Seek...and you will find

This last week has been a great week. It started when I met a new couple at church last Sunday. They are from Russia and have been in the USA for 2 years now, but they just moved to San Francisco. I ended up spending the grand majority of my afternoon with them last Sunday helping them find apartments they had arranged to view. It turns out that we both they and I came to SF under very similar conditions with a job in SF. As were were talking about our pasts, I quickly realized that is was not coincidence that I was meeting these people. When it hit me I almost teared up.

Let me back up…

When I was doing my own job search I prayed God would give me an opportunity to do something new. I felt that my job was Him opening a door in front of me. I gladly accepted and decided to take a leap of faith coming to NorCal without knowing anyone here. From my roommates, to families at church, to my job transition, to another ACU friend moving to the City…God has definitely filled in the gaps and connected the dots for me. I know that's vague, but I feel that I'm in the right spot because He has blessed me beyond belief through this leap of faith.

So as I was saying, this new couple - my new friends - is another blessing from the Father. And they are merely the cherry on top of everything else God has provided me. Today as I was taking my hour-long trip to get to my church, I began thinking about all the good things in my life and couldn't prevent my eyes from watering up a bit. When God's children put their faith in Him, He will never leave them alone. I know that no matter what else, God is with me regardless of how many or how few people I know around me. When I see these tangible answers to prayer around me, I can't help but feel at home where I am. I don't think all of my new friends - at church or at work - realize how impacting they have been to me. But all I know is that my faith has been strengthened these past few weeks as I've seen God working all around me.

I put on a Wow Worship CD this morning as I was walking and Chris Tomlin's version of "All the Way My Savior Leads Me" came on my iPod. You can either listen or read the lyrics:

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All the Way My Savior Leads Me (by: Chris Tomlin)

All the way my Savior leads me

Who have I to ask beside

How could I doubt His tender mercy

Who through life has been my guide

All the way my Savior leads me

Cheers each winding path I tread

Gives me grace for every trial

Feeds me with the living Bread

You lead me and keep me from falling

You carry me close to Your heart

And surely Your goodness and mercy will follow me

All the way my Savior leads me

O, the fullness of His love

O, the sureness of His promise

In the triumph of His blood

And when my spirit clothed immortal

Wings its flight to realms of day

This my song through endless ages

Jesus led me all the way

Jesus led me all the way

All the way my Savior leads me

All the way my Savior leads me

I couldn't help but laugh a little because of how unmistakably I've seen the truth in these lyrics in my own life. It's amazing how when you seek God, you find Him. This has allow me to feel completely 'full' spiritually lately. I can honestly say that lately He has poured so much in my cup that it's way overflowing. Wow, what a God He is!

Friday adventure

This past weekend was one of the most interesting weekends I've had in a while.

Friday at work I watched a sailboat race out my window at work, then watched a concert of the San Francisco Symphony orchestra at lunch while eating outside my office. In the later afternoon, I went for a run along The Embarcadero where I was passed by literally hundreds of cyclists riding (I think) in promotion of riding bikes instead of driving vehicles. Several of them were completely naked riding along one of the main streets downtown. I noticed a policeman riding on a motorcycle behind them, and at first I thought he was going to stop some of them. I quickly realized, however that he was escorting them...and protecting their right to ride (even in the nude). I'm pretty sure in Texas there are public indecency laws and the policemen would have stopped those guys!

Sunday I met a new couple at church. They are from Russia and just moved to the Bay Area a few days ago. I ended up spending all Sunday afternoon with them looking at apartments. I think their arrival to the City is just another God thing. I had a really good talk with them and I think we will end up being good friends!

So I also ended up going to IKEA and buying the rest of the essentials for life...a bed frame, kitchen table, reading lamp, couch, chair, and palm tree. Yes, I have a small palm tree in my room. I'm starting to feel like a real person...with a real room! I'm just glad my bed isn't on the floor any more!

To those who know what it is, I will be attending the East Texas Yamboree (click this legit link) this year. I will be traveling almost 2,000 miles to be with my family and eat a yam or two in Gilmer! I thought it was a great excuse to see the Texas skies again, so I'm starting my countdown to my first weekend trip to Texas! It will be a great weekend to spend with my entire family in the country for a couple of days.

Ramdom sidenote...apparently there was an S&M street festival (Google at your own risk: Folsom Street Fair) on Sunday this past weekend. One could see crazy things on the subway and walking downtown. YIKES.

Harsh, harsh, harsh reality

It has been a while since the last time I have posted. As you might suspect, a lot has happened since then.
Fact numero 1: Doctorate-level classes are hard. I should not be surprised about this.
Fact numero 2: I am definitely getting lazier. This is a problem.
Fact numero 3: I got involved in a young adult life group from church that meets every wednesday at one of the elders' house. It is a great place to be challenged and a much-needed break from the routine of life.
Fact numero 4: made tons and tons of friends from Europe and specifically from Germany, Austria (who are really fun by the way), Latvia, France, Norway, and England. The craziest part is that we all hang out together. It is definitely a blessing.
Fact numero 5: Little Rock is not as bad as I made it out to be... I am going to plan some hiking and lake trips soon... This is The Natural State and I should take advantage of this.
Fact numero 6: my classmates are ALL overachievers and competitive students.... and all over the age of 36. Welcome to ACADEMIA LAND.

Anyways, I still love the Lord and thank him every day for the blessings He has provided us.

Your love is my drug... NOT

The first few weeks in Little Rock have been OK. I am actually starting to like it here. I have found friends, a church home, and some other friends... so all is well in the life of Laza.

This past weekend was one of the best in my life. You may all wonder why. Well, I was able to have a 5-day weekend... Yes, 5 days doing nothing academic. With this awesome free time in my hand, I made the decision to drive down to Abilene!!!!! Heck YEAH.

It gets more interesting and I am going to tell you why.

First, I made a stop in Plano to meet my beautiful and babelicious friend Esmeralda. She agreed to come on the impromptu adventure with me.

Things got a little crazier when I realized that I was going to see Justin Sims, who just moved back to Abilene... and another friend, Denton Josey, who I have not seen since he left the U.S. two years ago to teach English in Korea and India.

I also got to see almost all of my guys from Mabee Hall. I have missed them SO MUCH. They did not even know I was coming in town. It was so weird because a few of them made a short movie to show everyone the night I arrived. I happened to show up at the "World Premiere" of the Razors 80's Skooterz and got a round of applause from everyone in the room, which there were about 45 students in the room. I shed a tear of joy. It was so good to come back to a place where you feel people's love for you.

There were so many events happening that weekend... Ihop at 2am, getting to see my sister, ISA Chai Cafe, sand volleyball, soccer, slumber party, deep conversations, chapel, Austin's birthday, house church... It was the bomb of a weekend, but somehow, I was ready to get back to Little Rock....

welcome to the city... part 2...

Apparently I am a magnet for weird events. If you haven't read it yet, you should read my post titled "welcome to the city..." right here.

The second weird event happened Monday. It was my first day of work and it had been a great day. The people I'm working with are great. It's a diverse group of people and many different backgrounds including Venezuela, The Philippines, Hong Kong, China, and Alaska. (I feel like Alaska is cool enough to make the list.) I came home, then went for a 4-mile run along the Bay. Beautiful...sunny...windy. It was perfect. So before I continue I should mention that the street I live on is one of the steepest blocks in San Francisco. I honestly think it is classified within the steepest 15 streets in the city. So I was walking up my block to my apartment and noticed the big brown UPS truck was parked outside the entrance to my apartment. As I got closer I noticed the truck was driving away, except the motion was more jerky than as if it was being driven...and the driver was missing. No joke. The UPS truck was rolling down one of the steepest streets in San Francisco. I was literally breathless as my heart sank in preparation of witnessing a devastating crash as this rogue truck bulleted down the hill. The guy had forgotten to turn the wheels into the curb since he was facing down hill. IDIOT.

Luckily the wheels were scraping the curb all the way down which kept it from plummeting full-force down the hill. Instead it was more of a slow-motion death roll (in my mind). I started praying that nothing would happen, which didn't seem likely since the cross street at the bottom of the block was hustling with traffic. God heard me because there was a lull in cars right as the truck plunged into the intersection (which is flat) and came to a stop in the middle. Tires screeched and traffic was abruptly halted. I sprinted down the hill and was prepared to do something to keep it from rolling down the next city block but another man hopped in just before me. I think my heart stopped beating as I prepared to witness a horrible crash, but everything was alright.

My roommates say I must be a magnet for these happenings, because they have lived here for a year and never been near any of these type of events. Lord only knows what's next.

Until then, I'll leave you with a photo or two...this is the view I have from my training in my office building!

Looking out towards the

Golden Gate Bridge - off to the left,

Looking out at the bay

and Treasure Island.

the last hurrah

So I write this post in my last few hours of freedom. I will be entering the professional work force tomorrow morning. I won't be doing anything spectacular for the first while, but I will nonetheless be a young professional.

That being said, I have a little catching up to do! I have basked in the glorious sunny weather of northern California a lot recently. I have talked about the wonderful weather in one of my previous posts, but I can't fail to mention a freak heatwave we had roll through last week. It got up to the upper 90s. My iPhone said 98 degrees at on point. Being outside felt like a Texas summer for a while, except that I had an awesome view of the Pacific Ocean and Golden Gate Bridge as I went on a hike around Sutro Heights Park and around to the Sea Cliff. When I caught the bus to head home, however, the sunshine started catching up with me. The bus was HOT. The bus has no a/c. There's usually no need, so the windows were cracked which was only letting in the heat! Then my house...my room was the same temperature as outside. Before anyone tells me that last Tuesday it was 100 degrees in Texas or Tennessee or anywhere else, think about how that would feel sans-a/c. Yeah, it's a whole new animal. Needless to say I didn't sleep well until about 6am when I had to get up and close my windows because my room was once again down to the SF summer temperatures of mid-60s. Alright, enough complaining...I just had to share my rogue-heatwave story.

So I spent the past 4 days in the Monterey Bay area. I was between Monterey, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, and Carmel. I have to admit, I that was some of the most beautiful coastline I've ever seen. Seeing the boats in the Monterey Marina and the Lone Cypress jutting out of 17 Mile Drive in Pebble Beach was awesome. Also, just seeing Pebble Beach and it's famous golf course was incredible. Pebble Beach is interesting...it's a private community that you have to pay to enter. I went whale watching and saw 14 humpback whales and 1 blue whale. Supposedly the latter are going extinct. Also please note: going "whaling" and "whale watching" may be slightly similar in orthography (an honest, excusable mistake, right?), however could not be more different in meaning. Don't confuse the two when you're talking to a local in Monterey or the person will most likely burn a hole through you with his/her eyes. Yikes.

Well, I should get some rest -- or at least that's what all the professional people I know say, so I guess I should say it, too. I'll leave you with some photos of the Monterey Bay:

Pebble Beach, CA

Point Lobos, just south of Carmel-by-the-sea, CA

Sailboats in the Monterey Bay @ the Monterey Marina

Dun Dun Dun... Dun Dun...... (part-2)

The weekend was fun, but I slightly omitted the awkward part of it. The Saturday International Dinner/Fellowship was a bit weird for the fact that I was the only single international person there. Every other international people there were married with or without kids... and most of them came with their parents. The matter got even worse when everyone started sitting down to eat, since they all grouped with their own family and left no space for "loners" like me... not that I wanted to join in on the fun, but I do not necessarily speak their language. Oh and the topics that night revolved around the babies and the parents' struggle rearing their progeny.

Things got, once again, a little more interesting when I started having a conversation with a group of old sweet ladies. The oldest one, who happened to be the most outspoken one, started asking me to guess her age... I stood speechless... What do you answer? It was not in my attention to offend anyone that night. Well, she proceeded to break the silence and tell me how she does not get offended anymore because she is old. She said, "that is one good thing about being old, you can say whatever you want to say and you do not have to care about what others may think." Consequently, she started telling me a whole lot of things she had in her mind, which I will gladly list for you.

The things the old sweet lady did not care about sharing:
1- She is turning 89.
2- She has always had fun in life... and that with two husbands, who are in a better place now.
3- She is the first woman to push and fight for more female representation in the workplace.
4- She told me that I was handsome and if she was my age, she would "be all over me.".... huh?
5- A older gentleman wanted to marry her, which she politely declined because she thinks he could not keep up with her and her lifestyle... He passed away a week ago... :,(

She had told me so much that night, but she is still a sweet lady and she is so funny. Anyways, talking to her made that night more fun. I laughed so much.

Sunday was pretty awesome as well. The sermons at church were really uplifting and challenging. I got to play sand-volleyball with a friend from church (Mason) and all his friends from UALR.

P.S.: classes are going to be hard. Please keep me in your prayers. Seriously.

Dun Dun Dun.... (part-1)

Well, I have been here for two weeks and I am starting to like it a little bit.
This weekend was very fun, but awkward and I will definitely tell you why.

On Saturday, I cooked a really good meal for lunch... omelettes and rice... sigh... It was a success. Then, I met some of my new friends from France to play ping pong down at the Student Center and swim in the only indoor olympic-size pool in Arkansas.

P.S: Did I tell you all how one of the French guys' Dad was born in Antananarivo, Madagascar? Well, he was born in my hometown... CRAZY. Anyways, that did not matter since I still beat him in ping pong and wants a revenge later tonight.

After my successfull and athletic adventure in the Student Center, I went to dinner at the Bell's. They are in charge of the International class at Pleasant Valley Church of Christ. They were so hospitable! They opened their house to at least 10 families of people from various cultures. By family, I mean new born babies, parents, grand-parents, and little children... of course.

It was a pleasant evening though. Their house overlooks the Arkansas River and a bridge that connects Little Rock and North Little Rock. The kids were really loud though. All in all, my Saturday was eventful and fun.


P.S: I started studying for my online class... not good. It's ok because there is only 4 more years left.... just 4 more years........ WAIT UP! that's 1,460 days.... I CANT DO THIS!!!!!!!

shopping - a whole new beast

This is going to be a random post but here we go...

When you first move to a city, you have to re-think pretty much everything. Like getting from point A to point B, for example. I'm still not very efficient at timing departures and arrivals for dinner or other appointments. Luckily I have another week before this becomes a serious issue - my job. I plan on being a bit more efficient by then.

Certain essentials in urban areas seems a bit more elusive than in the mid-sized towns I'm used to. For example, the Walgreens two block from my apartment has most things I need, and they are gladly willing to sell me those items at a seizure-enducing premium. I have recently seen a normal size bottle of Dove shampoo for $9.99 and a small block of cheddar cheese for $4.99. (Luckily the Safeway is a short bus ride away.) The main elusive essential I am referring to right now is something that seems simple enough, yet I feel I could have located the loch ness monster more quickly. Pillows. I began my search on Tuesday, I believe. I did not find any until Friday when I went to Costco. I have been heavily employing the use of Yelp! recently, however all of the "home furnishings" locations I tried from Yelp! took me to upper-end Asian furniture with Chinese and Japanese writing. It's interesting that something so simple, yet specific can be so difficult to find.

I also went garage sale-ing today. I felt like a grandmother as I got up at a somewhat-early hour on a Saturday morning with my list of 3 garage sales I wanted to visit. All I ended up with, however was a metal drying rack for laundry. Hopefully my quest for a bed and desk will end quickly and successfully.

I played Karaoke last night with a group from the church I've been visiting. There were songs in Chinese, Tagalog, and Spanish included on this Karaoke set. Here's the proof:

I also found my new favorite street in San Francisco. It's in The Mission:

And last but not least I grabbed coffee at an awesome coffee shop on Nob Hill:

I wasn't made to write a blog

First, I absolutely disliked (I want to use the word "hate", but I will be classy) being in Little Rock for the first few days being here. I was away from my OH! comfortable Abilene and it was really hard to move away from that little place.

Anyways, being in Little Rock and experiencing culture shock sucks. I did not know anyone and I had MAJOR problems with my admission at the university.

Things I have learned/noticed about this city:
1- The Walmart by ACU is NOT representative of all the other Walmart around the U.S. Don't ever go to a Walmart around 9pm.
2- Arkansans think they are the only Americans who say "YALL"... I have a video to prove it.
3- There is an overwhelming amount of trees in the city... which is cool in a certain way.
4- I have a multicultural house. One of my roommates is from California and is half-French! He fluently speaks French. He is also in an acapella group and loves drawing.
My other roommate is a Danish South-Korean, which is pretty cool. I get to listen to awesome Danish music. A LOT. They play musical instruments as well (respectively the piano and the guitar)
5- I hung out with Spencer's cousin, JD, and got to know his friends. They are pretty AWESOME.
6- I met a Latvian guy and 5 French people. Needless to say that we are all already facebook friends and we will go on road trips all over Arkansas to experience The Natural State!
7- I started attending Pleasant Valley Church or Christ and I really enjoy attending there.
8- OH and last but not the least, I went out to have dinner with JD and his friends at this place called, "The Pantry"... It's DA BOMB! The owner is from the Czech Republic and the food is just delicious. I tasted almost everyone's plate and everything was awesome... If you come to visit, WE WILL GO THERE!


Anyways, I cannot wait to write more about my (mis)adventures in Little Rock!

welcome to the city...

It's really late and I'm about to pass out. It's been a full day of hanging out in the Mission District and having a dinner for new international students at San Francisco State University through a non-denominational outreach organization called International Students, Inc.

The reason I'm writing this right now is that I have to get this post written. I casually mentioned in my previous post that a fight broke out on the bus next to me the other day. Well here's the in-depth version of the story:

I was going to dinner in southern SF near Daly City. I had ridden the BART (an underground rail) to the Balboa Park station and was taking a Muni bus to my friend's house. After waiting in weather that is too-cold to be considered "Summer" I took the only seat on the bus - next to a "thug" dude. A person I now refer to as creepydude. So I sat in the tiny space between creepydude and weirddude. It was a tiny space. When I first got on the bus, creepydude had a razor in his hand...yes, a razor...and was shaving his black hoodie pullover. Seriously?? I guess he was taking the balled-up lent off his hoodie. He felt such urgency to remove this lent that he was doing it with a razor on a public, moving bus. (Hence the name creepydude.) So when he looked at me and told me I could sit next to him, naturally my city-smarts kicked in and told me: "Spencer, it's not such a good idea to sit next to creepydude. He has a razor in his hand on a public bus. Notice your surroundings." ....... Actually that's what should have happened. Instead, I just took a seat next to him and proceeded to stare at my iPhone in hopes that my concentration would make the bus wheels turn faster.

Creepydude was in an intense conversation with his girl who was sitting on the other side of him. (Obviously a conversation that was private and the rest of us were intruding on the conversation by being present on this bus.) After yelling at her, telling her to shut up, and counting to three (like a mom trying to shush her child), he turned and backhanded the living daylights out of this girl. Immediately the tension became tangible. No one in the bus knew how to react. Finally the guy across from me couldn't take it any more...with fury on his face he decided to confront creepydude. While his efforts were valiant, I wasn't about to get tangled up with a guy crazy enough to be playing with a razor on public transportation. The guy across from me decided he was mad enough to start a fight, so that's precisely what he proceeded to do.

Let's recap: I'm crammed into a tiny space between creepydude with a razor and weirddude. I can't move to my left because there's a pole for people to hold onto. I can't move to my right because there's an open razor blade...

So the fight breaks out. Eyeglasses are cracking, flat caps are falling, messenger bags are dropping, and razor blades are flying -- all right next to my face. Weirddude decides to slide over to get out of the way, and I decide to help him. I duck behind the pole and shove weirddude over so I can slip around the back of the pole to safety (ish). If I had gone around the front of the pole I would have undoubtedly become one with the razor blade. Now you, dear reader, understand my immediate proximity to the flying blade. Also it immediately occurred to me that a guy crazy enough to play with a razor on a Muni bus would probably have a knife on his person. Thus, I had no difficulty rationalizing my shoving weirddude in order to make my escape to safety.

Crazydude and his girl and one of their friends all got off the bus. I got off at the subsequent stop and had dinner with my friends. I wouldn't be lying, though, if I admitted to being slightly shaken by the series of events.

----------------------

Just moments ago, however, I became aware that this series of events made the headlines in the San Francisco Examiner: here are the two stores you must read. Also, my intuition was right...apparently the guy across from me (besides having the light of day beat out of him) was stabbed by crazydude twice - in the shoulder and the waist.

Story 1

Story 2

For now I will live to see the light (and fog) of another (cold) Summer day. Call me crazy for not helping hero-man, but I'm smart enough to stay away from anyone as crazy as razor-blade-holding crazydude on the 29 bus to Sunset.

So, lesson learned. No my city-smarts know tell me to look before I sit.

first impressions

Two questions: 1) Is it possible to fall in love with a physical location? I believe so, and if you tried to convince me otherwise, I would probably argue with you. 2) If the answer to question 1 is yes [and it obviously is], then is it possible to fall in love with said location in approximately one week? Once again, I would assert that it is.

I’ve been in the Bay Area a grand total of one week. Despite the first 5 days in Daly City covered in fog and slightly colder weather, I’m a fan. Which reminds me…the weather. Is is supposed to be Summer, or am I hallucinating? I didn’t know the words “Summer” and “it feels nice outside” could go in the same sentence. My brain all but short-circuits when I tell a friend that it’s mid-August and mid-60s. It blows my mind.

So far I have (1) missed my bus stop and had to walk extra blocks so many times I lost count, (2) met a neighbor who informed me he was “in charge of keeping the neighborhood clean” [note: I couldn't tell if he was a hippie or homeless…I guess that fine line is still a little blurry to me…], (3) learned that it takes me one hour to church, (3) summited mountains [better said…I've walked around the City frequently], (4) had a fight break out next to me on a bus [I made a narrow escape], and (5) seen a bottle of Dove shampoo for $9.95.

I’m not the best writer or blogger, but I do intend to give this thing a shot…and if Laza pulls his weight, also then this may just turn out to be a success.

(This photo was taken from the docks at Fisherman’s Wharf looking back towards the City.)