My Life at September 2002
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September 30, 2002 (Monday)
The new CCIE in the work, Roberto, found out, somehow, that I passed my Security written exam. I planned to tell him later anyway, but somehow it does not feel good if that is from someone else's mouth. He lent me some lab practice book and I lent this to someone else in the work, just to show them that I am nice. Roberto found out and was not happy about that. These two things were not nice thing to have.
There was Spanish Class at night again. I recognize the importance of learning Spanish, but I am having a hard time to concentrate, probably because of my busy schedule.
September 29, 2002 (Sunday)
I did not go to Baptist Church today because I had music practice at MB church in the morning. I stayed at church afterward for three hours alone after the rehearsal (and before the Sunday worship) studying, sleeping and piano-playing.
We arrived to the Chinese community place after fellowship. I brought my digital piano, guitar and flute along (thanks to the shorten version, or else I have to bring my violin too!) There was some Chinese Kung Fu by Venezuelan. In addition, there is some dancing-lion too. These were very noisy and I did not enjoy at all. The place in crowded and noisy (especially after the dinner) They are too "Chinese" and are from a different place than I am. There was a lot of Chinese style music in the China Day celebration. I do not know how to appreciate it, mostly because I am coming from a Western music background.
Before our performance, the MB performers were quite nervous. There were food served at that time but most of them do not want to eat because they thought that this “oily” food would affect their voice. Some of the younger performers (first time) were nervous and they prayed with each other. I love this atmosphere. You can tell everyone were very serious about the performance. And this nervousness drew them closer to God. This is one of the best scenes you will ever get.
Finally our time had arrived. People were not concentrated and bored before. Pastor Semson made a great introduction and shared some jokes. I enjoyed every challenge and the excitement (or nervousness, depends on how you put it). I enjoyed being the focus of 400+ people. I smiled, talked calmly and created good atmosphere. I looked at every of the singers with a passion too. My hands were shaking when I was conducting the song "Stream of Praises", but it went pretty well. At that time, I truly believe that I was born to be the center of focus and belonged to the stage. (wow!) I also sure that our performance was the best and deserved to be the highlight of the night.
Afterward, one or two of the Chinese Community committee came and greeted us. They praised our performance. One of them told me that, my outlook is not especially outstanding but my performance was very good. Should I feel sad about this?
Together with the potential ministry in Baptist church, I found myself reached a new level that I spent 12 years to achieve in Vancouver. I can never imagine it when I first arrived Venezuela. I remembered that in the first three months I really wanted to obtain a reference letter from my church pastor to prove that how good I am. Now, it is not necessary.
I see a lot of needs and how I can fit into it. However, I need to be cautious because I am still building ministry, not people. And even more important is my life testimony. I know my weakness and I must avoid to "speak a type but do another type"
September 28, 2002 (Saturday)
I went to the Baptist church Outreach team meeting in the afternoon for about 5 hours. I practiced piano at that house and they were amazed (again) that I know piano too! Mrs. Wong asked me opinion about how the Sunday school should run. They asked me to be the pianist of the church and I said that if you really want to improve the music ministry, I would rather be the singspiration leader instead. They were excited (again) about my activeness and my strongness (again) I requested to have a week for me to demonstrate how to lead worship (I do not have experience in leading singspiration in worship, but I do have plenty of experience in leading worship in fellowship or even among non-Christian). They also spent a lot of time discussing some outreach strategy, which in my opinion is too drag and waste of time.
Several of the MB Church people came to my house and practiced for tomorrow's music performance. I was like a choir director and was critical about their sound quality. Once again, this is very irony for me because I very seldom join choir when I was in Vancouver (even though I joined church children choir when I was in HK for 10 years). I know that music is not my strongest spiritual gift. However, that is *enough* for them anyway (this is what they told me).
Suddenly, I found that I have too many opportunities to serve in Church. The Baptist church can be very demanding (I have already drawn my boundary) and the MB Church people seems to like me too. However, I strongly believer that building ministry is not as strong as building people. Therefore, I hope that I can involve in some personal work (i.e. fellowship) too!
September 27, 2002 (Friday)
I was informed today by Pastor Semson that the time of the Sept 29 music performance will be reduced from 45 mins to 20 mins. The Chinese community people said that the Chinese Opera section used CD for background music and there is no special feature about it, so they suggested to cut this section. This is a big NO NO in the church. I can imagine a Six-country-big-kill-prime-minister is coming. (even though this is not his decision) Well, he asked me to pray for him and I will surely do this.
I led the Bible Study at the Baptist Church at night. The passage was John 1:1-18 and was designed for the new comers to church. This is not the best passage to be for non-believers but I led anyway. I did a pretty good job. They were impressed and kept on praising me too. I did not feel too comfortable because my Vancouver friends seldom praise me like that, even though they know that I am good :-)
September 26, 2002 (Thursday)
I did not have my laptop again. I used the Window Server for me to go on net. This server is designed to store information; it has the capability to go to Internet too, but I must be careful not erasing any data or else I will be in a big trouble.
I went home early (6:30) to cook for myself. Then we had the music practice at night. There was mosquito(s) inside my room so I covered myself with thin blanket, but it makes me hot. I woke up in the middle of night and can not get back to sleep. Therefore, I played gameboy (I have 7 different games, but I just played Tetris. I do not know how to play others because some of them are in Japanese and others do not interest me)
September 25, 2002 (Wednesday)
Today is my dating 8th year anniversary!
Finally, after a failing experience in last Friday, I passed the Cisco 9E0-558 (Cisco Secure Intrusion Detection System) exam. I was quite stressed in the previous five days and prayed a lot about that. Objectively speaking, I should be able to pass this time because I studied quite hard and I have the intuition of guessing the right multiple choice answers. However, there is still dark corner within the course material that makes me worry. Anyway, I passed the exam and I once again discover the true happiness of passing an exam (for the previous several times, I just briefly mentioned in the diary that "I passed exam". This time, I had a long writing!)
I enjoy my "weekend" for the rest of the day. (Friday afternoon is the worst possible time to fail an exam, so I did not enjoy my last weekend) I stayed home instead of going to work, because my laptop was not fixed yet. I played with YiSon (At one point, he tried to run away and I pulled his hand. When I release his hand, he lost his balance and his head hit the door. He cried of course. And Mrs. Chu went to check out everything. Luckily that YiSon always cries; this was not really my fault, and he was sleepy at that time so he always lost balance.) I also played piano and watched a video that I brought over from Vancouver about the life of Christian actor "Q won".
At night, I went to the Bible Study of MB Church. That is very seldom that we go, and is even more seldom that Mrs. Chu was healthy enough to go with us. I did not really listen to the Bible Study because I spent time babysitting YiSon. (Dr. Chu took over my place in the middle of that, and other parents and little baby joined us later.)
September 24, 2002 (Tuesday)
I went to DirecTV in the afternoon again. I found out a horrible truth - Cisco's IOS image is like Microsoft’s product. Both are unreliable (of course, Microsoft is more unreliable!) For the same code that I program, it works sometimes and does not work in other time. Why? (My co-worker joked that the person that programmed Window XP changed job to program Cisco IOS. If that is the case, that this person is really powerful. He controls not only the desktop but also the Internet!)
I went to MB Church to practise for the music performance at night. The Chinese group is doing quite well. However, the Spanish group is not as good. Their movement during the song is not together. I tried not to be as critical as last Sunday but I still felt that some of them are not too happy. They are still young and need to learn how to accept suggestion.
Mrs Chu told me that the landlord wants the house back by the end of the coming January. I guess that this is not a big problem to me because this is within my plan anyway.
September 23, 2002 (Monday)
I talked to Roberto in my company and found out that he wrote exams in a very fast pace, even faster than mine. Wow! It gives me some challenge and encouragement feeling. And I was given a laptop of my boss to work with in the coming several days. Therefore, I spent some times to catch up with emails and my diary entries.
I went to DirecTV in the afternoon; I once again understand my reason of banging my laptop when I face this slow computer and internet access. Don't worry, I am not going to do it again (I hope!).
After the Spanish class, I spent about 1.8 hours studying for my Cisco exam that I failed last Friday. I tried to study but I still worried. For the last 11 times, I knew that I have the magic. However, I hope that this "magic" is not running out. (Well, if I "blame" my passing exam on this magic, then why should I study? Actually, it is hardworking rather than this magic that made me pass the exam. However, somehow, I still have this "magic" concept in my mind.)
September 22, 2002 (Sunday)
I went to Baptist Church and had enough with their Sunday school. There are two classes – one of them is about the book of Roman. I joined this when I first arrived Venezuela. I can not keep myself awake in this class. Most of the classmates are “mature” Chinese housewife. The second one is for new believers. I joined this since 2 months ago, when I brought Mrs. Wong to church. She stopped coming to church because of family pressure for a month. I still join this class because I see these people are the potential of the Chinese fellowship (if there will be one). The material is for new believers, which I have even taught for many times. The teacher was boring, long-air and always off topic. I remained silent most of the time and trying my best to keep myself awake. It is a torture!
I skipped the MB Church because I am running out of patience (I used up my patience this morning). Their Sunday Service singspiration is TERRIBLE! Their song books have 120 songs but they only sang 20 songs. For the last three months, I have sang over 4 times for most of those 20 songs. Their announcement time is terrible too. They read out, word by word, what is printed on the bulletin, as if we are all illiterate. I do not feel welcome in this church because of these programs (the people really welcome me though). I stayed home playing piano, reading the life of Beethoven and sleeping instead.
I went to MB church for the music practise. Since I want to have a high standard for them, I tried to be as critical as possible. Two of the younger Spanish teens are sad because I am critical for them (even though I did not say anything bad directly at them). This is their first performance and they were not too mature. However, I felt bad and I am not sure what I should do next. They comfort me that they are ok.
I went to Fernando’s house for dinner. There were three other Chinese speaking youth eating there too. We were discussing about the possibility of a Chinese fellowship for the MB Church. I felt more related to them because they are within my age range and are not new believers. However, they are living in small towns that are several hours drive from here and can only come to this city Sunday only. They have the heart but lack availability. I am very delighted for their initiation. I was a “fellowship is my life” person when I was in Canada. I want to pick it up again, but do not know who are with me. They do not know what to do with this new fellowship and I can fill in this gap (I always consider myself the single biggest gift is “fellowship/church organization”). We will have an informal sharing (this would be tedious if we make it formal, because of the church policy) two Sunday from now and I hope to know more about them.
September 21, 2002 (Saturday)
I can not go to work today because there is no computer. And as I expected, my mood about the weekend is sadden by my failing exam yesterday. I had my first shopping day – I bought a slipper (the old one was broken after for only 2 months!), chocolate milk and washing powder.
I jogged for 45 mins today. This is the first time that I jogged in Venezuela. (I ran stairs once in June). I jogged from my home to my work place and then to church. And I joined the Baptist Church’s co-worker meeting. Basically we were reviewing the progress of the last 8 years that Pastor Loh was serving and to plan for the future. Pastor Loh’s supervisor was there too. There are two things that I do not like about the meeting. They had a heavy emphasize that a full time pastor is needed. There is no doubt about that, however, they expected with the arrival of a pastor, and then all problems will be solved. The second thing is about “reviewing” a pastor. It sounds like to me that, if the pastor does not fit the need of the church, then we can request for a change of pastor. It makes me feel too business. This is how the world works but should it be the way church work? Anyway, I hope that Pastor Loh would not feel too bad about all this discussion.
A Chinese saying says that “when festival comes, we would especially miss the family”. Today is Mid-autumn festival. I normally do not care for this (except playing fire when I was in HK). However, this is more or less the first event that without my family (the next two BIG ones are my birthday and Christmas). Therefore, the Chu family invited some friends to eat at home. There were two “exciting” events that happen that night. First, we are waiting for “Ah fai” to come. The earliest that he can arrive is 9:00pm. We waited for him for dinner. He was at our gate at about 9:10pm and he was caught by police! Like most of the illegal immigrant, he only has a faked ID. And he does not know Spanish well. Pastor Semson and wife immediately went to rescue and bargain with the police. After about an hour of bargaining, the police was willing to release him by paying the police about Cdn $60. He is lucky this time. Pastor Semson told us a story about another Chinese (let’s call him Mr. A, because I forgot his name). Mr. A was caught by the police and was requested to “pay” (the police would keep this money!) a fine of Cdn $600. (There are two possibility of getting caught by the police. They would either request you to pay “them” fine, or they would escort you to the immigration office, which would request an even larger fine (about Cdn $1500). Mr. A refused to pay the fine and the police kept him waiting at the police office for several hours. Afterward, the police asked him again to pay for $300. Mr. A still refused. And the police took him to a dark alley, pointed him with his gun and took all his money (about $150). Basically, this is a robbery dressed with police uniform targeting at the poor illegal immigrant.
The second “exciting” events were that the glass table was broken. It had some damage before. During the time that Pastor Semson rescued Ah Fai, the table, with dishes on top, collapsed. There was some bar under to keep it falling to ground. We had to think of a solution of how to break this glass so it is “carriable” to the garbage bin. It is quite thick and is heavy (about 70kg?). We had newspaper wrap over it and throw hard thing on it (we do not have a hammer). Pastor Semson demonstrated his violent power too! It is not easy to break glass!
September 20, 2002 (Friday)
It really was not easy without computer. I basically have nothing to do; I borrowed Internet access when people were not around.
I took the Cisco 9E0-558 (Cisco Secure Intrusion Detection System) exam and I failed it. After 11 passing exams experience, I finally failed an exam. Objectively speaking, it is not a bad record. However, I felt quite bad about this. It is not a good way to start a weekend. I know why I failed the exam. I do not have the equipment to study with. Moreover, I read the book only when I was in metro or elevator and counted on the pass exam for the rest of the effort (This is the way how I passed the previous three Security exam. It works out. However, at that time, I do have the hands on experience, and I do not have my laptop to study for yesterday night).
I chatted with the new CCIE (Roberto) in my company about failing my exam. I want to remain my “underdog” position and do not want him to find that I passed too many exams. This is a good way to do it. He also failed an exam this Tuesday too. I found out that he took about 150 exams in the last 9 years. Wow, that is a lot!
There is no family singspiration because some other Bible Study is happening the same time. Therefore, I went to dinner with Ricky Lam and his wife at his resident and went to the Baptist Church prayer meeting at night.
September 19, 2002 (Thursday)
I went to DirecTV in the morning, quite unhappy about their slow internet connection time and also the slow processing time of my computer. I am mad to a point that I hit (bang) on my computer. Big mistake. Violent does not work out well. Now my computer is Rest In Peace. It does not boot up anymore and it is declared dead. All the data are gone! They have to ship it and reformat the whole thing. I am thankful though that it is not needed to buy me another computer, or else I will be quite guilty.
Life without computer is not the same. Basically I can not do anything. I am paralysed. I can not do anything at work and I can not do the practise exam. Now I have sneak around and beg people to let me check email.
I went to the Chinese cell group at night. We ate dinner (one of the best dinner I had since I started to cook for myself this Monday), sang and shared. The supervisor of Pastor Loh came to Venezuela so we had some chat with them too (They are Canadian and we talked in English)
September 18, 2002 (Wednesday)
I talked to my boss this morning. I originally wanted to impress him with my fast rate at passing exam and requested for some training. However, he pointed out that I need to work hard on the personally relationship at work. I am quite depressed because this is exactly my weakness. Even when I was in Canada, I do not communicate much with my co-worker. This is a different character from the normal self. I have to work on this in order to please my boss though. The language makes it extra hard.
I went to DirecTV in the afternoon and quite unhappy about the new requirement of the customer again. He spoke poor English too. Somehow I ran out of patient and talked loud. I felt a bit guilty afterward and joking apologize to the customer, saying that I need to work more on my Spanish (This is a good excuse!)
I went to MB Church to practise on the music performance on Sept 29. I had a higher requirement on these people than the Sept 1 music performance.
September 17, 2002 (Tuesday)
I went to DirecTV in the afternoon. And then I went to MB Church to have a meeting about the Sept 29 program. This is one of the most "bloodiest" meetings (but to them, it is just an average meeting) I have ever attended. Here is my perspective. I will be in trouble if they happen to read this page.
The Chinese community approached the church to help out in the Sept 29 "China Day celebration" because we did a good job in the Sept 1 outreach. (Just a side note. That program consisted of 20 mins of music, 90 mins of movie and 20 mins of message. I think that the Chinese Community impressed about the music most because there is nothing special about showing the movie and quite a number of people left when the pastor went up for the message.) I, and many other people, wanted to maintain a good quality this time. They came up with an idea that there should have Chinese Opera singing, Spanish singing and also Chinese singing. I questioned about the Spanish singing and they told me that this is a request from the Chinese community. And I questioned about the Chinese Opera. I know that the music style of Chinese Opera and contemporary music does not match. But it looks like to me that someone from the church (let's call her, "S") insist to have that. I do not think that the decision can be overruled. However, I would have doubt about that part. (Mrs. Chu told me that there was a Chinese Opera music outreach before and the people do not like this)
I have my Chinese section planned already. However, they suddenly wanted to insert a song into the Chinese section. It is a song solo by S. It is not a good idea. In fact, it is not a good idea for her to sing because she has a "Chinese Opera" voice. I test-drive that in the Sept 1 program already. However, S insisted strongly. Ridiculous.
There is some other thing that is ridiculous. They spent time to discuss whether people who are not baptised can perform or not. According to my Biblical knowledge, anyone who accepted Christ is my brothers and sisters; they have the requirement to serve already. S also threatened that if we do not let her to solo sing that Chinese song (she already had a solo in Chinese Opera already), other people are limited to sing one song each, no matter it is a solo or duet or altogether so that it is fair. That does not work. Four of the Spanish and Chinese songs are altogether songs and if you change that to solo song in order to match this requirement, the atmosphere would be destroyed. We finally decided to let S sing her solo Chinese song, but in the Chinese Opera section. (Or else, the meeting will be overnight!)
These are the kind of politic that I mentioned about. It is not easy to serve at church and Satan is always finding space to attack. Plead God for wisdom so that the sheep in the church is protected, yet we can make peace with everyone.
September 16, 2002 (Monday)
I passed Cisco 350-018 (Security CCIE Written Exam) in the afternoon. This is the eleventh exam since I arrived Venezuela, and is the most important exam. I did not have confident when I scheduled the test - I even scheduled it on this Wednesday too because the nature of today's exam is just "trial and error". I studied "ok-hard" for that and I passed. I am happy about that. Now I can schedule for "the exam" - CCIE security CCIE lab exam. This lab exam is 20 times harder than any other written exam and gave me lots of stress last time I passed it. However, in order to schedule for this lab exam, I must pass the written exam (which I passed today). I hope to be able to schedule it in November.
This is my first cook-day too. The entire process (include eating) is about an hour. The dishes are, "vegetable heart" (in Chinese), egg with "dog vegetable", sausage and egg. I cooked more than enough so that I do not have to cook for the following day either. It tasted ok, except the rice is a bit hard. It is irony, because I have the most experience in cooking rice.
I had a private Spanish class at night. Afterward, I escorted the teacher downstairs. YiSon wanted to go with me, so we went together. On the way back, there is only an "even-number" escalator available, so we got off at the 12th floor and walked down to 11th floor. YiSon seemed like that he wanted to walk down the stair by himself, so I let him to that. MISTAKE! He fell down two steps and his lips hit the stair and cried. I thought to myself at that time that, since he always fell down, he should be fine this time too. MISTAKE! When I carried him, his lip was bleeding. Mr. and Mrs. Chu heard the noise and went out see what happen. I handed over a bleeding YiSon to them. I was so sorry at that time. Mrs. Chu once told me that YiSon had climbed up the stair before. However, it is different between climbing up and going down. This is his first time and it ended up like that. I felt so BAD! I was shivering; I can feel my hand and my feet are shivering. I wanted to hide at that time and did not want to look straight into their eyes. YiSon did not want anyone else to carry him at that time besides Mrs. Chu. She was tired at that time. There is a lot of worse scenario that will happen and I am thankful that it ended up not-too-bad. The lesson that I learnt (I know it before, but it is a re-confirmation) is that, never fooling around with other people's kid. If that is I, or my children that get hurt, I will not feel as guilty. (Not that I don't love my children-in-future. It is just the human nature)
Another thought came to me. There is a "theory" that we should follow God no matter how hard it may be or how miserable it may be. No, I don't think so. If I know ahead of time that the cost would be this kind of guilty feeling or some kind of mistake, I don't think that I will follow Him. This is the boundary. (How can Peter be so "think face skin" and return to Jesus after he denied Him three times?)
September 15, 2002 (Sunday)
Mrs. Chu was quite sick again and they did not go to church. Therefore, I almost did not go (but I did) because I went to the Baptist Church in the morning already. I phoned Carmen at night and shared about our lives.
September 14, 2002 (Saturday)
I woke up; studied for 2.5 hours and slept for another 1.8 hours. I did not go to work today because I have my laptop at home and I can stay home and study. I went to the "join-church" youth fellowship music and game night. Probably is because of the setting, I feel much better even though I do not understand what they are talking about. I also played guitar in several songs.
During the ride going to that church, my left eye is quite dry. To a point that the contact lens literally folded and stick together. I almost can not take it out from my eye. It would be really scary if I have to go to the doctor to do surgery in order to take it out. After some effort with touching my eye, I managed to get that lens out. I went to buy the contact lens fluid (I left mine at home) and fixed it. I still have to put it on because I don't have my glasses at that time. However, I still decide to put it on tomorrow again. This is not reasonable to use this $40 Cdn lens once or twice only!
September 13, 2002 (Friday)
I went to DirecTV in the afternoon again. As warned by my co-worker, the customers usually do not know what they want. I thought that I have fulfilled their requirement; however, they actually want something else. Hence, I have to spend more time on this.
For about 10 mins of the night, I was very lonely. Originally, there is a family singspiration scheduled for tonight. However, since there is a Bible Study going on, the Chu family was not here. And I found out that Chi Kong can not make it either. I felt quite lonely and depressed at that time. This will be the first Friday night that I will be alone in Venezuela. And about 10 mins later, Fernando and his wife came. There was no singing because there were only three of us. Instead, he told me that the Chinese organization (similar to Chinatown) was pleased about our performance in Sept 1 and would like to invite us to host for a section of the performance during the Chinese Day celebration. The Chinese Day is Oct 1 and the celebration will be Sept 29. On one hand, I am happy that they were pleased with our performance and invite us to do whatever we want in one session (roughly 45 mins) of the Chinese Day celebration (Of course we will have singing and preach the gospel!) On the other hand, I have pressure about this performance. There will be three singing sessions: Spanish, Chinese Opera and Chinese songs. The Chinese Opera section was there mostly because of the church committee politic. It would not match the other two sections. I will be in charge of the practice of the other two sections.
The day finally comes. I talked to Mrs. Chu and there is basically no way around. I have to cook for myself (unless there is some left over) starting next Monday. I have some initial idea - egg, sausage and vegetable with rice. I did not regret that I brought the instant noodle back to Vancouver because it would take longer to cook noodle (since I have to "pass cold river") than rice.
September 12, 2002 (Thursday)
I took my Cisco exam 640-442 (Managing Cisco Network Security) in the afternoon. To no surprise at all, I passed the exam. I went home and relaxed by practicing piano and slept. I have never been home at that time because I am either at work (Mon-Sat) or at church during afternoon.
The Baptist Church prayer meeting is changed to Friday night (I can not attend it because I have family singspiration at that time). There is a cell group for new believers at the Baptist church, hosted by Pastor Loh on Thursday night instead. I went there; ate dinner, led singspiration and learnt basic Christianity with them. If there will be a Chinese youth fellowship, these will be the target group.
I am addicted to the colour gameboy that Andy Poon gave me. Actually, I am just addicted to "Tetris" (since 1990 in Edmonton). I originally planned to study; however, I chose to slack off and played. (There are other games like Final Fantasy, Pokemon, Zelda... However, I like Tetris better) Yesterday night, I even spent an hour on Tetris!
September 11, 2002 (Wednesday)
I planned to sleep in today because I studied late last night. I told my boss that there is nothing much happening and therefore they approve this already. However, there is the DirecTV project going on. I don't want my boss to find out that I lied to them (at the time that I made this request, today supposed to be free); I have to go to the bank (for reporting the bank error that happened yesterday and also about the US account) and take router from company anyway. Therefore, I just slept in a bit and arrived work about an hour later than my usual arrival time.
I worked at DirecTV for the rest of the day and setting up prototype for their network. I arrived home at about 9 and practiced piano for about an hour today.
September 10, 2002 (Tuesday)
I tried to withdrew money yesterday from the bank but it failed. However, when I check the bank statement, it says that I withdrew 50000Bs (about 60 Cdn). I complained to my boss about that and asked for assistant. For the rest of the day, I went to customer DirecTV to work. For some unknown reason, I can not access my hotmail using my computer over there (but I can access other website, or use other computer to access hotmail).
I went home in the lunch time because the courier delivered the digital piano to my house. That thing is quite heavy. I am still thinking where I should put it (I don't want to put it in the living room because YiSon will destroy it. However, in the limited space of my room, I have to do jumping exercise too. Currently, I locate it in the "upper floor" of the bed and take it out when I play it. However, I want to find a more permanent place for it later). I also had my first Spanish private lesson. For the last three months, I was just playing around. However, I need to get to business now and really learn about Spanish.
September 09, 2002 (Monday)
Today in my office, it is "no hay agua" (there is no water in Spanish) again. I can not wash my dishes. And worst of all, imagine how "bubble-ish" and "yellow-ish" the toilet will be (and thing would be mixed if someone pooh!) Disgusting!
I went to take my Cisco 9E0-571 exam (Cisco Secure PIX Firewall Advanced) in the afternoon. On my way there, I saw the new CCIE asking where I am going. I told him the "partly" truth - going for a late lunch (it was 2pm at that time). I don't want him (or other people in my company) feel that I am taking exam in a fast pace. I prefer to be an underdog (can't believe that I am "anti-show-off" person in the working aspect of my life) However, I felt that this is not too appropriate. Originally I planed to go home after the test. However, I decided to go back to work so that it is really a late lunch break.
Right before the test, I received a phone call from DHL saying that my digital piano finally arrived. However, I have to pay roughly USD$300 for the Venezuela tax. What! That is unbelievable. It is about 35% of the cost of the digital piano. This greatly disturbed my concentration in the test. I know that if I fail this time, I would be very angry! Thanks God, I passed with an impressive mark. (A pass is a pass, no matter how high I score) Or else I would feel very bitter when I pay for that duty fee.
As usual, I scheduled for the next exam. To make it challenging, I planed to have it this Friday. There is only space in either this Thursday or next Tuesday. I have 75% confident to pass the exam even if I take it today; to complete the boss requirement of passing exam quick is how I find my confident in work; to take it next Tuesday is too far away (even though most people take one per month or at most every two weeks); I want to spare some time so that in case I fail an exam I can retake it; I do not have to practice on the Security CCIE lab this week; I like to live in the edge and be challenged. Therefore, this Thursday afternoon will be my date.
When I went back to work, Hansel told me that Tom Lee has not yet paid my parking bill in Aug 23. It brought back my memory about my USD$300 duty fee again! I went home early today (again) because I have not thing much to do at work. For the last two weeks, I had the router equipments that I can telnet to. Therefore, I stayed late. However, this week, there is nothing like that. I just need to concentrate on reading books. I gave a call to Pastor Semson about the music ministry and the follow-up / Chinese fellowship ministry. I have to learn to be patient.
September 08, 2002 (Sunday)
I went to two churches again today. I expected some "praise" from people regarding my "exceptional" performance in Sept 1. There was some praise, but not as much as I hoped. Obviously this is good for me. At night time, I had worship practice with the Spanish youth in the two churches for the join fellowship (with other Spanish churches) on the coming Saturday.
September 07, 2002 (Saturday)
Mrs. Chu told me that because of her health, she can not cook for me anymore. No matter how I had persuaded her, she stood firm. I guess that this is time for me to find a new house. (Another evident that I should move is that, I see two or three "it" in the house at night when I go to washroom.)
I went to work to study for several hours in the afternoon. I went to Pastor Loh's house to eat dinner with them. I shared a lot of thing with them; e.g. the possibility of a new Chinese fellowship, how my view about short term ministry changed (check my August diary) and how God is giving me a lesson in Venezuela.
September 06, 2002 (Friday)
I felt much better today after the "brain-resting" last night and I can study again. I went to DirecTV for a customer meeting in the afternoon with one of the engineer here (he is the one that always whistles and makes noise at work). I feel so good about the meeting because they are willing to speak English in about 20-30% of the time. (For the remaining 70% of the Spanish, I can understand 20% of them. That makes me understand about 25%+75%*20%=40% of the entire meeting). And I am thankful to that annoying engineer because he also talks to me in English and helps me with the job. (But that does not make him not annoy when he whistle)
There is a birthday party for that new CCIE tonight. (They do have birthday party for every birthday person; it is just an excuse to socialize). As usual, when they ask me to join, I refuse, saying that I am busy. (And the main reason behind is that they talk in Spanish and I don't want to make myself looks like a fool standing there alone). And as usual, they ask me whether I want to have a drink of wine or whisky. I refused as usual, saying that it is not good for my health. My boss asked me why I don't drink wine. He shared that he does not drink beer either; this is a secret that not many people within the company knows. (But it is unbelievable if you look at his huge "beer" tummy). He said that he does not like the taste, and his mom used to be an alcoholic. He said that he only drinks scotch in the business meeting. This is something that I should learn - know how to drink, yet not addicted to it.
Family singspiration at night again. Now, after the Sept 1 music performance, I feel more comfortable to sing and share with these people.
September 05, 2002 (Thursday)
Today is not a good day. I slept with the window wide open (usually I left it open, but not as wide as this morning). Therefore, I have a cold. The computer mouse, as usual, is stuck. And I guess that I am working too intense for the last several days on that Cisco Security CCIE. Therefore, these stress plus not-too-good health cause me to have a cold and quite "mum".
I went home at lunch for a nap. Since there is no water supply, I did not do any exercise and slept for 1.6 hours. I was pretty much brain dead for most of the day. I cleaned my mouse and it is smooth now (why didn't I think it earlier? Because I am brain dead)
I wanted to go to the prayer meeting, but I can not find a ride. Also, I am not feeling too well, so I went home early. I have so much time at night; I played around with YiSon, looked at Dr. Chu teaching English (the student is just a friend of them; they called me the "real" English expert) and studied for my test.
September 04, 2002 (Wednesday)
I went to the bank today. It takes me a long time (2 hours; 1.5 hours of those are waiting). Therefore, I did not go home for the afternoon nap. I was tired and could not be productive at all. Nevertheless, I tried and stayed at work until 8:10. I organized my room and did some housekeeping thing at night and felt more productive this way.
September 03, 2002 (Tuesday)
I passed Exam 9E0-570 (CSVPN Cisco Secure VPN) exam this morning. I have passed seven MCSE exams in the last two months, but I don't really feel great about that. It is because I am not a Microsoft person and I memorized all the answers. Thing is different this time. I really studied hard (read my diary in the last several weeks!) and knew the stuff well. I deserve the pass. Other than that, it is another hard working day. I went home at about 9 and played around with YiSon for awhile to relief stress. He peed all over the ground.
September 02, 2002 (Monday)
The company just hired for the third CCIE this morning. (Now I know how the first CCIE felt when I first arrived - threatening). I believe that the company is moving from a silver partner of Cisco (require two CCIE) to gold partner (require four CCIE). He is also going for the Security CCIE and is a step ahead of me. I had some chat with him about his background and his technical expertise (it is kinda like a one-way "interview" with him). I worked quite hard for the rest of the day.
September 01, 2002 (Sunday)
MB Church will have its service in the morning today, so I can't go to the Baptist church. I went home for a noon-nap (this is part of the daily routine now) and arrived the "China town" at 4. This is a very small scale of china town, if compare to the one in Vancouver/Richmond. And it is very "Chinese" - people are smoking and playing Mahjong; the group photo are also very Chinese feeling.
The outreach started at 6:30pm. The music performance lasted for about 20 mins. It was, in my opinion, an ok-good performance (three weeks ago, their standard was quite bad. Obviously, they practiced very hard in the mean while). And then we watched the movie "the God of the gambling god". It reminds me about the goal in my life - don't focus solely on my work and forget other thing. Afterward, many people came to greet me that the music performance was very good (I thought it was only ok-good). It is a great feeling; people finally recognize my gift/talent. They know that I am not just another Christian. (But this is exactly the temptation that I would fall into - glorify myself. [I replied to them that the glory should go back to God]) We went out to dinner together (with other 50 people); I was much more active at that time.