Only 23 days to go before we will leave Cebu and go into the next phase of ministry, that is teaching in China. I have been looking forward to the cooler weather in Hong Kong since it has been roasting hot here in Cebu. We don't deal with heat very well, the humidity and heat combination often send me into a very bad mood.
It is snowing today in Aberdeen, Scotland, where we will spend the next 3-4 years, I am just wondering, just wondering, if I would actually miss the heat in Cebu when I sit in front of the heated room looking out to the constant cold rain in Aberdeen.
Are we all like that? Women, when we have long hair, we want short hair. After we cut it short, we immediately want to grow it out. Men, the to grow beard or not to grow beard question is always lurking, even though you think you are pretty clear about the answer. Wondering, just wondering, what would I look like, or other's response will be, if I grow a beard....
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Jesus is powerless for two days
A display inside the Basilica de Santo Nino in Cebu.Mary, the one of the left, was touched so much that the paint is peeled and the wood from underneath turns black. She is the one people wanted to touch and be blessed.
The phenomenon also shows up on the Filipino calendars, you almost cannot find one calender that is printed in the Philippines that has Easter Sunday marked, though Good Friday MIGHT be. The only calendars that have these days marked are imported calenders.
We went to a local church this morning (Easter Sunday), for 90 minutes, we heard something along the line of suffering and death of Jesus, towards the last two sentences, the preacher mentioned the resurrection of Jesus and how we should be happy that Jesus lives today.
A missionary who has been serving in the Philippines for 25 years wrote the following email to explain to us an essential part of how Filipino Catholics view Jesus and Easter.
Filipinos tend to restrict their activities during the Holy Week because they are afraid that something might happen to them.
I’ve personally experienced Filipino negative reaction to things during Holy Week. A number of years ago, I needed to have elective surgery done. It was scheduled during Holy Week because that was the first available time that the doctor could do surgery. The doctor was a follower of Christ, so she didn’t have any problem with my having surgery and I didn’t either. But when the nurse was gathering the information for pre-surgery, she was shocked that I would have elective surgery during Holy Week.
Another time, the Vista Verde church in Manila had a retreat during Holy Week. On the way home, there was an accident and several people were injured and one lady died from internal hemorrhaging. The lady was a strong believer, but her mom and family were strong Catholics. The body was put at the church for viewing. The next morning (Easter Sunday) the mom came into the church and yell at her son-in-law, and at the church people. Her daughter was going to be condemned to purgatory. She was inconsolable that day. The church held services every night during the week. The next Sunday was the funeral. Coming out of the church after the service, my friend heard the brother say to his sister, “Don’t be sad, we know where Cynthia is, she’s in heaven, but what about us? What will happen to us when we die." So during the week, their belief about eternal life changed.
The reason I share this is that maybe the issue with the Filipinos isn’t that they don’t believe in Jesus being both human and divine, but the issue is trying to correct the misconception here in this country that God dies every Good Friday. They may have gone too far the other way.
We are still struggling to understand how their theology has become what it is. It is difficult for us to grasp why Jesus is so small.Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Bravo! Mr. Lewis
Atheism turns out to be too simple.If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning...
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Obituary of the late Mr. Common Sense
My aunt forward this to me, though I would share:
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
Knowing when to come in out of the rain; why the early bird gets the worm;
Life isn't always fair; and maybe it was my fault.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.
Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.
It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an Elastoplast to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.
Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realise that a steaming cup of coffee was hot!! She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.
Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason.
He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else Is To Blame, and I'm A Victim.
Not many attended his funeral because so few realised he was gone.
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
Life isn't always fair; and maybe it was my fault.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.
Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.
It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an Elastoplast to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.
Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realise that a steaming cup of coffee was hot!! She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.
Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason.
He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else Is To Blame, and I'm A Victim.
Not many attended his funeral because so few realised he was gone.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Strange sight
We were bombarded by loud music again this pass weekend again. Ernie Manges, a missionary friend who is staying with us for two months, said the music was rarely that loud when he was a resident in the mission home for some years.
We were told by Maris and other missionaries that some people would move speakers as big as refrigerators on a flat bed truck, set them up in an open field somewhere, crank up the volume and charge people who would come and party.
It was Friday night, the music started at around 6:30pm, it went on until past midnight, though none of us, except, was able to sleep, we still managed to fall asleep around 4:00am. Ernie stayed up until the day broke, he said the music was still going at that time. Saturday night, the music started around the same time at night, same as the night before, it went on way in the wee hours of the night. By 2:30am, Dan was too curious to stay in bed, he decided to investigate where exactly the music came from.
I was worried about him going by himself, I am worried that he would confront the people, if he did, I am worried for his safety. I got out of bed to go with him, just to make sure he would not get out of the car.
We drove down the dimly lit streets, only a few cars was running, strangely, there were groups of young people walking down the street, even more people hanging around in front of closed stores.
We drove down a street where we heard the music coming, not far down this side street, we saw a bright disco ball, loud rap and disco type music was booming, under the street light, we saw three pigs, seemed like they were just slaughtered, someone was putting some sort of sauce on one of them, another preparing a fire over a big heap of charcoal, obviously, they are going to do a "lechon baboy" (grilled whole pig).
About 20 people were present, either sitting or standing, they were relatively motionless. There was no one dancing, no one partying at all!
We were starting to draw attention, even though we never stopped the car, we were just driving a bit slower than normal. We started to feel quite uneasy, we were definitely watched. We slowly turned around and went home. The music went on all night, it faded the Sunday morning at around 6:30am.
We of course asked Maris when she came to work Monday morning. She was not surprised by the lack of dancing and the slaughtered pigs. She said probably someone is going to have a baptismal ceremony on Sunday, that's why they are preparing the food the night before. "This is part of the fiesta." Maris said calmly.
Very interesting experience. Ernie said for the years he has been in the Philippines, he has always heard loud music, but never went investigate. "You have seen what I have not."
We were told by Maris and other missionaries that some people would move speakers as big as refrigerators on a flat bed truck, set them up in an open field somewhere, crank up the volume and charge people who would come and party.
It was Friday night, the music started at around 6:30pm, it went on until past midnight, though none of us, except, was able to sleep, we still managed to fall asleep around 4:00am. Ernie stayed up until the day broke, he said the music was still going at that time. Saturday night, the music started around the same time at night, same as the night before, it went on way in the wee hours of the night. By 2:30am, Dan was too curious to stay in bed, he decided to investigate where exactly the music came from.
I was worried about him going by himself, I am worried that he would confront the people, if he did, I am worried for his safety. I got out of bed to go with him, just to make sure he would not get out of the car.
We drove down the dimly lit streets, only a few cars was running, strangely, there were groups of young people walking down the street, even more people hanging around in front of closed stores.
We drove down a street where we heard the music coming, not far down this side street, we saw a bright disco ball, loud rap and disco type music was booming, under the street light, we saw three pigs, seemed like they were just slaughtered, someone was putting some sort of sauce on one of them, another preparing a fire over a big heap of charcoal, obviously, they are going to do a "lechon baboy" (grilled whole pig).
About 20 people were present, either sitting or standing, they were relatively motionless. There was no one dancing, no one partying at all!
We were starting to draw attention, even though we never stopped the car, we were just driving a bit slower than normal. We started to feel quite uneasy, we were definitely watched. We slowly turned around and went home. The music went on all night, it faded the Sunday morning at around 6:30am.
We of course asked Maris when she came to work Monday morning. She was not surprised by the lack of dancing and the slaughtered pigs. She said probably someone is going to have a baptismal ceremony on Sunday, that's why they are preparing the food the night before. "This is part of the fiesta." Maris said calmly.
Very interesting experience. Ernie said for the years he has been in the Philippines, he has always heard loud music, but never went investigate. "You have seen what I have not."
Monday, December 17, 2007
Journey to the Christian Faith
Catholic School
My parents have no religious beliefs, however, they sent me to the best school that they knew of in Hong Kong, which was a Catholic elementary school. I believed that there was a God, however, I had no personal relationship with him. Gradually God faded out of my life as I found more “important” things to do, like friendship, money and most of all: freedom, which I interpreted as “doing whatever that pleases me.”
In Taiwan
I went to Taiwan for my undergraduate degree and studied at the National Taiwan University where I had 4 Christian roommates. They actively shared the Gospel with me repeatedly over 3 years, but to no avail, or at least I thought. I was irritated by them and didn’t want anything to do with God, because I was certain that I would lose the freedom I enjoyed.
As a foreign literature major (i.e., non-Chinese literature), the Bible was one of the classics that I was asked to study. I learned how to appreciate the beautiful structure of the Bible, but it did not affect my inner spiritual being. Life was too short, I did not want to search for something that was so vague, I had to “seize the day” and enjoy it while I could.
The ‘Jesus Man’
I went back to Hong Kong to find work after graduation. By finding a good job I felt ready to take on the world. On the first day of work, the coworker who sat opposite me invited me to lunch. While at the restaurant, he bowed his head and prayed before he ate. I was so frustrated, thinking, “Oh, no, a Jesus Man.” I had just been relived of 4 Christians, now here I had stumbled into another one. My coworker said, “God was certainly pursuing you.”
The “Jesus Man” talked about Jesus all the time, he challenged me with the questions of life and death and gave me a lot of books to read. I showed some patience at first, but after a while, I told him not to talk about God anymore; he did not listen. Sometimes we got into heated debates and I told him that I had studied the Bible and had found nothing exciting in it, unlike what he claimed as the ‘Word of God’.
Studying Buddhism
I am the kind of person who is serious about life, though I wanted to do whatever I wanted, I thought about the meaning of life all the time. Since this Christian coworker has put the thought about life and death even more so in my mind, I decided to take a class in Buddhism. My father always said, “You are a Chinese, if you believe in anything at all, you have to believe in Buddhism.”
After one year of class in Buddhist philosophy, at the end of the last class, I was perplexed. I have been waiting for the master teacher to give a final conclusion about “Buddha the God”. But he never did. When I went up to him and asked him where was God in Buddhism, he smiled and said, “You got it, there is no god in Buddhism.” I was stunned and utterly disappointed.
WIthout my knowledge, God was slowly working to soften my heart. On my 1-year anniversary on the job, I pulled out from my drawer one of the many booklets that my coworker gave me, it happened that one was about the Last Days; I took it with me while I traveled to meet a friend by bus. I read the booklet and there on that crowded bus, the Holy Spirit moved me to surrender to his sovereignty. I followed the prayer that was printed in the back of the booklet and acknowledged Jesus Christ as my savior.
No church please
I did not attend church after I surrender to Jesus. My reason was that I knew I was a sinner and I did not want to hang around with other sinners; all I needed was to be with Jesus alone. My coworker knew full well my stubbornness and did not force me to go. However, he encouraged me to read the Bible. I started to read the Bible thinking I could develop a relationship with God all by myself. After 6 months I had read my way through most of the Bible. But one day I was reading John 13:34-35: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” I pondered these verses for a long time. Then I realized that I not only had to love Jesus, but also to develop relationships with his people. Though it was a difficult thing for me to do at that time, I realized that I needed to obey my Lord. Shortly after I started to attend church with my coworker.
To be in fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ is one of the best things that has ever happen to me—fellowship was nothing like I had imagined. I now know so clearly that then I had a very crooked view about going to church. Now I enjoy the fellowship of brothers and sisters in Christ no matter where I am. I found myself growing in Christ much better with all those “sinners” around me.
Knowing what life is for
The biggest change that I have experienced since I acknowledged Christ as my savior, is that I now have a purpose in life, which is to glorify God with my whole being. I realize that the “freedom” that I was so afraid to lose was not freedom at all, it was just an aimless chasing of vanity. Jesus Christ has revolutionized my life, so much so that I went against the will of my parents and quit my job, in which I was doing quite well, in order to attend seminary. In the Chinese culture, going against the will of one’s parents is quite an unusual thing. But I recognized that God wanted me to serve him in a more serious capacity and that in order to do so I needed training!
It has been a many years since the day I prayed on that crowded bus, but I experience God’s grace abundantly everyday, especially through trials and difficult times. The Lord has shown me again and again how he keeps his promises, and that he honors his covenant with me. I thank Him for not giving up on me. He is truly unchangeable in his faithfulness!
My parents have no religious beliefs, however, they sent me to the best school that they knew of in Hong Kong, which was a Catholic elementary school. I believed that there was a God, however, I had no personal relationship with him. Gradually God faded out of my life as I found more “important” things to do, like friendship, money and most of all: freedom, which I interpreted as “doing whatever that pleases me.”
In Taiwan
I went to Taiwan for my undergraduate degree and studied at the National Taiwan University where I had 4 Christian roommates. They actively shared the Gospel with me repeatedly over 3 years, but to no avail, or at least I thought. I was irritated by them and didn’t want anything to do with God, because I was certain that I would lose the freedom I enjoyed.
As a foreign literature major (i.e., non-Chinese literature), the Bible was one of the classics that I was asked to study. I learned how to appreciate the beautiful structure of the Bible, but it did not affect my inner spiritual being. Life was too short, I did not want to search for something that was so vague, I had to “seize the day” and enjoy it while I could.
The ‘Jesus Man’
I went back to Hong Kong to find work after graduation. By finding a good job I felt ready to take on the world. On the first day of work, the coworker who sat opposite me invited me to lunch. While at the restaurant, he bowed his head and prayed before he ate. I was so frustrated, thinking, “Oh, no, a Jesus Man.” I had just been relived of 4 Christians, now here I had stumbled into another one. My coworker said, “God was certainly pursuing you.”
The “Jesus Man” talked about Jesus all the time, he challenged me with the questions of life and death and gave me a lot of books to read. I showed some patience at first, but after a while, I told him not to talk about God anymore; he did not listen. Sometimes we got into heated debates and I told him that I had studied the Bible and had found nothing exciting in it, unlike what he claimed as the ‘Word of God’.
Studying Buddhism
I am the kind of person who is serious about life, though I wanted to do whatever I wanted, I thought about the meaning of life all the time. Since this Christian coworker has put the thought about life and death even more so in my mind, I decided to take a class in Buddhism. My father always said, “You are a Chinese, if you believe in anything at all, you have to believe in Buddhism.”
After one year of class in Buddhist philosophy, at the end of the last class, I was perplexed. I have been waiting for the master teacher to give a final conclusion about “Buddha the God”. But he never did. When I went up to him and asked him where was God in Buddhism, he smiled and said, “You got it, there is no god in Buddhism.” I was stunned and utterly disappointed.
WIthout my knowledge, God was slowly working to soften my heart. On my 1-year anniversary on the job, I pulled out from my drawer one of the many booklets that my coworker gave me, it happened that one was about the Last Days; I took it with me while I traveled to meet a friend by bus. I read the booklet and there on that crowded bus, the Holy Spirit moved me to surrender to his sovereignty. I followed the prayer that was printed in the back of the booklet and acknowledged Jesus Christ as my savior.
No church please
I did not attend church after I surrender to Jesus. My reason was that I knew I was a sinner and I did not want to hang around with other sinners; all I needed was to be with Jesus alone. My coworker knew full well my stubbornness and did not force me to go. However, he encouraged me to read the Bible. I started to read the Bible thinking I could develop a relationship with God all by myself. After 6 months I had read my way through most of the Bible. But one day I was reading John 13:34-35: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” I pondered these verses for a long time. Then I realized that I not only had to love Jesus, but also to develop relationships with his people. Though it was a difficult thing for me to do at that time, I realized that I needed to obey my Lord. Shortly after I started to attend church with my coworker.
To be in fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ is one of the best things that has ever happen to me—fellowship was nothing like I had imagined. I now know so clearly that then I had a very crooked view about going to church. Now I enjoy the fellowship of brothers and sisters in Christ no matter where I am. I found myself growing in Christ much better with all those “sinners” around me.
Knowing what life is for
The biggest change that I have experienced since I acknowledged Christ as my savior, is that I now have a purpose in life, which is to glorify God with my whole being. I realize that the “freedom” that I was so afraid to lose was not freedom at all, it was just an aimless chasing of vanity. Jesus Christ has revolutionized my life, so much so that I went against the will of my parents and quit my job, in which I was doing quite well, in order to attend seminary. In the Chinese culture, going against the will of one’s parents is quite an unusual thing. But I recognized that God wanted me to serve him in a more serious capacity and that in order to do so I needed training!
It has been a many years since the day I prayed on that crowded bus, but I experience God’s grace abundantly everyday, especially through trials and difficult times. The Lord has shown me again and again how he keeps his promises, and that he honors his covenant with me. I thank Him for not giving up on me. He is truly unchangeable in his faithfulness!
信仰基督之路
以下是我信仰基督的心路歷程，原載於布家家庭網站。
天主教小學
我爸爸媽媽都沒有宗教仰，可是他們送我到當時在香港最好的學校，那是一所天主教小學。我從小就相信這個世界上有一位神存在，但是我和祂郤沒有任何關係。當我發現生命中有更重要的事情，如友情、金錢和最重要的自由，慢慢地，神就從我的生命中淡出了。當時我對自由的看法是：隨心所欲，想做就去做。
台灣的日子
大學是在國立台灣大學唸的，大學宿舍房間共住了六個女孩子，除了我和一位台灣女同學之外，其他的室友都是基督徒。他們三年來積極地、熱心地向我們傳福音，可是郤全無結果，至少那時我是這樣想的。我對他們的關心覺得十分厭煩，更沒有興趣與這位神有任何關係，因為我認為信神就會失去我當時正在享受的自由。
大學時主修的是外國語文和文學，聖經是其中我們必定要讀的經典文學作品。我學會了如何研讀聖經美妙的文筆和結構，可是這等認識對我內在的屬靈生命完全沒有影響。生命太短暫了，我不想去尋找太過虛無飄渺的東西，我要及時行樂，能享受生命就徹底的去享受。
“耶穌佬”
大學畢業後回到香港工作，找到份好工作，十分自得，覺得可以大展拳腳。上班第一天，與我對坐的同事邀請我一起吃午飯。菜來了，二話不說，他就低下頭祈禱。我一時為之語塞，心想：“不好了！他是個耶穌佬！”我剛擺脫了在台灣的四個基督徒室友，現在每天上班竟然要對著一個基督徒。那位同事說：“神真是在追尋你，沒有放棄你。”
“耶穌佬”同事經常跟我談耶穌，又以人生和死亡等問題挑戰我，更不斷地給我宗教書籍看。剛開始的時候我還耐心地聽他說幾句，可是過了幾個月，我聽夠了，我叫他不要再跟我談耶穌了；可是，他沒有聽我的話，口邊還是掛著各種人生問題。有時候我會跟他討論得十分激烈，我告訴他我是有讀過聖經的，這本書平平無奇，並不像他所說的那樣，是“神的說話”。
唸佛
雖然我喜歡隨心所欲的生活，但是我自認是個對生命認真的人，經常思想有關生命的問題。這位基督徒同事的深入問題叫我更加想去尋找生命的意義，於是我報名去學佛。我爸爸經常說：“你是中國人，要信甚麼宗教的話，就要信佛。”
上了一年佛學，在最後一堂課中我在等待大師作總結，告訴我們佛就是神。可是他完全沒有提到這一點。下課後我問大師，佛學中難道沒有神嗎？他微笑一下，點著頭說：“你悟了！”我是多麼的驚訝和失望。
原來在不知不覺中，神在慢慢地軟化我的心。我在這公司上班一週年當天，從塞滿了耶穌佬同事給我的小冊子的抽屜裏，隨手拿了一本有關世界末日的小書，打算在坐巴士去探朋友的路程上看一看。在擠滿下班人羣的巴士上，我把這小書一口氣看完，就在這擠擁的巴士上，神感動我，叫我完全降服在祂的權能之下。我跟著小書最後頁的禱文作了祈禱，承認耶穌基督是我的救主。
謝絶教會
雖說我降服在耶穌的主權之下，但是我沒參加教會聚會。我所持的理由是因為知道我是個罪人，所以不想與其他的罪人混在一起，我單單與耶穌在一起就夠了。我的同事十分明白我倔強的性格，並沒有強逼我到教會去，他郤鼓勵我讀聖經。我開始專心的讀聖經，以為我自己一個人就能與神建立關係。六個月過去了，我也差不多看完了整本聖經。有一天我看到約翰福音13章34-35節：“我賜給你們一條新命令，乃是叫你們彼此相愛；我怎樣愛你們，你們也要怎樣相愛。你們若有彼此相愛的心，眾人因此就認出你們是我的門徒了。”我思想這段經文好長一段時間，才發現我不單要愛耶穌，更要跟他的子民建立關係。當時我性格十分倔強，要遵從耶穌這個教導一點都不容易，我知道我必定要聽從我主的說話。不久之後，我就開始跟我的同事到教會聚會。
與在基督內的朋友們一起崇拜聚會是極為美好的事，並不像我想像中的的沉悶難耐。我以前對教會的看法原來是那麼錯誤的。現在無論我到那裏，我都享受與其他基督徒在一起。我發現當我與其他“罪人”在一起的時候，我在基督裏成長得更好，更堅固。
明白生命為何
我認信基督作為我的救主和生命的主之後所經歷最大的改變，是我明白了生命的意義，那就是以我的全人去榮耀神。我醒察到我以前一直恐懼失去的自由，其實不是真自由，而是盲目地對虛空事物的追求。耶穌基督對我的生命起了翻天覆地的變化，我甚至違背雙親的意思把工作辭掉，一意孤行去讀神學。在中國文化中，違背父母的心意是不容易的事。可是我知道神要我一心一意地投身去事奉祂，我就要去接受裝備。
在那擠擁的巴士上第一次向神祈禱已經是很多年前的事了，但是我到今時今日仍然每天經歷到神豐盛的恩典，特別是在艱難困苦的日子，神的恩典就更是滿溢。主耶穌一次又一次地向我顯明祂是持守應許、履行諾言的神，祂又信守他與我所立的約。我感謝神當年沒有放棄我。祂的信實確實是永不改變的。
Saturday, December 08, 2007
How should I pray?
It is 1:13am, Dan and I are still up researching on various things on the internet, which is quite rare, I usually go to bed around 11:00pm. But we still hear the music booming and banging from the neighbourhood through our closed windows and door. Should I pray that their stereo will get broken soon?
Only doing what Tiger Woods' parents did...
Why this article
I have not been able to express how I have been feeling for a long while about Kioni's possible giftedness. It stressed me out when I talk about it, because I have seen how others look at us, "Alright, she knows how to read, that's good", "You are making a mistake by pushing so hard, she is only 3, for crying out loud!"
"Add the label 'gifted' to a child and a whole range of preconceptions kick in to judge what that child is like. Some will see him or her as a 'little Einstein' and others as the product of pushy parents." National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC)
Sometimes people plain don't believe us. I deleted a whole section in our recent newsletter where Dan listed all the 2nd grade home-school subjects that Kioni is taking for this particular reason. How do we tell people we are not pushing her?
Kioni writing a "book" complete with illustrations
It is almost painful not be able to talk to other people about her daily activities, because I cannot explain why she LOVES to do Kumon pages and other school work, how easy it is for Kioni to learn German, how easy it is for her to spell "concentration", "veterinarian" and "rehearsal", how much she loves to read the "Woodland Mysteries" stories (a series of books in 10 chapters or so with only black and white drawings), and handbook for dinosaurs and field guide for mushrooms, how she can identify the "ring-tailed lemur" immediately when she saw one on TV, how much she loves to sit down and write a "book" for hours, complete with illustrations.
A ring-tailed lemur
But I have decided that I need to acknowledge the fact that she is gifted in words and languages, and work on guiding Kioni to the best of my ability, instead of worrying about how people look at us. We need to know how to parent her, because she has unusual needs that comes with the giftedness:
"Advanced cognition often makes gifted children aware of information that they are not yet emotionally ready to handle, particularly over moral and ethical issues. They tend to experience all of life with greater intensity, rendering them emotionally complex and very vulnerable to dilemmas as they grow in awareness. There are no 'developmental norms' for gifted children and comparisons with children of the same age become meaningless; they have more advanced play interests and often are academically far ahead of their age peers." NAGC
How it all began
Dan and I are not "kids" people, we didn't really pay much attention to kids, and if you asked how old a kid is, we probably would get it wrong. That changed when we have Kioni, not much though, except now we know probably how old a kid is. But when it comes to learning abilities, we still had no clue what a 6 months old could do. We of course looked up the internet for milestones kind of stuff, but I often thought they were not accurate because it seems like Kioni has exceeded many of the milestones. So after a while, I didn't pay attention to those anymore, naming them going to easy on what kids can do.
It was not until we started hearing our friends, particularly those who have several kids, telling us Kioni possesses some special abilities, then we started to think maybe she is a bit different. But still, "gifted" is a word that never entered our mind. Afterall, Dan and I are both "average" people, two average people, logically, should not have produced a "gifted" person, plus it sounded a bit scary to have a "gifted" kid.
When Kioni uttered her first word "lamp" at 5 months, and searched the floor for our dog when we said the dog's name (MeMe), we were amazed, but didn't think too much about it, thinking that's quite normal. She also loved to sit still at my lap and listened to me read to her, and flipped the pages when the page was done.
Coming into realization
Then at 10 months of age, she started learning the alphabets, both upper case and lower case through a great website, then we thought, great! We knew by then she loves to read.
At 18 months, Dan had to find something for the two of them to do while I was at work, so we contacted a Kumon center, the evaluation on that day confirmed our belief that she is good at reading. Six months later, she was enrolled, she was two years and three months old. By the time she is in the program for 2 years at the age of 4 years and 3 months, she will complete over half of the Kumon Reading program.
While researching how to help Kioni live and learn during our future years in Aberdeen, Scotland, I came across the above mentioned website NAGC. The following Level 4 descriptions in many ways describes Kioni on the spot, I highlighted those points. (The UK identifies students in 5 levels of giftedness, with level 5 being the highest.) Kioni is clearly gifted in Language and Words, (her vocabulary level is at U.S. 6th grade level), probably in some other areas that we still have to put a name to it.
Only doing what Tiger Woods' parents did
We know for sure she is not "Little Einstein", she is gifted only in certain areas, but it is enough for us to pause and ponder how to best raise her to be someone who will be used by God in a powerful and wonderful way. I believe God gives her a good brain for a reason.
Afterall, we are just doing what Tiger Woods' parents did -- "His parents identified their son's talent at an unusually early age. (His father) devoted his energies to developing his son's talent and to furthering the boy's career as a golfer. All the while, Tiger's mother made sure that her son's rare talent and his budding golf career would not interfere with his childhood or his future happiness." (from Answers.com)
Level Four Gifted
How many Level Four children are there in our schools? Many parents of many Level Four children turn to home education to solve some of the school behaviour issues, schools where most of the parents are highly educated professionals, can expect that about 2% of their students may be at Level Four or higher. A middle class population primary school with 100 children per year group will have one or two of these children for every two year groups, which means the school will probably not have a pupil this intelligent every year. By the time the pupils are all drawn together for secondary school, there may be 1 to 3 students in each year group.
I have not been able to express how I have been feeling for a long while about Kioni's possible giftedness. It stressed me out when I talk about it, because I have seen how others look at us, "Alright, she knows how to read, that's good", "You are making a mistake by pushing so hard, she is only 3, for crying out loud!"
"Add the label 'gifted' to a child and a whole range of preconceptions kick in to judge what that child is like. Some will see him or her as a 'little Einstein' and others as the product of pushy parents." National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC)
Sometimes people plain don't believe us. I deleted a whole section in our recent newsletter where Dan listed all the 2nd grade home-school subjects that Kioni is taking for this particular reason. How do we tell people we are not pushing her?
Kioni writing a "book" complete with illustrations
It is almost painful not be able to talk to other people about her daily activities, because I cannot explain why she LOVES to do Kumon pages and other school work, how easy it is for Kioni to learn German, how easy it is for her to spell "concentration", "veterinarian" and "rehearsal", how much she loves to read the "Woodland Mysteries" stories (a series of books in 10 chapters or so with only black and white drawings), and handbook for dinosaurs and field guide for mushrooms, how she can identify the "ring-tailed lemur" immediately when she saw one on TV, how much she loves to sit down and write a "book" for hours, complete with illustrations.
A ring-tailed lemur
But I have decided that I need to acknowledge the fact that she is gifted in words and languages, and work on guiding Kioni to the best of my ability, instead of worrying about how people look at us. We need to know how to parent her, because she has unusual needs that comes with the giftedness:
"Advanced cognition often makes gifted children aware of information that they are not yet emotionally ready to handle, particularly over moral and ethical issues. They tend to experience all of life with greater intensity, rendering them emotionally complex and very vulnerable to dilemmas as they grow in awareness. There are no 'developmental norms' for gifted children and comparisons with children of the same age become meaningless; they have more advanced play interests and often are academically far ahead of their age peers." NAGC
How it all began
Dan and I are not "kids" people, we didn't really pay much attention to kids, and if you asked how old a kid is, we probably would get it wrong. That changed when we have Kioni, not much though, except now we know probably how old a kid is. But when it comes to learning abilities, we still had no clue what a 6 months old could do. We of course looked up the internet for milestones kind of stuff, but I often thought they were not accurate because it seems like Kioni has exceeded many of the milestones. So after a while, I didn't pay attention to those anymore, naming them going to easy on what kids can do.
It was not until we started hearing our friends, particularly those who have several kids, telling us Kioni possesses some special abilities, then we started to think maybe she is a bit different. But still, "gifted" is a word that never entered our mind. Afterall, Dan and I are both "average" people, two average people, logically, should not have produced a "gifted" person, plus it sounded a bit scary to have a "gifted" kid.
When Kioni uttered her first word "lamp" at 5 months, and searched the floor for our dog when we said the dog's name (MeMe), we were amazed, but didn't think too much about it, thinking that's quite normal. She also loved to sit still at my lap and listened to me read to her, and flipped the pages when the page was done.
Coming into realization
Then at 10 months of age, she started learning the alphabets, both upper case and lower case through a great website, then we thought, great! We knew by then she loves to read.
At 18 months, Dan had to find something for the two of them to do while I was at work, so we contacted a Kumon center, the evaluation on that day confirmed our belief that she is good at reading. Six months later, she was enrolled, she was two years and three months old. By the time she is in the program for 2 years at the age of 4 years and 3 months, she will complete over half of the Kumon Reading program.
While researching how to help Kioni live and learn during our future years in Aberdeen, Scotland, I came across the above mentioned website NAGC. The following Level 4 descriptions in many ways describes Kioni on the spot, I highlighted those points. (The UK identifies students in 5 levels of giftedness, with level 5 being the highest.) Kioni is clearly gifted in Language and Words, (her vocabulary level is at U.S. 6th grade level), probably in some other areas that we still have to put a name to it.
Only doing what Tiger Woods' parents did
We know for sure she is not "Little Einstein", she is gifted only in certain areas, but it is enough for us to pause and ponder how to best raise her to be someone who will be used by God in a powerful and wonderful way. I believe God gives her a good brain for a reason.
Afterall, we are just doing what Tiger Woods' parents did -- "His parents identified their son's talent at an unusually early age. (His father) devoted his energies to developing his son's talent and to furthering the boy's career as a golfer. All the while, Tiger's mother made sure that her son's rare talent and his budding golf career would not interfere with his childhood or his future happiness." (from Answers.com)
Level Four Gifted
How many Level Four children are there in our schools? Many parents of many Level Four children turn to home education to solve some of the school behaviour issues, schools where most of the parents are highly educated professionals, can expect that about 2% of their students may be at Level Four or higher. A middle class population primary school with 100 children per year group will have one or two of these children for every two year groups, which means the school will probably not have a pupil this intelligent every year. By the time the pupils are all drawn together for secondary school, there may be 1 to 3 students in each year group.
- Almost all paid attention within months of birth while someone to read to them (Kioni - 4 months)
- Books were a favourite interest before three or four months (True for Kioni)
- Almost all understood parental directives by 6 months (True for Kioni)
- Most knew and said some words by 5 to 9 months (She utter her first word - lamp when she was 5 months old)
- Many had large vocabularies, receptive and expressive, by 14 months (Friends who baby-sat her would often made that comment to us, at the time, we didn't know better.)
- Many recognized and picked out specific numbers and letters by 12-15 months (True for Kioni)
- Most knew many colors by 15-18 months (She knew hers before 12 months)
- Many liked puzzles by 15 to 36 months (35+ piece puzzles) (Puzzles are one of her favourite toys)
- Many read numerous sight words between 15 and 20 months (True for Kioni)
- Almost all knew the entire alphabet by 15-22 months (Kioni knew the alphabet by 12 months)
- Most read names on signs and stores from between 20 months and 3 years (True for Kioni)
- Many memorized the books that were read to them before they were 2 years old (True for Kioni)
- Many showed interest in letter sounds and sounding out short words by age 2 (True for Kioni at 18 months)
- Most were speaking in complex sentences, more than four words, by 15 to 24 months (True for Kioni)
- Many could rote count to 10, many higher, by 13 to 20 months (True for Kioni)
- Most printed letters, numbers, words, and their names between 2 and 3 years (True for Kioni)
- Many had high interest in factual information, how things work, science, by 3 to 4 (True for Kioni, she has a lot of books on animal facts, science, space and such.)
- Most knew many sight words by age 3-4 (True for Kioni)
- Most grasp skip counting, backwards, addition, subtraction, more and less, by 3 to 4 years (Kioni has been doing all of the above since age 3 with Kumon, and continuing with homeschooling in Singapore Math, she is grasping the concept of fraction also recently - November, 2008.)
- Most were independent on computer by age 3 to 4 years, most keyboarding by 5 (Kioni started to use the computer (mouse) at 2 and a half. She is typing, properly with all fingers, by 5.)
- Most read easy readers by age 3 to 4 years (True for Kioni)
- Many question the reality of Santa Claus or Tooth Fairy by 3 to 4 years (She never believes they were real)
- Many understand some multiplication, division and some fractions by 5 (She is doing exactly those in Singapore Math in 2008-2009, somewhere from age 4-5.)
- Most read for pleasure and information by 5 (Kioni started doing that by 3, she would read shampoo bottles, cereal boxes, instruction manuals, anything that would rive her information on a certain product.)
- All read two to five years beyond grade level by age 6 (Kioni is about 5 years beyond her grade level)
- All read youth and adult chapter books independently by age 6-7 (True for Kioni)
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Noses are for....
My friend's Jeannie Swanstrom's grandson Owen, who just turned three recently said,
Ears are for hearing,
Eyes are for seeing,
And noses are for BOOGERS!
Eyes are for seeing,
And noses are for BOOGERS!
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Two lists
Where is the best place to live?
The United Nation just published the 2007/2008 Human Development Index rankings, the index used 2005 figures for life expectancy, educational levels and real per capita income to rank 175 nations of the world. For better understanding the index, go to their website.
How rotten is your country?
Another list is of my interest also, since much is debated as to how much corruption is going on in the Philippines, check out The 2006 Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Well, if you have any sense of what corruption does to a country, you will find that the more corrupted a country is, the harder it is for anything to work at all, I mean anything! We have experienced it first hand in the Philippines.
The United Nation just published the 2007/2008 Human Development Index rankings, the index used 2005 figures for life expectancy, educational levels and real per capita income to rank 175 nations of the world. For better understanding the index, go to their website.
How rotten is your country?
Another list is of my interest also, since much is debated as to how much corruption is going on in the Philippines, check out The 2006 Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Well, if you have any sense of what corruption does to a country, you will find that the more corrupted a country is, the harder it is for anything to work at all, I mean anything! We have experienced it first hand in the Philippines.
2007/2008 Human Development Index rankings
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Bombarded
We have been bombarded by loud pop music day and night for months now. It is not just the karaoke that I mentioned in my previous post, there is also someone who plays his music with a loud strong bass all day long. Last night the music was still going at midnight when we went to bed, this morning, I was awaken by the same music at 7:00am sharp.
We feel oppressed by this music, I actually prefer the karaoke to this constant booming in my head, it occupies my head every waking minute of the day. The worse part is that there is nothing we can do about it, calling the police is not going to help.
In the video below, you can hear the music going, but the bass sound is lost because the microphone of the camera does not pick up the booming very well. In reality it is at least three times louder. I took this video standing in our kitchen door. The music does not come out from our next door neighbour's house, which you see in the video, rather, it is from somewhere beyond.
Please pray for us, we have been bombarded by this music and the karaoke since we moved in, it has been very difficult and it is grinding on our spirits. Some types of music lift our spirits and nurture our souls, my choice will be Bach, Mozart and the like, but the booming music break us down, grind us into pulp, it has been very hard.
We feel oppressed by this music, I actually prefer the karaoke to this constant booming in my head, it occupies my head every waking minute of the day. The worse part is that there is nothing we can do about it, calling the police is not going to help.
In the video below, you can hear the music going, but the bass sound is lost because the microphone of the camera does not pick up the booming very well. In reality it is at least three times louder. I took this video standing in our kitchen door. The music does not come out from our next door neighbour's house, which you see in the video, rather, it is from somewhere beyond.
Please pray for us, we have been bombarded by this music and the karaoke since we moved in, it has been very difficult and it is grinding on our spirits. Some types of music lift our spirits and nurture our souls, my choice will be Bach, Mozart and the like, but the booming music break us down, grind us into pulp, it has been very hard.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Dan is 34!
Dan is 34! We went out for a great dinner in a nearby Spanish/Mexican restaurant. We bought a wonderful chocolate cake from 10 Dove Street, one of our favourite restaurants. Kioni is always excited around candles. It is a simple celebration, but a warm and happy one.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Aftermath
When the typhoon passed through, the sky turned almost completely dark.
The tree in the front of our house was blown down by the wind, we heard it came down in the middle of the night, but didn't know what it was. Thankfully, it didn't bring down any wires that were hanging just over the fence.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Worry about the squatters
2006 Leyte Mudslide
If you look out of the window in this video, and listen carefully, you can hear the strong wind pounding on the trees and the rain pouring down.
It has been raining for a week, and in the past 24 hours, the sky just opened up and have been dumping rain non-stop. Looking out of the window, there are squatter houses all over our neighbourhood, in fact, our helper's family live in a squatter house just about 10 minutes walking distance from us. Above those squatter houses is a big hill, where the government has started about a year ago digging away the dirt to make a road. Though we haven't see much activities for a while, they still claim that they are working on the road.
Sitting in our office room, we can see clearing a big area with red dirt that was dug out with no vegetation on it. With the rain coming down like this, it won't take long until the soil is saturated and comes sliding down.
A huge mudslide in Leyte, Philippines in 2006 that buried the whole village was still fresh in my memories. The causes for that mudslide were a 10 day period of heavy rains and a minor earthquake. 12 days ago, we experienced a small earthquake here in Cebu. It seems like the ground underneath us is not that stable.
If anything happen, we will be fine, it is the squatters that I am worry about. Lord, please protect them from another Leyte disaster.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Inspired
"The secret of my success over the 400m is that I run the first 200m as fast as I can.
Then, for the second 200m, with God's help I run faster."
Then, for the second 200m, with God's help I run faster."
The word 'inspired' does not even start to describe how I felt after I watched 'Chariots of Fire' for about the 8th time tonight. The stories of Harold Abrahams (the U.S. athlete) and Eric Liddell (the U.K. athlete) were interesting, but what stopped me on my track was my after movie search on the internet about Eric Liddell. He owes much of his fame more to a race he didn't run than any he did.I always knew he was born in Tianjin, China to missionary parents, I knew he died in China, but
1) I didn't know though he was born to missionary parents, he didn't see Jesus as his savior and Lord until he was 20 years old.
2) I didn't know it was only a year after he won the 400 yards gold medal in the 1924 Paris Olympics that he decided to go back to China to serve there.
3) I didn't know he sent his wife (born of Canadian missionary parents) and three young daughters back to Canada when the Japanese invaded, but decided to stay in China himself.
4) I didn't know that when Winston Churchill arranged to have a prisoner exchange with the Japanese, Eric Liddell was, of course, on the list, but gave up his place to a pregnant woman.
5) I didn't know about the stories of the many lives he has touched and changed while he suffered with them in war-torn China.
5) I didn't know that when he died of a brain tumor while a prisoner in a Japanese concentration camp in Weifang in 1945, just 5 months before the Japanese was defeated, his last words were, "It's complete surrender."
Eric Liddell surrender his all, he is a true missionary. And I am ashamed to call myself one when I read about his total obedience. He is my hero.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Another type of sharing
A lot of people find Filipinos are happy go lucky people, that they are always smiling and not caring too much about the misery around them.
In a sense it is right, however, we also found that the seemingly happy disposition stems from the fact that there might not be much for them to hope for, therefore, they just deal with it in a "happy" way. It is a defense mechanism. They refuse to be melancholy, rather they spice up their lives with little things that makes them feel better.
One of the examples will be music. Anyone who has been to the Philippines will notice that Filipinos love music. They particularly like music from the 80s, or any type of feel-good music with heavy beats, like rave or rap type music. They play them loudly in restaurants, in fiestas, at home, at church and anywhere they can get a hold of a stereo system and a pair of speakers. Often when we walk into a restaurant, the employees would quickly walk over to the stereo system and crank up the volume, and they crank it up so high that many times, we couldn't hear each other talking, we even had a hard time ordering food! After a while, we decided that if we are the only customers in a restaurant, we would ask them to turn it down, or sometimes even turning it off.
Old-timer missionaries explained to us that Filipinos have big hearts and they love to share. Not everyone can afford to play music in their homes, so those who can, share their music. While there is some truth in it, I still find that the loudness of the music hurts my ears. Or take today as an example, we went to a "high-class" coffee shop for breakfast, after a while, Dan had to go and ask them to turn off their music because they were playing rave music with swearing words in it, Kioni was right there moving her little body along with the strong beats, even though she doesn't understand the swearing words, that did it for Dan and I, we couldn't handle those words.
Someone outside of our subdivision has a karaoke machine. Our helper said for 5 pesos (10 cents US), you can go sing a song. Our house is directly in the path of the super loud speakers, so whenever someone sings, we hear it loud and clear. Recently, a male voice has come through our door and windows often. He is known as the "bad-singing" guy to Kioni. He has quite a bit of money, because he sings the same songs over and over and over, and he sings very badly.
So for months now, we are forced to listen to quite a number of people singing in that karaoke joint, sometimes, it has gotten to me quite badly that I have to tell Dan we need to go out to eat, I need a break from listening to that music. (The joint opens at around 8:00am and closes at around 10:30pm, weekends they will extend the time to around midnight.) At least in a restaurant, if we are the only customers, we could ask them to turn it down!
In a sense it is right, however, we also found that the seemingly happy disposition stems from the fact that there might not be much for them to hope for, therefore, they just deal with it in a "happy" way. It is a defense mechanism. They refuse to be melancholy, rather they spice up their lives with little things that makes them feel better.
One of the examples will be music. Anyone who has been to the Philippines will notice that Filipinos love music. They particularly like music from the 80s, or any type of feel-good music with heavy beats, like rave or rap type music. They play them loudly in restaurants, in fiestas, at home, at church and anywhere they can get a hold of a stereo system and a pair of speakers. Often when we walk into a restaurant, the employees would quickly walk over to the stereo system and crank up the volume, and they crank it up so high that many times, we couldn't hear each other talking, we even had a hard time ordering food! After a while, we decided that if we are the only customers in a restaurant, we would ask them to turn it down, or sometimes even turning it off.
Old-timer missionaries explained to us that Filipinos have big hearts and they love to share. Not everyone can afford to play music in their homes, so those who can, share their music. While there is some truth in it, I still find that the loudness of the music hurts my ears. Or take today as an example, we went to a "high-class" coffee shop for breakfast, after a while, Dan had to go and ask them to turn off their music because they were playing rave music with swearing words in it, Kioni was right there moving her little body along with the strong beats, even though she doesn't understand the swearing words, that did it for Dan and I, we couldn't handle those words.
Someone outside of our subdivision has a karaoke machine. Our helper said for 5 pesos (10 cents US), you can go sing a song. Our house is directly in the path of the super loud speakers, so whenever someone sings, we hear it loud and clear. Recently, a male voice has come through our door and windows often. He is known as the "bad-singing" guy to Kioni. He has quite a bit of money, because he sings the same songs over and over and over, and he sings very badly.
So for months now, we are forced to listen to quite a number of people singing in that karaoke joint, sometimes, it has gotten to me quite badly that I have to tell Dan we need to go out to eat, I need a break from listening to that music. (The joint opens at around 8:00am and closes at around 10:30pm, weekends they will extend the time to around midnight.) At least in a restaurant, if we are the only customers, we could ask them to turn it down!
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Earthquake
After having left Taiwan 20 years ago, I have not experienced another earthquake until today in Cebu.
It was 12:12pm, Kioni and I were in her school room just finishing up her Kumon Reading. Suddenly, our chairs moved, and when I looked at the fan, which was turned off, it was moving also. I was pretty sure it was an earthquake by then. I pointed the fan out to Kioni, and she said, "It is an earthquake, mommy, we have to run outside."
At that time, Dan came into our room asking if that was an earthquake. That was his first experience with earthquake, and it was also Kioni's first.
I was about to agree with her, but then it all stopped, it lasted only for about 4-5 seconds. I told her we didn't have to run outside, because the earthquake was small, "See, the ostriches are still sitting on the shelf, they haven't fallen down."
After my reassurance that it was OK, she finished up with the last page of Kumon, and ran out to talk about the earthquake with daddy. It was quite fun.
It was 12:12pm, Kioni and I were in her school room just finishing up her Kumon Reading. Suddenly, our chairs moved, and when I looked at the fan, which was turned off, it was moving also. I was pretty sure it was an earthquake by then. I pointed the fan out to Kioni, and she said, "It is an earthquake, mommy, we have to run outside."
At that time, Dan came into our room asking if that was an earthquake. That was his first experience with earthquake, and it was also Kioni's first.
I was about to agree with her, but then it all stopped, it lasted only for about 4-5 seconds. I told her we didn't have to run outside, because the earthquake was small, "See, the ostriches are still sitting on the shelf, they haven't fallen down."
After my reassurance that it was OK, she finished up with the last page of Kumon, and ran out to talk about the earthquake with daddy. It was quite fun.
Thursday, November 01, 2007
11 years later
Amy, Johnny Mak (the CEO), Johnny Yun (the small business owner), Richard Lee (the PhD) and Patrick Chan (the designer-lecturer)
We had a great time last night meeting with really old friends from church. I have not seen these friends for over 10 years, except Patrick, whom I see almost every time I come back to Hong Kong. All of us have gained some weight (except Patrick) and lost some hair (all of us), but most of us (except me) have become "someone" in their area of expertise.
We started out at the new high-end mall the Elements, well, for an average person like me, everything in this mall is way over my budget. We ended up having dinner at an Arabian restaurant, we ordered four dishes, but I don't think any of the guys went away with a full stomach, however, their wallets have become quite thin. They were very nice to treat me to this very special meal.
We were just starting to catch up with old times and talk a bit about the future when the meal ended, so the CEO Johnny Mak suggested that we catch a taxi to the night scene of Tsim Sha Tsui to continue on our conversation. We ended up in a lounge in a hotel, sitting in those big comfy chairs, we had lots of laughs.
Even after all these years, it seems like our friendships have not changed one bit, we are still as at ease with each other as before and laughed just as loud.
What a great privilege to have this opportunity to meet and chat. I hope we will be able to do this more often. We see each other so little that next time we meet, it might be in one of our memorial services. (quote Richard)
Sunday, September 16, 2007
One year in Cebu
Exactly one year ago, we landed in Cebu. I still remember the heat and humidity that hit us right after we stepped off the plane, the taxi that took us to our first home and the night spent wondering what all the strange noises were.
After one year, the heat and humidity, though still oppressive sometimes, is expected. Taxi rides is still 'thrilling' to say the least, and we have left the first home we first arrived in and moved into the second home. And I can identify all the seemingly strange noises now.
I understand a lot more about missions than a year ago, I will never look at mission the same way, I will never look at missionaries the same way after being one for one year.
Dan and I are still combating cultural fatigue, day to day living still grind on us, especially when we have to go outside into traffic. We found out after a year that the heat is still the largest factor that affects our everyday mood.
Today, at our one year anniversary of arrival to Cebu, the weather turns cool. It is ONLY 77F (25C)! The rain has been coming down for over a week pretty hard, and we are loving it. It doesn't help the traffic, but at least, it helps us to have more patience while sitting in traffic.
After one year, the heat and humidity, though still oppressive sometimes, is expected. Taxi rides is still 'thrilling' to say the least, and we have left the first home we first arrived in and moved into the second home. And I can identify all the seemingly strange noises now.
I understand a lot more about missions than a year ago, I will never look at mission the same way, I will never look at missionaries the same way after being one for one year.
Dan and I are still combating cultural fatigue, day to day living still grind on us, especially when we have to go outside into traffic. We found out after a year that the heat is still the largest factor that affects our everyday mood.
Today, at our one year anniversary of arrival to Cebu, the weather turns cool. It is ONLY 77F (25C)! The rain has been coming down for over a week pretty hard, and we are loving it. It doesn't help the traffic, but at least, it helps us to have more patience while sitting in traffic.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Galic cloves
In Cebu, things are sold in the smallest amount that one can imagine. You can buy a stick of cigarette, a pouch of shampoo and hair conditioner for one single use, one egg, etc. In this market just around the corner from us, you can see individual cloves of garlic nicely wrapped in plastic pouches for sale.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Remembering 9/11
It is not difficult to remember what you were doing on the morning of September 11, 2001. The following events were burnt into my heart.
In 2001, we were living in Maryland, Dan was an active duty Air Force Officer working at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). I was a campus staff with China Outreach Ministries.
For us, September 11th started on September 10. We received a call from the hospital in Andrew's Air Force Base that my pregnancy result came back, we could go to the hospital to get the result in person. Because of previous miscarriages, Dan would like to go with me to either celebrate if the result was positive, or support me if the result came back negative. However, Dan told me he couldn't go the next morning because there was a meeting scheduled in the Pentagon that he had to attend. I wanted so much for Dan to go with me, so I told him I had a meeting to go to also, I asked if he could go a bit late. He said no, that was a meeting with some important guys "up top".
So I went to the hospital alone. The nurse pointed out my name on a piece of paper and guided my eyes to the column that has the words "test result" on it. "Positive". I couldn't believe my eyes! I asked the nurse, "That means I am pregnant!" She said, "The result came back positive." I wanted to call Dan, but he would be in a meeting in the Pentagon. (We didn't have cell phone at that time.) The nurse suggested that I walked over to the medical record department and get my records, so that I can see the doctor the next day. My heart was jumping with joy, however, my joy was guarded by my previous miscarriages.
I walked over to the Medical Records counter down the hall and handed in my ID card, while they were getting my record, a male nurse walked over to the counter to talk to the female nurse who was helping me. "A plane just hit the World Trade Center." The female nurse at the counter said, "Hit the what?! People who don't know how to fly should just stay on the ground." I thought I heard it wrong, asked the male nurse again, he repeated what he said.
I was perplexed. A plane hit the World Trade Center, it must be a private jet with a new pilot, or could it be that he or she had a heart attack? I knew someone must have died from this, I just hoped the number would not be high. I went on my way to the meeting. I didn't even turn on the news while driving to the meeting, there was no reason too be too concerned about the plane that hit the World Trade Center.
When I arrive at the meeting, everyone's face was quite serious. Harriet asked me, "Have you heard about the plane that hit the Word Trade Center?" I repeated what I thought, a new pilot, maybe a heart attack. Harriet said, "It was a commercial airliner." Evelyn, my supervisor was not in the room. She entered a few minutes later, with an unbelievable news, "A second plane hits the south tower of the World Trade Center."
We were all silent, didn't quite understand what we heard. We decided that we had to pray.
Bill asked if anyone wanted to share anything. I then remembered I just received a positive result on the pregnancy test. But under such circumstance, should I share? Should I tell Dan first? I eventually shared it with my team, they were happy for me, but the circumstance prevented them from what could have been a more uplifting congratulations.
Evelyn asked me if Dan knew, I said no, and related to them why I had to go to the hospital alone. Harriet, who was in and out of the room trying to get some more news of the "accidents", came back in and said, "Another plane just hit the Pentagon!"
My heart stopped. The words she said swirled round and round before my eyes. "Another plane just hit the Pentagon....another plane just hit the Pentagon...." Before I knew what to say, Evelyn asked me if I knew a phone number in which I could call at the Pentagon where I can reach Dan." "No, I don't know whom he is meeting with."
"Go home, Amy." They urged. I grabbed my backpack and walked out of the room.
Wanting to make sure what I heard, I tuned into all the radio stations I could find when driving home. All of them confirmed the fact that a commercial airplane crashed into the Pentagon. Thinking about the worse, I was holding back tears. What should I tell the child that I was carrying? Should I say your father was killed on the day I found out that he/she existed?
I didn't remember how I got home. When I was driving down the road to our house in a off-base military housing area, I found it strangely quiet. No one was walking their dogs, no kids were playing outside, nobody was strolling on the bike path, it was eerily quiet.
I pulled my car in the parking spot in front of the house. Dan walked out from the back of the house, wearing his uniform still, but he was not wearing his hat (which is against the rule not to wear your hat on the outside while wearing your uniform), something were missing on his uniform also, but I didn't have the mind to figure out what was wrong with his uniform, I got off the car and gave him a hug.
"How come you are home?" I asked him. "They let us leave DIA." "DIA?! I thought you have a meeting at the Pentagon!" "Yes. But they canceled it. I didn't go to the Pentagon." When we have calmed down a bit, he asked me about the pregnancy result. That was supposed to be a sweet moment, but it was robbed by the unthinkable tragedy that was unfolding in front of our eyes. (This pregnancy also ended in a miscarriage after 12 weeks.)
Not until after we saw the damages that was done at the Pentagon did we realized how close Dan was to this attack. The area that was struck was very near to the DIA center in the Pentagon, seven DIA employees died in the attack. "I could see thick black smoke coming out from the Pentagon from the windows in my office, they evacuated us right away. (DIA is located just across the Potomac river from the Pentagon.) All officers were told to take off their hats and the ranks on our shoulders. They didn't know what was going on, but was sure it was some sort of attack. They didn't know what other forms of terrorism were out there. They didn't want the officers to be targets." Then I realized what was wrong with his uniform when I first saw him, the ranks were missing.
The explosion of the airplane penetrated 4 of the 5 rings of the newly renovated, super reinforced walls of the Pentagon. (Dan told me about the construction of the Pentagon, since he went there for meetings once in a while.)
While we were talking, our next door neighbour came out of the door with her 2 year old son. "Mike is in the Pentagon, I couldn't reach him, all phone lines were dead." It then stuck me like a ton of bricks. All of our neighbours are military personnel, many of them work in various departments of the Pentagon!
We went into our neighbours' house, we were glued to the TV while our neighbour was glued to the phone, that was her only "lifeline", but she simply couldn't get through. We saw the horrific scene of the twin towers collapsed, over and over the TV flashed the image. They almost look like Hollywood production. Then another plane crashed in Shanksville, PA.
For hours, no news from Mike. At 5:00pm, our neighbour came over and said, "Mike called, he is OK, but he can't come home tonight, everything is at a standstill. He will sleep somewhere tonight."
The following week, we received news that 2 of our neighbours didn't come home, they went missing, efforts to locate them failed. Two weeks afterwards, they identified their bodies.
The world is never the same after 9/11. Good and evil are at war. However, there is a debate on who is good and who is evil. Terrorists have a new name - Freedom Fighters. Those who were killed in the attacks are infidels. Over the years, numerous conspiracy theories about the attacks of 9/11, pointing fingers at the U.S. government as the conductor of what had happened on that fateful day. I visited those sites, all I can say is that they are basically at the same level of those who said the Americans never landed on the moon. Six years later, Osama bin Laden called for the western world to abandon capitalism and democracy, to embrace Islam.
I think of the "Freedom Fighters" who believed they were going to heaven when they took on this mission to destroy America. If they only knew where they were going. They knew the truth in the morning of September 11, 2001 when the planes they flew crashed. Standing in front of the God that did not worship, what did they have to say?
Forty slate angels grace the memorial site - each marked with the name of one of the forty heroes of Flight 93. A nearby angel plaque reads:
"Few can begin to understand what drives
men to such acts of desperation.
But the World must now know
the resolve of this great nation is both
unshakable and unstoppable.
This ordinary Americans took
extraordinary steps to help their
fellow Americans and by doing so
gave the greatest sacrifice.
And so these Angels of Freedom stand
not as a memorial to those who died,
But rather as a celebration of their lives
for which we will be forever in their debt.
God Bless the Families and Friends of the
True Heroes of September 11, 2001."
Monday, August 27, 2007
It ate too much...
I was in the kitchen making dinner, Kioni was in the living room playing with Starfall reading game. She suddenly ran into the kitchen and said with great excitement, "Mommy, there is a BIG FAT tiki on the window." Since we see tikis (flat-tailed geckos) all the time hanging out in the windows, I am not surprised to hear what Kioni was reporting, in fact, I was surprised by her excitement. I said to her, "Kioni, we see tikis all the time, thank you for telling me, go back and play, mommy has to cook."
"Mommy, this one is really BIG and FAT! Come take a look."
Since she insisted, I went into the living room and took a look, just to make her happy. I was a bit shocked at what I saw, it was a BIG FAT one alright, it is not just one of those flat-tailed gecko (about 5 inches/14 cm long) that we see all the time, it was quite unlike the one that drank coffee from my coffee pot. This one is indeed huge, about 11-15 inches/30-40cm long! With claw pads as big as a US quarter. I opened the window to try to see its markings, but it jumped to another window. I grabbed my camera and ran outside, and found it still hanging onto the window, seemingly uncertain what I was going to do to it. I quickly snap the photo below. It is a beautiful spotted gecko. Upon researching on the internet, I found out it is called a Tokay gecko, native to Southeast Asia.
Kioni is amazed by its size and said, "Mommy, that gecko is so huge because it ate too much. It must have just eaten a big mosquito."
"Mommy, this one is really BIG and FAT! Come take a look."
Since she insisted, I went into the living room and took a look, just to make her happy. I was a bit shocked at what I saw, it was a BIG FAT one alright, it is not just one of those flat-tailed gecko (about 5 inches/14 cm long) that we see all the time, it was quite unlike the one that drank coffee from my coffee pot. This one is indeed huge, about 11-15 inches/30-40cm long! With claw pads as big as a US quarter. I opened the window to try to see its markings, but it jumped to another window. I grabbed my camera and ran outside, and found it still hanging onto the window, seemingly uncertain what I was going to do to it. I quickly snap the photo below. It is a beautiful spotted gecko. Upon researching on the internet, I found out it is called a Tokay gecko, native to Southeast Asia.
Kioni is amazed by its size and said, "Mommy, that gecko is so huge because it ate too much. It must have just eaten a big mosquito."
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Guess what's in my coffee pot?
Cebu has a high population of bugs, insects and little animals that eat these things. We like geckos because they take care of the mosquitoes, there are also a family of toads living outside in our yard, and because of these animals' presence, the helpers of our neighbours' reported seeing two black snakes about a month ago climbing up our tall palm bush, they obviously come because of the favourable habitat. There is quite a food chain going on. Who is at the bottom of the food chain? It would be Kioni and I, since we are the ones who got bitten by mosquitoes.
Anyway, we enjoy watching house geckos (tiki in Cebuano) catching moths and mosquitoes right on the window screens where we eat dinner every night. Kioni is particularly thrilled to see what she called "Animal Planet" right in our living room every night. We will also see them run away from various surfaces as soon as we turn on the lights in the kitchen. In the past week, a baby gecko came to live in our living room, it is no more than 1.5 inches long from head to tail. It is fun to see it grow.
This morning, however, the most unexpected happened. What I lifted the coffee pot up, I felt some movements inside. Yep! A gecko was swimming in the 1/4 inch coffee that was left overnight. I almost threw the pot on the floor, but I was calm enough to set in down on the countertop. The gecko obviously loves coffee and seemed unwilling to leave the pot, though its whole body turned brown already. I eventually took the coffee pot outside to the yard and dump everything out, coffee and all.
Needless to say, for a city girl like me, that was quite an encounter. I hope I will never see those two black snakes.
Hong Kong International Rankings
Like I said before in a previous post, I am proud to tell people that I am from Hong Kong. I recently found the following table in Answers.com listing various organizations that did rankings on countries and regions around the world. After looking at the table, I found it to be very accurate portrait of Hong Kong.
| Date | Contest | Host Organisation | Ranking | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001–05 | World's Best Airports | Skytrax | 1/155 countries | Ranked 1st out of 155 countries |
| 2002–04 | Ranking of Container Ports of the World | AAPA World Port Rankings | 2/10 ports | Ranked 2nd out of 50 largest ports in the world |
| 2002 | Ranking of IQ | University of Ulster | 1/185 countries | Ranked 1st out of 185 countries |
| 2005 | Networked Readiness Index (NRI) | World Economic Forum | 11/115 countries | Ranked 11th out of 115 countries |
| 2005 | Worldwide quality-of-life index | The Economist | 18/111 Countries | Ranked 18th out of 111 countries |
| 2006 | 6th Annual Global e-Government Study (Brown University) | Global e-Government | 20/198 Countries | Ranked 20th out of 198 countries |
| 2006 | Annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 | Reporters without borders | 59/168 Countries | Ranked 59th out of 168 countries |
| 2006 | Corruption Perceptions Index | Transparency International | 15/163 Countries | Ranked 15th out of 163 countries |
| 2006 | World Competitiveness Yearbook 2006 | IMD International | 2/61 Economies | Ranked 2nd out of 61 economies (countries and regions) |
| 2006 | World City's Skyline/Skyscrapers | Emporis Data Committee (EDC) | 1/100 Major cities | Ranked #1 out of all the major cities in the World. This listing ranks cities by the visual impact of their skylines. |
| 2006 | Global Competitiveness Report - Growth Competitiveness Index Ranking | World Economic Forum | 11/125 Countries | Ranked 11th out of 125 countries |
| 2006 | World's Best Airports | Skytrax | 2/165 countries | Ranked 2nd out of 165 countries |
| 2006 | Business Competitiveness Index - BCI | World Economic Forum | 10/121 countries | Ranked 10th out of 121 countries |
| 2006 | Human Development Index - HDI | United Nations | 22/177 countries | Ranked 22nd out of 177 countries |
| 2006 | Access Index (p.19) | FedEx: The Power of Access - 2006 Access Index | 1/75 Countries | Ranked 1st out of 75 countries |
| 2006 | Potential Competitiveness | Japan Center for Economic Research (JCER) | 1/50 Countries | Ranked 1st out of 50 countries |
| 2007 | Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index | World Economic Forum | 6/124 Countries | Ranked 6th out of 124 countries |
| 2007 | Index of Economic Freedom | Heritage Foundation/The Wall Street Journal: 2006 | 1/157 Countries | Ranked 1st out of 157 Countries for 13 years in a row. |
| 2007 | World's most expensive city | ECA International:[1] | 1/92 Countries | Ranked 1st out of 92 locations. |
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