Les cuisines des Japonaise et Indonesienne

Last Thursday, some friends and I had a dinner together at my house. There were 5 of us (as seen in the pic). The three are Japanese and the other two are Indonesians.. ^^.
We had a good time together. Also, on that day, we just had our Final Exam. So yeah, in a way, it was our celebration!

From the up left: Yuko - my housemate . Me. Gaby.
Left below: Ai . Kana .
(p.s: My face was red and oily. I guess it was because of me cooking. :P)

Les cuisines

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today is another day of blessing for me. I (finally) got a job, though it'll only starts on the next 2 weeks. :P Praise God!
And thanks for the prayers, too! ^^

Besides, today was my first time to go for a Cinema in Taiwan! I watched "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". It was a long-movie though, -+3hours, and yet, I thought the movie was not that good. I spent NT230 for this.. Ehm, for an experience.. It was just alright.

On another note, I was watching some videos of people singing songs and playing guitar.. Ouh, how I miss singing (all the time) and bien sur, I miss playing the guitar, though I am really Not good at it. (still learning ma.. :P)

Having a roommate could be a challenge for me sometimes. Not being able to do the things that I want, such as singing (hehe, afraid that I'll (for sure) disturb her); listening something from the speaker (lazy to put on an earphone); exercising (teehee!); or even about the lighting! But the positive thing about it is that, I learn to share things with a person from different background/personality. In this case, "Sharing is Caring" does apply. ^^,

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. Just like other V's Days, it always feels the same as other ordinary days. Having No boyfriend. No surprises.
But I am still glad to have good friends around me. It feels great to be loved ^^, doesn't it?
Gonna hang out to a new place called Sanxia tomorrow. Heard that it's a nice place to visit. Then at night gonna cook a dinner together with a friend at home. I am excited about it. I start to love cooking! Experience new dishes ala moi. Na hen you yi si! (it's really interesting!).

Happy Valentine's Day to you!
Have a wonderful one today!

God bless!

Gatherings

Yeap, we have managed to hold 2 gatherings so far! Praise God! ^^,
These are some photos taken during the two's..

First's..
Not many people turned up as expected. There were about 7 of us. No matter what, we did enjoy it!



Second's..
Wow, this one, there were 17 of us! multiple huh?! ^^,
And we also used this opportunity to celebrate Chinese New Year '09 by singing Gong Xi Gong Xi song.. :p and Potluck dinner! Yummy!






"Les images parlent mots à milliers.."

God bless!

Ce sont jours

These last few days have been pretty tiring, but it was fun though ^^
On Friday, we had the second gathering for the community. (More on the next post)
On Saturday, some of my Indonesian friends came over and we cooked and had lunch together.
On Sunday, I went for mass in the morning and in the afternoon we went to Taipei 101 area. My friends and I wanted to go for International Book Exhibition, but the entrance fee was a bit expensive for us, plus, we did not really look for a book. So we decided not to go in there, and instead went to another bookstore nearby - Eslite bookstore.

In the late evening, we met our Germany friends whom we just knew during the gathering on Friday. They're nice people to be with.. ^^. We went to Shillin Night Market - the most famous night market here.


Monday was pretty much the same, after class, went to a friend's place to do something and then, late afternoon we went to Dr. Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall for the Lantern Festival. It was pretty nice. Not as nice as what I expected, but the fireworks and the light show were cool..

Ox year

It was full-moon

Tuesday was the climax of all, pains all over my body..

Wednesday - resting day.. ^^,

Take it as it is

Source: www.wau.org

Gospel reading: Mk 6:7-13 -The mission of the twelve

Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two
and gave them authority over unclean spirits.
He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick
—no food, no sack, no money in their belts.
They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic.
He said to them,
"Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave from there.
Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you,
leave there and shake the dust off your feet
in testimony against them."
So they went off and preached repentance.
The Twelve drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

....

Who among us would pack for a long journey the way Jesus advised his disciples? No food, no sack, no money, no extra clothes—talk about traveling light!

Wouldn’t it make for a more anxious journey, not having enough supplies or provisions? And if it was an evangelistic trip, wouldn’t it be prudent to plan strategies or methods for success?

By sending out the disciples with so few supplies, Jesus was teaching them how to be effective instruments for the kingdom of God. He wanted his followers to rely on him, not on their own resources. In fact, he gave the disciples no option but to trust God to provide for them in the places they went. Not only that, Jesus wanted his disciples not to be consumed with planning. Think of it: Without a trip to plan, without bags to pack or meals to organize, they would have fewer distractions and could be more focused on listening to the Holy Spirit and proclaiming the gospel that Jesus had taught them. It goes without saying that they would find it hard at first to relax and trust God to provide for their needs. But once they learned to do that, imagine how much more freedom they had to bring Christ’s presence to others!

God wants us to evangelize, but that doesn’t mean that we have to have the perfect technique or an irrefutable set of arguments ready from the outset. In fact, a simple approach is often the most effective. We just need to stay close to the Lord, be who we are, and let God’s life flow out from us! The disciples’ success was not tied to having the latest strategies. It didn’t consist of having the sharpest public speaking skills or having studied theology. It was Jesus’ authority and power flowing through them that touched the people they met.

Instead of calculating why we are not equipped to preach the gospel or serve God’s people, let’s embrace Jesus and let him work through us. Try to scale back what you think you need. Then, when opportunities for evangelization or service come your way, just get out there and give it a try!

** Today's meditation has in a way struck me, especially when it comes to evangelization. And what about it? For now, it's mostly because we're having our 2nd gathering tomorrow and I think there's a lot to prepare. But praise God, things are going according to the plan so far.
Nevertheless, to be honest, I was worried about things like the number of people who'll turn up, the food supply (whether it's enough or not) as tomorrow we're having a potluck, the activities-how to make it interesting and fun enough for all of us to be able to participate in, until the future planning for the community.

In addition, after reading this, I know that I should relieve those thoughts that bother me and instead, keep my eyes fixed on Jesus and let Him use me as His instrument. I remember also a testimony from someone, who did not actually realize that he did something that touched people's heart, but somebody just came up to him and told him about it, about him touching the person's heart through his words.. Do you get the point that I am trying to say? Here, we can see that God has used him to touch others' hearts to in fact, love Jesus more and more, or even to repent! The Holy Spirit was poured down on him. Awesome right? ^^,

Therefore, from now, I should be more relieved and less distracted by the things which are actually not as important as Jesus Himself. Mais bien sur, some efforts are also needed, not only depend on praying itself. But, the % of efforts should be less than the % of self-surrender for Jesus' guidance, shouldn't it? :p

So now, what about you?? ^^

If you agree with me, let's say this prayer: “Lord, I want to pack light! Help me not to insist on so much baggage and so many of my own resources. I open my heart to you so that you can fill me and empower me to bring your life to those I meet!”

p.s: Traveling vs Missionary mission, I think there's slightly a difference between the two, as for traveling, I still think that planning is really important! hehe.. :P

KDEI, Taiwan

KDEI refers to Kantor Dagang dan Ekonomi Indonesia

My friend and I went to Neihu area (where Indonesian embassy located) yesterday to accompany another friend of us who wanted to renew his passport. Since we finished our class at 12.15, added the extra time to walk and to have our lunch, we ended left shinjuang at about 1.30PM. We were a bit rushing also as the office will be closing at 3PM. It was, however, a long journey just to reach the embassy itself. We gotta change transportation from bus to train and back to bus. The second bus even took some time to come..

Anyways, after (finally) reaching the embassy office, it was already 2.45PM. And thank God it was still open. Then we queued for his turn to go to the counter.. Nah, this is the disappointing thing about it.. The officer there told him that his documents were not complete, he basically also wanted my friend's birth certificate (which I find it really weird..). As a student who's just here to study, my friend bien sur did not bring along his birth cert. here, which now making it more difficult for him to renew his passport. And he does not have the copy of it with his family too.. Besides, I think passport is already a valid document of yourself and it's acknowledged worldwide as the formal identity of a person.
But anywho, I am not quiet sure now how is he gonna renew his passport, but most probably he might go back to Indonesia during the holiday to renew it.

On another note, I found another weird thing about the embassy..
Look at the picture below...

From the picture above, we UNDERSTAND that the office hours is from 9.00 - 17.30.
But inside you'll find another note stating:

Okay, maybe here they specify it more that 09.30 - 15.00 is for certain services.
But.. still.. I found it awkward to know that there's such a very short working hours.
You see, from 9.30 to 11.30 = 2 hours, and 13.30 to 15.00 = 1.5 hours.
Which means, in total, the working hours equal to 3.5 hours..
Can you believe that? 3.5 hours for 5 days (if no holidays). Let's do a bit of maths..
3.5 x 5 = 17.5 hours a week! Wow, everyone would love to work like that then.. with (which I guess) a good amount of salary and a nice living here.
And fyi, they close the counter's curtain exactly when the clock's needles stop at 3 and 12..
So on-time kan.. And I guess they might not entertain you after that hour even though you've been waiting for your turn.. If they do, that should be something good, shouldn't it? :p

p.s: this is only my point of view. No offense ^^,

新年快樂!

Xin Nian Kuai Le to you who celebrate it! :)
Hope you did enjoy the Celebration and bien sur, the pocket money that you got! ^^, Don't forget to share your earnings yah! =p

For me, I celebrated this Chinese New Year with the family that I have here. They're from my grandma's side. (Sometimes I am wondering how it would be different if my grandma were migrating to Taiwan, too.. and would it be me.. my bro.. my mom.. Hmm. "Ni hao! Wo shi Yu Ling, wo shi Taiwan ren.." haha.. Sounds funny..:p)

Anyways, I spent 4 days staying with them and it was a new experience for me. I found that since the house here is mostly smaller in size, it is not a tradition for them to have people coming into the house during Chinese New Year. In addition, not many cakes prepared and also food :0 Besides, for every dish prepared is not so much in portion, but more on the variety. Being me, I still ate a lot. haha. And on that day, however, I went to another family's place, not too far from the family's house where I stayed with. They're brothers - my grandma's younger brothers. ^^,

In this Guo Nian, I got to eat Taiwan's dumpling, Fried NianGao, Kuaci, and some Chinese dishes..

- Niu Nian a.k.a. Tahun Sapi -

- The family whom I spent my 4 days with.. -

- The other family whom I visited on CNY's day -
(The 2 grandpas sitting higher are my grandma's brothers ^^,)

A call to persevere - One cannot live alone

Hebrew 10:24-25

Taken from: the Word Among Us daily meditation.. www.wau.org

How does a lion take down an elephant? You would think such massive creatures as elephants would be virtually invincible.

But in some areas of Africa, lions will hunt together and isolate one of these giant beasts from its group. And in that way, they can overpower a creature many times their size.

We too are most vulnerable when we are separated from our brothers and sisters in Christ. Throughout history, God’s people have seen themselves as belonging together, whether through communal prayer, sabbath observance, major feasts, or Temple celebrations. Yet somehow even the believers addressed in this marvelous epistle were tempted to try to go it alone, neglecting the Eucharistic celebrations and times of corporate prayer that were meant to be a regular part of their lives. And so the author exhorted his readers: “Consider how to rouse one another to love and good works. We should not stay away from our assembly … but encourage one another” (Hebrews 10:24-25).

Christianity simply was not meant to be lived in isolation. We are all members of the body of Christ, and it is through this body that the real blessings flow. The more separated we are from one another, the more vulnerable we are to temptation. Without the witness of fellow believers, our perspective can get muddled, and we can lose sight of how much God can do in our lives. Even the wordless testimony of the different families and individuals who show up for Mass every Sunday can speak volumes, lifting our hearts and urging us to keep seeking the Lord.

St. John Chrysostom once said, “You cannot pray at home as at church … the union of minds, the accord of souls, the bond of charity, the prayers of the priests.”

Not only can we be encouraged by the other members of our church. We have the opportunity to do the same for them. So let’s keep in mind what is happening when we come together to celebrate the Eucharist. Nothing can equal the blessings of true brotherhood and sisterhood. For it is there, in the assembly of the believers, that the Lord lavishes blessings—even to eternal life (Psalm 133:3)!

Word of Prayer: “Jesus, our great high priest, I join with my brothers and sisters throughout the world to praise and adore you, and to proclaim you as our King!”

P.s: Read also Psalm 133 on the Blessedness of Unity. ^^,

God bless!