Sister Good's Final Blog

Weekly summary:

·         Sports day on Monday and Wednesday of last week with Pooi To Middle School

·         Final Thai class on Saturday where we shared our testimonies

·         Final Sunday School Class

·         Said goodbye to the girls at Pooi To

·         In short: a week of endings, but also of blessings

 

It has been quite an experience here in Hong Kong, and it is hard to believe that it is already over. It has not been without its frustrating moments, but also not without its extreme blessings. I thank God for the people I have been able to meet and the experiences I have been able to have. Thank you for joining with me on my journey!

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Sister Good Does What with a Cow?

Me: Guess what! I’m going to Macau this Friday!
My sister: You’re doing what with a cow?
Me: I’m not doing anything with a cow. I’m going to MACAU. M-A-C-A-U.
My sister: Oh, I see. That’s neat… What’s Macau?

Exactly. What is Macau? Macau is a Special Administrative Region like Hong Kong—it used to be under Portuguese control, but now it’s under the People’s Republic of China and has a few special privileges as an SAR. Margaret and I had the opportunity to visit Macau on Friday with Uncle Norman and his wife. It was quite a day. We took the ferry in the morning and spent the day exploring before coming back that night. Macau is a lovely blend of European and Asian styles, and I really enjoyed our visit. We ate loads of local specialties (including, but not limited to, crab congee [rice soup with an entire crab floating in it…surprisingly good], pork burgers, fish balls, egg custard tarts, and almond cookies), looked at cathedral ruins from the 1500s, and even stepped inside the largest casino in Asia (don’t worry, we didn’t gamble). The Venetian Casino is one of the most opulent places I have ever visited, complete with gambling tables on the main level and luxury stores on the upper levels. You either lose your money at the tables or spend it your earnings in the ridiculously priced stores—either way you are leaving penniless.

Macau is the only place in China with legalized gambling, so many tourists from mainland China come to Macau to gamble. It became such a problem that the Chinese government made a law stating that residents of mainland China could only come to Macau once every two months. Lest you think the Chinese government is benevolently protecting its citizens, let me clarify: the Chinese government instated this law because too many government officials were going to Macau and gambling away the government’s money. This law is actually the Chinese government’s attempt to protect its assets and not lose so much money at the hand of corrupt officials. Corruption runs rampant in China; that’s the nature of a capitalist economy under a communist government. (I actually listened in my capstone class at Jewell—my professors should be proud!) Regardless of the means, China is becoming a giant in the global economy, and it is still rising in prominence. At least half of the goods in your house probably say “made in China” on them. Now let’s put the pieces of the puzzle together. You buy the product; the Chinese company gets a percentage of the profit; the Chinese company uses a part of their profit to pay bribes to government officials so they can remain in business; and the government officials illegally gamble away the already illegal (technically, but not in practice) money in Macau. The casinos make a killer profit, waste money building even more casinos even more opulently, so more people come and gamble. You are paying for government officials to illegally gamble the Chinese government’s money in Macau. I’m not making any statement of moral approbation or disapprobation regarding buying things from China—half of my stuff comes from China too, and when I visit there in a week, I’ll leave laden down with souvenirs. My point is this: you buy your Christmas gifts at superstores in the US and indirectly support Chinese corruption, but the problem is bigger than China’s corruption. The problem is us too. It’s supposedly a small world, but we spend most of our time making it smaller by being caught up in the bubble of our surroundings. Do you know about the social unrest in Thailand? Have you heard about the Christians being slaughtered in India? Do you realize how many people have had their lives upturned by the economic crisis in Hong Kong? Maybe the problem is not just that China is corrupt, but, rather, that we don’t know about it. The problem is not limited to social unrest, poverty, famine, civil strife, or other global ills; the problem is our ignorance too. There are advertisements all over Hong Kong which say “Don’t turn a blind eye to corruption,” but I think that is what we do sometimes when we choose not to involve ourselves in our world. We turn a blind eye to the wrongs occurring around us, to the wrongs occurring in our world, because we do not even know they exist and we may not want to know.

Christmas is the season for giving, which also means that Christmas is the season for spending. Where will you spend your money? Where will I spend my money? I encourage you this season to find something other than Chinese corruption to support. In addition to your gift buying, send a couple of boxes to Samaritan’s purse. Buy a goat for a starving family in Africa, or support a clean water initiative. Give money to a missions offering. The causes are as endless as the need. Stay informed—watch the global news—find something to support. We may not be able to stop corruption in China, but we can give hope to someone who has none by spending our money on something new this year, and we can certainly lift up our world together in prayer. I didn’t have to go to Macau to figure this out; Macau helped crystallize many months (both in Hong Kong and beyond!) of my thought processes and figure out how to share my thoughts with all of you.

Thank you for allowing me to use my blog as my social soap box; next week we should be back to our regularly scheduled program. :-)

Grace and peace!
Sister Good

Sister Good Keeps it Brief

Greetings, faithful readers! Although I am not known for my brevity when blogging, today I will make a grand attempt so I can work on my upcoming exegesis paper. I’ve put a few lists below for your perusal!

Highlights from this week:
1) Michelle took us out to Hong Kong Baptist Theological Seminary on Tuesday so that we could pick up some books for the aforementioned paper. She gave us a tour of the campus and we were able to get a short glimpse into seminary life in Hong Kong. The seminary is set in a beautiful location by the coast in the New Territories and has a very peaceful atmosphere; I enjoyed the brief respite from an otherwise ordinary Tuesday.
2) On Thursday we joined the form seven girls at Pooi To (equivalent to high school seniors) on a school trip to a small island. I can’t remember the name of the island, but it had a YMCA campground on it. We ate lunch, played games, and were able to participate in activities set up on the campground, such as the ropes course, shooting pistols, or archery. Margaret and I both went to the ropes course. Despite my experience as a ropes course facilitator at Jewell, I got a rather unfortunate (and painful) rope burn on my right hand in the process. I’m not sure which stung more—my pride or my hand.
3) I randomly decided to get a haircut on Friday. The haircut itself barely rates as average as far as haircuts go, but the ten minutes it took to shampoo my hair and massage my head made it absolutely worth it.
4) The Thai English class is a highlight every week, so it is certainly worth mentioning. This week Margaret taught the ladies about colors and foods, and, as always, we had a blast.

As we draw towards the end of our time in Hong Kong (only two weeks left in the internship), I’ve begun thinking about some of the things I will miss about Hong Kong. This is what I’ve come up with so far:
1) The openness of Hong Kong people about things that Americans are typically tight-lipped (bodily functions, illnesses, monetary/salary questions, etc.). For example, I would love to be able to give you all the gory details about my hand, but that just wouldn’t be appropriate in this venue. I would also love to tell you about my finances so that some wealthy patron would feel compelled to sponsor me in a trip around the world, but money is also a largely taboo topic in polite American society, so it looks like I'll be doing things the old-fashioned way and getting a job.
2) The thrill of living in a big, international city. While my hometown of Higginsville is a lovely place, it is not exactly a bustling metropolis; it will probably be a bit of an adjustment to re-enter the quietness of rural living while I figure out what comes next.
3) The shopping. There are few things that thrill my parsimonious soul better than finding a trendy garment at a bargain price. Finding a garment at a bargain price that actually fits me (the clothing is rather small here) is much more difficult, but I will still miss the hunt!
4) The people. I’ve met a lot of really great people while in Hong Kong, and I think I am just now coming to truly appreciate them. Just about the time we've started to really get to know people it’s time to leave!

Here are some prayer requests for this week:
· Please pray that we would be a positive Christian witness for the girls at Pooi To during our last two weeks. I was able to offer some Christian encouragement to one of the form seven girls on Thursday’s outing, and Margaret and I continue to lunch with students. Pray that we would seek ways to be a blessing to these girls before we go.
· Pray for my hand. This is a selfish request, but things like writing, typing, cooking, eating, or basically anything that requires the use of my right hand have become increasingly more difficult since Thursday’s incident. It’s not serious, just annoying, and I would appreciate your prayers for a speedy healing.
· Please pray for Margaret and I as we make plans for our leisure travel during the first two weeks of December. Because we will be traveling during the last weeks of our semester at Central, the month of November is proving to be a bit manic as we try to get ahead of our work.

Sister Good Stops Sweating

After experiencing the hottest October on record in Hong Kong since they started keeping track in 1884, the temperatures in Hong Kong have finally started to cool off. Just Friday I was wearing a sleeveless shirt and shorts and was still dripping in sweat as I walked around the largest, outdoor, bronze, seated Buddha statue in the world on Lantau Island during Margaret’s and my “Adventure Day” (aka “day off”). Granted, I sweat like a guilty man before the jury any time it gets above 80, but nonetheless, it was hot. The cooler temperatures (mid-70s) on Saturday and Sunday felt almost like winter after essentially five months of summer for us, and the cool breeze put me in the holiday mood. This is admittedly not difficult to do, considering that I have been listening to Christmas music since October (well, possibly a bit in September too, but I would never admit to that outright; don’t worry, I do this every year); the Christmas decorations that have recently starting popping up around the city don’t help.

Margaret and I have continued to present on American holidays during our Wednesday substituting, which keeps visions of sugarplums dancing in my head as we share about some of our favorite American holidays. During our most recent round of classes, Margaret and I had the students write a paragraph about their favorite holidays after we gave the presentation, and I thought you might enjoy hearing a few of their responses:

· My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving Day. I can say Thank you since I’m shy. If that day comes I want to thank my friends, teachers, and my parents.
· My favorite holiday is Valentines Day. I like it because it’s a very romantic Festival. We will give the chocolate to our friends. Because we didn’t have boy friends, but we still can give our friends. We will play with our friends all day because our father and mother was go a way to eat the romantic dinner.
· My favorite holiday is Christmas because it is celebrate Christ’s birthday. And also, at that day, we will exchange the Christmas presents, it is really exciting. I have an experience of it, when we exchanged the Christmas present, I got a newspaper. I felt angry! But never mind, I forgive her. So, I am really really love Christmas!
· My favorite holiday is Christmas holidays because Christmas gives me a feeling that it is romantic and warm in my heart. Also, we can sing songs and hymns to praise Jesus and we can admire the lights decorates…Thus, there is a other reason that makes me love Christmas a lot. I love winter very much and Christmas is in winter! If I can have a Christmas hope, I hope it can snow everywhere in the world during Christmas. Snow is very, very beautiful and graceful (I think). I think everyone has this feeling, too.

Some of the other holiday favorites included Halloween, Chinese New Year, Summer Holiday, and individual’s birthdays; it was quite fun to read all of the responses and see what sorts of things are important to the girls with whom we work at the school.

Sister Good’s Other Activities
In the cultural club this week, I led a session on American dancing, which included everything from square dancing to swing dancing to hip hop (although no professional ballet or modern dance) with lots of short video clips to demonstrate. At the end of the class I taught the girls the Electric Slide, which was an absolute riot—American culture is at its best in the Electric Slide!

On Sunday, Margaret and I, along with all the other ministers in the church, loaded into buses for a trip with our church’s elderly to ride the cable cars on Lantau Island. I have (affectionately I’m sure) been called “grandma” by some of my friends for some of my, in my mind, prudent habits, so I felt as though I was among my own kind even though it certainly did not look that way. I believe there were approximately 100 people in our group, most of them with gray or no hair and all of them with smiles. Margaret and I have got the smile part down, but we are still working on the gray hair; suffice it to say that we stood out a bit in our tour group of elderly Asian men and women, but it was a blast. We rode the cable cars through the mountains up to Ngong Ping, a “village” that is really a bunch of gift shops and restaurants. We spent about an hour at the refreshingly breezy mountaintop tourist village before riding the cable cars back down. On the ride back down, Margaret and I found ourselves in a car with 8 other people from our group, who, aside from one middle-aged man escorting his mother, did not speak any English. They were laughing a lot and looking at us; although I couldn’t understand what they were saying, I suspect it was something along the lines of “These two girls can’t understand a word we are saying!” It was pretty funny for all of us, and I had a great day with our church’s elderly.

Prayer requests: Although it seems like we just arrived, we are also aware that our time is drawing to a close. Please pray that we will be able to make the most of our last few weeks at Pooi To Middle and Swatow Baptist Church as we experience life with the people here.

Sister Good Loses Her Identity

Because I suspect that my primary readers are my parents and grandparents, I'm going to go ahead and clear something up about the title of this blog entry: I did not lose any of my travel or identification documents. Don't worry—I'm very travel savvy. I have, however, lost my identity. This is how: When two people get married, there is a certain amount of merging of persons that occurs as they begin their life together. When two people do an internship together in Hong Kong, they actually become completely indistinguishable from one another. Not only do Margaret and I live together, but we share the exact same work schedule, same friends, same homework assignments—in short, same everything. I can count the number of times on one hand that we have done things independently, and half of those incidents were out of necessity because Margaret was sick. Despite the fact that we essentially share one life, for a long time I still prided myself on my individual identity as Sister Good, but not any more! I now answer to both Miss Street and Miss Fine because people simply cannot tell us apart and I no longer have the willpower to correct them (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, anyone?). When I say people cannot tell us apart, I do not mean they experience momentary confusion and forget who is who; I mean they really cannot seem to distinguish a difference between us, and these are people with whom we have regular interaction. If I correct someone and tell them I am Miss Fine, when that person sees me again in an hour, she or he will probably call me Miss Street again. Even though Margaret and I can immediately rattle off the list of differences between us, for the people around us we are pretty much the same person in two bodies, so either name will do. Any sense of personal identity I once had is completely lost. A name, after all, is only a title, right? Miss Street? Miss Fine? I think I'm both; there can't be one without the other, at least not in Hong Kong.

 

Despite my identity crisis, this past week has managed to continue in its usual fashion but with a decisively American theme. Margaret and I practiced responsible citizenship on Monday and dropped off our absentee ballots at the American Embassy.  To reward ourselves for being good citizens, we managed a quick trip to Starbucks for a sugar fix before a homework night. Thursday after school, Margaret led the cultural club in learning about American leisure activities, specifically sports and board games. I played some riveting games of Guess Who with some of the girls, and I must say that after all of these years that game is still a personal favorite. Thursday night we had an American night at the apartment with one of Margaret's friends from Hong Kong who was an exchange student in Margaret's high school. Chef Boyar-E (yours truly) cooked up some American-style pasta for dinner to make Margaret's friend feel welcome, we baked chocolate chunk cookies, and we watched a movie together. On Saturday in our Thai English class we taught about families, and I was able to share some pictures of my family with the class. I couldn't tell if my class thought my family members and I looked similar or different, but I think it is safe to say they enjoyed the pictures.

 

On a side note, I attended a portion of a drama seminar at the church yesterday afternoon, and it proved to be an opportunity for cultural learning. I discovered, first of all, that Hong Kong has monkeys, and second of all, that there is a certain park where monkeys are known to steal people's food. You can imagine my confusion as I watched this improvisation unfold. While there are many things that transcend cultures, there are also many things that do not. I appreciate your continued prayers as we work with the cultural club and meet with the girls over lunch at Pooi To and as we lead the Thai English class and Sunday School Class at church.

 

Blessings, everyone!

 

Sister Street. . . wait a second, I think I meant Sister Good!

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Sister Good Goes to Swatow

Last week, Monday through Wednesday, I had the wonderful opportunity to join my church in a trip to Shantou (traditionally known as Swatow), China, which is a city/region in the southeastern portion of mainland China. This trip is significant because the name of our church in Hong Kong is “Swatow Baptist Church,” and the worship services are delivered in both Cantonese and the Swatow language; many of the members of our church are either originally from the Swatow area or their parents are from that region. Quite a few of the people who went on the Swatow trip have actually migrated to the US or Canada at some point over the past 10 or 20 years, but they came back to celebrate our church’s 70th anniversary, and this trip was a part of the celebration. It was fun to be a part of the reunion as those who came from overseas were reunited with friends who stayed in Hong Kong and all of us explored this region of their heritage together. My favorite part of the trip was being able to watch the other group members interact with each other and enjoy the gift of friendship. Here are some of the other highlights:

· We visited a few “site-seeing” locations, such as a museum displaying traditional Chinese writing, the old city wall in Shantou, a traditional Swatow home built in the 1800s (sort of like the Biltmore estate in the US), and a Hakka (minority people group) dwelling that actually still has some people living in it.

· I ate some things I have never eaten before and may never eat again (hopefully). The cuisine in Swatow is much saltier and oilier than the food in Hong Kong, so it all seemed different from that which I am accustomed to eating here. Included in my new culinary experiences: jellyfish, goose liver, pig intestine, pig stomach, fish skin, oyster omelet, a strange type of “shrimp,” and loads of salty fish and salty vegetables. (These are just the foods I ate in a three day time period and are therefore only a portion of the “unique” foods I have eaten since coming to Hong Kong. Send me an email if you want the complete list.)

· We visited the three Swatow churches that our church in Hong Kong supports and visits in regular mission trips. At each church, the church members had prepared fruit and snacks for us to eat as a welcome and thank you for coming. The third church was actually located in a village on a hill, and our bus was too big to navigate the roads so we rented vans to take us up the rough terrain. The conditions of the village by American standards were squalid—chickens walking in and out of the houses, lots of dirt, open sewage, some wild dogs—but the church building was a very nice building and very well taken care of. One of the main problems that this church faces is that after they teach the children in primary school, the children have to go out of town for secondary school (middle school and high school), because the village does not have one. Usually the children do not move back after secondary school, because the village offers no way for them to earn money and support their families. The church is in a bit of a leadership crisis, because all of the young people leave the village, which makes it very difficult to train up new leaders. I am sure that it was a sacrifice for the people in this church to provide so many snacks and fruit for us because of the poverty of the village; I can’t help but wonder if perhaps dirt, sacrifice, and love don’t go hand in hand sometimes. The people at all three churches were very gracious and loving, and it was a very special opportunity to see firsthand some of the ministries our church in Hong Kong supports.

The other major happening this week was our church’s 70th anniversary celebration—this was a party like none other. We had church in the morning as usual, but with a guest preacher. In the afternoon we had another church service, which lasted for about 2 hours and was filled with songs from the choirs, a brief presentation on the history of the church, and another guest preacher. After the service we all loaded onto buses and headed to a hotel for the banquet, filled with food, friends, and photos. There was a video presentation, games, and table prizes (Margaret won a coupon to a sweets shop!). The banquet was a standard Chinese-style banquet, which is, of course, amazing. It was very lavish and filled with lots of courses, including, but not limited to, bamboo pith, shark fin soup, squid tentacles, oyster meat, fried rice, fish, and almond soup. When people in Hong Kong celebrate, they really celebrate. The banquet reminded me of the wedding banquet I attended in September, but with more people and no bride and groom. It was an exciting day to be a part of in the history of the church, and I felt honored to be able to join in the festivities.

Sister Good's Highlights of the Week

Greetings, all! I apologize that the blog is up a bit later this week! I've been on a trip to mainland China for the past few days and haven't been able to get to the blog until now. I'll describe that trip in next week's blog, but for now I'll just hit the highlights and lessons learned from last week.

 

1.       You can't scare a lizard out of your apartment with the large wooden stick from the sliding porch doors. It just won't work. The lizard, inevitably, will fall off the wall, onto the floor, and scamper under the couch.

2.       The song "Yankee Doodle" is just as entertaining in Hong Kong as it is in the US. Although we had a few technical difficulties, our first cultural class went quite well. We had about 25 girls attend, and I led a session on American folk songs, including treasures such as "Oh Susanna," "Swing Low Sweet Chariot," "I've Been Working on the Railroad," and, of course, "Yankee Doodle." We sang songs, learned about the American history surrounding them, and played a game as well. All in all—a success.

3.       We attended what was essentially a True Love Waits seminar for the youth on Saturday after we led our Thai English class. God bless Deacon Gur, the young male deacon who was roped into sitting between the two American women to translate at the last minute, and managed to translate the rather sensitive (and occasionally shocking) subject matter with a completely straight face and without a hint of embarrassment.

4.       Trips to China turn into an unexpected blessing when you are without water for your toilets and therefore cannot flush for several days. Our toilets went out on Saturday and weren't scheduled to be functioning again until Tuesday. (Apparently, they shut off the water on Saturday to do some work but ended up breaking the water main. Brilliant.) Fortunately, we left early Monday morning so we only had to suffer for a little while. I learned to be grateful for the McDonalds that only takes seven minutes to walk to. I don't know how the other people in my apartment building coped with the difficulty, and, frankly, I don't think I want to know.

5.       We managed to go to the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware on Friday. It was small, but that was one of the reasons we went there; we went as a short break from a day of homework rather than as a day-long excursion. I can now tell you the detailed process involved in making Oolong Tea and the different tea making procedures that have been used across the centuries. Naturally, we felt an obligation to go to Starbucks after learning about the rich history surrounding tea production and consumption.

 

That fairly-well sums up last week! Please continue to pray for our English Sunday School class—that we will be able to speak words of depth to those who are spiritually mature and words of simplicity to those who are just beginning. Also pray for our cultural club to be an opportunity to get to know some of the girls in the younger forms, and pray that language barriers won't cause difficulties. Lastly, please pray for those in Hong Kong who have been very deeply affected by the economic crisis. The financial tsunami is constantly on the news, in the newspaper, and being discussed by the people of Hong Kong. Many people have their savings bound up in the market and have lost a lot of money in the financial tsunami as a result. Please pray that the church will know how to respond.

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Sister Good Does Something New

It is hard to believe that we have been in Hong Kong for more than a month. In some ways it feels like we just arrived because everything in the culture still feels so new, but in other ways it feels like we've been here for ages. One thing that has become increasingly clear as we have progressed through the internship is that it is very much a process of trial and error as we figure out what works and what doesn't at the school, at church, and in our leisure time. Last week we decided to try something new: Margaret and I wanted to find a way to make ourselves a more effective resource for the school and better utilize our time at Pooi To, so we approached the principal about doing American culture lessons either as substitute teachers one day a week or in an American culture club after school. The principal was on board with both of these activities but suggested that we target the lower forms, because the upper forms are too busy with studying for their exams. (Only 18% of all of the students in Hong Kong will be able to progress to the university level, so they are under quite a bit of pressure.) On Wednesday we substituted in two of the second form classes (equivalent of our seventh grade) and did a presentation about American holidays. Margaret and I are trying to start the Western Culture Club after school on Thursdays for forms one and two (grades six and seven equivalent, US)—an opportunity for the students to improve their English while learning about American culture. Last week we went into their English classes to present about the culture club, and we plan to start the cultural lessons this Thursday. The response as indicated by the sign-up sheets seems quite enthusiastic. Our main concern is that the students will not be able to understand us; when we went into the classes to tell them about our cultural club, we were the recipients of quite a few blank stares, so we are concerned that the English level in the youngest forms will not be high enough for us to successfully interact with them about American culture. Please pray that the language barrier between us and the students will not impede our work or the quality of our interactions.

 

A Unique Cultural Experience

One of the founding members of the church died recently (his membership number was 001), and we were honored to be able to attend the funeral on Saturday. It was similar to an American funeral with a few key differences: funerals in Hong Kong are never held in the churches; they are always held in what could be called a "funeral parlor," or perhaps more accurately, a "funeral building" (there are only three funeral buildings in all of Hong Kong, each with many stories and rooms where funeral services can be held simultaneously). Before walking into the room for the service, everyone ties a white handkerchief on their arm as a way of expressing sorrow and sympathy. At the front of the room there is a picture of the deceased surrounded by lights and flowers. All of the family members wear black robes and sit in a section together to receive the condolences of visitors. For the funeral itself, the casket is wheeled into the middle of the room and left open for the duration of the funeral. At the end of the funeral, all of the guests walk around the casket to say a final goodbye. The family gives a gift to all of the funeral attendees—a coin and a piece of candy—as a way of expressing gratitude for their attendance. Because space in cemeteries is limited and expensive, most people in Hong Kong are cremated (although this man was buried); it usually takes time for legalities to be cleared up so that the deceased person can be either cremated or buried. As a result, funerals in Hong Kong are sometimes held as many as three weeks after the person's death.

 

The mood of the day changed when we loaded on the bus to head to the cemetery. The family passed around snacks and candy, and there almost seemed to be a party-like atmosphere. Michelle told us that on the way to the cemetery, the mood changes because people are celebrating the fact that the deceased is in heaven. It seemed to me that this was a very healthy way of viewing death—first mourn the loss of the family member or friend and then celebrate their relocation to Heaven. The cemetery itself consisted of levels and levels of concrete on a hillside with graves lined up in close proximity to best utilize the available space. After a brief graveside service, the funeral process was completed and we headed back to the church. There was a funeral meal afterwards, but Margaret and I were unable to attend because we had our Thai English class. All in all, I am grateful that we were invited to attend the funeral and gain insight into another aspect of Hong Kong's culture. We have now been to both a wedding and a funeral, which seems to me to be a very complete cultural experience.

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Sister Good Experiences Life Change

In the course of human history, it is often only the major culture-shifting paradigms or major historical events which are deemed worthy of recording; however, this past week I experienced something that was but a blip on human history, but for me was so much more. Even though it will never make it to the textbooks, it is worthy of recording here. This Friday, I experienced a life change in the form of a microwave. That’s correct: on Friday morning, Sister Good and Sister Street became the proud owners of a brand new microwave delivered directly to the apartment. For those of you who can actually remember what life was like before the microwave was invented, I salute your health and longevity; those of you who have trouble remembering what the letters “VHS” stand for may have a bit more sympathy for how significant this event was for us. Suddenly, our frozen dumplings that took eight to ten minutes to steam on the stove can be cooked in seconds. Our leftovers that had to be heated for twenty to thirty minutes in the oven can be ready in one. Not enough time to finish my tea? Not a problem—we have a microwave. In all actuality, my month without a microwave was not that bad and I could have easily gone the next two months without one. Nonetheless, I was overjoyed to receive it and several days later I am still marveling about what this means for my life (microwave popcorn, frozen dinners, and lots of other things with too many additives and artificial flavors but lots of convenience).

On a more serious note, the other major change that happened this week was that Margaret and I began teaching our English Sunday School Class. We are teaching on “hidden treasures” of the Old Testament and focusing on some of the lesser known characters. I started us out this week by teaching about Mephibosheth from 2 Samuel. (We called him “Big M” to simplify; “Mephibosheth” is a difficult word even for native English speakers!) We started the Sunday School hour by gathering in the sanctuary with all of the Sunday School classes from youth through adults to sing some songs and listen to one of the ministers say a few words regarding a passage of scripture. After about fifteen minutes of the large group gathering, we separated into our individual classes. We had about fifteen students in our class this week; I think some of them came out of sheer curiosity, and I admire their courage. Attending an English Sunday School class must surely be intimidating, because not only is it not in the students’ native language, but it is also taught in a different style from that with which they are familiar. I favor a discussion-oriented Bible study, whereas some of our students told us after the class that they were used to a lecture style of Bible study (although they seem open to something new). It will be a trial and error process, but we are excited to continue to learn from it as we teach. We appreciate your prayers as we continue in this process.

Aside from those major changes, life is proceeding as it normally does here in Hong Kong. Our Thai women continue to be a joy to work with on Saturdays in our Thai English class, and we are so grateful for the opportunity to work with them. We are still enjoying our work at Pooi To and getting to interact with the girls. Last week we started helping some of the form 1 students (about 11 or 12 years old) who are participating in a speech contest, and we will continue to work with these students once a week until the contest takes place in November. They will be reading a poem for the contest, so we are helping them with their pronunciation right now, and we will eventually help them with their delivery style as well.

Random Updates
* We had a public holiday on Wednesday of last week, and Margaret and I were able to join the children’s ministry in a boat trip to Lantau Island. We visited a fishing village called Tai O and went to a new park on a different part of the island. We even got to see some pink dolphins while we were on the boat ride! Pink dolphins are very rare and I believe they are only found in this region, so that was a special treat.

* We did manage to catch a random English news broadcast one evening last week when we arrived home later than normal. Lesson learned: if at first you don’t succeed, don’t start doing your homework! Just keep sitting in front of the TV and hope for the best! Alternately, do homework and turn on the TV again in an hour. That being said, when we tried to get some information about the torrential downpour occurring outside last night, all we could find were Chinese broadcasts. Apparently it was only rain.

* When we got the English broadcast last week, we heard some terrible news: the most recent products recalled because of the dairy crisis are Cadbury chocolates and MnM’s. I actually thought the sky was falling when I heard that; my two favorite candies could be potentially harmful! I’m sure there is an object lesson in this, but I am going to ignore it and just look for chocolate imported from somewhere other than China, Indonesia, or, really, anywhere in Asia until the dairy scare is behind us.

Sister Good Takes Time for Reflection

Greetings, all! I do not have any particular theme for this week's blog; it is a collection of my random reflections from the past few weeks, moving from the silly to the serious. Enjoy!

* I have now eaten duck/goose claw (I was never able to get a final answer as to which bird it was), complete with webbing between the toes. I didn't eat all of it, but I did eat it.

* I am aware that some of my readers may also be letter writers, so I thought I would post our address. Even if we do not know who you are, feel free to send us a note of encouragement in the mail. I promise we'll read it!

8-C
55 Yuet Wah Street
Kwun Tong, Hong Kong

* We only receive two English television stations at our apartment, and a lot of times the evening news is in Chinese, so we are often oblivious to the major happenings around us. I think there is a nightly news broadcast in English, but we are not usually awake to watch it unless it is the weekend. Although I try to check the news online when I get to school or church (no internet at the apartment at this point), I usually focus on American news, especially in light of the economic crisis and political situation; thus, we are largely out of touch with up-to-date information as it pertains to our life here in Hong Kong. For example, one day we came home from school, turned on the TV, and saw pictures of cows and milk cartons on every channel. All of the broadcasts were in Chinese, so we turned off the TV. A day or two later we asked Michelle, our mentor, about it, and she told us there had been a milk recall. Yikes! I am happy to report that Margaret and I have been unaffected by the recall and remain unharmed by our milk consumption (at least as far as we know). Another shining example of our ignorance is the recent typhoon. That is correct—I have officially survived my first typhoon. Schools and businesses were closed on Wednesday because of the intensity of the typhoon, so I didn't actually leave my apartment to investigate the weather conditions aside from stepping out on the balcony. In Kwun Tong it just seemed like a lot of heavy wind and some rain, but I suspect it was much worse on the coast. (We think we saw images of typhoon damage on the news, but the news was in Chinese, so we are not quite sure.) I enjoyed being "typhooned in" or having a "typhoon day" for the sheer novelty of it all. The most humorous part of the situation was that Margaret and I did not even know the typhoon was coming until we got to the church on Tuesday and Michelle informed us; we just thought it was unusually windy. We actually ended up leaving work early because the typhoon was about to intensify and we did not want to get stranded. Needless to say, the language barrier does pose occasional problems for us, but we have not consumed any poisonous chemicals or perished from weather phenomena yet, so I guess that means we are doing okay.

* I watched a news special about a week and a half ago about the poverty level in Sham Shui Po, the neighborhood in Hong Kong in which Pooi To Middle School is located. The news special showed images of people, especially elderly people, living in incredibly squalid conditions—they are crammed into buildings and living in cubicles with a dilapidated communal bathroom and kitchen. These people literally only have enough space to lay down and maybe a shelf for their belongings. These buildings are not air conditioned, and it is extremely hot and humid in Hong Kong. Although the government has plans to renovate some of these areas, the plans will not begin for another year or two. Now as I walk from the MTR (metro) station to the middle school each Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I look at the buildings around me and wonder if perhaps that building is one of the appalling living places I saw on the news, or if that is the store of the elderly woman who is unable to make enough money to earn a sufficient living. I recognize that poverty can be found in any major city, but I cannot recall ever watching a news special about poverty in an area in which I spend so much of my time each week. Now every short walk from the MTR station to the school is a prayer walk as I see signs of the poverty which has infiltrated my world.

A Day in the Life of Sister Good

Sister Good enters what is commonly, but not affectionately, known as "the real world"

After two and a half weeks in Hong Kong, the fairy dust has settled down and Sister Good and Sister Street are settling down into a routine that is euphemistically referred to as "the real world." We have entered into the workforce, loosely speaking, in a foreign country while taking graduate credit hours—it's been a bit of a rough introduction into the school of hard knocks. I now have a greater respect for my father, who managed to get his doctorate while on staff at a church and playing Barbies with me. I am sure things will settle into a rhythm, but we would certainly appreciate your prayers as we search for balance. I thought it might be good to describe what we do each week, rather than just describing our random adventures, so I apologize for not regaling you with tales of intrigue (I'll save those for another time). Welcome to the life of Sister Good!

We are at Pooi To Middle School on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Our primary purpose there is to be a resource with whom the girls can speak to either practice their English or talk about life issues. We have introduced ourselves via PowerPoint presentation to all of the form 7 classes (roughly the same age as high school seniors in the US), gone out for lunch with several groups of girls (the older girls can leave for lunch), attended the teacher and student lunch fellowships, and we also had the opportunity to present in an assembly to forms 4-7 about "eye on the goal," the school's theme for the year. We were able to use this opportunity to talk a little bit about our goals as they relate to faith—for me, knowing Christ more (see Philippians 3:12-14). We are also helping out with the English Activities Club, the English broadcast over the school's intercom system on Thursday mornings, and we have been interviewed for Clover TV (the school's English online television program). The girls here are really wonderful, and I enjoy spending time with them both over lunch and after school. On Tuesdays we go to work at the church. We use this time to plan for our Thai English class and the English Sunday School class we will be teaching. We also have a two hour lunch break every Tuesday, and we have eaten out the two Tuesdays we have been at church thus far. The first Tuesday the staff went to a dim sum meal, which is a meal in which numerous small dishes are brought to the table and everyone takes what they like out of the middle and puts it on their plates (one dish at a time). This past week we ate at a buffet restaurant in a hotel which had a mix of Chinese and more Western dishes—it even had salad available (not a common occurrence), which was a reason for celebration. In the evenings Margaret and I usually make dinner/heat up leftovers in the oven or on the stove (no microwave), do our homework until we're drooling on it, and then go to bed.

On Saturdays we teach an English conversation class with Thai women, and this is an absolute joy to do. They are very quick learners, and it is encouraging to see the immediate impact of what we are doing. After the Thai class, there are fellowships at the church, and we will join various youth fellowships for during this time. (This past Saturday there was a children's evangelical meeting, which we attended, but it was all in Chinese, so I don't really know what was going on. I think it's safe to assume they were talking about Jesus.) On Sundays we go church and usually end up eating out for lunch afterwards. I described the giant headphones and translation delay in my last blog, and that has continued, but now we sit in the balcony so we aren't quite as conspicuous.

Sister Good Goes on a Holiday

Fridays are our days off, so we use these days to explore the city. We also had a public holiday because of the Mid-Autumn festival, so we had last Monday off as well. I would describe the Mid-Autumn festival to you, but I don't understand it myself, so I recommend you google it. As far as I can tell, it has something to do with an ancient Chinese legend involving the moon, a woman who went to the moon, and a rabbit. People eat lots of mooncakes (a dessert made out of bean curd with an egg yolk in the middle…it has a similar texture and flavor to a sweet potato) and usually have a big meal with their families. We celebrated by going to our church's 70th Anniversary Concert in Hong Kong's cultural center.

On one of our first Friday off, we spent the afternoon at the beach at Repulse Bay. The beach had a warning sign up to let visitors know that although there are shark nets placed around the swimming area, swimmers should still swim at their own risk because it is possible for sharks to get through. That was admittedly a bit disconcerting, but we weren't overly daunted and enjoyed the afternoon nonetheless. We didn't spend very long at the beach because we had too many other things we needed to work on (and it started raining), but it made for a nice afternoon. We spent our Monday off at the beach as well, but this time we joined the Thai fellowship in a trip to the Gold Coast. We loaded onto a bus with approximately 60 Thai people for a sing-along journey to the beach. For you Veggie Tales enthusiasts, picture the opening scene of Jonah where they are all in the bus joyously singing to the guitar, except it was in Thai, not English, and we aren't vegetables, nor did we crash and meet vegetable pirates. It was fun and kind of humorous, considering, as usual, we had no idea what was happening. When we got to the beach the Thai people had a fellowship time, including a gospel presentation, and eight people accepted Christ at the end of the presentation. After the fellowship time, we had the lunch which had been prepared that morning at the church. My first bit of papaya salad was so spicy it literally brought tears to my eyes. With my second bite I could feel my nasal passages clearing. By the third bite my palette had adjusted and I actually started to enjoy it. I love spicy food, and this was definitely spicy. The other foods I ate were like eating candy after the burning sensation from the papaya salad (okay, that's an exaggeration, but the papaya salad was definitely the spiciest thing there; the fish salad was reportedly spicy as well, but I seriously didn't notice). It was all delicious—I love spicy, Thai food! After lunch we got in the water. This beach, too, had up shark nets, but it was in a less commercialized area and had much nicer sand. It was a very pretty beach. It is interesting to be out in ocean and look and see the beach, mountains, and skyscrapers. Hong Kong is quite a place of contrasts, which I am sure I will continue to discover.

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The Adventures of Sister Good

Who Is Sister Good?

First, a brief word about my blog's title, "The Adventures of Sister Good:" When Michelle, our mentor, was showing us around the church and introducing us to the lady janitors, she introduced Margaret as "Gai Tse," or Sister Street, and then looked at me and said, "Fine means good, right?" I told her that it did, and she introduced me as "Ho Tse," which roughly translates as Sister Good. (I am also called "Ho Gu Leung" because "Gu Leung" is a title given to lady ministers, which is me.) I find a bit of humor in being introduced to everyone as Sister Good (as one of my friend's has pointed out, the title makes it sound like I just walked out of The Crucible), so this blog will detail both the humorous and the more serious adventures of Sister Good and Sister Street.

The Adventure Begins

We arrived in Hong Kong on Tuesday, September 2, and the very next day we went to lunch at a 5-star hotel with Uncle Norman, the man who organized the internship on this end, along with Michelle (youth minister, our mentor, and tour guide) and Miss Lee (the Thai minister at the church). (A brief aside—it is customary in Hong Kong to refer to one's elders as Auntie or Uncle, so many of the persons described in this blog will carry such a title.) The lunch was a seafood buffet, and I ate some things I have never eaten before and may never eat again. Fortunately, I have nerves of steel and a stomach of iron, so I can eat just about anything with no ill effects afterwards. I ate quite an assortment of mussels and shellfish (I'm not really sure what they were, but I'm pretty sure everything was raw) in addition to noodles, fish (and fish maw, or stomach), sushi, salad, dessert, and all of the other things on the buffet. After the meal, Michelle and Miss Lee took us on a mini-tour of Hong Kong, with Uncle Hon, one of the church deacons, as our driver. We visited the Peak (a mountain top which offers a view of all of Hong Kong), Repulse Bay (a nice beach area), and Stanley Market which are all located on Hong Kong island, before coming back to our apartment, which is located in a very local area on the Kowloon Peninsula. On Thursday we were able to tour the church, which has about 1,000 members, and on Friday we had a meeting with the principal at Pooi To Middle School, the school at which we will be working while in Hong Kong, so we were able to see several different areas of Hong Kong in a very short amount of time. Hong Kong is a very beautiful place with an incredibly varied landscape; it has mountains, beaches, and sky scrapers all in one city.

Here Comes the Bride

We had the honor of attending the wedding of Uncle Norman's son, Hansen, on Saturday, which unlike any wedding I have been to the U.S. The wedding itself struck me as being quite similar to an American wedding with a few minor differences, but the reception was vastly different. The wedding was at 2:30 in the afternoon, but the banquet did not start until much later that evening. We arrived at the banquet, which is held in a hotel, around 8 pm. When the festivities begin, guests have the opportunity to take a picture with the bride and groom and the pick up the picture in an hour from the stand off to the side of the stage as a party favor. In addition to her wedding dress, the bride had three other formal dresses, much similar to prom dresses, which she changed in and out of throughout the evening's festivities. The meal itself started around 9:20 and contained 12 courses. It was quite a culinary experience. There were slide shows and presentations throughout the feast as well, and the bride and groom go around to every table to clink their glasses with everyone and receive congratulations. The banquet concluded around midnight; although in the US a wedding reception such as this one was considered quite elaborate, as I was able to gather from the people around me it is quite normal for a wedding in Hong Kong. The wedding was a lot of fun and a very unique cultural introduction to Hong Kong.

And Now Introducing. . . Sister Street and Sister Good

At church on Sunday, we were introduced to the church in both the 8 am service and the 11 am service. During the 8 am service, we went down to a conference room and did some work in there after we were introduced. Then we went to Sunday School, and, fortunately, some English speaking Chinese girls translated a phrase or two periodically. During the 11 am service, we had on HUGE headphones and a translator up in a little box translated the sermon for us into the headphones. The funny thing was that we were on the front row, because we had to be introduced, and for the entire service Margaret and I were about 2 seconds behind everyone else because of the translation delay. Everyone would stand, we would stand. They would bow their heads, we would bow our heads. Everyone lifted up their heads, and two seconds later, we followed. It had to be funny to watch. After church we went to a dim sum lunch with Uncle Norman, his wife, and his newly married son and daughter-in-law. A dim sum meal lasts a long time because they bring a few dishes to the table at a time, and you just take what you want from each dish and put in on your plate. Margaret and I did manage a brief foray into the Ladies Market (an open air market) Sunday night, which has lots of expensive "name brand" items like Gucci, Dolce and Gabana, Rolex, etc., but they are all fake and much cheaper.

A Few Extras

· Although it is somewhat common to eat dog in southern China, it is actually illegal in Hong Kong. Nonetheless, I affectionately refer to my neighbors' two dogs as "lunch" and "dinner."

· I have eaten more seafood in the past week and a half than I have eaten in the entire rest of my life combined, and I don't even know what I was eating.

· Of the four apartments on our floor, ours is the only one without a small altar and incense outside the door. Although the hallway is very aromatic, I may never think of incense the same way again.

· When people ask if I speak any Chinese and I share my few phrases, they almost always laugh. I can only hope I am actually saying "How are you?" and not something like "I pick my nose."