Monday July 27th, 2009 8:30 AM
Getting ready for a day visiting Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, with my cousin A-K, older brother of my cousin Y-K from Singapore. Driving from Ipoh to K.L yesterday, there was a clear sense that this is a place that mixes the modern and traditional really well. Or at least, the modern in a tropical setting—dense areas of palm trees lining modern highways and into the city with the second highest building in the world (Petronas Towers). At the same time, though, with older villages tucked in between, reminders of what life continues to be for some or what is being left behind (in some ways). I think that’s part of the reason that so many of the buildings in Penang appealed to me—slow decay of buildings in many cases held aloft by the busy and full lives of those who occupied them and flanked by the hawker carts and storefronts at their ground floors.
Petronas Towers in KL
Was glad to attend the Sunday church meeting in Ipoh, a place and gathering where I met a good number of my mom’s childhood friends or at least acquaintances. I was ready for that nudge to stand up and speak, and in this case, I was glad to do so—a homecoming of sorts of an Ipoh woman’s son. In the same way that I appreciated how Christ is the expression and extension of who God the Father is that morning, I also commented on how I felt that in many ways, I was the expression and extension of who my mother was in this place as well—a continuation of a person and story familiar, and a reconnection. (Note: I did start out with a mandarin introduction, just in case you’re wondering—at least two full sentences, people! You would have been proud, Chinese teachers of old…)
Church in Ipoh--Family Friends
Visit to Church in Ipoh–Extension and Expression
Monday July 27th, 2009 8:30 AM
Getting ready for a day visiting Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, with my cousin A-K, older brother of my cousin Y-K from Singapore. Driving from Ipoh to K.L yesterday, there was a clear sense that this is a place that mixes the modern and traditional really well. Or at least, the modern in a tropical setting—dense areas of palm trees lining modern highways and into the city with the second highest building in the world (Petronas Towers). At the same time, though, with older villages tucked in between, reminders of what life continues to be for some or what is being left behind (in some ways). I think that’s part of the reason that so many of the buildings in Penang appealed to me—slow decay of buildings in many cases held aloft by the busy and full lives of those who occupied them and flanked by the hawker carts and storefronts at their ground floors.
Petronas Towers in KL
Was glad to attend the Sunday church meeting in Ipoh, a place and gathering where I met a good number of my mom’s childhood friends or at least acquaintances. I was ready for that nudge to stand up and speak, and in this case, I was glad to do so—a homecoming of sorts of an Ipoh woman’s son. In the same way that I appreciated how Christ is the expression and extension of who God the Father is that morning, I also commented on how I felt that in many ways, I was the expression and extension of who my mother was in this place as well—a continuation of a person and story familiar, and a reconnection. (Note: I did start out with a mandarin introduction, just in case you’re wondering—at least two full sentences, people! You would have been proud, Chinese teachers of old…)
Church in Ipoh--Family Friends