~ Me and my beloved uncle ~

This picture was taken before his surgery this July.
I spend almost 1.5 weeks in Reno and visited him every day at the hospital. He was and I am sure he still is in very much pain. One of his daughters died of cancer a few years ago at exactly my age, which is 32, leaving two children behind! This is like a nightmare for me. I missed saying goodbye to her since the doctors gave her 6 more months. But she died about 2 months after she was diagnosed with terminal cancer and after I got the news. Back then I promised to never let this ever happen again. This is why I dropped everything and left right away.

He is now back in intensive care and can barely eat. He is doing very bad right now. Please God don’t make him suffer too much. I hate to see family members dying of cancer..

James just told me that his family may go on a family vacation in September. They are thinking about taking a group tour to China. Hmm. I dunno. Our initial plans were to go on a Europe tour late September. If he goes to China before going on that Europe trip then I will do my own kinda thing. In fact I was thinking about going back to Korea to take some Korean classes for a few weeks. I told him to go ahead and travel alone with his brother to some European countries first and I would join them later on. He said that they would be lost without me. Sure hun. As if Europeans dunno how to speak English. That’s such a lame excuse. You wanna make your baby feel guilty, huh? Dat only worked for a few seconds my dear, lol

eastcoastlife tagged me with this meme.

The Rules of this tag:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. List eight (8) random facts about yourself.
3. Tag eight people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving them a comment on their blogs.

Fact # 1
I am a Korean trapped in a Vietnamese body
Yes, I love Gae jang. Beondegi, what is that again?

Fact # 2
I love playing card games including Poker
River, river? Which river?

Fact # 3
I don’t like Blockbuster movies
Hasta la vista baby!

Fact # 4
I love to travel the world
Is there a way to fly without polluting the air?

Fact # 5
I love James!
No, no, no! He is not just a friend. He is more than a friend.
He is my Jagee and the one and only.

Fact # 6
I love Kimchi!
What the kimchi is that? See Fact # 1

Fact # 7
No shave, no kiss
Kekekek - I don’t like kissing a barb

Fact # 8
I love my life

Here are the people I have tagged:

Zeezee
Cindy
Cely
OnlyBlue
Eva
Sparklette
Just Alyx
Wawai

According to the Korea Herald a new hostage was killed: The victim is believed to be 29 year old Sim Sung-min, male. I truly hope that this news is false.

Bae Hyung Kyu 42 yrs was found shot in Afghanistan. The Taliban killed him on his birthday. His body was found next to one of the leading major highways in Kabul. In the past he has led different groups to Bangladesh and Afghanistan and was going to lead another group to Africa to help the locals. He is survived by his wife and daughter. As a result the South Korean government has banned any entry of South Koreans into Afghanistan asking Kabul to deny any entry into the country or the issuing of any visas for Afghanistan. What a terrible and cruel world this sometimes can be. May he rest in peace.

My colleague asked me yesterday whether I could give her a ride home since her car was getting fixed. No Problem for me, eh? She lives on top of a mountain and the street that leads to her house is pretty steep. At one point I could tell how my car was having a hard time going uphill. I pressed the gas pedal and also shifted into the second and third gear but I could tell that it was too much for my tiny little car. It was like trying to convince a horse to run without it wanting to. I had been to her house before and back then it wasn’t a problem at all. But this time it was truly different. Having realized that I parked my car right next to the street and pulled the breaks. I called AAA and waited for almost two hours. But of course all of a sudden it was not a problem anymore. I know that there is someting wrong with my car but they could not find the source of it. Sigh. My car is having a mind on its own.

Some of you may be wondering what happened to the company car that I had initially chosen. I have made up my mind and have taken a different decision. Will let you guys know about it some time later..

23 South Koreans are being held hostage by the Taliban in Afghanistan. The Ultimatum has been extended to another 24 hours until tomorrow. The Taliban are threatening to kill them. They are all member of a Christian Group that have gone to Afghanistan to help the local people. I truly hope that a solution will be found to have them return back home safely

Hic hic. This is really too funny. Load the following site and click above where the loading button appears. Make sure you turn on the volume on your computer and also don’t forget to click again =) Enjoy!

Here I am now. Spending my last few days in California. After being with my uncle in Reno for about 1.5 weeks I have headed down to San Diego after a short stop at my family reunion in Sacramento. Reno was covered with smoke from the wooden fires that have spreaded around Nevada. I have never seen such a thing before. It was a long drive down here. I am a bit tired now. I am currently trying to download these 954 emails but my Outlook seems to always stop halfway. Can’t believe it has taken me so far over a day to actually download half of those emails.

I met one of our potential Korean clients here as well. He gave me a pretty cute present that he self wrapped. Gosh was I impressed. I don’t remember having ever seen such a nice gift wrap from a guy before. It’s too nice to unwrap!

We had a very delicious business/leisure dinner yesterday at the Saigon restaurant in San Diego which is located on Fifth. Though the dishes were not truly authentic they were still very very tasty. The decor is beautiful and they have some tables in their cozy little backyard. I can very much recommend it.

I have also spend a few days in San Francisco where I met Alyx. A crazy but lovely Korean girl. We went over to have a cup of coffee close to the beach. I wished we had more time because we connected very well. I guess we will have to meet again some time soon my dear, lol

James had been so kind to drive me down here. He is my professional driver, lol. I am glad I was able to meet his parents again eventhough I could not spend much time with them. This trip had been very exhausting and tiring for me. I feel like as if I need another week of sleep in order to recover. Hmm. Monday is my first day back to work. Zzz_zZZZ Zzz_zzZ

Since I have currently left Germany in a rush due to the circumstances I have forgotten to bring along my adapter. Thus my cellphone is not working. I have gotten a few messages and will reply to everyone. Please do not try to call me until July 22nd when I will have returned. For further information please contact me via Email at: mail(at)lan-pham.de

Aufgrund der etwas ueberstuerzten Abreise in die USA, habe ich den Adapter fuer mein Handy vergessen. Alle Interessierten moegen mich daher bitte zunaechst erst einmal per Email kontaktieren. Meine Email-Adresse ist: mail(at)lan-pham.de

Per Telefon bin ich wieder ab dem 22 Juli erreichbar.