Counting Down to the Days!

This coming Friday, I will be on my way to Indonesia to meet with M's parents and spend time with M. I am definitely about 90 percent excited about the trip...and 10 percent of nervousness and anticipation of not knowing what to expect. But irregardless, I just can't wait to hop on that plane and be on my way! What a great way to start the new year...to get to be with my favorite person in the whole world and have her show me around her hometown, where she grew up.

Too bad we didn't get to spend our first Christmas together, but I'm sure there will be tons and tons of Christmases where we'll be together! With the exception of M not being here this Christmas, we had a good time with the nieces and nephew opening presents. 99% of all the presents under the tree were for them. hehehehe...my family were very impressed with the apron, oven mitten and glove that M made for Maddie. Being handmade defintely made that gift extra special and since Maddie LOVES to be in the kitchen and cook, this is a perfect present for her. Maddie is only 7, but I tell you, she can whip up some good stuff...Thank you M! You are awesome!

Hmmm....New Years is coming, and I will be spending that day flying all over the place...But I certainly hope that all of you will have a wonderful new years and ring in the day with a bang! Start out fresh...start out right. =) Again, I couldn't think of any better way to start the new year by spending time with M and then come back home to a new job! =) It's truly God's blessing! I remember when I was young and lived in Taiwan, every New Years Eve, my mom and dad, my brother and my grandmother would gather around the coffee table, watch TV, play cards (most of the time, we play Blackjack..hehehehehe)...and collect Red Envelopes. It was nothing special, but it was certainly fun and have the whole family gathered around in one place. Ahhhhh...the good old days. =) Good times, good memories...

Happy New Year Everyone! And I pray that God will bless you all in this new year and that with each passing year, we are growing closer to the Lord. May God reveals Himself to us more and more each year as we live by faith more and more as well. =)

-d

Day 01 and 02, Christmas Eve at Jakarta, Indonesia

Day 01

I arrived at Jakarta Airport around 1.30 pm after such a long flight from San Fransisco. I spent about a week from Dec 14 to Dec 21 at San Fransisco where my cousin lives. I wished I had blogged something during that week but there is really nothing to blog about. LOL. I spent my whole week working like a cow because I had to get everything done before my vacation started. I and my cousin only started really enjoying SF during the weekend. But, I must say, even though I did not get to spend much time to explore SF, I got to spend time with my beloved cousin, wei..hehehehe.
I flew to Indonesia from SF on Dec 22 12:05 am. The flight took about 13 hours and 20 mins. It was very painful! Luckily, I took Tylenol PM which helped me to stay asleep for 10 hours! I don't know what I am going to do if I had to be awake for the whole 13 hr and 20 mins. My connection flight from Taipei to Jakarta only took about 5 hours. By that time, my butt was as flat as it can be. lol.
After such exhausting flying time, I finally arrived in my home sweet hometown, Jakarta!!

Day 02
Today is Christmas Eve. I spent the whole morning running errands with my parents: went to the traditional market to do grocery shopping (yikes..too many flies flying around), went to doctor for my mom's checkup. Then, we went to the office and stayed until about 3.30 pm.
We were planning to go to church for xmas service, which is located at one of the newest mall in Jakarta, Central Park. Very surprisingly, when we got there, flock of people came out from the parking lot and told us that the place was already at over capacity. Bahhhhh!!! I did not know that they accepted seat reservations for the church service! HEllooooo??!!....I think they should do better job in managing the event!!..they should have told the congregation in advance that we had to make a reservation to attend the service..bah!

So, we decided to go check out the mall to kill our time. Hmm..the mall is very tall..it is still brand new so there were only few stores open. Everytime I passed the little stores, someone must have stopped me and gave out fliers and kinda forced me to come to their stores.
"welcome back home, mony!', so I thought to myself, lol.
Anyway, we had dinner at one of the japanese restaurant inside the mall then decided to head back home.
There goes my xmas eve.
I am not complaining, but I wish D is here with me...pffftttttttt...

Cher mon amour : Je souhaite que vous soyez ici avec moi ce jour de Noël ♥

Merry Christmas, everyone! Hope you have a better xmas eve than I do.. lol..
~m

Poof! How Time Flies!!!

I can't believe it's already been almost two weeks since m was here! And we had such a great time together while she was in NC! The highlight of our time together was definitely the Biltmore Estate visit. Unfortunately (my own fault), we were a little rushed in going through the Biltmore House because I knew the traffic would get bad if we leave too late on Wednesday. But next time, we will go again and spend much more time there.

I miss m sooooo much! Wish the time didn't go by so fast! But I guess when time flies by fast, that mean we had a good time together right? We quite a bit of good food. And I made sure m got her fix of all different kinds of fried chicken!! hahahahahaha...so sweetie? Which one was your favorite fried chicken hotspot? I didn't get to take you to all of them, so it is to be continued!!!

And also , m really only got to see about 10% of Raleigh/Durham area. So that is definitely to be continued as well. So much to do and so little time. We also did some Christmas shopping together and that was fun.

And of course, my friends and family really liked m just like I said they would! =) And yesterday, Maddie told me, "Uncle David, I miss Ramona, when is she coming back?" awwwwwww....so cute!

Doesn't matter what we did, I'm just happy and thrilled to spend time together! Can't wait for the next time!

Next stop, Indonesia to see m's parents!!! I have been praying and mentally preparing for that trip! hehehehehehehe...

Okay, enough for now, I'll let m fill in the blanks on anything I missed later. Will post some NC pictures here soon!

Peace...

-d

TODAY!!!! She's Coming! She's Coming!

I am so thrilled that today, M will be travelling to NC for a visit! She will be hopping on the plane in just a few hours! I'm praying for safety as she is in transit and also praying hard that this coming weekend and week will go by really SLOWWWW so we can really enjoy each other's company! But, like the old saying, time always flies when you are having fun. I agree with M that one thing about long distance relationship is that it allows us to really treasure the times that we are together and really not take the time we have for granted.

I am jumping up and down with joy right now as I type!

M is really craving for some fried chicken, so I promised that I will take her to a good place with yummy fried chicken tonight for dinner after she lands. And then our plan afterwards is to go catch Twilight Saga: New Moon which comes out today. I am so happy she is going to be here I can hardly contain myself! And since M loves fried chicken, she really has come to the right place! We will eventually try a few of the best restaurants with awesome fried chicken, but where should we hit first?? Mama Dip's? The Pit? Smithfield Chicken & BBQ? Hmmmmmm....And Bojangles, even though it's a fast food place, it actually has really good fried chicken when you are on the run!

Alrighty!!! That's it for now! We are going to take tons of pictures and continue to share our journey, so stay tuned!!!! Best wishes to all my friends and family! Love you all!!

-D

2 more days..

In 2 days, I will be flying off to NC to meet D..hehehehe...can't wait!
I think the positive side of being in a long distance relationship is it makes us to appreciate the time that we can spend together. Next week will be the precious moment for both of us :D

Hmm..what update can I give you today?
Ohh..D got a face-to-face interview today at 5 pm and he has to give 5-10 mins presentation too. Talk about short notice! I know that D has been stresing out since yesterday.. lol..sorry, babe!
But, you know you can do it! And, again, if this is the job that God wants to give you, He will deliver! amen! ehhehe
So, everyone..starting 5 pm EST..close your eyes and pray with me , :D

One of my best friends got a volunteer position yesterday! Congratulations, Elaine! :)
I know it sux to be International Students looking for jobs during this economy recession..I do feel blessed that God still allowed me to have a job and grant me the visa that I need to be able to work after my graduation. Hmpphh..
Hopefully things get better and she will be able to find a perfect job one day very soon. :)

~m

Happy Monday

Hello..
Happy Monday to you all...
Since I was a kid, I have never liked Monday, hahaha..so hopefully today will go by fast :P

D got his second phone interview today. It was such a short notice! The interview is like 2 hours after the recruiter called him. Tsk tsk..but I know that if this is a job from God, He will deliver it, no matter what happens..eheheh..
So, as I am typing right now, he is in a conference room, doing his phone interview. I know you can do it, babe! :D

On another note, I am trying to googling what is the best strategy to do Black Friday Shopping. We are kinda eyeing out on laptop deals that Best Buy has this year. But, that means, we have to wake up at 3 am and stand in line for hours to wait for the store to open up and run like a maniac!!
Geez..I think my last shopping trip was 3 years ago, and we stood in line since 3 am and ran like crazy when the door opened at 5 am. It was in MN and it was freezing cold! brrrrrr...
Let's hope NC's weather won't be as mean as Midwest weather next week.
I just read that many stores usually have deals even before the friday, so maybe we should check it out before leaving to the stores.
I know it is going to be crazy..but kinda excited at the same time because this will be our first trip together to beat crazy maniacs at stores..hohoho so we shall see!

praying hard..

hiii..
today D has a phone interview with Cisco for a Program Manager position.. and he is on the phone for interview right now as I am typing this posting..
I just want to say a quick prayer for D that let God's favor be upon him and let His will be done, not our will..hehehehehe

I am always a nervous wreck when it comes to an interview..I have to use 2-3 days for preparation to study up the company, googling the list of questions they may ask, etc..but D..he's one of a kind...He got the email about the interview this morning,which left him only about 5 hours to prepare for his interview.. Whewwww...so proud of you, babe!
Anyway, we can only do our best and let God do the rest..amen..

Today, November 13...my twin brother will perform in International Week event, hosted by Iowa State University. I am sure he is super duper excited to have the opportunity to show off his drumming skills..hahaha..he is a bit of a crazy performer sometimes (but don't tell him I said that).. pffffttt..

Anyway, that's the scoop for today..
Have a good weekend, guys!

~m