It's been too long...sorry for neglecting you blog. And sorry this is gonna be a short entry.
I feel drained. There's too much going on... Give me strength Lord.
hear my prayer, give Your ear in Your faithfulness answer me in Your righteousness do not judge for no one is righteous
teach me to do Your will Lord for you are my God Your Spirit is good good good lead me on level ground Lord for You are my God Your Spirit is good it is good
revive me, revive me not for me but for Your name in Your mercy deliver me from my enemies revive me
i rememebr days of old Your works i meditate oh Lord i consider all the works of Your hands i lift up my hands to you my soul longs
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight"
Proverbs 3:5
happy mini me
Ah, it felt so good to have a nice long 2+ hour brunch today...haven't had one of those for a while. Us grandma seniors and sophomores sat around talking about elementary & middle school days. Topics included: good books we read (Boxcar children!), cakes & flowers for "becoming a woman" HAHA, using rice instead of glue for our school projects, and for one person, racing not boys, not girls, but men at the track and beating them when she was in middle school hahhahaha. Such good carefree days!! I miss reading for fun, I used to read like crazy when I was younger...
We also talked about looming post-college life :( I've been mad stressed about the future and feeling indecisive, but I'm finally starting to accept that I can't plan everything out right now. I make a schedule every night for what I'm going to do the next day. I don't necessarily stick to it, but I really enjoy making schedules and knowing I have a plan haha. I also really like making lists (hence the name of the blog). I've been trying to schedule the rest of my post-college life b/c I feel like I have to plan everything out right now and know each step, even though I can't really control what's going to happen.
happy & optimistic at my sixth grade graduation
stressed out & getting yogurt pretzels from Subin at 2 am to fuel my thesis proposal writing process :(
I've realized I am way too indecisive and need to trust in God! Life after college is not the end of the world, and I know I'm probably gonna look back on this time 5 years from now and think about how foolish and unnecessarily stressed out I was haha. Until now, I thought I had a set plan for my future, but I realized I have to be flexible and open to other options. These past few weeks definitely made me see that I have a lot of growing up to do. Even though I know things will probably get crazy second semester, I will find my peace in the Lord and trust that He will guide me...
Another day older, and officially another year as well haha. Thank you for the birthday wishes everyone! :) I'm thankful for family and friends who make my birthday special, but honestly, I don't really have much interest in celebrating it anymore. One thing I do like about my birthday is that it is in the middle of the year. Along with New Year's, these are the two occasions that I really sit down and think about the past year. It's only during these times that I realize how much has happened and changed during that time.
When I say I'm (we're) getting old, even though we're still young, I mean old in regards to age and maturity (i.e., responsibilities). If I live to be 80, God willing, I'm already more than a quarter done with my life! Especially with senior year coming up, I feel the responsibilities piling up and need to prepare for the future. As my senior pastor always says, we must lead a 준비인생, a ready life. It seems like people aren't really preparing for anything, but taking life for granted, assuming that there always will be a tomorrow or next time. I sometimes wonder if people really take life seriously (this includes myself). If we live for the moment, living for the world, it will always disappoint us. Instead, we must live for that which is not of this world, the only way to true happiness and peace :)
"Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, 'I find no pleasure in them'" [Ecclesiastes 12:1]
Anywho, I have been enjoying my time in Busan, but before coming here, I stopped by Taipei for 6 days and had a very good time! Taiwan has indeed touched my heart (see MV below) <3>
Here are some of my pictores from the trip :)
My hostel, eight elephants, so hard to find! The address is broken down by street, lane, and then alley! I only took one picture, but i would recommend it! Good location, clean, and friendly staff :)
Cutie cynthiar, my tour guide (and peng you). Milk tea with pearls, aka mini bubbles ^^ (honestly regular size bubbles taste better but o well haha and cyn I like Come Buy better too)
Random street near my hostel. I visited the National Palace Museum because I felt like I should. The visit served to confirm the fact that I do not enjoy going to museums haha.
Students performing at Ximen (cynthia described it as the trendy area where all the teenyboppers hang out). Din Tai Fung for its famous xiao long bao, which was indeed very yummy. The staff (along with most Taiwanese ppl) was really friendly too!
Pandas on our heads :) Second pic is from the Shida night market. I love night markets! The cheap yummy food, gajillion stores, people watching...its mad crowded though as you can see from the picture.
Chillin by Bitan bridge at night and Danshui on a drizzly day <3
On a random note, when I started this blog, I meant to update pretty regularly (every few days) with short fun updates about my travels and my life, and maybe a 2-3 pictures per post. I did not not want to have looong entries that were more analytical (some may call this "boring") and took time to scroll through, since I'm usually too lazy to look at those kind entries myself haha. But...thats what my blog has become. Ah well! Hope y'all enjoy it anyway :)
Bonjour mes amis! I have returned from Paris and had a wonderful time! Before Paris, I went to an Easter retreat with the church I attend here. It was very cold, spring has not yet fully sprung on this side of the Atlantic :( The picture above is from the retreat center. The retreat got me thinking about many things, but I felt very frustrated at times because I couldn't express myself fully in Korean (its a Korean church)...
"And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." [1 John 5:11]
What is Easter to you? Eggs, chocolate, spring, fasting...? Like it says in Ecclesiastes, "Meaningless! Meaningless!...Everything is meaningless!" Unless you have faith that is. I hope that God will bless us all with the wisdom to have faith and to know the true meaning of life. Happy belated Easter everyone!
Subway entrance. By the Seine River. I love all the historical feeling of the city and all the green everywhere!
Lunch at a crêperie. In front of the giant Notre Dame Cathedral.
Inside the Notre Dame Cathedral.
Guide books at the Louvre. Locks on a bridge by the Seine.
Next to the RER station by my friends house in the suburbs. The Eiffel Tower at night.
A beautiful day at Versailles. Inside the palace.
The beautiful garden behind the palace. "Unni jump!" This picture cracked us up for a while :)
Unni taking up all the room in our picture ;) Enjoying the b-e-a-uuuutiful weather.
Dinner at a brasserie. My sirloin steak. We ate...so...much...food! With my friend and her cutie parents.
At Montmartre. The view towards the top.
Macaroons from my friend's mom! At Champs-Élysées while thesun set behind the Arc de Triomphe.
My flatmate and her parents were so accommodating during out stay! I had low expectations going in, but I enjoyed Paris much more than I thought I would. Bits and pieces of the 6 years of French I took in junior high and high school started coming back to me, but only un peu haha. The weather was sunny and beautiful, which I think made a huge difference.
I shall be hopping off to Florence and Rome in a few days. I'm already getting tired from traveling and will have a whole lotta essay writing to do when I get back ㅠ.ㅠ Its weird that I consider my flat home now, I just wanted to pass out in my bed in London while I was going around. I know a lot of people think its exciting traveling and what not, but if I didn't have people to see in these places, I would be okay with not going. I think its the people that makes somewhere worth being, so enjoy your time with the ones your with! Au Revoir my friends! :)
I know Valentine's day was a while ago, but I was thinking about it last week. Well, not Valentine's day specifically, but the sisters appreciation events that a lot of guys in Christian groups put together during the Valentine's season. Usually, the evening consists of the boys providing the girls with some sort of food and entertainment. Everyone dresses up and the girls relax while being catered to by the guys.
English Breakfast tea & a salmon sandwich
Btw, the pictures from this entry don't really relate to the text. The photos are from an afternoon tea at the Liberty department store hosted by the Seven College Conference of London for jya students (junior year abroad) from the Seven Sisters schools. There was also one boy there because Radcliff, a former all women's and Seven Sisters college, merged w/ Harvard, so Harvard was also invited. The tea was nice, but honestly, I think we all expected more haha the scones were good though!
scone w/ clotted cream & jam; pouring the tea
Anyway, I've been to a sisters appreciation event before, and I've seen lots of pictures and heard stories about them. Although I enjoyed the event and can appreciate the effort put into them, did you ever think about how this reinforces gender roles? (I know, I know, I'm a sociology major that analyzes everything blah blah)
If we are going to adhere to socialized gender roles & behavior, why would fellow brothers in Christ be fulfilling the desire of females for romantic stuff?
If you think about it, its kind of a like a mass date...the boys are showing the girls their potential as future boyfriends --> *cough*senior scramble*cough*
Why doesn't everyone do an activity together instead of the guys just putting on a show and serving the girls all night? Aren't there activities that involve everyone? Or, is there a need for a special event to show appreciation, or can it simply be shown through how we treat each other everyday?
a lot of stuff was already gone by the time I took a picture of the tower
Most importantly, what does this have to do with faith? Isn't Valentine's day a secular, constructed holiday? It doesn't celebrate the love of God, which is not about feelings and hearts. What's the need for these events? Because we might feel too lonely on Valentines day otherwise? God is good all the time, including Valentines day. By clinging to God and living by faith, we can truly know what value is and show appreciation for our fellow brothers and sisters.
Bryn Mawr representin'; shot of the tea room
Perhaps I am over analyzing this. I'm not saying the guys are secretly trying to seduce the girls or have a hidden agenda. I just felt like something was weird about these sisters appreciation events and was thinking about what their purpose is (or the social function they perform a la Gans & poverty). Honestly, I think for most girls, they use events like this as an excuse to get dressed up haha ;)
