Those of you who know me well know that I am not a big fan of math equations. Public transport in Hong Kong reminds me of math. Let me explain: you have to determine which bus goes in which direction at what times, and how you can connect different bus routes to get to your final destination. Does that make sense? It can be a little tricky, and sometimes if there are enough people, it's easier to take a bus part of the way then jump in a taxi and split the fare. This is how I normally get to church on Sunday. A group of about four or five us will catch the 962 and get off right before the tunnel over to Hong Kong Island. Then we split a cab for about a 10 minute journey to the YMCA in Tsimshatsui where we go to church.
Since it can be a tight squeeze in the taxi, whatever stuff you're carrying can get pushed around quite a bit. This happened to me Sunday. After the taxi dropped us off, we got some coffee and chatted since we were early for church. But as we gathered to go up to the Y, I realized my phone was gone. It fell out in the taxi. I'm not really surprised, but I was still mad at myself. With the job I do here, and this week particulalry (we're holding a huge refugee awareness event that I'm doing a lot of the organizing for, so I get lots of calls), I need a phone. And cell phone plans here are incredibly cheap, so it's definitely worth the expense.
After church, I went with a couple, Tom and Christy, to Sham Shui Po to cancel my sim card and get a replacement. It was so easy (you never know with these things, or if you'll even get someone who understands you!), which was a relief, to replace the sim card. Next, I had to get a phone. Let me first explain Sham Shui Po...Sham Shui Po is the place locals go to buy cheap electronics and other items. It's several blocks wide, and there are street vendors set up everywhere. There are also people frying tentacled things on sticks, making homemade sausage (disgusting!), among other things I don't even care to know what they were, and why someone would eat it. And let me also just say health codes here aren't exactly what they are in the U.S.
Anyway, Tom needed to get some computer equipment, so Christy 
and I ventured to the phone shops. You can try your luck at bargaining with the locals on used phones out of a small stand they work from, or you can go to the actual shops. I always choose shops because I hate haggling. They have phones that have not been used, but since they are older models, they are still pretty cheap. I was able to find one for a good price, and with a warranty even, and it's actually better than the other, hand-me-down phone I had been using. So, in the end, everything worked out and was actually better than before. I really appreciate when that happens.
and I ventured to the phone shops. You can try your luck at bargaining with the locals on used phones out of a small stand they work from, or you can go to the actual shops. I always choose shops because I hate haggling. They have phones that have not been used, but since they are older models, they are still pretty cheap. I was able to find one for a good price, and with a warranty even, and it's actually better than the other, hand-me-down phone I had been using. So, in the end, everything worked out and was actually better than before. I really appreciate when that happens. So the lesson learned? Even when I'm not in school, math still annoys me and sometimes makes me lose my phone. :)
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1 comment:
you are incredible. i mean...amazing.
we remember you.
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