Well, here we are about to experience our first Northern Hemisphere Christmas as a family. So, for once it is winter, but here in Hong Kong winter means not needing to turn your air conditioner on and occasionally not being in T-shirt weather. Actually you usually bring a jersey or jacket because there are places that don’t turn off their air conditioning and you get chilly indoors. Hong Kong must be the only place where mothers remind their children to bring a jacket because it might get cold inside!
I (Karl) have been doing my Cantonese lessons and I am finding that I am growing in confidence in my language. I am finding that I can express myself more and more, and also that I am understanding people more easily. I guess that comes with experience.
One difference between Hong Kong and New Zealand at this time of year is that business continues pretty much as normal here over Christmas and New Year. Chinese New Year is when things close down. So I am going to have quite a busy time with my days pretty full with meetings in between Christmas and New Year.
One of the meetings is with a Christian physics professor named Dr Yu. He grew up in Hong Kong but has been living in California for the last forty years. He has recently returned to Hong Kong and we are exploring how to utilise his expertise to reach out to science students. The type of outreach we are planning is a bit different from what has been done previously in Hong Kong.
Amy is continuing to investigate possibilities for the Mother’s ministry. At the moment one of the possibilities is a partnership between Hong Kong Campus Crusade for Christ and MOPS (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers).
Our children have just started their Christmas holidays (which last for 10 days instead of the 6 or so weeks in New Zealand). Zac has really caught on to his Chinese learning. He can read and write better than me now, and hopefully by the end of the academic year he can catch up with the other students. Here is some Chinese that he wrote this morning (from memory).
It says “I have a Mum and Dad”; “I eat fish and children”; “Father God”; “I eat fish and vegetables”; “I have a teacher”. It’s nice to know he still has a sense of humour, even when he writes Chinese. Zac is also getting back to his old outgoing self and making lots of friends. He struggled for a couple of months because of language and also because he missed his old friends in New Zealand. He has also become a fan of ‘Keroro’, a Japanese cartoon that lots of the children in Hong Kong like.
Vienna is also enjoying kindergarten and making lots of friends. At the moment she is planning her Princess Birthday Party for next week. She has invited all of her kindy classmates and we are always hearing stories about what she has been up to with her friends. She knows everyone’s name, and really loves singing the kindy songs.
Zac and Vienna were both in their kindy’s Christmas play. Vienna was a cat (which surprised us because she said she wasn’t getting dressed up but that one of her friends was a rabbit). And Zac had a speaking part in the play.
Lukas has struggled quite a bit with various viruses and the like since we arrived in Hong Kong. It has been quite frustrating as he has seemed to get over one only to pick up another one in a few days. He has changed quite a bit since we left New Zealand. When we arrived he didn’t have any teeth, and now he is cutting his sixth tooth. He is also a tearaway on his bike and loves riding it around the house. It’s his main way of getting around since he’s not walking yet.
This Christmas we are going to have lunch with both of our families at the YMCA. It will be the first time all of our extended families have been together since we got married.
So we wish you all a merry Christmas and trust that you will also have rich times with your families as we remember God’s gift to us of His Son.
Karl, Amy, Zachary, Vienna and Lukas