Saturday, August 23, 2008

The task of catching everybody who reads this blog up on what has happened the past few hours is somewhat daunting. Of course, at the same time, it’s also incredibly easy—not much. We arrived in Hong Kong as I reported earlier. Jeff and I decided to watch House rather than explore Hong Kong for the layover. It wasn't until a few hours before our flight was supposed to be that we realized what the information broadcast over the intercom every once in a while meant. All flights were cancelled due to a typhoon. The winds were fierce and knocked over a few trees (though never when Jeff and I went to go see what was going on). The earliest flight the airlines had available for our little traveling group was Monday. Which is probably the day I'm going to be posting this. In my last post, I mentioned the size of the plane. You can see a picture below.

Anyway, Jacob Harlan (the man who started China Horizons) found me and Jeff with my computer plugged in while we watched said program in Terminal One (which is huge, by the by, and incredibly easy to lose oneself in). He convinced us to come to Terminal Two. We went through customs. It was exciting (but not really). I now have a stamp in my passport. Woo!

Terminal Two isn't quite as nice as Terminal One—at least, the part where you don't need a boarding pass. Mostly because there aren't really any outlets. At all. Which meant no more watching neat movies to pass the time. Which crawled. We spent the night in the airport. It was cold. Outside was very nice and warm. I think they overcompensated in the airport. I was glad I'd brought my blanket and travel pillow, or I wouldn't have been able to sleep at all. If I'd been smart, I would've packed a change of clothes. And a toothbrush. Your teeth get remarkably icky after thirty-four hours in an airport after a fourteen hour flight, by the by.

It wasn't too bad, really, except for the cold. I didn't mind sleeping on the rough carpet. It could’ve been a lot worse, after all. But after not showering since the 20 (as we finally left on the 23 (though, Thursday just disappeared)), I did want a bath or a shower or something. For a while, it looked like we might be able to take a train out to Changsha today. That hope was squashed when Jacob learned the trains were booked for five days. He worked his magic somehow and managed to convince the temple president to let our group stay at the temple lodging across from the temple in Hong Kong. It's a very simple setup. But there are showers. And beds. No complaining here. And all of this is only HK$100 per person for two nights because they felt bad for us stranded young people! Yay! That's cheap in American. There are seven Hong Kong dollars to our dollar, roughly. Which is really weird. Jeff and I had dumplings for breakfast this morning and it cost somewhere around HK$56. Which is really only about four dollars per person. Which reminds me—I tried some Chinese tea at said dumpling place. I didn't really like it. Though, it did keep me warm in the airport.

The bus ride from the airport to Hong Kong proper is intense. Lasts a while. We got off at a stop after the one we really needed, but that was okay. Walking is good. I'm exhausted, but walking is good. After arriving at the hotel, we walked down to a supermarket. Goodness, there's a lot of people in Hong Kong! I feel like such an oddball because I can't speak or understand any Cantonese or Mandarin. I can't even really hear the difference. Which is fine, I suppose, as it's my first time being around so many people speaking it. The other guests at the “hotel” are remarkably sweet. They don't speak English very well, so it makes it interesting for those of us who don't speak Chinese at all. It'll be interesting to show the difference between my lodgings now and the ones I'll be in when my Mom and aunt come to visit. I'll have to take pictures because pictures are good. Whether I'll actually do so or not is the question. But you have little to say on the matter!

Though, I did take a few pictures of the typhoon-y weather from the little bridge leading over to the parking gate. They're below.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Today we attended church in the temple. Well, not the actual temple part of the temple—the lower three floors have a meeting house, mission office, and apartments for the temple president and his wife and the mission president and his wife. It was a bit odd having the Cantonese speakers translated in real time, but not too bad. The first speaker in Sacrament Meeting was a very sweet woman who’s going out to Salt Lake next week to serve a mission. The second speaker spoke really quickly, and the interpreters had a bit of a hard time keeping up. For Sunday School, we got to hear from an area authority who was once the mission president in Hong Kong. He told us a bunch of neat things about the temple. Apparently, he and a few other members in Hong Kong scouted out ten places to potentially place the temple. When President Hinckley arrived, though, he said they were all the wrong place. President Hinckley had a vision of the temple before it was built and knew exactly what he wanted it to look like. It's a beautiful building. I tried taking pictures of it, but it was apparently smoggy or something. The one I took is above, and here's one from LDS.org. We were warned not to proselyte in China, because there is a difference between doing what is good and what is right. Relief Society was interesting—I was next to a sister missionary from Arizona. One of the sisters had a baby a month ago, so she brought a whole bunch of hard-boiled red dyed eggs—its apparently a custom here to pass out red eggs once a baby is a month old.

After church, Jeff and I munched on some sandwiches we made up from things bought at a very crowded supermarket yesterday. They were yummy. We got some peach-apple juice from the store with little chopped up peaches—it's delicious. Wish we had some of it in the States, actually. Jeff (this one served a mission to Taiwan and speaks fluent Mandarin) found some dragon eye fruit outside the little 'hotel.' Here's a picture of one that Jeff took a bite out of. You're not supposed to eat the black seed apparently.

My brother and I chilled and watched House as the others went exploring (I'm not feeling 100%). Two children came in, and one of them was very entranced by my computer. I couldn't understand what either of them said, but the smaller one started singing the ABCs. He thought it was funny when I joined in with him and pointed out the letters on the keyboard (which I think prompted the singing). His mom came and probably told him to stop bugging us right when Jeff went to get my DVD binder. I wanted to show them a cartoon or something…but oh well.

At six, we went over to the temple to eat with the temple president and his wife and the mission president and his wife. We had spaghetti! It was yummy. The temple president's wife (I'm terrible with names, by the way) made a really neat salad with peanut butter and bell peppers--I know that sounds odd, but it's delicious.

Monday, August 25, 2005

We left for the airport insanely early this morning and spent forty-five minutes on a bouncy bus in order to get back to Hong Kong for our re-routed flight. We made it, fortunately, and arrived in Changsha around 10 in the morning. It's really smoggy here. I had a headache for a lot of the afternoon walking around. Xiangtan University is about an hour away by bus. We stopped at a restaurant to experience our first real Chinese food. Boy, they like it spicy in the Hunan province!

In restaurants, they seat you around a table with a spinny glass table in the center. Everyone has a bowl and chopsticks. And then they place the dishes in front of you. You take what you want with your chopsticks and chow down. Some of the other teachers have difficulties chowing down...but Jeff and I are fairly proficient. The food is great. Well, once you get past the shock of all that spice, that is. Thankfully, they usually serve things to help cool down your palette--pumpkin, rice, potatoes... Some of the dishes are very different from what we're used to. For instance, for supper, there was fish-head soup available. Complete with the fish head. For lunch, we were able to try bone soup. With bones in it. And most of the things with chicken in them have bones as well. Jeff wound up with a chicken head in his food. He didn't eat it, sadly... But it's good food nonetheless.

Jeff and I are living somewhat separate from the others. They get new housing. We don't. Most of the apartment has been refurbished, but our bathroom has a squatting toilet. Which is exactly what it sounds--most toilets in China are squatters. It's a bit odd...but not too bad. We haven't figured out how to work the water heater, though...which is a bit of a problem. Everything else is spectacular. We've got pretty computers, printers, nice beds, a sweet tv... I could go on and on. I'll post pictures later. Right now, I'm trying not to drool on the keyboard.

Erica