and so we met up again.
the 4 of us :)
at brewerkz this time, not at holland v anymore.
out of our comfort zones haha.

took turns taking photos of each other...


love u all very much- once again i thank God for the 3 of u :)

photos from my taiwan trip with my family.
8 days- we started in taipei and went down the east coast of the island to gao xiong in the south back up the west coast to taipei in the north again. so we went round the whole island including tai zong in the middle. mad rush.
taiwan rox. cheap clothes and good food.
shopping there is like a cross between china and korea/japan. though i've never been to mainland china.
similar styles at cheaper prices.


changing of the guards; 2 photos of a house built by a woman entirely out of driftwood and other discarded material; the sea rushing in through a crack in the rocks.



white bitter gourd; chicken backside; deepfried cuttlefish
walnut cake; dates (not apples); grass tea in a cute cup made by the woman who built the house
oyster omlette; xiao long bao!; pink guava


jiu fen- this old mining village. v quaint and pretty.


C.K.S memorial in taipei.my 2 little brothers and i. on some bridge that they featured in liu xing hua yuan.

2 brothers dunno doing what.

hotel lobby. pretty purple trees.


shopping in xi men ting- the orchard road of taipei.

the sec 4s in church organised a Christmas party.
we had to wear purple, gold or yellow.
so of course the 3 of us wore purple :)
the party was well-organised, and i had fun. well done :)



spotted a car with an identity crisis. it thought it was rudolf.

part of my group; my brothers and i; my whole group; a talented artist at Breakthough- the halfway house for ex-drug abusers. we visited Breakthough during the youth camp in 1998 too.

post-camp lunch at rail mall.

i have no photos of our sentosa outing :(

just got back from our annual church camp- Alpha camp.
the theme this year is bu4 yi2 yang3, Spot The Difference.
since its in chinese, the theme has a double meaning, a play on the word bu4.

and it was different indeed.
it was a very slack camp (to me) cos i only had to care about motivating the group i was in- i didn't have any formal responsibilities, unlike in the previous 5 camps.
a nice change.
i enjoyed the games and the outing to sentosa.
thought the outing was quite well-planned - the hiccups were minor and out of the committee's control (eg the pouring rain during lunch)
so that was quite fun, albiet tiring.
well done programme com!

we woke up at 6 am that day and did quiet time and played some games in church before heading to sentosa.
arrived at about 10 am and ended all the activities at 10 pm.
reached church at 11 pm.
was rather tired.
but i still went home, showered, got changed and took a taxi to MOS.
cos there was a salsa event there organised by xen there as part of the singapore salsa congress.
so i wanted to go and support them.
i arrived at about midnight, and the place was still pretty packed.
when i stepped in to the main floor in MOS i was greeted with salsa music.
it was like whoa- my fav non-salsa club was playing salsa music.
amazing experience. rather surreal.
met up with some union sq regulars, and danced with all my favourite leads.
so that was good.
the music was brilliant cos there were DJs from around the world there, and they had exciting new songs.
but the floor was terrible- it was concrete. with cracks and holes. and bits of stray concrete scattered around. from where they broke off to form the holes.
so dancing was challenging.


all in all i had a good time.
reached home at abt 3 am.
returned back to church at 930 am and joined the rest of them for breakfast.


i guess the best thing i got from this camp is the fellowship.
i got know the younger ones better-that was really nice cos i don't really talk to them much every sunday.
so i am very grateful for the opportunity (and excuse) to interact with them.


spent the last night sleeping in the same room and xiaoen and xinyi.
yay.
just like the past church camps.
just about the only thing that has been constant since our first church camp in 1997.
we talked late into the night until we fell asleep.
this year we talked about evange, apologetics and relationships.
i don't think we've ever discussed evange and apologetics on such a personal level before, so i really appreciated the sharing- i got to know my 2 friends better and i got to learn from their experiences.
thanks.


went for lunch at rail mall today after the camp ended.
we were all rather tired cos we each slept about 4 hours only.
but the company was good and i enjoyed the fellowship and conversation.



very tired now.
there is a performance at Kallang theatre now- part of the Salsa Congress.
i planned to watch it once i found out about it.
but i'm too tired to go there now.
plus i'll be flying off to taiwan tmr morning so i need to pack my luggage and catch some sleep before heading to the airport.


will be back on 24 dec.
hopefully in time to join the church ppl for carolling that night.

i w a n t t o s c r e a m.

i love performing.
i love dancing.
i love the anticipation, excitement and hard work that preceeds each performance, the anxiety and exhilaration, the flurry of makeup and costumes, the adrenaline rush, the unbeatable high.
and since i'm not multi-talented, performance to me = dance.


its the s'pore salsa congress this week.
(and we can see where all this ranting is leading to)
since its organised by xen, practically everyone there is involved in some way or another.
don't know why i went there today.
supposedly to practice with jy i guess, but since we are both busy on fri, we can't compete. so there is no use practicing.
not as if we have anything to practice to begin with.
therein lies the problem.
the last routine i did with any guy in s'pore was 1.5 YEARS ago.
and that was with jy before i flew off for my first year.
don't get me wrong- its a great routine. or at least, it was, until everyone in xen learnt it- then it became the basic routine that everyone needs to learn.
so we can't compete or perform that routine.


so i can't do anything this congress.
and its no one's fault but mine.
justin really kept trying to convince me to perform or compete- he dangled the opportunities in front of my nose time and again.
but i refused.
and i felt so bad.
i wanted to perform so badly.
just that.. i want to perform an item i've practiced a lot and am confident of doing well, and an item that i can be proud of.
couldn't find one.
i'm too demanding even though i have no right to be.
so i'm left in this state.
plus i feel frustrated as a dancer.


i need to stop whining.
if i were able to step outside of my body i'll slap myself.
*piack*

i'm back home.
home= Singapore.
yay.

landed on friday.
haven't been blogging cos sth happened to my internet connection. bleh.
so no photos too :(


cf houseparty
so last week was the CF houseparty.
went to Houghton chapel with abt 20 ppl from the CF and a speaker (person, not machine)
we studied parts of Malachi and parables from John.
learnt a lot- they where 3 very enriching days at the chapel that were very well spent.
got to talk to ppl from the cf in my spare time, learn a simple card trick, a breakdance move, and sat btw 2 ppl as they debated (heatedly).
lots of fun photos.
but cannot upload :(

left houseparty before the last night, so i missed out on the performance :(
heard all the skits were hilarious. haiz. wish i could have stayed to watch. but i had a plane to catch to i had to leave.
fortunately shenglong was flying back with me, so we left houseparty tgt, took a cab to the coach station at 4 am in the rain together, endured the 3 hour bus ride to heathrow and stoned at the airport for 2 hours together. and yes, enjoyed the 13 hours on the plane together.
glad i didn't have to get from Houghton to heathrow alone- that would have been terrible :S
camb to heathrow alone is fine, but i wouldn't have been able to manage the houghton to camb part alone.


home
then i went to eat char kuay teow with my parents once i got out of the arrival hall.
the feeling of anticipation this time round was much lesser than that in summer.
understandably.


hmm.
went to orchard on saturday for a while.
the decorations are alright.
the concept is good- enchanted garden- and the description i read from a magazine on the plane sounded promising.
when i saw it for myself i was rather put-off by the golden leaves.
but then again i couldn't think of a better alternative.
so i guess they did a pretty good job- love the coloured plastic bulbs hanging from the (real) trees.

church
church on sunday morning.
felt.. different.
familiar yet not familiar.
guess i need to adapt.
and with memories of camb and houseparty so fresh in my mind, comparision between churches i go to in both countries was inevitable.
they both have their perks and, as a senior once adviced, comparing wouldn't be fair to either churches so we should learn to adapt.
yup.

preparations for Alpha camp were in full swing.
alpha camp= year-end youth church camp.
been going for that camp every year since... 1997!
only missed it last year cos i was in england.
that makes it 8 camps.
from 2000 onwards i've always been either an assistant group leader or group leader in the camp.
ie, i've always had an active role to play in the camp, so the days leading up to alpha camp were always fraught with anticipation and anxiety.
and of course much excitement.
every camp was different, some more memorable than others, but all very fun.
and after alpha camp, we only had to wait abt a week before christmas, which had its own activities and the associated preparations.
so we all used to meet up practically everyday after alpha camp until christmas eve, when we would go carolling.


thats the past.

i feel old.

and out of place.



this year, i'm a regular camper.
no duties, nothing.
not surprising considering i've been back for less than a week.
don't feel the same pre-camp excitement, the anticipation.
to do so i'll need to invoke memories of alpha camps from bygone years.
but for what.
circumstances change, people move on.
learn to adapt.


today
met kelvin for lunch.
YAY! :) :)
so nice to see u again.
good to catch up.

received a call from harry informing me that a bunch of ppl, including himself, would be at Q bar at night.
so i had to go.
changed all my plans.

met enlin for dinner and holland v.
(we really need to get out of our comfort zone)
had jap food.
v good :)
talked and talked.
it was nice sharing beyond the usual affairs of the heart.
talked about our spiritual lives as well, which didn't begin with "so how are you spiritually"(which, while well-meaning, can be rather intimidating)
knowing how a person is doing spiritually takes a relationship to a deeper level i guess.
thanks for sharing.


salsa
back to the sg salsa scene again.
at Q bar as part of the Singapore Salsa Congress organised by xen, which lasts the whole of this week.
i'm not heavily involved in it either cos i just got back.
(see a recurring theme here)
had my first dance with jy- who kept spinning and spinning me for some unknown reason. some things never change.
was nice to see all the xen ppl again and to dance with them.
can feel myself gradually recovering from the salsa low i was hit with in the uk, but not quickly enough.
yanqing is pretty amazing- she is doing so much for the congress.
hope she is taking care of her health too- she looked so tired.





its nice to be back.
but i feel out of place somehow.
once i get comfortable it will be time to leave.
where do i belong?

And so the CF/JF Christmas Party was held last night.
a lot of people were like "agnes, relax, don't be stressed"
haha.
how did they know i was stressed.
i was- but not all the time.
in fact at about 530pm when the ppl involved started to arrive i felt too un-stressed.
and then we had a 10 min prayer meeting, and i was put in the right frame of mind.


preparations started at 11 am, with the cooks meeting to go to tesco to buy food.
but they decided at 1230 pm that they wanted to put the food in the kitchen, so i had to go down to get the caretaker to open the hall for them.
so i stayed and helped out a bit.
helped daryl marinate and massage the chicken pieces.
no idea how many pieces of chicken there were- probably 200 in all.
then i left to get lunch and go to the bank.
daryl and the chickens.

shanci cutting vegetables.


returned to the hall at 520 pm for the prayer meeting.
felt a bit off, but was put right by the prayer.
should have spent the afternoon praying instead of running errands.
then more helpers started to arrive, and there was a mad rush to co-ordinate the logistics, ushers, choir and actors all at once.
it was especially difficult cos i didn't really have an idea of how to arrange the tables- the only thing i didn't plan for that night (cos the tables weren't in the hall and had to be shifted from elsewhere)- and everyone was depending on me to decide the table arrangements.
but it all worked out in the end.
sorted out the tables, ensured that there was someone in charge of the sound system, located the props for the skit and finally briefed the ushers.
and i was just done briefing the ushers when the first guests started to arrive at 630pm ( it was supposed to start at 645 pm)
and from then on there was just a continuous stream of people- including yijin, yifan and hk! yay! :)
about 20 ppl who didn't rsvp decided to turn up.
panic.
cos we only cooked enough for about 110 ppl, the number that rsvped- and we had enough seats for 130 ppl.


we started at 710 pm, 10 mins later than we planned.
i delivered the opening address, then we had the first act of our skit.
it went fantastically well :)
everyone got the jokes, which was brilliant.
and the actors were really good too :)

shelf of groceries entirely made of cardboard. impressive stuff. thanks daniel kumbang!

then i said grace before dinner was served.
that was pretty scary.
i've never prayed in front of so many ppl before.
it was an honour.

and then dinner was served.
it looked, smelt and tasted fantastic.
yay :)
there was enough food to go around! cos out of the 110 ppl who rsvped, about 10 plus decided not to turn up. so a total of approx 110 ppl were present.
and somehow we had extra chicken left over, so some ppl got seconds.
amazing.

after dessert, everyone in the hall and to move to the church for the remainder of the programmes.
i was dreading this part cos there was only a small corridor that linked the 2 buildings.
so i positioned the ushers at strategic locations to direct the flow of ppl, and guided the emptying of the hall.
and everyone managed to move out of the hall and into the church in about 7 mins- half the amount of the time allocated for this business. impressive.

once the hall was emptied of people, the logistics ppl started to clear up.
and a lot of cf and jf ppl pitched in, so the hall was emptied of dishes and tables v quickly.
yay.

we had act 2 of the skit, which was amazing.
the actors improved dramatically from the last time i saw them- that was their 2nd rehearsal i think.

carmen, joshua, lukas on stage.

that was followed by ryan's testimony, which was very genuine.
a lot of people were touched by his testimony.
intially we wanted to have a speaker, eg a pastor, and were unsure abt the testimony.
then we decided to have both.
but we couldn't get a speaker so we decided to ask ryan to give his testimony and make it longer.
we didn't really give him much help- so he was pretty much left on his own. but we did pray for him a lot.
in the end his speech was sincere and real- with all the important elements of the gospel explained.

that was followed by the choir which was composed of ppl from the cf and jf. they didn't have much time to practice, but they still sounded really pro. so yay :)
and the audience did join in the carols at the end, so that was fun.

choir!

all in all i would think that the event was a success.

a lot of ppl put in so much effort into it:
-shenglong, who wrote the script and directed the skit, the actors, anna and michelle who led the choir and the choir members- all of whom them met twice a week to rehearse.
-the cooks, with daryl in charge, who worked for 12 hours. non-stop. they met at 11 am to buy food and finished washing up at 11 pm. and cooked from 2pm to about 630pm.
they didn't even stop to watch the performances- some of them didn't even eat dinner.
they were too busy working.
*applause*
-ryan, who spent a lot of time writing and perfecting his sharing.
the ushers, who had to be on their toes all the time cos they had to ensure that no one was without a seat/ was lost.
-weising and his crew of logistics ppl- they did an amazing job setting up and clearing up cos they were very very efficient.
-gabriel, who stood out in the cold winter air directing ppl to the hall cos it was hidden and a lot of ppl went to the wrong place.
-weng khong, our runner who had to go to sainsburys twice to get things we forgot to get.
-the sound system ppl, jeremy and a jf guy. it was pretty amazing how it all worked out. i knew that we needed someone to be in charge of the sound system, so i randomly chose jeremy cos he is a comp sci (ok a bit of a stretch there) and as it turned out he was quite good at handling such things. and while we were setting up this guy from the jf came along and said that he knew where to get an additional set of mics that worked even better. so we had lots of mics in the end. which was fantastic.

so the Christmas Party was full of uncertainties here and there.
but it all worked out well in the end.
i can clearly see God's hand working through it all, ensuring that all went smoothly.
thank you Lord.
to God be the glory

today is the day of the CF Christmas Party.
2 dec, even though its only 1 am now.
the CF com knew that we wanted to have an event for Christmas when we had our first meeting in march.
and since i'm the evange sec i'm in charge of this event.
i tired to contact the hong kong CF (aka JF) in the summer to collaborate on a musical- that is, they are in charge of the event and we sort of help out a bit.
but they didn't have any plans for a musical- and they only gave us their reply in october- which is pretty late for an event at the beginning of Dec.
so we resorted to plan B, which is to have a small-scale event of our own- just a Christmas dinner and perhaps a talk and some carols. no large-scale fancy musical.

so we planned and planned, and somehow we decided to include a short skit of say 15 mins. and then we wanted to hold it in HMH, which can probably fit 60 ppl.
a small-scale event.

but then somehow the JF got wind of this, and they wanted to help out- but with us in charge.
and since the JF is involved, we can't hold the event at HMH anymore cos we will have to cater for a larger crowd of about 100 people.
by this time our script for a 30 mins script was already out, and we already had actors from the CF- all in a span of 2 weeks!
and with the JF around we will have more manpower.
but we had no venue, and hence no date.
so we couldn't start publicising.
plus we couldn't plan the logistics for cooking for 100 ppl cos we had no idea where to find suitable kitchens.
and this was like 3 weeks before the event.

the whole committee was so worried.
we prayed and prayed.
we asked around.
but to no avail.
until someone from the JF suggested st. columba's hall and managed to get a contact number from that place.
i rang them up and we managed to secure the place- it was the perfect place, really.
large enough to fit 100 people, with tables, chairs, cutlery, crockery and a big kitchen.
plus an adjacent church with a good sound system for the performances.
and the hall was available only on 2 dec, which was our ideal date for the event anyway.
Jehovah Jireh- God with provide- how true.

under the capable hands of some JF people, we now have a choir as well.
i haven't heard them yet, but i'm sure they are really good.
so from "cosy dinner" we morphed to "large-scale dinner", from nothing to a 30 min skit, from carols to a choir and from a CF event to a collaboration.
its been pretty amazing, and i guess if God wants sth do be done He will guide us through it.


the event will start at 645 pm, but the people in charge of the food will be meeting at 11 am.
not too sure how it will turn out, but we will all be praying for wisdom for daryl, who is in charge of all the cooking.
there are a few loose ends to tie up, such as folding the pamplets, assembling the props, testing the sound system etc.
minor things really.
but i'm jittery now.
a bit worried.
i've got my event plan detailing where every single person involved in someway is at every point in time starting from 520 pm.
but somehow i feel as if i've missed out sth.
like i've forgotten sth.
even though 101 people have rsvped, we are catering for about 100 people. i don't know what we'll do if people who didn't rsvp decide to turn up.

there are uncertainties- there is only so much i, and the com, can do.
we just have to put in all in His hands and trust that He will give us the wisdom to carry out all we have planned.