Good ol' home-cookin'

If you want to get away from Berkeley and have a home-cooked meal, you can come over to my place tonight. It's a "catch-your-own-ride" kind of a situation, and I'd say grab the nearest senior or smallgroup leader if you want to capitalize on the offer. Of course, there'll be the mandatory study room for the studious, and then there'll be the "I'm glad I'm away from Berkeley" room, mostly hovering in and around the food.

Last night's smallgroup among the frosh was fun since Joe's H.2 group joined too. The room was packed, but it was a good time to meet others and welcome new faces. We asked some questions and put the answers up on the board:

• What do you find attractive about Christianity or religion?
• What do you find repulsive about Christianity or religion?
• What do you think is difficult about being a Christian?

The sophomore smallgroups, as usual, each did their own thing. From inductive bible study to discussion over a chunk of text, I'll just speak for my group.

First, we took a survey of people's relative stress level on a scale of 1-10. With a kid on the way (yes, that would be me), mine was a little higher than most (a 7 in case you were wondering), and some of the sophs decided they'd like to retract their original number and submitted an integer significantly lower. But after that, we each of us put a question on the table so that we could talk about them in the upcoming weeks:

• One question about God; something I've always wondered or thought or wish I could ask...
• One question about myself; "If only I knew this about myself," or could figure out this part of my life...

Angel Island this weekend for the frosh. Oregon vs. Cal also. Go Bears.

UPDATE: Got my phone back. It's a text-messaging machine

no cell phone for me

My cell finally died. Waiting for a new one from Verizon. If you need to reach me, email me at kevanhoATgmailDOTcom.

the news of the week, 09.24

It's another week, and the midterm snowball that hit last week is bound to keep rolling till the end of the semester. And since you guys need some relief at some point in the week, keep an eye on these:

• freshman smallgroup, 6:30pm @ 204 Dwinelle on Wed. (9/26)
• sophomore smallgroup, 8pm @ 211 Dwinelle on Wed. (9/26)
• Koinonia bible study, 7 PM @ 145 Dwinelle on Fri. (9/28)
• Freshman Angel Island trip on Sat. (9/29). Memory-making trip out into the middle of the big blue center of the San Francisco Bay. Sign up online, or if you want more info about Angel Island, or just want to be convinced about what a great time you'll have, talk to one of the seniors or staff.

That's the 411 on what's happening this week.

As for RSF night this past Friday, congratulations to the sophomores for being #1. And for the freshmen, 2nd and 3rd is more than respectable: it's almost unheard of for freshmen to place so high! Could it be the additions of the seniors, or were the freshmen themselves truly responsible for such a stunning RSF debut? We'll have to see.

Haiku Friday

The Haiku is an art form. Subject, content, the delivery and its sense of timing. It's tough stuff. It might be just the stuff you need on a Friday to wake you up. See you guys tonight: bible study's @ Lipman, 7 PM & there's RSF night afterwards so bring appropriate gear.

On with the haiku show:

Winter rain falling,
Solemn earth shows no repose,
Steve Choi is caveman.
- John Cai [when he was a freshman]

working days grow long
sitting still makes me weary
take off shoes and stretch
- submitted by Steven Choi

Ken Chu is the Best.
I like to play basketball,
After I eat beef.
- submitted by Ken Chu

Running for the hills

For freshman smallgroup we opted to take off from the urban campus setting of Berkeley and fled for the hills. It was freezing, but the ice cold wind made us feel generally pretty masculine and tough, reminding us that we had lives other than the academic bookworming that seems to define reality: chem 1a, math 1a, etc. Between cold pizza, a courageous last stand on the whale until undermined by a cowardly Ken back-attack, some pictures, and calling Aaron "the man" for braving the arctic winds in shorts and a thin shirt, we had a chance to see the Bay Area in its panoramic splendor.

John shared about watching the webcam version of our view from late night CS programming, and we talked about the strange characters of Berkeley. All in all, no substantive content, but good times and laughter nonetheless. Just the sort of thing we all need sometimes.

Guys at babyshowers

Apparently, the cultural norm is that guys don't show up at babyshowers. It's a "woman thing". Well, not with me and my friends. This past Sunday (9/16) my friends threw Jenny and I a babyshower, literally showering us with gifts, good company, lots of laughter, and the kind of love evident through care and attention. Some of the H.1 guys made it out, and that was really special. There's a ton of pictures, but here's a couple. If you're really interested, I guess the Flickr album is always accessible.

Jenny said she laughed so hard, she was afraid she was going to self-induce labor.

411 on this week, 9/17

The funny thing is that the seniors (together with the freshmen) are taking Chem 1a. Their midterm's tonight, and I'm sure John and Steve are looking forward to it. Anyway, here's info on what's happening this week:

• freshman smallgroup's meeting on Wed., at 6 PM @ the Anna Head West parking lot, on Channing across the street from Crossroads. We'll eat dinner up in the Berkeley hills and be back to the dorms by 8. Kind of a longer smallgroup evening than usual, but figured it was a nice change of pace
• the sophomore smallgroups are meeting in different places on Wed. night. Kevan & Eddie's group is meeting at 8:30 in 204 Dwinelle. And Ben and Tim's group is meeting a little earlier at 8 in 125 Dwinelle.
• H.1 has setup this week for bible study (which is Friday, 7 PM @ Lipman room), and we'll probably start at 5. Kevin D. is the point man, so if you'd like to help, give him a ring.
• for the frosh, Angel Island trip is coming up. More info on that later, but if you'd like to go, it's Saturday, 9/29, and you can sign up online at our Koinonia site.

Totally unrelated, all you skaters, please be careful. There's been a bunch of falls in the past couple weeks: Justin, Howard, Brandon, Mike, Stephan, and last night Steve took a bad spill on Bancroft. He passed out from the fall and the police called the paramedics. Thankfully, he's okay (no doctor's note to get out of that chem midterm), but please be careful. Don't try to be cool and fast on busy streets. You can be safe and cool.

Jenny wanted to get you guys helmets and kneepads but I told her to just calm down.

Imaginary pet squirrels

After bible study on Friday (we covered Genesis 2 and the worth of man [based on the Spirit of God breathed into us] and humanity's need for relationship and community), our homegroup went over to Manny & Sunny's. Over quesadillas and some good ol' home cooking (potstickers and some Korean sides), we laughed and had a pretty good time. We decided to get serious and had five people give obscure stories from their childhood. Among them were:

• not an imaginary friend, but an imaginary pet squirrel named (of all things) Squirrel
• an iguana named Mr. Joe, which was lost in the forests near Pittsburgh
• video gaming so bad the counter and a potted plant both cracked
• 3rd place finish in a slam dunk contest
• and the most memorable Cal move-in adventure ever.

Manny, John, Howard, Kevin, and Steve vulnerably bared their precious childhood moments with us, and in between the laughter, we tried in vain to guess who lived which story. All said and done, however, probably the Oscar ought to go to John for getting people to believe he had an imaginary pet squirrel.

Questions for God

This past week in our freshman smallgroup, we asked the question: "If you could ask God one question and get an answer, what would you ask?"

After thoughtful consideration in smaller groups, some of the questions people brought to the table:

• If God created man in His image, why are we so messed up?
• Why is there so much suffering and evil in the world? Why do the good guys seem to lose, and the bad guys win? Why do people who try so hard end up failing?
• If there's a God, why did He create us?
• What's my purpose? What's my goal?
  
• Why does God allow violence in the world?
  
• What is love?
• Is God personal or obscure?
  

There were more, of course. But that's it for now. Maybe we'll have a chance to answer some of them this semester.

In addition to the "God-questions", I also left room for people to ask questions about our group and what we do in general. One of the guys asked, "Is it true girls aren't allowed at smallgroup?" At first I thought he was just joking. It reminded me of a Calvin & Hobbes cartoon, but actually, I think he really wants to know. So I'll make sure we have time to talk about it at our next meeting on Wednesday.

On another note, looking forward to basketball on Saturday morning @ the RSF. The sophomores said they want a piece of the freshmen.

Got Safety?

What is up with our campus lately? Nine robberies in between Sept. 1 to Sept 10 doesn't make for a very safe campus environment. Anyway, watch out. UC Police has this to say about the recent spate of robberies, as well as some safety advice at the bottom of the article.

Don't try to be tough. Better to be safe.

things going on this week, 9/10

Here's the latest and greatest:

• Freshman smallgroup on Wed. (9/12), @ 6:30 PM, 204 Dwinelle. Dinner is on
• Sophomore smallgroup on Wed. (9/12), @ 7:45 PM, 125 Dwinelle. Light food
• Koinonia bible study on Fri. (9/14), @ 7 PM, Lipman Room, which is on the 8th floor of Barrows. Afterwards, we're headed to Manny's place to hang out so make sure you catch a ride.

Saturday's the Cal Football Game against Louisiana Tech. Some guys are going to the stadium, and the rest of us will have to find a TV somewhere. Then there's others (like Stephan) who need to study for their midterms. No matter what happens, Go Bears.

That's it for now.

NSWN 2007

Every year, Koinonia teams up w/ acts2fellowship to put on New Student Welcome Night. We do it with the help of a lot of volunteers, as well as some guidance from the good folks over at Gracepoint Fellowship Church in Berkeley and Pastor Ed Kang and Kelly Kang, who all play a huge role, helping us craft the program, and figuring out what should go in and what should get left out.

Anyway, it's THE event of Welcome Week and we had a huge turnout once again. There's always a chance to read more about it if you're so inclined at the New Student Welcome Night blog.