What an interesting few days. Let me tell you about it, but I’ll have to go back to December 31st to fill you in on the whole story, so here goes…
The 11 of us who came over on July 8th had to leave Taiwan to get our visas renewed. We have 6 month visas (yes, it’s already been 6 months), and the time had come to get them renewed. King Car scheduled a trip to Hong Kong for the 11 of us; we were all pretty excited about going.
Our flight was scheduled to leave at 8:50 pm on Dec 31st. We would get to Hong Kong in time to celebrate the New Year there, very cool. When we went to check in at the airport however, we found out that our flight departure time had been delayed till 11:15 pm, due to snow in Shanghai, China, where our plane was coming from. So, we’ll hit the New Year in the air on the way, ok, we can handle that. But wait, we come to find out, upon reaching our gate later that evening that the flight had been delayed again. Eventually we did leave, but not till 1 something in the morning on January 1st, 2005. Happy New Year, by the way!
So we made it to Hong Kong about 3 in the morning, and were at our hotel some time around 4. Needless to say we all crashed for several hours before pulling ourselves out of bed to go shopping the next morning.
Hong Kong is definitely unique. From the British influence (drive on the right side of the car, left side of the road; numerous sky scrapers) combined with somewhat Asian feel, to the countless English accents you come across. The markets, restaurants, shopping districts, slums, docks; Hong Kong is unique.
I spent Saturday, January 1st, shopping and eating with others from the group. We hit Stanley Market, rode the Star Ferry to Kowloon Island and back, and then rode the Summit Peak Tram up one of the hills/mountains? Where we ate dinner, and spent most of the evening.
Sunday morning we left for the airport at 9 am, and our flight left Hong Kong about 12:45 or 1 pm, after another delay (this time only about 30 minutes, instead of 5 hours).
Monday I went to school and taught my normal classes, then came home and crashed. I was officially sick. I think it was a stomach bug or something, I had a fever all night, and other stuff too. I am feeling quite a bit better this morning, but that’s why I’m a little delayed in writing my update.
As you think of us over here, remember to pray that we would continue to shine for Jesus in all that we say and do. Pray for our ministry to our students and teachers, and pray that we could reach out to them as opportunities present themselves.
To all of you back home, have a great day!
Chase Hiebsch
Ying Pan
