It’s hard to say good-bye to 2009 without recounting the memorable, action-packed and snow-filled Sierra Lodge trip that took place in November 2009. It’s hard to describe the event in words, but hopefully you can get a picture of the trip by looking at the photos above and the video clips below.

We had the brothers playing basketball at 3am in the morning: oldies versus younguns (dividing age line was 30). I have to say that the oldies just humbled the younguns.

We took a hike in the snow in the Sierra land. While enjoying the wonderful and pristine beauty of nature, we used the fresh snow to make snowballs and play snow fights. We love nature!

After we got back, we played an intense round of King Kong Shower in the Sierra Lodge. The sisters prevailed (or should I say dominated) over the brothers throughout the game.

We went to Disneyland on the 26th and spent a whole day there. Disneyland was indeed the magic kingdom, in which we got to get on rides and watched various shows. Here is a clip of a few of us taking the ride called “Big Thunder.”

The next day, we started our day by visiting Caleb’s parents’ church for Sunday Worship Service. We were treated with three testimonies of three Chinese intellectuals’ journey to know God and to settle at that church. Many of us were very touched by the testimonies. After enjoying the delicious lunch at this Chinese restaurant named Sam Woo, we visited the Getty Museum. It was an awesome museum with several special exhibits. Sorry that I cannot show you any pictures because taking pictures was not allowed.

After Getty Museum, some members went to the Hollywood street. The next day, they went to the laguna beach and a few more tourist attraction spots. It was an awesome trip.

Ok so what exactly is a photo scavenger hunt, you ask?

The scavenger hunt is basically a game where people, either individuals or teams, are given a list of items or activities they have to do (all free things) to accomplish. Whoever comes back first or within the allotted time wins. Except in our case, people were given a list of places to find on campus and take photographs as a team…some of the pictures turned out to be hilarious. Here are some of the highlights.

This picture was supposed to be taken in front of any bear statue on campus. Check out Team 1’s “Cal Bear” picture.

Interesting…was jtarn supposed to be the bear J ??

Or the “many things you can do with a newspaper” by team 2.

I have no idea who came up with the idea of eating newspapers came from or that people even did that but it is an intriguing thought.

At the end, we had to judge the best pictures to identify the winning team.

On the whole it was pretty clear who had the best picture but there was one category that had me stumped.  It was the best “emergency” picture. There were two that were really close and to this day I go back and forth on who had the best fake emergency.

Team 5…

OR

Team 3…

You be the judge and let us know your choice.  Check out the rest of the photos.

After announcements we loaded up into cars to go to the 3 Bridge Tour of SF. We headed to Battery Park in Marin County to see the Golden Gate Bridge. It was covered with fog and at the brief time  we were there we were also covered with fog. Howling winds of many miles per hour and pitch black darkness made for some interesting pictures. We quickly got back to our warm cars and headed to Ghirardelli for ice cream. It was packed and we also ran into some of our classmates. We ended the night with lots of pictures, some taken by major. Based on the gender differences, can you guess which picture is of which major- social sciences, engineering, and optometry?

Next week, we are going to have BBQ and soccer to celebrate the end of the summer home church as well as to welcome the new Berkeley international graduate students that we met through airport pickups and home dinners. If you are a new graduate student, please feel free to come join us.

I am so excited about our Grad Haven apartments. First, I see that God creates a community among our graduate students (and some non-graduate students), bring their relationship closers. They are not just sharing a place, which some graduate students do to save costs, but they are sharing their lives. Second, I see that God could really use their places to provide a haven to the incoming students. Graduate school is difficult, and sometimes, very lonely. Yet, these brothers want to show other graduate students that they don’t have to do it all alone. Third, I foresee that I will hear many good stories coming out of Grad Havens as these brothers rub lives with one another. I will be sure to update you with the best ones in the future.

Congratulations and go Grad Havens!

I don’t have detailed stats of all the players in these two teams. But suffice to say that both teams were pretty even skill-wise since the Berkeley home church was without two of their powerful players, Jon and fantheflame. Anyway, here is a quick run-down on what happened (Team Alameda = Alameda home church, Team Berkeley = Berkeley home church):

Team Alameda quickly scored a goal at 5 minutes from the start of game, 0-1.

In response, Team Berkeley quickly bounced back through a penal kick to tie the game at 1-1.

20 minutes into the game, Team Berkeley scored again to take the lead at 2-1.

End of first half.

Both churches looked significantly tired, but Team Alameda took advantage of Team Berkeley’s weak back field and scored the last goal in regulation with 5 minutes left to tie the game at 2-2.

Going straight into penalty kick to determine the winner, the two teams tied at 3-3 after 5 rounds of penalty kick. The goalies on both teams put on a great show in defending their goals, allowing for only one goal from each team.

It was the sisters’ turn to shoot for penalty kick at the Sudden Death round. Team Alameda scored the final goal to put the game away with the final score of 3-4.

It was a great game. And Team Berkeley treated Team Alameda to Quickly for yogurt and boba drink. I look forward to a rematch in the future.

The photo album below includes some really cute and funny baby pictures. Hope you will enjoy them.