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so it's snowing here...... i can't remember the last time i appreciated a snowfall. i normally don't like precipitation of any kind, but gosh darn it, these days i'll take anything that's not rain!! it hailed on friday too... woke me up in the wee hours of the morning. anyway, H made a snowman at around 1am last night and i struck a pose with the handsome fellow.
i miss a lot of things back home. i miss my boots... the goretex army ones that keep water out. i miss my winter jacket. i miss having more socks to choose from in my drawer. i miss my bunnie. i miss large doses of sunlight. i miss (i can't believe i'm saying this) the TTC and the fact that it runs past 7pm. i miss driving. i miss homecooked meals. i miss my guitar. i miss... having power?! man, those two days without it were rough. luckily A bought a headlamp to light up our dark basement.
one piece of advice i would give to students who are tight on cash: don't. gain. weight. don't try to save a few pennies by buying food that's less nutritious for you because it'll eventually end up around your midsection and then you'll have to dish out more cash to get yourself new clothes that you can actually breathe in and don't cut off your circulation. of course, if you do manage to maintain your weight... don't go to the mall, period. now, if you wanna lose some of the weight you've gained, get H to cook you up an adventurous dish or two that'll guarantee to mess up your appetite ;) now, once you're able to stomach what it is you're actually eating, this method won't work for you anymore because believe it or not, these dishes are quite yummy!
aiy... in all honesty, it's been a really tough semester for me in sooo many ways. and it still is. God, help me to face all of it.
costco is dangerous. once you go in, it's almost impossible to come out empty-handed... you suddenly find yourself bombarded with a million items that you never knew you needed in bulk until that very moment... for example, a box of chocolates... or two... or three... or...
yah :P
my roommates, A and H
on the side... a lot of things are up in the air right now. for one, i may not go home for the holidays this year... and i'm not so sure how the next semester will play out. please pray for me if you can.
은혜
today's chapel at ACTS was special... it was a CanIL one :) the Harvest Choir sang a medley in English, Gaddang (a Filipino dialect) and Korean, and we all dressed for the occasion. it was an honour for me to be able to wear the traditional Korean hanbok of a dear classmate of mine. with so much exposure to Korean friends, food, movies, songs, soap operas, CDs, language sessions, stories, prayers, scriptures, even homework, i feel like i am somewhat Korean already ;) what a blessing this culture has been to me here!
snoozing in the CanIL common room
sorry for the lack of updates... been preoccupied with a million things. it's the last day of september already and i don't know whether i feel more relieved or terrified that the semester is that much closer to being over. on a random note, i attended a service last sunday that was unlike anything i could've ever imagined. it was "country western" sunday at a church called The Loft, and i was invited by a friend who was invited by her landlord. the church is held on a farm/ranch where they teach kids how to ride horses... apparently, the church initially stemmed from that ministry (or something like that). it's just so strange to me, but i guess it's no different than... say a basketball camp for kids. they said the children's horseriding camp got to a point where they saw 100% of the children coming to the Lord. i dunno what to make of all this... anyway, the services are held in one of their indoor riding facilities which they've turned into a makeshift chapel. when we got to church last sunday, there were a few people riding around and arriving on horses... everyone was dressed up for the country western theme so there were cowboy hats and vests and boots and everything country western you can think of... i totally stood out in my regular jeans and t-shirt and flipflops. and my goodness, the worship...... imagine one of those lively worship sessions with people dancing and waving their arms about and shouting hallelujahs left right and centre... it was just like that, except everything was country! the band was country, all the songs were country, everyone looked and acted and sang and danced country... the one song i did recognize was "i saw the light" but only because it's on david crowder's collision cd... but if you've ever heard it on that cd, let me tell you that it sounded *just* like that on sunday! i wish i had brought my camera with me that day. anyway, instead of your typical choir performance, the children line danced to a song by randy travis. after that was the offering and then the message. the pastor's a great speaker... thing is, i was getting a whole lot of "prosperity" vibes and i didn't like that... but i won't get into that here. cowboy sunday at the loft was one interesting experience nonetheless :)
(no, this isn't the loft... just felt like including a barn pic (taken by A) to go with the post :P )
for all you superman [lana??] fans out there, i forgot to mention... on our way to white rock on friday, we drove through cloverdale... a.k.a. "smallville" :P i can't believe how close it is to langley.
yaaah... anyway.
(i'd probably care more if i actually watched the show!)
went down to White Rock yesterday and gaped at the beautiful land seascape... how awesome it must be to live in a town that is situated along the beach like that! if i were living in one of those houses that faced the water, i'd be at my window 24/7...
so we made a little inukshuk along the beach and named him darren. then we replaced his head with a different stone and the inukshuk became very feminine-looking so we renamed her daryn after one of our TA's ;)
i saw one, i saw one!!!
i've never seen a real live meteor before! i mean, i've seen it in movies, pictures, things like that...
but tonight i saw one with my own two eyes!!! standing in the middle of a field with the rest of my dormmates, on the outskirts of campus, around 1130pm, coming back from a walk in the woods, waiting for the train to pass so we could cross the tracks and get back to the dorms...
and then there it was. it was GORGEOUS :D even though it was just one lone meteor... imagine seeing a shower of them!!! dagnabit!!!
nothing to do with anything, but guess what i'm listening to......
tchaikovsky's first piano concerto :) FINALLY!! you know, ever since that time i blogged about hearing it on the radio and then telling myself i wouldn't change the station until i heard it again... well, i never did hear it again. i was really disappointed cuz i even requested the station to play it and they never did... or maybe they did but i just missed it. anyway, i was disappointed but i managed to put it behind me.
and then sometime last week or so, it occurred to me out of the blue that maybe i can find it on youtube! and lo and behold, i did. (there were a few videos available but i like the one with Kissin best.) this little discovery has made me soooo happy :D sometimes i forget how much i really love the piano... i guess i stifle it for the most part cuz then i get all bitter when i start dwelling on how i never had the opportunity to develop my playing beyond my one year of lessons as a child. for yeeeears, my mom promised me a piano...... *sigh* well, life is what it is. i suppose there are far greater tragedies than not having a piano :P though last week i did ask God (very seriously) if He could give me a piano in heaven. by then i'll have all the time in the universe to learn and be able to play my heart out ;)
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today i was woken up by the loudest, most powerful thunderclap i had ever heard/felt my entire life. it happened around 530am... no rain, just thunder. (not until mid-morning anyway). it felt like the thunder was coming from *within* the building cuz i could feel it shake the very core of my being. it was awesome!
sorry, i know i haven't been updating... classes have been super intense and i'm doing everything i can to keep all the material in my head.;)
i did a really silly thing today. i attempted to speed-walk about 3.5 km in my brand new white flipflops. (i shoulda gone with pink :P) other than sweating profusely, i wasn't in any kind of pain during the walk... i didn't even notice anything until i got back to my room. and really, i was freaking out more about my flipflops than my heel. i know, they're thin and not really meant for walking long distances, but i'd feel weird having to wear my runners or my ACG sandals to church every week! plus, the flipflops were actually pretty comfortable so i'm not sure what it was that cut me... maybe a small rock? anyway, the pic below is less graphic than the one i took of my actual heel, which was covered completely in blood. but no worries... after first scrubbing away at my flipflop (which now only has the faintest hint of pink but looks completely worn down) and then scrubbing the stains out of the carpet, i eventually got to washing my heel and the cut wasn't so big after all.
onto other news... the pastor that's been speaking on the da vinci code was away on a mission trip this week so we got a "normal" message today :) i also got a fairly good deal on some lean ground beef at the local IGA... buy one get one free, you can't go wrong with that! but that was also why i speed-walked back to campus... i guess it's true when they say that nothing in life is free. hehe.
i'm going to cultus lake provincial park in chilliwack tomorrow, so i'm pretty excited... hopefully i don't hurt myself!
today was relaxing. i slept until noon... haven't done that in ages. a few of us were gonna try to go to vancouver but it didn't happen. everyone had lunch together and then Nv, N, F, H and i walked over to fort langley to see what was going on there for canada day... it was pretty hot. we had ice cream and drinks at jaffa's which is this really cute old-style ice cream parlour diner kinda place... and then we headed to the fort. we got sidetracked at the "museum" before actually reaching the fort... it was just three barn looking buildings with stuff inside... farm machinery and what not. and there were tents set up but people were already taking it down, so whatever was there earlier, we had already missed it. i was pretty disappointed that we went all the way there to see nothing but old tractors, but then we heard bagpipes playing in the distance so we knew there was something going on elsewhere. just further up the street was the actual fort and the museum we were told about. the fort admission was free on canada day which was nice. i walked around and took some pictures and went to the museum. we hung around in the cool shade and eventually took the bus home. then i offered to make pasta for everyone, which i did quite successfully :) and now F and H are watching "be with you"... yes, i brought the movie with me and i'm making everyone watch it ;)
H, Nv, N, F
what a relief to be done the first set of courses...
i should backtrack. wednesday was great cuz it was the one time we had absolutely nothing due for the next day... so a bunch of us went for a walk. or a hike. something in between. we took off and headed towards the trail(s) behind the campus. it was quite an adventure, really... we encountered lots of brush, lots of insects, had some minor obstacles like a creek to cross and a muddy canal and some slippery slopes. but overall it was really pretty. i'm so pleased to have this kind of "access to nature" right in my backyard. there were a couple of pretty bridges and things along the way too... i took my camera along and took a lot of pictures. mostly the trees... next to the mountains, i'm just amazed at the trees here... they're so big and beautiful. gorgeous. and it was another beautiful day... anyway, we got lost and somehow ended up on this semi-residential street... and kinda walked down this street and that... passed by a trailer park... and we just kept walking and walking... then we hit the highway and started walking along it... ohh man. walking on a trail under the shade of trees is one thing, but walking along the highway is really not so pleasant. it was a looooooong and tiring walk up glover road, but we made it back to campus 2.5 hours later. i was exhausted. but it was good exercise... and i was using my ACG sandals that i got my mom to send me, and i could walk to the ends of the earth in those... i'm so grateful they came in time. oh yah! my package arrived on wednesday. my only regret is i wish i had sent for some shorts.
the "semi-residential" street
today's weather was JUST. RIGHT. not a cloud in the sky... yet the sun wasn't scorching hot. it wasn't humid at all. and the breeze was cool. i just had to say that today was the perfect day.
oh. and i had another bagel mishap. i cut my thumb. i dunno how deep the cut actually was cuz i was scared to open it up. it hurt like a pinched nerve though. and the cut's about a centimeter wide. on the plus side, i cooked up some fried rice successfully! i'm progressing really well in the kitchen :D btw, if you ever buy those cans of tuna that come in different flavours, i don't recommend the garlic and hot pepper... the garlic is just WAAAY TOO POTENT in that tiny can.
my kitchen
i'm having a conditioner crisis. first of all, i bought pantene conditioner yesterday because i was absolutely fed up with my herbal essences conditioner that i got on sale for 1.99 at shoppers before i left. i totally chose the wrong scent! i shoulda gone with what i already knew... i mean, the shampoo doesn't smell too bad... and the conditioner seems alright if i'm squeezing the bottle to get a whiff. but as soon as it goes on my hair... yuck!! it's like they melted several wax crayons and mixed them into the conditioner. kinda like the effect of smelling a really yummy lip balm but then applying it on your lips and realizing it doesn't taste the way it smells... yah... so i'd had it with the conditioner and i told myself i'd spend a little extra on pantene to get something that smelled nice. so i bought a pantene conditioner at walmart yesterday and i used it this morning and i was like, WHAT THE HECK..... it's like someone decided to add a vial of strong cologne to the conditioner. the scent is borderline alcoholic... between something that smells like a wax crayon and something that reeks of cologne, it seems i'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.
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i was not pleased... again... with the sermon at FLEFC today. it was a continuation of the da vinci code series... i dunno when it began and i dunno when it'll finish, but i really hope it's not like this the entire time i'm here. i find it really redundant to try to convince a christian audience what it already believes... maybe in a workshop or during fellowship or on an evangelical night or something... but not in a church service. i'm not feeling refreshed on sunday mornings anymore, other than the worship songs. today the pastor posted two scripture references on powerpoint and didn't even get to it til nearly the end. instead the entire sermon was accompanied by slides that were all quotes from the book and other famous ppl for/against whatever point he was trying to make about the book... too lecture-style for me :(
FLEFC
i saw mountains today!!!!
mountains are the prettiest things ever :D i remember when i was in vancouver years ago, the main reason i wanted to come back was cuz of the mountains... i couldn't get enough of them. on the plane, i was nearly drooling on the lap of the lady next to the window... but when i landed it was kinda cloudy and so i didn't see any mountains on the way to TWU. and then for the past couple of weeks, it's been pretty cloudy. and the few times i left campus, it was also pretty cloudy and i saw no mountains, so i just figured that we were too far out and there were no mountains to be seen around here. thankfully, i was wrong... we went into langley city today to do some walmart/safeway shopping and the sky was clear so i saw the mountains!!! waaaah!!! i could stare at mountains all day!!!
it is getting steadily hotter here as well. i'm glad i was able to go to walmart because i needed to buy a fan.
some mountains (between two stupid wires...)
i messed up my finnish mimicry test today... booooo...
K and D came over after class yesterday to help me cook my rice. it was a success!! D was kind enough to give us her noodles, and K supervised the rice cooking... yesterday's meal was good. i cooked up some chicken breast that turned out quite well. yaaay!! gonna try to cook some rice again tonight.
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success! woohoo! S poached some cod and we had a lovely dinner. there was a lot of ruckus going on below us... i found out there was a birthday party going on at the Globe (International Students Program) which is located on the basement floor of macmillan hall. Nv convinced me to go down and meet some new people. the Globe is a nice hangout... as for all the people there, i didn't even get half their names... a very interesting bunch though. they seem really nice.
this morning i got up really early... for the most part, it was cuz i slept way too early last night. and accidentally too. doing homework on my bed has always been risky business. anyway, it was still fairly dark when i got up around 430 and wandered around, but by the time i got back to my room a few minutes later, i could already detect a faint glow outside... enough to not need a light in my room. actually, it looked like the sun might have already risen on the other side of the buildings, but i wasn't sure, so i went to the weather network to get myself some statistics and had to settle for abbotsford, the next big town over. apparently we're getting about 16.5 hours of sunshine, which is about 1/2 hour more than toronto is getting. weeee... however, the sun is often covered by cloud so i guess that evens things out a bit. as i'm typing this, it is 501 on my laptop, and the sun is supposed to rise around 504... though as far as i'm concerned, it's risen already... but the most interesting fact is it is about to officially turn into summer in about half an hour... 526am to be precise. i'm kinda glad to be awake to usher in the event :)
welcome, summer!!! how i've missed you!!!
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1140pm - wow, what a day. well... not really... except for the fact that i butchered the rice. AGAIN. the first time was kinda funny, but this time i was actually quite depressed and disappointed in myself. so i cooked two cups instead of one and put less water so it wouldn't be so mushy... but then... i dunno what i did wrong. maybe i shouldn't have stirred it so much. maybe i should've just let it boil and not keep checking the top layer and thinking it's still too dry and adding more and more water. aiy. to make things worse, i decided to "fix" it by frying it, thinking in my head that maybe the frying would help some of the water evaporate and make my rice less soggy. so i added some oil to the pot, and then i added the rice... and stirred... and stirred... and stirred... and then i thought adding a couple of beaten eggs would work, but i think that made the rice even more sticky... i also added a whole bunch of other things, but to no avail... i completely butchered it. the rice looked more like mashed potatoes or a stuffing of some sort. i could've picked it up from the pot with two fingers... it was knead-able. and totally bland cuz i didn't put enough salt. and... ugh. S tried to rectify the situation and so she took some of the rice-dough and spread it onto a baking pan and put it in the oven, and it came out as a kind of rice cracker. heh. it didn't taste toooo bad... i saved the rest of my rice-dough in a container, though i doubt i'll ever eat it. and then S went onto plan B (which she casually joked about at the beginning since neither of us seriously believed i would screw up dinner... go figure..). her beef stir-fry saved the day.
today's sociolinguistics class left me a bit... "stirred." it wasn't just the one class, but an accumulation of stories and videos and testimonies from class and chapel and people here that are just rocking my worldview. and today was my tipping point. i can't explain it without going in-depth (and i won't be doing that here), but if anything, this little blurb will serve as a self-reminder for when my worldview began to shift yet again...... very different from what i experienced at tyndale.
THE DREAMGIVER IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE DREAM--
saturday was a fairly non-eventful day for me. i didn't feel like going out, so i took a nap in the afternoon while S went into town with the others. Nv dropped by before going to work so we chatted for a bit... as part-time staff, she told me many stories about the TWU caf that confirmed my assumptions of the place. she also told me many stories about the TWU students, having lived in these dorms in the past. i was SHOCKED! it seems that immorality goes on in this Christian institution just like it does at any other university. it's not that i'm naive about such things... but the code of membership i had to sign to come to this school really threw me off. i found it conservative even in my standards. i just figured TWU would do a better job enforcing the students to adhere to the code. i dunno. and the worst part is, the non-Christian staff (in the caf anyway) see the things that go on and come to the conclusion that being Christian makes no difference then. Nv says the staff have actually said this to her. it's so sad.
dinner was good. i didn't cook any of it, that was probably why... sunday, i went back to the same church, except this time with more of the "macmillan gang" (our residence hall). it was a fairly nice day. i felt very underdressed... but i HAD to wear my runners. and as of right now, i only have one pair of pants to go with it, so... yah. i'm still not sure how i feel about FLEFC. but for now, i have no other choice.
we walked straight home afterwards cuz everyone had assignments to work on. we encountered a snake on the path... weee... and i've seen quite a few rabbits around too. they really make my bunnie look obese. anyway, sunday night was the first night i really battled to keep up with my schoolwork. i was up until 230am working on my paper, and i was THIIIIIIS close to just not finishing it and handing it in late. it's so hard with these intensive courses, there's no break at all... no days off... something's due everyday. and i'm struggling to keep myself disciplined about it. procrastination is a hard habit to break, it really is. thank goodness i did finish the paper... chapel worship was veeerrrry painful as i hadn't played in a while and D's guitar strings are really hard, and i gave myself huge blisters on my last three fingers while trying to practice on the wknd.
to top off my finger injuries, i had a little incident at lunch. i made myself bleed trying to pry apart a half frozen, partially cut bagel. i guess the ice numbed my thumbs cuz i didn't feel my skin ripping from the underside of my nail. i only noticed when i looked into the bagel to check my progress and saw RED all over. what a waste, i lost my appetite and ended up throwing the bagel away...man, my thumbs hurt afterwards.
the past few days i've actually been waking up REALLY early... and it's not always such a good thing anymore. everytime i wake up, i panic thinking i've slept in cuz i know i didn't hear my alarm, and it looks like it's already 730.. but it's only 5am. and then it's too early to get up and start getting ready, so i continue to lie in bed, but i can't go back to sleep. by the time 830 rolls along i'm already feeling groggy, and by mid-morning, i'm fighting to keep my eyelids open. mondays are the worst cuz it's a 4-hour class.
this morning my mom called me at 530am. i dunno what she was thinking... but it doesn't matter, i was half-awake anyway, plus she's sending me a package, yaaay!!
