Our First Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year!

Dear friends and family,

February was an interesting month for us.  We try and put up a new post at the end of each month, so sorry that this one is a bit delayed.

During the middle of February we had a week off from school because of Chinese New Year.  Some of the local schools take two weeks off, and it's considered the biggest holiday of the year.  You hear traditional Chinese music playing in the MTR stations, smell the beautiful bouquets of flowers and miniature trees, and see lots of elaborate decorations in malls and stores, especially in the color red since it's viewed as a lucky and happy color.  Children like this time of year because they receive red envelopes called lai see packets with money from relatives.  Josiah came home from school telling us that we needed to sweep and clean our house, and that new year tradition is a representation of sweeping out the old year and bringing in the new one.  Children also usually receive new clothing, and Josiah wore a traditional outfit to school.

Victoria Harbor, lighted New Year display

Huge drum display near Victoria Harbor

In Ma On Shan shopping mall

Miniature orange trees signify good luck and happiness

Josiah had fun banging on this drum at City One. It's the year of the snake!

We celebrated the holiday by inviting our church over for a potluck dinner, and had a great time.  We had over thirty people over at our place!  It was fun to try some traditional Chinese New Year foods such as turnip cake and sweet New Year cake.  We learned that the new year "cake" is cut into pieces, dipped into egg, and then fried.  It's hard to explain because it's nothing like your typical American cake, but it reminded me of Korean rice cake because it was chewy and mildly sweet.  It was so fun to hang out with everyone and be able to fellowship with our church family.    

New Year's Church Gathering

One thing our church friends noticed and commented on was the size of our apartment.  One of the kids in our church marveled that our bathroom was bigger than his bedroom and another church friend proclaimed, "It's like we came to the White House!"  I knew our place was big by Hong Kong standards, but it's not that much larger than the condo we lived in Chicago.  Hong Kong apartments are just typically small and expensive.  Additionally, it's been a little disheartening to learn just how big the gap is between the poor and rich in HK.  It's not surprising since you can easily find high end stores such as Gucci and Louis Vitton but also really cheap finds at little stalls in the market within the same block.  If you're interested in learning more about the realities of that gap, read on here.  It has really burdened my heart to see that there are some folks living in forty square feet of space, or even less than that.

We've been in HK for over half a year now.  While it's been so wonderful to experience some of the sights and attractions of Hong Kong, living here and not just being a tourist has also opened our eyes to the non glamorous parts of the city.  Please pray with us as we see these needs and look for ways that we can help and serve our community.

Praises and prayer requests- We are so thankful for our church.  We thank God for the opportunities we have at our church to be a blessing and also that we are equally blessed by others.  Please pray for one of the members in our church.  Her father passed away last month, and everyone in her family except for one of her sisters is not Christian.  Please pray as they mourn the loss of their loved one, and pray that her family would come to know the hope and peace that we have in Christ.

Thanks for reading, all. :)

Discovering HK during Winter Break

Over winter break, we had a chance to visit some places in HK that we hadn't seen yet.  Hong Kong isn't a very big place, but when you rely on public transportation it takes awhile to get to places.  So, we reserved some of these fun, more touristy places for winter break when Josiah and Shannon were out of school and we could enjoy the whole day together as a family.  If these pictures make you feel like coming here, that's great!  We would love to show you around (what we know so far) and we love visitors!

Cheung Chau Island- This was probably our favorite place we got to visit over break.   It's a fishing village where bikes and walking are the only modes of transportation.  From Central you take a 30-45 minute ferry to the island. 

It's quite busy near the pier, but if you rent a bike (and they're cheap!) you discover the natural beauty of the island.

Cheung Chau

Cheung Chau

There are also several bright and colorful temples on the island, and you'll often find worshippers lighting incense sticks as offerings.    

We happened to catch a man rowing in a dragon boat.  They are narrow, long boats and each year there is a big festival where they have dragon boat races. 

Cheung Chau- Since it's wintertime, we had fun goofing off, playing in the sand, climbing on rocks, and generally had the beach all to ourselves!

This was taken in Cheung Chau, but you can take almost identical pictures at other fishing piers in HK.  This picture shows shallow tanks filled with different types of live seafood. You pick out what you want to take home for dinner or they can make it for you at the restaurant next door, where you see the man standing in the background.  We ate a yummy seafood dinner there.  

The evening ferry ride from Cheung Chau back to Central  provided us a beautiful view of the city.  We don't spend our nights out here since it's about an hour away from our home, but we have to admit that it's a great skyline.

Nan Lian Garden in Diamond Hill- Sometimes it's hazy and cloudy in HK, but this particular day was clear and a great day to visit the garden.  It's a short bus ride from our home and a peaceful, pretty place to spend a couple hours.   

Nan Lian Garden- It has a small man made waterfall and behind it is a vegetarian restaurant.  The kids are "posing" here.

Chi Lin Nunnery in Diamond Hill- A small bridge connects the gardens to the nunnery.  It's quite large and just as beautiful.  At the top of the stairs there is a large Buddha behind the glass window.    

Chi Lin Nunnery- This is the view from the top of the stairs.  Once you actually enter the temple you are not allowed to take pictures. We actually entered during part of the worship, and observed monks chanting and walking in long robes from one part of the temple to another.  There were also traditional offerings of towers of fruit on the tables.  

Plover Cove Country Park- This ocean reservoir is the quietest place we've been to in Hong Kong.  We took the train and bus in order to get here and the ocean views on the way were stunning.  

Bride's Pool Nature Trail- This was a nice, short family trail, but it's hard to believe that it's considered a level one (easy) hike.  Locals like to come to this park to picnic and barbecue, and as we passed barbecue areas we saw many people barbecuing since it was a public holiday.  Most of the time during our hike Ava repeated the words, "Mmm, I want a hot dog."

Bride's Pool Waterfall- The name originates from a folk legend that tells that of a bride who fell to her death here on the way to her wedding. We sincerely hope it wasn't true!

The ride back home was beautiful as well, and we noticed a large white Buddha and temple in the valley.  Can you spot it on the right hand side of the picture?  Although most Hong Kong people are irreligious, the majority religion in Hong Kong is Buddhism. 

Statue Square in Central- Hong Kong used to be under British rule and you can see traces of that through the architecture here.  We stumbled here on accident while trying to find the right train one day on the way to the Peak.  

Bottom of The Peak, one of the biggest tourist attractions in HK

It's hard to tell because we went on a foggy day, but you can ride the tram all the way up to the top.  It's a fairly steep incline and Josiah especially loved it.

The view from the Peak on a clear night.  Although it was a nice view of the city and harbor, the long lines and shopping mall at the top were a turnoff for us.   

This is actually what the old Tai Po railway station used to look like.  It's since been turned into a railway museum, and Josiah's class got to go here during their unit on transportation.  

In Tsim Sha Tsui, on the steps up to the History Museum.  The picture on the steps shows the Terra Cotta Warriors.

TST, in front of the History Museum- It cost $25US to get a museum pass to eight museums for our whole family for a year.  Hong Kong is a lot more kid friendly than we thought it would be.  

The great thing about Hong Kong is that although it's full of skyscrapers, you can easily get out of the city.  One of the other new teachers enjoys hiking, and showed me how true that can be.  We ran about a mile to a trail behind the school and then hiked for an hour where we were rewarded with this view.

Thanks for reading/looking at the pictures!

Glimpses of everyday life in HK

Hi friends and family,

We hope these pictures help you visualize our life in Hong Kong a little better!

The National Flower of HK, these orchid trees haven't stopped blooming since we've been here. They're absolutely beautiful, as are so many other interesting plants and flowers that we can't identify. 

The view that greets us as we get out of the MTR station in Central Sunday mornings on the way to church.  

It's amazing how quickly buildings go up here. When you see a building covered in green like this, you know it's under construction.  There's always something new going up here. 

We also see a lot of these trucks that hold the bamboo scaffolding.  Would you trust bamboo to hold you up?  

These guys do. Can you spot them?  In Central, the business district

Shannon's giving me his best fake smile on a weekend train ride.  It can get pretty packed, but for the most part we've all gotten used to it. 

A Hello Kitty car, of course! Cartoon characaters, such as Sponge Bob and Angry Birds are popular and are easily spotted here.

Mmm, dim sum. This actually isn't something we do everyday, but it is delicious and a must do (in my opinion) while in Hong Kong.  It's best to go with someone that knows what they're ordering, or you might end up ordering chicken feet on accident.  The verdict? They're chewy but flavorful. We actually went with friends this weekend and discovered that Josiah and Ava like chicken feet. A LOT. 

The proof.  That's chicken foot number two, by the way.

Our stroller is truly multi-functional.  Mine can hold Ava, groceries, my wallet and phone, an umbrella, Josiah's backpack, and that doesn't even include the basket underneath! When you don't have a car trunk and you walk a lot, you realize just how wonderful umbrella strollers can be. Did you know that strollers and escalators go well together too?

In Hung Hom, Kowloon.  Buses, cars, and trucks get to Hong Kong island using this underwater tunnel, but you can't tell that you're going underwater and I still have a hard time believing it. And by island, I mean all those buildings you see in the background.  This is where the historical, political, and economic center of HK lies.   

A very typical wet market in Heng On, near Josiah's school 

More wet market- I know, those carrots are huge! I buy the majority of my produce here and the prices tend to be cheaper than the grocery stores.  In my opinion, most of the time they're more fresh too!

 Mong Kok

Mong Kok in "Ladies Market". If you want to find something touristy, you'll find rows and rows of seemingly never ending stalls packed with wares to sell. You can find trinkets, clothing, knicknacks, electronics, shoes,and pretty much everything else you can think of.  There's a reason why people associate Hong Kong with shopping. 

Took this picture over one of the various elevated pedestrian walkways on the way to the Central Piers. It amazes me how immaculate the landscaping is here.  Streets are washed and cleaned often, sometimes even on rainy days!  

Also passed by the Apple store.  Look at that line.  Yikes!  People really like their technology and smartphones here. I'm a bit behind the times, and before coming to Hong Kong refused to jump on the texting bandwagon.  I've jumped.  

Gai Daan Tsai, a popular treat you can find anywhere.  Literally translated, it means little chicken eggs. It's basically a waffle and you tear off the little "eggs" to eat them.  The kids could eat these every day.  They're crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and especially good when they're freshly made and hot.

The building at the end of the street is ICS, where Shannon teaches and where we live

By far, my favorite view near home.  The school is a five minute walk from here, so we like to take family walks along the canal and watch fisherman catch tiny, tiny fish with very long fishing poles.


 Winter Break pictures (aka the touristy stuff) coming soon. Miss you all!