My Life at August 2008
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August 31, 2008(Sunday)
This morning I played basketball (5-on-5) with church friends and also badminton with church friends too. Lots of people came, around 25 church people come. This is certainly a good way to socialize. Afterward while Carmen is taking care the baby, I un-assemble the computer desk at the living room, and also pack the DVD player. This is the one of the many steps that we are doing to prepare some spaces for Cailyn to play. It is certainly very tiring.
August 30, 2008(Saturday)
This afternoon the Cantonese and Mandarin undergrad group has a combine group game: Amazing Race. This is a similar idea to the Amazing race shown on the TV. We were divided into four groups, about 5 to 7 people per group. And then we are given several missions, e.g. use $10 to buy vegetable/drink/sweet that the three hosts like. Moreover we should take some photo with background shown with a river, and a bridge, and a fountain, and some American, and kids, etc. The idea is to get newcomers more familiar with the campus. My group has 5 people, just fit my car. I am the driver, but also the planner. There are people who ran to various places, or purchase various things or take photo. We were together most of them time because most photo requires all members present. I used my leadership skill to direct them to do certain things. I became a bit competitive, but nevertheless we had a great time. We ended up winning the competition.
August 29, 2008(Friday)
I played badminton for 2.5 hours today. For the last few days, students have returned and there are so many people everywhere. Today there are so many people at the gym. I still remember two weeks ago, same time, the basketball ball courts (5 of them) are nearly empty, with only one group playing. However, today there are almost 3 or 4 teams for each court! The workout area has a lot of people too; a few weeks ago I am the only one running on the treadmill and today all 17 of them are full and the sweat of the gym is very smelly! I definitely prefer the Bloomington with nobody.
At night I led Bible study at church. There are also lots of newcomers too! That is good!
August 28, 2008(Thursday)
I attended the dissertation final defense of my classmate Ana. She got a job at Portugal already; two years later it will be my turn. At night we attended prayer meeting, and then I led pre-study for tomorrow's Bible Study.
August 27, 2008(Wednesday)
This morning we went to the government department "WIC" to get some food stamp; we were supposed to go there yesterday but since Cailyn was sleeping at that time, we postponed to this morning. Afterward, I went out for jogging. Today is the dorm move-in day and there are so many people! Last several months Bloomington is very empty and there is no traffic going anywhere. However, today is another extreme! All the small one-lane road are full of cars! I am jogging much faster than how fast a car can go! It certainly makes me feel good to be able to pass so many cars!
August 26, 2008(Tuesday)
This morning I went to install Matlab to my laptop; Matlab is a math program that I use for the healthcare paper. And since I reformatted my computer a few weeks ago, I have to ask them to re-install it. Then after meeting with professors, there is a group lunch from the Business department to welcome the new Business PhD students; I am there just to get some free food.
At the evening I played 3.3 hours of badminton/basketball with church friends. There are about 15 of them showing up (25 at one point if including family members). Not only the Cantonese group but also the Mandarin speaking group too. This is a good way to socialize with them and I am as usual the one with the most energy, even among people 10 years younger than I am. Running is the spring of youth and it certainly helps!
August 25, 2008(Monday)
We went to Sears to take another free family portrait again. I wonder how they make money! However I am sure that there are many others that are not able to stand up to the temptation of buying more stuff and ended up letting them making money. However, as for us, we stand firm. We come here for a free photo session, and won't pay an extra penny. If more people like us exist, they must cancel this kind of free stuff.
August 24, 2008(Sunday)
After the vision sharing meeting yesterday, some people have some suggestions about how to make our church better. After I hear their decision, rather than doing it myself, I ask them to do it themselves. I learnt this principle from the book "Purpose Driven Church". The author Rick Warren says that there are people coming to him to have some suggestion about the church. However rather than a top-down structure (where the deacon board make the decision and people do it), they let people to carry out themselves. I am doing this and I think that it is a great way to get more people involved.
At night we had dinner with classmates and church friends Wenbin and Zhihao. Zhihao will go to study at NYU and we hope to take this opportunity to farewell him and pray that he will continue to go to church over there. I also spent some times at night to get the new laptop started.
August 23, 2008(Saturday)
Our church had a Vision Sharing meeting this afternoon. It is because we thought that we have too much in our hand and people do not know the church's purpose. Therefore we want to use this opportunity to convey our church's vision and also as a communication channel so everyone are up to speed and able to voice out their opinion. There are about 14 (out of 45 members) people showed up and everyone got their say. Hopefully we will be on the right track soon. We also devoted too much on taking care the new students and neglected our own need. It is a challenge to balance how to take care others without over-burden ourselves.
August 22, 2008(Friday)
I played several hours badminton/basketball. I am too energetic and have too much stamina with other people and that's why I don't really feel tired after playing these game. At night there is quite a lot of newcomers coming to fellowship tonight; the Cantonese group has home-visitation and we just chit-chat for a while and enjoy the dessert that Carmen made.
August 21, 2008(Thursday)
I had another meeting with professors about the healthcare paper. It is another tough meeting because there are several things that I need to do. At night I had meeting for the pastoral search committee. There are quite a lot of meetings lately, such as deacon board meeting, pastoral search committee meeting, vision sharing meeting, Macedonia group meeting, etc. Church life is full of meeting and I must learn not only do the organization and background work, but also the front line caring work too.
August 20, 2008(Wednesday)
My professor is back to Bloomington, and life is finally back to normal. I had a 2 hour meeting with him today and then I went to gym to workout so that I can release some steam (sometimes it is very frustrating/defeating after meeting, but not this time). Working out is much more mentally and physically demanding than playing basketball, badminton. For the rest of the day, I spent several hours working on the paper again.
August 19, 2008(Tuesday)
I had a meeting with ECC staff to go over some rules about the church usage. It is not easy to use other church's property for our church. I am glad that the relationship with this American church is great so far. However we still cannot take this for granted. At night we went to church friend Kenneth's house to have dinner with Macedonia group, eating sushi. Carmen and Cailyn were driving new students to buy some grocery and so we were late. By the time we were there, they finished making the food and ready to eat. And after dinner, we fed Cailyn and then left early. So this is like going there just for dinner only.
August 18, 2008(Monday)
I played badminton/basketball for three hours today with church friends. I accidentally hit the eye/nose of a non-believer when playing basketball. I apologized lots of time because I don't want him to think that Christian play rough game. At night I also drove some new students to their apartment.
August 17, 2008(Sunday)
After church there is a General Assembly to elect Pastoral Search committee #2. The last one turned us down, and now we have a second candidate. Let's see how it will turn out. Then the Macedonia group has meeting at our house afterward. Another day of meetings.
August 16, 2008(Saturday)
We went out for lunch and then I went to read comic while Carmen went to buy grocery! She is so good and let me have a relaxing time! At night we went to parenting group and there are only three couples.
August 15, 2008(Friday)
I did some workout and then played badminton with church friend. I find that if I don't do some workout and consume my energy before hand, I would have too much stamina. Playing recreational badminton with church friends is like a relax, not a sport!
August 14, 2008(Thursday)
Today is normal day. My advisor will return next week so this is the last time that I can relax. I also did some studying for the online seminary. At night we had potluck with worship team, and then had a prayer meeting.
August 13, 2008(Wednesday)
I went to play two 9-holes golf course today. The weather is nice, and not too hot. Also there are very few people playing so there is very few line-up. It is good to practice some golf; first time I need 48 strike to finish 9 holes and second time I need only 46 strikes. However the standard is 28 strike. So hopefully one day I can get to around 35 strike and I would be happy.
August 12, 2008(Tuesday)
I played for two hour intensive badminton today with a friend that is good at badminton. This is tiring, and make my two arms feel unbalance. Therefore I need to do some weight lifting afterward to balance the two arms. We also purchased travel insurance for Cailyn and at night we had pre-study at my home, with two Christian newcomers Caleb and Kenneth.
August 11, 2008(Monday)
I had a meeting with professor today about my healthcare paper. It is good to have meeting once in a while, or else I am slacking off too much. But my main professor will return next week so this will be my last relaxing week. I also spent lots of time watching the Olympic too.
August 10, 2008(Sunday)
I preached sermon today, on the topic of "the heart of a father". Being a father for almost half a year certainly gives me some inspiration. And this message is mainly from a Bible Study before. Then we went to some baby second-hand toy shop "Once upon a child" to buy some toys from Cailyn. The weather is also getting a bit cooler now (from 30 degree to 25 degree) now. Lastly, Cailyn needs to use pacifier to get to sleep. And if I put her down to sleep, she would cry if I don't give her a pacifier. And if I hold her (like what I am doing now), she is ok.
August 09, 2008(Saturday)
This morning we went to a Farmer's market to buy grocery. This is like the outdoor food market in HK, except that this is cleaner because it doesn't sell fish or meat. It mainly sells fruit, vegetable and flowers. We got some food stamp from the government and we took advantage of that.
There is also a cooking competition at our church today, between the Cantonese group and family group. We mixed people up together and had some fun. I helped out cutting some chicken meat and our team came out to be third (out of three teams).
At night I watched lots of Olympic TV, such as swimming and gymnastic. I also checked news about Olympic too. Having lived in various places, I am not sure which team I should cheer for. Canada performs quite poorly and I think that I won't cheer for them. And I don't see Venezuelan competing either. So it is either China (because I don't see HK people performing) or US. I don't have much loyalty to one country; depends on various event, I will be cheering for different countries. Now I am more leaning on cheering for China though because this year should be their year.
August 08, 2008(Friday)
I played badminton and basketball with church friend. Lately Carmen and I are able to have an active sport life. And I took advantage of summer vacation and played lots of sports too. At night, there are not much people going to church but lots of people from the Cantonese group.
August 07, 2008(Thursday)
I went to play ping-pong with my German classmate. I borrowed Wenbin's new Ping-Pong racquet and I am able to do a lot of heavy spin; however I still lose to my friend. I need more practices! We also went to prayer meeting at night but there are only a few of us there. I wonder whether prayer meeting should continue in this format or not.
August 06, 2008(Wednesday)
Today is a very normal day. Nothing special happened.
August 05, 2008(Tuesday)
We are supposed to drive our church friend Effie and her family from airport to home today. Therefore, we took this opportunity and drove to Indianapolis for a good and cheap Japanese lunch. The food variety is ok and only costs $10/person including tax, tips. This is definitely worth it, except that it takes 80 mins driving (on highway!) from home.
Then we walked around the mall, ToysRUs, and read some comic at the Border's bookstore. We found out that we don’t' have to pick them up because they have enough ride, so we just left. This is a small road trip for us.
August 04, 2008(Monday)
We invited church friends Allen and Yuan-Yuan to our home for dinner. And I was listening to some Spanish songs from the Venezuela church website, and that makes me think about my life in Venezuela, and I miss those days.
August 03, 2008(Sunday)
We were informed that a very good pastor Anita Leung from Vancouver church was in coma because of fire accident. This is a very sad story and I pray that God has His will in this accident.
I had a deacon board meeting in the morning. We talked about the church's vision (because we are reading the book "Purpose driven church") and talked about hiring a female minister/pastor. That is going to be a tough issue to handle because each of us has a diverse background and will have a very diverse view on this issue. The Sunday worship time is also changed from 1pm to 2pm because of ECC's schedule. That is not too convenient but there is nothing that we can do.
I also find that Cailyn is very responsive when we call out "ho ho lei?". She would stop crying and stare right at me. And she is very responsive at my violin too, and would stop crying when I play violin.
August 02, 2008(Saturday)
This morning we went to the Pediatrician to check for Cailyn. She is a bit closer to having a cold, plus the fact that she has several tooth (two from bottom and two from top) coming out. Therefore she is quite fuzzy lately. She is now 16lb.
We also went to the farewell BBQ of church friend Daniel/Yangching, at the back playground of our apartment
August 01, 2008(Friday)
I played badminton with church friends and other friends for 2.5 hours. It is good to get some intense badminton, because it requires me much more energy than Ping-Pong. At night, Cailyn was quite fuzzy and disturbing during fellowship time, therefore we left early.