8-7-12 Tuesday part 2

continued from Tuesday part 1...

Kowloon Walled City Park. 
After tour guide Carmie said the name about 3 times, I realized it wasn't her or me, it was the name I just couldn't understand. When I saw it printed I was like, oooooohhhhhh! 

This park, as you can tell by the name, used to be a city. Kowloon Walled City was a densely populated, largely ungoverned settlement that in the 60s and 70s was a haven for triads, prostitution, gambling and drug use. It was pretty much a free-for-all, with very little involvement from the government. (If you want to know more: www.lcsd.gov.hk/parks/kwcp/en/index.php) Anyway, the government eventually got fed up with the crime and squallor, demolished the city and made a park that opened in 1995. This is a small model of the city that took up only 6.5 acres.

The park is laid out in a classic Chinese garden style. Carmie gave us a short intro to Chinese gardens, because there is so much meaning behind the choice and position of every plant and structure. First of all, one is not supposed to see the whole garden from one point, parts are hidden from view on purpose to encourage exploration and discovery. Therefore one feature of a traditional Chinese garden is a big rock or wall blocking the view from the entrance. Usually as soon as you enter there is some obstruction. Also, much of the garden can be seen metaphorically. For instance, a rock can mean a mountain, a pond can mean an ocean. This make the garden not just pretty but meaningful. One last thing, many times the entrances to gardens and homes are flanked by couplets, one part of the poem on each side.

LUNCHTIME! We were pretty hot and tired by this time, so we headed toward the Kingdom Hall and a lunch spot just around the corner. Lunch was amazing! It was served family style, with dishes of food placed on a large lazy susan in the middle of the table. Pork dumplings, BBQ pork buns, egg custard buns, shrimp dumplings, pork and noodles in brown sauce, glass noodles and steamed vegetables... Yum and Fun! I had never had Dim Sum before and I really liked it. 

Since lunch was just around the corner, we walked to the Kingdom Hall for the meeting for service. James told us we would have the privilege of working in stand witnessing! This involves not just standing (hehe) but using a stand of literature to show which publications we have.

The meeting was about how to be all things to all men. Then we got some tips on how to do stand witnessing, such as to smile and look approachable. If we are getting stared at then we could say hi (lay ho) and maybe ask how they are (lay ho ma). 

We were split up into groups of 3 or 4, given a group number and told to remember it. This came in handy because after we got back onto the bus, we drove around and as we approached an intersection, James or Carmie would shout out, "ok group number 1, this is your stop, get ready to get off!" and then we'd pile out and go with some local friends who were waiting for us. Our group had Tony and Maria and us. We were greeted and taken for a short walk to where our stand was. Here we are: 

We stayed there for a little over an hour and Zane placed a magazine! When it was time to go, but before we got back to the bus, the friends we were with took us into a store to get some traditional Chinese snacks. I forgot the name, but it's basically a waffle but instead of square depressions in the batter, it's little egg shaped bubbles. So cute and yummy! They also got us egg custard tarts to take back and share on the bus. Those were very rich and a little too much for me since we had just been boiling in the heat and humidity. I think they would hit the spot on a cooler day.

Here is our full service group except for Maria because she is taking the picture. 

I know it's only the first day, and I promise it won't always be like this, but I have to split this into a part 3! Stay tuned!

8-7-12 Tuesday part 1

Tuesday morning we pulled ourselves out of bed, fed and caffeinated our bodies and headed onto a big bus with the rest of tour group A103. In the lobby of the hotel there were about 100 people milling around, mostly from other tour groups who were leaving around the same time.

Our group had about 40 people in it, all from the US. Our tour guides were James Lam and his wife Wood Lam*, Cindy, Carmie and Wendy. (*Funny tidbit: Lam means Forest in Chinese.) They were from the Tsuen Wan and Kwai Chung congregations.
First stop? Bethel! On the way, we were given some tips about surviving in Hong Kong:

1. Water
2. Fan
3. Umbrella
4. Handkerchief

Notice a pattern? Yes. It was extremely hot and humid the entire time, even at night. Our lovely guides passed out fans for us and we made really good use of them.

Bethel in Hong Kong is split up into two locations about 30 minutes from each other. In one location is the offices, in the other is the residences. I have to admit, I don't remember much about the facts and figures we learned on the tour. But I will never be able to forget the love of the Bethelites and their excitement in having so many visitors. Many of the departments had prepared a souvenir for us to take. There were bookmarks, fans, teabags and even a rock from the gardening department.

After the residence portion of the tour, we had some cookies and water bottles and were able to meet and chat with some long time full-time servants, some who had been doing so for 40 years. 

From Bethel we boarded the bus and headed to Kowloon Walled City Park. 

To be continued in part 2...

8-5-12 airport antics

8-5-12 Going to Hong Kong

Hi there! We are on the plane! (well not when you're reading this, but I'm writing this on the plane and uploading it at the hotel later)

We are somewhere over the Bering straight. Only 8.5 hours to go! Haha.

We've had a nice meal and this airline is amazing. Of course all of our experience with international long-haul flights has been thru the medium of tv and film, sooo...

Ooh! It's tomorrow! Zane says we just crossed the international dateline. There goes our youth, another day older, far too soon. What a shame.

So our fun has already started, we met so many friends at the airport. There were 40 witnesses on our flight. We took pictures and swapped info cards while we waited at the gate. Besides friends from English and Hindi, there were also some from Spanish and Sign Language.

Something really cool happened at the terminal. Two friends from Peoria who are in ASL were signing to each other when a man sitting behind them interrupted and began speaking to them in ASL. They were able to explain to him who they were and why they were traveling to hong kong. If you are not yet struck with the amazingness of three or more people who happen to know sign happening to be in the same terminal as each other AND happening to find this out, just wait. It turns out that these men were not on our flight. No. They were not even in the correct terminal area! Their gate was a completely different one. So the chances of them getting a witness should have been low. We all thought that was cool.

We look forward to sharing many more experiences like this, others and our own.

10:15pm Hong Kong time. We made it here! While our hearts and smiles are energetic and unflagging, our bodies are giving out. (We've been awake for over 24 hours.)

After we landed, deboarded and claimed our luggage, we ended up spilling out into a large room, the Arrivals Hall. There we found a welcoming committee of smiling brothers and sisters, waiting for anyone with a little red badge. They were waving frantically and hugged each of us and pretty much it was perfect. The hotel had a whole  boardroom set up just for JW  check-in. It was manned by about 20 local brothers and sisters on laptops, eagerly getting us all sorted out.

We  got our room number, keycards and a goody bag! I impressed a few of them with my first ever attempt at speaking mandarin. I told them 'nice to meet you' 'hoko hangyang sik lay' (They were too nice, amped up on holy spirit, love and caffeine. They applauded.)

We love this brotherhood so much.
Please leave us a comment below or email us. We miss you!

Tomorrow: Bethel tour, field service, congregation gathering.

We miss you guys!!! Love you!!!

Gratitude and Visas

You might want to turn this down, it gets kinda loud in the middle.