I live in Hong Kong...I...LIVE...in Hong Kong!!!

It dawned on me today as I read my newspaper...

I actually LIVE in Hong Kong.

I drag my sorry, redeemed being out of bed confident that today I will honor God in a significant way but, knowing i most likely will do more harm than good. A good yawn, and a stretch...usually with arms punching through the air, followed up by a pround pat on my belly...I put one leg in front of the other and go brush my teeth. On a good day, I won't stub my toes on anything.

As I walk around, I look more like a person who has been worked over by 'da guys' working for the Sandman...left humanly unrecognizable with a lot of crap in my eyes.

I look out through the windows and I see the landscapes of Tsueng Kwan O*, the district of Hong Kong I live in. I smell the smells of early morning Hong Kong...absent is the smell of roasted arabica, bacon, eggs, and that smell that only pancakes can produce. QUESTION: Why is that smell so hard to describe?

But, these smells are just as pleasant and intriguing to my nose, so much that it can awaken the slumber-ridden man behind the beast inside me.

I pass little exuberent chinese kids with messy locks bouncing around as they run to line up before school, backpacks swaying side to side and those annoying** little red lights flashing on their shoes with each stride they take. I think to myself...'adopting a Chinese kid WILL be happening one someday.' I smile as I walk by...I may have even daydreamed about what that family photo might look like. Little Sai Lo*** sitting in my father's lap smiling with a big smile surrounded by the rest of our family!

As I arrive into my office at the other campus,**** I pick up my subscription to the South China Morning Post, open it up and begin catching up with the rest of Hong Kong. I turned the page, and saw this:




Yeah, it is a little blurry but it was taken on my cell phone. The weather. That's all it is, a stupid weather report. They happen every day for cities around the world.

But.

But, this one was for Hong Kong...and it mattered to me. It determined, like all weather reports, what I will wear. What I will put into my messenger bag. What shoes I will wear. And all in all my outlook on the day from 7am forward.

This was personal. It didn't matter to you, or to my parents, my sister, or even Cheryl. It mattered to me. It might even determine whether or not I go hiking up the mountian next to where I live after school for a nice panoramic view of the place.

It matters because I live here. I dwell here. I wake up here, I go to bed here. Not vacation, not a trip, not a tour. I LIVE here.


And...I love it. One month. Nine to go. Care to visit?...What's wrong McFly...Chicken?

*pronounced CHUNG ( like Connie) KWAN (like Michelle) OH (as in __ sh@*! )

**the only thing annoying about them is that I can't have them...that wouldn't be mature. I say, why start now?

*** That is a Chinese word for little girl or little boy...kind of like 'tike.' But being that I never use the word I thought Sai Lo would about cover it.

**** I live above the school at the Primary Campus and teach at the Secondary Campus a half-mile away