Headin' Back!

So, in just 6 days, we will be on a plane heading back to Texas -- at least for a while. This was definitely not a planned thing, but due to N's continued weight loss and the Hong Kong doctors suggestions, we feel like going back to America and having a change of environment might be the best thing for now. It's a strange feeling knowing that in a few days, we will be surrounded by grass, trees, quiet, countryside, family, friends, good home-cookin', etc, etc, etc. I'll be able to see my sister who just found out she is pregnant with her third child and be able to share the joys (or un-joys!) of pregnancies with her for a while. I'll be able to see my 6 year old niece and 1 1/2 year old nephew (whom I have only seen a few days at a few weeks old before moving here). We'll be leaving friends here who we have been building relationships with lately, but we know they are being left in the good hands of our American friends (who are learning sign language to hopefully work in the schools soon). They just found out they are pregnant too, so we are a little sad that we will miss so much of each other's pregnancies. So many mixed emotions! Leaving here (temporarily or not) is nothing like moving halfway across America -- you are definitely moving worlds, moving cultures, moving away from everything you have experienced or seen during the past 18 months. It is hard to imagine us going through "reversal" cultural shock (cultural shock when you go back to the States), but it will probably happen in some ways, ways that we can't imagine right now. I will say that although America has problems and is not perfect in any ways, I LOVE America and feel incredibly blessed to be an American citizen. I hope I never take my citizenship, my country, my people for granted again. America (and Texas!), here we come!

Hong Kong!

We just got back from a visa run/vacation in Hong Kong. It is such an interesting city, I wanted to show you some of our latest pictures. I didn't want to mess with organizing them in a sequential order, so forgive the randomness...


We went to Lama Island and did some easy (but super hot) hiking. This is one of the beautiful views from the island.


View #2 from Lama Island


View #3 from Lama Island


Here you can see the typhoon slowly approaching. We were under a severe typhoon warning but luckily, and unexpectedly, the typhoon went around Hong Kong instead of over it. So, I still can't say I've truly been through a typhoon...


We are at Stanley Market -- a huge outdoor market where you can buy lots and lots of touristy stuff. Really peaceful there also. I loved watching the waves and decided that day that my dream vacation is an Alaskan Cruise (random though, I know, but it was realized there :)


Here I am standing on the balcony of the guest apartment that we stayed at during our visit. Look at all the many apartments around me!


Here I am just sitting on my favorite thing to do in the city -- ride ferries! It is so relaxing...and cheap!


All the different shops at Lama Island. We loved this island. So quiet and peaceful, which about 6000 residents and no cars! I may move here.


Just both of us sitting on the ferry, trying to get us with beautiful background, but I think you just see mainly us. Sorry!


Me enjoying some ice cream from Mister Softee! Soft serve is my favorite :)


Enjoying some good ol' Mexican food. I had a mexican sandwich (who knew?!) and Nate had a fish soft taco and chicken soft taco. He raved about them all day!


Just another picture while on the ferry. I love this place!


We had to stop and have some of Mister Softee's ice cream! It was well worth it :)


All the other days were cool and rainy because of the close-call typhoon, but we stupidly decided to pick the hottest and sunniest day of the year to go hiking (easy hiking, but still hot!). And as I have learned, pregnancy hormones make you sweat a lot!


After our hike, we stopped at this little vegetarian restaurant. N had hummus with pita bread (falafels), which was super good!


And I had a tasty tofu burger, which was also good, but the humongous fries were amazing!


Isn't this the cutest little boat!?



This has to be the most expensive car (Lamborghini) I have ever been able to touch (although I kept my hands off) -- security guard motioned us away though...


I just love boats!


I thought this was a neat looking boat. We were on a ferry when this boat went past.

The Joys of Chinglish!

Oh, if I only had my camera around more often!


This was actually in another country, explaining that "squatting" on the toilets is not allowed. Oops!


??? Can you explain?


So, do I really want to get pregnant here? That's the real question...


Oh, how I miss "cornbells" soup!


Go Bush -- eat that corn!


If you can't read it, it says "Get an electric shock carefully" -- yes, please be careful, though I'm not sure who would want to!


Makes me want to buy my pet food here!


This may look confusing because it is written in the minority language, but what is funny though is this is on the side of a hotel, but it is uniquely backwards -- have your mirror ready!


Is MoDonald McDonald's brother?


And last, but not least, this was taken at a local park... I can't explain...

Teaching at the Deaf School

This past week, N and I had an opportunity to help teach at a school for Deaf students. We were both really nervous and unsure at first since our sign language skills are still very elementary, but we really had a lot of fun with the kids. It was their last day of (reading/writing) English class, so after their exam, we taught them a vocabulary game. Here are some pictures of how it all went:


This is the whole class. They range in age from 9 years to 18 years -- all in one class.


This is my favorite picture :) He was so happy when he got the word right.


It is so easy to fall in love with these kids. They are such happy kids, and they love to meet foreigners, especially those that know their language!


This is to anyone that has ever been a school teacher -- don't you wish that your students would behave this well?! It just amazed me how good their behavior was. It may not be that way every day, but it sure was that day.


This is us teaching the game.


This just amazed me. They have a cafeteria, but some time ago, some students broke some of the chairs (or something, I'm not sure) so from then on, they had to eat outside, rain, sun, snow, or heat. Made me feel so blessed for the schools that I had the opportunity to go to.


This is the lunch line. Everyone got the same thing -- rice and veggies...and no drink. Drinks are not necessary at meals in this country. You would think they would be so dehydrated...


These students are all amazing artists. It all just amazed me. This one student found some of her artwork and gave it to us to have. I think I will frame it and put it up somewhere in our apartment :)

FOOD!

Thought you might like a "taste" of our everyday eating!


Well, this picture is not a taste of our everyday eating, but I find it funny. You see, we don't go to nice restaurants too often, but this time we did, and N ordered the "salmon salad"...and only that. This is what he got...he went for noodles afterwards :)


This is siwawa. You get about ten tiny thin "torilla" wraps and pick whatever vegetables from these many plates to fill the wraps. Then, if you want, you dip it in pepper sauce, which I usually pass.


Pig feet and knuckles. There is no meat here, just skin, but it is very popular with the locals. They even were so nice as to order it for us, in which we had to eat it. Not bad, but chewing on skin is just not for me.


Pai Cai -- spicy sour vegetables. N likes, I don't. I don't really recommend anyone eat it.


Noodle dishes -- it was actually our Easter meal! It was either that or pizza...and if you know us, we will go for the noodles.


This is a tasty dish. It is (sometimes fried)rice topped with vegetables and/or meat, then wrapped in a lotus leaf. You don't eat the leaf.

MORE FOOD!

This is even more unusual food we have here :)


Fish is a very popular dish here. As you can see, it is the whole fish with bones and everything. I actually got a large fish bone stuck in my throat a few weeks ago and had to gag it out...since then, I have vowed never to eat fish again.


This is one of our favorite meals. You have a boiling pot of soup then you pick out whatever meats, veggies, tofu you want and add them in. You get super full and it is very cheap. For the two of us, we usually spend less than $5.


For those that like man's best friend...move on to the next picture...


These are some desserts we got in Hong Kong. The bowl is red and green bean porridge (sweet -- red bean is a used in a lot of sweet dishes here) and something like black glutinous rice with mangoes wrapped in something I can't remember...


This is one of our favorite dishes -- claypot rice! The cook the rice in a small claypot, then add toppings of meat and/or vegetables. The rice stays super hot and creates a crispy layer on the bottom which is N's favorite part. Give me the dark vinegar and I'm all set!


Ok, a very popular food item in a little town south of us. It is spicy pepper chicken pieces soaked in pepper oil. I tried it...probably won't try it again.


This is after a meal of stir-fried dishes. We probably had about 10 people at our table. You just eat off whatever plates you want. It's nice to share!