A different world

This weekend was my first time out of Hong Kong since my arrival just two weeks ago. I traveled to a few different towns and villages and got my real first taste of Asia.
I knew that Hong Kong was not very similar to the majority of Asia, especially compared to the poorer areas, but the chaos still shocked me. As we walked along the side walks we had to dodge the scooters/motorcycles who use the sidewalks, store fronts and street corners for parking lots. All of the parked scooters had alarms and they sounded every time the front of the scooter was touched. It was a bit of sensory overload to say the least.
The villages were much calmer. Although the group of ten foreigners drew a fair amount of attention, it was not nearly as overwhelming. Over the course of the four and a half days, the group passed out twenty scholarships to middle and high school aged students and taught a variety of English classes.
We stayed in three different cities and spent a great deal of time riding in vans. At one point in our journey we went through what has to be the worlds longest, poorly ventilated tunnel. Driving at highway speed it took almost five minutes to get from one end to the other. Unless there was another vehicle going the opposite direction the tunnel was completely dark. We were all relieved when we finally saw the daylight at the end.
I was glad that we were able to spend two days in one of the cities. The first day we saw many of the students as our group split up and made house visits to give personal care bags to the scholarship recipients and to meet the families. These scholarships were based on need only and so nearly all of the students had a great deal of adversary in their lives, but most were still happy and excited to be able to continue with their education.
Overall, it was a great learning experience. It was my first real assignment and I was able to see how other people live in Asia.

October Newsletter

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Blessings!

Arrival in Hong Kong!!!

After a nearly six hour delay in Chicago, after my five hour layover I was finally on my way to Hong Kong! Although I was not overly impressed about spending almost 11 hours in O'Hare, my boss was on my same flight so we were able to have a good talk. I arrived late Wednesday night in Hong Kong and Josh the missionary I will be replacing dropped me off at my apartment so I could unpack and sleep.
Thursday morning Josh picked me up from my apartment and we set off to find a cell phone for me and show me some of the city. It was quite a search, but after about five hours of walking from store to store I finally decided on a phone. Friday I went to the office to meet the rest of the staff and they took me out for a huge variety of dim sum. After lunch we explored the mall at the train stop for the office and found the best deals for a new work computer. Later in the evening we met up with a two of the other missionaries and a girl who has lived in Hong Kong for seven years for dinner.
Today I have been busy buying the rest of the necessary things for my apartment. I had a fun journey carrying back my nearly 50 lbs. of purchases from the IKEA that is about a mile away. It is nice that I am able to walk through the shopping centers connected to my apartment complex, but it was difficult navigating through the thousands of people also walking with a variety of bags in the shopping centers. I have nearly everything that I need now, so it will be much easier to get back from the stores.
I am supposed to have my internet set up on Monday morning so I will have more updates and photos at that point!!!