August 31, 2002 (Saturday)

This is one of the huge differences I made in Venezuela - I can not sleep in. I woke up at 7:50 and cannot fall back to sleep. I did my daily morning routine (shower, violin, sit up and devotion). And then I slept for another 1.8 hours and went to barber shop too.
I went to work and studied for about 5 hours. At night, I went to church's people home for dinner with the Short Term Missionaries. I arrived home at 9, played with YiSon for a while and studied again until 1.

August 30, 2002 (Friday)

My co-worker joked with me that I should learn more about Spanish. They asked me whether I know any bad language (in Spanish) or not. After they learnt that I am quite innocent in this evil language, they told me that the first lesson should be this bad language. I was thinking that it does not hurt to know these because at least I would know if people swear at me or not. I learnt these languages and made them laugh (it helps for my company-relationship?). After I sat down, I felt quite guilty. Even though I forgot all these already (they taught me two short phases, but I have poor language talent), it does not worth to sacrifice so much in order to achieve the "improve co-worker relationship" objective. And I can't be distinguished (conduct-wise) among the worldly people. They may later use these languages to play jokes on me. What should I do now? Next time if they want to "test" me about "lesson 1", I would simply refuse (I need to have courage to do so).
A normal day usually makes me mad. Given that I am a "hurry" person. It took me a long time to wait for the elevator in my apartment. In addition, I suspect that I am always in the "anti-rush-hour-flow". Hence, it takes me a long time to wait for the metro. (Actually the waiting time is only two or three minutes. However, the other direction metro "always" double the frequency of this side). When I arrived work, I have to wait for a long time for the elevator too (there are two elevators in the building but the one on the other side is always broken). And I was located in the top floor. There are always people getting out in the rest of the floor. I am usually sweating at that time because the weather is hot. Exactly the same thing happened in the trip that I went home for lunch, came back for work. (The situation is the same for the trip going back home at night, but I am usually not that hurry at that time). There is something that adds to the fuel. People here like to talk loud. And there is one person that likes to whistle with the music. Moreover, I am using the remote router lab rack for my studying. And for some unknown reason, the connection is extremely slow. For most of the time, it takes more than three seconds to show up one word that I typed. I really hate this kind of normal day. (btw, the mouse is in a bad shape. Many times when I tried to move the cursor, it gets stuck!)
I got frustrated to a point that I just went out for a walk. For some reason, after the business hour, the internet is a lot faster (is someone trying to do some huge file transfer at that time that causes this problem?)
We practiced the music performance at night at the MB Church. We all tried hard and I really appreciate their every effort. And I need to brush up on my singing voice (or is it hopeless?) and need a bit more mutual-understanding (I wish I have a Chinese typing here because the Chinese two-word describe better) between the pianist and myself.

August 29, 2002 (Thursday)

This is a hard thinking day. I kept on studying for a long time. I went to the prayer meeting at night. It is a good break for me and had some good fellowship time. Thanks God that it is a peaceful day.

August 28, 2002 (Wednesday)

I received an email in the lunch time from my San Jose training instructor. He told me that I can use the lab rack remotely. It is good news to me because otherwise I would have no equipment to practice what I learnt. Therefore, I was "on fire" in the afternoon thinking about Security CCIE.
I had to go home early (7:00pm) today because Vancouver STM (Short Term Ministry) went to the Chu family for dinner. (The STM that visit Baptist Church is usually from Toronto because Pastor Loh is from Toronto. And the STM that visit MB Church is usually from Vancouver because MB Church was established by Vancouver STM). We had some chat and it felt quite weird (But less hostile, compare to my attitude to the Toronto STM because these Vancouver STM are in the age of 45-55) to talk to Vancouverites again.
I enjoyed playing violin (I do practice everyday, however, I don't enjoy everyday) at night. I also studied for a while and went to sleep at 11:20pm. Unfortunately, I woke up at 1:00am and cannot get back to sleep. Therefore, I studied for 35 mins and read Times magazine. Luckily I can fall back to sleep at 2:25.

August 27, 2002 (Tuesday)

I arrived work at 8:40. I have not been that earlier since I started my Spanish Class. I spent most of the day studying for my Security CCIE again. I went home for a noon nap, some exercise and violin time. I used to have this habit when I was in Spanish class. I went home after the class and do the above thing. It troubles me when the class is over. So can I keep on having 8.5 hours sleep per day? However, I can at last find a way out. I will come to work early and leave a bit late, but taking a longer lunch (2.5 hours - 40 mins for transportation, 45 mins for sleep, 30 mins for exercise and violin. opps, it does not add up to 150 mins)
I also msn Carmen for two hours. We developed a way for three-way chat between her, God and me. That is quite high-tech.

August 26, 2002 (Monday)

My first day of work (after my return) was started with rain. I looked outside before I left the house and confirmed that the rain had stopped. However, it started again and I was somewhat wet (thanks to my lap top case being my umbrella) because of the rain and the heat.
I spent most of the time organizing my binders, emailing, updating webpage etc. I also started on studying for my next HUGE challenge - Security CCIE (The MCSE is just a warm up).
It is one of the very few time that I went home early (7:00pm). Played around with YiSon for awhile. After the two weeks separation, he was not as close to me as before. :( I bribed him with some gifts and toys that I brought from Vancouver and hoped that the situation would improve.
I went to church for music practice at night. I can see that most of them had put hard work into it. Their performance is not as good as the standard that I set for my previous two worship teams in Vancouver, but it is a comfort to me already, seeing them spending some hard work into it.
One of the worst thing happened at night. I saw "it" in my room. "It" is not a tradition dark brown and big one but a "mutated" with light transparent brown. I hope that "it" did not build a home in my room. Now I am scare whenever I move.

August 25, 2002 (Sunday)

I woke up at 3:30 and arrived YVR airport at 5. The check-in in Vancouver is relatively smooth, compared to what I experienced on the way back. I am about an hour early at the airport and was quite bored. Therefore, I took out my laptop and update my diary and my Venezuela contact list. I felt that I am so "IT" because I am one of those people that use laptop at the airport!
At Dallas, they asked who wants to postpone their flight for a day (it looks like that they are running out of space) and earns USD $700 coupon. I struggled a bit because I did not want my plan to be disrupted. However, after about 10 mins of struggling, I decided to take a chance and postpone my flight. Well, there is no need anymore, and these 10 mins caused me USD$700! I felt quite bad at my indecisive character. I tried to comfort myself that, I did not loss anything so why should I feel bad? That is only a bonus.
Not only that I missed the $700 chance, I also went on a flight with some naughty kids. The kids are yelling, and the kid behind me likes to bang the table (which is connected to my chair). That is quite annoying, and I felt very sympathy to their parents. The flight was also delayed by about an hour because of some maintenance problem.
Besides all these, the process is relatively smooth. When I was in the Venezuela custom, they saw my box (that contain lots of Bible and other spiritual resources) and examined that. To my surprise, they look for less than a minute and let me pass through (compare to my terrible experience at Canadian custom, this is extremely smooth!) I unpacked and organized everything and went to bed at 1:20am.

August 24, 2002 (Saturday)

I went to lunch with Carmen and Mabel, Arthur, Garfield and shared a lot of thing. I played soccer for an hour (this is shorter than I thought) with FCGC teens and then basketball with Hansel for two hours (We drank Grape Slupee afterward. Ouch! It hurts my head and my throat if I drink it too fast) Carmen came to my house at night for dinner and helps me to pack up. She stayed at my house overnight too! (It is her first time. It makes sense because we have to leave very early the following morning and she is home-alone anyway). We had a lot of fun in reading the writing that my elementary and secondary school friends shared.

August 23, 2002 (Friday)

After about two hours of house cleaning (I did a lot of these in this week), I went to Tom Lee to buy a digital piano. I got a parking ticket in the middle of this (because I was parking at the street at 3, even though I did pay for the parking meter) but Tom Lee is nice enough to pay for that (Well, the price of the ticket is only 2% of the cost of the piano).
I went to FCGC. I finally have a normal and fruitful Friday night (I was born for Friday night!). They had VBS and I am there helping them and took some picture too. VBS is the initial contact point for me to this church. One of the games that we played is quite crazy. They ask all thirty kids running after a teen (so that it would kill the energy of the kid). It is quite scenery to watch! It ends up that the teen died before the kid did! I met a lot of old friends here and greeted each other. And then some of us went to Oscar (how can a Friday night without Oscar?)

August 22, 2002 (Thursday)

After cleaning up my house, I ran back to the old house. And then I donated some UBC text book to the library. I had dinner with Uncle 1's family.
I spent more than two hours at night for my home network. First, I installed icq phone. Now, in theory, I can talk to Canadian without long distance fee. (I, being a network engineer, plus one that need to work hard on IP telephony, must be able to get this Voice over IP (VoIP) work!) In addition, I tried to share the network printer. I am having problem with that (anyone still remember that I have my MCSE?) I also icq Hansel (who was just downstairs) for some photo. Wow, now my house is an IT house!

August 21, 2002 (Wednesday)

I tried to set up a Local Area Network at home. It takes me 5 hours! (Did anyone mention that I am a Network Engineer?) I had problem with TELUS log in and also the Linksys router. I am too Cisco and WAN oriented. I dined with Carmen's family and also met the pastor at night.

August 20, 2002 (Tuesday)

Several Telus friends treated me for a lunch when I was laid off last year. I promised to treat them back when I find a job. I did not have a chance in May, and I tried to keep my promise now. (But still, I just lunch with them and did not buy them anything).
I went for shopping again at Metrotown, Alliance Press and Pilgrim. Wow, I feel that I am rich! I played basketball with Hansel for two hours. (This is one of the must-do thing in my visit)
I went to William's house and met with the Canaanites at night. One thing that I miss the most in Venezuela is the sharing and singing time in Vancouver. I am so glad that God gave fellowship to us so that I won't be alone fighting this battle. I had wonderful time in sharing and singing with them and I really cherish each and every second.

August 19, 2002 (Monday)

I went with my parents to HK Bank applying an US$ account. And then I went to Tom Lee Music Store and then Chinese Communication Christian bookstore for shopping. At nighttime, I dined with people in Enoch Outreach and shared things about my stay in Venezuela and the Leadership camp.

August 18, 2002 (Sunday)

After three months of dryness, I went to Willingdon Church in the morning. I really miss my worship time. I had lunch with Canaan friends. Then I went with Carmen and bought a contact lens (my old one dried up because of no fluid). I ran all the way from my new house (27th Ave and Rupert) to FCGC church (Mcgill @ North of Hasting and Slocan). It takes me about 90mins for the entire journey. I wanted to give up or asked for a ride, but I know that, if doing this, I would feel like a loser.
After my rigid habit of "piano after shower", I chatted with Uncle One and their family. Carmen's family went to eat dinner with us. We had a lot of sharing, including my experience in Venezuela and my parents' marriage (today is their 29th anniversary)

August 17, 2002 (Saturday)

Woke up at 5:15am after only three hours of sleep. I took a flight from San Jose to LA and LA to Vancouver. Thanks to Bin Ladan and his Sept 11 attack, the airport security is very tight. I spent a long time, just to line up for security check. It is unbelievable to me that the security measure has changed so dramatically.
I got totally stuck in the Vancouver airport. It is like, the custom is playing a game with me. Carmen bought some instant noodle for me in Venezuela. Since I have the Chu family to cook for me, and I don't want to waste the food, I decided to bring them back to Vancouver. I have already suffered because of this in Venezuela airport. (but nothing happened in US). Now in Vancouver, they treated these as some drug and examine it. It is interesting to see how they treat my food. And the other thing is my company laptop. Hey, I am an IT guy and what is so big deal to carry my laptop around? However, they asked me what model it is, how I get this and how much it is. They even visited the Internet for the price! They requested a receipt for this computer. However, how can I have a receipt? The Venezuelan do not do thing the North American way. And why would my company give me a receipt for the company use laptop? Finally, I get taxed Cdn$180 for this laptop. The whole thing took me about 2 hours. I was not happy anymore when I leave the airport!
Despite these entire things, it is so nice to see Vancouver again. This is true, as describe in the license plate that, "beautiful British Columbia". The houses are nice, the people are polite and the food taste good too! I would not know why I should cherish BC and my Canadian citizenship (it is a place with all those creepy politic, tax rate and job situation) until I left.
I ate dinner with family and Carmen at night. Finally there is some "food". We moved to a new house in July and my biggest task is to organizing everything. It takes forever. I had ice cream with Carmen at McDonald at night. What a sweet time we had.

August 16, 2002 (Friday)

This is the final day of training. For some unknown reason again, the training equipment is not accessible. We wasted almost two hours in troubleshooting them. We are a group of "network expert" and it is ironic to see that we are not able to do anything. By 5 o'clock, we are all brain-dead. Hence I go back to hotel early (but according to the instructor, training class would never end later than 3 on Friday afternoon) I had a one-hour jog; I ran by the headquarter of Yahoo! and Juniper Network. That feel so cool; I have heard company like ebay, Apple, Cisco, IBM.... for many times and I can actually see their headquarter! After a 45-min nap, I studied until 1:30 and went to bed at 2am.

August 15, 2002 (Thursday)

This is a standard long training day. However, there is problem with the Internet access of San Jose. Currently, all the equipments are located in Carolina. We just telnet to that machine for this training course. At night, the Internet connection of the San Jose training center is down, therefore we have to leave early (originally we scheduled to stay until 11 pm!). I went back to the hotel at 10 and continue to work until 1 am.

August 14, 2002 (Wednesday)

Training today. The Window 2k Cisco Secure server is slow. I have to learn how to have patient with it. And then, I went out dinner with the instructor. He is the owner of the groupstudy.com. I found my job and learned a lot of Cisco stuff from this email group. And I continue on some documentation at night. I wanted to prepare for the long day tomorrow, so I slept early tonight.

August 13, 2002 (Tuesday)

Nothing much happened today. I study whenever I have conscious. And I go to bed at 2.

August 12, 2002 (Monday)

I am training-starved. Last time I had my BGP training in Nov 2000. I always beg for more training. Therefore, I must get the most this time! It is one of the dream courses that I want to take. I went to hotel at 6:30 (not because I want to leave early. I planed to do some more work at the hotel) I have not run since I departed Vancouver. Today I ran and I met Hubert. I felt so good about that! (Hubert is a person that likes to think, plan for the future and has ambition.)
I am quite dead by the end of the day. After several weeks of preparation and several hours of hard work today, I gave up (only for today) at 11:30. The stuff that I am working on (Routing) should be easy because I passed the test last August. However, after 8 months of idleness, my brain is rusty.

August 11, 2002 (Sunday)

Pastor Semson drove me to the airport. The AA (American Airline) line up is long! My boss said the airfare is too expensive (US $1500 for my trip) and asked me to ask for a cheaper fair at the AA counter. It sounds ridiculous. Nevertheless, I tried. It does not work because it is in the peak season (the flight is full) but the staff said that it is possible to ask for a cheaper price at the counter. Hey, that is cool!
I was told that my check in baggage has some problem and asked me to the airport ground to open it up again. It turns out that it is my box of instant noodle (either from Canada or Carmen bought it when she was here) that caused them nervous.
The custom line up is extremely long at Dallas. I waited for 1.5 hours to clear the custom and missed my flight to San Jose. Finally, I arrived San Jose hotel at 8:30 local time. I felt excited for the training and did not have a good sleep.

August 10, 2002 (Saturday)

I had the last Spanish class (in my life?). I went home afterward to sleep and then packed up for the upcoming trip. In the late afternoon, I went to the Spanish speaking Youth fellowship again. The short-term missionaries (from Toronto) were there too. If it is not the instantaneous translation of different people, none of us would understand a thing. I really changed in the last few months. In the past, fellowship is my life; and it revolves around me (I know that Jesus is the center!) Now, I hate (it is a strong word. "dislike" would be more appropriate) to go to this youth fellowship; I was sitting at the edge. I always think that, if I am able to communicate with them, then the whole picture would improve. Currently, I think that they would help me to find where the gospel of Matthew is if I ask! I have a thought that, it is the wrong person in the wrong place. However, as an optimistic, I believe that it is the right person at the right training ground. God wants me to learn how to be quiet, how to be humble and how to be God center. I know that working is not the reason for me in Venezuela. It is something greater. I will figure it out in several years.
After the youth fellowship BBQ, I went home to pack up again. Last time I see YiSon, kinda miss him.

August 09, 2002 (Friday)

The Short Term Missionaries went to the Spanish class to share the gospel this morning. I was late to class and felt quite awkward to see so many people crowded in one room. What would these students feel? They came here and found out that they ended up in an evangelical meeting? And how would they think about these Canadians that speak Chinglish and some jargon? Can they related to them? Oh well, it is always a dream of Christian to share gospel with so many non-believer. I chatted with some of them too. But I feel a bit weird because I did not talk to some of them for the last two months but suddenly I become so talkative...
One major lesson I learnt in Venezuela is not to worry. I "theoretically" was scheduled to have training next week in San Jose. However, as of 6:00pm East Coast Time, I am not yet registered. I just received my air ticket two hours ago (but my boss wants to change the air ticket because it is too expensive) (btw, I have updated my flight info on my diary Aug 03). And I have no idea which hotel I will be stayed in. I should feel very excited to have a chance to go back to N.America, but I can't because I don't even know for sure. I used to be a control freak. God is training me not to worry. One verse that describes my current situation the most is Proverbs 16:9 - "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps."
After some (many) struggle, I finally know my next step. Here is the address:
Training institute:
Global Knowledge Training Center
5201 Great America Parkway
Techmart Building Ste 219
Santa Clara, CA 95054
And I will stay in the following hotel:
Hotel Sunnyvale
595 N. Mathilda Ave.
Sunnyvale

We had music performance practice at night. That was quite productive and I was quite authorative. I stayed with two of the team members to practice one of those songs. I can't imagine that they have not heard this song before, and it takes a long time to teach them (until 12:45am! But they don't get it yet)

August 08, 2002 (Thursday)

Everytime when I see YiSon eats, I find that he is very dirty. He makes a mess! When I have kid in the future, I do not think that it is a good idea to have carpet (but isn't most of the Canadians have carpet in their house?) I doubt that I would touch him when he is eating. And he dews big time (and has fun with his saliva). I cannot believe a clean person like me would be like that when I was his age.
Finally I had a chance to talk to my boss about the training course next week. I have tried to bug him for the last month but he was busy all the time. The reply I get from him is that, he will try his best to accommodate me to the course, given that the course is not full. What? I have asked him to do it for a long time; it is his fault that he did not do it. Now I may run into a risk that I cannot take the course next week. I am quite upset, but of course I cannot show this to him. I am looking for some backup plan; I hope that my long-waited Vancouver would not be canceled.
We had music performance practice at night. It is the first time that I use my electric guitar. Wow, it sounds cool!

August 07, 2002 (Wednesday)

I played around with my new electric guitar during lunchtime. And then I studied hard. Also, I want to talk to my boss because I am still waiting for his approval of the training course of next week. However, he was talking to the customer the whole time. I have enough waiting so I want to go home at 8:55pm.
I phoned Manyee at night. She is a mainly Spanish speaking Chinese. She will also sing in the music performance in Sept 1. She (and her husband) has a hard time reading Chinese. Therefore, I read the lyric slowly and she wrote down the "ping yin". I really appreciate the dedication and determination.

August 06, 2002 (Tuesday)

After Spanish Class, I went with Chi Kong to buy an electric guitar. I always hate to go to music store and see some good musician showing off their skill (hey, who like show off here the most?) Anyway, I bought a guitar combo (Fender Strat Pak W/Guitar, Amp, Gig Bag,Electronic Tuner, Cord, Picks, Strings) for 320,000Bs (USD $237.48, or Cdn $375.21). That is a good deal, especially for me, a not good guitar player.
Semson went to my house and talked to me (and Mrs. Chu) about the Sep 1 music performance. I am still new and young; I must accept more suggestion so that I can make the best use of this night.

August 05, 2002 (Monday)

I wanted to study hard today, but my brain is quite dead half way. I still manage to stay until 8:30pm. I went home and read Times magazine. Also, I played gameboy.
YiSon cried quite seriously at night. He cried so hard that he puked (throw out something from his stomach). Yack! I am glad that I am not there, or else I have to clean out the mess. Poor Mr. and Mrs. Chu! This once again reminds me about my naughtiness when I was young. I must had made my parents mad.

August 04, 2002 (Sunday)

Pastor Loh gave me the bag that my family had given them. I was so moved to see that bag. There are some daily accessories from my parents, color gameboy (so I don't need to ruin my cell phone!) from Andy, WWJD ring and willingdon song book from Carmen, guitar and worship team equipments from Hansel and Carmen, etc... I really want to give them a phone call to say thanks, but they were at church at time. So I phoned them at night, talked to everyone (mom, Linda, Diana, Andy, Hansel, Fiona, Angel [Fiona's sister], Carmen and dad)
We had our first music performance practice after the MB Church; the practice went pretty well. I feel that (again!) I have strong leadership skill. I talked to their deacons about the music performance. They are quite conservative and I must handle matter really well; I don't want to cause disturbance or conflict.

August 03, 2002 (Saturday)

I saw Pastor Loh & family at church today. I feel so good to see them, because they are the host that helped me to settle down in Venezuela. They are also the "messenger" that brings the good news between me and my family in Vancouver.
I went with the Short Term Ministry from Toronto and the Baptist Church youth to the University to play basketball in the morning. I have not played basketball since my game with Hansel in May 16.
After about 1.5 hrs nap, I went to work to prepare myself for the upcoming training at San Jose. Somehow I have a feeling that I am really "hu" and really "hated" at Baptist Church. I always demonstrate to others that I am very good, but actually I ain't. Therefore, I feel so bad. I don't want to go to that church again. People treat me nice (even though they don't really know that I know a lot) but my behavior makes us sick. If that is not their great love, I would be kicked out from church since day 1. (No one really say anything. It is just a feeling from nowhere [or the rebuke of Holy Spirit?])
I had some singing time with the Chu family at night because they missed the practice time yesterday (Mrs. Chu was very sick again).
Here is my flight for the upcoming training and vacation

Aug 11 (Sun)	AA 2154 CCS-DFW 10:00 - 14:45 AA 2477 DFW-SJC 15:52 - 17:26
Aug 17 (Sat)	AA 813 SJC-LA 08:25 - 10:00 AC 3535 LA-YVR 12:05 - 14:49
Aug 25 (Sun)	AA 1086 YVR-DFW 7:20 - 13:22 AA 2155 DFW-CCS 14:30 - 21:00

August 02, 2002 (Friday)

I went to Spanish Class in the morning. On the way back, I saw about 10 motorcycle police holding guns. I found out later that, there is demonstration (again!). Police were there to calm the people down.
I went to Fernando (from the MB Church)´s house at night to celebrate his wife’s birthday. She is 26, but her daughter has already celebrated her sixth birthday. There is nothing special, except there is a full dinner with 20 others crowded in a small room. We sang some songs that we will sing in the Sept 1 evangelical music performance.
About half of these guests are their relatives. Their face are very "Chinese village" style. I would not be surprised if you tell me that I am actually somewhere in the middle of Mainland China, when people around me are very "farmer" look. The food is not the best that I have tasted, but I can feel that they are the best that they can have. They treated me very well too. I know why Jesus said that, the widow who gave her two pennies gave more than the businessman who donated tones of money. I really appreciate this kind of feeling. People in HK or Canada are too rich and too defensive. It is hard to know what they are thinking deep down in their mind.

August 01, 2002 (Thursday)

As predicted, I have a hard time to fall asleep at night because too many studying on the previous day. And today it is one-year anniversary of my CCIE certification. I remembered that, last year last night (and tonight!) I had a hard time to sleep. Very hard time. It is like that whenever there is an important exam coming up.
I passed MCSE 70-219 (Designing a Microsoft Windows 2000 Directory Services Infrastructure). After 7 exams, thanks to some past exams, I am a "Memorization Can Solve Everything". (I completed my exams in less than 30mins, where the candidates are actually given 3 hours to think!) Most of the time when I am walking or taking the Metro, I will hold a copy of that exam and try to memorize everything in it (without understanding most of that). I find that, during the last two months, I memorized a lot of thing! Spanish vocabulary and seven exams! I was born to be a logical and analysis person. I have not memorized 1% of what I did since I left HK in 1990. Anyway, I finally get rid this beast and move on to the real thing.
I take a short break (by not study anything during the metro and the elevator time). I went home and played with YiSon for awhile (to release stress). He "lai lui" again and wet the floor. It is funny to see that (but if I have to clean that up, this is not funny)
I left early because there was a dinner and prayer meeting at the Baptist Church because short term ministry from Toronto arrived last night. It is great to be able to see people with the same background again! For the last two months, when I talk to Chinese, I can not use any English because they do not understand any. But as any North American Chinese would know, the common language is "Chinglish". There are, on average, one or two English words in a sentence. I cannot talk "instantaneous" without these.
They got a warm welcome from the church (so did I, when I first arrived Caracas). People here treated them like they are "spiritual giant" and expect to learn a lot from them too! The feeling is like this: they "descend" from Canada, a place like heaven, down to Venezuela, a place that almost likes hell. People appreciate their sacrifice very much. I still remembered, when I was in Vancouver, there were some short term ministry visit Guatemala. We prayed for their safety and hoped that they can teach something to those people. Now I get both sides of the pictures and I despised all these feeling very much. Do you think that I am actually living in hell? And what is so great about this short term ministry people? They are just here for a vacation and have fun. They are here to "experience" the life of the second or third world country people. They thought that they are here to "save" the people and to spread the gospel, as if the Christian here know nothing (the truth is, the Chinese Christian here actually know very little on average) In comparison, in my opinion, the missionaries deserved much greater respect. They are here neither to have fun nor sightseeing. (The reason I am grumpy here is that, the short term ministries have lots of respect from the local people. However, if I place them in a church that I used to go, they are just "average" or "slightly above average" Christian. Somehow I have a feeling that, they are very spiritual in this trip, but I doubt their real life. I always think that, if they compare to my "spiritual level", I am way better than they are, yet I do not even get half of the respect that I used to have. Just wait till they discover who Hubert really is.... I really want to show them my "resume of Christianity") (And by now, I once again understand the real reason for me to be in Venezuela. I am neither here to work nor earn money nor experience life nor have fun nor meet other people. I am here to learn how to be humble, to remove my pride and to be ignored. It hurts a self-center person like me very much and drives me mad!)