Maybe rebooting?

OH. Erm... Is this thing still on? Mic check... mic check... Not going to bother filling in all the dots between now and the last two years. Suffice to say I had many adventures, and then I came back to America for another degree.

Gourmet Discount Food

Feeling fairly gourmet at this particular moment. I just made myself a meal of steamed lobster dim sum and sweet chili rice. For me this is a big deal. O' Course this meal was primarily made from pre-assembled dim sum. :-) My favorite grocery store sells discount things just before they expire, so if you cook 'em quick, they're cheap and delicious. I'm still missing my "just microwave" style of cooking from home, but I'm learning to compensate. Plus- the fruit here in HK is absolutely delicious, and there is always something new to try.
Currently working on a bag of mangosteens. Mangosteens look like purple Bob-oms (from Mario games) on the outside, but are sweet on the inside. I'll try to post a picture of them for all my fellow Westerners. Definitely worth trying if you ever see 'em.

Things have picked up since I last wrote. Still homesick from time to time, but better for the most part. Besides it's all downhill from here! In two weeks, I'll see my family in Israel for a few days. Then my dad will visit the next weekend, then my school starts a little over a week after that. We'll be on the go until December! Then it is only a few short months 'til I'm visiting the USA! First year- done! Bam!

In current event news, please be praying for Thailand. Political demonstrations, riots, burning cities, looting, etc... I've got some friends in the area about whom I'm concerned.

That's it for the moment :-)

Unghhhh....

This week I am homesick. I am stressed out. I don't want to talk to anyone. And it still hurts a little every time I walk. It hurts because I fell out of a bus and sprained my ankle last Thursday. I don't want to talk to anyone, because the frequent mis-communications are starting to really bug me. I am stressed out due to my lack of physical mobility with the sprained ankle. I am homesick due to moving to the other side of the globe for two years.

That being said, I am thankful for the friends I do have here. I am thankful for the cheap (and legal) copy of Sherlock Holmes I have been watching. I am thankful for proper tea, audiobooks, and the guitar that I am learning to play.

I am thankful I can talk on skype to my family and friends at home (skype me at thatjuliegirl). I am thankful for the post card that my O. U. Improv!er Scott sent me in the mail. I am thankful for all the encouraging emails my support team has been sending me.

Also (and I never thought I would be saying this), I am thankful for McDonalds. I love going there, ordering an iced tea, and sitting on the third floor in a window seat. It has become the place I go to be American. Even though everyone around my is from HK, and even though I'm the only American in the place, it feels like a perfectly fine place to just sit and be American. I never go to McD's at home (or very rarely did), but it still identifies as American. That is the important part.

... Working on Sun-Tues, but have Wednesday and Thursday off. I hope to post a less stressed update then.

Please pray for me. My patience is wearing thinner and thinner as I get more stressed and homesick.

I should be in a Dr Scholls Commercial...

I've been running around like a crazy person this last week. Five or six times into Yuen Long for work (once until 8 at night), down to East TST then Central to see the light show with a friend, back to Yuen Long for a showing of the movie Alice in Wonderland (which is excellent, by the way), and back to TST tomorrow to meet up with Uncle John. Some work, some fun; altogether tiring yet satisfying.

I'm not sure if that was proper use of a semi-colon. Sorry Allie.

I think I finally hashed out my standard monthly budget. It's color coded, which makes me very happy. It is also on excel (triumphant background fanfare), which I am starting to learn to use. Sometimes looking at money starts to scare me a little, but then I just have to sit back and remember that God is in charge of it. He is so faithful, and always provides the means for his people to do what he has told them to do. I still need to be diligent with what I have been given!

Right now I'm re-reading Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. It's a fictional retelling of Hosea set in the 1850s. It's a very well written, historical love story- I recommend it to you ladies.

Going to spend the rest of tonight relaxing :-) I love the weekends!!

The View From Here

I was walking around whilst thinking and taking pictures a few days ago. I wanted to get pictures of this beautiful red tree. The water buffalo hanging out under it was an added bonus, which made me extremely pleased.

4:46 AM

Can't sleep. Not tired either.

I am so blessed to be living and working with the amazing people here. I love people with stories, and it seems like a dynamic bunch of lives that have picked up and moved out here. It isn't even the moving itself that makes them interesting- it is the build up and twists and turns in their lives that lead them to where and who they are now. To hear the way faint in God has impacted some of my friends here is truly inspiring.

I want to be that kind of person, but somehow my life seems pretty non-extraordinary. Don't get me wrong: I love who I am. I just want to be even more. You only get a set amount of days on this planet, and I want to make them full. I want them to count for more than I have made them in the past.
"Father, I want to start a University where anyone can study regardless of their rank. Oh! And I've invited the gypsies to the ball."

Now that I'm off my soap box...
It's early. I can't sleep. I want to make a cup of black tea with forest fruit, but the kettle will probably awaken the housemate whom sleeps with the door open. As soon as people wake up, it is tea time :-)

Sooo c-c-c-COLD

Hong Kong is having a freak cold front. I know it is only getting down into the 40s, but when you don't have indoor heating or a warm jacket 40 is freezing!!
It does provide for some nice bonding experiences, though. Last night I sat on the couch in my sleeping bag watching a Korean movie with GoHoon. Ruth came out of her room with two extra blankets and wrapped them around me and my sleeping bag. I was like a piglet in a bag in a blanket. Very snuggly.

The movie we watched is called Speedy Scandal in English. I highly recommend it. Very funny.

Now my tea is almost to room tempuratue (about 45 F), so I'm going to get moving.