My son speaks excellent English but he can't say a sentence in Hokkien. It is such a shame that I never taught him.
When I was little, I spoke Hokkien and only Hokkien. None in my family spoke English. I had happy memories of Hokkien riddles. Boy was I good at it.
"Ay-ya-tok, phak-kan-lok,
kan-lok-phua, see-khiau-khiau"
"Am-mong-mong, niau-choo-kong, a-ma-phak-ah-kong"
When I went to school, I quickly realized that my fluent Hokkien skill was of no use. Girls who spoke fluent English were way ahead of the rest of us. They seemed so westernized. Back then, being westernized spelled sophistication. I felt like a snua-pa-kau (country bumpkin, or rather country monkey). I had to work hard to catch up in school. The good thing about me was I never stopped trying, ..... never embarassed to learn from scratch. When some girls were already reading Reader's Digest and Mills&Boon, I was still enjoying Peter&Jane.
For years I was convinced that those who spoke fluent English had an added advantage. I wasn't alone in my thinking as I found out that many children born in the 80s and 90s had parents who conversed with them in English only, resulting in a whole generation of bananas.
It was only recently that Mandarin started becoming popular, thanks to China's economic boom that caused the paradigm shift in people's mindset. As for me, I am determined to talk to my son in Hokkien now. He has learned to say 'chiak-pnui', 'pang-jio' and pang-sai'. Still a long way to go but I will not give up.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
A Strange Dream
I have a story that I must tell. God still speaks to people in dreams. Last year I discovered I was pregnant. The first thing that came to my mind was, "To go back to Malaysia for the delivery or not? Could the hospitals in China be trusted?". The milk powder scandal was just a tip of the iceberg. Everyday I read news about botched surgeries and shoddy medical practices. Living in Shanghai had been an unpredictable adventure. Everything was unfamiliar to me..... food, culture, people, language. I may be of Chinese descent, but it wasn't until I came to live in China that I realized how very 'Malaysian' I had become. Being pregnant made me long all the more for the familiarity and security of the things back home in good ol' Penang.
Somehow I felt God gently assuring me that He would take care of me. No need to worry about the hospital, no need to worry about the cold weather, no need to worry about the confinement lady, no need to worry about anything. Just trust Him.
I had learnt that the name of God was a verb, not a noun. When Moses asked God to reveal His name, God told him, "I am, that I am". The original Hebrew translation was 'Ha-yer-Asher Ha-yer", which means "I will be that I will be". I chose to trust Him. I trusted Him to be my provider. I trusted Him to be my defender. I trusted Him to make sure everything would be alrught. He would be what I trusted Him to be.
It turned out that the hospital was good, the doctors and nurses were dedicated, the winter was mild and pleasant, and then came Zhu, my confinement lady. She was excellent. How I got her was a story worthy to be told. As with all confinement ladies, good ones were hard to come by. The fact that my baby was due near Chinese New Year made it even harder. People in China usually went back to their villages for a whole month to celebrate CNY. My friends Patrick and Carol had engaged Zhu's services two years ago, and they said she was excellent. We called to book her, and she said she would get back to us. Months passed and she never called. My mom was concerned. Who was gonna take care of me? Amazingly I was at peace. "God will take care of me," I assured her just to calm her down. Now I am convinced that God took those words seriously. Even when we were faithless, He was faithful. Eventually Zhu called to confirm she was coming.
That's not the end of the story.
When she arrived, the mystery unfolded. She told us that she had initially intended to turn down our assignment.
Reason no.1: Her daughter was getting married during CNY, and she needed to go back to her village at least a month earlier to prepare for the wedding. That's why she couldn't accept anymore work assignments from December onwards. My baby was due in December.
Reason no. 2: There was another family that offerred her a much higher salary to work for them.
So what caused a change of heart? The odds were against me, until God intervened. The night when she decided I was last on her list, God gave her a dream. In that dream, Patrick and Carol brought a baby and knocked on her door. "You must follow us to our friend's place at once," they demanded. But she refused, saying she had other things to do. However, Patrick and Carol would not leave until she agreed. That was when she woke up trembling. Somehow she felt that the dream was a way of God telling her to agree to come take care of me.
Her story sent shivers down my spine, and brought me to my knees. I had read about Paul's dream of the man from Macedonia, but I had never thought that I was significant enough for God to do the same for me too. Besides, Paul had an important mission for the world. Me? I was just having a baby. What an awesome God He is. No detail of my life was too insignificant for Him. He truly cares.
It turned out Zhu was also a Christian. We enjoyed studying the Bible together throughout the whole confinement month. Her work nature hadn't allowed her the luxury of attending church regularly. At the end of the month, she was glad she came. She returned to her village in time to prepare for her daughter's wedding.
Everyday I still discover new wonders of this wonderful relationship with God. How He longs to bless those who would trust Him. He is not looking for religious fanatics, but faithful children who would trust Him in every area of their lives. It is so easy to assume that we do not need God, but there is a void that only He can fill. I enjoyed this special favour, not because I was more righteous than anyone else. He always stands at the door of your heart, gently asking to come in to be a part of your life. It is our choice to accept or reject. When things were beyond my control, I simply chose to put all my trust in Him, and He always rose up to the occasion in style.
Somehow I felt God gently assuring me that He would take care of me. No need to worry about the hospital, no need to worry about the cold weather, no need to worry about the confinement lady, no need to worry about anything. Just trust Him.
I had learnt that the name of God was a verb, not a noun. When Moses asked God to reveal His name, God told him, "I am, that I am". The original Hebrew translation was 'Ha-yer-Asher Ha-yer", which means "I will be that I will be". I chose to trust Him. I trusted Him to be my provider. I trusted Him to be my defender. I trusted Him to make sure everything would be alrught. He would be what I trusted Him to be.
It turned out that the hospital was good, the doctors and nurses were dedicated, the winter was mild and pleasant, and then came Zhu, my confinement lady. She was excellent. How I got her was a story worthy to be told. As with all confinement ladies, good ones were hard to come by. The fact that my baby was due near Chinese New Year made it even harder. People in China usually went back to their villages for a whole month to celebrate CNY. My friends Patrick and Carol had engaged Zhu's services two years ago, and they said she was excellent. We called to book her, and she said she would get back to us. Months passed and she never called. My mom was concerned. Who was gonna take care of me? Amazingly I was at peace. "God will take care of me," I assured her just to calm her down. Now I am convinced that God took those words seriously. Even when we were faithless, He was faithful. Eventually Zhu called to confirm she was coming.
That's not the end of the story.
When she arrived, the mystery unfolded. She told us that she had initially intended to turn down our assignment.
Reason no.1: Her daughter was getting married during CNY, and she needed to go back to her village at least a month earlier to prepare for the wedding. That's why she couldn't accept anymore work assignments from December onwards. My baby was due in December.
Reason no. 2: There was another family that offerred her a much higher salary to work for them.
So what caused a change of heart? The odds were against me, until God intervened. The night when she decided I was last on her list, God gave her a dream. In that dream, Patrick and Carol brought a baby and knocked on her door. "You must follow us to our friend's place at once," they demanded. But she refused, saying she had other things to do. However, Patrick and Carol would not leave until she agreed. That was when she woke up trembling. Somehow she felt that the dream was a way of God telling her to agree to come take care of me.
Her story sent shivers down my spine, and brought me to my knees. I had read about Paul's dream of the man from Macedonia, but I had never thought that I was significant enough for God to do the same for me too. Besides, Paul had an important mission for the world. Me? I was just having a baby. What an awesome God He is. No detail of my life was too insignificant for Him. He truly cares.
It turned out Zhu was also a Christian. We enjoyed studying the Bible together throughout the whole confinement month. Her work nature hadn't allowed her the luxury of attending church regularly. At the end of the month, she was glad she came. She returned to her village in time to prepare for her daughter's wedding.
Everyday I still discover new wonders of this wonderful relationship with God. How He longs to bless those who would trust Him. He is not looking for religious fanatics, but faithful children who would trust Him in every area of their lives. It is so easy to assume that we do not need God, but there is a void that only He can fill. I enjoyed this special favour, not because I was more righteous than anyone else. He always stands at the door of your heart, gently asking to come in to be a part of your life. It is our choice to accept or reject. When things were beyond my control, I simply chose to put all my trust in Him, and He always rose up to the occasion in style.
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