tomorrow..

argh, i feel guilty for wasting my holidays away like that
starting tmr, i'll quit slacking and start working towards the o's
acjc here i come! :D

ill..

today's been terrible
everything i was down with last week hit me all at once today
i'm down with a bad cold,cough, sorethroat and my sore eyes are back
oh and i'm just starting to burn up..
let's see.. my temperature now is.. great! 39.7

argh.. nothing interesting today
been sleeping for the whole day..
it's either that or i'll wake up for 15-20mins to get a sip of water, and crawl back to bed

mummy.. i feel terrible :(
and break away camp is coming right up

there is, however one thing to rejoice over
mum's making me quit chinese tuition :D
ah well, i've never liked that old lady anyway

fellowship yesterday was great!
the initial plan was to head home right after service with kat since we were equally broke
but.. smart evan had to hold onto bryan's new cd and walk around claiming it was hers
so there you have it.. bryan left with the cell for ps without his album - kat and i ended up having to go all the way down to ps to return it to him
for some odd reason, it's about the first time i'm actually not mad having to do such stuff.. maybe.. and i meant MAYBE it was cos kat was such a good company
we were dancing and tugging on each others' earphones while listening to the mp3 on the train, oh and yes.. we were having a great time staring at this VERY good looking caucasian.. who turned us off when we spotted him in his ugly sandals. haha

got the cd off our hands and of course, kat and i didnt want to leave the place empty handed
so we pulled together our resources and got ourselves.. $3.80! (i only contributed 15cents. ha!)
obviously that wasnt gonna get lunch for the both of us, so we dug hard and i found 20bahtt in my wallet!
it was only worth 80cents and after pestering the money exchanger for so long, we got ourselves.. 90cents! hahaha
with $4.70, we hopped around the basement in search of something nice and cheap to eat.. darn, gave up after being chased out of chippy, so we decided to go up to the foodcourt to beg for money from the cellgroup. haha

man i must really compliment the cellgroup on this..
the members were very generous.. fiona wanted to give us all the money she had, jicai offered 2bucks the minute we told him we had no money for lunch, and joshua wanted to give us 5bucks. oh, and my bestfriend gave me 50cents after lunch to get myself a cone from macs
thanks you guys.. kat and i are very grateful.. we managed to get ourselves a meal each from all the donations

lunch was great, and the after lunch activities were greater!
mass koped free samples from carrefour. it was darn funny..
at first, there was only joan and katherine who went to refill their water bottles at the water dispenser while jicai and i hid at the snack bar.
then, i joined in and koped sausages and pasta.. and bryan came along and went mad! haha
i think it was the 'shark' energy drink that got him. ahh, it was darn funny.. the 4 of us running all over the place and screaming for each other whenever we spot free samples. haha!
oh then joshua and moen came over to meet us.. and they were nagging at us for making a fool outta ourselves, then MOEN CROSSED OVER! muahahahaha
ah, the trip at carrefour was hilarious.. hey guys, we should go again soon :D

yay, i cant wait to go for this sunday's food event thingy :D

hello friend,
i'm missing you like crazy and there arent stars to see tonight :(

argh, i'm aching everywhere

man this holiday's jam packed
hey, what happened to getting a good rest during the hols
grrr..

p6 party last sat..
ahhh, the kids were VERY scary
yes, extremely rough. especially joan!
my ankle's still bruised and it's not pretty! :(
oh, she and her counterpart are also an extremely nosey lot
they were reading through my messages and holding onto my phone the whole time i was at the party
grr.. careful the both of you.. the next time you find your phones disappeared, i dont know what happened to it. muahahaha..
oh well, at least joan likes acs too.. we share the same wallpaper :D

sunday!
other than the fact that i was burning up during service,
it was cool..
pastor phil painted and preached, and it was simply phenomenal
imagine.. looking at a blank canvas upon entering the hall.. then, you watch some random dudes going up to mess it up
and pastor appears with his scraper looking thing and starts dipping and whipping the paint around
it's amazing to watch, how the painting proceeds and before you know it, sitting before you is a cross with your blessed savior hanging on it. his body stained with blood, and the nails stuck in this wrists
hey, come to think of it, it all makes sense.. your life started out as a blank canvas. and through all these years, you, or the people around start messing it up. and at the end of the day, Jesus is here, to clean up your life for you.
grah, i almost cried upon seeing the painting.

argh, the rest of the day was screwed
tuition stinks! i wanna quit :(

ARC camp!
missed out on day one.. i was at home drinking hot milo and wasting my life away
joined the rest of them on day two. ahh.. you've got to admit
no matter how detached i feel from the club, they are really quite a fun lot to be with
i enjoyed myself playing the usual cellgroup games and yes, owning everyone at asshole dai di :D
oh, and dragon boating, amazing race and movie marathon was great too
ps: arc girls are better than my classmates at dragon boating. i didnt get fed as much eeky water this time round :D oh, and dragon boating doesnt give you muscle ache. sleeping on the floor does :(
a couple of lessons learnt - teamwork, to look out for one another, and our school theme for this year - faith hope and love
ah, i'm a sucker. cant believe they didnt get me to be the student of the year. haha

oh yes, most memorable part of the trip: went down to the general office to double check velda's cip hours. we got to sit around and wait while they got the stuff processed and velda and i ended up glued to some toys 'r' us shopping catalog. was flipping the pages when velda exclaimed 'hey! my brother has this!! ONE OF HIS BALLS GOT CHOPPED INTO HALF!'
sorry vel, if you're reading.. i still find it darn hilarious though i doubt you know what i'm lauging about

velda: what? did i say something wrong?

HAHAHA!

back from chiangrai!
and i'm missing the mission home and the children already

the trip has been absolutely wonderful
despite having to live in a completely different environment, we went beyond ourselves and overcame all these petty issues simply because we had a common goal in mind - to reach out
and i am sure that in everyone's hearts, that objective has already been achieved and in the road to that achievement, we have changed for the better and grown into a greater maturity

i thank God for giving me this opportunity to come on to this trip, with 23 other wonderful schoolmates and 4awesome teachers. it is indeed like what miss tan said: we are not brought together by chance. it was a God-sent providence and it HAS to be the 28 of us.

all glory be to God once again, for making this trip such a success
for making everything proceed so smoothly.. from the fund raising, to the prep work and finally the mission trip
sure, they were slight glitches here and there, but we got over them really quick - from overcoming them as 24individuals to overcoming them as a team.. and that was what truly amazed me. that people from different social status in the school, people from different backgrounds and people who completely different personalities can come together and work things out. well done you guys!

well, we're back! safe and sound with cuts and bruises everywhere
but who cares! the trip alone was enough to compensate

members of the catholic mission home of wiang kaen,
especially my dearest duang jan and siriam..
thanks for everything you've given to me over these past 6days
you've taught me so many lessons in life - gratitude, to love and appreciate, to put down your own pride, and finally.. to love unconditionally

indeed, this entire mission trip is truly living life based on the word of the Lord
and what puts me in awe, is to be reminded of how awesome our God really is..
i simply cannot forget that one morning when i got woken up by liz at 3am to set out to watch the sunrise (i tried to whack her and pull her hair out when she woke me up. haha)
it wasnt the beautiful sunrise that caught my attention, but the mountains that i saw before i eyes when we were making our way back from the forest office to the mission centre.
the first thought that struck me when i saw that phenomenon scenery was 'magnificent'.
then i thought back and found the view extremely familiar.
i had actually seen it in my vision years back when i was prayed over by leila - i even tried to present it as one of my art assignments last year
man, it was freaky deja-vu. and it was also to me, another assurance that my awesome God is a living God

how appropriate. just as i'm typing out this entry, playing on the speakers right beside me is 'mighty to save' - hillsong

Saviour He can move the mountains
my God is mighty to save,
He is mighty to save..
forever, author of salvation
He rose and conquered the grave,
Jesus conquered the grave

well, on this trip, we were brought to the outskirts of chiang rai, wiang kaen
into the catholic mission home started by sister bernard and father paul
it is simply touching hearing what they had to say about the pioneering of this home:
how hard it was to get money,land and the support of the village
despite all these oppositions, they persisted and we are seeing the wonderful results of it
this home, once again reflects our awesome God's nature - He truly is our Jehovah Jireh, our provider.
whenever things go wrong and cash flow is low, sister says that they continue to believe in God and things always come through for them
man, God's making me fall in love with Him all over again. wow whee..

the home is a very lovely place..
initially, we thought we would be going to a place where toilets were sheltered by zinc roofs, and we were going to be made to sleep on straw mats
nope, none of these were true.. the toilets had brick walls and tiled floors, and although not as luxurious as ours is exceptionally clean
and yes we got to sleep on thin mattresses with warm blankets
oh, have i mentioned.. the meals there were YUMMY!
though every meal was just a simple fare, you cannot imagine just how delicious the food is
to say that we suffered there is an overstatement.

true, we had to move out of our comfort zone, move out of our comfy soft and thick mattresses and proper plumping facilities, we had to abandon all forms of technology, and we had to bathe in icy cold water in freezing cold weather.. but it was all worth it
all of it only reminds us of how pampered we have been, and how all the more we should appreciate all that we have.

got to plant vegetables and harvest in the rice paddies on this trip
fun, but it was hard work for all the taitais who went on the trip
having to get pricked by thorns, to get soil into your fingernails and plastered onto the sole of your havaianas is a big nono.
it was however a great experience. and it pricks me whenever i waste the food in the home
yes, every one of us have been polishing our dishes without fail these few days. cool huh

oh! and i like to ride on the pickup truck and bounce about due to the many potholes in the ground
and if you happen to take the truck with a certain teacher, you always get an awesome view. yikes
and we got to visit the villages and the local schools there
believe me, we are very privileged.

lesson learnt1: gratitude, appreciate.

our daily activity was to interact with the children
i got assigned to two - siriam and duang jan
man, it was difficult getting close to them
firstly because i cant speak thai, and secondly they were very shy
oh, and siriam and i hated each other for the first few days we got together
duang jan was my baby girl whom i loved to bits. mmm :D
i must admit, i was selfish
practised favouritism as i thought siriam never cared about me
she seemed to love everyone else better than me, so i let her be and focused all my attention onto duang jan
i however failed to realise how big a mistake i had made
we came in hope to reach out, yet my actions have proved me otherwise.
my actions showed me coming to feel good about myself. i only loved the ones who gave me acceptance
in the process, i hurt a little girl who has already been deprived of love

the night before the last full day we got to spend with them, she cried.
my friends alerted me about it and i ran looking for her and told her not to cry and that i loved her very much
believe me, it didnt work. children are very quick to pick up messages from what your actions bring, not what your words bring
she remained cold to me even on the last day we spent together
it was until the farewell concert that things took a turn

sister was giving us a thank you speech at the end of the concert
and well, all the girls broke down
i never expected myself to do so either. i bawled my eyes out. rahh.. how embarrassing
and they got all the kids to come forward and hug us one by one
and when it was siriam's turn to hug me, she passed me a note - in thai!
liz got one too. and we exclaimed 'ahhh! i dont know how to read!' in tears. hahaha
it was quite funny
and yes, duang jan and i cried our hearts out while hugging each other after the whole thing
oh, we turned into celebrities for awhile after the farewell
presented the kids with pencils and notebooks decorated by us, and the kids started coming forward for our autographs. cute.. very cute

it was also then when jeannie encouraged me to speak to siriam as she was being emo in a corner
chased liz away and sat down with her.. nope, she still refused to talk to me
until i leaned forward to hug her. then she cried into my shirt. aww.. the feeling was amazing when she finally hugged me back
first time in 5days that she actually opened up to me. and it had to be the last day! poo :(

anyway, hugged and patched things up.. bid the kids farewell and they went off to bed
got siriam's letter translated the next day
and urgh.. i broke down crying like mad..
i had a similar note as liz.. the usual greetings
and she added on that she wanted to see me again next year
and she was sorry if she made me upset in any way,
she promise she wont do it again

ahhh.. i'm crying again
somehow it always happens when i think about it
touched.

lesson learnt2: to love unconditionally
the bible says to love your neighbours as yourself and to love your enemies - those who are difficult to love
it is naturally difficult to do the latter,but try it and see the results for yourself. it was GREAT

lesson learnt3: to put down your pride and go all out to achieve something
i believe, if i hadnt put down my pride to run after siriam the other night, she would never have been bothered about me
see, no use being so full of yourself. in the end you'll only end up with nothing but yourself

well, this entire trip's been absolutely awesome
must i further emphasize..
rahh, i wanna go back
i miss the home and my babies!
and the company of the whole team of 24,
especially ST FRANCIS!
i even miss the creepy crawlies! ahhhh

yet, it's nice to be back in my own home and back to civilisation
caught inbetween..
oh well..

i spent a million bucks shopping there!
do visit the 'big c' when you get there.
cheap and nice bargains :D

alrighty, time to go to bed
will update with pictures soon!

perspective.

yesterday, i learnt that all my friends are VERY RICH!
especially EVLIZHOLEJAL YOU!

man, that puny little thing lives in HUGE mansion with a HUGE driveway and a HUGE garden and a HUGE attic!
and she has a HUGE collection of toys! -70% of it made up of free toys koped from SIA. hahaha
do not believe her when she says that she's poor

look! her attic's so huge we can roller blade, ride on a scooter and a skate car and chase each other around! oh yeah, and that's when liz fell and went mad. hahaha


wheee~ it was so fun playing around in her attic
liz played dress up,


and eychelle played with the two legged puppet,


and evan multitasks - drive skate car free hand, pose and message
pro huh. haha


oh yes, then liz and eychelle tried chasing after me with a stupid toy fish
i got freaked out and almost burst into tears. yes, i'm scared of fishes :(

JOLANDER'S HALLOWEEN PARTY!
cabbed down to her place after we were done playing at liz's house
the cab driver was odd.. very odd
he made all of us buckle up in the cab and started promoting chinese. haha!
and he didnt wanna give liz her change! nice one..

dressed up as santa's prefects with liz, for the party
our tag line: we're santa's prefects cos we're perfect! hahaha
and nope, we're not guys.. we're from the international section

in case you're wondering what we were holding,
that's ekel.. we're the carolling trio! :D
we replaced eychelle with a toy monkey. haha

hey, dont blame it on us..
she wanted to be a witch!

see, in the end she ended up having an identity crisis
angel or witch? oh yes, and waddup councilor yo(yeo)!


poor jacq couldnt eat,sit or move around.
lesson learnt: do not go for a party on time. you might end up like her


Pocahontas!


yay, i had a great time! thanks poh!
i like your crazy dog!


hey! it's the 2/2-ians!

happy halloween!
oh yes, and happy birthday brandon(: