Friday, August 29, 2003
hallo!
i'm alive! ... in case you were wondering. ;) i've been having a good time here in aachen. the trip getting here was brutal - had to change transport vehicles (plane to bus to plane to bus to bus) several times - boy was i relieved to see wongs when i got to that last stop!! i was pretty darn tired when i got here, but wongs wouldn't let me sleep, so instead we went to chris' bday bbq at westpark. i got to meet a whole bunch of wongs' friends plus all the ppl we always hear about on his page - jason, chris, angie, thomas, fritzi, etc. so they're no longer names and faces with no personality! :P they're a really diverse bunch of ppl and all pretty friendly once you get talking to 'em. one thing i like about germans are that they're always so ready to have a conversation! so ready to stop what they are doing and chat. i've had some fun and interesting chats with wongs' roommates (and roommates' friends) about diff things and they all wanna come to canada to visit for one reason or another! :) today i was reading this aachen tourist guide and they very first thing they said is that aacheners (i think that's what you call 'em) like to "mullen". i think that means chat... and i'm like - how true!
so anyhow, aachen took a little getting used to, but after walking around the town all by myself today and seeing the rauthaus, dom, all the pedestrian areas and doing a bit of shopping, i'm really starting to like it here!! i'm glad i get to stay for more than just a couple days. :) (my one complaint is that it's so confusing!! no grids, it's organized in this ring road pattern. oh, and one more thing - i really miss the non-smoking envt of toronto!!) i've also been to the stadtgarten which is almost right behind wongs' place just up the street a couple minutes walk - good place to do devos and run, i've found. that is, until strangers come up and start talking to you. :P i met this moroccan guy the other day who was pretty cool. i really like the colour around here. :) some of the houses are really bright and colourful. adds more life to the streets! and i really like the pedestrian only areas - all these cobblestone streets with ppl milling about, going in and out of stores. the majority of things are within walking distance, lots and lots of stuff. but..... everything here is so much more expensive than back home!! the ONLY thing i've found that is cheaper (and SOOO much cheaper!) is HAND CREAM. i love herbacin - it's the best stuff!! have you ever noticed that all the good hand creams are "Made in Germany"? i have!! so before i left i was thinking to myself - i wonder if hand cream will be cheaper in germany. and guess what?? today i went into a drug store and saw herbacin for.... 0.99 euros!! for 75 ml!! in toronto it would be at least 3.99 if not 4.99 regular price!!! 0.99 euros in cdn is something like 1.60 max!!!! i think it's down to 1.53 now even. woohoo!!!! i'm stocking up before i leave. :P
anyhow, it's been fun hanging out with wongs' friends and he's taking good care of me so everything is great! i had good gnocchi for the first time and tried this german dish - auflaufe spinat (spinach baked with cheese) tonight. yummmm!! good stuff. i gotta eat better... eating good when travelling is hard. i was craving cooked vegetables tonight, so we had to walk around for awhile before we found a place with some. haha. what i'm missing is my dairy. doh, forgot to buy milk. i wish i could speak and read german!! but sometimes i can make educated guesses and be ok. :) the only full sentences i know so far is "ich kahn kein deutsch" (i can't speak german) and "sprechen sie englisch?" (can you speak english). haha. ah well. i have a german phrasebook, so i'm alright and wongs knows quite a bit so he is always excited to share his knowledge with me. :P he would be a pro german speaker if only he would apply himself! ahem!! ;)
anyhoo, i'm gonna go do my packing now. we're leaving for venice tmr to begin our trip to the balkans. wongs has fallen asleep on his bed in a semi-sitting position. hahaha. i am amazed that he doesn't snore THAT loud! only at the level of my parents. i've heard MUCH louder (my grandma). lol. anyhow, til next time ... tschuss!!
Sunday, August 24, 2003
ack! another job posting... that would've been amazing, but i can't apply for cuz i'm not gonna be around at the beginning of sept. i wonder what my plans for the fall would be like if i wasn't spending an entire month in europe...
Saturday, August 23, 2003
you know what sux? when i'm soo excited to see someone cuz i haven't talked to them all wk. and all they can muster up is a bored look on their face. or at least what i imagine is a bored look cuz i'm talking to them online and they're giving me "why are you asking such dumb questions? i don't really wanna talk to you"-type replies. and this is one of my best friends. how spirit-deflating is that.
Friday, August 22, 2003
back!
we got back a couple hours ago. it was a great vacation! i'd say better than all those aimless road trips we took when i was a kid. :P jk, they weren't really aimless. but not all that exciting. it felt like all we did was ride in the car, eat at restaurants and go to boring museums... hahaha. but that's probably just from a little kid's perspective. this vacation was great cuz we got to relax and do lotsa stuff! like play tennis, swim, tan at the beach, go canoeing for the first time in 6 yrs, go hiking, watch lotsa movies, and stay in a really nice cottage surrounded by greenery and water!! there's something about being up there that makes you wanna be active and do lotsa stuff... vs being in toronto, surrounded by asphalt, computers, skyscrapers and sucked in by the internet. hahaha.
anyhow, only FOUR more days til i fly off to see wongs!! i'm so excited. :) still lotsa supplies and stuff to go get before i start my test packing. haha. i gotta see how heavy this backpack is gonna be and what i need to leave behind... a big thanx to maria for lending hers to me!
looking back, this summer has been good. not amazing, but good. i'm still glad i decided to take the time off to relax rather than work. it seemed like the only free time i had was during the day. cuz the evenings and wkds were when OTHER ppl were free, so that's when all the plans were. all booked up. if i had been working, i would've gone completely insane! it's been good to relax, read a bit (still not done the 10 bk challenge. doh.), see old friends, spend more time with friends on a regular basis, and still have time to myself. when i come back from europe, there will be lotsa changes. lotsa family stuff going on right now, so not sure what's going to happen with that... then my sis will be going into university! so she's moving out and into her res room at mac (which is a db turned into a triple... poor girl.) and then there's the big question mark about my future... so we'll see what happens. i think this upcoming trip will be a learning experience... in more ways than one. time to see some sights, hang out with wongs again, and do a bit of soul-searching...
Thunderstruck
I think I know what caused the blackout last week. All our electricity got sent to the wrong Thursday--so yesterday we got double.
Sunday, August 17, 2003
we're back in business, baby!
we finally got internet this aft!! and i've got 3 bars of reception on my cell phone now!! the only prob is that i can't access my ut email acct til midnight... doh. good thing we're not leaving for collingwood til tmr now!
have a great wk, guys! i'll be back this wkd to prep for europe, go to frosh connexions and see angee again!!! :)
Saturday, August 16, 2003
where were you when...
i was sitting in front of my computer working on the handout i was supposed to present at small group on thurs night when all of a sudden - beep beep and the power went out!! i thought it'd be a couple min before it'd go again.. but 5 h later and there was still no sign of it! my dad and i went dt to pick up nate from ysm.. it was an adventure. :P actually, it wasn't that bad, but there were a ton of ppl walking along bloor when we got off the dvp... they were like ants!! :P and we saw a couple ppl directing traffic - one guy really looked into it and knew what he was doing at the corner of gerrard and parliament.
we got power back around 3:30 am that night, so we were only out for less than 12 h, but the next day i found out that susannah and matt both had NOT gotten their power back yet... yikes. at least there was water and we could shower... and drink. anyhow, it's day 3 and my internet is still not back yet. i'm at my dad's office using his internet. so if you wanna reach me, call me. but don't call my cell cuz reception is really bad.
so until then...
angee, welcome back from russia!! only a wk til you come back. when is your flight?
shannon, i'm sorry about this aft... i was talking out the window almost but reception was horrible. i hope the rest of the mcat was ok for you. i was praying!!
i finally get to leave the house. :P going to justis' concert tonight!
10 more days til europe!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, August 13, 2003
globe & mail article
meal culpa: we marketers helped make your kids fat
stop the super-sizing!!
Tuesday, August 12, 2003
You are as close to God as you choose to be. Intimate friendship with God is a choice, not an accident. You must intentionally seek it. Do you really want it - more than anything? What is it worth to you? Is it worth giving up other things? Is it worth the effort of developing the habits and skills required?
It takes desire, time, and energy. If you want a deeper, more intimate connection with God you must learn to honestly share your feelings with him, trust him when he asks you to do something, learn to care about what he cares about, and desire his friendship more than anything else.
"When you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed."
Jeremiah 29:13 (Msg)
~ rick warren, the purpose driven life - day 12, developing your friendship with God
i'm continually being challenged by this book to put God first cuz it's not about me, it's about HIM. and to seek him with all my heart. matt 6:33
Sunday, August 10, 2003
congrats to nancy and sim! who were married yesterday.
and happy birthday to connie. :)
Tuesday, August 05, 2003
i'm back from retreat.
this wkd was good. to get away from things at home. and wake up early on a regular basis. :P had some good conversations with karen and the girls, during free time and bedside fellowship. pastor amy wong from cornerstone cac was the guest speaker. her msgs were pretty basic, but great reminders of what it means to live the christian life. and even though we often know all this stuff, it's quite another thing to live it out... her msg on john 15 (abiding in jesus) esp spoke to me, as well as her "still vs. producing" sermon where the 3 marks of a producing christian is 1) not self-centred (but christ-centred), 2) thinking like God, 3) living a life of loving, serving and giving. that not being self-centred bit is hard. i mean, you can say that you're not self-centre, but i think it's really another thing to christ-centred... always. i've been reading "the purpose driven life" for awhile and still, i cannot say that i have the theme of day 1 down pat. i'm still working on it and trying to internalize it and make it a theme in my life: it's not about you, it's about God. how easy it is, esp when i'm tired and cranky or impatient, to think me me me.
last wk i found out about the internships i had applied to. i didn't get them. i was disappointed, but i had never really let myself believe that i would get them without a doubt, so it wasn't so much of a shock. though i guess i had thought that there was a very good chance i would get it cuz it makes logical sense... all along God had directed me on this path. anyhow, i found out that i didn't get it cuz 1) i'm not availble in sept when the nicaragua internship starts, and 2) i have more experience than other ppl. so ei wanted to give others a chance. instead, they said i could apply to the positions they have overseas (without the internship!). so... not sure... i'm gonna think and pray about it and see cuz ei only has support-raising positions and i'm not sure if that's what i want right now. though it's not really about what i want, but what God wants. so we'll see. with this change of plans, i'll be able to get my license in the fall.
my thoughts have been developing about this whole tentmaking issue in the last couple months... being stretched and facing reality. reading hebrews 11 this morn, sometimes i wonder if my extraordinary level of faith is a good or bad thing. and if it sometimes just leads me to have confidence in something that might not really be founded. anyhow, still thinking through tentmaking and what that means in the preparation and living out of it.
Saturday, August 02, 2003
no plans for the wkd?
why not join justin and friends for a "painting party"? :) justin's been busy redecorating his room lately. well, busy moving stuff out and taking down wallpaper anyhow. :) a few of us (kitty, tina and her sis hannah and i ) went over on tues to help him move all his stuff out of his room so he could paint more freely! hehe. it was funny - the 4 of us girls moving heavy furniture out of his room while justin looked on cuz he wasn't allowed to move stuff. (back probs) anyhow, justin's got the primer on some of the walls now and is starting to paint. it's a lovely green colour - june bird! (i think :P) i'm sure it'll look great when it's done. :) can't wait to see it! so anyhow, i'm advertising for him. :P i'd love to go and paint this wkd, but i'm going away. so justin needs YOUR help! let him know if you're bored and wanna do some painting!! i heard there's even gonna be pizza. :D
hmm... the last post i made yesterday isn't showing up. i hope this one shows up....
tonight was the first fellowship meeting of the "young adult" grp at cpc.. .and we had LOTSA ppl come!! ok, not huge numbers, but a whole lot more than we were expecting!! we were all crammed into matt's basement and it was getting hot in there. :P it was good - food, fun games, lotsa chatting and getting to know ppl. looking forward to more of that, and building friendships, accountability, support for our spiritual walks and learning and growing together. matt and i had a fun adventure on the way to food afterwards. heeheehee. we met up with a grp who went to eat at congee wong after fellowship.
so i'm going away for the long wkd to trent (the first time i've been there for a non-cc event!) for a retreat with the jaffray church ppl. i think it'll be a good time - get away, lotsa nature, hang out with a grp i haven't talked to much in awhile. not sure what the schedule is like, but i hope we'll have lotsa free time. :) i wanna go running and find some trails! i found a paved one last time i was up there, but i think it's bulldozed by now... :( anyhow, looking forward to a relaxing wkd (though most days are pretty relaxing for me. heehee.) away, time to chill with jaffray ppl and hear more boy stories ;), and focused time with God too!
have a great wkd, guys! cya in a couple days. :)
Friday, August 01, 2003
i've been trying to sleep earlier and wake up earlier these days. but judging by the time right now, you can see that it hasn't been quite successful. anyhow....
my mom came into my room this morn when my clock said 10:05 meaning it was 9:35 am.. and i was like - woohoo! i get up early today! but then i turned my head and fell right back asleep as soon as she left. and had a dream that i had 4 kids. and one on the way! O_o they were really cute!! :) of the 4 kids, i never did get a good look at the older two, but i think they were 5 and 4 yrs old... the younger two were a girl and a boy. the girl was 2 and the boy was 1. he had a big round head. haha. we were sitting in this car on the way to somewhere and i was holding the two of them on my lap, while my husband was holding the other two (while driving??). i don't remember seeing a steering wheel.... LOL. i didn't even get a good look at his face (my husband).... but i don't think he was anyone i knew. heehee. anyhow, the next thing i knew, i woke up and saw the clock and it was 12:25. and i felt like i wanted some kids. yikes. lol.
i never knew i was a 5-kid kinda mom. i always thought i was more like a 2, max 3-kid kinda mom. hahaha.
