Winter Fantasia

Sat was an amazing day! Winter Fantasia finally came and I got allll dressed up and got my hair done!! Come look!

Winter Fantasia 2007

New House Member

We found a new house mate living with us. His name is Charleston, he's really tiny, does not require a bed and has wings.

He's the little brown bat!! We knew we had a few bats living in our attic because we could hear them through the walls. Apparently little Charleston decided to come down to join in the fun!

We let him hang above the living room door for a day and tonight we finally managed to catch him, put him in a shoe box, seal the shoe box and put him in the fridge. Yes, the fridge. A biology professor told us to do that. Tomorrow, one of the girls will bring him to her field biology professor who will hibernate him and keep him comfy and safe during the winter. Come Spring, he'll be released and since bats have excellent honing senses, he'll probably be back. YIPPIEE!!

Isn't he adorable!

2007 is here. I'm back at School.

It's 7:21am and I'm wide awake. Something is wrong with this. Oh yes, jet lag. the wonders of it.

I'm back at school. Got back yesterday afternoon. The temperature is a sudden change from home, and I'm freezing. The buildings and multiple Asian faces are gone. Replaced are the American faces and vast spaces of empty land.

I'm doing ok. I miss my family and the comforts of home, but I'm also excited for this new semester. I'll be taking only 6 credits of classes and doing an internship with the Women's Resource Center in Grand Rapids, doing Marketing and Development. I'm looking forward to the challenges I will meet but am also scared because this is a different side of society I will be facing everyday. But good to have a bit of fear, so I won't be overconfident and stupid. It'll be an eye opening experience with ups and downs I'm sure, but I am confident that the Lord will be right there beside me, giving me the strength and wisdom I will need.

2 of my house mates are back. The rest will come today. I can't wait to see them and my other friends. 2007 has begun and I'm going to make sure it'll be a year where I grow deeper in the Lord and learn to give up my entire life to Him (definitely not going to happen in one year... its a long process.)

Noise is Back

The people are back from break and things are back to its noisy, fun, laughter-filled self! I'm happy!

I'm also happy that I'm heading home soon in 14 days!! 2 WEEKS!! I can't WAITTTTTTTTTT!!

The House Mom...

First off, before the moms who read this go, "You see what we go through everyday?", I'll admit that I highly admire and now understand how awesome you ladies are everyday. I'm about ready to kill my house residents over something that seems trivial... DISHES!

I've been nagging and nagging and reminding and encouraging and begging people to do the dishes so they don't just pile up. Some people do. Some people put it in the sink and say they'll do it later and some do come back, some never do. It starts to pile up. The record days the sink has been FULL of dirty dishes has been 5 days... FIVE DAYS!!!

I go around asking people individually if those are their dishes. Everyone says, "No. I ALWAYS do my dishes." Unless there's a ninth resident in the house I'm not aware of or there's a sink-filling ghost haunting our house, SOME PEOPLE AREN'T TELLING THE TRUTH!!!! Now, I've been giving them the benefit of the doubt and saying MAYBE they just forgot. But it's been happening too often to be just a forgetfulness thing.

I can't understand why it's so difficult to just spend 2 minutes washing and drying the dishes. It's not that hard!!!!! After 2 months of talking, it is not working. Thus I am resorting to more extreme measures to make them do their dishes, becoz honestly, I have SICK of doing people's dishes everyday.

I've sent an email out basically saying my displeasure with the current situation and that I am going to start taking pictures of the dirty dishes in the sink if they remain in the sink for more than a day. I'll email the photo to the residents and if the people responsible don't wash it within the day, I'll put up the lovely picture on the kitchen wall for EVERYONE to see how "HYGIENIC" and "CONSIDERATE" the girls are. If I find out whose dishes those are (with good evidence), I'll go talk to the girl.

Now, I know this sounds pretty bad and you must be thinking "It's only dishes, why so harsh?" Well, because it is my job as the resident assistant in the cottage to make sure everything is going smoothly and that the house is maintained and that the atmosphere of the house is happy and light. You'll be amazed at how dishes can ruin everything and make people snap at each other.

We'll see how this goes. If this still doesn't work, I'll ask everyone to take their own dishes and cooking stuff and put it back in their individual cupboards. Meaning, they are not to be shared anymore. Those who don't have stuff, have to get their own. This way, they feel the consequence of being inconsiderate and irresponsible.

I'm trying my best to be patient and hold my temper. I'm doing pretty ok so far, but I don't think I can nice anymore if they test my patience too much. Pray for me k? Thanks.

School Update

So, here's a few new stuff that I've gotten myself into this year:

1. Alpha Phi Omega
A Service Fraternity, focuses on community service. Definitely not a Greek one... you KNOW I won't join those! :P

2. Student/Faculty Judicial Board
The Judicial Board for Hope College. This is going to be interesting...

That's 2 of my many activities. Should be fun!!!

Homecoming Dance

OUCHIIEEEE, my feet hurt!!! And my muscles are aching! Dancing is sure hard work... but totally FUN!!!!!

Most of my house and our "honorary" house members went to the Homecoming Dance together. It was very nice to see the guys all dressed up and looking spiffy. The girls were so cute and BEAUTIFUL!!!

We jumped right in and started dancing! Most of us stink at it, but who cares!!! It was for the fun!!!! I also had my first slow dance with a friend!! Kinda wierd being so close to a guy but it was an experience! :)

Here are the pictures from my eventful night! :)

Edit: Added Picture! Don't the guys look nice in their suits?

Networking Really Works

As you probably know by now, I'm a Senior in College and am starting to panic about having to go to work... And thus, I wanted to buff up my resume and also possibly get a job around here by doing a Spring internship with an international company based around here, interning in marketing or event management.

So, there was this networking session for Hope alumni (Homecoming Weekend) that was organized tonight and so I went thinking MAYBE i can get some connections and build some possible options, or just hear from experienced people in my line.

Guess what happened!!!

Not only did I get to hear from people's experience, I met someone from Alticor who said that Alticor is always looking for young fresh blood who are willing to work and have great ideas. He gave me his contact and ASKED me to send him my resume!!! He's going to see if he can get an internship for me there! WOHOOOOOOO!!

I am SOOOO EXCITED!! I am hoping this will work out!! Please pray for me, that I'll handle this well and maybe get this internship. If I don't get it, pls pray that I'll learn to be ok with it too and trust God with my internship. THANKS! :)

In Honour of My Mom's Battle with Cancer

My mom fought cancer and she kicked its butt!! So in honour of my wonderful and AMAZING mom, and my family who stood alongside her and fought too, I'm joining in the Hope's Relay for Life this October.

If you know me even slightly, you know that I am in NO WAY a physically active person, so for me to VOLUNTEER to walk for a couple of hours must mean that this is important to me, and it is.

If you want to support me and the tons of people who have gone through or are going through Cancer, please contribute ANY AMOUNT through the Relay for Life website.

Pls donate it under my name - Shuchen Li.

Thanks for helping me meeting my goal and encouraging me to walk on!!!!