i'm back on the west coast :)  ny did nothing to build my immunity to the cold though, i'm still freezing in this weather :P too bad.

I woke up on Sunday morning to this :)





It snowed!!!  haha this actually wasn't what I saw in the morning cause I was going to be late to church, so by the time I took these, the snow wasn't as pretty anymore :(  But I like the streetlamps.  It's reminiscent of Chronicles of Narnia :)

 

On Friday when I came home from work I was hungry, so I walked straight to the kitchen and started pulling things out of the fridge, when out of the corner of my eye, I think I see something drop into the kitchen sink.  Now, I have had the misfortune of being the one person out of the three of us who live here to spot 1) a water bug in the shower, 2) a baby roach, also in the shower, and 3) see a roach fall onto a person's shirt (That was so gross.  I was walking under a part of the street with trees, and I saw something fall maybe 5 feet in front of me, but it didn't fall the way a leaf would, so I was suspicious.  I also didn't see it land, but hoped that it was cause a guy was blocking my view.  Then I saw a dark thing crawling on the shoulder of that guy who had been right under the tree!  Yuck.  He flicked it off, but once it landed on the floor it was obvious it was a roach).  So, I am very much on the alert for any unwanted creatures these days and for things falling from trees.  With all this in mind, I gingerly took a few steps towards the sink and to my horror I saw a mouse in the sink!!!!!!  I went straight to my landlady to tell her about it.  Apparently, it was a baby mouse (would have been cute if it was anywhere but in the apartment) and was too small to jump back out of the sink, so it was stuck.  Well, while my landlady was getting ready to catch it, she took her eyes off the sink, and when she looked again, the mouse was gone.  We have no idea where it is now, how it got in....but we hope it is not a sign of things to come.

I hope that story will help make up for my absence from xanga for almost a year....sadly, I didn't xanga for the milestones.  I didn't write about getting into grad school, I didn't do the "good-bye san diego" post (though maybe that means I am not saying bye but taking a temporary leave of absence?), I didn't write an "I am now in NY" entry.  And I can imagine some people being entertained by my story....but even you animal lovers have to admit that finding a mouse from who knows where in your sink is not a pleasant thing.

I think I am beginning to see why people love NY.  There really is something to do all the time, and a lot of it is free :)  My first weekend I saw a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream, went kayaking in the Hudson the week after that, took the Staten Island Ferry, saw a free dance concert last weekend, and this morning when I walked out of my apartment to go to church, I saw vendors setting up for some sort of event.  I hopped on the subway and went to church, got off the subway, and to my surprise, see street vendors there too.  It was a 20+ block fair!  Imagine SD's vendor fair but spanning 20 blocks....I spent a majority of the afternoon browsing and eating good cheap food :) 

But there are drawbacks too...it's starting to get cold already.  I am subject to second-hand smoke all the time. My room rarely gets sunlight.  The nearest laundrymat charges $4.50 to do a load of laundry- that's only the wash.  Absolute rip-off.  And everything is double the price of what I would pay at home.  Even in Chinatown, where you get the best deals, the prices are easily twice the normal price of things back home.  Fruits, veggies, you name it, it is sold at a ridiculously high price that makes cooking at home almost as costly as eating out.   Plus, everything takes twice as long to do, cause of lines, and waiting for the subway...

All that said, God has totally provided.  I have a job on campus, friends from college who are also in NY have been a blessing, people from home are making the effort to keep in touch, I'm grateful for the kindness of strangers, I've found solid churches here, and God has given me the boldness, independence and support I have needed to get by.  I am busy, and that is a bit of a double-edged sword.  It keeps me from being lonely and overwhelmed with the thought of being in a brand new city, but it is easy to forget that I would not be here at all, much less doing well, if it were not for God, and I forget to give thanks and rely on Him alone. 

Sometimes I will be walking home, or waiting for the train, and it will suddenly hit me that I am here for the next few years, and I am amazed at how I got here and how good God is.

As of tomorrow, I'll be a working woman. I'm not too sure i like the sound of that....good-bye to lazy days spent doing nothing, hello to a 40 hour workweek. and, it means that college is really and truly over. frankly, i'm scared to be entering the working world. i prefer the comfort of school....

But i really shouldn't complain, because God has everything under control, and so many people don't have jobs at all.  and the whole process of job hunting has taught me a lot too.  last week i was doubting if i had done the right thing in staying in san diego, and i couldn't help but wonder if the difficulty i was having in finding a job was a result of my having perhaps disobeyed God by not going home. but i totally forgot the parable in Matthew 7:7-12 where Jesus says, if a son asks their father for a loaf, will he give him a stone? or if he asks for a fish, the father won't give him a snake, will he? and so i had lost sight of the fact that God is good, first of all, and that He's not like man - He's not petty and won't say, you didn't do what I want, so I'm going to punish you (though of course, disobedience to God will inevitably have its consequences). but most of all, i forgot the simplest lesson, that God loves me.  whatever my mistakes may be, it's not going to stump Him or stop Him from being a good Father who will give good things to those who ask Him (v.12).  It sounds so simple, but it was huge to me to see that i had been believing lies that made me doubt what i knew about God's character.

the job i have is administrative, doing registrar-type stuff, and in many ways this job has what i want, and probably what God knows i need.  it has its drawbacks (it requires working later than most jobs, so i won't have free nights and it will be harder to see friends ) but i need to trust that God gave me what's best.  thanks to everyone who encouraged me during this whole turbulent process by sending me links to jobs or websites, sharing my i-don't-have-a-job angst, and for reminding me of God's perfect timing in everything (that last one is you, janet!).  

having no internet kind of sucks :( cna't wait until tuesday when the timewarner people come to set it up.  but i'm mooching off of di's right now, so i can update! costa verde still doesn't feel like home :( i've caught myself twice driving as if i was going back to valentia, and i miss the good parking and the nice staff and how clean and pretty it was. and it's been kind of weird waking up this week and not really having anything i need to do or someplace i need to go. if it was just summer break i'd love it, but i feel a little anxious about the need to find a job.  i feel like a slacker for not having school or work....post-college life is just as bad as i heard it would be, and it's only been a week. i've been feeling a bit apathetic about everything....a yucky kind of feeling.

on the other hand, i've had time to hang out with a bunch of people (and play settlers and bang), which is probably the biggest incentive i had for staying in SD. but i miss my aparmentmates and the seniors  :( good thing for our belated servant auction next week or else we'd all be depressed. and last week i remembered that it's been over a year since i was in colorado. chances are that one year ago today i was at work in the dishroom, just getting into the swing of things. crazy how time flies and things change....

but jeremiah 29:11 seems to be appropriate and helped me out today. "For i know the plans that i have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope."  :)