Farewell

This small group of friends were part of a larger group of international students that I attended bible study with during my first 2 years here. Once I showed a friend a picture of me taken with a large group of Africans in church, and she asked, “Do you go to a black church?” No, I don’t, but at that time, the international students that went to NC4 were either from Nigeria, Ghana or Cameroon. My chinese friends were going to the Bethlehem chinese church, and since I don’t read chinese and I can’t sing mandarin hymns, I decided early on that it’s not right for me. So I continued on with NC4, and kept on going for the biweekly international/african students bible study. It was a struggle at first, trying to find some place to fit in comfortably yet nothing really fits. And when I finally got used to being the odd one who belonged, slowly the group got smaller and smaller, people were graduating and leaving, eventually the group dissolved.

One culture shock that I still haven’t really gotten over with is the fact my African brothers and sisters love to dance. Every single birthday, baby shower & christening, and graduation party that I went to will end in a finale circle dance. Everyone from the young to old, will start dancing and moving in a big circle.

Once I was telling someone that this mass dancing-thing would never happen in Malaysia, especially not at a Malaysian-Chinese family gathering. Can you imagine, after CNY reunion dinner, everyone from grandparents, parents, teenagers and kids, started dancing together? And my friend asked, “So what would people do at parties?” “Well, after food, they may start gambling.” Hahaha.

Anyway, the farewell party was to celebrate Marvin’s (far left)completion of his Ph.D. in electrical engineering. He’ll be leaving for North Carolina to start his new job in the coming week. Marvin has been a great friend and brother-humble, generous, wise- a fine example of a servant-leader. With his “junky” Nissan Sentra, he has taught numerous international students (me including) to drive. When Eric crashed his (Marvin’s) car while learning to drive, Marvin still offered to pay half of the repair bill. Even with that incident, it did not deter him from loaning his car to any of us (even new drivers) who needed it. After I hurt my thumb, Marvin gave me numerous rides to and from the therapy center. He’s so generous to the point that sometimes people take him for granted, but I can see now that he’s storing up treasures in heaven. He’s reaping what he so generously sowed. While most new international graduates struggled to find a job after graduation, Marvin already has a job waiting for him several months before he completed his doctorate.

He will be missed. I look forward to visiting him and Priscilla in North Carolina, after their wedding on 07-07-07