A good home visit

The flight home was good because I managed to sleep for about three hours before landing. I cooked dinner together with Rebecca and dad. I had to rest my legs because I stood too long and they were feeling a little stiff. I had a good time with my family. There was nothing to catch up but to continue.

The following day I returned to school to visit with my form class who were rather busy. I was in Samuel's home room when I saw my form class display the kind of intelligent discourse during the history lesson. I was so happy for them because all the months of cursing and swearing about hard work paid off and they are on their way to be thorough investigators of the truth. QUALITY Education comes in a package...if you know what I mean. Thumbs up too.

The evening caused much concern for my dad because I was out visiting with my godson, Joshua. We were later joined by my fairy god son Melvin who came around eleven. By the time we finished, I was home by 130 in the morning. I somehow woke dad up and he gave me the telling off to which I answered YES. I checked my handphone which I swtiched off because I didn't want to be disturbed to find many missed calls from Rebecca. I just have to apologize here for my negligence. I have a habit of doing that even when I was in Calgary. A bad habit indeed.

The return to Beijing was kind of different. I was eager to come back. The flux between places sort of irks me very much because of my legs and the flight can be rather uncomfortable in that little seat of mine. So when I arrived, I was so happy. Happy because I can finally lie down and sleep for a while.

Before long, I hurried my blurr students who walked really slowly (I don't know why their legs are so heavy. Perhaps it is their shoes.) to the canteen for their dinner. The welcome dinner was excellent. I bet some of you who are reading my blog and been to Beijing will remember that. Then Vincent and I decided to go watch a movie. It was Tuesday and it was half price. We paid 30rmb for a show on 10000BC. The theatre was packed with chinese watching an english movie. None of them spoke english, mind you. I found the sound system good. Our Victor 1 boys told us that there are more sophisticated movie theatres. I think we are going to try them out and see what it is to watch a movie in China.

Mr Ang, the acting principal of the satellite campus in Beijing, said we made a few first that was never done in the campus at all. We were the first to cook almost every week for a meal together with the teachers. We are the first to cook for the boys. Yesterday I fried 60 eggs. The boys were craving for home cooked meal and so I fried them some eggs. Omelette to be exact. To cook the sphagetti, Vincent and I ventured to Carefour. On a Friday night with light showers, Beijing was almost impassable. But we got home almost two hours of getting stuck in the traffic and trying to get a cab. From now on, we are not going to get out too far from our boarding on Friday unless it is after ten.

I cooked the sphagetti while the rest of the teachers brought the boys to various places of interest. Because it was time off on Saturday, I could do a lot more for the boys. Some of the High Flyers helped me. I told them to get me button mushrooms. Timothy and Zi Song helped me in the kitchen. Later, Sean joined us. Sean is pretty good at frying the meat.

Finally the other flyers are back and they made the coleslaw. Cheong Keat did an excellent job instructing Timothy and Sean to buy the necessary ingredients for the coleslaw. I made the sauce for them.

As we were preparing, other students came to the pantry. They wanted some. But I was afraid there would not be enough so I told them to wait and see and we have some, we would share. We found there was enough and so we called over some of the Victors 1 boys to join us. Boy did we have a good time teasing Vincent about India.

I thank and praise God for all that happened so far. Without Him, I don't think anyone of us want to get up every morning to work. But we know whom we serve and we know it is because of who He is that we can do what we do for our students. The Lord is indeed a merciful and all caring God and He has given us this space to love and care for each other in this campus.

Honestly, working from Beijing has been a blessing. God removed me so that I could take a break and think about a lot of things. He also showed me that with His help I can adapt if I submit to His will. Initial fears for not being able to get along are now all gone. Our working styles are so different here. But we get along just fine because not only do we know whom we serve, we trust that He has a purpose for us.

God can change the hearts of men when we surrender our will to Him. Our hearts of all things are the most deceitful and easy receptacle for anything evil. So we must guard it with the word of God and with Christ's precious blood.

I am going to church later but first to go see Ronald, McDonalds. Then to Lau Pa Sat for Singaporean food. I heard we can meet Singaporeans there but I am wondering whatever for. I came here to escape from them. Ha ha

Summer Palace

The visit to the Summer Palace was a good one. I had the chance to be alone for an hour or so to enjoy the breath taking view. The students went on a boat ride, some on battery operated ones and others paddle. They went wild when they got in and were all excited despite having to pay 80 yuan per person. The first shot I took of the palace was the Fragrance temple. It attracted my attention because it stood very high up the slopes. Since I had some time, I decided to climb all the way up to take a look at the temple. Now this was a challenge to myself. I wanted to see how high I could go. As I walked up the stairs I couldn't help but think about mum. With her steady feet and strong joints and all the Qigong mastery, climbing those stairs was not a problem to her. But I didn't have much problem either going upwards. But climbing down nearly killed me. But the view up there is to die for. Take a look.

The emperor built the palace for Empress Dowager Cixi. The temple was previoulsy burnt down but he rebuilt it. And there is more to the Summer Palace. At the back of the photo on the right is the Modern Beijing and the modern city surrounds the Summer Palace. It was said that there was this secret water canal that could transport the royal family to the Summer Palace all the way from Gu Gong (the Forbidden City) without being noticed. A first to be used is the telephone and it was found on this ground. Empress Dowager Ci Xi knew of the importance of keeping up with communication during the last days of the Ching dynasty.

There were two emperors who impressed me. One is QIng Long and the other Guang Xue. Both had very beautiful handwriting and both are into the fine arts. It was said that Qing Long would copy pieces of art he loved and then drew them one by one on the corridor that was in the Summer Palace.
The corridor is 780metres long and exhibits about 14000 pieces of art. I walked down part of the corridor and took some of the art pieces. All the art pieces decorated the beams of the corridor. Guang Xue was also a talented artist. When I told the wardens that, they told me that emperors had nothing better to do so they drew. I think otherwise. I always believe that art and science should go together to form an intelligence. I personally believe in art and those who love fine arts are the brightest people. What is life when there is so much beauty around us to enjoy and yet we never knew that was beauty. The corridor has another function. It keeps the royal family cool. The winds from the lake would blow towards the corridor and when a person is in the shade, you will be cold.

As I climbed up the Fragrance Temple, I bore witness to the gifts that visitors from around the world brought in celebration of Empress Dowager's birthday. The photo on the right shows some of the gifts she stored in the room. The photo on the right has four chinese character. The phrase says to set an eternal foundation. Empress Dowager was probably thinking about creating an eternal throne. But nothing is eternal without the Lord Jesus Christ. His death on the cross proved His love for us. And His resurrection we commemorate every year confirms He truly is God. We celebrate His birth, His death and His resurrection. What more proof do we want about who He is? But still we look on for an answer. But the answer to eternal life is not just for Kings or Emperors but also for the common folks like you and I. God is no respector of persons. He came to save all, not just kings and emperors but people like you and I, people who know or not know Him. Empress Dowager wanted to live long even after she was gone. But I know for a fact that the foundation she wanted to lay eternally, didn't last long. It ended. But God's kingdom lasts forever.

Spring has sprung around the school. And the flowers are so beautiful. The two photos show different types of plum blossoms. Some of my students went beserk taking down all the lovely pictures before they flew home with me.

We arrived home safely at 6am this morning and left many memories behind. I slept a while and now about to leave my house for breakfast and to buy some books. I look forward to going back to Beijing because although it is very polluted, there is so much chinese culture there. I walked where the emperors walked and wonder what it was like to be in their times. Would my choices be like theirs too. So I thoroughly enjoy myself. I am glad to be home because I miss all my family and friends. Not forgetting my form class too. I will go tomorrow to meet with them. I brought home some goodies of Beijing. Hopefully they like it.

Some shots with the flowers.

Vincent spelling the blossoms. This colleague of mine misses Singaporean food. But we have compensated by cooking some local cuisines ourselves. Good thing the market is about a 20 minute walk from us. We have cooked a meal almost every week. There is a grocery shop near us, about 5 mins walk from us. It is a famous Beijing shop that has been in Beijing for centuries. The meat is fresh and because it is reputable, we trust the meat we buy there. But we do buy meat from the market and all the vegetables are deliciously good. I brought some home for dinner tonight. So far we had radish soup, porridge, curry chicken and chicken rice. And Ros will be cooking Bak Kut Teh today for dinner. So we are taken care of.

The first smell of spring. Peach Blossoms? I am not sure. But there is a chinese term for this tree.

This is plum blossom. Really pretty flower.

Beijing and counting down for a brief stop by

This is Mutianyu Great Wall. It is one of the less busy points along the great wall of China. We went there last week. I was rather worried about the great wall because I had to climb. I climbed one of the oldest great wall of China before and the steps are really small. The steps could only fit one third of my foot. Sometimes I wondered if the soldiers had smaller feet and were short or the steps were meant for horses so the soldiers could gallop on them. So I was ready to be at the foot of the wall. I walked with a group of High Flyers because about three of them remained because one of them injured his foot while playing soccer. We started shopping from downhill all the way until midway when we heard a shout. Our Coordinator Mr Allen Chen was waiting for us but we thought he knew that we didn't want to go up. Anyway, I got up there! Yes! All of us crippled people got up there...via CABLE CAR! Thank God for this invention.

The Saturday before the Great Wall climb, I was at the Beijing Zoo. We caught the pandas. There were two of them. The panda you see on the left is really interesting. It would eat and then sleep for a short while, completely stoned. And then it would wake up in less than 2 minutes and started eating again. Perhaps it knew that spring has sprung so it just decided to be semi comatose. But this panda is really cute.The last time I went to the Beijing Zoo, the pandas were all asleep. Now they are finally waking up to the spring. I bought a panda from the zoo at the end of the visit.

It is the cutest bear and it sleeps on the other bed with me in the room. It is not only soft and cuddly, it is like a baby when you carry it in your arms. Sometimes, I sleep on it. Sometimes I hug it to bed but most of the time, it sleeps on the other bed. My housekeeper will come in and when she does the bed for me everyday, she will place it nicely facing the bed end. I bet she too has a good. This bear lives in comfort, away from the pollution of Beijing and the sandstorms too.

News and emails have been blocked since the uprising in Tibet. We don't have any access at all to our own personal mail. Even YouTube is blocked. So if you are trying to reach me via the other mail account, it will not be sent. And whatever I have sent, may not get sent too.

The photo on the left has no special effects. It was Beijing at 12noon today. The sandstorm has hit us again. I find it interesting. Almost each time we have used the public transport to go on our fieldtrips, we have met with sandstorm. The wind was blowing strongly, bringing up the pollen on the ground the dust on the road right to our very nose and mouth. Pray for us. Pray we will not get sick.

We visited two Museums today. One was the capital museum and the other was the military museum. I took a lot of art pieces in each of the museums, intending to use them for my wall paper. The photo on the right is part of the robe an emperor once worn. The dragon is filled with little pearls sewn together with golden thread.

The photo on the left shows another robe that was woven with gold and this is the official robe of the emperor. You will truly glitter. Unfortunately, all that glitter is not gold. All of these emperors still die. We visited the tombs they were buried. All of them were afraid to go to the netherworld alone and to leave poor. One of the tombs visited was intelligently sealed and everything that went inside were kept in a vacuum. We went 27m deep into the tomb. Much that was buried when unearthed all turned to dust because of over exposure to the air. Everything changed colour almost instantly when exposed and disintegrated. So nothing they wanted to bring actually reached them. Nothing is ever eternal, save our life. How we spend our eternity is an important issue we must ponder. It is not a matter just for the kings or emperors. It is a choice we must make consciously.

I was also at the military museum. China has made many weapons. It has also modified the AK47. It was quite an eye opener looking at all the weapons, tankers and missiles. The military museum is 4 storey high but I only made it for two storeys. I am already very happy to be able to walk two floors up and down and then walk again for another hour or so. I will have to walk even more at the Summer Palace this coming Thursday. I hope I can find time to sit. I heard there is a tower that will present a breathless view.

There is a showroom that records the communist movement in China. I took quite a few paintings and I shall share them with you. All I feel are lovely drawn with emotions.

My blog cannot be read after I upload. China servers block the blogspots. So please don't mind the misarrangements.

On hind sight...

When I was told last year that I could finally come to Beijing, I was not sure what to expect. The colleagues who returned prepared us really well for the work and the kind of students we were to expect. I was actually overwhelmed. I also had to better some trust issues before coming and decided the best thing is to trust the Lord. I remember how the Lord helped me through the most difficult times of my life. He brought along friends who will pray for and with me from around the world. And I am sure all of you are praying for me everyday that I will survive.

I have not been really well. I am still fighting an infection. It is only coming to Beijing that I realize how bad my health is. I also realize what it means to be sick and over in China. I also have to deal with the possibility of moving to Beijing for good and there are things I have to work with if I want to be here for good. And God is teaching me alot of things about me moving here.

People in Beijing are not as friendly at first. They have a certain attitude. The "I am high class" attitude. I challenged that with niceness. I won by the grace of God. There are two wardens looking after our boys. When I met Huo laoshi, wow, she was stern looking. But I know she was only being uptight about meeting another group of teachers. I smiled. I made sure I asked her when I was in doubt and that made her feel important. I didn't ask her about the boys. I asked her about Beijing. Something she is always so proud of. As a result, her attitude also changed towards our boys. Now, she looks after me too. Wonderful. Actually all the wardens are nice. One even shares her food with us one night when she saw us eating just flavoured rice and chicken. We thought our food was quality but she thought we needed some pickled veggies to go with it. And we ate, a little.

I also learned to push my way in the crowd. It was awkward at first, but now I am pro. Each morning when I come down the elevator, there will be tons of people waiting to get up. The building we are staying is an insurance office block. Imagine all these insurance agents rushing to work! So I don't say excuse me, they don't give you time to do that. They will push themselves in first. So now I learn to push my way through first. No need to feel sorry. This is Beijing.

Last night, Julian and I went to the pubs in Beijing to scout. This area around the lake has many, many pubs with live bands in each pub. What a sight! There were so many singing talents, superstars in the making. Some were full, while others were empty with the singer standing there, enjoying his or her voices. We were looking for a chicken wing store that is reputed to be the best for the locals in Beijing. Soon, our friend Allen Chen came and brought us to this very old house. It was crowded at 10pm. The shop sells only chicken wings and I found them to taste like satay. Allen drove so he was not allowed to drink too much beer. Julian and I had two beers between us. I drank less than half the bottle. The local beer is of low quality so I was drinking sparkling water instead. I didn't even feel tipsy. But Tsingtao is different. Excellent beer and cheap too. My students told me that in Beijing, you can buy beer at 12 years old but you can only drink it at 18. This is funny, don't you think? The 12 year old may drink the beer after buying it!

Who is Julian? Well, he is a 17 year old Australian boy who is visiting our campus in Beijing. He is taking a year off school so he could travel. He will be spending 7 months in China and yes, he speaks good mandarin and eager to learn too. He does speak English too.

So last night was interesting. Julian, Vincent and I will be going there again, before Julian leaves because the pubs do sell coffee and we just want to listen to live singing. Seriously.

There is life after school in Beijing!

I thank God for protection every day. I thank Him for the grace and the joy in serving Him. I thank God for my students in the Beijing Satellite Campus. They are very interested in learning and gaming too but they are also able to look after each other. They have grown, especially my Voyagers. They have been very tolerating of the food and working within the boundaries I set. I am grateful for that. They also try hard to keep their dorms clean although room 10 and 13 are still terrible. They will change this week. Some are still blurr like a squid in its own ink. But the water will clear.

Then I have my High Flyers who are so exciting to watch. They are the most positive of all the groups and extremely caring of their teachers. I love this bunch the most because they are willing to try. To me, as long as the students try, it makes a difference.

Not to mention is my last group of students, the VIctors. These are the most mixed group. There are some who have been here for three months before and are now back for another three. There are those who are coming for two months. But they all move as a block too. The experienced Victors will lead in most of our tours they have been to many times. I admire their patience. Although they are beginning to feel tired and I do hear their murmurings, they still plough on. That is the kind of spirit. The two months Victors will soon be given tasks to take leads too. Because they all have to take turns to shoulder the burden.

God is good all the time. Whether I am unwell or well. The Sun shines brightly today. I will be off to do some shopping before heading back to unload and load again.

I am working on another project with Allen Chen. I am collecting story books that are in good condition for the rural primary schools in Beijing. I am burdened for China, especially for the poor with no education. I met Allen Chen, the person in charge of looking after the satellite campus and he shared about his sister's passion to help the rural schools. I am so happy to be able to do something. So if you have books you want to give, send them over to me at school on the 24th. I will be there for a while and then to meet my buddies for a singing session in the afternoon. The whole day will be gone and then I leave 6am on the 25th with another batch of Voyagers. They better be ready for me!

An Interesting Day

13/3/2008. Today I have no lessons. I decided to cook lunch since the boys were all out for immersion and lunch was not provided. I walked out and the wind was brisk. But the sun was finally out. I didn't really know where the wet market was so I asked around. An older gentlemen directed me to the alley I just walked past and he told me to go straight. But my feeling was that straight is not the answer. Using all my senses of geography, I did the most sensible thing. I started to study where the people carrying their bags of grocery came from. I found three older folks walking together and sensed that they were heading for the market. Anywhere, I decided to walk slowly behind them. Not stalking. Before long, I was back in the path I tracked a few days ago. Familiar but not so familiar. I also went another direction. I was attracted by a supermarket and then I walked in and asked a lady where the market was and she pointed to a building next to Wumart. It is a lime green building.

What a sight! There were big tomatoes, green leafy veggies every corner. I didn't know what to cook. So I bought one big radish and cost me less than 5rmb. I bought some carrots and then bones for the soup. I also bought a huge squid for 6rmb and then off I went home.

As I was cooking, there were quite a few by standers. They were watching me clean and cut up my squid as if I am doing a cooking demo. I bought some Brahim sauce for seafood from Singapore so I cooked it with the squid. It was kind of nice because the food in Beijing is getting to me a little. Lunch was ready by 1230. Ros and Mr Ang returned and I woke Vincent up for the lunch. We stood at the pantry to eat. The soup was lovely because the radish is sweet. I am buying one big radish home for Sunday dinner. Theodora wrote me today and I told her I would be bringing her goodies on Sunday.

After lunch, I was so tired. I was watching one of the movies when I heard a knock on my door. Vincent came to my room to tell me about a student he is very close to. A few days ago, he told me this student's mum had an operation and asked if I could pray for him. I did. But I also told Vincent that listening to what he told me, I didn't think the mother has a minor illness. I told him that the case I heard sounded similar to mum's. Then we left it at that. When he told me about the student's mum. I was sad. Very sad because the case is just so similar.

Vincent went on pfingo and called the boy. I taught this student years ago and he still remembered me, a fierce, overbearing teacher. But I gave him Richard's number and told him not to be afraid. Please pray for this boy's family now. Pray that the father will have peace in his heart to listen to God's leading. Pray that the Lord will encourage Vincent's student and give him directions. May this student be strong for the Lord and for his family. May he know to turn to the Lord. May the Lord be merciful and grant healing to the body. Pray for his brother and sister. That they too will not be afraid what has come. It is always more difficult for young ones to deal with this disease. Pray for the mother. She is very afraid, very down by now. Pray she will trust God. Pray that she feels God's presence and sense of peace in her heart. She needs this to tie her through the period. Pray that her faith will increase for without faith we cannot please God. We must not wave in our trust if we want our prayers heard.

I showed Vincent my blog. And I scrolled right down to day one of the blog and it was on the day I told mum about her illness. All memories flood back.

There are still issues I have to deal with about her passing. I brought two sets of photos with me from home. The two that always sit on my cupboard. I look at them everyday when I am here. I have one of mum, dad and the doctor. One of the family and one with mum in her youth performing martial arts with the sword. I always take very deep breaths when I take a look at them all. Now I know what is pain. Pain to lose some one so very dear. A pain that is numbing and yet sharp that will cost all your senses to freeze. And I understand what true loss is. It is the kind when you walk in the darkness, the darkness is so deep that you cannot see. It is the kind of loss that you find no way back.

I want to be able to tell people that I am fine, truly. And I feel for the boy. He being the eldest must be very tired and lost now. Just like I was. I am luckier. I have my sister and my brother with me. My dad is very vital in my situation. His love for my mum persuaded us to listen to his directions and forced him to call his shots. And he did well. Today his focus is still on mum. He wants us to remember her and we all do everyday.

From mum's passing we are tighter as a family. With my leaving, my dad feels lonely. Timothy and Ryan volunteered to stay with him over the weekend. Such brave little boys. A new kind of dynamics is beginning to form within my family. I hope it is the kind mum wants to see.

You see, she didn't just pass on. She lives still in our hearts and very much present in my family. Nothing is ever going to be over until we see her again in Heaven. I hope my time comes soon.

Beijing warming up!

Spring is springing. This is the first bud we saw on campus this afternoon. There were different colour buds of the same specied of flowers. The windy days are hopefully over. The sun is lovely. But I am down with a cold. Pretty hard to keep up with my nose especially when it keeps running from me. And I am a little tired easily.

The vist to Sung Ching Ling's residence was indeed a good one. She was indeed a remarkable lady. Her devotion to her husband and her husband's cause for China was written all over her house. Her respect and love for her husband was evident even after he died. Sung Ching Ling lived to a ripe old age of 89. She was also a great friend who would render help no matter the race. She gave her mum's wedding gown to a Japanese friend who was in trouble. But the friend saw how precious the gown was and decided to keep the gown. Only after Mdm Sung' s death did the son of the friend bring it back to the residence. You can see from the display that the gown is still well kept.

Then we proceed to a mansion. He was the richest man in China before he was beheaded. He was the most corrupt official and a close confidant of the emperor Chien Long. He resembled Chien Long's first love who happened to be a concubine of his father, the emperor then. In this mansion, were many precious treasures and whatever the emperor had, he also had. When you walk into the mansion, there are no stairs to the various buildings. All the stairs are removed to show that there was no need to take steps. This man wanted to leap into fortune. At the entrance is a pond that is shaped like a bat. And blocking the view from outside the door is a tall rock. This rock is interesting because the front of it looks like a fish and the back looks like a woman cuddling a child. It was said that although he had 30 concubines, no one gave him a son until he installed this rock. The pillars, the ceilings and the windows have bats as motif because this is a creature that symbolizes wealth. He may be an official but he lived like a King. He built a large warehouse to store his treasures and each window in the building is sealed and of different design so he knew exactly what was put in there. A clever man indeed.

Then we pop by the residence of Mei Lan Fang. He was an opera singer well known for his female roles. He performed since the age of 11. He refused to perform for the Japanese and grew a beard. The Japanese made life very difficult for him and he decided to draw for a living and also composed poem to make a living for his wife and four children. He also raised money to fight the Japanese. Another such artiste is Shi Bei Hong. He too raised money and sold his art pieces throughout Southeast Asia to rase funds to fight the Japanese. Such is the love the Chinese have for their country. I wonder when Singapore needs us to stand to fight, will there be such heroes.

Then the sun set again. And the dust in the air stirred up by the cold wind touch the sky with a tinge of peach. The day ended with the usual dinner in the dining hall. The food is getting a little challenging to eat. Some of the spices just don't hit my nose the right way. And my boys are counting the number of days to go before leaving for home.

Church in Beijing

The Lord is good. Ros, Vincent and I are all from three different denominations. But we all worshipped the Lord on Sunday. Ros comes from a church that sings without instruments, Vincent is the most charismatic and I am in the middle, neither too noisy nor no music. We were just so touched by God on Sunday. As we rise to sing the first song in this bilingual service, I couldn't believe what I was singing. The service started with How great Thou art, the same song I stepped in to sing when I entered IBC, Singapore. God's providence brought a couple and his daughter to sit infront of us and this couple is from Singapore. Later they introduced us to other Singaporeans worshipping there. We immediately networked so that our boys could be invited to their homes for some kind of connections.

The pastor shared on Watching and Praying. I know of people who don't believe in prayer because they feel that if it is already in God's will, why bother to pray. But the Bible teaches that we should watch and pray. He went on to share about Satan and how we have to watch him. Satan has only a few tricks up his sleeves. He doesn't need many because Satan knows his few tricks work and work again. The list he has is short. Probably find pride, money and sex in there. He will use them over and over again so we fall. I also learned something new on Sunday. I learned that Jesus prays for us. He also knows we will fall but He also prays for us that we be strengthened from our fall and go strengthen other people with the same weakness.

It is never possible for one who is weak to help another weak in the same sin. How can this be possible if we don't draw strength from the Lord. Peter told the Lord that he would never deny him. But within 24 hours, Peter denied Jesus three times. Those of us who are fighting our own sin must never think we can get go help the person with the same weakness with our own strength. Only Jesus can help us and only Jesus will give us the grace.

This is a deceitful world with all the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye. If we continue to look at all the money we can get, we are going to be very unhappy people. These days, I spend a lot less on material worth but certainly on health. I have been told by my masseur that my legs are in very bad shape. She told me that I needed to rest my legs. But how to when I have to travel with my Voyagers everywhere in the place we visit? Each morning I will look out my window. Before me will be many houses. Towards the horizon will rise a mountain range. Yes, my help comes from the Lord as I lift up my eyes. That is how I live everyday.

There is lots of laughter. We laugh because we make mistakes everyday and we laugh because our boys make the same mistakes and they are actually very funny mistakes. Here is a photo showing my boys mass jogging in the morning at 10. They observe this ritual dutifully like all Chinese in China. Some of us are very anxious about every small details. I am not good with too many details but I am very good when it is impromptu. So we complimented each other.


Photo taken at Tiananmen square. These are the 33 boys I am looking after. That day, my legs were so painful I had to sit for three hours in the palace. I didn't walk very far from the main entrance because my legs just couldn't move without excruciating pain. By the second week, three boys were unwell. This interesting lot also are very eager to finish the home work I gave and definitely greedy for my notes. I wonder if they were listening at all to my colleagues who have been working so hard to teach. But they are gobbling up everything I threw at them. Look at my glasses and you will know how dark they are and mind you, on Saturday, we had the sand dust blowing in the air. The sand dust covered the sky with a thick tinge of light brown and blocked out the sun. We breathed in very poor air that day.

On Saturday we also went to Cha Guan. This is a great place where chinese cultures are preserved. I enjoyed the place thoroughly because not only were we served some jasmine tea, Vincent also bought us some snacks. We watched an artiste change his face in front of us. We had some cross talk and magic show. But we were all tired.We also watched a coloured puppet show. It is probably the olden day version of a movie theatre. Today, Tuesday, 4/3 we went out again. This time we went to Sung Ching Ling's residence. We also sat on a trishaw as we weived our way through the Hutongs.
You may be curious as to how I lived. Well let me show you my room. There are two beds in the room and two tables. Everyday some one will tidy the room very much like a hotel but the bed is really hard. I like hard beds so I don't complain much. But the room is only really for sleeping because at the end of the day we are super tired. We think it is the cold weather that is draining us. I don't know. I think it is the work. Every morning we get up early to make sure the boys are ready for breakfast. Good thing we take turns for this. We also have to watch over our students who may be studying until 2030 because of online lessons. But we are sure glad to enter our room because after washing up I just collapse on my bed. Even if I want to mark or watch TV, my eyes just couldn't open anymore.

More about today, tomorrow...