China Fair Land

I am including a copy of a hymn we sang at church in Chinese and English-“China Fair Land”. We have hymnals and Bibles that have both Chinese and English.

The tune for this is very Chinese and very beautiful. The words are very striking, as they are so similar to “America the Beautiful”. This is a Christian Chinese hymn. It reflects Chinese culture and it is also universal.



China Fair Land
written by Harold Lee 1991


I love China’s beauty,
Founded long ago
China my fair land!
Blessed rules of virtue,
heaven’s gift of godly men
Grant that God may keep her,
China my land!

Landscapes stretching far and wide
Mountains, rivers, plains,
China fair land!
Grain and fruit in richest store,
Wealthy mines and veins of ore,
Favored with God’s gracious gifts,
China fair land!

God loves all his children
Gave his gracious kindness.
To save us all;
Heaven reveals the true way;
God’s own lamb redeems us,
Grant that my people will believe
And all may be saved!

America the Beautiful- Thanksgiving

You may be singing “America the Beautiful” or other patriotic songs, as part of your Thanksgiving celebration. We, here in Macau, are celebrating an American Thanksgiving by going to Hong Kong with the LCMS Office (Lutheran Church)on Friday. There will be about 25 people there.

We all have the long weekend off, so we are very much in a celebratory mood. We are all preparing something. My contribution is Massachusetts cranberries. I found some little jars of Ocean Spray sauce, which actually cost about $4 each! I also bought OS craisins and will mix them with peanuts and mixed nuts. This will be part of our appetizer. Jan Foytek a fellow teacher from Keene, NH is making the traditional green bean casserole. She can’t find the cans of onion rings, so she is making them from scratch. Isn’t it interesting how we value something when it’s not easily available?

The Outdoor Gym

I've also included a photo of people on outdoor exercise equipment. This equipment is in most parks, it is self propelled and lots of people use and enjoy it.

Lunch

The lunch was delicious. It included "congee", which is a kind of basic Chinese soup for any meal, similar to cream of wheat, only not as thick. They add different ingredients; this congee had a chicken broth and and a little chicken, mushrooms and scallions. They also served some of the wonderful Portuguese egg tarts.

At the Senior Center

I thought I was back at the Boxford COA this past Tuesday!

We went out to the very end of Coloane to visit a Senior Center, which is run by a Norwegian Lutheran Church. We made bracelets and taught a couple of songs, and then joined them for lunch. What precious people! Look at these wonderful faces.

Incense in the Temple

There is no regular service in these temples people just pass by and light incense to pray for good fortune and on behalf of their departed ancestors. The incense burns for a long time, so it is always somewhat smoky. The Chinese can incorporate many deities in their different religions and philosophies into one, similar to the Hindus.

A-Ma is the patron deity of seafarers. Within this temple there is also an area dedicated to Kun Iam who is regarded as a deity of mercy and welfare of mothers and children. Both deities are worshiped by Buddhists and Taoists. In these photos you see two types of incense, the large hanging coils and the the joss sticks in pots of sand.

A Ma Temple

In an earlier post I sent you a photo of a large white Statue of A-Ma located on the island of Taipa. These newer photos are at the A Ma Temple near the present Maritime Museum and the first landing place of the Portuguese. The native fishermen called this area A-Ma Gao, which was supposedly changed to "Macau" by the sailors. Parts of this temple have been here for at least 500 years.

In the Museum

MAritime Museum

Macau Maritime Museum is located on the inner harbor of Macau and its striking architecture reminds on of ships under sail. it is located essentially where the Portugeuse landed in the early 1500s. The Macau peninsula and the two nearby
islands of Taipa and Coloane were essentially fishing villages for much of their history. Fishing and building boats are a big part of their heritage. The ship painting in the museum shows the type of ships that were made and sailed.
There were also many other smaller fishing vessels.

Vasco de Gama

Martin Luther in Macau? No it's Vasco de Gama, the 16th Portugeuse explorer who revolutionized commercial trade with So. India (Goa) and China through Macau.

Luther and Da Gama were contemporaries and revolutionaries, however not in a warlike way. I was struck by this portrait in the Maritime Museum of the similarity of their portraits.

Macao Grand Prix

Outside my window right now is the roar of formula 4 racing - the Macau Gand Prix Nov. 13-16, 2008.

It runs right on the streets of Macau! The weeks leading up to it folks are busy putting up barriers for the course. Then during the days of the races those streets are closed creating big traffic jams and changed bus routes - all in the name of tourism.

A Ma Temple and Statue

These photos are from out trip up to the highest point on Colane Island, Macau, where we visited the A Ma statue and the new Temple to commemorate the handover of Macau to China, which created the SAR (Special Administrative Region). In 2049 it will be fully integrated into China. Now it has it's own separate government.

[ Note From Wikipedia : "An Original temple, built in 1488, is dedicated to the goddess of seafarers and fishermen, Matsu.

The name Macau is thought to be derived from the temple. It is said that when the Portuguese sailors landed at the coast just outside the temple and asked the name of the place, the natives replied "A-Ma-Gao" (Bay of A-Ma). The Portuguese then named the peninsula Macau. The temple was well described in ancient Chinese texts, as well as represented in paintings. " ]

Future Visits

The unfortunate part of this is we will not be able to see each other very often as China has tightened the visa rules. Alina and family can apply on line and only visit every 2 months.

At present all US tourist visas are for one entry for a 30 day stay in China, at a cost of $131. I will use mine up when I visit Thanksgiving weekend. Then I will have to apply again at the same cost. I had no idea this was going to be so complicated. Alina's family can literally walk across the bridge from China to Macau - so near and yet so far.

Out to Dinner

We took a very crowded bus back to the city to have dinner before Alina and her family went back to Zhuhai where they live. We went to a "hot pot" restaurant, which was fantastic.

David did all of the ordering. The hot pot cooks a broth in the middle of the table, then we added lamb, beef, calamari, choi sum (green vegetable), lettuce, white mild radish slices, noodle, and dumplings. It was wonderful to see the family again.

The Garden

After church we had lunch at a restaurant near my apartment, then since we all like walking adventures, we took a taxi, all the way to the end of the second island of Macau, which is Coloane. It is the least built up part of Macau, while there we visited a garden of medicinal plants, a little zoo and a nature center. Then we took a bus up the highest point of Macau, a wooded hill of 560 feet. It is actually quite a steep wooded hill. At the top is a 65' statue of A Ma, a patron goddess of the fisherman. The temple there and the statue were built in 1999 to commemorate the return of Macau to China.

A visit From Alina, David, and Jerry

The highlight of my week was having Alina, David and Jerry visit last Sunday.
Alina (pronounced Aleena) was the Chinese student I hosted at Harvard in the
2005-2006 academic year. She is a big part of the reason I chose to do a
mission in Macau. She was very homesick for her husband and son when she was
first at Harvard, so she came home with me to Boxford many weekends. Then David
and Jerry came the end of February through the end of June and they also enjoyed coming to Boxford.

Tai Chi In The Morning

It has been a busy week here in Macau. I had a Cantonese lesson with Tony a Macau native, who teaches some classes here at the English Center.

I asked him to teach me counting, words for buying things and bargaining. I also want to learn some greeting words which I can use when going to a Tai Chi exercise class.

In the morning if I have time I climb up the Mong Ha, a steep hill/park where people do Tai Chi and other exercises separately or in groups.

I like to join in with a group, so I need to learn a little Cantonese. The owner of the black and white dogs is in the the Tai Chi class I like. The lotus water view is what we look at while exercising.

Tai Chi In The Morning

View From The Top

Guia Chapel, Inside The Fort

Guia Lighthouse

At first glance this may look like Maine, however it is on the highest
point in Macau. The Guia lighthouse dates back to the 19th century and is still
used today, especially for typhoon warnings. It was also a fort at one time.
Lois and I took a pleasant short ride by gondola car to the top of the hill,
walked all around getting good views of the city and walked down on the foot
paths of a tropical garden.

Out on the Boulevard

The next two pictures are of two of the more glitzy areas of Macau, first the golden lotus sculpture with the Sands Casino in the background. Then a contemporary sculpture over one of the nicer boulevards. Macau collects 50% of its taxes from the casinos. Many people come especially from China to gamble. there are 26 legal Casinos in Macau.

People and Places

Joanna in the red shirt is the adopted daughter of Sharon Owens, director of the Concordia English Center. Joanna is eight years old and speaks English and Cantonese fluently. She is also learning Mandarin. She accompanied three of us volunteers last Sunday on a shopping expedition around Macau and to the island of Taipa. She knows all the bus routes. She is about the same age as my grand daughter Kelsey, actually I am going to Joanna's eighth birthday this Sunday. She was adopted from an orphanage in Macau and had a rough start in life, as her mother is an alcoholic. She is very much loved by everyone at the Center. She is incredibly bright, and occasionally acts like the eight year old she is. The other young woman in the picture is Hilda who works at another English Center.

Neighbors

The adorable twin boys live across the hall from my apartment, so I occasionally bump into them with their mom.

I'm feeling like I'm really settling in. yesterday my roommate Kali and I went on an expedition to find new mattresses. Kali is twenty five and from Wisconsin. We each bought a foam pad to help soften up what just felt like a hard board. My bed was so hard my shoulders and hips were hurting, so now it is softer, but still pretty firm. Our apartment has pretty much everything we need. The
kitchen is very small with two gas burners, a cabinet to hold dishes and pots, a sink,
a refrigerator and a wash machine. The only counter/working space is two areas on either side
of the sink that are about 24"x24". We keep the unrefrigerated food and a small oven in the dining area. Any fruit or vegetables are washed and rinsed twice with a special organic liquid to
remove any insecticides. Actually the fruits and vegetable are quite good.

Friday November 7

It's a relatively quiet Friday afternoon, so I'll try to get more blog off to
you. I'm back to using Comcast, as it's easier and works here.

Some people stories to go with the accompanying photos:

Jane and Evangelist Joanna: Jane is a member of St. Paul's Friday night Bible
class and is sometimes the interpreter for Sunday morning services. Joanna is
an evangelist hired by the Hong Kong Synod to help at St. Paul's the local
Lutheran church; there is only a part time pastor, so Joanna often is the
preacher - sort of a jack-of-all trades. She does not speak English. In this
photo Jane is translating to English what Joanna is saying in Cantonese.
The local folks here mainly speak in Cantonese, not Mandarin. The second photo is of Jane translating what Jan Foytek is saying. The photo reminds me of some of our India photos of translators. Jan is one my colleagues at the Concordia English Center. She is from Keene, NH. She is a retired elementary school teacher and lots of fun. Our lunch time visitors are always asking the
difference between the pronunciation of Jane and Jan.

Lunch

We had lunch at the Center with the pastors and then they returned to
the Center at 4:00 PM for a very inspiring worship service with
communion - wonderful voices in harmony.
In the evening we went to the local church for a craft project and
Bible study.

Blessings,
jane

St Paul's Ruins

We also went to the ruins
of St. Paul's Cathedral which is next to the Mount Fortress, which was
originally built by the Jesuits in the 17th century. There is an
excellent cultural museum on top of the Mount which opened in 1998.
There are great views of the city from the gardens and remains of the
fort.

In the Cemetery - Local People from Boston

Chapel Window and Grounds

Visit to The Morrison Chapel

Yesterday we had a team of visiting pastors and their spouses from the
states. They were from Laurel, MD, Alexandria, VA, Wisconsin Rapids,
WI, the St. Louis area. Lois (another short term person) and I went
with them in the morning to tour some of t he sights of Macau.

We went to the Morrison Chapel which includes the grounds of the
Protestant Cemetery. The chapel is named for Dr. Robert Morrison the
first Protestant missionary, who translated the Bible into Chinese and
wrote the first English-Chinese Dictionary.

All Saints Day

November 1 - All Saints Day

Today is my first day of teaching - conversation with four different
students. All of these are adults of a fairly high level. They like
to talk about a variety of subjects, especially from the news. I have
to help them with pronunciation and vocabulary.

It has been quite a week: getting over jet lag, adjusting to all sorts
of new procedures, and meeting many people. I hope the jet lag is
about over, however, the timing of our schedules will be more
difficult, as classes are in the afternoon and evening, a big switch
for a morning person. Some new things I have had to learn: how to
light the gas water heater so I could take a shower; the bus route
from my apartment to the English Center and back (two days escorted,
now I'm on my own), grocery shopping for basics - not really cooking
yet; washing clothes and hanging them on the balcony hangers. I need
to get a picture of this procedure. Lots to learn!