UPDATES AND HINTS OF THINGS TO COME

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I’d like to post about a few reflections I’ve been dwelling on lately and to catch my loyal blog readers up about my plans over the next month or so. So, enjoy the next bits about adapting to culture and life in Hong Kong. Then, I’ll tell you of my impending trip to Fujien, a province in China.

No so strange anymore

As I was walking home from my office the other evening, I smelled the aromas typical of Hong Kong and realized that they didn’t evoke feelings of foreignness in my mind. Rather, the fragrances of cooking oil, ginger, and Chinese spices smelled rather commonplace to me. I remember having similar feelings about smells and sounds in Germany. While the honeymoon period of cultural adjustment is giddy, realizing that the exotic has become typical is thrilling in its own way too.
How vividly I recall my first independent bus ride in Hong Kong(see post Riding the Bus in Hong Kong). I am happy to report that riding public transport has become ordinary over the past half year. Last Friday I took a hour-and-a-half bus and train ride to the Chinese University of Hong Kong to plan the curriculum I and others will deliver in China next week. (Keep on reading to find out more!) At no point during my adventure on one bus, two subway trains, and one traditional train did I become nervous or worried about my trip! The same held for my return journey to Hong Kong Island, which culminated at about 11:20 p.m. As a woman who is blind and was assailed with self-doubt when arriving here, it is a sweet victory, indeed, to realize that I have crushed the self-doubt again in my life! I’m making it in Hong Kong, folks, and I’m having a blast! So, I say to any of you who feel a keen sense of longing when reading about trips to foreign lands, start living out your dreams! Life is too short to wish you would have when it’s too late.

Personal Connections & Advocacy

While the next few paragraphs don’t specifically relate to travel, I’d like to write about a couple of social events I’ve participated in over the last few weeks. Last Sunday I was invited to Sarah Stevenson’s house for dinner. Sarah is the 14-year-old Hong Konger who’s blind that I’ve written about on this blog before. Some women from Singapore were visiting Hong Kong and were invited to dinner with the Stevenson family. We reminisced about our trip to the night safari and Sentosa Island in Singapore. We talked about disability advocacy in Singapore, Hong Kong, Britain, and the United States.
One of the women from Singapore encouraged me greatly. I’ve been rather disturbed at how little self-advocacy occurs among the people with disabilities I’ve met in Asia so far. But, this woman has become comfortable integrating her Asian background into her disability rights stance. While our approaches differ, she is fighting for what she believes in related to disability. I hope that more Asians feel empowered to stand up for themselves as the notion of self-advocacy takes hold here.
The instantaneous bond that I often feel with other blind people, no matter where they are from, is apparent when I interact with Sarah. She welcomed me into her room, where I climbed up onto her bunk bed next to her. Sarah showed me all of her audio books, neatly arranged to her specifications. How well I can recall my own adolescent bedroom with a similar arrangement. We debated the merits of the likes of Tom Sawyer, Little Women, The Time Machine, and Frankenstein. She generously sent me home with a bag-ful of books she has already read for me to enjoy or pass on to my English students. I continue to be touched by Sarah and her family’s kindness and warmth towards me.
Today, I had lunch and spent the afternoon with a dear friend from church, Mary. She is from Scotland but has lived in France, Japan, and Hong Kong. As a single woman who shares my love of dogs and traveling, Mary and I have so many things in common. We baked flan and tossed salad together. I had forgotten how enjoyable it is to cook, since I don’t while I’m here. Petting the two beagles Mary is dog sitting made the day especially delightful. As Mary and I talked and laughed over our meal, we listened to the dogs squabbling in that vocal way that Beagles have. Our time together is yet another memory I will treasure about my time in Hong Kong.

Happy Birthday! Celebrations away from home

This Friday, August 4th, I will turn 32. I’m very excited about this birthday, and I’ll tell you why! Thursday, my officemate Rosa and I will go to a massage parlor on Hong Kong Island and treat ourselves to a few hours of bliss. For those of you who remember my rapturous experience in Singapore, a pattern may be discernable! Rosa has kindly insisted on paying for a full-body massage for me. She will have one as well. I’ve decided to also have a facial. So, I guess I’ll be pampered for at least three hours. I’m so ready, even now!
My dad has already warned me that I likely will receive a package on Friday, my actual birthday! In the fashion typical of my dad, he will not reveal what is coming; not even a little, tiny hint! So, I just have to wait patiently for the post on Friday. Patience is not an attribute commonly associated with me. But, I can wait five more days, can’t I?

Off to Quanzhou!

Next Sunday I’ll be departing Hong Kong on a bus bound for Quanzhou, China. Thankfully, the sponsor of the trip has booked business class tickets for our 9-10-hour journey. I hear that there is lovely scenery to behold on the way.
Quanzhou is a city of around a million people in the southeastern province of Fujien, China. From there, it will be about a 45-minute car ride to Xibin, where several of us will teach English to students between the ages of 8-13. Xibin is a village, and the sponsors of our trip, Molly and David Lim, have taught there for two years now. David grew up in Xibin and wants to give back to the village.
We will teach four classes in the morning and four others in the afternoons. Each class will have around 20 students in it with varying levels of English proficiency. Each of us teachers will have one local English teacher to provide assistance as well. We are offered either staff quarters or home-stay accommodations with students from the village. Although there will be no air conditioning in the 95-degree heat, we will have fans, I’m told. Here is our schedule as of today.

Volunteer Teaching in Fujien Xibin School

Date of departure:6th August 2006
Time: 8:30am
Meeting Point: KCR University Station, near the guard stand
Return on 19th August 2006
Transportation fee (by bus): paid by Lim

2 x 4 classes of children - morning session and afternoon session

Time Mon-Friday
9:00 - 10:00 Lesson
10:00 - 10:30 Recess
10:30 - 11:30 Lesson
11:30 - 1:00 Lunch
1:00 - 2:00 Lesson
2:00 - 2:30 Recess
2:30 - 3:30 Lesson
4:00 - 5:00 Lesson preparation
5:00 - 6:00 Supper
School accommodation

Molly prepares first 3 days of teaching materials

Planned Sightseeing in China

Sightseeing on 12th August (Sat)
David Lim got my name from Glenn Shive of the Hong Kong America Centre. During the first party I attended at the U.S. Consulate, Glenn had asked me whether I’d like to teach in a Chinese village for a week or two. Naturally, I said yes. Although I have doubts about my teaching abilities, I will try hard. Of course, my negative experiences in Guangzhou haunt me when I contemplate this next trip to China. But, the old adage of getting back into the saddle after being bucked off seems to apply here. I love China and its people. I refuse to let the discrimination experienced during one trip limit my forays into this ancient land which I predict will play such a pivotal role on the world stage of the current century. Having said that, for those of you who pray, I sure would appreciate your pleas for protective angels to surround me as I head for China again.
My second week in China will be spent with Chester Xia of the Hadley School for the Blind in China and his family. Our schedule is as follows:
August 13th (Sunday): arrive in Fuzhou via bus from Quanzhou.
August 14 (Monday): In the morning, go to have a look around in the Universities Town; in the afternoon, go shopping; in the evening, go to the West Lake Park nearby for a walk.
August 15 (Tuesday): In the morning, go to the Gu Mountain for sight-seeing; in the afternoon, nothing special arranged; in the evening, go to be served by the blind massage therapists.

August 16 (Wednesday): In the morning, visit the Hadley-China's office and meet with the staff and faculty; in the afternoon, go to retrieve the clothes made by the clothes maker;
I plan to get clothes tailored while in Fuzhou. I will also visit the local School for the Blind. Wish me luck about communicating where I don’t want to be touched while receiving a massage in China.
I will try to blog frequently to keep you all posted about my time in Fujien. I likely won’t post it until I return, however. So, I’ll be gone from Hong Kong from August 6-21. After I fly back to my home away from home, (Hong Kong), I will be sure to have lots of adventures to report!

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