hmm..how quickly 1 mth has passed..have already been in London for a month already..how i wish time passes quickly all the time..heh..actually i think it would. :) but somehow, good times jus seem to pass us by so quickly. i cant wait for december and hope it never ends.

hmm anws, more on school..think i'm starting to get into the 'schooling mode'..ha..after slacking for 9 mths, think i'm starting to feel the urgency in doing tutorials and problem sheets all over again..good in a way i guess..and along with all this comes the stress of projects! next week's gonna be a busy week, at least i predict it to be the busiest of e 4 weeks i've been here, because there's a computing lab test (pascal is still alien to me, sadly.) and a 5 min presentation to do on friday..but i cant wait for e week to be over cos that's when i'll be visiting agnes in cambridge! yay :) cant wait..hee..and qt worried bout e design proj..worried that our group just wont be able to work together..praying that i'll learn to see the good in people and learn to work with different types of ppl..i dunno..sometimes it's just so difficult to communicate, esp when we're from different countries and some ppl are just kinda weird..hai..but what to do, God placed me in such a situation to learn to live and work with different types of ppl, so i guess i just have to learn to trust in Him.

the sporeans in my course are all so mugger..ha..cept for us two girls..ha..hmm..there'll be periods of time when i just suddenly feel so @#/?!@#: and as if i'm not gonna make it cos i dun seem to understand so many things while others are working so hard..but God has reminded me of the lessons i've been thru in j2, to just do my best and let Him handle the rest..because that's all He asks for. I know God has his plans, and i dun have to worry so much about everything..although it's human nature to do so. oh wells. learnt a nice new song at cell today, lyrics from Psalm 23..and it just taught me to come back to God and to learn to trust in Him no matter what. so comforting. When i feel like giving up, the sermon in church yesterday reminds me that work, whether or not school or office work, is actually a form of worship, because we work for God, not for man. i pray that i'll keep this in mind all the time, and learn to glorify Him in my daily life. sometimes it's just difficult to live a different life to glorify Him, but i pray for the strength and the wisdom, and i thank God for fellow brothers and sisters in Christ even here in London.

To everyone not here in London, i miss you all alot. so much so much. Some things u think you get over, but never the feeling of missing home, family, and friends. at least for me. i so wish that nothing will change when i go back, but it'll be impossible, because things change, ppl change, environments change. miss you all, cant say enough.

The sky has lost its color
The sun has turned to grey
At least that's how it feels to me
Whenever you're away
I crawl up in a corner
to watch the minutes pass
Each one brings me closer to
The time you're comin' back

I can't take the distance
I can't take the miles
I can't take the time
til' I next time see you smile
I can't take the distance
And I'm not ashamed
That with every breath I take
I'm calling your name

I can't take the distance

I still believe my feelings
But sometimes I feel too much
I make believe you're close to me
But it ain't close enough
Not nearly close enough

I can't take the distance
I can't take the miles
I can't take the time
til' I next see you smile
I can't take the distance
And I'm not ashamed
that with every breath I take
I'm calling your name

I'd brave fire and I'd brave rain
To be by your side I'd do anything

I can't take the distance
I will go the distance
I will go the miles
That's how much you mean to me

posting this song yet again..i miss...

yayness. i finally did it..uploaded all the photos i have been too lazy too upload thus far..included many gatherings i had in Spore, right up to the photos taken at the airport..and also more of pictures taken in London..click here to look at the photos! :)

went to city gates on sun morn, worship and sermon were great :) then had lunch at chinatown wif the other cu ppl from all souls, and then shopping wif diane. haa..now i understand why songxin said shop like crazy man..haha..i seem to be going shopping all e time :p but dun worry, it's not as if i buy things everytime i shop. haha..walked ALOT today. haha..den cookout at evelyn gardens was fun, both guys and girls can cook! :) food was superb too, too bad didnt bring cam. after that went to e common room to play silly games..haha..lots of fun and laughter tho. was nice :) however, next day (today) fell quite sick suddenly, i only slept wif a sore throat last nite and today coughing was quite bad..hmm...was so happy to see lozenges in e medicine pack mummy packed for me (yay!) so i surived on lozenges for a while, and trying to drink as much hot water as possible now..heh..i shall go buy a kettle from argos soon..

from a song we sang in church..
Yesterday, today and forever,
You are the same, You never change
Yesterday, today and forever,
You are faithful, and we will trust in You.
Thank You father, for always being ever so faithful. the same forever more.

thursday -- long day at school den the boat party..was quite ok la..altho i expected it, i still wanna complain bout the smoke. ha :p i jus cant stand it la, even tho it isnt very heavy..but dun like cigarette smoke. i think the fun part bout this whole party is that since it's an inter-school thing (ic,lse and ucl) u get to meet lotsa frens, even those you havent met in a long time!! big surprise of e nite when i met chai yee, sec1 fren whom i havent met for sooo long..and she looks so different now! so pretty! :):) hehe..and huifang too..and everyone else met everyone. hehe..view was nice too..but couldnt be captured on e camera..other than that, was just watching ppl dance or standing outside talking..quite ok la. 12 pounds. haha

friday -- day ended at 5, came home and had dinner wif the other wilsonites since ros and yl had astar dinner..zh cooks so well! hehe..nice food man, so full after that, then we borrowed a dvd from e lodge and went to his room to watch bruce almighty. heh. quite fun quite fun..feeling of living overseas with frens ba :)

saturday -- woke up slightly later, den cooked fried rice wif yl to use up all e food we had left from the week..heh..as in uncooked food..we're good man..haha..fried rice tasted good!! lol :) we just chapalang everything in hehe oso nice lo..heh..den later came back and talked more on skype before going down to play squash wif diane and yl..quite fun! getting the hang of it..haha..den after that went to chinatown wif e other wilsonites for relatively cheap chinese food..ate beef hor fun (which was quite diff from e one we haf in spore) for only 3.80 pounds..yea i noe..that's called only..haha..den we walked all e way back to hall, walked quite slowly so it took slightly more than an hour.

tmr -- church and cookout and evelyn gardens!

hmm..booked everything for spain except the ferry trip to mallorca in december le..so excited and looking forward to it soooo much :) i hope 2 months pass quickly from now till then!!

i bought a thick trench coat today! hmm..it was 50 pounds, a discounted price fr 65..and after seeing it in topshop we went to other shops for me to think about it and see if i should buy..hehe..zara kids had this nice one, but i was jus worried it would be difficult to match and i didnt really like e kind of buttons it had..so i decided if i were to buy a coat, might as well buy a good one. so 50 pounds lo. heh..then went back to topshop and tried it on again, it's thick enough to wear only 1 top inside during e winter, i think! and it's long and nice :) so..when i was about to pay, ros suddenly asked the cashier if there were any discounts for students, and she said yes! :) showed her my ISIC, and there was an additional 10% on top of the discounted price! haha i thot they would say the 10% doesnt apply for discounted items. so it was 45 pounds!! :) :) oh ya before that all three of us tried this very very nice trench coat at warehouse..but it's like 75 pounds la. hai..not that cannot afford but bu she de..ha..but it's super super nice man..heh...can only dream :p but oh wells. happy wif e one i haf. also bought a zara kids top haha...we can fit into the 16 yr old tops..and they're much cheaper! :) so much about shopping today. haha. there's the UCL singsoc boat party tml. hope it'll be erm.. ok.
dun worry so much! :)

1 week into the start of real school..everyone's having different activities every nite..there'll be upcoming nites i'll hafta eat dinner alone! :( hmm anws..so far our major achievements are herbal soup, char siew flavoured chicken, sambal long beans, fried pork, omelette, cabonara wif broccoli, hao2 you2 spinach, peas wif chicken and carrots. :) hehe..fantastic rite. hehe.. :) jus did a few tutorials..forgetting all my maths is a really really really irritating experience. went shopping yesterday and today, saw many nice (and expensive!) coats..and i've learnt not to convert the currency anymore..haha..and considering buying a pair of boots :) so nice! hehe..but mus wear more to make it more worth it..went to church today too..the choir sounded so nice in the church..made me miss singing in a choir so so so much..i dun think i'll be able to join imperial choir..i dunno how to join the church choir tho..and all the people in it look quite old..heh...i'll be out of place...it's only e second week of school but i'm already sooooo looking forward to december! :) :) :)

random thoughts from the week...

i thank God for preparing a christian union for me to participate in, and to have a cell group within wilson house itself, hope we'll grow together in Christ and become really good frens. :)

i finally got my local mobile phone line..after much trouble..thank God that i could do it without my bank statement and it wasnt a wasted trip..heh...have to go back again tho..with it. and plus i haf another phone now..the sony ericsson k608i..

received birthday cards, letters from ppl in spore, cannot express enough how happy it feels to see letters with spore stamps addressed to me. :)

we're FANTASTIC cooks! :) :) hee

my parcel finally arrived..yayness. haha..although now i dun really need my rice cooker any more..heh..wonder wat i'm gonna do with it.

i bought an imperial pullover! haha..quite ex la..but i think it's worth it. (:

i wish i brought ALL my math notes..even stuff that seems out of point like COMPLEX NO.S!! i cant believe i forgot soooo much of it..hai..i wish i wish i wish i was neater and my stack of notes after the a levels was just in one stack and all i had to do was transport that stack here..haha..right now i cant do simple maths!! argh...nobody can save me..sigh

i'm freaking out thinking of e reports i'll have to be writing and the group projects coming up.

laundry takes 2 hours in the dryer.

the sandwich shop is the best!

salsa is not my type of thing.

i'm wearing the earrings sherry posted to me! hehe

i should really start making a list of all my expenses. hmm..maybe start next month. haha

my room smells of ikan bilis cos my mum packed alot in my parcel LOL. today's sambal long beans was fantastic. :) hehe

an apple a day keeps the doctor away.

i'm looking out for cheap cheap flights within europe! yay..excited hehe

Chicago last nite was sooo nice! singing and dancing was super fantastic :) powerful voices, powerful dancing.

i'm a pig. everyone's exercising. ha..my only excuse is i walk half an hour to school everyday...heh.

i really should start reading my lecture notes and start borrowing text books from the library to turn into a m.u.g.g.e.r.

i heard the most fantastic good news this morn. hope it comes true. :)

i miss all of you. -hugs-

hmm..a very different birthday indeed. not as lonely as i thot it would be :)

last nite, when i typed e last entry, was thinking to myself how nice it would be if family, jianen, school frens, church frens were all here..ppl i may haf taken for granted in the past..i read the letters, watched e videos, and as usual, started crying again :p heh..then talked on e phone to jianen and later my family cos they were all up for school and were on webcam and skype to wish me a happy birthday, tears flowed even more :p

but after that was talking on msn, and realised some of e guys actually went to buy a cake for me to celebrate today, and were afraid that i wont be free when all i thot of the nite before was ppl were too busy to keep me company. heh..so in e end, i realised i had very very sweet frens, esp heartwarming cos i was so far away from home, and these ppl felt like my new family :)

so today, i woke up later, went to school at 11, and cut e cake wif all of them during lunch :) den walked back to hall wif diane and yunlei, went grocery shopping, cooked up e remaining of our spinach, mushroom and chicken thighs, and webcammed till it was time to go out for dinner. went to bayswater and got treated to dinner which included the famous roast duck, mapo tofu, bamboo shoots and mushroom, hot and sour soup and alot of rice. haha.. den walked all e way back home .

so..it wasnt lonely, it was just a different kind of birthday. one spent miles away from spore, far away from home, family and familiar old friends. But i thank you Lord, for this experience..that even tho they may think it's nothing much, i'm already very touched to have this day spent wif frens. :) i'm blessed to be able to celebrate this two times this year! haha..one on e tenth of sept, one on the tenth of oct. :)

and wat adds to all this, is all the msgs from spore..school frens, church frens..ppl i may not have even thot would know or remember..although i couldnt reply them cos each sms costs S$1.50, if you all are reading this, know that your sms was really really appreciated. oh ya, and not forgetting the two cards i received in e mail when i came back to hall, the wishes over msn, and all the touching e-cards i received...very very touched. :) means alot to me. really!

when i was still quite sad and missing home last nite, i did qt using the devotional book dun bought for me, and the entry i read was titled 'not yet'. key verse being james 1:2-4, e verses that had encouraged me so much when i was back in j2, the days of doing qt on e bus ride to school. Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops pereseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. the story was bout how a beautiful teacup was once a piece of clay, which was put thru many different machines, hot ovens, spinning wheels, being rolled on, always crying out to it's maker to stop, but he always said to the cup, 'not yet'. This is going to be long, but i just wanted to share wif whoever is bothering to read this, how meaningful this paragraph of words meant to me: The teacup maker said, 'I know it hurt to be rolled and patted, but if I just left you, you'd have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled. i know it hurt and it was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if i hadn't put you there, you would have cracked. i know the fumes were bad when i brushed and painted you all over, but if i hadnt' done that, you never would have hardened. you would not have had any colour in your life, and if i hadn't put you back in that second oven, you wouldnt survive for very long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product. You are what I had in mind when i first began with you.' I know God has his plans for me, and he will always lead and guide me, and carry me in his mighty hands. =) this thought comforted me so much, and i know (as u always always remind me) that God is with me every single moment. no matter where i am.

Life here is ok, and i actually do enjoy the 'lifestyle aspect' of studying overseas. i think it's fun to go grocery shopping wif frens, being cheapo aunties and looking out for cheap meat and vegetables, using saver cards to get discounts wherever possible, discussing how many ways we can cook chicken or pork or vege..sharing stuff wif each other and being a friend to each other, and knowing that we're all not alone here. :) was telling diane, how interesting that when we're here, our conversation topics are prob very very different from our frens in spore in uni..cos we talk ALOT about things like the expiry date of foods, having to plan our next few meals and buying whatever's necessary, looking at everyone's timetable so we can meet and come home together, and checking when our laundry's finally done so we can go down all e way and collect it..i admit it, it's actually fun :) it's only e school part i'm dreading..haha..i dun wanna start school! not after my brain has ceased academic activity for more than 9 mths! haha...but oh wells. praying for wisdom and strength to go thru the trials to come. :)

hmm wells..long blog post. alot of my thots since the last 24 hours..heh..and well..jus wanna say to those reading this, although i'm sure i've already repeated this alot of times, i really miss you all alot alot. but i'm fine here, thank you for all the care, concern, and prayers..i will try my best to gambatte, and will see all of you soon. :)

And thank you Lord for e sweet ppl who bothered to msg me or msn me and make my day, in spite of the 7 hour difference. :) tml will be a semi lonely day tho. :(

thank God for letting me find a christian group on campus, went to church today. will try other churches next time.
thank God for friends like diane to spend walking home from church with.
thank God for putting me in a cell group in Wilson house, had our welcome cum meet the cg lunch today.
thank God for webcams and internet audio video conversations. =)

i really hate to start ranting on my blog, but why does it take so darn long to do stuff in e uk when it can only take less than an hour in spore..aiyo..like opening a bank account, and getting a mobile line. till now, i havent been able to get a mobile line cos they need some statements and proofs of stuff which i dun haf yet..some ppl even worse they havent set up their bank account yet so they cant do even more stuff here. hai..so mafan

had singsoc picnic today and played ultimate frisbee..heh..and attempted to play female soccer but my slippers (yep i wore slippers :p) were giving me blisters haha so jus ended up being goal keeper. hmm anws..was quite fun la..jus that feet hurts alot..ha

anw...church tml! :)

just some pictures from the first few days in london...

i just got my timetable today..seems quite busy, with everyday ending at either 6 or 5 other than wed...hai...but at least it doesnt start at 9 everyday...hmm..today we had egg race..haha...i havent described it yet. it's a -quite- silly proj :p haha...dunno why they give it to us triple e engineers..when it should be for like mech eng instead...bleah...we had to construct a car out of paper cups, paper clips, straws, rubberbands, balloons, pencils, toothpicks, string, a tube of polo mint..with no glue or tape..and race it. the car had to had a propulsion mechanism..and my first impression was like huh?!?! wif all e crap u give us how do we even do it? but after today, i realised how amazing some group's inventions were..really superb that they could jus use a simple design and create smth that travels for more than 5 metres in a straight line! that's e group that won la. haha..but anws..i thot it was quite interesting. but the period of making the dumb car was just..hai. haha..shall not even talk about it.

hopefully getting a phone line by tml...feeling handicapped without a mobile line..ha..cannot call back also other than using skype..and there's a picnic wif singsoc..hmm..thankful for e sporean frens here :)

miss u, but will hold on :)

i thot i was past homesick-ness..until i'm all alone in my single room, reading letters from church frens and school frens, reading ppl's blog talking bout them missing us and about the day they sent us off, watching e ppt yiwen made for me, watching the videos u taped for me, and thinking of home, family, and u u u, tears jus started flowing out of nowhere..i dunno why tho..i'm so fine e whole day, around frens and all, it's jus the being alone in my room..well but at least, i'm alone in and can cry freely :p hee missing everyone there loads and loads, but dun worry bout me, i'm fine..really. jus getting accustomed to the idea that school's gonna be starting soon..i cant believe it...de-rust my brain please..haha

a day of many firsts...

first time meeting tutorial group and my tutor! quite fun, my tutorial group's made up of 3 girls and 3 guys..which is a big big surprise for me because all along i expected there to be like a 4:1 ratio of guys to girls..but now it's fifty fifty! hee..and it's quite interesting cos we're all from different countries..me spore, then italy, malaysia, france, uk and hongkong..cool rite? hee

first time i went grocery shopping without parents! as in..actually planning what to cook for dinner. hmm..i think it's quite fun actually..heh..looking for good bargains and stuff..the stuff we bought were super heavy tho..went to somerfields too to buy cereal for breakfast..haha..three of us nearly died carrying our stuff back to hall.

first time we cooked dinner! hmm..cabbage turned out quite raw..but nvm la vege can eat raw. beef was like super rare to medium rare..heh..had to put back into the microwave oven for awhile..and i ate rice together wif the sambal thingy xzy's mum..so nice! hee..love chilli. :)

first time i talked to my neighbour! i knocked on her door and introduced myself hee...she's born in uk but parents are from hongkong..

and lastly, first time i did laundry by myself! hee..nothing much also la, we just put it into e washing machine den e dryer..waited for like 2 hours for it to dry la..ha..but right now clothes looking nice and clean. dun need to iron summore! hee...

yay...mus jiayou. :) u too.

sorry to all the people i promised emails and photos..haha..wait till i'm more settled down and haf more free time k? hope i'll get down to them soon. and thank you for all the letters, notes, presents, notebooks i received..want so much to reply ur letters and notes too..i'll get down to it soon. :)

just moved into my hall today, and unpacked everything..everything still looks kind of messy now..but i'm too lazy..haha..kinda feel like i'm just gonna haf to live in this mess..hehe...anw i haf my add, so if you still believe in snail mail (i love getting mailed letters! hee) drop me and email and ask me for my address! i also haf a fixed line now in my room incoming call's free all over uk. :) hee..

hmm..i cant really believe school's gonna be starting so soon..gonna haf to use my already rusty brains soon..hai..hope i still can do math..heh..and i need water! so so thirsty all the time ha cos i dun haf a water filter yet, and havent bought mineral water, so these few days i've just been drinking super little water..hai..tml must go buy water...

hmm..everything's fine, at least i could set up e internet pretty quickly..yay.. :) glad we managed to chat at least on msn, and thank God for webcams. hee :p

will prob upload photos onto webshots soon...when i feel less lazy. heh