“When are you coming back home?”
It’s a question I get every time I return home.
What’s different about it now is that I get it from two different places when I return.
Continue readingDelight 18: Sojourning
Life
The Words of Eternal Life
“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69).
This is one of my absolute favorite Scripture verses and one I find myself returning to again and again.
I recently returned from an amazing vacation to Vietnam (known now in my mind as “The Great Food and Coffee Tour of Vietnam”) and mixed in with all of the delicious food, beautiful sites, and grand adventures, one of the most precious memories of this trip is getting to have deep, meaningful conversations with some friends that I haven’t gotten to know very well up until this point.
Continue readingDelight 17: Problems, printers, and pandas
Everything changed when the third grade attacked.
Okay, I’m being dramatic and just like to channel Avatar: The Last Air Bender at any and every given moment. But the last few weeks have flown by in the slowest way possible – yes, somehow it is true to blink and a month has gone by, but every day feels like a week long.
Continue readingDelight 16: Introversion vs. Isolation
Some people are surprised to find out that I’m an introvert. And granted, I’m a little surprised at how much I’ve changed too.
I used to be much more outwardly visible as an introvert – didn’t speak up much, was shy around strangers, vanished at parties after a while.
Lately, I’m much more likely to speak up and meet new people (though inwardly a lot of the time I’m still cringing about how much I don’t like doing these kinds of things). But honestly, I am getting better at it. I’m not quite the awkward turtleduck in conversation that I used to be – I even, dare I say it, enjoy it sometimes?
Continue readingDelight 15: “Noise”
![Stray Kids brew up a storm in Thunderous new music video [WATCH]](https://i.zoomtventertainment.com/story/Stray_Kids_Thunderous_NOEASY_0.png?tr=w-1200,h-900)
Warning: Nerd Post Alert.
With that out of the way, to no one’s great surprise, I love music (I mean, don’t we all love some form of music?). But more than that, I like “noisy” music. And I like learning about the writing/producing process behind albums.
So you can imagine my delight when my favorite kpop group, Stray Kids (yes, they’ve replaced BTS), came out with a new album named Noi(ea)sy. Even better when I found out they made it as a response to criticism that their music was “noise.”
Continue readingDelight 14: Insomnia?
The conversation went something like this:
“I haven’t struggled with insomnia like this since my most stressful semester in college.”
“How did you cope then?”
“I muscled through it and got pneumonia at the end of the year.”
“Great.”
Continue readingDelight 12: Quarantine
I’m on Day 7 of a 14 day hotel quarantine. This – after several looooong travel days back to Malaysia, including a 10 hour layover in Amsterdam (layovers should really never be longer than 4-5 hours, in my humble opinion), 2 1/2 hours to get through immigration, and an hour long drive to the hotel – is actually quite pleasant for me.
I know, I’m weird.
Continue readingDelight 10: Home
The past week and a half has been a whirlwind – scrambling to check in resources, making sure my suitcase is packed, running to get police permission to travel. Finding out I don’t need police permission to travel. Running to another police station to double check – yes, no need for police permission if you take a Grab driver. Making copies of my passport. Printing off plane tickets, getting a COVID test to travel, printing off the COVID test results for traveling. Saying goodbye to all of my classes in back to back Google Hangout meetings, crying over all the people who left.
And then…travel.
Continue readingDelight 9: Steadfast Love Endures
Delight 8: Cultural Exchange of Nom Noms
“It’s mango season. Can get so many for little!” This explanation accompanied my friend giving me a bag of three ripe mangos.
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ali oleary 