More HK

Today and yesterday have been full of seeing parts of the city and running errands. Yesterday my mom and I tried to find a Fossil store (one of my favorites) with no luck, but we did go to the phone store, the chiropractors, and IKEA. I bought a decent-sized mug at IKEA. I really hate tiny mugs unless I can actually drink from a pot. I don't mind refilling my cup from a teapot, but it's annoying when I make the tea in the mug. We also went to a very sweet lifestyle store called Franc Franc where we purchased a clothing hamper of gray cloth with a wooden frame.

Today we went to a market that a lot of ex-pats live around. The nice thing about that is that a lot of the workers speak English, and the signs generally have English and the dollar amount or items. I bought a small watercolor painting to brighten up my dull walls. I mean to buy several more pictures, but the rest will have to wait until I return. I also bought a beautiful, carved wooden necklace rack. At least I thought it was a necklace rack, until one of Mom's friends informed us that it is actually a rack to hang calligraphy brushes on. Oh well. It works just fine as a necklace rack.

Tonight was the night of my parents' Bible study, so I tagged along as well. Dinner was included (we brought fruit salad). Their apartment was absolutely beautiful. We spent most of the night just talking since they have already finished their study and not that many people were able to come. The people were quite interesting. The host couple are Malaysians, the man a doctor. One lady is a Philippino who has lived most of her life in Hong Kong. Another lady is Korean but is married to a German man. She's lived in Germany for ten years and Hong Kong for fourteen. Yet another lady is Korean but has lived in the States, the UK, Australia, Singapore, and now Hong Kong.

It's interesting to me that most of them have "helpers" a.k.a. maids. Having a maid isn't a terribly common practice in the States. That, coupled with the size of their houses, makes me wonder why they need maids for such a small space. Dad told me that one couple he knows has four helpers. FOUR. And they live in an apartment. Won't the helpers just bump into each other? How much work is there to do anyway? But I digress.

I leave for Thailand on Sunday. I've been a little nervous about the actual arrival (finding my way to the apartment and to the school the next morning). God is pretty awesome! When I went to Dad's work on Tuesday so we could go out for lunch, he introduced me to three of his coworkers who are from Thailand. They jumped into overdrive helping me get ready to leave. They called a friend to pick me up from the airport and take me to my apartment. They read the directions to my school and tried to figure out how I would get there from my apartment. They even wrote out directions to my apartment in Thai that I could give a taxi driver if I get lost (since most Thais don't speak or read English). I have been amazed at how much work they are doing for me.

Amazed and grateful.