The Pales Family: A taste of Szechuan, Wild Monkeys... and other Hong Kong-isms.

At the moment I am recovering from a bad reaction to some local Chinese food I ate yesterday... It didn't phase Tim... I guess I'm just not used to that kind of food. He wanted to go to this place because it was pretty cheap and it was really similar to the type of stuff he ate on his mission in Taiwan. I decided to be adventurous and try it even though some of it was a bit questionable for my standards. I think I'll stay away from the local stuff for a while... haha. I've been trying a lot of new food lately though... and most of it has settled ok. A few nights ago we went to this really nice Szechuan place. (Szechuan is really spicy Chinese) Totally different flavor than I've ever tasted... and quite hot. It was pretty good though. They have these dumplings that you start out with that numb your mouth... I think the idea is to numb it enough so that the rest of the food doesn't completely destroy your mouth. I only had a little bite of the dumplings and it was so so hot! The food was pretty good though. We also went to Outback Steakhouse this week... Such a wonderful taste of home. Tonight we're having dinner at our friends house and will be having Moroccan food... So many new experiences.

Tim had an interesting experience last night. While Ruth and I were helping Shanna cook for tomorrow's Moroccan experience, the boys (Tim, Jordan, and John) decided to go exploring in the mountains. They had heard that you can usually spot wild monkeys up there. Not only did they spot monkeys... They couldn't even count how many monkeys they saw... They were everywhere. Now, if you know Tim well you know he loves monkeys... always dreamed of having a pet monkey one day... But these monkeys were kind of scary. I guess they would get really close and start hissing and look like they were going to attack... and there were tons of them. Probably a hundred. Tim said if you made eye contact they would start getting aggressive and you'd have to look away for them to calm down. Freaky. I'm SOOO glad I decided not to go... I would have completely freaked out. The guys were even a bit shaken up. No pet monkeys for us in the future. :) (Check out the monkey pics we posted)

Tim is headed to Korea tonight. He has a red eye and 3 really busy days ahead of him. They're pretty excited about the demos they have set up with some really big companies there... I'm pretty nervous to be without him for 3 days... But I have Ruth, and it helps knowing some other people here... So we'll get by... I'm excited for him though. Everyone keep your fingers crossed for him...

Not much else happened this week... So I'll leave you all with some Hong Kong-isms. (Unique, and interesting things about Hong Kong that I've noticed or learned since being here.)

- You drive on the opposite side of the road... and even walk on the opposite side on walkways
- You don't tip at restaurants. They automatically add a 10% grituity. It's customary to
leave any spare change you have if you felt they did a good job... but you don't leave any more
than that.
- Also at restaurants they wont bring you the check until you ask for it... We figured this out on
the first day after we waited a really long time for our waiter to bring the check.
- You are living the life if you have an oven... and really really rich if you have a dishwasher.
- BMW's and Mercedes are like Toyota's and Honda's in the US. They are everywhere! Lots of
money here.
- They call elevators "Lifts"
- Everyone has umbrellas on their person at all times... You'd think that's because it's rainy season... but you see almost as many people with umbrellas when it's sunny as you do when its rainy. They don't want to get tans here... It's more beautiful to be pale.
- People are really blunt here... They just tell you like it is and don't hold back. For example, in church I took Mylan into the foyer because he was fussy... and this Chinese woman says to me, "you have a really loud baby." haha. I know they're not trying to be rude so I just laugh it off.
- A word about public restrooms... They're the worst. Never clean... no toilet seat covers... sometimes not even toilet seats... And one bathroom I went into didn't even have toilet paper or dispensers. Can't avoid it though... It's so important to stay hydrated here since you sweat so much...

... More ism's to come. :)

Enjoy our pics from this week!