H.K., Holy Day, and another Massage.

Good morning Upper East Siders! Oh wait, that's not me, that's Gossip Girl.

So, my update for the week. Let's see. Hong Kong, what can I say about Hong Kong. It's absolutley fabulous! A true playgeound for the wealthy! All I heard before I went was how fantastic the shopping was. Well, apparently these people were not talking about bargains, sales, or anything like that. Obviously what they meant was if the Gucci you were in did not have the wallet you wanted, all you had to do was leave that mall, walk into the one next door and visit one of their 2 Gucci stores. I have never seen so many Gucci, Burberry, Escada, etc. stores together in all my life.

You know when you go to the Galleria in Houston where those stores are, there is only one of each, you go in and there might be one or two shoppers in there browsing or most likely tourists just going into Versace to gape at the price tags. But here, no, these stores were crowded with shoppers around the counters saying things like "no, not this one, let me see the other one", "okay I'll take both", and yes add this to my pile and now show me some blouses." It was phenomenal, like being in Confessions of a Shop-a-holics wet dream! And these were no sample sales, these were full price, one of a kind items.

So, Hong Kong is definitley a place I will be visiting as often as possible. My birthday there was an absolute blast. Great friends, great gifts, the best birthday yet!

An another note, we also made our first time visit to the Protestant church here in Shekou for Sunday service. For English people, you have two options. The Protestant Church and the Catholic Church, so needless to say we will be playing Protestant for awhile. It was a great service too. Held in a huge Gymnasium, there were still 3 rows of people standing, because it was so packed there weren't enough seats for everyone. It has a bit of a Baptist feel, a whole lot of singing and then a very stern serious message, but it was nice and we will definitley be going regularly. Dan was also amazed at all the Chinese people in the service. Christianity only makes up about 3 % of the Chinese religious population which is mostly Buddist or Tao.

On the home front this week, planty of adventure. Friday morning we woke up to no electricity. We all had to sit in the dark until 6:30 am when the sun finally began to come up, in order to get dressed for work and school. Needless to say, Samantha ended up going to school in a pink shirt that I could have swore was red when I got it out of the closet, red shoes, and a Baseball Cap because I could not see to brush her hair. Turns out the neighbors had tried to install a new washing machine that shorted out electricity in 4 apartments. How nice of them, right?

So after the morning dealing with that, I decided to relax with a foot message. I figured a foot massage couldn't be as detrimental to my health as the last massage. Of course, I was somewhat wrong or else these people just don't like me and wish to hurt me.

In hindsight, you should probably never trust a massage place that has a full bar at the front anyway, but who am I to say some can't have a cocktail and unwind while the employees try to beat them half to death.

So, I request a nice 80 minute FOOT massage. Get shown to a recliner where a nice looking young guy comes and tells me to turn around first. So, okay I do. He starts to rub my shoulders and neck and I'm thinking, this is a nice way to relax before getting to the Foot part. Then he trys to get me into a familiar position and I resist and tell him very sternly, NO, please do not POP anything on me!!!!!!

He says okay, like I must be crazy but continues the shoulder rub. No I mentioned he was nice looking right? So here I am sitting up straight while he rubs my shoulders, then he starts massaging my lower back and this puts him in the position where I am sitting up straight, and he is behind me with his mouth close to my ear and I can hear him groan in my ear as he uses his weight and force to massage. This is when it started getting a little intimate and uncomfortable, because this guy is behind me practically breathing in my ear and rubbing me. I am thinking, okay this is awkward, but not totally unpleasant. Hee! Hee!

Then he starts massaging my ass!!!! What is wrong with these people, I am there for a Foot massage, since when does that include a 10 minute ass rub as well? I swear, I am really beginning to think these guys see a big, fat, western trunk and they just can't help themselves, they have to rub it!

Finally I am returned to the recliner and he starts massaging my feet and it was amazing. It was so good, the 15 minute walk home afterwards felt like I was rolling along on clouds, my feet were so relaxed!

So finally a not so bad massage experiance and a perfect start to the weekend!

Hope everyone survived Black Friday and is gearing up for Christmas!