Robert Morrison's Grave

Yesterday we, (Michelle, Vivian, and Elaine) had a chance to visit Macau and walk around. Since Pastor Anthony had mentioned that we should go visit Robert Morrison’s grave the last time we were there with him, we went to take a look this time. It was the highlight of the trip for me – much better than sampling free meat jerky on the side streets :)

Some background on Robert Morrison can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Morrison_(missionary)

Robert Morrison was the first protestant missionary to serve in China. He endured years of loneliness, rejection, and hate by the locals he came to serve. He learned a language many thought was impossible to learn from scratch and did thankless work translating the Bible into Chinese. And for his 25 years in Asia led only 10 Chinese to Christ. Such seemingly fruitless work for the Kingdom with little to show.

We stumbled upon the Protestant Cemetery tucked away in the corner of a park oasis amidst the dirty grimy streets of Macau. We would have overlooked it if it weren’t for the tourist signs pointing us to this direction. Beyond the humble gates was a small protestant church. Behind the church was the cemetery.

Something about being in a cemetery just gives proper perspective to the sheer brevity of life. All are laid to rest here. There are no exceptions. Many died at sea, and other dies by disease, but they are all confronted by the end of their life here and the beginning of another one. It was odd and almost outrageous how some epitaphs showed a glimmer of hope of something beyond this side of world. Many souls buried here had faith of an eternity spent with their Maker where the pains of this world would cease and no longer infirm and wane their joy. Such hope was inspiring.

We found Morrison’s grave and epitaph shaded by a large tree in the back corner of the cemetery. Such a meagre monument for a giant hero. I’ll let the photos tell you the story:

And the one for his wife:

 

His colleague Samuel Dyer:

 

What faith!

Lord, let me cheerfully spend my life for your Kingdom and fame. And if there should be no reward, it would be fine because you are my reward. Amen. 

Standing and Sleeping

Vancouver Island- Inception - Canon 5D Mark II

Wow, I just came across this video on Youtube. Totally reminded me of home in Vancouver and all the adventures and memories I had living there. Truly the best place on earth to live and breathe in life.

Missing Canada lots!

Tins

New Student Interviews

This month, I've had the pleasure of working two Saturdays at my school. Yes, it is strange to say that a teacher would be obliged to be on duty on a Saturday, but it's quite common here in Hong Kong. I only share this with a better attitude now that I'm on Chinese New Year holiday. It's safe to say I wasn't so positive during those weekends.

This weekend, we had our new student interviews. Because I work at a private school here in Hong Kong under the Direct Subsidy Scheme, our school has to ensure that we have a new crop of students coming in every September. So marketing and promotion becomes a big deal. We try and get our name out there as much as possible. That's why we had our Open House Day a couple weekends ago.

I'm finally starting to realize just how important this school business is- and it is actually a business. During the open day, I overheard some parents talking to some teachers about why they wanted to apply to UCCKE, and one parent said quite forcefully, "I live around this neighbourhood and I always see your students commute to and from school. Never once have I seen them smoke or cut the queue line at a bus stop. So I know you teach your students well and I want my kid to learn this stuff."


I guess that's why the school cares so much about tidy uniforms and appearance. Because each student carries the school's reputation into the community and other people base their assumptions of the school's educational quality on how nicely their hair is kept and how neatly their socks are pulled up.

This Saturday, I had to interview prospective Form 1 students for September. This year, around 600 applied for the 150 spots we have. That's important to note because this year there are around 5000 less Form 1 students in Hong Kong. Schools and teachers have been freaking out because there is a projected decline in student population and less and less students are available to enter into schools. It's projected that by 2016, 21,500 less students in the school system here in HK. (source: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-09/13/content_11296851.htm)

So less students mean smaller classrooms, which is good until the school fires an obsolete teacher. And less teachers mean that quality goes down and the public doesn't enroll. Then more teachers get fired and then schools shut down and people are out of work. That's part of the reason teachers work so hard and promote the school. Their jobs are on the line.

The interviews went well- some students were quite well spoken, both in English and Chinese. I had no real highlights of the day, except for one student saying, "I want to come to your school because I pass by on the minibus and I see that your school is big and nice." When asked why she didn't choose the school next to ours since it's also on her minibus route, she answered, "Because I can see this one better."

My colleague Ricky had a more interesting one. When asked whether he had joined any speech festivals before, the student replied, "I will.... eat candy."

We have a long way to go if we end up teaching these kids.

More random sights

Merry Christmas to all of you. May the Lord bless you richly this season with his presence.


Here are some pictures of moments we've come across and tried to capture.

Wha??

Whoa. A new and genius invention.






















Monopoly HK style. This at the MTR station.
























Dinner with Emily before she left for home.






















Look who it is! Guess what kind of cuisine we ate at this restaurant?






















So which one is it?






















Timmy!! We were looking for shoes when our search lead us to a store with a "hourly" hotel above it. Hmmm. I didn't know they charged sleep by the hour.

 

We went to Shenzhen on Friday. At the last stop before the border, a posse of people burst into the MTR and started unloading wine. And when we arrived, they left their box and trolly in the train. I guess they can afford to buy new trollies each time.


Anyways, gotta go. Wishing you a merry, merry Christmas here from HK. Drop us a note!

Peace!

The New and Improved!

Racist much?

Thanks Anderson Silva lookalike! I think I WILL get that coffee!


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Random Sights