Since last time, no events of particular note have occurred, but important friendships are gradually being made. Some of the new "Batch 2" kids are really great, and it feels like such a shame to leave them so soon. Of course, maybe I just feel that way because I don't want to leave Hong Kong yet! Even so, all of us old people (a.k.a. "Batch 1" kids) have adopted a few newbies to whom we can pass on our expertise.
A couple of weeks ago, I took a small group to Temple Street to check out the night market. LeAnne, Chelsea, and Tyler enjoying a night out on the town:
Alice, Tyler, and Brandon waiting for the bus to go to afternoon Chinese class:
Speaking of Chinese class, no matter how much I love the language--and mind you I'm still head over heels!--these summer classes have become the bane of my existence. Y'all should feel equally exasperated. After all, that's my excuse for not posting any new blogs for almost a month! In a mere 4 weeks, we've "learned" (a.k.a. been exposed to) over 1000 new words. The teachers are flying through the text so fast we can barely keep up. True, I have learned a lot, but everyone agrees that this pace is extremely unnatural and 90% of the things we're taught go in one ear and out the other because nobody has time to process anything. I had to go buy a new spiral-bound notebook because I filled up my first (originally blank) one after 3 weeks. On the one hand, I'm glad to have this much exposure to new stuff, but on the other hand I feel like I won't have the opportunity to learn everything properly until the summer classes end and we can all breathe again. That said, I would rather have a challenging class than an overly easy one when it comes to Chinese. There's nothing worse than stagnating in your language learning. Mainly, I think USC and the CLC are worried about us Batch 1 kids passing the Business Chinese Test (BCT) on July 17th. After our official mock test this afternoon, we're all really worried, so please keep us in your prayers!
Enough about that, though. Speaking of prayers and of Chinese classes, here's a shout-out to the best Chinese "class" I've ever taken: Sunday Afternoon Mandarin Bible Study! When I first started going to this bible study a little over a year ago, nobody had any idea why I was there (except Johnson, since he invited me). I understood maybe 20% of what was going on, and recognized only isolated phrases and words. Still, I have to thank a few of the teachers in attendance who helped me convince everyone to keep speaking to me in Chinese instead of English. Since then, I've been a regular and missed less than 10 studies (including going home for a month during Christmas). Now, nobody bats an eye at me for being, well...a laowai. That is, unless they're new. Everyone's been so patient and welcoming towards me that it really feels like my family away from home. I know that we'll all soon part ways--not just me--but the Lord brought us together once so there's no telling what's in store for the future. Just to be on the safe side, we have facebook, renren, and email as back-up plans.
To my delight, Stewart, one of the new kids, approached me during the first week and asked about nearby churches. Since then, he's been coming with me not only to church, but to the bible study! It wasn't until then that I realized just how much my communication skills had grown. Like the me of one year ago, Stewart has a good bit of difficulty understanding everything, but I really admire his persistence. I just know that, if he keeps at it, he'll be a complete beast at Chinese in one year's time. As for me, I'll have to continue being a "Secret Asian" all the way back in Cola.
Since Friday was Hong Kong Independence Day, we had a public holiday and therefore no class. Not wanting the day-off to go to waste, 12 of us packed up and headed to Cheung Chau Island for a day-long fellowship retreat. What better way to kick off our day at the beach than sitting down to a scrumptious seafood lunch? Zhang Xin, Liu Chang, Han Yue, Johnson, and Jin Jin preparing to attack that plate of shrimp.
After a delicious lunch, we hiked through the villages and nature paths until we came to the island's small theology school:
While there, we broke into small groups and enjoyed some time for reflection, prayer, and fellowship...as well as Fenny's homemade mochi. Chilling out around the theology school:
Xiao Duo and me:
Later on, people had fun around the island by going to the beach, hiking, shopping, and eating street food. I went back after a couple hours of free time because Liu Ni and Zhang Xin wanted to take the 7:00pm ferry back to the city. We arrived in Tsim Sha Tsui just in time for the nightly lights and lasers show over Victoria Harbour, which was even more fantastic because of the holiday:
Friday was fun but, since we had a 3-day weekend, there was still time for even more fun. Saturday morning, Stewart and I went on a foodie's quest for the legendary dim sum of Lin Heung Tea House. This place was hard to find initially, but will definitely be easy to locate from now on. It's certainly got that atmosphere best described as dididaodao, or very local and authentic style. The restaurant may be from the 1920s, but it feels like a step back into post-WWII Hong Kong. The restaurant's super-crowded whether you come at 6:00am or peak lunch hours. We arrived around 11:00am, so we beat the lunch crowd and actually found two available seats. This is what the restaurant looks like in it's "down hours."
The staff not only use the original recipes for their dim sum, but they also serve it the same way they have for the last 50 years...quite literally a la carte! The dim sum lady pushes her squeaky little cart through the cramped aisles and customers flag her down or run up to her to see what she's peddling. If she has something you want, you just give her your stamp-card and she puts a stamp on it indicating what you picked. When these ladies have a popular item (which at Lin Heung is definitely the lotus-seed paste buns with salted egg yolk), the customers practically attack them trying to get at the bamboo steamers.
Shameless foodies that we are, both Stewart and I had to admit that Lin Heung had some of the best dim sum we'd ever had. Of course, me saying that meant a bit more than him saying that but, even so, it's certainly worth a return visit. Out of the dishes we ordered, the siu mai and cheong fun were quite good, though not the best I've had. However, the cha siu baau and lou mei were by far the most succulent I have encountered. It's probably for the best that it takes just over an hour to get to Lin Heung from CUHK. Otherwise, we'd all be really really fat right now. Stewart enjoying a piece of siu mai:
Once we finished brunch, we headed over to Hong Kong Park for a visit to the Flagstaff House Museum of Teaware. Although we expected it to be interesting, it was actually pretty fascinating.
Not only did we read about the history of tea cultivation in China, but we also learned to appreciate the differences in tea preparation, presentation, and social significance over the various dynasties.
These pots date back from the Ming Dynasty, and show signs of strong Western influence.
The coolest tea-caddy ever:
All in all, it was yet another fun day. As small as Hong Kong may be, it seems like there's always something new that I haven't seen. Thankfully, there are little gems like this tea museum hidden all over the city.
No comments:
Post a Comment