This place is incredible. We have been completely submerged in a totally different culture. There's really no easing into it, it's just boom. Culture. We ventured over to the marketplace right across the street from our school and I'm not exaggerating when I say that I did not see a single other white person in the entire place other than our group. We are not by any means in a touristy part of Hong Kong. And the whole "most people speak English in Hong Kong" thing is a blatant lie. They don't. At least not where we are. They do however love interacting with westerners. I feel like a celebrity because children point and yell and stare at us. It's so cute. The GEO missionaries who have been showing us around say that knowing how to speak English is such an asset as far as going to college or getting a job that people will do anything to talk to you or to get you to talk to their kids because they think that if we speak English to them it will rub off or something. I've never been anywhere with such a huge language barrier, but so far no huge problems. Signs clearly state how much everything is, so purchasing things are simple enough. I guess I'll just get used to having to gesture a lot to get people to understand.
So far the food has been great! I am being as adventurous as I can. The great thing about it is when a Chinese person takes you to a meal, they don't expect you to order anything for yourself. Meals are all family style and the host (or the person that invited you to attend the meal) makes all the ordering decisions. This is great because 1. I can't read the menus and 2. I am a horrible orderer. I suffer from post-order regret syndrome. For lunch we went to a very formal traditional Chinese restaurant and got all your traditional Chinese foods, all delicious of course. Dinner was a bit more interesting... we got hot pot. Which is essentially boiling flavored water that you dump raw meat into and then fish it out and eat it. Some stuff was good and some foods were just bizarre. I did try everything though. Except oysters because I hate oysters. Dinner was especially funny because we were on our own without the help of our Chinese hosts. Everyone was staring at us because we were being very entertaining. Especially when they brought out the raw shrimp that still had all its legs, tail, and head including the eyes and whiskers. I just watch Camden, the 8 year old son of Roper and Rachel, and if he tries it and likes it then I know it's safe to try it too. That kid will try ANYTHING.
Ok here are some pictures (there are a few more on Facebook):
HOME
Beach
Lunch
Shrimp before being boiled.
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