why am I still awake when I have to get to the airport by 5 am and I need to leave my house at least by 4 am? Because my laundry is still drying in my sucky drying machine… This is my fourth time drying the load but it is only getting slightly dry-er each time….
I was planning to sleep around 12, but a conversation that goes later than planned, supermarket that is farther than I thought, and a dryer that doesn’t work… Just shows how human plans can easily go awry… We really don’t have much control over our future, even when we plan it very carefully. Need to stop pretending that I have control and instead trust in God. Spiritual lesson learned.

*This was not an original insight. I was just reminded of one of Pastor Ed’s messages.

Excited and scared at the same time for what will happen over the course of this week!! Lord help us.

… well it wasn’t that unusual….
But I just wanted to name my blog post like that because my Christmas Eve was unusual in a sense that it was probably different than most other people’s Christmas Eve. When people think about Christmas Eve, they think about last minute Christmas shopping, family gathering/dinner, and special Christmas service.
My Christmas Eve did contain a special Christmas service (which consisted of Christmas carols, little kids doing body worship, little kids not doing anything on stage except for looking really cute, youth group kids performing skits which are no different than Korean dramas but contain a Christian punch line, and young adults dancing to a hip version of Silent Night… no Christmas message since it was preached the previous Sunday), but I did not get to eat a family dinner or go on a Christmas shopping frenzy.
Instead, I spent the afternoon with my friend Jee Bae watching G-live, and eating Chick-Fil-A!

Seriously the best chicken burger ever. I think I would consider it as good as, if not better than Bake Sale Betty’s in Oakland.

And after the Christmas service, spent time with The Well (My home church’s EM) people.

Although I did not get to spend much time with my parents because of the circumstances, I am so blessed to have Christian brothers and sisters wherever I go who become my family to spend meaningful times such as these.

To do list:

-watch Narnia the voyage of the Dawn Treader
-eat korean bbq – sort of check… I had a lot of pork belly dinners already =)
-eat 양념통닭 (spicy korean fried chicken) – check!!
-eat korean pastries
-have a nice talk with the two pastors over a nice lunch – half check; had dinner with one of the pastors.

new items on the to do list:

- have dinner with family
- update resume
- apply to spring semester internship positions
- submit my one page testimony for SD mission trip
- play basketball with friends – check! in 38 degree weather in an outdoor basketball court -_-;
- try to meet up with old high school friends

Still haven’t watched the Dawn Treader!! O wellz… its has been busy recently…

I hope everyone had a nice and meaningful Christmas. The end of 2010 is approaching…. This year passed by sooooo fast… like a concorde jet (in reference to Justin K.’s recent blog post quote).
I should do some reflecting.

————————————————–
Do not be complacent Daniel!
————————————————–

-DSo

get picked up by my brother – check
go to my home church for friday night worship and prayer – check
meet old friends – check
meet new friends – check
pleasantly discover that the youth group has many new faces – check
be shocked at the news that my youth group pastor (whom I joked around that he would not date anytime soon) is dating – check (gasp!)
eat home-made 돼지 감자 고추장 찌개 (spicy pork potato soup)!! – check (almost made me cry)
catch up with Jee Bae at Starbucks instead of studying for the PHR – check
eat late night at IHOP with brother and friends – check
study all night for the Professional in Human Resouces (PHR) exam – check
hear pastor Paul give the Christmas message – check
go shop for an awesome $15 foot massager for a white elephant gift exchange – check
eat 삼겹살 (pork belly) with the Well people for our Christmas party dinner – check (awesome!)
hilarious game of Apples to Apples and Mafia after dinner – check
miss out on the fun games in order to study for the PHR – check
study all night for the PHR exam for the second time and be extremely sleep deprived after finals are officially over – check
take the 4 hour PHR exam and feel very helpless and dumb at the process – check
pass the PHR exam as if escaping through the flames – check
go to Barnes and Nobles to use internet because there is no internet at home and my neighbor’s not-password-protected internet is spotty – check
watch Tron and trying to understand its message – check
writing on my blog when i should be getting some sleep after having studied all night – check

Wow… I did do a lot.
Some things that are yet to be accomplished:
-watch Narnia the voyage of the Dawn Treader
-eat korean bbq
-eat 양념통닭 (spicy korean fried chicken)
-eat korean pastries
-have a nice talk with the two pastors over a nice lunch
why is my list 70% about eating?!

should start taking some pictures….
Hope everyone is doing well at your respective homes!
Merry Christmas!!! (I will probably say this every day until the real Christmas day has passed)
I hope we can all remember the meaning of Christmas even in the busyness and the excitement of the season, and especially for many of us, coming back home after a stressful time of finals…. It has been slipping out of my mind for sure…

-DSo

그나저나, 저번 포스팅은 아무 생각없이, 내 자신을 더 잘 표현하고자 한국말로 썼는데, 반응이 꽤 재밌었다 ㅎㅎ
아무도 못 이해할줄 알았는데 어떻게 잘도 읽었다.
계속 이렇게 한국말로 쓸까? 나도 한국말 쓰는거 연습하고 좋은데…
What do you guys think? Should I change back to English?
(not many people read my blog anyways…)

Anyways, 다음주는 드디어 Thanksgiving Retreat이다 야호!
내겐 더 special 한게 SD랑 Texas로부터 friend들이 몇명 온다.
걔네들 Berkeley도 show around 해주고 interesting 할것같다. 다음주에는 Harry Potter VII 도 보러간다. Excited다 ㅋ
(한번 영어랑 섞어봤는데 영 바보같다. 그냥 한 언어로 쓰는게 나은것같다.)

Woot! Senior song for the retreat!

-DSo

This is a picture we took when we surprised Marissa for her birthday. Some guys made a cookie for her and we all went to surprise her to her room.
I have a feeling that this year will be full of meaningful times. Maybe after a year in the dorms, I will look back and feel like I have lived a lifetime here. Or maybe I’ll feel like I just moved in a week ago
Time is an interesting thing.

-DSo

at Dana House!

Sorry to those who were getting extremely sad, bitter, and maybe angry at the thought that you were not going to be able to read my awesome posts and enjoy my very artistic pictures anymore (i’m being sarcastic for those who didn’t catch it).

I just wanted to commemorate this momentous occasion by posting it on my blog. I am going to be moving out of Dana House and move into the Dorms (Unit 3 Norton).
Although I am very sad at the prospect of not living together with all of my peers, I am excited that I will get to be in the dorms as a senior. I guess I also get to complete my college experience through this.

Anyhow, tomorrow is going to be a busy day… and actually it might be really busy for the next week at least.
Please pray for me that this year would be a year of many blessed encounters and opportunities. And don’t forget to visit me in the units, you DHouse residents!

-DSo

p.s. another post without pictures…. sadness… (except for somebody who is just not appreciative of my pics).

If you have seen my fb status update, you know how my generic adapter caught on fire… and it is the second adapter in a row to die like this.
Because of this, I haven’t been able to post-process all the pictures I took in Austin because Lightroom drains a lot of battery. I am about to order an adapter right now so hopefully i will be able to post process once I get back to Berkeley…
that is, if I am not busy prepping for NSWN.

Just a few things that have happened while at home:

Friday: eat lunch with my home church youth pastor, EM pastor, youth ministry staff, and Senior Pastor. Haha I know so many pastors. Read a chunk of Isaiah (to catch up) and bought dinner for my brother. Friday Night service and a good time of prayer. Hang out with Jee Bae and others @ IHOP celebrating his successful (?) completion of the MCAT.

Saturday: Woke up late, ate lunch at home (찌개 is awesome!), went to church to see the EM praise band practice and read the bible. Came back home to hang out with Injoon (he was watching starcraft tournaments, and i was being amused of watching him watch the starcraft tournaments as well as the many fan girls that would cheer for the SC players). Massive Korean BBQ dinner. My half-diet was in danger of being terminated. A short game of basketball at night.

Sunday: Left Houston at 8:30 to go to Austin with Jee Bae and my brother. Grabbed breakfast @ McD’s and drive straight to get to Austin by 11 am. Chill at the 605 (Austin’s Dana House). Interesting to see the parallel between DHouse and 605 in the foosball table and the residents’ devotion to it. Had lunch @ 5 Guys. Chris Chang claimed it to be the In N Out of Texas but I really prefer the double double. Prayer Meeting and SWS Service at the Austin Church. Dinner with EunSub, a high school friend, at Rudy’s. Best Brisket I have ever had in my life!!! 2nd time to put my half diet in danger of termination (or maybe I did). Attempt to eat dessert @ Mozzart, a popular cafe to the Austin students, but ended up going to EunSub’s place for watermelon -_-. Went to Pastor Manny’s place (Winsted) to hang out and say goodbye. It was packed with the staff brainstorming for NSWN. Came back to Houston at 1 am.

Monday: Had several meetings with several people to arrange my mom’s moving to a different apartment. Had lunch at Tokyo One, a japanese buffet. They had bomb green tea ice cream =) Went shopping with my family for my running shoes and a pair of jeans. The conclusion of the day is that I would rather shop alone because I saw myself really get tired of considering all the different inputs.

About to have home-made dinner. Should try to eat as much as possible since I won’t be having any until winter. And in fact, I will be having the most DC food I have ever had during my college career.

Sorry for this boring, pictureless post. Hopefully I’ll tell a more detailed story when I get the pictures on flickr.
For everyone at home, have a good time and rest up! because we will be very busy in a few days.

-DSo

Anyhow, I haven’t taken new pictures recently. Hopefully, I’ll take some when I go back home and go visit the Austin team. I’ll make sure to eat some awesome Texas bbq as well.

For now, some more pics from last winter. This time, the first few pics of my stay in Korea!!!

So happy to see Korean Air.

They served spicy pork for my plane meal!! It was ok in terms of taste but the fact that I ate spicy pork on the plane ride was what mattered the most.

Arriving at Incheon intercontinental airport, I was bewildered to find myself at Narnia… I mean, Narnia-like, snow-covered Korea.

I stayed a first few days at my grandparents’ place near Myung Dong. They still lived in the old house that remained the same through the time that I was away. Although my grandparents’ place was the same as 12 years before, the surrounding area totally changed.

A huge skyscaper was being built next to my grandparents’ old house,

and one block away was a totally modernized Myung Dong.

The tower is still as how i remember it… except that its ownership changed to some Chinese business. The national landmark, Nam San Tower, is now Seoul Tower that belongs to Chinese people because the president sold it.

*correction – n서울타워 (nSeoul Tower) does not belong to the city of Seoul, or the national government but it DOES belong to Koreans. It is currently owned by YTN, a Korean media conglomerate and managed by CJ corporation.
Another interesting fact that i ran into while doing research is that Seoul Tower is ACTUALLY a signal tower. The major broadcasting stations (KBS, MBC, SBS, etc…) all use the tower to broadcast their signals! I always thought it was just a cool building, like a national monument.

At least one thing did not change. Banana Milk remains faithfully delicious after many many years.

I haven’t seen icicles in such a long time, since I lived mostly in warm places (Mexico, Houston).

By Mike Park’s recommendation, I visited Myung Dong Gyoza, a 맛집 (mat jip – a restaurant known for good food) known for their 칼국수 (kal gook soo – Korean noodle soup).
It was legit.

I headed over to Guri, a city in the outskirts of Seoul where my cousin lives, after a few days at my grandparents’ place.

I was so glad to my aunt and my cousin. I was also pleasantly surprised to meet my cousin’s young son and daughter. They are so cute and outgoing.

More pics coming in later posts!

-DSo