* any takers? *

My blog is worth $3,387.24.
How much is your blog worth?

is that in US dollars? hmm... that could be my second term tuition fee right there! anyone wanna buy my blog??

seriously. i don't know how they calculate these things. but there's probably a ton of other things i could sell if i looked around our flat. it's such a shame that people don't do garage/yard sales in hk. the lack of personal garages/yards probably has something to do with it. but what if we had an open house sale? just have people come and look through everything in our flat, and sell at the highest bidder!

man, i'm starting to get really nervous about school. every time i think about starting next week, i get this heavy feeling of unrest in my stomach. or maybe it's just the shepherd's pie i made last night... i don't know if it's the thought of all the work (writing) ahead of me, or having to meet even more new people, or the threat of my classes ending up in chinese, or becoming so busy that i have to do less at church, but the reality of this going-back-to-school thing is really starting to hit. on the upside, i get to buy new stationary at muji!! oh how i've waited for this day!

so anyhoo, i went up to the hku campus yesterday to hand in some forms, because i was supposed to send in those forms like 3 weeks ago. but hey, i was on holiday. apparently the package came right after we left, and there was a lot of "must be submitted within 7 days of receiving..." kinda thing on a lot of the forms. oops. so i figured taking the forms in person would be quicker than the postal service. but i was such an airhead, i forgot to bring photos and copies of my ID. they also needed a copy of my canadian passport because i indicated that as my citizenship. so i had to go all the way home to get it, then go all the way to the vine office to use the fax machine.

now, can i just say that the hku campus is incredibly convoluted and user-UNfriendly? i think i really need a tour guide!! the map they gave me is really no use at all. it doesn't say that the campus is on a hill, and therefore only certain floors of some buildings lead to the building next to it on the map. and i couldn't figure out which floor is actually the ground floor, because every floor seemed like it led to the ground.... man, i'm gonna get my exercise in just by figuring my way around this campus.

i think there should be new student support group. i need therapy after yesterday.

* for the art freaks *
this is one of the most useless and FUNNEST sites i've come across in a long time... but only maybe because i used to be an art history major. hint: click to change colors. i really wish there was a way to save them.

have fun with this!

* thoughts on a plane *
1 hour til home.

It’s been a long long vacation.  Three weeks is like an eternity in hong kong time.  I wonder what kinds of things we will go back to.  I can’t wait to see people, go to oneighty & church, roam the crazy streets, feel the intense heat & humidity that we have eluded for so long.

I don’t think I can sum up our 21 days in vancouver briefly.  There is a sense of overwhelming when I think about all the things that God has been speaking to me about while we were there.  Things about church & community, about how to care for and love people despite differences, about my purpose & calling, my family, our ministry....  Alll of these things, I’m sure, will filter through what I do over the next two years.  So perhaps I’ll just let nature take its course.

What will I remember most about our trip?  Our time with my family.  Obviously, I don’t get this often, and I’ve realized how special my family is.  My mom cooked up a storm on our last week.  My mom has always been a very good cook.  She would taste things she liked at restaurants, and then try to recreate it at home, and she usually ends up making a better version.  We spent a lot of time with my brother and sister, and my sis’ boyfriend from toronto.  We played games and ate together.  

And my dad got to show off his gun collection.  Handguns and revolvers and rifles and shotguns....  According to the boys, the prizewinner was the PPK-47, james bond’s gun of choice in goldeneye (the n64 game, for the girls).  Unfortunately my dad wouldn’t let us take any pictures of them because he was afraid people might think he had relations with terrorists, but here's one of him trying to open the case containing the PPK-47:


Yes I love my family.

* little miss sunshine *

we went to see this last night, kind of an impromptu movie night with my sis and her bf. one of the best and funniest films this year! highly recommended if you need a pick-me-up.

too many reflections from our time on the westcoast. will sift through my mind on the plane perhaps. for now, a useless piece of canadian trivia:

there are over 200 place names with the word 'snow' in canada, and every province except for prince edward island has at least one place name containing the word 'snow'.

*edit* half the photos from our trip to canada is up on flickr. will have to wait til next month for the other half! or go to derek's since he paid for the unlimited upgrade.

*simple*
back to simplicity. i'm totally and entirely over my wannabe programmer stage. declutter. simplify. detox.

i like.

vancouver photos coming soon.... darn the flickr upload limit.

we can't wait to be home again. get our hands dirty again.

*my 200th*
apparently, this is my 200th post ever.

to commemorate, i will tell you about our first day vancouver :)

we got through customs and got out of the airport just about 11:30am on thursday, and my parents picked us up and we went straight for dimsum.

my brother and sister met us at the restaurant. my sister took a "sick" day from work just to see us :) afterwards we went home and got settled in a bit. it's wierd having to stay in the guest room at my own house. my mom started her own jewelry business last year, and she's turned my old living room into her own showroom. our helper moved into my room.

the weather is perfect, the air is clean, and i'm really excited because there's tons going on around the city. we're going to have a lot of fun!



after we settled, derek and i drove down to the beach near my house, and just chilled out, took some pictures, walked around the seaside, and derek finally starting to commune with nature....




went to one of my old favourite cafes called 'bean around the world' and sat on their wooden patio with THE BEST carrot cake we had in a looooong time. derek likes it because there's no raisins in it, but for me it's the creamcheese icing that makes it. can't beat the creamcheese icing.

*mission trip photos*
here is the complete set... there are a lot...

Flash Slideshow

*fine then*
ok ok... i'm finally sitting down to update. currently, derek and i are in massive housecleaning mode, because we'll be gone for 3 weeks and the fabulous kristy will be flatsitting for us. we don't want her to think that her pastors are complete disgusting slobs....

we're pretty much done. we've gotten rid of a lot of junk, picked up most things off the floor, and even getting rid of shoes and clothes we don't wear anymore! does anyone know where we can give our old clothes to?? (somewhere quick and easy for us...) there used to be a collection cage down the road, but i read a few weeks ago that the government has put a ban on charities having these on the street, because it blocks the road! how ridiculous!!

our fridge also managed to die a few days ago. i still can't bring myself to throw away the eggs that i bought just before it kicked the bucket.... such a waste!! but we've thrown out most stuff that had been sitting in our fridge for several months.... hopefully it'll get fixed tomorrow, or we'll get a new fridge, and our landlord better be paying for it! we've already shelled oout over $800 last week to get some other things fixed. our contract says that we have to pay for anything under $1000. is this normal??

aside from that, we are pretty excited to be going. it's a much needed break for us after a summer of madness. the weather in vancouver is the best in august, and we'll be going to my church's summer conference as soon as we get back. i wonder what it'll be like actually being back IN my church after 6 years..... it's just two completely different kinds of environment (spiritually, the people, the atmosphere...) and i wonder how i'll respond. i wonder how derek will respond. he's been a bit spoilt, becoming a christian and 'growing up' at the vine. the only other church he's really experienced besides the vine is hillsong. my church is completely different. although, i kinda feel like there are people there who would understand, people who have been in hong kong who also wants something different back home. johann, jon lo, kev, vienne.....

we went to mongkok yesterday and we found a really cheap CD store... i got chet by chet baker, sunday at the village vanguard by the bill evans trio, and the essential leonard cohen, all for $120 total!!! what a steal :)