Hong Kong

Well, here I sit in the International House YMCA. Whoop-it-do. I have spent the day, and I mean the entire day, in a meeting. Tomorrow will be much of the same. It is, however, a very good meeting.

I have had the opportunity to see the apartment where we will be living. It is very, very nice. The location is absolutely horrid, but, the niceness of the apartment makes up for that.

There is a ship load of American Navy-men in town. One of them sat next to me at Starbuck's this evening. 20 years old. First time to be out of the US. He appeared to be lonely and really opened up. I had the scene all set to share some good news with him, but his buddies came in just at the wrong moment and said they all needed to leave. I didn't get his name. He has had a really, really hard life. I know my conversation was 'salty', but it wasn't 'beefy'. Maybe someone else will come along and plant. Maybe, just maybe, the salt was enough to get his mind and heart "in the mood".

I had dinner tonight with some friends who used to be in Chiang Mai, but are now in HK. It was really good to see them again. They will be our neighbors, well, sort of. Only a few hundred yards away as the crow flies, but, crows don't fly in HK. It is a long way to go to actually get to their flat.

I can't believe the prices of stuff here. All the restaurants charge $4-5 US dollars for a coke. Some of them don't give refills! I will learn to drink tap water, I think! Sticker shock is going to be the hardest part of living here.