impact lives!

Giving without Return!

2010-08-15T18:44:00.007+08:00

This happened just this morning after the church service. After getting some groceries from Wollies I went straight to the bus stop to wait for the bus, as usual. While listening to Don Moen worship songs, I suddenly felt someone poking on my left shoulder. To my surprise when I turned my head over, I saw an old lady with shabby clothes on. She started asking me about the bus detail going to some kind of hospital name, etc and I knew the conversation would always end up with getting some spare change. True enough, she asked for a dollar for bus ride. Normally I DON'T entertain such 'rubbish'.

You know we are always being taught that if the person is physically well, he or she should work and stop begging! While I was thinking about giving or not giving, God just reminded me of the testimony in the church this morning; it was about being generous. The testimony has encouraged me a lot and mmm...it was a testing time, wasn't it? I'm not sure... but when my heart tells me to give, I just give and yes a dollar is not much by the way, but that's not the issue. While waiting for the bus to come we had about 15 minutes to chat. I started asking her a lot of questions; where do you live, do you pay rent, what do you do for living, etc. All the answers sounded alright till I asked her how many children does she have? Guess what she answered me; 100!!! Oh my my my...! She added on saying she had 50 boys and 50 girls. I asked her further how old they were and she told me they were in teens... 'wah piang ehh'... she's actually a psycho... sad isn't it, yes sad. She is also most probably a homeless old lady. Man, how blessed I am when I think about it. Aren't you blessed too?

The Riverview church here just recently did a great community work for the homeless people. Guess what they did! 80 volunteers from the church participated in helping the homeless by setting up sections to 'service' the homeless people. The idea is very interesting. There are hair trimming section, new clothes section, shower section etc. Can you imagine how happy the homeless people are when they have their hair cut, took shower and putting on their new clothing?! What a good community project! If you are reading this, why don't you try to bless the local community in certain creative ways?

I'm blessed and so you are!

After 15 years...

2010-08-05T20:54:00.004+08:00

One of my housemates suggested to another housemate and I last night to go for an Indian meal today. It's a vegetarian restaurant located right at the back of Bell Tower, next to the Swan River, overlooking the river and the city. They have a funny concept. You can eat all you want, and pay whatever your heart tells you. So, we went!

The last time I when I was here was 15 years ago.

A bus stop near my place

I don't have the Metro card, so by paying cash you'll get this!

Perth City from Swan River

We missed the earlier bus but when we arrived at the restaurant we only waited for 2 minutes before it opened! We didn't realize we were the 1st few. Soon after us, we started to see many more others coming in; Indian, white Aussies, Asian and many more...

Not bad hey!

Had a short walk in the city after dinner; my housemate thought Thursday night is a late night shopping in the city. I was quite sure that Friday is the night for the city and Thursday is for the suburbs. True enough, most the shops were close tonight!

I don't remember this place 'London Court'. It's quite a nice place. Very English-looking arcade, where tourists are the main business here.

Ahh...I grabbed 2 packs of chips from Woollies before catching the bus home. Not too bad, we still managed to make use of the 2-hour ticket for our trip home.

1st Hair Cut in WA!

2010-07-31T17:17:00.006+08:00

It's Saturday!!!

I was battling within myself to decide whether to trim my hair today. It's my 8th week in the Lala-land. Since it's winter now I thought I could just leave it long. However the amount of hair is just too much and it's annoying especially I wake up in the morning! So, I decided a week ago to get it 'chopped' today!

Tried Goo Goo's Char Kueh Tiaw & Beehive Cake, before going for the hair cut!

My cousin got me booked with this Singaporean lady who does her 'hairy' business at home. Her saloon is just right next to the car porch. When we arrived another auntie-looking lady just came out from her place and when it was my turn, she only asked me one question; 你要这么剪？(how would you like your hair to be cut?) I told her I only want it to be trimmed a little. As soon as she heard that she quickly got her scissors etc & starting mowing.

Guess what?! She was so-de-fast-de! It only took him less than 10 minutes, to be exactly, I think it was only 6-7 minutes. This lady is no-nonsense lady. She doesn't waste time, nor like to hear you mmm, umm, ahh ahh... when she asks you questions. She got a long list of daily booking. She probably earn more than many professionals out there. 10 minutes for AUD$13... not bad hey?! Those who are interested in coming to Australia to work, do consider this field. Hairdressing is still on the top of the high-demand job list here.

My hair still looks long, however it's much thinner now. The amount of hair that was trimmed was a lot! See, no difference huh?

There you go, this is my story of my 1st hair cut ever in W.A.

I could't resist Aussie Chocolates!!!

What am I gonna do tonight? Staying overnight at my cousin's place and going to church with them tomorrow and at the same time meeting up with another auntie and her family :@)

Just had a great homecook dinner... yum!!!

Week 1 in W.A

2010-07-28T18:05:00.014+08:00

Okay, time for more updates. This is my first week of school! Thing

s are going well. so far so good, praise the Lord! I finally had the chance to use my little white MacBook. It's really quite cool :@)

I mainly use itunes to rip the cd into mp3 and play them as part of my teaching. I've found it really useful. The problem is, many sites are blocked by the school; gmail, youtubes and definitely facebook are all restricted here. I'm still try to figure out how to forward my gmail to the school's Outlook Express. I did some setting change, however it is still not working! Anyone of any expertise here?

Pictures showing the Lower Ground; where my Thursdays & Fridays duties are...I will be walking around with my bright shinning orange vest!

This is how my school looks like. It's not too huge nor small; 'ngam-ngam ho'. The size of the primary school is about 500+ which is about the same as my previous school. The kids are generally very nice. I call themlittle people.

My badge; very smart idea, the magnetic badge works perfect!

On my very 1st day of official school, I forgot to put on my badge! Hehehe...nothing's new to Mr. Clumsy like me, I know.

This is my Music Room! I spend 90% of my time here. The other 10% in the library, hall & staff room. The staff are generally extremely supportive. They are amazing people, really. The kids here are really blessed & I'm blessed too to have them as my colleagues.

This is the school hall where the assembly is held. Once a week I'm using this space for the Year 3 choir too. Guess how big the choir is; 90 of them!

Fraser Park; located right opposite where I stay now. The city Council has been very generous; they let the school to have the space during sport time for free. It's a nice open space where many people walk their dogs at about 4pm. When I'm more settled, I'll want to spend some time reading here too...

Look at this monster; it's a black & white laser printer/photocopier. I love it! You can print from any spot in the school coz it's wireless enabled. Likewise there is a colour laser copier too!

I think I'm destined to be in Green House forever. Back in Tunku, I was in the Green team tool; the team that always wins, seriously. I hope Tunku Green House will win in the sport event next month! GO HIJAUUUUUU!!!

Blessing in God's Delay...

2010-07-27T18:39:00.008+08:00

I remember Ps. Ian shared this in his previous sharing; there is blessing in God's delay. I just wanna share something simple yet meaningful to me. Just before I came to Perth my sister suggested me to get a type of microwave container that cooks rice and I do remember seeing one of those but somehow I just couldn't find it! I went to few shopping places in Perth, still couldn't find it. That was before I moved into the new place here. You know I won't want to get a rice cooker here that would be too troublesome knowing that I'm staying by myself. And guess what... when I reached my new place I realized that EVERYTHING is provided. I just have to bring my clothing. Literally everything is provided. You name it, I've got it! Yes, there is a rice cooker there. How wonderful that is. God's arranged everything for me :@)

It's so true when the His word says His ways are higher than ours!

For those who are waiting... yes there is Blessing in God's delay...

God, You've Done It Again!

2010-07-22T22:25:00.006+08:00

God is just simply AWESOME!!! Ready for some updates again? Oh yes! I went to meet the Deputy yesterday afternoon & at the same time managed to visit the school and meet other staff. They are very nice people! The primary school has a beautiful campus too. The 'little people' are very cute hehehe...

God gave me another visitation yesterday.While checking my mail in the morning, I finally got a reply from the landlord of the exact address of the place that I might be renting. The story goes like this. After I was offered the job last Friday, I spent half a day thinking about the offer, and another day looking for a place to stay. In fact it would be tough for me to get any room at this moment because my working contract offer is only for 6 months. Normally people would want to rent it out for minimum of 12 months. Anyway, I searched & searched in Gumtree and found one very special room. It only requires a minimum of 3 months contract and it's located on the same street as the school + the rental includes all bills! Finally today with my cousin driving me around we managed to find the house. At 1st I thought this must be the place; old timber kinda house, neat & quite livable! It's really near to the school; just 2 blocks away.

A is the school, B is the rental place!

I thought this was the house!

Later we found out the address that we got was wrong. Instead of No. 78, it's actually No. 74. When we check again, to my real surprise the actual place that I wanted to rent is directly next to the school!!! How good can that be?!

God is so good; He makes me & my school neighbours!

Today has been a long long day. Another new colleague and I were introduced by the principal during the assembly this morning. It was my 1st time listening to the school song as well as singing the Australian anthem. Will I forget our Negaraku & Ibu Pertiwiku? Never! Not that I like it, but the State anthem sounds really nice. I had to meet 2 heads of school to talk about stuff, met up with more staff, busy filling up more paper work especially to get my teacher registration done etc. And hey, just before I left the school, I was given a white Mac Book! Yoohooo...does that mean it's a sign for me to learn how to use Mac? Erm... I have no choice but to learn it because all the documents and emails are only can be accessed through this Mac Book. Not my Dell anymore... The school worries about virus & other security issues...

Woot! Epal!

Thanks to my cousin who drove me around 1st to the school, 2nd to the the WACOT, 3rd to Westfield Carosel mall, the list just goes on and on...

Let me promote my little cousin, Alvin.

After all the ding-dongs, I finally moved into my new place. It's easier to settle down this time round. Just within an hour I managed to get everything organized.

I really feel like as if I'm a student again...

Now who are my housemates then. The angmoh landlord stays there too, together with his Japanese wife and naother 2 rooms are rented to 2 mainland Chinese girls. This is another shocking news I received just now. Guess what! One of the mainland Chinese girl is from the province of Foo Jian. And when I introduced myself as Foochow from the same province as hers, she said she's a Foochow too!!! I could understand her Foochow! is this an coincidence? Nah...can't be...God must be so 'bored' that He engineered all this!

Ah...tomorrow is another long day. I got heaps of stuff to read, plan, etc etc etc... I'll just let it flows and see what God is going to do next! :@)

The Foochow mainland Chinese girl cooked the soup - now can you guys see how Foochow this is???

From the East to the West!

2010-07-21T11:00:00.006+08:00

It has been a while now since the day I fly with 'proper' airlines. Yo! I'm so blessed to have someone blessing me a free ticket from Melbourne to Perth; flying with Qantas hey! It was a super early flight, 610am. Thanks to Sigit & Nita who came right at the dot, 4am. Sigit said he forgot to set his alarm however he woke up automatically at 320am. Some kinda angel of the Lord must be working really hard to shake & wake him up! Praise the Lord hehehe...

After ding-dong for a while in the airport, we had the famous breakfast in the airport; the McD. That reminded me of Kuching airport; McD is a MUST-EAT & MUST-GO place when we have to send people off. I'm sure many of the SUT people agree with me.

Hey, they serve more varieties here. We only have muffins back home :/

This is cute!

Flying with Qantas is a new experience. The last time I flew with them was probably 13 years back. This is what I've observed so far. Most Qantas air-stewardess are very not only motherly but grandmotherly. Mind you I'm not trying to insult those air-stewardess who look a little older than those from the Asian airlines. They are very motherly and provide pretty good service. I'd definitely enjoy the Q-brekkie if I didn't have my McD. What they served was rather healthy; scramble egg, ham, potatoes, coffee / tea, orange juice, bread & banana.

Another thing that I like about Q is the 'head-adjuster' piece. It's a piece of adjustable cushion which allows your head to sit in the position that you feel most comfortable. Man, this is one of the best thing could happen to seat design. I remember the last time I saw the similar type of design was when I flew with Cathay Pacific in 2000, when I was on my way to my graduation. This piece of thingy really works wonders! I could rest / sleep so comfortably. Definitely better than the air-cushion-balloon thingy I reckon.

Don't look at my face, look at the adjuster next to my head!

Another breakthrough! When we landed, the air-stewardess announced that we could use our mobile phone even though we were in the plane. Now that's something new isn't it? Why do you think for many other airlines, normally they don't allow mobile phones to be used in the aircrafts? If you know, do tell me...

I arrived 25 minutes earlier than expected. The headwind today must be weaker than normal. Perth domestic airport is not as loud as others but it's alright. Perth is as cold as Mlelbourne during the night & early morning. Today was abt 4-5 degree. Day time is about 16 degree today.

Thanks to my uncle who fetched me & served me Bak Zhang!!! The best ever made by my auntie... YUMMYYYYY!!! ('mai jeles hor...')

I'm sharing the same time zone with my hometown now. Haha..in fact I'm gaining 2 hours :@)

Gotta go now, preparing to meet the Deputy in an hour time.

40 Days in the Desert...

2010-07-18T17:52:00.008+08:00

Today marks the 40th day of my arrival in the Down-under. It's time for some updates. When I reflect and look back of my 40 days in the La-la land, I can't help but give thanks to God. Here are some of the happenings:

My flight took off from Kuching on the 8 June '10, flight delayed at KL and it finally arrived at 3am, on the 9 June '10. Thanks to Kiaw who fetched me real early in the morning. I reached my sis' place at 630 am, showered and took a 2.5 hours nap right away. At about 11am, Sigit brought me for lunch at the Korean Lunch Box at Glenferrie, where SUT is. Welly, Joshua Naw and later Kiaw joined in too. There goes my 1st meal here; surrendered to the Korean & yes the portion here is HUGE. If you start to convert it to RM it's rather pricey though. Generally a meal would cost abut RM30. Can you imagine a huge laksa cost RM30? Haha...one principle, just eat, don't convert! :)

We then hurried to the airport again at about 130pm to catch my 320pm 'Harimau' flight to Brisbane. Praise God, there was no delay. I was happy to see Hwei at the airport. He's a great host!

Over my 5 days at the sunny state we managed to go to Dream World, Glow-worm farm, and few other places which I have forgotten the names!

More pictures can be seen at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=228041&id=592551367&l=e094775f86 & http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=228050&id=592551367&l=1286f8b791.

On Friday morning, we drove to Gold Coast Airport to fetch Joshua. He almost got stucked in the immigration place because he was suspected to be part of the 'run-away' group. Hehehe...does he look like one??? Maybe!

We then drove to Tweed Heads before going to Gold Coast city. We saw so many old antique cars there. Apparently they were celebrating some kind of festival & it was a real treat for us! The most happening part was the parade at the end. It was so hilarious; many dressed up in the mood of the 60's & 70's with imitating different famous characters. Believe it or not Joshua 'kenak' molested!

More pictures can be seen at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=228491&id=592551367&l=c6c5b02840

We then drove to Gold Coast before arriving at our main destination at the Bryon Bay, the most Eastern tip of Australia. Guess what! We had Sizzler for lunch! Can you imagine three grown-up men spending almost 3+ hours enjoying themselves feating? Hahaha...yes we did! We basically did nothing but eating and chatting about everything under the sun.

Oh yea, before the late lunch we went to the tallest residential tower in the world, Q-Deck for a view of the whole Gold Coast. It's quite stunning I must admit.

When we reached Bryon Bay, it was already dark. After taking shower, we took a walk at the quiet street. We ended up buying some stuff and celebrated Hwei's birthday in the hotel room. Hehe...we even had the opportunity to watch one action movie. While half way watching the 2nd one, we all almost dozed off.

More pictures at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=228519&id=592551367&l=a09b609ab5

We prayed hard for a good sunny morning and God was good! We didn't have a super-clear morning, at least it didn't rain! The forecast said we'd be expecting storm that day. Anyway, we woke up at 5am, in the freezing temperature & managed to take quite a few good pictures. We also saw dolphins around!

Oh yea, I almost forgot about something. God was so good. Though we didn't see great sunrise, we did see a full rainbow while we were on our way back to the hotel! It was beautiful!

More pictures at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=228798&id=592551367&l=5cba6bf2df

When we reached Hwei's place, we were all gone flat! Thanks to Hwei's sister, Alice, her gang & her cooked so much that evening! They invited few good friends to celebrate not only Hwei's birthday but also James, Michael & Chang Ming. Gosh, what were the similarities? They are all Foochows!

Alright! Enough of my honey-moon vacation story in the Sunshine state! What happened when I came back to Melbourne then? In the 1st week I attended 2-day refresher course for teachers who have never taught in Victoria before. Overall the course was really good. It gave me a good overview of the education system in the state.

Right after the course I worked really hard in job hunting. Waking up in between 9-10am and online till past 12 midnight was my daily routine for the that 4 weeks. I did not fail even to leave my comfortable cough for 10 minutes. The only time when I left the seat was when I needed to go to the toilet or get something to eat! 1st it was sending the resumes to the schools in Victoria, after a while I got impatient & started sending more resumes to more schools across the countries. It was such unbearable thing to do; sitting at home writing and sending applications to countless-countless numbers of schools. I even tried places like Darwin & Alice Spring! Yoohooo...see how desperate I was!

How did I survive spiritually & emotionally? God really has been so good. Indeed He never fails guiding & affirming me; through the sermons that Ps. Ian & sis. Ruth in Hope Waverly Center as well as Ps. Mark's sermon today-Let Your River Flow! I especially remember the messages on Daniel, Freedom in Christ and definitely the story of Joseph have deeply moved my heart! I remember clearly that Sunday when I decided to respond the call by walking up to the front to be prayed for. I understand it takes the humility to respond in this way & what I wanted to do was to let God speaking to me even more...

I have always wanted to do more reading & since I have to travel by using train, it's a perfect time for me to read this book written by Philip Yancey, 'Reaching the Invisible God'. I found some simple answers to many simple questions that many would always ask yet do not have clear answers. Great book to read indeed! Everytime I travel now on the train, I have the opportunity to reflect on many things! This is so great - making me a thinking Christian, we all ought to be a thinking Christian; a believer that is alive not just keep doing & doing!

There is nothing fancy about big cities which always offer better, louder kind of lifestyles. There is nothing fancy too about big-mega churches. I've the opportunities to visit two other churches over the past 2 weeks. Those who have been 'out' of Hope Kuching would understand how heavenly Kuching is - and yet many might take things for granted, ignorant to certain extend and refuse to accept many facts of life. It really takes great humility to realize that in all things that we do, at the end of the day it is really about God and I. The song 'My Reward' says 'Jesus You are my reward, to hear Your voice on that day, it's all I'm living for...' It's a good song; tough to receive.

God has amazing ways to work things out. With much praying & hope in the Lord for few weeks God started to make His plans even more visible. Just last Thursday when I was still busy settling my license stuff I received a call from a school in Perth. The lady asked whether I was still interested in the music teaching post. Who would say no??? So on the next day over the lunch I had a 40-minute phone interview with 2 heads of the school. The interview went pretty well. At about 5pm, the Deputy called me & offered me the job! He spoke to my ex-principal & she spoke highly of me. The 1st thing that came into my mind was S-T-R-E-S-S!!! This is just too overwhelming. My responsibility is not only to teach music from Kinder to Year 6, there are also 2 groups of choirs, a band & some liturgies singing, etc. They have few public performances through out the year too. As the matter of fact, they need to perform in the Art Festival in 4 weeks time!!!

The world is really small. The Deputy also know my ex-Deputy! Wow...amazing!

I'm flying to Perth this Wednesday morning. It's gonna be a super early flight; 610am, arriving at 830am Perth time. I would need to rush to view few rooms which are near to the school. Then I would have to rush to the school and get many things started!

Awwwwwwwwww...I realize when we ask God, when He gives, we need to learn how to handle it. The moment when I was given the job, my confidence dropped tremendously. Argh...someone told me that's how normally a melancholy person would response in such situation. Ouch! :@)

I am ready to see how God's love & Grace continue to be shown more visibly in my life in the new land. God reminded me again in the service today of what I experienced in Cape Town almost 3 years ago. He who brought me through then would continue to be faithful to do the same today and tomorrow because He is a God who is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow!

I pray that you too will be encouraged and make Him known!

p.s. Many thanks to Sigit who has been so supportive & helping me in so many ways; airport transit, Lifegroup, Church, license, food, etc. / Welly for being my super postman / Kiaw the superwoman who is always ever ready to lend her hands / Antonious who taught me much in the Word & also the photography session / Joshua who is the 'panadol' dealer / Eric who inspired me to see how God can transform a person like him hehehe / and many other names that I won't mention here (Chieng, Nita, Yuli, Frans, Mai, Audrey, Lily, Sonia, Kai, Chai, Vincent, Louise, Timmy and many more...)

We Are Free!!!

2010-06-30T11:18:00.004+08:00

I was blessed by this story which I heard last Sunday whom Ruth preached about. The story goes like this:

There was a quill seller who brought a few quills to a market one day. In order to stop them from flying away, the seller had to tie a string unto their feet. The quills therefore could not fly but walk in the circle all the time.

A pro-life guy came to the market and saw what had happened. He was upset about it. He went to the seller and gave him a big sum of money and buy all of the quills. He was so happy and started to free each of the quills. To his surprise, the quills did not fly but continue walking in the circle. The pro-life guy tried to shoo them away, they flew away but eventually after few seconds they came back walking, again in the circle. He finally felt disappointed and walked away.

The story tells us that at times we do not realize that we have been set free by the blood of Jesus. Just like the pro-life guy in the story, He has paid for us all and yet just like the quills we do not realize it.

I pray that we will know and experience the Truth even more as we live our days.

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

John 8:36

A Signpost from God...

2009-11-12T19:12:00.010+08:00

Just a moment ago I had the idea to write something about something. God just revealed to me that many things are really not coincidence but it is Him who engineers many things together so that His glory may be made known to all men.

I just sent Christopher to the airport. He came back just for a few days from JB though his holiday is much longer. Many may ask why. He'd just say 'For the Kingdom's sake!'. Each time when I see or think of this brother, I will always remember God's grace, faithfulness and goodness in his life. From the impossible, God can do the possible. He managed to get into his choice of course, Architecture and into his choice of university after his STPM. Despite of the education system and everything else when God moves, nothing can stop Him.

It is so good to see Chris each time his confidence increases over time; being sure of what he's doing in his studies, ministries etc. Thank you Chris for being the vessel that God uses to be the signpost for many others to see. I will always remember His great work in your life & knowing that this is only the beginning makes everyone excited.

Salute salute to you :@)

Jia you!

p.s: That reminds me too about looking at life in different ways. Many things are NOT in our control, therefore we don't have to try so hard to change it. It will be better if we could seek God's way in our situation...easier said than done huh? Jia you everyone in the journey of discovering more about Him who has set us free!

authenticity...

2009-07-02T22:59:00.007+08:00

It's the 2nd day of July. It's exciting and at the same scary to see how time flies SO fast! Someone mentioned this 'the older you get, the quicker you feel time flies'. How true it is? It is VERY true indeed. If you don't feel it now, you just have to wait; your time will come, and it's rushing really fast.

Quarter 3 is an important season for many; Secondary 3 & 5 will be having their public exam soon, for the church many big events are in the calendar waiting to be launched. One of them is the Official Opening of the New Church Building. From the day when I stepped into the church in Nov 1999, people have been talking about this since then. Finally after 10 years, the day is approaching. Soon and very soon we will have a permanent place called 'home'; a place where many can find hope because this is where God's presence dwells. I pray that this memorable 20 09 2009 will come true. Argh...if we still can't move in by then, maybe few of us should really just go there and camp there for a night! Anyone wanna join in? It will be a fun night, I'm sure!

Just a week before that, Bible Conference (BC) will be held in MBKS Auditorium. We'll have Merdeka Worship Retreat just 2 weeks before BC an the Youth will have our very 1st Anniversary the day before the Worship Retreat. Scary huh?! Not forgetting some members are going to Singapore to attend the 1st Global Conference (GC) a week before the Youth 1st Anniversary.

Aren't we 'worked' harder than our 'real' earthly work? To certain extend, yes we are. But that shouldn't be a surprise, should we? From the day we sign up as Hope Family Member, we knew all these were coming, sooner or later. Actually when we really think about it, Jesus really never promises us a bed of roses after believing Him. Maybe in certain times, there are so beds of roses somewhere, but they come with the irritating thorns. Argh...don't you want to take out your scissors to cut off the thorns? It's annoying, isn't it? Yes, of coz it is annoying! Otherwise Jesus won't ask us to Deny ourselves, Take up the Cross and Follow Him! What a tough thing to do huh! Yes, its tough, but that's the price to pay.

I pray that my Christian walk with the Lord is not just based and seen as what I do in the ministry alone. If people recognise me as someone leading worship on stage that's good. If people see me as someone who play great music, that's ok. But if we all can be recognised as a person who love Jesus so much that we are willing to love His people in many practical ways, we indeed hit the mark!

I love Paul Baloche's song 'Jesus My Reward'; where one of the lines says 'I just want to hear You say Good & Faithful Servant...'. That's all we need to hear from the Lord when we see His face.

Till the day...

unleash the potential...

2009-06-11T15:42:00.004+08:00

Ever since the change of the government, few things have been happening. One of them is the issue about limiting number of subjects to be taken in the public spm o-level exam in the country. Why do we have such thought? Thanks to the inefficiency of some kind of scholarship department in the country who fails to manage the scholarship entrance requirement properly; maybe there are a lot of academically smart students who managed to get 15A1s and yet did not get the scholarships. Therefore by limiting the numbers of subjects taken to 10, it will help. This is a JOKE, don't you think so? The Biggets joke from an educator point of view. By the way, anyone can tell that this is a joke. You don't need to be a teacher to tell you this.

After a few days later, I received another sms news alert. Here is the headline 'BM teachers in Chinese Independent Schools will be given training by Education Ministry to help them teach the language better'. What do you think? No doubt most students from the Chinese schools are poor in BM. But that's just the fact! The learning of any languages need a lot of time to practice both in spoken and written forms. In the Chinese schools, Mandarin is the main medium. Unless those 'bm specialists' really know the context of the situation, it is absolutely a way of wasting time.

A day after that, I received another news alert. It says 'Education Ministry wants feedback from the public on whether passing SPM English should be compulsory in order to obtain SPM certificate'. Actually anyone who wants to give their views on this, can call 03-7723 7070 or email kpkpm@moe.gov.my. I did! I sent them an email and surprisingly I received a reply after 2 days. It's either very few people wrote to them, or they are just too effective. Let's have good faith that they are just too effective now and walah... Malaysia dah ada harapan huh?! Hope is on its way! I told them that our Malaysian English level is already very low (look at the way I write the blog, you'd know!) In my mail, I also mentioned that if I were the employer, I won't even employ a person who just gets a Pass in English in SPM. What so big deal about getting a Pass? Arghh...Geramnya aku... I better continue with my report writing...

t.w.o camp 09'

2009-06-02T22:45:00.034+08:00

What do we have after the O.N.E camp? T.W.O camp of coz! T.W.O stands for 'Together We Overcome'; the theme for our very 1st Youth Boot Camp. We spent a night over the weekend in Santubong Resort for a time of fun & fellowship. The camp started on Saturday morning, ended with lunch feasting at church on Sunday afternoon. In total 101 signed up, 3 last minute couldn't make it.

We took 2 big buses + 1 church van. Apparantly the buses must be quite comfortable that people felt alseep while on the way to the camp site. Eric was meditating, very seriously.

Few of the 'obstacles' that blocked our way

Great Tent of Meeting!

Love the tag!

The Black & White!
Love the colours!

It started off by completing 2 ice breaking games. There were 6 groups each with 14 members. The biscuit eating game was really fun. Thusan was one of the big winner for this!

Biscuit-eating competition

Apart from this each team had to work on designing their own group flag. I must really compliment every group. It was absolutely amazing to come out with such design in such a short time! Clap Clap Clap!

Ngajat dance before designing the flag?

Hard work paid off finally!

Guess whose is this?

The main activity 'Amazing Race' on the hot Saturday afternoon became the big killer. This activity meant to 'help' youth to exercise their 1-year accumulated exercise into just 2 hours. You can imagine how 'jia-lak' that was. Overall however it took them 3.5 hours to complete the race. For many, it could be torturing in the beginning but when the whole thing was over, it was indeed pretty rewarding.

Run for life!

Guess what were they doing?

There were singing NEGARAKU!

Various game stations; torturous?

Big sacrifice huh?!

This is the first time I saw Santubong beach. It's not bad at all. Different ones have been telling me how terrible the beach is.

Dropped Dead!

Dinner prepared by Family Group!

Evening Saturday service was great. Everyone was in the relax-mode & this made the praise & worshipled by Sam really great! No more proper long pants, shoes, etc which always hinder people from expressing fully in their praise & worship. Ps Laurence shared the story about Samuel that we should respond to God immediately when He calls just like what Samuel did.

Evening Service!
I received one comment from a young leader. He says this: Wow, I never know we can praise & worship God in such a good atmosphere by just using a guitar & keyboard'. Well, the bottom line is, the heart that matters. On the top of that, in a casual setting, it's easier to get different ones to participate too.

We celebrated Jonathan's bday that evening. He had a good surprise!

After the service, different groups were busy preparing their group presentation for the next day. Wo...many didn't even sleep; some hang up at the pool side, some in the room chatting & having pillow fight etc etc. I couldn't take it anymore so I slept at 1am. Hehe...

These kids never stop growing; looking up & down for plates, bowls basically anything that can contain the food!

Morning High Praise is always refreshing!

The presentation on Sunday morning was hilarious. I must say this is one of the best presentation ever, looking at the limited practice time that they had. It exceeded my expectation. Well done guys :@)

We love you Rex! U Rock!

Group presentations; thumbs up to everyone!

Lunch at church was great. Thanks to few of the working adults who helped to set up the main sanctuary for us. Thanks to the family group too who willingly cooked the dinner for us on the 1st day. The food was fabulous!

For the next camp, we must organize a 2-3 night camp. However though it was a little short, the impact of the camp was great. Looking forward more getaway trips!

Great group of Committee. I trust that through the process of organizing this you guys have learnt much from one another!

'Lotax'

2009-05-23T22:40:00.008+08:00

Anyone recently has been to the post office near kenyalang park? I was there 2 weeks back to renew my 'lotax' (road tax to be exact) and since I'm 'eligible' to go to school a little late on Tuesday morning therefore I decided to make full use of my Tuesday 2 weeks ago to do it. I woke up early as usual, and arrived at the post office by 8am not knowing the opening hours. Only then i found out that it opens at 8am till 4pm.

When i arrived, there were already a few aunties & uncles waiting there ahead of me!

Well, as usual, we were all quite impatient, waiting for the door to open. Somehow being punctual is a bad habit. They opened the door late!

Few months ago when i was there, with the renovation going on, the whole place was quite dusty but it looks quite different now.

One interesting fact about government offices is this; we always lots of counters but only 1 or 2 are operating. Sound familiar? See, there was only 1 counter serving us.

So how does the ticketing-counter looks like? It's quite 'cool'. It looks like this!

But maybe something that they can improve is the little notice that i found, right beside the machine. It says this:

Doesn't this reflect what a typical malaysian would normally do? Don't tell me you have never done this before; taking more than 1 q-ticket. Well, i must speak on behalf of many thousands & millions of malaysian here that normally the instruction is quite unclear; we really don't know which number should we take. So, to be safe, the more numbers we have, the merrier!

Thank God i only waited for 15 minutes before my turn. That's quite effective i thought. Now while queuing in the line before the office was open, i saw this 'tutup' sign being put up. When i left the place, it was still 'tutup'. i couldn't help but took this picture :@)

So yea, i finally got the 'lotax' renewed. Now, how many of you find it really tough to remove the old one before putting the new one up? That old thingy is SO sticky and for years i have been trying hard to rip it off whether is by force of gently, it would never come off completely!

Anyway, this is how mine looks like now. Pretty ugly, don't you think?

Is your 'lotax' expiring soon? Unsure? You better check mate!

Final LC!

2009-05-23T08:59:00.010+08:00

'Leadership That Lasts' - our very 1st hOPE Leadership Conference organized by hOPE Kuching. My itchy fingers urged me to do a quick write-up here. Well, it was quite a different LC for many, including myself. Many felt that it was more like of a MNC kinda thing. The venue and the whole set up was rather different than many other LCs. I only managed to attend the evening sessions. It was really great. Great in the way that God spoke in different ways; as the whole body of Christ & also individually. It is always good to be still again and I know I needed that.

Other non-Kuching delegates must be so blessed too. They had the opportunity to learn more about the historical side of Kuching where many of us don't know much about (or maybe it is just me), they had lots of time spent fellowshipping wth one another; very balance indeed. I heard that the food was really good too. Man, I really missed the curry-puff in the Goodie Bag on the 1st day. It was SO nice, and huge hey! Anyone knows where they got it from?

Kuching International Airport was extremely busy since last Sunday till yesterday. While fetching the delegates at the arrival hall, no one realised that there was a banner right at the top of us! It was sitting there nicely but unfortunately many of us didn't realise its existence. Hehehe... maybe we were just too short.

Wanna take a guess who this is? Hehehe..the Hand 'Mimer' performed for the Opening on the 1st nite. Great job guys!

Wanna see how hard they have been practising? Here is the proof:

'O-chay' legs: they needed to 'kneel' most of the time. But I guess this make them more 'manly', so it's ok

Here is our dear KK. I didn't know he was there till the 2nd day.

Many might have missed seeing the glowing thingy in the Opening done by our dear bro. Alex. Who's fault huh? The LP's horrr..

The last LC's over and the 1st GC's coming in August 09' in Singapore. it's time to get back to the real world now and do something about it. See you all in the Combined Service tomorrow.
:@)

Terima Kasih Cikgu...

2009-05-18T19:18:00.010+08:00

Many of us have most probably forgotten this day called Teacher's Day. My school celebrated Teacher's Day last Friday. Did we get a day off? Nope, the kids got half day off. The teachers had to stay back for staff development program. But we got our lunch catered for though. Thanks to the Parents Association thingy. We had a proper sit-down lunch in the school hall with waiters serving us. Though the ambiance was a little odd, it was generally quite nice; simple & simple.

Don't deceive by the picture. It's really nice!

Just this morning, many of the teachers received 2 cupcakes + a card from a student. Immediately that became my breakfast this morning. I've never tasted cupcakes with coffee before. Indeed it was ichiban neh! What I like about the content of the card is this. It says 'Some things are just worth repeating'. Hehe... to certain extend, it does give dual meanings. Teacher can take it possitvely or the other way around. Hehe...

To all the teachers out there, whether you are the official ones or not, just wanna wish you all Happy Teacher's Day - and continue to impart the right values!

Back to Marketing!

2009-05-11T09:46:00.008+08:00

My new housemate, Joseph, a.k.a Ah Khai the tall guy suggested cooking! Out of the blue, we decided to go to the Sg. Maong Market place yesterday morning, just before the WFL. Ooo... this really reminded me of doing marketing with mom when I was young; the floor was wet, the market smell, noise conversation of different Chinese dialects came from different direction, and so on. This is what we bought (the name of the food is in Foochow):

'La-kian-chai' for RM1. 'Mi-lian-guok' for RM1.

'Ba-yu' for RM2.

So, after marketing, we decided to have our breakfast up there. Ah Khai had his laksa for RM3 and my Mee Sua for Rm3.50. It wasn't bad at all. The Laksa was quite a huge portion but my Mee Sua was a little bitter. I'm not sure why. The shocking thing was that Ah Khai's Teh-Si-Peng only cost RM1.10! Shocking huh??? Since it was cheap, so I ordered my usual Kopi-peng, and it cost slight more; Rm1.20. Unbelievable. Now what about the quality? Anytime better than our Xiang Xiang man...

The Teh-si-peng & Kopi-peng.

Nice view huh? Taken from where we were sitting.

It's good to be 'normal' and go to some of these places sometimes :@)

Chill...watch a movie!

2009-05-07T13:39:00.006+08:00

The Tetiary Swinburne Group watched a movie called 'The Guardian' as their CG activity last night. Awww... I still remember quite clearly that I first watched this in my 1st month in Cape Town. I was too bored then; no internet, no tv, basically nothing. I HAD to do something. It was indeed a good movie; highly recommended to all.

Back to the story about last night. We had great turn up and it was the 1st time for our dear Bro. Qian Jie leading high praise in CG. Not many people know that he is the brother of sis. Sia Ing. Yes, he is! Many years ago the Working Adult unit took Lundu Town as their mission town. That's how we met Qian Jie. He was SO quiet back then. Today, he can tell jokes, yes lame jokes and do other silly stuff.

Watch this!

Special 23rd Blast!

2009-05-04T09:30:00.006+08:00

High intensity, focused - on the screen

What a celebration!!! It all started with the idea of sing-K with the SUT Core team a.k.a PUSH team. It was supposed to be last Monday but ended up we did it on Thursday since the next day was a holiday for all! Shawn's Birthday is on the 1st May, where the whole world is given a day off to 'celebrate' this day. 14 of us went to this place called Red Colosseum at Premier 101. The room was quite huge with comfortable sofas, etc. How much do we pay? RM28 per head and you are entitled to get any 2 drinks free. Those who drink a lot of beer will find this more worth it. Unfortunately / fortunately we are 'decent-inoocent' people who only take fruit juice. Hehehe... To cut the story short, after that night everybody comes to a conclusion of who deserve to 'K-King' title. Guess who? Our Lundu Boy, Alex Lai Qian Jie, brother of Lai Sia Ing. Wanna see how he looks like? Nah...

He was the 1st one to kick off the night! When he started to sing, we thought it was the ORI. Shockingly shocking...what a discovery!

The Birthday Boy - who is shy, pretend to be shy.

The party ended at about 2am, trying to make every second worth its value. I managed to knock off by 3am. Man... I haven't had such an 'early' night for a while now. It reminded me of THOSE days, in the beginning when I joined hOPE. For those who understand Foochow, this is what I'd sayL 'Jing jing li meh ho ka liew loh...jing jing xi lao low...' I had shepherding wth Ps Denis & Hai Eng on the next day, 9am at Jia Jia Court. Did I struggle to wake up? Well, those who know me, you should know by now that I will always wake up at about 7am, doesn't matter how late I sleep. Maybe those in my 'club' can identify with me? Hahaha... Lunch at Jia Jia Court together with the rest of the SUT gang was really 'fun'. Click to the link here to view the full story here:

Honest Presentation...

2009-04-28T13:19:00.004+08:00

Special Fried Rice & a can of Boss Coffee???

Yea...that's the special meal that I had last week. One of my sheep dropped off this at the gate and my tummy was really blessed that evening. It was really nice. This is an honest presentation; a true 'local' food came without any funky packaging.

Would You Consider Me?

2009-04-27T17:49:00.005+08:00

I've just had a quick chat with our dear bro. Joshua, who's currently is working temporary in Penang. He was supposed to be back to Kuching last Saturday, somehow the trip is now extended for another month. To sum up the conversation, do you believe that he actually requested all of us to pray for him so that he could marry a local Langkawian? Don't believe me? Christian doesn't lie 'de'. Here's the proof!

To have clearer view, please click on the picture. I have his permission to post this, ok!

So, any girl with a Langkawian IC no., are always welcome to submit the application. Deadline: End of 2009. Application fee: RM100 payable to Christian Tang. The success of the post is based on 1st-come-1st-basis + other requirements set by Mr. Chang. Only successful applicant/s will be notified.

What Do You Really Want???

2009-04-23T09:33:00.013+08:00

It's time to make some clarification. Someone (whom I call Mr A) approached me on Good Friday morning while the SUT group was practising the Easter Mime thingy. It all started with a casual chat about certain political scenes that's happening in our country. To cut the story short, my face ended up in the paper the very next day. It says this:

Christian Tang, 33, was pleased with the new cabinet and hoped that those who had been appointed would work together with teh prime minister in carrying out their duties. "The new cabinet is a fair appointment and they should work with the prime minister and be more proactive in performing their duties. Those who have been appointed should ultilise the resources efficiently and effectively for the benefit of the people," said Tang. Tang who is a teacher supported the appointment of Tan Sri Muhyiddun Yassin as the deputy prime minister and the education minister.

My comment is this:

1. I am NOT 33.

2. I have NO comment about the newly appointed cabinet. In fact, how many of us know the real meaning of the word 'cabinet' anyway? How many of us know the roles of the cabinet? Frankly, the 1st thing came to my mind of the word 'Cabinet' was my baju-baju & buku-buku cabinet. I'm sure many of you can identify with me? Yes???

This is what I found in the dictionary:

Function:
noun
Etymology:
Middle French, small room, diminutive of Middle French dialect (Picard) cabine gambling house
Date: circa 1550

1 a: a case or cupboard usually having doors and shelves b: a collection of specimens especially of biological or numismatic interest c: console 4a d: a chamber having temperature and humidity controls and used especially for incubating biological samples

2 aarchaic : a small room providing seclusion b: a small exhibition room in a museum

3 aarchaic (1): the private room serving as council chamber of the chief councillors or ministers of a sovereign (2): the consultations and actions of these councillors b (1)often capitalized : a body of advisers of a head of state (2): a similar advisory council of a governor of a state or a mayor cBritish : a meeting of a cabinet

4New England : milk shake

So, the whole world knows that I have NO clue about politics, that includes MANY of you too. Well, I did make a general comment about how a typical Malaysian is normally not that 'loyal' to his country and we all know why. Is this a sad fact? Well, in certain way, it is. To change this, it takes more than great effort. Argh... we better stop talking about this before something happen to me - I'm sure Ah Cow would say that :) A typical Malaysian like me would always say "Ahh..dun tok so much lah, we can't do anything anyway. It's just the way it is. We are all treated differently..."

Of all the comments about the new cabinet, I do hope that they will work well with our new PM too. Whether we like it or not we can't change this, so better just accept it!

Hey, anyone of us here know who our new Deputy PM is? I really do not know till I saw the comment that I 'made' on the paper. And he is also the Education Minister too? The amazing 'ding-dong' decision on the language to be used in Science & Maths teaching MUST be resolved fast. That bugs me a lot. Does it bug you? Or you just don't care?

To conclude our dialogue, I just posted Mr A a question; What do we really want? That would determine everything that we do. It doesn't matter who we are. regardless of race, language, social status, etc etc,

What do you want?

p.s. Hey, I do like the Headlines though. Don't just carry the names, but ACT as one! Be a servant!

The Winnerman!

2009-04-12T22:45:00.019+08:00

Last Saturday was such a memorable day, to me personally. The Easter Youth Celebration; The Winnerman was just simply awesome. God gave me a surprise; a huge surprise indeed. God gave me the number '150' & though I had little doubt about it, I still believed it by faith that we will hit this number that day. Low and behold, guess what! We had 161 people (incl. 4 WA). 10 salvation & few recommited their lives that day. It was just beyond my imagination. I just loved the atmosphere, right from the beginning till the end. Every second was great! The Mime was awesome, Video was very touching, Preaching was good, the Food was great; generally everything was very 'YAY-YAY'! Those who were there, you definitely know what I'm talking about. Isn't it beyong description of what God can do? This is just the beginning. The greater things are yet to come! Take it & believe it!!!

Let me bring you through the day:

Final Mime practice on Good Friday morning

The left & right view - the total of 161 people!!!

We had great time praising God, led by Aaron

A great Hand Mime of the song 'Who Am I' by Casting Crown, performed by Swinburne University Youth Group

Ryan, one of our youngest among us shared his testimony; he was honest, genuine, true to himself. No packaging, nothing. It was just him.

The song 'Why' by Nicole Nordeman, illustrated by YHope. The lyrics is SO meaningful. Please watch & reflect on this. I'm sure you will be blessed tremendously.

Bro. Isaac talked about the Winner Man! Sis Mary was part of the sharing to explain what 'Probability' is - wooo.... i still dun understand (hahaha)

U gotta believe, believe, believe it!!!

Few of tho who responded

Time up, time up!

The door gifts

I love the banana leaves!

'See what see!' - garang-nya

After a while, all are gone!

Posing time! Even Josh couldn't resist it!

We met up with the team again for dinner & guess what they were playing when I reached there.

UNO!!! They were not TIRED?!

Expecting a Great Quarter. Believe it!

Dress-Down Day @ TPS!

2009-04-09T15:21:00.009+08:00

If the word 'Dress-up' exists, we should have 'Dress-down' too yea?

It's Dress Down Day today in the school. Kids are encouraged to wear basically anything under the sun, as long it is appropriate; nothing is TOO exposed I guess. Those who choose to participate, would have to give RM5 though. That includes me! I took the opportunity to do the same today & man...if you know me, I'd die to wear my most comfortable SHORTS! So, I did, with a simple T-shirt, Shorts & 'socked-Crocs' of course. How I wish we could do that everyday but then, if that happens, everyone might go wild; and yes, that includes the teachers. Many kids & few teachers dressed down today. Kids are casual, so do the teachers and this gives everybody a good close for the long weekend. Yay!!!

Kids were extremely happy during break time at the canteen & playground

Tingkatan 1, 2 & not forgetting the International kids too

Don't you think those trees at the back look familiar?

On a second thought, maybe we should have Dress Down Day for one of our Sundays??? That would be so interesting, I'm sure!

O.N.E Camp 09'

2009-04-05T07:48:00.011+08:00

Wow...looking back at how occupied everybody was for the past few months & myself included. Haven't blogged for the past 2 months & I told myself I must tell people about the O.N.E Camp that I attended just 3 weeks ago (man, I felt it was long time ago). This is a very 1st own Youth Leadership Camp for us. It was supposed to be Youth Camp but when I attended YHope Heroes Camp last December, I just felt the urge from God telling me to gather the leaders in the house 1st, before ministering to others. So, the plan went on. We had 50 campers (included 3 from Yhope, 5 from Chinese Youth, Ps Laurence, Cikgu Grace, & the rest of us are from the Youth Group)

I must say the camp was awesomely awesome! It wasn't about the venue, the food, the activities. It was solely about God; His presence, His word & definitely His people! AWESOME! Though we had to move from Hope KS to Matang Wild Life, and from there to Kubah National Park, it was really THAT good!

Here are the committees!

'200' is the number given by God. I was 1st hesitated to take & believe but it is from God. We have a mission; a mission to accomplish & that is to touch 200 lives by the end of 09'. We were once in darkness but now walking in the light, must share the Good News with others. The blessing of God doesn't just end with us! On the final day, everyone of us made a commitment to one another; by placing our thumb prints as a sign of covenant that together we will achieve this mission, not for ourselves but for Him who has called us to be in His saving-people business. Are you in the list??? You can, if you want to.

This 'Cili-Padi' Ps Shirley. Hey, she's from Indonesia - we wonder whether all Indonesian Cili-padi are all small size - another version of Mina B.

Day 1: @ hOPE KS. Great time of teaching in ONE WORD.

In deep meditation?

Ermm... or in Deep Meditation, really??? (Johnson! U looked like u were zzz, but i know u were not!)

Go Africa Go!!!

This is the right way to eat-like a man!

Day 2: Breakfast @ Xiang Xiang.

Day 3: Kubah National Park: Go army!

Be Authentic!

Just Another Day?

2009-02-05T14:43:00.008+08:00

Are there any days that are special to you? Well, for some, yes and some no! This is what I think, after little reflection these few days. After one joins certain 'club', you really don't bother to care much about birthday anymore. I have been asking many people who actually came out with the birthday cake idea? Guess what, this from Wikianswer:

It appears to be related to the Greek goddess Artemis, whose birthday was celebrated with moon-shaped honey cakes topped with candles.
One possible reason is because the ancient Greeks used to take cakes (round to represent the full moon) to the temple of their goddess of the moon, Artemis. The Greeks are said to have placed candles on the cake to make it look as if it was glowing like the moon Another explanation is the birthday cake started in Germany. Geburtstagorten was a type of cake that is said to have been used to celebrate birthdays.

Whatever are the reasons, I'm sure those Bakery people all around the world wouldn't mind to bake more cakes since they have been helping them to prosper much. Whether the world face global economy challenge, that's not the point. The Birthday Cakes still reign!

Alright, enough about the cake. One interesting thing that I received just before today and today itself is that I received literally countless of birthday wishes from all over the world in the Facebook. Man...after a 2nd thought, I think Facebook might be able to overtake the Cake soon! On another thought, do people still write cards? Do you still receive Chinese New Year card? Birthday card? Christmas cards? Probably not huh? However there is one card that is still very much in use; the Sympathy card. You know those cards for people whom the close ones pass away, etc? Maybe people don't really know or how to say things, so the easiest way is, to just get a card. The card does all the job!

This is for the Facebooker:

Reaching planet Mars is nothing. The process of reaching there is not that tough too. I think the most difficult time is the preparation for the past 2 years. It's not that easy to prepare you know. For some, you are preparing yourself. Some, never really prepare till the day come. Like it or not, it will come... to few of my friends...with wide open arms, I welcome you! (Joshua, Hwei, who else arrrr?)

SWEET Cake & me in my new Pinkish Espirit shirt :@)

Thanks to my Yr.7-9 Music students, especially to Ms Jeniffer who bought the blueberry, baked cheese cake. Honestly, it's REALLY nice! Hehehe...if I have to get anyone a cake next time, I'd either get this kind of cake, a big one to share with many, or just a small slice for the birthday person. Anyway, thanks for making my final 2 hours in school, a happy one. Thanks guy!

Thanks guys who spent a MEMORABLE dinner tonight. I will NEVER forget Shawn's Black Pepper Beef tonite! and AHEM...thanks for the Water BLAST!

THANKS GUYS FOR EVERYTHING! MAY GOD BLESS EACH ONE OF US RICHLY THIS YEAR!

Happie NIU Year!

2009-01-29T16:57:00.011+08:00

What a Chinese New Year; a year of the Ox?! I'm really not sure how fun it is to have this water-ox bringing flood to few areas in Sibu. My Sibu house wasn't flooded but the front lane was and still is today. As the normal family tradition, we don't normally go out visiting on the 1st day of CNY. And at the same time, I guess it's a tradition for many others too, who don't go out on the 1st day too. So everybody ended up as usual, of what the tradition teaches us, just to stay at home, being with the family, and all the bla bla bla. On the same day, we sent my sis & family to the airport as they needed to go back to Australia catching the afternoon flight.

My nephews & niece + my other cousins.

Left: I learnt 1 important skill; how to transport a baby trolley to the escalator the correct way. Right: Timmy's favourite toy, Labah-Labah Manusia!

Sushi @ Sushi Tie. Ermm.... slightly cheaper than Sushi King, I prefer S.King though...

Timmy was so cute; he liked Ava so much that he wanted to bring her back to Melb. This is how he asked my sis in law, 'Can I bring Ava back to Melbourne please?'. Guess what my sis in law answered him? - U ASK JIU JIU!

Ok, 1st day's gone. Now, on the 2nd day, we start to see rain coming in. Boo...the front lane got a little flooded. Little flood won't stop the Foochow to come visiting. So, we started to see different relatives and friends coming for a visit. Not many, just a few came in the late afternoon. We managed to go for a quick visitation to the close relatives since my 2nd brother & family had to catch a flight to Miri in the afternoon. Interestingly I managed to meet up with Ah Wei, Ah Yieng and of coz Ah Khai, the organizer of the short meet up at Sugar Bun, just opposite the Sibu Gateway. Right after that, they visited my place, then Ah Wei's, Ah Yieng's and finally Ah Khai's. It was our 1st time visiting each others' houses; small group, yet it was quite fun.

We were supposed to meet up with Alex & other gang at 10pm that night. However the water level rose so fast that we had to cancel it. Anyway, here comes the 3rd day of CNY and it was time for me to leave. I took a boat, praying hard that the sea would not be rough. Thank God, though it was raining, the sea was rather calm. However, that didn't excuse my head to spin yea. I learnt a lesson; doesn't matter what condition the sea is, always take the Pill! According to Cting, it's magic. Well, I guess if the pill works for her, surely it will work for everybody.

Mom's cooking, not as much as before but they are still the best!

Well, this is one of the quietest CNY ever. I counted, we had less than 10 families visiting us this year. All because of the flood. Well, maybe that's a good thing too; helping mom to save some angpows expenses. I ended up carrying few tibbits home hehehe... just too much junk food left over. Looking back now, I did spend good times with my family. It was the 1st time my nephews and niece spent their CNY in Sibu and it was great for them to see all the amazing fireworks, though it wasn't as great as before. And that included my dear bro in law who was so excited. I told him that he was just like a big kid, especially when he stood beside his children.

One of the most exciting to see in Sibu during the CNY is the Fireworks! Bro bought some of these 'stuff'. Watch how we burn 'money' in just 10 seconds...

Bro got so excited and decided to burn ALL of the fireworks in 1 night since my sister & family were leaving on the next day. You guys gotta see this man...something must be really wrong with this bunch of Firecracker. It burnt in less than 1.5 seconds and got my bro burnt a little.

Look at his new Nike shirt!

This is classic! Sometimes, it does make sense why the government decides to ban Fireworks... but then.. but then.. u know, sometimes we just have this 'can't-help-it' attitude hehehe...

Well, I'm back to Kuching now, started teaching today and gosh, the rain started last night, has never stopped even for a second till now. If it keeps raining, I'm sure I'd have to stay at home again tomorrow... let's see what God would do yea..

Indonesia, Truly Asia; You ROCK!

2009-01-14T00:21:00.037+08:00

December 2008 was a year I'd never forget; that was the time I travelled the most in my life! 1st to MNC, then to Bali on the next day, then to the Singapore Youth Camp the next day, then rushed back to Kuching for Christmas, then flew to Jakarta & drove to Bandung and then flew back. Phew...it was quite a hectic month, however I really enjoyed it though :@) The Jakarta trip was somehow a sudden decision. I have never thought one day I'd land in this land. Many people would have negative views about Indonesia in particular Jakarta. Some say it's worse than K.L, etc. Well, to my surprise, it was quite a different experience to me. The whole trip though was very short, was a very pleasant one. from the moment I landed in the airport, till I reached Bandung, I just love it! Thanks to George, Greg & in particular their parents for their 1st class hospitality. I did witnesss the rich and the poor; how gigantic some of the houses are and how tiny & run down the shacks are.

See the difference?

Found this house amusing-FULLY protected-in another word, it's like beng jailed!

This is the 1st mall that I went to. It's called ITC. What do they have? Tonnes of CLOTHES!!! It's SO scary...VERY scary!

Their very own 'Starbucks' called Bagawan Coffee-taste great!

One amazing thing about Jakarta; you have learn how to park your car illegally legally and NEVER pull the hand brake. Due to the limitation of parking space, they have to park their vehicles, blocking one another and if you are blocked, you have to laern how to PUSH the car to give way to your car... interesting huh?!

Well, I was ready to accept the fact that the traffic was bad. Well, it was indeed THAT bad. We drove from Jakarta to Bandung for 1.5 hrs and guess how long did we take to get back in the evening? 4+ hours! The whole stretch of the highway was packed with cars. You gotta be well trained to 'cut' here and there, otherwise you might not be able to get home.

A typical Jakarta street. While we were on the way to shop, there was a HUGE fire taking some houses down!

Nice mall hey!

Amused by the metal bambo design.

You will never know what this is; typre pump!

Awwww.... so sweet... George says his brother is so 'manja'...

Hey, they have 'Tut-tut' too. I think they cal it 'Bazai' here. On the right, this is George & Greg's old school.

Cute gas tank!

Tofu is a simple food but this is really really nice!
Even the horsey love to have blonde hair?

One tip for those who love shopping (for those who dislike shopping too). You gotta love the shopping scenarios in Indonesia, in particularly Bandung. O man, there were SO many factory outlets which offer GREAT stuff...GREAT stuff...GREAT stuff... man, even at this moment of writing, I still can feel the urge to shop more!!! Man, I've made a promise to myself that I'd not buy anything else in Kuching anymore, unless I really have to! I tried the local Sudanese food and man, they are the BEST that I've ever tasted!!! YUMMmmmMMMmmmMMmmmmMMmmmmmmmYYYYYYYYYYY!!!! Arghhhhh.... man! You can't miss all the Great Food there! It was just simply AWESOME!

This is Divine!

One of the most rewarding trip to Jakarta/Bandung was the 'Puncak'. It is a site for a dead volcano. Though it was declared as dead, the steam / smoke still very much visible from the top of the mountain. This is the 2nd volcano that I've seen, after the 1st one in Bali. The view was Awesome! You gotta to be there to see it. Can't tell much from the pictures though. One tip: DO NOT go there too late! When we were on our way down at about 1pm, the Q was literally few kilometres long!!! I've never seen such a LONG LONG Q in my whole life!

Stalls being set up along the way, they are quite interestingly interesting!

Hey, that was REALLY close!

Even Uncle could't resist the temptation to try jumping-it was fun!

Very skillfull people!

This horsey reminded me of Joshua in Bali.
Don't you think the Ninja is cute?

Auntie's Tart Susu is the best man!

Guess what are these?

Breakfast in the car!

Another interesting place before reaching the 'Puncak' was this place called Lembang. The weather is cool there and they could plant strawberry there! You gotta try the Fried Tofu there! It's SO simple yet it's SO nice... oh mannnn... you guys MUST try!

I was shivering; It was quite windy & cold!

Lunch after 'Puncak' & before SHOPPING!

Avocado ice blended...heaven!

Sudanese food-Ichiban!

Moved on to another spot for more shopping!

I think Igloo copied this!

Yummy pudding; I dislike the choc chips though...

Uncle can be naughty too!

Nice open-concept of the washroom!

I never know little fish could be used to make money; this is called Foot Therapy-letting your feet to be 'eaten' by the fish to clear whatever that is toxic in you. Eww...

Nice cafe outside the mall.

I thought this was interesting; a small coffee kiosk with cute chairs.

Time to sleep, after a long day!

The 2 brothers love to 'bully' one another; the expression of their love.

My final day spent at a place called Anchol. It's another version of the 'Wordly-worldly' stuff; Sea World, Movie World, etc etc. Day time was a little miserable for me, since I dislike to be exposed to the sun. Hey, we hardly find any shades!

Hey, Welcome to Lala land!

Interesting structure

Interesting semi-circle foot pier linking from one side to the other.

Love the structure of the cafe; must be really nice in the evening.

The biggest whatever thingy that you call this!

Hey, I drove!!!

This is HUGE! Looks like Heng Wei?

Ahem...George, this looks familar, don't you think so?

A brother told me to try the 'Wendy's' burger. I was TOO full to try that HUGE burger. Instead, I got myself Smoothies...

Just before I flew, we met up with George's friends. They are very friendly people.

Indonesia, truly Asia? I can't disagree more man... love it love it love it!

View more pictures here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=97262&l=0ed2d&id=592551367
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=97265&l=b6baf&id=592551367

Lion City ROARSsssss...

2009-01-04T23:20:00.012+08:00

Opening Ceremony

I had the opportuniy to attend Singapore Youth Camp from the 13-16 Dec last year. The camp was indeed a great inspiration to me. I never knew young kids could have such deep maturity not only in their ministry but character. Or maybe it's the other way around; I'm still acting like a kid?! Or maybe it's both...oh well...

The BEST ice-cream ever!!! Each shepherd was given 1 of this as a token of appreciation..awww.... how sweeeeet!

Thanks to Dennis who was the organizing chairman & team who really gave their best in making all this possible. Thanks to my host, Gideon & the whole team especially the boys. I'm inspired by Gideon, a person who is even willing to be a 'fool' for the Lord to make the camp more interesting. He has shown what the WOG says about 'deny ourselves, take up the Cross & follow Him'.

Left: Gideon (man, the Hope High Sch Musical was a classic!)
Right: My 1st Class host, Donavan

Lastly, thanks to the iron lady, Ps Shirley who has built a strong team who flows so well with her. I was particulary very touched on the final night when she mentioned about what she promised God to plant 10,000 churches when she 1st joined hOPE. Those who were there sure understand what I'm talking about. I saw a great shepherd heart who believed so much in what God can do in the city and beyond. Argh... one word to describe the camp; indescribable! It was just awesome...

Believe it or not, this is Ps. Shirley!

Moses, the humble guy; One of the 5 characteres that we learnt in the Heroes Camp

The International delegates. Few from Brisbane, few from PJ & Sibu too

I'm small neh...

Heroes: Are You On The List?

Go hOPE Singapore! Jia You hOPE Kuching!!!

Bali Expedition 08'

2008-12-31T11:53:00.027+08:00

Woot Woot!

Here is a little review on our Bali trip. After the MNC, we extended our trip for another night at Metro Inn (gosh, aren't we glad that we were allocated to stay in this package???) Poor Chang Ting was sick ALL the way from the day she reached PICC. To cut the story short despite of her pain in her tummy, she still joined us in the trip. You guys must ask her what questions the 1st doctor asked her.

Taken at Megal Mall, I thought the car was cute!

Taken at LCCT:
Left: The gang + KK who took the picture.
Right: This section is only for old ppl and those who are pregnant. Can you see who were sitting there?

Day 1:
The 1st evening when we arrived, the tour guide picked us up and brought us for dinner. Where? At the beach!!! The meal was really, really great after the 3-hr flight. The ambience was superb. Most of us were stunned, questioning whether that was the right package tour that we paid for. A group of singers, with just simple percussion came and entertained us. Man, they are really talented. Whenever they go to the Japanese tourists, they would sing 'Sukiyaki'. When they came to us, they sang 'Xiao Wei'. We even requested them to sing 'Dancing Queen'. They did it so well...

None of us had decent small change in Rupiah, so we gave RM10 as tips; not much I know. Hey, has anyone paid to Hoon yet?

After dinner, we checked in a Hotel called Hotel Paradiso. I just LOVE all the Balinese courtyards & deco making the whole outdoor ambience great! Our rooms, were right in front of the pool! Though the rooms weren't that great, well...for the amount that we paid for, I have no complain. Do you?

Taken at the hotel lobby

Night Street scenes at Jalan Legian

More pictures here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=91632&l=c1d22&id=592551367

Day 2:
Jik jik jik (sound of the birds chirping) ... Morning Rise...
We had all our breakfast in the hotel. The food was ok-typical hotel food. But one thing that we will never forget is, the Balinese Music. Haha...after a while we do get sick of hearing it though...

Breakfast @ the hotel!

We explored the Northern side of Bali (Kintamani) on Day 2. I don't have the map with me now, but basically we went to watch this Barong & Keris dance. Haha...I'm sure we won't forget this huge Barong guy (lion) standing at the entrance for half an hour. Jwen almost wanted to go down and kick him out to the 'stage' and START the show! Well, at least we know a little more about the Cerita Dongeng in Bali.

The silly Barong (left) and can you see how 'merajuk' Jwen was? Hehehe...

These people were in trance... ewww...

After that we were brought by the tour guy to different shops selling traditional stuff like wood carving, paintings etc etc. That didn't really catch our attention though, rather awkward.

Wood carving place

Me and the macho man?

After all the ding-dong at the shops we took a long journey to Kintamani, a place (highland) where we saw the Volcano & Lake Batur! That was quite awesome, I reckon! It was my 1st time in my life seeing a volcano. She was a alive in the 1920's, then 70's then the last time was 94. Our lunch was served in a restaurant right overlooking the volcano. Praise God for clearing the sky just in time for us to view the volcano, after the lunch.

The Volcano & us!

The restaurant; nice local delight!

Great food!

While on our way down, most people were 'dead-sleeping' in the car. And when we arrived at Goa Gajah, a 18th century. Nothing much really, except for some smelly odours in the cave hehehe... we had to wear 'sarong' coz shorts are not allowed there. The tour guide asked us to touch the holy water to bring good luck to us. I told him, WE ARE CHRISTIAN! Hehehe.. oh yeah about 95% of the people in Bali are Hindu. Temples could be seen almost everywhere!
p.s. On this day Chang Ting was basically in the hotel room WHOLE day, alone with her TV.

Left: The Gajah thingy.
Right: 4 human turned local Indon.

Now, this is the so called holy water that I talked about

More pictures here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=91850&l=0af6d&id=592551367
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=91633&l=01b45&id=592551367

Day 3:
After breakfast, we went to Nusa Dua, the Eastern side of Bali; a place where beach activities were held. It was kind of cloudy and the sea wasn't as clear as other day, I think. The gang went snorkelling, jet-skiing, etc. I was really dissapointed with the Para-sailing. It was cancelled for 1 reason; NO WIND! Arghhh... I almost wanted to command the wind to come. Instead, we tried the Flying-fish instead. The experience was just 'ok'. I think Lozie & Lucy must be SO proud of the FLYING thingy huh? God knows why! Hehehe...
I was really looking forward to Para-sailing.

Getting ready!

Macho macho-Nyaaaa...

Meat for sale, anyone?

Can you breathe Jwen?! How happy Luke was!

Can you see the contrast? One is so happy, the other is .... aiii...

Left: Did you notice this person's short has the same design as the fish? Could it be the same species???
Right: Wow... Josh, afterall... looks 'kecil' in the water!

We had really late lunch this day. The beach activities ended later than what we expected. We explored the Western side, a place called Bedugul. Again, it was a long journey, up the hill and all the winding roads, making everyone sleepy. We had late lunch overlooking Lake Bratan.

Lunch at the highland overlooking the lake

The men & the women

They also produce strawberry!!!! This only cost Rm1!

After lunch we continued our journey to the Monkey Forest. Gosh, there were so many monkeys around. I was so much being reminded of last year's Bako trip. The monkeys there were very friendly though, unlike the ones in Bako. The funniest incident happened when one of them stole PP's new Kemboja hair clip! It was really hillarious.

Series of moment taken by KK!

We finally end our 2nd day trip at Tanah Lot; the temple at the sea. The whole place was very scenic. Very beauutiful indeed. Nothing like a temple at all. Ahem...those who stayed in the car, really missed out man...

On the way to Tanah Lot; many stalls along the way

The super-women!

We saw lots of beautiful padi fields

We were kind of late and the driver rushed us back to the town to have our dinner in one of the local restaurant, which appeared to be more Chinese to me.

Dinner

More pictures here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=90489&l=cc49b&id=592551367
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=91821&l=a98b1&id=592551367
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=91630&l=92b3d&id=592551367

Day 4:
ALL BY OURSELF! It's shopping day!!! We did nothing but shop. But before that, early in the morning we did go for a beach walk. Again, Chang Ting continued to stay in the hotel room. She had been very supportive as she was out whole day the day before.

I just love the small streets, they are verywhere!

We walked along the beach, got stranded by a pool of local craft people who had successfully persuaded few of us to buy their stuff. After that we strolled along the street, looking at different interesting cafe designs, etc. Finally we found Hard Rock. There were many interesting street 'sculpture' that caught our attention. Hehe..and of coz we managed to take some pictures of them. The real shopping time started after the Hard Rock Shop I think. We went to the so called Art Market - awww... what a dissapointment. I need not to say more.

Buy lah buy lah...

Ah Cow joined the crowd to be 'siow' too!

Surf Surf wth Ronald!
(Luke, what were u doing?!)

Jwen, what on earth were you doing?! Hahaha...

Maybe I can try to have my 'long' my hair and do the dreadlock too huh? Josh & his new found friend :)

Those surfers shops, etc etc really reminded me of Sydney Bondi Beach. Few of us took McD ice-cream before our lunch. KK complained that his McFlury; it was cheap but much smaller than ours here though... Maybe that's the way they lose weight there!

This is not the Hard Rock Shop but the Hotel!

Hey, I dun mind working there for few weeks...

On our way back, we found the Memorial of the Bali Bombing Over 200 people were dead!

After walking for the whole day, we then decided to temporary unload our shopping bags at the hotel 1st before going out again, yes, to shop! Jwen found this really nice restaurant. The ambience was great, though the food was just ok, yea? Nothing more valuable than all the silly, down-to-earth chats that we had at the dinner table.

More pictures here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=91635&l=d0136&id=592551367

Day 5:
I rushed out to get some more kites from a shop that gave us a really good deal the night before.

Hey, these kites can really fly! Yes, even the sailing ship!!!

Few of others followed along and others continue to shop even till the very last second. Hey, Shopping King like me couldn't beat those girls ok... Wanna know who? Just try too find who's missing in the final group picture taken in front of the hotel, just before we left for the airport.

Ahem...who's missing???

Our packaging team who managed to pack the hand-carry nicely. Thanks to Ah Cow! Hehehe...

PP, Cow & I were waiting for our next flight to Singapore while the rest flew back straight to Kuching, with Chang Ting of coz. Everything was planned so that once she reached the airport, we would send her to the GH and 'potong-bedah' her... sound scary huh...

Guess who met at the LCCT? Peter Truong was on his way back to Brisbane. What a small world we live in!

Again, overall it was a great trip though few of us were quite skeptical about it, considering a huge group that we had this time round. Looking forward another great trip? Please fill in the Ah Tang Travel Membership forms. :@)

13th MNC - A Vibrant Community!

2008-12-26T00:05:00.009+08:00

Gosh...it has been REALLY long since the last time I blogged! Again December has always been one of the busiest month in the calendar; with yearly MNC + a well-self-deserved trip. 1st, thank God for long holiday for teachers. Hey, this 6-week holiday doesn't come easy ok. WE teachers deserve it all! So, please people... do not envy us, ok?

The 13th MNC was held in Putrajaya International Convention Centre. It's located in the very heart of the country and man...when I 1st walked into the main hall, I was absolutely SHOCKED, SPEECHLESS. The hall is just stunning, man... I need not to say more. It was really HUGE. The seats were so comfy that anyone could easily doze off, anytime, anywhere. But really, though the hall impressed me a lot however the whole PICC looks miserable during day time. I won't want to be there; a place where no trees to be seen, it IS a depressing city... everything is so 'plastic'...ew.... so to show you the better side of PICC, night view is more appetizing...

So what did we have through out the 4 days? I love the Wavey thingy from the Opening Ceremony, silly faces from different ones in the Faces of Nations, our own Vibrant Nite and of coz the Great grand closing of the Lion King musical!

Opening by Hope PJ!

Mission Night - can you find Shawn & Melvin?

Hahaha..I just LOVE this!

Vibrant Night by Hope Kuching!

Thanks Team!

Closing by Hope JB!

Thanks guys for serving together in the team (Ah Tun, Suraini, Thaddius were missing here!)

Do you think this boy has reached his max?

A 'G-P' Year!

2008-11-25T01:04:00.004+08:00

Hey, I can dance... ok! (Dun luff!)

Phew! What a year, what a year, what a year! I have been thinking about this for the past 2 weeks. Indeed the older I get, the quicker I feel time passes. It is almost unbelievable sometimes. Last Friday was a day which many people were waiting for; both the students & teachers finally could REST in PEACE right after the clock struck 12 noon. I can now still vividly remember what I was doing last year at this time; I was happily packing my stuff, at the same time watching my favourite Oprah show, eating 8 apples a day & chatting on the msn. To de-stress, I decided to wear the school uniform & joined my kids to perform the line-dance. hey, they are not bad at all. The Rock Around The Clock was from A.Alice and they were thrown for a challenge to choreograph the Mambo No. 5. For a limited time & the pressure from the final exam, I must really praise those kids for their great work! On the other hand, it was a sad day for some. Those who are graduating from IGCSE & some are leaving for other places next year. Not only students are leaving, a few of the teachers are leaving too!

Christina is going back to Singapore & Sandhya is leaving for Dubai!

Isabella is going to KL next year

The Graduating Class!

Year End Parties!!!

2008-11-18T18:37:00.007+08:00

I have been eating much in school for the past 2 weeks. Different classes were having their class parties & I was invited to join along. The food was SO good. It was really really GOOD! Man, I just love the Malay food. Especially those cooked by the moms.

At the same time, in the primary section, we concluded the year by completing the Halloween Mask. Here are some of the group pictures.

Spring Cleaning!

2008-10-16T14:41:00.005+08:00

Just a few months ago, I was re-located to another room and to my surprise, it was a Science Lab!!! yes, indeed I was shocked. But that's ok. We learn how to adapt and play with what we have. So I spend quite a lot of time, slowly, turn it into a more warm-looking room, though it looks a little (or very to some) messy. If I were given a chance to move to another room, I would definitely SCREAM out LOUD hehe... coz I really do feel extremely comfy here. I have also created a special corner for the cats! Still remember about the Cats Exhibition? Yea, I've moved everything to my room. Aww...just wanna take some pictures before new stuff comes in next year! Oh boy, I can't wait for the long break; just less than 4 more weeks left & I'll be having my well-deserved rest :#)

Right & Left Corner at the back of the room

Welcome to my Cats Corner!

Kids' artwork + my own

The whiteboard that I seldom use

You probably can't see clearly where I'm supposed to sit huh? It's right there!

Here-where I normally do my stuff