Hong Kong Brother

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Each month I will keep a running list of news items, including info on my schedule, etc. It's in order from LATEST entry at the top on down to the OLDEST entry at the bottom.

Here are the "News" archives, feel free to browse them for some interesting tidbits:

April/May 2002 Archive	October 2002 Archive
June 2002 Archive	November 2002 Archive
July 2002 Archive	December 2002 Archive
August/September 2002 Archive
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January 2003 Archive	June 2003 Archive
February 2003 Archive	July/August 2003 Archive
March 2003 Archive	Sept/October/Nov 2003 Archive
April 2003 Archive	December 2003 Archive
May 2003 Archive
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January 2004 Archive	June/July 2004 Archive
February/March 2004 Archive	August 2004 Archive
April 2004 Archive	September 2004 Archive
May 2004 Archive

According to some reports, the number of cases of SARS in HK has jumped sharply in the last 48 hours, up by about 100 (!), to approximately 470.

Here are some of my impressions (moments that have stuck with me) from the last few days (not all of them SARS-related, thank Heaven):

I forgot to mention a couple of my students that I would like to ask you Jesus-people to pray for. Their English names are John and Francis, they are both in class 6A from our school (the "elite" P6 class), and they are both trying to get admitted to the most famous English secondary school in this district.

Now, these guys are smart, and their English is good, at least compared to most P6 students at our school. But both of them are relatively recent immigrants to HK -- so, having begun their schooling in the mainland, they got a late start in English (mainland schools have traditionally not begun English training until P3 or even P4). So they've got the cards stacked against them in applying to this top-notch English school.

But they are sweet kids. Trust me. I would just give ANYTHING to be able to set language aside and just TALK to them.

John, the shy one, wants to be a policeman -- "I really want to help people!" he always says... He likes collecting stamps (a big HK hobby) and going to the library to read. John really strikes me as the quiet-but-funny type, someone who doesn't say much but cracks people up when he does speak. I can't tell you how many times in my class a group of guys will burst out in laughter, and I'll look over at them just in time to see them all raising out of a "huddle" with John sitting in the middle, an innocent smile on his face, like, "Oh, sorry, please continue, Grenn"...

Francis, on the other hand, is VERY talkative, and it is really a joy to get to know her. She has this hysterical way of always saying, "Nevermind!!" -- but she doesn't so much SAY it, as she sort of SINGS it... It never fails, when we are in class, when someone makes a mistake, and everyone is laughing their heads off at them (not WITH them, but AT them), Francis will always cry out, laughing loudly, "Nevermind!! Go on!"... She says she wants to be a singer -- her idols are Twins -- and so I warned her, "Not everyone who is a singer will be a pop star like Twins, you know"... She smiled and practically sang back, "OH, I don't care if I make a lot of money or not -- NEVERMIND!!"

Well, I've been working with John and Francis on their "English interview" skills, because to get admitted to these English secondary schools students must "pass" an interview, completely in English, with the teachers at the school. This is a point of obvious stress on our kids, since the secondary school they go to can affect their chances for success on the exams (5 or 6 years from now) when they will be trying to get into university.

So I've been helping these two, and they were supposed to have their interviews at the school this past Saturday. With all the SARS scare, and the government ordering all the schools closed, I can't know if the interviews happened or not. But I sure wish some of you would join me in praying for these guys, that they would do as well as possible in the interview and that the committee at the secondary school would somehow be able to see what great kids they are...

Despite the near-panic that the SARS disease has brought to HK, I am still looking for ways to laugh about it. But I didn't have to look any further when I saw this photo yesterday on the South China Morning Post website, with the caption, "Lamma Island bar patrons try their best to cope with the SARS outbreak":

The good news: "war in Iraq" is not the main topic of conversation in HK today.

The number of HK cases of SARS has jumped by about 100 in the last couple of days, up to about 370 according to the World Health Organization (still standing at 10 dead locally). The rise is due to a number of people who have been to the mainland and are returning and adding (exponentially) to that number of infections diagnosed.

Now, I have felt for several days that I should point out to those of you not actually in HK that, while I am sounding very cavalier and light-hearted about all this on this stupid website, in fact that is not the case. It's really no laughing matter, this is a deadly disease that is killing people. I reiterate that I do not personally feel in any danger of contracting the disease (at this time), but that doesn't mean I don't take it seriously. Someone chided me for making fun of the kids at school with their masks (see the post below), "It might not seem so funny if one of them got sick"... You're right... but guess what? Most of them aren't in any danger, either! Not yet, anyway. And they SURE aren't being helped by wearing masks made of paper that don't even shut out contaminants (and that they constantly lower to breathe, thereby negating the benefits of wearing them anyway).

So don't think it's all fun and games, if my light-hearted treatment of the photos below makes you think no one's worried. We're worried, all right... But at the same time, I'm not going to go nuts and lock myself in my apartment over it... IF you see what I mean...

They have finally traced the HK source of the disease to a doctor from the mainland, a respiratory disease specialist, who, when he contracted the symptoms (while in HK for a wedding), told the staff at the hospital where he was admitted, "I was treating patients with a very virulent disease before I came to HK, all of my fellow doctors from my hospital back home (in the mainland) caught it, I was the only one still healthy -- until now"... He even told the doctors here, "Don't touch me! I might spread this thing to you!"... They put him a special isolation ward with double secure doors to prevent the spread.

So from the beginning there was a warning about this virus, straight from the SOURCE. That warning just might not have been made PUBLIC, as many have suggested it should have...

The doctor reportedly had stayed at the Metropole Hotel (on Waterloo Road near Argyle Street), and sure enough, the spread to the community at large started from the floor he stayed on -- initially infecting a 26-year-old man who had been visiting a friend for several days who was also on the same floor as the late doctor. From those two (and several other guests on that floor of the hotel), the disease reportedly has spread to doctors, nurses, medical students, and others who had contact with infected patients during their stays in the hospital, and their families.

The main hospitals here treating patients have established severe isolation wards, and the newspapers are telling how medical staff, afraid of affecting their families (or others), have been living in these isolation wards for the last weeks -- LIVING THERE. They aren't terrified, from what I've read, but they are concerned. One report told of the nurses who volunteered for the assignment breaking into tears after signing up -- not tears of sadness, exactly, but something else... "bravery" I think is what we'd call it...

Anyway, so I just got the call a few minutes ago telling me that the government has officially ordered ALL schools closed until April 7th, "Oh, Grenn," she told me, "don't come to school next week!"

But DO pray for the situation here, and in China (where I'm sure this thing is spreading out of control)... The next 14 days will be CRITICAL, as there are possibly two or three THOUSAND "carriers" out there right now, and we may at any moment see this whole thing mushroom into a true catastrophe. And don't think it will be contained here -- you might have heard that the World Health Organization also puts the U.S. as the 5th hardest hit country (behind only China, HK, Singapore, and Vietnam).

I took my camera to school today so I could show you the latest fashion trend in Hong Kong -- surgical masks. It's all down to the so-called SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) epidemic that has everyone in a scare here.

So without further ado, here are the kids of CPC Yao Dao Primary School sporting the latest and greatest looks direct from Paris:

Well, as mentioned in yesterday's post (see below), today we had a half-day of classes (for exams), and now we have an emergency one-week "holiday" due to the SARS problem. They are really not wanting to take any chances with the kids spreading it around, so we'll shut the school down for a week, give everything a good cleaning, and then come back in early April.

So it's GOOD to have the next few days "off" (though I do have to go back to school tomorrow to help some P6 students practice for their secondary school interviews). But it's BAD that this means we'll have to be in school even LONGER come summer. HK schools already last until mid-July, we only get a stinking 6 weeks off to begin with -- now it will be even shorter.

Oh, well, I guess I'd take "not getting a deadly disease" over "having another week of summer holiday" anytime... (I think)...

Known as SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), this deadly disease has hit HK as hard as anywhere, with around 260 cases so far here, resulting in 10 deaths locally.

It's a scary situation for most HK people, and public concern (one poll has 70% "seriously frightened") has been heightened by revelations that perhaps the government knew about it before the public was warned -- prompting MAJOR outcries of foul play and negligence.

Now, this has been big news in HK for about 7-10 days now, but to be honest I've not been all that concerned about it, in terms of my own personal health/safety. I'm no doctor or public health expert, but let's be honest -- 260 cases in a city of 7 million people is NOT exactly an epidemic (yet). Someone today was saying, "Grenn, it's HIGHRY contagious!" -- but I'm like, "Uh, no, it can't be THAT contagious or there would be about 20,000 victims by now, right?" I mean, in a city like HK where everyone -- EVERYONE -- rides public transport, and with a disease that incubates for a week -- geez, there'd just be THOUSANDS sick if it were "highly" contagious. Keep in mind, most of those who caught the disease (at least those KNOWN to have it so far) have only done so after extended and close contact with victims, including large numbers of health workers and their families. So my thinking (when I've thought about it, that is) has been that though this is a dangerous situation, the threat to ME, personally, is not so great as to warrant acting nuts.

HOWEVER, as I've tried to understand the near-mania being exhibited by those around me the last few days in particular, I have certainly adjusted my thinking a bit.

The way I see it, if things don't go crazy in the next week or so ("crazy" = thousands of people showing symptoms), then I think my lack of buying a gas mask, full-body contamination suit, and portable antiseptic bathing unit is acceptable. I will have been "justified" in not staying at home with the doors locked. After all, public awareness is high, and doctors/health officials are rushing to contain and quarantine anyone suspected of the disease.

But there is a variable -- and this is the part that is now starting to make this whole thing come into sharper focus for me. The HUGE variable in all this is C-H-I-N-A, the mainland. Because this thing STARTED in the mainland, and it's most likely still raging there, and most of the most recent (the last day or so) victims in HK are people who just returned from there, including Beijing.

So as I sit and think about all this, and try to figure it out, it is dawning on me that no matter how careful authorities HERE are, it's still possible that the bozos across the border are not doing enough -- not spending enough money to tell people what's going on, and not going to extreme enough measures to make sure this thing gets STOPPED. And until that happens, the border will be the main way that the disease will CONTINUE to enter HK and infect people here. AND THERE IS NO WAY TO STOP THAT... For every case confirmed and quarantined here, there may be another 20 people coming across the border that day with it. Pretty scary stuff.

The headmistress of my school told me this afternoon that after tomorrow's schedule (it's a half-day for exams) we will suspend classes at our school for a week. That is a VERY big deal. But many -- including local doctors, education department officials, the HK professional teachers' union, and parents -- have been crying for a total shutdown of all HK schools, to try and stop the spread among kids -- who, being kids, are extremely effective "disease spreaders"... She told me that the discovery and confirmation today of a case of SARS in a primary school in Yuen Long (the next district over from Tin Shui Wai) is the proverbial "last straw" -- so we're shutting it down.

So if THAT's not enough to crank up the hysteria a little, I don't know what is!!

Okay, so what's the bottom line? As of my sitting here this evening typing this, I think there are several things I'll say:

1) I honestly do not feel in any danger WHATSOEVER. I stress that point for the benefit of my family and friends (though it may turn out to be tragically naive of me to be so "unalarmed"). This disease is on my mind MOSTLY because everyone around me is constantly talking about it. But I do not feel, at THIS time, that there is any reason for undue concern, or even considerable precautions -- I'm still gonna go to restaurants and ride the bus, etc., etc. That may change at any time, as the situation certainly is dynamic... but for now, I want to tell you all, "Don't worry!"

2) Having said that, let me not soften the danger TOO much -- this is a SERIOUS disease. It is killing people all over the world, and it is NO laughing matter. Reports abound of healthy, robust people who exhibit symptoms and within 3 - 5 days are on a respirator. So there is reason to be concerned, if not for ME just yet, then for all the people in harm's way, especially doctors, nurses, etc.

3) The situation in China is probably worse than anyone can currently estimate. I know nothing about that, so if you want to accuse me of being a scare-monger then go ahead, I plead guilty. But I think my pessimism is entirely justified. The difference between HK and China is so huge that I think unless you've experienced it you can't really grasp it. I'm not saying the folks across the border -- the ones I'm looking at right now, out my window across the Bay -- I'm not saying they're rubes or idiots, NOTHING like that... But I just can't believe that they have any systems in place to even BEGIN to handle this type of situation. IT WILL PROBABLY GET WORSE BEFORE IT GETS BETTER in the mainland.

SO, I'm begging you to please pray for:
     ---my own health and safety
     ---the health and safety of our students and teachers at Yao Dao School
     ---the doctors and other officials who are often MOST in danger of this disease
     ---the situation across the border in China
     ---the families of those who are already victims, especially those who have died

Other Prayer Issues
(Just to point out, the word "issues" above should be pronounced like: /ISS - see - yuz/ -- the way Prince Charles would say it).

Anyway, my friend Dave Skidmore has told me that his older sister Lynn is going through some crazy health problems, crazy meaning CANCER.

Ironically, she is in many ways in the best health she's been in for 20 years. But they think they have found "masses" in her kidney and liver, we are awaiting test results NOW.

Lynn is one VERY cool chick. Dave even calls her one of his "heroes." I really want to ask you Jesus-type people to pray for her, and for the whole family.

The summer after I graduated from high school, Dave and I hung out EVERY DAY, and a good bit of that hanging was with Lynn and especially her son, Trent. That was a VERY pivotal time in my life, I guess the summer of 1985 was my "Summer of '69"... ha ha... But it's true that Lynn holds a sort of "mythic" spot in my heart, and it really upsets me to hear about all this. SO PLEASE PRAY.

Well, and then there's this whole WAR thing to pray about. You don't mind me mentioning that, too, right?

I guess, like a lot of people, I actually thought it wouldn't come to this. Like, NEVER...

Now, just so you know, I live in a place (Hong Kong) where everyone is just about hating America about now. Perhaps "hate" is not strong enough a word. So on top of already being fairly "politics-averse" in general, I now have a LOT of reasons to not even talk about this issue in depth. It's like constantly getting the question from your girlfriend about, "Do I still look fat?" -- dude, there ain't NO WAY you're gonna win that one.

Then, we also have this beautiful SARS going on in Hong Kong -- the so-called "atypical pneumonia" outbreak that has all of HK in a panic. And I mean PANIC. Quite a few have died (11 globally, including 7 locally) -- of course, you've certainly heard all about it by now -- and new cases are reported every day (officially 222 cases in HK so far, compared to 63 in Vietnam and 44 in Singapore).

But SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) has turned the SAR (Special Autonomous Region) into a full-blown terror zone. I've never known people to be so freaked out.

"The world is out of control" -- that's what most HK people think tonight.

I went to see the film Gangs Of New York yesterday -- wow, what a film. I'm not sure I can tell you what it's about, actually -- I mean, I know what the STORY was, but I can't really figure (yet) what it was ABOUT.

Violence? Nationalism? Racism? Class war? So-called "Christian" idiocy? Anti-politics? Anti-draft? Anti-American?!? Yeah, it was all in there, I reckon.

But go see it (if you're not put off by gallons and gallons of movie blood -- it's pretty violent)... Daniel Day Lewis is absolutely brilliant in my view.

The NCAA marches on as my Cards beat the pitifully out-manned Austin Peay's... Not sure what the A.P. mascot is, but surely it's not impolite to call them "the Peay's" is it?

Next up is Butler who upset Mississippi State -- sure hope Pitino's got the guys focused!

Today we had a GREAT "retreat" for the folks at Xi Lin CPC church. We adjourned to a campsite near Fanling for a really nice few hours of reflection and teaching. I had a good time, anyway, and I really hope everyone else did, too. We seem to be inching ever closer to the goal of having everyone really committed to being "all-out"... And there's no telling where that will eventually lead us -- it should be an adventure, at any rate!

Tomorrow and Tuesday are "normal" teaching days for me, and then the rest of the week is "mid-term" exam time for the kids -- so frankly this will be a light work week for me. I have lots of meetings and preparations, but I will take a meeting over a "normal" day anytime!

Yesterday (Sunday) was a nice, take-it-easy day. I was out to church good and early, even got there early enough to grab a little breakfast. The service was a bit hard for me to "get into" for some reason, the music was just horrid, lots of old hymns that nobody seemed able to sing or make "uplifting" -- I'm not knocking "hymns" but come on, at least pick ones that people know and/or like so we don't sound like a bunch of people at a funeral. And the sermon was about Numbers -- afterwards they all said, "Wow, that guy did a good job considering his text -- it's such a boring topic!" -- and the guy even said, about 10 times, "I know you think this is boring, but just listen to what I have to say blah blah blah"... But I just didn't get it. I mean, listening to a translation is always difficult, even when the translations are nearly PERFECT -- it's always a job to stay "focused" on the train of thought being presented, you know? But for whatever reason I just couldn't "lock on" yesterday, it just seemed like a meandering discussion with no point at all. (Geez, am I being critical or what?!? Sorry -- it was MY problem, like I said, everyone else had a great time)... Anyway, Sunday school followed the service (like normal) and then it was lunch and our small group meeting, where we studied Matthew chapter 1, just for kicks (in keeping with the morning's theme, we studied the genealogy of Jesus as listed in that chapter).

Then about 6 or 6:30 we all went to our friend Ben's new house, just a block or two from the church. Wow, I've only been in this kind of house a few times in HK. I don't want to act like Ben is rich, but you'd think so from his house, where he lives with his mother (I should point out, in HK "house" means "apartment" -- don't want you getting the wrong mental image). They just moved in a few weeks ago, and so everything is nice and new, including all the furnishings. Ben, who has a Ph.D, teaches at one of the universities here in HK, and I don't think he really makes THAT much money, to be honest, at least I wouldn't guess he did -- but the thing is, his taste is impeccable. Absolutely perfect, in fact. Very nice place, is all I'm saying.

Anyway, Ben's mom just completed some kind of "evangelism training course" or something or other, the "graduation" was yesterday afternoon. No one could actually tell me what the course was about, comically enough -- but we all went over there for a barbeque in her "honor." Despite the preponderance of mosquitoes, it was a fabulous evening full of great food and, I suppose, great conversation (I didn't understand all that much being said, but got a few snippets here and there). It was fun, though, really.

Today has been a holiday from school for me, so I got a few minor things taken care of, a trip to the bank, etc. I've also gotten a lot of computer work done today that I've been needing to do (not related to this site, but other things).

I see where Louisville is seeded # 4 in the East bracket for the upcoming NCAA tournament. It's really hard to follow March Madness from here, since literally NO ONE in HK cares in the slightest about the NCAA. But I'm going to do my best, friends, to stay on top of it. Any "inside" info you happen to have, particularly on UK (seeded #1 in the Midwest) or U of L, please send it along.

I will also warn anyone so foolish as to enter into any, shall we say, "wagers" on the NCAA:

(Okay, since gambling is taboo, especially for so-called "missionaries," I should clarify that the above warning is meant only hypothetically... ahem....)

The weather here in HK the last few days has been so stinking comfortable that I'm not sure what to make of it. I don't know the cause but I'm thankful -- I mean just totally breezy and warm-but-not-at-all-too-warm, and sunny and clear. We do NOT get nice weather like this in HK, trust me. Last night was maybe the clearest night I remember, I had such a wonderful view across Deep Water Bay to Shenzhen (China) that I could almost make out all the shoppers, tourists, pickpockets, kidnappers, and gang bosses -- all of them working like busy bees at their respective tasks.

(Which reminds me of something. Last month at the Sheung Shui KCR (train) station, they started playing a recording over the loudspeakers which basically said, "Warning: Professional pickpockets have begun operating in this area! Please secure your belongings and take care with personal baggage," etc, etc. And I couldn't help thinking how weird that felt, to always hear that recording -- because it's like, okay, on the one hand, thanks for reminding me to take care, I always do anyway, but whatever... But then again, it's like, if you KNOW they are operating here, don't you think it'd be better to actually STOP them, rather than just play a recording telling people about it? I mean, are you saying there are so many pickpockets working in this area that you are unable to stop them, and you might as well warn the public that they are in a danger zone? That's not exactly the kind of thing you want tourists to hear, is it? And the thing that REALLY made me feel weird was that the recording ended with the ominous statement: "You have been warned!" -- as if, "We TOLD you there were pickpockets here, so if you get chumped it ain't OUR problem, dude." That part really seemed lame to me.)

(But I think last week I didn't hear the recording, so maybe they had a pickpocket sting operation (guys with mousetraps in their pocket) and they caught all the crooks...?)

It looks like this is concert season in HK. In the next month or so we'll see Moby coming, as well as the Rolling Stones on what is being advertised as their "first trip to Asia" -- I find that very hard to believe, that the Stones have never been to Asia?!? In like 30 or 40 years, or however long they've been going?!? Hmmmm...

There are also some music workshops coming up, one with Joe Satriani (the guitarist) and another with Nathan East, who is one of the best-known bassists in the world. I would love to check those out, but I'm not sure I've got the money for that.

April will also see the HK Film Festival coming to town -- I don't know that much about it yet, but this has got to be one of the most prominent film festivals in Asia, by volume alone -- there are HUNDREDS of films being shown. Just to give you an idea, a friend brought me the "program" for it, and it is over 140 pages -- think about that!! It's totally a BOOK, this schedule/guide... So yesterday I spent about an hour going through it, picking out the ones I felt I really wanted to see -- about 25 films. Ouch. Okay, so then yesterday afternoon someone told me, "Oh, you probably can't go, it's really hard to get tickets" -- I'm like, "thanks for the encouragement, dude" -- but whatever, we'll see. I'd love to check out some of these indie films, though, and some of the documentaries, too.

I subscribe to this e-mail "service" called Word Of The Day, obviously they send you a new word each day, the point being to expand your vocabulary. Well, it's usually a waste, with words like "nebulous" or "extravagant" -- I mean, do you really think that a person who would sign up for a "word of the day" e-mail would not know those words?!?

But every once in a while they'll have some new or interesting words, and last week they had "crapulous." I'm not too proud to say that I pretty much had the thoughts that YOU just had about that word, but it doesn't mean that at ALL:

But I don't care about the REAL meaning -- I've had a lot of fun going around saying (in my head) how "crapulous" this lunch is, or how that undisciplined class I just taught was just "totally crapulous"... Just another way for me to entertain myself in the absence of actual conversations with people, I guess.

Today should be a nice relaxed day for me, I have to go to Kowloon Tong to do some teaching this morning, followed by a delicious lunch at the Festival Walk mall (my favorite mall in HK) with a quick stop at IKEA (for a new shower curtain -- what a swinging life I lead)... and then I'm off to Xi Lin CPC church where I'm supposed to help teach/lead an English song for their kids' meeting this afternoon.

I have to miss my normal group over at Shatin church tonight -- they have changed their schedule starting TODAY to meet at 5pm instead of 6pm, and that probably means I will seldom be able to join them from now on. I haven't quite worked that all out in my head yet, because THAT IS MY FAVORITE TIME OF MY WEEK -- going over to hang with those guys. So I've sort of tried to not think about it as if I'm waiting to deal with it later -- but I think it means they have just cut me out of their group, because on Saturdays there's no way I can get from Sheung Shui down to Tai Wai until about 5:45 or even 6pm -- an hour late. This is a big deal to me, because with a few exceptions these guys are my main "social" group in HK.... In some ways, culturally speaking, I relate to them more than any other group of people in my life these days (even though they are mostly about 12 years younger than I am! -- what does that say about me?!? ha ha)... but like I say, I've tried to not even think about it yet, hoping it will go away and things will go back to normal.

The new server (the machine which hosts this site) is still going strong but we still haven't quite figured out why the counters aren't working... It's a minor nuisance but a nuisance nonetheless. We'll try to sort that out this week.

The last few days have been quite nice, weather-wise, I'm pleased to say. Oh, we've had some rain and it's been a little windy and cool, but the afternoons have all warmed up wonderfully and I was thinking on my way to school this morning how comfortable I was -- and how RARE that feeling is! So I'm thankful for that...

I haven't been updating the site much lately -- at least not the parts you can SEE... I have been writing (and re-writing) quite a bit lately, as the "bug" has hit me recently to sit for hours staring at the screen (which is what it takes)... and as always I've got about 10 - 12 things in the works for the Ramblings pages... But it's hard for me to FINISH those things, dude. I can start 'em all day long, but actually whipping them into something I'm not too embarrassed for people to see is something else altogether.

Which makes me think of something else -- I need to start carrying around a pad and pen, so I can actually write down all the funny stuff that happens. Because the thing is, I swear I can have the funniest day of my life, and by the time I get home, eat dinner and finally sit down at this computer to write, I can't remember ANYTHING. Is that the "getting old" thing coming on so soon?!? But it drives me nuts, it really does.

Let's see... Oh, I have gotten a lot of CDs from home lately, my old friends in Full Sail sent me their three new CDs to check out (I'm still working on getting through all that music!), and I also got a package yesterday from Bobby Carby (of the band VIA). Bobby and crew are going through some big changes these days, lots of exciting transitions taking place, according to Bobby, and the new 6-song "pre-release" CD he sent me of the new songs really sounds good. One of the songs -- called "Fingerprints of Greatness" -- is probably the best song he's ever written, in my humble opinion. It just seems like he is getting closer and closer all the time to the goals he feels God has set before him, and there's no one who wants to see him "arrive" there (wherever "there" is) more than ME...

One thing I've also really been working on this week is the old "getting to bed before you fall asleep from exhaustion" trick. This is always hard for me, because I am really a NIGHT person. I love mornings -- nothing gets me all excited like getting up and out the door early in the morning, it makes me feel like I'm really accomplishing something (even if all I'm accomplishing is leaving early enough to go eat breakfast or something like that). But at night I have a tremendous struggle to get myself to QUIT and just go to bed. Whether I'm reading, or writing, or playing around with some music, or listening to music -- whatever... I just HATE the thought of quitting and going to bed. I'm not the spring chicken I was a few years ago, so I can't just stay up all night playing Ghost Recon (video game) or something like that... These days my body has its own built-in "shut down" mechanism that makes sure I finally hit the bed by about 2 or 3am. But even then, I will fight sleep all the way before finally giving up and turning out the lights.

Yeah, so this week I've been trying to get to bed by about 10 or 11, and I've almost even done it a few times!

But I need to get to bed at a decent time because I've been sick a good bit these last few weeks, first with a stomach virus and then with a bad cold -- I need more rest.

NOTICE:
Our server (the computer that "hosts" this website) has been down for a few days, and things are still not back up to "normal" yet. I know some of you guys come here almost every day -- ("Hi, Mom!") -- so I'm sorry if you wasted any time looking when there was nothing here.

But this server, maintained by my friend, JD, had lasted for almost 2 and a half years, which is pretty good. I guess we had started taking it for granted a little bit. But if you know computers, you know things like this break, and sometimes all you can do is go buy a new one. Bummer.

But it's back up, obviously, and hopefully by the end of this week we'll be able to figure out why the counters on the main page aren't working.

In the meantime, I'm fighting a cold like mad, let's just say I'm highly medicated about now... It's turned REALLY cold the last 4 or 5 days, I absolutely LOVE it, but it's a little bit TOO cold, if you catch my drift, and I think it got cold too fast for me -- so I've been sneezing and fighting to breathe every day this week.

Anyway, all is well in Honkey Bong, stay tuned for more high-quality "edu-tainment" coming soon to a space near you. (This one). (This space, I mean).

I'm not sure what's "wrong" with me, but I'm telling you I've had just the best/worst week. Not as "bad" as when I was sick a few weeks ago, okay, but frankly there's been SOME kind of weird paradoxical funk going on in my world, and it is S-T-R-A-N-G-E, weird. How is it that things can go so "badly" and yet be so cool?!?

First of all, I had a financial shock (which I won't discuss here) but which came "out of the blue" for me and which literally knocks me down to the lowest bank account I've had since I got to HK. "Goodbye, Pizza Hut... Hello, crackers and soup!!"

In a related point, I also have gotten the news (which, again, I won't discuss here) that it may be very difficult for me, financially speaking, to go home this summer. That's not exactly a "pick-me-upper" either...

Then, my e-mail has been acting up, and moving at the speed of dirt. Which is to say it's practically not working. For someone who lives vicariously through e-mail, this is a VERY big (and not-good) deal.

Then, almost every single class I've tried to teach this week has been a disaster -- DISASTER!!! I can't explain it at all. I did get to have three really good classes, so all is not lost, but I'm telling you, for the most part, I have had that sick-to-my-stomach feeling I used to have LAST year when I would leave a class... You know, that feeling where I'm going, "This is the biggest waste of a life I can imagine! I know NOTHING about teaching English!"... But this week, classes where I am normally the greatest thing since rice, classes where when I leave the room the kids all run up to the door and practically chase me down the hall screaming, "Bye, Grenn!! Bye bye!!" -- even in THOSE classes I have flopped like a noodle left outdoors in a typhoon. I've flopped like Ishtar. I've flopped like a pancake on asphalt.... (er?)...

And the weather this week has been stupid -- yesterday morning there was a torrential, typhoon-worthy downpour for ONLY the 15 minutes it took me to walk to school. I was soaked (though not NEARLY so bad as some other teachers/students, I should say). But as soon as school started the sun came out and it was a beautiful day -- georgeous! -- until about 5 minutes before I left, when it started raining again (not much, just "spitting", but still). Today was similarly ugly -- but ONLY for my walk to and from school!

But at the same time, some really cool things have been going on. The folks at the Xi Lin church have asked me to help out with their so-called "worship" committee, something I feel nervous about (not speaking Cantonese), but it's an area I have a lot of opinions about, too, so maybe I can actually contribute something?

Then, I got news from my friends Chris and Michele Hayes that their son Ben does NOT have Krabbe disease (though he may have some other equally bad syndrome -- tests are pending). It's not "great" news, but it is at least ONE hurdle down in this little guy's odyssey. (Keep praying for Ben, Chris, and Michele).

Then, I found out I was supposed to speak at the Shatin Church this Saturday night, no big deal, but I'm doing the "devotional" -- should be fun, though I always feel STUPID when I finish, I know that -- but still it's cool, and I love those guys from that group dearly.

Then, I met a new friend here in HK -- okay, we haven't met, but they saw this site and we've been e-mailing a bit the last couple of weeks -- it's always cool to meet new folks who are into music and stuff.

THEN, I got this package from my friends at Hillview Church, my home church -- it is a Valentine's Day package! Dudes, if you are reading this, I can't e-mail you!!! My e-mail's not working correctly!!! But I can read YOUR e-mails, and I just wanted to say THANKS, it is one of the most awesome surprises you guys could have given me!!! (When my e-mail's back up I'll try to write you all MORE)... But what a GIFT you guys are to me! You know just what a lonely guy in a foreign country needs on Valentine's Day... (Little Debbie snack cakes)...

THEN, my old, old friends in the band Full Sail sent me their three new, self-recorded/produced CDs!! This was, believe it or not, the first real "band" I ever played in, circa 1986. And after all these years they are STILL banging away, and sounding pretty cool. They are even writing their own songs and I'll just say, "I'm impressed." It was so wild to put that first disc in and hear their voices coming out at me -- like real voices from the past! It immediately took me back to so many summer nights! So many VFW dances! So many Billy Ocean songs! These are seriously "precious" discs for me -- I haven't had time to listen to them all yet, but I will, for sure. And I really hope I can make it home this summer so that I can hang out with them some -- they had more to do with my musical development than they probably realize!

Then, my new friend John Laudon has asked me to hang out with him this Saturday when he'll be doing a vocal recording session with my favorite HK artist, Frances Chiu. This girl is an AMAZING singer, and John is a real pro -- he's played on lots of records here since he arrived in HK about 18 years ago from Canada. He is the pastor of the Tai Po Vineyard Church, and he rocks like nobody's business -- no joke. (I mean he "rocks" in the sort of generic, "he's cool" sense, but also -- and especially -- in the "when he plays guitar he actually does RAWK" sense). I went to their church a few weeks ago and it was the most intense time of worship I've had in 19 months. REALLY. So it will be cool to hang with him and Frances, I know -- I'm really excited about it.

It's sort of like I feel kind of all "numb" this week, just feeling restless and lonely and bored and excited and dying to just talk to people even though I kind of have no one to talk to a lot of the time. Does that make sense? It's like, I feel all sad and stupid but anxious and can't-wait-to-see-what's-coming and all of that -- ALL AT ONCE.

Actual quote from one of my P6 (sixth grade) students while filling out a "personal fact file" sheet and answering the question, "What is your best subject in school?":

Since my friends Bert, Pat, Chris and Dana were here a couple weeks ago (see the February "archive" for photos from their visit), I've still been going full-speed, trying to catch up. Lots of cool things and some horrible things, I mean, not like REALLY horrible but actually I just used the word "horrible" to shock you and get your attention, I guess. I mean, now I'm sitting here typing this out I'm thinking how things are okay, and not even REMOTELY "horrible"... so now I'm not sure why I said that, and I'm wondering if there is some kind of Freudian reason for it, I mean, not "Freudian" but just "sub-conscious"...

(By the way, they -- Bert, etc. -- HAVE e-mailed me to say that they made it back home okay, and all is well)... I know I'm probably dreaming, but I have this idea of making a more "formal" page about their trip, with all the info on what we did and all the good photos and stuff -- but in fact I probably won't do it at all, so why am I talking about it? It's like I have this "vision" of what to do but by the time I have time to do it, it will be about 4 months from now and by then who cares?!?

Benjamin Hayes
I heard from my friends Chris and Michele Hayes, about their son Benjamin. The doctors have suggested that he may have Krabbe Disease, which if you want to do some reading on it go ahead. They have done some tests but it takes about 5 to 6 weeks to get the results so we are still waiting. But the bottom line is that if he DOES have Krabbe, the average life expectancy is 13 months. Period.

And I'm not sure that I need to say anything more about that right now, the facts speak for themselves. Just join us in PRAYING for the little guy.

Shanghai Knights
I went to see that Jackie Chan movie last night... And all I wanted to say is that it is so STUPID that I can't believe it. But don't get me wrong, I thought it was pretty funny. I mean, not Jackie Chan, actually, but Owen Wilson. That guy is really brilliant at that type of character, geez, just the look on his face sometimes cracks me up. So if you don't mind seeing a totally cartoonish film that has not even the slightest basis in trying to be logical or realistic or anything like that, but just a vehicle for jokes... if you don't mind that, and if you can go into it expecting nothing more than that -- then you should definitely go see this movie, I really laughed pretty hard a few times.

And I will NOT mention, despite the incredible temptation to do so, that the female star of this film (Fann Wong) is so amazingly beautiful that I can't stand it.

There's more "news" to tell but frankly I'm suddenly feeling pretty tired, so I'll just tell you some of the funny things I've heard about recently, and then call it a night...

One thing is the new Disney MTR train. You see, the MTR is the "subway" in HK, meaning that while there are several train systems in HK, the MTR is the train that actually goes underground (though it isn't always underground, parts are above ground). But anyway, they are building a new Disney Park in HK, and a friend of mine sent me this photo of the "proposed" MTR train that will go expressly to the park. Pretty plush, huh? Dude, this train is WAY nicer than my apartment -- I'm not joking!!!

(Actually I should point out that this MAY be a joke picture, I'm not certain it really came from Disney/MTR)...

Another friend was telling me about HER friend, who is from the deep south, and who took her cat to be groomed. She told the guy, "Please give him a line cut" -- which I suppose that's a common grooming term for cats, I wouldn't have any idea...? But anyway, she told him, "Yeah, give him a LINE cut, would you? He needs it," or something like that.

So the guy acted skeptical but said, "Okay, I know what you mean"... and off they went.

Apparently, with her southern drawl, the guy thought she said she wanted a LION cut... pretty hysterical, and totally TRUE, according to my friend.

Okay, it's "Uncle Glenn Shows Off His Beautiful Niece" time... This is lovely Madelyne, please look -- and weep -- at her coolness...

And by the way, that FIRST photo above, the one on the LEFT, is TOTALLY my sister, Lisa, in miniature... I don't mean the clothes, obviously... Or the bib... Or the hair... Well, okay, and not the pacifier, either... But it's the LOOK... That look -- geez, it's so much like Lisa it kills me... At least that's what I think...

Okay, I'm exhausted, actually, so I'm gonna go. I'll try to write more later (like always).

These P1 girls won't let a silly mask affect their fun!	This girl wanted to show me she was a doctor: "Breathe deeply!"	This is Pearl (in mask), and her cute friend, from P2...	Maybe all class photos will be like this in the future, when everyone has to wear protective gear ("set phasers to stun").
*Another cutie from P1...*	This girl is NOT sick, so it just totally cracked me up that she looked so MISERABLE...	This is one of our brightest P1 students -- her mask isn't just a safety measure, it's stylish!! "Come and join" us in a 21st century nightmare epidemic!!	This guy from Class 3F is wearing one of the FEW masks that are actually "certified" to offer at least some legitimate protection (most are probably useless)...