International Day 2009

This is the second year Tammy, Gabriel, and I participated in International Day at our school in Qingdao. Its a great day as the children are divided into various countries and then go around to different stations that have the kids participate in cultural aspects of that country.



Tammy was part of the China team and Gabriel was in Egypt. I was running the U.S.A. station and for 45 minutes the children at my booth got to participate in an American Bar-B-Q. We made cheeseburgers together, watched a baseball game, and just hung out...American style. Later we played a baseball game and the day was capped off with tug-o-war matches. A good time was had by all...and only 7 more weeks until we move to Hong Kong!

Hong Kong: Its Official!

Well, its really official now! In about 9 weeks we will leave China for Hong Kong to take up a new position as Head of Christian Education at Yew Chung International School. In affect we are going "home"!

We left Hong Kong ten years ago to plant a church in Boulder Colorado but for the last few years though we pined for our lost home in Asia. Its funny because Hong Kong often drove me crazy but after a while both Tammy and I just missed the "crazy". Sometimes you don't appreciate things until it isn't there anymore.

In 2005 we returned to the city to visit Island City Church, which was the church we founded, on the occasion of it's 10th anniversary. On our first morning there while walking the busy streets Tammy was almost giddy! She finally just turned to me and said, "Lets come home."

I was pretty sure then that we would be back in Hong Kong one day. Of course there was a long haul between then and now.

In 2008 I flew to Hong Kong to explore some job opportunities. In a nutshell after a week I had a couple of possibilities that would allow us to relocate back to the city but nothing "felt" right.

Increasingly though we were feeling God's tug and I responded to a friend's suggestion that I apply for a Dorm supervisor position in Qingdao China. I was very reluctant. One, I didn't want to be a "Dorm Parent" and two, I knew Tammy would not entertain a move to China. But we argreed to an interview and, lo and behold, it was the best interview I had had in a while. I knew that the Dorm Parent position would be a foot in the door to both a higher position and a move back to Hong Kong and I was given every opportunity and encouragement from the school. In the last year I assumned many other duties including secondary teacher and campus coordinator while Tammy has assumed the Dorm Supervisor role as well as teaching art.

Last month I received a call from the main office in Hong Kong indicating that the Head of Christian & Moral Education (who is a friend of mine) would be resigning and offering me the position. Wow!

God does have his ways. We followed his leading even when it didn't always make sense and now He is leading us back to the place where we had started.

Hong Kong is so special to us. Its the city where Tammy and I met and fell in love. Its the city where as a young couple we spent years doing missionary work and eventually pastoring a church. Its the city where our son was born.

So, I don't know yet what He has in store for us as He brings us home to Hong Kong but we are ready...older...and hopefully a little wiser :)

Down to Hong Kong

10 years ago we left Hong Kong for America leaving the church we had planted, Island City Church in the very capable hands of Paul & Camilla Ellis. During those 10 years Paul & Camilla have faithfully ministered in the church by teaching and preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and shepherding the people that God had placed in their care.

Now Paul & Camilla have felt the season for their leadership there is over and will be moving back to New Zealand with their 3 children and turning the pastoral responsibility over to another special couple, Tung and Helen Lee. Gabriel and I had the chance to fly down to HK for the farewell of Paul & Camilla.


Granted, I never need to much of an excuse to get down to Hong Kong, but on this special occasion it was all the more meaningful. We got to enjoy a farewell party on Sat. evening followed by a final Sunday morning service with Paul & Tung sharing the leadership.

As someone who was instrumental in the birth of the church it was especially meaningful for me. When you watch the fruit that has been born I appreciated in just a small way, the feeling Paul the Apostle felt when he learned that the churches he had planted had held firm in the faith in the midst of hardships.


Gabriel & I's time in Hong Kong was much to short (40 hours) but...that may change soon...more details to come :)

Qingdao International Beer Fest. 2009

One of the major events in Qingdao every year (being that it is famous for its beer) is the Qingdao International Beer Festival which runs for 3 weekends in August.
As a school we had a staff outing to the fest as everyone is pretty frazzled with the mad rush of a new academic year.

Many of you know our school has two campus's on either side of the Qingdao bay so being as we are on the "far side" our "beer fest" adventure began with a 1:45 minute mini bus ride around the bay.

The beer fest is a beer event mixed with carnival rides, games, entertainment etc. After a few minutes at the fest though, one realizes including "International" in the event's name is a bit of a stretch. My guess is that they think that if you have some Heinekin and a couple German beers available as well as a few Chinese minority groups grilling kabobs over a grill, it becomes "International".

Ah..no..

Each of the different beer tents had music blaring so loud that a conversation is all but impossible. It might be forgiven if it was good music...but its not!

As you approach the toilets I nearly stepped into some vomit that no one seemed to be in a hurry to clean. The toilets themselves were not so much "International" as they were...mmm..third world prison. The urinal "trough" was loaded with vomit and the smell was pungent. You turn around to see not toilet "stalls" but a another trough with no doors or walls where a row of guys are doing their "# 2 business" staring up at you.

That ain't right.

A fellow teacher with me just said, "Ah, if I had the guts to snap a picture...no one would believe this otherwise"

We did have an enjoyable evening though and the "meat on a stick" kabobs we're delicious. Gabriel went around playing carnival games and a good time was had by all...mostly!

Back in China

(Sorry, wanted to include some pictures but a major internet cable was severed in the ocean near Asia and internet speed has slowed considerably. I tries to upload pics but they just wouldn't upload. Will add some later)

Had an amazing 2nd part of our trip to America but, as we expected, it ended all to soon. We arrived back in China on Aug 8 at midnight and were back to work on Aug 10.
Tammy is assuming all the duties related to the boarding program as I take on a full time teaching load. To add to my new found position, I've also been asked to be "campus coordinator" which acts as an administrative position for the school. I become the person everyone goes to with a question...which essentially means I can't get my other work done...but I'm learning alot. This year I'm teaching Travel & Tourism, Information and Communications, ESL, and even couple PE classes.

Gabriel was the family member who did NOT want to return to China preferring for us all, "to stay in Colorado" but he has gotten right back into the swing here. His Chinese language skills continue to improve and he really helps me out when I don't understand something.

We did get the disappointing news that 2 boarding students we thought would be joining us are not so that means the school year starts off with just having 2 students in the dorms. That should make Tammy's job easier but she has elected now to cook dinner every night rather than have the catered, and sometimes depressing, restaurant food.

Anyhow....we're back for year 2 in China and I know its going to be a good year!

Catching Up

Hi all, We're back in the States and will try to catch you up on what we've been up to. The last day of school was June 26th and so we closed up the house the next day and boarded a train for Beijing. Beijing is amazing these days...We actually toured an indoor / outdoor mall with movie theaters and all the types of shops we would see in the States. I watched "white" people all over the place with cups of Starbucks in their hands milling about and thought, "Well for years there was Chinatown in San Francisco, now there is a "Western" town in Peking."

Upon landing in Seattle, I was struck by the sheer amount of STUFF even in the airport. Perhaps this economic downturn will help Americans see that they don't need to have quite so much...crap! Anyhow, we landed in Boulder and were picked up at the Denver airport by our friends the Cates and immediately went to one of our favorite "haunts"...the rooftop of the Rio Grande restaurant. Sitting up there and viewing the foothills of the Rocky Mountains was heaven.



After a great week in Boulder (where we also got to connect with our beloved church family at Origins Church) we hoped in the car and began our trip out to Detroit with a few detours along the way. Namely Mt. Rushmore & Crazy Horse. When I was a kid my family and I used to drive out "west" and saw all of the history that part of the country had to offer...and I wanted a little of that for my family now.



Crazyhorse is amazing! They guy who started sculpting the mountain began in the 1940's and he died in the 1980's. His wife and 4 of his children are continuing the work which, impressive as it is, is far from done. It is a sculpture of the Ogalala Indian Warrior Crazy Horse who was stabbed in the back under a flag of truce. When you tour the American Indian museum at the site you realize this nation really owes the Indian population BIG!



Mt. Rushmore was wonderful and we had an amazing time as a family touring the monument with the audio tour provided. The engineering facts are really interesting and I was amazed to find out that although their were some injuries during the project, no lives were lost. I found that hard to believe when you see the film clips they show you of guys dangling on ropes over the side of the mountain with drills in their hands!



But as a baseball fan, nothing hit me as much as travelling through Iowa and stopping at the site where they filmed the movie Field of Dreams. Gabriel and I played catch and took turns walking out of the cornfield. It really is my picture of heaven. One day I wanted to have a baseball game in heaven with the farmhouse to the side, the sounds of children's laughter in the background, hotdogs cooking on the grill, and Ernie Harwell calling the play by play!! Anyhow, thats what we're up to.

Sorry for the delay

Hi all,

Sorry for the delay in posts but as of 12 days ago, the country where I currently reside has censored Google Blogger. Two months ago said country shut down Youtube which limited some of the fun things I can add to the posts...and now this.

It is very frustrating not being able to access your own blog. I am currently using a proxy server to submit this post but do not have the option to post any pictures or media. My brother is going to make some posts on my behalf so I can include some pics.

I'm hoping this is a short term measure in response to a certain book being published so close to the 20th anniversary of a certain event. If you don't know what I'm talking about, thats OK, you probably don't follow the politics of the country I am living in :)

Anyhow...we'll see how this "text only" post looks...