We Made It. And We're Mobile

Can't write a very long entry tonight. We arrived about 12 hours ago and have been remaining active through the day so as to help with the jet lag. The flights and transfers and all went surprisingly smoothly. And so... we're here! We made it!

Our first task of the day was to make sure we'll be mobile. So, we bought our bikes...



B's bike is named Lucy. A's bike is named Yoshi. Our hope is that Lucy and Yoshi don't get stolen. But we'll wait and see.

Also, you may notice that we're wearing the same clothes as in the picture we took about 36 hours before. Two, three, four days in a row with the same clothes? That will soon become the norm for us.

Lastly, you can note that comments are now being moderated. Please feel free to leave comments! They just might take a little while longer (a few hours?) to get up and on the site.

More to come...

Here We Go...

And... we're off. This will likely be our last blog entry State-side in awhile. But, if all goes well, you'll start seeing our entries... but from the other side.

Ahh, so now, it is slowly beginning to settle in. Wow, we're really moving? Like, for good? I'll keep you posted on how I feel in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, some good news... I was able to find a hand coffee grinder today, that grinds coarse, for my French Press. Phew... almost left the country without finding one.

And... off to the airport we go.

Schedule of Last Three Days in the U.S.

I thought some of you may be wondering what someone's schedule looks like the last three weekdays in the U.S. I will let you all know what we have done on Monday and Tuesday, and what we are planning on doing on Wednesday.

Monday:

• Morning: Finalize all packing, weigh the bags, and then pack our carryons.
• Lunch：Have a vivano for lunch, get a haircut (Bethany), hang out at Starbucks and finish e-mails and letters.
• Afternoon: Hang out with the Lows and Chans and browse books, throw a ball, and play MarioKart.
• Dinner: Dinner with Alvin's family. Before and after dinner included phone calls with three friends we knew in Dallas.
• After dinner: Mahjong with Alvin's parents.
  

Tuesday:

• Morning: Phone calls with company rep. and call with one friend from Dallas.
• Lunch: Lunch with Bethany's parents, grandma, aunt and uncle from Taiwan, and cousin. This was the last time Bethany will see her parents before she leaves.
• Afternoon: Pick up last minute items at Target and return a gift card to Nordstroms. Yeah, all the gift cards are now used up or given away. During and in between errands times, Bethany had three phone calls with members in her small group in Dallas.
• Dinner: Dinner with Alvin's parents.
  
• After dinner: Mahjong?

Wednesday:

• Morning: Post office run, bank run, and anything last minute that comes up.
• Lunch: Lunch with Bethany's grandma, aunts and uncles, cousins, their kids, and Alvin's brother's oldest son.
• Afternoon: Drop off nephew and run to REI to pick up a non-electric hand coffee grinder.
• Dinner: Eat takeout dinner with Alvin's family and my cousins, their kids and aunt and uncle.
• After dinner: Go to airport, say goodbye, and get ready for the next adventure.

Goodbye friends, but we will talk soon. Look forward to talking to y'all next time on the other side.

Friends All Over

After spending a few weeks now back in LA, I realize that my two worlds - LA and DFW - rarely ever collide. I have friends in Dallas that have probably never met my friends in LA, and vice-versa. And I think that, really, there is no way for my two worlds ever to collide except... online, in this blog entry.

Back in Dallas, there are so many families and friends that have become our family out there. I don't have pictures of all of them here, of course, but there are pictures sprinkled throughout the history of this blog and through our flickr.

But, here are 2 families that are helping to keep us closely connected with everyone else in Dallas...

DCBJ-Tien

and SASMM-Ku

And then, here in LA, we have various friends from our younger years... friends who have been so supportive of us through the years, despite the distance, and who are showing us so much care as we get ready to leave for overseas. Not all of them, of course, are pictured here... but here are a few of them...

Low's, Der's, Yang's, and crazy JYue...


And then, I have one friend that most others in LA or Dallas have never met: Richard. We've been friends since 2000. Even after my move to Dallas back in 2002, Richard and I have been able to keep up and still spend time together whenever I'm back in LA. He's a good friend, and you can tell that we would get along really well since we're so similar.


It's possible that my LA and Dallas lives may never collide any further than this blog. It's interesting to think, too, that our future overseas lives - the people that we meet and grow close to - may never collide with our state-side lives. I guess we'll have to see...

Packing One Last TIme (Hopefully)

On Friday, Alvin and I wanted to finally attack our final packing. We did an initial pack of 4 suitcases last month. But then we brought two more suitcases and two boxes from Dallas. So we needed to pare down our stuff to only 6 suitcases. So we took everything out of all the bags and boxes. So here is a picture of everything Alvin and I now own (we do not own any furniture, so it is pretty much everything else minus the funiture.) Thanks to Mama and Papa Lee for letting their living room be a mess for a couple hours.

After a couple of hours, help from some of our teammates who happened to be in town and could relate in the pain of packing, a dinner with the family, we finished. Taadaa, 6 bags. We had to cut about two boxes of clothes and about 10 books to fit all our stuff in 6 bags that are under 50 lbs. Man, I am just hoping we don't need anything from our suitcases between now and Wed.

Here's a shout out to my LA sister-in-law who is the adopted owner of my old Kitchen Aid mixer. I really wanted the people who adopted my stuff to use the items with love. So two nights ago, s-i-l brings over a pavlova that she made with the mixer. Awesome in look and taste! You do my mixer proud!

If you have adopted any items, please comment on how the items are doing. I hope they have made your life more special.

T Minus 7 Days

If all goes well, then, exactly one week from now, we will be getting off of an airplane and arriving in country. Surreal. This is really happening. It's crazy to think that, in a week, I will be submerged among a people of a different culture and language. A week from now, "simple" tasks like going to the bank or mailing a package will be countless times more difficult, yielding countless more reasons to be frustrated. All that... beginning in T minus 7 days.

Between now and then, there's still quite a bit to do - some things more urgent than others; some things more important than others. (urgent and important are not the same thing)

I think we're going to make it (I'm generally pretty optimistic). I don't think our making it will be based on our own strength or wisdom or preparation. But I do think we're going to make it.

We appreciate our friends and family all over the country (and world) who are remembering us and lifting us up, and who are sending us their encouragements (all the while with a healthy amount of caution as they choose their words).

We're almost there. And we're glad you're coming with us.

Top 3 Questions

The most popular questions this past month have been:
1) Are you scared?
2) Are you excited?
3) What are you going to miss most?

The thing is that I get asked one of these questions everyday, but I still do not have good answers for each of them.

Here is my attempt at answering them online.

1) Are you scared? No, I don't think I am. I fear failing the Father, but I know that He gives me grace and also what I may think is failure is sometimes only worldly failure. I feel weird answering people this since most of the time they are asking more about safety issues.
2) Are you excited? With all the stress, I haven't been able to think about whether I am excited. Most of the time I just feel like I have a lot to do. I guess that I should feel excited for the adventure. Maybe I will feel more excited next week.
3) What are you going to miss the most? Alvin and I usually say sushi, but some people tell us the sushi is pretty good out there. I was thinking the other day how I might miss really soft toilet paper. That doesn't sound like a mature answer, but having absorbent toilet paper makes me feel spoiled.

Hmm, what do you think I will miss most here? Maybe Biggest Loser? Maybe Disneyland?

A Moving Weekend

These last few days in southern California have been busy for us, but all of it has been good. On Thursday evening, we had a good time together with friends over dinner. Then they spent some time lifting us up. It's moving and bittersweet to think about how encouraging our friends out here in Los Angeles have been... we're going to be sad to leave.

Friday was a day of preparation for me as we had a packed weekend of min from Friday night until Sunday afternoon. We got to share about our journey to some friends on Friday night; then I taught a teacher's training workshop on Saturday morning; then we shared with some other friends on Saturday night. And then on Sunday, I got to speak to the Cantonese large group at our gathering and then teach a follow-up session from the teacher's training workshop. And then in the afternoon, our gathering had an encouraging send-off service and reception for us.

As we get nearer to our departure, little by little, different events trigger in me the emotional reality of our leaving soon. At times I think to myself, "I don't know when I'll see this person next..." or "In less than two weeks, my whole world is going to look so different than these streets and houses and places..."

And, just like Dallas County gave us an official goodbye... so also Southern California gave us an official goodbye on Sunday night too. I don't remember feeling an earthquake for many, many years... maybe over 10 years. But on Sunday night, oh, we felt that. 4.7 is not so strong... most Californians hardly even notice them. But, I was less than 2 miles from the epicenter. A good friend invited me to go play volleyball on Sunday night (woo hoo!) because her league team was short one guy, and they needed one.

So, there we are, in a high school gym, in between points, when the ground rumbles and shakes just a little bit as if a fleet of heavy trucks just drove by. Then it stopped. And then 2 seconds later, there was intense shifting of the ground - left, right, left right - for about 5 seconds. Basically, imagine that the floor is an etch-a-sketch that somebody is trying to refresh and clear. We ran for the doorways, and some people ran outside. Waited for a few minutes, asking each other, "Did that really just happen?" And then... we went back to the courts and resumed our games.

Things we wish we knew before

Well as we get ready to leave for overseas, sometimes there are things I wish I knew earlier. I don't know who reading this will be leaving soon, but I wanted to share some things I realize now in no particular order.

1. I have too much stuff. We have given away almost 100 books and 100 pieces of clothing. As things started going away, I felt freed and cleaner.
2. If you want to buy life insurance at most insurance companies, you cannot be living out of the country for two years. We found this out two weeks before departure. So if you are planning on leaving the country in 2+ years, check into a policy now.
3. There is no such thing as notarizing a marriage certificate. Second, to authenticate your marriage certificate, the county clerk that signed it must still be in office. Otherwise, you need to get a new copy.
4. A rib X-ray is not the same as a chest X-ray.
5. Get your shots done early because some of them take a month. We just finished our last shots last week.
6. You are not supposed to feel in control. The other day, I had a freak out moment in LA because I couldn't find my running shoes. So Alvin and I looked through all our belongings (6 suitcases, 3 boxes). After looking through everything, we finally found it. Yet during the search, I felt like I lost all control of my life. As I was running later, all of a sudden it hit me. I am not supposed to feel like I am in control.
7. I don't know how I will feel emotionally in an hour. Therefore, carry a pack of tissues.

I know there are things we still are going to learn before we leave. And definitely going to learn a lot overseas. Will try to keep you in the loop for more tips.

Picture from the Past

In the midst of packing and cleaning, I was able to track down some old CDs with backups of years past. I even found some backups going back as far as 1999.

One of the things I was glad to find was a folder of pictures from my 2002 trip to Singapore. I was especially looking for this set because I remember one picture I took during a thunderstorm. The thunderstorm was still slightly in the distance, but approaching. But it gave me enough time to sit outside and try to shoot some slow exposure shots of the lightning.

This takes a good number of attempts because you can never predict when the lightning is going to come. Also, I don't think I had a tripod. So I just balanced the camera on a wall, tilted upward, and repeatedly shot 3-5 second exposures, waiting for some flashes of lightning to fill the frame.

And, lo and behold, after a few minutes of shooting, here's what I got:

Goodbye Tour (Part V)

Well Alvin and I are no longer Dallasites. We are now in Los Angeles and completely moved out of our condo in Dallas. So the last three months has been giving away items, packing, and cleaning. The last few days has been massive cleaning time. Thanks so much to BLouie, KLou, and BBalagtas for the extra cleaning help. Taking this picture was the last thing Alvin and I did before we moved out of the condo.

Goodbye Dallas friends and Dallas condo. The condo was great and provided many memories. This condo was the first condo that we ever lived in together. I moved there in 2004 right after I got married.

After all the giving away, here is what we kept and brought from our place in Dallas. We brought 2 boxes, 2 checkins, 2 carryons, and 2 backpack. We will be storing the 2 boxes in LA. We also have 4 suitcases in LA that we will have already packed and will be bringing with us overseas.



Well, I am exhausted.

To give my condo a proper goodbye, please feel free to comment on any good memories of our condo you may remember.

Dallas County Officially Says Goodbye to Us

I give you full permission to reshare this story with others. This is one of those, "Oh man, that sucks..." stories that makes for good icebreaker conversations. So, enjoy it.

The Texas inspection sticker for our Honda Accord expired at the end of April. (For you Californians, this is like your annual smog check certificate). Knowing that we would be selling our car in the first two weeks of May, I did not get the car inspected. I didn't want to pay $46 for an inspection of which I would be a beneficiary for only 2 weeks.

Oh sure... you know exactly where this is going. I think Alanis Morissette wrote a song about this.

So TODAY... WHILE ON MY WAY TO SELL MY CAR... seriously, while driving the remaining 10 miles I would ever drive in this car... I got pulled over. For an expired inspection sticker. I guess the 4-9 (meaning, expires April 2009) was visible enough for the Constable to see from a distance.

He was a nice officer. I told him my situation, that I was literally driving to go sell my car that very minute. He asked me how much I was selling it for. I thought, "Hmm, maybe this police officer might even want to buy my car. Well, at least he believes me when I tell him that's where I'm headed."

After sitting in his police car for 5 minutes, checking out my records and everything, he returned... and said, "Have a good day. Be safe."

And then he handed me a ticket. The County of Dallas would like to send you off to Asia with this official certificate. Have a good day. Be safe.

It actually makes for a pretty funny story, so I'm totally not upset at all. I willingly broke the law, and so this entry is not a gripe about me thinking that I deserved or am entitled to anything other than what I got. And it has made for some good conversations today.

Last TIme at ________

This weekend, one phrase kept going through my head. I kept saying, "this is my last time at ________" for a couple of years. This weekend was Alvin and my last time playing volleyball on Saturdays at the gym at TI. We said goodbye to our friends there. Alvin and I have been playing at the gym for about 2 1/2 years almost every Saturday we are in town. This practice has improved me immensely, but of course this would happen since I started out as a beginner. Now I am no longer a beginner, I am a beginner with lots of practice.

This was also my last Sunday at our "club" here in Dallas until we are back in the states. Many parts of the program would make me sentimental. I thought, "this is the last time singing doxology here." I was also sad to say goodbye to all the friends we have made at the club. I have run into the small dilemma of when to say goodbye. We are still here in Dallas for three more days, it is possible that I might run into that person later, but we have already said goodbye. Should I just ignore them? Just kidding. But it was funny that I ran to a family three times this morning and hugged and said goodbye each time.

I have not been feeling sad because I feel like I can still continue the relationship over skype, twitter, facebook, AIM, phone, or e-mail. I will miss being there and I will miss my friends, but I hope you will contact me to keep in touch.

Years of Work

Nearly two weeks ago, I went through all of our files to organize them and get them ready for scanning. Among the files to organize were personal records, notes from grad school (for both of us), and then all my handwritten speaking prep notes. This last set was the part that I was most eager to have organized and scanned. So many times when I'm preparing for a message, I do my best work just sitting at a Starbucks, with the Book, a pad of paper, and a pen. So, through a lot of these years, I've had hardly any of my prep notes typed up.

Well, we knew that these wouldn't be coming with us, so I was really glad to be able to have them all scanned for future reference. Here's a picture of the folders with some of these message notes, primarily from Sunday mornings 2006-2008... each flag delineates a new message. I was surprised, after organizing all the notes together, to look back and see how often I'd spoken.

Yoga-licious

Alvin mentioned before how he would go with me to free yoga classes at Lululemon. Well this week we signed up for a 10 day for $10 deal at Sunstone. Sunstone has many locations in Dallas, and there is one just down the street from us. They offer a variety of classes, but all of them are hot yoga. The temperature ranges from 90 to 96 degrees with 50% humidity. Basically it is like Houston.

At first, before the class begins, I always feel like I had a hard time breathing. Then, when the class actually starts, I don't even think about the heat, except for the fact that I am covered in sweat. I actually feel like the heat helps me stretch better and then I could do poses that I usually couldn't do.

Overall, Alvin and I are really enjoying the classes. We went the first three days in a row. Yesterday and today are too crazy for me to go. Yet, when I came home today from my appointments, Alvin was gone. He went for another class without me. This weekend will be too busy too. I will have to make sure I go on Monday and Tuesday; then the average per class will be $2. Alvin's cost per class will be cheaper.

My Clothes - No Tour Dates Scheduled

So you have been reading from Bethany about how her clothes go on a Goodbye Tour. That is, she has to consider whether to give them away or donate them... so she wears them for possibly the last time. And during that last time of wearing, she is making the decision and also emotionally preparing herself to say goodbye to that pair of jeans, or that sweater, or that pair of shoes, etc.

For me... donating and getting rid of my clothes involved no tour. Last night, Bethany said, "When are you going to go through your clothes and figure out what to donate and what to bring?" Oh, that's right... that was on my to-do list.

So... I opened the closet. I noted which 5 shirts I still sometimes wear these days. I noted 2 pairs of pants and 1 pair of jeans that are still comfortable and in good condition. I noted 6-7 ties that are still *stylish* looking.

And then everything else... came off the rack and into a plastic container. Goodbye clothes. I'm sorry that I did not have the emotional attachment to you as you may have desired. But you're just clothes. And a few of you even got me made fun of by other people (you know who you are, you people).

30 seconds of decision. 2 minutes of removing clothes from hangers. 2 minutes of stuffing clothes into a big box. Then this morning, I took my clothes on the tour from our home to a donation center.

I think I'm kind of like a typical guy, although I do know a few guys who have quite a bit of attachment to their clothes (you know who you are, guys). For me... no attachment. No sentimentality. No sense of loss.

My computer, however... that's a different story. In the next few days, you will get a post on me saying goodbye to my very first laptop.

Goodbye Tour (Part IV)

Here is a view of our living room right now.
Currently, I am cleaning out the bookshelf. The dining room now has no dining table. Alvin and I have resorted to our spots on the floor. Every day this week I am cleaning/scrubbing a different part of the kitchen.


There are a couple things we have been doing that is part of the cleanup process, but is not typical. We have been doing the gift card goodbye tour. Over the last 5 years, we have been getting different gift cards. We are making sure now, to use all of them. So last week we went to TGIF and Mimi's. Today, we went to Fogo De Chao. Alvin and I knew there would be good food there, but was afraid to go because we do not perform well at buffets. We don't like the feeling after the buffet, too. But we went with a plan. So Fogo is a churrascaria restaurant where they keep bringing meat on sticks. So we decided that only one of us could get a meat, and then we would split it. This way, we could try more meat, but eat less in the portions. Part of the plan was not to eat any cheese at the salad bar so I could save room for the meat. The plan worked well. Also, since it was a gift card, there was less pressure to try to eat our money's worth.

Overall it was good, but I still felt super full at the end.

This gift card tour has been pretty good. I still have a Payless, Robinson's May, Nordstrom, Cinemark, and a Pottery Barn card left. Does anyone need anything? I could sell it to you for a discount.

Starbucks VIA - In Case of Emergency

When I was in elementary school, I remember that one of our assignments was to prepare an earthquake emergency preparedness kit for our home, just in case the Big One hit. I remember collecting canned foods, a flashlight, a first aid kit, a few gallons of water, batteries, a can opener (important!), and a blanket... putting it all in a cardboard box, and storing it in the garage. Actually, there's a good chance that it's still there. Hmm, now I'm hungry for those cans of Hormel Chili.

Well, just in case I get overseas and the French Press doesn't work out initially, or I can't find a grinder in time, or I ever don't have access to beans... I have just now acquired an emergency preparedness kit of a different sort:


For right now, Starbucks VIA (single cup instant coffee packs) is only available in select stores in Seattle and Chicago, and also in Target and Costco in those cities. But, thanks to ebay, I was able to get a pretty good deal on multiple packs (I'm ashamed to say how many).

CLau and FChan - I'll save you some.

Tutankhamun On The Road

As Alvin and I were driving back home on Friday, we saw an unusual finger pointing at us. We were puzzled for a second, and then realized that it was the 26 foot anubis from the Tutankhamun exhibit. So we ended up stalking the truck, and tried to get more pictures.

Here they are:






As I research about the anubis, I found out that in Dec. it was placed at DFW, but was taken down after 12 days amidst controversy. The Tutankhamun exhibit runs until end of May, but I'm not sure why the anubis is being moved.

A Geek's Thursday Night

This is probably what my place would look like if I were not married:



No furniture. A slice of pizza. And a rockin' LAN party for one.

Depending on your disposition, you might be thinking, "My goodness, how could any guy live like this? Or, you might be thinking, "Dang... that's so cool." It's a good thing that I'm married (right, mom?).

So, this is what my Thursday evening looked like. The furniture in our place is going... piece by piece. And this is a picture of me in the process of transferring data from two notebooks to two new notebooks. And then, stripping down the old ones to sell on ebay. Doesn't that sound like fun?