2020 Christmas Letter

Dear All,

We bring you Christmas and holiday greetings from Hong Kong for one final time.  As the year 2020 proved to be many things, it certainly called us to reflect.  Here are a few reflections on our year of 2020.

Preparing to play gong for senior class

Brenda is in the midst of her 31st, and perhaps final, year of teaching.  Both 2019-2020 and 2020-21 included navigating online and in-person teaching of the usual Junior English and AP Literature, as well as Spiritual Explorations and French 1 (after a 27 year hiatus!) Her own spiritual explorations eventually brought her to gong training and purchasing a 28” diameter symphonic gong.  Since October she has been offering weekly sound gong “baths” or sound sessions to friends, faculty, and even students at HKIS.   Additionally, she has reignited her passion for writing through daily journaling, poetry writing, and blog writing.  You can find her now as a blog contributor at WWIATW.com.  Both gong and writing are pursuits she will likely continue from Green Bay, Wisconsin beginning June 2021.

Brent is completing his 7th year as Associate Principal of Teaching and Learning at Hong Kong International School and retiring his position after this year to do. . . whatever emerges as the right next step from Green Bay, WI.  He looks forward to a bit of a sabbatical from 28 years in education and dreams of sitting once again in the backyard, holding a cup of coffee in one hand and a book in the other.  He will be sorely missed as his impact on the HKIS Community has been huge.  He has been instrumental in creating a high school culture of trust and goodwill.  

Following his strongest year of high school, Adam (19 y.o.) graduated from HKIS in May 2020 at a ceremony that nearly wasn’t “in person”.  Thankfully, Hong Kong had lifted its Covid restrictions the week prior to graduation just enough for students to come back to campus to finish the year.  By July Adam was settled into his own two-bedroom apartment with two re-homed adult cats (renamed Yogi and Gaia) located only a five-minute walk from NWTC where he has spent a semester in a Health and Wellness Leadership Associate program.  Adam has found and holds a job at Spencer’s Gifts.  He would proudly tell you he now has several tattoos, continues to create intriguing and complex special effects makeup for Instagram (adammitchel2168), and owns and uses a home gym which rivals any you might find at a hotel.  We are very grateful for the support Adam has received from our dear friends Katie and Marty D. and Kelly G. 

Alec, now nearly 17 years old and a junior at HKIS has found the most recent year one in which “the cool kids” are talking to him.  While a bit baffled, he hopes to take his friend-making skills with him as he finishes his final year of high school in Green Bay (likely at Ashwaubenon High School where Brent taught for 17 years). Alec’s agreement to return to Green Bay for his senior year was key in our decision to return.  Alec’s claim to fame rests in the virtual world of gaming where he holds a place as being in the top 200 of a tournament in which hundreds of thousands of others played. In the summer Alec live-streamed his trackpad game playing and made several hundred dollars from subscribers/viewers. (He is quite an entertaining host.)  He continues to love music as evidenced by the statistic of 60,000 minutes of music played on his Spotify account in 2020.  Additionally, he is now in the Madrigal Singers (top choir) and Chamber Choir (club).  He recently had a few solo parts in different concerts.  Thankfully, the choir was able to put together an in-person concert in the fall after only a few weeks of having school in person.  We are proud of his great achievements and developing voice.  A new and fun experience for both mother and son is Alec’s enrolment in Brenda’s section of Junior English. 

While we have thoroughly enjoyed our lives abroad as expats in Asia, Brent and I have gotten rather good at listening to and following that “still small voice”.  And the voice says it is time to return home.  In a time of great upheaval and uncertainty, we have found ourselves centered and grounded and peaceful but longing for home, as well.  By God’s grace we are riding life’s wave to a new shore and a new story.  We will be bringing our cat Jigs with us but leaving our dog Rigby behind with a new family.  Political circumstances in Hong Kong also may impact both the city and education in significant ways, which makes our timing to return to Green Bay desirable. We very much look forward to reconnecting more often and in-person with friends and family in the Midwest and around the US. 

We live in unprecedented times.  These are times of both great sorrow and great potential.  Let us recall that Advent is an awaiting not only of a baby but also of a return of Christ to the world.  With Christ comes hope and love. Now is the time to look around, see what can or must be made new, and do our part to bring the love of Christ to all we encounter.  Through Christ we can re-create, re-pair, or re-see what has been broken, wounded, or forgotten to make all things new.

May you be blessed with grace and peace and love,

The Braykos