Tasmania, Melbourne, Beijing, Macau

Hey look folks! I donated some rice yesterday!





Through freerice.com where you play simple games of a topic of choice (eg, vocabulary, geography) and each right answer contributes to a donation of 10 grains of rice! So yups I donated 1780 grains of rice yesterday.


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Okay for a brief update of what I've been doing the near 2 months that I haven't blogged, here's some backtracking. And actually, I'm not going to type much because I am... lazy :D

OCF AGM Camp; Convention in Tasmania
30 Nov - 6 Dec 2010

Bestest campsite ever in Hobart! It was a camp obviously covered in much prayer and preparation. The speakers, Pastors David Cook and Ron Nguent were the "old school" type who did straightforward teaching from Romans and Corinthians. Me likey. The programme was smooth. The food was yumyumrubstub. The intercenter/interstate fellowship at this convention was so much warmer this year.



As for AGM, while people may say sitting at a "long meeting" is boring, well, I think it gets quite interesting when... when the issues matter to you :) Of course there were times where we got restless and whatnot because it was long. But it was also encouraging to hear stories - ideas, inspiration, setbacks, hurts, faithfulness, courage.



And these, are the Victorians - V for Victoria!





Family in Melbourne
8 - 17 December 2010

My eldest sister came earlier as part of a conference at Melbourne Uni, then the rest came later. We did the Great Ocean Road, Ballarat, Daylesford, Mornington Peninsula and Melbourne City. Was nice having them in Melbourne and bringing them around - thank you for coming for my grad! Good ol' family time :) And Ian generously let us use his zoom-zoom!





My parents saw a koala - it made them very happy. Hurhur. It was while we were driving on the Great Ocean Road and the car in front of us was really slow; it was because there was a koala in front! Too bad no kangaroo or wombat sightings.


During this trip it was decided that I would go home straight after Beijing. So it was a rushed 2 days of packing up my three years of life here! And phew thank God for Ian who didn't complain while helping :P

Bye bye Melbourne :( But I have reason to visit! Hehe.





Beijing and Macau with the Lohs
20 Dec 2010 - 7 Jan 2011

Holiday time! The planes on the Singapore to Beijing route and back was better than the Melbourne to Singapore ones. Bigger screens for one, and less people as well so it was just Ian and I sharing three seats \m/

The first thing that struck me about Beijing was... the air! Once I got out of the plane, wow - even the airport was hazy - super polluted air. But it was partly worse because it was winter and many places use coal to manufacture heat. At about -3 degrees in the day and -10 at night, it was coollllld. And no I didn't have a down feather jacket. But still, it was a "warm" trip with the hospitable, jovial Lohs I stayed with.

Here's a kid and her mom "chair-skiing" (don't know what it's called) at the frozen Hou Hai.



I got to be a tourist and visited the standard places like the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven and the Great Wall which, by the way, really is a great wall. I don't recommend visiting Beijing in winter because most of these attractions are outdoors.



Check out the spelling of emperor - "enpler"; like how we say "gahmen" instead of "government" :P



To experience what Ian's life was like, apart from spending time with his family and chilling at home and at meals, I went to the Internet Cafe twice for about six hours each time. Apart from the hour in which I attempted to play Counter Strike, I watched movies and soaked in cigaratte smoke air (smoking is allowed in many places).

And for the foodies - Beijing really has better food. Haha. And labour there is relatively cheaper so you find many many "fu yuan" (staff) in the restaurants and stores. The joke is that China is the only place where there are more workers than customers.



So. My first visit to Beijing was pretty raaaaad :D
A good mix of holiday + feeling at home.

Because Ian's work placement was starting a few days later,
HE EXTENDED HIS STAY IN SINGAPORE! \m/ So...





Back home in Singapore
7 January 2011 ~

Ian was in Singapore for 4 days :)

But he has gone back to Melbourne now :(

But anyway. We like Skype :D

It was good being back in Wesley Methodist Church on Sunday.
Many new faces, but also old ones. Good friends, familiar place.
Services were also... different... in a good way.

The last 3 days have been spent packing, tidying, trashing things from my room.
I feel so much more organised. Clear table/room = clear head.
My clothes back from Melbourne are yet to be cleared though.

An afternoon was spent in front of the TV - old shows, singlish.
Ahh *contentment* feels like home.
And a night as well - to be Singaporean, must turn TV to channel 8/U at 7pm :P

As a result – Taiwan drama discovery.
I don't know why it is called Autumn's Concerto in English when it is called "下一站，幸福“
ie, "Next stop, blessed/prosperity" (whichever) in Mandarin.
But nevermind. I still like it. Hahaha.
And I will have self-control. Hahahahahaha.

While getting used to being here permanently (no longer just for a holiday), well, it's time to look for a job! So, baibai. I'll try to be more regular in my updates :) And, thank You God for a good rest, great people, and hope for better tomorrows! Oh and by the way, I'm happy with my honours results. Really thank God :)

Adios!