Saturday, May 14, 2011

Miscellaneous HK Moments

Growing up in small-town America I took for granted the fact that you knew just about everyone in town...well, maybe that's a small exaggeration. BUT, my mom really did! :) (Hi Mom!) Then when living in Africa, everyone and their brother (literally) wanted to talk to the oburoni, and it was nice to be in community with people.

In Hong Kong, with a population of over 7 million people, you just don't have that kind of community. In fact, I've been living here for 4 1/2 months and I met my next door neighbor for the first time today...sad, but true. Anyways, we do have one neighbor-- Herman-- who is very friendly and loves to stop and talk as we pass by. I think he's taken it upon himself to introduce us to as much Chinese language and food as possible, so the last 3 weekends, he has rung our doorbell and delivered noodles...and lots of them. Here's what we got today... not picturing the 3rd plate that I had to graciously turn down. :) It's actually really thoughtful and definitely makes it feel more like home to have a neighbor who actually knows our names. (On that note, although he knows our names, he prefers to call us "Teacher"!)I had to take a picture of this man walking around with parakeets on him...no big deal! :)
Earlier this week, Mary and I contemplated moving as our landlord wanted to raise the rent, and as we were apt. shopping, I was able to capture this photo of the area that I live in to give you a picture. The river there is where I run by, and if you follow the river about 3 miles, you'll get to my school! :) And to think Hong Kongers call this the "boondocks"! They've obviously never been to Waupun! (Side note: I have nothing against Waupun, but let's face it...it's kind of the boondocks comparatively speaking!) P.S. We decided not to move and then our landlord decided not to raise the rent.... praise the Lord! :)

2 comments:

Courtney said...

Oh wow, Dana. What experiences! I can just picture it now. The noodles remind me of the famous comment we heard in Thailand..."Corney, your hair look like Thai nooder."

Good. Times.

Amanda said...

I can so relate. I've lived in my house for almost 2 years now and just met one of my neighbors for the first time a couple weeks ago. It's just not really "done" here, chatting up your neighbors (at least in my part of the city). So different from my small town in Oregon and DEFINITELY from Orange City :)