a walk in our neighborhood...

You like the clothes hanging alongside the fish? =)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!
May the joy of this season be with you all!

This season was especially busy for us, and we can't wait to update you all soon. Stay tuned... for more updates and pictures.

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!

[L]: Happy belated Thanksgiving!

Last week marks our 2nd Thanksgiving away from home on the this side of the world. Just like last year, we and some foreign friends managed to buy a turkey, which is great because otherwise, we'd have to settle for chicken or a duck. (And then, it wouldn't really be "Thanksgiving" as we know it.)

As I update this blog, I am at a standstill at what to write because I have too much to share. I am tempted to write more about our recent adventures with the nuances/quirks about celebrating Thanksgiving in a foreign land. (As always, living here has it's share of adventure.) Not only so, we just recently discovered another annoying leak in our apartment. It seems that our upstairs neighbor's sewage drain is leaking into our kitchen through the walls. We have to mop up this stinky liquid every day now... And our landlord doesn't even know how to get it fixed, because it's an internal problem and will require ripping away to walls to figure out. Our kitchen looks really great on the outside, but underneath that exterior is a poor-quality, haphazard construction job. Sadly, this seems to be the "trend" here.

But perhaps I'll save my observations to another post on another day. Today, I want to share more of my heart...

Looking back from last Thanksgiving to this Thanksgiving, I realize that's its been over a year since living in this foreign land. There have been joyful moments as well as hard times. And if I could give a "name" to this past year or so, I think I would have liken it to that of a crucible.

In my good ol' chemistry lab days, I often used the crucible to heat substances to a very high, high temperatures. It can also be used to heat and melt metals, and often is used in processes of removing impurities from them... But the end result, is a yield that is so exacting, so pure, that you don't want to even touch the crucible without tongs, because even fingerprints can add weight to the results.

Perhaps it's been my life this past year or so. Being removed from the comforts of my home, my friends, and family, I find myself often at a "lost" of who I am -- an identity-crisis of sorts. In an isolation from the community of people who really know me, I find myself wondering who am I? I find myself wanting to prove to new group of people who I think I ought to be. And I start to realize, that perhaps I define myself by how others view me, by relationships I have, by friendships I attain. And all of those things are external. So when you remove the external, the internal is revealed. And I finally see myself for who I really am. And I see how much more I desperately need G-d.

This past 2 years can be summarized in the words of Charles Dickens…”It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope...”

I am thankful for this season of life. These years of being away from home has been the best of times, and the worst of times. It truly is a season of light, but also a season of revealing darkness in my heart. But through all of it, it yields a spring of hope. And I am so grateful for that. And I am so grateful that G-d loves me so much, He would take me here to this side of the world to experience yet another facet of His unfailing love.

addendum to our umbrella story...

[L]: So, to continue to keep you posted on our umbrella curse... So far, thankfully, we haven't broken anymore umbrellas. A friend from home wrote us and suggested this wonderful idea -- why don't we wear ponchos? After all, they don't fly away, break, and does not obstruct our views when we ride our bikes. And it seems much safer. So, after much thought... we concur. A poncho is much safer than umbrellas. Thanks for the great suggestion! =)

I have a test tomorrow. And Edwin has to recite a poem in class tomorrow. So, for now, I'll keep this update short. Will write more again soon...

Can you believe Thanksgiving is right around the corner? This will be our second Thanksgiving away from home...