Monday, August 1, 2011

Three Year Later, Aug 2011

The first week of the month finds me back in L.A. but 2 hours late. We touched down two nights ago but LAX was "plane" lousy. Our 945p flight reached here half an hour later, the plane could not park for another half an hour, immigration another half hour, and even a new declaration point for the last half hour. It's crazy; no wonder USA is in decline. The good news is that Wife's bad back held up well with the last-minute TravelBlue pillow we bought at the airport for her back. The best piece of news is that my sister's police report for immigration purposes came the day before I arrive, just as she had hoped upon greeting me.

I preached at RCAC yesterday and met former church members. Most said I have either not changed or lost weight or "It rains when important people come" - it unusually rained that morning before church. At night they took us out for our anniversary dinner. Wife was happiest for a gift bag of oranges she got that was unbelievably sweet. We plan to head to Santa Barbara today (1st) after breakfast at Panera or Corner Bakery. We laughed because we could not remember these restaurant names, especially the former.

We had driven over two days to Santa Barbra, Solvang, Pismo Beach, Avila Beach, San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay, revisiting our honeymoon route 12 years ago. At Santa Barbara's Wharf (2nd) I ate a US$24.95 one and a half lobster at Moby Dick for lunch and today (3rd) we enjoyed dinner at Rose's in Morro Bay where the Happy Hour crab cakes and avocado egg roll are unbeatable. After dinner we watched the sun set like an egg yolk into the sea, something that is hard to do in Hong Kong, wise said. Wife was at her happiest traveling. Rooms at Solvang yesterday was US$82 overnight but the crowd was sparse on weekdays. At Pismo Beach we went to Starbucks for breakfast, of all places, because we couldn't get any wi-fi signal at our hotel. Both the hotels we inquired at San Luis Obispo have savvy Indian owners. After going nowhere to the first with a coupon, we decided to ask about room vacancy and its rate first before we produce a coupon when the answer is yes, reducing the rate from $99.95 to $59.95. The owner accepted our coupon reluctantly but only after adding another $5 for a doubled bed. We will head back to L.A. tomorrow after breakfast.

Ramada's breakfast bar was not opened nor inviting when we left at 7 am today (3rd), so Wife drove, her first time, up to Los Alamos when she drove into a fog. I took over and two hours altogether into Santa Barbara's Peet's Coffee for multigrain and dried fruit scones. Their scones are way better than their rivals Starbucks. On the way home Wife bought two T-shirts at Camarillo's outlets and we stopped at Little Tokyo's Sushi Gen for lunch. I can't believe we did so many things over four days.

Thursday (4th) I met with my new employer and it took most of the afternoon and at night we met with the Ngs for dinner at Cheesecake, where we ordered our favorite Godiva Cheesecake, except that it does not taste the same. The next day fellowship members of my first church threw a dinner party for us and another family from NJ. It was such a happy occasion except that most are empty nesters by now because the kids were gone, mostly for school. Today (7th) I am headed to my first church to preach and I honestly do not know what to expect because it's been 15 years ago. We were also glad our host has an automatic medicine pot to boil Wife's Chinese medicine. She really needed it because the trip can take a toil on you.

The second half of our USA holidays see us traveling to San Diego (8th) to visit Wife's two sisters, one of which has been in a vegetable state for 28 years as the result of a car accident. Wife and another sister from Hong Kong arranged to join the local sister to visit the bedridden sister - four sisters altogether. We sang simple worship songs such as "Sing Hallelujah to the Lord," "God is so Good" and "The Steadfast Love of the Lord" to celebrate her life, sad as it was but nevertheless our sovereign God allowed it to happen for a reason. We took the occasion to view her nephew's new house. It seemed like years ago that Josiah stayed with us for two years in Walnut when he was in college. Another nephew Joshua went with me to see the final installment of Harry Potter.

Yesterday (11th) I joined CMA pastors in their monthly prayer meeting. It was such a festive occasion when we met together, reminding me how different USA Chinese pastors are from Hong Kong pastors who have no time and are too busy and stoic to fellowship together. I am looking forward to next week with other Cantonese pastors at U2.

We went to Lake Ave. for 9a worship this morning (14th) and met a pastor who is leaving for Hong Kong next week for a pastoral position, small world. After worship we returned to Whole Foods for lunch. Wife ordered a traditional breakfast with poached eggs and I had a $3.99 whole wheat pancake with fruit and walnuts for sides. The choices at this health food store is amazing, one of the best health food selections. Wife was happiest with the protein supplements such as Vegan that she needs for her health battle. It was an emotional day today when we visited our old house, probably for the last time. Tears rolled freely down our eyes as we said goodbye to our first home as a couple.

Yesterday (15th) I celebrated my birthday eve with two close pastors and friends with their families. There were three pastors three years ago before I left for Hong Kong but now the gentleman, Wife's mentor, is 78 years old, too late to drive at night. Time flies and people gray, that's the fact of life. The dinner was impressive, but time together was priceless. It was funny seeing the ladies and the men sitting to one side. It is two days to go to the arduous trip to Seattle and Vancouver, please pray for us. especially for Wife's health and mind during the travel.

The last two days before our departure must be the most action-packed and risk-taking of our lives so far in terms of time and urgency. I call it Our Mission Impossible. Just yesterday (18th) Wife took a continuing education class at L.A. that lasted till 340p, then we took a 830p flight to Seattle, stayed at a friend's place and talked till 130a. Without a GPS it would have been hard to navigate the country roads at midnight even with printed Google maps. I had forgotten to bring one I had borrowed and rented it at the airport. Early 6a the next day we woke up and had breakfast at Peet's before we headed to Vancouver at 730a. Wife drove for 55 miles before I took over again and lined up about the 10th car in our lane (out of three) at the Canada border. At the airport I parked as she got her boarding pass to HKG but the plane was delayed for 2 hours. I had to dash over back to the border to take a 5p flight to LAX. The lines returning were so long that it took 45 mins. at least to pass. At the Seattle counter I requested her flight to LAX be canceled, but she had apparently done it through the internet on the Vancouver airport side. Better still I got on the earlier 345p flight to LAX. It was quite an adventure, one I am not eager to repeat. By faith wife must have boarded the plane, so I am traveling by myself as well. Here is her side of the story.

The travel home was 13 hours, but I was more patient than I thought possible. I arrived in HKG yesterday (21st) at 6p and hop onto the Ma Wan 7p bus. To fight against sleep I swam, which I had missed for three weeks, at 9p, then slept before 11p. The Lord has blessed us richly on this trip, opening doors for us I never thought necessary. I have seen relatives, friends and brothers and sisters; driven more than 1,000 miles from Los Angeles to San Luis Obispo, from Los Angeles to San Diego and from Seattle to Vancouver; and shopped at neighborhood stores, outlet stores and department stores.

There were a lot of errands to run this week. Our Southern California holidays were barely over when we traveled to Macau (25th) on Tuesday, two days later. Wife bought a lot of health food from USA for her Macau home because fresh food is not easy to purchase there. I basically carried the food over for her, but I had time to complete the denomination assignments as well. Today (25th) I had to go to the Immigration Tower to extend my non-permanent resident visa, to be picked up in two weeks. It was half the wait the last time, two years ago.

I am in Macau again for the last day of the month (31st), probably my last trip here before work begins. There is nothing to do in Hong Kong besides waiting for the denomination interview. It is a good break and I can be with Wife, who has to stay over the weekend due a retreat. It could be boring but I had time to repair the many broken links on Preach Christ. Tomorrow a friend from USA will be arriving.