Hibbets' Happenings

I didn't realize that I never posted yesterday. That tells you we stayed busy! I am now posting from the computer in the classroom. The students are taking their first exam. On this computer, the operating system and thus Word, the Internet, everything -- the words are in Chinese! So I just have to remember which options are which, like when I get ready to shut down the computer, or just now signing into Blogger, etc. It's quite funny. I'm not sure I can remember about yesterday without my pictures. I have them downloaded to the computer and almost ready to share, but not out there yet. And not on this computer for me to see while I write! Let's see, we were up early as usual. Miranda came about 10:15 to take me to a big Park n Shop in Park View; it is further inland and not accessible by public transportation. The Park n Shop had many things like I've seen in the other stores, but much more produce choices, lots of fresh meat and fish (our small Park n Shop only has frozen meat, none fresh), and the thing I was most impressed with -- many healthy options. MUCH more than is available to us in Monroe, at least in the grocery store. I could even get organic peanut butter there! But it was very expensive, so I didn't and don't think I will. I spent HK$400, so about US$50. In addition to my groceries, I had to buy Jayden diapers and wipes -- so she is wearing Hong Kong (actually, I think they're Japanese) diapers now! (So far so good.) I also bought: flour and yeast (so I can make bread! -- as if I need more bread), a papaya, Ryvita rye crackers (I have bought this brand before at the health store and liked them), Kavlia rye crackers (Brookshire's has 3 varieties and there's one I really like; the Park n Shop had 2 additional varieties Brookshire's doesn't carry, so I got these to try), and another natural healthy bread -- also rye (David says, and I agree, we eat too much wheat, so I bought all rye. I did buy a raisin loaf from the bakery which is soft and yummy and almost gone already. I bought some Quaker oatmeal, thinking it was old-fashioned, but it also ended up being quick oats. We had some this morning, and although they were okay, we could tell a difference between them and our old-fashioned oats. Oh well! So, apparently we can only get instant or quick cooking oats here. I bought this little container of coconut cream I'm eager to try -- probably in bread or cereal. I bet it will be good. I got some sweet potatoes for Joshua -- they are not as orange as ours, but still good. I got two frozen pizzas. We ate one for lunch when I brought it home. It was good. They were not cheap for frozen pizzas, I realized, when I thought through it later. One was about HK$20 and the other almost HK$40 -- so $3 and $5. Which I guess isn't bad, but I tend to think about frozen pizzas as being super cheap. It did taste good, and a $5 lunch for two (two and a half) isn't bad (but we did have some additional things with our pizza to make a full lunch). Oh, I bought a little organic pumpkin and a container of organic yogurt and some red pepper flakes (McCormick's!). I'm sure there's something else, but that's all I can think of right now. After we ate our pizza we got ready to head out again. We were going to Kowloon for David's fitting for his suit. We walked down to the bus stop and caught Bus 27 to the North Point MTR station. Then we took the MTR to Tsim Sha Tsui, changing trains at Admiralty. Tsim Sha Tsui is a huge MTR station, but the nice thing is you can do your walking underground with all the clear signs, and then take the elevator (at least we do) up to the street level very near to where the tailor's shop is. The one bad thing is that the tailor is on the first floor (note: that is not the ground floor here), and there is no lift to the first floor, and no escalator -- only stairs. But David did great. He was able to get Joshua all the way up (and then of course back down again later) with no problems. Going to the tailor has been such a neat experience. You get the impression they really know what they're doing. It seems like a very simple process from their perspective, but of course this is a big deal and a new experience for us. While David was being fitted, another man came in, an American, but I'm not sure from where (Florida?), and we all visited there in the store a bit. He was picking up 4 suits, I believe, and had ordered many in prior years. It was encouraging to see even more satisfied and repeating customers using this tailor. Thank you, Dr. Hodge, for telling us about him. He is such a nice man. I am so glad we get to give him our business and he gets to make David a suit! (David says it's my turn next time -- we'll see!) After we finished at the tailor we walked around Tsim Sha Tsui and got to do some souvenir shopping. We bought from two different shops. David found his chess set from this trip (a tradition he began on the Europe trip; he has one from Italy, Romania, and now Hong Kong) -- it's really pretty. I will take a picture to post. Then we decided to go fine the Ladies' Market in Mong Kok. When we arrived in Mong Kok, we first tried to find a place to eat. We had to walk around looking for a while but ended up finding a little Thai/Vietnamese place -- like so many others, just a small, narrow, restaurant, right off the street and open, with no more than 10 tables or so in the whole place. The menus were on the wall, and of course it took us a while to decide what to order. We want to try something "good" both in the sense of being authentic cuisine and something we'll like -- plus attempting to be healthy, too (which is hard when you're not 100% sure what you're ordering). We decided on three: beef w/ rice and vegetables and mango -- it was very good -- and Thai-style mixed vegetables, also very good, but not served with rice, which I missed, and we wanted to try Vietnamese spring rolls. They were my least favorite, but hey, we can say we tried them. They brought us three cups of warm tea -- I don't know my teas well enough to distinguish this tea from what we're served in the Chinese restaurants. They also brought us each a small plate with a fork and spoon (ha!). There were chopsticks on the table, but I had to move out of the way (Jayden). When they brought our order, first they brought the spring rolls (I think there were 6; they were small like mini corn dogs [now that's American, isn't it!] along with a small bowl of sauce which was sweet and spicy at the same time and very good, and a plate of lettuce leaves. David and I just looked at each other and shrugged. We had no idea how we were supposed to eat this. (If anybody can fill us in, please do!) At the Indonesian restaurant, I was able to ask, but I didn't really have the opportunity last night. So I tried wrapping the spring roll in the lettuce and dipping it in the sauce; I also dipped just the lettuce in the sauce and ate it that way -- I said, a Vietnamese salad! Regardless of how I was supposed to eat it, I ate it, and it was good. Then the food arrived and David and I both really liked it. It wasn't that different to us than the other Asian food (David said, there are only so many ways to cook vegetables), but it was good. I especially liked the mango with the beef, that was a nice touch. Jayden didn't eat the Thai food very well. She was content with her (unhealthy) peanut butter crackers (which I won't buy again, now that I know what they are). The dinner was just under HK$100, so I think about US$12.50. After we ate we ventured out into the Ladies' Market. It was really neat, but overwhelming! It's like a lot of street vendors, with their tents all set up, one after another. There were purses, and belts, and jewelry, and watches, and t-shirts, and clothes, and I don't even know what else. More than you could ever even look at to see it all. I got pretty tired after shopping a bit. But we did buy a few things and could have bought much more. We haven't been to Stanley Market yet and I'm curious how it will be different from the Ladies' Market. Finally we got home around 10:00. I wanted to stay up but just crashed with Jayden on the couch and decided to go to bed. Thankfully I slept well; Jayden woke up around 6, probably, and we put her in bed with us until about 7 or so. I have to brag on the kids; they have both done SO good at all this being out-and-about. They have made it all still very enjoyable. Jayden enjoys riding around in her stroller! She does very well with it all. The students are finishing up their exam and it's almost time to get to head back to the apartment. Tonight has been an easy night for me, and it passed by very quickly. Now I have to get ready for our next class, Thursday night. David goes back to the tailor tomorrow to pick up his suit. Friday night is home group (if we go); Saturday night is the Christmas program at KIBC (the Baptist church in Kowloon) and Sunday morning is the Christmas program at ICA (the A/G church we attended Sunday). I'm excited! There is rain headed our way; it's supposed to rain tomorrow through the weekend, we hear. We tried to get the groceries we'll need today so maybe we won't have to venture out in the rain -- at least not too far, maybe! I'll keep you posted.