poor kiwi...

found this when searching for a stop-motion animation for my presentation



poor thing.
-well. no wonder they're almost extinct.-

work work work...

all the best to everyone having exams now! [and congratulations to the people who've finished A's] God's in charge of your exams. remember that. =)

blogging as a break. hoho.
i've been holed up in my room gosh. and will probably be for the rest of the week =S

so i had an essay due (26/11) and spent that tue to sat working on it...
then came the the lab report and presentation due (3/12)...
so i spent sat to today working on the lab report (hopefully i'll finish soon)...
then i'll do the presentation tonight and tomorow...
then there's the essay due (5/12)..
which i'll start tomorow - hopefully - and finish by 5/12...
then i just got word that the linguistics coursework will be put up on 5/12 due (10/12)...
talk about the feeling that work is never-ending.

then there's the christmas outreach and choir rehearsals scattered throughout that... and the event itself 8/12 [if you're in london and reading this, come support me! lol. there'll be free food!]

but holidays are coming! hurrah=D i just have to get through these two weeks. [and not think about the two exams i'll have on the same day in the 1st week of term 2. lol.]

---

i've been thinking... since christmas is coming and people are going back to s'pore... of missing home.

missing food (sambal sting-ray =P)... easily remedied
missing people... well just have to settle for msn - anyhow even in sg. you won't see people that often
missing church... pastor's sermons, the whole going to church thing... serving
missing caregroup... friends, insanity, the like.

and i realised. that when i go back to s'pore... the last 3 things i've been missing... would be memories of the past. people would have changed... (busier? hanging out would be different... new news... esp since we're all doing different things now). church... would have grown bigger - arrow ministry has split, revolutionary things have been happening... people would have grown... with various developments of things i wasn't there to see. caregroup... well. almost everyone has moved into uni caregroups and dispersed... and i don't know the j1s...

talk about a reminder to live in the present -

just how familiar is the familiar?
or perhaps it's a figment of my imagination - a false memory of what things are and will be

hmmm. over here we're stuck with the idea of 'going back to all that was'... when really. we're 'going back to all that is'... and it's gonna be different.

ungodly hour.

it's the lab report's fault! not mine! *nods emphatically*


so cool rite =P it makes me happy... even with a grumpy stomach =)

small pleasures

a good sermon on sunday =)

finally being able to finish a table of values for 30 outputs of: mean, significant differences, t-test values, probability [now for the rest of the lab report...]

finishing my 2nd essay and sending it in

finishing my german notes during lecture (after putting it off for almost a month)

sunny skies! (and a *relatively* warm room)

getting my psyc textbook in the mail (dunno if i chose the right one cos the lecturers never seem to quote it. but i can highlight!! finally! and stop wondering if the book will be koped in the lib =P)

singing... in ocf choir/ with random piano and friends. gosh. it's been so long (i think my voice has changed... amazing...)

having people open doors/ hold doors open for you =P

being alive.

talking to you =)

relativity

i just said today:
"oh... wednesday was quite warm... about 10 deg... not bad."

gosh.


and i went out to the supermarket in berms slippers and a coat just now to buy snacks for a birthday party. hmmm. 7 deg...




[and i'm swamped with work over here... everything - lab report, essay, presentation - is due 3/11 it seems, aside from the essay i just finished which is due on monday] ='((

momentary happiness

today's lecture was on positive psychology.
totally amusing, somewhat useless.
and i practically didn't agree with everything. probably because happiness was the result of what we do think feel etc. but i don't believe people are happy in and of ourselves. hmmm.

but. in terms of material happiness - some amazing stuff:

linguistics coursework worth 25% of final module grade ... i got 78%
first essay in ... i got 72%
first lab report in ... i got 66%

not-so-momentary happiness... word of the day: Deuteronomy

you must be thinking... omg old testament... the law... and that chapter... the whole chapter on how the Lord will curse you if you break the law 0_0 eep.

but this gives me hope -

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”),
~Galatians 3:13

and

The LORD will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors, with the scab, and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed. The LORD will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart. And you shall grope at noonday, as a blind man gropes in darkness; you shall not prosper in your ways; you shall be only oppressed and plundered continually, and no one shall save you.
~Deuteronomy 28:27-29

-no skin disease shall come near me (no cold rash! no cracking from dryness etc.!), nor madness, nor confusion (and i have been feeling rather insane. i actually sat for 30 min unable to do anything cos too many things were vying for my attention... thought my mind would snap or something... and all this love business is confusing. rather.) oppression has no power over me, for Jesus is my saviour-

i receive it. i believe it. i refuse to accept this fragility... this emptiness... this insanity.
[although for the life of me i really don't feel it =S]

facebook!

haha. kudos to jofid (since it's koped from her blog)

Jesus is Lord of my life - finances included lol.

i was buying a 2.85 sandwich.
i paid 10 pounds
i was given 12.15 as change

unfortunately i was honest and gave the money back.

thing is. just before that i was thinking 'aiyah. must save money, buy the cheaper sandwich'. and the money came in. heh.

and today... was sunny and warm...
thank You God... You made my day =)

retreat

i've come away realising suddenly how much i've been blessed by pastor's ministry.

the speaker was more of a teacher than a pastor: camp theme 'Assured?' so he was speaking about the tabernacle and the symbolism - and how we may now draw near to God... and i realised later how people hadn't heard this before, how some people haven't been assured of their salvation... amazing then. that we have been so steeped in the word and anointing that we haven't realised it all these years.


i've also just realised... how weary i've been... and how i've been so busy that i didn't realise it. just the awareness that i need a ministry... i really need to sit down and receive and feed... just feed on the word of God.

listening to the bit of worship on pastor benjamin's blog - the link that heiman put in my tagboard... i just wonder at what God is doing back home in Arrow... how awesome it must have been to just be there. and at the same time... where is my portion here Lord? my soul thirsts, there's nothing left to offer... and there's a different kind of depression here, or perhaps its desperation... in seeing the sun disappear around 3pm. (and having it rain the whole day and knowing it'll rain the whole week =S)

and i'm just running away again... building walls of ice that shouldn't be there... so you won't see the exhaustion, the brokenness, the pain, the need for assurance of love that is lurking behind them. i'm sorry. especially to you... i wonder if you can accept this.

oops

i have skipped class intentionally for the first time.

slept a grand total of 1 1/2 hours in the retreat... the first 1 hr was just a sad case... the 2nd 1/2 hr was nice cos we were up all night worshipping till 6am =)

so i got back yday around 6, had dinner with joseph and shihao... came back and gave leftovers to the people watching 1 litre of tears (without meee =( )... went to check mail and stuff but ended up nodding off around 830 so i gave up.

set the alarm for 730am cos i figured that would be enough sleep.

apparently not.

i woke up at 850 to disgusting weather and got the breakfast wake up call... decided not to go for breakfast to get ready to go to skool. but. i just sat there and stoned at the comp till 920 (then decided to see the slides for the lectures today and wondered whether i shouldnt go to skool at all)... then got a call from xinyi - are you going to school?- and decided not to.

sat there for another hour or so stoning... wondering whether i could do some work... went back to bed and fell asleep till now. gosh.

expectations

guess i'll blog this now instead of tmr since i'm preparing stuff for it... [looks like i won't get any work done this week at all... since we're going shopping for cold wear tmr]

such excitement... anticipation... awe at what God is doing in my life
i am leading a group. and i have no clue what i'm supposed to do.

but i know..
that God's gonna work mightily
there will be ministering... people's lives will be transformed

and i have a part to play.

so exciting!!! and so unexpected. i was ambivalent to the OCF retreat at first cos i thought 'well it's something organised by students... no ministry... i guess it'll just be one of those camps.' how wrong. it's impossible. simply impossible - i realised - for God to be in the house... and for lives to remain and not be transformed.

i expect my portion from this camp, though it be student run, with a pastor i have never heard of, though it be people from different denominations who would argue over the nitty-gritty in the word, though it be my first time serving in an official leadership position...

i expect, Lord, that your glory fill the place and the anointing flow as the word goes forth

i expect refreshing, a renewing of the mind, fresh revelation of Your love.

i expect healing, lives to be ministered to, hope brought forth, direction.

i expect to encounter You. Daddy God. not just the still small voice but the strong rushing tangible presence.

be so REAL Daddy God.

and it's so awesome. i know. i know that i know - that this is the turning point... and it's just a few hours away!

sticky toffee trip #05

i am churning out posts like some factory 0_0...
i love the way you can eat food off the tables (the floor even... if no one has walked around there)... and open a bag of chips and leave them there without them going soft in London.

day 4 in lake district:

our itinerary for the day
-wake up 0630, get ready, have breakfast, catch 0732 bus to Ambleside
-reach Ambleside at 0745, find the place and take a walk around the falls
-1130 catch bus from Ambleside to Windermere to get our bagpacks
-1145 catch bus from Windermere to Keswick
-reach Keswick ~1230 tour: castlerigg stone circle, walk around the lake, browse shops
-1700 catch bus from Keswick to Penrith
-1800 arrive at Penrith, have a good dinner
-1920 take the train back to London

cos the buses appear once every hour...lol.

catching the first bus we met a super nice bus conductor... who helped us save money! i thought we'd take tickets for each ride, but our last ride to penrith would cost 9 pounds... the cost of a day pass! (yay favour!)
the falls (or fells... as they said in edinburgh) were pretty! i went climbing off the track and down the waterfall to take a picture... hehe.. but in the picture you can't really tell that we actually had to climb... except that the waterfall was right next to us =P... tried to continue climbing down but realised that there was no way back up on the other side... and no way to go all the way down either. bah.

tried crossing the stream a little ways down from the waterfall using the stones... hehe. got a 'i can't reach the other side!!!' picture of us (me xinyi meifang) in the middle. so i was testing this possible rock... it was slanted at a 45 deg angle, water was actually rushing over it but we couldn't tell how deep it was till i put my foot in... into the cold cold cold water =S *brrr*. we found our way across eventually =). stayed on the other side trying to skip stones. which exasperated disong so much that he decided to get off the bridge and cross the stream using the stones to teach us =P

on the way back to the other side (cos there was no way to get back to the path from where we were) i stepped *again* on a treacherous rock =(( first my left foot slipped... then i got a hold with the left but in doing so my right slipped... at one point i think both my legs were in the water somewhere past the height of my shoe. bleh. COLD. getting wet is no joke at 5 deg =S. haha that got weichao off the bridge and down to try pull me out cos i was in this super unglam position... spreadeagled on a rock cos my shoes kept losing grip =P. when we were all safely across i took off my shoes... could actually pour the water out and wring my socks 0_0... (and those were aasics shoes... gosh). then we went back down to the town. and we were early! 945... too late to catch the 930 bus and too early for 1030... so guess what we did....

we went in search of lunch! heehee. got nice toasted sandwiches from a takeout place =P

went to ambleside.. fell asleep on the bus lol. where xinyi said she couldn't really sleep cos she was afraid that disong would drool on her (gross.) and realised we didnt have enough time to do long hikes after asking the people at the tourist centre. so we just found the laundrette to dump our bags and walked to the lake (albeit slowly.). passed a park on the way with green green grass... and super flat spongy ground... and couldnt resist doing strange things on it! haha. then there was a wishing well charity thing... and we were all such failures in spinning the coin down =P only disong managed it. weichao's one actually jumped and fell in without touching the sides (i think he has too much of a basketball touch)

reached the lake... tried to lure the ducks with potatochips and failed heh. then realised the time and practically ran back to catch the 1445 bus up to castlerigg... in the process playing stupid games [around the world in eighty days... johnny whoosh... open close... how many meh meh jumped over the wall... you know the like] where xinyi and weichao got so annoyed that they created one and made us guess LOL.

castlerigg was... well... a stone circle. some crest of some hill with stones that were left many years ago by someone forming a circle... boring much. not to mention cold =P so after a few photos we left for the walk back. (me telling my life testimony to weichao on the way) with a cramping right foot cos all the water was happily evaporating and leaving it (both feet actually) frozen. heh. grabbed our bags and caught the bus to Penrith. On schedule! wonder of wonders. after dilly-dallying all the time for the last 3 days! we all fell asleep on this bus. again. but thank God woke up just in time to have the bus pull away from the stop we were supposed to get off at (and thank God for lovely bus drivers who don't mind stopping away from busstops)

last meal in lake district... (we hadn't had our fill of sticky toffee pudding yet) so we walked to the town centre, bags and all, in search of a nice restaurant. found a fish and chips place with a super friendly owner (i think he was owner waiter and cook at the same time or somth) mmmm. great food... and for dessert Sticky Toffee Pudding. joy! haha. walked back to the train station and found the other group people in an indian restaurant waiting for takeout. said hi and passed by (cos they had a car and we didnt =S) on to the station where we stopped at macs to warm up and use the restroom >.< heh.

i was hoping by then to get a direct train back... but our tickets showed that we'd have to change twice =S reaching London at 1240am. so i thought aiyah live with it. but staring at the trains showing i realised that i didnt know how the train changes worked... asked weichao who asked the stationmaster... and praise God! he changed our tickets and put us on the delayed direct train to London... which came about 5 min after we asked him! - a crazy ride back to London - with us doing a 'i'm a little teapot' song with actions and ethan videoing =S... xinyi getting slapped by wenyuan (accidentally.)... story telling and picture viewing - and reached London Euston one hour ahead of the time we would have reached on the other train!

and there concludes the adventures of the sticky toffee gang on their sticky toffee trip.
where i spent 180 pounds... excluding the amount that disong paid to book stuff =P worth it though. good food!!

sticky toffee trip #04

today has been a Bad Day so far...

didn't print my notes for my linguistics lecture... so ran to the psyc building where i discovered i didnt have my UCL id... (but i managed to get in)
then i discovered that there were no notes to print... and so ran for lecture.
at the other UCL building... i had to beg the reception people to let me in =(... and got told off for being an idiot and not bringing id and expecting to get in...
then at the lecture we went through the coursework (worth 25%)... and i discovered that i probably did okay but not as well as i would have wanted [more or less missed the point for the last question]
then ran back to the psyc building for a statistics test... worth 50% of the final module grade.

and that's just the work bits. i'm clinging on to 'this is the day the Lord has made, i will rejoice and be glad in it' by my fingernails. bah. the alarm bells are ringing in my head... i got conned asked to lead a group for OCF retreat... and the spirit tells me that it's gonna be something big, God's gonna do something mighty and i'm gonna be involved... and the devil's trying all the buttons to see which one will make me jump [these few days since accepting the leadership thing havent at all been good... everything from work to old thoughts have come/ gone/ recycled themselves] but i'll just blow him a raspberry cos God is for me and the devil can't win.

anyhow... better finish posting about the trip before retreat... or else there'll be too much to talk about =P. so.

day 3 in lake district.

caught the train... disong was sharing one of his relationship stories so us various kaypoh people who caught a bit on the first night but i wasn't listening =P plugged in and reading the bible... so he said he'd tell me the story later lol.

so we passed rolling hills... and green pastures... and sheep... and sheep... and sheep.
and verses with sheep popped into my mind:

The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
~Psalms 23:1-3

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
~John 10:11

What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.
~Matthew 18:12-13

and the sheep were so cute and fluffy... and unconcerned... and comfortable... and God wants us walking in that kind of rest. wow.

we took the train to oxenholme to change to windermere... and and... scare of the day. i dropped my train ticket (but thank God i found it =P) so we reached windermere safely and found our hostel which was 5 min walk from the train station yay =).

the hostel was so cool! they operate on trust, the doors have no locks at all... except the front door - which is only locked in the evening... there's no reception so you go in, find the right room, stay in it and then put your money in an envelope and chuck it into a safe they have in the common room. it was really pretty and homely... (pictures are on fbook) imagine the amount of money the owners save on labour... just have cleaners to make the beds and clean up in the mornings... and come down themselves to clear the safe once a week. funky =).

before tt we decided to go on a hike somewhere and have a picnic... so we raided Booths for sandwich making things... ham, bread, cheese, strawberries, cherry tomatoes... and found Sticky Toffee... a cake thing... haha! we climed to the top of Orrest Head to see the view (it was raining then =S but disong and i prayed for the rain to stop... so i expected God to do somthing.) somewhere around the middle of the walk the rain stopped! and it had been pouring just a while ago! the walk was so pretty... autumn paths... and undisturbed cos we were there so early. at the top of the hill we controlled ourselves and ate the main course first - sandwiches - but everyone was eyeing the dessert hehehe. it was super cold while we were eating... nothing to block the wind up there. but the sun came out - like those inspirational postcards... shining through the clouds on the lake. meifang called it a 'holy moment'. so awesome. and i caught a still small voice 'this was made for you' with a smile on the inside of me.

i shall repeat disong's classic phrase 幸福的条件 (which first appeared at the first sticky toffee pudding) mmmm. hanging out with cool people and beautiful scenery... handmade sandwiches with love and Sticky Toffee *yumyum*... fantastic.

we went back down the hill around 2pm and back to the hostel. we were so tired tt everyone sat down and conked out =P finally dragged our butts out of the nice warm hostel close to 4pm to see whether we could get a boat tour or go boating or canoeing. but it was too late - and getting dark so the tourist centre suggested we just take a walk to the lake instead. and so we did. the scenery was really awesome! more leaf covered paths with overhanging branches...

we went back when it started getting darker... coming to 5pm... it was pitch black by 6pm... and walked into a toyshop and bought fireworks! [all these deprived singaporean kids... never set off fireworks before...] then the stomach called... so we went to lazy daisy's ... which had fantastic roast and lamb shank *mmmmm* AAAND.... *drumroll* Sticky Toffee Pudding for dessert. hahaha we were that insane about it. went searching for a field to set fireworks off in (and did)... haha and took videos of us setting them off [can't blame us i guess... deprived childhoods] before trooping back to the hostel (i think it was probably about 5 deg?) to plan for the next day cos we didnt cover much.

planned this amazing-race-ish thing for the next day... but disong's statement gave us a goal. even if we couldn't manage to cover all we planned - we had to have our last round of sticky toffee pudding - lol. we even did a cheer! 1... 2... 3... STICKY TOFFEE... WHOOSH!

thinking we could dabao lunch from Booths... grab a sandwich or something we ran out in 2 layers (after we had been freezing in 3 layers the whole day) at 8 plus... ran to Booths... and discovered it was closed!!! the locals must have thought we were mad haha. in slippers no less 0_0. haha. went back, showered and met up with the other group to exchange stories... stoned for a while cos we were tired - tried to do a bit of a 1000 piece puzzle but failed =P and just fell asleep hehe. 'eeeww gross dammit!' was heard many times that day... disong drooling on xinyi's ipod wires. gosh. (on the train and earlier in the afternoon nap as well... -_-"")

hehe by this time i spent... about 150 pounds in total... mostly on food. wow.

overwhelmed...

And even though I’m walkin’ through
The valley of the shadow
I will hold tight to the hand of Him
Whose love will comfort me
When all hope is gone
And I’ve been wounded in the battle
He is all the strength that I will ever need
He will carry me



my heart is aching... can't pinpoint the source. am i real?

sticky toffee pudding #03

i just finished and submitted my coursework and lab report... yay... but i don't feel they were particularly well done =S. God help.


to make myself happier... more sticky toffee goodness...
day 2 in edinburgh -

we woke up relatively early since we had to check out by 10 and went for the 1020am Mary Kings' Close tour. it was cool and dungeon-ish. i can't imagine having to stay in that kind of space... can't imagine the living conditions. the close is currently under the main street since they simply built the cities over it... and apparently the buildings were so high that the people at the bottom got no light (which would be the conditions we were walking around in. omg.) the street/ pavement we were walking on was inclined at a 45 deg angle or so... and people in that day would empty waste on the streets twice a day for it to slide down that road... to the river. EEW. the guide was really cool throughout the tour... playing one of the characters that lived at that time... with the Scottish burr and all =D

last day in Edinburgh... so we ended up rushing around alot. walked really quickly to parliment where we split up into the people who wanted to go to the university to take a look and the people who weren't particularly interested (that would be me). walked around parliment... wasn't particularly interested by it. lol. but but but. the gallery for viewing parliment in session... is not blocked off... and has no soundproof glass!!!! gosh. so if you hated your sectional minister you could just bring in a tomato and throw it at him... and all the cameras there would capture it =S

next was the palace tour... holyrood palace... the grounds and the rooms were so pretty!!! and an audio tour came with it too... can you imagine being the king or queen... with shiny table silverware... wow. we kinda rushed through the bits we could rush cos everyone was hungry (and disong got us all craving for sticky toffee pudding) =P then went off in search of food. had bangers and mash (sausages and mash potatoes) in a cafe/bar [we wanted to eat at the more famous world's end cafe but we couldn't wait that long] before happily trooping back to the place we were at yesterday to get Sticky Toffee Pudding!! *yum* we wanted to get two for 4 people so we could eat more each... but they were out of pudding and we could only share one... it disappeared awfully fast thanks to disong.

rushed like crazy to get back to the hostel to get our bags and make it to the train station for the train [it was just like the amazing race lol. carry bagpack and run... then jump into cab]

terribly embarrassing thing i did... i ducked to get into the cab... and i forgot that bagpacks can't duck... so with my forward momentum i smashed the top of my bag into the roof of the car, couldn't get my balance to step backwards and crashed to the floor of the cab *cringe*. got nice beeg bruises on my shin for that. but we all got to the train station safely... and waited for the train to come.

DRAMA. when the train came... like 5 min before boarding, yenn weii looked at the train tix and noticed that they were 04 december 2007 (i saw tt and i actually didnt realise anything was wrong) 0_o so we rushed to ticket office, couldnt get it changed, ran back to the train to see if we could get on... just to see it pull away. (talk about panic man.) well. so everyone plodded back to the ticket office to discuss whether to take the later train.

in the end we got cheaper tickets in the morning... since if we took the later train we wouldn't be able to catch the connecting bus to the hostel we booked. tickets to penrith and windermere in lake district (cos our group was splitting then). coordinated with poor jason and elvina who took the coach down direct to meet us there... only to get a call saying tt we weren't coming =P managed to find a hostel right smack in the tourist street (and cheaper than the one we were at for the first night too!) so we went there to replan our time in lake district... since we lost a night cos of the mistake.

the hostel this time was cleaner! it probably was cheaper cos it was a 10 bunk room... and we had a roommate from australia who was travelling around for 2 months! (poor roommate man... 8 of us making much noise...) so dumped bags... planned and went out for dinner. we met the other scotland group (spending 5 days in edinburgh) on the way to dinner... small world lol. and tried *again* to eat at the world's end cafe... but the wait was 20 min or more... and in 20 min the cook would go home... so we might not get food at all. =S randomly went into a pub... and it had fantastic food *mmmmm* and live music... and Sticky Toffee Pudding for dessert!! hurrah =P

went back and tried to sleep early... (the showers at this hostel were nice... which is alot to say for a hostel)... didnt quite manage to sleep early lol. cos the guys started a mimic the girls thing and we all ended up trying to mimic one another... [xinyi's is: eeew gross! dammit!, meif is: whaaaaat? or where got?] and got up at 5am to catch our 620am train = big sleep deprivation ... spent another 50 odd quid =S.

oops i should probably go to sleep now.

i was reading back on past blog entries... and it feels like my entries are getting shallower and shallower... bah.

in Your hands

i just finished the malaysian night show... doing stage sounds... and random stagehand thingums... stage crew has eaten 2 whole days of my life and given me bruised hands with cuts and splinters in them... and blisters and bruises in random places... but it was satisfying.

sticky toffee goodness (reading week trip stories and more!) to come... when i'm freer

i spent the last few days panicking about my lab report and coursework (worth 25% of final grade) due on monday... but last night i just *finally* gave it to God... let the grade be His... let the time be His [there's a story behind this too...] and now i'm here blogging instead of doing my work. oops.

sticky toffee pudding #02

1st day - trooped down to Edinburgh Castle... and passed by a farmers market (strawberry ice-cream... yum.) first stop of the day: The Scotch Whisky Experience. got a tour of the place, taught how to appreciate a scotch (one free drink! lol. and got to keep the shot glass they served it in.), taught how whisky was distilled... pretty fun. only i kept falling asleep cos the distillation thing was the same as what we studied in biology =P plus the lack of sleep on the coach ride.

then took a very very very very slow walk down the touristy road... the royal mile. much picture taking (with random statues no less.) and browsing souvenir shops. we only got about halfway down the road by lunchtime. popped into a Scottish pub for lunch. shared haddock and chips and beef stew with xinyi and meifang *yum* the haddock was the best fish and chips i've ever eaten! the beef stew came with haggis stuffing gravy... and the haggis that other people ordered was super yummy too. [tummy happy = happy!] we wanted dessert to share so i ordered the 3 more interesting things on the menu (a traditional Scottish thing... berries cream and whiskey, sticky toffee pudding!! and apple crumble) everything was good... but we all fell in love with the sticky toffee pudding *mmmm. heavenly*

next stop was Mary King's Close trying to get tickets to the night tour but they were sold out =S so we settled for a different ghost tour. the sky was getting dark by then and the Edinburgh Castle closed at 5pm (only about 3pm then) so we walked back to the castle and toured it till about 530pm. twas... really pretty... and the historical significance of the castle and battles fought over it was really cool. bought fascinating souvenirs from there: a catapult pencil sharpener that can actually catapult, a Scottish bagpipe guy bookmark (diy) and a bagpipe charm. - my wallet really felt the pinch man.

dinner! =P we walked all the way back down the road to the halfway point again to 'wannaburger' cos ds said 'iwannaburger!' but were put off by the price. so we went to a fish and chips shop... but it only had outdoor dining (brrr. cold.) so me, ds, weichao, meif went to get subway instead (cos we could stand inside XD) and pangsei-ed the rest =P. bought hot chocolate/ coffee from starbucks *yum* then walked back to the hostel [gosh we walked up and down the same street 3 times already] to check in. 8 bunks in a room, rather cramped, the bed and duvet were gross (my duvet had grass and mud on it =S they gave us a clean sheet to spread so we wouldn't touch the dirty bits... but still. eew.) the toilets were nice at least.

hung around in the room for a while... got to see something i didn't want to see. omg. wenyuan in his long john bottoms. eeew. it was like ballet tights... only his legs were simply chunky and gross... not to mention he took off his jeans in front of everyone (hilarious. we couldn't stop laughing at him for the rest of the night) then we (everyone but yenn weii and weichao who didn't want to be scared) were off for the ghost tour 'City of the Dead'. took a bus back to the same road, hung around for the tour where the guide was a really really fantastic storyteller. it was a 'scare yourself silly' kind of tour... she told stories of the feelings and stuff... and we all filed into a mausoleum where it was nearly pitch black and she told stories... feeling changes in temperature, women feeling horny etc. there wasn't any real presence though... but 2 people fainted (a man and a girl wow.) and someone hyperventilated 0_o but it was kinda fun hehe. poking around a cemetery at night with only moonlight.

took a very uneventful cab back and went to sleep... after sharing the events of the tour and laughing at random things heehee. wenyuan. (unintentionally eavesdropped on ds emoing to the bao-bao brothers... got woken up by his voice lol.) woke up at 7am to shower... -end of first day-


spent about 65 quid. gosh (don't convert don't convert!!)

sticky toffee pudding #01

i just got back from a 4 day trip! yay.

1st night - well the start of the journey anyway

left london for edinburgh by coach on friday night ~2230hrs... we actually thought we were there 30 min early but then realised we were at the wrong coach terminal and had to walk a little more to the right one =P. coach ride... was a coach ride... bumpy & un-sleep-able. what was interesting about it was me falling asleep in the first hour and waking up to di song, wei chao and wenyuan sharing life stories on the ride (the 'bao-bao brothers'). and in trying to listen in openly... everyone sensed the 'gossipy air' (wenyuan's fault actually) and tried to listen in too. lol. we ended up talking about religion and christianity. [of the coach ride ppl only di song and i are christian] it was interesting. i mainly shut up and listened to them dispute christianity on the basis that it's borne of faith. one day i shall have a good God-inspired argument to refute that, amen.

somehow managed to fall asleep at some point... and woke up to green pastures and a sunrise. it was exactly what you would see in paintings or those unreal photos of red yellow orange purple skies streaked with thin clouds... and rolling mountains. beautiful.

after a few false starts (stops rather) we reached the edinburgh bus terminus safely. took a slow walk to the hostel we would be staying the night at... with much phototaking and shivering (it must have been 4 deg or lower i think.) along the way =P



more details tmr... must pack and sleep =P but it was fun.. and i really saw God's hand in a lot of things =)... some really unexpected setbacks in planning, but all things work for good.

blogworthy event #1

i got roses! *happy smile*
hehe.

go figure.