Season's greetings & 7th blog-anniversary

Pic: Me & Winterberries in October I accidentally hit my head quite hard on top last Sunday. I was sitting down the floor looking for something in the fridge then quickly stood up without knowing the freezer's door above was wide open. This time, I hit my head so hard that I felt great pain and had to sit down on the floor for some time until the pain subsided then went to bed to rest as I felt tired and light-headed. Lying on the bed gave me a chance to look back. Thinking of those motorbike accidents I had in VN, I feel blessed and thankful that though I had a big bruise or some scars, I did not hit my head or something... The following day after hitting my head, I had a headache the whole day. I went to the doctor's. She said I had a bruise there but it was not bad and that I was fighting against a cold made me sleepy and tired... I still feel dizzy and light-headed today.  I hope what the doctor said is right, as hitting our head that hard is not good at all especially when I've read many articles about the silent danger of internal bleeding, which in some cases slowly happen even weeks after going to the doctor's. Hic. Going to the doctor is better than not going, but I was still not 100% sure and without worry now, just like my nosebleed, after going to the doctor's, my nose now is still bleeding... So, try to be careful not to hit our head!! It is not comfortable at all knowing that we run the risk of something dangerous, even the tiniest risk is not comfortable at all :(. But I hope I will be fine and everything is OK. Live well, be more careful and cherish life! Now, some brief lines for December & season's greetings ... When it is December, I enjoy listening to Christmas songs on the radio, gazing at glittering decorations along the roads or feeling the warmth drifted from my cup of chocolate on the table... I love how we could savor the coziness that is beautifully wrapped inside the cold winter.  We have been so busy and I am not feeling well. So no photos now. Just let me add to this post a Christmas song that I like... Video source: Youtube.   ...As we drove around the cities, I enjoyed listening to Christmas songs and gazing at glittering decorations along the roads  December is the month of Christmas and the coming New Year. December this year also marks 7 years since the birth of my first blog entry... I've added snowflakes (of many kinds :D) to my blog (in entry Xmas flipbook from G+ Holiday party ) I also used some html codes to combine different gif files together and create this banner as you have seen : Ain't this cute ? :P  Let's take this as the mini Christmas gift I made for you & for my journal. ;) As Xmas approaches and New Year is around the corner, I would like to take this opportunity to send my best wishes for the festive season and a happy New year to everyone, especially to all of my readers. I hope you enjoy reading my journal and look forward to sharing with you more posts in the coming year. Thank you for your kind support. BEST WISHES FOR YOU AND FOR ME KhoaThy's Journal "Yesterday - Today - Tomorrow  Each day is as special as you want it to be."

Xmas FLIPBOOK from G+ Holiday Party

We attended the Google+ Holiday Party at The San Francisco Design Center last Saturday night. The party was great, and we went home with a lovely gift - the cute Xmas flipbook, which I am about to share with you in this entry ;P

Golden autumn - Mùa thu vàng

Autumn leaves are falling tenderly, singing a mellow autumn’s song...

Though it is hard to witness a golden autumn in Vietnam, it is not difficult to find beautiful Vietnamese songs and poems dedicated to this season ("Golden autumn" - "Thu vàng" (melody and lyrics by Cung Tiến), "The Sound of Autumn" - "Tiếng thu" (poem by Lưu Trọng Lư) etc.) . I really respect the beauty of these and many other works - the beauty that resides in soulful poetic imagery, evocative sentiments, and excellent choice of words.

As for this entry, let me cite a Vietnamese pop song, “Mùa thu vàng” (by Ngọc Châu) - “Golden Autumn”.

Fall foliage - Part 5: Oak - Fall's pieces

Writing these entries, I feel like a child joyously and clumsily playing with an interesting jigsaw puzzle – a multibillion-piece puzzle of autumn that I really enjoy doing... 

And this entry is about a lovely piece that I am happy to pick up and place into the beautiful picture of fall –  oak leaves :) 

Fall foliage - Part 4 : Maple & Shining sumac

Photos on Nov 10, 2013

To me, it is interesting to watch leaves changing colors, and it is even more interesting to find out the names of these species of trees. 

In previous entries, I have written about ginkgoes and sweet gums. In this entry, I continue with the other two species of trees that have brought gorgeous fall colors to me:  maples and shining sumacs. 

When I was a teacher...

"listen to her firm and emotional eyes at the end. This insightful and inspirational video suddenly reminds me of the time when i was giving classes on presentation techniques." - that is how I feel after watching a TED talk my friend shared on fb. (original link: http://www.ted.com/talks/kelly_mcgonigal_how_to_make_stress_your_friend.html) -  This is a great talk on how we should deal with stress. I can learn from it, yet what makes the clip more moving to me is, when I watch it, I am reminded of the old time when I was a teacher. This may sound odd & irrelevant, but that is how I feel...

Listening to that clear tone of voice, noticing her body language, facial expressions, the way she talks, the way she smiles... and many other techniques that she uses, I can't help missing the time when I was teaching presentation skills. These TED talks were once used as example videos in my class... Long-buried memories just come back so vividly. At the end of the talk, looking at her firm and emotional eyes, I feel touched... as in that look, I see the old me ... 

If I have a chance to write about my 4 years being a teacher, there are many things to write, but for now I am not talking much about that. I just briefly say these 2 things:
- I feel honored to have been a teacher and have taught my students - some that are very eloquent and brilliant!, some that are innocent and playful, some that are caring and artistic, some that are confident and talkative, some that are sweet and lovely... and all that have something for me to learn :) 
- I do not care if they know to appreciate all that I did, or if they still remember me now & forever. I am just happy as whenever I look back, I know I once taught with all my heart, & I am happy when some students tell me that I have inspired them and have changed their life.

Time swiftly goes by since I came here. Sometimes, I feel stressed and do not want to stop to remember who I was. I have a new life and a new plan. I am always like that, always look cold, but inside, I never forget and you know I am not an indifferent person at all. I want to leave the past all behind as I have so many things to catch up here. I do not want to be caught in nostalgia missing me and the good old days. However, sometimes, being reminded of who I was, on the bright side, gives me more motivation to keep going ahead and add more meaning to my life.

Today happens to be Nov 20 - Vietnamese Teachers' day. Annually, on Nov 20, I miss my old teachers and my schooldays... This year, Nov 20 comes reminding me of my teachers, my schooldays as usual, but now, it also reminds me of the time when I was a teacher.

Many things to say, but as I put it, my love, my memories, my emotions and experiences are there deep in my heart, what I say here is just what I could say, in a brief entry.
Just a brief entry for an emotional day...

_____

Nov 20, 2013

Today is a hazy day. 
I spend a whole afternoon reading emails, messages and greetings from my old students. Sometimes I smile, sometimes I stop to think, and sometimes I laugh a lot...
It is still raining outside...


Some teaching memories

portrait from my student.

a surprise handmade from a lovely"Santa Claus"

View all

KhoaThy's Journal

"Yesterday - Today - Tomorrow 

Each day is as special as you want it to be."

Fall foliage - Part 3: Sweet gum or Maple? ;)

I am busy these days and cannot find time for writing, but this entry has been waiting for me so long, for already a few weeks. So now, let me make time for some writing before fall flies away. :)

Date taken : Nov 2, 2013.
Photo credit : My husband 

***

Have you been there just like me – admiring beautiful sweet gums every fall day but mistaking them for some kind of maples? 

Sweet gums and Maples are no siblings from the same family, but if we have not seen them before, we may be easily confused by their similar leaf shapes.

Fall foliage - Part 2: Ginkgo - Mùa thu & rẻ quạt

(Continued from Part 1 : A quest for fall foliage )

If you are a fan of Japanese comic books or have watched some famous Japanese anime, chances are that you have heard of this romantic tree – ginkgo, or “hoa” rẻ quạt - as how it is beautifully translated into Vietnamese...

I have once or twice read and imagined how this “hoa” rẻ quạt might look like, whether it would be that poetic in real world… I was curious, yet I never thought that one day, in my first fall in California, this interesting tree would unexpectedly walk out from the old comic books and come to me that beautiful...

Fall foliage – Part 1: A quest for fall colors

I am still overwhelmed with love for autumn and don’t know where to begin this entry… Many things to write...

Đi tìm mùa thu ...

- Fall, where are you?

A little autumn garden for a little “pumpkin family”

Walking down the streets on these late October days, I often gaze at Halloween decorations at many houses’ front doors, which put on a spookier look with cold wind and dim light at night. As for me, Halloween this year is simply some sweet pumpkin decoration, but I am still happy and want to share with you this entry.

Do you still remember the pumpkin family I told you at the end of the recent entry “...Pumpkin fairy tale" ? So here is how they are spending their Halloween at my home. ^^

Photos in Fall - Part 3 : Pumpkin fairy tale ;)

Fall is well-known as the poetic season of chilly winds, brittle leaves, splendid colors and also many fragrant harvests (these might be some last beautiful harvests of the year). As a long-time orchard lover, never do I want to miss such a thing as a visit to the farm! ...

Part 3: Pumpkin fairy tale

***

This is interesting. After finishing my writing, on thinking of a title for this entry, I come up with a story - a story based on the pictures in this album. I think I could weave this into a tale and write down a decent story:

"Pumpkin fairy tale" 

^^

However, (don't worry :D), I am just telling you the real story below ;)

***












(Continued from  Part 1  & Part 2 )

Photos in Fall - Part 2 : Apple orchard

Fall is well-known as the poetic season of chilly winds, brittle leaves, splendid colors and also many fragrant harvests (these might be some last beautiful harvests of the year). As a long-time orchard lover, never do I want to miss such a thing as a visit to the farm! ...

(Continued from Part 1) 

Part 2: Apples orchard

Actually, we were looking for some u-pick fuyu persimmons – the fruit with the beautiful color of fall. But it was not easy to find a persimmon farm nearby, so we decided to visit an apple orchard first. Though apples are said to be best in September, now, in mid-October, they are still in season.

Photos in Fall - Part 1: A flower-lover lady :P

Fall is well-known as the poetic season of chilly winds, brittle leaves, splendid colors and also many fragrant harvests (these might be some last beautiful harvests of the year). As a long-time orchard lover, never do I want to miss such a thing as a visit to the farm!

We went on a fantastic trip to some farms last Sunday. It was quite a long drive but really worth it. We both had a great time enjoying all the fresh scents and vibrant colors of the farm, and of course, we did not forget to capture a handful of photos. 

I really love the trip and these photos. They are so beautiful that I won’t be selfish just keeping them for myself. But there are quite a lot of photos taken in different places, I guess I should upload them into some smaller parts.

This is part 1. I’ll start with some photos of the violet blooms in fall.

Part 1: A flower-lover lady 

* Models: a flower-lover lady       * Photographer: husband of this flower-lover lady :P

There are quite many photos, so let's go on a brief slideshow!

or you can follow this link:  

Recurrent nosebleed

I visited an ENT specialist this morning. After cauterization, my nose now still hurts a little bit and it is still running. However, today, I feel so relieved, secure & grateful because now, after the visit, I know that I am fine.

I have been dealing with this nosebleed for almost 3 months. The first times I noticed blood on my tissue, I was really shocked. That morning, I was not blowing my nose hard at all, but on my tissue, there was something slightly red. I hoped it was some kind of ketchup but I knew I was not using any ketchup at all. Nor was I wearing lipstick. But I didn't want to believe it was blood and tried to scrutinize those stains. Yet on blowing my nose again, I saw more blood. Never before had I had such nosebleed. Through researching on nosebleed online, I felt even more worried. Nosebleed could be caused by many reasons, often because the vessels in our nose are fragile and they can be easily cracked. Usually nosebleed is not serious, but it should be checked to make sure that was not the sign of other disease like the early sign of tumor or even cancer. That was scary. I was worried, and the info I read online started to disturb my peace of mind. But then I just reassured myself that my nosebleed was caused by the most common reasons - dry and cold weather, which did make sense since I just came here. However, day by day, nosebleed became such an obsession. Whenever I had a runny nose, I got to look at the tissue and check for any blood. I hoped it soon went away, but to my disappointment, it kept coming back and even came more often. Almost every morning, in the fluid from my nose lied a trickle of blood. 

Nosebleed was not something to welcome at all, especially when I was already undergoing a tremendous amount of stress and worries. Most of them were about my health... Just in less than 3 months, I have been to such a long list of doctors, from dermatologist (for skin, hair and the terrible breakouts of itchy pimples all over the face and the back), dentists (to remove wisdom tooth), optometrist (for blurred vision), cardiologist (for palpitations which even reached 120 bpm when I stood, and 170 when I ran )... Appointments with doctors waited in lines and I had to see doctors almost every week, go to pharmacy so often... That's why I did not want to talk to anyone or answer honestly whenever they asked me "khoẻ không". Some might take it personally when I kept quiet, but I just did not want to answer that I was not fine at all and was worried about my health more than ever :(. That was not to say some other stories related to health that I gave much thought about... Just say, I was so stressed and tired that I did not want to go to one more doctor to check the nose. It cast such a shadow on me but I had to set aside that nosebleed and wait until I was finished with the other doctors and after taking my driving test. I also wanted to give time for it to go away, and hoped I wouldn't have to go to the doctor's. My friends here also confirmed that maybe it was just because of the dry weather.

However these recent weeks, I continued to see blood in mucus every morning, coming together with headache. Doing exercise helped me feel better but didn't swipe the nosebleed away. I even tried to keep myself warm in blanket when I slept or woke up, but it didn't help at all. So, we made an appointment with doctor from early this week. This morning, I went to the doctor in hope that everything was OK and I wanted to feel secure.

Treatment

This morning was the first time I was pleased with medical service in US. I had told myself maybe they would ask me to go to lab or take pictures or wait for sth else, then I had to visit the doctor again, it would took for 1, 2, or 3 weeks or kinda. Last time when I had my heart check, I had to visit the office for many weeks. If you live here, you would know how time-consuming everything is here. But this morning, everything was done fast and professionally. The doctor could speak Vietnamese, did all the checkup, nasal endoscopy, and cauterization, all in office and it did not take much time. He was also very kind.

More details about the nosebleed treatment. After finishing all his examination, the doctor turned on the screen with pictures and told me about my nose. It was a little nervous sitting down and listening to the result. He said, when he had a look into my nose, he saw a large vulnerable blood vessel in the right nostril, which caused the bleeding.  To make sure there was nothing serious inside the nose, he also performed the nasal endoscopy (my husband told me he saw such a long stick with camera penetrating deep into my nose hic). From the examination, he said I was OK, which was so good to know, I was just waiting for that very word. So, the doctor suggested "burning" the vessel that cause the bleeding. & the burning (cauterization) was done right after that. He told me this cauterization was done for even five-year-old children, so it would not hurt !! ^^ (But now after the anesthetic has worn off, it does hurt a little, but I know I'm fine, and that's good to feel more secure! :)

Causes

I've learned from the doctor today something interesting and helpful, it is new to me. I already know dry weather causes the nose to bleed, but what more I've learned today is, "dry" doesn't necessarily means "cold & dry", it could also be HOT & dry =) When the doctor said I shouldn't take a lot of hot shower, I was so surprised, but now I understand, hot & dry is also the reason. This also explains why these days, so afraid that dry and cold weather would cause my nosebleed, I even covered the blanket over my nose to keep warm but it still did not help, the nosebleed even came stronger. :)

 

Home treatment & Prevention

According to the doctor, it takes about one week for the cauterized vessel to really heal. And I now need to use "moisturizer" for the nose. Doctor recommended me the NasoGEL for dry noses. He also said, such nosebleed can also go away if we drink a lot of water, and use some kind of nose lubricant to prevent the nose from getting dry.

I have to shut down my laptop now. I may modify this entry later, and someday I'll definitely write something about the dry climate here, which has caused me a lot of troubles since I came here. Not only did I have to use the right body lotion, facial moisturizer, chapstick like many has warned me, I also have to use eye cream for eyes getting a lot of wrinkles more than ever, eye drop for watery eyes, and now added to the list was "moisturizer" for my dry nose.

But today I'm happy to know I'm going out of the shadow cast by that recurrent nosebleed.

DMV Driving test – My experience

I had my behind-the-wheel test last week. The test date happened to be right on my husband’s birthday. I feel so thankful that I passed the test the 1^st time and didn’t disappoint my husband and family.   Before the test, I still remember how I needed tips and words of wisdom from previous test-takers, so now, I am writing this to share a thing or two about my experience of the test, which might be of help to those who are preparing for their driving test in California, esp. in San Jose.  (Having mentioned San Jose, I meant I took the test in San Jose (SJ), not Sunnyvale, where I live, I will tell you why later.)

We can access lots of handy tips online, here I just note down a few tips that most articles do not mention or underline. These are some helpful ones that I learnt from my first-hand experience. 

1/ Test Application – Remember to have the SSN if you are eligible for one. 

Following the appointment my husband made with DMV when I was still in Vietnam, I visited the Sunnyvale DMV for the written test just a week or two after I arrived in US. At that time, I still had very little understanding of what life and driving is like here, but my husband had booked the date, so I just came for the test after cramming a night before =/ . We got up early, hurried to the venue, had a queue, waited for our turn to be served, filled in all the paperwork, then … just went home, no test =)) The reason was, I am a US resident and I had to wait for my Social Security Number to come before taking the written test. So, as a US resident, don’t go for the test until you’ve got your SSN. 

2/ The written test

- We can access a lot of materials and questions online or even do some quiz through phone apps. My husband told me he only spent about 3 hours doing some practice tests online before the test, which was enough for him to get a pass. But as for me, I am new here, so I spent time going through the CA driving handbook 2 or 3 times to get to know the rules of road here before trying some test questions online. Doing the practice test and questions online was really helpful. It reminded me of what I had read in the handbook, which was often forgettable and confusing. In the real test, some questions I had seen at home did appear and I could easily make the right choice, but sure, some questions were new to me, and I just guessed the answer :P. It’s funny that the questions I was not sure about turned out to be correct, but the ones I was more confident about were marked as wrong choice =)).

- The written test in English seems to have fewer questions about road signs compared to that in Vietnamese – What brought me to this assumption is a real fun story ;) As you may know, in California, they allow applicants to take their test in English or in some other languages including Vietnamese.  I took the test in English (‘cuz I studied the English materials), and my husband took the test in Vietnamese, also on that day =))) Here, to explain, interestingly and unexpectedly, my husband also took the written test that day, on the same day. Actually, he came with me to DMV not just for me to take the test but also for him to renew his driver’s license. He had asked the DMV in Sunnyvale and they said as for his case, no written test needed, but now when we were in San Jose, they asked him to take the written test again =)). To save time, of course, he took the test right away without preparing or reviewing anything at home, so he chose the test in Vietnamese to be on the safe side. Coming home, I compared my test and my husband’s test questions and noticed, his had about 10 or 15 questions for road signs (a long page of just pictures & pictures) while mine just included 4 or 5 for road signs and the rest was all text! :P Luckily, we both passed our written test and we both thought we had chosen the right language  =))! 

3/ Behind-the-wheel test

After the written test, I was given the driving permit. I started practice driving from home to Google, to the market, to the restaurants etc. to gain behind-the-wheel experience. But if your goal is just to cram a short time & pass the test, it would be simpler. I'll share some tips here:

- Have a good driving instructor, but if your instructor is not very good at explaining things, study more online :D. 
To save money, you can ask a family member or a friend to be your instructor. To save time, then call for teaching service! :P My friend (Dung) told me she once had a professional and humorous teacher who taught her for just 6 days, 1 hour/day with all the driving skills : from parallel parking to corner backing up.  As for my case, we once tried calling for a teacher (just a random choice online) but that guy was busy on the appointed day & then sent his young nephew as a substitute instructor. Through texting, we found out this young guy was a bad-mannered and impolite one and was late for already more than 20’. So we canceled the class and I chose to learn with my hubby only.  
So, my husband was my first and only instructor! <-- that’s what’s challenging and time-consuming here! =))) I had no idea about driving, when I didn’t know something and asked him, for example, how to park, he just said something very general like : "just play it by ears" >_< ; I asked him how to parallel park, he said something kinda : "you don’t need to practice … it is not on the test in CA" =)) So, most questions unsolved, I learnt to drive with almost no steps or … lessons =)) and blah blah blah. However, I must say thanks to my dear for many things he has done for me. He really had the guts as being my 1st driving instructor was not an easy or safe task at all ;)

- Just like any other tests, you need to know the driving performance evaluation to understand what are to be tested & required from your drive. (you can search for this form online)

- Watch videos . DMV videos & other driving lessons on Youtube are of great help: rules of road, 10 critical mistakes, the pre-test and anything you want to know: backing up, parallel parking etc. Videos and real on- the- road experience are good teachers ;)

- Choose a test center. Now to explain why I took the test in San Jose. My husband said that his friend told him that :P behind-the-wheel test in San Jose was easier (to him). His friend once failed the BTW test in Sunnyvale but on his 2nd attempt, he passed the test in San Jose. Another friend of mine also advised me to take the test in SJ because as he said, the test area was not crowded. That’s why I came to SJ for the test with the expectation that it would be easy. But some days before the test, coming to SJ and having a practice drive there, I almost lost all my confidence. Things were so different from what I had imagined, not easy at all hic. The road was busy and narrow, full of uncontrolled blind intersections, one-way streets, children running all over around, pedestrians crossing the streets both left and right… So, even now after passing the test, I’m still not sure whether the test in SJ is easier than in Sunnyvale or not. :P

- Choose test time. As I notice, doing the test in the afternoon (about 2 pm) may be easier.  We may prefer the morning sunshine, but pedestrians or children are very “active” from 8am – 1 pm & after 3pm. Luckily, we had made the appointment for the test at 1:20 pm and it turned out to be a good time to go. During my test, I saw very few pedestrians on the street :D.

- Most important! >>  Find out the test route and practice it.  From my experience, the easiest way and shortest way for you to pass the test is: Don’t just practice driving around, if you have time, go to the test center, follow some candidates on their real road test to know and get familiar with the test route. Doing this did help me a lot.

- To share with you this, I followed 3 candidates from the distance just one day before my test (it was too late when we practiced just 1 day before the test, but that’s what happened cuz my husband had been very busy). I followed 3 candidates from the far distance (without causing them any troubles) and it seemed like 3 of them all failed, hic, this was very depressing and disheartening T_T but I drew on some experience from that: - The 1st candidate was overcautious, she drove too slow under the speed limit and the examiner just let her drive a different route, or just a half way. - The 2nd candidate appeared to fail because on backing up, he hit the curb, which was a critical error. - The 3rd candidate drove not bad but surprisingly, at the end of the test, in the car, we saw the examiner talking to her and she was crying. That scene was so heartbreaking and stressful. Recalling her drive, I guessed she failed because she did not smoothly yield to the pedestrians coming from the opposite corner as she turned right on green! (pedestrians & green lights are very dangerous during the drive test!) :) 

- Even though there are no exact routes and examiners may vary the roads, from my experience, the test route (of my test center) seems to cover these: residential areas, school zones, a one-way street, a large street with many lanes (for lane changing)... So, practice and make sure you know the speed limits and different kinds of hazards (uncontrolled traffic lights, stop signs, one-way streets etc.) along the route.

- Don’t expect the examiner to be friendly. Don’t feel discouraged & blow the entire drive even if the examiner yells at you or interferes with your driving. I had been there. It was a long story that needed explanation, but this entry is getting too long, so I'm not giving the details here. Just say, whatever happens, just keep driving the best you can, stay calm, sane and safe. Sometimes, an examiner may not be very nice or friendly but he/she still gives you a pass, and be careful of the opposite case :D. 

If you are new to driving and are preparing for your driving test just like me some time ago, hope the above sharing can help.

As for me, passing the test is not the end of my driving learning process. I need to learn more and drive more to build up more understanding and experience.

 (Pic in late September 2013, 1st time I entered freeways :/ )

Some memories :

- I will remember : the image of my husband in his ugly shorts and slippers :D jumping into his car and he himself driving me home when I first arrived in the US.  (It was so cool then - when I first came here. Now it’s become normal :P.)   

- I will remember : when I first practiced parking, I was so glad after successfully squeezing the car into such a narrow spot that I just lifted my foot off the brake & forgot to set the hand brake to parking position. The car therefore ran on uncontrollably & hit the curb. Our hearts all jumped out of our chests =)

- I will remember : we did quarrel a lot, but now I don't want to remember what the quarrels were about...


- I will remember : During my driving test, someone was there waiting for me… 

- I will remember : At the end of my driving test, someone greeted me with eyes of hopes, 

- I will remember : someone that warmly opened the door for me, grinned with delight and said congratulations...

& many other memories ... ;)