Hong Kong Adventure- The rest of the story

After lunch we found this nice little park by the water. There was a fountain in the centre and all around the fountain were footprints that had the names of capital cities around the world and the distance they were from that point. It was very cool. We quickly started to run around the footprints looking for the capitals of Canada and the USA and other cities that we had visited.

Before leaving the office back in Guangzhou, a co-worker of mine had recommended a cheap place to stay if we ended up having to spend the night. Hong Kong is not known for their reasonable prices. In fact, Hong Kong can be very expensive to visit. Little did I know that I would be in need of a cheap place to stay.

After getting Amariah his favourite lunch, a McDonald's Happy meal, and Patrick and I having some Hong Kong noodles, we set out to find this cheap place and what an adventure that ended up being.

We found the place without trouble. In fact, we had been there before without realizing it, not to stay the night but to exchange money. I actually didn't even know that there were places here to spend the night. It was a 16 floor building, with the first floor being entirely dedicated to money exchange. There are counter, after counter, after counter, all trying to persuade the people to exchange with them. According to every booth, "they have the best price." Each booth also has people standing around the outside of the building advertising for the different exchange booth, trying to get people in off the street to go to a certain booth.

The cultures represented here was unbelievable. It almost felt like Vancouver. Lots of East Indians, Africans and Caucasian backpackers all crowding inside this building either to exchange money or looking for a cheap place to spend the night.

We found the elevator and stood in line to go up. There was a sign beside the elevator advertising for each hostel/guest house that was on each floor.  The whole thing looked dirty and questionable, but again, I kept reminding myself that G was above all things, and never once in our spirit did we feel unrest, but rather peace.

We first went to what we thought looked to be the nicest one, and maybe it was, but it was more money than we were willing to spend so we decided to go up a floor and see what that one was like. We went back to the elevator only to discover that you can't go up from the different floors, only down. There was no up button. So, we went for the stairs. Walking up the stairs made me feel like I was in the inner city some where deep in the ghetto. The walls were covered with graffiti , it was dirty,  profanity was every where and some really skinny woman, who looked like a drug addict, was slowly wondering the stairs looking as though she wasn't really present.

Smiling as we walked by her, we headed for the door of the next floor. We weren't impressed with the next floor, so went kept going up. We had one place show us a room that seemed reasonable and clean, but we thought that we would keep looking and then make our decision when we saw more places.

When we came to a floor that had big steel bars on the doors and locked with chains, we decided that we had seen enough and that we would go back to the place we had seen. The halls were narrow, the room was the size of a storage closet and the toilet was in the shower. It was the smallest room I had ever paid to stay in.  Something about it seemed almost fun.

After getting the keys we decided to walk the streets for fun and go find somewhere totally not Chinese to eat dinner at. This was a family get away and we were going to enjoy it.

The streets were crowded with foreigners shopping and enjoying the sites. Double Decker buses drove by frequently. Huge flashing billboards, the largest I have ever seen, were advertising Big American brand names such as Adidas. And the biggest treat was during our whole time in the Hong Kong public we didn't hear one person hacking up phlegm and spitting, we didn't see any one peeing on the street or pick their nose, no body pushed and shoved (it was actually the opposite, people helped others), people smiled when you smiled at them and people lined up and took turns for whatever. It was such a breathe of fresh air.

We decided to go to TGI Fridays for dinner. It was just like back home and we enjoyed every minute of it.

After eating and exploring the street we called it an early night, heading back to our little closet hoping to catch up on some sleep. We had so much fun as a family playing together and making Amariah laugh, which made us laugh. It was a much-needed family time. The beds were actually soft, unlike China, and we had the best sleep we had since arriving in China. Who knew that would happen in a questionable cheap guesthouse with three locks on the door.

The next morning we woke up, took our time getting ready and then tried to rush to McDonald's to make the breakfast menu, which we missed. So we went and picked up our visas and purchased our train tickets. We were surprised to learn that we had 2 hours to kill before the next train.  No big deal though, we found a place to get lunch, and chased the birds that were flying around the station. 

Our Hong Kong adventure was coming to a close. The trip home was smooth. No bumps, no bruises, no name misunderstandings. We arrived home that evening having completely enjoyed our time away as a family and were praising G for the blessing of a mini vacation, for His provision, hand of protection and visas. 

Hong Kong Adventure Part 3

Arriving in Hong Kong was exciting.  The train stopped, we grabbed our bags and followed the crowd of people to customs. Customs went smoothly apart from me having to explain why my name isn't 'Added. '

In my passport the name at the front is Kari Asselstine, since I had my passport before I got married, but there is this stamp on one of the pages that reads, "Bearer's married surname is Jones. Added at Ottawa." I never have a problem with this. Not to say that this was really a problem, but rather an annoying misunderstanding on the customs officer's part.

On the custom forms I filled out I, of course, wrote that my name was Kari Jones. Well, the customs officer pointed out that my name on the forms didn't line up with my name in the passport. He was, at this time, looking at the stamped page of my name change, so I was confused to why he would say that. I assured him that my name did line up with on the forms and passport. He told me again that they didn't.  He took his pen and wrote something beside my name on the forms. "What are you doing?" I asked. In his broken English told me that my passport says that my surname is Jones Added, therefore I need to have the name Added next to Jones on all my forms. I immediately protested and went on to explain that Added isn't a name but a word meaning that the name Jones was legally joined to my name in Ottawa, the capital of Canada. He looked confused as I re-worded myself trying to dumb it down for him to understand. Fortunately, he soon did understand and crossed out his added 'Added' to my name on the forms. A passing stamp went in my passport and I was now officially in Hong Kong.

Fortunately the visa office was within walking distance of the train station. As soon as we got our directions figured out, and exchanged some RMB to HK dollars, we were headed out the door for the visa office.

The visa office visit was a learning experience for us.  We had to fill out applications forms for the visa, the lady at the front desk handed us the forms informing us that these forms were for Me and my son and the other was for Patrick. How special, Patrick gets his own form. I went to work filling our Amariah and I's form, which didn't take long. There were just the standard questions, name, and birthday, how long do you plan to be in China and that was basically it. After I filled out both Amariah's and mine I noticed Patrick was still filling out his form. "What could he possibly be writing that is taking so long," I thought to myself.  I glanced over at his application form and he had so many more questions that I had, questions that were far more detailed than mine were. I was surprised and asked him, "Why do you have so many more questions than I had?" He responded, "This is the application for Americans, yours was the general application." "Oh." I didn't know Americans had their own form.

When we went to front desk to hand in our application, she told Patrick that he would have to leave the country once a month, but Amariah and I could stay for 3 months. When I asked why, she answered, "He's American." I just accepted that. I was thankful that I didn't have to leave every month, especially with the new baby coming. We then said that we would like the same day service so that we could pick up our visas later that day and head back to China. She said, "For Kari and Amariah, no problem, but for Patrick the soonest I can have yours done is by noon tomorrow." That was more than 24 hours away. "Why can't we all be processed at the same time?" Again, her response was, "He's American." Apparently there is no same day service for Americans. "Great, now we are going to have to call work and say that we aren't coming in, we are going to have to find a place to spend the night…" I was thinking to myself.

The answer to our next question was the topper for me. "How much will our visas be?" "For Kari and Amariah, HK$450, for Patrick HK$ 1400" "What!?!?! Why is his more than 3 times the cost of ours?" She looked at me and answered, "He's American." At this point my mind was racing, "You have got to be kidding me. This is unreal. This is ridiculous" and so on.  The good news was that when they charged us for the pictures for the visas, the price was the same.

Gathering our stuff, we headed out with the idea of finding a place to eat. It was almost lunchtime and we were hungry.  Even though we were frustrated the next 24 hours ended up being a blessing. 

Hong Kong Adventure, Part 2

Riding the train became quite relaxing. We all enjoyed looking out the window watching the busy city life fade and the Chinese countryside come into view. It was interesting to note, as we left the city, all the new, modern buildings being built amongst the run down ghetto looking older buildings with laundry hanging out half the windows.  It was quite the contrast.

Through the countryside there were lots of fields growing vegetables and rice accompanied by shacks made out of what looked like scraps of wood and tarps found at a garbage dump. Whether these were homes or sheds of some kind, I do not know. I wondered, as we passed, if any of the veggies we ate came from these farms. I think that I would rather not know. The fields really didn't have the appearance of clean and fresh, as I like to imagine a vegetable garden.

Moving along, we saw the occasional cow and buffalo. At one point we saw a huge pile of burning garbage, with a cow grazing beside, a vegetable garden and a run down shack all in one scene. If the train wasn't moving so fast I would have taken a picture. 

Entering Shenzhen meant that we were about to cross the border into Hong Kong, YAY!!! Shenzhen is one of China's younger cities and it looked it too. It was full of new modern buildings without the contrast of the broken down older buildings. It was cleaner too. It is easy to forget, living in a rather dirty city, how refreshing a clean city can be.  Crossing into Hong Kong it only got cleaner and for the first time since we left North America, we had this strange sense of being home. Maybe it was the cleanliness of not only the city grounds and buildings, but the cleanliness of the people as well. I compared it to, feeling able to breathe again.

Now that we were in Hong Kong, we would still ride the train for about an hour getting to our destination, Kowloon.  

P and P-requests

A couple of P and P-requests. 

First, Patrick took that job that he was offered. It was actually perfect because it is at the same school that he is already working at so there is no extra travel. It was an answer to p. The night before Patrick was offered the job we had decided that he would go into town looking for work the next day. That day on his way to work Patrick was p-ing and decided to leave the job issue in His hands because it is He who provides. When he got to work, one of his bosses approached him saying that they wanted to start an after school English program and was wondering if he would be willing to take the extra class. It didn't take much discussing for us to see that this wa Him providing. 

PLease lift up a little p if you think of Patrick today. Because of his visa situation he has to leave the country once a month. So, he went off to Hong Kong today just to cross the border and come right back. Hopefully he won't be gone much more than 4 hours. P for a safe and smooth journey and that I don't go into labour while he is gone. Eleven days til Baby J. 

13 days til Baby J

So, the weather is absolutely beautiful. The sun is shining, there's a hint of blue sky and it is warm. I was definitely born to live in the sun. It is amazing how much my attitude can change when I am in the sun. I believe there can be a spiritual application here.

Anyway, Even though my contract at work is well over, I still get called in to edit the same books I have been working on for the past 2 months. I really don't know how to describe working with the Chinese staff at the company when it comes to book writing. It really is frustrating. I feel as though I have been correcting the same mistakes for the past 2 months, why? I really don't know. So, yesterday I went into the office and I sat down with another Canadian teacher to look over the books. And not only did we find the same mistakes we have already corrected, there were new ones. When I asked how could there be new ones, the answer I received was, "Maybe the computer is broken." Then when I asked why they haven't changed the mistakes we have already corrected, they said, "I don't know." Anyway, I won't vent on this issue on here. I vent on it verbal far too often. 

So, After a doctors visit for the regular prenatal, I got into the front seat of a taxi to head home. I went to put my seat belt on and the driver stopped me and said "no." I replied with, "yes." He was so persistant with his "no" that he took the seat belt out of my hand, put his hand on my belly and said, "It's not safe for the baby." "Are you kidding me?" I thought to myself. I am in China where drivers take traffic laws as a suggestion and drive like mad people and he is trying to tell me that driving in the front seat of a crazy taxi ride would be safer without a seat belt. I became more persistant in return and told him that I am wearing my seat belt. He backed off and said, "Your choice." Yeah, you bet it is my choice. It amazes me how different North American ideas of safety and Chinese ideas of safety differ so greatly. 

Well, I will continue on with my day, first doing stuff around the house with the Canada/Russia hockey game on t.v accompanied by Chinese commentary. The only things I understand are Canada, and numbers. CANADA just SCORED!!!!!! 5-1 YAY!!!!!!

Jones Family Update

Here's another update. Hopefully there will be another to follow quickly. And please don't hestitate to give us a little update with what is going on with you. 

Love you all and Blessings to you. 

Hong Kong Adventure, Part I

Hong Kong Adventure

February 4-5, 2010

It all started when Patrick mentioned to his boss at work that our visas expired on February 13, 2010 and that we were planning on going to Hong Kong to renew them the following week when we both got off for the holidays. San, Patrick's boss, informed him that waiting until the following week wasn't the best decision, the reason being, it is Chinese New Year's holiday and we cannot be guaranteed that the visa office would open.  As a result, Patrick and decided that we would leave for Hong Kong as soon as possible.

The next day at work I shared our situation with the scheduler and asked her to find another teacher for my classes the next day.  The scheduler was not happy with me, and gave a lecture about how my classes are important. That was just irritating because it wasn't like I planned to leave on such short notice and give her more work to do.

Anyway, the next morning we were off to Hong Kong. We had planned to leave the house by 7am in hopes of catching the 8 am train to HK. We were then only planning on being in HK for the day, just long enough to get our visas and head back. We were told that if we can get our visa applications in by 12pm that we could have them by 6pm, which was perfect because them we would be back home that night and only have missed one day of work.

Even though the trip seemed to be a simple plan, there was something within that kept me continuously praying and reciting, "God is above all situations."

We left the house by 7am and were happy to be on our way on this cold rainy morning. Partway to the bus stop Patrick realized that he had forgotten the directions on how to get to the visa office. Leaving Amariah and I standing in the rain with all of our stuff, he ran back to get them.  With this little set back we had to make the conscious effort to not worry about whether we would make the bus, the two subway trains and then the train, on time.  If we missed just one of these we knew that we wouldn't make it to HK on time.  Trying not to worry we rushed to the bus stop.

WE arrived at the bus stop just as the bus was about to pull away. We ran on, the doors closed behind us and it drove away. PTL. Ten minuets later we were racing to the subway. Upon arriving, we learned that the escalator was out of order, so, we joined the crowd and headed down some narrow steps to buy tickets for the subway. I raced ahead, bought the tickets, and by the time Patrick caught up I had the tickets and we could just run for the train, which came almost immediately. Thank-you J.

After about a 20 minute subway ride we came to the interchange. Fortunately the subway train we needed to catch was directly across from the train we were on, so it was just a matter of running across the platform.  We arrived at the station noticing that our transfer train was already there. We got our selves ready by the door so that when our doors opened we were ready to pounce, like a lion on its prey. The doors to our train opened and we flew out, across the platform and onto the train. Shortly after, the doors closed and we were off. Another praise. Just one more train to catch, and that was the 8 am to HK.

Arriving at the station we immediately spotted the signs for the location of purchasing HK tickets. Racing up the stairs to the ticket booth we were confident that we would make it on time. We had 20 minutes before the train left and I was sure that we would do it.

We reached the top of the stairs and raced around the corner toward the ticket booth. As we rounded the corner, both of our jaws dropped and our hearts sank. We couldn't believe the length of the line. We raced to get into line, not to lose another minute of time. And this is where "G is above all situations" began to repeat in my mind.

In the rush of things this morning we didn't grab breakfast. So, before the combination of stress and hunger got the better of us, I decided to go find food while Patrick waited in line to buy tickets. At the bottom of the stairs that we had just come up, I found a little convenient shop filled with food, a little pricy, but convenience usually has its price.  I quickly grabbed some doughnuts, raisin bread, peanuts, waters, and bananas, hoping this would last us until we got to HK.

Returning to the ticket line with the food, I scanned the line failing to find Patrick. Where could he have gone? I quickly scanned the line again only to find him grabbing the change from the ticket lady with tickets in hand.  I was amazed at how fast he had gone through that line. PTL. When Patrick looked up, I waved, and he pointed in the direction we had to go, and we both started to head there as fast as we could.

I asked Patrick how much time we had and he said, "None, boarding started 10 minuets ago." And we still had to go through security and get our passports stamped stating that we have left China.

Fortunately, there was no line at the security or the passport counter. We quickly sailed through and ran to our train.  At this time we had already missed the last boarding call, so we were praying that we could still get on.

Approaching the train deck we noticed that there was nobody on the deck that didn't work there. The train was full, but the door was still open. We ran to the nearest person in uniform and asked which direction our coach was. It was about three down to the right. We started running that way. The person in uniform that was standing at the door to our coach noticed that we were heading right for him, he turned and started tot blow his whistle signally for us to hurry up (as if hurrying was a new concept for us this morning).

We reached the door, got on to our coach, the doors shut behind us and as we found our seats the train started to move away from the station.  We made it!  We could finally sit and relax. Reflecting on the morning it felt as though G had held the door open for each mode of transportation, making sure that we caught each one right on time. Not too early and never late. Our HK adventure had begun. 

My Hospital Visit

I went to the hospital for my weekly prenatal check-up. I think that it was colder inside the hospital than it was out side. I stayed fully clothed in my touque, scarf, jacket and mittens, except for each test. I had to shed layers for my blood test, then put the layers back on, then shed layers for the ultrasound, then put them back on, then shed the layers for the baby movement test, then put them back on, then shed the layers for the measuring of the belly and put them back on. It was quite the work out. 

I have had some questions about the Chinese hospitals, "What are they like?" They are much like home, only more efficient. At home you would usually upon arrival check in at the front desk and then sit down until they call you. Here, there is a front desk, but I rarely see anyone there. You just go straight to the nurses room, walk in, hand them your hospital card, then you stand on the scale for your weight ( I am 70 kg, so much lighter than I was with Amariah), then they take your blood pressure and send you on to the doctor. Some times there is a bit of a wait, but not long if there is one. The doctor checks you out, and for yesterday I needed to get a routine ultrasound and movement scan (these are new to me, I never did this for Amariah) so I first went to the ultrasound room. Waited not too long, got the measurements of the babies head, then I was sent to the movement scan room, where I was seated with a belt around me monitoring the babies movements for about half and hour. When that was done I went straight to another doctor, no waiting at all, just walked into her office, gave her the results for the tests I just did. She looked them over, told me everything was normal, asked me to return next week and I was on my way home. The system definiately works more efficiently. Every time I need to get a test of some kind I am sent to a different room, where I give them my hospital card and I assume all the information for what I need is on there from the last person, because they always know what to do and get it done right away. I think it is more efficient, from my hospital experiences in Canada, because they have so many more workers. For example, they have one person who takes blood. All their job is that day is to sit in this room and take blood. They don't do anything else. So, when the patient comes, they get in right away, get their bllod taken and leave, no waiting. And the person doing the ultrasound or the movement scan, that is their only job for that day, so that is all they have to concentrate on. Just getting that job done. And there seems to be different room for each job. It works quite well. And it always seems to be the same nurse that sits that is sitting there waiting to take weight and blood pressure. I haven't seen her do anything else. In Canada it always seems like there are few people doing all the work. 

Usually I get only women nurses and doctors, which is so nice. They are usually friendly, understanding and sensitive. Today I had my first male. He did the ultrasound, and I don't think this guy cracked a smile. He certainly wasn't up for any conversation and ignored all my questions. I wasn't happy. If I am paying money for something, I really do want a good service. 

So, from now until the baby comes, I will be going once a week for weight check-ups, blood pressure, and movements scans. Two-weeks and 4 days left until the due date. So exciting. 

Well, sitting here on this cold and rainy morning, I am reminded of last week when I almost had myself convinced that the cold season had past us by. Unforntunately, I was sooooo wrong. The cold season is here. We have been having temperatures around 6-8 degrees, and living in a concrete building with no heating isn't fun. Thankfully, we have a space heater, warm clothes and an oven. Baking always helps to keep the house warm. 

This past week and a half we have been on holidays for the Chinese New year. We have been taking it pretty easy this holiday. Staying home, catching up on some cleaning, and preparing for baby J. Patrick took a few days to himself and went on a little trip a couple hours north and Amariah and I had some chill time together- watching movies, eating food, chasing geese in the rain. 

On wednesday we had the preveledge of visiting one of China's first foster care homes. We brought toys for the kids, played and ate food with the children. 

Well, unfortunately, I must go. 

Blessings. 

On Our Way

So, after talking to some people at work, we made the decision to head to Hong Kong tomorrow and apply for a visa extension. We are planning on doing this all in one day, so please keep us in your P's. We will get up early in the morning and are planningon catching the 8am train to HK. The train ride is about 2 hours. Once in HK we will find the visa office. If we can get our application in before 12pm we are told that it can be processed that same day. We are hoping to be one our way back home in the evening. Please P for a safe and smooth journey, and patience for all of us. 

In Everything Give Thanks

Yesterday I read 1 Thes. 5:18 "In everything give thanks..." What stood out was tha it says "in" all things, not "for" all things. It is funny how you can read something a million times and then one day you get something completely and totally different from it. Anyway, it was then that I realized that when the hard times come I am not to thank G for the hard time, because he is not the author of it. We are to thank Him in the hard time for being the One who provides the way out, to thank him for being the One who is greater than our circumstance. I guess before I would think that I was be thankful for the hard time because it would make us stronger. And even though I still believe that we become stronger from them, it is not the hard time itself that makes us stronger but choosing to turn to G in that hard time. It is interesting to reflect upon Jesus' life and recall that Jesus didn't thank G for any of the hard things people were going through, but rather overcame them by the power from above. Anyway, all this just to move on to my next point. 

I felt that mornings reading really prepared me for the day. Later on we found out that day that we need to go to Hong Kong asap to renew our visas. Our visa's expire on Feb. 13. We could apply right from here, but we are told that we will only get one month and then have to go to Hong Kong in a month. One month being March 13, my due date March 10th, hmmmm I don't think that travel date will work for me. This is both of our last week of teaching and we thought that we could just go to HK during our holiday. Yesterday, we were informed that government offices close for the Chinese holiday and that obtaining a visa before our's runs out would be next to impossible if we wait. YIKES!!! So, that means we need to stop working asap and take a trip to HK. Patrick got really over whelmed by all this yesterday. Unexpected travel, a baby on the way, and visa and travel costs. Anyway, I just felt, G will take care of it. He is bigger than all this. This visa thing can be stressful. We still need to figure out how to get visa's for more than 1-3 months at a time. Patrick signed up to take a TESOL course, in hopes he will be able to get a six month visa, then I would get a family visa under his name. I can't get a 6 month because my education diploma has a choice word that isn't accepted and prairie has refused to take it off. But G is bigger... and this is a testimony in the making that will glorify G.