CNY in notts

CNY cookout (continued)

Maureen preparing the meatballs! Her face was sooo red! Hehe

Everyone looks on as Deanna slices the grilled chicken, fresh from the oven. Chef/Birthday boy Vincent and the bak choy
What is a Chinese gathering without mahjong?
Deanna performing with the makeshift microphone (ie mop)
Xin nian kuai le from Nottingham! :)

CNY cookout back in Nottingham

Chen (China) and I
Maureen, me, Deanna (both HK)
Home-cooked tang yuan!

London CNY

CNY in London: 16-18 Feb

Leicester Square's Chinatown

Sunset at Notting Hill

Beautiful houses!!

All of us (3 frm SG, 1 frm Holland, 1 frm Canada)

I have roses!

Valentine's flowers

Mission week: my testimony

Mission Week has started and today's lunchbar topic is one that has always intrigued me- "How can a loving God allow suffering?"

And as a Christian, I myself find it hard to answer that question. Perhaps it might be more useful to read up more on the topic on this website- www.bethinking.org, which I've started doing just this morning. :) OR attend the lunchbar/evening talk itself! lol

P.S If anyone wants to go for lunchbar (free lunch and a short talk), feel free to text me and I'll go with you! Will be helping to prepare lunch b4 that.

Tmr's topic is thought-provoking as well. "Happiness: the most important thing in life?"
Is it really? I rmb so much in secondary school wanting happiness, becos I wasn't very happy, in truth just plain miserable, especially at upper secondary level. But somehow, God just brought me through.. Went to VJC, got to know a wonderful grp of friends who really matter to me. :) I think it was the start of my spiritual re-awakening too; met Thong who challenged me to know more about God with his passion and openness about his relationship with God. JC years were good; my interest in God and spiritual things reached a new high. Attended a couple of church camps too, where God really spoke to me about letting go of my past, with all my fears and insecurities, hurts and failures. Broke down and there was so much release of the mass of bad things trapped inside. It was incredible- experiencing God's healing so personally. Met a great grp of people from Brighton Community Church too, who really helped me grow spiritually. Can't wait to be back with them!

Received an email from Cheh a few days ago and she told me how amazed she was at how God has transformed me from the inside out; in a mere couple of years. And how there was a real breakthrough; exponential growth when I left for the UK. Indeed praise the Lord! God has changed me, in so many areas. I'm so thankful that I feel free to be myself- I'm not enslaved by fear or worry all the time. And I'm discovering so many things- Of myself, of the world around me, of God Himself. I've got to thank the numerous people who faithfully pray for me every day. :) Have to thank Cheh especially, she's been there for me and with me right from the start of my spiritual journey, pointing me to the God who loves me more than anyone else in the world. The CU here is excellent too- solid teaching of God's word and very genuine and spiritually mature Christians as friends and leaders. I'm excited to serve with them next year. :)

So in answer to the question: Is happiness the most important thing in life? My personal answer would be no, because happiness never lasts- it simply cannot; that's just the way life is. Life is a package; we must accept its sorrows, setbacks and suffering that inevitably come our way. Knowing God as my Lord and Saviour is the most important thing in life for me. I trust Him, in happiness and misery, good times and bad times.

:D
Snow pictures- More to come!


Some updates:

-Praise the Lord for my results- a First Class for Contract Law! (the hardest)
But the rest were quite bad. Haha..

-Pray for Mission Week, organised by the Christian Union. I'm very excited!!! There'll be events going on all week- Lunchbars being the main focus. Lots of hall events going on too; Grill a Christian, pool tournament, 5-a-side football... Do keep Mission Week in prayer!

- Praise the Lord as I gradually learn of the gift of prayer for others that He has given me and for confirming it when Hannah, my CU leader asked me to join the CU prayer team! There's going to be alot of commitment but I'm sure it'll be fulfilling experience, with good training provided and opportunities for deep friendships. I wasn't sure if I'm up to it, but I do wanna serve God and develop in this area. Moreover, spoke to Cheh this afternoon and her response to whether I should say yes to joining the prayer team was "Of course!"

-Yes, life is good. God is good. :D

snow

It's SNOWING!!! :D

fashion

I'm feeling better now; just that I still have headache, runny nose, cough alot and there's lots and lots of phlegm. Eeeewww...

In between the 9am and 12pm lectures, I went to the Pioneer Travel Centre to book my train/bus tickets (which I'll do later to save on the Coachcard) and then bumped into Jen outside. So we ended up in Portland chatting with her other HK law friends- Jack and Grace, which was really nice. It's great getting to know new ppl! Jack's a really nice guy. So we were all talking about lotsa things; one of them happened to be fashion. And they were telling me how HK people dress up all the time, especially in HK because they're obliged to and more importantly, they just might meet someone they know on the streets. Also when they went shopping or else the sales people would ignore them! So I was telling them, come to Singapore! You can walk around in shorts, T-shirt and slippers and no one will give a hoot. Hahaha. I do that alot when I go to Parkway/Katong area. Even here, most of them dress to the nines- and as compared, here I am, sloppy Singaporean in jeans, top and sneakers almost all the time. They put in alot of effort into their appearance and it shows- most are stylish, some posh (like Stefanie and Deanna, the cream of the law faculty in HK uni), some funky but on the whole, they're all very well-dressed.

But I felt a little uncomfortable with this huge emphasis on fashion and appearances. So I asked them, Don't you think that over-emphasising clothes and externalities is kinda superficial? Won't other people think that all there is to you is just your clothes? Which is so sad! They laughed and agreed but still felt that the pressure to look good was too great not to conform. It is too in Singapore, but not as great an extent as that in HK. I still think HK is an amazing place with amazing people and would definitely want to visit!

And something I've learnt from interacting with people like Aidan, Hannah, Kenny, Lee (all my wonderful hall mates) is that the way you dress is not all there is to you. Kenny (a british born chinese) for example thinks that ppl who flash around their designer clothes are just trying to hide/make up for what they don't have. Perhaps. You can have very few clothes but still have a great conversation and leave a good, lasting impression on others if you've got character and confidence.

I'm so glad I'm beginning to learn all this. :)


Carol

day 2 sick

I still feel horrible. Please pray for me.

Bad throbbing headache.
Heatiness; whole body's very hot.
Sore throat.
Cough with phlegm.
Body ache.
Fatigue.

sick

Feeling like crap- sick!
sore throat, cough and throbbing headache. =(
It's the chocolate cake we ate at 1am in Stefanie's room to celebrate her bday.
Can't make it for today's lectures..

Some random updates.

- Did the Jung personality test (thanks to ben and my sis) and I'm an INFP. It's quite cool, this growing self-awareness and going "yea! I'm like that!"My sister was encouraging me to know and accept the person whom God created me to be. And stop comparing myself to other people and feeling inferior- simply because we're all different! Indeed the world would be a very boring place if we were all the same. Rejoice in our uniqueness!

-OM ships replied my email and God willing, I just might serve on board the Doulos or Logos II during my summer holidays! Exciting..

- New batch of exchange students have arrived. I've German and American neighbours, both girls. I'm no longer the only girl on my floor! Hooray. It's nice getting to know them, but somehow it's different. Really miss Gwen and Milad! It's so quiet without them around.. Don't get anymore prank calls! Haha.. Was very sad saying so many farewells. And I got kissed 4 times last weekend- Thrice or even more by Doreen, this very lovable and animated German girl and once by Diego, this Mexican guy. I think it's a European thing; I really got a shock! Haha..

- Re-decorated my room. I've a mirror now!

- Went for Refresher's Fair and will be joining more activities this term. Thinking of Volleyball, Explorers, Latin and Ballroom, Music Soc, Pilates or getting more involved in church/Christian Union activities. Like helping out in the international cafes or the homeless soup kitchens. Wanna make the most out of my time here. So many opportunities!

- Will be going home in less than 2 mths time! Will be back for a month. ^^
Flight's on 24 march, will prob arrive on the 25th.