... and recaka

picture from http://www.naioth.com/

*deep breath out*

Today I got to check out a free Yoga class held at my apartment complex. Not surprisingly it was only girls (although only 2 others and the teacher) so I felt a bit uncomfortable at first. I remember my first experience with Yoga @ the Art Fair the summer before I left for AA. It was really cool doing all these stretches and poses so that made me want to try it again. What we did today was a bit different from what most people envision, this was kinda more like stretch/workout. A couple of the moves I did last year in insanity, except slower and more drawn out. My arms were shaking quite a bit for some of them but it was good to sweat again.

The focus of this style of Yoga was basing everything on merging the breathing (in and out) with each move. It's only been the past week where I feel like I've been able to really catch up and

BREATHE.

I'm not gonna lie, things were CRAZY busy and stressful. I don't want to throw a pity party, but I've never been stretched so much as I had been before. It's only been recently that things have finally slowed down to a point where I feel like I can finally catch my breath.

As some of you might have heard, yup, budget shortages all over TX meant that I, as well as most of the new hires, were let go. They asked me to reapply for job openings (when more money came in) but I couldn't do another year of commuting 40+ minutes to and from work every day. As for now, my plans are to apply for jobs closer to ATX so I can really focus on college ministry on UT campus.

I feel like there's so many things I've come to realize the past couple months, but I don't want this entry to be all over the place so I'll keep it a bit more vague. One thing though, is that God does not give up on us, no matter how we think he might have. There is always a reason behind each event. That's something that we can all hold onto.

Backed Up

Bahhh. I have so many posts I want to write, but honestly I'm so tired every day that I don't feel like doing anything but eat, vege out, and then sleep. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely really enjoying life right now, but work is straight up owning me right now. The past 2 weeks have been one of the most stretching and junk-exposing (in my heart) times of my life. I'm definitely not as loving as I like to think I am, and I can't rely on my own energy to serve and teach the kids effectively.

On the plus side, I'm soaking up a lot of great experience watching and practicing different teaching techniques as well as FINALLY getting to know some of the other teachers/ teacher's aides.

Pray for perseverance and dependence on God for joy. I am so looking forward to going back to MI for Thanksgiving Break. I really miss being home.

Probable Schedule:

Arriving in MI: (11/25 @ 12:30pm)
-stay in Troy until Saturday night or Sunday morning

Visit AA: (11/28 or 11/29)
Leave for Austin @ 5:30pm

I would love to see people, so gimme an email or call.

Best News... EVER!

So you guys remember that interview that I mentioned a couple weeks ago @ Del Valle Middle School? I just got the call today that told me to officially come in to work...TOMORROW. Holy crap, I am so excited! Nervous too... but freakin overjoyed. Seriously, God is GOOD.

Flight Delayed

When you're traveling, one of the worst things to hear from the front counter are the words, "Flight Delayed". For my trip to NY, I heard that a total of 4 times: 3 times on my return trip. Normally delays aren't that bad, merely inconveniences, but when you're flying solo after staying up the entire night before, trying to stay awake for fear of missing the next announcement... it's one of the toughest marathons you will ever undergo.

After the reception, some people went to Flushing for Korean BBQ until approximately 3am, then Victor, Tina, and I took a cab to the airport cuz we all had morning flights. I think if anyone invents a device that makes it comfortable to sleep in hard plastic chairs, they would make bank, because it was actually pretty funny watching people try to sleep in the airport.

But yeah, on the return leg, here is the breakdown of my day.

4am: arrive @ LGA @ Northwest Terminal
~5:3oam: say goodbye to Tina and Vic (they left for their gate). Take shuttle to AA terminal
7:40am: board airplane to Dallas. Sleep in fitful 30 minute intervals.
12pm: land @ Dallas
2:20pm: receive our first delay announcement. Call Jorgy to inform about delay.
3:30pm: receive the second delay announcement. Call Jorgy. Decide to walk around to stay away. Find TVs showing the Dallas Cowboys game. (Thank GOD)
4:15pm: Informed that we're getting a plane, but it's just getting in... at a different terminal.
4:30pm: get on the plane, call Jorgy, pass out.
5:45pm: land in Austin.

Oh, all this was compounded with the fact that I was flying in coach for the first time in almost 10 years. How I miss first class. hahahha that sounded really bratty, but I mean it from the bottom of my heart. Coach seating SUCKS.

No $$$, Mo Problems

Effffff.... having to deal with $ really SUCKS. Got my hospital bill in the mail a couple days ago and the estimate the nurse gave me that day was definitely grossly under the actual cost. Please pray that the charity application I applied for will cut a large portion of the costs, otherwise things could get ugly.

Also, there are a couple job openings in some elementary schools in Del Valle (district where Tou Fue's school is) that I just applied for as a Teaching Assistant and/or Tutor.

Things are tough, but outlook is still hopeful. God is good... that will never change.

Old People can be Cool Too

Today our church had signed up to spend the morning helping a couple elderly women w/ various errands and tasks around their house. When I visited Austin a couple months ago with Kavin, I was able to get to meet Ms. King as we spent time helping with yard work. As we were pruning bushes, cutting down branches, etc, it was cool just learning about her story. At first, she was a bit wary of us (we were three Asian people and one White man) and didn't really talk much, but seeing us working hard for so long, she slowly opened up.

Side story: when we mentioned that we were part of a local church, she asked if Jorgy was our pastor. hahaha!

Anyways, when I heard we got to help out at her house again, I was really excited to see her again. Our group was definitely a lot larger than last time, but when she saw us coming up, it was great to see how excited she was to see us. Even though it was really difficult for her to walk around and maneuver, she wanted to help us as much as she could. Her demeanor towards us was so open and warm; it was such a beautiful sight to see her getting to know the other people in the group.

After a couple hours, we had finished all the jobs she laid out for us, and some of us were just chilling w/ her on the porch. As we were talking, I had asked her about the local churches she was a part of, and then she went around asking us about our personal faith. At first it was a bit off-putting being asked all these questions which I had always considered so elementary. During our conversation, she asked me when I was "born again". As I started answering, I mentioned that, "I was born into a Christian family..." I was promptly interrupted by her mini-sermon about the importance of being able to consciously dedicate our life to Christ. (hahah!) It was pretty funny, but still really cool to see someone at her age so passionate about living for God.

I've always been wary of spending a lot of time around elderly people, probably because I don't like the idea of getting attached to them and having to deal with their eventual death, but I realize how much can be learned from just spending time with them. Hmm... maybe there is something to be said about the whole mentorship thing.

You just got served!

Hilarious. I was at home trying my hand at making this Russian dessert (Pirojki) which is pretty much a baked dumpling which I wanted to modify by putting in fruit topping on the inside. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get any, so I tried using jelly instead.
Long story short, make sure you've tried the food at least once before trying to modify. I thought I could just switch out the meat filling with fruit and it would be OK. Nope. Definitely a fail.

Anyways, so I'm in the middle of trying to make this and there's a knock on my door. I go and this guy w/ a stack of papers asks if he can tape these papers to the inside of my door. That sounds kinda weird, since he could just as easily just give me the papers, so I ask him what they were. He seems a bit flustered and he just tells me to read it and tries backing out as quickly as possible. I keep the door open and quickly open one of the stapled papers and at the top there's a giant NOTICE TO VACATE at the top. Holy crap! What the heck? I skim the letter and it claims that we had not paid our rent yet and had 3 days to vacate the apartment.

My mind is racing, but I remember everyone giving Matt the rent a couple weeks ago. As I'm reading the letter, the guy is knocking on the apartment across the hall and hands the guy the same letter. I realize that the stack of papers he's holding are actually all eviction notices, which totally doesn't make sense, because we are not all delinquents. I call out to the guy as he took a couple steps to leave, and he seriously looks scared. (haha!)

****************************************************************************************

Hey man, I think there's some kind of mixup cuz we definitely paid our rent a couple weeks ago.

"Ummm, I'm sorry, I don't know anything about this."

Well, this is something pretty serious, we're being asked to get evicted. Is there anyone we can talk to?

"Uhhh yeah sorry. Umm, here call this number XXX-XXX-XXXX. They'll sort it all out for you."

*I notice the giant stack of eviction notices in his hand*

Ok... don't you think that it's kind of funny that you guys are serving all these people eviction notices? Could there be a mixup with the office?

"Hey, I'm sorry, I don't have anything to do with this, I'm just the messenger!"

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Austin Apartments Suck.
1. ant infestation
2. shoddy internet connection
3. bad management
4. trying to evict paying tenants
What else can happen?

Images from Austin

Yesterday I decided to pound the pavement to see if there were any places hiring, so I decided to walk from UT campus to downtown Austin (namely to see the capitol). I finally remembered to bring my camera along with the church video camera (cuz I was supposed to interview people for advice they would give the freshmen). Below is a photo diary of some places I checked out.

One of the values at the Officers' Memorial

Texas Peace Officer's Memorial. A very simple memorial but very aesthetically pleasing.

Texas's Capitol Building

Overlooking the South Mall aka "The 6-Pack". This is the equivalent to UM's Palmer Field.

Texas campus is gorgeous. The more I walk around, the more I enjoy it.

Ha! Our church and UT are meant to be.

Rest of pictures found @ my Picasa Album

Conversations with an exterminator

Our apartment is infested w/ ants. We've been trying to schedule an appointment with an exterminator, but for whatever reason, have been unable to get one to come until today. Anyways, he comes in with a straight up 100% southern drawl and decked out pretty much in this gettup.



He was wearing giant flood-pants with overall straps and a giant canister of bug spray. It was AWESOME! Anyways, I pointed out where we saw ants coming from and he takes this type of syringe thing and leaves out globs of gel. I'm curious so I ask him what that stuff was.

"Ahhhnt baiit." (ant bait)

Oh ummm cool. What's it do?

"This shi* attracts all them ants. Look here how they eat this shi* up. Let them get full an' bring that shi* back to their colony, with any luck it'll be goodbye colony. Good shi*"

hahaha... yeah, bye bye colony.

He then goes on this exterminator sermon about how you have to be careful about using oil when we're cooking because it'll attract roaches.

"Cookin' w/ oil is good stuff. Don't I know it. But that stuff is like crack for all them roaches and bugs and shi*. Once you get one to bring it back to their colony, ohhhhh boy. You're fuc**ed. I've seen some real shi*holes cuz of them roaches."

Hearing him talk about bugs and how to kill them almost made the 2 weeks of infestation worth it.

Displaced

After almost 5 days in Austin, I have to say, the adjustment period has been a lot more difficult than I expected. It's kinda like being the "new guy" in a school where you already know people but there's an established routine and set of friendships that you need to get used to. Don't get me wrong, I'm really glad to be here, and I'm excited for what this year has to offer, but I finally understand how lonely it can feel to move to a new place.

Even though I'm surrounded by awesome people, many times I feel alone and aloof. I'll be eating out with friends, but I feel strangely invisible; like I don't quite belong in Austin yet, but I can't go back to AA either. It's almost like I'm a ghost able to observe and hear everything that's happening, but I don't have any real presence in the area... like being caught in a state of transitional limbo. At times I'll be able to forget my sadness when I'm doing things, but when there's downtime to think, I get flooded with all the emotions that I've been repressing. Intellectually, I can reason through and tell myself how stupid I am for holding onto the past, but we are creatures of emotion, and it's been a tough week.

On the job searching front, I am really frustrated and overwhelmed. It seems like there is nothing I'm qualified for and I feel like I just don't know where to look. But that's how it goes, I just need to keep my head down and plow ahead through this time. But please keep me in your prayers, it would be much appreciated.

On the upside, I'm excited for OCR this week. I'll be able to go meet the students of UT as they come back for the new semester! I'll also be meeting up with Pastor Ben this Wed to discuss how this upcoming year's gonna look, so I'm looking forward to that as well. Even this past Sunday's video sermon (and I typically hate video sermons) was a great reminder to stay faithful in my prayers.

Well, as many of you know, I freakin love reading Psalms, and I feel like I can finally relate to this verse.

You are forgiving and good, O Lord,
abounding in love to all who call to you.
Hear my prayer, O LORD;
listen to my cry for mercy.
In the day of my trouble I will
call to you,
for you will answer me.

Psalms 86:5

listening to: David Crowder- Only You