May 31, 2006(Wednesday)

We went out to the fisherman market today. We read the comic book about sushi and it is a great felling to go and visit the fisherman market that the comic book mentioned. There is a lot of free sample food and we can enjoy it greatly.
In the afternoon, we went to some sea-side place that is really similar to Miami Beach. Both Carmen and I really love this place and would not mind to live here. Of course, we imagine that this is an expensive place too. We walked around the mall area and this is a very great mall.
At night we went to a Hot Spring and the area simulates the Japan street area of 400 years ago. Everyone is required to wear Japanese clothes. The shop there features old style thing too. We had Hot Spring (male and female are separated since everyone are naked) and I sweated a lot. I felt like I just finished doing intensive work out. It makes me very tired.
Originally we wanted to exchange some more Japanese Yen today but we forgot to do so. By the time we need it we are really short of Yen. Therefore we barely have enough money to take train and return home. However we do not have enough money for dinner. We walked around and very few places that accept visa card. It is a very weird. Finally we found a high class Japanese restaurant that accept credit card. We ordered rice and a "fry vegetable". The rice was ok but a little bit expensive, cost US$16. The "fry vegetable" is ridiculously expensive. They gave us some mini BBQ stove and we fry only US$0.25 (if buy in bulk) of vegetable (two thin pieces of carrot, two or three mushroom, three green pepper and two mini corn) but it charges for US $8.9. In addition, they put out an appetizer of a sushi (rather than using rice, they use noodle. And tastes pretty good) and we thought that it is free. However, it costs $3 per person for just one piece of sushi. In summary, this is an expensive place, but at least it accepts visa and this is a learning lesson for us.

May 30, 2006(Tuesday)

I only slept for 5 mins last night. I spent over 3 hours to check email, update homepage and so on. It always takes me this long after a vacation with lots of photo that I need to update.
We left home at about 6am. The next time that we will see Hansel and Fiona will probably be next summer. We took a 3 hours flight from HK to Tokyo. We slept throughout the flight. And then we took about two hours to take train and walk to the hotel. This is a nice little hotel that cost relatively cheap, US $60. Afterward, we walked around the city. This is always a challenge when we go to a new city because we need to learn how to make a phone call or how to take train. Especially we do not speak Japanese. However, we are glad that there is a lot of Chinese in the street name so we can at least pronounce it out. We find that there is a lot of people in HK but there are even more people in Tokyo. Everywhere there are lots of people. It looks like most of the Tokyo that we have been to today is Causeway Bay! Where are all the people coming from. We return hotel at 10pm and take an early rest.

May 29, 2006(Monday)

We visited the Tiananmen Square. The surrounding area has the "People's Hall", "President Mao's memorial" and "Tung Yuan Hospital". The Tiananmen Square is a very political sensitive place and we are glad that none of us (especially Hansel and I) got caught by the secret police because of some stupid saying. We also visited the "Tung Yuan Hospital" and the old doctor examined each of us. It actually turned out to be another sales meeting because they are trying to say what kind of disease we have and persuaded us to buy the medicine. Dad, Carmen and Fiona got something for them and I hope that it works fine. However, the doctor said that I have irregular living habit and my heart is quite weak. I disagreed with that because I am very discipline (even though I sleep late) and I ran a lot, which helps me to build up a strong heart. Therefore, I did not buy any medicine. We also went to the athletic resting area and people gave us massage. However, it turned out to be another sales meeting again because they says that we have some kind of disease and recommended us to buy certain kind of medicine. In total, we went to about 4 sales meeting. However, our family is not willing to spend anything on the sales item but willing to spend money for health and medicine. I think that for some old people's tour, this kind of sales meeting would be very effective.
We took a night flight back to HK and returned home at 12:30am. Carmen and I will need to go to the airport tomorrow at 6:30am to leave HK. We will travel quite a lot. In general, this HK trip is good. We achieved our purpose of visiting family, friends and spend time to talk to each other.

May 28, 2006(Sunday)

To be a hero, we need to visit the Great Wall. When I visited Beijing last time during June 1998, Great Wall is the only tourist place that I visit. This time we visit the "Bai Dar Lang" section of Great Wall. Due to physical condition of mom, parents only walked the very beginning. The rest of us walked all the way up the Great Wall, which only takes 30 mins. However, this is a bit harder than I thought. I still feel a bit tired.
In the afternoon, we visited the "13 tomb" of the Ming Dynasty. There is not much to see.
After dinner, we did not want to go back immediately. Therefore, Hansel, Fiona, Carmen and I went out again. Fiona suggested visiting the "Hosanna Cafe". This is located in the down town area. After taxi, it still took us 15 mins to search for that cafe. We spent there for 20 mins. Afterward we immediately left because we need to catch the last train, which is about 9:30. We took the train (and found out that the last one was actually 10:30). However, the tour guide gave us wrong information and we are quite far away from the hotel. Therefore, we spent another hour after train to return to the hotel. Nevertheless, this is a good adventure.

May 27, 2006(Saturday)

We went to "Yee Woh Garden" (a place where emperor took vacation) in the morning. It still amazed me that the emperor can enjoy so much while the normal people are so poor. We also rode the bicycle and tour around the city. At night, we originally wanted to watch the Kung Fu demonstration by "Siu Lam" people. However, there were not enough people. Therefore, Hansel, Fiona, Carmen and I went to the bar area and walked around. Carmen and Fiona walked around the shop and fix their nail while Hansel and I walked around and shared. It is definitely the best and fulfills the purpose of the trip by sharing with Hansel. Previously we also made fun and played with each other. However, we seldom have time to share with one another. However, tonight, we can share our struggle to each other and we want to continue this sharing in the future.

May 26, 2006(Friday)

We woke up early and arrived to the airport at 6:30am. However, parents are already there since 5:40am. We took a 3-hours flight to Beijing. We visited the "Forbidden City" and this is a very nice place with lots of history. The luxury of the king makes me want to be the king. However, at that time it was raining so we cannot enjoy the visit to the fullest.
At night, we visited the high class shopping mall "East Mall Street". The goods are very expensive and we are quite amazed that there is excellent and high class thing in Beijing as well. Afterward, we returned to the hotel. This is a 5-star hotel, better than any hotel that we have stayed during business trip. Consider the price we paid for the trip, we have made a really good deal.

May 25, 2006(Thursday)

This morning we went to Tai O to visit the childhood place of dad. We took a long MTR ride and then a long bus ride to there. That place is quite similar to last time I visited there almost 20 years ago. Dad and mom always talked to strangers and behaved as if they know them well. They are too good at socializing. We left there at 2:45.
Hansel and I went back to home while Carmen and Fiona went out to shopping and watching concert. Hansel and I went out to play basketball.

May 24, 2006(Wednesday)

Carmen and I had lunch with Carmen's auntie 1 and uncle 3. Auntie 1 is very talkative and there is no odd/silence moment. Afterward, I went to Mongkok to meet with mom to pick up the eyeglasses. Even though it is the same "degree", however, I still not feel comfortable with this new glasses yet. And then I went to walk around with Carmen. She met with her friends at night while I met with Canaan friend Gary, Verna and Gigi at night. Other than the wedding of William, I have not seen them for many years. They talked about their church and work experience. I shared with them my lesson learnt from Venezuela.

May 23, 2006(Tuesday)

I went to pick up the China visa in the morning and then I went to the "tea party" orientation for the Beijing trip during lunch. And then I met up with Carmen and then we met with Henry from VCAC. We talked for a while and then we went to Wynants house in the late afternoon. They played video game at that time while I read the comic "soccer talented kid". I have read this comic since I was a child.
At night, I had dinner with St. Mark's school friends. Many of them I have not seen since 1994. It is always a great feeling to share with old timers. I am very glad to see them. At night, I played chess with Hansel and read comic.

May 22, 2006(Monday)

This morning originally I am supposed to have a lunch with Henry but he needs to have some work to do. Therefore, I went to Causeway Bay to walk around. I visited Sogo, Times Square, Victoria Park. And then I met with Henry and Wynants and talked to them in the late afternoon. Before this trip, I have not seen them for over 6 years. I used to play soccer, served in Hebron, studied in UBC with them. We have known each other since 1990. It is such a great feeling to share with them again. However, I am not sure when I can see them again.
At night, we had dinner with my mom's best friend Yee Ma and her husband. They knew each other for almost 50 years. It is great to talk to them. At night, Carmen, Fiona and some friends went to sing Karaoke. I went home with Hansel and had some great sharing time. That is *the* most important thing (more important than visiting friend, be with parents, finding my childhood memory) that I should do this trip. I am thankful that we can have a sharing time.

May 21, 2006(Sunday)

Today is a church day. This morning we went back to Shing Kwong Church. Carmen needs to go to be the "sister" of William/Karen's wedding so she cannot make it. However, parents, Hansel and I went to the church. I grew up in this church and I have dreamt so much about this church. Basically, I usually dreamt about three places: Kei Wan Primary School, Tai Koo Shing and Shing Kwong Church. Consider the amount of time I spent in the church, I dreamt the most about this church. Therefore, it is such a good feeling to return home. I went to different places and recall the time that I ran here, I climb there, I played here and so on. Other than the wooden block in Tai Koo Shing, my significant memory about my childhood (and the seed of my spiritual life) is in this church. I also talked to different people. For the people that were here more than 15 years, they all remember me. They recalled that I am a very naughty kid and ran around. Now I have changed so much, but then I am still as naughty as usual and ran around sometimes too. No matter what, it is such a great time to see this church again. The building and the old timers worth the time of my stay.
In the afternoon, I went to William/Karen's wedding. I have known both of them over 10 years. William is my "Timothy" and Karen is Carmen's "Timothy" and our wedding GM. Also, William is also studying and Karen will move to his place after their marriage. There is a lot of similarity between them and us. This is such a great time to see them get married. Not only that, I can see a lot of VCAC Canaan friends too! Most of them have returned to HK for over 5 years and I have not seen them since then. Therefore, this wedding is like a gathering for the old Canaanites and I am very excited to see my old friends. I find that it is very difficult to have friends in my stage of life and so I especially cherish these friendships. After the wedding, I spent some times talking with them and then went to drink with them. And it is such a great feeling to know that all these brothers and sisters are still going to church and serving the Lord. I hope that next time when I see them, we will continue to serve in church! We also went to the banquet at night. Carmen sang solo during the ceremony and is the MC at night. She sang great and is great MC as usual and I am really proud of her.

May 20, 2006(Saturday)

Today is a "relative" day. During lunch, Carmen and I, along with parents, went to have lunch with Carmen's grandmother and her "guche" and family. I originally wanted to treat them for lunch but they are so nice that they just want to pay for the lunch. I am not good enough to pay for their lunch.
In the afternoon, Carmen and I went to visit her grandfather (mom's parents) cemetery and the Chinese Christian cemetery located and Pok fu Lam. I have been there countless time when I was young to visit grand mother and great grand parents. I am always afraid of going to this kind of place but it is not that bad today. We did not spend too much time to find the grave.
At night, we had dinner with mother's sibling. The last time that I see them was 1994. There are a lot of cousin and their spouse/boy friend/girl friend that is very unfamiliar to me. However, they are all very nice people and we had some fun time talking and sharing. The relative thing is something that we, someone that live oversee, miss. It is such a great opportunity to see this people again and connect back to our root. I am not sure when I will see them again unless I go back to HK with parents at that time. A Chinese saying is true stating that "one generation is close, 2 generations are cousin and 3 generation is distant". Even though my relationship with Hansel is excellent right now, I am not sure that whether my grand children will know his grand children, especially because we are living in two different places. But that is life. I can't control the future, but I can enjoy present

May 19, 2006(Friday)

Today is a Sport's Day with Hansel. This is one of the very important things that I need to do in HK. Originally we wanted to play ping pong but then the table is booked. Therefore, we played squash for 1.3 hours in the morning. After an afternoon nap and lunch, we went to play basketball for 2.5 hours. I find that the oxygen level in HK is not that good so I feel that I am catching my breath. But nevertheless, we played good and had fun. And the new played for an hour of ping pong after we returned. By the end of that time, our legs were really tired. Anyway, this is a very fun day.
At night, Carmen and I went with our Bloomington friend Andy because Carmen may take some computer design course and she needs DVD external drive and some drawing tool. He brought us to Mongkok to check for some good deal. We are not buying anything yet, but we may do it later.

May 18, 2006(Thursday)

I left Vancouver for good 4 years ago today.
This morning I went out with Carmen so that she can meet William/Karen for their wedding preparation. I walked around the "International Financial Center" Mall for an hour. Afterward, I met my friend Chan Wing Chuen (Ah Cheap) for lunch. I had also known him for 16 years and it is great to share with him again.
In the afternoon, Carmen and I went to the Christian Alliance bookstore to buy gifts/CD. Then we went to Mongkok to buy the "Gold Field 1" comic book. Usually I rarely want to buy anything. However, the two exceptions are the Christian gift/CD (as a donation/offering/support) and comic. I usually spent a lot without feeling too guilty.
After buying some grocery, we returned home at 6pm. Parents went to have dinner at Hansel's house and this is a gathering for the three Pun's. Hansel prepared most of the food and Carmen helped to prepare the soup as well. After dinner, we had a long talk about our life after marriage and Hansel & Fiona's career. I praised Carmen that she adjusted really well after our marriage. We also gave serious advice to Hansel that he should not be a police.

May 17, 2006(Wednesday)

Because of the problem of the China visa, I have to go to apply it again today. Another $880 is used for the visa. Sigh.
I went to meet my St. Mark's School (SMS) good friend Jacky Leung (Big Head) for lunch. We chatted a lot about her family, daughter, work and so on. I even went to his office and talked with him in the meeting room and checked out his cubicle too!
And then parents, Carmen and I went to buy eyeglasses for us (except Carmen). It is relatively cheaper to buy eye glasses in HK. And then Carmen discovered a place to buy second hand comic at 40% of the price. This is such an excellent news and I am going to buy it tomorrow, the whole set of "Gold Field 1". Then Carmen brought me to walk around Mong Kok too.
At night, I meet with SMS soccer friends for dinner. I have known these people for almost 20 years, since I went to SMS in 1986. I used to play soccer with them! Even right now, I go to gym and run so that one day I can play soccer again! I have not seen them for 12 years and it is such a great time to catch up with them and update our info. My friends from HK are mostly from SMS (except those who return to HK from Canada). It is such a good time to know everyone is doing good and I am looking forward to see them again later.

May 16, 2006(Tuesday)

This morning Hansel and I went to pick up dad and mom. Originally Carmen wants to come along but then because of delay of leaving home and because of the expensive transportation cost, I recommend her not going. Anyway, we picked up parents at 10:30. At that time there are about 100 Gr.5 kids in the airport interviewing new tourist arrival. They interviewed us as well.
Afterward we settled parents to their house. They are living in another house because there is no room in Hansel's house. And then we went to apply for the visa to go to China. I was told by Karl yesterday that I need to know that whether I have applied visa to China before. Because if there is a mistake then the application fee will be gone and I have to apply again. It turned out that I really did have applied this before. So my application fee of HK$564 was lost. I have to apply for a “lost” visa which counts for $550, plus $330 express fee. I am pissed off, but not surprise because I got 50% chances to get it correct.
After lunch with Auntie Isa and family members, we went to apply for the Smart card. There are a lot of workers and the process is fast and efficient. Then we went to Tai Koo Shing to visit the old apartment and the core of my childhood. We tried to sneak into the Heng Shen Mansion, a place that I have stayed before from 1982 to 1990. And the security caught us and kicked us out of the building. But still we got to take a picture in the building. Hansel and I walked around to many different memory place, such as the wooden block (but it is removed) and Tai Koo Shing center. It brought back a lot of memories. Afterward we also went to "Kut Chi Island" and Hansel and I have some sharing time there as well.
At night, we had dinner with Fiona's parents and brother. The last time that I saw them was in Hansel's wedding almost three years ago.
The living environment of HK makes me feel uneasy because of all the air conditioning and all the "fat" food. I miss the healthy life style that I used to have (e.g. exercise, afternoon nap)

May 15, 2006(Monday)

We left home at 9:15 and took MTR to Chuen Wan. Then we visited Carmen's grandfather. He was buried in a Tao religion's cemetery. This is the first time I entered this cemetery. Other than my mom's relative, all my dad's relative is Christian so I have only been to Christian cemetery. Therefore, this is definitely a very new experience for me.
Afterward, we walked from Prince Avenue, walk pass some flower garden and bird garden, then all the way to Tsim Sha Tsui. Carmen is very physical fit because she is able to walk with me for a very long time. I think that for other people, especially my mom, they would be tired very easily.
We walked around the "Avenue of Star" and then we took the Star ferry to cross to Hong Kong. HK is the really meaningful place for us because we grew up there. We took a long tram ride from Central all the way to Shau Kei Wan. We find that St. Marks School has moved to a new place and that is a lost to me. I also went to visit Kei Wan Primary School as well and sneaked inside the building to look around. This certain bring back a lot of memory!
When we took the MTR again, we met Terence Chow in the MTR. He is a friend of us in Vancouver and it is such a coincident that we met him in HK! And at night we went to have dinner with William/Karen, Karl/Joyce, Eleanor and a friend of William. They were talking about William/Karen's wedding this Sunday. They also went to try out the wedding gown. I have not seen these Vancouver friends after I am married. Now we meet each other in HK!
At night, we walked around and then returned home at 10pm. We have completed get used to jet lag. I drank a coffee/milk tea at lunch and this helps me to stay awake for the whole day.

May 14, 2006(Sunday)

(Same as May 13)

May 13, 2006(Saturday)

We left home at around 10am and arrived to the airport at 11:30. Then we took an hour flight from Indianapolis to Detroit, then 11 hours flight to Tokyo and finally another 5 hours flight to HK. The flight from Tokyo to HK was delayed for 2 hours and therefore, we arrived to HK at almost 1am, as opposed to the scheduled 10:30pm. There is no public transportation from the airport to Hansel's house. However, Northwest Airline was kind enough to give a free transportation to HK/Kowloon/NT, plus a telephone card (worth 5 mins) and $50 rebate because of the delay. Anyway, when we were commuting on Nathan Road and Jordan Road at 2:30am, we are surprised to see there are still quite a lot of people walking around on the street, and they are not homeless people. The other place that I have this kind of experience is Las Vegas! I wonder what they are doing there!

May 12, 2006(Friday)

I went to bed at 3am last night because I was working on the PhD project. And this morning I woke up early with Carmen and read PhD paper at that time. And then I fall asleep again at 7:30. However, at 9:30 and then 10am there are people coming to my house to check some thing. Lately there are a lot of flies at my house so I think that they are checking each apartment about this situation. Anyway, they woke me up. And I tried to sleep again and eventually I woke up at 1pm.
At night, I led Bible Study. The people in my group started to open their heart and have more questions and sharing. And then at night we went to Frank's house to have some snack time. And then we discussed about what we should do in August to attract more new comers. Our target group is HK undergrad student. They have a lot of idea, such as taping a 5 to 10 mins film and give it out as a souvenir. And pick up people from airport and show people around. My responsibility as group leader (and eventually as a deacon) is to support them and support them in front of the deacon board and to push them to make thing works. I think that, with the promotion of our fellowship or our group, we should be able to easily absorb some HK or Chinese Christian, and hopefully we can absorb the nonbelievers too. May God bless His work.

May 11, 2006(Thursday)

Yeah, I finally handed in my Statistic final exam!!! No more statistics in the near future! This is something worth celebrating! I am so happy about this because now I am free to work on something that is important: the PhD project. Actually, I only spent an additional 15 mins yesterday night for the statistic final exam because I just printed that out and that's it. Currently for the three courses, I have two A's (for the other three classmates, one got A/A-, one got A-/B, and one got B/C. So I am the highest). And for the 70% class mark I have 93.5%. Therefore, if I get 50% in the final exam, then I have 80%, hopefully that would be good enough for a "B". Then my average GPA for this semester would be 3.67, which is enough for me to stay in the PhD program.
My life style actually did not change much now. I still spent several hours, as usual, to work on the PhD project. I think that other people may be surprised to know that I spent a minimum number of times in course even though there is a final exam coming up.
At night, we went to Shangmin/Tanyue's house and eat dinner with them and with Daniel/Yanching. Daniel has been nominated to be the church president, Tan yue was nominated to be the vice president while I am nominated to be the fellowship/education (i.e. Sunday School) deacon. The list is not official yet because we have not passed though the church's General Assembly. But nevertheless, previously I have generated a lot of idea so tonight we spent some time and brainstorm about how we should implement those idea. Basically today we chatted three things. First, we want to know how to promote our church (i.e. outreach) so that more people would be aware about our existence. We are thinking of having some "community service" team that helps to pick up people from the airport or help people to find apartment or buy grocery. Second, we talked about how to separate fellowship groups. Currently the bonding between the Campus group is strong; actually the bonding between each group, after a year has passed, is quite strong. Therefore, we have to think of a logical way that makes sense to shovel people around. Lastly, we also talked about Sunday School. Currently we do all the teach during fellowship because there is no Sunday School. Therefore, we are thinking of how to have a Sunday school in this 50 people church with limited resource. These two couples are supportive and have good idea as well. Carmen says that, if the future deacon board has only the three of us, then thing would work out fine. However, there are three other (unknown) deacons and I have to work with them as well. Let's see how it goes.

May 10, 2006(Wednesday)

As usual, even though I have Statistic final exam ending soon, I still spent most of my day working on the PhD project. It is because I will leave USA for a month and by the time I return, my professor will be traveling too. Therefore, this is my last meeting before I will see him again in August and that's why I want to work as hard as I can so that I can have an easier time during summer. He has some personal business and need to drive his dad (who came here to visit him) to the airport in the afternoon. Therefore, I have a meeting with him in the evening for two hours. After the meeting I need to get back to the Statistic final exam.

May 09, 2006(Tuesday)

Even though I have my Statistic final exam due in two days, I still spent most of the days working on the PhD project. I figured that even if I don't hand in my final exam, I have about 94% in class, which count for 70% of the overall mark. So if I get 67% in the final exam, then my overall grade would be 86%, which is decent enough for me. So I will try my best.
I got my score back for my PhD seminar. Previously I got 96% in class and 54% in the final exam. The professor let us to resubmit the final exam and I got 80%. Therefore my overall is 88%. Previously the professor said that at least 80% for B, 90% of A. Now, it is 70% for B and 85% for A. Probably she lowered the mark so that I can get an "A". And she lowered the mark so that someone else can get B. Anyway, I got two A's already in this semester. I am just waiting for my mark from Statistic final exam.
Once again, let me emphasize that grade does not really matter to a PhD student's future life. It is publication. Even if I get straight A, but if I don't have nice publication, then I still cannot get a job. Therefore, right now I am still focusing on my PhD project, spent most of the day on it. Not all people have any publication when they graduate. I am aiming at two publications by the time I graduate. And hopefully I have two more under review at that time, which makes it one per year. If I can really make this, I am in a really good shape. So far, I am still ahead of the game so I am not worrying too much.
At night, CCF Macedonia (Cantonese) friends Jo, Frank, Waye came to our house for dinner. Frank accepted Christ in the past Sunday. We had some chatting time. Now I will return to do my Statistic final exam. I just want to get over it and never again touch Statistic (I have previously said that I want to get over Chinese and never want to get back to it when I left HK. But then I find that I do not dislike Chinese at all afterward. Let's see whether I will have the same feeling for Statistic later).

May 08, 2006(Monday)

I submitted my PhD Seminar to professor this morning. I also talked to Prof Seb about my PhD project. When I told him about our poor mark in the PhD seminar, then he joked that someone should talk to the professor because for a PhD seminar, if the best student (i.e. me) is getting B, then there is a problem. He said that the average should be around A or A- for PhD seminar. Anyway, we discussed briefly about my paper for two hours.
In the afternoon, Shangmin, Tan yue and I went to ECC church because we will take over the contact between ECC and our Chinese church from now on, as Chien Yi, who previously was the contact, left. The meeting took about 1.5 hours and then I went back home and sleep and did not go to do exercise.
For the rest of the day, I was working on my Statistic final exam. I want to get over it as soon as possible
Also, thanks to my parents, the piano I had in Vancouver is finally sold.

May 07, 2006(Sunday)

Sunday Worship today Carmen was the translator and I am the worship leader. So we got the privilege to serve together again. Also, today is also the last day of Chien Yi (the CCF president) and Douglas in church. They knew each other last year this time, got married this January after long distance dating for several months. And ever since their wedding, Chien Yie still stay here to continue her study (PhD in education) while Douglas continues to work in Iowa (about 6.5 hours drive from here). Ever since their marriage, every other weekend Douglas drove here to visit her wife. Coincidently that is also the beginning of the Bloomington Chinese Christian Church so he came here to preach every other weekend, for 7 times. He is good at teaching and we learnt a lot. Carmen has translated his message for about 4 or 5 out of those 7 times. Therefore after the Sunday Service everyone feel sad about this departure.
In the afternoon people in the Macedonia group invited us to go to BBQ. Originally we turned down because we just went to BBQ with fellowship's couple. However, they are really sincere last night in their invitation. I mentioned that I need to go to prayer meeting at night so they moved the time so that we can go. Therefore, I went there. Carmen and I are trying to be their "parents" because they are all undergrad students. Every time we organized program for them and this time we can sit back and relax and have fun. We felt an honor and privileged to be invited. That actually means that what we have done in the past several months is not wasted.
We had BBQ (actually, the girls prepared the food) while the boys play Frisbee-type American football. I got to run around and have fun. Our style of communication with the Mandarin speaking couple yesterday and the Cantonese undergrad is very different. Yesterday I made joke but still behave relatively normal, like some 25 years old person. However, when I communicate this HK undergrad, I really go crazy, made lots of joke and "jut" a lot of people and behave like teenagers or in the early 20s. May be that's why they like to play with us and accept us as one of them.
We left early because we need to go home for prayer meeting. I hosted the prayer meeting. We shared about our thanksgiving thing in the past year in fellowship and commitment to the future. I shared that when I first came to CCF I really dislike the serious atmosphere and the Mandarin speaking. I thought of change church very soon. However, obviously I can find home in this church. And for the commitment part, there are brothers and sisters say that they want to get involve and serve. I shared that my responsibility is to be creative and try to think of something so that people can serve in church. I think that I am slowly becoming the "brain" or the "idea generator" of the fellowship.
Hansel asked me what impression I have to HK because I have not been back for 12 years. I wrote down what I can think of. Let's see whether these are accurate or not!
• Very crowded on the Nathan Road (in Kowloon) or Mongkok
• Tram is not that slow and cost about $0.6 when I left
• Tai Koo Shing center #2 and Kat Chi Island has lots of people, have free video game (UNY) and relatively clean and new.
• Drivers always "hit sharp" when lining up
• Taxi driver drives standard (Rather than automatic)
• HK is hot and humid when I left the airport
• After leaving the shopping mall with A/C, outside is hot.
• The MTR only has the HK, Kowloon x 2 road and the end station in Kowloon MTR is Chuen Wan
• Yuen Long is far far away, not too crowded, with some "fish" type market smell
• It is quite far to walk from Tai Koo Shing to Shing Kwong Church, and the road from tram station to Shing Kwong Church is quite far away
• The tram station around Causeway Bay is quite confusing. I would definitely get lost even 12 years ago.
• There is still Sogo in Causeway bay
• The line up for the underground tunnel between HK and Kowloon always has long line up
• It usually takes 10 mins to cross the underground tunnel and lots of car there and I think that you can listen to radio even though it is under ground (I think that there are more than one underground tunnel now)
• The elevator for the Tai Koo Shing MTR station is very long, enough time to sit
• The MTR has 6 (?) train tided together and it is usually crowded in the middle but not so crowded in the first or last train.
• It is not that crowded from Tai Koo Shing to Kei Wan or to St Marks
• Places in New Territories (such as Fan Lan, up water) has nothing but farm
• I don't hear any mandarin in HK. Don't see any Chinese
• It takes me a long time (2 mins?) to run a lap in the Hang Shing Mansion 2nd floor flat (The one with wood block)
• Some places in that 2nd floor flat is empty (such as the one behind "Lai Bin Chiu drawing school)
• There are four TV channels: #1 is "wireless", #2 is "Asia view", #3 is "Pearl", #4 is "forgot name". And during weekday morning, either #3 or #4 has the "education TV"
• The airport is in Kowloon (of course, I know that this is not true)
• There is no Caucasian in HK. And some Indian always stands outside of the bank with a rifle
• The Victoria Park soccer field is next to the Tram route and has about 4 soccer "stone" field

May 06, 2006(Saturday)

Carmen has to work this morning because the dorm residents are moving out. And then in the afternoon, several young couples in CCF went to BBQ picnic. They are Shangmin/Tanyue, Chunli/Helen, Xiaohu/Xinlei, MaoMao/husband and us. All of us are married for less than two years (probably we are married the longest) except Chunli/Helen who will get married the end of this year. We went there from 2 to 8. We had some BBQ time and also we rent boats and have fun in the boat as well. We also played UNO outdoor as well. This is certainly a great time to enjoy the great weather and also to have some fellowship time too.
At night Carmen helped me to have a hair cut so that I can be more ready for the hot weather during the HK trip.

May 05, 2006(Friday)

I got my PhD seminar final exam back. I only got 54%, where the highest person (out of four) has 56%, another one has 34% and one got 5%. However, when I talked to the prof afterward, she said that I am actually the person that is doing the best in class. Anyway, she lets us to redo our final exam and resubmit the grade. That is good. For another class, the Probability and Queuing class, I got an A and my final exam is 94%, without any surprise.
At night this is the farewell for graduate. Carmen was the hostess at night. Our Cantonese group also has two songs presentation. Therefore, we went a bit early to practice the song. Then we have pot luck in church. And the night is pretty good, just a bit long because some people went out for sharing out of surprise. People thanks Carmen for the hard work and I definitely think that she did a great job. Other than the sharing time, there is also a "song dedication" section and each of us write card and dedicate the songs to their friend. She also added photo to the PowerPoint so that looks really touchy at that time.

May 04, 2006(Thursday)

My health care insurance rate will go up tremendously next year. Currently Carmen and I have to pay for $3000 per year. Next year, it will increase to $5000, thanks to some unknown people that had a lot of claim last year. However, we had a meeting with the IU staff insurance people and we can get insurance for 10 times cheaper using another company. That is good news.
The PhD Seminar final exam is graded. The professor said that the whole class got very ugly mark and asked us to redo it again. Before this time we all think that the questions are quite simple. Even though there are some tricks, we are all (negatively) surprised by this news. We will work on it during the weekend. In addition, I am starting to work on the Stat final exam today. I still really hate this course and I want to get rid of this stupid Stat class as soon as possible. However, this bad news from the PhD seminar does negatively impact my patient and my willingness to do the Stat final exam.

May 03, 2006(Wednesday)

I had a record-breaking 3 hours meeting with Prof Seb today about my PhD project. Previously I spent quite a lot of time to write 2.5 pages of the model that I use for the project. I even showed it to Carmen and she thinks that it is pretty good. (My normal writing style may not be good, but my technical writing seems quite professional) However, when I showed that to him, he said that I only have a 2 out of 10. He said that I should have at least 8 or 9 before I can move on. Then for the next 3 hours, we (basically, just he) rewrote the whole thing again. I think that he really has a high expectation on me and is a perfectionist. On the other hand, I really appreciate him spending his time to work on my paper! He must think that my paper is promising or else he will not spend so much time to work on it. I am surely going to learn a lot from him, at least, on the technical writing part.
Even though all I need now is just to type what he wrote (and that is only 2.5 pages), but then I still need some motivation to do this because after working on this project for several months, I really start to get sick about this. Luckily, I found my motivation a lot of time by doing exercise or running. Therefore, I should be fine. I think that he really impresses with my dedication to this project because even though I am in the midst of several take home exam, I still a lot of time to work on his project. After all, the most importation this for researcher is "publish or perish".

May 02, 2006(Tuesday)

The Probability and Queuing class has completed last week. Therefore, from now on I don't have to wake up early anymore, until school starts again end of August. I still have the Statistic class. Even though this is the final week, the professor is still teaching stuff and will have the final exam from this Thursday to next Thursday, where everyone else will have summer vacation at that time. Actually this professor is not a good one. He is almost in the retiring age. Basically after a professor gets tenure, it takes a huge reason to fire a professor. (And that is exactly why I want to be a professor) Therefore, sometimes these professors lack the motivation to do research and teaching. I find that this professor is one of those people that are not motivated. For a 90 mins class, he always cut it 10 to 15 mins short. He has to go to different places for conferences so he skips several classes too. That's why we are behind schedule. I am glad that I will get through statistic in about a week.
At night, Xinlei and Xiaohu came to our house for dinner. Xinlei will assist Carmen to host the farewell event this Friday night so they were discussing about this. And at that time Xiaohu and I had nothing to do so we played monopoly.

May 01, 2006(Monday)

I tried to work on the final exam last night but I am still stuck in some part. Therefore, I "meditated" on it until I fell asleep. It helps, because I actually had some idea how to solve the question when I was dreaming. Therefore, I tried to write down what my thought are this morning. Even though I did not solve the question completely, as I had during my dream, I am still quite amazed at what my subconscious did to me! Therefore, usually when I went into some mental block during homework, I always like to do something, such as work out or even sleep, and then return because I know that I am able to take a fresh perspective, and my subconscious can do something during that time.
After handed in my final exam, I still have another one. But I am more or less done already, so I can get back to the PhD project. I want to do some more literature review, but that is still very boring. But the job must still be done. That's why my prof told me that most of the people left it last to do it, yet if I found out that someone else has done this problem already (because I did not do the literature review carefully in the beginning), then I am in a big trouble! Let's hope this problem will not happen to me.