10.31.09 Teacher

I am back from my long hibernation period of blogging. Don't know how long till I blog again. Hahaha...

Today is the last day of October, exactly a full month I've hold the title of being a teacher. I have to say, being an educator is quite different from what I expect it would be - more challenging, more time consuming, and more mentally absorbing.

Though I've only been a teacher for 4 weeks, it feels like 4 months. I go home quite tired and just feel like resting. There were times when I wonder why did I choose this job, and whether I would like to continue doing so. I thought teaching would be a fulfilling occupation, in which you get to see those bright faces of your students lit up when you explain something and they get it. Or at least you would feel the satisfaction of receiving the proper attention they give when you are imparting knowledge to them.

But in reality, there were a lot of times when my students seem to understand the lessons, but still do horrible in their exams. And more times when they would start talking with their friends then listening to me. Not to mention how hard it is to "control" them when they finished their work in class early. Little fifth grade boys and girls running around the class shouting and throwing paper balls is not exactly a great picture of good class management, don't you think? (which makes me nervous when I think about my performance assessment next week ..............)

Of course there were also the good times too... The time when one of my student won a story-telling competition, the time when they actually sit still and listen to my teaching, the time when I see more students' grades went up, the time when my students finished their project while the other classes didn't, and the time when I managed to resolve a conflict. Maybe these are the small moments which give me hope that I'm not that horrible of a teacher, that I at least managed to teach them a few things with my limited brain and experience.

I have 2 more months ahead before I need to sign a 6-month contract till June 2010. During these two months I will have to decide whether I want to continue being a teacher. I still don't know which one I'll choose, but either way, I truly have learned a lot of things. I just pray that He will show me which way to go, and open the door to the path I need to walk on.

05.12.09 Feel blessed

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him" - 1 Cor 2:9

Today is one of those days when I feel really blessed, the day when my favourite verse is manifested in my life, the day when I feel not worthy but I received the blessings anyway.

God is good indeed, as always. I know I'm probably guilty of praising Him only when I receive blessings, and maybe I often questions Him when I'm in the midst of a storm. But still, today I feel really blessed that I need to share this with whoever out there reading my blog, granted not too many.... hahaha...

Anyway, to give a background story... basically this past week, we have been living at a very minimum, because our money supply in the bank is LOOOWWW. And by this week, we were supposed to pay our tuition fee as well. But I didn't want to ask my parents to send more money now because of several considerations. One of which, is because we did use some of the money for travelling... hahaha... As the result, I really minimized our shopping this week. Haven't been buying fruits and our household needs. I only bought those things which are urgently needed. 

So due to this 'lack', last week I ask my dear to wire some money from my bank account in Singapore. But somehow so many complications happened, for example, the bank in Singapore could not send in RMB, while I prefer them to send in RMB because from my experience FX rate in Singapore is muuuuchh beter than in China. But no choice, because I really need the money, I decided to send the money anyway. Then after they send SGD, the bank here cannot accept SGD because SGD is not a common currency here. Really complicated huh!? So the money was successfully sent from there, but not accepted here. Where did the money go? 

I was getting worried because (1) I'm not sure what is happening to the money, where it's going and more importantly (2) we needed the money. After going to my bank the past two days, I decided to go again today to ask for clarifications. I prayed in the morning, hoping that everything will be ok. 

Today I was planning to go early during the time between classes, but somehow I completely forgot. So when I went in the afternoon, there was a long queue! I was already prepared to wait there for an hour.... then, unexpectedly, as I was sitting waiting, on the window ledge behind me, I saw a queue ticket, which is 2 numbers away from the number being called now. Wow! I couldn't believe it! I checked the date on the ticket twice to make sure it's not yesterday's ticket or something. It's today, it's correct! And within 10 mins I was in front of the teller already.

Furthermore, this time, when I inquire about the money, the reply is different. This time they told me I can go pick up the money at another branch. Yipeee! What a relief. So in the afternoon, after class I cycled to this other branch. Before I went, I checked the FX rate in google. It says 4.66 something. I was expecting the worst, that the rate will be horrible like last time, probably around 4.3 max. I anticipated that I will probably lose about 600 RMB in exchange rates. I was even wondering if I need to go to a money changer instead if the difference is too high. But the money changer is really far, I would need to take a bus for 3-4 hours to get there. So I wasn't really keen on going. 

However, the fact is, when I exchanged the money I got 4.66. Really, it's beyond my imagination! I didn't expect at all that I will get a good rate. Every obstacles that I had before is not comparable to what I finally get. I thank the Lord for His awesome help! What a timing for providing me with money... not early, but never too late :)

And so I cycled home happily, dropping by to the market to buy fruits, meat, and vegetables. It felt like I just won a lottery or something. Hahahaha... now I HAVE MONEYYY!!! Yeayy! I think tomorrow I can go buy the household stuff already. Thank you Lord! And thank you dear for helping me :) 

04.19.09 Rain

Today was a cold rainy day. It has rained from last night and the rain only stopped a while ago. It's quite rare to have such a long rainy day in Tianjin. And usually when it does, the air becomes cleaner and fresher, and the temperature will usually drop a bit.

So today, I had another cool day in Spring. The temp today is 10-13 C, while usually its 25-28ish. Although it's a bit chilly outside, and troublesome to go out because of all the mud, it feels refreshing. After all, Tianjin is a polluted industrial city. I think it could use some heavy rain, which really helps to cleanse the city from all the dust accumulated over the past weeks.

As soon as I stepped out of the house today to go to church, my nose caught a familiar scent--the smell of rain. I took a deep breath to savor the sweet smell of wet soil, which never fails to remind me of home :) It rained a lot in Indo, and I remembered the smell of our front yard after the rain.

I have always been fond of rain. Not being caught in the rain per se, but more of seeing the rain outside. Somehow rainy days brings a sweet romantic atmosphere to my mind. Not because I've seen those dramas where the guy chase the girl in the rain. Hahaha... Not that kind of romantic. It's more like a jazzy romantic feeling. It's hard to explain... but basically I love the atmosphere of rain. My favourite scene of a relaxing day would be, me inside the house, sitting cozily by a window with a cup of hot drink (maybe also a nice chocolate cake) and a good book, soft music played in the background, and occasionally I can look at the rain drops outside. Mmmmmmmm.... that would be just right.... 

Although, with my living conditions now, that's something a bit hard to achieve... With my bro and sis living together here in China, it's not really possible to spend a rainy day alone in the house, is it? Otherwise.... I can kick them out for an hour or so.... Hahahaha... jk. But of well, at least I can still enjoy the fragrance of fresh wet soil outside. Thank you Lord for a refreshing rainy Sunday :)

02.11.09 Holiday timeee

Ola! I'm back in Surabaya.... for holiday (and good food). These days I felt my 'hunger spirit' is very strong. I have a huuugee appetite to eat any food that presents itself in front of me. I think this is one of the side effects of being hospitalized for 5 days due to dengue fever. I keep wanting to munch on things. I think I ate snacks every 1 hour or something. Ckckck...

And I couldn't believe I got dengue fever!!! I lived in Singapore for a couple of years, and in Indo for many many years, and never ever got infected with dengue. I couldn't believe I got bitten by that diseased-mosquito as soon as I touched down Surabaya. The tiny mosquito that spoilt my holiday to Singapore. Grrr..... Anyhow, I'm glad it only took me 5 days to recover. I'm fully recovered now, with the negative side effect of this insane appetite.... aiyah, I hope this hunger spirit will leave me soonnnn! I will grow bigger horizontally if this continues. Better start exercising soon!

Last week I met up with a couple of old friends from high school. I haven't met them for 8 years! They look like business women with skirts, high heels, and all... while I look like a teenager with my jeans and flat slippers. Hahahaha... Anyhow, it was a great time catching up and reminiscing the old highschool days. The two ladies were still single and of course the hot topics that came out was about relationships. I won't write down in details what we talked about, but let's just says ladies really have interesting ways to express something to their opposite gender. Hahaha.. It was a fun chat tho... Many of our friends have gotten married, some became "healthier", some prettier, and some have turned out to be very successful in their job.

It makes me wonder what will I do next after I finish my study. Tough question....... I know I will return to Singapore, but what will I do? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...... That's my homework for the next 5 months. I'll start working on it next month. What a typical procrastinative student huh? Hahaha... For now, I'll focus on enjoying my holiday. And reviewing my Chinese (if I can make the time) :p

01.07.09 Shopping experience

Today something interesting happened...

The story begins when me and my sis went shopping together. I was just finished running my errands, so I told my sis to come to BinJiangDao so we can shop some things for our Harbin trip. Btw, did I mention that this Saturday we will go to Harbin? Hahaha... It's going to be freezingggg there (about -40 to -30 C) but I heard the Ice Festival is really pretty! So we're looking forward to it.

Anyway, back to the story.... Since I didn't have any money with me, I told my sis to get some money from my bro before she left the house. My bro only had 200 kuai cash, so he gave them all to my sis.

Sooo to make the story short... After going around, my sis saw this skirt that she wanted to buy. The shopkeeper, a middle aged auntie, gave the opening price of 120 kuai. In the end we managed to bargain and got it for 60 kuai. I asked my sister to pay since the money was with her, while I went and look at other stuff in the shop.

A minute later, I heard my sister arguing with the auntie. Apparently, my sister had absent-mindedly gave her 200 kuai. Somehow, my sis' mind was on 120 kuai.... But when the auntie gave her change of 40 kuai, then she remembered that the price was supposed to be 60. And then she asked the auntie where's the other 100 kuai. And of course the auntie said my sis only gave her 100 kuai. It seemed that the auntie also absent-mindedly put away the money into her belt bag and assumed that it was 100 kuai.

Anyway it was a messy argument..... because the money was all in the auntie's belt bag... who can tell how much we give? everything is already mixed up. We tried to explain what happened because in my sis' wallet there was only 200 kuai, and now there's not a single bill there. But the auntie (along with her friend which helped her) also insisted otherwise. I mean I can understand their position..... If I were them I probably would be afraid being conned by the customer.

But from what I see, the auntie didn't look like she tried to cheat us. And I myself, don't know how to give a reasonable evidence, other than our statement. In the end, after 10-15 mins of arguments, they suggested they will pay 50 kuai to us. So both sides took half risk. I thought... oh well.... there's no other choice, I guess 50 kuai is better then nothing.... and because my sister has started crying a bit already... hahaha...

Anyway, I told her, nevermind, just take it as a lesson not to be careless next time. Just consider the skirt was bought for 110 kuai. So afterwards, we walked a bit and headed home... And guess what..... when we were walking towards the bus stop, we found a 50 kuai bill on the street. Hahahahahhahaa....

The street was filled with people walking, but it so happens we were the one who got to pick it up. Hahaha... That was really one amazing experience :D You can call it luck or coincidence, but I call it God's blessing :) He is good indeed, as always ^^

01.02.09 2009 Resolutions

This is my first post in 2009! Yeay!

I'm still here in TianJin, waiting for exam that's coming next week... This morning I woke up and realize that I haven't started on my 2009 resolution. Well, actually I think I have forgotten my 2008 resolution (do I have one anyway?) Hahahaha....

Anyway, some highlights of how my 2008 has been:
- In January, I went from being single to in a relationship. Hahaha... I thank God that He has allowed us to meet, and pray that He will be the center in our relationship :)
- In February, I attended Wei Chang's wedding in Semarang. This is the first time I attended a wedding of friends. Seems quite weird because a lot of my friends have gotten married. Some invited me, but because of time and distance limitation, this became the first and only friends' wedding I've attended so far :p
- In May, I went on holiday to New Zealand! Really nice trip! :D New Zealand is lush with greenery and lambs. Hahaha... I think there are more lambs and possum there than the people.
- In July, I joined a 5-km run race. Managed to get to the finish line in 38 mins. Hahaha... I was so proud of myself eventhough I was the 1360th person to finish. LOL
- In August, I said farewell to Singapore and headed to TianJin to study.
- In September, I climbed the great wall!!! ^^ That was fun indeed, and the view was magnificent :D
- In October, we moved to a new apartment. Thank God for He really provided a nice apartment for us to live.
- In November, I won first prize on Hanzi competition... hehehe... again, not my strength but His grace indeed.
- In December, it snowed!!! It has been about 3 years since I last seen snow. So this is really special.

I think 2008 has been a great year, but I think 2009 can be better :P

My 2009 resolutions:
1. To be able to run 5km race again without walking.
2. To have a quiet time consistently.
3. To finish my study in China well.
4. To start my own business by the end 2009.
5. To grow in my relationships with God, my family, my partner, and others.

I think those are the main things I want to obtain... I thank God for He is always faithful to me even if I haven't been faithful to Him. I pray that eventually my life is fully surrendered to Him. I pray that He will help me to fulfill these 2009 resolutions. I will hold 1 Cor 2:9 for 2009 :)

12.24.08 A Christ-less Christmas

Today is Christmas eve.... Just now, I went to BinJiangDao (shopping street) to get some Christmas gifts, and to see how is the Christmas celebration here in Tianjin. I heard from a friend that during Christmas eve, BJD will be packed with people. It so happens that at the end of this stretch of shopping stores, stands a beautiful Catholic church. I heard many people will be there attending the Christmas service. My own church doesn't have any service today because the government is quite strict about how Christians have their gatherings. So we had our Christmas celebration last Sunday.

So anyway, today I went to BJD from around 3pm to hunt for some gifts for tomorrow's Christmas party, and was expecting to catch a glimpse of the celebration in the evening. I was curious as how happening this place will be.

Later on, what I saw was really shocking... By 6pm people started crowding the streets, and many people stood by the road trying to sell their decorative hats, masks, etc. Many people (mostly young people) came wearing devil horns, tails, and various masks from those pretty opera-like mask, santa mask, to devil masks. By nightfall, I saw a sea of people pouring into the street with glitters from their small horns and many other decorative lights. I cannot tell whether this is Christmas or Halloween. It was just sooo opposite to the real meaning of Christmas.

I felt a little bit angry why there was not a single celebration that conveys Christ?! Sooo many Christmas trees, so many decorations, but none, none shows anything to do with Jesus. It was only the shimmering lights and pretty views of brightly lit street. I did not see even one statue or picture about the birth of our Savior.

I don't know what is going on inside the Catholic church because there were police barriers there, and only certain people were allowed to go in. But what I saw on the street was enough to show that most of the people here really are just celebrating Christmas like just another public holiday. They were there just to have fun. I feel angry and sad at the same time. I imagine how He would feel to see the ones He loves is behaving so treacherously.

I wish and hope that someday these people will eventually see the way to salvation. I guess that's my homework tonight, to pray for this godless nation...

08.12.23 Interesting random photos...

Birthday present for Cathy

Korean coffee.... 真好喝！

My new winter boots! ^^

The announcement I made for our toilet... hahaha...
to prevent guests come and clog our toilet

08.22.08 Christmas is nearing....

It's 3 days before Christmas, yet I don't have that special feeling of Christmas. It seems that my Christmas mood is influenced a lot by the situation around me. In China, we don't have holiday on Christmas day and not much Christmas atmosphere as well.

Yes there are Christmas songs played in the mall, and there are employees at those public places who are wearing santa hats. But somehow the feeling is not the same. In Indo, US, and Singapore, I would have seen lots of Christmas movies being played near Christmas day. I would see Christmas lights and festive decorations garnishing Orchard road. I would feel the Christmas spirit ushered in the church weeks before Christmas. I would see lots of Christmas goodies sold everywhere. I would maybe even see some Christmas performances on the street. Maybe the lost feeling is also due to the fact that my loved one is miles away and we cannot celebrate Christmas together. I sooo miss you, dear....

*Sigh*

Well, I should at least be thankful that this year I can celebrate a white Christmas, provided that the snow will be there till Christmas or if it snows again (though I hate the cold!). Having a white Christmas for me is not so common, even in the US, I think I only experienced 1-2 years of white Christmas. And at least this year I also have a small circle of friends to celebrate Christmas with.

And the most important part I guess, is to remember the meaning of Christmas, which is celebrating Jesus. I will try to keep that in mind. Regardless how Christmas-spiritless I am, I should remember how joyful it is to have my Saviour born into this world. I shall take some time on Christmas day to be thankful to Him :)

Merry Christmas everyone!

08.21.08 Snowing experience in Tianjin

It's 4 days before Christmas, and last night around 9pm it started to snow in Tianjin. And quite a heavy snooow! By morning when we were heading to church, the snow was about 7cm thick.

Last night me, my sis, my bro, and a few friends went out in the late evening to play with the snow and take pictures. I didn't expect it to be that cold, but apparently it was quite cold. At least for me. Only in about an hour, my toes and fingers felt painful and rather numb though I had worn my gloves and boots. My sister seemed to be fine even just with snickers and gloves. So I told the rest of the gang that I will head home, because it's past midnight already, my jacket was starting to get wet from the snow, and my toes hurt. My sister and brother chose to go home too.

And this morning when we were going out for church, I can feel my toes and fingers started to get cold quite fast. Especially since today the wind is really really really big. It feels like the snow, blown by the wind, sliced your skin. Really cold and painful.

I'm starting to change my minds about living overseas in the Western countries. I used to think it would be nice to live in a 4-season country. But now seeing how much I dislike the cold, I think I would choose to live in a tropical country. Maybe I'll go to Western country just for holiday, but not really to live there. These days I really cannot stand the cold.

Now I'm really thinking twice of our plans to go to Harbin in January. Today the temp was about -10 and I already felt numb. I cannot imagine now if I go to Harbin, how much socks and gloves do I need to wear? Harbin is about -30 to -40. I really want to see the Ice Festival, but I doubt my resistance. Can I really stand the cold there? Haizzz... zenmeban?

If I think about it, when I was in the states, the temp would go lower than this, and it snows heavier than this, but I don't think I'm suffering as much as I do now. I'm not too sure why.... maybe there are several factors that contribute to this:

1. I have been living in Singapore for 2 years. So maybe my body has adapted to tropical climate. But I stayed in the states for about 4 years, so shouldn't I still be ok in cold weather?

2. I was younger then. Well, eventhough not much, but I was on my early twenties when I was in the states. Now I'm starting to enter my late twenties I guess. Hahaha... Is that a reasonable excuse?

3. I was "heavier" then. Hahaha... I was about 5-6kg heavier when I was in the states due to all the cheese and fattening stuff there. And I started to lose the extra fats when I was in Singapore :)

4. Or maybe it's because of all the outside factors, like the extremely big wind? Or the fact that I used to have a car and take bus... maybe because I have to walk more here so it feels colder. Or maybe because the buildings here don't give much heat as in the states...

Mmmm, or maybe all of the above? Hahahha... what do you think?