Postscript

I love to observe how other people do things, and when I travel I so often see things that make think, huh, I would have never thought of doing it that way. One of those observations in Singapore was how they hang clothes.

The city is full of high-rise apartment buildings, and outside of many of the windows are bamboo poles with clothes hung on them.  They use a different sort of clothes pin (it’s more like a clothes clamp) that wraps around the bamboo pole. With the prevalence of bamboo in that part of the world, why use rope?  Bamboo rods offer a more practical approach to getting your clothes dry.

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Photo by Norm Quisumbing

Singapore’s food reflects its mix of cultures–Chinese, Indian, Malay, European. A couple of friends that Jeff and I used to work with in Orlando now live in Singapore.  They invited me and another friend for Sunday lunch at a hawker food center where I was able to try a few local favorites.  The center is full of different food vendors who each generally specialize in one type of food.  Not only are there lots of good options for food, but they are all pretty cheap: $2-$3 for a meal.

I tried some fried noodles topped with fish and sea morning glory (a green leafy vegetable), chwee kueh (that’s the white stuff topped with what I think was fried radish?), and some carrot cake which in Singapore is essentially deep fried chwee kueh. They were all good.

My food experiences in Singapore also included a noodle stew with some Heavenly Tea at a local mall food court, and a brief visit to the restaurant in Singapore’s IKEA with some friends.  We had to order the standard: Swedish meatballs.  Mmmmm.

I did some grocery store tourism like Jeff and I often do in new places.  In the midst of all the different kinds of noodles, rices and teas that I would expect to find, I found a package of Spicy Nacho flavored Doritos in the snack aisle to take home to Jeff.  They survived the plane ride and have been a good treat to have at home.

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This package of tortillas has traveled the world.  Really, it has…and, I’m not talking about its journey to the store shelf.  It traveled from North America to Asia and then to Africa to its final destination in our kitchen.  We really enjoy corn tortillas, and in Kenya and now in South Africa they are pretty much impossible to find.  Getting to eat them is a special treat.  They wouldn’t exactly last in a long trip through the mail, so we’ve had some colleagues bring them to us once in a while.  This time some friends brought them from the US to Singapore where I met up with them for the meetings we all attended there.  Then I brought them back home with me.  Tonight we ate some.  Mmmmm. They were very good.

Mail systems in some countries may be unreliable, non-existent, and in some cases theft is a risk.  Shipping expenses can be high.  Fees for customs can be high or may be less flexible on mail than if something is hand carried, and sometimes mail delivery can take a long time between countries.  For these reasons people living oversees often rely on networks of people to hand-carry items back and forth for them. We learned fast to utilize these networks.

Wonder how it works?  Usually we find out the travel schedule of friends, colleagues, even acquaintances that are either coming from someplace where one of us will be, or going somewhere where we want to send something.  We find out if they are willing to carry some things for us and if they have available space in their luggage. If they are coming to us from the US, we might arrange for our US mail or special treats to be sent to them in the US so they can bring it to us.  If they are leaving from where we are, we might arrange for them to take packages to the US to mail when they get there. These hand-carry networks have been very important to us.

Tortillas haven’t been our only globe trotting items.  My sister recently sent two t-shirts to me via a friend that I met up with in Singapore.  We sent some African clothing to my nephews and niece via a friend that we met up with in Johannesburg who was heading back to the US.  I sent back Christmas presents with my sister who saw us in Kenya. I brought a vuvuzela from South Africa with me to Singapore and gave it to a colleague traveling to Japan who will put it in the mail for our nephew who lives Okinawa, Japan.  We’ve also had people take back our US taxes and bring us banking documents and credit cards.

Considering going on a short-term missions trip to help some missionaries from your home country, are you planning a trip to visit a friend or relative who lives outside their home country, or will you be meeting up with some business associates that live abroad?  Find out if they need you to hand-carry anything for them.  Consider leaving some room in your baggage to carry some things to them or take some things back.  Your willingness to do this can be a blessing.  We have been so grateful to those who have been willing to do this for us.

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Perhaps you have been waiting to hear about what’s happening with us in South Africa…  I am too…  We’ve been so busy, it’s been difficult to catch up even with ourselves!  Since we arrived in Muizenberg on August 24, set up has taken much of our time, but just before I left we completed our office set up and had just starting regularly going into the office. Blogging has fallen behind.  Our internet at home, while more reliable, is no longer unlimited.  I have to use the unlimited connection at the office for blogging.

I need to get into a new groove.  I have no rut yet… expect more later.  I’m longing for some routine.  We’re nearly there.

In the meantime, I’ve been in Singapore since Monday last week involved in meetings with leaders in our organization from around the world. I would guess that participants are coming from at least fifty nations.  The meetings finish soon; it’s been great to catch up with colleagues I haven’t seen in a while and network with everyone while we’re all in one place.

Photo provided by Helma R.

This is the first time I’ve been to meetings like this not as an observer, but as an participant.  The whole group has been processing some organizational changes.  Table groups have been providing input on each proposed change.  My group includes people from New Zealand, Taiwan, Austria, the Netherlands, Papua New Guinea (he was taking the photo), the USA, and the Philippines.

I’m generally an early adopter, so these discussions have activated my mind to think of all the possibilities and new opportunities that could come about as a result of what we are discussing. For me, this is an exciting time.

Most of my time has been in hotel meeting rooms, but we have had a little time to do some exploring.  I would describe what I’ve seen in Singapore this way: clean, secure, organized and efficient.  It so secure that there are signs posted around that say, Low crime doesn’t mean no crime.

The security does come with a cost.  The fine city is certainly a place where you want to be sure you are following the rules.  In case you are wondering, gum is not entirely illegal; however, it is a controled substance.

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With only two percent of the international Deaf community professing a belief in Christ, the Deaf are one of the most unreached people groups in the world. In this video, learn about how Wycliffe is working in Sign Language translations.  This is the second part of God Speaks My Language produced by 100 Huntley Street and Wycliffe Canada.

Learn more about sign language translation projects in Africa.

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