weilin

Climbing out of the blackhole, but still unsure

2005-11-05T23:30:00.000-08:00

Ahoy there!

Since my last post from the other side of the globe, my blog page has obviously been neglected, (even spammed! grrrr...) due to a serious lack of time and an uncertainty in regards to the future and purpose of my blogging webspace since my primary purpose for establishing this blog, i.e. my exchange, has come to an end. I wonder if anyone still comes here, apart from the lovely Leachy Tongerz, who prompted me to return to my long lost blog, having visited multiple occasionally, only to be greeted with "Greetings from Switzerland" each time. Sorry!

Yep I'm beginning to emerge from my blackhole in cyberspace, now that semester has ended and the academic year is almost finished, giving me a bit of a breather since returning from o/s. The past three months have been challenging to say the least, with God teaching me stacks through the love, laughter, joy, pain and tears of late nights, uni and people.

I could go on and recount my experiences and all over the past months, however I am not sure how much I should emerge from this 'online blackhole'. Why do I blog now? What is the purpose? For me, would it be somewhat of an online journal where I can come to ponder and contemplate life for all to see, and is that a good thing? Is this a good avenue to relate to my more cyberspace dudes & dudettes and whoever else chances upon it? Will I get so engrossed that I neglect my REAL world, and to what extent? And right now (and since I started blogging actually) I don't know about the idea of having my thoughts and feelings influence others, if it is detrimental, unhelpful, and most importantly if it's ungodly. And whether I am posting for my sake or others', and not out of self-ambition. Aha, now that's responsibility!

So as I comtemplate and deliberate, that'll be all for now, I'm rather tired too. Good day of:

- yummy food (Too Fatz @Bondi),

- shopping (flab-hiding cotton dress, haha),

- reading (HP & The Half Blood Prince),

- movie (Shall we Dance? I soo wanna take up dancing classes again! Anyone wanna come?) &

- conversations spent with family and relos, as well as catching up with and supporting friends through the thick of stuvac =)

Oooh I so love not having uni work to deal with. Yay!

I'll just let the Spirit guide me, hey.

Greeting from Switzerland

2005-07-07T15:36:00.000-07:00

Dear all,

I and the fam arrived in Switzerland on Sunday and are thus safe and well, away from the London bombings.

There are friends and family I know in London, some whom I have heard from and are ok, while others, esp Carolyn, who lives and works in Farringdon which is close to Russell Square which had the bus bombing, I have yet to hear from. For those of you who know her, has anyone heard from her?
Please be praying for Carolyn and others like her and their families, and the situation as a whole. Its just one more thing/time to continue trusting that God is in control.

On a brighter note, Switzerland has been beautiful and rather eventful - humungous heat to thunderstorms amongst spectacular sceneries.
There was one arvo we went up a mountian called Pilatus, and the weather turned on us, which was expected since we had amazing heat prior which is pretty much always followed by stormy weather. A Singaporean tourist got struck by lightning, and so did the funicular that took visitors up and down the mountain (we got stranded up there for 6hrs until it was fixed) so a helicopter came to take him away once the winds died down (there was very adequate shelter to contain everyone). Dad even felt the jolt go thru him as we were getting back to the main building-hotel complex up in the mountains, but he is all good, and the other dude was conscious when the helicopter came to take him away.

Also drove down to the Southern border with Italy to see the Italian lakes - Como, Lugano and Maggiore, picturesque and full of money (lots of grand villas by the water) though I personally prefer the Swiss style and mountains - gotta love their red and whiteness, the cows dingling their cowbells, cheese, watches and swiss army knives. Been thru quite a few loooong tunnels and autobhans too, interesting to see all the road signs switch language when you emerge at the other side since Switzerland is bordered by Germany, Italy and France.

We are staying with mums cousin who has lived here 15 years, she and her fam live just outside Zurich with a lake view (swimming in the lake when the weather was hot was sooo nice, bit harder to float in freshwater but). Zurich itself is very quaint, hard to believe it is the central financial district since it is soooo small and soo quiet. I like this kind of 'major city' though. and each summer, they put up a certain type of animal (cows, etc) dressed/decorated in all kinds of colours and designs all around the city - this summer the theme is teddy-bears - 2,000 of them decked out in LV, watches, with gummi bears, Lindt chocolate, Toblerone, as William Tell, etc... so fun.The architecture is really interesting too.

tmrw we are heading to St Moritz i think? Hopefully there will be less time in the car and more time outdoors, either hiking or seeing cities. Also hope that we get to go to the French side of Swityerland and some of France in the coming week.

Hope you all are well, Love and God bless
Weilin.

whoaar

2005-06-18T13:05:00.000-07:00

sorry long time no post - i'm not a very dedicated blogger sorry!

2 month exam marathon has fiiinaaaallly ended, been having ppl's bdays and farewells and get-togethers, as well as whatever bits of sightseeing, sleep and time at home and with ppl I will miss when i leave in less than 2 weeks... Have to start packing too. ack! =(

Weather has be gorgeous as well - 29'C in London today!!! oooh yeah. ok actually a bit sweaty atm, but the sun in shining, lots of ppl around outside (maybe its just because it's another saturday at Portobello markets) and its great!

Been having a few movie nights with Nadia, good variety of films (I signed up to this online DVD rental thingy - so good) from foreign art house(L'Appartement, Etre et Avoir) to chick flicks and hollywood stuff. Been a good in kicking off discussions about things in life that matter more than just the usual banter about what we should eat/wear today. =)
Tonight's screening will be Gattaca, seeing that I took advantage of my 20 loans from the uni library (teehee), which has a music collection with stuff from classical, operas, to movie soundtracks, jazz & pop/rock (They have the Chilli peppers and Maroon5!!) so borrowed the Gattaca soundtrack by Michael Nyman - v.nice music - amongst 14 other albums (hehe).

Weiming has gone off to berlin for a bit w friends for a well-deserved holiday after studying so hard and doing so well for examies, I'll be going to Edinburgh with Yish & Julie tmrw, heard it's really nice up there esp the highlands, though I wish I were staying in London - lots of things to get done/loose ends to tie up, ppl to spend time with. Parents will be arriving in a week! Cant wait to see them again.

Imperial has their summer ball tonight (not going coz have someone's bbq), and halls have put on a summer party in the garden which just started - might pop down for a bit to check it out though. But in the meantime, lunch beckons and so does the laundry. Bye!

Do you know my King?

2005-05-28T22:44:00.000-07:00

This morning, All Souls held a new thing called OBOM: One Book, in One Morning.

This was the first in the series to come - it was on the book of James.

At one point in the morning, we were shown a video which completely blew me away.

There was this black gospel church man's voice, with what he was saying shown in white text on the screen, juxtaposed with images of classical paintings depicting Jesus' life, telling of Jesus' character in so many facets and with so much truth, repeatedly asking, "Do you know Him? Have you met my King?" interspersed in his descriptions of his Lord, Jesus.

I was later told that the voice-over was a live recording by Rev. S.M. Lockridge, completly unrehearsed one morning in chruch service. Yet despite its utter spontaneity, it was beautifully eloquent. My limited description skills and vocabulary will never ever do what I saw and heard justice - you have to

see, hear and feel it for yourself.

"Though God can't be described with just words, this is as close as you can get this side of Heaven. This is an amazing sermon piece, preached they way it should be."

I wonder:

Do you KNOW Him?
Have YOU met my King?

His invitation to meet you, and you, Him, still stands.

And it stands just as it is - no terms or conditions, no catches, no fine print - just desperately open to meet you, that this King would share everything He has with you.

To find out more, pick up this King's biography (i.e. the Holy Bible - versions incl the KJV or ESV) from good bookstores, or talk to a Bible-believing Christian near you.

If you'd only give it a chance, it'll be the greatest thing that could ever happen to you.

Watch it now.

That's my King!

2005-05-28T22:40:00.000-07:00

My King:
is a sovereign king.
No means or measure can define his limitless love.
He's enduringly strong,
He's entirely sincere;
He's eternally steadfast,
He's immorally graceful;
He's imperially powerful,
He's impartially merciful;

Do you know him?

He's the greatest phenomenon that has ever crossed the horizon of this world,
He's God's Son;
He's a Sinner's saviour;
He's the centrepiece of civilisation;
He's unparalelld;
He's unprecentdented;
He's the loftiest idea in literature;
He's the highest personality in philolophy;
He's the fundamental doctrine of true theology ;
He's the only one qualified to be an all-sufficient saviour.

I wonder: if you know Him today?

He supplies strength for the weak,
He's available for the tempted and the tried;
He sympathises, and He saves;
He strengthens, and sustains;
He guards, and He guides;
He heals the sick,
He cleansed the leppers,
He forgives sinners,
He dicharges debtors;
He delivers the captive,
He defends the feeble;
He blesses the young,
He serves the unfortunate,
He regards the aged;
He rewards the dilligent,
He purifies the meek.

I wonder if you know Him?

...

He's indescribable;
He's incomprehensible;
He's invisible,
He's irresistable;
You can't, get him our of you mind;
You can't, get Him off of your hand;
You can't outlive him, and you can't live without Him!
...

That's my King!

- S.M. Lockridge.
[Lockridge was the Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, San Diego CA from 1953 - 1993. He entered heaven in 2000.]

What is essential is invisible to the eye.

2005-05-12T19:08:00.000-07:00

Having thoroughly enjoyed studying The Little Prince at school twice (English & French - not that I had to repeat the class =p ), I couldn't resist checking out this quiz when I spotted it!

Considering all the possible options of who you could end up being (rather bizarre), I guess being the little prince is good.... The questions were really esoteric. But what else was I supposed to expect - they're just like the little prince himself: Not of this world.

Kinda like Christians, but in a different sense!

Take Saint Exupery's 'The Little Prince' Quiz.
brought to you by Quizilla

Update

2005-05-09T10:35:00.000-07:00

Exam term has begun - I have 6 papers spread over 2 months.
The huge amount of time in between papers is something I'm not used to - feels like I'm on holidays. Did absolutely zero work last week.
Saw Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy - so good.
Got a letter from my cousin - I miss her!
It took 3hrs to get my hair cut at some swanky salon opposite Harrods in Knightsbridge for just 10quid (trainee hair modelling) with Eda and Yish, I like.
Visited Harrods for the first time since I've been in London. Wasn't too bad- they even have a pet shop inside, and instead of spending big, the only thing I got there was a Krispy Kreme doughnut - for free!
Been making and eating lots of burritos with Jessica - yummo. (Re-fried beans aren't as great as they're made out to be though. Don't tell Jessica I said that.)
Orange & Date scones are so yum - scones.... yummmmmm....
Doing more cooking recently, I've also loaded up on beef all of a sudden...
Thai is a very cool language - I was blown away by its intricacy
Doing a series on Job (listen here) at morning service at the moment - Whoa what faith... Go Job.
I haven't seen Ningsi in 7 or 8 years since my RGS days, and she is coming down to London to visit (she studies in York) over my birthday weekend! argh I'm so excited to see her again.
Will be going to Edinburgh for 3days after exams in June with Yish & Julie
My Aunt will be in Paris this weekend and has invited me over for a few days, I have 2 papers next week. See how the study goes this week.
Ack I so have to study now.

Mother's Day

2005-05-08T10:30:00.000-07:00

I love my mum.

Here I am to Worship

2005-05-07T14:17:00.000-07:00

Light of the world You stepped down into darkness,
Opened my eyes let me see;
Beauty that made this heart adore You,
Hope of a life spent with You.

So Here I am to worship,
Here I am to bow down,
Here I am to say that You're my God ;
You're altogether lovely,
Altogether worthy,
Altogether wonderful to me.

King of all days Oh so highly exalted,
Glorious in Heaven above;
Humbly You came to the earth You created,
All for love's sake became poor.

So Here I am to worship,
Here I am to bow down, ...

I'll never know how much it cost,
To see my sin upon that cross
(repeat untill it really sinks in)

So Here I am to worship,
Here I am to bow down,
Here I am to say that You're my God ;
You're altogether lovely,
Altogether worthy,
Altogether wonderful to me.

(Show chords)
Tim Hughes

Back from Greece

2005-04-22T23:30:00.000-07:00

God Hides. ... The fun comes in being found, after all. Who wants to be left alone, undiscovered?
Does God play hard to get for the sake of discovery? My own understanding of God's hiddenness traces back to my first visit to the Natural History Museum. I gawked at the huge stuffed grizzly bears and the woolly mammoths and the yellowed skeletons of whales and dinosaurs hanging from the ceiling. One exhibit, however, kept beckoning me: a display of animal camouflage. When I first walked past it, I saw side-by-side scenes of winter & summer foliage. Only when I returned and starred intently did I notice the animals hiding in the diaorama: a ferret chasing a snowshoe hare in the winter scene, praying mantises, birs moths in the summer. A placard detailed how many animals were hidden, and I spent half the day lingering trying to locate them all.

Elswhere I have told of what finally brought me to God: not the Bible or Christian literature or anyone's sermons. I turned to God primarily because of my discovery of goodness and grace in the world: through nature, through music, through romantic love. Enjoying the gifts, I began to see the giver; full of gratitude, I needed someone to thank. Like the animals in the diaorama, God has been there all the while, waiting to be noticed.

- From "Reaching for the Invisible God" by Phillip Yancey.

Like many of my overseas trips in recent times, Greece has pointed me to God's grace in giving us so much that is abundant and gorgeous, this time through nature and creation.

We managed to visit 5 islands in the Cyclades; my favourite was Santorini, the world's largest volcano/caldera which was so spectacular. Towns perched at the edge of hugely dramatic vertical cliffs, sunsets into the ocean, simmering volcano (just sulphur really. smelled a bit.), swimming in 'warm' springs of the Agean Sea, black sand beaches, white-washed houses and blue domed churches, and donkey rides up the cliffside.
Everything was just so stunning everywhere you looked, I almost cried on our way down to the port to head back to Athens, even after our it had been delayed 16hrs due to very bad windy weather (the sky turned yellow from dust blown in from Africa), I didn't want to leave! It was so (sur)real. I wish I could put my photos up, but its not working again.

Staying on the outskirts of Athens after was lovely too, we stayed 2 days with Wei's Italian friend and had the most delicious italian food. (Now I want to do a cooking course when I head to either france or Italy in July.) His mother took such good care of us, and they have 2 cute cats too. I sat outside to read on our last afernoon there, and there was this heavy aroma of sping flowers in the cool spring breeze.

Having returned to London, I've taken yesterday off to 'recouperate'/re-oreganise, and I've started revision today for my finance exam in 4 days. Only got through 1 out of 8 sets of lecture notes, not looking good. I'm finding it hard to focus and find value in it and 'get into the zone', though one thing motivating me is that I HAVE to do it, so "work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward" Col3:23-24.
It's still early days, things should settle soon hopefully, God-willing! So tmrw I'm trying something different: heading to Eda's to study, away from the distractions of my room. Uni Library is too scary a thought, might send me over the edge. Hope it works well!

Greece 2

2005-04-13T23:13:00.000-07:00

Today was Awesome.
We left Mykonos this morning and headed for the nearby island of Paros.
After arriving at our hotel, I was flat out despite being 11am in the morning, so took a nap till 3:45pm while the rest of the gp headed into town for the sights and some food etc.... the cat nap was sooo worth it! Feeling heaps better now.
Yish then returned to wake me up and get me down to hire a quad bike, like the rest of the group!!! the rest of the arvo we spent riding around the island - it's soooo beautiful, the mediterranean mountains by the deep blue water. Yish & I took turns to drive - soooo fun!!!!!Was mighty windy but... brrrrr....
Today the sky started clearing up a bit thanks to the wind, so instead of the white mist/fog/humidity thats been lingering in the air, it's betting bluer!!!! The water seems to get bluer and bluer day by day too.... oooh yeah.
Tmrw Yish & I plan to island hop to a nearby island called Naxos, to see the sights there too - hopefully we can bring our quad bike across with us on the ferry - save us time and energy - its pretty hilly i think.
xoxoxo

Greece!

2005-04-12T20:48:00.000-07:00

Yasous!
That's hello in Greek - I've just had a yummo dinner with Yish in a lovely resturant on the beachfront of the island of Mykonos, and chanced aupon this bar/pub which has internet on our way to the local candy store!
We're staying a 30min walk out of the main Mykonos town (yuck typical tourist place) called Ornos, which is really pretty and plaicd.
Yish and I are on this Topdeck tour, an unfortunately, as I was warned, is FULL of of other Aussies - not that we have an aversion to them, just that their idea of a holiday is completely different to ours - theirs involves lots of alcohol/cigarettes/retaurants.
After a few days in Athens (amazing Acropolis), we've taken a huge catamaran out to the islands! Today we took a boat out to the nearby island of Delos, which is full of ancient ruins dating back to 400+BC. Quite cool but saw that it was very pagan and full of idolatory of all sorts. We then returned just after lunch, lazed in our blue and white cube-shaped hotel room, watched Alias for a bit (hehehheheh) before heading out to enjoy the weak late afternoon sun on the beach. Water is JUST only warm enough to get into, but sooo blue and inviting.
ne thing that has been hard to get used to, is not putting soiled toilet paper down the bowl... but putting it in TINY bins provided beside the bowl! eeck, it's taking a bit of getting used to, but I feel sorry for the people who have to take the trash out and clean the toilets.
Mykonos is our first stop on our 10-day island hopping trip, so I hope it gets even better! Tmrw we head to Paros and then the active volcano/caldera/island of Santorini. Met 2 Americans on Delos today who'd already been, they gave us some tips about Santorini so even more excited now!
Okies, this is costing me by the minute, so gtg!
I'm safe and well! Just a bit sick of Greek food....
xoxoxo

Feeling Frumpy?

2005-03-30T01:51:00.000-08:00

That's me at the moment.

I over-ate over the weekend, have been in front of the computer 10am-6pm for the past few days because I have to get quite a fair bit of work done as well as exam prep covered before I leave London again in a week's time, and to top it all of, SauYin came over last night with a huuuuge amount of chocolates she got today from her day trip to Brussels, which was really sweet of her.

Here we were, Nadia, SauYin & I, having little bites of Godiva, Pierre Marcolini and Neuhaus chocolates at midnight. They were sooooo good (We didn't finish the huuuge amount she brought over). It was so nice just enjoying each other's company and conversation over a bit of (100% Cocoabutter) food.

Side thought: Funny how I tend to feel a lot more hungry when I'm doing minimal physical activity (studying) as opposed to when I'm more active physically, like walking around stacks during the day in Barcelona despite having somewhat meagre meals for brekkie and lunch.

Now, even though I feel frumpy and I don't have that huge a drive to do any exercise - Nadia is going swimming tmrw, SauYin is going jogging while I sit in front of the PC again, It's ok! Good for them. Frumpy feelings are fleeting (let's hope). And I should be exercising regularly for general health though.

Love you body. Don't mistreat/deglect/abuse it though.

messy blog

2005-03-28T18:07:00.000-08:00

yayay! I 've spent the whole afternoon uploading pics from my bro's pc, so I think i just need to d/l a new version of explorer to keep uploading pictures!!! yeeha~ I klnow my blog is in a mess at the mo, but I gotta catch a bus back to london now!!! fix up later. come back next week to check it out ok?

2005-03-28T08:57:00.000-08:00

in Poble Espanol

inside batllo

boxes with Gaudi inspired designs

2005-03-28T08:51:00.000-08:00

Sculture by Joan Miro

The Monastery at Montserrat

Barcelona

Artwork along La Ramblas

Fancy a date with a Paella?

Bye Barcelona!

2005-03-28T08:47:00.000-08:00

Our Youth Hostel 'lobby'

Strawberries for morning tea!

Weiming & I on top of Montserrat

The hermitage of Saint Joan

Joan Miro

Self Portrait, done twice

More of Joan Miro

Fireworks - inverted!

more joan miro

2005-03-28T08:41:00.000-08:00

Julia and Paula, our Italian roomies!

Barca Day 3

2005-03-23T23:40:00.000-08:00

We started the morning off by popping into the market just off La Ramblas, La Mercat Boqueria. Amazing place...

yummo exotic fruit

oooooo look at those strawberries..... a kilo for 0.99 euro dollars!?!?!

We then took the metro to Monjuic.

Trying to buy multiple day tickets on the Metro

Once we reached Montjuic, we visited Poble Espanol - a place where they've built houses/buildings that reflect the whole of Spain - a.k.a Fake Spain. It was really nice!

mmmmm... Valencia oranges in the mediterranean....

Go Carmen!
We then walked around the hill, caught glimpses of Olympic games sites from the Barcelona Olympics, we intended to visit the castle at Montjuic as well as its gardens, but we ran out of time!!! It was off to see Parc Guell, also designed by Gaudi. But Lunch first.
Spanish ketchup on a Brocadillo

This was where we had lunch (Brocadillos again) today - the place we lunched at the prev day had the same type of decor as well as a slot machine in one corner!

Parc Guell

All of us at Parc Guell

Parc Guell was initially designed to be a great big housing estate, but things didn't work out, and only 2 houses were completed.

One of the 2 houses that were completed for the housing estate

Kerry & I with the famous Gaudi lizard

more parc guell

vedors selling scraves, jewellry,etc

wavy rock

A funky gate at Parc guell

After Parc Guell was more Antoni Gaudi - Casa Mila, a.k.a La Pedrera (which means___ in Catalan) was our next stop which we heard looked beautiful at sunset. So that's when we went!

Casa Mila

The roof of Casa Mila

A weird-looking Wei...

Me with a funky air vent at Casa Mila (how glam does that sound?!?! not.)

One of Gaudi's sketches - how a roof imitates the shape of a leaf - cool or what!

A mock up appartment of the time Casa Mila was a residential building.

We were at Casa Mila till closing time, after which we had dinner - at KFC! Weiming had a craving. Was yum & good to know KFC tastes the same everywhere you go I guess! We were there for quite a while (working out expenses and how much money we had left on the trip), but then realised how late it was (11pm) and headed back to our hostel.

This is Jen, one of our awesome roomies, from New Zealand! She's been working & living (the next suburb to me it just so happens!) in London over the past 3 years, but has decided to do some travelling before heading back to NZ to study. Somehow we always end up chatting away in bed till pretty late at night - she's such a funny/funky monkey!

Jen bought these cool Jandals, as the kiwis call them (since they're not sandals)

Take a closer look - Bahianas... sound familiar anyone?

Barcelona Day 2: La Ruta de Modernisme

2005-03-22T00:34:00.000-08:00

Street sign in Barcelona city

Today was so fun. woke up and took a shower (haven´t had such good water pressure since Australia) before headidng down for brekkie, which is the typical croissant and coffee/juice (the coffee is amazingly tasty! for me anyways, being the amateur coffee connosieur). Our hostel is just off the main-ish part of the Old Town (one of the 3 main areas of Barceona city) for tourists and locals alike, La Ramblas.

We planned to see lots of Modernista Architecture, which is found in one of the city of Barcelona's 3 main areas - the Eixample. This was where the Bourgeoisie resided, they had more money to burn/spend than usual, so could afford to spend it on elaborate and interesting architects and designs.

First stop: Casa Batllo - This was a private house Gaudi designed for the Batllo family.

The Batllo family

The house really blew me away. There is not one straight edge throughout the house - the ceilings, door and window frames, etc are all curved/undulating, and it was amazing to learn anbout how Gaudi integrated features insipred by nature into the design, such as gratings in all the doors and windows that served as ventillation and looked like fish gills. The whole place was so calming and un-gaudy, I even think I´d like to live in a house like that! I likey likey.

the facade of Casa Batllo by Antoni Gaudi

inside batllo

On the roof of Casa Batllo

The attic of Casa Batllo

We then walked around and saw a few of the other buildings around, but couldn´t go inside them being privately owned, then had lunch, which was the typical Spanish lunch, Brocadillo, which is really a cold or hot baguette with various fillings, before we visited La Sagrada Familia.

La Sagrada Familia, which translates as The Sacred Family (I think) is Antoni Gaudi's final work, which he dedicated the final years of his life to designing before his death (run over by tram - how tragic). Like all gothic churches, this one will take many generations and centuries to complete - construction began in the 1880s!

This is one side of La Sagrada Familia - this one depicts the Passion narrative, while the other depicts the Nativity narrative of Jesus' life.

We then climbed up one of the towers, which gave us cool views of the city, but took aages, and was really scary on the way down - my legs were shaking a little even after reaching the ground 10mins later!

View on the way up

dkslg

We were all pretty pooped by this stage and it was getting late, so we decided to call it quits in terms of doing any more big places, and decided to just walk around, take silly photos and do a little street exploring and shopping!

The streets of Barcelona by twilight

An Easter display of a Chocolatier. YUUUMMMMMMMM

¡Hola muchachos!

2005-03-21T23:51:00.000-08:00

Argh all these diff countries with diff keys and symbols all over the keyboard...

I´m in Barcelona!!!! travelling with my bro and one of his friends, her name is kerry. We arrived this arvo, and the weather has been yuckily wet and cloudy. the forecast said sunny and 18´C NOT 10´C.... I´m so underprepared in terms of warm clothing at the mo... argh... oh well, that means i´ll hafta go shoping!!! looking fwd to finding some Mango & Zara shops. they´re good big international clothing houses you can find in the EU, Singaopre etc.... muhahaha...

Weiming & Kerry trudging through the Old Town with our backpacks on Day 1 to get to our youth hostel

Tho I´m more excited about seeing the place, history and architecture and stuff by Gaudi, Picasso and Joan Miro, I really want to see. D´you think thats where the term ´gaudy´ came from - Gaudi¿ His work is quirky and on the brink of gaudines...

Paella for dinner with my hall mates, XinYing and SauYin, whose trip to Barcelona overlapped with ours!

Had yummo Tapas and Paella for dinner tonight, was interesting trying to order in Spanish... I'm quite thankful Gloria taught me some stuff before I left, and thank goodness for guidebooks with phrases at the back!

So far, I´m STILL sick, and I´ve been sorta buggered & irritated coz I´ve beeen really super busy for last week of term doing i dunno what really (not enough uni but lots of other ppl stuff I guess), but it´s been a little tricky getting to like and get along with Kerry... diff personalities¿ but yeah - prayer that I´d be bearing in love with her would be appreciated. we´ve got till fri together!!

okies, gtg,
xoxoxo

Kew Gardens

2005-03-19T23:07:00.000-08:00

Today was the first day of our 5-week Easter break and it was beeeeautiful. The sun was out, you could feel its warmth on your skin, and the amazing blue sky that lifts your spirits unconsciously - just perfect for a picnic in the park.

Which is exactly what we did! (hence the green front...) 14 of us trekked out to Kew Gardens in zone3, apparently the world's most complete Royal Botanical Gardens. Click here for virtual tour - I wish I found this link before visitng the gardens, it's so mad! There is quite a bit we missed out on seeing!

Yish & I started the morning preparing food - scones, fruit salad, chilli basil stir-fry with rice. The food was to be somewhat BYO, since Gloria and her 2 friends didn't have kitchen facilities, but obviously, from the amount Yish & were making, we made STACKS of food anyways to share. Jessica brought strawberries, cheese & crackers, the guys (JinFung & Edwin) brought drinks, while Yanti & Kevin made Sandwiches.

Notice how only 10 ppl have been mentioned? Well, let's just say meeting up, the journey there and getting into the park was an adventure in itself.... Train lines closed, some ppl running super duper late that we didn't see them at all, the other half freaking out and hungry, half the group ( all the IC chem engers it turned out really) weren't keen on paying the ludicrous entry fee of 10 pounds (AUD$25) to get into a park and decided to go someplace else (fair enough) the other half didn't realise there was a fee, and unknowingly wandered in via the exit, though it had a "way in" sign [pfft] and ventured too far in before we realised what had happened, because it was sooo pretty. Perhaps we should have gone to pay. We figured we'd already come this far to get here, not sure if we'd get a chance to come again with such great weather, so why not stay. It was just Gloria, Jessica, Gloria's 2 Spanish friends & I who remained. Gloria is leaving London for good next week and she really wanted to see Kew gardens. So yeah - a bit unfortunate that we had to split.

After wandering around a little bit, seeing the spring flowers in bloom, the glass houses, fountains, cottages, we settled for a spot near some pink and white dogwood trees to have lunch. Yuuuuuummmm..... Not having had any brekkie, I ate too fast and got a stitch! We all then did a bit of reading/power-napping, then I went to take some photos - plants, flowers, people, both. We then spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around more, seeing amazing gardens and the varieties of plants they had - whole gardens devoted to every possible species of bamboo, rhododendrons, holly, etc.... as well as the glass houses, and park-life that included the usual ducks/swans/pigeons as well as a flock of tasty looking pheasants (we think that's what they were?) and heaps of adorable kids running around.

At 4:30pm, it was time to head back - I got a pork pie for Yish as well as some yummy orange and lemon marmalade from a butcher we passed earlier in the day (am testing it out for dad, the biggest fruit conserve junkie I know!), and funnily enough, we ran into Rudy & Freda on our way out, who Kevin was supposed to meet in the morning to come along too!!! They'd gotten there earlier than us, and had been doing their own thing the whole afternoon! Heheheh. Bizarre. So it turned out that all 14 of us made it to Kew in the end!

The 4 of us then headed back into central London together, the day was starting to cool (today was t-shirt/sleevless top-worthy weather) and we headed our separate ways. Jess came back to mine to do our weekly 'meet up' and read Hebrews, which was good and God helped us through even though we were both so pooped from today and the night before (helping Gloria sort thru some issues).

Yish came back, and it was good to know the other half of today's outing entourage had lots of fun too. They ended up at hyde park corner had good time chatting, eating and playing 500.

I've just finished packing for Barcelona, and eaten half the pork pie (DON'T go near one.... eeeww... dousing it with ketchup only just made it bearable to down). Hope the weather is just as great by the Spanish coast this coming week! It also turns out my roomie, Nadia's 2 friends who I also know, left for Barcelona this morning! So we've arranged to meet up on monday evening to have dinner on La Ramblas, the place for 'people-watching'. Wish she could come with us too, the same goes for all my friends back in Syd - would be such great fun.

Speaking of Sydney ppl, Jeff & Bec Pun have arrived in London! Jeff gave me a call the other day and it was really good to hear from them and that they are doing well. We've arranged to meet up when I return from Barcelona.

Okies bedtime..... nite before I crash on the keyboeard. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Happy Easter!! Seey'all in a week's time.

2005-03-18T09:01:00.000-08:00

Meekness and majesty, manhood and deity,
In perfect harmony - the man who is God;
Lord of eternity, dwells in humanity,
Kneels in humility, and washes our feet.

Father's pure radiance, perfect in innocence,
Yet learns obedience to death on a cross;
Suffering to give us life,
Conquering through sacrifice -
And as they crucify, prays, 'Father, forgive.'

Wisdom unsearchable, God the invisible,
Love indestructible in frailty appears;
Lord of infinity, stooping so tenderly
Lifts our humanity
To the heights of his throne.

Oh, what a mystery -
Meekness and majesty;
Bow down and worship,
For this is your God,
This is your God.

Graham Kendrick
Copyright, Kingsway's Thankyou Music

Left Brained, Right Brained?

2005-03-16T17:30:00.000-08:00

Ok I do realise this isn't exactly psychologically sound, tried and tested, but tell me: why do I keep asking myself why I'm doing Engineering??

You Are 35% Left Brained, 65% Right Brained

The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning.
Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others.
If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic.
Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet.

The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility.
Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way.
If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art.
Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

Are You Right or Left Brained?

Oh, the dilemma. I Don't know anymore!!!!

Decision after speaking to parents:

Stick with Engo. I've already come this far literally and physically (to London) persevere for another 2.5 years. Engo teaches implicit, transferable skills of analysis and problem solving. Employers likey likey.

Decision after speaking to trusted friends:

I'm leaning to dropping engo despite having come this far literally and physically to London, because I don't think I can handle another 2.5 yrs of it. Plus, it's not like I'm left with no direction in life or something because I'll be continuing with my Commerce side of my degree that will let me focus more on economics/social sciences.

I was reading Micah 4:6-13 in my Quiet times last week, and it tells of God's promise to the people of Israel that He will rescue them, though they are to endure attack from their enemies and persevere through tough times beforehand. I likened my situation to Israel's(though on a much smaller scale) in that I'll persevere through it. BUT: where is the equivalent 'salvation/promise' of completing a chemical engineering degree?

Taking the 2nd half of this year off seems really tempting actually to think thru/sort it out.... But but but but but but: that is the point of my time on exchange right now! Seeing whether a great technological institution that is Imperial College, could provide me with a fresh perspective on engo was my initial plan, and although I am having an amazing time over here, it's not so much the course itself, since chem eng has been more bearable due to the way the course is taught here.

Rather I'm loving my exchange because God is teaching me about being a person in society and a child of His grace, and giving so much opportunity to love and encourage others and be encouraged myself. I still find that Chemical Engineering boring for me personally.

Everytime I talk to dad about it, he encourages me to stick with it, while speaking to others apart from mum & dad..... I feel at the fickle moment that sticking with engo would be just to honour my parents.

O Lord, what is Your plan for me? May you guide your servant in her uni choices. Amen.

Barcelona & Greece, Here we Coooooome!

2005-03-08T12:45:00.000-08:00

Whoopee! I'll be off to Barcelona & then Greece during my Easter break in 2 weeks' time.

YAYAYAYAYAYAAAYAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY!

5 days in Barcelona will be a sibling thing - just Weiming & I.
I've even begun to learn a bit of Spanish from Gloria as well as at the language labs at Imperial: Hola! Como Estas? Buenos Dias/Tardes/Noches. Muy Bien, Gracias. Then there are other things like 'Where is...' 'How much' etc that I can't spell. I heard that apparently they don't speak much Spanish in Barcelona, but rather Catalonian or sth? We'll see.
We booked our flights and accommodation a few weeks back, and I just found out from Weiming that we got our flights for guess how much??? a bargain price of 3pounds each!!!! Plus airport tax = 10 pounds, which is still AMAZINGLY cheap. Yeeeha!

I'll return to London and attempt to spend a week or so studying. My next term, the summer term, is pretty much just exams spread out over 2 months - study is pretty non-existent for Yish & I at the moment, since there isn't anything due in for a while!!! so sweet....

Then it's off to Greece with Yish!!! And Wei too hopefully. Alberto has invited us to stay with his family in Athens, which I just spoke to him about last night on the phone! He's such a great person, even though we've only known each other for a while, he's completely willing to have us over! I promise I'm a good house guest. I asked if there was anytime that would best suit him, but he said anytime is fine - just let him know whenever, even if we tell him the day before we arrive it's cool, and is even helping us trawl the net for cheap flights! though I don't think we'll get them as low as 3pounds again. I looked this arvo and I could only find flights for like 50-100+pounds.... yikes!
Alberto is able to drive (I miss driving), so we'll see a bit of the mainland, and also hop on a ferry and see the amazing white against blue of the Greek Isles, like at the end of The Bourne Identity. Oooooooooh it's calling me already.

Might pop off to learn some Greek this arvo.... or maybe more Spanish.... or both. And probably some coursework.

Humanitairan sustainable development work

2005-03-05T00:27:00.000-08:00

Hmmmmmm....

Last week I met a guy at church who is a freelance humanitarian aid worker. Being ex-military, he's been involved in conflict negotiations in a number of war-torn areas, ranging from Iraq to Africa. He's currently in London because his wife just gave birth to their second child.

But back to my point - talking to him rekindled the spark & desire in me to help/contribute to making better communities in some form or another, which has sadly been dimming out of my mind over recent years. But I'm glad it's come back to me. He wrote down some websites and training programs for me to take a look at, and told me that one of the most important things to remember, is to first and foremost have a heart of love and service for those you are helping. A good point at that.

Then this evening at uni, there was a presentation on "A Government's Perspective on Development Work", organised by IC's EWB society (Engineers Without Borders). In fact this weekend is their main training week, but it was all booked up by the time I found out about it. Pooh.

From the title, I was expecting some form of governmental official(s) to turn up and present their views. But instead, 3 young recent graduates who met lest year when completing a Masters Programme in Leadership for Sustainable Development (it looks really good - I think I'd like to complete it) gave the presentation. The main gist was that main world organisations, such as the UN, World Bank, IMF, WTO, G8, EU, etc need to have stronger leadership & commitment in order to reach their targets (the Millenium Development Goals for example) & to really make things happen.

At the end I had a chat with Menka, one of the speakers who had actually studied History & Philosiphy of Science (HPS) at Cambridge, which is what Weiming is currently doing, worked for the UN in NY city for a while before going to work in Barclays Bank. She currently develops their inclusionary markets, which aim to provide a banking services market to the poor sectors of society, often neglected due to their lack of profitability. How cool is that? The other woman studied geography at uni, while I forget what the 3rd guy did.

Nevertheless, they were all subject areas I'd considered studying at uni, (and am still considering) if I weren't doing Chemical Engineering, since they seem to be more relevant to this line of work than designing industral processes & plants does. Yet, they reckoned that as engineers, we had the technical, practical advantage, which isn't as 'wishy-washy' as the courses they did. I guess there's some truth in both views, along with the pros and cons.

There are so many ways and areas to work in: Development, Relief, Human rights, Campaigning, Fair trade, Debt cancellation, the list goes on & on, I don't know where to start finding out about stuff/how to get involved! I guess just pick one and start there?

Mum & Dad have always encouraged me in the direction of working for the UN one day, giving me opportunities to make a difference & travel the world. Mum also thinks that the UN likes to employ women for some reason. There's a plus point for me already.

Maybe I'm just a bit of an idealistic young female who thinks she can make a difference, 'save the world'/slow down it's decay (be salt and light!) in some way, blahblahblah. But after talking to Menka, I actually think it's feasable - for me to actually get involved in this area of work that is. She gave me her email and offered to put me into contact with some of her friends in working in various areas of sustainable development aid work.

I just have to start and take the first steps I guess. Slowly but surely, one thing at a time. I freaked out a bit and actually called dad back home to talk things through, see if I could drop the Engo part of my degree focus on the Commerce to and pick up more social sciency, waffly, more essay-writing, thinky-type courses, like the Masters Programme in Leadership for Sustainable Development. But hey, I guess I could do those after I finish my engo degree in just under 3 years, since I'm almost halfway there.... but can I take any more years of study?

If I really want to, I suppose I'll have to do it. But who knows - God may have other plans for me, or not. I just know to trust that He knows best of all, and nothing can go wrong with God in control.

As George Whitfield said: "I am immortal until I have finished the work God has prepared for me to do."

You say Goodbye, I say Hello... Hello Hello

2005-03-03T22:53:00.000-08:00

From : bounced@picasa.com
Sent : Thursday, 3 March 2005 8:15:55 AM
Subject : failure notice

Hi. This is the qmail-send program at picasa.com.
I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses.
This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.

--- Below this line is a copy of the message.
To: feedback@picasa.net
Subject: failure when uploading pictures from hello to blog
Date: Thu, 03 Mar 2005 03:39:11 +1100

Hi there

I've been using Hello to upload pictures to my blog for the past 3 months, however it has recently stopped working!

each time i select a picture, then click 'publish' to upload an image, after a few MINUTEs, BloggerBot tells me, "Error: Image upload failed".
I've tried to do the same on a friend's computer, but the same thing happens. so the problem can't be with my computer settings.

Can you please help? Am i doing anything wrong?
I've got so many photos over the month I want to upload but can't!
Thanks heaps.

Hello Hello, I don't know why you say goodbye, I say Hello...

HELLO!??!!?! WHERE ARE YOU - Come back. Why aren't you working?

Snow!

2005-02-21T23:51:00.000-08:00

I just got home from dinner, am dead tired but HAVE to tell everyone - IT SNOWED TODAY!!!! Substantially for the first time since I've been here anyway. It was soooooooo beautiful.

Well, beautiful in the sky at least, when it is falling through the crisp winter sky. But once it hits the dirty dirty London streets, it just melts, makes things slippery and creates minor havoc.

For a lot of people, snow isn't a huge deal, and are even trying to get away from it - I was talking to a friend tonight, Jessica from New Hampshire, USA, where snow gets over a metre deep and there was a year that it killed 2 kids - but for me who comes from snowless, relatively mild Sydney, this is a HUUUGE DEAL!

The temp is set to dip further on Wed to a possible maximum temp of 2'C. If it's that cold, it might as well snow to make it enjoyable/take my mind off the cold. I hope it snows a bit more to actually cover more than just the car tops and park benches. Wonder if they ever cancel school/uni if it gets too cold, like they do when i hits 40'C in Australia - they SO should to let people keep toasty and warm indoors AT HOME IN BED!
Grrrrr if only Hello was working so I can show youse some cool pictures.....

Have the annual ChemEng formal dinner to attend on Fri evening but... backless halter dress, open-toe heels in snowy weather... See how that goes.

Speaking of interesting weather, heard its been pouring/storming in Sydney of late? Hope things are okay!

The weekend

2005-02-20T21:26:00.000-08:00

Weekend was great.

Weiming came down from Cam for the day on Saturday! I found it weird that he planned to come down, but the planning stopped there - he hadn't thought of what he'd actually like to do once he got here! Luckily, I had a few ideas up my sleeve.

We took a walk around the posh south west of London - High Street Kensington, Kensington Palace and Gardens, Notting Hill Gate and Portobello mkts! Lunch was a this yuuuuummy peranakan restaurant, Nyonya, after which we headed back to my place just around the block for coffee, tea and a bit of warmth.

We then met up with Wei's medic friend, Alberto, who also has friends studying in London for dinner, then walked around Bayswater with Yish (bought roast duck and Haagen dazs - but not together... that would be interesting), followed by a walk from Leicester Sq to Oxford Circus, since "a visit to London is not complete without visiting Leicester" according to Alberto. He took us through the back lanes which were really quaint and pretty, which I managed to pass through the following day in between church nearby - we walked thru them again to get to chinatown for lunch (great food and fellowship), after which I met up with Jessica over coffee (we're going to be reading Hebrews together! 2 girls saw us praying and asked us what we were doing, we told them 'praying' etc and they thought it was really nice) then had some free time to wander around again! I even got a cute skirt and kimono-style top from Ben Sherman on 60% off both for 25quid! Oooh yeah. They've got stores in Australia (yay) and I think they're opening up a new store on Pitt St this month.

Evening service was exciting, still Revelation and still relevant (a glorious picture book, NOT a puzzle book). I also managed to sit with a fellow ChemEnger at IC originally from Nigeria, who I know goes to All Souls as well but have never sat with, as well as a Spanish girl, Gloria (from party capital Ibiza!) I met at SWOT, who lives in the next street to me!!! We prayed together last Wed and she prayed completely in Spanish, which I couldn't understand at all, but God definitely could - it was really cool. We have plans to do Spanish dinner and a movie with Jess next week!

See, Weekend was great!

When food supplies exceed demand....

2005-02-16T03:04:00.000-08:00

It's 1am, I'm sleepy but I'm waiting for my hair to dry before I hit the sack, feeling rather random, so what better to do than blog.

The past few days have been interesting... Many instances where food supplies have exceeded demand and resulted in rather satisfying results. I don't recall what happened Friday, but Saturday was lotsa fun. Despite my plans to do some serious study (I borrowed 4 books just on vector calculus in an attempt to salvage any hopes of understanding fluid mechanics), Yish felt like doing some baking, so after doing our laundry (laundry somehow seems to dominate our saturday morning or arvo....) and having an excess supply of carrots, we decided to make some carrot cake. We joined forces with James, one of the dudes who also lives in halls, who is pretty nifty in the kitchen (we also needed to find a dish/tin to bake the cake in), made late lunch together and then headed down to Portobello markets to stock up on ingredients as well as the week's groceries.
It was my first time experiencing Portobello markets in all its glory. I'd been down Portobello Rd a fair few times since moving into the neighbourhood, though it was always just for groceries on a weekday or saturday evening when there are heaps of good bargains on fruit and veg at the end of the day.
But at 3pm on a Saturday, not only are there the produce stalls, which sell delicious fruit, veg, seafood, cheese from France (we scored a very large, very mature camembert for 50p!), fresh bread and pastries, but also the antique stalls, which Portobello is famous for. There was antique everything - clothes, jewellery, photographs, trinkets, bags, books, smoking pipes, tea pots, etc... it was amazing. Despite being really cold, wet and windy, the streets were packed with people and the whole place really had that 'street bazaar' buzz all around.
Nevertheless, we were on yet another food mission, so antique shopping had to wait till another time. We spent a good 2+hrs exploring the variety of very tempting produce we could acquire, before heading home with a few yummy things as well as the essentials for our carrot cake 'bake-fest'.
The final product was finished (while devouring our camembert) just in time for dessert after our dinner. It was sooo yuuuummmm. Sweet, moist carrots, brown sugar, cinammon and walnuts topped with a smooth cream cheese icing . We took photos. What began as a carrot cake bonanza turned out to be a whole day cooking/eating affair. Cooking with Yish & James is great.

Sunday was spent celebrating chinese new year in Chinatown and at church. We had YumCha with Yish's family friends which was very pleasant, which was situated in the midst of the luna new year celebrations (I don't feel so homesick/left out anymore!). There were street performances, lion dances, fireworks, balloons, paper-mache roosters and dragons to take home, and once again, many people. Lots to see and lots to eat - I managed to get my favourite chinese pastries, 'lo-po beng' (old wife biscuits), with 4 different fillings which was soooo sweeeet. Although not an instance where supply exceeded demand but rather the opposite, which resulted in somewhat excessive pircing but it didn't matter, they were worth it. Mmmmmmm....
We then did a bit of chinese grocery shopping, before I headed for evening service. Very challenging it was, especially regarding rebuking our brothers and sisters - Rev2:12-17 about the Xn response to the pressures of persecution and seduction. I really recommend listening to it.

Monday was Valentine's Day! I had a fun time. Yish and I had a boring lab to do for 3hrs (sticking 14 polymer samples into a Dynamic Light Scattering device every 10mins), but our demonstrator let us use his PC so we played Chicken Invaders2 the WHOLE time! We named all our high scores after chicken dishes from KFC, roast, jambalaya to teriyaki.
We then went for 'Life Everlasting', a follow-up course to the ICCU's mission week 3 weeks ago, where my Bible study leader, Gary, was giving the talk that evening. Discussion was a bit one-sided since everyone in the group I sat with was pretty much Xn, and the nXns didn't say much. Yish came along and was keen to just listen on what people had to say, though she'd doesn't think she'll go to something like this again.
Then, it was a mad rush from S.Kensington to make a 9pm Spanish movie Bad Education(was good! Interesting to say the least... ) at Leicester Sq with my roomie and a big buncha people studying lots of different things. Monday nights are pretty quiet, so tix were only 2quid! oooh yeah. Sweet popcorn is sooo addictive.
We then headed home at 11pm, and shared our V-day experiences with each other on the tube. Yish & I managed to persuade Nadia to send her crush a valentine since there was still 1hr left to do what people do on Valentine's, which took the rest of the night to accomplish. yay!

Today was a good day at uni/home, despite waking up terribly late this morning (you know that surreal feeling you have when you wake up and think you alarm just switched off, but couldn't be, though it strangely feels later in the day than it should be? yep - that's me.) having gone out and done random things the night before, I managed to spring out of bed like a roast chicken (wait...can a roast chicken spring out of anything? Argh too much Chicken Invaders...) chow down a bowl of fruitfuls (my yummy, yet healthy cereal of the mo, which I bought on offer too) and still make it to my 9am lecture via foot with time to spare. yeah! Then having a fat 4hr break, I then went to the Central Library, took a nap before doing some revision.
At 2pm, went to my Thermo lecture, understood everything coz Dr Amparo Gallindo is a super duper lecturer, had another break where I had a bit of a caffiene fix (good 78p latte from the SAF CAFe) with Yish. We continued our conversation about God, which has not concluded.
We then visited STA Travel on campus, and found some interesting deals on short breaks to Brussels/Bruge and Paris/Versailles, before heading to the supermarket on the way home. And here is the BEST senario when supply exceeds demand so far: we chanced upon good sized Christmas ice-cream Log cakes for..... 20PENCE! That's AUD 50 cents! ooooooh the temptation to purchase more than one box was soooo great. We had some for dessert (with our carrot cake from Sat), and then somehow, began cleaning up - first the dishes, then the stove, and somehow even the dish rack, microwave, toaster, kettle, fridge (shelves and drawers) and cupboard handles... Some of the things we discovered (esp in the dark fridge corners) were intersting to say the least. It was really fun actually, but not as a full-time job I suppose.

Ok, hair is definitely dry now, I've ended up typing waaaay more and staying up waaaay later than I intended, so yes, amongst my gazillion tangents, I meant to say that FOOD BARGAINS ARE GREAT. Just like free tea. No bad experiences thus far (4 days and counting). I love cooking, I love food.

Chinese New Year thoughts from a 3rd Culture Kid

2005-02-09T15:50:00.000-08:00

Gong Xi Fa Cai/Gong Hei Fat Choi!
(Whichever rocks your boat)
Translation: Happy Lunar New Year!

This morning as everyone filed in and I was sitting peacefully, waiting for my fluid mechanics (I'm SO screwed for this subject... help anyone?) lecture to begin, I happened to hear a bunch of Singaporeans/Malaysians greet each other with the words above. So you're thinking, 'Ok, that's nice.' So am I. But there's more. The way in which they said those words weren't the same as the way that I'm used to saying and hearing them being said - it sounded as if it really REALLY meant something to them.

Borrowing a friend's terminology, I'm a 3rd Culture Kid - someone of enthinicy 'A', who grew up in country 'B' and now lives in country 'C', where A, B and C are not equal (for the mathematically inclined), i.e. they're not the same countries. Some of us don't really know where we 'belong' nationality-wise and are torn between being solely identified with/accepting one of the 2 or more of the cultures that we have grown up in and have learned to love and hate. Kind of like rojak (a really mixed up chinese or indian salad, depending on the ingredients) that reckons it could taste good with steak and mushroon sauce or creamy bacon cabonara pasta.

Come to think of it, this is the first year ever that I've been away from family for Chinese new year, not that it's an earth-shattering realisation or anything. Just a thought. I've experienced many a chinese new year with my family, a handful which were more memorable and/or elaborately celebrated than others back in Singapore. The lead up to the big day would involve 'spirng-cleaning' the home (chinese believe that cleaning on the big day would sweep away the good luck), the odd purchase of new (red) clothing, as well as making and/or buying lots of yummy traditional food with my Nanya (grandma on dad's side).

Reunion dinner with dad's family would take place on Chinese New Year eve, and on the day itself, my brother and I would wake up early-ish to wish mum and dad as well as our grandparents a happy new year in return for red packet money. We'd then get dressed in our nice new clothes, and have breakkie: traditional Shanghainese rice noodles, 'nian gao' and 'tong sui' in the company of the same uncles, aunties and cousins we saw the previous night. We'd all then take a family photo on the marble stairs, before heading off to visit family friends and then mum's side of the family after lunch where we'd muck around with my outher cousins or join in on the mahjong/poker/blackjack with the parents till the early hours of the morning. All this would take place with multiple mandarin oranges and red packets exchanging hands, and some years, the odd lion dance thown in along the way if we're lucky.

In Sydney, nothing that spesh. Reunion dinner with my aunt's family, a bit of gambling and the occasional chinese family friend that comes to visit. Being on my own in London, I wasn't planning to do anything much for chinese new year and didn't think it would mean all that much to me, but I guess it does. I wouldn't be writing this if I didn't feel something amiss. I haven't done anything much for it in terms of gathering with other chinese people I know here (thanks to my yucky cough limiting my social movements - but thanks for the invite on Sunday Eda & Vincent!) but I wish I did. I spent Chinese New Year eve with my annexe-mates, semi-celebrating the new year with a piece of salmon (limited asian ingredients available in my kitchen at the mo) and semi-celebrating Shrove Tuesday by having pancakes (savoury and sweet).

Chinese New Year has begun losing its significance in my life over the years, and I don't know if its something I'd be okay with, to let that continue or if I want it to continue being part of who I am, and having it mean something to me, like it does to those chinese people in my lecture. I guess its like being chinese and not knowing how to read/write speak it. (sad shame.) Then you've got to consider the other/new culture that you're currently living in, ask the same questions to see how much it has influenced you and that you've become like it.

Does it matter? Is it something I and other 3rd culture kids should be concerned about? In a converging world where western culture seems like the dominant force, is it wrong that cultures are being forgotten and lost? It's the year of the rooster, but what does that mean?
Is there anything that needs to be done/changed, or is this just part of the natural progression that defines, and is the essence of being a 3rd culture kid in this global village?

Maybe I'm a tad homesick (wherever home is) at a time when people are coming together to share a common heritage. But the fact remains that I'm curious. If you're chinese, how did you celebrate your new year's? What does everyone think about 3rd culture kids?

I'm back

2005-02-08T15:16:00.000-08:00

Who'da thought just changing my template would attract such a deluge of comments? Here's a big thank you to everyone for reading/commenting by the waaay! Nice to know I'm not a waste of cyberspace.

So I know I said there'd be new pictures soon and that I'd put up more posts (I will! I promise). Sorry for the delay! However there have been a few unexpected glitches along the way:
1. Hello/Picassa, the photo uploading program has decided to take a hike on me, not sure when it'll be working again.... can anyone help?
2. Uni work is beginning to pile;
3. I have been sick for the past 2.5 weeks - what started as a chest infection has now become something apparently less sinister ('nothing!' acording to the doctor I saw free of charge under England's National Health System) which, depsite feeling better slowly but surely, I am NOT convicned of, since:
(a) I have been coughing less frequently but A LOT more severely till I choke, face goes red, eyes water- not a pretty sight.
(b) still not being able to lie flat to sleep for fear of suffocation from fluoro phlegm.

In fact, we can thank reason 3 for me being able to blog! 'Why?' I hear you say, because, today, the 8th of Feb, is the Frank Morton Cup, a very big day on the Chemical Engineering calendar for universities in England, where all the Chem Eng departments from unis England-wide (Loughborough, UCL, Cambridge, Imperial, and a few others) get together to play sport (hence the cup)/socialise/get drunk/party it up.

So here I was, having paid my £31 2-weeks ago for my 6hr *shudder* coach ride up and back from Newcastle that departs at 2am, a t-shirt as well as a racing green hoodie (niiiiice green jumper with a hood, but mine is waaay to big - silly mens' sizes.... will attempt the super hot machine wash and dry this weekend and see what happens). I was seriously really excited to go play some badminton (hahahaha), see more of England and experience 12hrs on a bus. But thanks to reason 3, I didn't think it would be so good to play sport with breathing problems, or be on a bus with no loo when I have to expel phlegm occasionaly, etc... you get the drift.

Yish called earlier from Newcastle to say hey, and things are going great! She just finished playing her matches - won her first badminton doubles round (I was her doubles partner until I piked) but lost the next. GO IMPERIAL CHEM ENG!!!!! I hope we win.

Anywhos, staying home today has been good though - if you haven't spent a whole day at home bludging in a while, (which disqualifies almost everyone on summer hols) I suggest you do - it's great for the mind, body and soul.

I also read Ephseians1:1 again (I also suggest you do this on your day off!), which was mind-blowing. To know that our God FIRST loved us, chose us, forgave us, redeemed us, gave His son up for us BEFORE we were even born. Praise be to God!

AND, did you know how loaded a greeting 'Grace and Peace' actually is? I'll tell you how loaded:
Peace (Shalom) is shorthand for 'all blessings from God' - the absence of conflict as well as the presence of good health, happiness, and God's blessings for us. So peace is the ultimate goal of our salvation.
And how do we have peace in our lives? Only through grace. God's abundant grace, that He gave us because it pleased Him to do so, through Christ and His amazing cross.

Chew that! It's that cool or what? Read it again and let it sink in.

Any further questions pertaining to any of the above, I will be happy to entertain.

New template teething

2005-01-30T17:23:00.000-08:00

yaaaay! Decided to change my template, so here is the result.
What do you think? ey ey ey?
It'a not yet final mind you, I do realise half of the text is in colours that make it painful to read on this new white background, but not yet... it's time to head to church! checking out All Soul's evening service. So alll in good time.... C:
Will write soon!
xoxoxo

First week of Exchange (more pics to come)

2005-01-11T23:39:00.000-08:00

I've been an Imperial College Undergrad for a week now!
My in-house internet connection has finally been set up today, classes have begun, and so has the dreary-grey weather....

My Abode
My hall of residence is in Notting Hill Gate, and I live in the annexe - a big 3-storey 'granny flat' behind the main building. Each floor is divided into 2 sections, with each section housing 4-5 people with a communal kitchen, shower and WC. It's quite good, since the ammenities are only shared between 4 or 5 people so less squishy and less dirty. My friend Yish stays in the main building, though she has an ensuite and comes over to my kitchen for meals.
I'm also in a twinshare room, and my roommate, Nadia, is a Mech Eng 1st yr from Malaysia. She's an awesome roomie! We went bowling over the weekend with some of her friends which was lots of fun. Here's a picture of the room & Nadia:

My Roomie Nadia and I

The room window faces Portobello Rd - a good place to visit/shop but not necessarily good to live thaaaat at close to - it's a main road with buses trudging up and down all the time... noisiness! Had our first brush with fame too - Yish and I saw Elle MacPherson and son on our way to uni last week - they were on Razor scooters, she was sending son to school in the neighbourhood. I couldn't believe it and was a bit dazed after for a bit.

As you can see (couldn't upload the picture!) it ain't amazing but decent nonetheless. Since my bed didn't come with a pillow or duvet/quilt so had to get them yday from this shop called 'Argos', which sells everything from electronics and homewares, even jewellery(!) in a really interesting way - the shop is set out like a bank, with bench tops all around the front perimeter where you flip thru catalogues, punch the item number into a pad to check its availability, write down the product code, pay for it then collect it from a counter (they store all their goods at the back)! interesting and budgetly cheap!....
We also had a Hall social on the weekend: International Night! Everyone had to bring along a dish from their country of origin, and Yish prepared a stir-fried noodle dish (Yuuum... she cooks really well). Turns out, there are a few French students in our Hall! And they cook sooo well... we had escargots (mnnh, not sure what to think of them.... chewy?), crepes, and lots more french food and other food (italian pasta, apple strudel, finnish, danish, etc... did you know they sell 1m-long tubes of absolut vodka?)

Uni
To get to uni, Yish & I normally trudge through Hyde Park in the mornings, which takes just under 30mins. Then there's the buses, which cost 40p when I'm running late! Tube takes 3 stops but it waaay expensive.

Uni has been ok so far, I'm doing a mixture of 2nd, 3rd and 4th yr Chem Eng subjects so that they correspond to the subjects I'm missing back home - a bit nuts! Some are good and interesting, others not so good, though lecturers seem better.

Other than Engo, I'm taking a few humanities subject for non-credit! They're really really good - French, Politics and one called Music & Western Civilisation, which is studying music of different genres and their cultures - atm we're looking at the composer, Henry Purcell and his opera composition, "Dido & Aeneas". About how the monarchy, religion, political climate, during the 17th century influenced how and where composers worked (from churches to theatres) and were their musical style (Anglo-Franco-Italian). Hopefully my workload won't get too heavy and I can continue going for these lectures at lunchtimes! C:

People are pretty friendly, there is quite a huge number of overseas students - those that I've met anyway. There are actually 4 Chem Eng students from USyd at Imperial at the moment, and we all had Tom Yum for dinner together last Friday!

God has really been looking after me over here, things could've been a lot worse but they aren't! However I'm suffering from sleep deprivation a little coz i can't seem to get to bed early before midnight, and have issues getting outta bed in the mornings (and wanting to study). Getting a little sick too (go the fluorescent mucus!... eeeeegh).

I visited All Souls Church near Oxford Circus over the weekend, they're a big Anglican Church that seemed really really welcoming and Bible-centred. They also have lots of activities/talks/training courses on during the week for everyone, with Student Bible Studies running on Wed evenings which I plan to visit tmrw.
The Christian group on campus seems quite active too, I contacted them and they got in touch with me the following day! Will be going along to their weekly meeting thingo this Thu to find out more.

Happpy 21st Bro!! *Phweeeee*!!!!

Okies, that's all for now.... nite!

London!

2005-01-05T11:47:00.000-08:00

I'm in London now!

Left Cambridge on Monday and began uni at Imperial yday, using a friend's user name and password on a uni computer atm (haven't got mine yet) and still have to sort out subjects, buy a few things for my room (it's a bit dim and my bed didn't come with a pillow or duvet... dodgy!... guess its more hygenic though), accommodation is decent overall, my room mate is really nice!

Notting Hill is nice, rather expensive though! lots of big nice shops with big xmas sales on atm... It takes 30mins to walk to uni thru Hyde Park (has huuuuge swans and ducks).

ok gtg, will write more soon!
xoxoxo

Asian Tsunami Disaster

2004-12-29T18:32:00.000-08:00

Seeing articles and video footage of the situation since it began has been very moving - a young father looking for his youngest daughter having just buried his wife and eldest daughter in Sri Lanka; streets filled with more corpses than there are people to bury them; a girl still waiting to be treated in an Indonesian hospital while the wounds on her face become infected with gangrene, and so many more personal tales of devastation.

The situation on 28th Dec 2004

There are friends and loved ones whom were/are in those countries affected who I have heard news that they are thankfully safe, others still unknown.

I don't really know what to say or make of it all, being so far away. I'm finding it difficult to express how I feel, though I do agree with lots of what was said in Finding Meaning in The Death Toll by Soph, and I will continue to pray and help in ways that I possibly can.

Christmas at STAG

2004-12-25T21:15:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!!

"The angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, '... She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.'
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet Isaiah: 'The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel' - which means 'God with us'. " (Matt 1:20-23)

I hope you all have been having a fantastic and safe time this festive season, celebrating the birth of Christ, that God should choose to become man to die and save us.
Woot woot!

Today, Weiming and I spent Christmas day at the church of St Andrew the Great, aka STAG (that’s no typo – that’s what they call it!) where they had a huge lunch after the service especially for internationals who don't have much family to spend Christmas with.

Christmas lunch at STAG

It was a really fun afternoon, with tasty food, good conversations, Christmas carols, games and kris kringle. Each table had trivia questions, which Joseph (Wei's Korean Physicist friend) and Koji (Wei's Japanese friend) were doing. Not to forget the good 'ol Christmas crackers! I love the toys that come inside.

Joseph & Koji

There were many there who weren’t Christian, some who'd come along to experience and celebrate Chritsmas in its entirety for the very first time, such as Mainland Chinese, HeWei, who is studying postgrad maths and has been attending a Chinese Bible Study group!

Mathmo postgrad HeWei

Another person I met on my table was Zhou Xia, who lives in Paris and is in Cambridge to learn English. She has also been attending a Bible Study group led by Beth and Mat, who happen to be from Sydney too. Go Aussie!

English student, Zhou Xia (who lives in Paris!)

Fellow Aussies Beth & Mat

Throughout the afternoon, I managed to have good gospel conversations with both of them which was really exciting as well as challenging, having to pull out my basic mandarin every now and again! Prayer for them would be awesome.

After the food, came the fun and games. For one of the games, in our table groups we had to dress one of our group members up as either an angel, shepherd or wise man. Koji was our wise man, while Weiming was the shepherd for another table:

Wise Man Koji (with his trusty steed + gift of gold) & Shepherd Weiming (drowning his sorrows having lost his flock)

It was hillarious. By that time, it had become dark (at 3pm....) and was time to go.

Since arriving in Cambridge, everyone has been so hospitable, inviting us for meals etc. Christmas eve was spent with the Baes - Joseph and his mother, where they fed us dinner (incl Korean Kimchi).

A very Asian Christmas meal

Joseph, Koji, Weiming & I played risk after - I was kicking major boy butt, having conquered 3 continents by the time the boys decided to call it quits. Yeah!

Green is the Girl!

Pastor Dan at CPC has even offfered to drive me and my luggage into London on thy 4th when term at Imperial begins and I need to move into Pembridge Hall, which I'm really really thankful for. Praise God!

The Megan & Weilin Adventures Contd.

2004-12-23T14:52:00.000-08:00

As promised, my sightseeing days with Megan were not over. This time, we tackle Cambridge & London with a few other companions in tow!

On Monday, Megan and Sarah came up to Cambridge from London for the day. We visited the more notable colleges like Trinity, John’s and Clare (my brother’s college) and King’s along with its chapel (it’s so huge and its stained glass panels showed OT stories at the top and how they have been fulfilled in NT. Mad!).

Megan, Weilin & Sarah in Cambridge

Trinity was the college that ‘belonged’ to that guy, Eric something, who refused to run a race on a Sunday because it was the Sabbath (from which they made the movie “Chariots of Fire”) so Sarah and I re-enacted one of the running scenes around the courtyard while megan filmed on her digicam and hummed “Chariots of Fire” with my bro! Haha.

Trinity college courtyard

Later that evening we had dinner at “The Eagle”, the pub where the disocery of DNA was announced, with one of Weiming’s economist friends, Janakan, who’s really entertaining as Megan and Sarah will tell you! Mmmmmm yum pub food.

Megan, Weiming, Sarah, Weilin & Janakan at The Eagle, where the discovery of DNA was announced

The following day, Weiming and I went into London to check out Imperial College and see what I could get done before term begins (not much really since Chrsitmas was approaching). It was my first time ever in London, and it was really exciting!

Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station (think Harry Potter)

The underground tube trains were really like tubes (really narrow) and even had allocated busking pits in the subways for buskers! There were just so many people everywhere as well.

Allocated busking pitches along the Underground's subway

We met up with Megan and Sarah again as well as Ben (who does med with Sarah) in the early arvo at Leicester Square and had dinner at the infamous “Wong Kei” restaurant where they have good cheap Hongkie food but terrible service. We asked the waiter who served us our meals to take a photo for us, but he waved us off and he shouted back with strong Hongkie accent, “Ahhh! oily hands! Ask the other waiter!” since that had NEVER happened to us before, we all burst out laughing!

Outside the infamous Wong Kei Restaurant

We then went to see Andrew Lloyd Webber’s latest musical “The Woman in White” with Michael Crawford (!!) which was fantastic. The set design was amazing, though the music doesn’t compare to “The Phantom” or “Les Mis” I reckon.

Outside the Palace Theatre

Inside the Palace Theatre

England: First Impressions

2004-12-19T23:49:00.000-08:00

I'm officially in the UK now!
(not that it was unofficial or anything before... just the lack of a better word really...)

It's been 3 pretty cold days I guess, I never leave the room without a minimum of 4 layers! I've been told Cambridge is colder than London being flatter and a bit further north, though being dryer than London is a plus point I'm thinking, since wet+cold=miserable.
Daylight at the mo is pretty depressing with the sun setting before 4pm, and no matter what time of day it is, I reckon it averages the likes of 5pm in Syd. Hopefully things will brighten up (literally) after the solstice tmrw!

My first few days in Cambridge have been quite good, seeing the university(really REALLY pretty) adjusting to the weather, meeting those of my brother's friends who have yet to return home for Christmas - they're a really smart, witty (not to mention really corny at times) and very entertaining group. On my first night here, they had a huge Christmas dinner which was really nice and yum too. We had duck, yorkshire puddings, veg, and Ben & Jerry's ice-cream for dessert! Phish food is sooooo goood.... it's choc ice-cream with marshmallow, caramel and chocolate fish!

Weilin, YingTing, Dan and Jen

Other nights have been watching movies or chatting over a meal. Very nice & relaxing.

Janakan, Weiming & Chima

One bad thing though - my wallet has gone walkies... Weiming and I have no idea what happened to it, which sux. Think I was pick-pocketted! I had my bag completely zipped all the way from Heathrow to his room in Cambridge when I didn't need anything from it, to my best recollection (can't be 100% sure after 15hrs of traveling and jetlag), I guess these ppl are good at their trade. Grrr. There goes my student card, driver's license, bank card, etc... I realized on Fri evening, so can't do anything till Monday since everything is closed over the weekend. Will call the bus and taxi co.s which we used as well as make a police report. Both mum & dad just rang - really good that they were rational about it and not to overreact/yell (thanks!)

On Saturday we took around the main town centre, which the univeristy colleges surround, which wasn't the best idea being saturday (i. e. lots of shoppers) as well as lots of last-minute xmas shopping happening - it was crazy! The shops are nice but quite posh.

Today (Sunday) was mostly spent at Cambridge Presbytarian Church (CPC) which is where Weiming worships. We woke up a little earlier to make fried rice to contribute to the monthly fellowship lunch.
It's a relatively small traditional family church with people of all ages, which was really nice. The congregation was really really friendly and rather international to my surprise - apart from the local English, were Koreans, Brazillians, Dutch and quite a few Americans. All were doing some form of study at the uni!
Getting there was an adventure in itself! Being on the other side of Cambridge, I'd borrowed Chima's bike to use to get there. However the bike was in desperate need of maintenance and the seat was really low and wouldn't stay up, that I almost collapsed of inefficiency and imbalance on the way. We walked back home after C:
Most folks also attend both services that the church holds in the morning and evening - Weiming was telling me that it's quite normal, with people starting and ending their Sabbath days listening to God's word. The teaching is also very solid. Good stuff!

Should get to bed now, tomorrow Megan and Sarah are coming up from London for the day, and I've got to deal with the missing wallet as well... Should be good!

The 13 hour Flight

2004-12-17T13:52:00.000-08:00

The flight over to England from Singapore was... LONG... to say the least.

Having not slept the night before (would've had to wake up at 3am for my 6am flight), I was pretty buggered - I think I fell asleep once I boarded (who knows... I don't even recall us taking off...)

I also got rorted of my window seat. Yes they put me next to the plane's outer walls, but it was deficient in some transparent material from which you can peer out of. I resorted to leaning forward to 'share' the window that the guy in front of me had half of. The reason why I'm having a little rant about my window(less) seat is because scenery below us, which I did manage to catch glimpses of was so stunning. We flew over the the Arabian Sea, the Middle East as well as Russia among other places which I wasn't awake to take note of. The landscape at times was filled with earthy brown desert and sand dunes, or white snow (or a mixture of both) as far as the eye could see. It was so amazing!

Flying over the Gulf of something or rather...

This is why I can't tell where we are - the plane is covering the word.

Desert & Snow

I also met a guy and his 3 yr-old daughter, Lucy, (see pic) while walking around the cabin in an attempt to prevent the onset of DVT. Lucy was telling me about how clouds are held in the sky by elephants of various colours (especially pink ones) using string.Very cute.

Lucy and her dad, people I met on the plane.

Didn't watch a whole movie though - too tired. just caught bits of whatever. There was a bizarre romantic comedy called Saved! with Mandy Moore in it, which is set in a Christian school where one of the girls, Mary, (how ironic) gets pregnant while trying to save her homosexual boyfriend(?)....
It was quite interesting, exploring what's considered 'acceptable' to talk about in church and what teens really confront in daily life, which divides their faiths and their lives in the 'real world'. According to the website, it presented "authentic Christian teens who make poor choices, have a crisis of faith, seek answers, and utlimately emerge with a genuine faith made strong through the fires of life." Haha, there was even a scene where Mandy and her possy, who happen to be at the top of the social ladder, try to exorcise Mary and when she accuses Mandy of being a fake, Mandy chucks her Bible at Mary and yells, "I'm FULL of Christ's love!" Yeah right - good film.

That's all!

Last days in Singapore

2004-12-15T22:09:00.000-08:00

My last days in Singapore were quite hectic, trying to get lots of things finalised and bought as well as lots of last minute good-byes.

Jane, Junice & Weilin

On my last night after another big family farewell dinner, Jane & Jun popped over to help me pack and just hang out! Thanks guys, was good times. xoxoxo

Imperial approval - woohoo!

2004-12-10T19:53:00.000-08:00

News just in this week: Imperial College has finally not only offered us our exchange in writing, but have offered us college accommodation too!

Our (Yish & I) college'a hall of residence is Pembridge Hall in Notting Hill Gate, which is conveniently just 3 tube stops from Imperial - yep, Notting Hill - super posh - full of huge houses with huger gardens apparently! Luckily, college accommodation is not too expensive, being around 65 pounds/wk (just over A$150). Unfortunately Yish and I won't be sharing the same room - at least we're in the same hall.

We'll be close to Portobello Market, which is full of organic produce as well as arts, crafts and antiques, my dad is getting worried that I'll spend too much time there. teehee.

We can only move in after new year's, so I'll be spending time with the bro in Cambridge till then!

2004-12-09T22:42:00.000-08:00

Grandad eating pizza with chopsticks!

Megan & I: Tourists in Singapore

2004-12-07T23:44:00.000-08:00

Weilin & Megan

Remember that day when I was helping my mum's family friend on her hotel project in Chinatown? (she was designing all the cushions for all the hotel rooms, lobby, bar etc... they were so nice! It’s called The Scarlet, very modern western) We passed by lots of heritage-listed buildings as well as little quaint streets. I kept having thoughts of how good it would be to come back with a camera to see the sights, find out about Singapore's history etc...

So here I was, wanting to be a tourist in my country of origin.

A few days later, I had a bit of free time in between shopping and meeting Hongyan for dinner, so I popped into a hotel lobby and pretended to be an Aussie tourist - the man behind the concierge desk asked me if I had ever been to Singapore and I said, "nup!" (fat lie) – see, I wanted him to give me the low-down on everthing. Nevertheless, he wasn't very helpful. He started off showing me all the shopping centres, blahblahblah, even though his hotel was smack bang in the middle of Orchard Rd, and even forgot to mention some important places of interest that I read about on the map he gave me... Oh well, at least he gave me a useful map!
That evening, I got an email from Megan saying she was in Singapore too! So I emailed her back, giving her my contact deets over here, and asked her if she was keen to meet up to wander around the streets of Singapore together.
2 days later, Megan calls!! We arranged to meet Tuesday morning – our plan was to start with the Chinatown area, where there are a few places of worship and little alleys, and make our way up to City Hall, where there are a few museums, parliament house, supreme courts and Raffles Hotel! Haha. The weather was overcast and it drizzled the whole day, which was probably better than sweltering heat if it were a hot, sunny, typical Singapore day!

First stop: Sri Mariamman Temple
This Hindu temple was quite architecturally impressive. A ‘complimentary’ info-brochure that served as a self-guided tour manual came with the $3 camera usage fee, which Megan and I used to work our way around the temple. It also had an introduction to Hinduism, where it states that Hinduism is "known more as a way of life than as a religion" and "governs the evolution of the individual from birth to death to rebirth until he finds final salvation". It is a combination of guardian spirit worship and deification of "abstract concepts and natural phenomena such as the sun and fire".

Sri Mariamman Temple ceiling

The main sanctum of the temple houses the principle deity of the temple, while ancillary shrines for other deities are located inside the compound along its perimeter. The Hindus believe that the images of the deities in the temples are equivalent to them residing permanently there. Like Christianity, Hinduism has a trinity in its ‘pantheon’. However there are thousands more Hindu gods, with different deities have different status depending on the size of their following. In such a polytheistic religion, I suppose it would be difficult to worship so many gods with the same magnitude. There were also lots of cow statues around its outer walls.
We had to remove our footwear to enter the temple – there’s a picture of Megan cleaning her slimey feet before she could put on her sandals on our departure. Go thongs! Teehee…

Cleaning slimey wet feet!

We also weren’t allowed to go too close to each shrine so as not to disturb worshippers, so we couldn’t really observe their practices. Similarly to the Tabernacle and Old Testament worship & atonement, only priests are allowed to enter the inner sanctums so as to mediate between deity and devotee.

Ann Siang Hill
Like many Singaporean places and streets, this was an area named after a famous merchant/trader. There were lots of old-style tall and narrow terrace houses with wooden shutter windows, whose facades had been maintained but had been converted into offices, pubs or eateries.

Ann Siang Hill (don't mind the wheelie bin)
We just wandered around, took happy snaps of various things and of each other, which led us on a nicely paved walkway and we even came across Amoy St (like the brand that makes Yum Cha food), where I used to come often with my family to have meals. This incidentally led us to our intended next stop – Thian Hock Keng Temple.

Amoy Street

Thian Hock Keng Temple
This Chinese temple was also impressive, with lots of gold plating on its wooden frame. With no ‘camera fee’ and less tourist provisions, we felt that it was inappropriate to take any photos here. Beside each statue of the deities was a little write-up. There was one stage were both Megan and I were kneeling down to read and we were both scratching our ankles thanks to the abundance of mosquitoes! Unlike the Hindu’s abstract gods of elements etc, these were deified people from Chinese history, whom people have chosen to worship – Confucius was amongst the deities.
At both temples, both of us couldn’t help but feel sad that there were so many who were looking to images and idols for help, who believed performing rituals to please these gods would save them and bring relief to their sufferings in this world.

Lunch
We came across this huge 2-storey hawker centre, which was packed with food outlets and even more hungry people. Although both of us were starving, we had a bit of difficulty deciding on what to eat, which was followed by difficulties finding seats – EVERYONE reserved seats by placing their umbrellas or tissue packets on the seats! Sneaky… Lunch was yuummm – I had Nasi Lemak (coconut rice with ikan-bilis, veg, etc) for a bargain price of $2 while Megan had wonton noodles from a store that advertised itself as "highly recommended". The drinks lady was super friendly – even came up to Megan to show her how to dilute/shake her Bandung (rose syrup+milk) drink!

Post-Lunch Adventures (getting lazy now)
- After lunch we made our way to City Hall, where we got haggled badly by a guy selling postcards for charity – he ‘threatened’ (please lah, please lah) to follow us all the way until I bought sth. Yikes!
- We then made a pit-stop in this ultra huge and swanky hotel called The Fullerton, which used to be Singapore’s General Pose Office. We even made friends with a big carp (a fish) who poked its head out at us like dolphins do while we were taking a break (my legs were getting tired) by the ‘pond’. Megan thought he was grumpy but.
- Crossed the Singapore River and headed into the Asian Civilisations Museum – both of us felt a bit cheap and didn’t want to So we sat in their air-conditioned lobby, which had a mini-exhibit on the Ottoman Empire which was really intriguing. They had little ottomans to sit on, cute pictures on the walls, pull-out drawers with bits of carpet to touch and feel, tea blends to smell and tea cups with coffee at the bottom from which you could get your fortune told! There was also rubber stamps of uniquely ottoman designs and motifs, which we started stamping on postcards we previously picked up. How fun!
- Visited the Raffles Landing Site; took snaps with a statue of good ‘ol Mr Stamford Raffles himself
- More happy snaps: Parliament house and the supreme courts (nice grand buildings with nice architecture)
- Saw The Esplanade (like the Sydney Opera House but looks like 2 durians)
from across The Padang (huge piece of turf where they play cricket and used to hold Singapore’s national day parade)
- Visited Heritage Listed St Andrews Anglican Cathedral (its still raining)

Raffles Hotel
Our end point was this beautiful hotel with colonial influences. I was looking forward to this since I read about how this was the only place in Singapore where littering is actually encouraged. In their Long Bar, you can have your Singapore Sling, nibble on peanuts and toss the shells on the floor! The ceiling also had cute hand-held rattan fans that moved back and forth which young boys used to operate to keep guests cool, though they were now automated and were just for show since the bar was air-conditioned. Alas, one Sinapore Sling costs $20 and came in a huge glass with too much alcohol for both Megan and I to handle on relatively empty stomachs…. So we settled for afternoon tea instead!

By then, it was time for us to go our separate ways… what a fun day I had, learning more about my ‘homeland’! We said our ‘good-byes’ and planned to do it again, this time in London, where we’ll be seeing each other again in a week or so! Thanks Megan!

Singapore Idol

2004-12-01T23:55:00.000-08:00

Well, the entire experience wasn't all too bad! Some bits were absolutely boring (talk talk talk... blah blah blah.... I really wished I was at home in bed) while other bits were really good! I went expecting to be bored out of my brains, but I got rather into it when they all sang and got everyone to stand up etc... I should consider myself lucky to be able to get a seat when there are thousands of Sylvester & Taufik fans out there who desperately want what I had.

The Beng/Rocker, Sylvester, wasn't as bad as people made him out to be - he sounds good, although there's much to be desired from his pronunciation... He sang Seal's "Kiss from a Rose" and it sounded like "Keese from a Roast..." Can't really do much else but rock songs, and best stick to the Asian/Chinese market I reckon.

The other dude, Taufik, rather good I think! He's more versatile though he does RnB mainly. He won, and will be representing Singapore in World Idol - has a better chance of winning than Beng/Rocker dude.

For more Singapore Idol news, head to http://ch5.mediacorptv.com/shows/reality/view/754/1/.html

And if you're not sure what an Ah-Beng is, they're kinda like England's Chavs. go: http://www.chavscum.co.uk/howto.php

Okies, gtg, waiting at a friend, Hongyan's place for a lift out to someplace... later!

2004-11-30T16:50:00.000-08:00

(semi-)family shot

settings modified - anyone can comment now! C:

2004-11-30T15:00:00.000-08:00

Grrr I just spent 2hrs blogging and my cousin's PC hangs on me! GRRR!

Things so far are going really well (minus the silly PC hanging), my Sunday was pretty eventful. Having only 2hrs of sleep, had to wake up at 8am to get to Jane's church in Chua Chu Kang.

We took the LRT (the Light Rail), which isn't the main train system in Singapore - that's the MRT - which actually looks like a public bus in rails! Plus, it's really hi-tech - because it runs above ground and really close to the public HDB flats, to maintain resident's privacy, the carriage windows automatically white-out when the train passess a HDB flat! How cool is that?! I'm so impressed.

We then took a connecting bus to Jane's church - Hebron Bible Presbytarian is its name. It's a big and modern building, and they have 2 morning services, which I attended both. We started with the 9am for the older crowd (which Jane plays for the choir), left halfway to go to the 10am youth service. The sermon was about hungering for righteousness from The Beatitudes (Matt5). The music was less contemporary than CCC, while the congregation, young and old, was very welcoming - after the service quite a few people came up to me to say hello, they reminded me of the congregation at Sydney BP! One of the things that struck me was that they kneel down on the ground for congregational prayer. Was a really good experience overall!

After that, it was time to meet my aunt at Orchard. Shopping was really productive! I got a new wallet (since my old one popped), sterling silver earrrings (for only $4), sandals from that lovely shop, "Charles & Keith", and I managed to find pants that fit! woot woot! (I need to start calling them trousers... pants = underwear in the UK.) Man, sweeping statements considered, Singaporean women are all sticks!

The whole time, my aunt kept trying to make me agree to entering some Renee Zellweger look-alike contest that's going on... it's weird how quite a few ppl have commented that I look like her. Why does everyone like Bridget Jones? I find her annoying and refuse to pay S$6.50 to see her. That's how much it costs to watch movies on a Monday - they price discriminate rather heavily over here, with their most expensive day being Saturday where tix are S$8.50, still miles cheaper than tight-arse Tuesdays! Sydney is such a rip-off compared to Singapore!

Anyhow, that evening I had huge fat seafood dinner with my realtives on my dad's side (so far all relos mentioned have been maternal) at East Coast. It was really good catching up with all my aunts, uncles and cousins (my dad has 3 brothers) over such good food, and just hearing them talk about everything from what subjects/schools they are going to do/be at next year (3 of them did huge exams like the HSC this year) to the live cockroach we found in one of the dishes (no wonder the food was so tasty). I just miss having an extended family!

It also poured really heavily - I haven't seen rain like this in so long! With the drought in Sydney, it really reminded me of how great it is having rain and watching it fall all over the place.

Monday: I sllept till 1pm (ooh yeah) and then watched "The Incredibles" with Jane, Eugene & Jane's siblings. As some of you know I'm quite critical/particular when it comes to films, but this one os SO GOOD! It's a really smart and cute Pixar cartoon (as they all are) about Superheroes. It's action-packed, so hillarious and really sweet. GoSeeGoSeeGoSee!!!!!!!

tomorrow: should be rather interesting! In the morning/arvo, I'll be meeting up with a good family friend of my mum+aunts whose known my mum's family for almost 30yrs. She's an interior designer and I'll be helping her on her current project - refurbishing a hotel in Chinatown! Should be really good. After that, I'll be going to see Singapore Idol live and the Singapore Indoor Stadium with my 11 yr-old cousin Rachel and her 2 friends (I'm the Babysitter)...Apparently, the fnalists are some Ah-Beng/Rocker, Sylvester, and this Malay Usher look-alike named Taufik. Hope it's not boring....

- my first ever -

2004-11-27T03:30:00.000-08:00

Arrr!

I never thought I'd ever be one of those people who have blogs, let alone read blogs... and here I am setting up my very own! I'm even finding it quite exciting! ahaha...

Anywhos, I'm currently staying over at my friend, Junice's place with Jane too. The 3 of us spent the day catching up, eating and atempted to shop (more on shopping later). It's 3:30am Singapore time now and I have to get up early tmrw to visit Jane's church so I'll try to make it short.

It's been 3 days since my I've begun my travels and so much has happened already. I've arrived safely in Singapore (Manchurian candidate is such a good movie, Mean girls is so funny Aaron!), begun my catch-ups with family (it's so nice to see everyone again and how much all my little cousins have grown - one was so trusting that she even wanted me to hold her hand while we walked around the shops) and friends as well as my love-affair with the fooooood..... Hokkien mee, roti prata, hor-fun..... mmmmm.... and there's stacks more to go!

Having no agenda each day has been so good, waking up late and reading my Bible till whenever, then getting out of the house for lunch appointments with various people. I'm feeling so much better! Not so sure if the time difference (3hrs) has had much of an effect on me, aside from having to wake up and pee at 6am (9am Sydney time) each morning and staying up till weird hours such as this.

family: staying in my old place in Bishan with my grandparents, they are still alert and well. My grandma on my mum's side is well too, although she has dementia and doesn't remember who I am, and sometimes not even my uncle's family who stays with her.

I've really forgotten how nice it is to have an extended family, lot's of aunties/uncles/cousins to hang with & chat with. Funny thing is, they have the same 3 generic questions/coments:

1. Oh you've lost/gain weight

2. So what are you doing now (uni/work)

3. Do you have a boyfriend

shopping:There's so much of it that it's not funny. Like you said Sally-ann, you're spoilt for choice when it comes to toiletries/personal care products, however the reverse is true when it comes to pants. GRRRR! nothing fits - Singaporean girls are a different shape to me. Oooh and everything is pretty CHEAP. The shoes - there's this MAD shop called "Charles and Keith" with really nice & good quality shoes, with prices only around S$20!! How good is that?

church: yet to see! Once I've been I'll let youse know. Quite excited about tmrw!

Okies, better head to bed - Jun & Jane have gone without me!

Love & Miss y'all in Syd, xoxoxo