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.