A Few Days More

Into the second week working here in NY, I am still adjusting to the time difference, the cold weather, the waking up in the middle of the night. The hardest being working with total foreigners. Speaking English to foreigners seems to make me tongue tied, though sometimes I felt I seem to be right, due to my limited vocabulary, I ended in the wrong, selah. Grace grace. A time of learning, to be calm and collected, almost every moment having to look to the Lord for direction and strength to stay cool.

I am going home early! I got my flight changed to an earlier date, praise the Lord! (Hopefully I can finish my work on time though.) 3 days before Chinese New Year, instead of the original 1 day before, so I should have enough time to catch up on my sleep. This time round, I didn't have much time to see NY, and have yet watched my musical, though I did bring my colleagues on a short condensed tour in NY, and catch up with an old friend shopping. (Come to think of it, actually quite fruitful in many ways except the material part, as in shopping, as I hardly buy anything this time round.) So dear ones back home, see you all soon during Chinese New Year, and I crave for my Chinese New Year goodies! Keep some for me! Cheers and Shalom!

4th Day

I have been here for 4 days. It is really quite cold here, though it has not snowed since the day we arrived. Work has been busy, though not exactly like working OT everyday, but lots of eating with local working partners, brainstorming and getting used to the working culture locally. Fighting the jetlag is no easy task, I am pretty alert in the middle of the night, waking up at 5am only after 4 to 5 hours sleep, and feeling drowsy in the afternoon while working, even after being here for 4 days, still adjusting.

Work has begun, though still much waiting to be done, I have tentatively asked for early flight home if possible (hopefully reach home 2 days before Chinese New Year, still on waitlist). It is a pretty steep learning curve, working in a totally different culture, working with totally unfamiliar people (this is my main difficulty), coping with pretty incredible timeline, yet Daddy God has indeed see me through thus far.

Tomorrow will be a day of seeing NY again, now in winter, and perhaps do a little shopping and or catch a musical, while bringing some of my nice young colleagues around since I have been here before, hopefully I will not end up showing them the wrong direction... grace grace, wisdom... cheers! Send my regards to my loved ones back home! Jesus loves us! Know that I am well and healthy!

Back to NY City

I reached New York after a long 24 hours flight. Travelling to this part of the world is not exactly fun to me, mainly due to the long flight, especially when one is restricted to a tiny seat and time seems to have travelled backwards by 12 hours. (I had 2 breakfast meals in a row, one before transit at Frankfurt and another on my way to NY, scary!) I will be here for 2 weeks, working, and I am already missing some good Chinese New Year goodies.

Of course, one can keep focusing on the negatives, and lose sight of what Daddy God is doing. Therefore this must be recorded down. All thanks to Him, we were greeted on our first day of arriving in NY with a snowfall. We had a light snowfall after we reached our hotel, and we are indeed quite excited, though it was not huge enough a fall to make snow balls and snow man. (This being my secret desire. Previously it was raining and not snowing...according to my understanding.)

To be honest, this trip was pretty rush for me, and I had made no plan as to what I would want to see this time round, since I had saw most of the stuffs I wanted a year ago. Therefore my free time here (if there is any, perhaps weekend), will really be free, hopefully indulging in a musical, visiting art galleries again, or spend some time reading in Central Park. Selah.

Dear ones, don't miss me too much, this time round I am likely not buying things for you all, since it is not a tour but work trip. Whoever is free, call my mom and tell her I am well, typing this blog to pass time, so as to sleep a little later in order that I will not wake up in the middle of the night. Cheers, my Shepherd with me always! Will keep in touch this way!

Slowly moving ahead

3 weeks! December 07 was really a very busy month, shopping and preparing presents, planning Christmas parties, be a "photographer" for my niece's ROM using a fully automatic digital camera! (Cannot believe this, thank God for a good auto camera.) And finally when all were completed by New Year's eve or so, I was exhausted, and rested from updating this blog till now. The last 3 weeks were total indulgence, watching TV, shopping (for myself now), and working etc.

Today I was reminded of a thought I had several months back while I was walking home. How strange it is, have you every ponder on the fact that when 2 unknown parties are walking in opposite directions, that is the only opportunity for them to see each other's face. When 2 unknown parties are heading in the same direction, they never really get to see each other's face, perhaps only the back profile. Just a thought, nothing philosophical (actually a little). Perhaps only in life when we meet people moving in contrary direction to ours, do we really get to know one another? Just a thought. But the moment of encounter is very short and should be cherished. It is also an opportunity to learn to see things from other's perspective, a growing and humbling process.

The above is a colour pencil/water colour sketch I did several months back, during my resting period, finally decided to post it here, as I did not have any completed work for quite a long time. (I do have a few sketches but I have not sat down to colour them yet.) I really enjoyed my series of silhouettes, that series of work was done with more attention to detail, unlike the past, which also marked a change in my attitude towards my work perhaps, now to do everything with enjoyment and skill, at a slower but detailed pace, while at the same time picking up new skills to improve my works, to be good and skillful at what I am doing. Lifelong learning... selah.

Wish all a Blessed New Year! May you have a wonderful 2008 with the Lord, our Shepherd! We shall not be in want!