Unspeakable, unthinkable, "aaaaaaaahhhh"?

I feel like I may have just committed treason...

I added High School Musical to our Netflix list.

Ahh!!!! Am I right, am I wrong? This morning I got reactions of almost pain at the mentioning of the name of the movie by two of my friends. They say it's not worth anything. One of my classmates, though, loves it. I feel like I have to see it, just so that I am informed.

Is this right? Will I be cast aside forever by those with their heads on straight around me? This has to happen, just in the midst of all our "what is cheesy" conversations. Oh dear. At least I can think in this way: I can pretty much assure everyone in the world right now, before I have even seen it, that High School Musical was, is, and always will be cheesy.

Music...and....other stuff

Jinny and I were searching for new music for her mp3. Here is some commentary:

• Jinny says that in Korea, it's normal to get the music free off one of those websites. I wish music was free.
• Some songs are cheesy. Some songs, I didn't used to think were cheesy, but now...Oh, dear. The Buckaroo song; I didn't think it was cheesy, but then somebody had to say it was; and now I think it is, too. I am too influenced by what other people say. Bring it All Back to You by S Club 7 sounds like it's from High School Musical. Now, I've never seen High School Musical, but I'm guessing that it's songs are somewhat like this one - and very cheesy. Have you noticed how all the modern, cheesy songs say to follow your heart and you can do anything you want? Oh, boy. "The heart is deceitful above all things." Don't follow your heart. Follow Jesus' heart. [now: step down off my soapbox. or, at least, stop talking for a few minutes]
• There's prety much one love song to talk about: we call it, The Song. It's from the movie What a Girl Wants, and it's sung by Oliver James. This isn't that great of a video, but the song is on it.
• I guess there are other great love songs, but...I can't think of them all right now. Some from A Walk to Remember are good (and I know that some will read that and cringe and say that this should have been under the "cheesy" section...oh well. Sometimes you have to grin and bear cheesy -- and admit that you really do like it. That has got to be okay; it's just gotta be okay. I feel like the denying cheesy, at its heart, another "keeping up appearances" and putting worth in your outside look thing).

Well, anyway...enough about music.

Today I went to chapel at North Park University, and they had a gospel choir from Sweden. They were cool. And the ppl talked about their missions trips.

After that we went to Open Hearth, and we stayed there for a very long time. I had soup. We quizzed each other about Disney movies out of one of those Disney trivia games. We didn't play the game, we just quizzed with the cards. My answer to everything became "Woody." Then Amy and Mr. Pan caught on, and actually said it at the right time. Disney movies are quite a category unto themselves. I must say, I like that "'Mufasa.' 'Oooh -- say it again, say it again!' 'Muuufassaaaaa.'"

We came back to my house and discovered that our refrigerator is very broken. We have to get a new one. Ours is 30 years old. It's the only refrigerator I've ever known. I know the shelves and how to look through it. Now, I shall have to change my refrigerator ways. I hope the transition goes smoothly. And that we can find a new refrigerator that doesn't cost very much.

I went to go babysit at the house group I babysit for on Wednesdays. That was fine. We played this trivia games (it must be the day of trivia games), and one of the boys was annoyed that I kept getting all the answer. Finally, I can answer one thing with "I'm older." :) :)

Where is Timbuktu? Mali

(I didn't know that one)

Amy and Annie

This is a joint post. Amy came over today, and now we're going to blog together. But first we have to think of something to say....

Ummmm...Ummmm....Ummmmm....Ummmmmm.....Ummmmmm.

"Go catch a chicken."

I don't think that will do.

Perhaps we should start with what we have done today.

1. Before Amy came over, I went jogging. Before she came, she went to her grandma's house and played croquet. She told me that she almost hammered her little sister (but, as Amy is quick to point out, didn't actually hammer her) with her croquet-playing-thingy; but we should probably keep that a secret.

2.We walked to the library, and we tried to return a book that wasn't from the library. It wasn't on purpose...it was all Jinny's fault. We kindly decided to renew her books for her when we went to return mine. She didn't tell us that one of the books was from school, not a Chicago Public Library. But, I guess that was because she wasn't there. She is at her aunt's house today.

3.We watched Oklahoma. We made fun of the funny dancing scene after she smells the smelling salts.

4.We talked to Mr. Pan on the phone because we are all going to Bethany's chapel at North Park tomorrow. And because Fred got hurt (and Bob a little bit). Amy, Mr. Pan, and Annie know what that means. If you want to know, ask one of us (if you know one of us. :)

5.Then, we fixed the flag. It was all wound around its pole. We are so patriotic.

6. We played mancala. Well, "we" played twice and them Amy played twice with herself.

And she won.

7. Now we're blogging together.
8. I told my dad "bless you" because he sneezed, in case you wanted to know.
That brings us to the present. Now, what? The future, Amy says. [Amy gave herself 6 points for getting the right answer].

You know, a while ago, I wanted to do a post about Amy; and I started one; but then, my computer froze and I lost it. We had this day where we took pictures of each other.

Yay for Amy!

Jinny

Yesterday, I had to take pictures of Jinny because her hair was so cute and was just looking very cute.

She is so beautiful! I'm so glad I get to hang out with her all the time!

The Yard

Today was so warm!! It was so warm, that we were too hot. It was so warm that our chocolate bars were melting. It was so warm that I put on capris and sandals. Because of this warmth we had a lovely daytime without tv, and lots of sun. We took so many fun pictures -- I must share them. :P

I think that in this next one, Jinny and Vicky look like the newest thing: jumping rappers. I just made it the newest thing. Who says you have to be in People magazine to make something the newest thing??

Vicky spent the night last night after we went to see Carousel at Northside Prep High School (some of my friends from music school were in it). This morning we went to church (New Community) and the message was really, really good. We sold chocolate and hung out outside. It was a good day!

A Threesome Selling Chocolate

Today, me and Jinny and Vicky went chocolate sailing; and, we decided to document it.
When we sell chocolate, we stand and watch these doors, waiting for hungry, just-shopped, about-to-be-a-chocolate-eater people:

And when someone is spotted, it's time for a big, big smile as they approach (and, oh, they know what's coming):

One of the biggest parts of selling is obviously people's reactions. So....we documented those for you too (sort of).

1. Some people say no (sometimes they mumble no); but at least they're saying something...

2. Unlike the people who just walk past...

3. So, no one has actually said this to us, but, it's another way of saying no...I guess.

4. And after so many no's, you get really desperate.

Would you Like to Buy a Chocolate Bar?

It's a longstanding tradition, standing outside the Jewel doors selling chocolate. You know, we have the mandatory two boxes from school that we have to sell as a fundraiser, and, well, it's not the easiest thing in the world. For one thing, they're so tempting that you're bound to be at least a few dollars short at the end from the bars that were just taken and eaten out of the blue. Then, a nice person who doesn't want any chocolate will give you a dollar and tell you to the eat the chocolate, and you think "Ha ha -- I already did." And then you feel encouraged that you won't be as short in the money count. But then, you count the money and realize that you were a lot shorter than you thought you were, and then -- who has eaten all the chocolates????!
These chocolates have been sitting around for a few weeks. I tried to sell them at music school. That was when a few (let's say, about two one week, three another week) nice people bought some (thanks, Joel! [he bought one each week]). That's also when I had my chocolate box all set up, just like this: and I was all ready for when the orchestra let out of practice, because they always come in and buy food in the vending machine room, and they all passed me by. Can you believe it -- they all bought ice cream. It was very sad. They truly missed out. Not one orchestra person bought a chocolate, and I left with a chocolate box almost as full as it was when I came.
So, the money was due on Friday, and something had to be done. [Insert memory from my wonder years as a little bouncy red-head (not that I'm not still a bouncy red-head, but, I'm a lot taller now, thank you very much)]: my brother would always take me (he had chocolates to sell, too) to stand outside the doors of Jewel, and when people come out, you ask them if they would like to buy a chocolate bar. Now, there is a certain way to do this, and, if you have any questions, come ask me because, I've pretty much got it down. :) I stand in front of the door that they are coming out of, and the door opens, to reveal their grand entrance to the outside world and I graciously put forth this proposition to them: [insert very, very large smile] "Would you like to buy a chocolate bar?" [insert another large smile].

This year it was me and Jinny selling, and she got on my case about "judging" people by how they looked. The thing is, you can often tell when someone won't buy a chocolate bar. And some people you know might buy it. I love people who buy chocolate bars. I think they should have a day: "Extremely Nice People who Buy Chocolate from Fundraising Kids Day"

You know what's not very nice, though? When you get a whole line of people that all say no. The other not nice thing is when people don't pay any attention to you at all. You just spoke directly to them, and they just walk by, without saying no. When someone responds with a "no, thank you," I really don't mind that they didn't buy a chocolate bar. Or when they say no with a smile. But what's discouraging is when people just kind of shake their head no and walk on, or when they hurriedly walk past with no recognition of your existing in the universe at all, let alone having just spoken directly to them.

The other thing was that people would recognize the name of the chocolate (World's Finest). Now, we students who are selling the chocolate are firmly of the opinion that it is not the World's Finest. Here' s a secret: this year, all the caramel bars have the paper sticking to the candybar. I guess the caramel made it stick or something, but you can't just unwrap the bar. I had to scrape the paper off (losing some chocolate in the process). Anyway.

Lots of people ask what you're selling it for (and they all ask the same questions; it's really weird. maybe there's some secret class in college on interviewing candy-sellers that we poor high schoolers haven't been told about yet):

Me: "Our School."

Person: "Which is?"

Me: "It's called Eagles' Wings Urban Academy. It's a small private Christian school on the northside."

Person (with quizzical look, for our school is quite small and they haven't heard of it): "Where is that?"

Me: "Around Peterson and Western."

Person: "Oooh."

The other common conversation of candy-selling is about how much it is and which flavor they want. It's weird. You say the same things over and over for the whole time you are selling chocolate.

And then, sometimes, the people are really nice and get into a real conversation with you. Like, one guy told me about the schools his daughter went to (she's in college now) which led to him telling me about how she spoke 3 languages, which led to him telling me about how he and his wife made sure she went to Polish school for 13 years so that she would learn Polish, which led to him telling me about how his parents did not want him to learn Polish, but his grandma taught him, which led him to tell me how it's a good thing that his grandma taught him or else he wouldn't have been able to talk to his wife when he first met her, when his navy ship docked (though he didn't tell me where it docked. At first, I thought Poland, but then I realized that that's kind of impossible, since it's landlocked in Europe. Well, that's pretty much the only part of the story I don't know), which led to him showing me pictures of his wife and daughter.

That was about the only conversation like that, but I did have a nice short one with a man from Ireland. His accent was cool.

Anyway, wanting people to buy my chocolate doesn't mean that I will buy other people's chocolate. Funny, isn't it? But let me tell you -- kids really want you to buy their chocolate. Well, at least, Jinny and I do.

Chicago

When I would come back to Chicago from Tacoma, I missed seeing Mt. Ranier every time you drive somewhere. But then, I got to realizing that my city's ever-time-you-drive-somewhere sights are pretty cool. Some of them aren't that great, of course, but every Saturday, when I drive downtown to music school, I get to see this:

and, it's pretty cool. I love downtown. Chicago is one of the coolest cities in the world. Did you know that we are trying to get the 2016 Olympics? Merchandise Mart is supposedly the sixth largest building (square footage) in the world. The Sears tower used to be the tallest building in the world.

Chicago is so interesting. If you live here, you need to get at least some city smarts. Now, I don't have very much compared to other people, but I know a little bit. In California, cars must stop no matter what if a pedestrian has their foot off of the curb. No way; not in Chicago. I shouldn't go out alone after dark. I definitely shouldn't be out on the South Side at night. A lot of the homeless are drug addicts, and you can't just hand them money. I know these things aren't just true about Chicago, but some people who aren't from big cities don't know them.

The second thing is that today was St. Patricks Day, and for Chicago that's kind of big because there are a lot of Irish in Chicago. On St. Patrick's Day, they dye the Chicago River green. I tried to get good pictures of it: they're not the best, but...

Chicago is so diverse. I've heard that Chicago has a larger Polish population than any other city in the world besides Warsaw. In Chicago, there is always a different restaurant to go to and always a different kind of restaurant: Ethiopian, Thai, Japanese, Persian. We have little India, little Korea, Chinatown, Greektown, Andersonville, Ukranian Village.

Anyway, I like Chicago. I think everybody should visit. Foshizzle. hehe :)

Movie Night

Well, as promised, today was cold in the school. It was not by any means unbearable, though. All the stuff from the storage room flooding was still in the lunchroom, so during gym we switched off playing basketball and putting books in boxes, etc. Then, tonight was a movie night as a fundraiser for our missions trip. I was put with the little pre-schoolers, and it was quite an adventure. We tried to have them sit still and watch the movie, but they were so full of energy. They couldn't just sit still. We tried laying them down (and they were super cute)

Eventually, though, we gave up on finishing the movie and decided to just take them down to the gym and let them run off some energy. It was hilarious. I wasn't quite sure what to do with them at first, but I was encouraged that it was alright to just let them run. And they ran. They ran and ran and ran and ran. The other fun part was that Mr. Mann and Mr. Pan were down there, and most of the kids were boys, and it was so fun to watch them play in a boy-with-a-ball way. Mr. Pan and I both thought each other were a slightly very funny because we had such different styles with them. The little boys would come crying to me (mind, they are only 3 and 4 years old) that the ball hit them or they weren't getting the ball. The little boy that came with "the ball hit my face" got this response from me: "ooohhh. does it need a kiss?" [I know it sounds cheesy in writing, but you know how you try to help little kids feel better.] Before the little boy could answer, Mr. Pan was urging him back to the game, with full assurance that he was quite alright. Of course, Mr. Pan was right; it left me with a "I don't think I understand little boys as much as I thought I did." Mr. Pan and Mr. Mann totally realized that the little ones were so resilient and it's totally normal for them to just play really hard and throw themselves around everywhere and have lots of fun. I think I should realize that more.

Today, actually, I got hit in the face (right on the nose) with a ball. It was one of those games where you come up with a "I'm a girl, I don't play basketball" even though I actually do like the game. It made my lip bleed. Oh, well.

Happy St. Patricks Day! I have to put up pictures of these notes my friend made. She made one for basically everybody in the high school (each person had their own reason other than Irishness):

This is the first one she made. After a while, I was like, "Why can't anybody kiss me?" I know that nobody should be kissing me (well, a certain kind of nobodies), but it was the spirit of the thing. Anyway, so she made me another one.

It was funny when she made Jinny one: it said, "Kiss me. I'm sleepy." The funny thing was that I had to quickly assure Jinny that it wasn't at all a mean thing (like she seemed to think it was at first): she doesn't know about St. Patrick's Day and the whole "Kiss Me I'm Irish" saying; plus, it was the middle of class so I couldn't explain right away. It was soon straightened out, though, and Kia made me smile. :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!! (I am proud to be Irish and if I were to receive any kisses on my Irish merit--receivable kisses of a sisterly nature, of course -- it would be quite a happy thing.) Yay for the Irish!!

Calm? What?

I don't know what I am right now. Calm? Happy? Busy? Tired? I'm not quite sure. School is, of course, always around; but it's nice to have some breaks. It's refreshing to be reminded that I was not made solely for the purpose of Physics tests or describing Supreme Court nominations. I have friends! I have a home! I have a life! It belongs more to Jesus than it belongs to me, but He sure blesses me in it.
Today, Mr. Pan and Jinny and I went over to Amy, Rachel, Bethany, Christy's etc. house. We kind of sat around and did and wondered about random things. Amy made roses out of a ribbon. They set up an overhead projector. Can you sing "Peep a little, talk a little; cheep, cheep, cheep; peep a lot, talk a little more" to many different speeds of beats on the metronome? Did you know that brown and pink go well together? If Mr. Pan were to wear a brown shirt with a pink tie, what color pants would match that?
We made some pizza; we listened to some country music ["I'm your Buckaroo; I want to be like you"]

And, we have no heat tomorrow at school. The pipes in our furnace burst, and the boiler company won't come and fix it until we pay them the $7,000 we still owe them from the last time they fixed it. It's quite an excercise of faith, but the Lord is good, I know it. I think it would be good if we were thankful that we owe the money; it is an opportunity for us to be amazed again by Jesus. He will not leave us behind.
"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." ~1 Thessalonians 5:9
Paul says that God will supply all our needs. Please pray for my school to get the money we need, but also pray for us to be thankful for our struggles, because we are made to rejoice in our trials! Having heat is nothing compared to knowing Jesus and knowing He will always be good to us. Always

So Warm!!! (Well, it was)

From jumping in the snow...

To jumping in the spring!!!! It was so warm on Tuesday!!! It was only for one day, but it was so nice! We went outside and took pictures; oh, so happy!! For a while, Chicago was winter-free. Wednesday, though, it began to come back, and today it was even colder. Oh, well. Soon it will really be warm!!! Just the other day, my dad was explaining the maxim about March coming in like a lion and going out like a lamb! I can't wait for the end of March! Lambiness, here we come! (And April is welcome to pass over those showers--at least until our school roof is fixed.)

Sushi

Oh boy. Oh boy Oh boy Oh boy. I ate sushi. It was hard at first (a.k.a. gagging as I try to assure my companions that the gagging was not because I didn't like it; it was just different), but it happened. And I liked it! I had prayed that I would like it. But I had sat at the table with a nervous stomachache waiting for the food to come. Eventually, it did come and here are the three dishes we got: This was the first dish that came to us. They are rolls, of course. Bottom left: spicy tuna. Top left: Alaskan salmon. Top middle: salmon. Bottom right: eel.
Yes, I ate the eel. It was very exciting. Mr. Pan thought that the eel was cooked (all the other fish was raw). I felt like I had to eat the eel, because it would be really fun to be able to say, "I've eaten eel." Well, guys -- I've eaten eel. And it was good. We ate these up and then got: I had the salmon (second from the left). Oh, it was so interesting. It was quite nice for it to turn out that I liked it -- it's very smooth. Mr. Pan hadn't been so sure. He thought that we would try one piece and then be done. I'm glad it didn't go that way.

The third plate (which I didn't have any of) is just the slabs of fish without rice or anything under them. (By the way, I really like the plates that the food is on. the place was cool)It was not only my first time with sushi. In this picture, Amy, Rachel, and I are all taking what is for each of us our first bite ever of sushi:I think this picture is so hilarious. Honestly, I got through some of it by quoting Bible verses because I had to get my mind off the "raw fish...raw fish" idea. Rachel rushed me into the next roll, and before we took the bite, I said "perfect love casts out all fear" and you know what, that bite went quite a bit better than the previous one. I think a huge part of the key is to not think about it.

Oh, also : I tried tofu for the first time as well. It was just a little piece, but what they told me was true: it doesn't have much taste at all. I think the texture is kind of cool.

It was Bethany's 21st birthday as well:

Happy Birthday,

Bethany!

So, after we left the restaurant, we tried to decide where to go. We ended up at the zoo. Chicago has the only free zoo in the country; it's pretty cool. You can be walking around and all of a sudden -- you're at the zoo! It's still not quite warm enough for all the animals to be outside, though, so we didn't see very many. We got there right around closing time, which is part of the reason we didn't see very many animals.

The camel thought he was pretty handsome.


Fighting Flamingos...Hmmmm.....

The nice seal came to say hi, and, well... tha's awll I have to suay abowt thayt.

It was easier to put my hand in between the buttons of my jacket than in my pocket, so we took a Civil War general picture. Have you ever seen those pictures where they look very regal and sit with one hand inside their jacket. Anyway...

This was a cool tree. And Amy and Rachel are pretty cool too.

Alright...now we get to the pictures of people... Not that we haven't been people in the pictures before this, but...well...these are pretty cool.

I adore these next pictures. Showing them to my mom, all I could say was "We're so cute [insert high pitch squeak-type noise on cue of "cute"]!!!!" I love these girls!

BELOW: Group picture (minus Bethany, who had already waltzed across the street). I must say that by this time I was worried of sounding annoying and repetitious: "Let's take a picture." Well, it may be a bit repetitive and not the most fun for all the photographees (though very fun for the amateur photographer); but in the end, everyone is glad when we have nice pictures. Point made.

This little bit of photographic work is the doing of one Mr. Pan:

My mom loves this picture. She wants to frame it or something. Mr. Pan commented that it's like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and there should be a pan shot that goes all swoosh around me. Yay for jumping pictures - they're so fun!

And, this was not even the end of our day. After this we went to our dear Nikki's house and had Halla toast (like French toast, only made with Israeli braided bread) for dinner.

It was such an exciting day. I kept wanting to re-live it. In the morning, I had gone to Mr. Pan's church and it was so good. I had been excited before I went, and I really want to go back. After I had left and was already someplace else, I realized, "Hey - there was life there. I miss it. I want to go back." I had been excited to hear the message because they have been doing this series called "Rediscovering Jesus" basically based on the fact that if we really knew who Jesus was, we would be radically different. It was very exciting.

That was my Sunday. I love being with my friends; it's my favorite thing. And sometimes it's more fun being reminded of that.

It's Been So Long!!

I feel like it has been forever since I blogged, and I hardly know where to start.
Last Sunday, Amy came over to hang out with me and Jinny. I was still coming off of my I-finished-my-paper high, and we wanted to do something fun. Jinny had never seen the Princess Bride and so after we went to Target and tried on some cowgirl hats (very sadly missing an extremely cute pictures opportunity, because we didn't have a camera with us), we went home and ate a lunch of hot Korean noodles (with some other stuff) and watched the Princess Bride.

The thing is, these noodles are very hot. Amy and me's sensitive, unexperienced American taste buds can't handle even putting the whole package of spicy seasoning into the noodles.

I like eating with chopsticks, though!

Sunday was also my Dad's birthday:

Now, while I remember: congratulations, Cameron! My friend got married. He's usually the photographer, but this time he and his bride (named Anna. yay) were the photographees, and they did very well, I must say. Look at his blog to see great pictures.

Now, I don't remember what I did on Wednesday. I went to school, and I slept some probably, but I don't remember much else.

On Thursday, after school, Jinny and I went to the mall. Driving away from the house it felt like my self was being told, "Self, guess what!?! You have a life beyond school. Wow." We tried on hats, and I do not approve of the pictures, but for the sake of information and the promotion of the wearing of cute hats (note: cute hats are very different from "I'm the queen of England/I'm dating the Prince of Englad hats"). I think I have decided that the best way to wear a hat is with your hair down.

When we were at Bath & Body Works, we were innocently trying the new aromatherapy lotion scents when this lady approaches Jinny and boldly puts forth: "Could you do me a favor?" [uhh...we don't work here] "Could you please tell me where..." [no, we really don't work here] "you got that vest. I really like it." [oh, you don't think we work here. um, she bought the vest in Korea....don't think that one's gonna work out for you.] Jinny got a little scared.

Huh?

Bye!