Local Visitors

Showing some locals skin on the MacLehose trail in Sai Kung park.  Both Evan and Ryan love hiking, that's why they're super stoked; you can tell by their faces. Ryan is even showing the back of his index finger, which in Sai Kung is a popular way of saying, "This is wholesome fun" (in Chinese of course). 

Don't think that because these three guys are business majors that they aren't ready to join the Occupy Hong Kong crowd. You can see Evan feels right at home with these counter beat Cantonese campers chilling
under the HSBC building. 

Pearl Sea (Zhuhai) 珠海

Lance looks at a scale model of Zhuhai. 

Last weekend I met up with a couple friends from college, Lance and Ryan, in China. Technically Hong Kong is part of China, but it depends in what context you make reference. Usually the Hong Kongers refer to everything else in China as "Mainland."

Zhuhai is the name of the city where we met up. It's a relatively new city in the Canton province, nestled on top of Macau, the Las Vegas of China. Over the past ten years this city has been exploding with growth. There are all sorts of new divisions and developments going in, one of which is supposed to a miniature replica of Shanghai.  It's alive with cranes and concrete. I got the feeling that if I threw a pole on the ground it would grow into a lamp, or if tossed a piece of trash on the sidewalk, a 7-Eleven would appear––it was similar to Narnia in this sense, when Narnia was being created in The Magicians Nephew. (And yes, there were plenty of minotaurs and dwarves running around, at least, enough to make you on edge).

Ryan's dad works in Hong Kong and he treated us teachers like kings. We spent most of the weekend eating or getting our bodies massaged, or in Lance's case, both at the same time.

Pumpkin Bars in the Parking Lot

Mom sent some ingredients from home (thanks mom); with a few more exports from New Zealand,
Australia, and America, all the goods were good to go.  

Ovens are a commodity in Hong Kong. Thankfully, Mrs. White graciously provided.  

The frosting, now doubt thanks to the New Zealand butter,
was yellow instead of white.

We poured the dough thick so the pumpkin bars became more of a pumpkin cake. Gorrila As cooks
see little mistakes like this (or forgetting salt, or mixing up salt and sugar) as opportunity for discovery.
We went with it, and even wrote with thanksgiving. 

The campus is meat free. Thankfully this turkey was a vegetarian.  

We met and gave thanks in the staff housing parking lot. 

Sometimes thanksgiving hits us like a table full of pie and pumpkin cake.  Shania saw
no use fighting it, she just stopped and took a moment to appreciate it all.  

Lessons and Desks

Structure and content don't always match. They can send mixed messages. For example, screaming "I love you," with a gnarled face and two middle fingers waving is mixed (well, in most families and friend groups). The body is saying one thing and the words another. Another example, chow mien in a corn tortilla. The contents don't match the casing. 

As a student, I was ticked because this sort of mixed communication seemed to be built in the school system.  

On one side the teacher says, "We want you to lead, and learn, and be creative, and get As." But the form of the classroom would be, "Sit at your desk. Be quiet. Don't talk. Learn what I'm telling you. Do what you're told. Learn at my pace. Do all your work. More work. Stress. Stress. Control. Stress." As a student it's hard to hear the content over the structure; the lessons get lost in the desks. 

As a teacher, it's challenging to make structure and content team up. It's hard to make the information I'm teaching, and the way I'm teaching it, dance without stepping on each other's toes. I wonder how much of my lectures get lost in my students desks. I'm tripping over the same stuff as a teacher that I was as a student, except I'm the bad guy now.  

Last week we had outdoor school. Two of the days we were led by a professional outdoor education program nearby. I was talking with the operations manager, Rob. He has served as a dean of students, a school counselor, a social worker, an expedition leader with several different outdoor education programs in places such as the Caribbean, Mexico, Canada, the PNW, and now Hong Kong. He has some experience I guess. 

He had some great things to say about teaching and learning, but he wasn't very fond of the traditional school system. He said school is a lot about fear and control, not so much about teaching students as it is about separating the weak from the strong using stress. I've had similar conversations about education with friends in college, but this time it was different. Now I'm an employee of the system, not a victim of it. 

Rob, in a very kind and gentle way, was calling me as a teacher, 'the man;' which puts me in queue with the likes of (insert least favorite disciplinarian #1 here) (insert # 2 here) (insert corrupt politician here) (insert government philosophy you don't like here) (insert Stalin here, and CaPD here). 

But I'm staying positive on this one. I imagine myself more like 'the bullet' than 'the man' on this one,
more like 'the bull' than 'the rider' on this one. And it may take me more than eight seconds on this one,
but I'm gonna buck these mixed-messaged desks and lectures if its the last thing I do.  

More than a Machine

Somewhere beneath this 

oil stained skin 

runs something stronger than

the underground

trains and fast fueled bones

of steel and nerves

strung by the hands of man, 

beating with the breath of God,

set in 

motion with the rest

of us

stronger than hope.

Teaching

I'm reading a book called "Creative Bible Teaching." It says, "Most human endeavors require planning."

"Oh yeah?" I think. "Well, I'm a natural planner. Tell me more."

It continues, "As a general principle, things done right are done with a plan."

"Uh huh, uh huh."

"Generals need battle plans, coaches need game plans, and teachers need lesson plans."

"Way ahead of you."

Tomorrow's lesson is "WINNING!!!!!": "Class has started, take your seats please. Today I want you to WINNN!!! MAKE IT HAPPEN KIDS!! Do winners ask questions Jared? NO! PUT YOUR HAND DOWN!"

Growing

Last week I was shooting free-throws on the outdoor court between the church and the ad building. I almost had to stop, because I suddenly felt that we only live once.

This week I got a message from home. There had been an accident, and my nephew almost died. Thankfully he's home now, recovering, living, growing.