| Sunday, 10th Met up and attended Evening Service at St. Andrew's with a big sister from whom I have a lot to learn. Janice gave me a glimpse of the tough life experienced by doctors in public hospitals in Hong Kong today: 36 crazy on-call hours, plus working over-time Monday to Sunday, seriously deprived of their basic needs such as sleep, meal-times and washroom breaks. Oh! How ironic, while doctors are often so harshly expected to take care of millions of the sick in this overcrowded city, that they themselves are actually the most vulnerable to a physical, or even psychological, breakdown. Doctors, like any other human-beings, while capable of loving, giving and healing, need rest, care, support and understanding, too! . . . Since I slept in and missed lunch, my father cooked a very nitritious meal for me during tea time - well-cooked congee with sliced fish and fried rice-noodles with sliced beef and crispy veggies eaten at the perfect temperature. Yum yum! As I was eating, we also ran into a fun time improvising a dialogue between two merry food critics exchanging appreciation about two excellent Chinese dishes as if we were actors in the current Cantonese TV series "A Taste of Love" in Hong Kong! |
| June 2001 |
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| Monday, 11th Stayed home all day but have not fed myself morning and afternoon. Before I left home, I tried to stuff myself up with food that were easy and accessible like Kraft cheese, bread, butter and syrup. But I still felt unwell. Dizzy on my way busing to Grandma's to pick up dinner she cooked for us. At Grandma's, Grandpa poured me a bowl of soup and some hot steak with potatoes. Tasted great and fulfilling! I thought I finally have eaten something "real" today, wanting to compensate for the day-long starvation. Nonetheless, I still regret and thought, I could have fed myself earlier if I wasn't so lazy. |
| Tuesday, 12th The sun is rather shy lately, and finally came out for just several mnutes to liven up this place slightly after the past eight days of rain and thunderstorms. The pouring rains have flooded hundreds of roads, interfered seriously with the city's traffic, drowned a number of unfortunate pedestrians and destroyed the only and beloved home of an elderly lady who has, despite her poverty, given up her share of welfare because of the simple belief in her heart that there is always someone else out there who needs it more than she. The News yesterday captured that this only private dwelling of hers, a home cherished not for its luxury but that it was all she had and asked for, was pounded loudlly by the pouring rain and already flooded with a meter's depth of yellow silted water, by which her limited furniture and own bed were thoroughly soaked. These she beheld quitely as a few drops of tears, she finally could not hold in, ran down her cheeks. Yet, she was confronted with the subtle coercion of the firemen, who were entreating her to leave the place for the reason that it was too dangerous to stay. What else could she do? But surrender. |
| Wednesday, 13th Invited to buffet-lunch with my father and his colleagues at La Ronda Restaurant, a revolving restaurant on the top of the Furama Hotel at Central. Needed some time to warm up though I'd met them when I was a lil' girl. Ended up lots of laughter at the table. Funny thing was both my father's colleagues and I were both interested in finding out from each other how we perceive my Dad. Don't know if they still see me as a lil' girl. But that doesn' t matter; the most wonderful thing was that I had the privilege to be invited by my own father to this special lunch. As I ate and observed the table, all the sudden I felt very grateful that I am my father's daughter, but not any of his subordinates at work. They must feel quite different lunching with a person who has control over their salary and career from I, with a person who works so hard everyday persistently for decades already just to provide the best for me. The difference is that I know I am safe and loved always as my father's daughter and would never be abandoned no matter what I said at the lunch table. |
| Thursday, 14th Happy for Kin Kwun that he has finally picked a very handsome English name for himself - Nathan. It suits him! I myself like this name very much indeed! A special feeling to give my younger brother in Christ a new English name. Can't believe I just went through the final formal English lesson with the teens at the New Immigrant Service Centre, and I will need to leave this place very soon. An unforgettable month just flew by. Now, mixed feelings -'feel privileged that Kin Kwun, Ting Sing and Chi Man have allowed me to teach them, and grateful that they have taught me much and gave me lots of fun throughout; meanwhile, God also humbles and reminds me again that I am inadequate on my own. God has also used the hour laughing and talking with Hong Wang (Lesley), Kin Kwun, Valerie and Ah Kwong to tell me a lot about myself. The idea was that a quality of mine can be at precisely the same moment a blessing for one person as well as a cause of trouble to another - a fact obvious enough to say but a lesson that takes a lot, time and life, to grasp. My heart could not be back at peace until I was reminded of these Words in a song composed by the Taiwanese Composer Wong Kwok Luen, "His strength is made perfect in my weaknesses." Now I am enlightened to give the teens more if only I could stay longer and not have to leave so soon. |
| Friday, 15th Impressed by a very polite, yet cheerful and welcoming bus driver who drove on KMB No. 52x towards Tuen Mun around 7:15pm. Carrying a gentle smile on his face even when he is driving, he smiles to every passenger getting on the bus, offers to notify any passenger who asks for directions, and says a kind greeting or two to some friendly passengers. What a pleasant experience to encounter in Hong Kong a wonderful bus driver like Driver Mak! Hope there'll be many more Driver Maks! Before alighting, I just couldn't help saying, "Thank you, Driver Mak" to express my respect and appreciation for him. |
| Saturday, 16th Played a game called ESP with my two cousins, Albie and Anson are, 8 and 7 year-old respectively. In each round, the two were supposed to separately write down "what" they thought the other would think of about a "word" or "thing" that I said to them, and see if they resembled. Two close siblings giving the several same answers is not surprising. Indeed, simple thoughts they expressed: "black"= hair, "cry"= unhappy & sister (because Albie cries more offten), "table"=blackboard (because it's black), sun = summer, hot". That's not the fun. Instead, they see each round as a time for surprises. I was amazed at how they giggled and giggled so hard as if excited or embarrassed when secretively writing down their "thoughts" at each round. Their innocent hearts helped them enjoy and engage themselves so freely and joyfully in this simple game. In fact, I tried so hard to generate answers that resembled theirs, but I failed, and actually felt quite embarrassed myself, no matter how naive they seemed to me at first. Perhaps, I have not been a kid so long already that it'll take me a long time to learn to think innocently like one again. |