The Hong Kong Experience

I have now been in China for a week and a half. Wow! What an adventure it has been. The adventure all started with packing. Yes, packing my bags. How does the airport expect a girl to pack for four months in two suitcases that have to weight less than 50 pounds?? I don't know, but somehow I did it. I didn't get to bring everything I would have liked to, but oh well, I can't have everything.


I met up with all the ILP students and the airport on Wednesday August 20th. All of us were very excited to start our journey. After our 2 hour plane ride to San Fransisco, 18 hour plane ride to Taipei and another two hour plane ride to Hong Kong, we were exhausted! We even had to eat weird Chinese food on the plane... the first tastes of what we were going to be eating for the next four months.



When we arrived in Hong Kong, Matthew, our tour guide, met us at the airport and we all loaded our luggage onto the bus. As we drove away from the airport, Matthew explained that there was a hurricane coming and advised us to stay inside that night. All of us in-land Americans started freaking out! A hurricane?!?! He said it like it was no big deal. As we arrived at the hotel, there were signs of the hurricane on the way. It was pouring rain, all the millions of shops on the streets were closed, and the roads were empty. We quickly got our stuff in the YMCA International house (the hotel we stayed at). By that time, I was mad that I had packed so much because I had to lug it around EVERYWHERE and it is not easy.

The hurricane didn't scare me or the five other girls I was with; we were only in Hong Kong once and wanted to see the sights. We walked around the barren streets and eventually found the harbor. The harbor was beautiful filled with lights and "storm approaching" waters. What a sight to see. After we left the harbor we found a Hard Rock Cafe! What a treat. We were all so excited to get to eat some good American food one more time before the actual Chinese food began that we couldn't pass up the opportunity. I ate the fattest hamburger and fries I probably have ever eaten in my life! It was amazingly good; worth every bite.

After Hard Rock, we had to almost run all the way home. The hurricane rating was at an 8... a 10 is when the hurricane actually hits the hardest. It may have been dangerous to go out that night, but it was worth the risk.

The next day we took a tour of Hong Kong. What a beautiful city. It was neat to see the buildings everywhere and the way people live here. Everyone lives in apartment buildings. Some were decent looking, others looked like they were going to fall apart any minute. Matthew said that 7 million people live in Hong Kong and 2 of those 7 million live in government funded housing. Those apartment buildings were the worst looking out of any of the buildings. It was really sad. One interesting thing about China is that they don't build the skyscrapers in one general area... the are everywhere. Every time you turn your head, you see more and more skyscrapers.

When the tour was over, some of the ILP students had the chance to go to the Hong Kong Temple. What an experience that was. It was just another testimony that the gospel is true everywhere.


The next morning we woke up and packed out bags to travel to our various cities... little did we know what the next days had in store of us.

Switching Places

Only two days away. I'm getting very excited, nervous, anxious all at the same time. Ever since I was accepted into the program in October, I have been going to teach in Kunming. I was excited about going there and have done research to find out more about where I would be. I talked to some other people that taught there, and they all had wonderful things to say about Kunming. Then, on Friday I got a letter from the ILP office telling me and the three other girls I'm going with that they want us to go to another school! I was freaking out! I couldn't believe that it was only five days before we planned on leaving and now we're going to a completely different place! It is called Changzhou. It is about three hours north west of Shanghai. I guess China wanted to open a new school to American teachers and ILP wanted to be the first in, so that they can start expanding the program. And for some reason they chose me to be the in the first group of teachers to go. I am flattered and honored to go. But with it being a new school comes a new set of problems. I need to bring more supplies than what I had originally planned. The school will probably be unorganized and not as focused because they don't know what to expect. I'll have the chance of telling the cook what foods us Americans do and don't like. But on the bright side, I'll get to live like a real Chinese man and eat what he eats. Its all good though. I'm sure everything will work out. I'm excited for the new opportunity and happy they picked me to go open a new school.

Just Starting

So I decided to get with technology and start a blog. I am leaving in 16 days and going to China to teach English for a semester! I can't believe I'm am actually going to do something like this. It has always been a dream, a fantasy to do a study abroad type thing, and now I get to go. This isn't something common in my family. No one does this. My sister went to Europe for a week in high school, my brother has never been out of the country, besides family vacations to Mexico and my dad is all about getting school done and moving on to the next thing in your life So it is kind of fun to be the first in my family to take on a opportunity like this. My mom says it is what people do in "my day in age." She is all about generation x and y and what we are like and why we do the things we do. It is kind of funny. So now, she expects my little sister to do something like this because it is "just what her generation does."

I've have been signed up to go to China since October 2007... a long time ago. And now it is only 16 days away. Everyone has been asking me, "Are you excited to go? Are you ready?" And the answer is yes! I am mentally ready to take on the task, but as far as ready and packed... not so much. I'm sure I won't have that done till about an hour before I have to be on the plane.

This blog is to record all my happenings in China. All the funny stories and learning experiences that are going to come along with the trip. I can't wait for them to start. Bring them on!