Monday, July 28, 2008

update...haha

ok ok...haha updating! Just handed in my thesis...phew...one more down..gosh...i got to a point where I was sick of my own thesis. just looking at it made me want to throw my laptop down the 9 floors to join my camera who committed suicide and jumped 9 floors last month.studying here is CRAZY. INSANE. ABSOLUTELY PSYCHOTIC. it really is enough to drive one insane if you're not careful. My housemate was saying that she has never cried this much over anything. haha...and i am inclined to agree with her.

anyway...on to pictures and more on what I've been up to other than stressing and thinking of throwing my laptop down ..

Manchester! while everyone was stressing over assignments, i rushed mine and then head off to Manchester for a MUCH NEEDED break=)


Met up with Ming Wei, which was good. haven't seen her proper in ages. Justin came down too. we went to visit this place called th URBIS. It's so cool!! check out the building! the lift goes up and down sideways! too bad i didn't take pictures of the lift. too many people la..jakun mer...=p

haha..they had an manga exhibition so we went to check it out..


dear ming...

ooo there is even manga for 'adults'...and no, i didn't take a pic of that. haha too many people!

They even had something called the Urban Gardening exhibition. Gardening for the city folks. cool pic right! this was done at the rooftop of some building, so fascinating.

great exhibition. so different from the usual exhibitions


as usual, how can i go anywhere and not check out the...
Shopping Mall!=p it's a proper shopping mall. nice and big. =p i was so happy to see it. haha haven't seen a nice proper shopping mall. i should take pics of the place i shop at in liverpool..i should...some time soon..haha..ohh ohh Ming said that Manchester shopping mall won awards for being the best toilet. *wry grin. (seriously lo...toilet awards?)




yet another cathedral=p



Trams! never thought i'd see a real one..=p
Justin and Ming, while we were buying tickets for DARK KNIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!! watched it at the cinemas!!!!!!!!it soooooo rocks!!! i was soooooooo happy sitting there watching it. had fun gloating about it too when i got back home. keke
hehe.....check 'watching movie in cinema in England' off my list....=p



ahhh time well spent. Ming and I at the Manchester China Town. Had good food (Ming has good taste=p) and good company. what more could i ask for...

this should be enough to satisfy everyone for now=p

Friday, July 25, 2008

One more day...one more step

This past week has been the toughest, most discouraging..most emotional time I've had to face since I got here..there were a lot of tears and I felt like just giving up, not caring anymore. it hurts too much to care.
but thunderstorms don't last forever...

I Understand by Smokie Norful.

Sometimes I feel like giving up
Seems like my best just ain't good enough
Lord if you hear me I'm calling you
Do you see do you care all about what I'm going through

Then He says...
One more day, one more step
I'm preparing you for myself
When you can't hear my voice, please trust my plan
I'm the Lord I see, and yes I understand

Sometimes I feel like I'm all alone, just like a stranger so far from home
I feel like I've done all that I can do
Please Lord give me strength, I'm just trying to make it through

He knows how much we can bear
In the time of trouble He promised He'd always be there

I understand, The Lord is telling you I understand,
I am the Lord I see you and yes I understand
This is what He says
I am the Lord and I changeth not
I won't forget nor have I forgot
Everything works according to my plan
I am God, trust me, I got the whole world in my hands


Psalms 42:11
Why am I discouraged?
Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
I will praise Him again-my saviour and my God!

ONE MORE DAY...ONE MORE STEP.

Monday, July 14, 2008

long overdued...helo there london bridge!

i think i should update..haha..this will be a picture post though..am not in a mood to write much..
here is just some out of the 5oo pics that we took...

LONDON=)

train ride to london! london here i comeeee


London Euston.
we are hereeeee

ahh the famous Big Ben.

and i present to you.....the London Eye!The Buckingham Palace (my apologies, my camera cannot take in the full view of the palace..)


no one can go to London and not try to go and cramp with a whole load of other people to watch the Changing Guards Ceremony at the Buckingham Palace, which takes about....2 hours.
and more.
we just left after 2 hours because our feet threatened to fall apart if we stood or walked anymore.

still looooove castles!

below are exhibits of museum articles. really big museum that we went to, it had 3 floors. and we just couldn't finish walking. you can spend like a week there man..
er i think this was a piano...i think
and in the beginning...God created the heavens and the earth...


well...
one part of the museum was filled with these..explorations of the human body in art.
check out the cool ceiling!

darren..this is for you. haha black army make-up and costume?
cool set rite...such detail. this is probably the size of hmm..an arm's length

samurai. HAIYAAAAAAAAA!.
London bridge is falling faling down..London Bridge....btw did you know that that what most of us presume to be the beautiful London Bridge is actually Tower Bridge. this is Tower Bridge.

Oxford street shopping!Not that I could get anything because it was ALL high end shops that has smaaaall bags priced at a few hundred pounds
The Odeon Cinemas!
we wished la we could go watch a movie..so nice la the cinemas there!like so happening
the streets at night.

I've got the world in my hands..I've got the whole wide world in my hands..Cheh...The Tower Bridge is not thaaat big.
btw what i'm standing on is the London Bridge=p

well so long and farewell..

till my next published thoughts...

Monday, July 7, 2008

why oh why is there so many assignments??

haha i juuuust remembered that i have a blog. hahah

oops..

yes yes i will update..
sooon.

i took 2 days off last week to just laze around and now i have to catch up on my work..haha now before anyone places judgment on my frivolous waste of time...i was stressed out for the whole duration of 2 weeks with the bare minimum of 4 to 5 hours of sleep daily. hence the days off=p but i do regret it a lil now..haha but i still stand by the fact that it was necessary. last tuesday night, few hours before we were suppose to hand up our assignment on wed morning, everyone in my house were so stressed out, they each took turns coming out of their rooms to scream. except me. =) i just sat in my room and closed the door and blasted my poor ears to oblivion with music, as though that was gonna help me any. i have no idea why i do that but it does help relieve the stress. a lil. and of course in my housemates run into my room to ask for help after their bouts of screaming...not that i'm that great haha but well they are desperate for any help so they came to me i suppose. haha i know such humbleness is not me but my self esteem for my work ain't that high at the moment..

anyway..here's to another "bare minimum hours of sleep" week..

no no...hmm..I have to conclude this entirely short post on something a lil more positive...
here's my attempt at optimism...hmmmm...trying..trying..trying....

here goes..i am sooo healthy now! it'll be a shocker to most who know me well..i haven't had a COLD drink in ages! and i actually drink a lot of warm water. such a shocker i know..
life in the UK. ..such... excitingness*grin

and also... i find that God is a humourous God. He is, really. He has shown me again. i just sat down and just went :"God i'm pretty sure you're laughing at me right now"...i shall share about that soon.=p



cheers people=) hope you guys get to sleep more =)

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

time does fly...

Gosh..I can't believe it.
It's been 3 weeks in this strange new land.

I should update..before i get angry emails demanding that i update=p haha

So....let's see..i've officially started classes..and it has been good. haha can't believe that i'm saying this but yeap, classes have been good. the only thing is that it's tiring getting to my classes. the half an hour journey trekking in the shivering cold to my classes from my accommodation needs some getting use to. yes i still find it COLD. the weather mostly ranges from 8 Celsius to 15 Celsius. you try walking for half an hour in that cold=p

PLUS..i actually went to the library at least 5 times in the past weeks!!! haha i've never been to the library as much before in my entire of of being a student! AND AND i borrowed 6 books already! 6! i'm quite proud of myself. (it's just that I haven't started reading much yet..heh..)

one of my assignments is to do a research on film and television. and i choose to research a film! how cool is that! research film! movies! i find it so cool!!!! had to get books on researching about films though since i have absolutely no background on film studies. haha not too smart of me i guess, having to do double work, have to learn about film studies first before i can get started. But i still find it cool to be able to research on film so i'm still quite excited=)

it's odd..i didn't feel that homesick during my first 2 weeks here.. but last week when i thought i finally settled down..there were days that i really started to miss home..you know what i miss? besides my family...i miss being able to just go out and have a drink...those who know me and my fav drink..my teh 'ping'=p..i miss getting smses! haha it's expensive for us to sms here coz as you know everything also times 7..=p so we hardly msg each other here, if we need to, we just call our own house extensions or just wait la till the next day.. and of course, no one from m'sia msges me anymore! haha can't blame you guys coz i wouldn't be able to sms back much anyway=p..i miss....just hanging out with close friends...making silly jokes or comments and watching people's stunned faces looking back at me..and what i really missed was.. having heart to heart talks. just sitting there or lying on the bed talking about what's going on, or talking about spiritual stuff, reminiscing...ahhhh i need good friends.

i went for a cell group thingy last Friday. it was good. now i see why it's important to get attached to a church or a cell group. i don't know how to adequately put my thoughts into words..i think this is a place where you find comfort, sort of belonging to a new family, knowing that whatever happens, there will be people who will try to support you in whatever you go thru, and that they understand the struggles that I go thru, and the thing that matters most is just to be able to hang around people who love God too, who loves to worship and praise Him, that is just..well to me, it's comforting, and good for my soul.last Friday was also interesting because the topic was talking about how God sometimes says no to you because He knows what's best for you and that the best is yet to come. even though you sit there and whine, "BUT i thought you said you love me!!!" He still says no to some things because He knows that's not really what you need but you need something else and that, He intends to give. and sometimes He allows certain things to happen to test you, to see whether you put Him first or you put material wealth or other people first..Will I put Him first and trust that He in is control, and be rest assured that i'm the apple of His eye=) He Loves me and truly has the best of my interest at heart, so will I be patient and wait to see what He has in store instead of settling for second best?
..that was a personal reminder and encouragement. again this was Godly timing..

anyway..on to pictures..

fooooood....one of our meals..tandoori chicken=)


i'm so healthy...having vegetables at every meal..
This is the super lamb banana. if you come to Liverpool, you will see this everywhere. it's a combination of a lamb..and..banana. The Lamb Banana has become one of the most instantly recognisable and popular symbols of the City of Liverpool

the inside of the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral..


that white table there is where they have communion i think..
if i'm not mistaken that's a tomb...or a monument in remembrance of someone..
there was a huge rainbow that appeared after the rain one time...beautiful..

will you trust in the promises that God has promised in His word?

Sunday, June 8, 2008

one week has gone by

so this marks a full week that has gone by in the land where the cold is an ever-present presence although the sun sets at about 10pm!
things will start to get a bit crazier in the following weeks so i might not have the leisure to blog much...meanwhile..i should blog more while i'm in the mood..

things has been good. even though it's a battle to NOT get emo=p haha yes you heard me right, i am not emo! haha..it isn't easy, not when i'm mostly alone in my room...and the weekend..well weekends are mostly hanging out with friends...just spending time together..(all you people who are reading this,.BE GRATEFUL FOR THE TIME YOU HAVE WITH GOOD FRIENDS!) ..have chats with my parents...and this weekend...was well..different=) haha to put it mildly.

fyi..I HAVE BEEN TO CHURCH. haha for those of you who are wondering whether i took the chance to backslide or something..well i've been to 2 churches. hah. =p both were interesting. the first was the Liverpool Chinese Gospel Church. (yes..yes all you ex-church office 'colleagues' this is the one..) that was interestingly..chinese. haha it's strange to be at a church where the pastor of the church is a white man and the congregation mostly speaks chinese. but they are really nice people.
the other church is called Hope City church. this was even more interesting..the moment i walked in..the person speaking boomed out, "GOD IS IN CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE!" wham...what a direct word. =p and what's even more 'coincidental' (with what that has been happening in my life,i now find it hard to believe in coincidence anymore) was when the pastor's whole entire message was about how BiG our God is. that He can turn any bad stuff in our lives into something that glorifies Him. it may seem that there is nothing good in our lives, that everything seem to be going wrong but God is always in control. He is in control even when we are in the valleys of disappointment, valleys of down times..He is in the valleys as much as He is present on the mountain tops.

God didn't call us into a life of hill walking, He has called us into a life of Everest living!

anyone can walk a hill. but not everyone can climb up Mount Everest. that takes discipline..preparation..mental intuition...bad stuff will happen in your life. BUT God takes everything that happens to you for good. For the good of the people around you. Are you willing to go thru it all, no matter what, even when times where everything seems to fall apart, to run after God, and see how He takes your life and everything in it, the good and the bad, to touch the lives of people around you, to ultimately bring glory to Him?

Are you willing to run the race, trusting in Him ALL THE WAY and finish well?


and that is my challenge to myself, and to you. =)

on to more pics...

my fellow classmates (chinese classmates..hence the lot of the peace signs).....on the top deck of the tour bus on the way to Chester..
the sign below explains it..

told you i love the buildings! it's like a mini castle..weeeeeee..can't believe normal people actually get to live in it!!man...i'm so deprived...
inside the Groversnor Museum.. love the stairs.. haha..i like winding stairs..always thought it looked cool...
caveman era reenactment..(i mean the animal thingy and the furry man statue. NOT me.)
Roman Gardens...there was a group of students there rehearsing for some play...with cool looking shields..too bad couldn't get a better look..

tired dy..sat down awhile to rest in one of the exhibition rooms....we walked from one end of the map of the Chester Town to the other end..and a little further..no joke.. we walked so much and saw quite a lot..we took like 150 pics between 2 cameras in Chester itself.
strange paintings i tell you...

eeeeeee??what kind of people admire paintings like this enough to preserve it and put it on display??
Moustache cup and saucer. hahaha..i found this sooo amusing..specially designed for gentlemen with their fashionable moustache in the 19th century..

ok..getting quite late..i should actually get started on my assignment now...