Good vibes

I haven't blogged in such a loooong time! Because I thought I had absolutely nothing to blog about... But when I think more about it, I actually have quite a lot to say! 

The first thing would be about my my 4-day relief teaching job at IJ Kellock. I found it really enjoyable being a teacher. I love to interact with the students, and seeing their excitement at having a new teacher was very heartening. I don't know if it was because I was teaching at my old primary school, but I felt very welcome and at home not only because of the other teachers, but also because of my students. They were very well-behaved and didn't treat me like an outsider. I taught a p5 and p6 class throughout the 4 days and on the last day I took on a p2 class. The p2s were much more difficult to handle than the other classes I took because they didn't listen to me and it was extremely difficult to get their attention, but somehow I managed hahaha. If given the opportunity, I would definitely go back to teach again! But I'm not sure that teaching for the rest of my life appeals to me though... sometimes it can be draining and there is the constant nagging worry that you aren't a good teacher and that all your students secretly hate you haha.

Ooh and I also went to the Magnum popup store with Tiff and Grace :D You can customise your own magnum for $7. You get to pick 3 toppings, the chocolate coating (dark, milk or white) and the chocolate drizzle. It was super delicious because I love chocolate the chocolate coating was really thick :P We also ordered a tiramisu dessert, but it wasn't as nice as the customised magnum imo, and quite pricey too.

I also went for the NTU sociology interview and written test. It was horrible! I totally had no clue what I was writing. And during the interview, the interviewer asked what current affairs had caught my attention, and I PANICKED because I haven't read the newspapers in a looooong time. So I just talked about the MH370 -_- But in the end miraculously I got offered a place in NTU.... which I probably won't accept because for some reason I'm more inclined to NUS (which also accepted me into FASS). Sigh but I didn't get the MOHH scholarship :(( So I rejected Nanyang poly because my parents are dead set against me going to poly. I also finally applied to Monash. But then I realised that there will be an IDP Australia uni fair on 3 May and they waive the application fee for you!!!! So I effectively just wasted AUD$100 of my dad's money :'(

Anyway, until next time, :)
xx.

Consuming Fire

I just came back from church confirmation camp! This was my first time facilitating for a confi camp and it was definitely a very intense experience. Even though I wasn't a participant, there was healing for me, and affirmation of faith. I felt spiritually drained, especially after the pray over and one of the sessions. But at the same time, I felt so so empowered by the holy spirit.

This was the loudest batch of confirmands I have ever met omg haha such the opposite of my own class last time. But I just know that God will use their voices for good, to glorify Him and to proclaim the good news. This batch also came with a lot of hurt and scars, some not even aware of them, and some refusing to acknowledge them. During one of the sessions on Sunday I suddenly felt a rush of emotions and I just broke down crying. I suddenly felt all of their pain and a strong desire to just open their hearts and let God show them His love which heals all wounds. It's something I cannot explain but I just want to lift up to Christ.

This was also my first time praying over someone and I was so worried. What if I ran out of words? What if the person I was praying over didn't rest in the spirit? When should I stop praying? But prayer prep was powerful (a little too powerful) and I managed to just let the spirit take charge of me and my fears just evaporated. I just prayed, "I love them so so so much Lord, send down your spirit to teach me how to love them." And God did.

As a facilitator, I think I did pretty well for my first confi camp (definitely with a lot of grace from God), and I feel and hope that I managed to connect with at least 1 participant, and touch their life deeply. I'm immensely thankful for my co-facil Antaeus. He guided me through so well and his strong faith and great wisdom are such an inspiration to me, I have much to learn from him. Although I was surprised at how God was able to speak through me to the participants, I know that I can really improve on my listening skills. Not listening to the participants- I can do that pretty well.. but listening to what God has to say to them. I struggle with words and it's hard for me to totally surrender to God but there definitely has been progress in this area ever since I started facilitating 2 years ago :) I just pray that I won't stop hungering for the Lord because I've learnt that if you truly yearn for Him, all other things will fall into place.

With Ally! Where am I looking uh.

Then came Fawn

My group!! #perfectredeemer #PRT (missing Jerome Sim sighpie)

Camp shot!! Can never get one with everyone looking at the camera haha.

I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back

xx.

Blessed

So many little things have been happening in my life that make me feel like I'm really very blessed.

1. I was called to go for an MOHH scholarship interview. If I get the scholarship I'll be able to study locally (which is what I want) and not be worried about not getting a job in the future.

2. I was given the gift of tongues for the first time during a prayer session yesterday.

3. I found a buddy (ie Vanessa) to go for kickboxing and pilates classes with me! 

4. I'm stopping work at TMI on Thursday so I'll have more time to myself and to settle Australia uni applications.

5. I finally found a shop that sells really pretty phone covers. (kinda superficial but wdv hahaha)

6. I am learning how to accept myself and my body and how to be comfortable in my own skin, and just being myself :)

7. Hazel seems really happy and healthy now, which I am extremely grateful for.

8. And of course, I and all my loved ones are alive and happy and healthy!

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I went for latin jazz class on Monday and it was really a new experience! The dance requires you to move your hips and arms a lot which I'm really not used to! I was like a fish out of water and I bet I looked really awkward... I think I'll stick to my ballet and lyrical jazz lah haha.

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I also went to eat at Ssikkek Korean Grill at Novena with the ex-ODACians. It was meat heaven for me omg... It's buffet style so you can take as much as you want and grill it on a small grill in the middle of the table. I loved the beef!!

xx.

Strangers' Reunion Café

On Monday, I was pleasantly surprised when Xin Hui randomly asked me to go out for tea/dinner with her :) We decided to go to Strangers' Reunion Café near Outram Park MRT. 

The waffles there are the BEST. Xin Hui said they might be even better than Wimbly Lu.... (but more expensive also). We ordered scrambled eggs on english muffins (which we soon regretted because the portion was small and it looked like we could make it at home pffft) and a waffle with strawberry and ice cream. Wish we'd ordered 2 waffles instead :( 

Then we walked around and I brought XH to The Provision Shop (another café) and we went in and ate chocolate cake.............. #dontjudge #fatdieus Hey at least we shared hahaha

My food photography sucks so I insisted that we take a photo of ourselves so that I could post on instagram hahahaha

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Yesterday I didn't have work so I decided to go back to that area and walk around because the old peranakan architecture there is beautiful.

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On a side note, Hazel is doing much better now! Her eye infection is clearing up and she's eating and behaving normally except for the minor head tilt. I'm so happy! All my efforts are paying off :))

Ending off with a cute picture of Hazel <3

Already Home

It has been sooooooo long since my last post and seriously nothing has happened.... I've just been working almost every day and when I'm not at the hot dog stand, I'm (window) shopping at Vivo to pass time.... Omg what am I doing with my life??! 

Anyway Chinese New Year was meh... I swear my ang pao money is decreasing every year hahaha. It's because we only visit like 1 house on the first day -_- This year I actually fell asleep at my grand uncle's house omg is it very rude??? But I was really tired cos I ate a lot of CNY goodies!! #foodcoma But, on the plus side, I didn't have to answer any awkward questions!! :D

I had a steamboat with the Tenacious Turtles on 5 Feb at my house!!! (We took part in Dare6 together and that was our group name lol) Gin Kee enlisted like 2 days later so it was kinda like a farewell also...

Army pose lol

<taken from Cheryl's instagram>

Tiff and Grace visited me at work and ate hot dogs yayy!! I really appreciate it! But I can't visit them cos they work at an office... :(

It was really nice to catch up with them :)

The 4/3 people also came to visit! At first they didn't intend to eat hot dogs but eventually they did :') Thanks guys! It was great to see you again! Especially people like Sam Chan, Val and Jing Wei, whom I haven't seen in like 2 years!

I have no idea why one side is so blur and the other side is clear??

And I finally started reading 'A Thousand Splendid Suns'!! But I don't think I can stomach it omg... it is breaking my heart :'( I just finished the part where Laila and Tariq got separated and am contemplating whether I should continue reading... It's like something inside me died after reading that part.... Stop being such a good writer Mr. Khaled Hosseini!!!!

We're learning choreo for this song in lyrical jazz class and I really love the song!! Actually I love all the songs on Miss Shanti's ipad lah

Ok byyeee!! Hopefully something interesting will happen and I can blog about it :D

Big Mama + d'Good + Bukit Timah

Omg it's been 9 days since I last blogged?! It honestly felt like 3...

Anyway nothing much happened lah, I'm just working almost everyday. All of the part-timers at TMI have left and so now it's only Gen and me... gonna miss them a lot! 

30 January, Thursday

Today I went for IJ's 160th anniversary mass in the morning, it was the earliest I've woken up since the end of 'A' levels I think! It was super awesome to experience mass in IJ again, I miss it sooooo much! The archbishop celebrated mass and it was the first time I saw him lolol. What's the point of saying that ah haha. Also got to meet up and catch up with old classmates, which was nice :) Pictures!

Then I went out for Sogurt's spam-your-cup day with Grace. You pay $5.20 for the cup and you can just take as much as possible. It was super fail!! Because the yogurt started melting before we could even finish swirling and putting the toppings. So it ended up like this

After finishing the yogurt, we felt super sick and full so we (actually I lol) decided to walk to The Tea Party at Sixth Avenue which is super far away... but we made it! And Grace had the famous carbonara while I had salad cos I was still bloated from the sogurt  -_-

The food took quite awhile to arrive (like 30 min +) so I wasn't very impressed...

Random photos taken at Botanic Gardens haha (first 2 taken with self timer, which explains the quality lolol)

Artistic much

29 January, Wednesday

Went to d'Good café with mum for breakfast! The interior was beautiful, one of the best I've seen, but the service was poor and quite slow.

28 January, Tuesday

Tiff, Grace and I went to Big Mama korean restaurant for dinner. It was super freaking awesome. I've only been to Korea once quite long ago, but stepping into the restaurant, I felt like I was actually back in Korea. Everything was so authentic and the food was really good! But you need to go there with friends because some of the dishes can only be served to minimum 2 pax, and 3 of us ate the serving for 2 but we were super full after that. Plus the side dishes are FREE and CAN BE TOPPED UP omg heaven. 

Side dishes:

The top 2 on the left were super delicious! Some noodle thingy and lotus salad?

The kimchi was damn spicy! We couldn't even finish 1 plate... #chillifail

Bestselling dakgalbi!

Proud of Tiff because she can't eat spicy food (cos she'll sweat/cry/have a runny nose/turn red) but she managed to eat the dakgalbi, which is spicy, without even batting an eyelid :D

After we finished the cabbage and chicken, they added rice (have to order) so it was super filling!

We also ordered bulgogi beef, really delicious too!

Taken with the self timer. Not bad right

On a side note, it's Chinese New Year tomorrow! And I am dreading this convo:

Relative: So you are in uni now?

Me: No, I'm waiting for my 'A' level results.

Relative: So what do you plan to do in the future?

Me: *repeats my ambition and plans for the GAZILLIONTH time*

Also dreading this convo:

Relative: So any boyfriend?

Me: No *fake laugh*

Relative: How come??

Me: ............................ (in my head) HOW SHOULD I FREAKING KNOW. Because I'm unattractive maybe?!

Ok good luck for all your reunion dinners and CNY visiting, hope you don't experience such situations haha.

xx.