What comes 'round...

In November 1999, as we were getting ready to leave Hong Kong for good, a number of friends mentioned that it was a shame that I was leaving just a few months away from obtaining Permanent Residency Status, which would have made me a defacto official citizen of Hong Kong.

I didn't care...I was America bound and remember joking, "If God ever wants me back, he'll get me another work visa." Well...10 years later, He did...and He did!

We arrived in Hong Kong after a final flurry of activities in Qingdao (which involved a lot of tears all around). School ended on Dec 18...and we boarded a plane for Hong Kong on the 19th. As we began our decent into the city Tammy and I both experienced a flood of memories and excitement. After 10 years away, we were going to live in Hong Kong again!

The airport shuttle took us to the YWCA serviced apartment where we are temporarily staying, and because we were the LAST hotel on the list, had a pleasant Saturday night drive through the city. It was as if we were getting a welcome back tour just for us. Hong Kong was lit up for Christmas and we kept staring out the big bus windows with wide grins, pinching each other and exclaiming, "We're back!"

Anyhow, some of the highlights of the last few days:

* We visited the school where I will be working and where Gabriel will be attending. Gabriel was amazed as he will be coming from a campus with a secondary student body of 18 to one of 700.

* Went to Hong Kong Disneyland which was decorated perfectly for Christmas. What a wonderful day...but I still couldn't get Gabriel to ride Space Mountain with me!

* Spent Christmas Eve with some dear friends we have known in Hong Kong for many, many years! Good food, wine, and conversation made it a special night.

* Spent Christmas Day and night with Island City Church (the church we planted many years ago) at the Noah's Ark attraction. A group of businessmen built an "ark" to the scale found in the Bible which includes conference rooms, hotel and hostel rooms, team-building activities, restaurants, a museum etc. all along the beach. Had a lot of fun with old familiar faces as well as new friends.

* Have to be careful not to gain weight having moved from a culinary desert in China, to a city where every ethnic dish from a Ruby Tuesday's Blue Cheese hamburger to a take away chicken vindaloo is available!! The diet starts soon :)

* Spent a few days house hunting. Have a couple good leads but we'll see. Having to re adjust my thinking that when a housing agent points to a bedroom that is about the size of a closet in America and remarks, "Look at all the space you'll have" that they are not making a joke.

* Had a wonderful Chinese hotpot dinner with and old friend, his family, and co-workers.

Anyhow, that is why the blogging has been sporadic lately. We've been busy...and happy!

Change the Title!!

OK, I'm writing this from still within Qingdao. Its still 13 days before we move to Hong Kong, but I thought I'd change the name of the blog anyhow!!

We're a little stressed. Hong Kong is requiring our dog to go through 4 months of quarantine since she is coming from China. Its just a little Chihuahua and we're pretty sure 4 months locked in a little cell at an immigration facility is not going to work wonders on this frail little creature.

Tammy is pretty upset about it but we've been praying and we know an answer will be made clear soon.

Other than that, the packing is in full swing in and amoungst the Christmas preparations at the school. Its going to be a busy journey for the next couple weeks as we prepare to leave but we're very excited...

cuz we're moving to Hong Kong!

Some catching up

Been busy here. Sorry for not writing more. We'll only be in Qingdao for another 2-3 weeks and then we're off to Hong Kong for good. Its been a good last few weeks though. Gabriel ran for Student Council and after a couple of good speeches that his parents were very proud of, he won a seat. Of course he only gets to sit on the council for a few weeks until he leaves but we're excited he won!

Tammy is busy getting our personal belongings all together. Her biggest challenge is getting Libby to Hong Kong which is proving to be a little difficult. Seems no airlines are going to let her be in the cabin as she was on the flight over here.

Mmmmm...Oh, Gabriel had an overnight trip to another school to play soccer last week. The whole secondary student body (all 17) went to Yantai together, which is a coastal city about 3 hours away. They had a night in a hotel and then played 4 games against 2 other schools. He had a great time...but forgot his cell phone!

Well...this may be our last post from Qingdao. Hong Kong...Here we come!!

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...

Chinese lessons Pt. 2

Well, I continue to plug away at daily Chinese lessons as a student of Shi You University. I have moved up to the next higher class or B ban but not so much because of my great Chinese ability but because half of the class are not such good students. That's a polite way of putting it.

I vacillate between being distressed that I am never going to learn this language and I'm just wasting my time and the sheer joy of realizing, "Wait, I just understood what that person said." My teachers are very encouraging although one insists on calling me, "Mr. Steve" because she says I am as old as her father. "Gee thanks! Makes my day...really!!"



I've gotten to know the local Catholic priest who is in the same class as I. He's Korean and ministers to the foreign Korean population in the city. I've also gotten to know a group of Pakistani students who are rather...mmm..."colorful" in their speech. They are pretty funny guys and genuinely looking for friends. I recently took them to lunch at a local restaurant which served a decent curry. They responded by inviting me to the Muslim cafeteria on campus for lunch.



Well...I keep plugging away at Chinese. I'm a fairly intelligent guy but languages just do not come easily too me. I find though its like working out or running...if you just "push through" at that moment you want to give up, you reach a new level.

Problem is, I have a LOT more "pushing through" to do... :)

Don't I Have Something To Say?

Steve has been after me to contribute to our 'family journal'. I managed to get things started back in Boulder, with the help of Kelly Nelson, to show family and friends where we would be moving to - but I have not done an entry since we arrived here in China.

Maybe I'm overwhelmed? Maybe I have stage-fright? Maybe Steve seems to be handling things just fine?

Let's see... I've gone from just hanging around and settling in the 1st month we were here, to the fall semester being asked to co-teach Kindergarten & 1st Grade along with 4 secondary art classes a week plus evenings with the boarding students, to my current schedule since Jan., 2 art classes a week and evenings at home with the boarding students.

Since Steve has started his classes, I've been given another chunk of time all to myself. From 8 am-12 pm, I have the house to myself. What to do... As any lady of leisure could tell you, 'there just aren't enough hours in the day.'

Seriously, I have begun to devote myself to the study of the word and to prayer. Sounds like a simple objective, but I tell you there are so many distractions trying, waiting, in line to fill up my time in the morning. I've had to learn to put off making my SKYPE calls, to ignore an untidy room (or 2), and to just be honest with God about where my mental state of mind is - and He takes it from there.

Now, my quiet times are usually not very quiet. I've found a poorly edited worship time from a 2007 conference that took place in Hong Kong and dance around my tiny apartment like nobody's business! (There is construction going on in the apartment next door and I've caused them to go silent many a time, probably trying to figure out what the foreigner is up to now.) God puts things on my heart to declare aloud and prayers that bring heaven to earth for me.

I've been listening to the most freeing podcasts on God's grace. (If you're interested, I can give you the sites to find them.) My mind has been a playground for the enemy for far too long.

Yikes, I'm getting a bit too heavy for our family blog. I'm going to back off from there, and tell you 'I'm having a good time'!

We enjoy the staff we're working with here and the people we've met at the International Fellowship - but we sure do miss all of you back home. The countdown to summer has begun... 9 weeks til school's out!!! See you soon. ~Tammy

Book Week & Golf

This week at Yew Chung International School has been Book Week. It is a whole week focused on literacy and week is capped off with all the students dressing up as a literary figure. Gabriel, of course, wanted to be someone from The Lord of the Rings so Tammy worked with a local tailor in town here to put together an appropriate "hobbit" like guise. Complete with "ring" necklace and hairy feet, Gabriel spent the day as Frodo Baggins. He then went on to win various contests including trivia questions on Star Wars. :)



After the school day, a number of teachers got together to take advantage of an offer to go and hit some golf balls and have a lesson at a local 9 hole golf course. It was a fun opportunity for all of us and they even had some left handed golf clubs for Tammy. After an hour of hitting golf balls we headed into the club lounge to have a beer. We ordered 4 beers and the waitress informed us they only had one beer. This was strange as we were looking at the fairly diverse beverage list. We said if they only had one beer (not one type, but literally 1 bottle of beer) left, then maybe we could get some coke or soda. She said they were out and had only water.


















You have to live in China to appreciate the moment. No apology, no explanation. Just matter of fact, "Do you want the one beer or water?" Well, we took the one beer, split it among 4 glasses and had a good laugh.


Hey, the golf was good!

"The Embassy" otherwise known as Starbucks

There was a time when I used to avoid Starbucks. Partly because I didn't like the coffee, partly to avoid the bandwagon everyone was jumping on, but mostly I was fundementally opposed to an organization that seemed to have three franchises in site from any rooftop.

Over the last couple years as I regularly met at Starbucks in Boulder with friends for prayer and worked at a business that had its own Starbuck, my stance softened until I too capitulated to the love the rest of humanity seems to have for Starbucks.



Living in Huangdao China, my love for Starbucks has grown even stronger. In previous posts we explained how Huangdao is an "up and coming" development area across the bay from Qingdao proper. Its beautiful here but there is a sense of being "cut off" from some of the amenteties of the city across the bay.



Fortunantly there is a "Starbucks" here or as westerners refer to it, "The Embassy".

Starbucks is the one place where you can almost feel like you are back in the West.
The artwork, decor, and product is all exactly like we would have in the States.



Huge comfy chairs, relaxing music, and overpriced java create a "we're home" feel. Now, don't get me wrong, we love living in China, but sometimes...you just need to take a break and Starbucks offers a relaxing calm from the cultural storm that swirls around it. Recently a local man came in talking loudly on his cell. He sat near us and talked at a decibal that seemed to have the cups rattling. Tammy leaned over and got his attention and then motioned for him to "zip it". I was surprised by her boldness and that the guy really did quickly get off the phone. Tammy simply said, "He can talk as loud as he wants anywhere else, but he can't disturb the peace of The Embassy."



Huangdao does not have a huge foreign population so you end up seeing everyone in there at some point. I like nothing more than getting a large mug of black coffee and curling up with my video ipod to watch a downloaded episode of Meet the Press or This Week with George Stephanopoulos

Of course, they play Christmas music in March which is a little weird. And I can almost imagine the conversation that goes on behind that decision, "The White people like Christmas...give 'em Christmas."

Anyhow, Starbucks has become our place to chill and where everyone does seem to know your name.

Chinese Lessons

I'm a college student again and its keeping me pretty busy.

Both Tammy and I want have been wanting to learn Chinese and Gabriel is learning it everyday as a part of his curriculum. Well, one of the teachers who I work with here has a daughter that enrolled at the local university to study Chinese and mentioned that I may be interested in it.

Now studying Chinese as a college student is a lot more intensive than hiring a tutor or attending a Chinese lesson a couple times a week. As a student now of China Shiyou University I attend class Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM - 12:00 noon. The classes include not only spoken Mandarin (Putonghua) but reading and writing as well.



The university has over 20,000 students and the campus is not unlike what you would see back in the USA. On the first day after class I wandered around to get my bearings and discovered a bank, post office, cafeterias, barbershops and salons,as well as all types of shops and stores. The students who live on campus would never need to leave if they didn't want to.

I'm in the beginning "A ban" class and students proceed up through B ban, C ban etc. as they progress in their proficiency.

I may be in A ban a while...

...Academic studies have always come fairly easy to me but not so with Chinese. The teacher will often say to me, "Mingbai ma?" (Do you understand?) and I reply, "Wo mingbai." (I understand) but when I am asked to speak, my mind freezes up as it tries to translate concepts to Chinese from the English going on inside my head. What adds to the frustration is the teachers are teaching Chinese, in Chinese. That can expedite the immersion experience but can be very frustrating when trying to ask a question.

My class is pretty diverse too. There is one other American, three Koreans, a couple guys from Nepal, a guy from Somalia, and another from Kenya as well as a few guys from Pakistan and Kazakhstan. The guys from Kazakhstan are pretty funny. They are nice kids and always come up to shake my hand but studying Chinese is not their priority. They arrive late, leave early...and are not always entirely sober :)



They remind me of students I had in my class when I took a similar program in Beijing in 1991. The children of the Venezuelan ambassador were in my class and I would on occasion go out with them in the evenings. They were nice guys but were in a whole different league of "party" than I so I would insist on being dropped off back at the dormitory around 9 or 10 in the evening. They would then go out all night and sometimes arrive the next morning not even having gone to bed yet. As they slipped into classroom slightly glassy-eyed, I would nod at them and they would smile back and whisper that I missed a good time. Being a Christian and attempting to honor God I'm pretty convinced I hadn't missed a good time, but I would smile and nod nevertheless :)



Anyhow, I am really blessed to have this opportunity. This term I am doing a lot less teaching and that allows me to be able to go to classes in the morning. Undoubtedly I will be teaching much more in the fall and will not be able to continue but I'm hoping to lay a foundation in the language that I can build on in the future.

Weekend Away!

One of the yearly events the expatriate community living in Qingdao look forward to is the annual Pantomime or "Panto". It is a traditional British stage play with an emphasis on farce, song, dance, audience participation...and cross dressing???

In a city where one is hard pressed to find English language culture, a local play like this takes on far bigger appreciation. Being on the "other side" of the bay most of teachers at our school rode over on the school bus together and spent the night in a hotel in Qingdao.




The panto itself was a much larger production that I anticipated with elaborately designed sets and costumes. The acting was a little hit or miss but most of the performers were surprisingly good. My main complaint was that the show was performed in the auditorium of a large Chinese Middle School which lacked heat. At the end of three hours I was literally freezing. Thankfully the shows refreshments served hot "mulled" wine to keep the blood circulating.



After that we had a pizza night with some of the other families and then, when our wives were distracted with chit chat, the husbands snuck off to the DVD store around the corner. Seems I am not the only husband who gets in trouble for buying DVDs by the armful from the store. I scored on this visit walking out with the complete collection of the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles .



Another reason we like to occasionally spend the night in Qingdao is to be able to arrive to church early on Sunday morning. (Which was kind of important since we had volunteered to be "greeters".) This week was our first week in our new location at the Intercontinental Hotel. The hotel is 5-star and really rolled out the red carpet for us. They even offered a highly discounted special lunch in their restaurant after the service. Even with the discount though it was pretty expensive, BUT, it sure tasted Gooooood!! :)



Anyhow, it was a fun weekend...too bad its Monday again!

International Maths Day

Every year in an attempt to bring focus to maths (only in America do we use the term "math" which makes the plural "mathmatics" singular) schools around the world celebrate World Maths Day.







At our school the school split up into teams by age and grade and convened on the field outside. Stations were set up around the campus and the "teams" all had to move as a team by holding on to a single hocky stick and then run as quickly as they could from check point to check point.



At each station there were fun problems or situations set up for the groups to solve or play as a team. They then get their team passport signed and they then move to another station trying to complete all of the math challenges before the others.



I watched Gabriel have a blast as he joined in. Enjoy the pics!

Baseball 2009

When Gabriel had his final baseball game with the South Boulder Little League "Lugnuts" last year, the coach asked by show of hands who wanted to play with the same team again next year. Gabriel didn't raise his hand explaining that he'd like to but that we were moving to China. I must admit, I was a little depressed when I heard that. Most people know I'm a pretty big baseball fan and Gabriel was really enjoying playing Little League in Boulder. Here I was, coming face to face again with the fact that I was pulling my son away from the anchors of his childhood.

Fast forward to Christmas time. We are in China and working at Yew Chung International School. The head of our Extra Curricular Activities asked me if I would be willing to run an after school program in the spring.

I smiled and said, "Yes...baseball"

Rather than a full on varsity program, we are starting as a 10 week after school activity. Because the school is still quite small we opened baseball up to everyone from Age 10 through high school ( so Gabriel could play ) and I was pleased to see 12students signed up.

We had our first practice today and it was a lot of fun. We don't have a proper baseball field so we walked to some open park space near the school. The plus is that its right near the ocean as you can see from some of the pictures.

Most of the kids were pretty new to baseball so to compare them to the Bad News Bears would be to disparage the Bad News Bears but they played with a lot of enthusiasm and I saw some diamonds in the rough. I just wished we could delay for another couple weeks as the middle of February is still pretty cold here.

We're in the process of ordering some baseball jerseys from the States and my goal is to contact a couple other International schools in Qingdao to see if they are up for a little inter school competition. This may be just a extracurricular activity for now, but my hope is to lay the foundation for a future varsity program

It won't be easy to develop baseball in the middle of China, but we'll have some fun trying.

Chinese New Year

Well, Chinese New Year is just wrapping up and it has been good...and loud!! Fireworks are pretty much legal in China so there is an incredible amount of high octane explosives that go off next to and over our house on a regular basis. The official reason given is that the fireworks ward off the evil spirits.

But I have another theory...

When I see all the young guys setting them off, I figure they are no different than any other guys on the planet...they like to light things on fire and watch them explode:) And like the 4th of July in the States, Chinese New Year is a great excuse to do it!

At the school here we had a Chinese New Year celebration at a local banquet hall. The various classes did different Chinese performances including a dragon dance, songs, and Tai Chi.



Gabriel has a Chinese name now and we are calling him by that name more frequently these days. He is Ao Fei which literally means Flying Proud.

Tammy and I were very proud of our little Ao Fei as he performed Tai Chi with his class. As I watched all of the kids performances I was reminded how blessed we are to be in China at this time and how faithful God has been to us.

So from the Hackmans in Qingdao...Happy New Year!!

Hong Kong Pt.2 : Disneyland

In 1999, just as we were packing to return to America from Hong Kong, the big news in the territory was the confirmation that a Disneyland would be built. When we arrived in Hong Kong at Christmas time I knew one of the things I really wanted to do was to take Gabriel there and experience Disney in Asia.

I had been warned by friends before going not to get my hopes up, that it was "small" and did not have any thrill rides apart from Space Mountain. Thats OK though, I thought. I love all things Disney so Gabriel and I headed out to the park a couple days before Christmas.

Hong Kong Disneyland has the look and feel of Disneyland in America except with some subtle differences to appeal to the Chinese local. In addition to cheeseburgers and french fries, one can get Kung Pao chicken or Sweet and Sour pork. But on Dec. 23rd it all looked like Christmas.

I did get into trouble with Gabriel briefly by getting him to go onto Space Mountain when deep down I knew he wouldn't like it. He did it, but I pretty much assured that he wouldn't try a rollarcoaster again for the next 10 years.

People had said we would be finished with the park after just a few short hours. Not so for Gabriel and I. We arrived at 12 noon and stayed until after the park closed at 9:00 PM. We rode things two or three times, ate, shopped and just enjoyed each other and the park. Whether it was the Jungle Cruise or Winnie the Pooh, we just enjoyed the fusion of Disney and Christmas!

The fireworks were amazing and as we began walking back up Main Street USA for our departure, a Disney produced "snow" began to fall creating a surreal "Dickensian" like Christmas scene.

At one point Gabriel asked, "Papa, is this a little like heaven will be?"

"Yeah," I replied, "but this is just a glimpse."