I Miss Trash Day!

In LA, trash day was a weekly welcomed inconvenience. It required dragging out full garbage cans every Wednesday night and dragging empty ones back on Thursday afternoon/evening. It was never a fun task, but there was always a bit a pleasure in getting rid of the trash. Trash Day was always a reliable weekly event. Even when there were holidays, we knew that our trash would eventually be picked up each week.

But this is not so in Vancouver. Since July, the city's civic workers have been on strike. This means that there is no one to come pick up trash... at all!!! Residents in Vancouver have taken to several options:

• Line up for hours at the city dump site,
• Sneakily throw trash into public or business receptacles,
• Bring trash to nearby cities like Burnaby or Richmond,
• Hire a private sanitation company,
• Or give trash to friends who live in condominiums or apartments with privatized trash collection.

As for me, I have taken to various options. First of all, I freeze my perishable trash to avoid a stink. When I'm ready to dump, I bag up my trash into small unassuming grocery bags. Then, I take them to the nearby park or even to school. And when my good friends from out of town were here, we took my trash to nearby cities and even across the border into Washington. (Special thanks to Richard, Danette and Isaac!)

I can't wait for this city strike to be over! Apparently, Vancouver is notorious for strikes. Can't we all just get along? I merely want to dump my trash like a civilized person. Sigh... another reason to miss LA.

Photos from Danette & Richard's Visit

Photos courtesy of Richard and Danette.
(Click on entry title to see additional photos.)

Post-Retreat Reflections

This past weekend (September 21-23) was Regent College's annual retreat in Stanwood, WA at the Warm Beach Conference Center, which is neither warm nor a beach. Before attending, I had mixed feelings. I was worried about all the studying I still needed to do, but wouldn't be able to do during the retreat. I was worried that I would feel lonely in the midst of people whom I didn't know. But I also wanted to go to get to know people and experience the retreat. And it was definitely a plus to be back on American soil.

All in all, I had a pretty good time. With the theme of "Surprised by God: from Fear to Longing," Phil and Polly Long talked about Moses' life as well as their own lives. I met a ton of people, most of whom I cannot remember names nor faces. Bek and I shared a long walk and conversation early Saturday morning. I enjoyed a long trail run in solitude during the afternoon. I was "wowed" by the talents of individuals at Saturday night's Talent Show... especially tickled into fits of laughter by John Stackhouse and his band. And let's not forget about cheering on the kids while they played "newspaper hockey" -- Go Team 2! We're twice as good as Team 1!!

However, my favorite part of this weekend was actually the ride down and back up with Samuel, Rebecca and Dave. It was so much fun talking with them about everything from Canadian and American politics to childhood experiences.

I am very glad to be back home in Vancouver, but also feel blessed to have attended the retreat. Now... I guess it's time to get back to studying again!

I was too lazy to take photos, so I only have one to show... the sunset on Saturday evening. I got to enjoy it thanks to Bek who pointed it out to me.

Two Great Friends. One New Desk.

Yesterday, Danette and Richard came to hang out with me for the weekend. On the way up, they stopped at the Ikea in Seattle to buy me a desk. If I had purchased the same desk up here in Vancouver, it would have been $100 more. Despite the difficulties of lugging furniture, they graciously volunteered to do it for me. They even helped me assemble it (taking us over 2 hours!). I feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends.

I was anticipating Danette and Richard's visit and was so excited to see them at the front door. Last night, we enjoyed a delicious Greek dinner, assembled my desk and had dessert with my landlords. (Speaking of my landlords, they are sooooooo cool!)

Anyway, Danette and Richard will be at my front door at any minute now. They'll be here until Monday.

It's All Greek to Me!

Tuesday, September 11th was my first day of classes. Here's what it looked like:

• 7:30AM - Woke up. Got ready for day. Skipped devotions.
• 9:00AM - Left for school.
• 9:15AM - Arrived at school. Sat in the wrong class.
• 9:30AM - Realized my mistake and ran to the right class.
• 9:30-11:00AM - Class: "Perspectives on Biblical Languages"
• 11:00AM-12:00PM - Chapel
• 12:00-1:30PM - Community Groups (and lunch)
• 1:30-3:00PM - Class: "Christian Thought & Culture I"
• 3:00-4:00PM - TRIED to figure out Greek homework (with no success)
• 4:00-5:00PM - Section: "Christian Thought & Culture I"
• 5:15PM - Left school. Bought groceries.
• 6:45PM - Got home. Dropped groceries on the floor. Cimbed into shower.
• 7:45PM - Fell into bed.
• 11:45PM -- Woke up. Put away groceries. Cried. Cried and prayed. Cried and prayed. Prayed.

As an event planner in LA, it was not uncommon for me to work up to 14 hours in a day. So, I felt absolutely discouraged when I was so mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted after my first day of classes. During my late-night praying, I cried out "God, what am I doing here? What are you trying to teach me? If it's in Your will, please let me go back to LA." I was homesick. I was missing my friends, my brother and my mom. And why couldn't I figure out my Greek homework? I had a major breakdown.

I finally fell back asleep at 4:00AM after unsuccessfully tackling my Greek homework again.

BUT, the Lord is gracious. When I arrived at school the next morning (Wednesday), I realized that my classmates were just as confused as I was about Greek. We struggled together in the afternoon and were partially successful.

It is now Saturday. My lessons from the first day of classes are (1) don't skip my quiet time with God, (2) God is gracious and (3) the saying "It's all Greek to me" probably started with theology students.

Orientation Highlights

I attended New Student Orientations at Regent College last week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Since I missed orientations at UCLA years ago, I was really excited about this. Here are some of the highlights from my perspective:

OPENING PRAYER. The opening prayer consisted of a petition for God to help us adjust to a new life in Vancouver and for solace as we grieve the people/things we left behind. The part that brought me to tears was "God is comfortable with grief."

FLAG PROCESSIONAL. Since Regent is such an international school, they had a processional of various countries' flags. When the flag for the United States of America was brought in, I was moved to tears... I'm very patriotic!

HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL. This introduction of Regent's history was done by the president of the school. It was very interesting. It was comforting to know that the school's beginnings were not easy. Because of that, community is a core value of the school. If anyone is interested in knowing why the school is called Regent College, please be sure to ask me. I love the simplicity of the story, but will leave it out of the blog for fear that I may not be totally accurate in my retelling. To read the less humorous version of the school's history, please click here.

NEW PEOPLE. I met some pretty cool people so far. Since I'm not tremendously extroverted, I'm very glad people have taken the initiative to talk with me. I met a guy with whom we have a mutual friend. I met a girl with my same name. I met several people from LA. I met a couple who reminds me so much of Jason and Debbie. I hope to make and develop more friendships. Please pray that God will help me to find people with whom I can share openly and be accountable.

WELCOME TO CANADA. A professor shared about the history of Canada and what makes it special as a country. It was a very humorous and interesting talk. I realize, that as an American, I know very little about our northern neighbor. It seems that they know a lot more about us than we know about them. They actually have a year of American history in high school, but our history books cover very little about Canada. But then again, they never had to fight for their independence... but was "released" by the British because they became too financially high maintenance. Haha.

Well, classes start this week. If I have time and energy, I'll blog about classes later on. Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement.

Contact Information

I would rather not post my contact information online, but If you want my new mailing address here in Vancouver, please email me or leave me a comment with your name and email address. I will send it to you.

My cell phone number has remained the same.