Arrival

Hello this is my first post from Nottingham! am in my friend's room now.. we just cooked dinner! My first Chinese meal since coming here. hehee staying over at her place tonight and then we're going to church tomorrow. Yay I'm happy because I really miss going to church on Sunday morning.

This is just a very short p0st- more to come!!!!!! :)


Love you all in Singapore,
Carol

Some group outings over the week. :)

ECP outing- had fun cycling and singing in the rain (with Justina) =D

Me and Xinxin, who has taken very good care of me! haha

All smiles- 04A54 at Marina Square

breakouts :(

So tired, preparations are really wearing me out! Headaches are back; sorry I can't meet up/cancelling on so many people.. Just 4 days to go.. Hopefully everything will be settled by then..

Anyway, spent yesterday with Mummy!! Who took off to be with me. Aww.. I felt like a tour guide, bringing her around.. Ahaha.. :) Went to 4 different places, all in a day's work. Hoho.. We discovered this really quirky, laid-back shop in Chinatown which sells so many pretty vintage-looking dresses, skirts and shoes! What a gem.. Bought a nice beachy white top there instead of the cheongsam which I was supposed to buy. Can't find any nice ones la... Cut my hair too; it looks ALOT thinner. Got a shock when I looked at the floor of the salon; it was strewn with what looked like a full head of hair. My hair!! So much gone! =(

Feel quite excited about the pending overseas study because I picked up some travel brochures of Europe yesterday... Oh my gosh, sooooooooo beautiful!!!! I can't believe I'll be actually be IN those places for real. :)) Breathtaking... I'd be totally in awe. :) Thank you Lord! Met Cathleen, the Malaysian Singaporean Society president yesterday too and a word of advice from her, "Start thinking about your Europe trip!" Hahaha.. She looks alot like Cherilyn from YA. Yeah I like her; she seems to be very helpful and sensible. :)

Gonna be a long day today... Give me strength O Lord!


Love, Carol

pre-departure musings

Started packing already, I feel a strange heaviness when I slowly strip my room of its contents. There isn't much space left to fit in things that remind me of home. *sobs* Less than a week to go! Just feeling numb and a bit depressed at times... Trying to go out less this week so that I can spend time with the family and with God.. And finish reading the Tales of the Kingdom series, which really buttresses my faith and comforts my heart, even though they're just childrens' story books. =) To the King! To the Kingdom! To the Restoration!

Met James Pang today for the IT crash course!! Yay.. I know how to use the webcam already! and Microsoft Excel too, among other things.. =D Thanks James!

Oh my gosh my sis (Dazz) is soooo funny.. I can hear her laughter all the way from the living room! She's watching My Lovely Samsoon. Ahahaha...



Love, Carol

Knowing You

All I once held dear, built my life upon
All this world reveres and wars to own
All I once thought gain I have counted loss
Spent and worthless now compared to this

Knowing You, Jesus, knowing You
There is no greater thing
You're my all, You're the best
You're my joy, my righteousness
And I love You Lord

Now my heart's desire is to know You more
To be found in You and know as Yours
To possess by faith what I could not earn
All surpassing gift of righteousness

Oh to know the power of Your risen life
And to know You in Your sufferings
To become like You in Your death, my Lord
So with You to live and never die



This is my prayer...

reading up

Reading up on student safety in the UK now- Am quite scared that I'll get mugged or robbed. Gotta be vigilant!! There's this cool website called Immobilise where students can register all their valuables so that the it's easier for police to track them down.

Bought lotsa stuff to bring over with Mummy yesterday- which was fun. :) I'm beginning to feel independent already. Hahaha.. Only have 20kg luggage allowance, so will probably have to send boxes via Singpost. Yups, met Thong after that for dinner, listened to all his funny army stories and got him all excited about going overseas to study too. =D It'll be a White Christmas, a winter wonderland come december! Wowee! It's no harm finding out more, talking to people, reading up and widening one's perspective. Afterall, I was deadset on studying locally when I was still in JC.


Okie gonna start packing TODAY! =))

family goes to church

Am now creating a photo-sharing account at Shutterfly, in case my laptop crashes or something and all my precious pics are gone! Haha.. =D Will give u guys the website soon. I'm not sure whether I should post up the embarrassing pics though.. Need to practice some discretion. Hehee.. :)

Dazz blogged about how she visited my church on Sunday- Go check it out! hahaha..
Anyway, I'm was overjoyed when my family went down to my church, Brighton Community on Sunday. :) I was quite nervous that my parents would find the worship too loud and charismatic, and be put-off, but somehow- the songs we sung had a few traditional ones as well; Shout to the North being one of them! Praise the Lord! Haha yay my family really enjoyed the praise and worship. Dazz says the band is happening!! All right! Hahaha.. It's really interesting to see your church through the eyes of your family members; it sure gave me a fresh perspective of Brighton and made me love it more. :) Daddy says it's very young and vibrant and that he likes the pastor, who's a good man. Haha.. And all agreed that they liked how people were able to respond to the message by going down to the altar, as a symbolic act of worship and surrender to God and receive as the leaders prayed for them. Very personal.. :) I remember that was something that I really appreciated at the beginning, being able to stand there in His presence and be ministered to as someone prayed for me. Then I started taking it for granted as time passed and I grew more comfortable in the church. Yup so I'm glad for the timely reminder... and I will be grateful for the days I spend in the house of the Lord. =)

Also very happy how I'm able to share with them what I love about my church- the engaging worship, the solid word, the ministry time after service and most of all the family of God- the people who have been so warm and accepting of me. :) Had a great time introducing my family members to them!Hahaha.. and I think Mummy, Daddy and Dazz felt the love too. Ahaha :)) Pity Kor wasn't there and Cheh and Mark in Australia or else all of us would have been present that sUnday morning. All the same, I give thanks. :)

Had CG at my place after service too, the first time in years... =D Chinhao kept saying how much he liked my place!! Hahaha too bad I'm leaving.. I really miss having cell at home.. friends filling the place with laughter, songs and prayer. And I think my parents do too; they kept asking my CG to stay for dinner and even asked me to invite them for a BBQ before I leave for England! Ahahaa! :)


Blessed to be a blessing.

Love, Carol

relieved

Yay I'm so happy.. Fixed my iPod today morning! Love it love it love it!!!! All by myself too, although credit has to be given to Huixian, Chinhao and my bro who tried to help. =D Finally... Music when I travel! Thank you Lord! And Cheh sent me a DVD of 1000 songs too! Hooray! Thanks Cheh! :)

Everything's more or less settling down- received an email from Notts today, confirming that my room in Sherwood Hall is secure. Phew... :) Met Grace Khoh today, who's going to Bristol... She's so excited about leaving! Hahaha.. I think she won't wanna return to Singapore after the 3 years.. Had fun catching up, talking about our plans in the UK and checking out winter wear, which is so pathetic.. Will probably get the cheapo red fleece jacket from Cold Wear and get the rest in Notts.

Still haven't started packing yet- Bare rooms make me sad. I want to bring as many things that remind me of home and loved ones as possible.

Leaving exactly 2 weeks from today... Singapore will be a distant land in no time.

Farewell my friends,
Carol