Goodbye!

I think I'm done with this blog.  You were good while you lasted, old-timer.

Now, back to the original broadcasting:

idiesto.blogspost.com.

Being Back

is difficult.

Summatimee

It seems a bit weird to continue posting here since I've returned home, but I figured that, since I am in no way done with my time in Australia, neither am I with this blog. Therefore, the posts shall continue!

As of now, it does feel weird to be home.  The transition back coupled with jet lag on top of the endless array of things to get done before leaving for Berkeley has left me perpetually fatigued.  I'm hoping tings will settle down soon and I'll be able to just truly rest for a bit, but until that time the list of tasks that need to be check off continues!

I've been getting a lot of questions about summer plans, so here they are:
- LA: until Wednesday, June 27th
- Berkeley: June 27 on
- Las Vegas: July 13-15
- LA: July 20-22

Other than that, I'll be in Berkeley getting my summer school on! Wee.

Changing Seasons

With less than a week left to go of my time here in Australia, I am being bombarded with questions about returning home. (I do welcome them, honestly!)  When people ask me how I feel about it all, the easiest answer I give is, “I don’t know.” But honestly, that’s not a truthful answer. Because I do know how I feel about going home; it’s that my feelings contradict one another.

On the one hand, I am relieved to be going home. This past semester has been rough both physically and emotionally; from the loss of a dear friend days after arriving, to sicknesses that have forced me to remain in bed for days, I can say it has been a period of patience and testing for me.  Jesus’ timing is surely perfect, and I believe that He had purposes for me undergoing those things at those times, but the knowledge that being surrounded by family and friends would have eased those moments of trial makes me all the more excited to return once more to them.

I’m heaps eager to be home as well. To be home.  It is nothing short of a privilege to be a part of the fellowship at my home uni and to be a member of my family, and after being away from them for so long, I am prepared to come back. In a year, I’ll be hard-pressed to find a community like IV when I leave Berkeley. But in a few weeks, I get the privilege of seeing them again! Pure joy and thankfulness goes to Jesus for my brothers and sisters, and moreso for another year to be able to bless and be blessed by them.

At the same time, I don’t want to leave here. Living in Australia has been drastically different than life at home, and I feel like these past months have been about acclimating myself to what was once a new place. After about five months, I feel like I have really been able to settle down. In my mind, Melbourne has transitioned from a new and unknown adventure to a familiar and almost home-y dwelling place. It took five months to create a foundation here, and now I want to build on it. That I’ve just begun to adapt to this place and yet am days away from leaving is a hard reality to comes to terms with.

What I feel most is a distinction, an almost separateness, between life pre-Australia and life in Australia.  The process of reintegration back to the American lifestyle makes me a bit anxious.  For example, I think about freshman year of uni at Cal. The friends I made that semester are vastly different to the friends I had in high school. If I were to ever have a party where both groups attended, I’m sure they would get along just fine. But the initial moments of greeting would carry a feeling of awkwardness or at least an inclination to be reserved. It would take a while before the tension slackens in the room and a level of comfort and ease is established.  This is sort of the tension I anticipate when I return home, not between me and friends, but between the me in Australia that doesn’t want to leave and the me that welcomes the old and (in a sense) familiar way.

As hard as it is for me to accept, I was never meant to stay here for longer. Whether God calls me back here or not in the future, my study abroad experience was just another season of my life. He is once again preparing me for a new adventure with Him, albeit in a familiar place.  Junior year is over and I am now a senior, the structure of InterVarsity is undergoing a series of transformations, the dates of numerous weddings are inked in red on my calendar, friends are choosing into relationship with Jesus… the list goes on. Whether it is the changing of certain situations, familial relationships, friendships, or the people themselves, I’m returning to a familiar landscape that has transitioned into a new season.

Even as I sit here, I sense that God is readying me for this new season of storms and sunshine. He is calling me to be intentional in my relationships with my future freshmen, to cherish those moments of laughter and celebration with my brothers and sisters, and to praise Him for the love He will surround me with in times of testing. And in obedience I will try to ready myself for the plans God has for me. But even if I don’t feel ready to return yet, that’s ok. If there’s one thing I learned this semester, nothing can thwart God’s plans for me. Not even me.

A few things I want when I get back home:

- a Lucky Boy burrito
- to watch a movie with Cheerio
- an In n Out burger with extra grilled onions and animal style fries
- a rotisserie chicken and churro from Costco
- to be surrounded by 5 pillows
- filipino eggrolls

1) i live a privileged life.
2) most of these things are food.

A belated 21st birthday gift

and something to remember Australia by!

(I also just got really bored studying for exams.)

T Minus 2 Weeks

till I'm back home.

Get ready, y'alls!


('Cause I'm not.)

The Kiwi Experience

(I doubt anyone wants to hear about my adventures anymore, but if you're still keen...)

Finally, here it is: my trip to the south island of New Zealand! Please excuse me if I forget a few things; it has been quite awhile.

After our layover in Wellington, three fellow study abroad friends and I landed in Christchurch. We stayed there only the night, as we had to leave bright and early for a 4 1/2-hour scenic train ride to Greymouth. The train took us through the heart of the Southern Alps, 223.9 km long.

From there, we got picked up by our travel bus (the Kiwi Experience) and drove over to the Mahinapua Hotel.  To the left of the hotel was a peaceful lake,

And to the right was a beach.

At night we had a trash bag themed party, and I got to meet some “sweet as” people.

The next day we traveled to Bushman’s Centre at Pukekura. To add to the list of duck fetus, goat rectum, and other delicacies I’ve tried so far in life, I can also say I’ve had possum pie. Evidently on of the biggest pests of New Zealand, Kiwis are encouraged to run over or hunt these turkey-tasting treats.  At least it was different than my usual diet of ramen (that was 58% of your daily intake of sodium), cookies, and EasyMac.

I don't know what this guy was doing, but it was funny.

Then the bus headed south to Franz Josef Glacier Village. Westland Tai Poutini National Park has World Heritage status, and it has two of the famous glaciers: Franz Josef and Fox.  I climbed the former, which was a privilege considering were among the last group to be able to hike a full day on there.

The Franz Josef glacier is 12 kilometers long, descending from the Southern Alps and ending right before the Tasman Sea. Legend has it that the glacier was created from the tears of Hinehukatere, who lost her love to an avalanche while they were hiking.

It was about 10 hours of time on the glacier and 8 hours of hiking using these things called crampons. What a feat. =] Then we ended the night sitting in glacier hot pools.

On the way to Wanaka, we stopped by Lake Matheson. It has a perfect mirror reflection of Mount Cook, and is one of the most stunning scenic spots I’ve ever seen. We had lunch at a place called Makarora, where the only thing that prevents me from living from near this gorgeous scenery is its population of 60 people.

This is Wanaka, one of the most breathtaking towns I’ve ever been to. Along with this intense view, you can explore award-winning vineyards or go mountain biking, kayaking, skiing, etc.

Then we headed to Puzzle World, a semi-intriguing attraction with a life-size maze, illusions, and, well, puzzles.

The next stop was Queenstown.  This town, which faces the Remarkables mountain range and is on the shores of the Lake Wakatipu, is considered the adventure capital of the world. Here I bungy jumped 134 meters, the biggest bungy jumping in all the country. It was about 8.5 seconds of falling towards a river and probably one of the best things I’ve done so far in life!

If you’re scared of bungy jumping, in kiwi language you’d be called a Tea Bag.

Our last stop was Christchurch.  Although this is the largest city in the South Island, not much was happening in this town.  It sits on a fault line, and just last year it underwent a 6.3 magnitude earthquake that turned it into a ghost-town.

The South Island of New Zealand. Definitely a must explore place!

the American dollar would become stronger than the Australian dollar just when I'm about to leave.

21 years.

Awestruck I fall to my knees as I humbly proclaim,

You are amazing, God.

all true.

http://www.ilovestudyabroad.com/5-most-cliche-study-abroad-pictures-australia-version/

They call cotton candy "fairy floss" around here.

FAIRY FLOSS.

A Preview of New Zealand

There's been something wrong with my computer for the past few weeks, and I haven't been able to upload any pictures...so the updating of adventures is going to have to wait a bit.

Until then, this is the only thing I have of New Zealand already on my computer. So if you haven't seen it already (and if you have, mah b) :

Coming Home

Today, I booked my flight home!

And then I got hit by the nostalgia train.

Walking back to my room, I was ecstatic at the thought of going home. When I thought about what I was coming home to, I became excited. Yet the more I thought about it, the more I realized what I was leaving behind as well. I only have a month and a half here left until my study abroad experience - the experience I've wanted ever since I was a freshman in high school -  is over. I do believe the five months I spent studying here was the perfect amount of time, but that doesn't take away from the feeling that it flew by quickly.

Of course, this got me thinking about how I'll be a senior in college this year. Three years have gone by already, and I only have a year left until my college experience is over as well. How. insane. And naturally, I had a small college-life crisis.

Am I ready to leave Australia? Not yet. But I think that by the time I leave here I will be. Until then, I have to make the most of the time I have left here (which reminds me, I'm going to the Great Barrier Reef tomorrow!). The same goes for college; no way am I ready to be a senior, but I am excited because God's timing is the best, and He'll prepare me for what ever comes next; I just need to make the most of this year.

So Good to Me!

I started this blog to tell those of you back at home of all my adventures.  And while I've been updating the portion of my life abroad that details physical travelling, I haven't quite told you all my adventures...that is, the stories that aren't about me gallivanting around Australia. So here's a short update on what has happened to me in the past few weeks, spiritually.

These last two weeks have been tough for a variety of reasons. Honestly, I can't even begin to tell you about the pressures that weighed me down, the fears that shook my confidence, the thoughts on which I kept ruminating...partly because I don't know them all myself, mainly because they were innumerable. These thoughts/beliefs/ideas/lies/fears caused me to withdraw from community, and they became my excuse not to engage with school, work, and people. Coming back from spring break in mid-April, I've been facing one of the hardest trials/attacks this semester, and it not only reminded me of my humanness but how susceptible I have become to my fleshly desires and devilish temptations as well.

But even through this physical/spiritual/emotional battle, my God is a God that saves.  One of the greatest mysteries of living the Christian life is the deep understanding of joy regardless of circumstance.  That joy is not merely an emotional response, but rather something you choose into. That there is joy in suffering. That Paul constantly preached we must actually rejoice in our sufferings.  And that when we choose to have joy, we also develop perseverance, character, and hope. Oh, my God, how true is that verse! I think it's in Romans somewhere.

While the battle is certainly not over, the fact that the "joy of the Lord is my strength" helps me continue to persevere, all because I hope in Jesus as my Savior. And, in the end, He already won the war.

PS. This song has been on repeat these past few weeks, for reasons that'll become obvious as you listen to it. (I had to redirect you to my tumblr, because I can't seem to find this version on YouTube and can't figure out how to upload the mp3 here).


PPS. Have you ever wondered what it is about music that speaks to us in ways that words can't?

PPPS. If you want to know more, just ask me. =]

The Australian Big Apple

Hello all!

Here's a short post about my trip to Sydney the last week of March (wow I've been bad about updating).  I spent three days here in this city, and from the beginning I could tell the difference between the laid-back Melbourne lifestyle and the upbeat, ongoing Sydney culture.  People often liken it to New York city.

This is the group; it was one estrogen-filled getaway. We were also unprepared for this picture.

And the landmarks, the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House:

Then we spent a few hours at the Royal Botanical Gardens.  All those horror stories about spiders flashed through my mind when I laid my eyes on this guy, whose friends and relatives were actually over the park:

Saturday morning, a few of us went to the iconic Pancakes on the Rocks, where I had the Devil's Delight Pancakes: chocolate pancakes with strawberries, cream, chocolate ice cream, and drizzled with chocolate sauce sprinkled with powdered sugar. MMMM.

At night, we took a walk around the city along the harbour:

But not before checking out Hillsong United Church!

Ahhhh... such a wonderful place. I wish I could have spent more time there, but sadly school was beckoning me back to Melbourne.  Since I only had one class on Monday, I did get to prolong my weekend and spend some time with Jasmine!

This is a picture of the State Library of Victoria...it's insanely beautiful!

An infamous cobblestone alley called Hosier Lane, artists apply to do a project along this laneway.  To see more projects / learn more, you can check it out here.

Cheers, y'all!

Oh, and GOOD LUCK TO ALL MY CAL FRIENDS CURRENTLY STUDYING FOR FINALS. YOU'RE ALMOST DONE!

Brighter Days!

Arvo, readers! (means good afternoon, apparently)

As I've told you already, I haven't been getting around to updating / uploading. Truth is, I've been a little lazy to blog and a little out everything in general.  I'm not quite sure how to describe this funk I've been in lately, but hopefully these cloudy days will clear up soon (figuratively and literally speaking...the weather here has turned rainy and sad).

However, this morning I did wake up to a bright ray of sunshine (also literal!): letters and a wonderful present from a few friends at home!

Look at my happy face! God has blessed me indeed with you all.  He knows what I need when I don't and gives it to me when I need it and when I don't expect it.  Thanks for being willing to be used by Him, y'alls. Ahh wow, my heart at this moment is full of joy and thanksgiving because of you guys! Keep 'em coming, hehe. Love and miss you!

My Internship

Dear fellow adventurers,

This week has been quite hectic. Returning from New Zealand, I found a plethora of catchup homework, new projects, and unresolved situations from home (I forgot about Telebears!) awaiting me.  To be truthful, I'm a bit overwhelmed with all I have to do. So, I have yet to really update this blog. It'll be a while.

But I am writing because I am currently bored out of my mind. As of right now, I am sitting in my office learning a new program called Observer XT, which is the latest software in collecting and analyzing experimental and observational data. Sounds like fun, yeah? (By the way, Aussie's always say "yeah" after every question). Right now, I'm watching a video of a programmer watching a video of a baby boy interacting with another baby boy, and then watching the programmer create a coding scheme that analyzes the data.  All in preparation to take this programmer's place.  Except I won't be watching these toddlers, I'll be looking at the handwritten notes from past observers off of an Excel sheet.

What I'm doing kinda looks like this:

At first, my internship required me to fix an Excel sheet that, when printed out, was 1023 pages.  Now, it's requiring me to understand and learn an entirely new program that will fix the sheet itself.  Hopefully within the next few weeks I'll become an Observation XT master.

Apologies, I know this post was not at all adventurous, enthralling, or mind-blowing, and you read through it (either because you're as bored as I am, or were expecting some sort of grand twist at the end). So in attempt to salvage this post, I will say that I only have 6-8 weeks left until my study abroad time is over. 6-8 weeks!  More than halfway done... that's crazy.  I've learned so much, met tons of fascinatingly different people, stretched myself further than I thought possible, etched in my memory pictures of the most beautiful places on Earth, ate questionable items, went on adventures I've always wanted but never thought I could...and God has blessed me through it all.  But I don't think it went by too fast or too slow. And I think that, by the end of this semester, I'll be ready to go back and experience what life at home and Cal has for me, with fresh eyes.

But, I still have 6-8 more weeks! (I don't know when I'm coming home, since they don't give us our finals schedule until May).  So let the adventures continue!

Coming Soon!

My apologies to you readers (aka Jerms), I have been away! As should be while studying abroad. Three weekends ago I went to Sydney, and I spent these past two in the south island of New Zealand... I'll be actually updating soon!

March in Melbourne

Hello fellow travelers!  Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve posted…so much has been going on! I am also currently running on four hours of sleep in the last few days, so if I cease to make coherent sentences, well now you know why. (Note: I wrote this a few days ago but posted it just now)

A few weekends ago, I checked out the Moomba Festival celebrating the community of Melbourne city. The highlight: the Birdman Festival.  Contestants aim to fly across a river from a platform with their homemade hang-gliders, wings, and whatever costumes they feel like dressing up in.  Winners raise money and awareness for charities. Basically, they dress up in ridiculous outfits, get their fifteen seconds of fame, and fly off a platform into water, all for the sake of charity! I didn’t get any good pictures, because they were literally thousands of people there that day. We ended that festival with fireworks off the Yarra River!

Next, we hit up the Ice Lounge, which is pretty much what the name entails. It’s a room where everything is made of ice: furniture, cups, sculptures, walls.  The challenge is to spend the full 30 minutes in the room. Apparently most people can’t do it, and anymore than 30 minutes could subject you to hypothermia. The highlight: playing old kid games like Down by the Banks to pass the time. I don’t have pictures of this either; they wouldn’t allow us to take pictures inside.

Over last weekend, I spent time with a campus fellowship on a retreat about an hour and a half away from the city. It was a good time to get away and meet some fellow believers who went to Melbourne. Along being challenged with some very practical sermons, the group went on scavenger hunts, had first-year initiation, and explored the nearby beach. The highlight: trying Vegemite. 

It was sooo good.

Last Wednesday, I walked into the Unilodge ground floor, only to find our common area taken over by Aussie animals! I got to hold a baby crocodile and snake, but the highlight was carrying a baby hairy-nosed wombat named Chloe.  She was only a few months old, but weighed about a third of me.  Baby joeys like her are playful when young, but wombats tend to get very aggressive when older. If you hit one with your car, expect your bumper to be a goner.

Now, for the highlight of highlights: this past weekend’s mountaineering trip. Yes, that’s right, I joined the Mountaineering Club. We camped out at the Cathedral Ranges, which is a few good hours away from the city, for a few days to do some exploring of nature.  The last time I went camping was in Africa, so the whole setting up the tent and sitting around the campfire brought back some good memories.

The first morning, I went rogaining. It really has nothing to do with hair.  What happens is you have a map that looks like this,

and you basically make your way around the map trying to get as many points as you can in the allotted amount of time (for us, 3 hours). The hard part is that each location is at a very random spot like the middle of a forest, and there are no trails that lead to it.  Instead, you use the contour lines in the map to imagine what type of landscape they’re in, like a valley or mountain. Instead of signs, you use rivers, edges of the forest, crossroads or any natural landscape as markers. You can’t go straight to the location either, you have to go up to this river, then left 2 degrees south west until you hit this crossroad, then go directly west until you find it In other words, getting lost is inevitable. Following a compass that’s even one degree off means you won’t find it.  Instead of signs, you use rivers or crossroads.  After getting one of the locations, our team got lost in the forest for a good two hours trying to find our way around this:

We ended up being in the negative side of points, but I would like to point out that we were severely hampered by this unfortunate event at the beginning of the trek:

In the afternoon, we went outdoor rock climbing.  It took a good half hour of bouldering and climbing a mountain to get to the climbing site.  At one point, we had to climb a wall 20 feet high with nothing but a rope (we weren’t harnessed in). Each rope climb ranged in difficulty and height. There were definite moments of panic as I clung to the wall, looked down and saw hundreds of feet of rocky mountain below me, but as scary as this was, it was heaps fun!

                                                                                                            

On the last day, we went bushwalking, which is just the Aussie way of saying hiking. It was a good four hours of hiking along this ridge:

I’ve been on hikes before, but this was no ordinary hike -- it was pretty much all bouldering. According to Wikipedia, bouldering is "a style of rock climbing undertaken without a rope and normally limited to very short climbs over a crash pad so that a fall will not result in serious injury." Obviously, we went without that mat.  There was one specific place forever etched in my memory where the trail disappeared into a bundle of boulders and rocks that I had to slowly climb over slowly, being careful not to slip or fall over the cliff to my left.

Here’s a map (the trail in red) and description of what I climbed:

 Overall, this trip was the most exercise I’ve had in…ever.  But the scenery I explored was completely worth it. Looking back and knowing that I climbed/bouldered/hiked that is an amazing sensation. And the fact that this mountain was so massive and the scenery so intensely beautiful reminded me that there has to be something so much bigger and so much more glorious that created it.

Anyone up for an adventure like this with me?!

Isaiah 11

I may have mentioned this before, but one thing I’ve had to adjust to was the ways in which people interacted with me.  People are so nice here – a little too nice; people are so keen on helping you get somewhere or just talking to you. As a result, two realizations have come to mind.

The first is that, in some way, it has caused me to question my character. How? I wonder if people are genuinely interested in getting to know me or are simply obliging me because that’s the way they’ve been brought up.

Second, I question their intentions. Why are they so willing to help?  Are they motivated by altruism or do they want something more?  What motivates them anyways?

I think most of us have been raised to be careful, think critically, be on guard. And while I understand the necessity of these actions, I can’t help but to think of what life would be like if we didn’t have to question people or their motives.  Where the only kind of fear we had was one of awe in the Lord. And I wait in anticipation for the day where

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,

And the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,

And the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together,

And a little child shall lead them.

- Isaiah 11