So for those who don't know, I've had the (mis)fortune of having been at the same school as Karis since Kindergarten, and she's been ordering me around ever since. So once I read her post wondering about my summer, of course I decided to happily oblige and compose a post myself.
It is 9:20 am, and I've been at work for two hours already, yet accomplishing nothing. I'm interning at Northrop Grumman this summer doing some business management stuff, but my boss has been working on a bunch of classified projects, leaving me to digg, cnn, and facebook. Though boring, I relish in the fact that I get paid for things such as posting to this blog. I'll also take this opportunity to thank you for paying your taxes, as the lovely government is the prime client of Northrop.
Overall, this summer has been going along very smoothly. Nothing too chaotic at all, and my schedule basically revolves around work. I'm able to enjoy weeknights with family and hang out with high school friends on the weekends. Unfortunately, life in Southern California is a bit less exotic than Nicaragua, and the most exciting thing that's happened to me in the past few weeks is probably learning that the Dodgers picked up Manny Ramirez. Still, I'm really cherishing this time to let me slow down and relax before stuff picks up in a couple of months.
I definitely miss many aspects of Stanford, and I can't wait to be involved with IV again, meet new dormmates, and have a college-life sleeping schedule. At the same time, I'm not quite ready to relinquish the bliss of having a mostly stress-less summer, which has given me the opportunity to catch up on some reading (Strongly recommend Blue Like Jazz).
Alright that's it for now, I suppose. Will post more later when I come up with something interesting to blog about :)
God Bless,
Andrew
P.S. Go Lakers! (take that Karis!)
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Work, work, work!
Hey everyone! So I'm finally back in the U.S. (have been for the past two weeks), chilling in the good state of Virginia. Well...I lie - first, it's actually REALLY hot and humid where I am, and second, I'm working everyday at my parents' shop, so I don't have too much time or energy to "chill". I'm not complaining TOO much though (cough)...I'm rather enjoying spending some much needed time with the fam.
So my daily life nowadays is painfully uneventful, a stark contrast from my early summer in Nicaragua. Oh speaking of Nicaragua, it was truly a blessing to have had the opportunity to visit the country and experience its people and culture. It was my first time in a Latin American country, and while having to sleep in mosquito nets and almost having my leg taken out by a pack of rabid dogs at night weren't the happiest of my experiences, it was still amazing to practice my Span...glish and get a feel for international service. My group of 14 Stanford students had a lot on our plate there. We participated in a variety of community projects, learned about the country's medical system, and even got the chance to shadow doctors. The trip wasn't all work, though. We got to hike up a dormant volcano, swim in the crater of another that had last erupted thousands of years ago, as well as visit multiple beaches and clubs.
At my new home in VA, I feel like a lonely duck. I have no friends, no volcanoes, no clubs. Haha, in a way, that might actually be a good thing. Because I don't have any fun things to do here, I've taken up reading (surprise!) during my spare time. I recently started reading a book by renowned theologian John Piper, called "Don't Waste Your Life." I remember Jeanette reading the book (throughout the year ;-)) this past year, and I used to tease her because the book's title seemed a bit silly. The content of the book, however, has been extremely intellectual and logical, and Piper has provided some compelling ways by which we could glorify God AND enjoy our lives as faithful Christians. I'm not too far into the book yet, but I think it's going to be a thought-provoking read. I'd recommend it to anyone who is looking to live a life of meaning, not one that is wasted.
I sincerely hope everyone is living out this summer in ways that are glorifying to God! What does that mean? According to Piper, it means that we take joy in sharing about the good news; in magnifying God as He was, is, and will forever be; in loving one another as Christ first loved us; in living out our daily lives as true children of Christ. Let us seek his Word and presence in times of both triumph and hardship. It's been really tough for me to do all these things thus far, but I feel like God is challenging me to improve bit by bit.
Finally, if anyone has prayer requests, please don't be shy to share them with the rest of us! (Thanks, Karis, for sharing!) After all, we are all brothers and sisters in Christ - how beautiful is that?! As for me, my mom has been visiting Korea this summer to attend to her ill mother. Taking advantage of the low medical bills there, my mom decided to get an MRI scan of her body. Unfortunately, or rather fortunately, the scan today revealed a 7-cm tumor inside her uterus. She may be undergoing surgeries soon, so I'd really like to ask for prayers for her safety and calmness of soul during this unpredictable time. My family and I find comfort, though, in our faith that God is watching, and will always watch, over my mother. Thanks, everyone. Praise God.
Steve
So my daily life nowadays is painfully uneventful, a stark contrast from my early summer in Nicaragua. Oh speaking of Nicaragua, it was truly a blessing to have had the opportunity to visit the country and experience its people and culture. It was my first time in a Latin American country, and while having to sleep in mosquito nets and almost having my leg taken out by a pack of rabid dogs at night weren't the happiest of my experiences, it was still amazing to practice my Span...glish and get a feel for international service. My group of 14 Stanford students had a lot on our plate there. We participated in a variety of community projects, learned about the country's medical system, and even got the chance to shadow doctors. The trip wasn't all work, though. We got to hike up a dormant volcano, swim in the crater of another that had last erupted thousands of years ago, as well as visit multiple beaches and clubs.
At my new home in VA, I feel like a lonely duck. I have no friends, no volcanoes, no clubs. Haha, in a way, that might actually be a good thing. Because I don't have any fun things to do here, I've taken up reading (surprise!) during my spare time. I recently started reading a book by renowned theologian John Piper, called "Don't Waste Your Life." I remember Jeanette reading the book (throughout the year ;-)) this past year, and I used to tease her because the book's title seemed a bit silly. The content of the book, however, has been extremely intellectual and logical, and Piper has provided some compelling ways by which we could glorify God AND enjoy our lives as faithful Christians. I'm not too far into the book yet, but I think it's going to be a thought-provoking read. I'd recommend it to anyone who is looking to live a life of meaning, not one that is wasted.
I sincerely hope everyone is living out this summer in ways that are glorifying to God! What does that mean? According to Piper, it means that we take joy in sharing about the good news; in magnifying God as He was, is, and will forever be; in loving one another as Christ first loved us; in living out our daily lives as true children of Christ. Let us seek his Word and presence in times of both triumph and hardship. It's been really tough for me to do all these things thus far, but I feel like God is challenging me to improve bit by bit.
Finally, if anyone has prayer requests, please don't be shy to share them with the rest of us! (Thanks, Karis, for sharing!) After all, we are all brothers and sisters in Christ - how beautiful is that?! As for me, my mom has been visiting Korea this summer to attend to her ill mother. Taking advantage of the low medical bills there, my mom decided to get an MRI scan of her body. Unfortunately, or rather fortunately, the scan today revealed a 7-cm tumor inside her uterus. She may be undergoing surgeries soon, so I'd really like to ask for prayers for her safety and calmness of soul during this unpredictable time. My family and I find comfort, though, in our faith that God is watching, and will always watch, over my mother. Thanks, everyone. Praise God.
Steve
Thursday, July 17, 2008
KSP!
Hello friends!
I don't think there's much for me to write in this post, but it made me sad that no one has written here for more than a week. I'm still waiting to hear about the exciting summers of Kevin, Patrick, and Andrew since they haven't posted yet. And as always, I really enjoy reading the posts from Steve, Jeanette, Claudia, Mark, and Jason. It definitely helps me stay involved in everything you're all doing this summer.
So I'm still working in a lab for the summer. I haven't quit or been fired yet (and hopefully that doesn't happen). Some exciting things? Well, I and other IV friends visited the BAyUP team in Oakland on Sunday. We all got together for a potluck lunch at their apartment. Then we walked to Harbor House (which you should all be familiar with) to hear each team member's testimony. It was encouraging to hear about the team's experiences with God's joy, love, and provision. The nine of them will definitely be eating well for the next couple of days since they had a lot of leftover food from the potluck. I think they'll really appreciate it since right now they're living on $15/person/week. Hmm... we should try doing that for fun sometime. =P Yesterday, we had Stephanie and Jeremy's Farewell dinner as they leave for Stephanie's sabbatical in August. It's so nice to see IV people so frequently during the summer. And tonight we have summer fellowship. I hope to see everyone who's around campus if you can make it.
Okay well I think that's about it for my life. I have one prayer request for anyone who reads this. My draw group (Christine, Sophia, Claudia, and I) petitioned for dorm reassignment from Casa Zapata to FloMo. Please be praying that spots will open up and we'll be able to get into the dorm and stay together. I'm a little nervous about the housing situation, especially because I have been really looking forward to living with Claudia next year. Please be praying that we would be placed in the best rooms to do God's work next year. Thanks!
And please let me know how I can be praying for all of you this summer!
~Karis
I don't think there's much for me to write in this post, but it made me sad that no one has written here for more than a week. I'm still waiting to hear about the exciting summers of Kevin, Patrick, and Andrew since they haven't posted yet. And as always, I really enjoy reading the posts from Steve, Jeanette, Claudia, Mark, and Jason. It definitely helps me stay involved in everything you're all doing this summer.
So I'm still working in a lab for the summer. I haven't quit or been fired yet (and hopefully that doesn't happen). Some exciting things? Well, I and other IV friends visited the BAyUP team in Oakland on Sunday. We all got together for a potluck lunch at their apartment. Then we walked to Harbor House (which you should all be familiar with) to hear each team member's testimony. It was encouraging to hear about the team's experiences with God's joy, love, and provision. The nine of them will definitely be eating well for the next couple of days since they had a lot of leftover food from the potluck. I think they'll really appreciate it since right now they're living on $15/person/week. Hmm... we should try doing that for fun sometime. =P Yesterday, we had Stephanie and Jeremy's Farewell dinner as they leave for Stephanie's sabbatical in August. It's so nice to see IV people so frequently during the summer. And tonight we have summer fellowship. I hope to see everyone who's around campus if you can make it.
Okay well I think that's about it for my life. I have one prayer request for anyone who reads this. My draw group (Christine, Sophia, Claudia, and I) petitioned for dorm reassignment from Casa Zapata to FloMo. Please be praying that spots will open up and we'll be able to get into the dorm and stay together. I'm a little nervous about the housing situation, especially because I have been really looking forward to living with Claudia next year. Please be praying that we would be placed in the best rooms to do God's work next year. Thanks!
And please let me know how I can be praying for all of you this summer!
~Karis
Monday, July 7, 2008
I'm Bored at Work Right Now
so I shall post.
Okay so I guess I'll update everyone on how Naperville (home) was and what I've been doing.
Basically going home was a tremendous blessing for me and getting to see all my high school friends and getting to have lunch/dinner with a lot of them and just do some quality catching up was really good. I did a lot of eating... a lot of getting fat... people started calling my belly "my baby"... Liz told me I needed a bra... and yea good times. Went to Chicago a few times and did some shopping along Michigan Ave/Water Tower and went to the Field Museum. On my last day my friends organized this big trip to Indiana Dunes and so we all got to go hangout at the beach and then had a BBQ at a friend's house afterwards that night. Going back to my home church was also nice as it was good seeing my old youth group leaders and pastors and such.
But yea now that I'm back on campus I've just been staring at code for hours upon hours a day... it's pretty cool...
More "later"? Hope everyone is doing well!
God bless,
Jason Wei
Okay so I guess I'll update everyone on how Naperville (home) was and what I've been doing.
Basically going home was a tremendous blessing for me and getting to see all my high school friends and getting to have lunch/dinner with a lot of them and just do some quality catching up was really good. I did a lot of eating... a lot of getting fat... people started calling my belly "my baby"... Liz told me I needed a bra... and yea good times. Went to Chicago a few times and did some shopping along Michigan Ave/Water Tower and went to the Field Museum. On my last day my friends organized this big trip to Indiana Dunes and so we all got to go hangout at the beach and then had a BBQ at a friend's house afterwards that night. Going back to my home church was also nice as it was good seeing my old youth group leaders and pastors and such.
But yea now that I'm back on campus I've just been staring at code for hours upon hours a day... it's pretty cool...
More "later"? Hope everyone is doing well!
God bless,
Jason Wei
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Saturday, June 28, 2008
PCS? I don't know what to title this.
Hey guys!
I'm at home (in Mountain View..) right now. I'm (re)taking ochem and doing 'research' at Stanford for most of the summer. The ochem class is really tiny and half overachieving high schoolers, and the prof from UCSF teaches high school style which I'm really happy with. If you guys know James Xie (Twain), he's taking 33 too. Brian Khong is taking 35/36.
I'm working in a bio lab that's supposed to be doing some mammal surveys in Jasper Ridge (the bio preserve), but all I do is go on gchat and aim. So if you see me on, talk to me!! haha I'm supposed to be tagging pictures (not on facebook) of the mammal species and such, but its really boring and Karis can tell you I get off early everyday. hahaa
Catalina was really awesome as Jeanette said. Me, Jeanette, and Iheoma were in Mark II and studied the second half of Mark for 8+ hours a day! It was crazy. By Thursday I was getting pretty antsy, but it was sooo good. I learned so much from everyone there and Mark of course. I think I got the most out of retreat from being disconnected from everything/everyone (no internet or cell phone reception) for the entire week and just hanging out on the island with friends and having the space to reflect and talk to God. Hopefully I don't get PCS (post catalina syndrome [my home church used to call the Jesus high after retreats PMS--post mountain syndrome]) and fall back into routine and where I was with God before.
Okay that's it for now. Post up guys!
Claudia
I'm at home (in Mountain View..) right now. I'm (re)taking ochem and doing 'research' at Stanford for most of the summer. The ochem class is really tiny and half overachieving high schoolers, and the prof from UCSF teaches high school style which I'm really happy with. If you guys know James Xie (Twain), he's taking 33 too. Brian Khong is taking 35/36.
I'm working in a bio lab that's supposed to be doing some mammal surveys in Jasper Ridge (the bio preserve), but all I do is go on gchat and aim. So if you see me on, talk to me!! haha I'm supposed to be tagging pictures (not on facebook) of the mammal species and such, but its really boring and Karis can tell you I get off early everyday. hahaa
Catalina was really awesome as Jeanette said. Me, Jeanette, and Iheoma were in Mark II and studied the second half of Mark for 8+ hours a day! It was crazy. By Thursday I was getting pretty antsy, but it was sooo good. I learned so much from everyone there and Mark of course. I think I got the most out of retreat from being disconnected from everything/everyone (no internet or cell phone reception) for the entire week and just hanging out on the island with friends and having the space to reflect and talk to God. Hopefully I don't get PCS (post catalina syndrome [my home church used to call the Jesus high after retreats PMS--post mountain syndrome]) and fall back into routine and where I was with God before.
Okay that's it for now. Post up guys!
Claudia
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Pancho
Thanks so much to those who have posted! I´m currently posting from an internet cafe in Nicaragua, and it´s so wonderful to here about what others are doing, especially since I feel a bit disconnected from home here. I don´t have much time to go into details about my experience here thus far (which has been filled with God challening me through exposing me to the dire needs of this country), but I wanted to share a quick and humorous story with you all. I hope you´ll get a good laugh out of this one.
My Spanish name, ever since I started learning Spanish in 9th grade, has been ¨Pancho¨. My favorite Spanish teacher gave me the name, and I was proud to use it to identify myself in any Spanish-speaking setting. Naturally, after arriving in Nicaragua, I was inclined to continue introducing myself as Pancho. Little did I realize that ¨Pancho¨, a nickname for ¨Francisco¨, had an alternate meaning in Nicaragua.
So, during the first few days in Nicaragua, I began to realize that the natives here, especially the men, let out an snicker of unbelief, and sometimes even a disrespecful laugh, upon hearing me say ¨Me llamo Pancho¨. At first, I thought their strange response to my introduction was caused by the humorous sight of an Asian boy - who couldn´t speak Spanish too well - saying that his name was Pancho. Today, I was exposed to an inconvenient and embarrassing truth. Pancho, in Nicaragua - let me emphasize, ONLY in Nicaragua of all the counties in Latin America, means...vagina. So for seven days, I´ve been saying, ¨Hello, my name is Vagina.¨Americans and Nicaraguans alike around me had a good laugh today. This makes me wonder if my favorite Spanish teacher had given me the name with a...certain purpose.
I hope the story brought laughs to some of you as well. Please continue to post about your summer, and also about how God has been working in your lives. I´ll do so whenever I get the chance here in Nicaragua.
God bless,
Pancho
My Spanish name, ever since I started learning Spanish in 9th grade, has been ¨Pancho¨. My favorite Spanish teacher gave me the name, and I was proud to use it to identify myself in any Spanish-speaking setting. Naturally, after arriving in Nicaragua, I was inclined to continue introducing myself as Pancho. Little did I realize that ¨Pancho¨, a nickname for ¨Francisco¨, had an alternate meaning in Nicaragua.
So, during the first few days in Nicaragua, I began to realize that the natives here, especially the men, let out an snicker of unbelief, and sometimes even a disrespecful laugh, upon hearing me say ¨Me llamo Pancho¨. At first, I thought their strange response to my introduction was caused by the humorous sight of an Asian boy - who couldn´t speak Spanish too well - saying that his name was Pancho. Today, I was exposed to an inconvenient and embarrassing truth. Pancho, in Nicaragua - let me emphasize, ONLY in Nicaragua of all the counties in Latin America, means...vagina. So for seven days, I´ve been saying, ¨Hello, my name is Vagina.¨Americans and Nicaraguans alike around me had a good laugh today. This makes me wonder if my favorite Spanish teacher had given me the name with a...certain purpose.
I hope the story brought laughs to some of you as well. Please continue to post about your summer, and also about how God has been working in your lives. I´ll do so whenever I get the chance here in Nicaragua.
God bless,
Pancho
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)