November 4, 2008 was a historic date.

For me, as an American living in the UK, I am pleased with the democratic process that has chosen Barack Hussein Obama to be the next president of the United States, the first black president.  I heard on CNN a report that many Iraqis believed Barack would never be voted in since all elections were rigged — I guess they were proven wrong.  But more than a race, the voice of America has chosen a replacement of a former administration, demanding a change to the previous regime.  Whether or not the change will be substantial enough, only time will tell.  But, the people demanded and the people were satisfied.

For me, as a Californian living in the UK, I am pleased with the democratic process that has voted for Proposition 8.  Preliminary counts say the result is “Yes”, though millions of absentee ballots still need to be counted — mine included.  However, Los Angeles County has already suspended the issue of same-sex marriage licenses.  This is due to a California State Constitutional provision that says a proposed amendment “shall be submitted to the electors and if approved by a majority of votes thereon takes effect the day after the election.”*  Again, seemingly, the democratic voice has spoken.

But is this the democracy we want?

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Settling in the UK

Hi everyone!

We are finally here in the UK, finally here in Birmingham. It’s been a long journey, leaving Vancouver on September 1st and embarking on an 18-day journey here to Birmingham. God has been very good to Alex and myself. He has blessed us with so many wonderful memories that we will treasure forever with the friends and family with whom we met up with along the way. Of course, we remember and treasure the dear friends and family we left in Vancouver too!

So how does it feel to finally be here in Birmingham? I can only speak for myself, Alex will have to share his thoughts in his blog entry. I have already been asked many a times why I would return to such a country as England, always so wet and so dark in the winter and so gloomy here. I have been quite surprised actually by all the negative comments I hear about this island. Perhaps many people are fed up, for whatever reason. The only thing I want to say is that grass is not always greener on the other side.

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Some of the mundane tasks in life are often taken for granted.  Yet when something tragic happens and those mundane abilities are stripped from us, we then realize the great gift it was once before.  My grandmother, now, can walk to the restroom on her own:

She had a stroke at the tail end of Betty and my honeymoon in May, leaving the left side of her body numb.  She could not lift her left leg nor left arm and would not ever look to the left.  I visited her in the hospital about a week before our LA reception in early June and she was not very coherent.  She needed to be carried out of bed to go to the restroom, somebody at her side to feed her and an occupational therapist there to retrain her how to dress and comb her hair.  On top of that, she was greatly depressed, constantly saying that she is a “no use person,” in Chinese.

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Road Trip to Banff - Lake Louis

September 1, 2008 is the two year anniversary of my arrival in Vancouver, BC from California as a new student at Regent College.  It is also the day I leave Canada, with my bride, to another new country — England.  Though considered by many Americans as the “America’s hat” or the “51st state,” I have grown to appreciate this country for its own goodness.  As I leave, I leave with many things — the most important, being a love for a place that is not my own.  Here are the top 10 things I have learned from my pilgrimage in the True North:

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8-8-08 at 8:08:08pm. This most lucky number of Chinese culture was the precise moment when China again has become the Middle Kingdom. I have yet to see the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but plan to later this afternoon with some friends. I just saw some of the most magnificent photos from the celebrations at Gizomodo. The Chinese really know how to put on a show.  I mean, my Americanized palate says it is sometimes a little corny, but really, they know how to celebrate.  And celebrate they should — all eyes are on them.

China, of course, has a major self-esteem complex — she has lived through centuries of suppression by foreign powers.  Known in the Chinese language as the “Middle Kingdom,” for millennia, China has claimed its status as the center of the world.  But the Age of Imperialism changed this.

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The Father of Pinyin

An illiteracy rate in China in the last 50 years has dropped from 80% to 10%.  In this fascinating 4 minute interview in February, 102 year old Zhou Youguang remembers being told by the Communist government to create the pinyin romanization system in the 1950s.  Pinyin has become the standard mechanism for learning how to pronounce Chinese characters, both inside and outside of China.  To Zhou and his system, I am greatly indebted.  Now if I can only memorize several hundred more characters…

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It’s early in the morning right now. I still have to get ready for work. But the sunshine is out and it is a glorious day. I was reminded last night of how great this world is that God has created for us, and it is true. We live in this most magnificent city, so close to God’s natural wonders in His mountains and sea and islands. I always missed these visual signs of God’s greatness when I was living in the UK. But then I suppose when something great is always there and in front of us, it can be easy to just not see sometimes. Whereas from afar, I have to take the effort to remember. 

So it’s the last few weeks before we leave Vancouver now (well, a month and a half still, I suppose). I’ve never been good with transitions. Especially the times before the change, when I know the change is impending. My last physical move was about two years ago, and that was a short transition time. I secured my job in Vancouver, gave one month’s notice with my UK job and then left England. The time was so packed. It didn’t feel like I had enough time to say good-bye.

But this time, it feels different. I am now a “we”, so it’s not just myself who is going through this transition. We’ve also been saying that we’ll be moving to the UK for a long time now. Even though things were not always decided yet. Even now, with less than two months to go, things do not seem to be so decided. And me, with a small faith, often have trouble getting used to everything. It is, of course, through these times that I can recall all the moments in my past where I believe God had been so faithful to me, when I didn’t know what was to come. I do remember these times, but it’s still not so easy sometimes. 

Though now on such a day, I can look around me and remember. And know that if God can create and take care of such a beautiful natural world as I see here, then how infinitely more will He care for us!

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I began this morning with my usual routine of reading the latest news through Google Reader (LOVE this product, by the way) and so many articles were stimulating my thoughts.  Among them, writings honoring the legacy of Bill Gates, great tidbits about Legos, and a seminary in prison.

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I have been working on my Chinese literacy skills and the engineer in me has been increasingly frustrated with the lack of good software to aid these endeavors.  So, today, I introduce Pingguo Chinese-English Dictionary, for the Mac OS X, of course. ;)

Pingguo Chinese-English Dictionary

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Gosh, it still surprises me that I have a husband now. I’m getting more used to saying “my husband Alex”. It makes me smile now, thinking about my husband. You know, I think I only blog when Alex is away (as he is now). So maybe the only way I’ll be blogging regularly is to have Alex go away more often (but if any of his bosses are reading this, I’m not saying I want him to go on more business trips :P … unless, I get to go too – do you have clients in New Zealand or Africa?).

Anyways, a lot of people have asked me how married life is. For me, I’ve found the transition to married life with Alex to be quite smooth so far, praise God. It is definitely very different from living with a housemate. At first, I thought moving in with Alex will be like my experiences with living in shared houses and with housemates. But it’s been a very different experience. Perhaps it’s also living with Alex that makes a difference ( :P you know I love you!) but I also think it’s been myself who’s entered this new lifestyle with some expectations of my own. I hear the first year of marriage is a lot about figuring out our ways living with one another and hopefully, with God’s grace, we’ll have more good times than bad ones by the end of the year.

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