I have learned that I like crab more than lobster. This place was the bomb!

My mommy making her local food from Tianjin! So yummy :)

Learning to Live Fully

For the past month, a few girls and I have been meeting once a week to go through a book called One Thousand Gifts. As we've been going through it, I'm reminded of the importance of thankfulness. I think being thankful is something that is so easily overlooked or taken for granted, but seriously everything we have, everything we see, feel, love and are, are all gifts from God. In the book the author brings out a pattern in scripture. It's always there, but we often just look past it. Before everything Jesus did, before every miracle that took place, thanks was always given first. Learning to live fully I think has to do with being in your present situation no matter what it is and being able to be thankful.

There was a crazy storm that happened yesterday in Waterloo. The rain was literally coming down sideways. I'd never seen something like it before. A bunch of trees were struck down including the one on our front lawn. I'm thankful that tree was there otherwise our house would've been struck. A perfect hole was made in one of the branches and part of the tree fell but not onto our house. It's crazy to think how perfect it was. A cm to the left or right and our house would've been hit. Even with the power outage yesterday, it didn't hit Mikey's until 8pm allowing us to still do business for the day.

I'm reminded of the power of God too. Men want to be able to predict and control everything. We want to know what will happen next and plan out our lives but everything is from God. We are where we are and have what we have because God has chosen to give it to us. The storm happened and died in a blink and it's another beautiful day again in Waterloo. Let's try to learn living our lives fully, being thankful in even the smallest of things :)

BTW....

I got into photojournalism at Loyalist!

I found out on Thursday that I got accepted and they had only received my application a week before that. Hand of God? I think so. It's been such a long ride coming to this point. I had thought about applying to this program last year. Photojournalism was something that I thought would be super cool to do...but only to dream about. I never thought to pursue it or make it a reality.

At Urbana this past Christmas, I heard really clearly from God that I needed to pursue my passion and interest in photography and media. I had always been scared to (and still am) because I feel like it's tied so closely to what I enjoy, who I am, how I see things or express myself. I realized though, that this passion and talent is something that is given from God and like the story of the talents in the Bible, I can't just hide it under the rug or leave it on the shelf, I have to invest it for God's kingdom.

Applying to photojournalism came really randomly. My friend who is in this program at the moment had come up to Montreal to shoot an event. We met up for breakfast and as she was telling me about it, I realized that this was something I wanted to do. I love stories and believe that stories are super powerful. In photojournalism, I'd be able to tell stories through my photography! Even though it was past the early deadline, I decided to apply anyway. I think getting accepted so quickly is a blessing and sign from God? (I also have this pattern of applying to things past the deadline and then pursuing it....God has a sense of humour haha)

I'm still looking to see how God can use me for his kingdom in this aspect. It makes me nervous thinking about it because there are going to be so many risks to take, challenges to overcome and lots of areas to grow in. I also have not been in a secular setting for a long time but i'm excited about how God will use me. Please pray for me as I go into this next area in my life. There are so many uncertainties and ambiguities...it's also the first time where I won't be in intentional community. I'm scared and excited all at the same time and because of that, I feel like i'm on the right path haha

Time to get 5 jobs this summer! Everything is so expensive. I wish that a new lens or camera body would just fall into my lap by divine intervention...haha it's possible :P I need to trust God even in the finances. He has led me this far and will continue to be leading me :)

It's APRIL!

I can't believe it! Where has all the time gone?! I feel like March just flew by. Here's a mini glimpse of a bit of my March :)

When my sister visited:

My first time at a Sugar Shack (!) :

Lots of sugar and lots of food. I had food coma the whole day hahahah

Harusi:

I spontaneously decided to go to an African culture show with my housemate and some McGill students. It was fun. I need to do more spontaneous things.

Cherilyn's Birthday:

We walked to La Petite Cuillere (my fave cafe), all the way up St. Laurent/ Parc and to Jean Talon for dinner at a delicious Indian restaurant! It was a long but nice walk. We discovered several vintage and antique shops along the way! We also walked by many cafes that I would like to check out!

Where I am now: 

hehe...I discovered this cafe by mistake. It was cuz La Petite Cuillere was closed. I really really like it! It's hidden and super cute! It reminds me of this cafe my friend and I had discovered in Florence. It was literally a hole in the wall that opened out into a super cool cafe! This is kind of like a hole in the wall too. You would never know this existed just by looking outside. Heh heh. I feel like i've found a gem!

Orange Julep:

I ate in an orange yesterday too. Literally. puahahaha they are famous for their oj and apparently there's raw egg in it....no idea haha. I liked it though. It tasted like a melted creamsicle :)

hehe just cuz I love them and always will :D I did a BSB music video marathon with 2 of my housemates. It was great. We went from oldest to newest and watched them change through the years haha I loveeee them! :P

Hope you all had a wonderful March! It's April and it's starting to feel like Spring. It's also the first day post Easter! Have joy :) We have hope because He is risen! I'm gonna make my last month in Montreal count!

Here's a late post of day 2 of Kat's visit :) Lots and lots of food and walking around! hehe

We first checked out Patata Patati's poutine. I had heard some good things about it and had walked by this place several times. Each time it was so packed! Luckily, when we came, it wasn't super busy and had seats right away. It wasn't quite what I was expecting. I had thought they'd had an extensive poutine menu like La Banquise but it was more a sandwich/burger place with poutine. Anyway, Kat and I ordered a poutine to share. It was pretty good! The french fries were really crispy (which I love!) so even with the gravy on it, it didn't become soggy. It was super cheap too! It's not quite the place I'd bring a visitor to Montreal but if you're just feeling some poutine, I'd come here :)

 It's also located conveniently close to Schwartz! So of course we had to make a pit stop there! We got some to go and enjoyed it on our way to La Banquise.

HAHAHA okay. We walked A LOT! And Kat's visiting from Montreal so poutine and smoked meat is a must! And Patata Patati was just not quite the poutine experience!

Anyway, note for next time I get smoked meat: ask for medium fat. It's so much yummier when there's a bit of fat on it. I think the guy gave us the skinniest one and it just wasn't as juicy!

After taking some wrong turns and detouring on a couple streets (I was thinking of our metabolism), we finally made it to La Banquise! It's so perfect how we keep missing the lines! We got seated right away and shared a classic poutine. The menu was much more exciting but we were already starting to feel full so we decided to stick to the one with the least amount of goodness piled on top! I think for a plain poutine, I enjoyed Patata Patati's more because of the crispy fries but if you're looking for more variety or something more exciting, I'd definately come to La Banquise. They have this guacamole poutine...it's amazing!

One last thing a visitor to Montreal must do is to have chocolate at Juliette et Chocolat. Luckily, there was one close to where we were :P haha I gave up chocolate for lent so it was quite difficult going in and smelling the amazing deliciousness! I didn't think they'd have anything non-chocolate but they did! Kat ordered the trifle which is my favourite! It's a cup filled with layers of caramel fleur de sel and whipped cream with brownie pieces and a cup of hot chocolate sauce on the side for you to pour on top. I ordered a caramel fleur de sel crepe. It cam with bananas and ice cream! I love their fleur de sel!

The great thing I love about Montreal is that everything is so close to one another. You could walk everywhere and find all sorts of different things to do :) We ended up going back downtown to do some shopping! We tried on many dresses at Simons. There's this one particular dress that I absolutely love! I've tried it on before but I hate that it's more pricy compared to some other dresses that they have. It's $38 which is okay for a dress but I also have no income and that's almost half my stipend -__- haha Kat gave me money to buy it (hehe thanks sistah!) but i'm still debating whether it's worth spending that much. It's so much fun though! Maybe when I get the time to go back and it's still there then I will make the purchase :P

I did get a dress from Urban Outfitters that was on sale though. It's pretty simple and grey but I like it! I'm excited for spring to finally come! We didn't do much more shopping after that. We were pretty tired from walking around so much the last two days. We took advantage of the free Starbucks coupon to sit for awhile and chill before we made our way to dinner!


For dinner I was craving Korean food and I had heard that La Maison Bulgogi was not bad so we made our way all the way down St. Catherines for it. It was rainy and cold and we had to walk almost 20 minutes to get there! The food was alright, nothing super spectacular. We ordered a bibimbap and ddokbokgi. Their kimchi was really good tho! It's a bit on the more expensive side though which is unfortunate. The owners though are Korean but had lived in Northern China for many years and could speak both Chinese and Korean which was pretty cool!

Sidenote: I went out with one of my housemates a couple nights later and we discovered a super cheap and yummy Korean restaurant! It's called Ganadara. I'd definately go there over this place. It's closer to home too! The place is pretty tiny but constantly filled! I always thought it was a laundromat when I walked by it because it's located right beside one :P oops! And of course, you have to love the fobby kongrish wallpaper that they have too! haha it's a pretty cute place. The dishes are huge, they're cheap and delicious, what more do you ask for?

After dinner Kat and I made our way back home for a swing dancing lesson! One of my housemates (same as the one I was talking about above) loves swing dancing and is amazing at it! She's also really good at teaching too! It was a ton of fun! We had people over, a bunch of our housemates joined in, it was a big swing dancing party! :)

All in all, it was a fun weekend and I got to go places and do things I normally wouldn't on my own! Thanks for visiting Kevin! :)

My sister came to visit me this week in Montreal and so I took her around and explored some new places and a lot of new food! The weather was beautiful and so we walked around with dresses on and the sun in our faces! I love spring :)

We went to this Chinese cha chaan teng in Chinatown for lunch. I have no idea what the name of this place is. I had gone there once before and ordered their bbq pork and duck on rice dish...it was rather good. Problem with this place is that their menu is all in Chinese, can't read Chinese? Can't really order then. Last time we had a friend who could read and translate everything for us but this time we were a little stuck. Both my sister and I can't read Chinese. I made out a few of the dishes but we weren't feeling those and didn't want to order it. We also didn't want to ask the waitress to read it to us cuz then that'd just be embarrassing! Thank goodness for technology :P We took a picture of the menu, sent it to our parents and had them read it to us over the phone. hahaha still embarrassing but a little less :P I just need to learn Chinese, at least characters for food anyway. We ended up getting the salted fish and chicken fried rice with the beef in black bean sauce over rice noodles. We were so full. One dish would've been plenty. It was really yummy though and a taste of home :)

My sister's friend also found this coupon to get free Starbucks (caramel macchiato or hazelnut macchiato; hot or cold) for the whole month of March and so we enjoyed one each. It's a pretty sweet deal. It's actually free! No catch to it. I think it's to promote the new hazelnut macchiato. Good for meee :) There are also so many Starbucks downtown I could totally switch around where I go so I don't look so shameless :P I still need to watch how much I get though. Even if it's free, it's so fattening and not very good for you. It'll be a treat every once in a while. It's a good place to take my students too :) Doing ministry on a stipend! haha


Lastly, after walking around Old Port for a while and taking lots of pictures, we found a yummy crepe place called Muru! My sister and I split the Suzette. It had bananas, whipped cream, sugar and butter and was flambeed with Grand Marnier. It was super good. We devoured it almost instantly :P

I will post more pictures later. These were the ones that were taken on my phone :)

It was such an eventful day. We walked a lot and ate a lot. There are parts of Montreal even I haven't explored and are just beautiful :) Today we are taking it easy. We're at my favourite cafe getting a bit of work done :) Afterwards, we're gonna grab some poutine, walk around the plateau a bit and then do some shopping downtown! It worked out that Dawson had their reading break this week and training for two of the days got cancelled. I feel like i'm on a mini vacation too :)