151030 Thank you for the night of prayer for Cambodia

Cheong Ek Killing Field, Cambodia

It was a night of information and prayer at my church. The missionary sent to Cambodia who is sponsored by my church is back at home for her home assignment and tonight's Concert of Prayer was dedicated for her to share her report and also to pray for this broken country.

It was informative in a sense that I learned more about this country that God loves so much, and that I have fallen in love with. Although I didn't get to know in depth about it, I was able to gain general knowledge on the population, geography, history, religion, politics, economy and social aspects of Cambodia.

Unfortunately, I had to miss the second half which was the part where the missionary shared about the orphanage and the children. However, because I've experienced a glimpse of it while I was in Cambodia the past summer, I know some of the prayers that are needed. 

I'm thankful for the church and the community for their love and support for Cambodia and also the missionary. It's so amazing to see how people can come together and share the love and support in prayer. More than financial and physical help, prayer is needed for not only the orphanage but also for Cambodia as the country. It was a good reminder for myself to continue to pray for them.

151029 Thank you for the new places to visit

Last days of fall, 2015

I had an opportunity to go downtown today for a lunch date and some driving around Toronto. It's always exciting to check out a new place, whether it be a restaurant, a cafe, a park, and etc. All three places that we stopped by today were new to us. Lunch was mediocre, the company was better. After our lunch date, we made a spontaneous visit to the Allan Gardens - somewhere I've been wanting to go, but never really had the chance to. It was pretty interesting. It wasn't as romantic as I thought it would be but I was surprised that there was a garden as such in Toronto. I think I enjoyed walking around the park more than walking around the actual greenhouse. When I used to work downtown, I passed by this park several times but I guess I never really felt like making a detour on my way home. I would like to go back in December as they have a Christmas flower show and also in other seasons to see seasonal flowers. The last stop we made on the way home was a local grocery store. It may seem mundane but I love taking my time to look around the grocery store. It was a short time spent together but I felt like I was able to enjoy the last days of fall. I'm thankful for all these new places that we were able to visit.

151021 Thank you for the good and the bad weathers of autumn

This isn't the street that I mentioned in today's entry, but still pretty.

I feel like I haven't had the opportunity to enjoy Fall this year. Well, I sort of did but only a couple of times - once last week and once the week before. Both times I went to Edwards Gardens. It was a nice getaway from the city life, just going for a stroll and looking at the fall colours. It was satisfying but I think I could use a bit more of the "fallness" before all the leaves fall down and it starts to snow.

I got really sad today as I drove by my neighbourhood. Just last week, the road looked so beautiful with bright yellow leaves waving their hands at me as I drove under. But today, almost half was bare... It reminded me how short this season is. I haven't done anything and soon it will be over. I started wondering why I had not gone up north to see the colours. Sometimes plans were made but had to be cancelled because of the bad weather (it rained so much this October), sickness, busyness, etc. Once I realized that I didn't get to enjoy autumn as much I wanted this year, I wanted to go somewhere today - either to walk or to bike. But then I remembered that it's supposed to rain this evening. It may not be a good weather for biking, but the autumn rain brings a different kind of beauty. As long as it's not too cold, and of course, as long as it's not pouring, I think I can go for a walk. This week, and if we're lucky, next week will be the last days of autumn. So enjoy it while it lasts!

Oh, and another thing I realized today is that I sort of stopped listening to jazz. I usually listen to the radio when I drive, but now that I connected my phone to my car, I listen to my short playlist over and over. So, unfortunately there hasn't been any new addition to my playlist in a really long time. Fall is the perfect time to listen to jazz... it's a shame that I'm not doing it.

151020 Thank you for the first day of class

I recently got a new job as an art teacher. Today was my first class and I think it went slower than I expected. I had planned a lot and even that wasn't enough. I think the reason for that was because the students were older. At first, I thought I was gonna teach the lower grades but I got the older grades and because they are faster at doing things, they just finished everything quicker than the time I had given them. So we actually got more stuff done than what I planned. I guess it's a good thing. There were supposed to be ten kids in total, but it ended up being sixteen. This also made a slight change in my plan. Regardless, I think it went okay for a first day. It could've been better. I just need to change some things here and there and hopefully, things will go much smoother.

One thing I realized today was that it's hard to teach in Canada. At the beginning of the class, one parent told me that her child has ADHD, and during the class, one student tells me that she is visually impaired when I turned off the light to demonstrate light and shading. These are the things that I never thought of going into this class. Back when I was a student, at least when I was in elementary school, I don't think my teacher knew any of these. To be honest, I don't think they really cared and these mental health issues weren't really known.

I wonder since when they classified students that they are this or they are that. I don't know anything about mental disorders, but I wonder how much help this brings to a student. Maybe it's a good thing to know what their weaknesses are, but I wonder, in some degree, if they are setting a barrier that says "don't expect much from us because we are ADHD" or whatever the issue may be. Anyways, there are so many things to be aware of in a classroom.

151019 Thank you for the time to lesson plan

My first time hand-picking flowers and making a bouquet!

I haven't been doing so well lately - physically and emotionally. I caught a cold a little more than a week ago. It started off really bad with sinus. I purposely didn't take any medicine because I wanted and believed that my body could fight it off. I tried my best to take as much as vitamin C and drink lots of water. I guess I'm a hypocrite since I always tell my family and friends to take medication when they're sick, but I don't take anything when I'm sick. I mean, I do take pills but only when I know I need them. I'm not sure if it's because of my cold or because of my stress, I've been getting frequent nose bleeds lately. Including today's nose bleed, I had three in total in the last week. But then, it's not much to worry about because I think I get it from my dad. He has a weak nose and gets nose bleeds all the time. I still have a bit of runny nose and I kinda sound funny but my cold is almost gone, so I'm thankful for that.

Despite all the things going on in my life, I'm thankful that I have something to focus on. Focusing on something I enjoy helps me destress. Lesson planning always seems time consuming and stressful at first, but when I get it going and when the ideas pop up in my head, I get really excited. As I was spending time doing research and planning for my class, I was able to put aside my stress. I am nervous but more excited about the class that I'll be teaching.

Hopefully I can have a good night's sleep as well. That's another thing. I keep waking up from my sleep in the middle of the night. I'm not sure if it's my sleeping posture that's making me uncomfortable or something's stressing me out. Maybe I gotta tire myself out from working out or something to get a good night's rest!

151010 Thank you for a basketball practice

Fall colours

It's my third year joining my church's basketball league. Before I share anything, let me tell you that I do not enjoy doing any kind of sports, because I am probably one of the least flexible people alive. I was always the slowest at running during track and field, and hence, I never won any ribbons when I was in elementary school. I haven't played any team sports since grade 9 phys ed... until I joined my church's basketball league and softball league. So to join a league like this is a huge step for me. I enjoyed it in the past couple of years that I joined these sports ministry, so I decided to join again this year. I didn't enjoy softball as much to be honest. But with basketball, I feel like I'm learning and getting better little by little with a help of our basketball coach, and the girls who play with me. They've been really encouraging and helpful, although I am pretty much the worst player on the league.

Anyways, there was a morning workshop today where we practiced dribbling and shooting. Although I learned these basics last year, I completely forgot to put them into practice this year. It was really helpful that we went over them again thoroughly today. I just need to keep practicing so that my body will remember. Sadly, tomorrow's game is cancelled because of Thanksgiving. I just hope that I won't forget these basics this time and put them into practice when I actually play.

I'm thankful for an opportunity like this to learn basketball and also have people around me who are challenging and also encouraging me to learn together. It's always good to learn something new.

151008 Thank you for the nature walk with my family

Pretty flower bouquets at the farmer's market. Wanted to bring them home!

It was a perfect fall day. So my family took a full advantage of the amazing weather. We went for a stroll at a park that's about 20 minutes away from my place. We had fun spending some quality time, but the most fun we had came from the selfie stick that my sister brought with her. I'm surprised on how much my dad enjoyed taking photos with that. This was honestly the highlight of our little getaway. I think we took about 50 photos in an hour or so. Because of the sudden temperature drop, the trees were still green and only a few of them already had changed their colours. Well, I guess we're still a bit early for the fall colours. I should give about another week or two to observe some reds and yellows around the neighbourhood.

When we got home, we tuned in to the Jay's game and I had a dilemma. I'm a Torontonian so I should be rooting for the Blue Jays but there is a Korean guy, Shin Soo Choo playing for Texas. I wanted the Korean guy to do well, but I also wanted the Jays to win. But ultimately, I think I wanted Texas to win, since that was the only way for Choo to do well. Although I am Korean Canadian, I think I identify myself as more Korean than Canadian. I am a Korean who grew up in Canada. I've lived half of my life in Korea and half in Canada. The years of living in Canada will only grow, but I'm curious on if I will ever consider myself Canadian over Korean.