About My Religious side
I always thought that my family was so unique. We were Chinese and Catholics. As a baby or pre-kindergarten age, I remember going to church with Ma-Ma (my grandma) and my parents. I would sit with my mom and dad and just sit through Mass. Listening to Paul Lee translate the Mass in the translation room in the back(it used to be towards the back b4 the altar was moved). There wasn't too much to have fun with, except the monkey bars and the set of swings outside in the area where the big tent currently resides. But I didn't really play with those, I was afraid of heights and sorta am still. I would always the the Chan trio playing the guitars, now its just Cliff. That was the good old days, they sang real well too! They were always in harmony. Fr. Peter Tsang, was the pastor in the 1980's. No offense, but it was sorta boring. And it would always seem like he was speed reading the prayers during Mass, which at least didnt drag on. I don't know him too well, but he's alright with me, because he was a fixture at the church.

In the 1990's-present, the Salesian priests, and ocassionaly Brothers, have come to say Mass. The Salesians make Mass much better, especially when the Salesians is a youth oriented order of religious life. Also, in private school, I had to take religion class, so I received my Sacraments of Reconciliation and Communion at Maryknoll in first grade. During those years, I didnt go to CCD.

However, I do remember Sr. Maria and Sr. Annette teaching at church ever since I was probably a baby. I believe after I moved to public education, I started to attend CCD. Man...it was boring. No offense, to my teacher back then(whoever it was), but he was boring. We would do excercises in the catechism books, such as crossword puzzle or q&a.

But in 8th grade, I had Sr. Michelle as my teacher. She was sooooo coool. We would have a game in the beginning of the class and she would tie it in with the lesson. How cool is that?! That was the best time in CCD. You gotta have the Sacred Heart Sisters for teachers. So then I went to confirmation class for two years. Sr. Maria and Tim taught this class. It was cool. It helped reaffirm beliefs I already had, and actually explained it through the teachings of the church. Then I was confirmed in 1995. I was really happy when I was confirmed. I was smiling a lot.

After that, I was enlisted into the army. Army of helpers for CCD that is. Sr. Maria put me to help someone. I forgot who. But a year or two later, I was enlisted to teach for 7 weeks to the 5&6th graders. Aaaaagghhhh!! Man is it a tough crowd. All the guys in the back left corner of the room and all the girls in the back right corner of the room. Guys crackin jokes, girls writing letters to someone(each other I presume). Man, I was sorta depressed. It seemed like I wasnt doing a good job. Or at least getting them to remember something about the works of mercy. It was depressing. But the next year I got switched to another class. Wait a minute! The students get bumped up one grade! So I had some of the same people again. Guys in the back corner, girls in the other. These kids are smart, I know it. They just sorta fool around during class. Well, I did the same when I was their age. But it sucks when you're the teacher. I didnt like it. They all knew who I was, and I wasn't too much older than them, so I figure the authority figure was lost. But when they had the other teachers, they probably behaved a little better. Well, at least they thought i was doing okay.

After that, I have been helping Sister Maria in the RCIA class. Much better. More mature. Plus, I met a lot of new friends from RCIA. So this is my second or 3rd? year helping the RCIA class. Im continuously learning when I'm "helping". I just read stories about the Chinese martyred saints. I think the class thinks its a little boring. This and that saint was martyred...Not enough miracles. oh well. maybe they want a fairy tale...j/k. And through the friends from RCIA, I go to the youth mass every other saturday. Its cool.

About My Travels
HONG KONG:
I've been to Hong Kong. That was about 19-20 years ago!!!! I do remember, my cousin's spider man tricycle with the big a$$ wheel in the front(is there a name for those type of bikes?).

ITALIA and france:
World Youth Day 2000 babY!!! That had to be the most awesome trip/pilgrimage ever!!! I miss Italy really bad. Any special lady that would like to come with me? Man, the architecture, art, relics, saints, the language...they were all there and it was AWWWWWEEESOME!!! I went to Assisi, Roma, Firenze(Florence), Piza, and Venezia(Venice). And yes, I did ride the gondolas. What else can you do? and I did it in style, with my gondolier hat and shirt. hehe

France was ok, i want to go and have some pho over there. They got a lot of Vietnamese people there. Also, I'd like to try the Vietnamese sandwich over there. French food isnt as great as ITALIANO! In France, there was too much of one certain item...French fries...well they call it fries(whatever that is in french). Didnt french fries come from America? well, its pretty much "french" fries all over in Lourdes, France and McDonald's. Oh, but the french don't like ketchup with fries. Its pretty much dry with out it, unless they make really good fries. But ITALIAN food is soo much better. Dont each chinese food when traveling in another country not associated with chinese food. I did, the food was okay. Not reeeaaal great, but wasn't horrible either. Surprisingly, there's a lot of chinese restraunts in Rome, and with chinese people working in them. but it makes better sense to have italian food in Italy. But the italians just call it food.

My E-mail
psycho_nick_eats_at_the_phokingrestraunt@hotmail.com

My World Youth Day Travels
www.geocities.com/cwyd2000/