Home Sweet Home!

I had the chance of helping out a friend, who is American, with watching his house and dogs for a week. I could cook whatever I wanted and have a bigger bed to sleep in. Something about being able to walk into a house and have a sense of home was an amazing feeling! Granted, the commute from school to the apartment was about forty minutes by MTR and bus but hey that's life sometimes. The greatest part about the commute though was that is was less than two American dollars. Everyday I was greeted by two chocolate labs, Sophie and Camille. Walking the dogs here in Hong Kong is much different than that at home. At home you can just open the back door and let them run outside and they can do their business. Here, however, you have to make sure they are on a leash and bring a bottle of water to rinse the cement and a bag or newspaper to pick up the "extras." The majority of people here dislike dogs and often will look at you with a mean face, make rude comments, or completely walk the opposite way when they see you coming. There is really no area for the dogs to enjoy the grass or play in a park. Everything that is available is located on the sidewalk or on the pavement.

I had the brilliant idea to bake fresh, homemade sugar cookies one evening. I spent a lot of time making this cookies and enjoyed every minute of it. I organized them nicely on the platter to cool and made sure to put them at the back of the counter where the dogs wouldn't even be able to see them. Now I must mention this little bit of information... the whole time I was baking and even eating a few of the warm cookies the dogs never even cam into the kitchen and when they did they ignored the cookies. I went to bed and woke the next morning to bag the cookies to bring to church and friends. I saw the plates exactly where they were left, not moved. However, all of the cookies were gone and not even a crumb was left. I began to question if I had bagged them up before I went to bed and just forgot that I did that so I began to search for the cookies. Shortly after I began my search here come the two sweet, innocent dogs around the corner with crumbs on their cute, little faces. Needless to say I was a bit upset at them but all I could do was laugh! The dang cookie monsters ate ALL three dozen of my sugar cookies!!! I guess the good part about it wast that they were not chocolate chip.

I began painting this week in my art class with the ink. It is much more difficult than Western style painting sue to the fact that the "paint" used is ink and the different shades are produced by adding water to your brush. The brushes are made of different types of animal hair. The holding of the brush is a lot different with the hand being more stiff and up right. When you apply the ink to the thin rice paper you have to control the pressure of the hair against the paper so that the ink does not "bleed." It took me several trial strokes with the brush before I learned how to control the ink. The first several weeks we are concentrating on the flowers. The professor is very patient with the three of us foreigners and has to set us aside so she can work with us in English.

Since this past May, I have decided to exercise and find interest in playing sports due to my clearance from the cardiologist in April. I was running about once to twice a week or every other week during the summer. For the past three weeks I have been running every other day, and I am up to three miles straight without stopping or slowing the pace. I have taken an interest in soccer due to the fact that I enjoy watching it and that all my friends play it here. The thrill of playing for two straight hours running and up the field is amazing to me! I mean, I haven't been able to do this stuff for over twelve years and now all of a sudden I have this energy and a heart that beats completely different! So I tried playing soccer twice with my normal tennis shoes and something just did not feel right. I went on a shopping trip to find a pair of soccer shoes. Little did I know that this trip would turn into a five hour search for a size twelve pair of shoes! I literally went to two different areas to find this size and over fifteen different footwear stores. The biggest size that everyone had was a nine and a half or a ten. Some of the workers would say, "you can still wear this size and the shoe will stretch.." Ok, I do not know if you heard me or not but I wear a size TWELVE to a THIRTEEN!!! Finally after searching and asking I gave up on even looking at the style of shoe I just wanted the size that would fit me. Then there it was, the store of all stores... It was like a dream come true and so professional. Everyone working there had a walkie-talkie and would radio the style of shoe and size to a person who would then get them and drop them from a whole just big enough for a shoe box to drop from the ceiling. It was like a candy shop for a big footed kid! I began to search the store and I went ahead and looked at the styles before I even asked what the biggest size was. There on the shelf sat a black pair of Nike soccer shoes with a red and metallic silver check on the side. I slowly walked up to the counter and asked what the biggest size was. As the worker was typing in the style number into the computer I became nervous... two minutes passed without a word from this guy. Then all of  a sudden he turns around and holds his hands up to the drop box form the ceiling... the intensity set in. Would this be my last stop for shoes or would I have to continue the long search? A box fell from above and the guy, in his best English, said, "Sir here is your size TWELVE pair of shoes." All I really heard was TWELVE in that statement and I ripped the box out of his hand and put them on so fast that I was up and walking in them in the store in less than a minute! THEY FIT!!!

The week was winding down and I wanted to cook a good southern meal for a few of my German and American friends. I thought of the perfect meal that I have been craving for and decided to prepare fried chicken, cream style corn, rolls, homemade mashed potatoes and homemade gravy. It was like perfection! The buttery goodness in everything was like heaven in my mouth! The grease and juices from the chicken was like water quenching the thirst of a marathon runner. The girls kept asking how I knew how to cook so well and if I could come to Germany to cook for them. Turner and Carla ate about three plates each and just could not stop eating the amazing food! Ok, I must admit I ate two big portions as well. The meal was such a great way to just sit back and relax like a small family around one table and just eat, laugh, and share stories about home. After about an hour at the table, Turner began to play the piano and we sang songs. The evening was truly a highlight of the first couple of weeks here in Hong Kong!