March 2 - Back to Chinese Int. School, lunch with the Heifer Ladies

Mar 2 – Friday

Back up to the CIS (Chinese International School) today for the older kids. Today we had some other guests from Heifer China who were going to talk about the past project the kids sponsored. These are some PR people from the China group in town to help promote their work. When I got to the end of the bus line (no bathroom break this time), there were only 3 other people on the bus. When I got off, it turned out they were Jeanie & the 2 women from Heifer China. We had a good laugh at the fact that we didn’t realize we were riding together. The 2 women seemed very nice. They didn’t speak too much English, but enough for us to have a nice conversation. We were also meeting another volunteer who wants to do the same thing that I’m doing. She has just joined up & came along to observe me in action (imagine that, I’m already training people). She turned out to be American & from NY. So naturally we had plenty to talk about. She’s much younger than I am, has a 1 ½ year old son & is pregnant. Her husband is from NY also, but through some interesting circumstances he is part owner of a factory just over the border in Mainland China. She’s lived here for almost 3 years. She was a teacher until her son was born, so she’s also well suited for this work. She also happens to live the next street up from where we live here in HK. So another potential friend.

The women from Heifer China did their presentation first & it was all in Mandarin, so I have no idea what they said. It really impressed me how the kids could move so easily from one language to the other. The beauty of learning languages early in life & getting the opportunity to use them in daily life. These kids are so fortunate. My presentation went fine & there was another good discussion about water at the end. So hopefully we will raise lots of money from these kids.

Since there were 5 of us, we took a taxi back down to town. The other American had to get home, but I was invited to join the others for lunch. We had typical Chinese, they order a bunch of things & everyone shares. I love it! The other women from the Heifer HK office joined us as well & I sat next to Bianca, who handles corporate sponsorship among other things (they have a small staff, so I think they each do a lot of things). Bianca’s English was excellent & I soon learned that she is married to a Brit. I asked what he does & it turns out he is the Exec. Director of Kadoorie Farms. You may not recall Kadoorie Farms, but I visited it last fall & loved it. I took a million photos of flowers & had one of the best days I’ve had in HK there. I told her how much I loved it & she was thrilled that I’d even heard of it, let alone actually been there. Nobody else at the table had ever been, so I think I instantly went WAY up in her opinion. I told her how much I’d enjoyed my visit to the farm & that I couldn’t wait to take my sister & mother there when they came to visit. She told me to contact her when they were here & she arrange for her husband to give us a VIP tour & we could eat at the staff dining room that serves only organic food grown on the farm. Am I ever glad she sat next to me. The Heifer thing is proving to be good in more ways than I’d imagined.

After lunch they showed me to Time Square (we were right near it) as I had to pick up some items at City Super that I couldn’t find at the local grocery. I thanked the so much for the wonderful lunch. They thanked me so much for my volunteering. The women from Heifer China were particularly thankful that I was helping out. Bianca suggested that I go on the next Heifer trip to China to check out the project & the China women agreed. I told them to show me where to sign up. Wouldn’t that be something, I’d see a part of China that I’m guessing not many tourists get to see. I hope it happens.