I'm actually quite apprehensive when it comes to getting into a relationship. Probably cause I've been in too many relationships that i don't really want to remember. Though of course, through them i learned a lot. And of course most importantly, i learned what type of girl i would like to spend my life with.
But still there's like always the fear in me whether i am able to support the relationship for long and such. Cause ever since i got to know Christ, i decided my next relationship would be my last no matter what. So that made me like really cautious with issues concerning romance. And recently, i began to think that romance just gets in the way of me achieving what i want to do(a distraction), and i began to despise myself for feeling the need to share my life with someone and to pour out my love to someone before i had gotten close to achieving my visions. I used to think that i should just channel this love to my ministry instead, be it children church or cell group.
How wrong i am. While praying some time this week, I realised, we're all made in God's image and the bible says, God can't deny Himself that He loves us so much and that He will always be with us - even to the ends of the earth. So naturally, we all have a need to share and pour out our love unconditionally to someone else as well. It's the only way we can become even more like God, to give and sacrifice for the ones you love. And i really think, nothing stretches your love further than being in a relationship, eventually leading to marriage. Sure I can pour out my love to my cell group and the children but it's different from loving someone you'd eventually see everyday, every hour unlike my cell members or the kids who i see once or twice a week. Of course i'm not saying one should just jump into a relationship just for the sake of this experience. You gotta be of a certain level of stability or both will just fall together.
And will my vision be hindered? It doesn't have to if i find the right person who shares the same dream. I really admire Pastor Kong and Sun's relationship. They're so far apart physically but because they share a common vision of engaging culture and changing society for Christ, they're knitted so close together in their hearts. So romance doesn't really hinder your dreams and visions at all. In fact, if you find the right partner, you'd probably go much further than when you're alone.
"When two or more of you come together in agreement, there My power will be".
And that's how a heaven on earth can be found. =)
Never despise your need TO love.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Life on the European soil
This is going to be a super long post. Well.. more of a photo post than a blog post.
Europe's a blast. Just came back to hot, humid, boring Singapore like yesterday evening. Even got to go to venice! Which is severely overrated just cause it's sinking. The tour was waaayyy too short. Like we had to leave after starting to make good friends. Haha so here goes..
Day 1:
Landed on Amsterdam Airport. The whole plane journey was like 12 hours. The worst flight i've ever taken. (not that i travel a lot though)
Took a transfer flight from Amsterdam to Milan and saw these mountains on the way. Another 2 hours flight..
Europe's a blast. Just came back to hot, humid, boring Singapore like yesterday evening. Even got to go to venice! Which is severely overrated just cause it's sinking. The tour was waaayyy too short. Like we had to leave after starting to make good friends. Haha so here goes..
Day 1:
Landed on Amsterdam Airport. The whole plane journey was like 12 hours. The worst flight i've ever taken. (not that i travel a lot though)
Took a transfer flight from Amsterdam to Milan and saw these mountains on the way. Another 2 hours flight..
it's getting irritating to have to upload so many photos..><><>
Oh! Forgot to mention, Europe's in their autumn season the time we landed. No snow. =( But nevertheless, it was really beautiful cause the colours of autumn are just.. breathtaking. This was taken at the back of the castle.
Also taken somewhere at the back of the castle. There was a jap lady statue which was so horribly sculpted that her hands look like a guy's hands. Super huge, super thick fingers. Not gonna post that photo.. ><
Went to this place to shop (i forgot the name too.. ><) We were lucky enough to catch a flash mob who put up some dance for everyone to see. Apparently, this is often done in Europe.
There was this huge church in the middle of the square of the shopping centre. Seems that most of Europe's Catholic. And the pope is super highly regarded in the society there.
It's hard to believe that people actually come to this church for a service. The hall is super huge. They claim they have the nail which was pinned into Jesus' hand in this church. Only problem is that there are like 10 other churches who claim the same. I think there should be only 3 nails??
The next day was supposed to be a free day to allow us to do some shopping at our own time. But we went to Venice instead. =) Much better than wasting time seeing things you can find in Singapore.
Day2(i wonder if i can fit it all in a single post..) :
Boat trip to Venice!
Before making our way to St. Mark's Square! They say that St. Mark (the person who wrote the gospel of mark) is buried in the underground of this church, St. Mark's church. Well.. only the clothes should be left by now.
Headed straight for the boat ride around Venice. They call it a gondola. Super romantic if it's a honeymoon. And not too expensive either. Already thinking of coming here again in the future. Haha.
Venice actually isn't as spectacular as they claim it to be. It's like any other building structure in Milan, but that it's sinking and flooded with water. Also slightly more places of artistic value. But not that many.
Proof of my above statement.
Cause there's hardly any land to even jog to keep fit, this is how the people of Venice work out during the day. ROWING. Seems fun though.
Transportation in Venice? By boat of course. Why the need for cars when there's hardly any land? Above is actually a TAXI boat. Almost crushed us. The "roads" aren't very wide in Venice.
I forgot what this building is. But most of the houses all have like docks for the boats to park. Quite interesting.
Had lunch at this restaurant. The boss is a chinese female who taught the Venetians how to speak a bit of chinese. It was super funny cause they just kept repeating the same lines over and over. "xin ku la!"(tough on you.) "xie xie ni!"(thank you) "Bu ke qi!"(your welcome). And they made fun of all the customers there. Really their workplace is their playground. They enjoy it so much. Never will you see such thing in Singapore though. =/ The guy above is someone who studies in med sch in NUS and skipped school just for this trip even though he has exams like in three or so weeks from now.
the funny guys of the restaurant.
Following that, we went to a glass production factory. It's really brilliant. They demonstrated how just a bob of heated silicon could be made into...
This brilliant work of art. He made it look so simple. The handle you see is was initially just a rod of hot silicon which he bent and twisted into the handle you see. Well this is what venice is famous for anw.
A picture of the last supper made completely out of shards of glass. Really work of art. They had some really exotic glass jewelry which i wanted to buy for some people. It was really worth the price considering the design but still the price......
Following that, we proceeded to St. Mark's square. No photos were allowed in the church so i can't show you the brilliance of the architecture of the building. The supposed remains of St. Mark was there too. Only the clothes at least.
Another shot of the outside of the building.
And the clock tower just right outside of the St Mark's church. Wanted to go up there but i had to waste time with my mum doing shopping. The view up there is said to show the whole layout of Venice. What a waste.. There was also this child in the square who was feeding pigeons with her mother. Super cute. The pigeon practically overpowered her. Like clambering all over her head. The whole pigeon was bigger than her face. Haha. Very cute to watch.. ><
And a final shot before leaving Venice..
Before heading into day 3 of my tour at foxtown factory outlet. We stopped by a small lake in como and obviously, the lake's called lake como. Super chilly. I nearly died when i tried the temperature of the water. Not much photos in Foxtown cause there is just shopping and shopping. Prices are ridiculously high cause everything there is branded. It would be really cheap if you are rich. I dun do branded stuff so i didn't buy anything from there except a shirt from Nike and my lunch. So here goes..
Day 3:
Autumn really is nice to take photos. The foliage is just breath-taking.
Believe me i was freezing to death just doing that post. The wind was crazy..
Emo-ing beneath the trees with one of the new friends i made.
Beneath the maple tree. And still freezing. The shirt i was wearing inside was just a t-shirt. Nothing else. Didn't wear an extra layer to warm my legs either.
The only photo i took of the Foxtown outlet. haha.
Day 4: Switzerland. I had always thought that switzerland was a city AWAY from the mountains. Or the alps as so they call it. But i was sooo wrong. Switzerland was IN the mountains. Like when i was in the city, the mountains were just all around me. And the air there is SUPER fresh. Really different from Singapore. It was like effortless to breathe. One of the best countries I've been to. And they're super patriotic. When i tried to pay them in Euro, they kept emphasizing, "we swiss are a small but strong and independent country! We don't belong to the european union!" Well.. ok.. Haha. Just settle my payment.. ><
This is the place in Switzerland where our local Clarke Quay was modeled from. It looks a lot more magnificent here though. And there are like swans and ducks in the river. Why're there no swans and ducks in Singapore? Well.. we're chinese. What do we think of when we see a duck? Fooood.... No duck would dare venture onto Singapore river.
Just a random restaurant. But i rmb seeing one in Holland V with the same design.. Singapore really just copies and copies..
I'm below the lampost if you can't see.. haha.
See, this is switzerland. IN the mountains. Though this is more of the country side not the city. Haha. And here i'm about to climb 3000m high on the mountain, Mt titlis.
I can't campture the actual beauty of the view on the way up. Cause it was super early in the morning. And the sunlight was just creeping up the mountains. Spectacular..
Going higher and higher.. You can actually ski down this mountain. But it's super dangerous. Like one wrong turn, you end up in the ice deep deep down. Cause on the way up you can see like cracks leading to bottomless pits. Glaciers which haven't formed properly yet.
I think this photo explains more clearly on the sun creeping up the mountains. Only that the super scratched cable car glass spoils the picture.
Going higher and higher..
Before entering an ice grotto. Ice cave or rather. But this one's man-made. Natural ones are pretty much smaller and much too dangerous. No telling when it'll collapse especially with global warming around..
That's why the grotto has views this magnificent. Haha. Don't think you can find this colour in natural grottos..
And finally, on top of the world.. Or so it seems. Really amazing that i'm on the same level as the clouds. I did something foolish here. As you can see i'm wearing very little and it's -10 degrees there. Didn't have gloves on either. And i was foolish enough to touch snow with my bare hands. Hurt like crap later.. ><><
Playing with snow. Though that's not me. >< 
Top of the world again. We found a huge block of ice and we were trying to see if it would snowball into a giant well.. snowball if we rolled it down the mountain like we always see in cartoons. Theory tested and proved wrong. It just rolled off without collecting any snow on it. ><
And finally back down on the mountain and trying to look emo coming down. ><
Before going back to the bus to end the day..
We stopped at this hotel after coming down from the mountain. It's the best hotel i've been too. More of an inn. The doors are not electrically locked. They use keys. And it's situated in front of a waterfall. It's just like a cottage actually. Really beautiful. And we're surrounded by like lush forests.
They even have this shoe polishing machine where you just press a button and the buffer machine will just do the rest. Haha.
Haha my dinner for the day. The meat you see above is pork knuckle. This place is apparently famous for it and it's HUGE. Didn't even touch the rice after finishing it. This place is also the origin of the blackforest cake. I must say that it is unique.. but still not to my liking. =/ It's super creamy and there's a bit of rum in it too.
Day 5:
Woke up earlier to take some photos around the hotel/inn. Really a waste if we didn't. But i'm not gonna post it all here. It's mostly foliage and cottages who's beauty can't be appreciated through photos but by the eye itself.
This is the world's largest cuckoo clock ever to be made. It's practically a whole house! The cuckoo clock's just amazing. Cause everything about it is completely mechanical. Including the sound of the cuckoo, the dancing of the figures around the cuckoo and of course, the clock motion itself.
I swear this shot was candid and i wasn't acting cool or whatever. But it's nicer than the photo with me looking up. So.. yup. Haha. After leaving the hotel we went to someplace (i forgot the name) which is somewhere along the French border i think.. Super dead town. Almost completely no one around including the hotels.
Went into this shop where they sold cuckoo clocks and how they slowly carve everything out. Showed also all the mechanisms and stuff. Super cool invention, the cuckoo clock. My dad bought one and i'm gonna help to fix it up once i'm done posting all this. Apparently a single clock has many hands to it. Like one person would specialise in carving birds, another leaves, another the roof and the clock face and one more to put everything together.
This is Colmar. The whole street was prepared for Christmas. Really makes you feel super christmas-y once you step into the town. Everywhere was decorated. Much better and neater and more personalised than orchard road cause every house decorated by themselves. They actually use real apples and stuff to decorate the houses. Could just pluck one if i wanted.. ><>
They even bother to put up fake snow even when it will really snow in this place in like a few weeks. There just isn't a shot i took that could really show how Christmas-ey this town feels.
This is a blueberry vine growing out of control. Didn't dare to pick any and eat though. Haha.
Colmar is also called Venice of the north. The street name is literally petite venice and this is the reason why. Looks like venice huh.
One of the better decorated houses.
Honestly if not for the fact that the water is super dirty and still, this petite venice would be much prettier than venice itself. Minus the arts and culture of course.
The apple's real. No joke. And somehow no flies or wadever comes to it. Better not to touch it. Haha.
Not that hard to spot me i hope. Flash would spoil the lightings behind me. Anw, after Colmar we went to Heidelburg, which is the picture. We were supposed to go into the castle but there was not enough time. Heard there's nth much to see anyway cause the interior's just.. well.. plain and since by the time we get there, it will be dark no matter how we rush. So can't see anything anyway. (it's completely dark by 530pm)
So this is the exterior of the castle. The flash wouldn't reach 1km away so this is the best picture i can get. Apparently Heidelburg University is the oldest in like the whole world. Heard that in olden olden olden days offenders of school rules would be locked up in a brig. And the students who were locked up always left some mark showing, "I WAS HERE" or smth like that. It became such an in thing among the students that everyone tried to break a school rule to end up there so that they can leave their mark. Pretty cool. That brig's some kind of museum now. Haha. And that concluded our last night in Europe. =((
Final day:
In cologne. Look at this building carefully. If you realise, the bottom left part of it is white while the rest of the building is pitch black. Very interesting church. This church took 800 years to build cause apparently while building it halfway, the builders lost the blueprint of this building so construction ceased. It was only 600 years later that they found it and finished the building. It's so black cause of WWII. Every building around it was bombed except this church was left unscathed. But carbon settled onto the building. So the church asked for donations to clean up the historical site. But no one donated and the little they got was only enough to clean that one pillar. So they put a sign there saying, "Do you want the house of God to be like this?". Haha immediately after that ppl started donating and all around the church, there's cleaning going on already. But the cleaners were also quite artistic. They cleaned only the arches of the windows first as you can see. Otherwise the whole building would be COMPLETELY black. Really interesting history on this building. Haha. Glad to have been there.
Nothing much else in town other than shopping. This is my favourite store in the whole of Europe. Cheap stuff and not too shabby choices. Heard it was supposed to open an outlet at ion orchard but.. =( In the night we went down to another town i forgot the name of. And headed straight to the red light district where no photos were allowed cause the Mafia is around always. Haha. It was really interesting cause they were super open about it. The whole street was lined with these glass window rooms where the prostitutes just stood by the door, asking you to come in. When they have a customer they'd just draw the curtains and... well go figure. Saw some really interesting lingerie that glowed in the dark. ><>
Following day, we went on down to Amsterdam. The birthplace of Heiniken. Haha. This is like the museum where they showed the brewing and whatever history of the beer. Didn't go in though. Took a boat ride around Amsterdam to see the city instead.
They actually have like these houses on boats. People are really living inside these boat-houses. Heard some are like illegally "parked" cause you must have some sort of license thing to dock your house there. Kinda cool.. Like can shift house whenever you want. Haha. The only problem was that ducks and swans will keep coming to your porch to rest from the waters and leave their droppings..
So.. this owner was really smart. That thing there is like a scarecrow. Or scareswan. Or scareduck. Whatever you wanna call it. Haha. Really funny.
Apparently a lot of big stars stay in this hotel in Amsterdam. Like Michael Jackson, Britney Spears.. Not that i really bother but the hotel is really nice. 500 euro a night though. (about S$1100)
Bicycles are widely used in Amsterdam. So much that they actually have a road for cyclists only and pedestrians have to give way to the cyclists when crossing the cycling road. So, instead of multi-storey carparks, they have multi-storey bicycle parks.
Just an interesting effect of the bicycle park with the long shutter function. The wheels are on fire!
This Jumbo floating restaurant is a mimic of the one that Hong Kong has. Sits about 2000 people inside. Looks like Singapore isn't the only country copying stuff.
Just some unique architecture.
Every girl's best friend. We ended the boat ride at the backdoor of a diamond factory or something like that. What you see above is a diamond with 121 faces. Scary how they cut the diamond. They showed us a lot of different diamonds after that. Only one family made a purchase. Super expensive. The most pricey one was a tear shaped pink diamond just perfect for earrings. 100k Euro. Crazy stuff. Made me think about the costs of marriage. Don't think the wedding dinner would be any cheaper than the ring I'd be using to propose.. =//
After that we were headed to volundam to tour that place. In the middle we stopped by this place which was sooo windy the winds would easily beat the strength of those i experienced in the taiwan typhoon. Just look at our hair. And well these are the most of the friends i made plus that guy from med school. Only the girl's older than me and she has my favourite name for a girl. Claire! Haha. Her hairstyle is what i like too. The left most guy is a RI kid who's really not a kid at all. Super mature. Has his dream and everything. Only that he still has the rebelliousness of a teen still. Second from the left is a super rich kid. His dad almost always buys the whole store down whenever we enter one. Haha. But his dad is super wise. Anw, windmills are almost extinct in the world and this is one of the few places with it.
So we finally arrived in Volundam. The interesting thing about this is that the sea level is higher than the ground level but they put up dams to hold the sea water back. And interestingly, the sea is not salty. At all. This was the most windy place i ever been to in the whole of Europe. Cold and wind is the worst combination. Freezing like crazy. And i was wearing very little cause at the night i would be taking a flight back to Singapore. Dun wanna wear too thick otherwise i'd jus die when i reach Singapore.
The little ducky that escaped the hands of cooks and waddled up on shore to me. ><
A view of volundam buildings. Pretty photo taken by my mum. Being near the sea, Volundam is just famous for their seafood. And because of the environment, they love their food to be extremely salty. Tried their grilled fish. Completely salty. ><>
We heard that this town had really nice and tolerant people. So we took our chances and snuck up on this boat that was docked nearby to take shots. Haha. One funny incident happened here though. Cause on the second photo, I was on the boat first and cause the boat was rocky, i extended my hand to help the girl, claire on board. But since she seemed like she was doing fine and i was just slightly shy, i withdrew my hand, much to her surprise and she tripped.. ><
So this just concluded my trip to Europe. Haha. Oh and one last thing.
This little child is 6 years old and his name's Joshua. I didn't play with him at all until the day when we went to the diamond factory place. In fact he was crying and crying so much at the start of the trip. After the second day, the other friends i made started playing with him. But it's funny how stuck to me he got after i started playing with him and sadly it was the last day already. Everytime he sees me he'd just go "ELLO!". Super cute and adorable. After getting on the bus to Volundam he was like pleading with his mum to let him sit with me on the bus. Think it was a relief for the mother cause he's just one hyper kid. He sat with me all the way from then on except the flight back to Singapore. Don't think i can take care of him all the way. Haha. I even had to feed him for lunch cause he wanted to sit beside me. Even when we started shopping, he was asking his mum whether he can follow me instead. Haha. But of course i didn't allow it. But it was just so sweet cause while following me around there was once he just told me, "I love you!". Haha. Warmed me up no matter how cold it was outside. Really hope to like bring him into Children's Church one of these days. His mother has my contacts. I'm just waiting for Joshua to bug her enough to contact me soon. ><
One thing i'm really grateful for the trip was also the reaffirmation of my dream and vision. Cause most of the people on the tour group with me were like adults with their children. And they come from very big companies. So the natural question would be, "What are you going to do in the future?". Especially since now i'm out of army. And i really thank God that i have the answer to that. And all of them are just so encouraging. Like there were a few who gave me like scenarios like what if your passion fades and stuff along those lines. But i just shared with them my burden i have for the future generations and they kinda agree with me and told me that i'd really be a good teacher. =) Just really thank God for this reaffirmation of whatever He's shown and given to me.
This post took three whole days to upload and type. I had super bad jet lag today. Couldn't sleep last night at all and my ministry in children's church wasn't good today. Didn't get to talk much to Shannon too cause she went over to the 7-9 age group room to try out. =( Super sad and i was the one who personally brought her over. =/ She "played hard to get" later when she came back so i couldn't really talk much to her as i wanted to. Haha kinda sad over it but oh well.. There's still next week. I need to rest for now. Night world!
Oh, and left 4 dead 2 rocks. To the max. ><
Oh! Forgot to mention, Europe's in their autumn season the time we landed. No snow. =( But nevertheless, it was really beautiful cause the colours of autumn are just.. breathtaking. This was taken at the back of the castle.
Also taken somewhere at the back of the castle. There was a jap lady statue which was so horribly sculpted that her hands look like a guy's hands. Super huge, super thick fingers. Not gonna post that photo.. ><
Went to this place to shop (i forgot the name too.. ><) We were lucky enough to catch a flash mob who put up some dance for everyone to see. Apparently, this is often done in Europe.
There was this huge church in the middle of the square of the shopping centre. Seems that most of Europe's Catholic. And the pope is super highly regarded in the society there.
It's hard to believe that people actually come to this church for a service. The hall is super huge. They claim they have the nail which was pinned into Jesus' hand in this church. Only problem is that there are like 10 other churches who claim the same. I think there should be only 3 nails??The next day was supposed to be a free day to allow us to do some shopping at our own time. But we went to Venice instead. =) Much better than wasting time seeing things you can find in Singapore.
Day2(i wonder if i can fit it all in a single post..) :
Boat trip to Venice!
Before making our way to St. Mark's Square! They say that St. Mark (the person who wrote the gospel of mark) is buried in the underground of this church, St. Mark's church. Well.. only the clothes should be left by now.
Headed straight for the boat ride around Venice. They call it a gondola. Super romantic if it's a honeymoon. And not too expensive either. Already thinking of coming here again in the future. Haha.
Venice actually isn't as spectacular as they claim it to be. It's like any other building structure in Milan, but that it's sinking and flooded with water. Also slightly more places of artistic value. But not that many.
Proof of my above statement.
Cause there's hardly any land to even jog to keep fit, this is how the people of Venice work out during the day. ROWING. Seems fun though.
Transportation in Venice? By boat of course. Why the need for cars when there's hardly any land? Above is actually a TAXI boat. Almost crushed us. The "roads" aren't very wide in Venice.
I forgot what this building is. But most of the houses all have like docks for the boats to park. Quite interesting.
Had lunch at this restaurant. The boss is a chinese female who taught the Venetians how to speak a bit of chinese. It was super funny cause they just kept repeating the same lines over and over. "xin ku la!"(tough on you.) "xie xie ni!"(thank you) "Bu ke qi!"(your welcome). And they made fun of all the customers there. Really their workplace is their playground. They enjoy it so much. Never will you see such thing in Singapore though. =/ The guy above is someone who studies in med sch in NUS and skipped school just for this trip even though he has exams like in three or so weeks from now.
the funny guys of the restaurant.
Following that, we went to a glass production factory. It's really brilliant. They demonstrated how just a bob of heated silicon could be made into...
This brilliant work of art. He made it look so simple. The handle you see is was initially just a rod of hot silicon which he bent and twisted into the handle you see. Well this is what venice is famous for anw.
A picture of the last supper made completely out of shards of glass. Really work of art. They had some really exotic glass jewelry which i wanted to buy for some people. It was really worth the price considering the design but still the price......
Following that, we proceeded to St. Mark's square. No photos were allowed in the church so i can't show you the brilliance of the architecture of the building. The supposed remains of St. Mark was there too. Only the clothes at least.
Another shot of the outside of the building.
And the clock tower just right outside of the St Mark's church. Wanted to go up there but i had to waste time with my mum doing shopping. The view up there is said to show the whole layout of Venice. What a waste.. There was also this child in the square who was feeding pigeons with her mother. Super cute. The pigeon practically overpowered her. Like clambering all over her head. The whole pigeon was bigger than her face. Haha. Very cute to watch.. ><
And a final shot before leaving Venice..Before heading into day 3 of my tour at foxtown factory outlet. We stopped by a small lake in como and obviously, the lake's called lake como. Super chilly. I nearly died when i tried the temperature of the water. Not much photos in Foxtown cause there is just shopping and shopping. Prices are ridiculously high cause everything there is branded. It would be really cheap if you are rich. I dun do branded stuff so i didn't buy anything from there except a shirt from Nike and my lunch. So here goes..
Day 3:
Autumn really is nice to take photos. The foliage is just breath-taking.
Believe me i was freezing to death just doing that post. The wind was crazy..
Emo-ing beneath the trees with one of the new friends i made.
Beneath the maple tree. And still freezing. The shirt i was wearing inside was just a t-shirt. Nothing else. Didn't wear an extra layer to warm my legs either.
The only photo i took of the Foxtown outlet. haha.Day 4: Switzerland. I had always thought that switzerland was a city AWAY from the mountains. Or the alps as so they call it. But i was sooo wrong. Switzerland was IN the mountains. Like when i was in the city, the mountains were just all around me. And the air there is SUPER fresh. Really different from Singapore. It was like effortless to breathe. One of the best countries I've been to. And they're super patriotic. When i tried to pay them in Euro, they kept emphasizing, "we swiss are a small but strong and independent country! We don't belong to the european union!" Well.. ok.. Haha. Just settle my payment.. ><
This is the place in Switzerland where our local Clarke Quay was modeled from. It looks a lot more magnificent here though. And there are like swans and ducks in the river. Why're there no swans and ducks in Singapore? Well.. we're chinese. What do we think of when we see a duck? Fooood.... No duck would dare venture onto Singapore river.
Just a random restaurant. But i rmb seeing one in Holland V with the same design.. Singapore really just copies and copies..
I'm below the lampost if you can't see.. haha.
See, this is switzerland. IN the mountains. Though this is more of the country side not the city. Haha. And here i'm about to climb 3000m high on the mountain, Mt titlis.
I can't campture the actual beauty of the view on the way up. Cause it was super early in the morning. And the sunlight was just creeping up the mountains. Spectacular..
Going higher and higher.. You can actually ski down this mountain. But it's super dangerous. Like one wrong turn, you end up in the ice deep deep down. Cause on the way up you can see like cracks leading to bottomless pits. Glaciers which haven't formed properly yet.
I think this photo explains more clearly on the sun creeping up the mountains. Only that the super scratched cable car glass spoils the picture.
Going higher and higher..
Before entering an ice grotto. Ice cave or rather. But this one's man-made. Natural ones are pretty much smaller and much too dangerous. No telling when it'll collapse especially with global warming around..
That's why the grotto has views this magnificent. Haha. Don't think you can find this colour in natural grottos..
And finally, on top of the world.. Or so it seems. Really amazing that i'm on the same level as the clouds. I did something foolish here. As you can see i'm wearing very little and it's -10 degrees there. Didn't have gloves on either. And i was foolish enough to touch snow with my bare hands. Hurt like crap later.. ><><
Playing with snow. Though that's not me. >< 
Top of the world again. We found a huge block of ice and we were trying to see if it would snowball into a giant well.. snowball if we rolled it down the mountain like we always see in cartoons. Theory tested and proved wrong. It just rolled off without collecting any snow on it. ><
And finally back down on the mountain and trying to look emo coming down. ><
Before going back to the bus to end the day..
We stopped at this hotel after coming down from the mountain. It's the best hotel i've been too. More of an inn. The doors are not electrically locked. They use keys. And it's situated in front of a waterfall. It's just like a cottage actually. Really beautiful. And we're surrounded by like lush forests.
They even have this shoe polishing machine where you just press a button and the buffer machine will just do the rest. Haha.
Haha my dinner for the day. The meat you see above is pork knuckle. This place is apparently famous for it and it's HUGE. Didn't even touch the rice after finishing it. This place is also the origin of the blackforest cake. I must say that it is unique.. but still not to my liking. =/ It's super creamy and there's a bit of rum in it too.Day 5:
Woke up earlier to take some photos around the hotel/inn. Really a waste if we didn't. But i'm not gonna post it all here. It's mostly foliage and cottages who's beauty can't be appreciated through photos but by the eye itself.
This is the world's largest cuckoo clock ever to be made. It's practically a whole house! The cuckoo clock's just amazing. Cause everything about it is completely mechanical. Including the sound of the cuckoo, the dancing of the figures around the cuckoo and of course, the clock motion itself.
I swear this shot was candid and i wasn't acting cool or whatever. But it's nicer than the photo with me looking up. So.. yup. Haha. After leaving the hotel we went to someplace (i forgot the name) which is somewhere along the French border i think.. Super dead town. Almost completely no one around including the hotels. 
Went into this shop where they sold cuckoo clocks and how they slowly carve everything out. Showed also all the mechanisms and stuff. Super cool invention, the cuckoo clock. My dad bought one and i'm gonna help to fix it up once i'm done posting all this. Apparently a single clock has many hands to it. Like one person would specialise in carving birds, another leaves, another the roof and the clock face and one more to put everything together.
This is Colmar. The whole street was prepared for Christmas. Really makes you feel super christmas-y once you step into the town. Everywhere was decorated. Much better and neater and more personalised than orchard road cause every house decorated by themselves. They actually use real apples and stuff to decorate the houses. Could just pluck one if i wanted.. ><>
They even bother to put up fake snow even when it will really snow in this place in like a few weeks. There just isn't a shot i took that could really show how Christmas-ey this town feels.
This is a blueberry vine growing out of control. Didn't dare to pick any and eat though. Haha.
Colmar is also called Venice of the north. The street name is literally petite venice and this is the reason why. Looks like venice huh.
One of the better decorated houses.
Honestly if not for the fact that the water is super dirty and still, this petite venice would be much prettier than venice itself. Minus the arts and culture of course. 
The apple's real. No joke. And somehow no flies or wadever comes to it. Better not to touch it. Haha.
Not that hard to spot me i hope. Flash would spoil the lightings behind me. Anw, after Colmar we went to Heidelburg, which is the picture. We were supposed to go into the castle but there was not enough time. Heard there's nth much to see anyway cause the interior's just.. well.. plain and since by the time we get there, it will be dark no matter how we rush. So can't see anything anyway. (it's completely dark by 530pm)
So this is the exterior of the castle. The flash wouldn't reach 1km away so this is the best picture i can get. Apparently Heidelburg University is the oldest in like the whole world. Heard that in olden olden olden days offenders of school rules would be locked up in a brig. And the students who were locked up always left some mark showing, "I WAS HERE" or smth like that. It became such an in thing among the students that everyone tried to break a school rule to end up there so that they can leave their mark. Pretty cool. That brig's some kind of museum now. Haha. And that concluded our last night in Europe. =((Final day:
In cologne. Look at this building carefully. If you realise, the bottom left part of it is white while the rest of the building is pitch black. Very interesting church. This church took 800 years to build cause apparently while building it halfway, the builders lost the blueprint of this building so construction ceased. It was only 600 years later that they found it and finished the building. It's so black cause of WWII. Every building around it was bombed except this church was left unscathed. But carbon settled onto the building. So the church asked for donations to clean up the historical site. But no one donated and the little they got was only enough to clean that one pillar. So they put a sign there saying, "Do you want the house of God to be like this?". Haha immediately after that ppl started donating and all around the church, there's cleaning going on already. But the cleaners were also quite artistic. They cleaned only the arches of the windows first as you can see. Otherwise the whole building would be COMPLETELY black. Really interesting history on this building. Haha. Glad to have been there.
Nothing much else in town other than shopping. This is my favourite store in the whole of Europe. Cheap stuff and not too shabby choices. Heard it was supposed to open an outlet at ion orchard but.. =( In the night we went down to another town i forgot the name of. And headed straight to the red light district where no photos were allowed cause the Mafia is around always. Haha. It was really interesting cause they were super open about it. The whole street was lined with these glass window rooms where the prostitutes just stood by the door, asking you to come in. When they have a customer they'd just draw the curtains and... well go figure. Saw some really interesting lingerie that glowed in the dark. ><>
Following day, we went on down to Amsterdam. The birthplace of Heiniken. Haha. This is like the museum where they showed the brewing and whatever history of the beer. Didn't go in though. Took a boat ride around Amsterdam to see the city instead.
They actually have like these houses on boats. People are really living inside these boat-houses. Heard some are like illegally "parked" cause you must have some sort of license thing to dock your house there. Kinda cool.. Like can shift house whenever you want. Haha. The only problem was that ducks and swans will keep coming to your porch to rest from the waters and leave their droppings..
So.. this owner was really smart. That thing there is like a scarecrow. Or scareswan. Or scareduck. Whatever you wanna call it. Haha. Really funny.
Apparently a lot of big stars stay in this hotel in Amsterdam. Like Michael Jackson, Britney Spears.. Not that i really bother but the hotel is really nice. 500 euro a night though. (about S$1100)
Bicycles are widely used in Amsterdam. So much that they actually have a road for cyclists only and pedestrians have to give way to the cyclists when crossing the cycling road. So, instead of multi-storey carparks, they have multi-storey bicycle parks.
Just an interesting effect of the bicycle park with the long shutter function. The wheels are on fire!
This Jumbo floating restaurant is a mimic of the one that Hong Kong has. Sits about 2000 people inside. Looks like Singapore isn't the only country copying stuff.
Just some unique architecture.
Every girl's best friend. We ended the boat ride at the backdoor of a diamond factory or something like that. What you see above is a diamond with 121 faces. Scary how they cut the diamond. They showed us a lot of different diamonds after that. Only one family made a purchase. Super expensive. The most pricey one was a tear shaped pink diamond just perfect for earrings. 100k Euro. Crazy stuff. Made me think about the costs of marriage. Don't think the wedding dinner would be any cheaper than the ring I'd be using to propose.. =//
After that we were headed to volundam to tour that place. In the middle we stopped by this place which was sooo windy the winds would easily beat the strength of those i experienced in the taiwan typhoon. Just look at our hair. And well these are the most of the friends i made plus that guy from med school. Only the girl's older than me and she has my favourite name for a girl. Claire! Haha. Her hairstyle is what i like too. The left most guy is a RI kid who's really not a kid at all. Super mature. Has his dream and everything. Only that he still has the rebelliousness of a teen still. Second from the left is a super rich kid. His dad almost always buys the whole store down whenever we enter one. Haha. But his dad is super wise. Anw, windmills are almost extinct in the world and this is one of the few places with it.
So we finally arrived in Volundam. The interesting thing about this is that the sea level is higher than the ground level but they put up dams to hold the sea water back. And interestingly, the sea is not salty. At all. This was the most windy place i ever been to in the whole of Europe. Cold and wind is the worst combination. Freezing like crazy. And i was wearing very little cause at the night i would be taking a flight back to Singapore. Dun wanna wear too thick otherwise i'd jus die when i reach Singapore.
The little ducky that escaped the hands of cooks and waddled up on shore to me. ><
A view of volundam buildings. Pretty photo taken by my mum. Being near the sea, Volundam is just famous for their seafood. And because of the environment, they love their food to be extremely salty. Tried their grilled fish. Completely salty. ><>
We heard that this town had really nice and tolerant people. So we took our chances and snuck up on this boat that was docked nearby to take shots. Haha. One funny incident happened here though. Cause on the second photo, I was on the boat first and cause the boat was rocky, i extended my hand to help the girl, claire on board. But since she seemed like she was doing fine and i was just slightly shy, i withdrew my hand, much to her surprise and she tripped.. ><So this just concluded my trip to Europe. Haha. Oh and one last thing.
This little child is 6 years old and his name's Joshua. I didn't play with him at all until the day when we went to the diamond factory place. In fact he was crying and crying so much at the start of the trip. After the second day, the other friends i made started playing with him. But it's funny how stuck to me he got after i started playing with him and sadly it was the last day already. Everytime he sees me he'd just go "ELLO!". Super cute and adorable. After getting on the bus to Volundam he was like pleading with his mum to let him sit with me on the bus. Think it was a relief for the mother cause he's just one hyper kid. He sat with me all the way from then on except the flight back to Singapore. Don't think i can take care of him all the way. Haha. I even had to feed him for lunch cause he wanted to sit beside me. Even when we started shopping, he was asking his mum whether he can follow me instead. Haha. But of course i didn't allow it. But it was just so sweet cause while following me around there was once he just told me, "I love you!". Haha. Warmed me up no matter how cold it was outside. Really hope to like bring him into Children's Church one of these days. His mother has my contacts. I'm just waiting for Joshua to bug her enough to contact me soon. ><One thing i'm really grateful for the trip was also the reaffirmation of my dream and vision. Cause most of the people on the tour group with me were like adults with their children. And they come from very big companies. So the natural question would be, "What are you going to do in the future?". Especially since now i'm out of army. And i really thank God that i have the answer to that. And all of them are just so encouraging. Like there were a few who gave me like scenarios like what if your passion fades and stuff along those lines. But i just shared with them my burden i have for the future generations and they kinda agree with me and told me that i'd really be a good teacher. =) Just really thank God for this reaffirmation of whatever He's shown and given to me.
This post took three whole days to upload and type. I had super bad jet lag today. Couldn't sleep last night at all and my ministry in children's church wasn't good today. Didn't get to talk much to Shannon too cause she went over to the 7-9 age group room to try out. =( Super sad and i was the one who personally brought her over. =/ She "played hard to get" later when she came back so i couldn't really talk much to her as i wanted to. Haha kinda sad over it but oh well.. There's still next week. I need to rest for now. Night world!
Oh, and left 4 dead 2 rocks. To the max. ><
Monday, November 16, 2009
He hears, and answers ALWAYS.
Just had a really great week with loads of things done/accomplished. Packed the house a lot and my laptop's on a new position on my table. Feels so much more freed up on the table with this arrangement. Realised i brought back a lot of good habits from army back to my own home after staying home for a week, which is good! Things are like so much more organised now.
After packing out my room, I found my "prayer 2009" book where i had written down my prayer requests for certain issues. And i realised, i actually have a lot of prayers that were answered. It's quite interesting to find out how long God took to answer to a prayer. One of which was a prayer for a revelation from Him. He took about 3 months to give me an answer. Nonetheless, He still answered.
I finally got to speak with shannon's mother after children church yesterday. (another prayer answered!) And she turns out to be really really nice. Haha. The situation was that i was leaving after svc and shannon was playing outside of the room. Upon seeing us teachers she called us the nicknames she gave us and got a "scolding" (it wasn't really a scolding) from her mother. Then her mum was like, "I'm gonna go find out how you behave in children church!" That's how we started talking. Really feel this is such a breakthrough in my ministry cause if i think it is only right that the parent should know what type of people are taking care of their loved ones. Even more so if i'm so close with their kids. Feedback from the teachers can really help the parents in bringing up their children as well.
This week has just been super good. Relationships that have been strained for so long seems to be slowly restoring themselves back to how it was and should be and i'm eally glad for that. My ministry in children church was also at its peak this week. To be able to handle multiple kids at once, being much more alert than usual, leading games since a very long while (and to think of games last minute.. ><). Things are just so different when God is really for you and with you. Of course at the end of the day i really exhausted myself completely. But it was energy well spent. =)
I'm left with less than 3 days to my europe trip. I honestly don't know what to expect there at all. It's like whole new culture, whole new environment (snow! hopefully). Really excited for it but i do hope that i have enough to combat the cold. Dunno if it's my parents are overreacting or that i'm underestimating the cold there. Haha. Well, i'm gonna enjoy myself for sure. Goodbye Singapore! See you in slightly more than a week!
After packing out my room, I found my "prayer 2009" book where i had written down my prayer requests for certain issues. And i realised, i actually have a lot of prayers that were answered. It's quite interesting to find out how long God took to answer to a prayer. One of which was a prayer for a revelation from Him. He took about 3 months to give me an answer. Nonetheless, He still answered.
I finally got to speak with shannon's mother after children church yesterday. (another prayer answered!) And she turns out to be really really nice. Haha. The situation was that i was leaving after svc and shannon was playing outside of the room. Upon seeing us teachers she called us the nicknames she gave us and got a "scolding" (it wasn't really a scolding) from her mother. Then her mum was like, "I'm gonna go find out how you behave in children church!" That's how we started talking. Really feel this is such a breakthrough in my ministry cause if i think it is only right that the parent should know what type of people are taking care of their loved ones. Even more so if i'm so close with their kids. Feedback from the teachers can really help the parents in bringing up their children as well.
This week has just been super good. Relationships that have been strained for so long seems to be slowly restoring themselves back to how it was and should be and i'm eally glad for that. My ministry in children church was also at its peak this week. To be able to handle multiple kids at once, being much more alert than usual, leading games since a very long while (and to think of games last minute.. ><). Things are just so different when God is really for you and with you. Of course at the end of the day i really exhausted myself completely. But it was energy well spent. =)
I'm left with less than 3 days to my europe trip. I honestly don't know what to expect there at all. It's like whole new culture, whole new environment (snow! hopefully). Really excited for it but i do hope that i have enough to combat the cold. Dunno if it's my parents are overreacting or that i'm underestimating the cold there. Haha. Well, i'm gonna enjoy myself for sure. Goodbye Singapore! See you in slightly more than a week!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
and i rmb how You found me..
Just went to the Immigrations Checkpoint Authority just now to collect my new biometric passport. It's been like what.. 4 years? since i worked there. So many familiar faces still around. (couldn't ask them if i could cut queue.. =/) And they still recognise me. =)
That place holds a lot of meaning to me. It was where God found me. It's like the beginning of everything that i am now and i really thank Him for how I just got saved from working there. Loads of fond memories coming back to mind.. =)
Why am i making a new passport? =D =D =D For those who didn't know, i'm flying off to europe in like a week's time. Haha. So while the A lvlers are slogging it out in the exam halls, i'll be frolicking in the snow. >< TO ALL YOU PPL TAKING A LVLS, GO AND CONQUER THE PAPERS OK? And i'll be very much ready to celebrate with you all once everything's over. =)
That place holds a lot of meaning to me. It was where God found me. It's like the beginning of everything that i am now and i really thank Him for how I just got saved from working there. Loads of fond memories coming back to mind.. =)
Why am i making a new passport? =D =D =D For those who didn't know, i'm flying off to europe in like a week's time. Haha. So while the A lvlers are slogging it out in the exam halls, i'll be frolicking in the snow. >< TO ALL YOU PPL TAKING A LVLS, GO AND CONQUER THE PAPERS OK? And i'll be very much ready to celebrate with you all once everything's over. =)
Thursday, November 5, 2009
After Action Review..
Just came back from battalion's ORD function. Never laughed so hard/much or enjoyed myself so much since so so long. Haha. Dumb things happening to so many people while we were all having fun sabotaging each other and just remembering our times in 46 SAR.
My platoon did a card for me before i left for the dinner function today. Really sweet of them. I'm so going to miss all of them. I think a part of me will be left forgotten together with my 11B. It's just so much easier to let yourself loose and say.. wild? when you're around guys ONLY. There's just some ways you can't behave and some things you can't do with girls around. (and it's a good thing! you girls really help us guys to mature.)
Looking at my certificate of service, i still can't believe that i've endured through 1 year and 10 months of army. It's been more than just a tough journey of supporting others and supporting yourself. It's just an experience that is cannot be put into words if they were not there to suffer alongside with. While handing over all the things under my charge to the second year platoon sergeant, i couldn't believe that i was taking responsibility for all these things while still being paid and looked at by the army as a 3SG. Even my understudy was pretty stunned at how i could tolerate doing what i wasn't paid/recognized for.
This period of my life may just go forgotten and unrecognized by people as i move on to the next stage of my life and no one might truly understand either. Of course, I was sad, frustrated knowing this. I'm quite over it now. But the experience and perseverance built up through this period is really something that is priceless and for that, I'm glad to have been put through this time. Sometimes i feel as though God putting us through this time is to really test us with fire, and whatever that cannot stand the heat (including relationships) is burned away, making us more pure and tougher.
So to the fellow ORD-ing personnel, MERRY ORD! YOU GUYS ALL DESERVE IT FOR ALL THE CRAP WE'VE BEEN THROUGH
To the people who ALWAYS stood by me whenever i'm down and in need or are just there for me OR just bring me joy and laughter in my dark days, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH. Especially to you Samuel Leon! (if you're reading) Without your support and constant prayers, I really don't know how i would pull through this ordeal. =) LOVE YOU GUYS MAN.
My platoon did a card for me before i left for the dinner function today. Really sweet of them. I'm so going to miss all of them. I think a part of me will be left forgotten together with my 11B. It's just so much easier to let yourself loose and say.. wild? when you're around guys ONLY. There's just some ways you can't behave and some things you can't do with girls around. (and it's a good thing! you girls really help us guys to mature.)
Looking at my certificate of service, i still can't believe that i've endured through 1 year and 10 months of army. It's been more than just a tough journey of supporting others and supporting yourself. It's just an experience that is cannot be put into words if they were not there to suffer alongside with. While handing over all the things under my charge to the second year platoon sergeant, i couldn't believe that i was taking responsibility for all these things while still being paid and looked at by the army as a 3SG. Even my understudy was pretty stunned at how i could tolerate doing what i wasn't paid/recognized for.
This period of my life may just go forgotten and unrecognized by people as i move on to the next stage of my life and no one might truly understand either. Of course, I was sad, frustrated knowing this. I'm quite over it now. But the experience and perseverance built up through this period is really something that is priceless and for that, I'm glad to have been put through this time. Sometimes i feel as though God putting us through this time is to really test us with fire, and whatever that cannot stand the heat (including relationships) is burned away, making us more pure and tougher.
So to the fellow ORD-ing personnel, MERRY ORD! YOU GUYS ALL DESERVE IT FOR ALL THE CRAP WE'VE BEEN THROUGH
To the people who ALWAYS stood by me whenever i'm down and in need or are just there for me OR just bring me joy and laughter in my dark days, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH. Especially to you Samuel Leon! (if you're reading) Without your support and constant prayers, I really don't know how i would pull through this ordeal. =) LOVE YOU GUYS MAN.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Ouch ouch and ouch
All the injuries i got in the past two years of army are starting to take their turn for the worst. And it had to be at a time when i am about to ord.. Can't make full use of the free benefits of having an 11B (army IC for those who are clueless).
List of ouches
1) Left wisdom tooth has grown to the edge of my jaw. Can't open/close my mouth without feeling pain. (and i'm sure the right side one will be having the same thing soon.. =/) [$600 at least]
2) Right shoulder's almost wasted. Can't lift my arm without feeling pain. Old injury made worse though.
3) Weird insect bites all over my arm. and it's swollen! =//
Ok it's not really a list but it sucks to know i won't be able to use my 11B to claim these medical costs.. Next week's gonna be rehab week for me. Gonna see the dentist, physiotherapist for free at least. Hope i can schedule one more physio appointment before i ORD the following week. Time sure flies huh..?
List of ouches
1) Left wisdom tooth has grown to the edge of my jaw. Can't open/close my mouth without feeling pain. (and i'm sure the right side one will be having the same thing soon.. =/) [$600 at least]
2) Right shoulder's almost wasted. Can't lift my arm without feeling pain. Old injury made worse though.
3) Weird insect bites all over my arm. and it's swollen! =//
Ok it's not really a list but it sucks to know i won't be able to use my 11B to claim these medical costs.. Next week's gonna be rehab week for me. Gonna see the dentist, physiotherapist for free at least. Hope i can schedule one more physio appointment before i ORD the following week. Time sure flies huh..?
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Love..
Love - an inward decision expressed by an outward action.
I'm really glad for having a true best friend from ages ago till now. It's been like 7 going 8 years already since we first met each other. Been through things here and there together.
But what really gel-ed us together was not just because of the sufferings we go through together. Neither is it because we share so many common interests. When those times are over and our ways part, the relationship definitely would go parting ways together to. But i guess what really holds us together is that we spend time with each other alone once in a while. Uninterrupted, without anyone else around us. (NO KAIQI! =D) And the time we spend together isn't for business reasons, neither is it for seeking something out of the other party and all. I'm not saying it's not good to do all these but the thing that really holds people together is the sharing of lives with each other and most importantly, just enjoying each other's company. Not in a group, but just two of us alone. (and doing dumb things like blowing powdered cheese into each other's faces)
And i think the same goes for God. Nothing gels you closer to God than time spent with each other. Alone without any other people, things and especially, thoughts. Just God and you. God can say nothing and you can say nothing and yet both can feel so close, so connected. It's just such a level of love and understanding that no words can describe. Before you know it, you'd be dancing in the spirit.
Perhaps, all of us should take a look at who we've decided to love in our lives. And take some action to ask them out, alone. A relationship isn't going to improve by itself..
random picture taken during jc.. ><
I'm really glad for having a true best friend from ages ago till now. It's been like 7 going 8 years already since we first met each other. Been through things here and there together.
But what really gel-ed us together was not just because of the sufferings we go through together. Neither is it because we share so many common interests. When those times are over and our ways part, the relationship definitely would go parting ways together to. But i guess what really holds us together is that we spend time with each other alone once in a while. Uninterrupted, without anyone else around us. (NO KAIQI! =D) And the time we spend together isn't for business reasons, neither is it for seeking something out of the other party and all. I'm not saying it's not good to do all these but the thing that really holds people together is the sharing of lives with each other and most importantly, just enjoying each other's company. Not in a group, but just two of us alone. (and doing dumb things like blowing powdered cheese into each other's faces)
And i think the same goes for God. Nothing gels you closer to God than time spent with each other. Alone without any other people, things and especially, thoughts. Just God and you. God can say nothing and you can say nothing and yet both can feel so close, so connected. It's just such a level of love and understanding that no words can describe. Before you know it, you'd be dancing in the spirit.
Perhaps, all of us should take a look at who we've decided to love in our lives. And take some action to ask them out, alone. A relationship isn't going to improve by itself..
random picture taken during jc.. ><
on a side note, shannon's going to nanhua primary next year. tempted apply for relief teaching there after i ord. ><
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