Spring break '08 is over :(

Woweee. i just had an awesome spring break. IN MIAMI!!! don't know where to start!

ok so..i was really quite reluctant n unexcited to go with 55 people to miami for a lot of reasons. i didn't really know anyone in the group and they all seemed crazy and alot of them knew each other already..wasn't really looking forward to the 2days of driving to miami..not excited about doing hard labor over break when i'm supposed to rest.

BUT...God is SO good. He really is. everything really does happen for a reason. and He put me on this trip for a reason. it was awesome!!!!

so we started off last friday morning driving 5 vans for the whole day..passed by Kentucky and arrived at Georgia late at night. stayed at a shabby community centre..was soooo tired from being stuck in the van the whole day i went straight to bed. the ride wasn't so bad..got to know the 10 other people in my van pretty well since we were all squished together for hours.

Saturday morning we cleaned up around the community centre then went to work on a house for the Fuller Centre for housing. it was really cool cause they were the ones who started Habitat for Humanity so it was awesome to meet the guy who started it all. met the family whose house we were working on..they were a black family..a mum and 2 older daughters. it was pretty touching, seeing how they were all emotional/excited that we were there to help. and it really struck me that this trip wasn't just about building houses. it turned out to be a form of ministry to others. helping homeless people have a roof over their heads. and the family was SO thankful, it really made me realize that what we were doing was really God's work.

so we got to work on the roof. i was quite freaked out cause obviously i've never done this before!! so i helped pick up debris around the house with some other girls who were afraid to go on the roof too. but after a while i got bored n was itching to go up, so i did. kinda scary at first cause obviously i had visions of me falling to my death. but it was alright..hammered nails into the wooden boards. didn't really know what i was doing..but the guys were really helpful. spent the whole afternoon working. tiring! took a nap in the evening..played around at the community centre n hung out n got to know more people..

had worship and small groups in the evening..we shared about things we were thankful for..and i was just really surprised by how everyone came together so well and worked hard n never even complained. some people even did stuff like sweeping up the leaves that they didn't have to do. it was just nice to see how everyone was so willing to do whatever they could to help out.

we were talking about how Easter Sunday was the next day..but it didn't really feel like easter. everyone was saying how they normally celebrate easter with painting easter eggs n stuff..and i kinda realized how i always put emphasis on Jesus' death on the cross and how He sacrificed so much for us..but i never really thank Him for His resurrection and His victory over death. know what i mean? like i remember His act of washing away my sins but i tend to forget the other part where He rose from the dead. which is equally as important. that just struck me and i don't know how come i never realized it before.

Sunday was EASTER!!! OMG. we had such an interesting experience we'll never forget. so we went to this little church in Plains, Georgia..where JIMMY CARTER, the 39th PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES was teaching sunday school. ?!?!?!?!?!?!!!

it was a complete shock to us when we realized that. isn't that so cool???? i got to see jimmy carter! and we took group pics with him too!! although i feel sorry for him cause most of the pple in the church were visitors and they obviously only came to see him n take pics with him. i would hate to do that every sunday! plus there were Secret Service agents SWARMING the place. it felt more like a museum than a church service. this awful woman talked to us for a whole hour on what not to do when jimmy carter arrived. she became the butt of our jokes for the rest of the trip. it was like her whole life revolved around him. haha.

he was actually kinda boring in person. not as charismatic as i would have thought. and the whole service took like 3++ hours. the most boring thing EVER. but pretty hilarious. the choir was SO tone deaf. the pastor wore a creepy tie with baby heads and he was obviously trying to act like the kids love him but he was just weird. the sermon was only like 15 mins. it was really weird. everyone fell asleep at least 5 times throughout this whole ordeal. omg. such an experience.

we talked about it nonstop afterward. haha. had an Easter lunch before continuing our driving to Miami, Florida!!!! was so excited on the way there. finally reached at night and crashed at the church. all i can say is, thank God the church had air mattresses. it made our sleep sooo much better. and the guys were so nice. they gave the limited air mattresses to the girls. its times like these that i love being a girl :)

Monday was our free day!!!! went to the beach to play. sadly, it was cloudy n cold. but it was still fun. played soccer, frisbee, took walks, played in the water..got a little more tanned :) still getting to know more people. it's hard to get to know everyone cause there's like 55 of us..but i got to have some good conversations with pple. :)

got briefed by Habitat for Humanity..went to another church for dinner. they were sooo nice to make dinner for all of us! it was us Taylor pple plus 3 other groups from other universities. was cool. although the pple from the other group we worked with were....pretty darned lazy. hahaha. we were always like super excited to work, and they mostly stood around n watched us. oh well. i love our group!! we're so hyper n crazy n entertaining :)

Tuesday...first day of work!!!! worked from 7am till 3pm tues till fri. whoaa. really tiring. since miami traffic is awful, we had to get up at like 5am everyday to get ready n leave cause it takes an hour to get to anywhere in miami. hardly got any sleep this break, but it was ok.

so..mum was kinda paranoid about me going on this trip cuz construction work isn't the safest in the world, and some pple got nails stuck in their shoe, blood blisters, all kinds of injuries. and the last thing my mum wanted me to do was work on the roof. she was like, anything but that. but guess what? ironically, God had something else in mind for me. we randomly split into 5 groups to work on different houses..some pple did painting, some lay concrete/grass, some worked on the roof. and yes, my group was the one on the roof. i would've laughed if i wasn't so freaked out.

as i climbed the shaky ladder up to the roof, i was seriously terrified. the roof was like 20 times steeper than the one in Georgia!!! omg. we had 5 girls and 5 guys in our group, and the girls were all huddling together, too scared to venture anywhere. there were 2 guys working for Americorp who were helping supervise us, since we had no supervisor at our site. and they gave us the option of doing other stuff if we were uncomfortable on the roof, but i knew that wasn't an option for me. after all, i was here to challenge myself n it just wouldn't feel right if i left my group to do other stuff. so i stuck with it. and kept telling myself i'll get used to it. and I DID!!!

it was amazing. at first i totally sucked hammering nails into the tar paper cuz obviously i never touched a hammer before. but the guys were soooo encouraging n supportive. i was really touched. and i really worked hard! only took like a short break for lunch then continued working.

by the end of the day i was sore EVERYWHERE. arms sore cause hammering nails all day. fingers sore cause occasionally would hammer my fingers when i missed the nail. (but compared to others, my fingers were in great shape. a lot of people had blood blisters. thank God i was fine) back sore from bending over n hammering. knees sore from having to constantly balance and keep myself from falling to my death. it was freaky cause there were sharp pieces of wood and nails poking out from the ground surrounding the house. so if any of us fell, we would definitely be falling to our deaths. so THANK GOD we're all fine :) 

well except for this guy in our group - paul - who got his leg run over by our van in a freak accident cause they were playing a game n things just got outta control. so he had 2 broken bones n had to be rushed to the hospital. we were all scared for him. but he had SUCH a great attitude about it..he was like, thank God i've only 2 broken bones in my ankle n none in my foot..he's such a trooper. he flew home early n had surgery n now he's fine thank God. and we could really see how great the group was as we all came together to support him.

anw by the end of the trip i was so used to being on the roof..it was like our second home!! my work group was so bonded together. love it!!! everyone was so encouraging n awesome :) we were all so psyched to get on the roof every morning. it was funny to see how much we progressed. i even went all the way to the edge of the roof by the second day to hammer stuff n smear tar. i surprised even myself. was pretty cool to get outta my comfort zone n conquer my fears!! :)

 so by the end of the trip we got the roof almost done with shingles n stuff, and we painted the house..and it was pretty! yay! and my group was so awesome..we got done early on wed n sneaked off to miami beach to reward ourselves. haha. it was our little secret. i got sooo tanned! think i've never been this tan before. have like 5 different shades of color on my body from wearing different kinds of shirts everyday. got burnt on my shoulders too. miami sun is no joke!

got to try cuban food at the restaurant near where we stayed!! it was AWESOME. yummy. hung out alot with different people every night..so fun!!! went to downtown miami to this restaurant - Bubba Gump - modeled after the movie Forrest Gump. was wayy cool. everything in it was originally from the movie..and the dishes were named after stuff in the movie. wish spring break didn't have to end :(

the last day was intense! we were all called halfway through the day for a sod emergency. meaning we had to go help lay chunks of grass on the concrete. was super gross. i never knew grass came in chunks n u just lay them together like puzzle pieces! i always thought u grow them outside the house. anw..i helped move grass for a while. was super disgusting. but no one complained cause we're awesome like that :) the grass was full of fire ants, worms n other bugs that bit me. was soo glad when we got it all done. ugh. but it was just awesome to see our group come together like that n do our best even though the work was gross.

had small groups almost every night..my small group did this thing where we drew other people's names randomly n had to 'observe' them for the day to see positive stuff about them we could encourage them for. it was fun to encourage people and be encouraged. love my small group! it was pretty amazing to see how 55 of us totally bonded throughout the trip. we even had a family dinner the last day..felt like a huge, crazy family. we were fed sooo well this whole trip i totally probably gained weight. haha. although i did do hard labor everyday too. so it was a balance :)

the Habitat for Humanity staff brought us bowling to thank us for all the work we did. it felt pretty awesome to be able to be part of this whole ministry. the house i was working on was for this 20 year old girl who had two kids. so sad! and the neighborhood was kind of ghetto. there was a young girl walking around everyday in skanky clothes whom we suspected was a prostitute. and we suspected the house across from us was a drug dealer cause fancy cars kept stopping there all day for a few mins n then driving off suspiciously. it was pretty interesting.

then we drove back on sat afternoon after cleaning up..drove throughout the night nonstop and finally reached Indiana on sunday morning. super tiring man. i'm not a fan of road trips anymore. got to catch up on sleep. but felt bad for the drivers cause they had to drive so much. they were constantly stuffing themselves with candy n caffeine to keep awake. heh. went to waffle house for breakfast today.

my first experience at an all american greasy diner! had choc chip waffles n hashbrowns. was really quite greasy but good. but felt nauseated after that. first and last time there. we all came back to Taylor with mixed feelings. sad to be back for classes n cold weather. no more sun n palm trees! but glad to be back at our 'second home' and see friends again :)

so yeah! i learned so much about myself, about others, about God from this trip. glad i had the opportunity to be a part of this ministry cause it's so different from anything i've ever done. got to challenge myself physically, relationally, emotionally, spiritually..got to get out of my comfort zone..learned that i am stronger than i think i am. didn't know i was capable of sleeping on the floor, having less than 5 hours every night n still functioning, doing labor i've never done before, building relationships with people i've never met before.. i can indeed do all things through Christ who strengthens me! :)

whoa that was a long post.

Miami here we come

this week was...omg. ups and downs.
monday was a long day. had small group with the girlies on my floor..pigged out and shared stuff we love about each other. awwww..so sweet. everyone was like..no one can ever hate you cuz you're just sooo nice n easygoing..to me. haha. i just find it so funny that pple always say that to me! does that mean other people are hate-able? anw i love my SG..and the girls on my wing. hope i can find a roomie to stay on the wing with next year..cuz my roomie's gonna study abroad in HK in the fall :(

tues was another long day. learnt how to do photography in the studio..lighting n everything. was so cool! my next project will be about people. so fun! excited. wish i could be in the pics instead of taking them though. i'm really enjoying photography now. it's actually pretty cool :)

after a longgg dinner hanging out n laughing like mad in the DC (someone said when i said 'tsk tsk' it sounded like a squirrel. random.) i spent like 3 hours in the communications building recording sungah, capri and luke for my digital audio project for a promo for my parents' BSM (Building strong marriages) courses. it was hilarious! we laughed like never before. capri n luke were sooo good as the loving/arguing couple. hope it all turned out fine! gonna be editing the audio tmr.

today was a BAD day. guess why. idiot professor from historic christian belief got my blood BOILING. and i never get angry. but HE made me soooooo....pissed off. firstly, he is without a doubt the worst teacher EVER. he somehow managed to convey that babies go to hell when they die and it's ok to murder. huh. wonder where he gets his info from. and then he expects us to memorize the whole bible because we have to state scripture references for EVERY.SINGLE. fact. that..is just humanly impossible. we have other classes n commitments too u know! it's not like this is the only class we are spending all our time on. so we got our test results back and i got a freakin C. and then he changed it to a freakin D. and the class average was a freakin F. tell me does that say something's wrong with the prof or what??? because i KNOW we all studied hard for this idiot's test. and i have NEVER gotten a C before!!! (at least in taylor cuz we all know singapore's education system is insane)

and so today me and 2 other pple confronted him (another thing that makes me angry - my stupid class either too cowardly to stand up to him, or they're all way too nice/naive christians who tolerate this idiot n so they lose out grades-wise) and he was just like, this is MY class. maybe u all didn't learn the material well enough (insinuating that we're lazy idiots). and so we patiently asked him to help us improve. and he like refused. he just told us to study harder. WHAT KIND OF (CHRISTIAN) teacher is this??? i was so mad i wanted to either box his head or cry. it wouldn't be so bad if he was nice about it and wanted to help us improve (like any normal teacher), but noooo. he just blames it on us. when it's so obviously his fault.

soooo..whatever. i can't be bothered with him anymore. went straight to the admin building to withdraw from this class and be free while i still can. so it wont affect my GPA. THANK GOD!!! cuz the deadline's apr 3. again, THANK GOD. this class has been giving me headaches n high blood pressure. every mon wed fri at 3pm i go out of class SOOOOOO upset and angry at his ridiculous comments n demands. wonder what in the heck made taylor hire him. they must've been temporarily insane. but ok. enough complaining. from now on, i will take the high road and stop cursing him mentally in chinese. sorry Lord. help me to be more like You and see him in a nicer light!

so anyway, on to happier things.

GOING TO MIAMI IN less than 48hours!!!! coolness. never been there. heard awesome things about it! mostly just excited to get the heck away from here n this cold weather and on to sunny skies and the beach!!! yayyy!!
got my supplies from walmart tonight. packed a little. superrrr excited!!! also a little nervous cuz i've never done construction work before, and it's hard physical labor and i'm not exactly the fittest person in the world. plus we're going in a huge group of 50 pple and i dont know them all that well. kinda intimidating. i get lost in big groups sometimes. and a bit sian cuz i know this trip's gonna be tiring and i really need some good rest after this tiring half semester. and we're driving 2 whole days there and 2 days back. but..i will go into this with a positive mentality. it'll be an awesome experience and God will be my strength and my refuge.
so keep me in your prayers! thanks :)

http://www2.taylor.edu/weblogs/springbreak/habitat/

this is the website to keep up on what i'll be doing in miami. someone will be blogging about our adventures regularly :)
i'll be back after spring break! mar30! :)

insane

this week was driving me insane. finally got two tests over with. can't say i studied much. didn't really care. i just want spring break to come NOW!!! thank God it's like 5 days away. dont know how much more studying i can take. finally got my digital photography project done! yayyers. went to the cemetery and to various places around town to take pics. got some ok ones.. learnt how to do those cool pics where stuff in the front is clear and the background is blurred. sooo cool! starting to enjoy learning about photog.

tues was pretty depressing. cuz of various stuffs. dont really wanna think about it. all this annoying stuff about internships n studying abroad and aaarrrggghhh. hate it. hate all the paperwork. at night was asian game night. played violent korean games. i didn't know koreans were so aggressive.
thurs was skip-a-meal..where we sign up to skip dinner so our money for dinner goes to OneVerse, where they translate the bible into ulu languages for those who dont know God's word. pretty cool. so went to subway for dinner..i love subway! love hanging out with friends too :)

fri was fun. had dinner with my TCA people..then went to fort wayne to play laser tag!!! soo fun. plus was mostly free too cuz we got funds from TCA. good bonding time :) but apparently i'm not too good at laser tag. pple just kept shooting me out of nowhere! then went to the souphouse to watch not one, but two movies. little miss sunshine (which was pretty good) and some other weird movie. needless to say, almost everyone fell asleep during the second movie. it was good, but it was also 3am in the morning. haha. had to call the police to let us into the dorm cuz didn't have the key.

sat was a chill day. woke up at 1++..slacked around..did some homework..then went to watch fool's gold. was an ok movie. not so awesome. love kate hudson!! went to steak n shake afterwards. so bad! all this unhealthy food at ungodly hours. but fun times :)
today donated clothes to the needy. and cleaned/vacuumed my room! feels sooo clean n good now :)

Defying Gravity

so. thurs was Nostalgia Night~~ which was awesome!! we had like 10 bands sing oldies songs like 'hey jude' (my fav song of the moment by the beatles!!), 'ghostbusters' (the drummer was the lead singer. how cool is that. and they had like pple dressed up in white cloaks run all over stage as ghosts. haha), 'for the longest time' (acapella. was awesome), and other songs i can't rem. in between songs we had 'commercials' which were really random. the theme was indiana jones. haha. so our MCs acted out some scenes from the movie and infused them with our Taylor culture. was pretty hilarious :)

fri was homework day. sat we drove 2hrs to bear lake camp for our mukappa retreat. had yummy sandwiches for lunch. went sledding! down the hill of ice/snow. soooo fun!!! we would sit on these sleds and just slide down the hills again and again. then we walked onto the lake of ice. and had snowball fights! haha. at least snow is good for something :) weather was good too. cold but sunny. played a lot of foosball, ping pong, random board games.. dinner was international food! indian/some sort of asian. i dont know. it was good though. haha.

had worship after that..and we had a speaker come preach. i was trying so hard not to fall asleep esp after eating. but later what really woke me up was that we were told to write a letter to God about whatever we were feeling, and they would send the letter to our dorm at the end of the semester to remind us what we told God at this retreat. and i was so...choked up. cuz i've been telling myself i NEED to get right with God again. last semester, we were so good together! i did devotions everyday! feel like i was so joyful. this sem have been pretty tired a lot. maybe that's why. i just need to be disciplined again. so yeah. i miss Jesus!

at night we had skits from the different continents..mine was an asian twist on snow white and the 7 dwarves - jackie chan and the 7 concubines. ahaha. lotsa kungfu, since obviously all asians know kungfu. then played games into the night. till like 4+am. plus there was daylight savings, so our clocks moved forward an hour. played loaded questions with a bunch of pple. haha. was fun. we asked random personal questions..so got to know pple better :)

sun tired..drove back to taylor after lunch. then was homework, homework, homework. all the stuff i missed out during the weekend away.
so today was tiring too. lotsa stuff to do. class..projects..etc. can't wait till the end of this week!

busy busy busy

whoa..last n this week has been seriously insanely busy. no sleep much. got kinda sickly last week..but thank God i'm all better now. wouldn't wanna be sick-ish in this awful weather! it's been crazily cold. today n last night it 'rained' sleet (hard, painful ice that stings your face when the wind blows). ouch. not fun at all to go to classes. why dont they just give us a day off for crying out loud? God knows i need one desperately.

been meeting with my miami spring break small group..fun getting to know them! bluffed them that my favorite restaurant was one back home that had monkey brain, pig's liver, snake skin and many other delicacies. the look on their face before i told them i was joking - absolutely priceless. jaws dropped. eyes almost popped out of sockets. hahaha.
played guit hero/DDR (no one but americans still play DDR.haha) with random other pple one night..was fun :)
interviewed Taylor's very own newly elected student body president for the newspaper. was cool to meet him..(i voted for him too. mostly cuz he seemed like a more fun/laidback guy than the other candidate).

did absolutely nothing productive during the weekend. heh. friday night went to the daudts' for Soupnight! yummy homemade soup. then went to IWU (our rival bbal sch) to watch our girls lose pathetically in the bball game. was fun though :) got more supplies at walmart. seriously, americans have special candy for every. single. occasion. halloween, christmas, easter, u name it, they've got it. two whole long rows of candy too. fascinating.
saturday was work day. (i guess i did something productive after all). interviewed jess for my digital audio production class. didn't really know what i was doing, but managed to get her down on tape, so i must've done something right. then had TCA prac with the band. watched 'Across the universe'!! finally. was kinda weird-ish. reminded me of Big Fish and Moulin Rouge smushed into one weird movie. but the songs were awesome. we sang along :)

sun went to church. finally. after 3 weeks of skipping. heh. attended the church of the holy comforter (meaning i slept in) cuz been so tired with all my 9am classes almost everyday. service was good! glad i went :) had an awesome lunch at ball state's 'village' (anywhere other than the DC is awesome). then took a nap before going to the veterans' home to perform with my TCA band. loved it. soooo totally miss doing worship. the pple loved us too. i think one of the wanted to marry us. haha. they were pretty much fascinated by me.."are u chinese? u are beautiful!" ahahaha.

finally started studying for my exam on mon at like midnight. heh. needless to say, not much sleep.
the exam was alright. pretty hard. i actually studied holding my book while walking in aerobic walking class. haha. got abit nauseous after that. my capability to handle motion sickness is pretty much non-existent. anw, stupid prof n stupid exam. he asked for scriptural references for every single term. seriously! how am i supposed to pass this without memorizing the whole bible???!

oh well. spent the past few days camped out in the communications building to edit n finish my digital audio project. finally done! i sound like an idiot interviewing jess, but whatev. glad it's over with. now onto the next proj. bleh. it's actually kinda fun doing it, but i just wish i had more time to craft a better project i could actually be more proud of. ok. shld get some slp now.

formal pics

yayyy we were all dressed up! :)

all the international/missionary girlies on the wing

celebrating cait's bdae in chinaone. awesomely bad chinese food.

celebrating capri's bdae at the rollerskating rink.

me n mimi with our glowing glasses

me and jae. he's korean.

us in olson waiting to get into the car

yayy self pic.

sung ah, laura n me. roomies + neighbors!

this was such a funny awkward date picture. sung ah, mark, me, jae, capri, dan

everytime we take pics, someone always suggests the asian pose. haha

yup asian pose again.

elise, capri n me

being random

me n capri in our awesome wing

so..the formal was pretty fun :) we should totally do it more often. haha. thank God thank God thank God no cramps at all!! made me very happy. God doesn't hate me after all :) got up at like 1pm on sat..slacked arnd..then finally decided to get ready. it was craziness in the bathroom at like 3+pm..cuz the guys were coming at 4.30..everyone was running around helping each other do makeup, hair, whatever. we formed a line in my room - dorothy straightened audrey's hair, audrey curled my hair. haha. it was fun getting ready :) soo funny...alot of the girls were a bundle of nerves on our way to the lounge to see the guys..

took group pics..then got into cars to drive to IU for dinner and a play. the car ride was interesting. haha. i was with my date jae, and cassie and her date, who was a girl (cuz she couldn't find anyone else to go with her)..so both of them were really quiet..so it was just me and jae talking most of the time..it was good we found lots of stuff to talk abt :)

dinner was alright. not the best in the world. our table was fun..sat with other pple n their dates..talked abt random stuff..took more pics..then the play started. it was..really funny but kinda sexual too.hahaha. made for an interestingly awkward time. so all in all, the night was pretty fun.. :)
didn't manage to go to the one republic concert..something happened so the girl i was going with couldn't make it after all..but at least i got to sell my tix to someone else..so i got my money back! yayy. now i just need to finish my hw before tmr. siannnn. went to a pizza party with pple from my major..stole some cookies left in a box in the chapel..brought them to my room..and now we have an ant infestation!! disgustingly gross. ughhh.

hormones

i hate them.

anw feeling better now.except for cramps.last post was stupid..but..i do feel like coming here has changed me..and in some ways not for the better :( oh well. such is life.

so trying to finish all my hw tonight and declining all offers to go out..not that i wanna go anywhere cuz it's snowing like mad. sooo beautiful but sooo cold. tmr's our wing's formal..so we're going to indianapolis with our dates for dinner n a play i've never heard of. it better be good! it cost like 40bucks for both persons. then sun i'm gonna watch one republic in concert in the city again! yayyyers. can't wait. just wish cramps would go awayyy. i don't think God likes me much. every. single. time. there's something semi-important going on in my life, my cramps will be there with me. just like that. could i be any more unlucky.

but still. thank God for everything else. man i gotta stop complaining.

mood swings

i don't know why but lately i've been rather down and crabby and frustrated. don't really wanna tell anyone here anything, cuz i feel so stupid..feel like i get upset over little, stupid things that i shouldn't be upset about, but i am..and it sucks oh so bad.
maybe it's cuz my walk with God is suffering too..quite a bit. i don't know what's wrong with me!!! last semester i did wonderful.. quiet time almost everyday..chapel..church..sharing..but this semester it's like my motivation just flew out the window. and i don't feel like doing anything. at all. i have got to get right with God. i'm just a little depressed now. maybe it's the hormones.

maybe it's cuz i've been too busy to get much sleep..celebrated cait's bdae on mon at a chinese restaurant..glad we did it cuz she was happy and less homesick after that :) then tues n today was full of meetings n classes. i got so depressed today i even skipped classes.

we had our wing open house today..with an old school nintendo theme..so we had a projector n a nintendo set up in the hallway n decorations of mario n friends. was fun. had a miami spring break meeting at night..met new people on the trip..it's a huge group - 50 over people. i'm excited to get to know them. but just..kinda stressed..about my motives for going..basically deep inside i wanna go cuz it's freaking sunny miami and i have no place else to go..not that i really wanna go serve God..sigh. that sounds awful.

also frustrated cuz supposed to meet deadline n write an article for The Echo..but stupid people i contacted haven't gotten back to me..so my editor's on my back trying to get me to finish the story..i guess this is how my life's gonna be if i choose to be a journalist..meeting deadlines crazier than this and tracking down people to get the stupid story no one even cares about.
it's just...UGHHHH. so many things to do! so overwhelmed!!

not too happy with classes either. digital photography is just awful. here i am, stuck in a class with all these quirky artsy art majors, and of course they take awesome, artsy pictures..and all i do is take a picture of the sunset..and they talk about lines, shadows, shapes...criticizing the pictures..and all i see is that the pictures all look good to me. ARRGGHH. i don't get it!! why the heck must i take this stupid class anyway. i'm not gonna be a photographer! have no intention to be one either! so the prof showcased all our photos taken for our project to the whole class, and obviously mine was like the worst. i was like, omg. i already know i suck. u don't have to display my photos to the world to show them that i suck. seriously. so annoyed.

and omg. HISTORIC CHRISTIAN BELIEF is driving me up the wall. i swear, after every class (mon wed fri) i get SO PISSED at the prof all i can do is vent with my friends and refuse to do anything but go back to my room and steam. HE's SOOOO stupid. it's like he wants us to fail or something. u can practically FEEL the hatred, the unadulterated loathing the class has for him. soooo unreasonable i just wanna BOX HIS FACE. i was so on the verge of yelling at him today. maybe i should. like curse him in chinese or something. aarrrgghh. he's so primary school! quizzes everyday..about things no one expects us to know. and he expects us to turn in stuff he never even tells us about. always thinks he's right. omg. he's not even a real teacher (i can see why). just a sub. grrrr. he better not make my GPA go down or i'd complain or smack his face or something. seriously. the whole class should just riot against him and his stupid policies.

and then we have a formal coming up..normally that's a fun thing..going on dates with the wing to dinner n a play..but everyone's just so obsessed with finding the perfect dress! i'm like..omg get over it already! and it just makes me frustrated that they all seem to want to have to show off tons of skin. like really, tons. u can almost see everything on some of them. and like..why??? what's the point of it?? to get guys to look right?? why would u wanna seduce ur fellow brothers??? aaarrrgggghhhh. and they convince each other to go more and more skimpy. it's like a competition for who can show off the most skin. like the more u bare, the more beautiful u are. which is so wrong!!!! omgggg. i wanna drill some sense into them sometimes. how can u wear such a thing n not expect guys to look/be tempted! and i can't say that to anyone cuz they wouldn't understand. they'd be like, whatever. you're too conservative. well maybe i am. but i just dont feel right baring so much to a guy i'm not even interested in. ok........... i should just..... stop judging people. i need a place to be alone. BUT WHERE???? this place is so suffocating sometimes.

sometimes i feel like being here in this 'christian' environment makes me question/lower my values.
tattoos have become ok..no longer a form of vandalizing our body..the temple of God..
going to church regularly suddenly becomes..not so important after all (never thought i'd say that)
dressing becomes..not so modest. even i've changed. i know it. and i've so many guy friends who say that even the way girls here dress daily is not..helpful to them at all.
my view of christians becomes..more cynical i guess i would say. they really don't seem to act like Christians sometimes. i dont know how to face the real world if my community in Christ isn't even strong enough for me to fall back on.

i just needed a place to vent. going to sleep now. need to catch up on rest.

happiness.

YAY! this weekend's a happy one :) did so much happy stuff :)
fri went to watch taylor's play production of 'The Hobbit', which was awesomely cool!!! the set was soooo cool. and i was proud to say i know most people in the cast! they were great. esp the guy playing Gollum. he was soooo good. i was totally impressed. had a few classes with him, but didn't know he could act so well! the costumes n stuff were cool. they had huge puppet thingys for Gandalf and the elves and stuff..it was great. aft that went to luke's room to hang out since it was open house! then went to get some late night pizza with cartoon, luke n andrew. it was so random! haha. i love having guy friends with cars! :) made a spontaneous trip to walmart too..cuz we needed baking stuff to make a cake for cait, whose bdae is on mon! it was fun..i sat in the push trolley thingys at walmart n they pushed me arnd. we got angry glares frm the staff. boo. by the time we got back it was like 2+am..my roomie was asleep.

today woke up late..went to workout..skipped lunch at the DC..lazed around..went to take pics of the lake n the sunset for my photography class. was kinda cool. went to the souphouse..supposedly to have an international students event to hang out there..but ended up going to watch STEP UP 2 in theatres!! which was SOOOO AWESOME. best dance movie EVER. so much better than Step up 1. the dance moves were wayyy cool. made me wanna hit the clubs or something. haha. got back at 11..went to gerig to hang out again. it's so unfair! the year i move out of gerig, suddenly all the cute guys live there. grrr. got to meet random cute guys there, so that was cool :) and then my roomie asked a guy for our pick-a-date for me..cuz she wanted to. haha. so yayy i have a date for our formal, which is next sat! excitedddd.

it's like 2am and i'm not even tired. haha. talked to my parents just now..and OH! i got into the miami spring break trip!!!!!!! even with my lack of experience in construction! YAYYYY! sooooo excited for spring break now. only a month away!!!
life is good. miami..beaches...getting a tan..getting to know the pple in my group..getting buff building houses..road trip!! we're driving all the way there. super far. but it'll be fun! don't really know many pple going but oh well! i'll make friends :)

s-h-i-t

i don't get why everyone here thinks this is a bad word. maybe it is back home too. but i use it. heh. i try to say 'shoot' here instead though. so people won't think i'm an awful sinner for saying 'shit'.

anywayyy..last week was fun..had our very own Chinese New Year celebrations. got together with a couple of chinese/people who lived in china n went to the most authentic chinese restaurant in indiana..szechuan garden. the food was alright..i've lowered my expectations. but it was nice to have chinese food again :) then on fri we cooked chinese food and had dinner in the souphouse..tons of pple showed up..so it was really fun. i made egg tarts. again. haha. i think after 4 yrs of college, i'll be a total egg tart making expert. the food was good! yummy spicy tofu!! good rice!! yayyy. got to catch up with pple after christmas break too, which was nice. then went to the guys' dorm to play guitar hero 3 and rock band!!! awesomeness. such a great night. :)

i think girls need to play more guitar hero. pple are constantly surprised at how good i am just cuz i'm a girl and i can play hard/expert levels on guit hero. gosh! rock band is sooo fun though. i played the drums n guit. and tried singing. haha.

feels like my schedule is really flooded..and i just realized why. i'm taking 16 credits! (17 is the max) and i'm still leading TCA (which takes up at least 5hours a week) and i'm writing for The Echo (and now i get paid!!! $130 for 8 articles! coolness. i guess i'm good enough after all!) and i've been working out everyday this week. haha. suddenly motivated but don't know why. just wanna get in shape!! cleaned out all my junk food too. from now on, only yogurt, granola bars and fruits! the flu bug's been going around. sooo totally do not wanna be sick. not fun.

applied for spring break trip to Miami, Florida for carpenter's hands/habitat for humanity mission trip. hope i get in. how awesome will that be!!! sunny weather, beaches, building houses for people... :) and also, going to see ONE REPUBLIC in concert next sun in Indianapolis!!!! SOOOO EXCITED!!! (they sang 'apologize' with timbaland) I LOVE LIVING IN THE STATES! haha.

so today was Valentine's day. no biggie. was a pretty normal day. worked out, had one class, then went to Fazoli's with the wing for dinner. yummy. something funny - we used a pick-up line on our waiter..
'do you happen to have any raisins here?'
'ummm...i don't think so.'
'oh. how 'bout a date?' :)
(the waiter's face turns completely red) 'err..haha. yeah we have plenty of dates.'
haha. it was funny. he appreciated it though.
so..just came back from hanging out with friends in english (another dorm). i think i'm beginning to really enjoy life here at taylor.

start of sch...again

sooo..classes started last wed after a nice short break where no one was around on campus..think this semester's gonna be pretty busy :( taking History and Geography of East Asia (haha. trying to get an easy A. the first day, the prof pointed me out and asked if i was chinese..i told him i was from singapore..he's actually been there before. sort of. flown through there. so that was cool. until he made me go up and write zhongguo on the board. haha.)

also taking Aerobic Walking! (for my PE credits. it's actually quite fun n easy. just walk for 45 mins during class. get credits and burn fats! haha) and Digital Photography and Digital Audio Production (i'm not a techie person so...hopefully i'll go alright in those classes. cuz everyone else in the class seems like a freaking expert!) last but not least, some communications seminar which is during dinnertime n is awfully boring..and Historic Christian Belief (learning abt the history of the church or something like that. kinda interesting)

so other than being overwhelmed by classes and the awful rainy, wet, foggy, snowy depressing weather, i'm good! went shopping on sunday after church. celebrated capri's bdae last sat at fazioli's (an italian restaurant) and at the rollerskating rink. was tons of fun! had a mini dance party with cake n all after that. sooo hilarious some of the dance moves they came up with! :)

getting back into the swing of things this week..starting up work for TCA (taylor christian artists) again..lots to organize and plan! also gonna audition for Nostalgia Night! it's like a music performance thing..hope we'll get in! only thing i'm worried abt is where i'm gonna go for spring break!!! one week the dorms are closed in march and i have absolutely no place to go. last yr i went to jamaica, but this yr i'm not doing a spring break trip so...hopefully the Lord will provide me somewhere to go :)

chinese new year tomorrow...SADNESS. this is like the 2nd saddest day after my bdae since i'm abroad. heh. I WANNA GO HOME AND HAVE REUNION DINNER WITH MY FAMILY AND EAT PINEAPPLE TARTS AND SEE LONG LOST FAMILY MEMBERS AND GET MY ANGBAOS AND SEE MY CUTE COUSINS!!!!! sigh. oh well. at least we're having our own little CNY celebration dinner here.

best 'vacation' EVER

so..for those wondering how my Greece and Italy trip went..it was, by far, THE MOST AWESOME TRIP EVER. it beats everything. it was seriously wonderful. i wish i could retire there. haha.

we flew into the Thessaloniki airport in Greece, all jet lagged (well everyone but me since 8hours time difference is nothing compared to 13hours), got to our kinda crappy hotel that smelled 24/7 like smoke and gasoline but otherwise was fine. omg Greek food? simply delicious. really! even for me. and i'm picky! we had bread and olive oil every meal as an appetizer..and most meals had some sort of pasta..and all i can say is, thank God we hiked and climbed and walked for hours everyday to burn off the carbs. we seriously walked EVERYWHERE. climbed steep slopes in archaeological sites too. i am so much fitter now. this should be a PE class too. the Greeks and Italians were pretty friendly..sometimes too friendly. we got invited to clubs and parties by random strangers alot. haha. they were really nice though. lots of cute European guys too. :)

so we went to churches, museums, sites filled with ruins in Thessaloniki, Berea, Philippi, Corinth, Athens, Rome, Florence and Vatican City. all i can say is, now when i read the New Testament, the words jump out at me. it's just so much more fascinating now that i've actually been to these places!!!! the Bible comes alive. i love it :) we followed mostly Paul's footsteps in Acts 17-19. so that was really cool. and i got re-baptized at the place where Paul baptized Lydia in Acts!!!! isn't that so cool??? for me it was a really timely rededication of my commitment to follow Christ. we had worship in several ancient churches..had communion at the ruins of Corinth, which was really intense and cool. also visited the church were Paul was beheaded and the place where he and Peter were imprisoned. all i can say is, he is truly a faithful man of God. through all this suffering and persecution he still stood strong and clung on to the Lord. was really encouraging to me.

most of the museums we went to had tons of statues..i think i've seen enough of naked statue guys to last me a lifetime. haha. but there was this one - Michelangelo's famous sculpture of David that we saw in Florence, Italy (as in David who killed Goliath) was SOOOO cool. u could see his veins and muscles and everything! and Vatican City was amazingly beautiful. the buildings and everything..and the Sistine Chapel was my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE.

seriously nothing can be more incredible and exquisite than that. there were paintings all over the huge chapel and we weren't allowed to talk/take pics inside. sad. but wow. Michelangelo painted it all in one try and in 7years! who the heck has the patience to do that! but wowee. i must say he had talents in truckloads. sooo beautiful. esp the huge one depicting the saints in heaven with God and other people being thrown into hell. i was just amazed. stood there for like 15 mins craning my neck trying to drink it all in. got a neck ache after that.

our tour guide was american, but his wife was Greek, which was sooo cool. she taught us some Greek. like 'es-ta-ka-loh' (oh my goodness!) haha. Berea was her hometown. amazing. she left Greece to study in college in the States, and she hardly knew any English! admire her. and she got over her homesickness when she met david, her present husband, a month after she got there. so cool huh. why can't i meet a guy like that too???? haha.

we went on a cruise ship (more like a rocky little ship) to visit 3 greek islands on our free day. wowwww. sooo beautiful and untouched by modern infrastructure. they dont even have roads! they travel by donkey! how quaint is that! and they taught us Greek dances on the ship. hahaha. fun. we went on another cruise ship to go from Greece to Italy. 14 hours on the boat to save money on airplane tix. bleh. could feel the ship moving when i was trying to sleep. at least they gave us rooms. :)

shopping was good too. got souvenirs for pple! but will only give them during the summer. haha. have to say i prefer Greece to Italy..Italy was just kinda crazy and the streets were pretty dirty..and 2 rooms in our hotel room in Rome got robbed. and there were annoying bangladesh pple pestering us to buy overpriced tourist things.. Greece was wonderful. we dressed up and went to different cafes along the harbor most nights..and i got to know other taylor people pretty well..so that was cool :) we got pretty crazy rooming together in our hotel rooms too. haha. ooh and we made a new friend in Athens - a big fat dog we named Butters! he followed us around and barked n bit pple who tried to get near us. felt safe with Butters around. haha.
so yeah..it was a pretty awesome trip. i can't believe i went to freakin' greece and italy!! aaahhhh!!! God is so so good! :)

pics from greece/italy

us at the trevi fountain

our new greek jerseys!!

on the cruise ship...seasick. blehh

us having dinner with our tour guides. they were awesome!

this guy was so hilarious. he was entertainment on our cruise ship to the greek islands

donkeys were everywhere at hydra! one of the greek islands




joce this is for u! me chasing pigeons. haha. this was the best i could do. haha.



kenzie n me..doesn't this tree look like the one from the lion king? haha

at the freakin coliseum in rome!!!


us girls at the greek islands.


at the coliseum again!

at the harbor in thessaloniki

on mar's hill in athens

at the parthenon in athens

we were forced to wear these skirts in the monastery in greece. i just wrapped my scarf around my jeans. haha

capri, natasha and me at the monastery in meteora

capri, me and alexander the great!

first west (girls from my wing) at the parthenon in athens, greece!

me at the marketplace in thessaloniki, greece

yummy greek food at delphi

what an experience

12am. friday midnight. suddenly the fire alarm shrieks, almost giving me a heart attack. my roomie and i grab our coats, scarfs, shoes and rush out the door along with other annoyed and sleepy girls. we hurry across the road from olson, our dorm, and huddle together to keep from shivering and freezing to death. 15 mins later, we're still there, getting more annoyed at the 2 possible causes of our discomfort.

1 - it's the stupidest fire drill ever at midnight. 
2- someone's attempt to cook went wrong and set off the fire alarm. ridiculous. 

but then Dee, our hall director, comes along, and her eyes are glittering with tears. and our hearts just stop when she tells us to wait in english dorm because this might take a while. and the fire engine's arrived, and firemen are going into our dorm. so we're thinking, this CANNOT be good. at all.

so we hurry to english to fight off the numbness that has begun to seep into our bodies as a result of standing out in the cold for too long. we stay there for about half an hour, i don't know. i wasn't keeping track. i fell asleep. rumours started to fly, about how there was a room ON MY WING where flames were spewing out the window. i wasn't sure. everyone was just really jittery and panicky. i didn't wanna think about it.

after a long long time, Dee comes to english hall and gathers us around, and quietly tells us that a water pipe in our attic has burst, and the water has flowed down to the west side of our hall, WHICH IS WHERE MY ROOM IS!!!! so all the east side girls and center girls get to go back to their rooms safely, while the west side girls have to wait, and one by one, get called in to go get our stuff for the night and find somewhere else to sleep. of couse, our imaginations were running wild. how bad was this flood??? and who was affected the worst??

i had visions in my mind of my room flooded and my stuff swimming around in knee-deep water. so after waiting for an excruciatingly long time, my roomie n i finally got into our room, and it was COMPLETELY DRY. hallelujah. it was a miracle. thank God SO SO SO much, cuz it could have been much worse. seriously. some girls on my wing got their desks drenched, one girl got her com totally soaked in a puddle of water. girls on the third floor got hit the worst. some rooms were completely soaked, and they had to tear up the carpets to vacuum the water off, and girls were sobbing and all.. cuz i mean..what do u do?? when all ur stuff's drenched and wasted away and gone??

so anyway me n some girls on my wing spent the night at our friend's house, somewhere off campus. didn't get much sleep cuz by the time we got our stuff n arrived there it was like 4am. so the atmosphere today in olson is rather depressed. on one hand i thank God so much that my stuff's fine, but on the other i feel so so bad for those whose stuff didn't make it. don't know if we'll be able to sleep in our rooms again tonight. don't even wanna think about the cold freezing water in our showers. ugh. so glad i'm leaving for chicago tomorrow.

but on the whole, i am so grateful that we made it through. and thank God we're all fine. sort of.