Did I have an immediate interview with the Mission President?...no. We took pictures with him, and they said they would send it the next day (a week ago now, so you should have gotten it by this point probably). He said that since there were 40 of us, he would be coming around to interview us in the areas, since it would probably take up a full day for him to get a meaningful interview with everyone.
As for groceries, there are some regular grocery stores here too. Unfortunately, granola bars (and other food) are expensive as all get out here (it costs about 5 bucks for a box of 2 nature valley bars). On the bright side though, Chinese food is actually pretty cheap in Chinatown. Did I mention yet that I deeply enjoy Mianbao? It's like rolls, but with various things stuffed inside. It is quite delicious. We haven't eaten at any members houses yet though, so I'm guessing I haven't gotten the 100% true Chinese food experience yet.
So...Chinatown. DANG. I thought that being in an area this small for so much of my mission would feel constrictive. I could live here for the next 10 years and easily not get to know what/where everything is and who all the people are. We have 4 investigators right now, a 30 year old man with a massive Fujanese accent (I don't understand 99% of what he says in Mandarin, and he speaks 0 English). Investigator 2 is 29, speaks pretty good English, but she keeps meeting with the Jehovah's Witnesses too though, so we need her to stop doing that. Number 3 is a college student, plenty of faith, good English, taught all the lessons, but he lives with his aunt, and he's worried that if he gets baptized then he'll get kicked out of the house. I haven't had a chance to meet our other contact yet. I wasn't expecting that of my first 5 lessons, 4 would be in English.
Street contacting is weird. We stand on the street, and contact people who walk past. Problem is, they usually have somewhere they're going, and so just don't even respond. Especially during the winter when it is cold/wet outside. Hence, fewer investigators. It also seems that in my case, every single person I've managed to get to respond only speaks Cantonese. At least that's what they tell me in Cantonese. At which point, elders Mok, Ling, Wang, or sisters Woo, Chan, or Khong take over, since they all speak some level of Cantonese as well as Chinese (they are all from Singapore, China, or Hong Kong, so they can pretty much do all 3 languages with no issues.)
We get to go to the temple typically once every transfer at the date of our choosing (specifically, our Zone Leader's choosing). Due to us being lucky, we scheduled our date as the 20th of March, then got word that we are allowed to attend the special Mandarin session that will be held this Saturday, so we get to go to the temple 2 times in less than a week, super excited for that. If I didn't tell you, the Mission President said we are allowed to attend Yankie's Games if they are in the afternoon on Wednesday, which there are usually 6-8 of those during the season, so I suspect I'll actually probably go to a professional baseball game, not just during my life, but during my mission. Bit unexpected there.
The missionaries in our Chinatown ward have to teach Gospel Principles (Sunday School) class. I'm not looking forward to doing that. We also teach an English class in the chapel during the week, and most of our lessons are in the chapel, because people's apartments are so small and/or dirty that it would be uncomfortable/embarrassing for them. A lot of them work in restaurants 6 days a week, 12 to 15 hours a day too, so it's hard to teach lessons with active Church members on hand as well. English class is mostly attended by elderly women who have nothing to do, and want to try to learn a bit of English. I learned I can't explain a prepositional phrase, because I still can't figure out what it is myself. Just teaching vocab is fun though.
The lack of smell is coming in handy too, I enjoy the subways a lot more than most of the missionaries seem to, due to the fact I don't have to smell dried urine the entire time we're down there. Also, I don't think that Chinese people watch the commercials about how smoking is bad for your health. Another 10 points to faulty olfactory capacities. Actually, now that I think about it, I should probably get my suit dry cleaned soon, I'm sure that all that stuff has to seep into your clothes at some point.
Love you all, stay clean, stay safe, your sibling/son in service,
Elder Christensen
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