2013 begins

Happy new year! It's finally 2013! A new start! 
So much has been happening last year that I've lost track of so many important things that should mean so much more to me.

This year, I want to treasure things more, the people, the time spent and the thing that I do. I want to do things that are meaningful and that really count for all eternity. Firstly, and also the most importantly, is to walk and grow closer and deeper in the Word and in Him. Need to be spiritually on fire. 

Admitting that I've used OSEP as an escape route to move away from all the things that I don't want to face in Singapore, I want to make the full use of the rest of the trip. Another one month and nine more days, I want to remember the time here and use it as a period to glorify my Father. 

First day of the year, spending it in Paris and going down to Spain in a few hours times. I'm making a two-year long promise to myself. I'm leaving some things as it is and I'm not changing a thing about it. I want to be pure in all aspects and therefore, I have to make decisions and do things that I don't wish to. But I know that it's for the best for myself and some dearest people. I;m not giving up, I'm just not going to think about it as much as I used to and I'm letting go, letting God. If it's meant to be, it will be. 

Exams starting on 8th January, I want to do my best and payback my parents whom worked so hard to put me through this program. That's the best I know how. 



Sending love all the way from Paris <3

The importance of a father

Thought of the day: A man should always be the head of the family. Of the house.

Throughout this trip, it's not even the whole of trip, it's just the first month and I'm seeing so much in the family of Gael's. Or rather I would say it begun when we started meeting during the exam period to study together, we would just meet at some library or something. After we studied, he would usually go home for dinner or meet his family for dinner outside. Once in a while, he would tell me stories about his family, how his father worked for the government and quit the respectable job so as to spend more time with the family. How his mother ran a property agency of her own with the help of her husband now and how his little brother would be trying out the sports that he does and how he can't phrase his science answers properly.

Those little stories must have meant a lot to him. Cause one would only speak of something that's important to the heart. Honestly, I've never met someone with Gael before, so into sports, so family oriented and so innocent about what the world's culture is all about. Listening to him really got me thinking, seeing how he would talk to his family every night before he sleeps and every morning when he wakes up. I mean how many guys would actually faithfully do that. Even myself, I feel so incapable of such consistently act. What more a guy, as guys generally ain't that close to their family, I suppose. He doesn't show his affections and concern for people openly, well most guys don't, but those faithful actions and the love of his for his family, it really struck me. It's like a slap in my face, questioning myself of my actions and feelings toward my family.

Yeah, he must have really respected his father a lot. And he still does. I wish we all could. Every family definitely have had their ups and downs, I'm sure. Yet, the amazing thing about their family: they go through all of them as one. That's really beautiful, isn't it? Fathers should have a great impact as well as influence over a child, for all their life. I really wish it was the case.

Their family is like an additional hope to me that there's still humanity, that there's still faithful love forever between couples. Hope that family-man actually still does exist.

To me, this is the prettier scene of a family. It shows the love.
The best treat to your eyes.

I wish every child could proudly say this.

Sending love all the way from Ireland <3

Girlfriends can really make your day.

Well, this week has been such a roller-coaster week. Quite a few things happened. 


Monday: School was alright, Gael had his first badminton training in school. Shi Da had his second snooker match and it was against another to Irish defending champion! They gave him a 10-point handicap, I guess they were pretty confident of winning. Yeah, Shi Da won they first frame while the other guy won the second. So, it boiled down to the third frame to see who would win and the one that lost would not be able to proceed on to the next round. But yes, Shi Da won! He's now waiting to know when his next match would be. After the match, Shi Da, Ying Li and myself had dinner at Roma's again (the usual) and we headed home. AND Gael brought Jeff home, a friend he made at badminton. He's from Malaysia and is rooming with Stiva. 

P.S. I saw a rainbow again! I absolutely love Ireland, I get to see rainbows every week and it's no wonder why they have this tale of the rainbow and the pot of gold! 

Bun War between Gael and Ying Li.
And here, we have the LOSER!
(Sorry Ying Li, I love you, I really do.)

Tuesday: The worst day but it was also a good evening. Woke up at 630 am to a stomachache and high fever. I had nightmare throughout the whole night (okay, this is the thing, I think I had a fever because of my nightmare. But everyone's telling me that I probably had a nightmare because of the fever but I still trust myself! ) Yeah, I went ahead with school cause I really didn't want to skip school on that day, it was the first day of kickboxing and airsoft. I really wanted to go for those sports. I know it was a little stubborn of me but yes. So, I was having such a bad splitting headache throughout the whole and I went to school doctor to get my fever checked. I could only see the nurse cause the doctor was fully booked for the day and the cute nurse told me that I was running a high fever of 39.4 degrees when the day temperature was only 7 degrees. I was burning inside and freezing on the outside physically but was freezing in the inside and burning on the outside (erm, physically too) Okay, that's if you get what I'm mean. Still went ahead for the sports cause I was feeling a lot better after like a few paracetamol. 

Thank you for tolerating me, my stubbornness. For bringing what I wanted and having what I needed. I know it's not you to show it but those small actions really meant a lot. Blessed my heart to have you around. Really. No feelings. Nothing more.

Wednesday: School again. I had to go school early cause I had an appointment with the school's doctor. Still love the nurse more, they gave me more paracetamol. Nothing much. 

Prescription from the school's health unit

River Island had 20% off store wide for students and these are just some of the buys! Super in love with mustaches.

Thursday: School was a little shaking today. Really wished my Girlies were with me today. Thank God for internet and communication over the phone. So, I'm going to do my English project alone, my choice. Stayed back in school with Shi Da in the hope that we would had hurling and camogie but in the end, after about two hours, they told us that it was cancelled cause they didn't have enough people. Oh wells. 

View of the night! While walking home from school with  Shi Da

The people that I really wanted to have next to me today. I love you girlies . 

Yes, I think over these three days, I had a total of 17 paracetamol and I'm absolutely proud of myself that I actually took them and finished the prescription by the doctor. For those that knows me well enough, they should know that I never, or rather hate taking paracetamol and I hardly ever finish my meds. 

Friday: Short day of school and went to the gym after that. Got our new gym schedule. It's insane. Had hurling after that in school, kinda really love it! I'm so totally going to join camogie. Watched The Day After Tomorrow with Gael and Shi Da! 

So amazed by the clouds! They look so definite.
God's creations are really pretty, ain't they?

Saturday: Woke up pretty late today at 11 am and there was nothing much to eat at home again. Had to eat eggs and crabmeat again. Watched a lot of shows today and yes, Gael and I decided that we are going to the Dublin zoo tomorrow and most likely, we will adopt a zoo! Really excited and I honestly hope that things go as planned. 
Hope tomorrow goes well. Actually miss fellowship the most. 


Sending love all the way from Ireland <3

Sports and Society Fair + Shi Da's big day!

Whoop today was the Sports and Society Fair! Been waiting for this day for like ever since I knew about it! We only had an hour of school today cause sadly, financial management class was cancelled last minute. That's going to be like my favorite module and I actually can't wait for lessons to start proper and learn some new things. Well, I guess coming here actually made me a lot more motivated to study and like to do well. I guess that's cause there's a lot of people with super high expectations for me to do well academically and somehow, I feel that I'm obliged to do well too. (Cause of the school thing) 

Yeah, so today was the fair thing. And we got so crazy about the new sports that we joined ultra a lot of CCAs. (the list of sports/ clubs I joined)
1. Kickboxing
2. Camogie
3. Paintball
4. Airsoft
5. Mountaineering and hill climbing club
6.Adventure club 
The three of them joined pool/ snooker club and Gael joined badminton too! (He has been wanting it since like forever. )
Kickboxing and Airsoft are on Tuesdays back to back which means I will be super shag. But no choice, they happen to be on the same day and I have no intentions to drop any of them!

AND AND AND TODAY IS SHI DA'S BIG DAY! 
His snooker match was today (ultra last minute, like we were about to leave the snooker place when the person suddenly asked him if he wanted to have his match tonight) so yes, he went on with it! His first competitor was a former champion! But guess what, that guy won! Super close fight. He won the first round, it was the best of three. He was actually about to lose the second round when the champ fouled and gave him an extra 5 points. So they fought right down to the last black ball which was 7 points. They were draw at first so the 7 points would decide who the winner of the round would be. And then the champ fouled again, he accidentally pot the white ball in, leaving the black one on the table. So yes, there we have, the winner!!!!!!!! GOH SHI DA!!!!!!!!
His next match is next Monday 630pm! 

Tomorrow's English class is cancelled too! 


Sending love all the way from Ireland <3

Food for the Eyes

Some pictures from the past three weeks in this beautiful place: 

The first double rainbow seen in Ireland, on a beautiful Sunday. A great reminder that I know You are forever faithful.
Father, help me to constantly depending on You, knowing that You love me the same no matter what circumstances. 

Dinner prepared by Ying Li and myself for the whole family.
Food preferences learned: Gael doesn't take these corn while Ying Li doesn't take the broccoli. As for Shi Da and myself, we are like the ultimate piggies. We take both! 

Awesome one euro pair of flats bought from Penneys! Benefit of having small feet, no one else wants to buy this size so they had to put in on departmental store sale! Great buy! 

THIS. IS. WHAT. I. AM. DYING.FOR.
Gael Woon, that guy bought this Men Nike Free Run+ 3 and he let  me try them  on. Dang, I haven't  tried any running shoes as comfy as this. But no, cause of my awkwardly small feet size, they don't have the purple pair in my UK size 4! They only had it in some neon orange/yellow and blue colors. Which is totally not my style so I ended up not buying them at all. I customized my own but now I'm only waiting for money to be in my bank account before I can order them and which also means that I have to wait for about another one month before it arrives. Meh. All thanks to Gael. 

The mutated rabbit that Gael drew cause the both of us were so bored in class. All the teacher did was asked everyone to introduced themselves, and erm, there was about 50 students I think. Gael and I were the first two to introduce ourselves so we got bored while listening to the rest and we, or rather he, decided to flaunt his artistic talents. Man, days and walks to school with Gael really, erm, kills me (not in the really kill kill, angry kill kind of manner ) but in the manner that sometimes talking to him just kills me. He is so weird, and sometimes the things that he does like acting in a super gay voice and manner and singing, oh gosh, never mind, kill myself. 

Milk here actually tastes nice. Gael and I were so into milk that day that we decide to buy this to share in school during our break time.

Officially my current favorite snack/ bites; cherry tomatoes with cucumber <3

Was flipping through the journal that they made was me! Our 6th year together! Love this girlies all time.
Top row: (from left) Juliana Tay, Chua Khai Woon, Ophelia Lee
Bottom row: (from left) Vivien Ng, Myself, Danielle Goh

Bought this mini 7" ham and mushroom pizza for myself cause I decided that I was feeling hungry and there was no food to eat at home. 5. 90 Euros! 

THE CANDY STORE
Officially my favorite store along the streets near MVH! They have all the old  time candies and chocolates! Can't get enough of them! Just deciding which candies/ chocolates to buy was tough enough! Stores like this really make people happy, don't they?

Dinner with Gael at the Roma Restaurant, his favorite place!
(Cause Ying Li and Shi Da decided to go Dublin so the both of us were stuck at home the whole day with nothing to do, okay, he had starwars but I had nothing, and we had no food too.)
My fresh cod and his lasagna. Food for the body.
Didn't really like eating fried food (the skin) so they ended up in Gael's tummy. The fish meat was alright though! 

Oh see how beautiful and worth admiring the scenery in Dundalk is!
Saturday's night view: the angle that Gael insisted was the best cause there were no trees and tall grass to block  the view! 

So near, So real.
Cause they just remind me of how real and close You forever are to me. I know You are here with me, no matter how tough the road ahead would be!

Everyone of them are amazingly crafted in Your Hands'  Creations!
The sky here never fails to amaze me, making me stand in awe of You all day.

That's all, for now! 

Sending love all the way from Ireland <3

TOTD

Thought of the day: Don't make a promise that you can't keep. Promises really do make or break things, don't they?

I will also never understand why when two people of the different genders are close, others will assume that there is something going on between them. Really, can't they just be good friends? Well, then again, humans are humans. They never stop thinking be it the good or the bad way. So yes, there's nothing much one can do I suppose. I guess we just got to laugh it off, even if sometimes it just gets on you. 


Sending love all the way from Ireland <3

A Dream Come True

Ireland, Dundalk. A trip that I've been waiting for ever since last year. 

This trip I would say, is definitely the most worth waiting and worth all my time and effort preparing for in my 18 years of life. Since 2011, knowing about this trip, I've been attending many talks, interviews and even having to meet new people. The worst part of all was waiting for a text message from the school to know if we passed the interviews with all the directors of the Business School. Those weeks were like any others, 7 days in a week, yet to Gael, Ying Li, Shi Da and myself, they were tormenting. Each day felt like it was a year or so. Every other day, we would be asking one another if any of us heard from the school. 

Here it came! The text message. Initially, I was posted to Finland however after much consideration, I requested fro a change to Ireland as I didn't know anyone from the Finland group. Moreover, I would bond better with the Ireland group as Ying Li is my classmate and I knew Gael from the Taiwan immersion trip with the school in Year 1. As for Shi Da, he was an easy-going and open guy so it was pretty easy to talk to him and communicate with him. I still remember clearly the day when we were told that our acceptance letter from Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) arrived in our school office. On the following day, we were given the letters from both our school and DkIT and I also received the Director's List Certificate from NYP for my outstanding academic results for Year 1.2. That day I would say would probably be the best of my poly days, assuring me that all that I've worked for did not go to waste. 

From Day 157 to now, being in Ireland, the four of us have already had a lot of memorable experiences together. Surely, living together would mean that there would be conflicts and disputes. But I guess we all have to just stick together and accept one another for who we are. Throughout this three weeks in Ireland, I have already learned so much about the three of them, a little bit of their character, temper, food preference, habits and capabilities. I'm also definitely growing and learning to love each one of them more daily.

Week One of school just ended and it's still alright. Gym-ed every alternate days with the rest and learned a little of GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) Football. Honestly, I'm pretty excited for classes and to study and do well! 

From left: Gael, Shi Da, Myself and Ying Li
Here's to our part time family!

Sending love all the way from Ireland <3