Change of seasons (at last!)

Hello again from Hong Kong! The weather FINALLY turned a little bit cooler. Some of the students are wearing warm jackets already, whereas we "northerners" are just happy to trade in our sandals and thinnest shirts for more substantial shoes and (still short-sleeved!) shirts. I was also inspired to bake a pumpkin pie this weekend. Most of the Chinese faculty and international students seemed to like it, but maybe they were just being polite. My husband can't stand the stuff, which is all right by me since it means I get an extra helping!

Last Saturday I had the opportunity to lead a delightful group of LTS Mekong students  in a "Biblical women" seminar, looking at some of the lesser known texts about particular women in the Bible. It was marvelous, getting their insights. It turns out that to this day, boys in Myanmar are favored with the "fish head" (considered the best part of the fish for eating!) whereas the girls get the tail. Hmmm! It was great for us to listen together to God's Word, which sometimes comes to us as a female voice -- in the voice of a Biblical woman... or as an insight from a sister in Christ! 

On a very different note, the monkeys have been making very regular visits to our home (backyard) and also like to dive in the pond up at the seminary. Here's a couple of photos from the back roof of our house, where the monkeys enjoyed some ripe starfruit. There was also a recent stand-off between the monkeys and a troop of semi-wild dogs which have been cavorting in the neighborhood, and seem to especially like our yard. The dogs had a grand tiime, madly chasing the monkeys and barking up the trees. The monkeys screeched and shook the branches at the dogs. Thankfully, it seems it was all noise and warnings and no actual violence took place.

 As I said, the weather has turned cooler, so that means it's finally hiking weather again. Here's a photo of one of my favorite hiking companions!

Praise the Lord, my soul;

    all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

Praise the Lord, my soul,

    and forget not all his benefits—

who forgives all your sins

    and heals all your diseases,

 who redeems your life from the pit

    and crowns you with love and compassion,

 who satisfies your desires with good things

    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. -- Psalm 103

A morsel from the chopsticks...

Just for a slice of life... or maybe I should say "a morsel from the chopsticks": Wayne is off in the Mainland of China this week, visiting Christian churches with some of the other seminary professors, I'm getting ready for a conference in Myanmar (Burma) next week... trying to organize hotels, speakers, logistics of flying in Mekong folks from Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand... I'm really excited that among others, we'll have a Jewish rabbi giving a presentation, since few of the Mekong Christians have had (any?) exposure to the faith in which Jesus was raised! But oh, those logistics. Hotel rooms. Speaker bios. Airport pick ups. Will Buddhist vegetarian food fulfil Jewish kosher needs for our Jewish guest? Oops, I haven't gotten my Myanmar visa yet...

Meanwhile here in Hong Kong:

• One day last week we had nearly a foot of rain in 12 hours. 
• We have snails the size of a fist crawling up the walls of our house (thankfully only on the outside walls, so far)
• I have killed not one but two giant tropical cockroaches since my husband is gone, and...
• Two days ago one very large monkey was swinging in the trees outside our home. I closed the door very quickly so he wouldn't get the idea of coming inside. One of our neighbors actually once had a monkey come and grab a banana out of the fruit basket on his dining room table !

At work we got our first set of rejections on all nineteen of the student visas we are hoping to get approved for next fall's incoming students. This dismays me but does not stop me... time to start sending in yet more documentation - proof of employment, proof of previous degrees and certifications, explanations to the Hong Kong government officials of what exactly is theological librarianship or why would a student from Myanmar need a masters degree in diakonia, anyway? So I make copies, scan folders, try to find the right words for the officials... respectful but not too fawning, 

A co-worker invited two of us Americans out for "hotpot". Should I tell you the shrimp were so fresh they literally kept jumping off the plate? That was a little... extremely fresh even for my adventurous tastes.

It's a fascinating, fascinating life.

Next week -- return to Burma. Stay tuned!

Taste and see that the Lord is good;    blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.      -- Psalm 34:8

What NOT to do if you're attacked by monkeys

A photo from another, more innocent day,
 when I still considered monkeys cute
rather than menacing...

So there I was, walking down the hill on a Friday night, quitin' time. Down the 121 steps from my office at the seminary, down the winding road past To Fung Shan, past the circle intersection, and just passing the cemetery, when I saw one solitary monkey on a papaya tree. 
Then I saw two or three, maybe a dozen. 

I'm cool with that. I'm not new to monkeys on my walk home. I avert my eyes (everybody knows you shouldn't look a monkey right in the eyes, right?).  I really didn't think a thing of it.  In fact, I was talking on my cell phone with Wayne, discussing the ever important question of what we were going to have for dinner.

I hear screaming behind me.  I turn around to look, and it's a big monkey screaming at me! Coming at me!

I turn around again, and there are monkeys pouring onto the road. There are monkeys overhead on the trees. They are all, inexplicably, looking at ME!

I try the aggressive dog thing where I stop and say "No!" firmly.  Well, maybe not so firmly.  Maybe it came out more like a "Noooooooo!" 

Then I could see some big daddy monkeys coming at me.  Monkeys big and small coming at me, dozens and dozens of them. Then I could see a bunch of angry, red, open mouths with glistening teeth coming at me.  And then I did exactly what you should NOT do if you're attacked by monkeys:

"But whatever you do, don't freak out; those who scream, wave their arms, and run away are only going to make the macaques even more aggressive."*

I freaked out, I screamed, I waved my arms, and I ran full speed down the length of the cemetery, and around the corner, where, thank GOD, they did not pursue me.

(Not another human being in sight, by the way.  I'm in Hong Kong for Pete's sake, and not one other human being in sight, nor - since no one came to my aid - within sound)

Okay, so I wasn't mauled, I wasn't bitten, they didn't actually touch me, just came close enough with those nasty looking teeth, to feed another several decades worth of nightmares. My throat was a bit sore from the screaming, but that was the physical extent of it.

It turns out Wayne heard the whole thing (he was on the cell phone, remember?) and guess what, this is how much he loves me, he rose up from his table at McDonalds (McDonalds? That's where you were???) leaving his almost untouched burger behind, and started running to rescue me!!

After I got home I invited my neighbors over and we had an impromptu "Escape the Mad Monkeys" wine and cheese and board game party, and I WON at the board game.

So all's well that ends well, and yes, I've gone down the hill again this week, alone, and not a monkey in sight.  But if I DO see some more  monkeys and one comes screaming at me, I'm going to do the 

"...the open-mouth threat. Basically, form an "O" with your mouth, lean toward them with your body and head, and raise your eyebrows."

And maybe I'll also follow the advice of most of our international students here -- and carry a big stick.

To read the whole article from where I culled those bits of highlighted info, check out the 2007 Slate article by Michelle Tsai on How to Fight Monkeys (big thanks to New Testament visiting professor and friendly, sympathetic neighbor Dr. Robin Mattison for researching and finding that article for all of us for future reference!)

So, watch out for monkeys, and if a great big troop of mad monkeys does come at you, please do not freak out.  But even if you do, be sure to have a party to celebrate the great escape afterwards.

The Lord is gracious and righteous;
    our God is full of compassion.
 The Lord protects the unwary;
    when I was brought low, he saved me.

 Return to your rest, my soul,    for the Lord has been good to you.  Psalm 116:5-7

April Showers Bring May... Monkeys???

May in Hong Kong means it's hot again. Unbelievably muggy. The mosquitos are swarming.  And the monkeys are on the prowl for the brown mushy fruit (I still haven't figured out what it is) that hangs from our trees.

Last week I walked out of my front door and nearly into a ... five foot long snake.  He slithered away, and so did I... in the opposite direction.  So, no photos, sorry. I don't know what kind of snake he was.  Surely not a poisonous one.  Surely not.


So here's what makes it worth it to face the mosquitoes, the monkeys, the snakes and the heat:

A graduate of LTS(center) who works with these beautiful, beautiful, Indonesian domestic workers, cheering them on, mothering them, coaching them, loving them through the highs and lows of working as live-in maids in a foreign land. They don't always dress like this, but Sundays are their one day off, so they dress up, looking like they just stepped in from a different, more exotic planet.  And in some ways, that's exactly what they've done!

"Miss Rose" who speaks the world's most beautiful British English, with two of her LTS students from Laos, who are able to study at LTS because of scholarships from the Ev. Lutheran Church in America.  They are developing leadership skills to work in the Laos Evangelical Church... which has grown from 26 believers in the capital city in 1990... to 10,000 believers in the capital city today... so the need for capable and committed Christian leadership is huge... and these young women are well on their way.

and then

there's the  exuberance

of the students from Hong Kong, Indonesia, Myanmar, Mainland China, even from the USA!

(Here celebrating the almost-end of the academic year)

This keeps remembering what it's all about... and glad to be here.

"...the joy of the LORD is your strength.”  -- Nehemiah 8:10