white christmas.....

I'm dreaming..of a white..Christmas.. just like the ones I used to know.....

This year, for the first time I experienced a literally "White Christmas" at Vancouver, BC. Hmm Before that, maybe I should describe my activities in Vancouver. I arrived here last Saturday noon (Dec 23rd). I'm hosted by Kak Stef who is the pastor of GII Vancouver. GII is the oldest Indonesian church in Canada, that day, the church was celebrating its 20th anniversary, in conjunction with their Christmas celebration. Wow! When I went to the church earlier to help them finalizing the preparations such as decorations etc. my memories suddenly clinged to our home church in Bandung.... hix..hix.. It reminded me of all the Christmas busy-ness in Indonesia, especially in the church. I missed them though. But.. that's ok. As I look to the youth here in GII Vancouver, I'm pleased to see how they are working to prepare this big event. They are very skillful and talented people and they're willing to give their best for God's glory.

So, that night, there was about 200 people attended the celebration. A large crowd for a typical Indonesian church in North America/Canada.

The youth choir




comedy


Now... the white Christmas??????? Yeach, on December 25th we went up to Cypress Mountain with several people from the church (the old and the young ones, about 20 of us). It's about 1 hr from Vancouver. From a distance, I can see the whitish mountaintops as the snow covered them. When we got in to Cypress, it was really White Christmas! So beautiful. The only thing was the windchill was blowing so intensed that it was really freezing!!! Brrrrrrrrrrr.

snowy trees

dragging the tube to the top

Well, I know everybody will ask: why not snowboarding????? We couldn't do it that day coz we have lots of children with us, and they are not allowed to play snowboarding, so in order to make them happy still, we play...."tubing!" Haha... it was fun, though. The tube was dragged to the top of the hill and released as we're sliding on the snow.... it was quite thrilling especially when they spin my tube! How bout that?

I enjoyed most of my time while visiting Vancouver. You know what? I almost thought that this is Hongkong, coz everywhere I go, like buses, skytrains, streets, malls, the people that I've seen the most are the Asian/Chinese people, and the suburbs are more like chinatowns. We were laughing when Kak Stef preached about one Scripture interpretation that some of the magis who came to worship baby Jesus could be ncek-ncek dari Tiongkok.... who knows...hahaha.

Another thing that I like most from Vancouver is the port/harbor. It's always great to see ocean/beach/waters, especially when it's calm.

the untouchable seagull

what a place.....

It's great to meet old friends. Heidi or Noni is one of my old friends. Last time we met was probably five years ago. I called it 'stupidity friends' becoz that's what it is. Grew up in the same church, same choir, same elementary, same junior/senior high, man.. that's pretty boring, isn't it? Well, sometimes it does boring.... haha. Ok. Today I left Vancouver after spending 5 days there. Now, back in Seattle again and tomorrow will be heading down to Portland, Oregon to meet my other friends. Tata....

my old friend heidi and sundoro

sleepless in seattle part 2

Awhhh... kaki ini kerasa pegel banget deh. Makloemm kayanya gara2 hari ini lama berdiri dan jalan di downtown seattle. So, setelah empat hari penuh menghabiskan liburan di sini, besok pagi gue bakal melanjutkan petualangan Natal 2006 ke Vancouver BC di Canada, the most diversed city in the world (huh??? bukannya NYC??). Tau deh katanya seh geto. Vancouver dari Seattle kira2 ga nyampe 3 jam perjalanan pake mobil.
Sebetulnya gua udah sempet deg2an, soale temen gue yg tadinya udah siap nganter gue ke Vancouver tuh gak bisa pergi karena I-20 dia harus direnew dan skrg menjelang libur natal udah gak mungkin laa ya urus2 begituan. Yg jadi masalah adl, kita berdua sama2 harus lapor diri krn kita kena prosedur NSEERS (national security exit entry system), itu lho, buat orang2 yg asalnya dari negara2 yg diblacklist pemerintah sini, kita harus lapor diri tiap kali keluar-masuk Amrik. Kalo gak lapor bisa2 ga bole masuk lagi, or worse ga akan dikasi visa lagi.
Setelah gua telp sana sini termasuk imigrasi, mereka bilang gue gak boleh pergi naik train. Waduh, gmn ya? Mrk cuma kasi gue pergi pake pesawat (lapor di airport) atau naik mobil (lapor di border). Errrgghhh sempet kesel juga, gmn sih...
Ok lanjut, tadi pagi for the third attempt, gue nongol di konsulat Canada. Pagi ambil nomer antri, tunggu 1.5 jam baru dipanggil, terus tunggu lagi utk bayar, terus siang2 langsung jadi dah visanya. Cihuy. Ehh, di konsulat situ, gue akhirnya dapet tawaran utk menumpang ke Canada, cihuy lagiii! Hehehe... asyikk.
Nah, soal Seattle. Gini ya, Seattle itu bener2 deh. No pain, no rain..... Maksudnya, itu lho... tiap hari hujan melulu, bukan hujan deras, tapi hujan yang kagok2 gitu... Kagum deh gue sama temen2 disini yang pada tahan dihujanin sepanjang tahun.... Matahari nongolnya pelitt banget, cuma dari jam 10 pagi sampe 1 siang... But, one thing that I like from this city, adalah kebersihannya. Gile deh pokonya bersiiiii banget (padahal ni kota selalu kehujanan dan basah), tapi gak ada tuh kecium bau2 sampah or bau2 aneh di jalan2. Pokonya bersih bersinar cuma kaga ada sunlight... hihihi... kayak iklan.. well...tau sendirilah negara kita kayak apa kalo soal kebersihan, palagi Bandhoenk... doh jadi malu deh...
Satu lagi, gue baru nyadar kalo gue kagak bawa memory card reader so gue ga bisa upload poto2 langsung ke laptop...not until I get back to Lynchburg. Hehehe maaf maaf....
Ok, I will post another update as soon as I get to Vancouver.
Kalo gak sempet, please allow me to say Merry Christmas to all of you. May Christ be born in all our hearts this year, again........

sleepless in seattle

Hari ini gue memulai rangkaian liburan Natal yang diberi judul, "Journee to the West." Horeeeee!

Berangkat dari Greensboro jam 3 siang, terlambat hampir setengah jam, sampe di Houston untuk transit, otomatis flight gue selanjutnya yg jam 5.30 gak keburu soale nyampenya aja udah telat....... Si agent kasi gua flight selanjutnya yang baru ada 4 jam kemudian, jam 9 mlm.. Hoaaa gue ogah deh nunggu segitu lama, eh ternyata ada flight lagi sebelum itu menuju Seattle. Duh, dlm ati gue sempet deg2an, hmm kalo flight yg ini dapet pun, ntar gmn dgn my bags.... kalo gue udah diplot utk yg jam 9, sebab pengalaman buruk gue terakhir di Chicago Airport itu bagasi tertunda...

Ya sdh lah, aku tetep keukeuh terbang yg jam 7 mlm. Eh ternyata dapet jg. Pas udah masuk pesawat, ternyata duduknya sama 2 orang item, yg 1 tua, yg 1 muda (no offense). Aku berusaha ramah gitu ngajak ngobrol chit chat dll... Ehhhh gw malah dicuekin, mrk berdua asyik ngobrol dgn accent yang gw gak bisa tangkep. Idihhh ko gitu yaa. Nah, setelah total 8 jam berada di atas awan, sampailah aku di Seattle jam 10 mlm waktu local (= jam 1 pagi waktu Lynchburg/Eastern).

Yang luar biasa adalah, setelah gue berjalan cepat ke tempat carousel utk ambil bagasi sambil berharap2 moga itu bagasi kali ini kagak pegat kayak dulu........ pas nyampe carousel, wah, belon jalan carouselnya..... Gue nengok kanan kiri, pas lagi tengok, ehhh gue liat tas gw di depan kantor airlinenya. Dohh manis bener..... orang laen sih pada nunggu, gue bisa ambil langsung tas gw.... Yeach .... thank u Lord!

Then my fren picked me up.

Begitu keluar airport.... brrrrrrrrrr dingin dan anginnya langsung kerasa. Bayangin aja pas berangkat temperatur udara agak anget, kira2 65'F (20an derajat C), ini kayanya sekitar 30an F deh (0' C).....nahhhh skrg ini baru winter. Begitu masuk apt tmn gw, aduh makkkkk gilee. Apt segini sempit ditinggalin ama 7 orang? Busettt. It's gonna be an interesting holiday....

Betulan deh.

*gelenk-gelenk*

hadiah natal?

Seperti yang gua udah ceritain, Thanksgiving lalu mobilku memberikan ciuman maut buat kijang nyasar. Nah, ini gambar yang gua ambil sewaktu liat mobilnya yang diparkir di bengkel towing.

Dan, insurance company memutuskan bhw mereka lebih prefer ganti rugi gua daripada mbenerin mobil ini. So, setelah sempet tawar menawar, akhirnya mereka kasi cek. Well, nilai yang mereka kasi melebihi harga mobil itu wkt dulu gua beli. Nah terus, gue sempet rada bingung juga waktu berburu mobil pengganti. Tapi Tuhan baik banget, tau-tau ada orang yang mau lepas mobilnya krn dia mau ambil mobil baru, kebetulan dia sama2 melayani di grj gw juga. Alhasil mobilnya yg masih bagus itu dilempar ke gua murah banget. Setengah harga mobil yg dulu, tapi taunnya lebih baru dan mileage-nya masi dibawah 90ribu. (ps. di Amrik mileage or kalo di Indo km mobil itu sangat pengaruh sekali, org pasti cari mobil yg mileagenya masi rendah or at least dibawah 100ribu miles.) Perkenalkan mobil gua, si putih, tadaaa..... this is Mazda 626, tahun 1999... It's a manual car, although I was trying to get an automatic, but.. God gave me this one. So I'm thankful and content with it. Setelah dicoba, ternyata irit banget bensinnya. Yg biasa gue isi bensin tiap 10 hari, skrg mungkin bisa isi bensin 2 minggu sekali. (dengan pemakaian ke sekolah dan gereja). Dari rumah ke kampus itu kalo di Bdg kira2 kayak dari UK Maranatha ke Istana Plaza. Kalo dari rumah ke gereja, hmm.... kira2 dari Tol Pasteur ke Tol Buahbatu kali ya... rada jauh... Well, Tuhan tau gue anak kost, so gua dikasi mobil yg lebih irit drpd yg dulu. Dan, Dia pake cara gue nabrak tu kijang bodoh supaya gue langsung dikasi ganti rugi, ibarat gue dapet pembeli yg langsung beli mobil gue. So selama hampir setaun ini, gua kayak dikasi pinjem 1 mobil dan uangnya dibalikin lagi, malah ada lebihnya hehehe... Btw, mobil Subaru gue yg dah babak belur itu gitu2 banyak sejarahnya lho.... udah dibawa keliling2 sampe ke Chicago segala, muter dari Washington DC, turun ke bawah, terus muter ke Barat, lalu ke Midwest.... gile bandel jg. Now I have to say goodbye to my old car and welcome to the new car. The only thing is, ... it's a little bit dirty. Soalnya tmn gue ex-pemiliknya, kerja di construction project yang tiap hari pake sepatu boot bertanah dan tanahnya itu nempel di karpet sampe tebal banget. So hopefully kalo cuacanya tetep anget2 gini (meski winter) gue bisa bersihin mobil sampe tuntas, cuci-sikat-keringin, hehehe.. seru..seru...

Gimana? Tampangnya meyakinkan? Syukur kpd Tuhan.... Dia betul2 tahu yang terbaik. Apa ini bisa dibilang hadiah Natal? Maybe. Just say... another blessing in disguise. Bukan sengsara membawa nikmat, tapi 'Kijang' membawa Mazda... hihihi. Thank you, Jesus.

OST The Christmas Shoes

Not bad for the OST, the movie is taken from an inspiring story, I used to dislike NewSong but this one sounds good. It's on CBS. Click here to watch the OST video clip.

Decembre...

Gak kerasa udah tanggal 1 Desember lagi... Wadawww.. perasaan belon lama nih di US kayak kemaren baru Natalan skrg udah mau masuk lagi... Tak terasa... wah wah wah ... *geleng-geleng*. Beberapa hari terakhir ini hari kayak berlalu cepat. Pagi ke kampus, siang kerja, sore ke pepruss eh perpus sampe malam. Begitu terus.. Kaya siklus robot. Yeaa namanya juga belajar. Eniwei, ada bbrp hal yang gua syukuri:

1. Kedua ortu yang baru anniversarry kemaren. Hix...
2. Orang-orang yang pada perhatian n concern gara2 gua kecelakaan terutama orang2 gereja. Ada yg kirim email, ada yang telepon. Pastor gua pun baik hati meminjamkan mobilnya, ga nyangka padahal dah bingung ga ada mobil mo pake apa. PTL!
3. Hari ini baru selesai transaksi dengan insurance. Mereka ganti mobil gua yg rusak dengan harga dikurangi deductible fee, masi tetep dapet lebih tinggi dari harga gua beli mobil itu. Puji Tuhan!
4. Beberapa tugas udah gua beresin, tinggal 2 lagi nih kagokk...
5. Gua baru ketemu 1 orang utk bantu jadi pianist sesekali di gereja, anak freshman LU. Kita liat aja nanti apa dia mau serius atau kaga.
6. Natal tinggal 2 minggu-an lagi. Akhirnya... Gua akan terbang ke tmn gua di Seattle, the home of Starbucks Coffee,... hehehe... Lalu dari situ bakal drive up to Vancouver, Canada. Sekarang aja disana udah 20'F brrrrr kuat gak ya nanti? We'll see.

Sekarang lagi nyari mobil lagi neh. Seperti berpetualang terasa panjang dan melelahkan, tapi bagaimana lagi? Disini gak ada becak, busway, bemo, angkot, apalagi ojek. So mau ga mau harus ada mobil yg cukup reliable. Sekarang focus nyiapin exams utk tgl 11-14 Dec. Christmas Day, I'm ready! Wes ewes ewes.. bablass angine!