This year vs. last year

It my second year teaching at a local highschool in HK and I've noticed a couple differences in terms of how I yeah this year compared to last year. It's kind of interesting how things change

Last year I told the students I didn't know any Chinese and asked them not to speak to me in that language hoping that it would push them to practice their English. Instead, I found myself constantly worrying about being found out that I had lied to them. Whenever parents called or came to talk to me I got so nervous about speaking to them because my secret would be exposed. It ended up hurting my teaching more than it helped.

This year I just told my class st the start that I knew a little bit of Chinese, enough for me to understand that they are fussing each other or swearing in class. Kids have responded nicely and haven't hounded me asking whether I know Chinese. It's freed me up to actually talk to parents and focus on my teaching. It's a liberating feeling.

Another difference I've noticed is just how calm I am about things that have happened. Last year I stressed so much about what to do when, which rules needed to be obeyed, etc. This year things are more familiar and I don't stress the small stuff. When kids don't follow the rules I just explain what the expectations are and move on. When coworkers butt in and interrupt I just figure it's expected and the culture here. I just roll with it.

Last thing I've noticed is that I've been able to spend so much more time marking and doing actual planning during school as opposed to wedding planning every spare moment I had. It's nice because when it's 5, I cab clock out and go home. Not that its a badge of honour I am proud of, but I am happy that I am able to balance my work and home life to spend time with Michelle and continue building our marriage. It's important in a culture that values work at the expense of family. I'm glad that things are more familiar so that I can be more productive.

Overall I'm relate happy about this year. It's exciting because I feel free to do the actual parts of teaching I enjoy like interacting with kids and hopefully getting to know them as individuals. And what's more is that I was able to start a ball hockey club after school so that has me planning for practices and matches to come in the future!





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Medicare

It sucks being sick. Being sick in HK especially sucks because there is no Medicare. I realize how awesome it was to hbe consultations covered in Canada. I just had to spend about 80 CDN to see the doctor and get flu medicine for 6 days. I don't remember it ever being so pricey in Canada, but then again I don't remember a lot of things.

I should stick to not getting sick then I'd have no problems.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wedding Reflections

It’s been a few weeks since we’ve arrived back in Hong Kong to begin our teaching years. And though some things are familiar, (and even eerily comforting) like the constant hum of the air conditioner and anonymous crowds, we miss home. We miss the meaningful conversations and the heartfelt fellowship we can only find in friendships steeped through years of joys and heartache.

We are ever-grateful that we had the opportunity to share our wedding with the best of friends back home in Richmond. This is where we’ve grown up. This is where our faith was formed. This was where we were challenged to follow Christ with our band of believers and pursue Him recklessly. What an honour to celebrate with those who have walked with us over the years!

Over the last year, when Michelle and I planned our wedding, we really didn’t know what to expect. Frankly speaking, neither of us had ever given our wedding any thought. There were no dreamt-up childhood fantasies of a special wedding dress or a little white chapel. In fact, we hatched out most of our plans quite unromantically, bumbling around ideas and breaking etiquette. The fact that our wedding turned out is a testament to our friends- both to their love and competence.

Michelle and I joke about how God used our friends to hijack our wedding day. Throughout the planning we had just hoped for the best and prayed that somehow our wedding would be a testimony of God’s goodness in our lives. God took that prayer and showed us the full spectrum of his goodness. The sun blasted its radiance and held off the rain until the evening. All the details we had labored over for months were perfectly set by our friends and helpers. The music and sermon at the ceremony was awesome. Our polaroid cameras actually worked and our guests had fun! The day went so well.

At the end of the night many guests at the reception dinner commented that they could sense the deep love and fellowship we shared as a church community – that we had something that they had never really seen before. They saw a Christian community whole-heartedly celebrating not just the love between two people, but the love between the church as a body.  They shared that they could see a God who was real, who indeed changes people and works in wonderful ways to bring about His purposes and glory.

The thing that Michelle and I miss most about home is being able to celebrate with friends. Not just celebrate in extraordinary ways for weddings and such, but in the ordinary ways when we simply live life together. For in those moments of genuine fellowship, the body is united and Christ is shown to the world.

What do you mean?

It's surprising that a couple colleagues have come up to me to congratulate me on my wedding and follow up with the question, "Is your wife living with you here in HK?"



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A Random God-filled Day

Today was a random day. But it was also a God-filled day, so it was good.

We started off by visiting the doctor this morning in Wan Chai early in the morning since we were super tired last night and slept early. We had roughly packed a full day to go get a hair cut, have lunch with Karen and then try and get some things for our home. It was really neat because right after the doctor's appointment, we walked right by a water-filtration store which was exactly what we were talking about getting earlier this morning. Hong Kong is so neat. You find what you need at the weirdest times, and other times, you can never find what you are looking for when you want to.

So it was a really pleasant way to start off the day, being able to get a water filter (yes, this sounds kinda lame coming from me because it's such an adult thing to care about- but I guess that's marriage now), but we've been having such a great time setting up our home and doing furniture shopping and looking for ways to maximize storage. We passed by this designer furniture store in Causeway Bay called GOD to look for ideas. They have some really beautiful stuff in there, but it's quite pricey. They have a block of wood (serving as a side coffee table) for just 2000 bucks. A great investment if you ask me.

We met up with Karen for lunch and had a great time catching up. We're looking forward to having her over tomorrow night. During lunch I got a call back from a guy selling a PS3 on the internet. Some of you know that I've been secretly wanting one since Dom and the guys keep playing COD and NHL. It'd be nice to have some guy bonding time over the internet. So originally he was asking for 3000 HKD for a 40GB PS3 with 6 games and a steering wheel. But I told him that I didn't want the steering wheel or most of his games and asked whether he could cut me a deal. So he said he'd give it to me for 1000 bucks.

Michelle and I went to meet him later on this afternoon. When we were meeting him at the mall we were guessing how he'd look, thinking he'd be a 20-30 year old nerd with short hair and thick plastic glasses. Turns out this guy was a 50 year old man who drove a red sports car with two cats at home. Totally random. But he was a nice guy and now I have a PS3.

The nice man's Fiat sports car

PS3!

On the way home, Michelle met one of her student's mother. The family is moving to China to do non-profit work for the Kingdom so it was such a God-moment for them to catch up. It was a neat way to cap off a random day of seeing God provide for us things we need and things we want and remind and encourage us of why we're here in Hong Kong. God has led us here to this place and has been faithful to us every step of the way. We are excited about what this new year will bring.

Being Home

Being home is awesome.

It's been 4 days since coming back to Vancouver and every moment of it has been comfortable as if we had never left. The fresh air, the great food, and most of the all the awesome friends we have are still the same. Even though it's been a whirlwind of activities and people to see, I've enjoyed every bit of it and hope to make the best of my time here.

I think the strange thing is that it feels like everything stayed the same and we flew paste this time lapse and never really left Vancouver even though we've been gone for a year. Our friends are all the same and I guess it goes to show that we've been blessed with some really deep friendships. Our experiences are different now and everyone's grown in so many ways, but the essence of who they are remains the same. It's familiar and comfortable. We are blessed here to be getting married soon in front of all our friends (and with their help) and we couldn't be more excited to share the day with a bunch of great people.

Of all the things I am glad to have here at home, I'm glad to have friends.

Riots

Watching Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals today was painful for the actual parts I got to catch before I had to invigilate an exam at school. To see the Canucks get whooped 4-0 in the most important game in the foreseeable past was agonizing to say the least, but I think the aftermath of the game leaves me more disappointed and troubled. 


Don't get me wrong. I love hockey and I love the Canucks. But the response by fans and rioters in downtown after the game was shameful. It was embarrassing and humiliating. With the whole world watching, the youth in our generation chose destruction over law and order and violence over peace. All this over a hockey game. True, some may argue this game was a chance to rewrite history. This was our chance at redemption- to be great. Ironically enough, history has now been rewritten- and it condemns us for not having learned from our mistakes in '94


Where were these young rioters in '94? I suspect most were not even born yet. And if they were, they were likely toddlers and too young to remember the pain of a Cup that slipped from the grasps of a city. They hear stories of the lore written in sagas. They weren't around when Maclean robbed Reichel, or Bure downed the Flames, or when Messier sent the city into heartbreak. They weren't around to see the tears that filled the streets and the city spiral into chaos. None of that matters though because it still doesn't negate their behavior tonight.


What troubles me upon seeing this footage of drunken brawls, brazen revelers taunting police, and degenerate youth smashing public property is that we raised these youth. We are their chemistry teachers, their uncles and aunts, their hockey coaches and neighbours. We saw them fall of their bikes, dissect their first frog and go to their proms. And this is how they have turned out. Drunk, stupid, debauched. They are willing to turn their fist against the very community that raised them. And no, this isn't one of those passionate pleas for parents to get a rein on their children because well, to be honest, I think it's too late for that. 


On a spiritual level, I'm left with more questions than answers. Upon coming here to Hong Kong, I've been challenged to learn what it means to love the city and seek its good. Jeremiah 29:7 says, "Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper." As exiles and sojourners in the various places God has ordained us to be, how do we serve our city? How do we seek its peace and prosperity in a time like this?


What grips me is that in the city we have hordes of young passionate youth who have a displaced hope that needs to be redirected to the gospel and the purposes they can find only in God. As a church, if we truly desire to serve God and bring about His Kingdom, we need to speak out to this demographic and challenge them to more in this life. And if we have a segment of these youth passing through the doors of our churches, we need to step up and walk with them and ensure that we don't lose them to the waste of society. We need to be praying for them, caring for them, and mentoring them. God created them for more than the destruction we saw tonight.


Who knows? Maybe in 17 years we'll get another shot at the Cup. A generation will have passed, and perhaps by then we will have learned our lesson. Perhaps we will have raised our youth so that they stand in the face of defeat and agony and respond with grace and class. Perhaps our city will not be laid ruin by our own depravity spawned by the result of a simple hockey game. Perhaps things will be different because our city will know Christ.