Two weddings and two funerals

Somewhere in the beautiful countryside of North Thailand near Chiang Rai on this beautiful Saturday morning, Thais and Americans were singing and rejoicing the union of two of the loveliest people in the country - Brandon and Aum. I met them when we went on a missions trip to help out YWAM Thailand in Bangkok, ministering to college students and at the nearby slums, and generally helping out at the BJD Centre. I was supposed to go, and I planned on going, but instead...

I went to my Aunt's 'funeral', or rather, the scattering of her ashes at a memorial garden at the south of Hong Kong Island. She had fought cancer long and hard for the last four years. Sometimes she won, but not the last time. I heard that she wasn't in much pain at the end. And she went peacefully. It was a brilliantly sunny and breezy day, but despite being surrounded by rolling wooden hills and vividly colourful flowers, Cape Collinson was a heavy and oppressive place. It was a morning of mourning, but also a moment of finally letting go, laying to rest a loved and loving woman. As my Uncle said those simple words of remembrance, the lump in my throat grew harder, and my eye make-up dissolved. I took some of my Aunt's ashes in my hand, said a silent prayer, and let her float out of my hand onto the grass. I tried to not think about the fact that I hadn't seen her for quite a few years, and I won't be seeing her for a quite a while yet. But I pray that she is in the loving arms of God, who called her out of suffering and into His glorious light, as he does for all of us.

The next funeral will most likely be the death of my audit exam on Monday, given the pace of revision that was going on today. I blame this partly on John AY...

...who's in Hong Kong attending a wedding, but so very kindly took time out of his busy-best-man schedule to have

九記牛腩 (beef brisket) with me on Friday night.

Here in Thailand

...people don't shove you back in the train, but actually let you get off first.

...you can bargain your price down from 200 baht to 80 baht.

...taxi drivers will give you extra change if they don't have small change.

...if you're tired of walking you can just hop on a motorcycle-taxi that takes you home for 10 baht.

...its always hot enough to swim outdoors.

...people will smile at your camera if you ask whether you can take a photo of them.

...some of the dudes are actually quite goodlookin'!

I can almost taste the fish sauce

In just over 48 hours I'll be sitting by the pool in Bangkok, sipping a cool mocktail in the evening warmth, enjoying homey Thai food, and probably reading Audit notes for my final conversion exam.

Letters to me

Despite the riveting nature of my overly highlighted Contract Law notes, my mind couldn't stop wandering all afternoon, and it was finally drawn away from those tasteless law notes by the stacks of paper under my desk. Those stacks of paper are unread letters written by my Japanese students when I was leaving Japan. It's been 3 months since I left and they're still unread, still sitting under my desk, and still gathering dust.

I opened up a big bright red envelop that contained all the letters from Class 1-1 of Onahama II JHS. Most of them were in Japanese, some tried hard with their very limited English, and some wrote me essays. They all wrote with such sincerity.

"I will always remember those fun English lessons we had."

"Thank you for teaching me English."

"Please come back to Onahama."

"I will never forget you."

I didn't want to forget them either. But...I can't recall any of their faces anymore. Who's Sato Mizuho? Who's Makino Kento?? Which one is Toshiki, who in his letter thanked me for remembering his name?

Amidst the hecticness of work and resettling back in HK, there have been moments, many moments, where I wondered whether leaving Japan was a mistake...wondering how life could be like had I stayed...the easy life, being the sempai, the parties, the salary...

But most of all I miss my kids. I still wonder whether I could've done a better job had I stayed, developed a deeper understanding with them, and actually see them learn and grow and shine. But I guess God has better plans. And I can only trust, in faith, that where I'm at right now is where I'm supposed to be.

Nonetheless, no harm taking a few wandering strides down memory lane right?

Here are some of the hilarious/lovely/mind-boggling things they've written to me...

"For a short time でしたが thank you very much!!!"

"Come to Japan sometimes, I'm waiting for Samantha."

"ぼくの名前も覚えてくれてうれしかったです。" (I'm happy that you remembered my name)...Sadly I don't anymore.

"香港に帰ってもぼくたちのことをわすれないでください" (Don't forget us even when you've gone back to HK)

"サマンサのいるまちに行きたいと思います。だから、そこで待っていてください。" (I want to go to your town. So please wait for me.)

"First, I was surprised listening you are British and China kid." (In the first lesson I did a self-introduction..and told them I was mixed. lol.)

And the most epic of all letters:

To our most wonderful teacher, Ms Samantha.

It is always difficult to say goodbye to someone whom we love.

Time waits for no one and the time has come.

We should say no more than "thank you" for what you've done,

but we are out of vocabulary and can't think of one.

We promise to improve our English,

so what you've taught us will never perish.

However, please learn only this.

The person is connected to the person somewhere by all means.

As for it, a teacher is the same as us, too.

Thank you very much so far.

Please be careful about a body,

and please work hard at work from now on.

Goodbye, Samantha.

Sincerely

....

And this was written by a junior high 1st grader!!! Most of them are still learning how to hold pencils properly. I have this letter permanently stuck on my wall.

Gradual culture realisation, and reverse culture discrepancy.

"RCS! You will most likely get RCS! Prepare yourself and protect yourself from the effects of RCS!"

No it's not a contractable disease.

It's reverse culture shock - three words that plagued all the seminars at the JET leavers' conference, the JET Leavers guide and conversations that were engaged in the last few months of being a JET. I had sort of braced myself for it, although I was pretty sure I wasn't going to get it.

And I was right. Sort of. I don't think I actually experienced any reverse culture SHOCK, per se, when I came back from a clean, quiet, friendly Japanese town to the hustle, bustle, smoggy and noisy city of HK.

Indeed, there was no shock. But I can't deny that, as I re-integrate more into the local culture, and re-familiarise myself with people's behaviours and the surroundings, I gradually find more and more things that test and demand a push of my patience limits to new levels.

Elaborations to follow in upcoming posts.

North-westerlies

Last Saturday morning, I set out at 11am with my phone, a $100 bill, and ambition in my track pants pocket. There was a perfect breeze and the sun was shining undisturbed over murky-blue sky.

A jog along Bowen Road, a hike half-way up to the peak, (and half-way by bus), dim sum lunch and a large frozen yogurt (shared) later, we ended our mega-workout-hangout-day with a walk (and swinging on monkey bars) around the peak.

It had been a while since I saw HK from the peak. Hong Kong is tiny but anything beyond Kowloon was covered in such smog that you can only see a vague outline of the NT hills.

It's this time of the year - where the North-Westerly winds bring all the dust and smog and poison from China's over-polluting factories to our 'fragrant harbour'.


But at least I should be thankful that I have Saturdays off instead of working and living in an over-polluting, smog-filled factory in China...