Prayer

I hate hearing that people I love are going into surgery. Lord, I know you love this one, but please don't take him yet.

Thankful

I am thankful that my family did not end up fighting at Thanksgiving this year.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY!!!

Save the best for last?

So I've been noticing something I do every morning:

I'll eat oatmeal with brown sugar, and instead of stirring it in I'll let the sugar sit on the top and eat around it. Then when I'm almost finished, I'll start eating the sugary parts and be like, "Ew...this is too sweet" and just throw it away...

So basically I just put sugar on my oatmeal to make it look appetizing.

Week 7 Reflection

Hmm...I wasn't expecting this post to turn out like this, but it looks like it's gonna be another "God-post."

I'm over halfway through my first quarter here, and I'm really liking it. I'm taking classes I want to take, I've made some pretty good friends, I fit in with my lab group, I'm doing cool research looking at the mechanical properties of the knee mensicus, I did really well on my midterms, my advisor's cool, etc...

However, at least twice every week this thought comes to me: "What am I here for?" It's louder than my normal thoughts, so I'm pretty sure it's from the Lord. It's funny because so far the thought has come when I've had accomplishments (I'm going to be co-authoring a paper, for example), when I'm near that point of being stressed about a midterm, or even at random times like when I'm biking home from the gym. I'm still working hard in my classes and on my project because I have to take care of my responsibilities here, but it's kind of interesting to have this new perspective. I never had strong feelings like this when I was at Cal.

On a related note, I just got back yesterday from a retreat for the Christian Students club I joined on campus. The focus was on the heavenly vision the Apostle Paul saw in the book of Acts:

Acts 9:3-6 and as he went, he drew near to Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. And he fell on the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul Saul, why are you persecuting Me? And he said, Who are You, Lord? And He said, I am Jesus, whom you persecute. But rise up and enter into the city, and it will be told to you what you must do.

In just three verses Paul received a revelation of the Lord and His body that governed the rest of his life. That might need a little explanation: Paul (who was called Saul) was a persecutor of the followers of the Lord - he was present at Stephen's stoning - but when he was struck down by the light, the Lord first told him that He was Jesus, and that Paul was persecuting HIM. This shows that the believers are actually the Lord (but not in the Godhead), and that persecuting a believer is the same as persecuting the Lord. If someone keeps punching you on the arm, you'd typically say, "Stop hitting ME," right?

That wasn't even the point that impressed me the most. If you look at Acts 26:13-16, you can read Paul's recounting of the experience to King Agrippa. The way he tells it seems like it happened that day - the account is almost exactly the same as it was in Acts 9 - but the amount of time that passed between Acts 9 and 26 was 25 years. This vision really had an impact on him, and you can see its effect in the way he greets individual believers in his Epistles - he went from someone who killed believers to someone who greeted them by name and blessed them.

These messages brought me to realize that I want significant experiences of the Lord to be burned into me in this way. And I want to keep having new experiences. I know I won't be satisfied with life if I slip back to how I was only a short while ago. It's kind of scary, but it's also motivating me to keep going forward.

Looking back, I'm really glad I went through the things I went through during the last four years - things I haven't told a lot of people - and over this past summer summer. Some things were awful when they were happening (and some things still aren't resolved), but if I didn't go through them, I think I'd be living a meaningless life here at Stanford. I could totally picture a scenario where I got a M.S. degree, landed a good job, worked my butt off for 20 years, and realized at 50 that I wasn't happy. Thank you God.

This is getting a little heavier than I wanted it to be, so I'll stop here.

Random, and a little lighter: Check out this new blog my friends and I started!

bachelor-ette-food.blogspot.com

We'll be posting our recipes there because we're all at that stage where we're experimenting with cooking. Some of us are pretty darn good cooks, too. Stay tuned!

I'm overdue...

...For a post. But I have a good excuse!!!

I've been busy with fellowship applications (which are like grad school apps times three) just in case I end up staying here for the fffffuuuudd (Ph.D). It's my backup plan :). Plus, school picked up, and I started doing research in the Soft Tissue Mechanics Lab here. I'll be looking at mechanical properties of knee meniscus tissue to increase understanding of tearing/degeneration mechanisms. I really like my lab group, and I already feel like I fit in.

Fun stuff. And yes, I'm still happy here. Bible studies on campus, dinners at Jeff's and Phoebe's (a dear believer couple's home), and the fact the Camilo moved here have helped.

I promise that there will be more detail after this app and midterms are done.

Back to hiding under the rock.

Home

First of all, I wanna make/eat this soooo bad. Haha.

Second of all, it's kinda weird being back home for the weekend. My room doesn't quite feel like my room anymore, and I think it's mainly because my pillow and blanket are in Palo Alto. That was a mistake. One thing that was really nice was that my dog was super excited to see me when I came home. I wish I could bring her to school.

Third of all, I spent way too much today. I don't usually shop, but stuff in PA is really expensive and I've just been kinda saving my money. I needed a jacket, warm clothes, and groceries, so I took advantage of the cheap Pleasant Hill prices. Go Grocery Outlet.

Lastly, I just remembered a dream I had last night, which is why I blogged in the first place. I was in a building going down an escalator, and there was a mom with her toddler beside her at the bottom of the escalator. The kid tripped and fell, and I remember thinking something along the lines of "Pick up your kid or else he's gonna get a shoelace or sleeve stuck!" What happened next was pretty weird, though. Instead of getting an article of clothing stuck in the escalator, the bottom stair kinda rolled into the floor and the kid got sucked into/eaten up by the escalator. People were screaming, but a security guard at the bottom was like, "It's okay, Ma'am," (to the mom), "You can pick up your son at the basement."

Uhh....yeah. No comment.

"What do you tell someone with two black eyes?"

-Nothing. You already told his punk@$$ twice.

Bwahahahaha! That was random, I know, but I heard it in a song and had to share it.

Amazon, Continued...

This is a continuation of my previous post:

So I had my mom return the double copy of my linear algebra book to Amazon, and a few days later I got an email from Amazon asking to reply with the total of the shipping charges. Amazon was going to refund them, no questions asked and without receipt proof.

Nice, right?

So I replied with the amount and thought that was the end of this whole issue.

Two weeks later (today) I got another email from Amazon saying that they had received the returned package and had processed a refund to my bank account for the entire amount of the order, plus their estimated shipping costs (total: $158.90).

"Uh..." I thought. "What should I do now?"

Actually, I was a little confused thinking that I was charged for two copies of the book and that I should take the refund, but I checked my bank account and credit card history and I was only charged once. So basically, I could have gotten this linear algebra book for free.

I called Amazon back *sigh* and explained the situation (again). The guy seemed surprised that I called, didn't really know how to process the reversal, and ended up charging me for the cost of the book, without shipping (reversing the refund). So if you were keeping track, I pretty much got a book from Amazon with one day shipping and I didn't have to pay for it. I don't have a prime account.

They realllly do care for their customers.

On the other hand, I think the Lord's testing me. I basically had two chances to get the book for free (or even make a profit off the one I wasn't using). I hope this is the end of the whole fiasco. I'm pretty susceptible to temptation.

<3 Amazon

Cool experience:

I ordered a text book from Amazon, but accidentally shipped it to my parents house in Pleasant Hill. Realizing my mistake a day before the scheduled delivery, I called Amazon's customer service center, where I was told that it was too late to reroute the delivery. They kindly informed me that once a delivery attempt was made I could call UPS to have them reship the package to my Stanford address and Amazon would cover the costs. "Wow," I thought. "That's pretty cool."

Today, I called home and told them what was going down with my package and later in the day my mom called back to tell me that UPS had delivered the book. I called UPS, who told me to call Amazon and have them contact UPS directly. So then I called Amazon back to explain the situation. The lady on the phone told me that once a package is delivered, they can't really do anything about it, but that she would ship another text book to my Stanford address at no charge with one-day delivery. I checked my Amazon account just now, and sure enough, my book is scheduled to come tomorrow and the order balance is $0.00.

That's what I call service.

I plan to try to return the extra copy of the book (the one at my parent's house) to Amazon once I get the chance, but it's really surprising to me that Amazon would go to such lengths to satisfy their customers. Some awful awful people could take advantage of this, but I'm not one of them - consider me a loyal Amazon customer. :)

Routine

Some things are pretty routine around here. These are two that just popped into my head:

1) The sprinklers in the park outside my window go off at 11:30 PM.

2) The neighbor's baby starts crying for 10-20 minutes pretty much when the sprinklers come on.

I don't know if the baby doesn't like the sound of the sprinklers, or if the neighbors beat their baby every night at 11:30 to toughen him/her up.

You know what's funny? The week before school starts I usually have these nightmares where I can't find my classes or where things keep coming up so I never make it to school. I didn't get them this year, and I don't know if that's a good or bad thing.

This week HAS been busy, though. Orientations all week, went home for a half day, sister's birthday, got a bike, went to the Stanford-SJSU game, and read The Lost Symbol.

This post has been another episode of Ivan's Thought Diarrhea. Wish me luck for my first day at a new school!

Culture Shock

I mentioned how my roommates flew in from India a week ago, and that this is their first time in the US. They do speak perfect English (with an accent -cue Russel Peter's joke), and our conversations have been pretty interesting. Apparently, Stanford has programs to prepare international graduate students for assimilation into the US, giving advice on local slang, etiquette, etc...Some of the things are pretty hilarious:

"'Sick' is a term that can be used in a positive way: 'Man, that car looks so sick!'"

* If you see someone on the street, it's ok to smile and say "Hi."

* Do not eat your roommate's food. Food that is for everyone will be clearly marked.

* Replace the toilet paper roll if it's empty.

There were more, but I can't remember them right now. They do have handouts, though, so I'll try to get them and post some more.

Honestly, I've always seen myself as a tolerant person, but I didn't realize how many false concepts I had about Indian people until I found out who my roommates were. I guess it's a terrible result of hearing jokingly racist comments from the older generation about Indian people. I wouldn't consider my family to be racist because they don't treat people of other races as inferiors, but my Dad and Aunts and Uncles used to make jokes about everyone from Black people to Mexican people to Indian people at "dinner table" settings.

Fortunately, pretty much every preconception I had about Indian people has been destroyed over the past couple days. It's been really sweet living with Jithun and Vivek. I'll ask them about stuff in India, and they'll ask me about things in the US. Like road rules, advice on where to buy things, etc...Plus, we share all our food, so I've been trying the Indian food that they make and they try the Asian/American food that I make. In the words of my sociology professor at CAL, "Everyone is a closet racist, but some of us are recovering."

It's crazy to think that there's a good possibility that I'll be in their situation in a few years. That is, if my dream of living/working/studying in Europe ever comes to pass. I'd be in their situation exactly - able to speak the language somewhat, but immersed in a totally new environment with a different culture, rules, and customs. It's a pretty exciting thought, and I hope the Lord lets it happen.

Culture Shock: "the anxiety and feelings (of surprise, disorientation, uncertainty, confusion, etc.) felt when people have to operate within a different and unknown cultural or social environment, such as a foreign country."

Coming to Stanford is a bit of a culture shock, by the way. It seems like it's its own little bubble, and everything is too "perfect." I don't miss my problems (they're still there, but further in the back of my mind), but I do miss the real, raw environment of Berkeley. I'll admit that Berkeley is its own little bubble, but it seems more genuine than Stanford. Don't ever change, Ivan. I don't want to get too comfortable here.

On a side note, I looked up Stanford's Gospel Choir and they practice on Fridays during my small group meeting time. WAAAAAAA X'(. I miss CAL Gospel Choir.

It happened

I guess I have to grow up now. I have car payments, rent, health insurance, and I just cooked myself dinner.

Yeah, it's a pretty lame Saturday but I was too tired to do anything after losing sleep to watch the lightning, moving in the morning, getting groceries, driving around the area, and going to the gym. My mom and sister helped me get groceries at a Korean market, so that was pretty cool. It would have been a lot cooler if my sister didn't complain the whole time. I couldn't yell at her, though, because she gave me $100 bucks of her bonus earlier in the day. Love you, Channon!

It's different here (compared to Berkeley), but there are some nice things about the area. There's a lot of green and it's safe to bike, and I have some friends who live/work in the area (you know who you are). Plus, my sister (the complaining nice one I mentioned earlier) is close by and she works like 10 minutes away. One thing I do NOT like, however, is the fact that a lot of the food joints close early here. I just drove for a while and I swear - the only food place open that didn't have a bar-ish element to it was JITB. I don't really do fast food so this could be an issue.

There's an awesome all you can eat Korean BBQ place about 15 minutes away. It's a little pricy, but I definitely want to go sometime: http://www.yelp.com/biz/palace-bbq-buffet-sunnyvale#hrid:P7UBSIsotzZ9bItih04Lqw/src:search/query:korean bbq buffet

On to the room/roommates: It's a little small, and I got a little jacked because I was the last person here. The other two roommates are friends who flew in from India three days ago (hence, the jacked room situation). That alone had the potential to create weird roommate dynamics, but the one I met was pretty nice. The other one is visiting some family in Sunnyvale over the weekend. I'll let you know how things are once we're all here. They're both engineers, by the way - one is EE and the other is MSE.

The bed IS small, but I got a memory foam mattress topper and I brought my old comfy blanket so the sleep should be fine. I set up my room like it was at home:

Wow. I sound really boring. And like a fatty because all I talked about was food for the first half.

Tomorrow my goal is to find/steal a bike. And some new friends who don't have a hope of being as cool as the ones I already have. :)

Ready, Set, Go.

I move to Palo Alto tomorrow. This is going to be a short post, but I just wanted to write something here because I feel great right now. The Lord's really been cherishing me through my friends, family, small group, etc...and I feel like this time at Stanford is going to be really special. Thank you all for everything and being yourself.

I will update after I move there and send you all my address so you can visit me!

I hope my roommates are cool.

Peace.

Lord, You are My Only Goal

Singing session tonight was good. Tested out the mic and audacity's noise removal stuff

I'm really going to miss my dog

My sister's watching her this weekend, but as of next week, I'm really not going to have a dog. Darn Stanford grad housing and its no-pets rule.

I realized it when I came home today and she wasn't there to greet me. She wasn't sitting on the couch, watching for me from the window as I got out of my car, she wasn't at the door waiting as I walked up the steps to my house, and she wasn't jumping around and whining when I got inside.

It was even sadder when I opened a fresh box of cereal after I got home from the gym and she didn't come running out of my room, expecting to get some. Usually she's asleep at this time anyway, but if she hears the cues of my post-gym cereal time, she comes to the kitchen because I always give her some of my Cheerios.

:(

Endlessly/More Than Words/Man in the Mirror

I thought this was pretty cool

Bits

So I said that I'd post some things from the Training:

Class 1: The Full Ministry of Christ

The Lord's work to accomplish God's eternal purpose consists of three stages:

1) Incarnation (Most people know about this one) - God became a man, lived a human life for 33 1/2 years, and then died on the cross to redeem us. This was so that we would not be lost in our sins (John 3:16 - "...would not perish, but have eternal life). However, if there was only this stage, then at most we would only be a group of forgiven, cleansed, and justified believers. We could praise and worship God, but not be joined to Him in life and nature. This is why we need the next stage:

2) Inclusion: Here, the Lord operates in our being to make us the same as He is in life and nature. After He resurrected, He breathed into the disciples and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit (John 20:22)." 1 Cor. 15:45 says that the Last Adam became a Life Giving Spirit. This stage enables us to receive the life of the Lord, which allows us to abide in Him and Him to abide in us (John 15:5). This is the fulfillment of John 12:24, which says that the grain of wheat fell into the ground to produce many grains. 2 Cor. 3:18 "But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit."

3) Intensification: At the end of the age, the Lord's work as the Spirit is intensified to fight against the degraded situation. This is why in the book of revelation there are many references to "Seven Spirits (Rev. 3:1)," which can also be translated Seven-Fold Intensified. As the situation in the world gets worse, the Lord intensifies His work so that the Church can shine brighter as His expression on the Earth.

Wednesday Meeting: Stewards of the Mysteries of God - Christ in the Fulfillment of the Old Testament Prophecies

Psalm 102:25-27 "Of old You laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You endure; Indeed all of them will wear out like a garment, like clothing You will change them and they will be changed. But You are the same, and your years are without end."

The fulfillment of this is in Heb. 1:8-12 "But of the Son,...You in the beginning, Lord laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Your hands; They will perish, but You remain perpetually; and they will become old like a garment...but You are the same and Your years will not fail."

One thing I liked about the message is that the focus wasn't on the fulfillment of the prophecy, but on the fact that the Lord is the eternal One. One thing the speaker said was that this word is so encouraging because it shows that we have Someone who is eternal and unchanging. " Persons may change, disappointments may come, dreams may be broken, yet there is the eternal One who is the eternal Life in us, and we can know Him in a subjective way." In a way, it's kind of nice to know that nothing in our circumstances, whether it's good or bad, will last forever. Christ is the only eternal one. If you get a chance, read Isa. 53:1-12. Crazy that that was written about 800 years before the Lord came.

*Interesting fact: Job is probably the oldest book of the bible, written before the Pentateuch ("First" Five books of the bible written by Moses). Evidence: It was definitely written before the Law given in Exodus because of the way Job offered a burnt offering for his children (Job 1:5, compared with Genesis 22:13). Job also had a nomadic lifestyle (Job 1:3), similar to the way in which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived (From the class, The Triune God revealed in His Word).

That's it for now. But there were a lot of riches from the Training so I might put some more things down.

Green

I'm wondering if my obsession with green is becoming abnormal. I just realized how extensively it's pervaded my life:

My Room

My iPod

My Shirt Drawer (my boxers drawer is similar)

My Laptop Background

My Firefox Theme

My Glasses

There's plenty more, too (just check the blogger theme). What's interesting is that if you asked me what my favorite color was when I was a kid I probably would have said red. I don't even remember transitioning into having a new favorite color. What's even more interesting is that I'm slightly red-green colorblind, and they detected it when I turned 21.

In any case, the jasper is the birthstone for May babies. Just food for thought.

Experiment

Liked this song from small group, wanted to work out a harmony, and I'm messing around with this software on my new laptop.

To Love the Lord

It sounds terrible full volume. Cut it to half or lower if you're actually going to listen to it (this was more for me than for you).

Training 8-24 to 8-26

I might have mentioned this to some people, but my sister is taking a two-year break from school/work to attend a bible study school in Southern California. I'm actually not sure how to describe it (it's called the Full Time Training). It's not exactly a seminary because its purpose isn't to train people to have careers as ministers, priests, etc... - After graduating, some of the students do go on to serve full-time all over the world, but many go back to graduate schools or work full-time. I wouldn't call it a school of theology either because the students (trainees) go out to preach the gospel, meet with Christian students on campuses, and join small group meetings. I guess it's interesting because it's a comprehensive way to be constituted with the truths in the bible, experience God as life, and mature in the Lord. Anyway, I had a three day gap in my crazy summer so I decided to go visit my sister and some other church friends who went there. Plus, I wanted to check it out for a few days.

They call it "short-terming." Basically, you go for however long you want and attend the classes and follow the schedule of the training. Which, by the way, is kind of intense:

6 AM: Wake up, contact the Lord, dress, clean room

7-7:20 AM: Breakfast

7:20-7:55 AM: Morning Revival (This is a time of prayer, reading the bible, etc...)

8-9:30 AM: Class 1

9:30-9:45 AM: Break

9:45-11 AM: Class 2

11:30-12 NOON: Lunch

12:15-2:45 PM: Fellowship with team/Gospel Preaching

3-4 PM: Rest

4:15-4:45 PM: Study

4:45-5:45 PM: Greek Class (so you can read the original bible manuscripts)

5:45-6:15 PM: Dinner

7-9:30 PM: Meeting

10-10:15 PM: Prayer in homes

10:30 PM Sleep

It's funny. I was expecting to feel really awkward there because I'm usually weirded out by the idea of places like this, but it felt pretty normal from day one. Sure, there are some weird/annoying people but I didn't meet anybody more eccentric than the sort of people you'd find at CAL (refering to the students, not to people off the streets). It definitely helped that I knew some people there. If you asked me 6 months ago if I could see myself at a place like this I would have laughed in your face, but I'm really considering doing something like this in the future.

A little background: I grew up Christian, but I definitely wasn't the best Christian. I read the bible as a kid, went to church, etc...but as I got older I think I just wanted to be "normal." I probably realized at some point that some "religious" people can be a little (or a lot) odd, and if you know me at all you probably realize that I don't like to stick out. Also, I didn't like the connotation of being someone who was overbearing or proselytizing. As I got older, God began to play less of a role in my life - my time in the word and prayer decreased, and I kinda just went to church meetings as a ritual. I believed that God was real because of biblical evidence and how He worked in others, but God was never really real to ME. That changed over the past year.

So it seemed like a good time to try this bible school (that's what I'm going to call it) out. Here's my take on my three-day training experience: the depth of the truth in the classes was unlike anything I've seen (I'll post some bits later), gospel preaching for the first time was interesting (I like talking to people, but I've never talked to strangers about God before), and I want to learn Greek now. The environment of the Training is pretty strict (I forgot to mention that internet access is limited to mondays and phone use is limited to breaks - open to fellowship, though) and there aren't TVs, but it's pretty effective at ensuring that the people who are there mean business.

I guess I just wanted to get this outta my system and clarify any unusualness in my behavior during the past whatever span of time. I'm not crazy. It's just that this is the most satisfied I've been in my life and I don't want this feeling to fade away.

Sublimating.

Every once in a while I fall into an artistic mode and I paint/sketch for a few days. It's kinda like El Nino because it happens once every few years, but it's a lot less destructive. Actually, I guess it's more like when your mom starts using the bread machine.

Anyway, these are two things that I did over the past few days:



I didn't sketch the Parisian scene, but I did purchase it for like 2 euros in France. I think I mentioned that in my Europe blogs. Here's how it looks after I watercolored it. I dunno if I like it yet because it's a little too colorful and happy. Ideally, it would be cool if I could do the "night version" of it, but I don't have the skillage.



The next one was inspired by the decor of a Japanese Restaurant I ate at over the weekend. After David took the GREs this Saturday, a bunch of the bros and I took him to Yojimbo, a small Japanese restaurant in Alameda. It was a pretty cool place, with good music and nice paintings using black acryllic on whitewashed particle board sheets:





This is a bit of a tangent, but I'd recommend the place. The food was tasty (I'd go for the chirashi or ramen when I go back), and the service was good. Our food came a little late, which was understandable because we were a party of eight in a pretty small hole-in-the-wall place, and when the check came they gave us a 10% discount because of it. Pretty solid.

Anyway, on my way home I stopped by Home Depot and got cheap sheets of wood from the scrap pile along with some white paint. Then I went to Michaels and got red, blue, yellow, black, and white acryllic paint. I like mixing colors.

This is the first thing I came up with:



Cats like fish, right? I was going to paint a fish eating sushi before I realized how wrong that would be. I'm not going to paint the cat.

That's all for now. BUT I do have two more sheets of wood that I painted white. I'll post whatever I come up with when I come up with it.

Dreams

I totally forgot about this dream I had last night until I got to work. At first, I didn't even think it was a dream until I started to remember the supernatural elements in it:

I was in an auditorium watching a woman dancing on stage. It started out normally, but then a stream of water began spraying from the floor of the stage in a perfect arc. She leaped toward it and ran over the arc of water like it was a ramp, dancing with the quickest, lightest steps. I'd describe her as being like a hummingbird, only her movements weren't spastic or chaotic - whatever she was wearing was like a flowing river of white silk behind her.

The overall lighting was a peaceful midnight blue, and even though there was a spotlight on her, it seemed like the only light in the auditorium was from the moon.

When she got to the other side of the arc, the stream of water turned into falling snow, which began to blanket the stage. The lighting changed to a blinding white light. The woman danced under the falling snow for a few meters of the music, and then the lights in the auditorium faded away as the music died down.

It was beautiful beyond words, but... why???

I almost want to sketch a picture of it or something

---

On another note, my sister texted me last night to let me know that she got back from Europe.

"I just landed in lax :( ddnt want to come back"

I didn't get it until this morning because I went to sleep really early last night, but it made me feel awful when I saw it this morning because I know exactly how she feels - it made me recall how I felt during my last night in Athens and on the flight back home. I'm realizing that if I don't go back, that will have been the happiest time of my life.

I'm glad she had an awesome time, though. I've been praying for her and the Lord's move in Europe.

Now I have this rain cloud over me at work. I shouldn't be blogging, but I had to get it out of my system. I'll stay a little later today.

life

It's crazy how big of an effect three weeks can have on your life. I was expecting (pessimistically) to revert to my old self upon my return to the States, but it's been over five weeks since I've been back and I'm still flying high. And it's not like I haven't been through some things since I've been back that could have pushed me down.

Exhibit #1: After two weeks of volunteering on a construction project for a Christian conference center and a week long Christian conference in Southern California, I totaled my car while driving back up to the bay. The whole experience has been really interesting, and I picked my brain for weeks trying to figure out how/why it happened.

Here's the reenactment of the accident: I was right at the 580-680 interchange, in bumper-to-bumper traffic. I figured it was a good time to drink some water because nothing was really happening on the road, so I picked up a water bottle and unscrewed the cap. Somehow, it slipped out of my hand completely open, and fell on my side of the car drenching the floor of the driver's side. I looked down to assess the damage/retrieve the bottle (didn't want it to stick under the pedals), and when I looked back up, all the cars were stopped. I braked hard (I was only going like 10-15 miles an hour, so I wasn't in danger of getting hurt), but it was too late. I rear ended a silver pickup truck, and we pulled over to the side to assess the REAL damage. It didn't even look like anything happened to the truck, but this is what happened to my car:



Basically, the truck was tall and had a narrow metal bar attached to the bumper. It hit my hood (not the bumper) in the perfectly wrong spot, pushing the engine in a few inches and pulling the rest of the front up. It was a terrible, terrible example of the effects impulse, stress concentrations, and conservation of momentum can have. Sometimes it sucks being an engineer because you can describe these things in technical terms.

The funny thing is that I didn't even get that adrenaline rush when it happened (I wasn't going that fast), and I just started to call on the Lord softly and pray. Apparently, a cop was a few cars behind us, saw it happened, and took care of the exchanging of info for us. He told me not to worry because I have insurance, and my automatic response surprised me: "Yeah, and it's a good opportunity to experience the Lord's supply, too." The cop gave me a funny look (I think he was expecting me to have a nervous breakdown or something), gave me directions back to the freeway, and then took off.

Miraculously, I was able to drive my car home going 50 in the slow lane - the engine was making funny sounds - and during the 30 minute trip, a car in front of me was driving just as slowly and had the license plate "GRACE." That was a sign right there. It was like the Lord was telling me that I can experience His grace, no matter what happens to me. Either that, or some 60 year old Asian lady named Grace got a car for her birthday. I like the first explanation better.

This is the aftermath: AAA came to check out the car, deemed it a total loss, and wrote me a check for $13,481. We still owed $2400 on the car, so I came out with $11,081 (the blue book price of the car is $9000). I spent the last three weeks researching cars, working out insurance issues, and buying a car (which was a really enlightening, but time-consuming experience). These are the major details:

1) No one was injured, and the other vehicle didn't report damage.
2) I used the check from AAA as the down payment on a 2010 Corolla LE. My sister came with me to check out dealerships (thanks Channon!!!), and we got it for $16,800 out the door, including tax and license (Invoice was $16300). We got a better deal on it than on the 2009s that we looked at, and it was an even better deal than my 2005 Corolla S was. It was pretty funny because after we got the offer my sister went outside to call other Toyota dealers in the bay area (we had their phone numbers), and they said that they couldn't beat it and to take the offer. Go Fremont Toyota. The saleslady, Becca, was pretty cool too.

It's actually a really good time to buy a car. Toyota has $1000 rebates for recent college graduates, APRs are really low, and a new law allows you to deduct the sales tax of a new car purchased after February 2009. If you have an old car that gets less than 21 MPG, you can get a $3500-$4500 rebate through the Cash for Clunkers program, too.



A lot of consideration went into the car I chose. I wanted something safe, reliable, with good fuel economy, that I could pay off in three years (in case I decide to go to Europe), and that would be big enough in case I need to transport people/items. I almost got a Yaris because I thought they would be cheaper, but it was only about a $1000 difference in final price.
3) AAA opened up a new policy for me (I was under my parent's plan before), and because I have good grades/safety features on the new car the premium on my new plan is pretty much unchanged from what it was on my parent's plan. It essentially didn't affect my parents or my car insurance plan financially. I do have one point on my record because of the accident, though. It'll be taken off in three years.
4) Most importantly, the experience was not stressful at all. I really have been experiencing the Lord's grace and peace.

Basically, I got a new car for under $7,000, I'm building credit (I took over the car payments), and no one was hurt. Someone shared 1 Peter 1:7 with me, which says "So that the proving of your faith, much more precious than of gold, which perishes though it is proved by fire, may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." That's the only way I can explain this experience.

Exhibit #2: This one isn't as big. The day after I totaled my car, and during my first week back to working full time, I got the flu. I went to work with a fever that whole week, while dealing with new tasks and sorting through the car insurance paperwork. It was like rubbing salt in a cut, but I was still happier that week than I was before I went to Europe.

There are at least two more big things that happened/are happening, but I don't feel like sharing them on my blog because they're about my family members.

I don't think this trip had such a big effect on me merely because I've never traveled far - it's something a lot deeper than that. I know that I will travel a lot more in the future, but this experience will always be special because I've never experienced God being this real to me. Interestingly, the biggest thing I noticed is that I don't really like to drink anymore. I did drink a little twice with my friends after I got back, but nothing major. I haven't told anyone this, but I used to drink by myself at night - not at "alcoholic" levels, but enough to get me to sleep and enough for it not to be normal. Now, all I need is to go to the gym and I can sleep ok. That's a pretty big blessing.

This pretty much brings me back to today. I finally caught up to life (or it caught up with me), and now you know why I've been MIA since I've been back to the bay. And why I have a new ride.

Somewhere over the Atlantic and Then Back Home 6/10/09

Funny thing happened at the airport this morning. As we were checking into our flight an employee came to us and asked us why we came to Athens and where we stayed. We told them we were traveling tourists, visiting the city and other Christians, and that we stayed with some Christians we got in contact with here. When the guy asked us how long we knew them for, we were like, "uh...four days?" When we tried to explain how we got connected with the Reddys, he waved his hand to stop us from speaking, and put stickers on our passports. Uh oh...

After we checked in, we headed over to our gate but the employee looked at our passports and told us to step aside. Soon, they were going through everything in our bags and unfolding our clothes. David and I even got separated and got patted down in separate closed off rooms. I was pretty calm because we didn't have anything incriminating. I'm just glad they stopped short of a body cavity search. Sheesh.

I didn't realize what was going on at the time, but I just realized that the Greek Orthodox church is pretty ubiquitous here, and they probably don't like other Christian groups affecting their dominance. We had no intention of coming as missionaries or anything, but it probably seemed suspicious to them that two Asian guys came to Athens to meet with other Christians. Lesson learned - I'll know how to get through customs more efficiently next time.

We're somewhere over the Atlantic right now, about 5 hours into our 10 hour+ flight. I'm trying not to sleep so that I can adjust to Pacific time when I get back home. Basically, every time the flight attendant walks by I order a hot coffee. I'm glad I saved my headphones from the first flight because the Pink Panther 2 was pretty hilarious (surprisingly!). Paul Blart, not so much.

---

I'm back home now. We ate Chinese fast food during our layover in New York, and then Chris and Frank picked us up from SFO. Then, my mom got me from Berkeley. It's about 1 AM and I'm getting packed to go down to Socal for Rya's, Sean's, and Brandon's graduations. Crazy, huh?

What's crazier is that I'm going to go to the gym in a little bit - I haven't been for over two weeks now and I've convinced myself that I'll have trouble sleeping if I don't go. I should be jetlagged because of the 14 hour time difference, but whatever.

I miss Europe. Sigh...it's only an ocean away.

Isle Be Back 6/9/09

Ok. That was corny. But I'm having a lot of trouble coming up with titles for these posts!

We ate the included breakfast at the hostel this morning, which consisted of cakes, jams, cereal, nutella, and eggs. Two comments: 1) it was a weird combination, but really high in energy. 2) I've noticed that the hard boiled eggs in every country we've visited have been different. The major difference is in the yolks, which have ranged in color from orange to pale yellow. I wonder if it has to do with what you feed the chicken.

After eating, we walked up the street to rent an ATV. We wanted to explore the island, and we didn't want to take a bus or taxi back to the port (we found out that you can pick up ATVs on one side of the island and return them on the other).



I actually haven't driven one since I was 12, but it was pretty easy to pick up - just gas and brake. We dropped by the hostel one last time to pick up our bags, check out, and say bye to John and Maria, the hostel managers. Yesterday, John said something interesting to us - we've gotten to be pretty cool with each other, and while we were talking, he said "I can tell you guys are good people because of something in your faces." As we were checking out, I read a 2 Corinthians 3:18 to him: "But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit." We told him that it's not us, but that we've been enjoying the Lord for the past two weeks. He nodded in understanding, and we exchanged contact information with him and Maria. I want to stay in touch. I like knowing people all over the world.

Before we took off on the ATV, Maria ran to a neighbor's store and bought us big shells from the island to remember them by. It was pretty sweet. We took a group picture together, did the Greek two cheek kiss thing, and then sped away.



For the next 4 hours, we drove through the island



and then around the coast, stopping at nice beaches to swim or climb on rocks. It was pretty awesome.













The best place we went to was on the northwest corner of Aegina - the water was warm and as transparent as glass, the sand was white and soft, and there were no waves (the other islands block big waves from hitting Aegina). It was a huge aquamarine swimming pool, and when you opened your eyes under water you could see out for miles. That's how clean it was. I have a new beach standard - Hawaii, you've been demoted.



We got to Aegina Marina at 2 PM to return the ATV, and then went to a small restaurant to eat. Guess what we ate? Gyros! I think we've eaten 10 during our stay in Greece, and I can tell you that I probably won't eat them for a while when I go back home. It was a pretty good deal, though. Two gyros and a soda for 6 euros.

At 3:30 PM we got on the ferry back to Piraeus, and watched a guy feeding seagulls all the way back. It was pretty cool. He would toss bits of bread up, and the seagulls would keep up with the ferry (which was going at a pretty good pace), catching the bread out of the air.



I should have put on more sunblock because I was wearing a tank and got pretty sunburned on my shoulders. Oh well. I'm pretty tan now :)

After we got to Piraeus, we metroed and walked back to the Reddy's flat for a quick shower (we were still salty from swimming in the sea), and then headed back out to get some packaged desserts and candy to take back (it was too hard to find any souveniers worth buying - everything was so cheap and fragile, and I didn't want to stuff it in my backpack). The foil wrapped baklavas were supposed to be decent, so I got a bag to bring home. I hope they make it back ok.

When we went back to the Reddy's, we helped them bring some old furniture down to the street (they had just recently moved). What's interesting here is that there aren't any thrift stores so people just leave their old things - furniture, clothes, etc... - in the street for other people to take (from what I heard, Albanians make up the bulk of the lower class here).

It was pretty funny because we brought a table down, and when we went up to bring the sideboard down, the table was already gone. Someone must have been watching us from their window or something. They left the sideboard until we came back down with the drawers.

Michael made us some bomb nachos for dinner, but I could only eat a little bit because of the cheese. We talked about things we could pray for for the saints in Athens and the political situation here. It was pretty chill, just eating and talking. At one point, David put a piece of melon on Sophia's plate, which she, apparently, didn't like. Her reaction was pretty hilarious. She didn't cry, but just got this sad expression on her face, walked over to her dad, and sat on his lap with her head buried in his chest. We eventually figured out what was wrong, so David took the melon off and everything was ok.

Aliki and Thomas came home from visiting her father in Gizi, and we chatted and took a family picture before Aliki put Thomas and Sophia to bed. Then, Aliki gave us a bag of Greek pistachios to take home. They're the national nut here, and taste different than the ones in the states - they're not as dense, and have a pretty distinct flavor when roasted.

Michael and Aliki just went to bed, and we're getting ready to fly home tomorrow. We have to take the metro to Syntagma Square, then the X95 bus back to Athens International Airport. After a four hour layover in New York, we'll be flying back to SFO where Chris is going to pick us up. I'm sad to leave, but excited to see my graduating friends.

I'm really surprised I kept this journal thing going for the whole trip. Everything happened so quickly, but at least I have a record of the important things. I'll put these notes in my blog when I get back home.

I just realized how crazy it is that I fly back tomorrow, and the next afternoon I'm driving down to socal. Gotta keep going - life's too short!

THINGS I ATE IN EUROPE THAT I WANT TO MAKE WHEN I GO HOME:

*Bread with olive oil and pesto/sundried tomato dip (At Ace's in London)
*Baklava - (Various places in Greece) - success!
*Macarons - (In Paris)
*Seafood - (Various places in Greece)
*Gyros - (Various places in Greece) - I might wait a while before I tackle this one...
*Pasta with olive oil, basil, tomatoes, salt, and pepper (Rome) - success!

Leaving, on a Ferry Boat 6/8/09

We woke up at 6 AM as planned, and then walked to the metro to take the train to Piraeus Port. This is the major port that has ferries to the isles.



After looking around to find a booth that sold ferry tickets (it was still a holiday), we ended up being about half an hour for the early ferry, so we went into a cafe, got some pastries, and chilled at the ferry gate. I got a big donut, which was breadier than the ones in the U.S. David got this donut that looked like a cactus and was covered in syrup. It was one of those things that you eat, but the whole time you're eating it you're like, "why am I still eating this?"



We finally got on the ferry around 9, and went to the upper deck to see the view and get some fresh air. As soon as the boat left the port, it was amazing to see how blue the water got.



Piraeus was understandably dirty, but I've never seen bluer water than the water on the way to Aegina. Also, the ferries here are more like cruises - they have lounges and a bar on the bottom deck. It's pretty nice for how much the tickets are.





It was only an hour to the island, so we took a cat nap and read/soaked in the sun. Once we got to Aegina, we found out that our hostel was on the other side of the island at Aghia Marina, so we took a taxi to get there (the wasn't going to leave for another two hours). I totally crashed on the taxi ride over, but the driver was pretty chill. It ended up being a pretty expensive ride - 14 euros vs. a 2 euro bus ride.

Once we got to Aghia Marina, we circled around for a bit trying to find the hostel. Unlike our Paris experience, though, this was during the daytime and we were on the coast with some spectacular views of the sea. It was actually pretty good because we got a chance to scope out our corner of the island and look at some good places we wanted to eat at.



Arriving at Hotel Rachel, we were happy to discover that it was only a one minute downhill walk to the "best beach on Aegina." I thought the manager, John, was just trying to sell the place, but the beach is pretty nice.

Unfortunately, our room wasn't ready so we left our backpacks behind the desk and went out for our legit seafood lunch. We got a seafood plate for two, which came with Haddock, Dorade (two types of fish), prawns, calamari, and four small fish. It was fresh and oh so good:



About 20 minutes later, it was gone and we were happy:



Too bad they don't have Dorade in the States. That was my favorite thing on the plate.

We walked back and our rooms were ready, so we dropped off our stuff, changed, and went to the beach. We swam for three hours, leaving only because the tide was coming in and clouding up the water. We laid on the sand for a little, buried some water bees, and found some pretty cool shells.



Aghia Marina is nice and peaceful, but we found out that the area is pretty small and consists mostly of tourist shops, grocery stores, hostels, and small restaurants. After swimming, we decided to head back to Aegina Marina the other side of the island to see what was up.

One crazy bus ride in the hills, and we were there. The bus ride was pretty insane (and now we know why it was so cheap) - basically, the buses here drive wrecklessly on narrow, winding two-lane roads on the side of a hill, swerving around curves and going off road if another bus comes by. The bus driver kinda looked like Otto from "The Simpsons," too.

Aegina Marina was just a large scale version of Aghia Marina, but we were craving grilled octopus so we ordered a small order (really good and not rubbery!):



While we were waiting for the octopus, we walked by a man in an alleyway with a kid (looked about four years old) lying inert across his lap. The kid was emaciated, and I felt like death when I saw him. It was even worse that the man looked completely defeated. As we walked passed and kept going, I had this strong feeling that I had to do something so I went into a store and got water for the man and milk for the kid - we were in a touristy area so there wasn't much else. But when we went back, they were gone! I felt sick, but I guess there's nothing I could have really done. I hope they're alright.

After we ate, we took the bus back to Aghia Marina. On the way to the bus we met a fascinating Greek lady named Kataryna, who we recognized because we saw her swimming near us at the beach earlier in the day (we were the furthest people out). She's over 40, but still seems young. She told us she loves to travel, and I think that's why she retained her youth. I really think that traveling = fountain of youth.

Interestingly, while we were talking to her the conversation turned to God (again...this keeps happening), and she talked about how the major religion here is the Greek Orthodox Church. The way she described it sounded pretty similar to Roman Catholocism, and although she said that she didn't follow the Orthodox church she said that sometimes she thought about God. One striking thing she said was that "all people are seeking something." I wish I had my bible on me because I could have shared Ecclesiastes 3:11 with her: "God placed eternity in man's heart."

When we got back to Aghia Marina, we went out to get gyros for dinner (again...this keeps happening). We ate them on the balcony of our room, and talked. It was pretty nice until the people in the room next to us started to smoke off of their balcony, so we went out to go get some drinks and fruit at the grocery store.

A funny thing happened when we came out of the store: Three little girls were playing at the storefront (it was family-owned), and they tried to speak to us in broken English. One pointed at us and said, "Jackie Chan?" to which the other one said "Beautiful Jackie Chans!" after we laughed at the first girl. I guess they never see Asian people out here. I like how the kids aren't shy here. People love kids in Greece, and we've even seen old people on buses get up to give their seats to children. It's really sweet.

Another thing that surprised me is how crazy the work hours are here on the island. It was after 11 when we went to the store, so we asked the owner what time he starts in the morning. "7 AM," he said. The hostel managers, John and Maria, who we've gotten to be good friends with, have similar hours (they own a shop attached to the lobby). Even though they work all day, people here seem happier. I wonder what makes life here different from the States. Maybe it's the lack of traffic or the proximity to nice beaches. Whatever it is, I would love to live here some day.



When we got back to the hostel, it was still nice out so we walked to the beach to watch the moon rise.



It was calm, and eerily peaceful. We watched eddies created by schools of fish, which disturbed the dark water under the moonlight. Then we walked along the coast as the tide rose, putting the island to sleep.

We realized that it was getting late, so we went to the hostel, showered off, and soon I was out like a light. It's pretty weird, but I've gotten some of my best nights of sleep and worst nights of sleep on this trip.

I have to say that it was an awesome day.

Sunday Morning 6/7/09

...Rain is falling. Just kidding! It's the second day of the heat wave and it reached over 100 degrees here today.

The Lord's Table meeting ("Sunday Service") in Athens was pretty interesting. We met in Luke and Lily's house (in Acts, the saints met from "house to house"), started at 10:30 AM, sang a few hymns, and then had the table (broke bread, drank the wine - Luke 22:19-20). This might be slightly inappropriate, but the wine was pretty good :) .



Usually the meetings we have start at 10 and go straight until noon, but here we took a break at noon to have some refreshments. The cookies were awesome, and I ate a whole bunch of cherries before someone told me that the ones here can give you diarrhea if you eat too many. Great.

The prophesying meeting (not foretelling the future, but speaking from the Bible) began at 1, and I realized that it's getting easier and easier for me to speak. I think it might be partly due to the fact that multiple languages are spoken in the meetings here (in Athens, Greek, English, Mandarin, and Russian are represented), which requires translation. For the speaker, this gives you a little bit of time between sentences to recollect your thoughts.

At 2, we ate lunch together, potluck style. The food was bomb - someone made rice, and I didn't realize how much I missed it until I saw the cooker on the table. There were also boiled prawns, octopus, pork, beef (spicy!), and bread with a delicious eggplant spread. We stuffed our faces and then headed back to the Reddy's flat around 3.



It was pretty hot by this time because of the head wave in Athens, so we walked to the metro to take the tram to the beach. Unfortunately, other people had the same brilliant idea so it was a pretty long and crowded ride. We took the Reddy's advice - "The further you go, the better the beaches are" - and were some of the last people off of the tram. The beach we went to was ok (along Possidonos Rd), but one part was really dirty. It was pretty funny because on the marina/boating side, there were fish and crabs in the murky water, and over a dividing wall was a colorful pebble beach with relatively clear water.



We swam a bit because the clear water close to shore was really cool and inviting, but once we got further out, it became green and murky. I always creep myself out when I swim in murky water because I imagine that a shark or something is swimming under me (cue the "Jaws" music).



We decided to head back to shore because we didn't feel secure enough to leave my backpack on the sand unattended to. Our passports were in the bag - we've been carrying them around because we don't want any three hour jail tours. It was still warm, so we just laid on the beach and chilled. It's been pretty nice not to spend our entire days walking.

On the way back to the Reddy's we picked up some dessert, which was a challenge because it was a holiday (Election Day) and most stores were closed. We eventually found an open bakery, so we picked up some baklavas and tarts.

It was pretty awesome to discover that they had dinner ready for us when we got back! They were out helping someone move, but they left a tomato stew, roast chicken, salad, and potatoes in the fridge. It as sooooo good.

After our second awesome meal of the day (or 4th, if you count the little snacks), we went to Luke and Lily's to book the hostel for our night on Aegina, the isle closest to Athens. Luke and Lily are the closest people we know who have internet - it's a commodity that isn't as available here as it is in the States. We found a pretty good deal on a hostel: 14 euros a person for a private room with two double beds, a bathroom, and breakfast. Hotel Rachel, we'll be seeing you tomorrow.

Luke wasn't feeling well, so we left early and walked back to the Reddy's. They were home, so we talked about the recent election and Greek government over dessert:



From bottom right, counterclockwise, that's a baklava roll, banana chocolate pastry, walnut shortbread, and I dunno what (big square chocolate cream-filled baklava?). That big chocolate covered thing was actually one piece, but we cut it into fours.

Anyway, we're planning to sleep early tonight - we want to wake up at 6 (6 hours of sleep...) to take a ferry to Aegina. I'm really looking forward to the crystal clear warm water, soft sand, great seafood, and most importantly, no sharks!

Sigh...the sad thing is that once we get back from the island, we pretty much have to just pack, go to sleep, and head out the next morning for the airport to catch the plane back home.

I'm not going to think about it anymore. I have a feeling that Aegina is going to be awesome.