A Day in my Life

I often get asked what a typical day looks like for me, so I thought I might as well tell you. No day is ever the same, and particularly today was quite full with mountaintops and valleys, and may things in between.

This morning, our team began with our usual time of singing and sharing together. And between songs, one lady called Mandy got up to share with us something the Father had really been impressing on her. She explained how a few days ago, He gave her a very clear picture of a wooden, jewelled box. She knew the box contained treasures but was hesitant to 'open' the box. She kept having this picture in her head, and finally in her quiet meditation time, she 'opened' the box and could see herself covered in a glorious white robe, with gold embroidered words of love and how she is His child. There was also an eagle holding her in its arms, keeping her safe and soaring with her. It was a really beautiful picture, and it's amazing to me when He gives people such clear and powerful images to remind us of His overwhelming majesty and love.

At the end of this morning meeting, another lady named Helen shared about her friends in Zimbabwe. She's an Australian woman but she lived in Zim for a while, and Helen is someone who very much has a heart for hurting people, and does personal mission trips to places with her husband to care for refugees, orphans, and anyone in between. Anyway, the couple she lived with while she was in Zim runs youth camps and really strives to make a difference in the broken country that Zim is. Because of a land dispute, the husband of the couple was accused of training soldiers to overthrow the government (when he is actually running youth camps) and is now imprisoned. At first he was charged with treason, which is punishable by hanging, but his sentence is now being converted to a life term. For doing absolutely NOTHING wrong. And the justice system there isn't very just, so he's is looking at slim chances of this wrong being righted. I can't even imagine the powerlessness and fear he must be feeling. Helen has a real burden for the country, and was remarking on how Zim keeps cropping up in her life. The Father is doing something in her and in that country, and as horrible as it is, we can only look to Him for what to do next.

After this meeting ended, I headed up to our Communications area where we have a girl named Amy working with us for a few months. She is not a believer, but has been asking lots of questions because she knows we are all believers. And it's been really cool to see in just a week how open she is to attending Studies with us and wanting to learn more. She is of a different faith, but we are all hoping she will meet Him while she is here.

In more mundane news, I finally taught myself how to use Adobe Illustrator today. It took me hours to make a simple thing, but I got there in the end and felt a huge sense of accomplishment.

And at the end of today, I had the kids for an hour to help them learn about our Father. I have them once a week for this time together (I see them every day, but we only formally do the Study on Fridays together). Today we learned about the process of turning away from Him, experiencing a turning point, and then turning back and living in relationship with Him once again. During this lesson, one of the boys, Joshua, who is a good kid but has a hard time sitting still and gets frustrated very easily, really surprised me. We had some verses to learn, and he was in my group (he's about 8) and another girl, Courtney, who is 5, and who always does her best to annoy this boy and push his buttons, was also in our group. Courtney has a very hard time learning things by heart since she's so young, so Joshua, without my prompting, took it upon himself to sit with her and help her learn it. She kept trying to give up, but he very gently would not let her, and was really cheering her on and giving her little cues when she needed them. Like I said, he usually gets frustrated so easily, but Courtney, who is often his nemesis, didn't get to him in the least, and they got on really well, and she learned her verse! It was really beautiful to watch.

Besides that, there were all the little things in the day. I went to the grocery store to get some snacks for the kids, and ran into several people I know. I also talked about tourist spots and how to get there for Amy, who is new in the city. I practiced a new Cantonese phrase with my Chinese friend, Annie, and killed yet another roach in my kitchen (the heat brings them out in droves). I made myself a chicken sandwich using delicious pita bread for dinner, cooking it all up in my little kitchen. I treated myself to a mini Toblerone from the store. I lent a bread pan to my neighbor, who in turn gave me a slice of fresh apple crumble she just made. I spent a good chunk of time talking to Maz on Skype, and tried in vain to check my email (Yahoo keeps giving me errors when I log on ... so annoying!). I've read some of my book too ... a new one called "The Secret History" which so far is very interesting.

So that's my day. It's unlike my day yesterday, where I spent a good piece of time in Tuen Mun with Annie, going to a hole in the wall copy place where her native Chinese speaking skills were quite handy, and as we waited we had such a good, long chat about faith and life and it was really encouraging to both of us I think. The day before was Pancake Day, and over the weekend was traipsing through back alleys of the city. I never know what the day will hold, which is true of my life even in the States. Yet I love the unique flavor my life has here, in the midst of Hong Kong and its culture, sounds, smells, tastes, people, heat, and dirt.

Pancake Day!

Yesterday was Shrove Tuesday, which is the day before Ash Wednesday, and signifies the last day of indulgence before entering into a period of fasting during Lent. In America, we usually call it Fat Tuesday and hold Mardi Gras celebrations which don't really have much religious implication. But as I learned this week, apparently in the UK and Australia they have Pancake Day.

Now, upon first hearing this, I thought, "what a great idea! Pancake Day instead of drunken-crazy-sinful-disgusting-mardi-gras day." But Pancake Day wasn't quite what I expected.

You know all the other 'different' things other Western cultures do that I sometimes use this little forum to rant about or highlight how odd I think they are? Well, Pancake Day blows them all away.

Our team got together to celebrate this day before Lent's beginning, and a pancake spread was put before us. But imagine my and the other few Americans' total confusion when we are told to put sour cream, lettuce, tuna salad, and green peppers on our pancakes. On our PANCAKES! It ... was .... WEIRD. Christy, another American, and I were trying our best to try something new, but it was just WEIRD. We had an Australian girl explain why we were participating in this abomination, and she was shocked that we'd never had savoury pancakes. Apparently there are sweet and there are savoury pancakes (they tasted the same to me ... and FYI they refer to crepes as pancakes, too). So the savoury were the ones we were loading with chicken and sour cream and whatnot. But pancakes just do not go with taco fixings. It's just not right.

We then got to have 'dessert' pancakes, which were a little more regular though no sign of syrup, which again is unfathomable if you are an American. It's an unspoken standard that you have syrup with pancakes. But instead we had mandarin oranges and chocolate sauce to pour over the crepes. (They also think it's really weird that we have donuts for breakfast, since essentially it's cake for breakfast which isn't necessarily the healthiest or easiest thing to put in your tummy early in the morning.)

All I can say is, my pancake world was severely rocked tonight. I think I'll stick with my good ol' thick, buttermilk pancakes with maple syrup, thank you.

My Reading Recommendation

This week, I read a book called The Book Thief. It is set in World War II Nazi Germany, and focuses on a young girl named Leisel. Her younger brother dies of hunger, and her mother sends her to live with a foster family that can better care for her. She grows to love her foster family, though it takes her years to recover from the guilt of living when her brother died. Her new father really grows into a real father, teaching her to read, patiently caring for her when she has nightmares, and loving her no matter what. Though deep in poverty, she still manages to find some beauty, especially in words. She becomes best friends with a boy next door named Rudy and develops a beautiful friendship with him which is both childish but also, at times, they undergo very difficult circumstances together as war looms over them. Leisel acquires books in different ways - one she pulls off a fire when the Nazis are burning Jewish literature. She acquires a few more from the library of the mayor's wife, who senses Liesel's love for reading and leaves the window open, so Liesel can 'steal' books to read.

It's such a beautifully written book, and is narrated by Death, which may sound bizarre but is actually really genius and a very interesting perspective. Death has Liesel's journal she loses at one point, and is re-telling her story, in which he intersects with her from time to time as people around her die.

I found it interesting to read a book placed during the Holocaust, but from the perspective of a family in Germany at the time. I think it's easy to think people in the country were all aware of the atrocities being carried out at the time, and that they willingly allowed it to happen. But the truth is, many were forced into subservience to the Nazi party because without membership, they lost all their customers and therefore their livelihoods. Also, many Germans hid Jews or offered them food or help as they were paraded through town. Liesel's family hides a Jew in the basement, and during one of the air raids as her family flees to the nearby bomb shelter, Max (the Jew) has to stay behind, risking death from the bombing.

There are many other moments of heartache as the war moves closer to Leisel's home, and the book made me both laugh and cry. I would really recommend it. It's an easy enough read, but also gripping and poetic in its use of words, and all the symbols and metaphors used within.

It is my reading recommendation for the week - The Book Thief.

Travels through TST

Sunday is the one day a week I know I will make the trek into the busier part of the city, a good 45 minutes away on the bus. Whenever I go in, I make sure during the preceding week to keep a mental list of things to do or buy while I am in, things I can't do or get as easily in the more Chinese area in which I live. Tonight, I needed to copy some house keys and buy a little baking dish to use in my very little oven. My friend Laura and I set off on the 962 bus to Wan Chai on Hong Kong Island at 4 pm, arriving there just before 5, a full hour before we needed to be at church only 2 MTR stops away.

We wandered the streets in Wan Chai, trying to find the key place a friend had referred us to. We threaded our way through the many people outside the Jockey Club placing bets, wound around taxis paused on corners, and dodged between the many people filling the streets. The key place was found, but alas, was closed. We decided to head to TST, where the church is, and try to find a key place there. As we came out of the MTR in TST, there was a key place! It was cheap, and very quick, and I now have a spare so I won't lock myself out anymore! Yay!

We then headed to the Japan Home Centre which is a small shop located in the basement of a building on Hankow Road. I found my little baking dish for a very low price, and left the shop quite happy I'd been able to accomplish my two errands while out. It can really be hit or miss around here, so this was a big success!

We made our way through the crowded streets and into church. The music was powerful, the message deep, and the time valuable. We left, in search of food and, not wanting Chinese, headed to The Spaghetti House, a chain Italian place that, while meeting our need for non-Chinese food, left a bit to be desired quality-wise.

Then we felt like looking for cheap DVDs, and Hong Kong is nothing if not a source of cheap, knock off products. We headed to Temple Street, to the tourist heavy night market. We were accosted by very enthusiastic, boisterous marketers for the Jordan Curry House nearby. We threaded through outdoor restaurants where seafood still moved on plates (not even kidding), noodles were drowned in sauces and indeterminate meat, and people and dogs occupied every chair and stool available. Scents of cooking and frying meat and noodles filled the air, slices of raw meat hung from hooks, and there was a general feel of perfectly balanced chaos.

We powered through the shoppers purveying the fake Gucci bags, sparkly Hello Kitty keychains, 'authentic' Chinese paintings, and embroidered pillowcases and clothing, and arrived at the DVD shop. We were shown to two small crates of DVD TV box sets, where the English in the show descriptions were sometimes just gibberish or the picture on the front had nothing to do with the show (all the markings of a quality, non-pirated product .. haha). We even were shown the movie section, which in fact included a copy of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" which only came out in theaters here a few weeks ago. Laura and I exchanged a look and a laugh as we put this obviously pirated DVD back in its box.

After Laura made her purchase, we pushed back through the crowds, were once again accosted by the curry restaurant guys, and found our way to the red minibus. We boarded, and Laura tried in vain to tell the man we were going to the Gold Coast. He finally gave up trying to understand English, shrugged, and took our money. We found seats in the back of the 16-seater bus and waited for the other 14 seats to fill so we could go. We were soon off, barreling through the streets and onto the highway. We hit some gridlock traffic, but then were free on the road, the speedometer up front beeping as the driver exceeded the 80 kmh limit. As we neared our stop, Laura used her minimal Cantonese to call out "basi jam, mgoi!" and the driver let us off.

It is nights like these, filled with so much of the Hong Kong I love, that makes me hurt to know I will soon be leaving. But, I know that when coming to HK in the first place, I questioned His leading, unable to fathom how this would be better than the life I was happily living in the States. But, here I am, a year later, and it turns out my Father was right, and this is incredible and I don't for a minute regret coming here. So, I'm sure I could stay here and have a good, meaningful time, but I know that to move onward, and follow His lead, I will have an extraordinary time ... and 'extraordinary' is better than just 'good.'

TST at night

Temple Street

Hong Kong Weather Has Returned

After a very, very brief holiday, the heat and humidity of Hong Kong has returned from its vacation, ready to suffocate once again. I woke up this morning, hot under my blankets, and knew before setting my foot on the ground what the day would be like.

The skies are gray, the air is thick and unyielding, and there are storms forecasted over the weekend. As you may recall from earlier blog posts, the summers here are characterized by typhoon season, and it rains unrelentlessly for days at a time. We haven't seen rain in a while, but it seems it will be making a comeback as well. It is, however, supposed to be cooler next week, ie 68 degrees F.

I was hoping this brief sojourn into cooler, drier weather would last a tad bit longer, but it seems living in a tropical climate, we aren't prone to many cold, dry days. So ponytails, sweatiness, and general exhaustion from heat ... here I come.

Inspired Sundays

While I was sitting in service on Sunday evening, I was looking at the faces around me, mostly Asians, and was thinking on the difference between attending a service in China versus attending one in most Western countries. In Asia, it isn't the norm to go to a Sunday service. It isn't a box you check, or something you do to show you are a 'good' person. Most people aren't believers (or are believers in other things), but those who are truly seek Him and want to learn about Him on Sundays. This isn't to say every single person there is committed to the cause, but it certainly is a stronger feeling of commitment than I've felt in other services at other places. I was inspired by their faith, and reflecting on the original people who brought the Message to this place. Their fruit has multiplied so many times over, from those first seeds planted. It really is a different atmosphere, to sing and learn with them. It's an awesome time.

A Little B&E to Start the Day

While I was away over the holidays, another lady here noticed my doorknob wasn't working properly and had it fixed for me. I very much appreciated that, but it also means I have a new key and therefore no spare key hidden in a pot outside my door anymore. I knew eventually I would lock myself out.

I've started going to service on Sunday evenings instead of mornings, which is great because I do my laundry during the day since most other people on our team go to service in the mornings and are off in the city. This morning, I changed into my ratty clothes, stuffed my laundry bag with my washing, and trekked up to the laundry. I deposited my clothes into a washer, and trudged back to my third floor apartment in the heat. When I turned the handle to my apartment ... it was locked. I didn't take my keys with me to the laundry since it's not a long chore and I was coming right back. I was sooo mad at myself. And since it was Sunday morning, everyone was gone so I had no one to help me.

I headed over to where the offices are, and thankfully remembered we had just last week put a spare key to that building in a hidden spot. I recovered it, unlocked the door and went to the office of the lady who keeps track of the apartments and, I concluded, must have an extra key. I got into her office, located her keys to unlock the cupboard where she keeps everything (she's my neighbor and friend and I knew she'd be ok with this, so this wasn't the B&E I'm referring to.. that comes later), but of course, she had a master key to every apartment in my building except mine. This is because my lock is new and she hadn't made a spare yet. There is only one other key to my door, and it would normally have been with the masters, but I have a teacher from China staying in my apartment for a few days and she had the key, and was out for the day in the city.

So, I sat in the office, trying to think of what to do. I found a phone list and started calling people I thought might know where the master keys the maintenance guys have would be. Then I remembered a young couple nearby who also go to evening service and therefore might be home still. The husband of this couple - Steve - came over armed with two screwdrivers, his public transport card (sturdier than a credit card) and a thinner card (flimsier than a credit card). He started working at the lock. And, to my sheer joy, eventually got the slimmer card worked in and sprung open my door. He's a very upstanding citizen, and to my knowledge doesn't regularly break into people's houses, but I think he and I were both proud of his newfound skill, and I was certainly elated to get back in and not have to wait several hours, in my ratty clothes, sitting outside with nothing to do.

I love being able to lean on people, and am so blessed when they are willing to help. Yay for people who make the effort to serve others!

What a Wonderful World

I think the world is an amazing place. And I’m grateful to be experiencing so many different aspects of this world, though it takes me far away from my home and its familiarity.

As I was meeting with our team this morning, I looked around at the small group of seven I was sharing with. We each came from a different country – Cameroon, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Spain, Canada, America (me!), and England. Despite any cultural or geographic differences, we all share the same Father and His heart. It’s amazing to me to see how He works in such different ways in each of us, and the social and cultural barriers we place in our lives are non-existent in His plan for each of us.

This past year has been about breaking down these barriers, and adapting to new ways of life and tolerating attitudes and actions that may seem strange to me at first but are products of upbringing in places so different than me. Being different doesn’t make something wrong. And being different than me and my customs and what I think makes sense is certainly a necessary facet of life I need to be exposed to. I see Westerners (not necessarily Americans) in restaurants or shops, being so picky and demanding about their food or other products, bearing the attitude that “the customer is always right.” I feel embarrassed to be one of them sometimes, wishing they would just realize they are in a much different place and things don’t work like that here. (For Chinese:
“It’s food … eat it.”) It’s important to adapt to your environment, and know that a nation of a billion isn’t going to change its ways to adapt to you, but rather it must be the other way around. And learning that people in other parts of the world behave differently, for different reasons, is an important lesson to learn. You may even discover that their way of life makes sense when you never thought it would. I certainly felt this way about chopsticks (anyone see that Seinfeld where he talks about chopsticks? “You know they’ve seen the fork”). But, as I use them more and more it doesn’t really matter to me to use a fork or chopsticks because I don’t see much difference to them when eating Chinese dishes or anything else prepared here (they know people use chopsticks, so things are already cut up for you or prepared in a way that works with chospticks).

Being in an environment where it’s not a given that someone knows what 4^th of July is, or even what Tylenol and Aspirin are (they use something called Panadol instead) has sometimes been frustrating as it is really the little things that get to you. Yet I’m relieved to know the whole world doesn’t follow my customs and traditions. It makes for a much more unique, and awe-inspiring planet, and I can see more fully its many colors and thus the simply astounding creation that He has brought into being.

Super Bowl 43

If you thought my being in a far away country would deter me from the national pastime of watching the Super Bowl, think again! There are plenty of ex-pats and Chinese in HK who wanted to watch the Cardinals and the Steelers go head to head, and I joined their ranks for an early breakfast on Monday to watch the game with some friends.

Because of the time difference, the game started at 7:30 am on Monday here, and there was one restaurant – Dan Ryan’s – that was showing the game on a big screen. It’s in Admiralty on Hong Kong Island, so a bit of a commute that early in the morning from the New Territories … but only for my friends since I was lucky enough to be housesitting for a friend in the area near Admiralty (ie I got to sleep an extra 45 minutes). I met six friends at Dan Ryan’s at 7 am and we were shown to our table we had to reserve several weeks in advance (under the name “Ms. Kaia” for my friend Kara). The tables were laid out in rows in the dining room, the game being projected on a screen on the wall at the front. Only three of our seven were Americans, the others being three Australians and one Brit – none of whom had ever watched an American football game. We Americans were asked endless questions about why the players do this and that … and being the football buff that I am NOT, I just kept saying, “Um… I don’t know. They just do.” The Brit among us kept drawing rugby comparisons, and was able to figure out the game based on what she knew of rugby.

Since it was morning, there was a menu of breakfast choices and we each enjoyed eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, and toast. There were several, more intense fans, in the place who, despite the early morning, kept the beers coming and enjoyed themselves immensely (I kept wondering what they were doing after the game was over, at 11 am, and they had already been drinking for so long, but oh well – and these weren’t Americans, but Chinese that were doing the drinking). I think I was surprised by how many Chinese were there, very eager to watch the game and knowledgeable about it too. In fact, I would say there were more Asians than Westerners in there.

It soon became apparent who was on what side, as with touchdowns half the room would explode into cheers and the other half into “NO!” I wasn’t sure which side to choose team-wise, so at half-time I called my dad and asked him. Being a football fan, he emphatically told me we are Cardinals fans, and have never been Steelers fans. Good to know.

Sadly, we only got to watch local commercials and not the much talked about Super Bowl commercials. We also did not get to watch the half-time show. It was a bit disappointing.

I had a lot of fun being in the midst of such an energetic crowd for such a close game. Even the Aussies and Brit with us got fully into the game, and by the end vowed to watch it again next year. So at the very least, I’m converting people to American football.

**In the photo above, I know it doesn't look very crowded but that's because the photo was taken after the game ended and people were clearing out fast to head to work. Bonus question: Can you tell just by looking who the Aussies are, the Brit, and the Americans? :)