Good-bye

Friday April 13

So our flight wasn't until the evening, so in the morning we spent our time in the House with the brothers. In knowing that we were leaving, in each of our houses' they blessed us by praying for us and offering words of encouragement which left us feeling even more blessed than we already did. To top it off they gave us a card that everyone signed, and chocolate. We may have blessed them, but the blessing we received in return seemed far greater. Then Wai Cheung and his family took us to the floating restaurant for lunch, he is in charge of New Man House and acts sort of like a principal. This time we got food we actually enjoyed instead of weird, unsettling stuff. It was really sweet. Afterwards we went and had some pictures developed to give out to the brothers, this was our last blessing towards them and I know they were touched. The whole trip was well worth it and I would encourage anyone who has an opportunity such as this to go with a willing heart, ready to give, and prepared to bless and be blessed in return. God showed me so much in Hong Kong and has been really teaching me more on my return to Capernwray, I know there is even more in store for my future and I'm excited to see where God leads me.

Nearing the end of our stay...

Thursday April 12

Our last full day in the house and also Western Food Night. The morning was Market shopping with Woodseys friend Joe Joe who drove us around to pick up all the supplies we needed for Western Food Night. The Markets are quite interesting with the variety of stalls for vegetables, meat, and supplies. We went to a butcher, a spice shop, a vegetable stall, and some others all in the same area! You can really find everything there, although I realized that I would rather go to a supermarket, where the smell of dried fish doesn't follow you around. Then we passed a fruit stall and Woodsey insisted that we try a fruit called Durian which he said was something the Chinese LOVE!!! Seth went first and all the while Regan was getting a bit stressed out that he was expected to eat this mushy, yellow piece of fruit. Joe Joe showed us how it was done and finally Regan tried a piece. We all sampled it, but Joe Joe was the only one who really appreciated the taste.

The Durian kept "repeating on us" which is the nice way of saying we kept burping it up... It was another warm day and besides visiting the market for ingredients, we also went to the supermarket for 2L of pop and 15 tubs of ice cream. Once we got back to New Man House, it was time to start prepping for the meal. Honestly overall our team worked so well together and with the help of some Chinese men, we got the garlic chopped, the carrots shredded and the onions diced without too many teary eyes. We cooked for 140 people approx and had leftovers once they were served from our assembly line. One person to put the noodles on, another for the sauce and another to put two pieces of garlic bread, and finally the servers to take out the food. The only things that weren't ideal, was number one that we didn't have tin foil to wrap the garlic bread in, so the bottoms burnt and they didn't toast, and number two the ice cream was a little melted. All in all not big disasters! Everyone really appreciated the meal and it was great that all the brothers could come together and eat together.

English Class

April 11
We taught English class for three classes to the teenagers and it went alright. We talked about the Olympics and did some charades to get across each sport played, then we ended with a game of Bingo. The most difficult part was having all of us there to teach when there was about the same number of teachers as students. Overall it was a great experience, working together as a team to get across our own language in an effective way.
Then in the afternoon, Some brothers and helpers from Block 4 went to Ceshire Homes in the afternoon and Woodsey figured it would be a good experience for me to have, so I had the opportunity to go along. We walked there since it was just downhill from New Man House. The people there were older and most of them were in wheelchairs.We had to wear yellow vests and a security pass, and brought people from their rooms to our sing-a-long. I think they really appreciated us being there, since they probably don't receive too many visitors.The only problem was the heat and the fact that I don't understand Chinese...  add that I'm not caught up on my sleep and you've got eyelid fluttering Brianna through the entire afternoon. It was SO hard to stay awake and afterwards the guys told me that they were sure I fell asleep during prayer. We took the people back to their rooms after and were rewarded for our efforts with a cookie/chocolate gift bag and a can of pop. Then we got ready to walk back up the hill but were met by the van at the gate and got a ride back which was really nice!

New Man House

Monday April 9th

This was our day off and we started it off with McDonalds and Starbucks( I probably drank more coffee in two weeks then I have in 18yrs) anyways it was nice hanging out but pretty draining when we went to the busy, noisy markets. It also didn't help that it was muggy outside. Cheung Cha Island was nice, although the food at Mrs. Lambs wasn't... the island was really loud and crowded since it was Easter Monday. They had this festival to honor a goddess and were walking in a procession, hitting a drum and carrying burnt offerings. It was unsettling and not the nicest place to be. Overall though it was a pretty good day, we ate supper at about 9, at Triple O's. Supposedly a Canadian restaurant (according to the sgn) but they served Australian Roast beef, and New Zealand Fish. They did however sell poutine, Canadian...

Tuesday April 10th

A regular day in the house, the teenagers actually got to know me a bit as well. Sometimes when we had sport, they were down there as well and I played basketball with them once and won :). So it was nice being recognized around the property and pretty much everyone knowing my name.

Kowloon City

Sunday April 8th

I got a ride to Kowloon City with some of the girls, the lady who translates at Congregation picked us up in her really nice van. Not too many people have vehicles in Hong Kong unless they are quite well off. Woodsy told me later that him and the boys had been prepared for me to be in very low spirits after the girls house since they had talked to Libby. However, they were surprised to see me smiling and grateful that they had the hindsight to bring me a coffee and an apple crumble muffin. I had indeed left before breakfast at the girls house. After Congregation, we had to get started on Dessert, since we were serving that as well as having Games Night. We rushed into the kitchen once we got back and had some help from  the teenage Nepalese boys that spoke English. Woodsy took charge, calling out directions and getting everything measured out. He felt crushed for time, so we tried to work fast. This worked until he spilt a cake while trying to place it in the oven. We realized that we hadn't prayed. Mop and bucket, then regroup. We thanked the young boys for their help and sent them on their way, then prayed. The rest of it went smoothly, we had somehow bought too much cocoa and not enough chocolate bars, so Woodsy and Seth worked out a different combination to serve the same purpose. The Self Saucing Chocolate pudding ended up turning out beautifully and the guys loved it as well as the ice cream and coke. Games Night was also very successful, everyone got involved and our house leader Nic took note of the games so that he could play them again.

Girls House

Saturday April 7th

We didn't really sleep in, even though we had Night Duty, We wanted to make the most use of our Rest Morning. We were supposed to go to Outreach Friday Night but were rained out and switched to Saturday Night. So Saturday morning we went to Starbucks (not our first or last time!) and organized a games night for both the houses, Blk 3 Saturday evening and Blk 4, Sunday evening. I brought my stuff for The Girls House and after our great morning meeting, we went to find the bus for me to take. I tried asking Woodsy how long it would take to go to the Gold Coast but at that moment he saw my bus and took off running. I wasn't given much information other than that  I was going to meet the leader of the girls house at the Tuen Mun bus stop. So I jumped on the bus and waved goodbye, praying that I would make it to the right stop. I felt pretty at peace about the whole situation and paid attention to the road signs, in  hopes that they would give me a clue where to get off. When I saw a sign saying Tuen Mun, I figured that my stop would be coming up soon so I asked the lady behind me, who only spoke Chinese, if this place was Tuen Mun, she nodded, and I hopped off the bus. Soon I realized that I was at the wrong place, there was no one waiting and the sign said I was at Garden Choi Rd. Fortunately all the buses were going much in the same direction so I got on the next bus, this time asking God to let me know when to get off, as well as looking for a stop that read Tuen Mun.

It was about the second stop when I saw a bus junction and knew I was at the right place. What a relief! I met up with the lady I was supposed to and we boarded another bus to The Hong Kong Gold Coast. On the bus the lady asked if I was prepared to do Night Duty and I answered honestly that I was tired because of my Duty the night before, but that if she needed me to, I was willing.

Upon arriving to the girls House I was met by Hot Pot, a bit like Potluck except that everything is thrown in a pot of boiling water to cook and then scooped out. It was alright, but definitely not the best Chinese food I'd ever had. Most of the girls knew some English and were interested to talk to me. They were struck by two things about me, my height of course, since most of them are about 5ft tall, and my green eyes.

The property was about 10x smaller than New Man House, as well there were less girls. However there were too many girls for the small tower like structure that housed them. It wasn't very clean, and the girls were crammed into the rooms. The atmosphere was really heavy and the whole place was spiritually draining, I started to get a bad headache and felt emotional and almost started crying. I couldn't figure out why though and I prayed about it, and was given relief. I later found out that Libby was supposed to live at the girls' house for three days a week but when she went, she couldn't deal with the atmosphere or stop crying and now only goes Sunday nights. God was definitely watching out for me!

Right away I spotted who I thought could be the New Girl. She was rough looking, really skinny and missing many teeth. I was hoping that it wasn't her, because of her rough appearance, or at least that I wouldn't have to do Night Duty... But as the Night went on, my heart softened towards her, and when I was told that I had first Night Duty, I was prepared.

The guys had  great experiences at Outreach in the meantime, as well as earlier on, Seth getting lost in the mountains with some helpers and brothers from their House. God protected all of us and gave us encounters to build us up!   

First Night Duty

Friday April 6th

So Woodsy had asked me early in the week If I wanted to visit the Girls House if he could arrange a day and I said sure, on the basis that I would be visiting to see how its different from the New Man House. So he told me friday that the next morning I needed to bring my overnight stuff so that after our morning out, I could head there. Friday Night was my first New Man Duty. It went quite well, I had second shift. So I went to bed at 8:30pm and then woke up at 2:15 am to head to Blk 3. The other guy on duty in the next room brought me noodles at around 4am and the New Man slept almost the entire time, save for a bathroom break. He was a loud snorer but maybe it was a good thing, since it kept me awake. The duty went fairly quickly since I prayed in tongues and drew some pictures. The boys also had night duty and got to talk to their charge since he could speak some English. He told Seth and Regan afterwards that without them and their prayers, he wouldn't still be there.

Hong Kong Extras

Food we tried: Squid; fried and boiled             pork rib                                    Tofu

                        chicken feet                             fish balls                      Fish Eye soup

                        pigeon                                      oyster pancakes                       Prawns

                        pig skin                                     beef balls                     Duck

                        cuddlefish                                Radish cake                 Squid

                        shrimp                                     pig stomach                 Cockles

                        fish belly                                 coconut bean jelly

Quotes:

"I don't feel full, but I definitely feel done." -Brianna

After the meal at Kings Palace, it wasn't the greatest...

"I thought I was hungry, until I took a bite of pig skin." -Regan

"I feel legit full now, not just done." -Seth

"It tastes like normal jelly, just with a little bit of Chinese flavour." -Woodsy

"When Woodsy tells you that the Chinese Food is 10x better in Hong Kong, he's lying." -Regan

"It didn't taste like plum to me... I love plum!" -Woodsy

"I'm not a big fish...." -Brianna

I was going to finish with the word person, but I thought no one was paying attention to what I was saying, so my sentence trailed off.... they were listening!

"I'm not a big black guy." -Seth

As he walks out of a store that sells all black clothing...

Five Chinese Flavours:

Sweet, Spicy, Sour, Salty, and Bitter

Colors:                                                 Looking after New Boy:

Hungsek=red                                       In the day there are two hour shifts, starting at 7 am. All

lambsek=blue                                      the brothers and helpers take turns. Night shift: 7pm-10pm,

loksek-green                                        10pm-2:30am, and 2:30am-7:00am.

wongsek=yellow                                  The first 10 days he is watched 24/7

Schedule:

Wake-up 7am

Morning activity (praying in tongues, stretching, VBC) 7:30am

Breakfast 8am

Brother Sharing Time 8:30am

Esso 8:40

Worship and Bible reading 9:30am

Cleaning 11am

Lunch 12:30pm

Activities/Lessons 1:30-4pm

HFC Games 4pm

Shower 5:30pm

Dinner 6:30pm

Worship/Prayer Group 7:30pm

First Day at New Man House

So we arrived in New Man House on the night of March 31st, we got to meet Woodsys' friend Ron Tsung and his family of two boys, with a little girl on the way. He arranged our schedules so that we could go out with them for Dim Sum Sunday after church in Kowloon City, originally our schedule said that we would have to stay at the House. Woodsy had told me before we came that I would be staying with the girls but he had assumed that I would still be in the same house as him, just on a different floor with the other girls. But, instead I was in an entirely different building to sleep. All the girls, whether they were helping in Blk 2,3, or 4, stayed where I did. We actually were right next door to Ron. We had a little kitchenette, and a washer. It was quite nice and was probably better thean staying in the same house as all the brothers. I got to know the girls well. There was a Chinese girl that was a teacher for the teenagers, and then Libby who was in Blk 3 with me, as well as Georgina with Blk 4 (same as Seth and Regan). Both from England

The way that New Man House is set up, is that there is gate to get in and once in, the building to your right is Blk 5, where I slept upstairs. In that same building is the school and downstairs the kitchens and weight room. Behind that building is an Olympic sized swimming pool.

Then to the left of the pool are four buildings. Blk 1, 2,3, and 4. Blk 1 is for visitors, Blk 2 is the teenager house and Blk 3 and 4 are for the adults.