today as i walked to the ferry for church, i realized that it felt like a new day. besides the fact that the streets were basically empty before 8 AM on a Sunday, something else was in the air.
or rather, was not in the air!
since thursday, it's been grey outside, with threats of rain, low lying clouds, and lots of smog. in short, terrible visibility and dreariness abounded.
but not today.
as i got to the ferry pier, i realized that i could see in perfect clarity the colors of the buildings in every direction as far as the mountains on both kowloon side and the island. it's been awhile since i could see the tops of buildings, or their shapes, instead seeing indistinct forms of what might be buildings.
in short, amazing.
reminded me ofthe easter resurrection, new life, and new creations from the death, despair and dirt of good friday.
may we always live in the resurrection
the promises of life
without forgetting the pains of good friday
he is risen indeed!
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
observations on hong kong, based loosely out of yahoo! news
for the second or third time this month, hong kong made it into the yahoo! news headlines, which surprised me. generally, american media (digital and print) is heavily concentrated on the states, and on western politics (europe, latin america, things that directly affect the US, in other words). i can't remember reading much about hong kong under the "top world stories" in recent years (then again, I wasn't looking for it). anyways, here's the top 3 things that you would have learned about hong kong from yahoo news in recent days:
1) there was a big scandal with compromising photos being released of some young celebrities. i didn't see them, but i can't imagine they were anything worse than most of the US stuff that gets released "accidentally."
2) there was a flu outbreak. for the record, this massive outbreak has not affected my everyday life. there's plastic over the buttons in the elevator to ease sterilization efforts. that's it. while my heart goes out to the families who did lose children, there have only been 10 cases admitted to the hospital in the past week. that's out of the approximately 7 million people who live in hong kong. don't worry about us, the odds are with us right now.
3) there's now a serial killer on the loose, who has killed 4 sex workers. first, the fact that we use such a euphemism here gives you an idea of the prevalence of such an "industry." i read today that there are approximately 100,000 sex workers in hong kong. that's ridiculous. i understand being concerned about the murderer on the loose, but what's our reaction to the sex industry? nothing. meanwhile, we're up in arms about some photos of some celebs let out online. get real folks!
1) there was a big scandal with compromising photos being released of some young celebrities. i didn't see them, but i can't imagine they were anything worse than most of the US stuff that gets released "accidentally."
2) there was a flu outbreak. for the record, this massive outbreak has not affected my everyday life. there's plastic over the buttons in the elevator to ease sterilization efforts. that's it. while my heart goes out to the families who did lose children, there have only been 10 cases admitted to the hospital in the past week. that's out of the approximately 7 million people who live in hong kong. don't worry about us, the odds are with us right now.
3) there's now a serial killer on the loose, who has killed 4 sex workers. first, the fact that we use such a euphemism here gives you an idea of the prevalence of such an "industry." i read today that there are approximately 100,000 sex workers in hong kong. that's ridiculous. i understand being concerned about the murderer on the loose, but what's our reaction to the sex industry? nothing. meanwhile, we're up in arms about some photos of some celebs let out online. get real folks!
Thursday, March 13, 2008
primary school madness
i think this week is when Grant wishes he were a primary school teacher.
In Hong Kong, there was a flu outbreak at a primary school, with something like 35 kids showing symptoms. one of those kids died. there have been 4 deaths of kids under age 8 from flu like symptoms (and sometimes also other complications). i think the government is pretty nervous because this is the 5th anniversary of SARS, so they're taking extra measures to not let something like that happen again.
first, they closed the school where all the kids were sick.
as of today, every primary school, kindergarten, preschool, and special ed school is closed for the next two weeks. they figure that little kids are impossible to keep hygienic - they touch everything, everyone, and spread germs rather quickly.
i can't imagine being a parent. it's one thing in the states to have an unexpected snow DAY because usually the parents have troubles getting to work as well... but an unexpected two week holiday? there were loads of kids being dragged around the grocery store today, out playing basketball, etc.
very strange, very strange indeed...
In Hong Kong, there was a flu outbreak at a primary school, with something like 35 kids showing symptoms. one of those kids died. there have been 4 deaths of kids under age 8 from flu like symptoms (and sometimes also other complications). i think the government is pretty nervous because this is the 5th anniversary of SARS, so they're taking extra measures to not let something like that happen again.
first, they closed the school where all the kids were sick.
as of today, every primary school, kindergarten, preschool, and special ed school is closed for the next two weeks. they figure that little kids are impossible to keep hygienic - they touch everything, everyone, and spread germs rather quickly.
i can't imagine being a parent. it's one thing in the states to have an unexpected snow DAY because usually the parents have troubles getting to work as well... but an unexpected two week holiday? there were loads of kids being dragged around the grocery store today, out playing basketball, etc.
very strange, very strange indeed...
Thursday, March 6, 2008
the story of my life
isn't that the truth?
for more fun garfield comics, minus the garfield (thanks for the link lily!) check this site:
Monday, March 3, 2008
free chatting
hey!
just a quick reminder... if anyone has a microphone or a camera on their computer, we can talk over the internet for free...
www.skype.com
our username is grantandkristin :-) just add us to your contacts if you add skype!
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