7 years

7 is one of my favorite number.
Why?

Seven

Well, 7 is prime number, 7= 4+3, 7 is also equal to 5+2, as well as 6+1, and each number spiritually is used so many times in the Bible to represent something.
One is God, 6 is the day man was created, 7 symbolizes God reaching and be joined to man to be His expression.
Two is a number of witness, 5 is often used for responsibility.
Four represents creations (symbolized by 4 living creatures), and 3 of course refers to the Triune God. (I have only one God, but He is also three in His reaching man, but He is One. Did I confuse you? This is not to be studied, obviously, but to be experienced =).)

Today, after going to First Choice to cut my hair, i stopped by Shoppers Drug Mart. Walking along ships section on the very back near the fridge, de ja vu or it was more like hidden memory suddenly jumped in. Feeling of seeing the kind of foreign snacks for the first time came about. Lays, so many pringles, sun chips, chocholates in its arrays, drinks, this is great!!! Shoppers was the first shop I remember going to in Canada, specifically, in Jackson Square Mall, Hamilton, Ontario. Believe it or not, Andree, it has been 7 years! SEVEN!

Reminded of how number 7 means a lot, I couldn’t help but feel bad, at the same time being thankful. Seven years ago I wouldn’t have thought I manage to stay here for 7 years. I did, with loads of stuff.

7 years past, 2 occassions on 2 different time are still the same, I am going back to school.
Yes, that time undergrad, and now master program. I don’t know what will happen, whether I will like it, whether it helps me in my career, whether I can continue the same way in the church life. I don’t know.
Ups and downs in life is what makes it a life afterall. This is one of those things I prefer not knowing.
(P.S. I had a quick talk with a friend, and he told me my mind does not know what ‘plateau’ mean. I told him right before that when nothing really goes on, I feel depressed.)

I can’t wait till the next 7 years, June 2017. I don’t know what happens then, be this post a virtual time-machine. But, one thing do I know, looking back no regrets are welcomed. I may get married, finish training, or the heck, maybe move out of the continent. Lord, I give my life to you.

Give me seven!
Andree

Getaway

After a long day evaporating under the cheerful Mr.Sun, all I can think of is a glass of marquisa juice with clunky ice cubes floating. Ice cubes jumping here and there sweating to make my juice just taste tad bit fresher. Ahhh, summer days.

My imagination was vivid, and every time such scenery appearing in my brain, there’s always one flaw, I wish I can share it with someone else who just desire the same thing. We human are just not good to be alone, aren’t we? =P

Ontario native wildflower in my garden

Today is summer solstice day, despite scientifically, it may not be one anymore. Magnetic north is changing bit by bit, but who cares, 21st June is one of my favorite day. Let Mr.Sun work a bit more to make us happy. In the past, on this very day, exams for some reason always fall on me till 10 pm, just after the cloud is back and everything just gets darker. I always grumbled, ‘Why”?

Table has been turned, I said. This year the lawn is begging to be mowed, the neighbour wanting to see one another, a daisy flower nodding its head above the grass, daylilies smiling on its petals, breeze and blue sky are calling. Ahhhh, what a bliss. This I call a getaway. I don’t need to go to faraway land where fairy live, or behind the rainbow on the other side of the world. All needed to be done is to open garage door, armed with shovels, power shears, canadian tire yard waste bag, lawn mower, and a pretty water sprinkler. I’m ready to take in the world! My patio is there to shade me, the greens are just overwhelming freshness. Birds singing happily.

Yes, I love to be in the garden. I have no regret. My lawn is much bigger than I would have thought ever to own. Nevertheless, the chores are no longer. The shoe has been turned into a chariot. I don’t mind mowing anymore.
This is the cheapest getaway there can possibly be, a step away from the welcoming door, a piece of wood not only for people to come in, but also to visit the side garden. A few steps worth of a day trip.

Taking bit by bit in,
Andree

Coincidences?? Nah… I call it ‘destiny’ =)

(P.S.: Turned out to be a very long blog after I finished typing it, veryy longg — after reading it again, there are so many “I blah blah” – not nice – but I will leave it this way for now, should improve soon)

I have been really overwhelmed with changes in my life recently. In the other side, I am really enjoying it. I have never been so busy but I truly enjoy learning new things and have more responsibility. It feels so right to be in this stage of my life.

Tonight, I have the urge to blog, it has almost been 2 months since my last regular blog. To start again, it is indeed hard since i lost the habit of writing. However, I just looked back a bit and i want to share with you the gist of my life till now, it was truly something to be thankful of.

Past, present and future. We are bound by this 4th dimension called time. I, yes me, call it ‘blessing’.
Let’s get a rocket view of it, counting down from 14…

14 years ago, just at the RIGHT juncture, I was looking for a belief to hang on, and there was, my friend, Arif to invite me to children meeting. How? Who told him? Why? I don’t know, but I cannot thank him enough for being God’s vessel to bring me to church life, where I am here till this second.

12 years ago, just at the RIGHT juncture yet again, at the very time I was the most rebellious, God called me to be baptized and 10 months later He called me to come to this church blending/conference in Surabaya. My parents forbid me to go, and was very strong about it. A serving sister came by and that alone made me cry that night. The next second i knew, i was allowed to go and this was the first time i heard about my human spirit, and that I’m a vessel for God to dwell in. It changed my life second time.

10 years ago, I don’t think i need to tell how right the time was, I was seeking more of truth. Just that moment, again, “right time”, the recovery version footnotes was completely translated into Indonesian and starting to be distributed to the churches. After seeing it once, I got so curious, and finally got a chance to borrow recovery version bible. At the time i could not afford this bible, so i had to borrow it or making a loan to buy it. I insisted a brother to borrow the bible for 2 days from him, and that night I spent unexpectedly 5 hours reading the Lord’ second coming chart on the back. I was so intrigued, it motivated me to study the bible for the next 3 years of my life in which I got the most of the Word in me.

8 years ago, at the time of uncertainty, I happened to read a book about obeying older ones. The next day, at university fair, I prayed for a guidance from older relative, and there it was, he straightly pointed me to booth of an agent bringing to Canada. Canada, by the way, is a continent, where I was sure I would never be able to stay in my lifetime. My point is, again, how is reading that book on that day brought this little Indonesian to Canada???

6 years ago, with choices to go to Burnaby, Toronto or Waterloo, I wholeheartedly will go anywhere but Waterloo. It so happened that I have no reply from the other 2 universities but Waterloo. Church life in Waterloo was healthiest at the time, I was preserved. Thank the Lord!

4 years ago, world’s economy was start to decline sharply, I had to live on coins. I badly needed a job to finish my school. I checked every single tech company in Waterloo and applied so many jobs. Middle of June it was, I gave it up. I surrendered to the Lord. Suddenly, email with interview request came by. I went and got the job just under 4 hours later. That job is my current job now, full-time.

2 years ago, I got my full-time job. Everyone else was having one of the hardest time to find one. Economy is on the near-bottom. I could not have asked for more blessing. It was just perfect. I got my first car, just the day after i got my G2.

0 years ago, with mortgage interest being the record low in Canada, I scored the deal and got my first house.

You see?? Map these pairs!
looking => found Christ
seeking heart => given a vision
heart to know more => fully translated study bible
choosing where to go => straight guidance at the last minute
choosing university => only one way out – the best one
personal financial crisis => got 8-month internship leading to permanent job
world economy crisis => secured a job, got a car
record low mortgage => got a house

I mean…how can i ever complain…things just happened at the exact right time, not the way I wanted, but it sure turned out so awesomely perfect.

You probably have noticed i went through timeline of every 2 years. What is not told above is the year before each occurences. There is always something special before each one, something that made me ready for the next step. I believe the Lord is leading me to the next step, maybe not every 2 years anymore, but right now, present is really a gift, a gift that will manifest itself in the near future as long I am open to it. Future awaits, and my eye is on it, but my feet has to walk on the present, and I cannot be happier to lean on Him, my Lord Jesus Christ.

Without staying on homestay situation the year before, I wouldn’t have been qualified in my opinion, to be responsible enough to own my own house. Without getting a hard time in self-finance problems the year before, I would not have been wise in using my full-time job salary. Without experiencing hard labour and stress from university + work + burden the year before , I would not have been likeable and trustworthy in my internship. Without learning to live far away from home and trusting the Lord the year before, I would have preferred anything else but living in a small city like Waterloo. (Now, I live here and I’m loving it!) Without pursuing the Lord the year before, I would have never had a chance to go to North America. (my parent would not have trusted me) Without being under the patterns of university-age brothers the year before, I would not be pursuing study of the Word. Without being rebellious and going to the camp that year, where I had one of my worst moment in life, I would not have been baptized. Without misreplacing a book two years before, I would not have received my friend invitation. No Andree in Canada, no spiritual birth, nothing. Everything leads to another, and yet, Romans 8:28 tells us that everything works together for good to those who love Him!

I don’t believe in coincidence, I believe in destiny. We have our choices, but God knows what’s the right time for us to experience these things. Next in my path is marriage and more training. I believe the same principle will apply, and it’s already in the making. I believe this even when right now I don’t have a girlfriend yet and I am still far from owning the right citizenship. I am excited, and need to be always reminded of this blessing coming my way.

“My destiny is GOD” – K.J,

Andree

B-squared = Back to Blogging

1 month passed already since I had my last blog. Time really flied like a rocket.
Recently there has been many things happening in my mind and surrounding me. I am looking forward to blog these life-events, check out in the near future for:
– moving into my own house
– what I have been reading and experienced about relationship and women
– struggles of living by myself: house maintenance, cooking, finance and so on
– new photos
– my enjoyment of bible reading and meeting with others

=)

Andree is hoping to be back to blog with a smile.
b^2 = a^2- c^2 = andree appreciating (a^2) after fighting (minus) cumbersomeness and carelessness (c^2)

Organic materials

Life is like a roller coaster, rather up and down a lot. Our body, where we spend most of our time with, has a very similar properties. It consists of millions of dead cells being replaced by new cells at all times, we can categorize them as ups and downs. This is same with plants, animals and so on.

God in the Bible has been revealing again and again that He allows situation to come in into our life, not to make us suffer nor to punish us. He is not out there to get us. Wow! He does all things so that after our being is teared down, He will build something of Himself in us. Isn’t that precious???

An example is of Job. He is probably the best representation of us who always feel like we’re suffering the most in this whole universe, and nobody can relate to us and understand us. He was not punished by God, in fact, God honored him and Job is one of God’s intimate friend as noted in book of Isaiah. Nevertheless, Job had to go through such terrible things to the point where he cursed his birthday, basically, cursing his own mother. I really appreciate seeing that this was allowed to happen so that Job will lose his integrity, totally torn down, so God can have fresh start to build Himself into Job.

No one in this world is probably as good as Job, he is described as upright and a man full of integrity, as perfect as a man can be. God showed him that it is not enough, with all terrible things God permit him to suffer, he finally cursed, his integrity is no more, absolutely broken. I cannot believe this is what we need to go through, but to see the happy ending it can be, I’m very encouraged. My suffering, my boredom, my misery, and much more, my honor, pride, self-esteem in dispositions, aesthetic, flavors, hobbies, if need be, and by God’ mercy, all contributed to being totally torn down. What does this remind me? LIFE.

Real life consist a lot of cycles of tearing up and building up. Again and again. Tearing down is for building up. Suffering is for a purpose for those who love God. I’m not talking of suffering due to one own’ laziness/lack of will of course.
Such experiences will be ultimately wonderful as organically we are being built up spiritually. The material is here, and it is no other than God Himself, exhaustible, rich, and the most excellent One, the ultimate organic material for the building.

For the building up of God in humanity,
Andree

To have a crush and be crushed

Scratching tip of a brunt pen on a rough wood
Slicing my heart day and night on a sword
It screams, stabbed on the wound
Heavy, a thousand pound

A smile appears with huge dimples, a child with favorite toy
Flannel sheets and a warm heated blanket in wintry’ night
Feelings I love and hate, why two of you are so close
I cannot let go of her, it shatters me

Minutes, months, seem like eternity
Possibilities, imagination, risk and consequences
Drill a black hole on my present…
No light left

Had I freedom like butterflies in spring time
Had I no God, I can run wild
Yet I can’t, I won’t, I ‘d rather not
Denial? Not a chance

Will this ever pass? I look forward to tomorrow
Present is here, if she is not meant for present, i’ll let go
Countless tears of lonesome, too much words, no reality
A house, not a home

I will still want
Because I am
God, if you hear
I am here, my limit is with me

Twenty two
Fourteen and eight
Start of it all
Let’s begin the show, please, o, light

14 top places in Eastern Canada

I was reminiscing a bit of my trip to Eastern Canada, and have been wanting to put top 14 places I visited. That trip was by far my bravest, riskiest, closest to death, most dangerous, most tiring, and probably had put a landmark in my life for the future. The travel took 5300 kilometers, and that is by no means to boast, a very huge distance to cover in just 6 days. Not to mention, 4700 kilometers was done in the last 5 days and by myself. Not a good idea, if there is a lesson to learn, DO NOT travel by yourself covering a big distance like that, especially when you face unknown territories.

To put briefly the dangers in a long LINE, i almost kissed a moose by its butt (if it happened, i would not be on earth anymore), a pair of mooses, pouring coastal rain with no more than 250 meters visibility for hours, in a jungle (literally dirt road) for 2 hours with no visibility more than 100 meters, downhill driving with sharp turns for 20 minutes (i can fall off the cliff anytime, if you want to know how it felt, just imagine being in a roller coaster for 20 minutes with risking your life of a late steer turn plus no visibility), sleepiness after 12-14 journey throughout the day with risking hitting another car at 120 km/h. You see? That’s what i call “experience”.

Too many near-accident events this time, at least 4 were very close, 1 was close enough to scare me. If not by other’ prayers, and God’s grace, i would have been likely dead 5 times. Another thing that could have kept me alive is me thinking so much about someone, that my driving’ time passed like a wind, 10 hours driving per day probably felt like 3 hours drive, but of course, it made me fatigue easily too.

Aside from the above ‘adventurous’ note, I did visit some of the most beautiful place on earth, and I mean “nature”-wise. Here is the top 14 places, in no order:

Bra's D'Or Lake where Alexander Graham Bell spent most of his life

One of the first stop entering Cape Breton National Park

Pleasant Bay, Cape Breton National Park

Confederation Bridge, PEI

Lobster Wharf, right on the Charlottetown harbour - where ships like Titanic would land and depart

Miramichi, New Brunswick

Bog habitat - Kouchibougac National Park

The end of New Brunswick - the most eastern sand dunes

Calmness and beauty - underrepresented by this picture - Ste. Anne de Beaupre, Quebec

The view from the top of Montmorency Falls- Quebec city is on the other side of the island

Montmorency Falls, Quebec

Grand Falls at Grand Falls, New Brunswick

Thousand Island National Park, Ontario

Quebec city, Quebec - I know this picture is under-representing Quebec city but i want to stress out the word "beauty" for this city

Olympic stadium, Montreal - i was wishing of St.Lawrence river picture to represent Montreal but i don't have it

If you ever want to know where to go, what to eat, what to expect, where to stay, and other practical aspects of making a journey out east, feel free to ask me for more information, i would gladly help as much as i can.

The eastern Canada represent nature beauty of the rolling hills, old but charming escarpments in southern Ontario and southern Quebec, flat but natural New Brunswick, rich coast and sea of Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia.

5 provinces in 5 days, quite a journey.

Gimme five,
Andree

Status/food update

After a rush of buying a house, olympic spirit, and both are over now, I’m left with wanting to blog again. Having all the excitement outwardly doesn’t get me anywhere. I realize now I’m only happy when i’m close to the ones I love and when I’m enjoying the Lord. Other stuff? Exciting, yea, they are, but in the end, not really…Loneliness is still the big mountain to climb, sigh…

I don’t know what to update here other than my muttering which barely has any substance in it, mainly because i don’t want to pour personal stuff on the net.

Off we go to something new I tasted this past week. I was invited to a brother’ house and was served african meal. It was my first home-cooked fresh african meal, and boy o boy, was i ever full?

For appetizer, we got peanut butter soup, a very spicy but tasty soup. The cook insisted it was turkey, although the meat taste like ham, and he said the soup is made of mostly peanut butter. I cannot believe it, but he sure doesn’t look like joking at all.

Peanut butter soup

Then, followed by boiled and crushed tomato paste (which can be a meal by itself), spinach stew a la Martin, and boiled egg.

Lunch

My plate

Nuff said, it was delicious and filling.

Another thing i did this past Saturday was baking a cake, a pandan cake. It is south east asian- originated cake as the main ingredient is pandan leaf, a tropical plant. Pandan chlorophyll is the culprit responsible to make the colour of the mix so freshly green. The word “pandan” always remind me of “panda” but i don’t think panda eat pandan. LOL.

This time the baking was half-failure. The texture was quite off, it should be spongy, but it turned out a bit mushy. The taste is intact though, although the texture definitely gave the difference right away. I still enjoyed it, hehe. =) The pandan leaf gave some very sweet smell you never get from any other plant, and you betcha, it made me hungry smelling the fragrance from the oven, BIG time.

Pandan cake

What do you guys do when you feel lonely? I know and heard so many times that i should just deny the feeling, but i can’t help it. Talking to somebody else helps but the feeling comes back right away after. I cannot wait anymore for something big to happen in my life, it will take all my loneliness feeling away and replace the vacuum with happiness. Yes, I need something bigger than buying a house, that one, it occupied me only for two weeks. Yea, reader, don’t be like me, ever. I need to turn to the Lord much more than ever.

Anyway, cheers!,
Andree

Vancouver Olympics, Toronto walk-trip, and Waterloo under but not down

O my, boy, yo, really?, honestly?, you are kidding me!, aew what i keep telling myself this week. Day after day just passed by sooo fast, i cannot believe it.

Housing things has been keeping me really busy lately, which is somewhat good and somewhat bad. Bad one? For example, you haven’t seen me blog anything for at least a week ;). Good ones? It keeps me from spending too much time thinking of something/someone else, and i definitely am learning a lot of new things, aside from keep recalculating mortgage, and braving myself to negotiate with the seller (which never happened yet).

Vancouver Olympics is another thing that I have been putting quite some hours of “stares”. It is so exciting to watch moguls, skeleton, alpine skiing, snowboard cross, biathlon, figure skating, half-pipe, hockey, and ice dancing. My favorite is moguls, alpine skiing/snowboard cross and biathlon. Moguls, skiing, and snowboarding because of the adrenaline rush, these guys are just insanely fast! Biathlon because i played with a very similar rifle and shooting on the nearby farm this past summer, imagining as if i can compete with these guys, hahahaha. The best of all? I can cheer for Canada! Go, Canada!!! Ring more cowbells!!! That reminds me of the trip I took to visit Whistler Creekside 2 years ago.
(This was in downtown Whistler.)

Real bobsleigh!!!

This past week the brothers and sisters from the church in Calgary are visiting us here in Toronto and Waterloo. It was so sweet to meet someone who loves the Lord that you never meet but you feel there is a bond right away. Precious!!!

Yay, no one was expecting me to take a picture =P

We went around Toronto with them: University of Toronto (Hart House, Knox, Woodsworth colleges, soldier gate,), Eaton Centre, Downtown TO, Hockey hall of fame, TO underground path, financial district TO (apparently each bank’ underground path has a different marble color!), Harbourfront (where there is this gallery for glass blowing and ceramic, textile studio, quite neat!!), and lastly Richmond Hill – we ate at Chako, the first time i ever eat Korean BBQ.

UT sisters photo

JP beside Stanley cup replica

JP, Matt, and Adrian at the Harbourfront

In Waterloo, we went to St. Jacob, and ate at Stone Crock restaurant, then tour of University of Waterloo. Other than that, my life has been somewhat under but not down. I barely keep up with my spiritual life, felt so under this week, but one phrase keep me alive, “awake, sleeper”, hehe, yea, i am a real sleeper lately.

This time i don’t really have substance in my blog, forgive me for that. Have a warm weekend and stay up!

Floating,
Andree

House hunting

I can’t believe this is happening, and don’t ask me why it came so suddenly either.
Few months ago, i did have a slight thought of getting a house, maybe in 2 years from now. To be frank, I’m quite comfortable where I am staying right now, home-made food ready everytime i go back home from tiring hours of work is just irreplacable. Until last week, yes 7 days ago, that sudden thunder hit me straight on the head.

The event was so simple. My co-worker showed me this statistics of houses sold and average price of the house. I couldn’t have been more uninterested, I just type in MLS website to my firefox browser and focus on west side of Waterloo. Only one house attracted my attention and this ball has suddenly gone downhill. I started to talk to people and they refer me to an agent and agent tried to make appointment for me. The next day comes and i got a link from another co-worker in the email about tips to save money in buying a house. I just opened up the first link which is bytheowner.com and o la la, only one house put interest in me again.

So…last week i made several appointments and put much emphasis on these 2 houses that I got “the eye” for. I saw 4 houses in total and indeed…the first house i saw on both links was the only ones I have set my heart for. This is true for so many people, if you ask them in their experience, they always say they like the first house that captured their attention the most but they didn’t get it because it is too “early” in the game.

Both houses are not by the help of an agent. Before, i thought you always have to have an agent to take care of your house purchase, but now, I totally recommend not using their service. They tend to be pushy because that’s what they live on, they have to get you to buy house so they can eat. One house I saw in the open house session, and the other one I saw by making a direct appointment with the house’ owner. This is of course not the experience of everyone, if the seller already use an agent, of course it is wiser for you to get an agent too.

Anyways…both houses were great, one is on a hill, overlooking the whole city of waterloo, well-maintained, and have a superb view of a forest on the back deck. The other house is a great deal, the owner is leaving all the furnitures, and the house has that european classic style inside, great paint colours and it gives you that homy feeling that most modern house is lacking for. (There are obviously some modern houses that just makes your brain drool, but usually it is 3 times the price.) On top, it is a bungalow!!!! Bungalow !!! Bungalow!!! I love bungalow!!! People don’t build bungalows anymore because there is not enough land. This does mean: it is technically always bigger than comparable two-storeys or any other detached house’ type. plus your first floor/basement is level with the ground in the front and in the back. Yeah, basement is no longer basement!!!!

I felt really blessed this time and this “purchase” (still in the process) was done with a lot of fellowshipping with some older brothers and families, and friends. I only had 1 day to take the decision and it was quite nervous. I cannot ask more than those time i spend with bringing my brother to the house to look at, to talk about what may go wrong or need to be replaced, potential problems and so on, the webcast meeting at night to again have some little time here and there to turn to the Lord, Lord’s day morning again with numerous opportunities just to forget the outward things and turn to the spirit, the lunch with the brothers in the afternoon and a prayer for this case. All brought me to just a few minutes of this call at 15:22 pm to set up appointment to meet the owner to conduct futher into house purchase.

Believe it or not, when i get into the house, my call sounded like it was just minutes before the agents get to set a deal with the seller to put the house into MLS listing. (this means upward of at least 13,000 in house price. Phew, we talked a bit more and set the verbal deal then. By 5 pm-ish I informally set the deal to buy a house. I still can’t believe it………….

There you go, future home-buyer, keep your eyes and ears open to every suggestion and information you can take in, and most importantly, don’t get buried under the cares and concerns of the process, keep your heart toward the Lord and let the house be for His interest foremostly.

Here I will just write simple steps for your future reference on how to buy a house without an agent:
1. Make an appointment with the seller and visit the house
2. If you are serious in buying the house, take someone who is experienced in house building/renovation to give you some considerations/ideas while visiting the house
3. If you decide that’s your “dream” or at least “semi-dream” house, indicate that you will let the house owner know by a certain date whether you are interested or not
4. Call the owner and set appointment to see the house again and talk about the price
5. Set a price that both parties agree on
6. Get a pre-mortgage approval from the local bank or from mobile mortgage specialist (I recommend talking to a local bank financial representative so you can meet face to face and really walk through many different scenarios, possible line of credit and many government available programs for home buyers). This usually takes a whole lot of time. It took me sleepless night of recalculating…recalculating…recalculating…recalculating….
(do consider these things: mortagage total amount you can afford, amortization period, interest rate whether it will be fixed or variable, TFSA, RRSP, how much leverage you have after paying all mortgages + bills + food + etc., and how much down payment you can put in front)
7. Get a lawyer (barristers and solicitors) to handle all the paperwork (it is wise not to sign anything before you get lawyer’ review)
8. Lawyer will write offer letter(need both parties and their lawyer’s name and closing date) and wait for approval/rejection from owner’ lawyer.
9. After approval, you have few weeks to complete release of mortgage, home inspection and home insurance.
10. If everything works out perfectly, you just have to wait while collecting all the money up to the closing date.
11. On the closing date, you are now officially the owner of a house!!!!

I know, if i can predict easily what the bank’ prime rate will be for the next 5 years, i will be millionaire, but i use my own prediction as to what kind of mortgage i get. This is after moderation, I actually expect it to go as high as 6% at 2015, but i get a bit more modest now:
2010: 2.5%
2011: 3.25%
2012: 3.75%
2013: 4.25%
2014: 5%
2015: 5.5%

Yeah, i took off a lot of details from the above, but it gives you a good sense of what it takes to buy a house.
If there was a list like the one above in the internet, SCORE!!!! I had to sweat bullets just to get the overall picture of what’s going on especially since I am a first-time home buyer, single, newly permanent resident in Canada (apparently you cannot get mortgage if you are not at least a permanent resident), and barely have the minimum 5% down payment ready.

Hunting is done, and deal is about to be set.
Life goes up and down, and you don’t know what to expect next.
That’s the beauty of life my friend, and you just follow and pray in your heart,
God lead you as a great Friend, and you won’t ever regret.

Still stunned,
Andree