Life is blooming all over here :D It's been a while since I received flowers, so I was so happy to wake up to these white ones this morning. 

We've reached mid-20 degrees Celsius here. After doing morning QT, we all took our books to read in the green lawn. J was reading her play to act out in the afternoon, and R explained the meaning of one her lines. Wandering around the library of my school, SIPA, I found an anthology of Vietnamese households (Reconfiguring Families in Contemporary Vietnam), which totally grasped my attention nowadays. 

Super shocked to hear that Seoul got snow this week! Talk about crazy weather, huh?

I wonder when you girls start each morning. Late evenings sometimes provide a setting for reflective and time-constrained essays, but sounds of ambulances and noisy people on the streets often disturb my train of thought. In general, I prefer serene early mornings. From Monday to Friday, I usually wake up between 6 to 6:30. If the weather permits, I take a walk outside.

April air in New York is still uninviting, so I read, write or pray and then go to morning QT(quiet time) gathering that starts at 7:30 on campus. New graduate school friends, ssong unni and I started this gathering in the fall 2010, so that we can routinely read the Bible. In the fall of 2012, we opened up this group to everyone on campus, non-Christians and Christians attending different churches to attend to reflect on the verses of the day and share on their reflections.

Today, one of the nonbeliever SJ oppa has received acceptance to pursue a PhD in accounting and it was his last day to attend. So we had a breakfast feast to celebrate! It was timely since others had also received acceptance and we hadn't celebrated Easter together yet.

Sharing the morning and a meal together can be life-changing, even if we don't realize it. Apparently, it was the same for oppa as well. I've been thinking about what it means to be a healthy living community. The more I think about it, I'm blessed to have these people and to have met you girls in my teenage years <3 <3 

New York is almost a second home to me now, considering that I've lived here almost seven years so far. Wait.. I better qualify my statement to upper west side of New York. My family moved more than ten times because my dad used to be a journalist. So we haven't spent that long of a period in one place (we live in the suburbs now but might move to Seoul again).

When at school, I sometimes forget that I'm in New York. I fell in love with this school when I was sixteen years old and the love-hate relationship began. But this year, the love for this school and campus grows everyday as I spend more time on research at my favorite library spots. and building a living community here through morning holy star QT gathering, Harlem explorer volunteer, and Sunday services on campus.

The view of the sky from a study room I discovered my second year of grad school endowed a feeling of renewal and peace on this ordinary Tuesday morning.