Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Welcome to Ichinomiya

Notice the bare trees? This is winter for you. Hehe... There's nobody on the streets except me. =)
Kishi. The wonderful supermarket 10 mins walk away from The Olive. It has all the basic food and ingredients. I'll bring u to another supermarket nxt time. Heheh....

This is the multi-purpose hall at The Olive.

The staircase leading to 2nd floor.
This is shelves for shoes. Nope, not for books. Wahahh...
The ground floor. We're not supposed to use the lift. hehe...

The Olive, the missions building that belongs to the church. I live on the 3rd floor


Bath tub
My fav toilet. HEheh

View from my balcony. It's a physio-therapy hospital.

View from my balcony.

My room.

The dining area

The cooking area
Everything looks perfect, neh? Hehe...It is. I took hrs cleaning up after each usage. Japanese standards are very high. I'm now into cleaning and mopping the entire apartment, the kitchen area, sunning the comforter, blankets and pillow in the mornings when the sun is out. Looking for new and good sprays to spray the apartment so that there's no smell after cooking. Vacuuming the entire house so that there's no hair or speck of dust. I feel like a housewife. Wahahaha....
We've discussed abt the teaching schedule this afternoon. I'm so excited. On top of the classes we're having, I'm gonna to add one or two more junior high and high school classes. Classes will resume next week. Tmr, we're gonna to Nagoya city and Sakae to look for new textbooks.
Pls pray that the students and I can communicate well and understand each other. I'm still looking for English speaking service. Pls pray for me that this can be done asap. I hope to attend it this sun. I'm supposed to attend the Japanese service in the morning and look for another EL speaking one in the afternoon.
Okie. That's all for now.
Take care and God bless.




Sunday, February 25, 2007

@ Changi Airport

Colleen, Sarah, Amelia & Eileen
Amelia, Eileen & Lindsey
Ps Ong & Sis Ong
Phileo, Valencia, Charity, Rachel, Joshua, Lynette, Thomas, Christina, Angeline, Chris, Audrey, Mabeline & Adeline
All of the above and Liern, Alvin, Teresa, Sis Michelle, 2nd uncle and aunty Joyce, my bro and mum
2nd uncle, uncle mickey, granny, daddy, first uncle, 3rd uncle
Weihao, Priscilla, Teresa, Mum, bro, Hazel
Mum, Alex, Aunty Joyce & Audrey
My neighbour, Teresa
Elaine & Lay Ching
Dear all, thank you for sending me off at the airport. Departure wouldn't be the same without all of you.
The church members at Ichinomiya Church are very kind, helpful and generous. Today, one of them gave me 2 big packets of heat packs and a muffler as omiyage (souvenir) coz I looked so frozen after one of the classes 2 days ago. Hehe...
Look out for more photos in the next entry.

Friday, February 16, 2007

Adieu, adieu! Fare thee well!

North Koinonia Cell
Jiahui, Weihao & I (my Loh couzzies)
North Koinonia Cell
Ex-colleagues
(Kenneth, Shah, Lay Ching, Mdm Tai, Xiao Shi)
Mrs Teo, Valerie, Grace & I
Angeline & I (Ex Missionette cum ranger)
My first batch of Missionettes cum Royal Rangers
(Priscilla, Adeline, Lynette & Huifen)
Polymers - Rangers (Cebu Mission Team 06)
Jamin, Bernice, Rachel & Valencia

Japan Mission Team 06 (Diana, Daisy & Suling)
NIE, NTU buddies (Marie, Elaine & Evan)

4 Beauties - our first fa cai yu sheng




This week marks the final round of all the farewell lunches, coffees and dinners I had. Here are a summary of them. Thank you for making the time out of your busy schedules to meet me. This act really expresses the depth of our friendships.
Thank you, dear Lord, for putting these friends and my family into my life. They have been a great blessing to me. I know for sure that you will place new friends into my life when I step into Japan,the land of the rising sun.
Wahahahah....
5 more days...

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Help!!

Packing for an overseas trip can be a challenge. I may be an expert packing for missions trips. However, when it comes to packing for a long term trip, I’m as helpless as an octopus, grabbing anything my eyes chance upon.

Note: I’m carrying a laptop and my puma sporty looking bag to the plane coz I can’t find any other big yet stylo-looking one. Hehe…

20 Kg: Inclusive of the 28 inch luggage and carrier I’m checking in.
Pack the important things in, you say.
Things I need to bring: - winter clothing. They are thick and bulky. Scarves, sweaters, fleece
- home clothes. Juz some t-shirts and shorts.
- Working clothes. Many tops and 1 pants and many skirts. Most of you know tat I’m crazy abt my international happy fluffy skirts, esp those from hong kong. (trying to cut down on tat now.
- Creams and lotions. I have superbly dry skin. Means more weight.
-Facial products and bathing thingy
- Shoes
- Bags. I can’t walk around for one month with my luggage rite?

I haven put in the shoes and showering foam and shampoo yet. And my luggage is bursting. Help! Any advice? Heheeheh….

Thursday, February 8, 2007

Yippee!!

Greeat... Praise the Lord!

I've bought my air ticket! Here's my flight details.

Departure SIN: Thur, 22 Feb, 0105 hrs
Arrival Nagoya: Thur, 22 Feb, 0815 hrs
Flight: SQ 672, Terminal 2 ( I think)

I'll check-in on Wed, 22 Feb, 10:30 pm.
Hope to see you there!!

Meanwhile, back to frenzy packing. I've juz shipped one 20kg of books over. Goodness! Will ship two smaller ones soon. hehe

Tata...

Thursday, February 1, 2007

Poems I wrote when I was teaching

I've been packing my teaching materials this week and I found two poems I wrote when I was teaching.

1) This poem was during mid year exam marking period. Super stressful.

Marking, marking, marking
Marking, marking, marking
Little blue and black worms wriggling
On the white paper.
They are squirming for freedom,
Striving for self-expression.

A crimson streak of red thread
Invaded into the midst of this
Contented community of worms.
"Out! You don't belong here!"
Declares the high and mighty thread.

Marking, marking, marking
Aching fingers clutching
The red formidable pen
Tired eyes peering through thin-rimmed glasses
Malfunctioned brain working non-stop
Marking and marking.

~~ 20th April 2004


2) This poem was written in the midst of the final exam invigilation. Hehe...

My Last Thoughts
What will my life be next year
Without your witty remarks and cynical sarcasms?
From a winsome grin to
A burst of laughter,
2NA, you have won my heart.

How will my life be next year
When you no longer fill me with your pensive
Thoughts and childlike conclusions?
By your confused expressions and trustful eyes,
2NA, you have won my heart.

Fly, my dear class, fly.
Soar like eagles to the height meant for you,
To the destiny you are called to fulfill
For there is no other class as unique as you.
2NA, you have indeed won my heart.

~ 13th October 2004

I've Passed!!

Yeah hey! I've passed my driving test! Finally.. it's my 3rd attempt. I told myself if I fail again this time, I'll take it that it's God's will for me to be driven around than to drive. Wahaah...

Taking a driving test is nerve-wrecking.

My first attempt: I was soooo nervous that my fingers turned jelly and my
tummy churned.
The tester was the chief tester. He was a calm, silent killer.
I died in the circuit, knocking down parallel parking poles and couldn't
drive up slope.

My second attempt: Still nervous. Only fingers turned jelly. Tummy was fine. Hehe.
Tester was a smiley killer. Smiled and deducted my points happily.
I died tragically. Details shall be omitted.

Final attempt: I was void of feelings this round. Don't feel hopeful at all. Juz taking it as if
it's normal warm up session.
Tester was having migraine. How I know that? He was holding and
pressing his head on several occasions. Poor uncle.

Tat's all for now!

Hehe...