My Life at August 2007
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August 31, 2007(Friday)
I taught the I-Core class today. This is my third time teaching this class. Before my class, I am a bit worry and nervous. However, once I stepped onto the stage, I am all fine and enjoy the moment. I do enjoy teaching
Afterward I had meeting with professor about my paper. I got the feedback and required a Review-and-resubmit. There are different things that I am working on, but he assured me that I am not under time-pressure. I am ahead of the game already so I can just take my time to work on the submission.
At night, the fellowship is "Amazing Race". This is a campus treasure hunt and helps new students to get to know the campus. They have to go do different spots and have different action, such as running around, write down on the floor (using chalk) about tomorrow's welcome-new-student dinner, memorize Bible verse, go to church website, etc. Carmen designed the game according to the TV show "Amazing Race". People have to run around the campus, and some groups are lost. I am responsible for a check-point located outside. And only 4 out of 6 groups visited me, because the other two are lost. So I am quite bored at that time. Anyway, we had a great time! Carmen did a great job in organizing the game
August 30, 2007(Thursday)
We went to visit Daniel and Yangching before prayer meeting. They gave birth to a baby last Thursday. After prayer meeting, we went to visit Shangmin and Tanyue. They gave birth to a twin today. Daniel and Shangmin are the two deacons of our church. Lately there are baby booms. In fact, two weeks ago, a new comer in our church also gave birth to a baby. However, for the next 1.5 months, we are not expecting any baby. However during October, another deacon (Chenghu) will give birth to his second child. Wow! And then it will be our turn next February! There are just too many babies!
August 29, 2007(Wednesday)
I had a meeting this afternoon about my Health care queueing project. My professor collected lots of data during his sabbatical year. I am using his data as input to my model. Basically I am just sitting there, helping him to compute some information using Excel (because this is confidential data so I can't take them home and play around with this). To have the meeting is just to give him pressure so that he will work on the data!
And life is pretty sweet and relaxing after qualifying exam. Even though I am taking two classes, I am stress-less. In fact, this afternoon I took my first private golf lesson. The teacher is a fourth year undergrad student who enjoys playing golf. I learnt from him how to hold the club, how to swing and so on. I am able to hit the ball pretty fall (roughly 100 yards) and hit straight! Comparatively, last time when I played it in Vancouver, I also hit the air, or the ball curve. I also learnt how to putt the ball as well! It costs $6 to get about 50 balls (for driving range) and only $15 for the lesson (I only have $14 at that time, so I only paid $14 for an hour!) I think that this is a good deal, and dramatically improved my game!
At night, I also went out to read comic for about 1.5 hours. Plus I got afternoon nap! I am enjoying and relaxing this time of the year!
August 28, 2007(Tuesday)
I am taking two classes this semester. I had the first class, Game Theory, in the morning. I actually have taken two game theory classes in my last two terms. I think that most of the students for this class have not taken those classes, so I think that I am too advanced for this class. The other class is Academic Writing for International Student. The first class is just talking about the syllabus and introducing oneself to the class. It still sounds pretty simple and boring. So these two classes may be a waste of time.
I had lunch with classmates to celebrate birthday of someone. And then I also went to the health center to do a body checkup. I do have a family history of diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. I talked to the doctor today and he said that I am in a very good shape, mainly because I do exercise frequently! I am very proud of myself, having a strong heart and great blood pressure! However, I still need to get the blood this Thursday to confirm the result.
At night, we had dinner with Effie and her mother. Effie comes here to study undergrad and we gave them some tips previously about finding houses and they want to show their appreciation and took us out for dinner.
August 27, 2007(Monday)
The whole university was nearly empty a month ago, but now it is full of people! I went to work out in the late afternoon and the gym is packed and reached the full capacity!
At night, we invited classmates John (first year PhD) and Wenbin (second year PhD) to our home for dinner. It is good to have some gathering of the Chinese students in our department. We talked about church (they have been going to our church) and about our department. We share tips about what to do and what to avoid. John is transferred from another school and he shared about the problem in his previous school. It seems like that IU is a really good university and professors are extremely friendly!
August 26, 2007(Sunday)
On July 6, we went to Vancouver and listened to a sermon by "Won Wai Yue", about the Biblical character Daniel. I think that his sermon is good, and today I preached the sermon based on his sermon. Afterward I hosted the General Assembly; we did not have enough people for the last two times and I am glad that we have enough today.
At night, I played basketball again with the church friends. I like to have fun
August 25, 2007(Saturday)
This morning I helped some church friends to drive the UHaul and to move the furniture. That took me the whole morning. I have been helping a lot of people moving houses lately, more that what I have helped in the previous years! But I think that this will be almost the last one!
We went to another church friend's house for her birthday party. Several church friends go as well. And then, very late at night, from 10:00 to mid night, I went to play basketball with church friends again! This is one of the crazy things that an undergrad should do, but not a people of our age! (Most of the people that played with me tonight are around my age, with kids). Today during the dinner and basketball we spent time with the Mandarin speaking graduate church friends. We are in different groups because my group is Cantonese speaking, mostly consists of undergrad who are 10 years younger than I am. I think that we will mix have a much better fellowship life with the Mandarin graduate group. However, we still need to support to Cantonese group. Let's see how it will go.
August 24, 2007(Friday)
It is sometimes quite boring to work out and run all the time. Therefore, today I played badminton with Shangmin. I have played with him many times. His wife Tanyue will give birth to a twin boys next Thursday so probably this will be one of the last time that I will play with him! There are two Caucasian also played badminton and we played with them. We are much better than them. They are amazed at our skill. But I told them that they will be much better than us in basketball though.
At night, I led the Bible Study again. There are quite a lot of newcomers, and some of them are non-Christian. We are currently studying the book of Acts. However, I spend a long time to give them some background, not only the background about the book of Acts but also about Old vs. New Testament, and also the four gospels. I also explain about the gospel to them, and hope that God would plant the seed in their mind. God gave me a gift of leading small group Bible Study and I think that it turns out pretty well.
August 23, 2007(Thursday)
The weather is pretty hot today, and I went out for a jog and is quite hot.
We went to the IU Culture Fest in the late afternoon. In the open space there are a lot of booths selling stuff. It is similar to UBC (or any university) during the opening of the school year. However, the line up for the ticket and for food is very long. There are people that "cut lane". It is quite frustrating, but eventually we did the same thing as well. At least, I guess that it is better than the case in China.
At night, after prayer meeting, we went to visit our church friend Daniel/Yangching. They are one of the deacons and just gave birth to a baby tonight. It is great to see that they are doing fine.
August 22, 2007(Wednesday)
I had a relaxing day today. I did some admin thing for church, such as preparing for the General Assembly this coming Sunday and also the sermon for this Sunday. At night, I went to Border Bookstore to read comic for almost 2 hours. This is one of my favorite moments.
August 21, 2007(Tuesday)
There is a lunch for new business PhD student. So I went for the free lunch too. I found out that a new PhD student from my department, John, is a Chinese from Canada, like me. He also has been to church for a long time and is also married. Sounds like his background and my background is quite similar and I fully hope that we will have a great relationship in the future.
At night, Carmen and I went out for a walk in the campus, partly to be an exercise and partly to take photo so that we can prepare for the Treasure Hunt (similar to the TV show "Amazing Race") next Friday.
Joe asked me to pick him up from the airport. His flight supposed to arrive at 11:10 so I left home at 10:10 and arrived to the airport at around 11:20. However, he told me that his flight has problem and he has to take another flight and will arrive at 1:20. That means, I have to wait for two hours. I am glad that there is a Radisson Hotel near by, and there is Internet access. Therefore, I have something to do to kill the time.
However, I think that I did not really waste my time, because during those 1.5 hours, I have decided to register for some English class (for International graduate student) and probably a class in Game Theory too. Since I have completed all my coursework, I have the freedom to take whatever I like, as long as it helps my study. Let's see whether my advisor approves these two classes or not.
August 20, 2007(Monday)
I finally handed in my qualifying exam today. I talked to professors about my exam, and also my research. They are still assuring me that I would be fine and I am doing the right thing and on the right track. So let's see how far I can get to.
I also helped a fellowship friend Harold to move house and move mattress. He is from HK studying Math PhD. However this is the first time that he left home so his mom, who accompanies him for these two weeks, is taking care of him heavily. Let's hope that he can learn to be more independent soon.
August 19, 2007(Sunday)
Poor Carmen has to work today. The students are moving in during this time so she has to work again. I felt bad for her especially that we returned home late at night yesterday from Cincinnati. But we are glad that there is nothing special today, so she can go to bed early
August 18, 2007(Saturday)
We finally have our cell phone! This is my first personal cell phone in my life. Previously I had a work cell phone in Venezuela. This is a prepaid cell phone that Nicky/Joyce lent to us.
Carmen and I went to Cincinnati to visit Timothy/Serene Pang family. They drove down from Windsor to Cincinnati for a vacation. Originally the drive should be 2.5 hours one way. However, in the middle of the road, we got lost. To be specific, we are supposed to find some way at the town of Flat Rock. We used to Google map to find our way. However, we can't find the road. And even worse, we can't find anyone in this dead-town! We happened to see two people but none of them know the way! We are tight on time and I am very frustrated and I have to go back 10 mins to the main highway in order to find a gasoline station. We took a picture using our camera and we finally know the way.
We were supposed to see them 6:30. However, we got lost and we were there are 7:40! We tried to call their cell phone but no one answered (turned out that their battery is dead). We tried many ways to contact them, such as calling their hotel, calling my parents to ask them to call Peter Pang to call them, but we got no luck. I am so worry that the three little girls have to wait for Uncle Hubert and Auntie Carmen for a long time!
Anyway, we finally saw them and had dinner with them. It is great to see the family. Timothy and I grew up together at church and now it is the next generation. I also played around with his eldest daughter; she is full of curiosity and really likes to talk. Therefore, I always ask her lots of questions, such as, which camera is better than which camera, why is it that way, why the person in this photo is better looking at the other one, and so on. We both like to talk, and none of us is able to annoy each other (yet).
We departed at 10pm and it took 2.5 hours to drive back home. This time we took another route which is along the main highway. Therefore, we did not get lost! We are grateful to be safe home.
August 17, 2007(Friday)
I played tennis instead of badminton today. I found that the tennis racquet is much longer than the badminton racquet, so I always miss the ball. I need more practices!
Then I helped a new comer to move furniture. She and her mom will stay here, and she is coming from a town that is 4.5 hours from here. Basically they moved everything, like immigration. Everything, such as wash-cloth fluid, bed/mattress, to even a full size small piano! The six of us moves piano and I am glad that no one got hurt.
At night, there is about 74 people coming to fellowship, and 40 of them belong to the Mandarin graduate group, with almost half of these people are new to Indiana! There are too many people in this group and we had brief discussion about how to handle this problem. We also helped other new comers to move second hand furniture to them. Currently there are so many people asking for furniture, and there is none left! Lately, the church people donated a lot of furniture and we helped lots of people move house!
August 16, 2007(Thursday)
I went to workout today again, and lately I went there quite often. It makes me feel health. At night, I went to church for prayer meeting. There are lots of pregnant women there, five of them in total! Our church will have lots of baby one year from now!
At night, I helped people to move some luggage to her home. Lately, there are a lot of new comers and we hope that through helping them to settle down in Bloomington, they will join our church!
August 15, 2007(Wednesday)
I went to check the dentist today and wash teeth. I also took the car to change the engine oil and filter. Moreover, one of the fellowship friends Jacky has to see the doctor because he hurt his hand while playing basketball. Therefore, I spent most of the day outside and not able to work too much.
August 14, 2007(Tuesday)
I drove a church friend to the airport, leaving home at 3:30 am. It is good to drive during that time because there is almost no traffic. On the way back, I tried to drive a different route, which is supposed to be closer and faster. I have sat through this route (with other people driving) for several times already. However, after driving for 20 mins at very top speed and I still don't see the intersection that I am familiar, I was a bit scared. I had two options, one is to trust in myself (that I did not miss the intersection) and the other is to drive back to the closest 24-hours station and asked. I chose the second option because I really don't want to risk going forward in the middle of the night, everywhere dark. After driving 5 mins back, I found that, I just need to believe myself a bit more and be persistent for 10 more minutes (which is, about 15 mins from this place) and it would be fine. So I lost about 15 mins in total.
I had lunch with classmates to celebrate the birthday of a classmate. It is good to see them again. We chat about how we are doing, talk about what classes we will take, our qualifying exam, dissertation and so on. At night, we went to the Border bookstore to read comic. This is the good thing about western style bookstore, that they let us to read comic. For Asian style bookstore, they all have plastic wrap for comic. I have completed the "Prince of Tennis" comic, which I have read for about half a year. Carmen chose a new comic, called "Whistle". This is about a person playing soccer. He was transferred from a very good soccer school to a not-so-good school, and people expected him to play really well soccer. However, it turned out that he was always a substitute at the old school, so he did really badly. He was totally embarrassed but he did not give up. He spent many hours every day to practice soccer by himself. One of the teammates (which is really good player) saw him practicing and was moved. The idea is that even though this kid does not have the required skill at the moment, he does have a big heart and willing to work really hard for the game he loves. This kind of comic is much more realistic, because usually sport comics always paint the main character as perfect. This one, on the other hand, requires him to work really hard. Even though I only read one comic book tonight, I really enjoy this!
August 13, 2007(Monday)
I went to work out today, and work on qualifying exam for some times today. Compare to the last few days, I am quite slow and take more break.
August 12, 2007(Sunday)
I am not mentally able to continue working on the exam, after working hard on this for the last week. I am quite mentally exhausted by dinner time, and I am taking a break, walking aimlessly and don't know what I should do.
August 11, 2007(Saturday)
This morning I drove a church friend Joe to airport. He has driven us to and from airport several times, so it is great that I can help him back. Since we are at Indianapolis, we drove around to eat some Chinese buffet. The price is only $9US. It is quite cheap and there are quite some varieties in food (e.g. Soya milk, Vietnamese food, Chinese buffet usual food). From a Vancouver perspective, we won't go. But from a Bloomington perspective it looks pretty good.
Then we went to "Babies R Us" to walk around for 1.5 hours and Carmen drove home because she wants to gain more experience in driving on highway.
August 10, 2007(Friday)
I helped a new HK student Harold for some apartment issue. And then I played badminton and ping pong again.
At night, I led Bible Study for fellowship. I think that I am pretty good at engaging the people and making sure that they are not bored. There are four new students that join us this summer, three of them are first time going to our church today! I hope that they can continue to stay in our church.
August 09, 2007(Thursday)
The weather is really hot nowadays. The temperature is about 38 degree during noon time!
Around the beginning of the semester is always a time for people moving house. Therefore, this morning I helped a church friend to move house. There are more people moving house during afternoon, but I can't help because I go with Carmen to see doctor. We were at the hospital at 3:50, right at the appointment time. However, the backlog is so serious that we have to wait for 1.5 hours. And this is considered to be normal. It is a well known fact that patients need to be patient to wait for doctor! The health care industry seriously need some operation management people (like me) to streamline the process and minimize the wait time. I wish to be a doctor so that people are waiting for me, not otherwise!
At night we went to prayer meeting and return home to work on the exam as usual.
August 08, 2007(Wednesday)
As usual, I am working on the qualifying exam for most of the day. I also went to work out. During that time, I think about my character. I am usually a person that do thing fast, but sacrificing the quality. Therefore, I am trying to change this character, starting from the workout routine. Let's see how long I can keep the change and whether I can really change my character.
At night, we had dinner with our group because two new people came to join us. After dinner, we gave them some furniture and housing utility. These are the stuff that other people left to our house, intended to pass on to the next generation. They are happy to get settle down, and I am happy to get rid of thing from our house.
August 07, 2007(Tuesday)
There is some works that I need to work on for the qualifying exam that I took before I left Bloomington. Therefore, for the whole day today (and probably most of the time during the next two weeks), I will be working on the exam.
August 06, 2007(Monday)
I had meeting with professors about my paper and also the qualifying exam that I did before. There are some questions that I need to rework.
At night, we went to a new church friend Joel and Angie's home for dinner. Joel is coming here to be an Assistant professor in counseling psychology. They are coming from Singapore and we communicated through English. They also have two kids, with age 3.8 and 1.2 years old. Seeing them is like seeing myself two years from now!
August 05, 2007(Sunday)
We went to move the sofa that we were interested. The original price is $35 but we made it to be $25. I got two $20 bill and he does not have any change. My friend only has two $1 to borrow, so we ended up paying the sofa for $22! The cover of the sofa (first hand) cost $32, much more expensive than the sofa!
I also played ping pong with Chris and it is good to get back into shape.
August 04, 2007(Saturday)
I went to workout today. Even though I do jogging twice or three times a week in Vancouver, I am totally weak. I am not able to lift the weight that I usually able to (which is not surprising, since I did not work out in Vancouver) and I am very tired after running. Probably it will take me a week or two to completely return to shape.
We also had deacon board meeting. At night we went to check some second hand sofa, because the sofa that we are using now is a folded one. Very unstable and may not be good for baby. The price is only $35, and it looks pretty good. Nevertheless, we asked for $25 because we want to practice our bargaining skill, so that one day when we buy house, we will have the required skill to negotiate.
August 03, 2007(Friday)
I woke up before 11am (8am Vancouver time) and force myself to get used to the jet lag. This is quite funny to mention the word "jet lag", because there is only 3 hours difference, and I have traveled between these two time zones since my days in Venezuela.
We went to do grocery shopping because our refrigerator is empty before we left US. Then at night there are a lot of fellowship friends congratulate us. We only notice a few fellowship people shortly before we left US. Therefore, there are many people congratulate us when they see us today!
August 02, 2007(Thursday)
We left Vancouver today. We first had lunch with both families. Then we flew to Denver and returned to Indiana. We finally returned home at 1am. After some unpacking, I am still jet-lag and can't sleep. I finally able to sleep at almost 5am (which is 2am Vancouver time). For the last many days, I always sleep at around 2am Vancouver time, and I slept on the plane too. Hence I slept at 5am.
August 01, 2007(Wednesday)
We had lunch with Serene, Vera and Carmen Mok. Then we went to play golf (Driving range) the fourth time. My beginner's luck is running out. I always did pretty good on the first ball I hit, but then subsequently I just can't hit the right place. Then after some rest, I am able to do a good job the first time, but then deteriorate afterward. That is very strange. We had dinner at home at night and continue packing.