ADD YOUR MEMORIES , COMMENTS AND THOUGHTS AND CONVERSE WITH OLD FRIENDS.. HERE

TO WRITE IN THIS BLOG, CLICK THE "NEW POST" LINK IN THE UPPER RIGHT HAND CORNER OF THIS PAGE (MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR OWN FREE GMAIL ACCOUNT AND ARE LOGGED IN.) A flurry of emails have been exchanged recently. Many of them contain memories of our days at Yuet Wah, the teachers and priests who taught us and life in Macau over 40 years ago. As you look back at the past please use this space to jot down your recollections and thoughts. Or use this space to converse with friends. It might revive old experiences we all shared but have long forgotten.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

July 10, 2007



Ernie & Frank
I think you are eager to see Father Rubini. Here he comes, we were celebration his 88 years Birthday on July 8.
The other 94 years old Father (I don't know his English Name) who was and is in charge of the Church can be seen in our Re-union 2007 pictures. He was holding a white can of charcoal candy for us to eat.
Keith

4 comments:

Hamster said...

I likewise remember Fr. Rubini. I met him at Yuet Wah in 1980 when I last visited Macau. I also remember the 94 year old father who used to sell the Catholic newspaper. It's amazing that in spite of us at least 2 fathers manage to still survive after all these years!

Best Regards,
Frank

Hamster said...

About 3 years ago, I had a chance to meet up with Fr Rubini in YUet Wah. He was very cordial & invited me to have breakfast with him in the school dormitory when he resided. I felt honored as I recall that the priests' dormitory was off limits to students, at least during the time when I was a student there. I was quite inquisitive about why Fr Rubini, being Italian, ended up in China. So I started out by venturing a guess that he came from a poor family in Italy and that his parents enrolled him in the ministry due to financial reasons. I was not far off when he told me that he came from the Venice region.( It so happened that I was in Venice just a few months prior to this meeting) His father, a Catholic of course, was a poor farmer & could not afford to raise all of his ten children. That was the reason why he was put up in the monastery. He told me that he always wanted to come to China while he was being trained to become a priest. As it turned out, he was one of the two priests who was chosen by his superior to come to China to teach in a school in Shanghai. According to Fr. Rubini, if I am not mistaken, the name of the school in Shanghai was YUET WAH, which was later transplanted to Macau during the second world war. My next question to him was, after so many years in China, which country would he consider to be his home ? His answer was that he recently had a family reunion with the surviving members of his siblings in Venice. He was happy to see his brothers & sisters but he would choose China as his final resting place. I jokingly asked if he still remembered how to speak Italian at his family reunion, he smiled & said that his siblings thought his Italian was still very fluent. Just another passing thought to share with my classmates.

Peter Chiu

Hamster said...

I also asked Fr Rubini how he assimilated to the Chinese culture initially, especially when he didn't speak any Chinese. With a broad smile, he said that he had no idea what people was talking about when he first arrived in China. Being as intelligent as he was, he quickly caught on by connecting the words with people's expressions. I can totally relate to Fr Rubini's experience, as I had the same experience going to my classes in an American school for the first time. Keep in mind that I learned my English mostly from English speaking Italians.

There's still one more question which I am curious to know the answer, about the teacher selecting process in Yuet Wah. We all know very well that there was no teacher training program in Macau. I have to say that Yuet Wah did a good job in recruiting teachers like Mr Tsao ( English), Mr Wong ( Maths). Maths & English pave the way for most of our careers in life.

Peter

Hamster said...

keith,

i remember that father rubini was the prefect of studies during our time. was he later promoted to the position of principal of the school? apparently he's still living in macau. in yuet wah? i believe we all have vivid memories of those days that he "ruled" and yet took good care of us in the school.

who are the other guys (and ladies) in the 3rd photo? where's the party held? just curious.

david