man of my word
so today being my second day of work, and me promising to post about my first day, here it is.

my cousin, hill, had shown me the route to get to work the day before, so following instructions was a breeze.

speaking of a breeze, i sure wish there was one. hong kong weather right now is like houston's worst x 10, if you can imagine it. the best part of this story is that i didn't know what i was supposed to wear. so, wanting to be professional on my first day, i wore a full suit.

it's about a 35 minute commute, and with about 5 minutes to go, i was sweating like a turkey before thanksgiving. i was walking like a stickman so my clothes wouldn't stick to me. you know, i had to find the perfect medium between not walking fast enough to make me sweat even more and not walking slow enough to make the trip last any longer than it had to.

at last i emerged from the subway station, only to see this.


as much fun as it looked, i didn't have time to join them. i went to the building, went up the elevator, and was greeted by a chinese man behind a counter. i couldn't decide whether to talk to him in cantonese or english or mandarin or spanish or pig latin, so i waited until he spoke first.

he asked me if i was there to work. i said yes. then he gave me a sign-in sheet and asked me to write my chinese name. i hesitated for a second, but i was clutch and able to pull through. there's 10+ years of chinese school for ya!

went into another room, met 3 other interns, and then watched an introduction video. and for anyone who might be wondering, every big 4 firm uses the same actor for the video.

after getting a computer and stuff like that, i had to move to another building, prince's building, WHICH HAS NO A/C!

just kidding. but wouldn't that be something.

after a quick tour, i'm told which audit i will be working on, and then i join the team. i meet a nice girl named irene who starts giving me my first assignment. she speaks very quickly, and then she starts pointing at some chinese characters. i give a face.

after a short conversation explaining why i can't read, i start my work. oh yeah, by the way, this entire time i have been running off of 2 hours of sleep because of jetlag and a stomachache the night before. the rest of the day was rather uneventful, and i somehow managed to stay awake thanks to two of my suddenly good friends, caffeine and adrenaline.

so there is my first day in a nutshell. oh and just in case you were wondering, today (my second day), i made a new friend on the bus. everyday i take a shuttle bus from my aunt/uncle's place to the MTR station. today's buddy was named sam, and he is in form 1. we chatted for a bit during the 8 minute ride, but right when we got to the station, sam went canton on me and jumped up off his seat to race off the bus. i thought i had scared him off, but then when i got off the bus, the kid was there waiting for me and we got to talk for a few minutes more on his way to school. 1 new friend yesterday, 1 new friend today -- what a pace! so begins my hk-changing mission.

oh also in today's news -- today i found out that i am working for peanuts. less than US minimum wage. i probably should have done the math earlier.

h to the kizzle
something about cantons and large transportation vehicles -- they just can't wait to board.

my flight to hk was on monday, and i had a connecting flight in newark that was supposed to leave at 3pm. it got delayed until 6:00, but that didn't stop all the asians in the entire northeastern region of the united states to congregate in front of the gate like there was a sale at welfarm.

then when one of the continental airlines people finally announced that they would begin letting people on the airplane, there was a mad dash to the front of the line. i'm pretty sure a couple innocent americans were trampled under the stampede of yellow legs.

what's the rush?? i really didn't get it. actually, even now, i still don't get it. it just doesn't make any sense. first of all, you should know by now that they always let the people with seats in the back of the plane board first. second of all, is there a secret prize given to the first 10 passengers on the plane that i don't know about??

i gave everyone the benefit of the doubt and told myself that it was just because the flight was delayed for so long, and people just wanted to sit in the nice, comfortable chairs that you can't recline until the plane is in the air.

but no. this same theory applies to every transportation device known to mankind. when the subway comes in hk, there is no such thing as common courtesy of letting the people inside get off first. of course, it would make too much sense to both free up space inside and make sure the people don't miss their stop. instead, it is an all-out war, with faces pushed up against the glass, limbs flying everywhere, blood and guts, the gnashing of teeth, you name it.

and the weirdest thing about it is, people rush inside just to..stand there. silently. in fact, if you do as much as say hello to your neighbor, they wonder if something is wrong with you.

freaking cantons. why the awkwardness? what's the use of piling inside just to give each other blank stares?

well i'm going to change hong kong. one reluctant, weirded out person at a time. so i got another 32 days here, let the humanizing process begin!

tune in tomorrow to find out about my 1st day of work. gotta keep ya coming back for more.

the people have spoken
and apparently everyone wants a post. or more cowbell, i forget.

kenya was amazing. i've sent out an email to all my supporters, but if i happened to miss you or you haven't heard anything yet, i'll just share this one story with you here. kind of a sneak peek. and then you can decide whether or not you want to ask or pay for more.

Robert's Vision
The team had the opportunity to visit a village near Jinja, which is the source of the Nile River. Once there, we were asked if everyone on the team was saved. We said yes, then we were paired up, given the help of a translator, and sent off. Simple as pie.

I have to admit it was a bit overwhelming at first because we were all taken by surprise. I was introduced to the people I met as a "preacher from America," which was kind of weird until I realized I was a preacher from America. I ended up meeting a man named Robert, who was hanging out at the village pub. When he saw me and Sarah, he immediately told us about a dream he had the day before about the two of us arriving in his village and said he was ready to follow Jesus. So we started talking, and eventually Robert led us to his home, where we met and prayed with his family.

It was amazing being a witness to Robert committing his life to God, but it was even more amazing knowing that God had once again gone ahead of me to pave the way.


well there ya go. and a picture to boot!

for those of you who have already read this story, i can't let you walk away feeling shortchanged, can i? so here's a picture for ya'll.


i am currently in hong kong, just fyi. so if anyone is or will be in the area, gimme a holler.

more posts to come.