By the grace of God

I am back in Los Angeles! WHEEEEE. Best experience of my life :) will drop everything in a heartbeat to go back <3 let the summer begin.

I’ve been away from home for 32 days. Many of my relatives from where I’m staying right now have been asking me whether or not I have been home sick. To respond, I would answer “no” because being on the east coast with my relatives is actually like being with family at home. They’re still my family and not people I’ve not met before. But it wasn’t until today that that was not true anymore. I don’t know but I might have gotten off on the wrong side of the air mattress bed today.. haha blah. But all in all, it’s been a wonderful time here in Philly. I mean, who wouldn’t love sleeping late, waking up late and eating on the Philly cheesesteaks you want? :) haha there are so many fun days here I cannot express it into words on tumblr. But 32 days down, 14 more to go :) since I cannot write what I’ve done in words, I’m going to tell my days through pictures!

 delish Philly cheesesteak with American cheese :) YUMMMMM the second weekend I was here, I ate two cheesesteaks from two different places. Many people would recommend that tourists eat these when they come here, so… Hello, I’m a tourist haha. A few days afterwards, I went back to south Philly to eat at another cheesesteak restaurant haha

I cook dinner on Tuesday nights so Tuesday afternoons are market trips!! :D in the cart that the lovely Erik is pushing are the ingredients to a lovely Japanese dinner with chicken cutlet, curry and broccoli. But forget about the dinner and the food in the cart. Who can resist a 2 year old pushing around a shopping cart with his binky on?! hahaha I’m going to be the kind of mother who always takes pictures of her children :) 

This is my nephew Alex :) why do I look so short here.. haha last weekend my relatives and I took a trip up to Boston to visit more family. On our way up, we stopped at the lovely New York City to have lunch at Chinatown and stopped at Times Square as well. 

Alex and I in front of a wall in front of the Boston courthouse.

For a dinner in Boston, we bought 13 lobsters haha my first time eating them! Who knew they’d be so fun to break apart :D

ohmygosh there are soooo many Dunkin Donuts over here. It feels like it’s equivilent to a Starbucks in Cali; there’s one on every block haha so I had to try it one afternoon to see what was so great about it. It’s pretty good. Krispy Kreme ftw though haha

These are my days after work. I get to watch my nephews play with bubble guns :) haha not really, I’m usually pretty tired after work but I come home to this :) and it’s worth a day of hard work. I know it’s too early to say this, but I cannot wait until I am a mother!

On Sunday, I went to the Philadelphia Art Museum. Behind me is the huge building itself with three floors filled with amazing artworks. The stairs pictured are the ones that Rocky ran up and threw his arms in the air afterwards - there’s a statue of him in front of the museum.. haha. Wheee! More to come :) <3

Hello, I am a weapon for your eyelashes. Enjoy! haha.. I used this today and it was rather interesting. I don’t have many lashes nor are they long, but these surprisingly made my lashes show! hahaha wheeeeeeee

I love chinatowns. It’s really interesting to see and compare different ones in the US.  I’ve eaten out for the past three meals and my stomach is dying! Ah! :( I have to remember not to eat too much oily foods or dairy. Booooo.

Today was my aunt’s birthday and the family celebrated at a Chinese restaurant. Since this is one of the few Chinese one around this area, this is where my family would usually celebrate big occasions so the owner of the restaurant knows the family because they bring in so much business for them. Today for dinner, the most unusual thing happened. Whenever we get a new dish from the course meal, there would be a waitress to serve us, like right to our plate. This is weird because restaurants don’t usually do this. We told her that we could help ourselves but she was said… “I have to do this because my boss commanded me to and I don’t want to get in trouble by stopping” haha I thought this was funny :)

My dad is the youngest of 9 children. Most of them live on the east coast and I never see them. Since my dad is the youngest, his children (ie me) have to call my uncles “bak”. There’s six brothers who are older than him so I call them in order… yut bak, yee bak, sam bak, sei bak and mm bak… or if heard in English it would be one hundred, two hundred… five hundred hahaha any who, I met my sei bak (fourth uncle) for the first time yesterday and went out to dinner with him and his wife and then went to his house. East coast houses are sooo awesome because they’re three stories! I wouldn’t mind living in those.

Other than that news… super cuteness at home! Meet Erik :) i think he has a thingwith my purse hehe

Have any of you guys been on an Asian bus tour before? If you live in the socal area, then I bet you know what I’m talking about. I think I’ve been on quite a few, maybe like 6? My longest one that I’ve been on is to Yellowstone for a week! It took about 13 hours on on the bus to drive from Mouth Rushmore area to Las Vegas.. it was alright.. but I would not do it again. Any who, ever 2-3 hours, the bus drive would pull over so that passengers can get off and stretch their legs for 15-20 mins. Since this was an Asian tour filled with Asian people, we wouldn’t stop at like a nice restaurant in town or a fast food restaurant. Most likely, these buses would for some reason be able to find all the Chinese buffets to and from destinations. So I’ve eaten lots of Chinese buffets and most of them are no good! Today for lunch we had a Chinese buffet and it was probably one of the best-tasting one I’ve had; the food was only slightly Americanized. 

Afterwards, we went shopping at a mall that the buffet was part of and bought a cross body bag for $2.50! What a deal. Holla!

 It’s been a week since I have been here and it’s been such a different life for me away from home. My household is completely Asian and it even smells of Po Sum On (at least that’s what friends have told me >< ). The house I’m at is totally Americanized and the house actually smells good! Haha this is a little joke..

Any who, today was a very exciting day because I had small groups at night! :D this summer in small group we decided that we are going to go over the topic of apologetics because a lot of us didn’t really know what to do when the topic of religion came up. Some of us would try and talk about it, but some of us would ultimately try to change the subject in fear of rejection of awkwardness. So we decided that we’re going to go over the book “The Reason for God” by Timothy Keller. In the beginning of the summer when we started, it was great having a couple of girls from my church to talk with and have accountability from it as well. But I was sad to see that my longed-for small group was ending because I was heading for the east coast. but to my surprise, they said that they would webcam with me for small group!! WHHEEEE :D :D :D i think it was the best decision ever made! hahajkjk but tonight was a real blessing because these girls made me feel like I was at home again and it is always wonderful when it comes to talking about God. YAAAAYYY!! <3

Today I went to see my nephew at his swim lessons. He’s taking a two week course at West Chester University in PA. When my cousin was telling me about these lessons, he sounded like they’re training these kids to be in the army! It’s what they call SURVIVAL. On the first day of class, the instructor teaches the students how to float on their backs, or at least try and teach. Then you know what they do on the second day?? THEY THROW YOU IN THE POOL AND YOU HAVE TO TRY TO SWIM UP AND TO THE SIDE! -_________- duude. What happens if these kids don’t know how?? What happens if they like, just like it down there and want to be a mermaid?? gaaaaahhhhh!! I was so shocked when I heard this but sure enough, when I went today, that’s basically what happened. The students have to jump in the pool. I saw many kids crying but they still had to jump.. eek! I don’t remember exactly when I learned to swim, but I remember my mom always wanting to teach me how to swim “froggy” style at the public pool. I never wanted to learn because I thought she looked lame … hahaha but I have to say, she’s a good swimmer. I was just a lame and stupid child.. hahaha and let me say this, til this day, I still don’t know how to swim froggy style because I don’t have to patience to learn it hahaha it’s hard! :(

 

I didn’t really do much today but one thing I really valued today was talking with my cousins. The relatives that I’m staying with are from my dad’s side and he lived with them for a while before moving to southern California. So these people knew my father before he became all old and stuff! hahaha.. any whooooo, they told me all about how my dad was when he was young. I was so amazed at how much I was learning about him. At home, he’s such a closed off person and whenever I asked him how his day was he would simply answer “mmmm..” what kind of answer is that?! hahaha but now I understand why we go shopping a lot. It’s because my dad’s a fancy pant! Seriously.. apparently since he was the youngest boy in the family, he was spoiled! I laughed when I heard that. A “city boy”.. that’s what they called him.. haha but all these family stories that I’m hearing is just making me love my family more and more. I am so blessed.

My relatives here are not Christian and I know they know I am a Christian. I hope that through my actions and my words while I am here would be a reflection of God.

Today i started my first day of work as a dental assistant for Bridgeport Dental Care in Bridgeport, PA. I know, I know… “Connie, you’re a nurse! What are you doing in a dental office?” Well, I’m just having fun this summer. This is the last free summer I’ll have until I quit my potential job as a nurse haha. So I’m trying something new for a few months. Any who, I basically assist the dentist in whatever she needs while the patient is in the chair.. haha I would say the medical terms used for dental… but I don’t know them. Oh well! But being here on the east coast has made me realize how closed minded I was while choosing majors in college and what I wanted for myself in the future.

So basically when I was applying to college, my dad kind of gave me only three choices in regards to my occupation - pharmacist, dentist, or computer/software engineer. I was jaded back then and hated a lot of schooling and wanted to defy my parents as much as possible. So pharmacy and dental was out of the question (these took too many years of schooling). I applied to be computer engineer/science to all my colleges and got into basically all that for my colleges except for UCLA. Yeah.. there is a story to my major and stuff.. bahaha. Any who, as I was saying, being here has made me realized how lame and jaded I was. If I “knew” myself back then and didn’t want to defy my parents so much, I probably would have done pharmacy. Oh well.. I’m lame. hahaha nursing! WHEEEEEEEEEE!!! except for this summer… wheeee!!

Ever since I’ve been here, we’ve watched Despicable Me about.. hmmm.. 6 times? hahaha Had to go to Target to get Mucinex because I’ve been sounding like an old man (or worse than an old man according to my cousin) ever since I got here. Oh the joy of family!

Today we celebrated my nephew’s 5th birthday at a local roller rink. We then went back to one of my cousin’s colonial mansion in New Jersey. This picture is not of the birthday boy but of another nephew. He’s playing kitchen :)

I don’t think many know but I’m going to be on the east coast for the next 6 weeks! I’ll be in Philadelphia, PA :) and I want to upload one daily photo of my trip. Hopefully I will!

My flight was at 1pm from Burbank to Salt Lake City. I arrived feeling all gross and air sick because this Delta plane was small. So i resulted into buying a book at a book store at the airport.. retail price! UGH! My first time ever. Then departed for Philadelphia but with delays due to thunderstorms :( arrived 1130pm.

“This would be a good day for Jesus to come back. Everyone can see him.”

“Living in unfinished stories draws us into God’s final act, the return of Jesus. While we wait for his return, it is easy to predict the pattern of the last days. The book of Revelation pictures a suffering church, dying as creation itself is unraveling. Through suffering God will finally make his church beautiful and reveal his glory. In the desert you see his glory. In the last days the bride will be made beautiful, pure, waiting for her lover. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.”

The Praying Life by Paul E. Miller

street tacos
fish tacos
del tacos
gossip girls
glee
facebook
monopoly deal
pabo
uno
more monopoly
facebook &then
have winston telling me i have a facebook addiction… 

“Hopeless we, Sovereign He”

I’m sitting here in Starbucks trying to prepare for small groups next quarter.. reflecting as well. I remember a while ago that people putting too much emphasis on speakers/pastors, saying that they bring the Word of God alive. Now what is wrong with that? Why is it that it’s the physical human being that is helping you with your relationship rather than God? I was just reading at article on Francis Chan, about how he left his church because people were basically recognizing him more than the Holy Spirit. This made me realize my sins and how I get excited when I get to hear certain speakers speak. For example, I was extremely excited to here that the speaker for AACF Winter Retreat is Arthur Hsieh.. Friends, be careful who you adore. Don’t lose focus on the Lord and turn to some physical being for your spiritual nourishment. God should be your comforter, the one you cry out to in tears, the one you call ABBA. God, the LOVE of your life.

“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him” 1 John 4:16

“I love you, O LORD, my strength” Psalm 18:1