Feast your eyes...

Volunteer Pat with a mixer during our free Bible class

Fellow volunteer missionaries hanging out during a free Bible class.

Finally, a picture with me in it! This was taken at another English center with some of the students I bonded with. That's the same weekend I went grass-skiing at a local park with the other missionaries, but that's another (humorous) story...

A very...um...festive car I saw on my walk to work one day.

Alongside the steep, long walk to the Temple of 10,000 Buddhas (Hong Kong suburbs), I saw this gate swathed in green, and had to stop and take a picture.

The Chinese library in Macau, which I pass everyday on my way to work.

A picture posted in the bathroom of the local movie theater!

Hong Kong

Just as I'd never known all the nuances of the words "sweat" or "hot" before coming to Macau, I can now say I didn't know the name of "tall buildings" before coming to Hong Kong. These things are massive!

The Hong Kong Island cityscape in the foreground, with Kowloon across the bay. I'm standing, I feel, on the top of the world. More accurately, I was on "The Peak," the nickname given to the steep hill behind Hong Kong's financial district. However, I did feel a bit like Jesus when Satan had taken him to see all the kingdoms of the earth. The visionary wonder of seeing Hong Kong like this is not easily forgotten (helped by the fact that there is a mall at the top of the mountain). It is not often you can see an entire city of 7 million spread out before you.




















Buddhas, all with a different aspect of Buddha emphasized. They lined the steps on both sides in a dizzying array of gold.

I took a little jaunt over to Hong Kong and spent two days touring the city briefly. The size of the city combined with lack of building land has compressed people upwards. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, if you have never seen hundreds of high-rise buildings in one place, go to Hong Kong! Beyond the epicenter of Hong Kong, where the really, really tall buildings are, the coast continues with more tall apartment buildings. Your eye naturally follows the coastline to see where the buildings end, but they never do! Hong Kong now has the distinction of being my second favorite city in the world, right after London. It is very easy to get around in Hong Kong; helped by the fact that I could read the signs for the first time in over a month.

A temple inside Hong Kong. The overpowering incense made my eyes water! Not only do they pay for incense, but in some temples they also pay for the priviledge to light the incense to their gods. The temples especially make money during school exam times by anxious parents. The incense is sold inside the temple.

The first day, Sunday, I went over to HK early in the morning, and toured some of the sights alone. I was joined the next day by another teacher (nobody has the same days off because we are open throughout the week). The first day, however, was my favorite because I was able to see more sights and I met many other "foreigners", mostly from the UK. And, I spent some time with a couple of Americans I met on the metro. The Temple of the 10,000 Buddhas has been my favorite temple so far! Some of Buddha statues, if you look closely, are downright comical! I also walked all over, and saw a history of Hong Kong exhibit. One of the first errands, I admit, was to eat BEEF, as I had not had it in five weeks.

On Monday, I was joined by another teacher, and we continued to tour around, only to arrive back in Macau exhausted at 1 am Tuesday.

My life as a star

Well, if you can't tell, I'm on the set of a commercial. That's right, move aside Jennifer Aniston, and make way for the new rising talent! I was asked to participate in a commercial for the local cell phone company here in Macau, CTM. I was sitting at home a few days ago when the phone rang. The woman on the phone was an American and she identified herself as another missionary here in Macau.
"This is going to sound so odd," she said, "but would you like to be in a commercial?"
I was so shocked! Of course I said yes, even if it is just for two minutes of glory!

Apparently, the phone company had seen her on the street (not hard to spot foreigners in Asia), and asked her to join them for a commercial. Western faces sell products, as many want to be "just like us". They were specifically looking for blondes in their twenties, so she called up our Vice-Principal at the center, and she gave her my phone number.

The whole shoot only actually took about an hour. We pretended that we were receiving this great image of our friends/relatives who were traveling in Macau on the cell phone. After many cheesy takes of us grinning and pointing at the phone, and we were finished. Since I'll be out in the States when this commercial comes out, the missionary couple said they would email me the finished product.

It's not everyday you can say that you were in a commercial, huh?