Hotel 1929

Whilst i was back in Sg-- parents brought me to this lovely restaurant @ Hotel 1929.
The dining experience there was fantastic. =)
It was a 3-course luncheon.
I had the fried tofu, mom and dad had the foie gras (goose liver) with bacon.
Had some from their portion, it was absolutely brilliant.
Tender and juicy.
Just melted in my mouth.
Ingenious, whoever thought of goose liver.

The fish we had was really fresh and the sauce was buttery yet savoury.
Mom had the linguine with clams... awesome.
Just HAD to show you the pictures.... my dad's camera was sooo sharp.

geez. i'm hungry now.

dreamy

It's a strange feeling-- rather dreamy... sorta like floating, being back at uni.
2 weeks into classes, all the hustle and bustle... it seems i have not missed much!
haha, then again i will never know what i missed... cos i wasn't there in the first place.

2 more weeks of uni then back to teaching in the classroom.
Time really flies, it wasn't too long ago that i was looking forward to the China trip.
Now it's all over, and i've learnt so much... overflowing.

Oh anyway! LC and Adeline are engaged!!! Congrats you two!! *hugs*
Wedding's 6th Sept 2008... =)

Still not halfway thru Deathly Hallows. This is the longest i've taken to read any Harry Potter book. I'm always engaged in something, and when it gets til 10pm @ night i just feel so so sleepy.
i really want to finish it. And every other assignment i've got on my hands at the moment. =p

design....

A big thanks to Nikki, who's helping me tweak the blog design! =)

ZZ memories

Deathly Hallows

I intend to finish this book in approximately 6-7 hours.
Hopefully not in one shot.
But the suspense is killing me.
And i'm afraid to stumble on websites that include spoilers!!!

man....
i'm excited!

Rolling ball

Notice

Back in Sg and i've got so much to share!

I'll be back in Perth on Thursday!

Ni hao!

"China is like a sleeping giant. When she awakes, she shall astonish the world."

-Napoleon Bonaparte 1803

Hello people!
Greetings from the land of the sleeping giant!
it's been a totally different experience here! Been speaking so much chinese, and even required to translate for Cindy, Mojo and Ziech most of the time. It's quite demanding actually! haha and i've been working to remember how to read chinese and how to write it as well.
I've improved tremendously in days, now i know that immersing yourself in the culture is really effective in language acquisition. (mari will find that phrase familiar) It really matters alot to mainland Chinese if you can speak their language. They're quite intrigued that i can speak english and understand chinese as well. (if the accent is not so strong and if they don't speak really fast). But the communication is really good enough, there's a sort of bond in a language. Which is why so many students are learning english as well! But the problem is speaking, i think alot of chinese students can write... (thru rote learning and drills) but not really speak or listen. so that's our main focus... speaking and listening lessons.

We've been planning resources for the camp, the American team (which consists mainly of American born Koreans) about 10 of them are arriving on the 17th of July when the camp starts. So Cindy, mojo and i will have to take the first 2-3 days of classes before we delegate and do shifts with the classes. Ziech has left to Malaysia today and will be back in perth quite soon i think! =) Cindy and Mojo have never taught before but i must say they're fantastic! they're going to be great in the classrooms!

We visited the Yellow River (huang he) yesterday. Got to see a small part of the river only... one of the smaller tributaries. It was drizzling the whole time! was quite a dreary day, but it was a good experience! i took a photo with a giant Chairman Mao statue! haha... the culture here is really different, despite all the rude behaviour (which is unintentional) like spitting and loud talking... the chinese people are really warm hearted and animated! haha. The volunteers we work with @ the school are excellent people! they're really helpful and very eager to learn english... 2-3 of them are actually going to be translators in the classes with us.

Food's good! been eating home cooked food for the past couple of days... haven't really eaten out cept for a really good meal we had @ a student's family restaurant! super good noodles. Best in Henan province apparently! cos they are from the Hui tribe. so it's authentic Hui noodles. =)

Will try to update soon again! maybe in a couple of days or so!!
Do keep us in prayer... health and safety in particular. (Cindy's had some bad food poisoning past 2 days)
Catch you soon!

Love mishi =)

Flying Again!

Heya! greetings from Singapore Changi Airport!
Flying to Zhengzhou in a bit via Guangzhou =)
Check this spot for updates, meanwhile keep us in prayer-- health, protection, weather, program and impact!

Words from a spiritual father to a son

Wow, inspirational.

A post dedicated to my bro... as he leaves to come join us in Aussie land.

Jean-o

Order of the Phoenix

After reading the book a second time-- i REALLY hope that the movie doesn't cut out all the nitty bit scenes and focus on the useless ones, like harry kissing Cho, or Cho crying and whining half the time!

I want to see how they portray thestrals (large winged horses visible to only those who have witnessed death) and i really hope they don't cut out the Fred-and-George-running-amuck scenes (the fireworks and the swamp), Firenze will make another appearance and i do hope i get to see Grawp (a giant Hagrid brought back from the mountains). He seems quite a handful! I'm looking forward to the gathering of Dumbledore's Army with Defence Against the Dark Arts conducted in the Room of Requirement?? Oooh! this is also the book where Ron and Hermione display traits of fights-before-falling-in-love. haha. I haven't yet finished the book a second time, so might have to do just that to refresh my ailing memory.

So with the kids trying to get through their OWLs (ordinary wizarding level) and Voldemort returning with all his death eaters escaping from Azkaban, coupled with the villians like Dolores Umbridge and Bellatrix Lestrange.... i'm sure Order of the Phoenix will prove to be an all rounded plot, although it leads to a darker Half-Blood Prince.

under construction!

haha template under construction, been wanting to change for a while now... still looking for another simple design =)

Such is our Fathers' love

Jean's been doing very well after the operation, she's gained a bit of weight and prances around the house like a very happy dog. =)
She's excited even tho u've only left the house for an hour and greets you like she hasn't seen you in months! (so i get the same greeting everytime since i've landed) My dad knows her inside out, her habits and her "pretenses". Sometimes when we're all leaving the house and she has to be put behind the baby bars- she pretends to disobey. So my dad will point to the place she ought to go, but Jean will look at him with sad eyes or pretend to sniff something else. She's never liked to be home alone and my dad knows her avoidance tactics and becomes more firm in his voice. She either walks with her head hanging into the gallows, or flops on her bed outside (den we'll have to carry her in).

Doesn't our Heavenly Father know full well that we pretend to not know what we're supposed to do? But He still loves us with such a great love that we cannot even begin to fathom. When we don't obey just because we find it hard or we don't feel like it, He does not strike us with the iron rod- but gives us choices. The message is simple (as Tim Bergman put on Sunday) to Trust and obey- for there's no other way, to be happy in Jesus... But to Trust and Obey.