dinner- it was a contest between the two tables of missionaries who spoke the best Cantonese with the staff ( I would like tothink that my table won).
More about Tuen Ng- the festival commemorates Qu Yuan, who was a popular poet and patriot of the Chu dynasty during the Warring states period, he was banished for opposing an alliance with the Qin state. While in exile he wrote profuse amounts of poetry. Then the Qin state invaded Chu- and here's where the story gets good, or bad, anyway back to the story- Qu Yuan was so distraught he committed suicide- he tide his feet to a big rock and jumped in the river. The locals were so upset to loose their favorite poet, they jumped in long boats and when chasing after him to try and save him. When they found they were too late, they dropped special rice dumplings in the river too keep the fish from eating the body. A little while later, a local drunk tipped a big barrel of wine in the river- and this is where the dragon comes in- the wine managed to intoxicate the local river dragon which emerged from the depths with a piece of Qu Yuan's clothing stuck between it's teeth. I guess the rice dumplings weren't enough to distract the dragon ( I don't blame the dragon- the duck egg yolk definitely wouldn't tempt me). So, these days, the locals hold festive dragon boat races and stuff themselves on rice dumplings to console themselves of the loss of their dear poet, Qu Yuan.
Here's just a snippet of Qu Yuan's "Mountain Spirit"

雷填填兮雨冥冥  The thunder rumbles and the rain darkens;
猿啾啾兮狖夜鳴  The gibbons mourn, howling all the night;
風颯颯兮木蕭蕭  The wind whistles and the trees are bare.
思公子兮徒離憂  "I am thing of the young lord; I sorrow in vain."

This is Sister Fong from Jung Shan. Story to be continued...

Some views from my apartment window. I live on Hennesy Road, Wan Chai, in the Harmony Mansion, 14th floor.

Snacks Hong Kong style- deep fried!
Chinese bakery, mango covered cake-yum!




















Dessert Hong Kong style: no, it's not tar, its actually black sesame soup with tong yuhn ( um, dessert dumpling? These are even yummier than the soup, the filling is also black sesame).

Kowloon Tong by the Hong Kong Temple.
This is me with Sister Kwok, she served the same time that I did. She prides herself on being the shortest missionary in the mission- somewhere under 5 feet.









This is at the Temple's 13th anniversary celebration.

These are views from the American Club, by the IFC, several stories up- I wasn't counting, we road up in a private elevator. Amazing view.

A costume market near Soho. Gotta love the feather boas.
This is my friend Laura, perching on a double cheeseburger. This in a really nifty shop in Soho called G.O.D.

This is Glouchester Road, close to where I work. See the triangle-lighted sky-scraper? It was designed by I.M. Pei and it has controversial fung shui. In stead of facing the water, its at an angle.

This is me and my dear friend Lynn from Beijing in front of the Hong Kong Temple. I ran into Lynn at the temple when I was on my mission, she is one of the pioneer members of the Church from the PRC. Once or twice a year she makes the exodus to Hong Kong so she can attend the temple. I just happened to catch her during her last session and we were able to reconnect. Her faith and patience amaze me.

Me, Karissa and Kelsey at the Star Ferry.

The amazing Hong Kong Skyline from across the harbor.