Thursday, June 25 - Barrio Walk and Triple Union

When we don't visit a Deaf school, we typically visit a hearing school within the barrio (neighborhood) in the afternoon. Therefore our morning was free. We all took off with water and pockets full of candy. Our goal? Walk around the barrio, meet people and give the kids candy. The first house was just at the bottom of the hill of the driveway. Primo, our night security guard, and his family live there. We have loved his children JellyMae and Mark Anthony at their schools and when we see them around. His wife just had their fourth child, Jefferson, just a month ago. She was still recovering from her emergency C-section, which is a big deal in the Philippines. Primo's oldest child, though, is who steals our heart every year. His name is James. He has cerebral palsy. He is confined to his bed all day. His bed is made up of two wooden benches pushed together to make a "crib". No mattress, no pillow. We held his hands, moved his arms, and sang to him. He smiled!!! What I would give to see an occupational therapist with James! It's these times when I think of how rich us Americans are, we have so much, and know so much, and we take it for granted everyday.

Continuing on our walk we spent time with the preschool kids and teacher. Amanda (senior in Bothell) and I continued our walk to go to Tessy's house. She has been a long time friend in the barrio. She was married as soon as she quit school, at 14 years old and had her first baby when she was 15. She has two babies now.

The afternoon we visited a barrio school called Triple Union. In the past this school has been very difficult as there are many of them and few of us. Their behavior is often disrespectful and pushy. This time I was amazed that it ran so much more smooth. Granted we have 30 people on our team, rather than 20, so our numbers increased. I think what really helped though, was warning our team, and encouraging them to be proactive with organization. It really paid off, especially when we were handing out the gift bags. Typically they push and shove and grab at the bags, this time we organized it so that when they left the school, they could get one - so much better! If you double click on this picture, and zoom into this boy's eyes, you can see me taking a picture of him - in his eyes!!!!

Wednesday, June 24 - Jagna

I too love Jagna Elementary! This school is fun because a long time friend, Frances, who graduated from BDA (Bohol Deaf Academy) years ago works in the Garden Cafe near the school. This cafe, like the other two on the island, is ran by IDEA and the Deaf. Frances is a waitress and I look forward to seeing her every year.

This school was another long drive - 2 hours, but as always, worth the trip. We did our normal routine but performed the dramas for the entire school. At the end of our visit, we ate lunch at the Garden Cafe and then said good bye to Frances. We headed home for a brief while, and then headed out after dinner. We were going to BDA to visit the Deaf! Every Wednesday night, my friend Mart (the Deaf pastor) and another friend Emisan lead a Bible study at the school. I was so excited to see Emisan as her and I became pretty close last year.

We arrived early and as the BDA students went off to eat dinner, our team followed Dennis Drake, the founder of IDEA, to a newly built building. IDEA has a few vocational businesses, like the Garden Cafe, that hires the Deaf as they graduate high school. The idea is that they will be trained in a vocation and eventually be able to go out in society with a highly trained skill. This building was built to house the expanding fly-tying business. This business has 22 workers that make very intricate flies for fly fishing. The flies are sold on the Internet through a Montana shop.

We had Bible study that night. Emisan led worship and preached, as I voice interpreted for the American team. I love Deaf worship! As usual, it was very hard to pry the team away, even a half an hour after we were supposed to leave. We just want to talk and talk with them! There hearts are so open and they are so genuine in receiving and giving love. Oh how I've missed them! On our bus ride back to the house, the American team was SO loud! They were telling each other stories of the Deaf they had met and how they communicated with them. It warmed my heart that they were excited to be with them.

Tuesday, June 23rd - Talibon

Talibon Elementary is one of my favorite Deaf schools operated by IDEA (International Deaf Education Association) because one of the girls I sponsor, Joselle, attends school here. Last year she was 5 years old and attending school for the first time. She had only been in school a month, but had been without language her entire life. She couldn't tell me her name, her age or her grade. She didn't smile until we were leaving and she had a lollipop in hand. This year it was completely different. Right away I saw she was smiling with other kids. I went directly to her and asked her name. She told me, and told me her age and grade, smiling at the attention the entire time. I told her I was her sponsor and she beamed. She stayed close by the rest of the day.

Here's the run down of a typical schedule at the schools:
*Meet and introduce the team
*Games: Outdoor - dodge ball, kickball, tug-o-war, random field games; Indoor if raining - Fruit basket, Elephant game, 1-2-3-4 Game
*Crafts: paper airplanes, bead necklaces, tie-dye bandannas (I'm in charge of passing out supplies and rotating the groups to go out side for tie-dye)
*Dramas: David and Goliath, King of Hearts, Everything, Three
*Testimony and Prayer
*Saying goodbye: animal balloons and gift bag

Since this school was so far away, we didn't arrive until late, which means we ate lunch in between activities. The kids eat their typical mound of rice and one golf ball sized piece of meat, while we scrounged for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

At the end of our visit I pulled Joselle aside and gave her a gift. It wasn't much to me, but she pulled each item out of the bag and showed it to her friend like it was a secret treasure - so cute! It's such a blessing to support Joselle, but to actually meet her, play with her and see her academic, social, and spiritual progress. I love her smile!

Hong Kong Day 2 - Typhoon Wins

Saturday, July 11

So now I know what Typhoon level 1 means: there is a typhoon 800km off the coast of Hong Kong - be prepared. I woke up this morning to a lot of wind. Forgetting about the warnings I saw the previous night, I continued my plans. I hopped on a bus to downtown and transferred to another to head out to Stanley Market. This was a favorite place of my mother's and mine and I was excited to see how it had built up and changed. A lot was different, including the Starbucks as you enter the Stanley Plaza, also new. I walked along the waterfront admiring that it actually had a nice walkway, worthy of calling it a waterfront. It had nice restaurants (all non-Asian) and shops facing the water... then you turn into the market. That's when it becomes a Chinese market, covered in rice bag tarp and bamboo sticks. I walked through, and that's when the start of the typhoon really hit. It was raining hard, and sideways. You had to go far into a "store" to be safe from the rain. After walking around for a while I thought, "I can't leave here without buying anything!" I thought I had gone through the entire market, and was heading back to a shop where I saw some great bowls, when I found a different jewelry shop. Well, different for this market I guess. It wasn't jade or pearl, it kind of reminded me of those silver jewelry shops in the malls and the store Fireworks. It was fun! I found some different things in there, but still went and bought the bowls too. Prior to leaving my favorite shop though, I asked them where to eat. I wanted something authentic, like Asian, noodles or dim sum. They directed me to a tea house, which I had remembered reading about. Their entire menu was dum sum and noodles. I was SO excited! I ordered sweet pork humbow, crab and pork dumplings, and banana fritters in caramel sauce. I would technically call it gorging - it was the BEST dim sum I've ever eaten - SO good!!!

I was walking out to the waterfront to take a foot picture when the typhoon wind and rain started again. I ran for cover but it didn't let up. I wound back to the front of the market, and took a lame foot picture with the market in the background prior to loading the bus back to town. The entire way back to down town it rained. I was planning on going to The Peak in the afternoon to go on a hike, and then see the night skyline which is supposed to be great when it's clear. Obviously it wasn't clear so I decided to change plans. I headed for SoHo which has the Guinness World Record for the longest covered escalator. It's supposed to have a lot of neat restaurants and variety of shops along the way that you could visit. I saw the restaurants (again, all non-Asian), but I was still recovering from my glutenous dim sum. I didn't see any fun stores, so I took the escalator the full 16 blocks up the Peak, looking at the sights of Hong Kong life as I went. Then looking down, I realized it is not an escalator but stairs, and those stairs are not covered. So much for thinking of an alternate dry activity, I got soaking wet!

Coming out of the SoHo escalators I was done for the day. That made me wet and exhausted. I made my way to Central to catch the bus, but ended up in IFC mall to use the bathroom. I thought it was ironic that I've been in three typhoons in my life and all three times, including today, I went to a mall... as did everyone else on this Saturday. It was busy! That's when I saw the sign, it was now a level 3 status typhoon. This just means it's an active typhoon and people need to use precautions when driving and such. That convinced me enough to head home. As I arrived home, the pain in my feet became increasingly more aware. I now have a blister on each foot. I guess I have walked far for two days, but I am wearing my chacos, which are my staple of a shoe during the summer. Oh well, still gotta live right? Well, I didn't get to The Peak tonight, but weather is supposed to be better tomorrow. Tonight I'm letting the typhoon win and taking a rest from the city. Last day of Hong Kong is tomorrow, the Peak will happen typhoon or no typhoon.

Hong Kong Day 1 - Kowloon

Friday, July 10

Wow, today was SO exciting! I started off my day sleeping in a little... until 6:30, I know it's not much, but I've been getting up at 4:45-5 every morning in the Philippines. I got ready for my day and asked Lilet, the Shulls' helper, where to go to catch the bus downtown. I packed up and headed off for my first adventure. I have to admit it was a little intimidating and I was nervous about catching the bus and finding my way downtown on Hong Kong Island. The Shulls had given me a list of popular things to do in Hong Kong, as well as an Octopus card. I had heard of these before, but had never heard of one being used or seen one. It's a little ATM-size card that you can use for any public transportation and merchandise at select stores: 7-Eleven, Starbucks, McDonald's, etc. I looked at the card and there wasn't a swipe bar or bar code, so I wasn't sure on how to use it. When I got on my first bus, just below the house, I verified that it was going to the place that I wanted. Then I sat down. The driver took off, but then I noticed the sign by the Octopus machine that said you need to pay when you get on. Oops! I waited until the next stop, watched how another man used his Octopus card (laying it on top of a sensor) and I did the same.

I arrived at the location that I wanted, anticipating seeing a bunch of signs for the trolley. I needed to go east into the Wan Chai district. I was currently downtown, Central, Hong Kong Island where there were A LOT of people weaving this way and that on the side walk. I backed myself up to a wall and brought out my map. I have a great sense of direction and am very successful with maps... but I had no idea where I was, I couldn't find street signs anywhere. I walked around the corner and saw some double decker trolleys, but the name on them didn't match the name I was told, nor the name on the map route. I looked around and saw two security guards for a bank watching me. I approached them and asked what to do. He pointed to a double decker trolley and told me to get on that one fast. I complied and off I went. Through the streets I was able to find some street signs and follow where I was going on the map, so I knew where to get off. When I got off the trolley, I walked the direction I needed to go in order to find the Chinese Embassy. One goal during my time here was to try to get into Guangzhou, China, where my family lived 20 years ago.

One thing about Hong Kong, is that often times they have built buildings side by side for blocks at a time or they have major roads, inaccessible to pedestrians. So if you want to get to the other side, you have to walk for blocks to get around it, or find a "footbridge". I found this out the hard way, as I'm standing on the street wanting to cross, but realizing I couldn't get further than that, because there are buildings there. I look up and see people walking on this "footbridge" and it goes for a while. I decide to try it. It was SO convenient! It went for 4 blocks, directly where I wanted to go, yet there was no traffic to stop for or roads to cross.

I found the Chinese Embassy, praying I could some how get an expedited visa to China for Monday... knowing it was Friday and the weekend was soon. I filled out the paperwork, got my picture taken and waited. The woman at the counter took my info and told me to pick up my visa Monday at 10. YIPEE I was going to China! So excited, I left to go to Kowloon to buy a camera, as my nice camera broke my first week in the Philippines. On my way back to the trolley, I saw a Chinese travel agency so I decided to stop in. I realized, now that I will have a visa to China, I have no idea how to get there. I asked a woman at the agency and she booked a round trip ticket on their "high-speed" train for noon on Monday. I also booked one night at the Garden Hotel, the same hotel that my family lived in for 2 years. I was SUPER excited at this point, it's working out!!!! With all this excitement, I realized I was starving. I walked by a Starbucks and popped my head in. They were serving mango chicken wraps that looked great. I also tried to order my usual coffee, white mocha americano, but I don't think Hong Kong uses white mocha. The HK airport three weeks ago didn't have it either. I sat down in the AC a while and texted my mom the exciting news. I had to tell someone!

Off I went with Starbucks in hand, to the MTR (subway) station nearby. My next destination was across the harbor in the Mon Tok district to buy a camera and go to the "Ladies Market." I found my way in the subway station, used my Octopus card to get through and I was good to go. By this time, I was feeling a lot more confident about traveling around... I had already used 3 different forms of transportation that day. I walked down the street where they have good buys on electronic equipment. I wanted to buy a Canon, so I looked for a Canon store, yet I was unsuccessful. I came to the end of the street where there was an air-conditioned mall. I stepped inside and used my phone to google "Cannon stores in Mon Tok". I wasn't confident that I would find anything, but there was a site in which someone else had asked that same question on "Yahoo Answers" or something, and someone else had responded. I then had a list of places to try out. You've gotta love internet on your phone! I walked back down the street, looking for these places. A few of them were pretty small and only had a few cameras. I went to Broadway, an electronic department store, and ended up buying a camera there. Success!

With new camera in hand, I went a street over to walk the "Ladies Market" which sold everything fake you could possibly want. It had all the regular trinkets, "copy watches," "copy handbags," t-shirts, Chinese souvenirs, and just a lot of junk. People inside their areas would come out when I passed by and said, "Copy watches, copy handbags, many colors, many sizes." I would just smile. I don't wear a watch and didn't want the purses they were selling. They were the very expensive brands like, Coach.... and others that I don't know. I walked once down the market and thought, "I have to buy something here!" I made my way back down the market, since I had to go that way anyway and found a very nice leather bound journal for $10. One market owner saw me looking at some handbags, as one had caught my eye, and said that she had many more in a showroom "1-minute away." Many people had said this, but I decided, against my better judgement to follow her. We went behind the market and took a right into a dirty, dark stairwell leading up to the 2nd floor. I kept thinking about episodes of Alias, where Sydney (the main character) is walking up a similar stairwell and is jumped by a bunch of Chinese and held hostage. I PRAYED! We arrived in the showroom, saw that they didn't have what I wanted and I left. I think I was out of that building before the woman had locked up the door. I just wanted out of there. Dad, I will not do that again!

Upon leaving the "Ladies Market" I was parched. I stopped at the nearest 7-Eleven (they are everywhere) and bought a water (I had already drank one Nalgene and not needed to go to the bathroom) and my favorite Chinese drink - Lychee juice!!! I was so excited, it was one that I had never tried. It was a lychee pop... or so I thought. I cracked it open and took a long drink. I love lychee! It was sweet, but the after taste was weird. I instantly burped and thought it tasted like a beer burp.... what?! I looked at the can, nothing on it insinuated it was a beer. I looked at the ingredients and in the middle it said, 'barley hops' and who manufactures it? A Guangzhou brewery! It was a lychee beer!!!! And I was drinking it on the sidewalk like it was pop. I instantly threw it in the garbage. 1 - I don't like beer. 2 - Last thing I need is to get a buzz from "lychee juice" and become more dehydrated. 3 - Isn't that illegal to drink on the street? Anyways, I stopped at the next 7-Eleven and bought a REAL lychee juice. This one was a boxed drink for kids, so I knew it was safe.

I headed a few blocks south to the Jade market. You could find anything Jade that you wanted. I laughed a few times as the women would block my path in order to force me to look at their merchandise. They did have some great, cheap things there.

Still moving south, I found a local market selling meat, vegetables and fruit. This market was more typical Chinese as I found pig head, pig feet, pig heart, cow brain, and fish head. Dinner was not appetizing, through this market.

The main street running North and South in Kowloon is Nathan Road. It has a lot of shopping, people and traffic, perfect for Hong Kong. I was getting hungry so I tried to find a typical Chinese restaurant, yet one that was safe to eat. I found a Shanghai restaurant that was a story below the street. It was actually pretty nice. I ordered pork dumplings (dim sum) and a Chinese noodle soup with chicken. I was most thankful to be sitting for an extended period of time in the air-conditioned room... I didn't realize how tired my body felt until I sat down.... or stood back up.

Still going south on Nathan Road, I knew the YMCA was getting close. This was actually only a hotel that my family stayed in, when we lived in China and made our frequent trips to Hong Kong to buy supplies such as groceries and get our McDonald's fix. Now, 19 years later, it looked different, more modern. The Starbucks directly kiddy-corner helped out a lot. I stopped in as I felt I was dragging and tried their Mocha Jelly Frappuccino. This is a typical Frappuccino but has coffee flavored tapioca jellies on the bottom. I ordered it just to try it, and it was actually pretty good! Heading over to the YMCA, the back entrance looked very familiar. I entered the lobby and found that it is still mostly a hotel but also has a workout center similar to our American Ys.

I headed across the street, via the underground subway walkway, over to the Avenue of the Stars. This is right on the waterfront where they have a promenade and stars (like our Hollywood) from famous Asians. I saw Jackie Chan's and Bruce Lee's. I then took my spot along the promenade to watch the light show at 8pm. Every night they have a light show in which Hong Kong Island sky scrapers light up, either the physical building or lasers on top, in sync to music. The same man that choreographed the 2008 Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremonies, choreographed this, so my expectations were a little high - remembering how over the top it was. It was neat that the buildings lit up in sync with music, and I'd see it again, but it wasn't anything to "wow" over. The music was funny, and it had the typical Chinese gaudiness to it.. Walking to the Star Ferry (the famous, and old ferry system) I had a better view of the skate board museum. It's not actually a skate board museum, but the building looks like a good, huge skate board ramp. So 21 years ago, when we arrived in Hong Kong for the first time, that's what it was named by us Aune teenagers. I think it's actually a space museum. Prior to boarding the The Starr Ferry I saw a sign for a typhoon warning. It was level one, but I didn't know what it meant. At 8:45pm it was still hot and muggy for all I was concerned. The ferry was fun, more empty than I remember, but mostly filled with foreigners.

What a fun, and FULL day! I felt like I saw a lot, it was very exciting!!!

Seattle to Bohol, Philippines

Wow, what an ending of the school year! My last school day was Friday, June 19th. With my teaching partner, we quickly cleaned up (stuffing things into cupboards to be organized later) and left school by 3 (the kids left at 11). Running 8 last minute errands proved to take longer than anticipated as my cell phone decided to die that morning. So one errand was getting a new cell phone. The previous night I had dinner with my family and it was there my dad made the frightening realization (only to him) that I would be traveling and vacationing in Hong Kong by myself. Even the family that I would be staying with would not be there. So, to ease my father's mind and have a little more sense of security myself, I upgraded to a cell phone with international capabilities... so the phone dying was actually a blessing, right Dad?

As per my previous blog, I didn't get much sleep that night. It always takes longer than anticipated to pack to be gone for a month, making sure I'm packing the necessary toiletries. Three hours of sleep was alright though, as I had a 3 hour flight to San Francisco and a 14 hour flight to Hong Kong. Every international plane in the past few years has had individual TVs on the back of each seat so you can pick from the plethora of movies and shows. When I got on the plane in San Francisco I was bummed as this plane did not have individual TVs, therefore I'd have to succumb to the schedule of the airlines to watch movies, like back in the old days.... 20 years ago. Then the captain made this announcement: "Ladies and gentleman, we are prepared to leave soon for the 14 hour flight to Hong Kong. We don't anticipate any weather issues until we come closer to Hong Kong. Right now they are experiencing a typhoon and we hope that it smooths out prior to our arrival." YIKES! Yah, I pray that it smooths out! It did. I arrived with the sun out and a little wind and a lot of humidity.

I arrived in the new Hong Kong airport. Remembering 20 years ago, an old, dirty, dark, non-air-conditioned typical Chinese grey building in which we landed for all our flights... I was amazed at the new airport. It was built on a man-made island, built for the airport as Hong Kong already doesn't have a lot of extra land. It was beautiful! Twenty years ago, we would stand in that concrete walled room for hours waiting to go through customs. I was dreading it. It took me 15 minutes and the reason it took so long was because I had to walk to get my bag, which was waiting there, and then walk to customs and then declaration. It was clean, air-conditioned, bright, new, and VERY organized! I've never experienced a more smooth process of going through customs.

I took the Airport Shuttle (train) to Hong Kong Island and again, was amazed at the process of it all. I went to the money changer directly after customs and as I changed my money to Hong Kong dollars, I was able to buy a round-trip ticket for the shuttle. I walked out and there it was: clean, fast, and air-conditioned. I arrived on Hong Kong Island in 27 minutes and from there walked out to get a taxi while recovering from the initial humidity blast from walking outside. Those of you who have been to Hong Kong know what this is... walking from air-conditioning outside you get blasted with thick, humid, and pollution filled air... it almost takes your breath away. The taxi took me to my friends house which is on the southern side of The Peak. We basically drove behind all the tall skyscrapers on the island and then drove switch-backs up The Peak to get to their house. I arrived and had wonderful conversation with the family as well as four other Consulate workers who were there for dinner. In Hong Kong, it's the expectation that people have "helpers" who cook and clean for them, like a maid. This family, the Shulls, have a helper named Lilet, who is actually from the Philippines. When I return to Hong Kong in July, the Shulls will actually be in the States. But I was thankful that Lilet was going to be here for one day when I come back. After a full night of fun conversation and catching up on 20 years, I fell asleep hard.

My flight was an early one, so I headed out as soon as I could in the morning. With the short taxi drive to the Airport Shuttle I did make one interesting comparison from 20 years ago. Hong Kong has McDonald's everywhere and as a 12 year old, loved that! However, in that 15 minutes I did not see any McDonald's... but I did see three Starbucks! There was even a Starbucks in the airport, imagine that?! I love that! I flew from Hong Kong to Manila and had a 4 hour layover there. My snack every year in the Manila airport is hum bow, a sweet bread filled with a sweet pork... they are so yummy! I also splurged and got a 1/2 hour massage for $5... little more expensive than the Bohol beaches, but definitely worth it!

I then flew from Manila to Bohol, which took an hour, where Joshua, the team leader, picked me up and drove me to the house. I found the team eating dinner, pancit - my favorite! After a full day of travel I was exhausted. We had a team meeting and I floated off to bed. Tomorrow was going to be a full day, a long drive to a Deaf school.

Philippines 2009

It is after midnight and I hope I just finished packing. One goal tonight was to update my blog and send out an email to let people know that I'm writing in it again. I had big plans to write a note regarding my thoughts related to this trip.... however, my thoughts are a little blury as it's been a long day; no, a long week. I finished my school year at 2:30 this afternoon and I fly out at 9 this morning. It's been a little too rushed for my comfort, but I'll have plenty of time to rest on the 10 hour flight to Hong Kong. I plan on updating my blog as often as I can, so check in often!