Hello Everyone,
When I was working on the Hutterite Colony the kids would always tell me on their birthdays that they were getting a number, so for example rather than saying, "I am ten today," they would say, "I am getting 10 today." I tried to correct them, but didn't really make a fuss when they kept saying it cause I think it is kind of funny. Any way I got 50 this past Friday, March 25 and I want to thank everyone who checked in with a card or an email message. Thank you very much! If someone had said a year and a half ago that I would be getting 50 in Hong Kong I would have called them daft. Yet it has happened and it was pretty special.
I gave myself a little gift early on March 24 by taking my PE 20's to a driving range. We got some instruction from a pro and then had fun blasting little white balls. When I am relaxed I can drive a little white ball pretty good. But put me on a course and I usually drive the little white ball into the woods or other fairway. I hate when that happens. Still it was fun, but my poor city kids were complaining of calloused hands after and some developed blisters. Pansies!
On March 25 I received congratulations for turning half a century seemingly every hour by someone. Some kids even gave me a hug which was sweet. In the evening I had a little party with about ten friends from school who also live here in the Skytower complex. We gathered in the complex's clubhouse, which had a pool table and plenty of room. While the girls chatted the boys played pool. I have observed this type of behavior from kindergarten up to grade 12 to University and onto adult hood. Girls talk more, boys play more. That is just they way we are programmed I guess although why talk so much when you can play? My new friends brought cards making fun of my age, (as requested by me) and some were quite good. Some samples:
1. 50 isn't old if you're a tree.
2. Get Well Soon-wishing you a speedy recovery. Oh…right you're not sick you're old!
3. Congratulations for reaching an age where you can wet your pants without feeling embarrassed. (Ouch that one hurt a bit.)
4. (And then my personal favorite) Hey! You're old. (That was from a PE colleague who is noted for his deep, intellectual statements.)
My cake had 25 candles on it, any more would have set off the fire alarm. It was a mango cake and quite good. Mangos are great.
Anyways it was a nice time and I appreciated every second.
The next day I went with my deep PE buddy on a mountain bike ride around a reservoir. I would rate it, according to a ski hill rating, a black diamond. Lots of hills, steps, rocks, roots, cliffs, it is brutal but great. Got home early from that, had a recovery time then went to a colleague's birthday, she "got" a quarter century younger than me, 25, on March 26. Ok now I feel old. She rented a Hong Kong tram and asked us to dress gangsta. Huh? Not sure what a gansta is so I dressed kinda like a gangsTER. So I travelled 2 hours through the middle of Hong Kong on this tram with these kids dressed like gangstas. Then we went to a German hofbrau haus type restaurant where we ate wurstals and had a beer and listened to a Chinese band playing ABBA songs. When asked why they don't play German polka music, because that would of course be appropriate considering the setting and all, they replied, "we only sing happy songs." Ouch! That stung a bit considering my Germanic blood. Well whatever, as I keep telling you, Hong Kong is a strange and exotic place where it is normal to expect the bizarre. All you can really do is laugh.
So I hope you all have a great week and pray for me as I try to get that ridiculous ABBA song, "Dancing Queen," out of my head.
Love, Adios, and Peng On!
Dirk
When I was working on the Hutterite Colony the kids would always tell me on their birthdays that they were getting a number, so for example rather than saying, "I am ten today," they would say, "I am getting 10 today." I tried to correct them, but didn't really make a fuss when they kept saying it cause I think it is kind of funny. Any way I got 50 this past Friday, March 25 and I want to thank everyone who checked in with a card or an email message. Thank you very much! If someone had said a year and a half ago that I would be getting 50 in Hong Kong I would have called them daft. Yet it has happened and it was pretty special.
I gave myself a little gift early on March 24 by taking my PE 20's to a driving range. We got some instruction from a pro and then had fun blasting little white balls. When I am relaxed I can drive a little white ball pretty good. But put me on a course and I usually drive the little white ball into the woods or other fairway. I hate when that happens. Still it was fun, but my poor city kids were complaining of calloused hands after and some developed blisters. Pansies!
On March 25 I received congratulations for turning half a century seemingly every hour by someone. Some kids even gave me a hug which was sweet. In the evening I had a little party with about ten friends from school who also live here in the Skytower complex. We gathered in the complex's clubhouse, which had a pool table and plenty of room. While the girls chatted the boys played pool. I have observed this type of behavior from kindergarten up to grade 12 to University and onto adult hood. Girls talk more, boys play more. That is just they way we are programmed I guess although why talk so much when you can play? My new friends brought cards making fun of my age, (as requested by me) and some were quite good. Some samples:
1. 50 isn't old if you're a tree.
2. Get Well Soon-wishing you a speedy recovery. Oh…right you're not sick you're old!
3. Congratulations for reaching an age where you can wet your pants without feeling embarrassed. (Ouch that one hurt a bit.)
4. (And then my personal favorite) Hey! You're old. (That was from a PE colleague who is noted for his deep, intellectual statements.)
My cake had 25 candles on it, any more would have set off the fire alarm. It was a mango cake and quite good. Mangos are great.
Anyways it was a nice time and I appreciated every second.
The next day I went with my deep PE buddy on a mountain bike ride around a reservoir. I would rate it, according to a ski hill rating, a black diamond. Lots of hills, steps, rocks, roots, cliffs, it is brutal but great. Got home early from that, had a recovery time then went to a colleague's birthday, she "got" a quarter century younger than me, 25, on March 26. Ok now I feel old. She rented a Hong Kong tram and asked us to dress gangsta. Huh? Not sure what a gansta is so I dressed kinda like a gangsTER. So I travelled 2 hours through the middle of Hong Kong on this tram with these kids dressed like gangstas. Then we went to a German hofbrau haus type restaurant where we ate wurstals and had a beer and listened to a Chinese band playing ABBA songs. When asked why they don't play German polka music, because that would of course be appropriate considering the setting and all, they replied, "we only sing happy songs." Ouch! That stung a bit considering my Germanic blood. Well whatever, as I keep telling you, Hong Kong is a strange and exotic place where it is normal to expect the bizarre. All you can really do is laugh.
So I hope you all have a great week and pray for me as I try to get that ridiculous ABBA song, "Dancing Queen," out of my head.
Love, Adios, and Peng On!
Dirk
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