Family photo .... except the eldest monkey

This is soooooooo creative!! :D

The photo was taken in New Zealand last month ..... wish i were there! :P

Lee Valley ... New Year .....

Lee Valley Getaway Trip

We went to Lee Valley on the 27-29 Dec. After so many days of slacking, I was thinking: 'Okie, few more days of more slacking, then i really need to work hard hard!'

Indeed, Lee Valley was really a very very nice place to be in for retreat! Enjoyed so much about the fellowship, movies (although I only watched 1 among many many dozen the others have watched), food (1st night steamboat, 2nd night dumpling) as well as the cycling expedition! Played Polar Bear (to know how the game goes, talk to Yoppy. He's so addicted to it now), Monopoly, Big-2 (chor dai ti), various card games and etc. Din get much sleep ... coz stayed up really late but woke up early to catch the breakfast. Nevertheless, it was a good trip! So we've already planned for our next trip early Feb.

Borough Market

On Saturday, we went to Borough Market, one of my favourite place at all time, simply for one reason: FOOD! :P Lamia n I ordered this steak fab (burger), and it was like the size of Lamia's face! Big ler! But it is really delicious! If you are thick-skinned, you can always ask for food-tasting! :P God is good ... coz when we were about to leave, it rained a bit! Thank God it doesn't rain while we're still strolling around the market!

New Year Eve

31 Dec, New Year eve. As it was a Sunday, as usual ... loaded the equipment to van, drove to church, unloaded, set up, sound-checked ... prayer meeting and Celebration Service! Finished service, packed up, wished Happy New Year to everyone, drove home .. n waited for Mariani, Hedya, Amber and Doris (from Cardiff) to arrive, before the 6 of us headed to Chinatown to meet up with others from our group. Had dinner at Wong Kei n finally at 10pm, met up with others of the group. All in all, there's 20 of us going to countdown! (Kenny, Yanti, Yoppy, Ah Sun, Candy, Ivon, Joshua, Hui Ping, Shawn, Pei Ying, Max, Matthew, Mariani, Hedya, Amber, Doris, Andy, Olivia, Yong Wei, Gemmy).

Knowing the size of our big group, it was really difficult to move everyone from Chinatown to Embankment. Yoppy played an instrumental role in getting everyone organized ... as I led, he made sure ppl follow! God is good! We got into Embankment, directly in front of the London Eye. We're so blessed, because not long after we got into the area, the organizer closed the entrance cause it reached its capicity! We're there around 10.20pm. Praise God! Din take any photos cause it was dark. If u wanna see the fireworks, go to youtube n do a search :P It was good to usher away 2006 and welcome 2007 with so many people!

Getting home was far better than last year ... although involve lots of pushing n squeezing. After all those, when we got on the tube, surprisingly, the it was quite empty. I really wonder .... wat's all the pushing and squeezing about .. where there's no ppl on the tube! Nevertheless, we all got home safely! :) Another sleepless night ... everyone came to our house and we played games.(Yoppy was estatic abt Polar Bear again, but since it require quite some thinking n talking, ppl was quick to show boredom :P). We played this 'Pick-a-card-Put-on-Forehead-and-DARE' game. It was sooo fun! Manage to sabo a few ppl, especially Kenny, who ironically drank twice the 'special' drink i've made (chili sauce + fish sauce + water). Everyone go home around 4.30am.

New Year Parade

Slept for 3 hours, woke up around 8am. Immediately, had a short counselling session with a friend in the church office (she turned up at our door, which was a surprise for me, cause i jst woke up). Showered and dragged myself to Picadilly Circus where I met up with Ivon, to watch the parade! I was quite sceptical because I watched The Lord Mayor's Show last year, which was quite boring! This parade is so much better than i expected, especially the marching bands from US (10++ of them, all self-funded to come here to join the parade), and the cheerleaders who performed right in front of us (jst cun-cun stop at our spot). It was really overwhelmed with new year atmosphere!

Christmas .....

Well .. another slack Christmas :D

It's 26 Dec, the second time in this year that i'm able to sleep past 8 hours mark (1st time when I was sick 3 mths ago, so not counted huh :P) Later will go out to meet Sin Li, Lamia and Chiuan Chorng for lunch; go boxing day shopping (Target: 1 pair of jeans, 1 sweater, 1 pair of shoes); and follow by dinner with M&S (not Mark & Spencer, but Marcus and Samantha).

Tomorrow we'll be off to Lee Valley for another really 'Food-Fun-Filled' 3-days getaway trip! We're going to have steamboat on the first night and dumpling on the 2nd night. Of course, lots of movies, games, sleep ... probably a bit of nature-walk around the lake area (pending how cold it is)

Really looking forward for New Year eve countdown though, not because of the countdown (I tell you, it is really SPECTACULAR. The firework display ON London Eye, is to me like the time machine thing on Stargate. And of course the 'people mountain people sea' scene!) but because i'm friends from Cardiff, Glasgow is joining us for dinner n countdown. I'm so NOT looking forward to the journey home though! Although Natwest 'proudly' sponsors the free transport on that night, again the 'people mountain people sea' crowd is really freaking me out! Last year, we spend 2 1/2 hours just to go home, a journey normally 40 mins! God will make a way ... where there seems to be no way :P

After all these, everything will be back to normal! Need to finish up my transfer report ASAP! Pls pray for me: able to pass the transfer (from MPhil to PhD) with flying colour!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Happy Birthday, Pa n Ma!! :D

Today is my dad's birthday (21 Dec) .. n tomorrow is my mum's (22 Dec)! Since young, we're glad that we only need to buy a cake to celebrate their birthday! Just wanna take this opportunity here, on my blog, to wish them:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

I'm so glad i'm a THEN!! hehe

'Kad Tiram' once was lost, but now am FOUND!

Kad tiram (Oyster Card) is a smartcard which Londoners use in our daily commute. Something like 'Touch n Go" in Malaysia or "Octopus" in Hong Kong - just touch in and touch out.

And as typical chinese, i'm super kiasu n always finding ways to save money. If you are a student, if you apply for a Student Kad Tiram, you are entitled to 30% discount if you purchase a season travelcard. Normal people will probably buy on monthly basis. But after comparing the price of annual travelcard and month travelcard .. the money that i could save is £95. So, i bought an annual travelcard! So now, my kad tiram is worth the value of £620!

I am always very careful with it, realising how much I would lose if i lost it. No matter how careful you are .... it will happen! And it happen tonight ....

It was 10pm, after CG, preparing to sent visitors home using the church van. It was so cold that ice was formed on the windscreen, so I drove the van to the back of the house, to get some hot water to melt the ice. After that, began the journey of sending Ah Sun to Old Street, Candy and Gemmy to Bank station, Ivon to her City Uni hall n the long journey up north to Kenton for Louise. It was on the way to Kenton, I touched my pocket n realise my Kad Tiram was gone! calmed myself, praying in my heart, hoping that I put it in my bag at home

The panic came when I reached home n checked my bag! No kad tiram! Check the living room! No kad tiram! Check the rubbish bin! No kad tiraM! This is really really bad! It was more than 2 hours if i accidentally drop it on the street, n by then it will be gone! Fear for the worst (actually not that bad, coz i'm able to get replacement card n maybe lose some money over the waiting period), I went outside the house to start looking!

My first place to search was behind the house, where I melted the ice on the windscreen. And IT WAS ON THE FLOOR!!! To me, it was really a MIRACLE! After 2 hours plus, it was still on the floor! No one actually pick it up!

Kad Tiram .... once was lost, but now am found! :D