kophie's Xanga

therapist

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 01:23:40 GMT

did you ever notice that therapist = the + rapist? weird..

asian bus tour

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 01:41:39 GMT

grr... so mad i had my camera setting to the crappiest resolution. pictures are so tiny. anyway here are some pictures of California so far.

my mom!

first time eating in LA since 2003: uncle.aunt.mom.me at the italian restaurant

This weekend my mom, aunt, and I took one of those asian bus tours from LA to SF to a few places in Nevada. Besides spending 8 hours a day on a buys with a really loud tour guide, it was really fun! The worst part of the trip was watching MR. BEAN during most of the bus ride (apparently tourguide has the whole collection). For those of you who don't know who Mr. Bean is, here is a good picture of him.

Just imagine watching this guy do really retarded things for 3 days in a row...

These asian bus tours are really great for their cheap prices and they cram a million places into a few days, but you have to endure the [usually bad] chinese buffets they take you to almost every meal.

I also often feel like I'm part of an "invasion of the Asian tourists" thing. This was especially terrible when we stopped along the 17 Mile Drive at Monterey Bay. I felt so bad for the people attending a wedding reception while two busloads of asian mob tourists unloaded onto the backyard of the super fancy lodge for super rich people.

no caption needed?

my mom pretending to be the judge of Carson city

Reno: most colorful hotel room ever...

Lake Tahoe's water is SO clear! Lucky duck. :P

I want to swim too!

me and the boat. i think this is the 14th boat tour i've been on in my life :P

Emerald Bay ~ the Cali side of lake tahoe?

me & mom

~*~ Some pictures from Thailand ~*~

Phi Phi Island. This one really looks like a postcard ~ I'm a professional hehe...

Shangrila garden

Aquarium in the basement of a city mall

** more pictures to be up soon if i quit being so lazy!! ** :D

traveling

Wed, 09 Aug 2006 02:27:59 GMT

recently i saw Lost in Translation, which made me want to go back to Japan again. this time i think i will take some friends with me. missions trip last summer was great but the sightseeing and exploring part is so lonely when you are by yourself. i always thought it must be really cool to travel to unknown countries where you can't speak the language by yourself and be a true explorer type person... but now i can't imagine why anyone would do it. true it allowed A LOT of time for self reflection and the such, but it was actually kind of sad and depressing when you see something interesting and have no one to share it with. i don't think i will do much traveling on my own in the future.

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little oakland community

my last semester and so many awesome people to play with! hope no one minds this intrusion upon their privacy :P

fairfax: sandy ~ margaret ~ anqi ~ sherry ~ deborah ~ jason ~ jesse ~ hoi ~ joe t. ~ henry
5th & neville: dorothy ~ esha ~ alan ~ chris ~ albert ~ kevin s.
north craig: maria k. ~ jomei ~ chenjou
other random oakland housing: maria p. ~ arthur ~ josh l.

i'm leaving for a week of fun and sun this friday! california here we come...

grad student sandy

Tue, 25 Jul 2006 02:06:52 GMT

wow it has been more than a whole year and there are so many new functions to xanga...i feel too old to learn these new functions

i am now a graduate student and yet so many things remain the same... still here in Pittsburgh studying the same thing at the same school. even people i live with are the same (but they make me feel happy and safe). i'm just scared that i'll become too comfortable here and never want to leave!

note to self:
** you know you're getting old when your friends start going to weddings and you find yourself discussing household cleaners with married women **

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my mom just came back from her trip to italy with her 70+ year old boyfriend who has a lesbian daughter. is this normal?

anyway, trip to thailand and singapore with ranie was great even though i ran into some *small* troubles... haha. we even had some exciting adventures in bangkok that i cannot disclose :P can't wait for my next trip out of america! will it be japan and taiwan again? or somewhere in europe? or maybe somewhere tropical... i guess it depends on who wants to take the trip with me

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THINGS I ACCOMPLISHED SINCE GRADUATION
    1. trip to thailand & singapore
    2. lost my passport, greencard, ss card
    3. moved into new apartment
    4. watched the first season of LOST in four days
    5. learned about alternative fuel
    6. took lots of yoga and other fun classes
    7. sprained my ankle in crazy step class aerobics
    8. spent time with cool people... a lot of time

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Wed, 20 Jul 2005 04:35:47 GMT

i am in taiwan working at ford motors... currently trying to learn how to use access to write a database for their quality control department. since i have never seen access before it has been a little difficult.

the interns here are super nice and they are all taiwanese! i haven't seen so many taiwanese people in 15 years. i think i'm losing some english vocabulary from lack of speaking. yay... just in time for the GRE. help! anyone want to cram with me?

why is taiwan's air/weather so terrible?! just this monday there was a huge typhoon so almost all of taiwan had the day off. i just stayed home and watched tv all day. (no internet at uncle's place). there are also numberless mountains in taiwan. i think my dad took me to about 10 already.

japan has been really wonderful and probably a once in a lifetime experience for me :) i didn't update the last month because i moved in with another missionary from singapore and we had to share an internet cable. i promise i will post up more pictures when i get back to school!

Monday, May 30, 2005

Mon, 30 May 2005 09:31:39 GMT

the Nethercotts on the train! (Naomi, Nancy, & Paul)

It is now the end of my first week in Japan. Here are a few of the things I did this week:

Friday Night: Youth Church

These missionaries have an apartment with a tatami room in the living room! This is a pretty nice place right next to the "eki" (train station) ** finally a picture of sandy :P **

These are some of the college/working people who come to youth church on Friday nights. A few of them are not Christian. That night we talked about how even in Church, it is hard for Japanese people to share their thoughts/feelings. This is something the students feel like is a big problem and want to see changed.

Saturday Afternoon: Gospel Choir practice at a community center

The Black Gospel Choir is a great way to reach out to non-Christians in Japan because it has been so popular in Japan for the last 2 decades. These classes are often offered at community centers along with many other classes and taught by non-Christians. This was my third class in two days... that is 5.5 hrs of singing.

view from elevator of the community center building.

These four people whom I took a [bad] picture of at a busy intersection of Shinjuku, downtown Tokyo, is a team from a Korean church in Chicago. They are here trying to find a good location for a church plant in Japan. The girl speaks Korean, Japanese, and English fluently. I wish I am as skilled as her :P

After wandering around Shinjuku semi-lost, starving to death, they treated me to "kaitenzushi" (sushi that comes around on rotating conveyer belt). yum!

Monday Night: Andrae Crouch reception

Talking about Black Gospel music, this guy on the left is Andrae Crouch. He is one of the famous singers and composers throughout the 60's,70's, and 80's. The Nethercotts were a big part of the organization for a reception tonight at which he gave an awesome testimony of how the Lord gave him the gift of music.

he also played piano and sang for us. let me know if you want to hear a short clip of it!

An award presented to him at the reception. Afterwards, while we were cleaning up, Paul informed us that 2 people from one of the Gospel Choirs were praying with Andrae and were saved :)

This is Nancy and Terumi (Keiko in the background) before the reception. We spent the entire day preparing food!!

People eating our food :D

*~*~* for more information on Andrae, visit this website! *~*~* http://www.gospelflava.com/articles/andraecrouchinterview1.html
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BLESS THE LORD O MY SOUL
Andrae Crouch

Bless the Lord, O my soul
And all that is within me
Bless His Holy Name

He has done great things
He has done great things
He has done great things
Bless His Holy Name

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Wed, 25 May 2005 03:05:10 GMT

Monday

Monday was my tourist day. Jennifer and Nancy took me to the Meiji Shrine and we walked around downtown the whole day. Then Nancy went home while Jennifer and I continued our shopping at some mall. :P

dude hitting a big drum at the Meiji Shrine

lady standing in front of prayer cards

water to "bless yourself"

guy who made my lunch. shh... i took this picture without him knowing :P

mah food! hey...eating out in Japan really isn't that expensive if you go to the right places! i think the prices are comparable to new york city (except chinatown). I spend about $4~$6 on each filling meal. yay.

This is Jennifer and Nancy. Jennifer is a short term missionary from Singapore living in Japan for a year. Nancy is my host :)

fish in the Kurome Gawa (Black Eye River) outside the house

Tuesday

this is a guy from one of our outreaches at Waseda University. he is quite funny... and I don't know how he got his eyebrows to be like that (they usually don't look so odd...) So Jennifer is working with students at a few Waseda University campuses by holding these English conversation classes. I went along with her on Tuesday and it was quite fun :) Here we are sitting in the Waseda's cafeteria building. Needless to say, the campus food there is much better than CMU! They also have unlimited free tea for anyone. hmph...

This is Hitomi. She is a student at Waseda who started this conversation class at the downtown campus. She is my age and speaks almost perfect English!

Sunday, May 22, 2005

Sun, 22 May 2005 20:41:36 GMT

Day 3

Only the 3rd day and already some stories! I am currently standing at a computer in the library of Naomi's Christian Academy in Japan, waiting for Nancy, my missionary host to do some volunteered reading. Today I will be going downtown to an art gallery and other fun places with Nancy, my missionary host. It will be my first time going on a Japan train. So excited!

Apparently everyone ride bikes everywhere in the suburbs, so I had to get reaquainted with the bicycle this morning when we took Naomi to school. Riding bikes isn't really a problem for me, except in Japan, the streets are SO NARROW that I just can't see any room for a car and bike to fit at the same time... well, my bike skills will definitely be much improved before I leave this place!

Yesterday I went to Church with Nancy, my missionary host, and met a lot of people. There are many long term missionary families who have lived here for over 15 years in this network. I feel so blessed to meet all these people and hope I can keep in touch with them. There were also a few college kids who I will be seeing this Friday at their "Youth Church."

A Singaporean man I met yesterday had this great idea of a "Karaoke Church." I know you're like... what the... karaoke bar is where kids smoke and get drunk. I guess it's pretty hard to reach out to Japan's younger generation these days and we just have to go where they are to talk to them. Anyhow, this new outreach has been going on for a while now and I am looking foward to visiting this karaoke church on June 5th so stay tuned for some interesting updates ;)

**edit

due to increased number of scared people, i changed my picture. why is everyone so scared!?

Saturday, May 21, 2005

Sat, 21 May 2005 08:32:09 GMT

Day 1

Dear friends, I am now in... Japan! My first night out of the USA in 15 years :)

The missionaries I'm staying with just drove me to their house and I had some chili with bread. Hmm.. not too Japanesey yet but I'm sure there will be more to come. Yes, that is Jesus on my wall. :P

the view outside my window. Japan is really crowded!

Plane ride was long - as expected. I sat next to a Taiwanese dude named David who went to college at Berkeley and doing masters at Cornell. His brother is getting married Sunday to a Japanese women. We found out wireless internet is now available in the middle of the Pacific Ocean... and just when I thought I can check mail CMU mail service thingy was down for 4 hrs! I am so lucky. I also watched Spanglish, a scary japanese movie, a cantonese movie, and played all 10 games offered by JAL many times each. :P

It turns out Japanese people at the airport do know how to speak English and I safely boarded a "limousine bus" to Tokorozawa... which took another 2.5 hrs.

This is Naomi, she is the missionaries' 7 year old daughter. so cute!

oh... and is it just me or are the majority of cars in Japan white?

Thursday, April 07, 2005

Thu, 07 Apr 2005 02:33:19 GMT

my friends! this really works ;)
http://www.freephotoiPods.com/?r=17100489