Last night and today are victories in more than one sense.
Dec. 20, 2006
Sometime about 8:00 pm, we went to Arlington for the final day of Mrs. Ho's wake.
[In case some of you don't know, Mrs. Ho, lovingly known to us as yi-po, is my paternal grandmother's sister. There were four of them siblings left (three sisters and 1 brother) about 4 years ago, and now it's just my grandma and her brother left]
There was a (protestant) service that we were told about quite belatedly, so we were there quite late.
The room had changed from the first day of the wake when I first got there. First it was the one upstairs, very cold. Now, it was the one on the ground floor, not as cold but quite beautiful (especially the scenery. It was something like a rock formation with a(n obviously fake) earthen jar of some sort at the top pouring water down into this reservoir that collected it. I wanted to look out, but I didn't.
When we entered, we sat down and started listening to the pastor. His name was Leonardo, and the way he gave the sermon was quite different from the Catholic way--something Andrew and I found refreshing. He made some very good analogies [How is it that God receives you through Christ? If a stranger came to your door ragged and unpresentable, would you ask him to come in and have a drink? No, right? But what if he says, "I'm the friend/seatmate/whatever of your son."?] [How important is salvation? If someone buys you a very expensive watch, how would you take care of it? Would you just leave it anywhere convenient? No, right? You'd take very good care of it, because you know its value. Now if that person died getting you that watch? (just go with it) How expensive in your eyes is that watch? As expensive as the person's life. That's what salvation is like. It's free, but it's expensive], and all the while, he spoke very fluent Hokkien.
After the sermon (I hear someone wasn't happy because he didn't give a eulogy), we had a little tête-à-tête with juice and food and started chatting. Pastor Mike (the other one, who was very tall) came over and introduced himself, then asked about where we studied and things. He read the name of their Church in Hokkien too (安息主懷; an hiok zu huai. Yes, I'm quite bothered about the hiok, too. Isn't it supposed to be "siak"? As in 休息?").
I later approached Pastor Leonardo and asked for some help reading words on the banners strung up across the room. Then we got talking about China and 革命 and other things. Afterwards, I met his wife and they all went home.
Before we went home, we stopped by some other establishment to "disperse" the bad mojo from the wake. We stopped by Ling Naam 嶺南 and walked around. Dad informed me that it was what they'd been going to for the past 3 days, such that Mom suspected that the guards already knew them. I told him Ling Naam got plus points in my book because their name was in Hokkien.
We looked in and found some floral structures with "Congratulations!" ribbons streaming down the sides. Turns out, they had just been blessed by the priest the Sunday before. Some woman in blue came out and said she was an Alonzo. Uhuh.
She went back inside to get this menu thingy for us. In the mean time, I mentioned to Dad how we were "transferring" the bad mojo to their shop, which had just been blessed with good mojo. He burst out laughing and tapped my head lightly going, "你嘅頭." "Ni ge hau."(That's Taishanese for "Your head." but with the implication of, "There's something wrong with ~").
She came back out, handed us the menu, and we headed off. Upon later inspection, I found the prices to be exorbitant. I also started critiquing their dishes. ("Where have you ever heard of a Chinese restaurant that sells Pancit in Bilao?")
That night, when I went to sleep, there were words from the sermon still ringing in my head. Our sister, Ho Leung Kam Oy, needs no prayers. She is with our Lord now. What more can you wish for her?
亦何未遂?
無.
Dec. 21, 2006
Morning, we're hurrying back to Arlington. It looked really different in the morning.
Mom was telling us we couldn't look at the casket because we'd get the bad mojo, and Alex was mocking this. Every single time she'd chastise Andrew about something (e.g. removing the red/white sash before the burial, looking at the casket, leaving his bottle of water lying down instead of standing up, slouching in his seat, and other shallow things), he'd go "Hooooy! Huwag ka ngang ganyan! Gusto mo bang malasin ka ng 1 billion years?" And we'd all laugh [even mom, but she won't admit it. hehe]
So we step in, and Pastor Leonardo is there, so I raid him with questions again. Then he gives the final eulogy, and we leave.
Dec. 20, 2006
Sometime about 8:00 pm, we went to Arlington for the final day of Mrs. Ho's wake.
[In case some of you don't know, Mrs. Ho, lovingly known to us as yi-po, is my paternal grandmother's sister. There were four of them siblings left (three sisters and 1 brother) about 4 years ago, and now it's just my grandma and her brother left]
There was a (protestant) service that we were told about quite belatedly, so we were there quite late.
The room had changed from the first day of the wake when I first got there. First it was the one upstairs, very cold. Now, it was the one on the ground floor, not as cold but quite beautiful (especially the scenery. It was something like a rock formation with a(n obviously fake) earthen jar of some sort at the top pouring water down into this reservoir that collected it. I wanted to look out, but I didn't.
When we entered, we sat down and started listening to the pastor. His name was Leonardo, and the way he gave the sermon was quite different from the Catholic way--something Andrew and I found refreshing. He made some very good analogies [How is it that God receives you through Christ? If a stranger came to your door ragged and unpresentable, would you ask him to come in and have a drink? No, right? But what if he says, "I'm the friend/seatmate/whatever of your son."?] [How important is salvation? If someone buys you a very expensive watch, how would you take care of it? Would you just leave it anywhere convenient? No, right? You'd take very good care of it, because you know its value. Now if that person died getting you that watch? (just go with it) How expensive in your eyes is that watch? As expensive as the person's life. That's what salvation is like. It's free, but it's expensive], and all the while, he spoke very fluent Hokkien.
After the sermon (I hear someone wasn't happy because he didn't give a eulogy), we had a little tête-à-tête with juice and food and started chatting. Pastor Mike (the other one, who was very tall) came over and introduced himself, then asked about where we studied and things. He read the name of their Church in Hokkien too (安息主懷; an hiok zu huai. Yes, I'm quite bothered about the hiok, too. Isn't it supposed to be "siak"? As in 休息?").
I later approached Pastor Leonardo and asked for some help reading words on the banners strung up across the room. Then we got talking about China and 革命 and other things. Afterwards, I met his wife and they all went home.
Before we went home, we stopped by some other establishment to "disperse" the bad mojo from the wake. We stopped by Ling Naam 嶺南 and walked around. Dad informed me that it was what they'd been going to for the past 3 days, such that Mom suspected that the guards already knew them. I told him Ling Naam got plus points in my book because their name was in Hokkien.
We looked in and found some floral structures with "Congratulations!" ribbons streaming down the sides. Turns out, they had just been blessed by the priest the Sunday before. Some woman in blue came out and said she was an Alonzo. Uhuh.
She went back inside to get this menu thingy for us. In the mean time, I mentioned to Dad how we were "transferring" the bad mojo to their shop, which had just been blessed with good mojo. He burst out laughing and tapped my head lightly going, "你嘅頭." "Ni ge hau."(That's Taishanese for "Your head." but with the implication of, "There's something wrong with ~").
She came back out, handed us the menu, and we headed off. Upon later inspection, I found the prices to be exorbitant. I also started critiquing their dishes. ("Where have you ever heard of a Chinese restaurant that sells Pancit in Bilao?")
That night, when I went to sleep, there were words from the sermon still ringing in my head. Our sister, Ho Leung Kam Oy, needs no prayers. She is with our Lord now. What more can you wish for her?
亦何未遂?
無.
Dec. 21, 2006
Morning, we're hurrying back to Arlington. It looked really different in the morning.
Mom was telling us we couldn't look at the casket because we'd get the bad mojo, and Alex was mocking this. Every single time she'd chastise Andrew about something (e.g. removing the red/white sash before the burial, looking at the casket, leaving his bottle of water lying down instead of standing up, slouching in his seat, and other shallow things), he'd go "Hooooy! Huwag ka ngang ganyan! Gusto mo bang malasin ka ng 1 billion years?" And we'd all laugh [even mom, but she won't admit it. hehe]
So we step in, and Pastor Leonardo is there, so I raid him with questions again. Then he gives the final eulogy, and we leave.
We walk out towards the street, then ride the car to Heritage Park, then walk some more, where we sit through the all-Hokkien eulogy that Pastor read out, then have some drinks before we leave for the restaurant in Robinson's (in Pioneer). We eat lunch at Mr. Choi's, then go home, where I slept for 3 hours.
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