Tuesday, April 21, 2015

The Book of Job

Job is an upright man. He feared the Lord. The narrator gives us this information and we cannot doubt it.

But The Satan (which means something like 'prosecutor' in Hebrew), he isn't so sure. He says to God that maybe Job is only upright because of how he's been rewarded. The only test of his faith is to take it all away. And so God does.

God takes away Job's cattle and wealth. God kills all of Job's children. God gives Job some kinda leprosy. And Job maintains his goodness.

Three of Job's friends show up and they don't even recognize Job, the poor guy has been through so much stuff. Job tells them what's happened, and they all try to figure out what sin he's committed. Maybe he did something without realizing it... Job says no. Maybe it wasn't something he did but something he did not do.... Job says no.

Job demands justice. He knows he has done no wrong. God shows up to defend himself. The only real words he says directly to Job are basically "I'm only gonna say this once, so you'd better listen."

God explains that he made hawks and falcons and snakes and alligators and hippos. Then he scolds Job's friends for misrepresenting Him, and cures Job and gives him even more wealth and children than he had before. And Job lives longer than anyone has since Moses.

thoughts on Hong Kong

Hong Kong's a bit different than the mainland. I wasn't stared at even once, for one thing. Everyone I encountered had at least basic English, and the automatically decided to use English when talking to me, which was an interesting change.

HK also has better manners (sparing the guy who ran my hotel). Even towards one another. In Suzhou and Shanghai people like to get right up against the doors of the metro to get on/off. Even though there are signs and lines saying where they should queue up. Even though those doors are made of glass and they can see other people's noses just inches from their own. And everyone has to be first onto or off the bus here in Suzhou.

But in Hong Kong they seem to be more aware of everyone else. Or maybe they just care more. HK was a little more crowded, I think, than Suzhou or Shanghai. They even  line up on the right side of the escalators so that people in a rush can walk up the left. They don't smoke inside, they don't spit inside -or- outside, and they use turn signals with some regularity. They also don't let their children urinate or defecate on the sidewalks or in bus trashcans.

Hong Kong!

I got off the plane in Hong Kong and after going through customs and all that business I ate at a Subway. I had a  meatball sub and macadamia nut cookies.

I took a cab from the airport to the hotel I was staying at. And I had to lurk outside the door and wait for someone to come along because I didn't know the pin number to get through. I wrote it down.
From here I went up a flight of stairs and found the door to my hotel.

There was a post-it note on the door that had the name of the hotel -English and Chinese- and had a phone number on it. And a wire ran under the door and up the wall nearby to a pink plastic phone. I called the number on the post-it and after confirming my reservation I was given the pin code to get in.

I was in room five, which was on the left-hand side of a long hallway. My bed took up half of the room I had - fine, I didn't intend on spending much time there anyway - and my bathroom took up less space than the desk my computer is sitting on as a write this. It's not even a very large desk.

The bathroom's sink was probably the size of your average mouse pad. And the entire bathroom -was- the shower stall. One of those deals where there was a drain in the floor and the shower spicket on the wall above the toilet and the knobs right by the light switches. and I had made the mistake of assuming that 'hotel' meant that they would have towels. I had to dry off from my one brief shower with my hoodie.

On my second day there I called the number on the post-it again and explained that I need a receipt, or a bill, or some kinda paperwork, to show I was there, and what everything had cost. The man on the phone, who I suspect was in a bar or loud restaurant, told me that he had never done that before, and would not do that for me. I explained that it wasn't my money he was costing me, but a coworker's. And that if I didn't get some kinda bill then this coworker wouldn't get his money back.

I never saw him. Nor did I see any other human beings in the hotel.