Clarifications

Despite the adjustment to the time change (exactly 12 hours), I have been seeing my share of sights, and enjoying myself immensely. I have not actually taught yet; but my first tutoring session is today. During the my first few days I have been meeting my team members, learning how to get around Macau, and enjoying the local cuisine. Learning to navigate around Macau, I should say, is not as easy as it looks. The roads are a curious jumble of alleyways and nooks; and the streets have generally do not form a straight line at all. Add to this the frantic pace of the motorists and drivers, and you have a pretty hectic traffic situation! The streets also often become one-way streets and the traffic flow is on the opposite side of the road, like it is in the U.K. Since I generally walk everywhere, though, my challenge is that all the streets seem to look exactly the same--all the store fronts have Chinese characters, and the Portuguese names are all very similar. So, in general, I walk around thinking that everything is familiar--because I've been through all of it before. The other missionaries pick me up and walk me back, etc, until I become confident.

So...now that I've been in Macau for several days (even though it seems like longer!) I have some clarifications for you all. Macau and Hong Kong are both "Special Administrative Regions" that are under the protection of China, but have their own governance. Because of this, Macau and Hong Kong enjoy freedoms in religion, and can express their opinions openly. For example, Hong Kong and Macau both had candlelight vigils yesterday to remember the anniversary of Tiananmen Square; but apparently there was none in Beijing. This freedom brings me full circle to my job here. Teaching English/having Bible classes in Macau are things that can be done under Macau's government without fear of persecution.