Tien zhu, Tien zhu, wa sha gua

Tien zhu, Tien zhu, wei shen me wo zhe me sha gua?
(translated as God, God, why I so seetoopid?)

Hahaha, that’s the only sentence I can think of when I was trapped in church with an Indian priest who speaks and reads the Bible in Mandarin and a few hundred parishioners (church goers). Everyone of them speaks Mandarin. And not just simple Mandarin but things I langsung bueh beng pek! (no understand)

People kneel, I sat. Adoi, malu nya. Most of the time, I was like playing musical chair, turning my head to watch what people are doing – stand, kneel, sit, stand, kneel or sit. People sing hymns in Mandarin, I miming in English. I could just keep my mouth shut but it just doesn’t seem right not to say the Lord’s prayer. So, I open and close my mouth trying to sing my English version of the Lord’s prayer but my brain cannot work and my mouth refused to co-operate because all around me, the voices are booming a different tune in Mandarin.

But come to think of it, I should go more often because suddenly, I can remember simple Chinese characters (flashed on the OHP). And if I close my eyes, I can even understand what they are saying. Clever girl! But I don’t know why I must close eyes baru can understand, don’t ask me.

Oh ya, in case you guys wonder what banana me is doing in a Mandarin mass, it is because I was rostered to read part of the Bible in English. Yeah, I wonder why they have one reading in English when they can do everything in Mandarin. Probably, it is my chance to realise that I must start to speak Mandarin again, instead of the same phrase – wo pu huey chiang hua yi (I cannot speak Mandarin. And I have faith that I can speak Mandarin if I want to.

Just want to share this beautiful stain-glass window from my church. I used wide-angle lense, taking the photo from very close range.

Blogs to share :
Celestine’s
Because I steal the Tien zhu, Tien Zhu Bao Yu all of you (errr…shall I say, ‘ke wei ching ai te phen yew’ Hanyi, HELP!!!!)

Here’s my Chinese name – 曾丽莲