Finding Common Ground

---

Comfort foods

On Tuesday Dr. Lian brought me McDonald’s for lunch at my office! I ate a Big Mac and some fries! It was so good to eat something completely familiar. The sandwich was smaller, and less fries were in the box. The food and lifestyle here are so much more healthy - a very good and needed change for me.

Finding common ground

That night, Dr. Lian, Kuo-Hsin, his daughter, and I took the MTR to his friends’ Karen and Terrance’s home. They live in the New Territories too. To get there, we had to take a KCR train as well as the MTR. KCR stands for Kowloon Chinese Rail, and it is a train similar to commuter trains in the U.S. and Europe.


At Karen and Terrance’s house I had one of my most emotional experiences thus far in Hong Kong. Most of the people there were Christians. Dr. Lian was asked to pray before we ate. So, he prayed in English. I got chills hearing my mentor pray in my own language. We had a delicious meal of chicken curry, scrumptious salad, and tiny mandarin oranges.

One of the women there plays the piano beautifully. Simon, her husband, sings in an operatic style. Terrance sings very well too. We sang Chinese and English songs. Most of them were Christian songs. Interestingly, many of the English Christian songs were unfamiliar to me. I guess that they might be popular in Britain. But, we did sing together “I Love You Lord”, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”, and several others. What a rush it was to be praising God together with my brothers and sisters from Hong Kong!

The night ended with an impromptu lesson for me in Cantonese. I wanted to learn how to say milk tea in Cantonese. Karen is a speech pathologist. So, she was able to teach me very precisely how to say the words. I also learned the rules for saying thank you in Cantonese. If someone gives me something physically, I respond with one word. But, if they help me in some way, I use another. I’ve finally gotten them straight in my head, thanks to Karen. And, Karen helped Dr. Lian, a native Mandarin speaker, and I to perfect the way we say Hui Oi Chow, the office building we work in.

Culture Shock

As I end this very lengthy posting, I’d just like to offer a few comments about culture shock. The thing that is probably the most difficult for me to adjust to here, besides missing Jill, is the food. Last night the Asia Pacific Restaurant that delivers my food to me brought me their correct version of sweet and sour chicken. How difficult it is for me on an emotional level to understand that their way is the correct way to cook sweet and sour chicken. The way we have it in the U.S. is an American derivative. So, when I was annoyed because each piece of chicken had bone in it, I had to remind myself to be flexible. Learning to change one’s way of thinking is never easy. I am learning a lot about how rigid my thinking is as I adjust to living in Hong Kong.

Until next time

Whew, I think I’m caught up in relaying important events to you all. It is now the 4th of February. Have a look back next week to read about my first visit to the Ebenezer School and Home for the Visually Impaired, my first attempt at data collection for my dissertation, and the Education Faculty luncheon to be held in a fancy hotel near here.

---