I returned five days ago (Mar 27th) with a bad back from a good time in Taiwan, teaching at my former US seminary's Taiwan campus for a week, Friday to Friday, minus Sunday, 9am till 5 pm. Wife went with me and returned to Hong Kong on Monday. I was invited to preach in the church by seminary and I had to accept since I was teaching them in Mandarin on how to preach, no excuse. It turned out great for my second try in the language, according to Wife. The first time was many years ago, After church we travel by train to Taipei, ate Shanghai food at the Breeze Station (微風台北車站), then visited the tourist spot Xi Men Ding (西門町), Red House Theater (紅樓戲場) and Shin Kong Mitsukoshi (新光三越)before returning to the train station for dinner and head home. At the theater we saw Cape 7 (海角七號) actor (林宗仁) taking pictures with fans.My back gave way just like that on my fourth day there while I was sitting comfortably in a chair. It took me a whole week to recover enough for me to do my normal stretching exercises today (Apr 1). On the first two days of injury, I needed to hold on to railings for support to get up. I could not toss in bed and sneezing or coughing hurts. The host seminary had an employee drive me to a local clinic for a back rub that eased the pain. It is a bargain at Taiwan $300 (less than HK$100).My first trip to Taiwan is an eye-opener. The campus was in Zhongli (中壢市), almost next door to Chung Yuan Christian University (中原大學). The city is full of hawkers and motorbikes. The streets are narrow and the setting is rural. Noise is everywhere, from the speaker-blaring garbage collection truck to the government tow trucks that operate from the early morning.
The 14 students I taught were excited, fun and attentive. Like students I meet everywhere, they starve for hands-on expository preaching, which is my expertise by now. They were so appreciative that I felt extremly welcomed. It took a while to reach the last two students who had difficulty doing the work, so I returned at night to read their work. It was no big deal since I decided to return to the class for free internet to IM with Wife, who left days ago.Strangely enough, my trip reminded me of what guest missions teacher Ho exclaimed to me a month or two ago when she realized I was not local: "Oh, you are a missionary!" I never thought of myself as one since my Cantonese blends in well locally, but in truth I am one. Missions is not in my blood, but it is starting to boil. Taiwan wants me to return. Maybe I can also go to Malaysia/Singapore to teach in the future as well, which means reaching a full cycle for this accidental traveler.
I am still alien to the local system, which benefits the landlord. Today (Apr 8) the landlady presented me with a bill of HK$250 for repairing the jammed steel door lock in our home. In the States the owner pays for all things, down to the lightbulb.
The first week of classes passed by. The class I am most apprehensive about turned out well, but I really gave them a lot of work for a 2-unit class, work comparable to previous 3-unit classes, but I think they wil thrive and do well. Hong Kong people always strive to get ahead, even in their studies, so they take night classes, including Bible study, to "add to their value 增值." This group is different from previous classes because they are diploma students, not Bachelor or Master's level, but they sure get the money's worth and work equivalent in my class. One teacher asked me to ease up on them, but they sounded eager to take the challenge.
I just returned today (Apr 12) from speaking at Emmanuel's church retreat, my first retreat engagement in Hong Kong. We met some amazing people at Breakthrough Youth Village, including Breakthrough founder Dr. Philemon Choi (蔡元雲醫生) and his son Jonathan, Ruth Tseng (曾路得) -the renowned singer of 天各一方, and CGST lecturer Joe Kok, Wife's former pastor. Tseng and Kok are associated with Emmanuel. Dr. Choi's passion for youth for the last 30 years is refreshing. We had the opportunity to observe the work at Breakthrough, including a 30-minute skit, an impressive hour or so live playback theater, and an hour's sharing from Dr. Choi.
An annoying remark has dogged me in Hong Kong, climaxing at the retreat. A camper said I looked much older than I do on my blog picture. It was a surprisng remark since the blog picture was taken merely years ago. The biggest blow was when a 62-year old man said he and I were the oldest in the group! How can I be older than all the parents with teenage kids at the retreat? The pastor introduced me on the first day by saying he used to hang out with the younger pastors at denomination meetings in USA while I with another group. I explained to the congregation on the last day that I was not much older (2 years only) than their younger pastor . The problem is my gray hair have dramtically surfaced lately. Maybe I should put up a more recent picture on my blog.
I did not know the Monday after Easter is a holiday in Hong Kong, so I inadvertently canceled an appointment. So far, Hong Kong is the only country I have resided in to have the holiday. It is for the best since I am fighting a losing battle with the flu.
Local news: Hong Kong is the most competitive city in Hong but Shanghai is catching up fast, news reported yesterday. Today's news was very unflattering to the Big Two supermarkets. The local Consumer Council found that the prices of some products sold there actually increased on Fridays but reduced later to normal on Saturdays to make Friday offers appear like a bargain.
A humid heat wave swept through the city since Tuesday (Apr 14), making exercise in the cooler morning quite difficult. I hope to hold out for another week before cutting my hair so that I can keep to my bimonthly haircut goal. It is so hot that I sometimes had take my tie off in my office to cool down.
I watched for the second time how the dream of Susan Boyle played out on the internet to millions of viewers. Never-kissed 47-year old, CNN reported. She sang one of my favorite songs from my favorite musical, Les Miz! How can people not cheer and root for a dreamer like her?
My childhood was widely awakened by three Cantonese operas I heard when I was barely in my teens, as performed by 鄧碧雲, 張月兒 and 陳良忠. Most songs are better heard than told, so you can click to a fan's classic selection at Youtube. Th next day (Apr 22) I found "old cucumber" 老黃瓜 at the supermarket to take a break from the delicious pumpkin/tomato soup I have been boiling and drinking. It's been two decades I haven't seen the cucumber gourd, but I found pumpkin is still one of the sweetest soups I have tasted. So I will return to pumpkin soon. A colleague asked me if I stick leftover soup by separate containers in the freezer like Chinese Americans do, and I replied yes. The concept is foreign to locals because the Chinese market is nearby.
A local barber tried to convince me to dye my hair today (Apr 22), which is to his advantage. A normal haircut is HK58 (US$7.50), but dying the hair is HK$120. True, my gray hairs are in full blossom and a colleague mistook another faculty member to be the youngest even though I should have the honors, but I will wait till I am past 50, which has another year and a half to go yet.
