Sunday, July 29, 2007
thanksgiving, after the trip from korea
thank you Lord for...
1) increasing my faith
2) assuring me of my gifts and teaching me how to use them
3) empowering me with the Holy Spirit
4) accepting this imperfect little me as your child and friend.
God's love is like fine chocolates melting in your mouth. smooth. satisfying to the soul. a little warm in the tummy sometimes. rich. and keeps you happy for the rest of the day!
oh WHATEVER
this has got to be the cutest little tot ever!!! i'll practise this look when things get tough. whatever!
Friday, July 27, 2007
korea 14-21 july 2007 - a trip of grace, wisdom, blessings and strengthened ties
before heading to korea, our bros and sisters sent us off
outside yoido full gospel church. it has the largest congregation in the world, at 800,000 people!
korea's street food. actors in korean dramas always eat the 'chao nian gao' (the orangey-reddish glob, hiding behind a cup) with such relish and so, sarah thought they were delicious.we were duped. that 'chao nian gao' costs us 2000won (=about SG$3.50) and they were merely cylindrical flour lumps dipped in spicy sauce. wahhh. grrrawrr.
green tea donuts.
in a dunkin' donuts boutique near yoido church. dunkin' cafes are a dime a dozen in seoul. come to singapore lah.
a picture of Jesus in Gethsemane. a picture that depicts fragility and obedience.
our church's worship team. spot me!
cemetery cum prayer hill
at the break of dawn at the hill. i captured it after praying
break fast time!
my cell group peeps
lovelies: jakin & aimee
worshipping in the sanctuary of yoido church.
daniel the handyman
i can be a food photog! this is what i had (plus many other korean dishes) when my sis and i attended a korean cell group.
outside firetorch church -another mega church in korea with jake and jesse.
dongdaemun marketsense the late night buzz. took this picture at around 1230am in the morning but the place's still filled with bright lights.
korean potato chips. deep fried on the spot. very sinful.
at seoul's "city hall".
worshipping God freely in the heart of the city! how liberating!
*cue 'da chang jin' theme song*
exhausted bus captains on the flight homebonjour!
today, yue and i trooped down to orchard library to mug. yes you heard it right.
M U G.
well, it wasn't really intensive. just revising our work before our new semester starts.
char joined us after a while. char studied her german, yue her french and i, my sociology topics.
after lunch, we began to analyze some psychological word recognition. apparently, we recognise wrods acorcidnig to the sahpe (meaning we just need the first and last letter to be in place), not by its actual spelling.
so we did a test and proved that
1) we can recognise words more easily when they're in context.
2) the longer the word, the more difficult it is to recognise.
3) charmain has the wildest dreams.
by char:
"yelui merarid a fmhecarnm in tyoko's liuos vtoitun gnzia btuquoie and bghuot etese gugroeos chotles and cimarhan the leesivolt tehre icnh heles in all maritales and saedhs of pnik ignablamie."
isn't it difficult? so what exactly was she talking about??!
revelation:
yueli married a frenchman in tokyo's louis vuitton ginza boutique and bought estee (char likes to call me estee!) gorgeous clothes and charmain the loveliest three inch heels in all materials and shades of pink imaginable.
this can only exist in charmain chew's fantasy realm!
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
sorry my faithful blog readers.
i am currently in the middle of a blog overhaul.
ie. changing of blogskin.
it's a terribly tedious job.
keep a look out for updates on my korea trip + photos!
Saturday, July 14, 2007
i'll be flying for seoul in less than 24 hours!
see you all in a week's time and till then, carpe diem everyone!
hello kimchi and seaweed!
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
i've learned not to be so hard on myself nowadays.
you know sometimes, others look at you and think:
"how come she's like that?", "why did she do this?", "why isn't she doing it for the sake of... blah blah blah".
because of such comments, i get very affected. rejected and guilty.
then, just this past sunday, i was reminded that in my life, everything i do is for the sake of God. if there are certain things that i do or not do, some will point fingers but if my heart is at peace with God, with the Spirit within me, AND i have already explained to the necessary parties, then i have nothing to be guilty about.
egyptian escapade!
last tues, after so long, i finally met up with vanessa, denise and weiching! van brought us down to haji lane for a taste of an authentic egyptian dinner @ altazagg. and authentic it was, in all aspects. food was authentic. layout was authentic (they had mats, carpets for patrons to rest on the floor to eat). the men were authentic too - one of their male staff exemplified the paternalistic & dominant nature of egyptian men.
look below!
look at that man from the egyptian restaurant who took a pic with us, hugging van so tightly and nearly robbing her of a kiss! and poor van didn't know!
at that moment, we felt like pulling ugly faces at that cheekopek man! hahaha!
lesson learned: take pictures of the food, not with their staff.
lesson learned: take pictures of the food, not with their staff.
the food were mainly kebabs, topped with some sourish, white sauce with some salads and wedges as sides. i didn't like their mutton kebabs; the beef one was ok though. their potato wedges were good too, perhaps it's due to the special sauce they dribble nicely over the wedges.
one of the egyptian drinks that the owner introduced was a little hard to swallow because it was coconut-based and had peanuts inside. too thick a drink for me but van & denise's hisbiscus drink was refreshing.
that lane where the restaurant is is a charming little street with many colourful indie shops. nice haunt for chilling with friends and photo-taking... needless to say, we took a few.
aren't the colours gorgeous? it's hard to find such quaint lanes when singapore is saturated with sterile skyscrapers.
this is my "it-place" now!
Thursday, July 05, 2007
tennis game with yue and char today at ny's tennis courts.
refreshingly good... i like!
more tennis please.
thank you God for hearing my prayers. A load just got off my back this afternoon and that's why i can enjoy my tennis game today!
now i await the busy weekend.
God give me energy and strength!
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
spiritual bloopers
mistake #1: getting frustrated over sarah's delayed flight instead of bringing this problem before God.
mistake #2: blatant procrastination; refusal to plan what i ought to do.
mistake #3: worrying about this weekend (worrying is causing me much distress!)
mistake #4: moonlighting, accepting responsibilities and jobs that's more than what i can manage.
my timetable this weekend (i dare not look!)
friday (6/7):
3pm - help out for wedding decor
6pm - gp tuition for eddie
11.45pm - head down to the airport to welcome my sister - welcome back to urban life!
saturday (7/7):
2.15am - sarah's plane lands (please God, no delays!)
2.50AM - we head back home
5.30AM - wake up!!!
630AM - head off for shuhui's morning wedding tea ceremony aka sabo bridegroom+church wedding
7PM - wedding dinner @ carlton
11pm (hopefully) - head back home to hit the sack
sunday (8/7):
715am - arrive in church for morning prayers + piano worship duty (1st & 2nd service)
2pm - korea briefing
415pm - home? or dinner?
once this hellishly hectic weekend is over, i am going to blog more about my egyptian escapade with ching, denise and van at haji lane, as well as THE wedding.
tata.
Sunday, July 01, 2007
29 june - happy birthday to yooooo!
pris is 20 first! she beat me to it!!
we lunched at Out of the Pan and my lips were soaked in chocolates from france (thanks to yue), switzerland (thanks to huiching) and also in charmain's specially-concocted lavender chocolate mousse (creme?).
feelings? happy+ yummalicious + opps too much calories!
yue and i got pris a cork belt with red rims from french connection for her birthday.
i got yue this book by sue townsend - adrian mole and the weapons of mass destruction for her birthday.
i've read a bit of it and it's funny! loads of dry wit. i like. and i think she'll like too.
yue got me, according to her, my belated birthday present from paris - an antique-like chain watch which to me is absolutely lovely with its eiffel tower and flowers engravings.
the chain watch and it's in parisian time. i love it :D
jazz the church
after 2040 service today, thomas, jack, wenqi and i decided to continue with the jazz impromptu we had on thursday during practice. and well, the jazz music was excellent and spontaneous! i enjoyed myself tremendously and i had so much fun playing jazz bits on piano without following scores!
well done guys. i had fun and i'm sure you all had too.
and thank you God for such musical enjoyment :) praise Him and make a joyful noise unto heavens!
What to expect from here
FLASHBACK
CREDITS