Wednesday, December 31, 2008

bringing 2008 to a close...

In retrospect, 2008 has been a pretty good year despite its ups and downs.

January brought the start to a new semester after spending Christmas with my entire immediate family. It was the first time I had seen my nephew since my high school graduation. J-term was enjoyable, as I was able to take a class with many of my friends. Despite a sprained ankle the first week, an unfortunate encounter between my finger and a steel rod the second week, and bronchitis the final week, January was still fun.

The highlight of February was going on a retreat with Bittner/Mellinger staff to the Bob White Hunting Cabin. It was a great time to get away from campus and homework. We spent a lot of quality time together, getting to know each other even better, watching Surf's Up, and sharing lots of laughs. We also had the opportunity to reflect on the previous semester and the year ahead as most of us were preparing to re-apply for another year in residence life. The semester was off to a difficult start, academically, so the retreat came as a welcome distraction.

Spring Break in March meant a road trip to St. Augustine, FL, where I camped on the beach with friends. I also got to celebrate Easter with aunts, uncles, and cousins, and my immediate family while in Florida. It was another chance to see my nephew, and I found it exciting that he remembered me from Christmas. March was also defined by dramatic ups and downs. My sister received word that she had raised 100% of her financial support, which would allow her to leave for the Philippines as a missionary for Wycliffe Bible Translators. This was great news, and news we had been waiting for. We were excited that she would finally be able to head for the Philippines. Plans changed, though, when word came the very next day of my mom's leukemia diagnosis. It was obviously difficult news to hear, but I am absolutely thankful for my friends at Messiah who supported and comforted me in the following weeks.

April was an overall great month. Some of my friends in residence life and I participated in Relay for Life, a 12-hour walk that raises money for cancer research. It was an encouraging event that let me see my friends' continued support for my family and their commitment to prayer.

May brought the end of the semester and the end of the school year. It was an end different than most, because I was not moving out but staying on campus for the summer. The beginning days of work were very boring, but I was really glad to have friends on campus who made everything much more enjoyable. June and July were mostly the same as May. The end of May and half of June was spent in Philly for my cross-cultural. I was able to take in many activities in the city and serve in a community garden almost every day. The conversations I had with the neighborhood youth were really interesting and eye-opening, as I got to hear about their parents' struggles as refugees from the Vietnam War. The required class, or rather the instructor, was frustrating. An uncomfortable experience toward the end of the course left me frustrated and a bit angry, but opened me up to addressing issues of race and identity throughout the fall semester.

August brought the long-awaited week of Residence Life training, meeting old and new staff members, bonding with and facing the uncertainty of an all-female staff, etc. A great time of excitement, the unknown, laughter, and learning. All the fear and anxiety of that time has since gone away, as my staff has proven time and time again that there is nothing to fear.

September was the beginning of a new school year: time to face senior courses and other classes I wasn't particularly looking forward to. This past semester was difficult for many people in many ways, but many people also agree that the difficulties taught us a lot. For me, the difficulty of the fall has allowed me to look forward to the spring semester and the end of college. At the beginning of the year, I was very reluctant for the end of the year and for graduation, but now I think I'm more accepting and maybe even excited for graduation.

October and November continued to bring difficulty with classes and life in general. I was able to take some time away with my new staff for a retreat in late October. Together we relaxed, laughed, reflected, and prayed. Thanksgiving was spent with the immediate family in Florida. Though the traveling was exhausting and we only spent two whole days there, the time together was great.

December brought a welcome end to the semester, and holiday time with family. I was very thankful for time without homework filled with movies and meeting up with friends - an occurrence I haven't seen in a long time.

I'm really looking forward to 2009. The courses ahead of me this semester will be a lot of fun, and even more fun are the people taking the classes with me. Of course, there's also graduation and whatever is in store afterward. 2009 will bring a lot of change and many new experiences.
Though it's certainly unnerving not knowing what lies ahead, it will surely be an exciting time. I'm planning on capturing all the milestones (and the little events too) through photos by jumping on the photo-a-day bandwagon for 2009. There's a new camera in the mail (expected to arrive on Friday!) that will make this endeavor a bit easier and make me that much more eager to follow through with this intention.

I hope 2008 has treated you well, or at least has taught you many things. Happy 2009!

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

People make me laugh...

Like last night, for instance.

I was volunteering with my family at my home church. Every year, our church does a living nativity with live animals and everything. Camels, goats, sheep, and Jack the Donkey. This year, instead of braving the elements, our family decided to bring refreshments to feed the actors and keep them warm.
Among the treats was some homemade chicken noodle soup. Some Swanson broth and fettuccine pasta. Delicious. People kept coming in and out of the kitchen to grab a bowl of it. I admit, I even had a cup of the stuff, though I was comfortably warm the entire night.


Enter "Michelle".

She seemed a little chilly. She deserved some soup. She, too, thought it tasted really good. And she told us so.

"This Chinese chicken noodle soup is really good."

Excuse me, what? Swanson broth and Barilla pasta... is Chinese? My two parents, my sister, and I just let it slide.
"You guys usually don't put noodles in it," she continued. Actually, my family always puts noodles in chicken noodle soup. Perhaps she was thinking of won-ton soup? That's Chinese. But my family isn't.

Then she said, "You guys don't celebrate Christmas. What do you celebrate?" Her brother-in-law, who goes to church with us, interjected, "Yes they do," with a roll of his eyes.

"Chinese New Year?" Michelle asked. Silence. "Are you Chinese?" Silence.

I waited for my parents to respond. They finally said, "No."

"What are you? Korean?"

Filipino. What? We're Filipino. What? We're from the Philippines. What? Filipino.

"Oh, Filipino. I grew up with a Filipina. Yeah, her family was from the Filipino. Her name was... Lisa. They had 7 kids." Thank goodness she didn't ask us if we knew her. Because contrary to popular belief, we don't know every other Asian person in the entire world. "Now that I look at you, I can see you're not Chinese. You look Filipino. You have flatter faces. And you're prettier. Your faces are... different." Thanks?

One of Michelle's relatives entered the kitchen. "Try some of this Filipino chicken noodle soup," Michelle said. "It's really good."
"Actually it's American," my mom tried to say. Swanson broth and Barilla pasta. About as un-Asian as you can get.

I really wish I could get inside her head. Did she think we were Chinese caterers to provide refreshments for the church volunteers? Really, how often do you ask someone from outside the church to volunteer? Unless she thought we were getting paid? I guess I will never really know.

We weren't offended by the whole experience. She didn't mean any harm, and we're used to this sort of thing (unfortunately). It's just a shame that there are plenty of other Michelles out there who just don't know any better.

But thanks for the laughs, Michelle. I really enjoyed your white people chocolate chip cookies.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

I really should keep up with this...

It's a lot harder to update when you don't remember what to write. Now I have to catch up on the past few weeks if I can remember what was significant.

Thanksgiving Week - obviously seeing family was very life giving. The travel was definitely exhausting (driving from Pennsylvania to Florida, and back), but having the whole family together was great. It was especially great seeing my 4-year-old nephew who says the cutest things these days. We took him to the park, which he insists is everyone's, and tried to get him to ride down the tunnel slide. He said he was scared because it was dark, then sighed, "I wish I had my light-up shoes." The most life-taking aspect of break, other than all the work that waited for me when I got back, was hearing of the death of my friend's dad late Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning. It was difficult not knowing what to do or how to respond and feeling like I wasn't close enough of a friend to be able to comfort her. Continue to pray for that family as this transition is a very difficult one.

The next couple weeks were particularly difficult because of all the work. Some of the biggest projects and papers were due at this time, all at once. And though I have known about these assignments all semester long, I found a way to postpone starting them until the week/weekend before they were due. But I was able to finish everything on time, and I think that feeling of relief was probably the most life-giving aspect. Connecting with friends was another significant part of last week. One friendship in particular has been on the decline, in my opinion, which was terribly frustrating since it is one of the most important friendships to me. After several postponements, I was finally able to meet with that friend to discuss the state of our friendship. I'm feeling hopeful for improvements, though I also feel like it's a wait-and-see kind of situation. I also got to have dinner with another good friend who I just haven't seen as often, but still feel particularly close to. It was wonderful catching up and talking about what lies ahead - including a class together next semester!

This past weekend was interesting, but in a good way, I think. Friday was the last day of classes - the end of a VERY long semester for almost everyone. I normally don't have my advanced graphics class on Fridays, but our deadline was pushed back and we had our crit at our professor's house. Pretty much a semester's worth of work building up to this one crit - presenting our final projects and our portfolio. All semester long, I have been waiting for Dave (my prof) to call my work "killer", which is basically the ultimate compliment. After going through my portfolio, Dave said there was only one thing that needed to be changed - my name label - and once that was fixed, it would be killer. Big smiles. It was a lot of fun, too, to sit around and socialize after the crit. We have begun referring to ourselves as "The Family," which is what it feels like now. I wouldn't have imagined feeling this connection with the other graphics students before, but I really appreciate the camaraderie we have. After the crit, I went to Christmas Tradition, which is the winter formal at the Hershey Lodge. Though changing clothes in the bathroom and waiting by myself was a bit awkward, the night was a lot of fun. Having fun and enjoying the company of friends is so much more enjoyable than tracking down dangerously intoxicated students.

Saturday was such a long, but good, day. After 10 hours in the textiles studio, I went to a Christmas party with some friends. Good times and good food had by all. And I got to talk with another party guest, who works for Messiah College, and set up a job for J-term/Spring semester doing some work for the Agape Center website. After we got back to campus, I went back to the textiles studio and worked until 2:30 am finishing my quilt - which isn't due until tomorrow. I think I have officially crossed over into crazy art major territory.

This week is finals week, though it is surprisingly easy. I only have one exam this semester, which was this morning. I'm fairly confident I did not get an A, but I'm okay with that. I'm really enjoying this free time, though I'm beginning to get a little antsy. I have started to get excited for next semester, too. I spent some time with friends I have had since freshman year, and we are planning all sorts of things to enjoy our final semester - mostly in ways that will remind us of our first year at Messiah. We are planning to reprise our read-aloud of The Suitor, a book we discovered in the library book sale. J-term will also bring knitting circles and read-alouds of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. And we just may repeat our finals week dictator bowling outing, too. Though I'm still a little hesitant to leave this place I have called home for the past four years, I am finding acceptance a little easier with these plans my friends and I have made.