August 31, 2005(Wednesday)

Carmen went to apply for the membership at the Student Recreation Sport Center (SRSC) this morning. With the spouse of a student, she only needs to pay about $123 per year rather than $420 per year for outsider. We are happy about this.
We also went to apply for my US Social Security Number. This is a very important number because without this, I can't work, I can't own a driver license, I can't have US credit card, and I can't have car insurance and so on. I am glad that I got that done. In addition, Carmen mailed her Work Authorization form letter today and hopefully by the end of this year, she can apply for the Social Security Number and she can start working soon. We have basically done most of the documentation stuff. We are pretty much all set.
I attended the first class of Supply chain management this afternoon. I did not do a good job today in terms of answering questions. I know the math really well compare to other people. However I am having a hard time to visualize it in terms of business variables. I used to know how to apply math to physics. Now I need to learn how to apply math to business.
At night, we went to SRSC to do exercise. This is located 5 mins walk from our home. I did some weight lifting. I find that my bicep is terribly weak. Like Hansel, I need to take some steroid. (Just joking). The recreation building is actually huge, with 2 levels of strength and cardio training equipments, 9 squash courts, 4 basketball courts, one Olympic size swimming pool, one deep water diving pool, one indoor track, 1 level of group exercise classrooms etc.

August 30, 2005(Tuesday)

For some really strange reason, my supervisor Mario from Desca decided that I will not be able to have my Desca email account, no pay for August until I have mailed him the official contract for the coming year. That really pisses me off because the pay for August is for the previous contract. I also store lots of info from Desca's email account. Therefore, I am angry about that. I am glad that I scanned the copy and email that to him. At least right now, I have my Desca email account active again. I save all the important email address already. In addition, I also talked to CTT about the future contract. I hope that this would help my financial situation.
I started to first day of class. There are three students including myself, and we are the incoming PhD students for my department. The class is about Operation Research. Since this is the first class, the professor just talked about some easy stuff about linear algebra. I am surely bored by this. But I am sure that it will get much worse, or else this will be a high school class and not a PhD class!
At night we went to the computer room downstairs to do some work. Each campus apartment has its own computer lab, with about 50 Dell computers there. The room is quite clean and everything is in a good shape. No wonder why IU's technology department is always ranked among the very top among all universities in USA.

August 29, 2005(Monday)

I went to fax the I94A form to the International Service today. Let's hope that it will work out fine. In addition, I also got my student card today. And then Carmen and I went to Wal-Mart to buy some stuff for home.
As if I am not busy enough, there is more problem now. I had a PC that I purchased back in Venezuela. I shipped it to IU. The computer works fine. However, when I tried to connect to the internet, it does not work. I am required to install a CD so that it would get my computer connected. And that CD installs the Microsoft Service Pack 2 to my PC. However, after the installation, the computer stucked in the "loading bar" screen after it restarts. I called the technical support and they asked me to reformat the computer. It is not that bad because I have no information there. However, when I tried to reformat the computer today, it freezes in the same place. The CD successfully made partition and copy the set up file to the hard drive. However, after it restarts itself, it freeze in the loading bar screen again. I called the technical support several times and it looks like that it may be a hardware problem. I think that when I ship the hard drive to IU, the US Postal System threw the boxes around and that's why the hard drive is damaged. Therefore, I think that I need to purchase a new computer. Life is never meant to be easy.

August 28, 2005(Sunday)

After I arrived to Windsor, the bus driver told me that the Grey Hound station is closed for the night and advised me not to stay on the street because the bar will close soon and all the drunken people will go out. Therefore, I walked around and then went to a Tim Horton open 24 hours a day to study for two hours. During that time, there are many people came to this store. They must be amazed to see someone studying so hard at the middle of the night, even before the school started!
I took a ride from Windsor to Detroit. The golden moment of the trip is when I cross the border. I explicitly asked for an I94 form. I explained to them that the Miami custom did not give me one in Aug 14 and that's why I have to travel all the way here. They said that I need the I901 (or some kind of form). Even though I am a Canadian, I still need that. Among my bus, I am one of the first one arrived to the custom. And I am the last one to leave. I almost thought that they cannot fix it today! They took more than 30 mins to fix my issue and I eventually obtained the I94A form. I hope that this I94A form is the same as the I94 form that Carmen has.
I took the bus back to Detroit, then to Dayton and then back to Indianapolis. And then I took a bus to the airport and took a shuttle bus back to Bloomington. I arrived home at 8pm. I slept most of the time. In general, this trip is not that bad. The traveling time is about 18 hours round trip, yet the waiting time is about 10 hours. I have a lot of experience taking airplane, and every two hours I can get down the bus for the waiting time. I slept most of the time, and I get to finish the "Angels and Demons" book (author by the author of "Da Vinci Code") and studied my PhD work. However, I hope that I don't have to do this again in the short future though.

August 27, 2005(Saturday)

There is a furniture give-away by one church and a really cheap furniture sale by another church. I originally planned to go there, but since I need to go to Canada today, only Carmen went there. I went out for a morning run to make sure that my leg is still working before the long battle.
I left home at 10:10 and took an hour shuttle bus to Indianapolis airport. In the shuttle bus, I found out that there is another person who is also going to the Grey Hound. So we went to take taxi together and shared the cost.
I still have three hours left before the bus started so I went to a nearby mall to eat lunch. And then the Grey Hound left Indianapolis at 3:30 and arrived to Dayton at 6:55. It supposed to leave Dayton at 7:40. However, all the passenger in those gates disappeared when my watch was 6:40. I felt uneasy so I checked with the driver. It turned out that Indianapolis was one hour behind so that is actually 7:40. I am glad that I asked the bus driver, or else I will miss this bus without knowing it. I took another 3 hours bus to Detroit and then the 30 mins more ride to Windsor. I arrived Windsor at 2am.

August 26, 2005(Friday)

The last 24 hours is a very hard working day. We organized our house until 2:30 last night. And then we woke up this morning, and went to the business building to pick up some reading assignment, even though class officially begins next Monday.
We went to the International Student service afterward. When I entered US in Aug 14, I do not have the I94 form. The custom in Miami did not issue that form for me at that time. Carmen has it when she enters from Vancouver. I need this form in order to have the Social Security Number (SSN). And I need the SSN in order for me to have the financial aid and for Carmen to apply her work authorization form. In addition, without a SSN, I cannot obtain a permanent Indiana driver license (well, I may get away somehow) and I would not be able to purchase insurance. In short, without the I94, hence without SSN, is almost the end of world for me. I may be able to get an I94 replacement form but that takes several months. Therefore, I have to make a trip to any US border as soon as possible, and the closest one is in Detroit/Windsor. Therefore, I made a decision that I will go to take a Grey hound tomorrow and return the day after. I will be in bus for 22 hours! Let me see what I will do at that time!
I did not attend the orientation by the International Service department, so I cannot register any course. Therefore, they gave me permission to register today. However, I found out that I have some payment that is overdue. I thought that it was from my MBA course but actually it is just the rent for the current month. They do not accept credit card payment online. Therefore, we went to the bursar office to make payment. We also check the iternary for my round trip.
I went to a gathering in my department (Operation and Decision Technologies, or ODT) from 4 to 7. We had a gathering at a bar and I drank a little bit of beer. I talked to different students and professors. They all know me before I arrive to the campus, because I have asked them for opinion before and I also enrolled in the MBA program. Therefore, out of the three new students, I am the most famous one. It is great to have a not-so-bad start, however, I need to work really hard so that I would not disappoint them.
Originally, Carmen and I planned to take a bus to the furniture store to get some furnitures. However, because of the problem we experienced this morning, we did not go. Instead, I asked my classmate Greg to drive me to the furniture store and buy our first three furnitures: dining table, computer table, sofa. (The furniture that we used in Venezuela previously is all borrowed from other people). He is a big guy, and he has a van. Therefore, that really helps me to move around these three new pieces of furniture.
We spent 3.5 hours at night organizing our house and assembled the two tables we purchased today. Unlike Hansel, even though I am an engineer, I do not enjoy assemble model. However we are great that we made it through. We finally have tables in our house.

August 25, 2005(Thursday)

There is no class today and there is no orientation today. (Actually, there is an orientation today for all the grad students in IU, but I think that this will be a waste of my time so I skipped it). Therefore, rather than having Carmen to carry all the heavy stuff, I went with her to the mall today to check different items. In the morning, a HK business PhD person named Barick drove us to some second hand store and got some really cheap kitchen stuff. It costs US $12 to buy over 8 dishes, several cups and a three-piece "wok"! This non-profit organization is like Salvation Army and has really cheap stuff!
We went to the mall in the afternoon and checked out the furniture. In addition, we also went to Nissan dealer and checked out some cars too. We plan to buy a new car and we are checking different places. However, since we are not US citizen, we do not have Social Security Number now. Therefore, we cannot even get a permanent driving plate and insurance for the car! In addition, I cannot obtain credit card because it also requires the Social Security Number. Therefore, I need to check with the International Student department tomorrow for more detail. We also opened a joint-account from the Bank One today.
At night, we went to Barick's home for dinner. As far as I know, and as far as he knows, there is only three (including us) couples that is coming from HK in the whole campus. I am sure that he would be happy to speak Cantonese with us. He has 15 years of working experience and is in his 3 or 4th year of Business Economic PhD. He has two kids. He is not a Christian but he is EXTREMELY nice to us. He talked about we need persistence for getting a PhD. In addition, he is the most cost-saving ("han" in Chinese) person I have ever met. Previously, I thought that I am very "han" and the only my dad is more "han" than I am. Now, this honor belongs to him. During the snowing winter time, he will go to the street and pick up unused air conditioning from the street that people threw away so that he can sell it in the beginning of summer. And even when his bag pack is absolutely broken (not only the zipper is broken, but the bag pack is broken!), he is not willing to buy a bag that is 50% off of the original price of $18. He waited and purchased it until it is 90% off! He spent less than $10 per year to buy toys from his three and five years old kids! And he uses the unused furniture that people threw away. I just cannot imagine there is someone that is so "han". He gave me different tips of cost saving and also told me that I need to be very persistence in order to complete my PhD degree.

August 24, 2005(Wednesday)

I was late this morning for the orientation for how to use the library. I was late by 20 mins and by the time I arrived, the orientation is over. Afterward, I tried to register for my class. However, because I did not attend the International Student orientation last week, I did not fill out the required form and my record is on hold. Therefore, I need to meet with them and reactivate my record.
Yesterday when I took the box home, I forgot to take one box. Therefore, I am walking home with my box. The box is about 25 pound and the 10 mins walk is tough. I recalled that Hansel also carried some heavy stuff and walked for 15 mins. He passed his endurance test, and so it encourages me to pass my own endurance test too! It is tough and heavy but I make it too.
I went out for my first run during lunch today. It takes about 31 mins to run around the campus main area. And then I went to the last part of the business faculty orientation. At night, there is a BBQ time for the Business PhD students. Carmen and I went there and I introduced Carmen to lots of my classmates. I also played basketball with some of the people. I don't usually play with Caucasian. In terms of the skill, they are ok. However, they are tall. Most of them are between 6 foot 2 to 6 foot 5. I am small.

August 23, 2005(Tuesday)

I started my first day of school (but not yet first day of class) today. I went to the business school at 9:30 for the orientation. We had an introduction to ourselves and also the department. There are two other people coming to my department (Operation and Decision Technologies). One is a woman with about 5 years of working experience and the other is a man with about 17 years of experience. There are also two other people going in to other department directly from undergrad, so my age is roughly in the middle.
We had breakfast, lunch and some other socializing time with everyone. I tried to do the network as much as I can. The other student Greg helped me to drive the boxes that I had in the office to my home. Therefore, Carmen and I are busy with the settle down.
At night there is a workshop for the Associated Instructor. This is a boring section, but then, since they fed us, that are not a bad thing either.

August 22, 2005(Monday)

I woke up at 3:30 and left the hotel at 4:30am. Originally, the receptionist said that the taxi ride is a flat rate of $40. We requested for a van because there is a lot of luggages. And then when we arrived to the airport, the taxi driver said that the price is $55 because it is a van! He said that it may be true that the receptionist does not know about this. We are pissed. And when I gave him $100 for change, he only has $37 and that means my taxi ride increased from $40 to $55 to $63! We are really pissed and I sent an angry email to the email address indicated on the receipt and see what will be done. In addition, even though AA did not charge additional amount for my oversized digital piano from Caracas to Miami, they do charge it this time, and costs US$80!
We took a flight 3 hours flight from Orlando to Chicago and then 30 mins flight from Chicago to Indiana. Originally we thought that we will miss the shuttle bus that leaves at 12:40, but then, we are early enough that we are able to take this early shuttle bus. In addition, the shuttle bus does not have a scheduled stop at my apartment, but then, I made a special arrangement with the bus driver such that he allows me to take my digital piano and stop at my apartment! In return, we agreed on tips of $15.
We settled down to our apartment and everything is fine. The two bedroom apartment is a newly renovated one and it looks pretty good. We walked around the campus, established the internet connection and went to the business department to check out our 12 mailed boxes. At night, I went for a 10 mins interview by the English department because they want to make sure that all the international ESL students who will teach in IU have the adequate verbal skill. I think that I will pass without a problem.
We met quite a number of people today and they are all nice people. The are nicer than most of the people we met in different part of the US. In addition, we are thinking what "gift" God will give us in IU! In Venezuela, I never expect that I will have such a fruitful and influential life. Let's see whether we will also have a good time in IU.

August 21, 2005(Sunday)

Even though we slept at 1:40 last night, we insisted to wake up at 6:30 in order to go to Disney World today. In fact, I asked CTT to let me to stay for one more day (and I pay for the hotel fee) so that we can go to Disney World today. We left the hotel at 7:15 and arrived to Disney World's Epcot (something like an Expo) at 9:40. In the morning, we watched the show for "spaceship Earth" and "Universe of Energy". We also played the ride "Test Track", where the GM established a testing site for simulating how they test a car driving through different kind of extreme situation (e.g. slope, brake, icy road, fast speed). Their last test is the barrier test which is supposed to let the car crashed on a wall. But the wall disappeared and it turned out to be a fast ride. We also played the "Mission Space" ride, which simulate us being the astronaut and drove a spaceship to Mars. Before the ride, it has already warned people with Motion sickness should not play this. I thought that this would not be bad. However, after the first 30 seconds of this short 2 mins ride, I already wanted to puke. My saliva's taste has changed to my stomach's acidic taste and ready to puke anytime. However, the people besides me are mom and kids and my esteem helped me to focus on the remaining of the ride. I focused and focused and I am glad that it is over. By that time, I already have "cold sweat" and pale face. I should trust in Disney's warning next time. (They have another ride that warns people who are fear of height should not play. I took their advice)
In the afternoon, we visited the "Epcot" part. Each of the countries (Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, USA, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom and Canada) has its own building, ride/display and restaurant in their own area. We felt like we have been through the whole world in 3 hours! We took lots of picture! I think that this part of the Disney Epcot area worth more than the ride area we visited this morning.
In order to avoid the $90 taxi costs again, we took the relatively early last bus and left Disney at 5:40. We ate dinner and packed up at night.

August 20, 2005(Saturday)

Since I have completed the class today, I am free to go anywhere. The bus ride from hotel to Universal Studio is about 2.5 hours each way, and Carmen spent about 5 hours each day in transportation alone. Today, one of the students learnt about this and he is willing to drive us to Universal Studio before going to the airport. Therefore, we left hotel at 11 and arrived to Universal Studio at about noon.
Carmen purchased a two day pass that gave her additional four more days of visit. Today, we both used this pass for the Universal Studio visit. We went to see the "Horror Show" and Carmen was selected as the demo person from the audience. She has seen the whole thing before so she was not too scare, but she was still scare in some of the part. Afterward, we went to see "Shrek 4-D show", "Animal Planet Lives", "Beetlejuice's Graveyard Revue" and "Fear Factor Live". We also played the ride for "Revenge of the Mummy" (I played it twice, it was scary to sit in the front row twice and I have not played "pass hill car" for long time!) and "Man in Black Alien Attack".
When we were about the leave Universal Studio, it rained badly. We had umbrella and also a plastic rain coat, but still we were soaked wet. It was part of the fun.
We then took a bus to Disney World to see the "Cirque du soleil" circus show. Disney World is very large. We just missed the bus from Disney to Disney downtown (Where the circus will be held) so we had to take a $16 taxi there! The circus was good, with all the standard thing that a circus would have (without animal), such as "air people", bicycle stunt and so on! It worth the money ($65 per person) to see this show.
After the show, it was about 11pm. We walked around Disney downtown. Afterward, we are facing the cruel reality of without a car. We originally thought of sleeping on the street, but we do not want to catch a flu from the rain this evening. Should we rent another hotel (we still have the Hampton Inn rented) or should we take a very expensive taxi back to the hotel? The last bus left at 10:30 so we had no way to take a bus. Finally, I decided to take a taxi (which cost US $83) back to the hotel. I think that I can claim this fee as part of the business trip.
We previously have thought of coming to Orlando for our honeymoon. However, we are glad that we did not make this decision, or else this will waste the fun from this business trip.

August 19, 2005(Friday)

The taxi arrived 30 mins late. Therefore, I was late to class. The students asked me whether I slept in or not. I told them the taxi issue and I hope that they believe in my reasoning. I also handed out the evaluation and the result was pretty good. The lateness this morning did not affect the result.
The class ended 11am and they helped me to pack up and we finished by 3pm. I went home for afternoon nap and then went out for a run again. The course this time is relatively easy and nothing bad happened, other than the laptop missing file issue this Monday.

August 18, 2005(Thursday)

The course this week is relatively easy. I let the students do the labs. I can also leave by 5pm so that I can go back to the hotel for running. I can also read "Angels and Demons" book (follow up of the "Da Vinci Code" book) and watched some TV (Jackie Chan's "The Tuxedo" and also "Matrix") at night.

August 17, 2005(Wednesday)

I asked my students to do a mid-week evaluation today so that I would not have any surprise by the end of the week. This evaluation will not be submitted to CTT. It would only be used as my personal reference. I got a pretty good mark.
I also went out for 65 mins running, and then went with Carmen to eat Japanese food. Every time during business trip, we can always eat different kind of food, such as Japanese, Vietnamese, steak and so on.

August 16, 2005(Tuesday)

I am very free today. I let the students work on the lab while I return my computer to the normal stage. My laptop crashed several days ago and I recovered most of the info. However, one of the important files that recorded my family's expense is gone. All I have is from the time of my marriage to May 28, 2005. Therefore, I entered the data today. Finally, I think that my laptop is updated.
I went out for a run in the evening. The weather in Orlando is even hotter than in Caracas and Miami

August 15, 2005(Monday)

Monday on a training week is never easy, and today is not an exception. Originally, I have all the files in my laptop. However, all the files are gone. To make it worse, there is no internet connectivity in the classroom. Therefore, I cannot download the file from the internet. The support personnel from Cisco is always for the next few days so there is no one that can help me. I have to go through several of the problems. However, I am glad that things are settled at the end. One of the students uses his wireless connection to download the file for me. In addition, they found a port with internet access and I can access the internet. In terms of the lecture, I tried to be as lively as I can and I think that I am doing a good job.
At night, I went to have a Vietnamese dinner with Carmen. I have not eaten Vietnamese dinner since Jan 14, 2005 when we were in Virginia

August 14, 2005(Sunday)

I went to bed at 3 last night working on recovering the files from my laptop. And I woke up at 7 this morning. Qiao, Elaine, Yanting and Semson drove me to the airport. I went to a bread store to buy a bread that Carmen loves to eat so that I can give that to her tonight.
I have been to the airport many times and I have never seen so many traffic on the way. My flight is 11:53 and I left home at about 8:10. Normally, it only takes 25mins to 45 mins to the airport from my home. However, there is huge traffic jam (Because it is Sunday so people go to the beach near by? road construction?) and it took about 1.5 hours! On the way, I thought that I may not even make it!
The check-in line, however, is unusually short. Therefore, after checking in, I still got 40 mins to eat breakfast with them. However, the line up for the custom and security check is very long! After I lined up for 10 mins, I asked around and found out that because of the late timing (actually, it is still 10:45) so the officers brought people from our flight to another place to check-in, or else, according to one of the people lining up, I may not make the flight.
After different challenge, it is finally time to say good-bye. On one hand, I am glad that I can go to live a new life with Carmen. On the other hand, I felt sad because I don't know when I will ever return to Venezuela again. Many people asked me to bring Carmen and our new born baby next year. However, realistically, we do not plan to have baby next year and we do not plan to return next year either. Who knows what will happen!
I took a three-hour flight to Miami and then took another 1.5 hours flight to Orlando. I met Carmen at the airport and we were happy to meet each other again. We have many luggage and we need to organize them at night.

August 13, 2005(Saturday)

I went with the MB church people to go to "Indio" cave this morning. We walked for about 20 mins to the peak of the mountain and then entered the cave. Inside the cave is totally dark. Therefore it is quite an exciting time. Afterward, Donna treated me for lunch. She has prepared so many soups for me in the last several years and it should be a time for me to treat her instead. However, she said that she wanted to treat me for lunch/dinner since she first knew me several years ago. She is so nice.
When I went home and wanted to check email, my computer died. For some reason, the Window XP cannot boot up. It is stuck in the initial stage and never prompts for username or password. It was a very bad timing. I am leaving tomorrow for good and also I need to teach courses. In addition, I have deleted all the backup copy in the Desca's network drive. Therefore, there is no way for me to recover the information. I felt very nervous. There is information that is really valuable, such as all of my pictures (including the Europe picture), work files and the PowerPoint file for the course next week. Usually I backed up everything in my home computer, but then my home computer and also the network copy is deleted during this transition stage. I am glad that Semson and Paco got my Europe picture. Also, I had Willy to copy all of my church pictures to the CD already. Therefore, this is not the end of the world. I brought my laptop to church and asked Pastor Chan to help to fix it. He is good at computer and he is my only hope.
I asked Pastor Ricky for help for the laptop. However, it really has problem. The partition is damaged and there is no way to recover the file. Therefore, we have to reformat the entire hard drive. I felt lost.
The church has a farewell dinner and a farewell program for me. Because of the problem of the laptop, I do not have mood for the dinner. However, I tried to focus and involve in the program, or else this is not respecting those who host the program. Yemmy and Yanting were the hostesses and they sang some songs. They asked me to share and I tried to be as encouraging as possible. At the end, we were singing the song "same path person" from ACM. I went to each of the people and shake hand or hug. This is a very moving time. There are people (especially Yanting and Elaine) cried and Yemmy tried to control her tears too. And even I felt a bit moved at that time.
Pastor Ricky Chan left church before dinner in order to fix my laptop. He misses the night. But then after the program, we were thinking of going to "drink thing". We do not have a good place to go and we ended up going to Pastor Ricky's house for some chatting time. We left at 12:20am.
Pastor Ricky Chan reformats and reinstalled Window XP for me. (Actually for some reason, I have a magic touch today. I killed my laptop somehow. And when I used one of the computers in church, it freeze. And when I use the church laptop for PowerPoint, it freeze too!). I lost all the info. This is a bad timing because I have just deleted all the files from the Desca's network drive. However, I am glad that I did some backup before Carmen leaves. Therefore, I can recover most of the files. In addition, I got a CD with all my photos and gave to everyone in church. I also asked Semson and Pastor Chan to give me a CD with all the recent photos. Therefore, I think that I can recover almost 98% of my data. The only big problem is my family expense file. I last saved it in April 2005 so I have to update all these info for the last 100 days. There is a lot of data entry needed to be done!

August 12, 2005(Friday)

I went to my last day of work. I sent a farewell email and say good bye to a company that brought changes to my life. Afterward, I went to have dinner with Elaine/Qiao, Yanting, Yemmy and her brother. Originally we wanted to watch a movie. But then we ended up talking and talking about different issues such as each person's good/bad and also other people's dating or TV program. At last, I also shared privately with Elaine/Qiao about my view on church's politics.

August 11, 2005(Thursday)

I went to Parque del Este for my last run today. I paid tribute today and ran as fast as I can. I ran for 45 mins and at the end after the fast sprint, my pulse was as high as 183 per minute.
I went to work in the afternoon and then went back home for dinner. Dr. Chu's family and also Yanting came to our house for dinner. They MSN Carmen for a while too. We took some photo and I played around with the kids.

August 10, 2005(Wednesday)

I did the online mentoring session for the Orlando group in the morning. In the afternoon, supposed there should have one for Miami but no one showed up. Instead, I did a lot of photo uploading today for the MB Church.
I went to Dr. Chu's house for dinner at night. As usual, I played with Yison and sometimes with his younger brother Paul as well. And then at night, I joined the MB Church prayer meeting again at Dr. Chu's house. Since I am about to leave, I want to spend as much time with the church people as possible, rather than idle at home. We enjoyed the fellowship time.

August 09, 2005(Tuesday)

The most important thing today is the church at night. I did several things that are remarkable. First, I shared HONESTLY with Pastor Ricky Chan and also Mrs. Cheng regarding about the church situation and Chinese fellowship situation. I mentioned that there will have problem in Chinese Sunday School once I am not here. Also, I indicated that the church is lack of love. I am leaving Venezuela and yet the church did not have a public prayer during last Sunday. I honestly told them that I am quite disappointed in the church council (but the Chinese youth people treated me well). It is very blunt and hopes that they would prevent the problem happening next time.
Afterward is the Praise and Worship night. However, since this is also my last fellowship in church, they misunderstood that this is a farewell party for myself, hosted by myself. Anyway, I led song while Menyee and Eric played guitar for me. I asked Eliza and Mrs. Cheng to share about fellowship because I started these two fellowships with them. I asked them to share about how the fellowship has changed their life. However, Eliza, being so nice, made the sharing to be something to say thank you to me. For example, she said that I am the one who started the fellowship. Also, I gave a lot of suggestions that helped them to go through a lot of difficult. I am SO EMBARRASSED at that time. Of course, I am happy that I made a difference and they appreciate this fact. However, it sounds like that I organize a farewell party for myself to say good things about me. I am SO EMBARRASSED! People can diss me, make fun of me, draw picture on my face or even yell at me. I am ok with that. However, when people praise me, especially in the public, I am SO EMBARRASSED (I hope that I have emphasized enough). People thought that I am "Hu" and like to be praised. However this is not true. I am really scare of people to praise me. I can only accept my family to praise me. Any other people praising me would make me feel very very very very very very very uneasy. Yes, very very very very very very very uneasy. In fact, it is very very very very very very very uneasy. (I used 3 x 7 "very" to show that it is complete). Therefore, I really want to dig a hole for myself.
Afterward, Mrs. Cheng also shared about the fellowship. She did say some thank you to me, but only briefly. Therefore, I felt more comfortable. But then, I still have to continue to lead the program. Therefore, I clarified that tonight is a praise and worship night. Glorify God. "He must become greater; I must become less" (Jn. 3:30). I do not want myself to be a stumbling block to other new believers that I tried to glorify myself. Let's hope that I did not do so.
My sharing time comes after. Originally, I don't plan to share any of my weakness. However because of what happened before, I have to exaggerate and make sure people know that I am a sinner, a very proud and self-righteousness sinner. I told them that I have competed for the "fellowship president" position in 1994. I also shared that I asked them to have high quality program because I want to make sure that this will not make me look bad. I tried to make myself look as bad as I can (I am aware that I can really exaggerate my weakness) and hope that they will get my point. In order to be constructive, I told them that coming to Venezuela humbled me. I saw others that serve selflessly. Let's hope that I get my point across.
I also showed them the photo PowerPoint with about 50 pictures of both churches. Several people (Ana, Keiling) told me that they got emotional tonight and wept a bit. As for myself, I just want to dig a hole for myself because of the praise. I pray that tonight will be a time to glorify God and not a farewell program, even though it looks like one.
Other than that, tonight is a meaningful night to me. I got to lead song one last time, with two people that I really enjoy to serve with. Also, two fellowships come together for one more time. This is a good conclusion for my serving in Venezuela.

August 08, 2005(Monday)

I slept a lot today. I had 9 hours of sleep last night and also an hour afternoon nap. However, I was tired even after this many sleep. However, for the last several days when I do not have enough sleep, I was not that tired though. Weird.
In the late afternoon, I went with Yanting to check Carmen's cell phone. She said that she cannot use her cell phone in US/Canada and so Yanting helped me to check with the phone company. However, the cell phone company insists that the cell phone should work in North America. In addition, my watch was broken and without battery. We went to Casio to change the battery and check for the part of my watch.
At night, I went to Ana's house for dinner. Afterward, I taught my last guitar class. Since this is the last class, I put in extra time and effort and hope that they will grasp as much from me as possible. The rest is leave to them.

August 07, 2005(Sunday)

Today is the last Sunday in Venezuela. I am the song leader in both churches, leading the Chinese songs that I taught them: "Adora a Dios" (from ACM), "El Poder de tu Amor" (Power of your love), "Príncipe de Paz" (from ACM), "Canta Al Señor" (Shout to the Lord), "Envíame a mi!" (from ACM). Afterward, I treated them for some breakfast snack and attended Sunday School by Mrs. Cheng. I have not sat in a Sunday school for many months because I am always the one to teach. I cherish the time to worship with these people today.
In the afternoon, I went to MB Church to lead the same set of songs again. In addition, I did my first sermon. Basically Semson has asked me to do sermon for long time. I did it today as a farewell sharing. The topic is about "Treasure hunt". I want to share about we need to have a step of faith and I used the story that Peter walked on water. Basically I encouraged the people to try new thing. Not only for the serving in church, but life as general. I used my life as an illustration because going to Venezuela is a step of faith for me. The sermon today is very "Hubert style". I spoke fast and gave minimum room for Ana to do the translation (she spoke fast too). I am a bit exaggerated and used lots of body language. I hope that I did not overdo it. Semson and Ana gave me feedback that the sermon shows my personality. Since this is more a sermon than a teaching, it is ok. Also, this is more of an encouragement to others to try out new thing in life. I live my life like this so it backs up too.
At night, the MB church youth treated me for dinner. The food is not great, yet this shows how much they love me. The atmosphere in two churches is quite difference. I think that even though the average income of the MB people is not high, they really have the heart and it shows that how much they love me.

August 06, 2005(Saturday)

Today Pastor Ricky Chan, Sara and her two children (Wilson, Cindy), Elaine, Qiao, Yanting, Katty, Kitty and I went to a place called "Colonial Tovar". The Chinese name is called "German village". Carmen has visited this place several months ago. Basically, after losing the Second World War, the German are forced to live in isolation with the rest of the Venezuelan. This area became an isolated village and they farm and lived there. Eventually, this became a tourist attraction. We left church at about 8:45. Yet the drive to and from the Colonial Tovar is about 5 hours drive round trip! I was driving Qiao's car because he was not too healthy for driving long distance. I have driven many times before in Vancouver when I go to trip with fellowship people. I am glad that I can do it one last time before I leave Venezuela.
We arrived at 11 and immediately we ate lunch because we were hungry. We also took a "6 by 6" "adventure bus" (don't know the appropriate name) and drove through many mountain roads. Some of the road is very steep and broken and it scared me. I am glad that we made it back home!
We left at almost 6 and we arrived to Che So's house at 8:30 for dinner. After dinner, I returned home at 11:10 pm and continue to work on some internet stuff (e.g. checking email, update diary).

August 05, 2005(Friday)

I went for a jog this morning again. I felt healthy to do exercise. In the afternoon, I talked to CTT regarding about future employment possibility. I hope to secure some kind of income when I am at work, but obviously I have to sacrifice by having less time to study.
At night, I went to church for dinner. And then there is a prayer meeting at night. Yemmy's brother came to Venezuela from China this Wednesday. He has never gone to church before. Therefore, rather than boring him with the prayer meeting, I went out to have a drink and walk with him for 1.5 hours during the prayer meeting. I tried to talk and be as friendly as I can and hope that I can give him a more positive impression about the church. I used to be able to talk as much without a "teaching tone" in Canada. But I have not done that in Venezuela. I need to practice this kind of skill more often or else I will have a hard time to make friends in Indiana. In addition, since we are going out tomorrow morning, I went to Che So's house with a group of Chinese youth to sleep again.

August 04, 2005(Thursday)

I went for a jog in the afternoon and work is relatively quiet. I received the proposal from CTT about the future job enrolment and let's see how well it will work out. I also tutored Yanting for her Physics exam tomorrow.

August 03, 2005(Wednesday)

I had the Orlando and Miami online mentoring session today. This is my only productive work time. In addition, I also spent some times talking to my immediate supervisor Omar regarding about my plan for studying PhD. In fact, he is interested to study online MBA so I shared my experience with my school.
At night, I went to Dr. Chu house to join the prayer meeting for MB Church. Pastor Tsang from Vancouver came here in these two weeks and he shared tonight. I also completed the sermon preparation at 2am.

August 02, 2005(Tuesday)

I did not go to work today. Nothing to do anyway. I went out for a run in Parque del Este. During that time, I basically analyzed Carmen's suggestion about my sermon in MB Church this Sunday. In the late afternoon, Yanting came to my house and I taught her physics again.
The fellowship at night is quiz. Yemmy and Yanting were responsible for the game. I have not played quiz for a long time, while I have been responsible for quiz for 10+ times. Their choice of questions is not good (some of the IQ questions are not convincing, quite a number of Spanish and Venezuela questions). They cannot control the audience. Nevertheless, I think that they did a good job and I enjoyed the night. I gave them some tips and encouragement and hope that they can do a better job next time.

August 01, 2005(Monday)

I went to work a bit late today, at about 12. I did a lot of thing though. I went to deposit my salary, I prepared the song for coming Sunday's worship, and next Tuesday's fellowship. I also printed all the songs I have taught so that the Venezuelan church can have all the new songs. I also obtained some boxes for the MB church.
In addition, I moved cubicle again. I moved from the 7th floor to the Mezzanine. (This is a floor right above the ground floor, but below the 1st floor. Unique to Venezuela). They are moving many people from the 7th floor (about 4 of us) to the Mezzanine. And for some reason, Mario gave my IP Phone to other people. (May be because I won't work here for long time?) Therefore, I had to use the Cisco's IP Communicator (a software that allows me to make phone call from my PC, as if I am making phone call from my phone) and make telephone call from my laptop. I do not have a mic/speaker so I have to ask others to lend me one. I emailed supervisor Mario for my phone and I finally got one (Cisco 7912 phone), but not as powerful as before (Cisco 7960 phone).
At night, I went to Semson and Ana house for dinner. I am helping one of the MB youth Andy to document the music notes that he wrote. His song sounds pretty good. There is a workshop in the MB church but since I have to teach guitar, I did not attend. I taught in Semson's house while Semson, Ana went to Dr. Chu house for the workshop.