Friday, February 24, 2006
WARNING: THIS IS A VERY LONG POST! DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU HAVE THE TIME!
Hello everybody!!!
So sorry, I know it has been quite a while since I left Singapore and all of you are just dying to know how it is like over there. Well I am actually typing this in Word now because internet is expensive!!!! Had to pay $30 for 500mb, which should safely last me at least a month. No more downloading… sobz… guess I will now be a reformed pirate. If anyone wants to email me, pls use gn0001@flinders.edu.au. Yea, I know it’s a crappy one but anything on the intranet can be used free-of-charge! So you can send me photos and stuff via that email although I am not sure how big is the storage space.
First and foremost, let me thank everyone who was at the airport to send me off. Really sorry if I did not spend much time talking to you because there were really a lot of people and I had to check-in and stuff. As for those who weren’t there, why didn’t you come? Kidding… I probably wouldn’t have been able to spend much time with you anyway. My flatmate, who is also a Singaporean, asked if I was one of the girls with a huge send off. She thought a superstar was in town or something. Haha… yup there were that many people.
I didn’t cry (ok val you can scold me), but as I waved goodbye to everyone, my heart felt really heavy and no it wasn’t because of my 10kg hand carry. However, a few tears threatened to fall out in the plane as I was reading the wonderful letters my dearest friend Val collated for me. Thank YOU so much for getting so many people to write something to me. I will keep this treasure box for years to come. For those who do not know this blog add, can those who know let those who want to know, know? Haha, horrible English. Haven’t lost my Singlish but WQ says I slang nowadays which I think its just the way I speak properly, like in a presentation where Singlish is out of the question.
Anyway, as a thank you to those who wrote me something, here is my mini awards for you(if you feel offended, feel free to scold me on my tagboard, and if your name ain’t there, well it either means its lost or I didn’t receive it)…
Most heartfelt – Valerie (with the 7pg goodbye message and many photos to remind me of the wonderful times we had. I think the first pic we took was in the container class with you and me putting one hand on each other aka Qiu Tian de Tong Hua. Not forgetting getting everyone to write me a letter w/o me knowing and the pretty pink Adidas cap =D)
Most number of pretty gifts – XiuTing (loved the frame with my name and the hp pouch which I already started using, there was also a butterfly badge)
Most understated – Jean (it may be foolscap, but I promise it won’t be mistaken for homework)
Smallest but not the least significant – Teresa (the small slip of paper measures only 45x65mm)
Most I-did-not-expect-it – Caili (I would have never guessed it was you who gave me the Little Women book, but I will find time to read it)
Most relevant – it’s a tie between Jovin (for the kangaroo on his note) and Leslie (for his postcard about hearing)
Most pleasant surprise – Chui Khim (since we never got close in VJ choir, I was really surprised to find a note from her)
Most economical – 03S17 (the whole class, or rather a few representatives all on 1 card)
Most business-like – Jia Yee (with the time and date at the bottom of her printed letter)
Most interesting – Ching See (thanks for your burnt cd, I need all the help I get)
Most appreciated – it’s another tie between Chun Ying and Tiffany (I know you 2 girls are really busy, so I appreciate the time you took to write to me)
Most I-do-not-know-how-he-did-it – Tai Man (we aren’t that close yet he managed to fill up 1 sheet of A4 paper)
Most belated – Su Hui (really sorry, but only read it just now, must have overlooked it in the plane =P)
Most practical – Joy (thanks for your earrings, I have been wearing them since)
Most functional – XiuZhen, Yun Heng and Simei (really sad we lost touch after O’s, but I guess you will find out how we are all coping from WQ)
Most thoughtful gift – Bixia (a bookmark from Society of the Physically Disabled to remind me who I am working hard for to help)
Small and sweet – Yu Xin (for the small card and keychain together with a bookmark)
Most optimistic – Yu Jun (for constantly reminding me that we’ll see each other soon, Christmas, as well as being able to chat online. I do hope we can find a time suitable for the both of us cuz so far I haven’t been able to catch you online)
Most I-hope-so-too – Felicia (I believe if the 2 of us try hard enough, we’ll be able to fulfill our dream of becoming each other’s children’s godmothers, remember that?)
Hmm… think that is about it. If you gave me a letter and did not receive and award, pls let me know and I will try to see if I accidentally threw it away. Haha, dun worry, it probably just means you did not pass it to someone who’d pass it to me.
Will blog more about the days that passed by in the days to come as well as probably upload some photos and set up another blog for my parents. So in the meantime, just be patient k? Email me at my school’s email if you miss me =)
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Just realized this is my 101th post... and to commemorate this... I have good news to share... I got the scholarship!!!
Its a partial scholarship, with NCSS footing half of all the bills. Which means that they will be paying half of my tuition fees, accomodation fees, living expenses, student visa, etc. My parents would thus have to come out with every receipt that they have paid for my education. This scholarship is worth approx $96 000. Sounds a lot? Well, it is quite shocking to me to know that my parents are paying that amount as well. Honestly all the hassle we have to go thru, somewhat makes me feel that it is not worth it. But any monetary aid beats having none in the first place and I am thankful that I have been awarded scholarship.
Although I was hoping for the full scholarship, I am glad that I only got the partial scholarship. Not because I will only have a 3 year bond, but as the amount my parents have to pay is still quite a substantial amount, my family and I still have to rely on God's providence for the next 4 years. Getting a partial scholarship keeps me humble while forcing me to give thanks for God's goodness. Unlike a full scholarship, which can cause my head to swell even further (if you think I would have learnt my lesson after being rejected more than once last year, then you think too highly of me), a partial scholarship is a nagging reminder that I was not good enough while relieving my parents' financial burden. Its quite the best of both worlds and I thank God for giving me what is best for me! And lest I forget, thank you every single one of my friends, my parents' friends and relatvies, for all your prayers and encouragement! =D
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Found this on wq's blog... been wanting to do something similar... so dear friends... pls click on this to help me - http://kevan.org/johari?name=lydea. Will really appreciate an honest opinion. Thanks!
Monday, February 13, 2006
I have 1 week before I leave... 1 weeekkk!
ok... I think I am freaking out since there are alot of things I still have to pack...
But thats not why I am blogging...
Hmm... let me just tell you how my day went yesterday. I missed church to go to sentosa with my jc classmates. Probably the last time I will see them, esp the guys, before I leave. Was feeling quite torn over whether I should go to church as we were supposed to meet at 11am at harbourfront mrt while my church ends at 11am. As it was, I could have gone to church and still meet them in time at harbourfront before they set of for sentosa. We reached the beach only around 1 with 5 people squeezed on the backseat of Kim's Honda. Lol. Alrite, you can blast me for being unspiritual, but honestly you can worship God anyday, anytime, anywhere(although I did not think about God the whole time I was at sentosa... guess there are some things I need to work on)
Anyway, we left at around 5 as the girls had to go back to celebrate the last day of the new year celebrations. Despite only spending 4 short hours, we had a lot of fun. Thank God for the good weather - the sun was shining strong after a few days of gloomy weather. We played volleyball, and thanks to everyone's lack of practice, the ball was always getting hit out of the court or having trouble crossing to the other side of the net. Once one of the guys hit the ball such that it landed on top of a palm tree and we had to get it out of the tree using bamboo poles and standing on a rubbish bin. It was hilarious and many people stopped their games to watch us try to get the ball down, which we eventually did. The game continued quite smoothly after that. We went kayaking, causing me to ache at my butt and arms, without one of the guys as he had a back injury. We raced and the guys splashed at us, childish, and spent quite a lot of time at sea but when we got back, our dear friend said he wasn't bored. Must have been admiring the bikini babes... haha. By then, it was about 4 and we decided to finally try out the new ride - the Luge! Actually thats the reason why I suggested we go to sentosa in the first place. We took the chairlift uphill... something like those ski-lifts you see in Switz, just that there is not much scenery to admire. And took the Luge down! Really fun and fast, although a tad short if you ask me, it was over before we knew it.
At the end of the day, I was pretty tired, but I am glad that I managed to spend the day with my friends. I am gonna miss them when I leave, but I promise to try and keep in touch as much as possible. Someone lamented to me that he has lost too many friends over the years, well it is sad that such things are out of our control, but I also believe that to sustain a relationship, both parties have to put in the effort. So if you wanna keep your friends, work at it!
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Wanted to blog in the afternoon... but my dad and brother were quarreling at the top of their voices... over me.
Actually, I did not really start it just that one thing led to another and it all snowballed into something huge. Its like this in my house. You see, my dad felt that if I should need a digicam to bring, I should bring the Creative one sitting at home now, instead of wasting money to buy a new one. However, my brother saw the camera as his and was pretty pissed at why my dad just gave it to me, while my dad saw it as his prerogative to give the camera to whoever he wants. For everyone's info, the camera was a free gift from the insurance agent when my dad bought an insurance policy for my brother. See the confusion?
Well, I am afraid this might be just the first of many other disagreements that might arise due to me going to Australia to study. And for those who have yet to notice my MSN nick, NCSS called. Nothing is definite yet, have to wait till I get the letter, written in black and white, but I should be getting a partial scholarship ie half of my expenses are paid for and in return I have to serve 3 years bond instead of 6 years which comes along with the full scholarship. I am a little afraid to write this down here, in case it all turns out to be a false alarm. However I am trusting that whatever happens, God will provide. Anyway, even with a partial scholarship, things are gonna be pretty tight, hence I have to be careful with how I spend my money over there. For every dollar spent on me, means a dollar less for my family in Singapore. Should I work part-time and earn some money, I still have to account to my family if I would like to take a short trip round Australia.
Honestly, I do feel bad over how much my parents are paying for my education, although it is almost as much as me studying medicine in Singapore. Also, with my brother currently also in university, studying long distance, I know I am very blessed to be able to go overseas to study. I did not make the decision to study Speech Pathology in Australia just because I did not get to study medicine in Singapore. I made sure my parents gave me their assurance that they would be able to somewhat comfortably pay for my education before giving up the nursing scholarship. And I believe that I will be able to find satisfaction in helping children with their speech and language problems.
Sigh... all I wish now is for me to get everything I need before I leaveand to meet up with as many friends as possible. Btw I am thinking of paying City Harvest/ FCBC at Expo this Sat as I am heading to Sentosa with my friends on Sun, so anyone keen to accompany me? =P
Saturday, February 04, 2006
I promise this is going to be short post. Just to keep everyone updated, I got an offer for housing at the Village Townhouse right after I emailed Flinders (should have emailed them earlier). So did, Rachel and Wei Qin. But guess what? We are not going to be staying together! Better still, I just got the offer yesterday, while the 2 of them just got it today and we have to make our decision by Monday 6 Feb, payment and all. Rachel just reminded me that we paid AUD$35 to wait for 3 months with no news at all, and then not get what we want. I just do not understand why our applications took soo looonnnggg... I am super pissed.... But I have to remind myself that God is in control and to give thanks in all circumstances. I should not be getting all agitated but rather leave commit everything to God. So God, I leave my accomodation in Your Hands.
Anyway, I am so excited! I just had a long chat with an ex-student of mine, remember the one who was interested to know more about the underlying message of Chronicles of Narnia? Well, I continued my explanation today and managed to share the gospel with her, telling her about angels, sin, Jesus, God, etc. It seems that she is going through a rough patch and she is very close to one of her tutors and that tutor is bringing her to church. Praise the Lord! =) We need more pro-active Christians (highlight this paragraph if you think I am boasting about myself) and we need to remember that is not we who 'save' others but God.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
I think I have a knack for going on a blogging spree and then disappear for a while, before I blog-spree again. I guess when I get inspired, my brain cells continue to juice out ideas for slightly more than 24 hours, before going into hibernation.
Went to XiuTing's house to bai nian today, wanted to visit my teachers in VJ too, however VJ had a half day today so all the teachers had gone home before I could meet any of them. It was their cross country. I guess the teachers finally got smarter and decided to let the Victorians work out all their new year goodies and what better day to give a half day than when everybody is still in the holiday mood? I remember when I was in year 2, cross country was on a saturday (groan... going to school just to run) and that day was Valentine's. -_-
Anyway, I just wanted to share something I learnt during bible study with mum and jean today. We are currently studying the book of Nehemiah and I learnt that the more you obey God, the more you will learn from Him. If you know God's word, you will know His will for you and when you do His will, you will feel joy and not burdensome. The past year, I have been feeling stressed out although I had no exams, wait, I had my grade 5 organ exam, but that's not the point. The point is I was feeling stressed when there was no reason to be, at least that was what I thought. But the reason was because I did not know what course, other than medicine, to take and what was God's will for me. I am still feeling quite stressed because to be honest, I am not 100% sure that speech pathology is God's will. I actually have no idea what is God's will for me to be exact. However, if I were to calm down and think logically, as long as ultimately I get to help children in need, I should be happy right?
I think I have to pray about it a bit more but in the meantime, something interesting happened. Was chatting online with my ex-student and ex-classmate. The former asked about the underlying meaning of the show of Chronicles of Narnia. However, as I was about to reach the crux of the message, the moment I mentioned Jesus Christ, she said she had tutorials to do. My ex-classmate was telling me how he found it difficult to live a life totally devoted to God. Despite my eagerness to shed some light, he was determined to find out the answer to his questions by himself. Although I did not get to share much, and I hope my eagerness did not scare them away or talk gibberish, but I thank God I was given an opportunity to share what little bit I know. I pray that such a chance will appear for me to reach out to Val.
BLESSED LUNAR NEW YEAR!!!
This CNY, I found myself repeating again and again what I will be doing. My mum probably repeated 20 times that I will be leaving in 2 weeks. 3 weeks actually, or 19 days to be exact. Just realized my previous post is exactly a month away from the date I will be flying. Anyway, I found out that many people had no idea what speech therapy is, just that speech pathology sounds cheem (Singlish for difficult to understand - have to write and speak in proper english before my dad goes on a long lecture about how my english has deteriorated, not that he will ever read this, but I too believe in respecting languages and that means using them properly). Even my ex-classmate, who took triple science in JC had no idea it was. It is not a rule for all triple science students to be interested in medicine/health science, although majority are, I am surprised my friend had no idea at all what my course was all about. (Nope, I will not be elaborating it here, because it is so laborious, and I think I will explain it better once I started on my course.)
By the way, have I mentioned I will be leaving in 19 days? Yes, Kim, it is 20 Feb. I believe I told you that like a couple of zillion times. But I do not mind repeating myself since you all are planning a surprise party for me. =D The flight has already been booked, will let you all know the exact time later, but it will be at night. Two years ago, when we were in year 2 (we are year 4s now! Feeling so old!), I would have never imagined that one day you all would plan a surprise party for me or go on a shopping trip together to KL. I will really miss you guys, oops, sorry, girls and I do not think I will be able to find another bunch of crazy pals whom I can bond with in Australia. Despite all that happened between us, I am still glad to have been friends with everyone of you (XT, Kim, Van, Moony and Chun). Of course not forgetting my beloved 'family' whom I have known since sec1 (you know who you are). Our friendships have withstood the test of time and I sincerely believe that one day we will have high teas together and be each other's children's godmothers.
Pardon me for getting a little sentimental here. Figured that I better say/write some things before I forget. In all these years, I have realized that some words have to be said, and not assume the other person already knows because most of the time he/she does not. Another reason why I am suddenly in the mood for reminiscing is because recently I have been feeling...lost in time...so to speak. I guess it is due to the fact I have stopped studying for over a year, after 12 years of education in Singapore, and that leaves me very disorientated especially since most of my friends have already moved on to another phase of their lives.
The past 1 year has been pretty painful, and work was really mundane, hence I found little satisfaction. I am one who needs to be productive, like a branch which produces fruit, (unfortunately I have yet to bear any fruit for the Lord). Although I grew a fair bit last year, not taller but emotionally/spiritually, but honestly, I would rather wipe away last year from my mind and start again. Also, even as my departure date draws near, I have yet to pack anything, except for organising my cupboard into the bring and not to bring section. Although I have less than 3 weeks left in Singapore, I still think there is quite a lot more time left for me to meet up with friends, pack, buy essentials, enjoy life, etc. I think it is because I have been slacking too much lately to feel any amount of stress. However, I am stressed over the fact that I ought to be doing more preparations now than I am doing. Rachel, who will be going with me, told me that someone said writing down your thoughts would help so I am blogging them instead. Not sure if it helped, but blogging prevents my writing skills from going down the drain, although my older bro insists I should blog less and write more letters to the newspapers. He thinks I should join PAP or something. Perhaps I will write a letter to TODAY before I leave, about how come NCSS takes so long to give out their scholarships.
Thanks to all the blogs i referred to (countless) for html code help :) (esp. cyn' and sixseven)
Adobe Photoshop Elements for supernatural abilities
