November 2013

I started the first weekend of the month by visiting family in St. Paul. I helped a family member move into her new place in the Twin Cities. The weather was great for moving. I spent some quality time with my sister while putting up her new dining room table. It was Daylights Savings time (Fall back), so we gained an hour of extra sleep! James' family treated all of us movers at Perkins in Roseville before I headed back home. Along my way home, I went to get windows in Menards in Alexandria. I took the "chance/risk" by putting one of the large windows on top of my car with the strong 20-30mph winds. Well, I was so focused on not wanting my window to come off from the "well secured" (bungee ropes) roof that I lost focus on the up-coming stop sign just 1/4 mile north of Menards on the back roads that I went through the stop sign!...nearly hitting an up-coming vehicle going east on the stop sign. I just swirved in front of the car and turned right going east too. THANK GOD I didn't hit the vehicle avoiding a near serious car accident!..weh!

On the 4th (Monday), I did more raking (after arriving from my Benson route) in my yard before heading out to the weekly ESL classes at the local campus to join some friends there.

On Friday (8th), my housemates and I hosted a sushi party again. It cool to invite friends of ours from the college. The following day, I took some friends to Don's Café after the recent award for "best grilled cheese sandwich", which I had to try my self..

On Sunday (10th), my local church hosted a guest musician (Tim Daniels from North Carolina). See photo-videography-> Tim Daniels in Concert.

After close to 2 weeks, I finally found (a client from my workplace was being sleazy-joking around and took it off from my jacket pocket when I wasn't aware...lol) my nearly broken cell phone. Fortunately, I was in the process of ordering a replacement (smart phone instead) prior to "losing" it, but I wanted to take out the smart card from the "old" phone and put it in my "new" smart phone. It was International week at the campus, so I would attend several events: Fashion Show, International Country Spotlight, and a movie-"American in China.

On Thursday, November 14th-I brought my housemate (Yuu) to his 1st parade in Morris->

Annual Parade of Lights (November 2013) Part 1

The weather was fairly warm-compared to previous parades!

On Saturday (16th), I went to Alexandria for my quarterly teacher's training. I picked-up some items for our "Japanese-theme" food party my housemates and I hosted to some friends (Marta, Bailey, etc..). The next day, there was a church potluck at my local church. The guest speaker (Jim M.) shared about the story of Baal (false god) in the Bible and how people can "call-upon" the "real" God through His answered prayers. During the service, pastor Pat led prayers for a young couple in our church that lost a newborn :( and also the tsunami in the Philippines. I would make a couple of tribute videos for this historical natural disaster-> Philippine Typhoon Haiyan-Yolanda 2013 Awareness Video & Philippine Typhoon Haiyan-Yolanda Relief Thank You-Salamat to show my prayers and support living this far in this part of the world.

I wrote down "snow" on the 21st (Thursday), so this was probably our 1st "significant" snow fall. I remember going to the local library to do some errands and then I rode my bike to Subway to meet a friend (Eric) that I haven't had the time to "sit down and talk" for a long time. It was good catching up!

On Saturday (23rd), I went to a "friend's" jazz concert to support her as she's been a faithful volunteer in the weekly ESL classes on Wednesday nights at the local school. I then went back to my house to join another weekend party my housemates were hostingn(w/sushi).

On Sunday (24th), I had to attend a "make-up" inservice meeting with my 2nd job about "Fire Safety". I was somewhat "angered" about having to attend on a Sunday and miss church service. However, I was going to missed it if I was able to have friends join me to drive to St. Paul for a "Haiyan Typhoon Fundraiser" sponsored by the local Filipino community in the Twin Cities. Unfortunately, my friends were too busy with school work, so I decided to go to this inservice meeting that lasted only 15 minutes or so in Wheaton (40 minute drive NW of here). On our way back, my co-worker and I continued our "small-talk". I then had that "Holy Spirit" touch, which I felt this trip can't be wasted. There needs to be something more "worthwhile" of this trip. I felt the need to share the "Good News" with this co-worker of mine since I couldn't go to church. I ended up sharing my personal testimony with him after he shared about some of his own "personal battles" (which we all have). The lesson from this is "God is in control of all your circumstances" no matter if it's not going "your" way; as long you let Him have "His" way!

On Tuesday, November 26th-I attended the weekly Jane Adams community gathering, which they had a Japanese theme. I invited my housemates, which Yuu was able to go. We learned how to do oragami, which I've done already in the past. On Hanukkah (Wednesday 27th), I attended my weekly Bible Study gathering, but the host wasn't available. Thus, we met at Neil & Ruth's house for breakfast. The following day, I would go to the cities with my housemate (Yuu) for Thanksgiving after I got off my pt-job (overnight shift). Traffic was pretty bad as many were traveling to different holiday destinations, but we were thankful to get to St. Paul safely. We arrived at my parent's home before going to my younger brother's family's house for a Thanksgiving family (over 40+ relatives of my brother's in-laws were there) gathering (e.g. great Hmong food, football on t.v. with the guys, etc...). After our great time with family-friends, I refused to participate in the "early" Black Friday. Instead I took Yuu a drive around the Twin Cities, which we would drive by Target to show him the crazy lines (see The Short-Long Lines of "Black Thursday". The next day (Friday 29th), I took Yuu (1st time visit) with my nephew (Stefan) to the Mall of America. It was pretty crowded, which we had to drive to the the top (about less than 10 cars) floor (East Parking Lot side) because I didn't want to waste my time driving around looking for a spot. On Saturday (30th), we drove to Seed of Abraham (Messianic service-Jewish believers of Christ) in St. Louis Park. It was my second time there as I wanted to show Yuu since he has an interest in this particular religion. We then went to Lake Street in Minneapolis to visit several cultural places. I then took Yuu to one of my favorite eateries in East St. Paul-> Pappy's. By evening time, we walked around downtown St. Paul to see the holiday festivities (e.g. Hmong New Year, Rice Park, etc...).

Gratitude: March 2012

I started the month with an early birthday present from some friends that used to live in Morris. They bought a cake as we watched a show on Major League Baseball Network. Earlier, we visited a friend out of town and the weather forecast on the internet said a "5-7 inch snowstorm". However, I decided to call a local motel for a personal opinion on how "bad" the weather was there and it wasn't as bad. This was just an example of how one should not trust technology (weather forecast)!

I participated on another weekly (Tuesdays @7:3pm this year) "Jane Adams" (see Espanol Services) get-together on March 6th 2012. It was awesome to see a couple of friends that I've invited in the past before, which was each of their first time. This is another lesson to never give-up when inviting friends. During the event, they showed an article (campus paper) of publicizing this weekly community event. I was encouraged to see a couple of photos I took from the first event from last Fall, which I can add to my photography portfolio!

On March 7th, I joined some fellow local church family members in the weekly eat and fellowship. They meet ever Wednesdays from 5p-7pm, which we can come and go for a quick meal with each other. This week, the them was pasta, which we each bring a pasta dish. This was a great time to touch basis with folks from church instead of just doing it on Sundays only. I had to leave a little after 6pm to participate in my weekly ESL-GED classes I volunteer at the local school. I brought a friend who has volunteered in the past, but hasn't been able to come for a while. It was a blessing to have him help to use his gifted skills of working with computers.

With "March Madness", I wanted to "do" than "watch" sports, so I went to the local fitness center to play catch (baseball) with my Kazu. I saw a couple of other friends, so I played soccer with them too. We would go to Alexandria the next day to watch a movie at the theater there, which would be my first time to do so in more than several years. It was my fist time there since it was remodeled many years ago. Before going to the movie "Act of Valor", I attended the annual "Spring Expo" in-town and was blessed to win a FREE burger (locally produced)! I say blessed because my intention to attend this event was to get a burger, which I rarely or don't even like eating red meat at all. I decided to get one as an exception since I knew where this burger was coming from (locally grown)!

On Sunday, March 11th (Daylight Savings Time) after doing the overnight (sleep shift), I went to my local church to help with Super Church (Sunday School). Prior to teaching, a church family member shared a testimony of how she got healed during worship service after asking God for healing (for a cold)! She then encouraged folks that needed healing to have folks around them to lay hands on them for prayer. This reminded me of my own personal testimony (see Healed from Head Concussion? , goodnewseverybodycom.wordpress.com) from last fall, which I would personally shared with her via email. Later in the evening, I would get together with a couple of friends for a movie night (rented from the local university)-Mongol (Oscar-nominated movie of Genghis Khan ).

The next day, I did more of my house basement remodeling project by working on the wood floor tiling. The day after, I got an early birthday present from a co-worker who won a birthday cake from a community cake walk.

On our weekly Wednesday ESL classes, we had a presentation by one of our students unfortunately leaving home (Pakistan) the end of this month. We did a farewell party for him as we learned more about his home country.

I have a health testimony to share, which I have to attribute to health living habits. Every two years, I have a physical exam as part of the required credentials when renewing my Class B (CDL) License for driving the bus fro my job. Well, I wanted to do well-particularly with my eyes. I've been doing my eye therapy (switch eye patch from left to right eye in regular basis) to improve my "lazy eye" disorder. Well, after doing this for a significant period of time, it has improved. Praise God!

For my on-going basement project, I did my ceiling (sheet rock a small narrow section by the vent and stair way), which would be a week project as I did little by little each time.

I spent my birthday weekend in the cities by showing my housemate around my birth hometown of St. Paul. We've been trying to do this earlier this year during winter break, but it didn't workout for his schedule. We first went to this Chinese restaurant (Tea Garden) at the UofM Twin Cities campus (Stadium Village). I joined a close friend of his-along with his friend's relatives for a get together. The next day, I took him to this new batting cage facility (Lake Elmo). It was my first time here and we had more fun taking rounds in the cage without the pitching machine, which I recommend trying next time. My housemate bought this cool kite earlier, so we had my niece and nephew join us in the open field behind the townhouse.

It was probably a perfect (windy and sunny) day to go kite flying! Then the day we left for Morris, my family took me and my housemate out to a Chinese buffet in West. St. Paul. It was a great weekend in the cities! On our drive back to Morris, the temperature was around lower 80's. It was so hot that I had to turn the AC on our ride back (also on our way to the cities this past Friday)!

My birthday celebration continued throughout the week at my workplace as they have been like family since I started in December of 05'. A co-worker made a homemade blueberry (favorite) pie on Monday and then more goodies on Wednesday (celebrated with another co-worker who had a birthday the following day)! I've been very blessed to work with the people here.

On Tuesday, March 20th (1st Day of Spring)-A "short-term" friend (Hafiz was in Morris for less than 6 months for a special program here), his housemates, and I got together for one last night. We hung out in a couple places in town as we celebrated till late in the evening. He will be certainly missed!

After passing my eye exam last week in renewing my drivers license, I nearly passed the physical exam given by my personal family doctor. Like I mentioned earlier, I have to attribute it to healthy lifestyle (asking God for self-discipline on foods I eat)!

On Saturday, March 24th-I had a long busy day! I was able to do more ceiling work and then enjoyed part of the afternoon by attending the annual CNIA Pow Wow. I hung out with various friends as I was able to catch-up with friends I haven't chatted for awhile. Later in the evening after doing some early "Spring-cleaning" (kitchen on main floor), I joined my housemate to celebrate his birthday along with his friend. We treated him out to Bella Cucina.

The following day, I decided to drive solo to St. Paul to participate in the annual "Philippine Day". I was originally plan on taking my housemate, but he was occupied with homework. Here are some highlights from this event..

After the event, I went home with my sister and her boyfriend. They both had some other plans, so they dropped me off with my niece and nephew. I decided to take them outside and play to enjoy the weather before going back to Morris. It was a worth one-day trip, which I haven't drove to the cities like this for years!

Throughout the last week of March at the local college, it was the annual World Touch Cultural Heritage Week. The theme this year was on Native Americans, which has always been enlightening for me to learn about this specific ethnic-cultural group. That is why I love this annual event as it gives me the opportunity to learn more outside of the "book" or learn what was hardly taught when going to school.
-Monday: Artist shared about various social issues and asked the audience (mainly college students) what are the biggest issues facing us today in this community? He then based his artwork on this theme. There were a lot of "issues" brought up, so he decided to focus on one (history of Boarding schools).
-Tuesday: Screening of this short documentary of an infamous event in Minnesota history.
-Wednesday: Origins of Names was the theme in this evening of different panelist representing different ethnic-cultural groups. What's the origin of your name?
-Thursday: Dinner: Award Banquet

I started the weekend by doing more of my basement remodeling project as I've been busy most of this week. I was able to finish casing the stairway, which took only 4 hours!

It was too nice out on Friday, so I decided to go out with a friend to join some other friends to play cricket. It was my first time playing. Friday was like batting practice before playing a pick-up game the following day..



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