today's a better day

Pictures are not in order (too lazy to drag and sort for now). Story's below the pictures :

Today's a better day. I walked down the road to Calvary Baptist Church (CBC). On the map, it's 'just' along University Drive (A straight street that pass through my campus). The walk took 40 minutes? tee hee...

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On the way, a new student stopped by to ask for directions. Halfway through the american grad student (my guess) went "are you from Malaysia?". I was like "how do you know?" He said he was from university of Michigan and there were many Malaysians there. So he shook my hands heartily. As if he was very proud of meeting a malaysian.

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Suddenly, along the straight road, i met a sign that said "pedestrian prohibited". Amazed was I. I've never seen such a sign in M'sia before. Not on a straight road at least. It's a bridge road that does not have a pedestrian trail. So I walked under the bridge and took a loop back.

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Anyways, CBC had a free furniture giveaway. By the time I arrived most of the furnitures which filled the halls were looted. The organizers were amazed. They thought they'd to stay till the evening. But I figured I wouldn't need them anyways, so it was ok. I had a msn phone chat with my parents in the morning (their Sat night). I collected some bedsheets, thick blankets, towels and cloth hangers back. Plus a box of new wooden picture frames and some candles. Later, I helped to clean up the church, which really reminded me of church back home. Even the initials are the same. :P

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Then I had lunch at Back Yard's with 3 amazing people. This is the first time (besides Johanna) I get to sit down to have a good long chat. They are two americans guys and a taiwanese girl. All god-loving people with a mission in mind.

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And best of all the taiwanese girl offered me a place to bunk in while I room-hunt. I'm glad. :)

departure and arrival

Some pictures taken on my journey here. The better days ;p

KLIA

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Waiting for my flight to S'pore. It felt like ages. Like I was neither here nor anywhere. I could grab a taxi home if I were to wait any longer. Saying goodbye to my love ones was painful

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Changi

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I like the lights illuminating through the floor. My friend came to greet me. I ended up resting at her place while transiting. That was my first time taking a cab at 330am in the morning. I think my dad was worried-fied. I'd to text him when I reached the airport. I got a reply back. So guess he stayed up for me. ophs.

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Changi

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I was bored waiting at Changi at wee hours in the morning. Next flight was 6+am. Airport security was strict. I saw armed officers. One of them took down my details when i was wondering alone at my empty boarding gate.

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HKIA

Mountains

I flew the artic way... a stretch of mountain ranges. Miles and miles it went. It might have been Siberia?

Mountains with feathey ice tops

Ice Sheets

My flight was catching the sun. The last time i saw night was in S'pore. But the window panels were always down. So that others could sleep. But it's kinda gloomy inside the plane. I couldn't sleep very well. The last panel of windows behind was unshut though cause nobody sits there. It's also a hang-out place for ppl who couldn't zzz or who liked to stare out.

Chinese noodles

Can you believe they serve us instant noodles at 9pm at night? Yeaps, that's united airlines. They switchd it to Chicago's time in the middle of the night, so it was 8am local time. But my tummy still craved for a big meal.

Guess where?

I missed my connecting flight here. Long immigration queue and rule abiding officers. They wouldn't allow me to cut queue even though my flight (to Pittsburgh) was boarding soon. O'hare is a huge airport. It's not that impressive though. Grey was what I saw. I can't tell one end of the airport from another apart. And it was hard to find a phone that could call out of state. Weird hur? Considering that it's an 'international' airport. A kind stranger borrowed her hp to me so that I could inform Dave, my friend's husband, that I would be late. Oh ya, my mobile phone can't be used here. Anyways, by the time I arrived at Jo's house in Ebensburg it was 1.30am. Was supposed to reach her place at 9pm if I had not miss my flight. Oh ya, we were trapped in a terrible jam on the way back too.

as for now...

The initial excitement for u.s. has waned off... i'm missing malaysian food (healthy food), my friends, my good old family, my car, cheaper hp rates, manglish. *sigh*

I met a couple of friends and some really friendly church people. There's an international student ministry over in my uni consisting of navigators and a few local churches. They offer free lunches, pinics, free furnitures, outings. Neat. I almost cried when i stepped into a church on Wednesday. It reminds me of home, or maybe it's a place where people care for you, or maybe just being in church itself is nostalgic.

Meanwhile, please pray for accomodations for me. I have not found any so far. The houses nearby the campus have all been fully booked. Penn state took in more students than the town could cope. It's crazy. There's a lady from Navigators who allowed me to bunk in for a few weeks. Glad am I that God decided not to leave me out on the streets. :p But it's 6 miles away though !! the buses only come 4 times in the day. No service on weekends.

Overwhelmed but filled with grace.

Goodnight.

Malaysia, I miss you...