Saving Grace

I've never been so happy that a week was over.
I cut up my hand, broke my rice cooker, and separated from my relationship.
Not to mention still recovering from being sick, catching up on a weeks worth of work and this rain and fog doesnt help. My room is a mess, the food in the fridge is spoiling and the dishes are piling up. I want to scratch the stitches off my hand. I'm lacking motivation, hemorrhaging money, and the VPN is so slow now that I cant even watch a movie. My diet has been reduced to boiled eggs and ramen and left over chicken nuggets. And maybe I could let myself cry a little, but even that doesnt make any sense. The year has beaten me up, and we're only 16 days in. To top it off..its not just me, I share my troubles with others, but maybe they wont have a scar to remind them.

I guess i have my saving graces, bits of light cutting through the dreary fog. My work gives me reason and great friends here bring me company and comfort along with dinner and dessert at times. The prospect of travel and promise of exotic land give me hope. And continuing to grow and learn bring me peace. Even though I have already found someone who completes me, I relish meeting new people and reminiscing with old friends. As something ends, many things also begin.

My saving grace is the unknown again. My penance is my solitude.

haha..whatever happened to the LEGO stuff on this blog?
LEGO World Copenhagen in February. Building for that along with work should keep me busy. Looking to build fun, interactive things for the kiddies and well, just to show off a little.
I hope my friends at NYBA are doing well. Flickr is showing them well.
Built the LEGO Architecture Rockefeller Center. Its great to build on that scale and even better to point out my favorite spots on it. It was a good building experience and a nice remembrance of home.

Man in the mirror.

Its so easy to reflect on the year for me, and surely there were so many ups and downs. Definitely more ups though.
And so many lessons learned, new experiences and yadda yadda yadda. I can go look through this blog, my facebook, my LEGO creations and in the mirror for my reflection.

Let me again look forward on the year to come.
So many more things to learn and places to see. I look forward to making even more friends in strange places and eating the food that makes me happy. And here's to deepening bonds, truer love and amazing sights.

It was true, 2010 was an amazing year, a year that went by way too fast..and maybe things at the end just help put them in perspective. I leave the next year as an open door, even wider than before.

A good time to make fewer promises, but yet get more things done. Life is short, live it up. Here's to not always knowing where you're gonna end up, but having a blast getting there.

3 months and a day

Sitting here waiting for my flight isnt so bad. I'm actually feeling a little hakuna matata these days. No worries; excited about paying my next months bills; excited about going home and just getting a break; paid again..

So its been 3 months and a day, feels a lot longer! theres been a lot, lot of changes, lots of progress and still lots of waiting. I've got most of the right paperwork, bank account, passport's still valid, all that good stuff. Met a great new set of internationals that i hope will be great friends in the future. Settled and striding at work. As my boss said, pushing forward!

I should try to be realistic, there are still lots of challenges ahead. Many more roads untraveled, at least by me. Though for a little while, i'd like to bask in a little bit of glory. I can now tell myself that it was a good idea to leave the DEP, a good idea to sacrifice successes for passion and a good idea to follow your heart. For now, it feels great, and i stand humbled by the half chances i've had to get here. A little hakuna matata.

But still have to get home for the holidays. Waiting to the tune of Terminator 2 and whatever else i can play in the background to pass the time. Its sure going fast. Here's to the next 3 months!

So, something I've made in the public domain..check out the little arm creation by me!

http://education.lego.com/en-gb/preschool-and-school/

Through his stomach

The way to a mans heart is through his stomach..they say.

I say nothing brings people together better than food. We had a potluck at my place over the weekend and you got to see what people bring to the table. It wasnt just about the food though, just a good time to see the grave hill crew before they all bounce for the holidays. Our little international community is small and temporary, we all know that, but the people grow on you really fast. Soon we'll move away to our separate places.

I wish i could remember all the foods, each one of them told a story about their makers. For me it was great to teach my danish roommate how to roll lumpia. Honestly, i've probably been boasting my Filipino/New York culture a little too much but I am proud of them. Theres nothing wrong with sharing great food with great people.

I've been doing these dinners at least once a week since i've gone here and it makes things so much more comfortable. It makes it feel like home. It makes the sudden move from home that much more bearable and thus making it easy to move forward. A man can always still miss home.

Each dinner has made me feel closer to home. And surely closer to my new friends here. And even further, appreciating the friends I have at home and the times we've had there.
All of this, through my stomach.

As for work, you can have an off day, where the brain just doesnt work. Builders block at my job can actually be a dangerous thing. But you have to keep working right? Crazy ideas are still ideas, even on a bad day one can still have a few. Actually have something really exciting coming up, but even more than that - the holidays.

Til then all.

Ramping up

We've gotten quite a bit of snow in the last 8 days. I'd say its snowed at least 5 of the last 8 days at least a few hours each. Its quite the winter wonderland and its taken me out of my funk a little bit. Its still cold as shit, but strangely pleasant. I have some sort of comfort in it, although i'm still searching for the reason why. It just is.

The amount of work i've been given has really ramped up. I'd say its tripled if not quadrupled in the past few weeks. Deadlines are looming, creating arguments and proving thoughts and concepts..just another day in the life. Strangely i want more. Theres so much more to learn.

And its all coming to a head. Soon to come home and see how life has changed around me. I cant wait just to see everyone that i miss so dearly and yet still anticipating returning in the new year and beginning new.

I'm starting to find the balance here. It's still tough to do so, but Its getting better and hopefully will become second nature. I've made some friends here and they're all great people. Where will we all be in the next year?

Looking forward again, getting back on my feet.

2 months - Still not ready

Just a few hours removed from my first two months away from home, i mean really away from home, and I stand amazed by how little i still know and how unprepared I was for this journey. But that's how we grow right? Getting thrown into the fire, and hopefully walkaway with meaningful scars.


I knew it would happen sooner or later, but I finally feel a little homesick. Maybe its the looming holiday that I'm missing. There's an air that's missing here around this time of year, and it's hit me harder than I thought it would. I honestly didnt prepare myself to miss thanksgiving. With all of the madness going on with the move, it totally slipped my mind and maybe thought that I could get through it. I'm sure i'll feel better at the end of the week and get to focus on my next 30 days or so before I go home for christmas.

That being said, I have a lot to be thankful for. Its been the most productive year of my life and surely the most life changing. I still can't believe i'm here where I am doing what i'm doing. The amount of experiences, good and bad this year really gave me a huge personal boost. Just all the support from my family and friends have been enough as well. I've also got a wonderful girlfriend, who's really been so good to me through all this too. Taking another step with reconnecting with my brother and hopefully it'll get better as the years go on. All of it bringing me back and remembering not to take any of this for granted. It can all come down so quickly, such is life. But i'm super thankful for it all hope everyone at home has a wonderful thanksgiving. I miss you all

I've been thinking about how unprepared i would be if I would buy a house for example. Its a valid thought at this stage in my life I think? I have no clue about it, and watching how people are just going through the motions with mortgages, loans, home repairs, and even something as simple as buying furniture! Its just more than I want to do, and so many other things to focus on. I do know that I want to build a wooden dummy at some point in my home life, what a silly thought right?

Surely i thought i could handle the separation in geography with Yvonne. Its so much harder than I thought. I find myself forgetting that she's 3000 miles away thinking she'll always be there when i'm ready to call or whatever and vice versa. Our time is limited already just by distance, and surely its been just a hard realization for me. Its on me to change my habits to make it work. She's been so supportive, but I've probably not been giving enough in return. Thanks for taking a look from outside for me..and I'll work harder at this.

I'm still not ready for all the craziness about to happen, all the adventures that i'll have. I'm still not ready for the many quiet nights, and silent dinners. I'm not ready for the successes and failures, trials and tribulations, fears and frustrations. Honestly, who is, and what fun would life be if i was.

I am ready to push forward, keep learning. Ready to take leaps of faith and jumps into deep water. Ready to create great things, change for the better and (at this hour...EAT.

and yes, the job is still fun even on a cold and hard monday morning.
I've built my first MOC since I moved here, check out the time lapse on my flickr account. (Ok, maybe not my first..but certainly the most independent one from my work stuff).

Happy thanksgiving again all, thanks for reading.
LeE

Learning New Languages

Even though everyone speaks English quite well here, there's still so much to learn!

Two weeks, just two weeks of Danish lessons have shown me just how hard the language is and how it is to really immerse myself into the culture. Its an exciting prospect, and a 'free' one. It's a journey well worth going on.

The LEGO Language is quite different as well. Parts don't have the names I'm used to. Modules instead of holes, elements instead of Bricks..really just SOP right? But there is quite a lot to learn here. The amount of Acronyms and initials for things could boggle the mind!

And the Dance, another style of salsa, its like learning to walk again. My head spins just as much as the turn patterns i'm trying to learn. But let it be just another language to learn. On top of the Danish, Spanish and Cuban salsa!

But like my favorite mediums, the universal languages of creativity, and movement - just a few more bricks to build with, and just a few more moves..