ONCE UPON A TIME IN SEOUL

A BELATED HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!

Apologies for the delay in posting, I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas & New Year.

I got back home a few days ago from my Seoul trip. This morning, finally I completely overcame my jet lag. And, I’ve got a story to share.

::: 101 REVIEW AND OVERVIEW

This time last year I was going to hospital everyday for re-irradiation.
The tumour was progressing, there was no more standard chemo drug available. Immunotherapy Avastin was my last resort.

My doctor told me that -without working therapy- I only have a very short time left (weeks or months).
Back then, I was skeptical if I could survive 2019.

A year later, today, I’m still here.
Looking back 2019, I found so many significant moments:

⁃ I have my own website titien.de and have posted 100 stories (by the way, now you’re reading my post no. 101).
⁃ I showed my hometown in Germany to my parents, my aunt, my friends who came to visit me.
⁃ I traveled a lot in Germany and Europe (often accompanying Tobias on business trips), short and long distances, by car, train and plane.
⁃ I laughed on each and every one of the last 365 days with Tobias.
⁃ I felt loved 24/7, never feel alone physically and emotionally.
⁃ I met my family in Seoul for Christmas.

Obviously God intervenes in my life.
When my time comes, I have to go.
But until that time comes,
the Sovereign Lord will shower me His loving kindness through someone and something around me.

I know what I’m going through,
I don’t know what I’ll go through,
but it’s enough that Christ Jesus knows it all.
I shall be with Him who loves me.

So, for 2020, I believe God’s grace is enough for me, therefore I will continue rejoicing in Him my Savior.

::: PRESENCE IS THE BEST PRESENT

My family and I never celebrated Christmas together. In the past, when I lived in China, I flew back to Jakarta once a year only to celebrate Chinese New Year.
So, this was my first Christmas with my family.

Although it is a big and busy concrete and steel metropolis, Seoul wasn’t an ideal holiday destination for me and Tobias, who loves nature and traditional cultural ambiance,
but, it still was a wonderful holiday for us, because we got to see my family and the Korean family of my niece, Yuna.

My family from Jakarta and us rented a 3 bedrooms AirBnB flat in the Hong Dae district. Early in the morning, Yuna stormed into our bedroom, jumping on our bed and waking us up (completely unaware of our jet lag). At night, after she gave us a good night kiss, she crashed in our bedroom again, jumping on our bed until her mom caught her (I helped her mom by scaring Yuna with my electric toothbrush). This scenes were repeating every single day.

On Christmas Eve, Tobias cooked spaghetti bolognese. For the first time, we had Christmas dinner together. They said it’s the best pasta they ever had, I agreed. In the flat where we stayed, we had no Christmas tree, no Christmas songs, no Christmas lights, we even drank wine from plastic glasses. But, for me it was a wonderful Christmas. Their presence is the best Christmas present I ever had.

::: YOLO

One evening, my brother and his wife left Yuna at home with my parents, and went out for beer and pizza with me and Tobias. It’s nice to have this brother sister quality time.

They told us that the Solo YOLO lifestyle (You Only Live Once) is emerging in Seoul. More and more millennial people choose to pursue what they think is a rich life by staying single. And they’re trying to live with gusto, on their terms.

Living with incurable brain cancer, I totally understand what is YOLO. Not only YOLO, but also ‘life is brief’.

So, it’s not about needing the excitement and as much awesomeness in my life as I possibly can, but for me it’s about living my purpose, and get committed to certain priorities.

Things I ought to do, do it now;
Time I could spend for my family, do it now;
Phone calls I could make to someone I am missing, do it now;
Money I can give to help the needy, do it now;
Love I want to show and express, do it now;
and so on.

Because there may not be a tomorrow for me.
Time is too short for indecision and vacillation.
My perspective on YOLO is the quality of life and the dedication to it, not the length.

::: IMITATE LOVE LANGUAGE

Yuna is a three and a half year old super active little girl. She speaks Korean better than Indonesian Bahasa. She noticed that her only uncle, Tobias, speaks English with all of us. She’s attracted to him, so everyday she just clung to her uncle Tobi, imitated him and spoke gibberish (trying to sound like English) to him. Here’s the short excerpt.

After new year, we flew back to Germany.
2020 began with our world in turmoil.
Jakarta’s biggest flooding challenge for many years;
Australia is on fire;
The climate crisis rages on;
A cauldron of tensions between countries;
Trade and technological conflicts that widen inequalities;
Social unrest and violence is increasing in many parts of the world;
Growing extremism and intolerance.
A lot of destruction, despair and death.

Humans are fallen selfish creatures.
In this world of ego, loving others can be difficult because we are human.
But in this difficulty we come to better appreciate God’s love for us.

God’s language is love, a language we all must learn.

Let’s imitate Him.
To live selflessly, to provide hope, to show humility and compassion.
To be kind and willing to pour our life to help others.

Love,
Titien

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭5:1-2‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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::: UPDATE ABOUT ME
2 Years 8 Months Post Biopsy
Midline Pontine Glioblastoma/DIPG Grade IV

On December 18th I received the 22nd round of Avastin.
On January 3rd I received the 23rd round of Avastin.
On January 15th I’ll receive the 24th round of Avastin.

Yesterday I did an MRI and will see the doctor next Wednesday, January 15th, to know the results.

My symptoms are pretty much the same.
Please go to “My Medical History” for more details.

Thanks for keeping me in your prayers 🙏

PS: Thank you for reading, commenting and sharing my posts.
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