Holiday Drop-in - Tuesday December 26th

Hi Everyone,

We're leaving for Taiwan soon and would love a last chance to catch up with all of you before we leave.

We know that this is a busy time for everybody and so in between your family get-togethers, Christmas parties, and boxing day shopping, come by our house and have a snack.

It'll be a casual time for us to hear what's going on in your life, and to share about ours. Please don't worry about bringing anything as this is an opportunity for us to thank you for being an important part of our life. If you can, drop by on the 26th anytime between 10:30am to 11pm!

We know many of you cannot drop by and that's okay, we just wanted to let you know that you were invited and please do keep in touch!

Where: Leslie and Sheppard

ray and sandra

HK Airport...

Seems like yesterday that I was here at this airport with a few minutes to say that I'm here in HK. Its been almost two months and its gone by like a blur. In some ways very quick, but in other ways, rich with lots of different experiences.

It's also been exactly 30,000 miles of flying. I started with the Cathay Pacific frequent flyer program on the day I left with zero miles, now I have 30,000. Emailing is much better "in" the lounge than trying to find some space at the trial internet accesss "outside"! The interesting thing that at least I didn't know is that the lounge at HK airport has a noodle bar! To think I was walking around HK this afternoon wanting one more bowl of wonton noodles! Well, they not only serve wonton noodles, but Shanghai dan dan mien!

There's the boarding call... see some of you in Toronto shortly.

ray

Leave your country

" The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. " ~ Genesis 12:1

It's sinking in more and more that I'm leaving soon. As I'm teaching my students about erosion, I find that it's a good terminology to describe what's happening to my bubble of procrastination and denial.

Yesterday we had 2 interviews for my Grade 4 position. Both were very strong interviews. I sat listening to both gentlemen share about their classrooms and their desire to teach my Gr. 4 class and realized that one of these 2 fellows will be taking over my kids. In a month or so, my students will have a new teacher. They'll have somebody else to hug and share their problems with. They'll have somebody else thinking about their learning and what to teach them next. And handing over the kids to someone else, as much as you know they'll be in good hands, is difficult.

But it's not just my students that I'll miss dearly. My amazing colleagues have been my partners in passion for so long. Sharing about lessons, about adorable and difficult students, about your new favourite book has been so exciting. It's not easy to find a group of people that you work so well with...is it? It has been such a family of wisdom, silliness, frustrations, laughing, and community. I will miss sharing my everyday with this family at Joyce.

And it's not just school. Thinking about the family and friends that will be here in Toronto I think about all of the experiences I'll be missing with them too. So many have new babies either now or in a couple of months. How I wish I could share these special moments with them. And so many exciting things are happening at ETCBC too! I can't wait for our leadership meeting today. I just found out that we might have a chairperson now on our English Ministry Committee! Wow God is Amazing!

And oddly enough, I'm missing my country a lot. I am actually quite patriotic in my own sort of way. I LOVE CANADA. I love the hope and aspirations that come when I hear this word. I love how our country stands for peace, love and hope. I love how our country is embraced by other nations. I love how beautiful our country is that it radiates the beauty of God's creation. I'm not usually very political but for some reason this liberal leadership race has been very exciting for me. I'm excited about the hope that it holds for our country.

And in the end...faith, hope, love...is so intertwined.

Those were strong words that God gave to challenge Abram. Leave your country, your people and your father's household... I don't think of it often as a step of faith even though I read it time and time again in Hebrews...but it was. He was a pioneer for all those who have left their countries, families and homes. Now we can say it's all been said and done and see...it all works out. We have examples to follow. We have our safety nets to guide us. And it's already hard. But Abram knew nothing, had nothing, saw and heard of nothing prior to taking that step of faith to go to the land that God was calling him to. That is faith.

What do I have to fear?

God of Miracles

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." ~ Hebrews 10:23-25

I haven't posted in a while but a lot has happened. I have just been finding it difficult to pull myself from the busyness of life to really sit down and journal...to spill out my reflections. And there have been many.

So today I'll record one of the most promiment highlights of the past few weeks.

Some background
Since becoming a teacher, I have taught at the same school (Joyce P.S.) but have had many changes within this school. I have taught kindergarten, Grade 2 and now Grade 4. The changes have been difficult as each time I've changed grades I've felt like a brand new teacher again. God has taught me much about my profession over the years, but what I've learned the most is the importance of building relationships and learning to communicate within these relationships. I'm a rookie when it comes to communication. I lack tact, sensitivity and patience. But God is molding me. I know because each time I'm being molded a certain way it hurts!

My miracle story begins in my first year as a kindergarten teacher. I was doing quite well in communicating with most of my parents (especially since I could speak Cantonese), but with one family the words just didn't come out right. I was concerned about their daughter N who was new to school having previously been home-schooled for JK. She was missing a lot of school because she was getting sick a lot (that's what happens when you're not exposed to enough germs, and at school you're inundated with germs). Plus when she was at school she was not always following directions well. She was moving at a slower pace than the other students. So I was concerned and spoke to the parents that perhaps lack of sleep was making her "slow". What a bad word to use especially when talking about somebody's child. This started our initial "crack" in our relationship.

Later on, when N was in Grade 1 and I was teaching Grade 2, I was teaching an afterschool music program at school. This was a free privileged afterschool program for students who would really benefit from the program. Well N was in my class and again was getting sick a lot. She was falling behind most of the other students in the class and I felt it was unfair for her to still be in the class since there were so many other students who could really benefit from the free lessons. So I suggested to the parents that perhaps she take a break this year from the program and to join again next year. That ended up being the final nail in the coffin and there has been extreme uneasiness and strained smiles between the family and I ever since. Even with N. It was hard. I didn't mean to cause the awkwardness but it happened.

Last year, when we were preparing the list of students to go into Grade 4 and deciding the classes they were to go in, N was placed in my class. Which I didn't mind either way. But her mother voiced a concern to the Gr. 3 teacher asking if N could go to the other class instead of mine. Again, I was okay either way, and in some ways was thinking it might be better to avoid conflict. But God had better plans.

N was in my class and things were going alright except that I was coming down quite hard on my class for not having completed their homework. I'm still struggling with this problem now....ahhh! Anyways, N was not that bad, but on a few occasions N had to stay in and face the same consequences as my other students who were delinquent in their homework. Her parents were not pleased with this as it turned out on some instances N had completed her homework but just didn't let me know that she had. Their concern was that N was not her usual self at home.

Well I was very concerned about the whole situation. It kept me up at night and I was constantly thinking about the whole situation. We arranged for a meeting and the 2 days leading up to the meeting I prayed with my colleague M and sought advice from my principal and the grade 3 teacher. They were all a fountain of wisdom. I felt more prepared to go into the meeting in the sense that I learned to really hear the parents out, be patient, be humble, and listen to their concerns.

Well the Holy Spirit really molded my heart on the day of the meeting. It was an amazing experience. I apologized, listened to their concerns and really learned a lot about them and N. I had a whole new perspective on who N was and where the parents came from. We laughed, discussed, listened and in the end we worked towards a solution for reconciliation between all of us, including N. It turned out N was really troubled by my teaching style. She said I was "regimental". :P It was good. I felt good about my teaching still through the encouragement of others and my other students, but it helped me to see another side of my teaching that I hadn't realized.

My relationship with N and her family has been a miracle. God took something that was cracked, almost broken, and is slowly mending it to be brand new. The next morning N came running to me and gave me a gigantic hug because she had read the apology note that I wrote to her. Her mother 1 week later came to me with a big smile and said things were much better and we embraced. 2 weeks later her mom came with a gift for me too! God is truly amazing. Does God still make miracles happen? Absolutely YES!

I think I need to have more patience and love in teaching. I'm learning everyday but as the days creep closer for me to leave for Taiwan I'm feeling more and more sad about leaving my students. I'm learning the precious moments of teaching that I miss sometimes because I get so bogged down with planning and activities in the school.

The three musketeers (my teaching trio at school) went to watch a basketball game on Thursday of our former Joyce students. That moment was one of the most joyful moments I've had in a while even though they were not directly my students. Their joy in playing the game and sense of confidence in themselves and our pride in watching them was inexplicable.

Yesterday I was downtown finishing the rest of my dinner after meeting up with my friend C and sitting alone in the food court. I was eating I was people watching. As I was watching I realized that we go through so many activities & "things" in a day. Which of them are really really valuable? Which of these activities are really really meaningful? Not many. Shopping? Eating? Running the rat race? The meaningful activities, the ones we treasure and remember in our hearts are always the relational ones.

The warm fuzzies of life.

"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'There is no commandment greater than these."~Matthew 12:29-31

Wow... is it Christmas Already?

I'm not sure what its like in North America, but in Hong Kong, there's signs of Christmas, at least the "commercial side" of Christmas almost everywhere. It seems strange that it's still over 20 degrees Celsius and not even December! Even in the washroom at our IFC 2 office you can hear Christmas music!

Anyhow, it also seems like Christmas because I got the news I was hoping for that I wrote about in the last blog... I'm coming home early! Originally, I had my flight booked for December 20th and stay until we leave January 1st.

I now get a chance to swing by Toronto two weekends for now (December 9th!) and then back in Toronto on Friday December 15th! That would be exactly two months since I first left for Toronto. Realizing that I have very few days left actually in HK, it sure does seem like longer than two months that I've been here. Perhaps by design, but HK was very easy to get adjusted to. It's been an intense two months, and I must say I've enjoyed many aspects of it. I am homesick and I can't think of a better way to come back to Toronto than to drop in on our third annual small group retreat. The small group has meant a lot to Sandra and I in the past three years - more on this in another blog. So in exactly two weeks, I'll have almost 48 hours in Canada! (I know because I've already booked a rental car!).

Here's the new ... and pretty intense itinerary as I clean-up my office on a Saturday night:

Nov 26/27 - Seoul, Korea - leave 7pm right after meetings
Nov 28 - Dec 2 - London, England - leave Saturday evening after a free day with friends
Dec 3/4 - back in HK and catch our team's Christmas lunch, leave 10pm Monday
Dec 5 / 6 - in Taipei leading my first training course (leave Wednesday first flight)
Dec 6 - 9 - Wednesday to Saturday afternoon - my last days in HK!
Dec 9-11 - Small group retreat at Horseshoe... back to airport 7pm Monday night
Dec 11 - 15 - Cleveland - EY's training centre for training and testing work
Dec 15 - Jan 1 - Toronto!

Seems crazy now that I lay it out. There isn't even time to finish the "shopping list" that I've been sent by various people - sorry! I'll be back in HK lots and feel like I now know where to go for comfort food and shopping.

I'll have to wait for another day to really sit back and reflect upon thees two months. I'm glad I'll get to spend some more time in Toronto. I'll have to be online (working) for most of the time up to about Christmas, but will still be great. Looking forward to seeing Sandra, our godsons and of course everyone else!

Not sure if I'll have a chance to do an entry while I'm in Korea or the UK. I don't believe I've mentioned it, but in these two months I have been without a Blackberry!!! After about the second week I stopped reaching for it on my hip, but I still miss it terribly. Its been in the works since before I left Toronto, but I'll leave that story for another day.

Looking forward to seeing all of you who are going to the small group retreat. Probably won't arrive until after 10pm, but should be able to sleep on the plane, so save me whatever beverage you guys drink at such retreats!

ray

Consequences of What We Build

By far, what I've come to appreciate about my Far East Area role is the opportunity to interact and learn about each of the 11 “countries” in our Area – China (including HK), Taiwan (yes, not really a “country”), Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Guam (for a very complicated reason, Guam is in the Far East and Japan is not).

One of my biggest work targets for this short period of time based out of HK is to connect with the implementation teams from each of the countries in the Area. We didn't have the luxury of physically visiting each country, but there have been conference calls, in person meetings in HK, etc. This is the one aspect of my job that I can't believe I'm getting paid for! A typical agenda has been as follows (significantly simplifying):

1. Meeting with implementation team (usually key change leaders of the local firm) – provide an indepth overview of the country practice – its history, challenges, strengthens, needs, etc.
2. Meeting with key leadership representatives to have similar discussion (usually the country managing partner, technical leader, etc.)
3. Review project implementation plan (this “project” touches pretty much most aspects of our business – people, technology, knowledge management, learning, resourcing, etc.). We have a discussion around the plan, challenge it, reinforce it, share best practices, etc.
4. Lunches, dinners to experience local food.. Usually spend time with the team from the local office, etc.
5. Develop action plan... some for the country, some for Area support...Basically a roadmap to drive change.

This usually takes about two days... In many ways this aspect of the job is similar to an internal consulting role. From a personal perspective, I get a chance to soak in all the cultural and business differences as the teams are running through the set agenda and questions.... and then you basically have an opportunity to ask pretty key people in the firm (we also call in a few service teams to make sure we’re hitting the mark with the practice as well) any question you want. Of course, these are questions with the interest of understanding, improvement, etc. in mind. Its amazing!

Okay… now that I have that out of the system, you understand the context of where some of my thinking is coming from.

The question that I've been really convicted with is how much depth and time do we spend thinking through the downstream consequences of the things we build. Whether we are “building” or “setting the tone” for infrastructure, processes, relationships, etc. These things inevitably have some positive or negative impact and instill change. This is also the reason I insist on having time on the agenda to go through history and background. Let me give you a few examples. One of our countries has engrained in the culture a desire for learning. They are one of the best in terms of having coaching networks, giving up their best people to instruct courses, etc. Its no coincidence that at one point in their history that they were not a part of a global firm, but were the head office of a regional Asian firm. They were the “global office” and all of their now senior partners were in learning, development, policy and management roles. They understood the need for such investments and their people see the value… even years later. Almost 100 years ago, the original founders of this regional firm were part time teachers at the local university. Some linkage? On the flip side, there’s also reasons why other practices or offices do not value technology, learning or whatever.

A few weeks ago, I was having dinner with my cousin in HK who is an architect. The conversation ended up shifting to the mid-levels escalator that I take home almost every night. Hong Kong is built off the side of a mountain. This escalator essentially takes people up and down the mountain between the mid-levels residential areas and the Central district. It's quite amazing – the longest outdoor covered escalator, 800m long, vertical climb is 135 feet, travel time is 20 minutes, etc. (For more information you can see (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central-Mid-Levels_escalator).

We were talking about how when the escalator was first proposed, there was both support and resistance against it. I'm not suggesting that everything about the escalator is good, but for some of the residents who complained about the building of the escalator, they also benefited from the skyrocketing of real estate values of this thing going through the side of their house. Today, this escalator is lined with shops, restaurants, bars, etc. Traffic patterns has also dramatically decreased because less people are sitting in taxis and buses zigzagging through these roads to get up and down the mountain. Where all the good and bad consequences of the escalator thought through when it was built? How dramatically has this escalator changed the shape of HK and the residents of HK? What are some of the untold or forgotten consequences of the escalator?

In addition to processes and infrastructure, relationships are similar. I was challenging a friend who just started with a new company to spend time thinking about the types of relationships he wants with his coworkers. Ever say to yourself – I'd love to go to lunch with that group, or that person sounds very interesting, but it'd be weird to go talk to them because I've never talked to them much in the two years I've been here. Sometimes we set a tone for a relationship that may be positive or negative right from the start. I'm challenging myself to think through this as we move to Taipei.

These are just small, not so good examples, of how we set-up processes, infrastructure, habits and relationships could have a lasting impact. It's easier to build things right from the beginning than to try to drive change later.

I'm enjoying the very real aspects of my job... but also very convicted and challenged to really reflect and think through the consequences of what we've building. It's good and bad, but things are moving so quickly here in Asia that we need and can make pretty important decisions quickly. It's a very different space than working at one of the Big Six Canadian banks! What will be the impact of this “network” or “coaching structure” or “learning approach” have on the firm and these people in five, ten or twenty years time? The neat thing about our business is that many of our people move on to key positions in different companies. In China, we're taking on over 1,000 new hires a year now. That's an incredible amount of people to train effectively. If we're not careful we can very easily lose control over how we want to build and mould these professionals into the firm.

The other very interesting aspect (for those of you who have worked in accounting firms) is that while I'm experiencing lots of cultural differences in the various countries I interact with, I also can see a very distinct E&Y and accounting firm culture. I felt at home almost immediately after arriving here because there was enough familiarity with how the firm does things. In some ways its like I never left!

I'm also recognizing that this grand treatment and respect that I've received in these initial visits have been out of courtesy for the role. These men and women who are leading these functions are very smart and very good at what they do. This isn't a case where any one person has superior knowledge or intelligence... but it's a case where we're able to pull together the right resources, right thinking and right action to get the most effective and efficient solution (there's Biblical concepts and solutions in here for sure!). I'm still struggling a bit to build credibility and respect with these contacts. I'm also very aware that its okay not to have an answer, but if I ever start delivering solutions or answers that have no substance – I'm cut off! Especially in Asia, if you don't have positional power, you have to have value, respect and relationship for people to pick-up your phone call when they see your name come up on the call display.

Anyhow.. that's from a work perspective. Just personally very convicted and challenged to be sure about what we recommend and build... Pushing our teams to do the same thing. There's a balance though I'm trying to feel between spending too much time challenging the assumptions and taking a risk and making a decision. I'm hoping to pay a visit to some friends at the firm in Toronto to talk through some of the things that we build back in 2002/2003 when I was in knowledge and learning there. It's a blessing to be a part of learning about all of this... and having a hand in driving some change in the short and long term. As much as we have professional and ethnical responsibilities towards our job, we do bring our own worldview, backgrounds and experiences to this. I've learned a lot at work that I've applied to “church” and a lot at “church” that have applied to the workplace. God has made us as complete and integrated people.

I'll end off on a more personal note. Along the same lines, I've seen how God has used relationships and people to shape us. As you know, I've enjoyed the blessing of catching up with many old friends from very different circles and walks of life. However, I'm more and more convicted that these connections are by God's design. He, as the master “designer” has put specific people at specific times in my life to shape you and I into who we are today. I see that more and more clearly as I have some more time to reflect and connect the dots. I encourage you to do the same in some of your spare time (this is really for another entry!)... but consider the people, books, events, themes, ideologies, challenges in your own life history and how these have shaped you. It may even give you an indication of where you’re headed into the future!

Okay.. gotta run. Its 11:35pm and the mid-levels escalators turn OFF at midnight. Don't really feel like walking up the mountain!

It's Been a Month!

Hi everyone!

I really shouldn't be blogging right now because there's just so much work to catch-up on, but I found myself in that situation where there is so much stuff I want to blog about that I felt like waiting for when I had a huge chunk of time! Realistically that won't happen!

Many events / milestones since I've last blogged:

• Two day trip to Manila (or more accurately Makita), Phillipines - awesome trip!
• Two more trips to Shenzhen, one of few places in China where Cantonese is useful
• Past the one month mark and about half way to coming back to Toronto!
• Really getting into work and enjoying what I do!

Things here in Asia, as we learned on our previous trips to China, must be "flexible". Believe it or not, the same applies to work schedules! Planned activities come and go. I didn't do as much travel as I thought I would, but by the end of this week, will have talked to or visited each of the 11 countries in our Area. Its been really good working with people of different countries in Asia. There are distinct differences, but also a distinct Asian and also E&Y culture. More on that in a subsequent post (fascinating to me!).

I have a crazy next week coming up... and if things work out... a crazy next few weeks before I come back to Toronto. Things that should not move - Saturday trip to Shenzhen to pick up a bunch of custom made shirts and a suit that I ordered. Sunday I head to Seoul, Korea. Will have to work in the afternoon, but hopefully will get a chance in the evening to have some authentic Korean food for dinner and take in either the night market or the electronics market. We have an intense day of meetings Monday and then I pick up the 7:45pm plan out of Korea to London, UK!

I've never actually been to London before. I've always wanted to and looking forward to this trip. This will be my first global meeting for the project that I'm on. Its a critical meeting for us and it'll be a great catch-up and networking with the global leaders on what we'll be doing in 2007. Arrive Tuesday morning, have meetings until Friday afternoon, but don't leave until Saturday. Tuesday to Friday will be packed with meetings, but the theme of these global meetings are - work hard, play hard. Wednesday night we head to Fulham ground to catch a football match, Thursday night we have dinner at Quaglino's (this is apparently supposed to impress me.. but naive about such restaurants - Norm? Thoughts?). What I'm enjoying about this role is really getting to meet new people and experience some new culture. Everyone has rolled out the red carpet for us in introducing their business to us as well as their city / country. It's been awesome.

The nice fringe benefit to all of this is that I get to connect with friends in different parts of the world. Looking forward to catching up with my Waterloo roommate of many years J and his with M. Been wanting to visit them for years. They spent a little bit of time in China a few years ago and their story and interest in mainland China certainly played a part in our early interest in China. The plan is to meet up in the city Friday night for Indian food and hit an old English pub. Saturday morning (or knowing my friend, late morning) will be meeting up with JL who is on secondment with EY to London. She's only been in London a little longer than I've been here. We also have another coworker who is on secondment in London... so it'll be neat to catch-up on what is happening in their life. It's nice to have friends like this where you share such a deep bond ... J and I don't see each other often, and to be honest, we're pretty bad at calling or even emailing, but we seem to be able to pick up and get right into conversations of substance. I appreciate the friendship we share. I'm also a bit worried - J asks really good, deep and convicting questions!

So... that brings me back to HK Sunday December 3rd. Teaching my first, but very important event in Taipei on Tuesday December 5th. My original ticket has to come back to Toronto is on December 20th. However, there has been this course in Cleveland Ohio scheduled for December 12-15th. I've known about this event right from the beginning... and we haven't committed for me to attend yet. In any other circumstance, I'd be going for sure, we were just hesitant due to timing and the small window we have to get traction on my project prior to January (January is the start of the "busy season" for auditors, so we don't get to touch them much from January to April).

We keep swaying between a 30 to 70% chance of me attending the Cleveland session. I've made the mistake of getting too excited about it to the point where if I don't get to go, it'll be a big disappointment for Sandra and I. Its really the homesickness speaking. Attending this session will mean that I get to drop in to our cell group winter retreat the weekend of December 9th up at Horseshoe. It also means that I fly home to Toronto early - December 15th! Didn't do a good job at managing expectations... so might as well share this with all of you! We'll see what happens.. it does seem a little ridiculous that I would have only been on the job two months and then back home for a 16 day break! (there will be work between the 16th and Christmas...but you know how it is!)

Really want to share more about what I've really been experiencing and thinking about but that'll have to wait for another day. Here's a laundry list of some of the themes I've been thinking about and hope to one day journal:

1. Importance of building culture, community and identity in groups (e.g. workplace or otherwise);
2. Importance of thinking through and understanding the downstream consequences of our decisions or what we build (e.g. how the Hong Kong mid-levels escalators has transformed this area, processes we build in the workplace, etc.);
3. Multi-culturalism. What does this mean? Comparison between Hong Kong "multi-cultural" and Toronto "multi-cultural". Very different (quick note: I joined my expat boss and his foreigner "mates" to have beers and dinner in Lan Kwai Fong and Soho on Friday - very interesting experience and mixed emotions);
4. Music and culture (yep, me thinking about music). Specifically how important music appears to be to Flippino culture (We were invited to after dinner music and drinks at Merk's Bistro and reach Richard Merk live and loved it! http://www.merksbarbistro.com/';
5. Classes of people - the number, result, transition between levels, etc. (conceptually Canada has fewer "classes of people" where China has lots; and
6. Consequences or impact of our lives on people.

Yes, lots of stuff going on in my mind... Lots of good conversations with coworkers and old friends (for those of you "older" Waterloo friends, I'm meeting with with K-Y.N. from California tomorrow night.

There are some lighter moments in my life too. Here's a few off the top of my head:

1. In North America, some nicer hotels will offer free shoe shine. You call the desk to pick-up your shoes and they're done the next morning. I figured I'd take the hotel up on this offer in Manila with all the walking I've been doing. One in the morning, I call for a shoe shine, housekeeping says "right away sir". Twenty minutes later (and in bed), I get a knock on the door, after ignoring it, I get a call to say that the shoes are ready for me. Some things work differently in Asia!
2. At all buildings and malls we went to in the Philippines you get patted down for guns! the security at the EY Tower carries a shot gun! At the airport, after my driver put away the bags and got into the car said, "sir, we're ready to go, will you please make sure your doors are locked before we head off?!?" Not sure if these were fair first impressions, but a little concerning.
3. I was stupid and left some of my HK money in the safe at the hotel in Taipei! Thankfully remembered before I left the city or someone else checked in!
4. I'm not losing weight anymore, I'm gaining weight as I travel more and as my Cantonese becomes more proficient and I discover new places to eat!
5. I got my first haircut alone in mainland China... after making sure it was in a mall, lots of people, lots of windows and that it really was a "barbershop". If you don't know what this means, ask someone who knows more about mainland China!
6. Realized the hard way that the Shenzhen Metro stops around 10:30pm! I also cut it close by getting through the Lu Hu (Shenzhen to Hong Kong) border at 11:55pm last Saturday. Just because the last train from the border is at 1:00AM it doesn't mean that the border is open past 12:00AM!?!
7. On the same trip, I ended up at Tsim Sha Chiu after midnight. Chung King Mansions is not a place you want to be at night! I finally saw the squads of HK police that we used to see on the HK police Chinese soaps growing up.
8. Even if you struggle with Chinese and not sure if you can "order" at a restaurant, it's not really a big deal in Asia. The line-ups are long enough that someone is bound to order something that sounds good!
9. If some of the above sounds like stuff you don't want to tell your parents about, against my better judgment, someone ordered this Thai raw shrimp dish.. basically raw shrimp on a chili salad.. It was awesome! No issues the next day.
10. I'm including some pictures of a couple of Jeepneys that you see all over the place in Manila (no, I didn't take these pictures, it's called images.google.com). I believe they are the cheapest form of public transportation. A Philippines version of the HK mini-bus. It just goes along the route and people jump on and off. Another interesting tidbit - my coworker who picked me up everyday was explaining that in Manila (not sure if its a city or bigger rule), to combat traffic, the government decided that ALL cars would have a day of the week where your car could not be driven from 7am to 7pm! Yes, all cars, based on your licence plate number, even buses, taxis, delivery trucks, etc. The law is enforced, etc. Can you see this working in your city or country? It did help with traffic and people just live with it!
    

Okay... that's it. Have to get back to work to see if we can get some of this stuff done and make Cleveland happen.

ray

Back from Shenzhen and Taipei

Stuck here at the airport waiting for my flight back to HK from Taipei so I thought I'd try to write a bit for the blog rather than fall asleep! I think my last blog entry was about my routine in HK. The past seven days has been full of adventure and new experiences and I'm exhausted! I can't believe its has only been a week since I left HK, about this time (6pm Saturday). The week has been filled with so many new experiences. It's been good to be on the road again, I haven't done this in a while and it's been good.

Shenzhen

I didn't make it to Shenzhen in time to go shopping or get any shirts made. I ended up working last Saturday right up until about 6pm and then jumped on the train to Shenzhen. I had a good dinner with my old coworker SL who is now with another Big Four accounting firm in Shenzhen. It was interesting comparing notes and sharing our respective stories. I was telling SL how happy I was to finally eat yummy Chinese food – not knowing the kind of week I had in store for me! For those of you following previous blogs, I was going to say that my time in HK has resulted in some healthy weight loss. The portions in HK are smaller than what we (or specifically I) each in Canada, but not small enough to order two. So the combination of smaller portions and lots of walking up and down HK Island has been a very nice feeling. All this is obsolete news! Before we started eating SL asked if I wanted to pray first. It was a little unexpected on my part, but it was certainly an appreciated gesture. Moving over here outside of our normal surroundings has been good to share new ideas and thoughts. I hope that Sandra and I can continue to meet up with old and new friends wherever we go.

Entering into mainland China on my new multiple entry visa (which allows basically unlimited entries to China) was symbolic for me. It reminded me of some of the reasons we're here and also reminded me that I was entering into a land were I don't know the language, but crave so much to learn. HK, as we expected, has not been a cultural or linguistically challenge at all. I made it to T&M's alone! I think every other time they've insisted on picking me up. It was a good chance to spend some time with them, watching them pack, going to church with them for the last time, eating too much with T, etc. It was good times of memories. T & I had some good talks about some of the struggles and temptations ahead in Asia. T&M have been away from Toronto pretty much since we’ve graduated, but business and vacation has given us a chance to catch-up almost at least once per year.

We met a new friend at church. It's one of those “it's such a small world” experiences. This new friend J was working on a project in SZ and made his way to this church pretty much by himself. He ended up knowing a good friend of ours from Waterloo – not only knowing him, but renting a house to him! We ended up talking quite a bit about our respective journeys of moving to Asia and moving back to North America. He's praying about whether God has further plans for him out here somewhere in Asia. I'll leave out some of the details… but suffice to say, the weekend was full of neat conversations with old and new friends. There were resonating themes of transition, sharing accountability and remembering that God has plans for us beyond our own (surrendering). Monday morning as T and I were packing and sharing our last dim sum lunch, it seemed like God wanted to deliver the icing on the cake for this great weekend by passing on news of friends accepting Christ. It was an overwhelming feeling just bringing us to prayer. What a blessing… and what am appropriate blessing that this was happening completely outside of our control on the other side of the world. The Kingdom of God is powerful and real. I'm thankful that we have the privilege of being able to witness just some of what God is doing.

For those of you in Toronto, I really encourage you to see what a neat and fruitful ministry and opportunity there is in Toronto right now. I pray that God will open our eyes to see people as Christ would. It seems like weekly there are opportunities to share God's love with newcomers!

Taipei

I left SZ for Taipei Monday afternoon arriving in Taipei around 7pm. I was a little bit nervous about this first official trip to Taipei as an employee of the firm! Was a little uncertain about how people would be now that I'm on board, meeting the new team members and of course, navigating this city without Sandra! The overall theme of the week was Taiwanese hospitality! We’ve heard people talk about Taiwanese hospitality before, but this week I really experienced it!

The team at the office arranged for a car to pick me up from the airport to the hotel. I went from little taxi's in disorientated Shenzhen to much more orderly driving in Taipei (in a S-class Mercedes!) The Grand Hyatt where we usually stay beside the office was full, so I stayed down the street at a local Taiwan business hotel. The hotel was just as good as the Hyatt and on top of SYS Memorial MRT station – very close to one of the areas that we were considering living in. I subsequently learned from people at the office that there was a common believe that the Grand Hyatt was “haunted” (being the site of a previous execution site!) We'll have to get used to some of the beliefs in TW!

From a work perspective, I was playing more of an Area role than really spending time on my Learning & Development work, but the two really go hand in hand. This was the first week where I've really had intense work. For those of you EY types, we were basically meeting with the PPD team to understand and map local audit regulations with GAM (don't worry if you didn't understand any of that sentence!). In short, it was three full days of meetings with various people in the office and doing some internal consulting type work. As geeky as it sounds, I'm feeling very happy that all of the technical background seemed to just come back and we were able to forge full speed ahead on some of the ideas and solutions. It was a very productive three days and I think we established some positive credibility with the Taiwan office. Similarly for my “other job”, it was really good getting to know my team a little better. Right now, the full time team consists of a manager instructor, an assistant manager, a course coordinator and an administrative assistant / organizer (4 people) and I. One of my first tasks will be to build up a network of about 25-30 people from around Taiwan who will help us teach courses and do coaching for local teams. There's a good foundation here, but lots of work to do. I'm actually very excited about the work ahead and I think people are willing to give new things a try.

From a language perspective, I'm also looking forward to learning Mandarin. This week we functioned in English during our business meetings. There's a small group of people who speak English. The others are able to, but lack confidence. They have this “shyness” or “fear” if you try speaking to them in English. I need to learn Mandarin quickly so that we can build up relationships. It will be a little confusing in the beginning. The people in the office speak: 1) Mandarin, 2) Taiwanese and 3) Taiwanese / Mandarin! Of course, my Mandarin isn't strong enough to really tell the difference for some words. The comforting news is that we've taken on a few more expats – some returning from short secondments to the US, another Caucasian guy who is married to a Taiwanese girl. We'll get a chance to learn together.

Nobody minds that I don't speak Mandarin so far. Its more that I'm embarrassed that I can't even do basic things like set-up my own cell phone! Taiwan is a bit behind in English so even though they have automated menus in English a lot of their printed materials are all in Chinese. I asked my assistant to help me with the mobile phone and she came right away with another person who has stronger English to help me! It terrible, my own assistant is scared of me!

We basically worked every night except for Friday night. YP (another Area colleague based out of Malaysia) and I and two other people from the office when to Shi-Lin night market. Its been a good week of getting to know new coworkers from a professional as well as personal level. YP and I had a really good chat about charities, my experience with Habitat, his trip to work with an orphanage, etc.

Food. Every day has been full of 5-8 course meals or all you can eat buffets! The highlight of the week was driving to the north part of the city for shark's fin soup lunch. We had a six course meal, with the main entry being shark's fin. My experience with shark's fin has been with various grades of shark's fin soup at wedding banquets. At this restaurant, each of us were given a large bowl of soup (about the size of a small Pho bowl) with one large intact piece of shark's fin each. The size of this shark's fin was a little bigger than the size of my hand (palm and fingers!) I think I had more shark's fin in that one bowl of soup than I've had in my life! The rest of the week was filled with dumplings, Shanghai food, Japanese food, sashimi, oysters, etc. etc. One afternoon the office even dropped off bubble tea from the most famous bubble tea place in Taipei as an afternoon treat!

I purposely booked a later flight today (Saturday) so that I could explore the city a bit more. I looked up the Costco and big box store area and decided to walk (about an hour)? I think Sandra and I will have to have some further discussions about where we want to live. Our understanding of Taipei was, and still is, quite limited and there are a lot of options out there. I think we're hesitating to live out in the “suburbs” because we're not sure where our routine / life will be. Lots of considerations.

Going to this area in Nei-hu was really good. I went to one of the big box supermarkets (think Walmart and Loblaws combined), Costco, a furniture store (similar to Leon's), and the local B&Q (Home Depot). I'm satisfied that I now have a decent understanding of the prices of most common items in TW. Some items are very affordable while others are similar to prices back home. The Costco in Taipei has more selection that most of the Costcos I've been to in Canada or the US. They must have the same procurement channels as the US. I’ve very impressed. Lots of USDA Black Angus Beef (basically we won’t have to worry about not finding a good steak out here), lots of unique Asian food and produce items as well as your usual “American Costco” stuff that we see back home – spices, cream puffs, Kirkland branded stuff, baking materials, etc. I feel a lot more comfortable about our transition here and what we need to bring or not bring. For the most part, I can see us spending a whole day, hiring someone with a truck and going on a huge one day shopping spree to set-up our home!

I'm feeling exhausted from the work week and all of the walking today. I should get back to my place in HK by 9pm today and hit the sack earlier. The plans for this coming week are still a little up in the air. Was hoping to make it to Beijing for the later half of the week (and secretly stay for the weekend), but might need to do some work with the Philippians. Heading to ECC for church tomorrow morning and then meeting up with JS and her friends for dinner.

I'm still feeling a little lonely at times, but this week has been a really good week for me to be reassured that God will provide for our physical, spiritual and emotional needs out here. Sandra and I are looking forward to January where we can experience more of these things together. She's getting a little tired and burnt out with finishing off things in Toronto.

I'll end off the rambling here for anybody who is still reading. I didn't take many pictures this past week. It was difficult to pull the camera out in most situations. I couldn't resist taking this picture at Costco for Ryan and Nicholas. It's a toddler Thomas bed! Good thing its too big to bring on the plane otherwise Kai-yah would have bought it for you guys!

Leaving My Comfort Zone of HK

For the record, my "short" posts may seem long because I type pretty fast! (Sandra called it longwindedness).

This weekend is a longweekend (Monday off) in HK, but I'm in the office Saturday just cleaning some stuff up. I have my luggage with me for a week away from HK. Looking forward to new adventures. I'm leaving my comfort zone of HK for the first time into places where Mandarin is the language of use!

Here's the itinerary:

Off to Shenzhen (across the border from HK) this afternoon. Work got me my multiple entry visa so I can head freely in and out of China! Will try to do a little shopping, I'm hoping to get a few dress shirts made, but we'll see. The real purpose of the trip is to catch-up with a few people in Shenzhen.

Tonight, I'm having dinner with a old EY alumni friend - SL. She just moved to SZ and it'll be good to catch-up with her and hear her story. Also looking forward to Shanghainese food - been eating a lot of Western food, hamburgers and Thai in HK!

Sunday night, T&M and I will meet up with F, T's husband for dinner. He picked a restaurant he likes so looking forward to that as well.

Will be staying until Monday afternoon. It'll be a good chance to spend time with T&M when they're not busy with their own stuff and packing. Will miss them as we're moving east and they move back to the west.

Monday afternoon, I'll take the Skekou Ferry straight to HKG airport and head to Taipei for the week - Monday night to Saturday night. Tuesday will be a free day in the office meeting people and doing a full debriefing with my L&D team there. Wednesday to Friday will be the first of many intense meetings with each of the countries. Purposely extended the stay until Saturday so that I can have a chance to get a feel for the city and maybe even do some preliminary viewing of apartments (too early to sign a lease). I'm a little concerned about my ability to get around with my limited Mandarin - this is very different from HK and Sandra won't be there. To make matters worse, our usually hotel, the Grand Hyatt which is beside the office was fully booked, so I'm down the street at another hotel. The office assures me its a "short taxi ride away" and it is - for those who can communicate with the office! The administrative assistant (they call them secretaries here) prepared some direction cards in Chinese for me. The next week will certainly be a great adventure.

Still trying to short out the rest of the month, but I'm probably not going to be in HK much. We're trying to schedule my country visits - Korea, Phillipians, Singapore and Indonesia for sure are on the list to head to in the next three weeks. We're trying to hit all of the key places prior to January 1st.

Finishing a few things and then off to Shenzhen.. and yes, at least five people have reminded me to be careful of crime and theft, especially at Lo Wu. I put my computer in my suitcase just in case!

A Little About HK

HK Routine

This blog entry apparently is overdue as I've received a few emails asking if I'm still alive and well! Thank you! I had a busy weekend, took a few pictures for the blog, but haven't really had a chance to sit down until now to type anything out. The past few days has been a lot of connecting with good friends, good conversations and good reflection. However, its also been a time where I've really missed home. I didn't think it would be so hard to be apart from Sandra (two months), but in hindsight, this is the first time in a long time we haven't been together. Its a little painful, but probably good for us to appreciate how important we are to one another. I don't think we could do a journey like this to Asia if we didn't have one another.

A lot of people have asked about the "busyness" of HK. While HK is indeed more densely populated and certainly a busier and someone more efficienct city, I've also somehow found a routine that is pretty calm. I really like where I'm living. It's a simple, quiet and decent place to live (backgound - we had doubts about where to live even for a short period of time). The area, on Bonham Road in what they call mid-levels Central HK is very convenient. My regular routine now is to try to leave a little earlier (for HK), but not really for Toronto - 7:45AM, catch one of the two or three buses that come around right outside my building. My stop is near the beginning of the residential area on the mountain (mid-levels is basically the area mid-mountain between Central and the Peak) so I always get a seat. I take the bus into Central or Admiralty, walk through the mall and grab breakfast at the bakery. Breakfast is usually a ham and egg Chinese bun - all for about $4.5HKD). This whole journey takes between 15 minutes to 20 minutes - no crowds, no hassle and I'm one of the first ones into the office! I guess I'm still used to the 45 to 60 minute commute in Toronto!

I've actually learned to try taking the mid-levels elevator home. It takes about 30 minutes to get home via the elevator / walking. I'm almost always walking home now. It doesn't take long, avoids the after-work or after-dinner crowds on the bus, doesn't take much more time, and lets me see more things along the way. The trip up the escalator is quite interesting. It starts with the business district of HK (Central), goes through some local noodle and nice places (where I often grab dinner on the way home), through Soho which is where all the western bars and restaurants are (including the Krispy Kreme) and then into mid-levels where you see a middle a little upper middle class buildings with local older buildings mixed together.

HK is Smaller than I Thought

HK, at least HK Island is smaller than I thought. I didn't think I could walk home so easily! On Saturday, I didn't have plans until 8:30pm (yes, that's a typical going out time here) so I decided to explore the "city" or at least the HK Island side. I walked down the mountain to Central, across to Wan Chai and eventually made it to Causeway Bay before deciding I might as well walk back home and shower before going out! I read in some tourist book that if it weren't for the Harbour, you could walk anywhere in HK!

Saturday was a good day just to see the city. Noticed the diversity of HK, similar to some of what you see in China in terms of economic diversity. Some of the alleys and side streets were full of local markets, homes, people washing their own clothes, etc. You contrast this with the boutique shops and restaurants for almost any major fashion brand in the world! Everyday, I pass by the Rolls Royce dealership outside our office. There are some very rich and some very poor people in HK.

I won't go into all the details, but my five hour afternoon unguided tour of HK was a good taste of what I've seen and heard about the city. The cleanest malls to the dirtiest streets... The formal hotels and business districts to the red light district in Wan Chai... The calm parks to the shopping craze in Causeway Bay... The Sunday afternoon day off for the domestic workers meeting around City Hall / Central (a true example of community drawing together)... I don't have pictures of all of this, but I'll post a few just for your interest.

Christian Community

I know many of you following this blog are not Christians or believers of any faith, so a little bit of background. Community is an important aspect of the Christian faith and also of my own approach to life. Community at its core is about being in relationship and sharing - this sharing is a sharing of who you are as well as of what you have. Right from the very beginning, God created man and woman, so that he could have this "community" - for God to be in relationship with us as well as for God to share his creation with us. Open anywhere in the Bible and you'll see examples of community - communities that worked and communities that didn't. Jesus built community through his disciples. The early church after Christ's death was also built around community - to share in the common belief in Christianity as well as share in one another - to support one another, etc. From a personal perspective, I believe that God has called us to live in commujnity with people - those who believe and those who don't. Living life as faithly as we can and sharing all that we have with others. This is why Sandra and I have adopted this Bible verse not only for our wedding, but also our life reminder: "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." - Acts 2:42-47.

This past weekend was a good chance to connect with a lot of Christian friends who have been a part of my community at one time or another and will cotinue to be even though we've been called to be in different parts of the world. It was a very nice time to eat, share and catch-up with new and old friends. I think one of the reasons its so easy to meet new Christians is because of the common connection in Christ that they share. Yes, sounds very "churchy", but its true. In this journey, we've met a number of people from all walks of life who we've had an instant connection with.

Friday night, I caught with with our friend J who was part of our small group at ETCBC for a number of years. We had a short, but late dinner and picked up just where we've left off. She's been a great friend throughout our university years to now. Many of you in our group in Toronto will remember who she was always the thoughtful one with the gift of helps and the addiction to washing dishes! J is still the same loving sister that we remember her to be. I hope to catch-up with her in the next while and get to know some of the community that she is a part of here.

Saturday night was this crazy reunion / mix of people from all walks of AW's life. AW is a friend from Toronto that has connections all over the world, including HK. He got together his friends from high school, university, music circles, etc. I went thinking that I'd catch-up with a handful of Waterloo CCF friends, but soon discovered that there were people in HK whom I didn't know where here! It was a very encouraging time of fellowship to hear stories of what has lead people to Asia and in some cases what is leading people back to North America. We also had some very good discussions about the dangers of living in HK as well. In particular, many people coming over here with lots of dreams and wishes... but with the busyness of life, stress of work here, differences in community and just overall life transitions how some of these dreams and wishes have fallen behind. It was a reminder to be true and those around you who care so that they will know when to push you out of any complcency or whatever... Waterloo CCF (Chinese Christian Fellowship), where most of my Christian community first got introduced to Christianity was and continues to be an important part of our lives. This little "party" lasted until after midnight.. marking my first realization that the HK Central Mid-levels elevators turn OFF at midnight and that its not actually that difficult at walk up the mountain. If I'm really going to fit into the HK, I need to exercise ad lose some weight!Sunday after church, T&M's friends who have really looked after them in their visits to HK invited us out for lunch. You could immediately tell that this couple really cared for us "younger kids" who have come across to asia. It almost felt like the five or six of us at this lunch were their "adopted" children. I felt welcomed immediately into their church community and of course, had no chance of paying for lunch. It was a great example once again of sharing with others what God has blessed you with. The afternoon and evening seemed like a continuation of this. T&M and I met up with Uncle D and Auntie K from Toronto. We had a good time catching up about their travels as well and how we've been doing in Asia. Of course, us "kids" had no chance at getting the bill from the aunties and uncles. It was good to see some familiar faces from home in a different context. Of course, you can't end the weekend with just dinner, so I met up with AW and G late Sunday night to discuss another "project".

I think I'll end this blog here. I've taken a long enough lunch break today. Will write more later, but I've learned if I don't post whatever I have, I'll never get ALL of my thoughts down. A final note on community. W e're seeing God provide old and new friends over here in HK, but we're seeing faithful friends back home as well. Thank you for your emails and encouragment. Special thanks to W and K who have helped with the house. Big or small, its your thoughtfulness and willingness to support us that really touches our heart.

I'll write more about church in a separate blog, but I went to ECCC (Evangelical Community Church) - www.ecchk.org. In short, I enjoyed it and will probably just stick with this church for my short visit to HK.

Markets in Wan Chai area:

Blessings......Stress

This past week has been a series of ups and downs. Most of the time things are going well and I miss Ray, but the quiet time has been good too. It has been truly a blessing to have Teresa and my cousin around to talk to in the evenings. I am rarely alone.

However, work has been busy and stressful. I've had a couple of stressful encounters with parents and all for really small issues. Mainly that my students have not been completing their homework. It's a long story really but really it's hard not to take things personally when parents confront you with a difference in opinion on the standards we set for students.

The next blessing has been W. W has been so kind as to offer to help us out with grading our backyard and dismantling an old patio. He did an amazing job and really has blessed us with his full devotion in friendship. He came this morning at 7:30 a.m. to help out, and then worked most of the day in helping us take apart the patio. When I came home, everything looked really organized and neat, AND he even stacked the bricks that he dismantled. I was speechless with gratitude. He was truly the presence of Christ for me today.

However, afterwards, I discussed a leak in the basement with Ray and realized that I really have no clue what to do. I feel like I'm going into deep waters but have no idea how to swim. Even getting my feet wet is scary. I keep worrying about doing things wrong or hiring the wrong people to help out. I feel really quite helpless without Ray around to make some of the decisions. I usually think "Girl Power!" all the time but all of a sudden that feels so silly.

HK Contact Info

Here's my contact info for HK.

Mobile number - 67406407
Office direct - 28499341

Internationally its 852 6740 6407

(cell phone rates are super cheap in HK. I picked the more expensive prepaid card that allows for direct calling to Canada and Asia - 25 cents HK per minute to call back home (3 cents Cdn a minute!)

All you can eat sushi for $41 HKD!?!

Hi Everyone,

Just thought I'd write a brief note to let you know that I'm settling in HK fine. Its actually been so busy I haven't had much time to reflect or think. However, I'll have tonight to myself, so I'll probably go home, change, walk around and just have some personal time.

Meetings in Bangkok turned out well. Everything went smoothly with the flights, although I ended up with really blood shot eyes from all the hours of staying up and probably the dryness of the plane. I basically didn't get to sleep in a real bed until ... 36 hours after I left Toronto and maybe 48 hours since I was last in a bed! In Bangkok I had a chance to not only get a first view of the intensity of the area and the people (its a very high performing and engaging work force), but also had a chance to spend Sunday with some of my coworkers walking around downtown Bangkok. Saturday night, all the people from the project I'll be coordinating went out to a local seafood restaurant. Lots of great food I've never had before so that was nice. All in all, it was a very nice start to my work in EY Asia. I'll share more about my fears and perspectives towards the shear magnitude of hours that everyone around here works.

Hong Kong - I'll keep this blog lighter as some of you asked to get a glimpse of life here so far:

First full meal in HK - My boss took me out for a quick lunch in one of the restaurants under our building. I'm happy to report that my first meal in HK was not Chinese or PanAsian food, but it was a Canadian Angus Beef burger with fries! (all for about $150 HKD or $20+ Cdn!)

Cheap electronics - As warned, ST's cell phone that he graciously gave us had a battery that didn't keep its charge. G (friend from Toronto also working at EY and desiring similar experiences) and I went in search of a replacement battery for this old (and in HK terms unfashionable) phone. We went to Sham Shui Po area for cheap electronics. I ended up getting two replacement batteries for this Sony phone for $30 HKD - that's about $4 Cdn for BOTH! Unbelievable. If any of you want electronics, parts, etc. just let me know and I'll try to bring it back for Christmas!

Cheap sushi? - G and I decided to grab dinner together after touring the electronics district. We got pulled in by a restaurant worker into this sushi restaurant. All you can eat! How much? $41 HKD each (less than $6 Cdn). Our only criteria was that it had enough people in it. Of course, being HK, the small restaurant had one of those sushi trains and easily 50+ people, so we ended up sitting down and trying it. For the price, it was good, but don't think that we ate sashimi all night... it was more like various items on lots of RICE. It was still nice and G and I had a good chance to talk about how we're both feeling about actually being in HK and what God has in store for us. I'm thankful God has provided us with many friends like G who are like minded.

I keep forgetting my camera. I'll take some pictures of my room where I'm staying. Its super great value for HK - a no frills safe, clean place to live. All the staff are very nice and I have everything I need - AC, TV, electronic safe, free internet, free local calls, private bathroom, etc. Its actually 180 square feet, bigger than I thought and more than I really need. The location is great. Its not on the MTR system, but there are tons of feeder buses (I spent an hour yesterday trying to figure out the bus routing system in HK). It can take me anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes to get down to Central.. 20 minutes door to door during rush hour, including the walking to the office from the bus stop!

The group in the HK office are friendly. They were all trying to figure out if the new guy spoke Chinese and they all seem to think its great that I do! i think my cantonese will improve over the next two months. I ended up getting a nice office that's surprisingly only a little smaller than my room at the Y (maybe I should have "lived" here!). Its a windowed office, so I get some natural light... but being on the 4th floor, the view is really the HVAC system of the building! We're on the floor where the training centre is - to have an office in HK is more than I would have expected! We even have a lady who brings around tea and water for us whenever we want. Still trying to get used to the culture here and have someone else wash my water bottle for me! For those of you who care about this kinda stuff (and have already told the guy I know does, I got a T60!)

Banking and everything administrative has gone super smoothly. The visa came just in time, picked it up in Bangkok. Banking and credit cards are well under way. A big thanks to a good and thoughtful friend in Toronto who helped pave the way accounts at a certain international bank.

That's it for now. HK life is certainly different. Will have dinner with Jenn S this Friday, meet up with some Waterloo CCF friends for a birthday party / coffee house on Saturday and see T and M for church on Sunday!

ray

Here's a picture of my HK office - no, that's not my mess! It just hasn't been cleaned up from the previous occupant... I get two months to make my own mess!

Ray is fine...I am fine... :)

Thanks again to all who came last night. It meant a lot to Ray and to me. I have also been overwhelmed by all of the offers that have been sent to help me out. I guess I seem pretty helpless without my husband huh? :) But truthfully I feel very encouraged and blessed to have such a wonderful community of brothers and sisters. People offering everything from dinners, house help to offering a listening ear in case I'm bored. Thank you. I truly feel the presence of God through all of you.

Ray is doing well. Hope to talk to him tonight. Although it's weird having such a big bed to myself, it's also nice to have extended alone time with Teresa. She has definitely been a blessing for me too.

Good night.

Arrived in HK Airport Safely

Hi everyone,

Didn't expect to have access here, but perhaps I should have. There's free internet access at HK airport and this early in the morning, it's pretty convenient. Flight was long as expected, but did get some sleep, so now I'm pretty awake and can start thinking about getting myself ready for the Bangkok meetings. An introvert doing extrovert stuff...

Will keep this short as there are people starting to hover around to get some internet access. The pleasant surprise / blessing was I ran into a Waterloo CCF friend who is currently on Waterloo CCF committee. He was on the same flight to HK, sitting just a few seats ahead of me. He wasn't aware of our plans so we had a nice chat about our trip as well as his own thoughts as he finishes up his degree at Waterloo. He's not sure if he'll stay in Canada or move to Asia. What a small world. He also told me about his church in HK that sounded like a neat approach to ministry. Unfortunately, I have three churches that I'm tempted to visit. Trying to get this down to one church for my 2 months here and perhaps join a friend's small group.

Thank you everyone who came to the airport - it was very meaningful!

ray

Here's a few pictures of Toronto farewell at the airport:

Airport?

Hi Everyone,

A quick note of thank you for the meaningful send off at church last night.

Many of you are asking about airport tonight. My flight leaves at 11:40pm. However, will probably check into security around 10:30pm or even a little earlier? Sandra and I will aim to get there well earlier (8:30ish to check in and see our godsons before they sleep!) - Terminal 3, Cathay Pacific. Sandra's cell is 416-200-1155.

PLEASE don't feel obgliated to come. I already know of your support and appreciate it greatly. Perhaps you can come send us both off January 1st?

The morning has gone by and we're still doing laundry and looking for lost things in our house!

On a lighter note... will be offline for a few days. Turned in the bank blackberry yesterday - the first time in years without a cell or blackberry on my hip is a little weird (I keep reaching for it!)... sad I know... I'm told that request has been put in for one out of Taiwan! Will pick up a HK SIM card when I get to HK on Sunday.

ray

48 Hours to Go!!!

Hi everyone!

I leave for Hong Kong in about 48 hours! I can't believe this is it. There are still days I wake up in a cold sweat in disbelief that we've made this commitment. As I've said in previous blogs, reality sets in and we can still say with confidence that we feel called to this. I leave for Hong Kong late Thursday night. See attached flight schedule for those of you who have been asking:

CX829 12Oct Toronto 2340, Hong Kong 0650+2
CX713 14Oct Hong Kong, 0855 Bangkok 1030
CX712 15Oct Bangkok 1610, Hong Kong 1955

Yes! That's right, I'm going to Bangkok. I know some of you think I'm intense... Even I'll admit that the first few days will be a little crazy. I'm basically leaving Toronto Thursday night and flying straight through to Bangkok with a short 2 1/2 hour stopover in Hong Kong to arrive in Bangkok at 10:30AM Saturday (local time). I'm going to attend a meeting with EY country leads. Lunch starts at noon with the meeting to start around 1:30pm. They say that first impressions are very important. Well... my first time meeting most of the country leaders will be after about 24 hours of travel time! We'll see how things go, I'm hoping adrenaline will prevail! I should get Sunday off in Bangkok before catching a late afternoon flight to Hong Kong. I start work in Hong Kong on Monday the 16th!

This past Thanksgiving weekend was packed full of activities. It seemed like one of my last times to spend time with the people that we care about, at least for a while. Babysitting our godsons, spending time with T and her husband, immediate family dinner and even a family wedding on Monday! Friends at the bank held a farewell luncheon for me with some Canadian paraphernalia as well as a Montblanc pen (model 10456 for those pen fans out there). Tomorrow night Sandra is planning this event at church with friends from church. Its been a meaningful few days.

I had a good conversation with a coworker today that has summed up a lot of how I've been feeling. I'm seeing how this journey creates the necessity for us to pull away from almost everything that we've been so involved in. In this process, you really learn to value those things that are important to you and also realize those things that we've spent so much energy on that are not so important. There's a part of me that hopes the two or three years goes by quickly and we can "come back". However, it also comes with a fear of "rationalizing" coming back rather than being "called" to come back. These are questions that we don't have to answer right away, but it does make us learn to value where we spent our time, energy, money, etc. This is one of those rare times in your life where you can start with a relatively clean slate. Will you keep us accountable through your e-mails, phone calls and prayers in the months to come? Things with the move are coming together quickly. I feel like after tomorrow night, I'll be as ready to go as I'll ever be. Time to move out of this time in "lingo" and focus on the new space that we've chosen. The next two months will be a very different lifestyle in Hong Kong. I'll be completely thrown into a new environment with very little routine. I was reminded tonight in a nice last minute dinner meeting with a good friend that at times I'm an introvert striving to do extrovert things. That is how I current expect my time in Hong Kong will be like. It will be a time to build up relationships with the EY Hong Kong team as well as connect with each of the EY Implementation Teams in the various Asian countries. From a personal perspective, it'll be a chance to catch up with old and new friends who are in Hong Kong. It'll be different eating out all the time and "networking". I hope that it will be a healthy balance of spending time with new co-workers, Christian friends and time to reflect on my own. I even have hopes of making some connections with Habitat for Humanity Hong Kong (www.habitatchina.org)!

Sandra is taking Thursday off so that will give us some time to finish packing and clean-up the mess I've made of the house in the past few days. Packing shouldn't be a big deal at this point. I'm basically bringing as many clothes and personal items I can fit into two 70lb suitcases (one of the benefits of flying Cathay as opposed to Air Canada which only allows 50lbs)! The house seems to be in order. There's a few lingering house projects, including a major regrading of the back of our house for water prevention. If any of you out there have some free time to support Sandra in my absence, we'd both really appreciate it, but don't feel obligated. You have all been a great support to date!

Signing off... The next time I blog hopefully it'll be safely from my room at the YWCA (http://hotel.ywca.org.hk/eng/YWCABuilding/YWCABuilding_location.htm). Our good from Michael lives one minute away so if its not too late he'll give me the scoop on the neighbourhood. More to come in the next few weeks.

ray

Below are pictures of my farewell lunch with friends at BMO (there was another table, but somehow the picture got lost (sorry!). Building personal relations at BMO has certainly been different from EY. I have learned a lot, but also must admit that after two years, I have only scratched the surface. There are a few people that I would like to continue to build on our friendship. In the end, I'm glad I took a step away from the firm and glad I lasted my two year commitment to do so. The bank has been good to me, I think I'm just wired differently.

"If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." Philippians 2:1-4

It's amazing how quickly time flies. Ray will be leaving for Hong Kong in 4 days. It's been quite a flurry of activities as "the day" approaches. We're meeting family, packing, meeting friends, packing, working, packing, organizing house things, packing, resting, packing..... But the busyness is good. It helps us to get our mind off the fact that we'll really miss everyone here in Toronto.

The past two weekends we've had very strong messages reminding us of the attitudes that we should have. Last weekend we attended T&A's wedding and their ceremony, banquet and the subsequent worship service gave testimony to the importance of trusting in God, serving others with humility, and the blessings of community. Sandra found the passage of Philippians especially impactful as it's easy to enter a new country and culture with the attitude of superiority (especially from North America), but that's not Christ's attitude. In addition, it will need to be something that we continue to think about..."why is it that we're going to Taiwan?" We honestly can't answer that question properly right now, but all we know is that God definitely seems to be opening these doors to us for a reason.

That's why today's message became so fitting. Today our church christened our new sanctuary, "the Inner Court". It was a great way for Ray to worship one last time with our community before leaving for Hong Kong. Rev. T did an amazing job of teaching on the Sabbath and the Holy Communion. For Ray it was a good reminder of God's faithfulness and sovereignty over all things, especially as he ventures into a new country on his own.

Prayer requests?
- Please pray for our patience with our parents. We KNOW they love us.... A LOT...but for some reason our patience always run the shortes with those that are closest to us. As we prepare to pack and wrap-up things in Canada, our parents are especially worried and concerned. We definitely need the humility and attitude to understand their anxiety and concerns.
- Please pray that we use the remainder of the time until Thursday wisely. Hopefully we'll find balance to not just work & pack without time to prepare ourselves emotionally for our time apart from each other.
- Please pray for all the minor house issues that need to be finalized before we leave in December.
- Please pray for all the last minute details that Ray needs to think about before he leaves. There are so many little things that it's easy to forget.

That's all for now. Thank you for your continued support.

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." Ephesians 6:10-13

It's been increasingly stressful as we begin to plan for our big move. Ray has been especially stressed as his departure date is much earlier. There seems to be various small things that pop up here and there that are unexpected. Today we found out there's a leak in the basement. In the grand scheme of things it's really not such a big deal, but added on to our big list of "To do's" it feels like a thorn in our side.

We definitely need prayer as some of the unexpected incidences cast doubt in our minds as to whether we should go.

We have much to be thankful for though. We have been encouraged by the overwhelming assistance by friends, colleagues, and in some cases ("almost" strangers). A colleague of Ray's today offered to guide us around his hometown of Taipei when we arrive in January to go house-hunting. Sandra's been applying to a Christian College in Taipei, and the application process has been relatively smooth thus far.

We definitely need to put on our full amour of God. We need to discern what is truth.

A Bit on Finances

Friday night we didn’t do much. A nice change from our busy pace of meeting with people and meetings (these are not always the same thing)! Now we’re off to a slow Saturday morning, but feel well rested. We have a wedding today for a good friend from way back in my co-op days at EY. He’s been a great supporter and friend over the years. We’ll get a chance to see a bunch of EY alumni who probably haven’t heard about our “news” yet. It should be a good time.

There’s less than four weeks to go before I leave. Call it cold feet, lack of faith or some internal struggling… I continue to have mixed feelings about the impending move and I think this will just intensify as the time comes closer. We’re going to miss lots here, but each time I dare to ask the question – “is this what we should be doing”?, the answer comes back as a resounding YES.

A few reflections or sharing on financial perspectives (I’m a finance guy so beware, this can be long). A lot of people ask whether our “package” provides for housing, moving, etc. The answer is yes and no. The compensation packages in Asia are generally negotiated based on total compensation. So, if you make $100 as an example, you can get back $50 in salary and $50 in housing, or if you want to say the company is providing a car, you can say I get paid $60 but the company provides a modest apartment and a nice car ($20 + $20)! We decided for the most part to take all of our allowances and salary in primarily cash (with the exception of a few complications for tax purposes). This gives us the flexibility to spend the money in ways we see appropriate.

Having said that, there are also two types of arrangements in Asia – local package and expat package. Local is closer to the type of arrangements that local staff would get paid. Expat packages are generally where a company moves you over from Canada. In many cases, expat packages are higher than local packages since in an expat package significant costs are included such as corporate housing, flights, etc. versus local packages which in many Asian countries are based on lower salary. There are advantages and disadvantages to both.

We are on some type of hybrid. We’re being paid comparable Hong Kong salary (which is higher than Taiwan salary scale) plus some assistance for relocation and transition. This puts us in a comfortable professional salary range for local Hong Kong / Taipei but certainly doesn’t put us in a situation where we’re in the luxurious unlimited corporate expense account situation with business class airfare to Asia, etc. Is this fair? That’s the question we get asked a lot and to be honest, I also ask myself are we selling ourselves short. The bottom line, as Sandra keeps reminding me, we are making a comfortable salary and have more than what we need. The move to Asia is not financially motivated. We’re not going over there to accumulate significant wealth. If anything, we’re looking at this as a nice break from the wealth building ladder that sometimes we can get sucked into in North America. Having said that, our budget allows us to find a slight larger, but modest 2 to 3 bedroom apartment in Taipei that will allow us to exercise hospitality and hopefully host some events / discussions, maintain a home in Canada and continue to support most of the ministries and people that we do today. Has God blessed us and is continuing to bless us? The answer is an absolute YES. Sounds simple? Yes, but still a struggle…

Overall, I’ll be transparent and say that quitting the job at the bank and making this move, at least in the short-term is not the best financial move. We’re also considering on going on just one salary (as Sandra may choose the studying or volunteering option). Sometimes all of this financial discussion makes you wonder how we’re programmed to expect so much as North American professionals moving to a different country. Dare we call ourselves tent-making missionaries. If I wasn’t going with this professional role, we could be looking at a significantly lower salary situation.

Sandra and I have always had a consistent approach to money (something we’re thankful for). We don’t mind and enjoy spending money on family, friends, community and ministry. We do however, hesitate more when the money is solely for ourselves. We have also been blessed in the last couple of years and have tried to be careful about how we spend, save or give our money. In a similar way, going to Asia, we have had to readjust to a different budget, and in that process decide who or what we want to continue to support. Having a pretty significant base of supporting others over the last couple of years have helped us not to have to deal with the decision of what to do with “excess” money. There are a number of people and ministries we will continue to support even while we are away.

All of this rambling is to give some context to why I’m so hesitant and arguable “cheap” in the HK accommodations. Perhaps the best analogy is my company’s end of summer staff recognition event. We took about 95 of our finance staff onto two buses for an all day trip down to Niagara on the Lake for a short wine tour, lunch at Queen’s Landing and finally a quick stop in Niagara. The last stop in Niagara (by the time we got there we only had 30 minutes) was free time to spend either touring the falls or hitting the Fallsview Casino. Most people opted for the Casino. We were each given $20 cash to spend as we pleased. Its not a large amount, but just a token of support in addition to all the other financial and other resources that went into planning the day.

I couldn’t help but reflect upon the parallels to my situation and all the possible reactions. Here’s a few on the $20:

• $20??? Why so cheap? What is $20 going to do? What kind of company do you work for?
• Wow, there’s more? The company has already paid for the cost of the McDonald’s breakfast, the bus rental, wine tour, lunch, etc.?
• You guys get a paid day off to do anything but work??!?
• Wow, there’s more

I think you get the point…

What to do with the $20?

• Try our luck and turn the $20 into much more in 30 minutes
• It’s not our money anyway, let’s just put it into the slots and see what happens!
• I’d rather go to the pub and grab a pint or two while we wait for everyone else…
• Pocket the $20 and spend it later…

While it was tempting to see some people winning lots of money in a short-period of time, I decided against even dropping part of the money into a slot machine and picked the last option – keep the $20 and spend it on something else.

What would you do?

HK accommodations is similar. We have the financial means of getting sometime nicer, but for HK, we’re looking for a simple, modest, decent, place to sleep. I expect that there will be lots of financial costs to go out, meet up with people, catch up with old university and CCF friends, etc. I’d much rather freely do that then spend … upwards of US$2K per month on housing (not unusual for a serviced apartment in HK). Right now, the choice seems to be between the YWCA in mid-levels Central HK (yes, a male can rent an apartment at the YWCA)

http://hotel.ywca.org.hk/eng/YWCABuilding/YWCABuilding_location.htm

Or a brand new two bedroom condo in Tung Chung near the airport in a new development called Coastal Skylines

http://www.coastalskyline.com/phase1/eng/main.html

Tung Chung will definitely be nicer and more comfortable – swimming pools, tennis courts, etc. The problem is that it is at the last stop on the Tung Chung MTR line and could take me anywhere between 40 mins plus to get to work. Living in a brand new place may have some additional costs such as internet set-up, etc. The YWCA is closer and has everything I need, but significantly smaller. Will post more later, need to make a decision probably within the week.

On the financial perspectives, questions for clarification (public or private) or comments are welcome. We welcome accountability in this area.