Rosh Hashanah and T8

Typhoon Nesat has wreaked havoc with Rosh Hashanah in Hong Kong. The city has shut down.

Typhoons are Asian hurricanes. In our two years here, we have not experienced a full-blown typhoon. However, we have been on the edge of a number of them. In these cases it has meant either torrential rain or extreme winds, but not both together. We had been warned yesterday about the approach of Nesat, but it wasn't until late in the afternoon that the T1 signal went up.

Last night when we went to our friends' apartment for dinner at 7:30, the signal had gone up to T3. As we walked home from dinner at 11 p.m., the winds had kicked up, and the rain had started to splash.  We heard whistling across the road and saw our Oz friends, Ursula and Steve, calling us!  We were the only crazies walking around in the pre-typhoon breeze.  Surreal.

The T8 signal was hoisted overnight.  This is equivalent to a major snowstorm in Canada, where even schools in Montreal would be closed. The winds were howling (100km per hr. or more), but our building didn't sway at all.  Best of all, we never lost power. As often advertised in HK, we had "squally" showers during the storm, but nothing to write home about (so why am I writing home about it?).

This morning, Jeff, the idiot, decided to leave for work at his normal time (7 a.m.).  He planned to get three productive hours in before meeting me at services, which were scheduled for 10:30 at Olympic House, a venue that our congregation uses to accommodate the larger Rosh Hashanah crowd.  At 7:15 he was back inside our apartment - no buses, no cabs, no work!  We settled down to watch the Yankees game on t.v., while keeping our eye on the HK Observatory website.

We received an urgent email from the shul at 7:56 informing us that since Olympic House was officially closed for the day, services were being re-routed to the permanent sanctuary on Robinson Road - around the corner from our apartment.  Because of the change, services were scheduled to start at 11:30.  Amazingly, the turnout was huge - we not only filled the lower floor, but there were also families sitting upstairs.  Everyone who lives within walking distance came, as did some others who paid the typhoon surcharge that the few taxis on the road were imposing.  Unfortunately, our kiddush lunch did not arrive, but thanks to Rabbi Martha and a few others, we had chalah, wine, and cake!

What a change from last Rosh Hashanah (blog, Oct. 3, 2010), when it was over 30 degrees and sunny!

Shana tova everyone - We wish you a happy, healthy, and prosperous 5722.

Mini adventures

Now that most of the expats have returned to HK from their trips "home", local activities have swung into action.  As usual, the AWA (American Women's Association) has a full roster of things to do, from shopping to cultural outings.

A few weeks ago, I attended Jason Wordie's lecture on 19th century women in HK.  He focused on Western women - mainly wives of diplomats and missionaries, who started schools, health centres, and local businesses.  A few days later, Jason presented an historical overview of opium.  A few facts that came to light:  the Flanders poppy is not the opium poppy.  Opium poppies were first cultivated in Macedonia, and then spread to Turkey, Persia, India, and China via the silk route.  Opium tastes like anise - liquorice!!  It's fairly non-addictive when smoked recreationally.  So why all the fuss?
Jason enlightened us that all of the major 19th century HK businesses (Jardine's, Russell & Co., and Dent) started off plying the opium market.  When they became rich enough, they segued into respectable trades like cotton, shipping, and real estate.  The opium business was handed over to the Parses and Sephardic Jews.  Once these groups became respectable, they were also able to drop the opium business.  Next week Jason's talk will be about domestic workers in HK.  There are over 300,000 "helpers" here - mainly from the Philippines and Indonesia.  Should be enlightening.

Two weeks ago, a group of us visited the Yue Hwa department store in Kowloon.  This is as local as it gets!  Most of the merchandise (clothing, furnishings, jewelry) is made in China, and most of it is very traditional - not Western at all (refreshing not to see designer brands).  There are so many employees, not only behind the colourful counters, but also roaming the floor offering assistance.  Remember the good old days when Eaton's had staff who actually knew their merchandise (e.g. Mrs. Wolfenden in the stockings department at Fairview ), and who also recognized their faithful customers?  Labour is so cheap in HK (minimum wage is $3.50CDN per hour), that most shops have lots of employees.

I began my tour in the Culture and Arts Saloon on the 5th floor, which included a fancy tea department, a section that sold musical instruments (there was even a small stage for performances), and a beautiful calligraphy department. Marion - you would love the calligraphy tools for sale - every kind of brush, ink, palette, and paper.   As I made my way through the store, I noticed a very expensive jewelry counter (specializing in jade) next to the men's clothing, toys and games on the same floor as exquisite Chinese furniture, and herbal medicines next to imported European baby formula.  A real emporium!

The biggest surprise was the supermarket in the basement.  Every kind of dried food known to man, cans of mystery food imported from Taiwan, and prosciutto drying on racks.  Although photographs are forbidden in the store, I played "dumb tourist" and snapped away - could not resist the dried snakeskin!

While we were in North America, I noticed that the World University Games were about to start in Shenzhen, China - one hour by public transit from HK.  The website of the Games was rather confusing.  I tried to buy tickets online, but then discovered that they were only being sold at the (official government) China Travel Service in downtown HK.  A very patient man helped me buy tickets for three basketball games on Sunday, August 21st.  After I paid for the tickets (no credit cards accepted), I was handed a pink receipt.  The gentleman told me that they would phone to let me know when the tickets were available.  Although I was sceptical, I did receive a call two days later and picked up the tickets.
Jeff had never been to Shenzhen.  Bargain shopping at the LoWu mall is not his idea of a good time.  He bravely said "lead on" as we set out on the Sunday morning.  I navigated us through the bus-metro-metro-commuter train to passport control at the border.  My plan was to have lunch at the mall, and to find some sort of information booth that could direct us to the basketball venue.  When we entered the mall, there was an information table set up for the Games.  Unfortunately, all of the smiling volunteers only spoke Chinese, and all of the printed material was strictly in Chinese!  So much for welcoming the rest of the world to this big event.  Just as I was beginning to despair, a helpful (English-speaking) lady approached us.  She looked at our tickets, took us over to the info desk, and found out which buses would take us to the gym.  Our backup plan was to ask the concierge at the Shangri-La Hotel to arrange a taxi for us - but it's always more of an adventure going the local way!
When we got on bus 205, we looked at each other and said "blind faith?"  We were really at the mercy of the bus driver (who was unapproachable).  Again, thanks to the kindness of strangers, a woman and her husband looked at our tickets, smiled, and said "We will tell you where to get off".  No problem!  As we alighted, we saw a large sign pointing us to the gym.  However, we came to a fork in the road with no further signage.  Luckily a group of young boys were headed our way, so we followed them.

We became instant celebrities!  A group of high schoolers interviewed us (they were actually from HK), and a young local boy asked to have his photo taken with us.  We were the only gweilos in attendance.

The only scary part of our day was negotiating the concrete stairs in the gym.  Normally, a staircase consists of steps that are the same size and width.  Not here!  I almost killed myself walking down the uneven steps.  Welcome to China.
When we settled into our seats, we realized we had no idea which teams we were about to watch.  The first game was a decisive victory by South Korean over the Emirates.  The level of competition was comparable to a good high school game in Canada.  The second game was an improvement - Ukraine over Czech Republic.  Jeff critically assessed all the players and determined that only one of the Ukrainians would merit a scholarship to Division I in the U.S.

When the second game finished around 7:30, Jeff went to scrounge around for some snacks.  He returned with a water bottle and Pringles.  Yummy dinner!  Everything else was mysteriously packaged.
We were definitely running out of steam - it had been a long, humid day.  However, we re-energized when the third game participants were announced:  the U.S. versus Romania.  As ardent NCAA basketball fans, we were excited to see Matt Painter's all-star team.

We recognized some of the players, including Antonio "Scoop" Jardine from Syracuse.  The Romanians were overwhelmed by the Americans.  When we left at half time, the U.S. was leading by twenty points.
Continuing our local adventure, we hopped on the 387 bus, crossed our fingers, and made it back to the station in time to catch the 10 p.m train.  


Quiz:  mystery food? (We bought one, but it never ripened enough for us to be able to cut into it)