the week that was: pictures

homecoming: November 18, 2006
the yaus (and 1 fung)
poker boys
more poker boys
vinci and tiff
friends
leo, olive, and hannah
stretching before the fight
the eyetoy arena
Hot Pot: November 20, 2006
steaming!
raptor game: November 22, 2006
at the game!
raptor misses a dunk and falls on face
after the game
day downtown + wicked: November 23, 2006
censored
at joe badali's
the crystal christmas tree
outside wicked
outside Nawlins
c4c fellowship/bowling: November 24, 2006
joyce bowling
yes, she KILLED me
joyce and me
all you can eat sushi: November 25, 2006
my parents and i
my gf and i
chocolate fountain
last day/yum tsa: November 26, 2006
me and my favourite gals
my family

the end

there's no place like home

So I'm back in Philly after 10 wonderful days in Toronto. I miss Toronto. I didn't realize how much I missed it until I saw my family, Joyce, my brothers and sisters from other mothers - I miss the fellowship, I miss church, I miss board games, I miss the food, I miss the community. I grew up in Toronto physically and spiritually - so a part of my heart will always be with the people there. Anyhoo.. here are some highlights:

homecoming
So a lot of people came over on Nov. 18th for the homecoming party my family help put together. It was amazing to see everyone again and to have great conversations with people. Unfortuneately, I didn't get to talk to everyone, but to those I did talk to it was as if I had never left. We talked about God, school, sports, etc. I loved it. I think this is when it truly hit me how much I miss Toronto. My friends are great and I felt so loved. That even though I was far away, they still remembered me and were excited to see me and I was excited to see them. It reminded me of the prodigal son - how his father, although he was far away, remembered him and was excited and grateful to see him when he came back. I think this was a little glimpse of heaven as well. When we enter through those golden gates, we will see people that we haven't seen for a while. We will enjoy the fellowship and the community - and we will celebrate. I can't wait!

raptors game
Went to see the raptors game on Nov. 22. It was the first time that I brought Joyce to a sporting event. (Well - one time we sold 50/50 tickets at a raptor game but we only got to see one quarter so I don't think that counts). It was a great game! Raptors were able to build a 19 point lead that they were able to squander before pulling out the win in the 4th quarter. When I got home I got an email from Ray (who's from cleveland and sent the email before the game was played) with the subject title "sorry". Sorry? I was confused because I couldn't think of what he would be apologizing for - so I opened up the email and it said:

"I just wanted to apologize in advance for the game tonite.
Hopefully it won't be too upsetting to watch....and you'll somehow find a way to enjoy yourself while watching your team get destroyed by Lebron."

So I emailed him back rubbing it in his face :P

wicked day
This was a day I was looking forward to for a long time. Joyce got tickets for wicked back in June or July. I didn't want to set my expectations up too high - because when I do that things just never seem to live up to the expectations. But it was tough when everyone that's seen it or knows someone who's seen it says that its the best musical ever. So anyhoo, the day started off with me helping Joyce with one of her prints. I was assigned to keep the stone moist while Joyce rolled on the ink. It was interesting to see Joyce in action - in her element. Then we went downtown for lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory. Joyce had a 2 for 1 coupon for this so that was great! I had sausage penne and Joyce had mancotti. They were both pretty good - but the soup that came with the meal was so hearty that neither of us could finish our meal. We had to doggy bag it :(. (Aside - I think I must be past my prime or my stomach's shrinking or something - can't even finish a soup and pasta... how sad - and I think 3 or 4 aunties came up to me after sunday service telling me that I got skinnier... :S) After the Old Spaghetti Factory we walked around downtown and in the Eaton Center. We went to a place downtown that was selling the charlie brown Christmas tree! That was hype! It looked like such a sad tree - but it was a tree to love (as the box said :P). After that we went to Joe Badaldi's for dinner. I had the veal and Joyce had the steak pasta. Joyce also had a 2 for 1 coupon for this restaurant so we were dining like royalty! This time, the soup wasn't too hearty and we were able to finish our meals (Although for a while it seemed like we wouldn't finish...). Then after dinner we headed off to the Canon theatre for the show. On the way we also saw the big crystal tree in the eaton centre that was unveiled that day. And I saw that they opened an apple store in Eaton centre! Anyhoo, the show was awesome. The songs were great, the story was fantastic, the singers/actors were amazing. I had the song popular stuck in my head for a while after the performance. It met my expectations and more ;) Joyce was all giddy afterward hehe - she's cute. Then after that we went to a jazz bar to listen to jazz for one of Joyce's classes where she has to journal about 10 or 15 different jazz performances. Fabulous day.

Anyhoo, I'm pretty tired right now - I need some rest - long day at the airport. But I really had a great week.. I'll find some pictures to post up another day..

I miss Toronto.

Edit: 11/27/06
I still miss Toronto, but it was truly a great week - Got to catch up with Joyce, family, friends from church and school. I wish there was more time that I could spend back home. Its too bad this program is so intense that they only give 2 days off for Christmas break. :( Oh well - I'm grateful for the opportunity to learn. I hinted at this earlier, but my homecoming really did feel kind of what I pictured heaven to be like. A big celebration with lots of food, good fellowship, talks with people that we might not have seen in a while, talks with people that we may not have even known before. Just an amazing time of fellowship as we celebrate the victory that was won through Jesus Christ. Can't wait!

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
~Hebrews 10:25

same differences

So today I woke up and was browsing the canoe website and I saw a poppy and I'm thinking "No way its remembrance day and I didn't even know!" Every year in Canada I'd get a poppy, but this year I did not because there'd be none to buy here. So I've realized how important poppies are to remembering those who fought for our freedom. It also reminds me of how important communion is. If we didn't have communion regularly, would we be reminded of Jesus who died for our freedom? Or would we just take it for granted and forget?

Anyhoo, I thought it'd be a good time to break out a list of differences between Canada and the US:



1. Holidays
As mentioned, there are no poppies around remembrance day in the US.. in fact - can you believe they don't HAVE a remembrance day? Crazy.. well they do, but they just call it veteran's day. No poppies tho! They have Memorial day too. There's also Columbus day - a holiday for when Columbus discovered America. Its on the same day as Canadian thanksgiving and I heard that the Americans just switched it so that they could have another holiday (not everyone gets off Columbus day tho...) So that's why Thanksgiving in the US is in November instead of October. Does anyone know if Canadian thanksgiving originated from pilgrims like the American Thanksgiving?

2. Food
There are no "timbits" here.. they are called "Munchkins". And no Timmy's! The big donut place here is Dunkin' Donuts. I miss Timmy's. Speaking of restaurants: there aren't any Swiss Chalets, Kelsey's, Congee Wongs, or Pizza Pizza but at least there's an Olive Garden :) Oh, and Chick-Fil-A is a good fastfood joint too. They close on Sundays as a sabbath! How awesome is that? You don't see that too often nowadays.

3. Sports
Football is HUGE here. There are fans in Canada, but it's a cultural phenomenon around here. I guess it's kind of like hockey in Toronto. Not too many hockey fans here. (Of course that may be because the Flyers stink this year) Everyone seems to be following football. College football is actually bigger than the NFL. Its because a lot of the people grew up around or went to these schools when they were younger and have developed an attachment to those schools. A lot of school pride here. I find there isn't much school pride in the college sports teams in Toronto. No one ever talked about the Toronto Varsity Blues when I was at U of T. Maybe because there are so few universities in Canada compared to the states. I dunno.. (Aside: Poor Eagles fans - they had a good shot at being around 8-0/7-1 right now but they lost on 2 last minute field goals and blew a big lead.. resulting in their current 4-4 record.. I feel for the Philly fans - but of course I was celebrating when the Raptors beat the Sixers this week.. hehe)

4. Measurements
Americans use Fahrenheit, Miles, and Inches. I'm not sure why. I've asked a lot of people why and they said they don't know - some say that they even use the metric system at work! The other day someone told me that they like switching their digital spedometer to kilometers so that they can feel like they're going faster. Another friend told me that when he went to Canada and saw the speed limit sign at 100 he thought "Wow, Canadians can drive fast!". I think Americans just want to be different. :P Plus I guess it'd be a big hassel to change all the speed limit signs to kilometers.

5. Cell phones
On all the plans I've seen, every one of them offered free nationwide calling. That's amazing! I could call someone in California from Philly right now and it wouldn't cost me any more. It's too bad this doesn't extend into Canada, even tho Toronto is closer than LA. :(

6. Milk
The milk does NOT come in baggies. Just jugs from what I've seen. Weird huh?

7. Internet TV
It's quite cool. I can watch shows that I've missed the night before online. I've told Joyce this and apparently she can't watch them because its restricted to America. Too bad... its cool :P

8. BBQ
One of the things Americans really know how to do is grill. As one of my friends said "I heard Canadians don't know how to grill" And after tasting the stuff they grill - its true, its true :( I think its all the tailgating they do here. :P hehe

9. Instant messaging
Americans use AIM. Canadians use MSN. I have no idea why there is such a segregation in this use of the internet. Americans say MSN sucks. Canadians have been saying AOL sucks since the beginning of the internet. I dunno - can't we all just get along? I use Adium which combines both :)

10. Blogs
Americans love xanga - or the Americans I know anyways. Canadians use blogspot or livejournal or xanga. We like variety I guess. :P

Ok I think 10 is enough. :) There are a lot of subtle differences, but on the whole, Americans and Canadians aren't too different. I think the world makes Americans out to be cocky, big and bad and Canadians to be the big friendly neighbour to the North. But really, we're not too different. At the root of it we are all people who yearn for community, yearn for a place to belong, and people to yearn for a purpose, something more. Humanity is humanity, whether we are in Canada or the US, or anywhere else. The gospel message applies all the same.

"But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."
~Romans 3:21-24

"don't know what you've got till its gone"

I've been reminded of how important my teeth are the last few weeks. I feel I have a pretty high pain tolerance for bumps and bruises, but when my teeth hurt, its over. When I can't eat or drink without feeling pain that's bad. 2 weeks ago one of my teeth started to hurt. It was a similar pain that I had had 6 months prior for which I had a root canal. Turns out that the tooth right beside that root canal needed a root canal too! Doh... bummer. So I got it fixed. 3 days later I played basketball and I was defending someone. As he went up for a shot, his elbow caught my chin and slammed my teeth together. My teeth felt funny. When I went home that night I tried biting into a pear and I could not. I was freaking out! I couldn't imagine having no teeth and I wouldn't be able to eat hard foods! I went to the dentist the next day and thankfully, I didn't need any reconstructive surgery - they were relatively well aligned still and there weren't any fractures - I just had to eat soft foods for a week. I'm still on soft foods for a couple more days.. I really miss real food! My teeth feel better, but I have a new appreciation for my teeth. I take them for granted so much until they hurt. I'm going to try wearing a mouth guard next time I play ball (which might be tomorrow.. hehe). We'll see how it goes...

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
- Joni Mitchell "Big Yellow Taxi"
There are times when I take what Jesus did for me for granted too. Jesus came down FOR ME. Jesus suffered FOR ME. Jesus died FOR ME. And so often I do not live as if he did. I sin. Over and over again. My time is not used wisely often enough. I choose to build myself up instead of others. I take life for granted sometimes. When really, I should be grateful to be saved. I don't think I will fully appreciate or understand the extent of what Jesus really did for me until I get to heaven.. and as a result I don't think I appreciate life enough. Reminds me of one of the lines in "Here I am to worship" that goes: "I'll never know how much it cost, to see my sin up on that cross". I saw a movie over the weekend with a friend called the saw. I'm not usually into gory movies, but it was a pretty good movie with an interesting concept. The killer put people in situations that are "death traps" and they had to get out of them. And each situation the killer put the victim in was tailored to the person - their life, their struggles, etc. There was one person who escaped and she described her story to the cops. She said that the killer put a device on her jaw that was hooked onto a timer. Once the timer expired, the device would pull open her jaw and effectively kill her. The key to the device was in the stomach of her cellmate (who was "dead" according to the killer). The victim had to open up the cellmate to get the key. What she didn't know was that her cellmate wasn't dead, but was knocked up on narcotics - so he couldn't feel a thing when she was cutting into him for the key. She eventually got the key and was let go by the killer (because she accomplished her task). The thing was, she told the cops that she was once a narcotic addict, and now, after this ordeal - she appreciated life so much more. The killer helped her. Similarly, we are in a death trap. The death trap of sin. Jesus is our key. We are all on a timer. We all will die. Hopefully we find Jesus before the timer runs out. And hopefully after finding Jesus, we will be changed and appreciate life that much more.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
~Romans 5:6-8