brace yourselves guys, this is gonna be a long post...
haha... and this time i must make sure my IE won't kill the post by performing some illegal operation... gosh... the world should really start using linux. it's free and much more stable...

anyways, november has been.... well, yes... you've guessed the word... b.u.s.y. what else can i say? =P

as some of you know, i left for shanghai on the 28th of oct and i returned on the 5th of nov. my, my... it was some experience. went there on a community service trip with TCSI (touch community services) to teach english at a migrant school. let me give some background info of shanghai and the migrant schools. pardon me if you already know... hehe =P

there's a river running through shanghai called huang pu. shanghai west of the river is called pu xi and east of the river is called pu dong. pu xi is where all the action is... it's the city centre, touristy shopping place and stuff like that. it's the rich part of shanghai.. very rich in fact... as for pu dong, china has only started developing pu dong 10-12 years ago. cost of living there is very low compared to pu xi and people there can be considered poor...

as for migrant schools, they're for children whose families 'migrated' to shanghai from other parts of china. these children are not allowed to study in the shanghai mainstream public schools because they're not shanghainese. these families usually come from a poorer part of china, in hope of striking it rich here. the parents of these children work very hard and most cannot get those high-paying jobs in the city... because they're not local shanghainese and also because they lack the necessary skills... these families are usually very poor...

so i was there teaching them english.

must tell you guys abt this hotel we stayed in... goodness... it was so run-down. when i went to shanghai, i thought it was a very modern city.. like singapore... but i never realised that pu dong can be so different from the city. the hotel was above a cabaret... when our taxi dropped us at the hotel from the airport... i was like... "err... are we at the right place??" it looked sleazy man... well, anyway, there is only on ventilation shaft in the entire building.. and when the cabaret was on, you could smell the smoke in your room... *faint* and the music is deafening... thank God the cabaret ends at 10pm every night. *phew* at least we get some decent sleep.

and the rooms were so dirty. the sink and carpet were stained... the duvet and room were smelly... the pillow was lumpy... the walls are so thin i could here our team mates from their room... and we must shower within 1 hour upon arriving back at our hotel if not there'll turn off the hot water supply!! haha... such an interesting place. think it was really a shock and a first-time for most of us. =) but it was fun... we all got used to it in a while... ;)

our hotel was 1-2 hours bus ride away from the city centre. think i'll leave out our R&R part ya? you guys can go discover that for yourselves. half of our days were spent in school, so we had the other half for R&R ;)

teaching english was quite an experience. many things to be thankful for. the kids really enjoyed themselves. our lesson plan had a theme of love. and one of the lessons was on BGR. that was the most impactful lesson i feel... was so touched when we were reading the feedback given for our teaching. it was amazing to see how touched the students were when they found out that we came just for them. felt that these children feel like they've been forgotten by the world... that society don't really care... and having them attend a school especially for migrant children doesn't say very much abt how the society accepts them. some of them actually cried when we left. gosh... hard to use words to explain what each one of us felt...

then, it was back to reality... hehe... back to singapore.

had a wonderful time, the week i came back, meeting up with LN at marche (my favourite restaurant... know the food's not fantastic but i just love it there... no idea why...). pray that the Lord will truly guide her through this time and that through this time that she would know and taste the goodness of God. =) go girl! you're doin' fine.

then it was my birthday... which i spent at pastors' place... hehehe... it was also the day kenneth and i passed our pre-marital course and received our pastors' blessings... =) that's the best birthday present i received... =) learnt a lot from this pre-marital course... learnt more abt kenneth and i even learnt more of myself! =) so thankful that there're Godly people around to give us advice and pointers...

on monday, we bought our flat. hehe =) a lot of things to thank God for the flat... first, we got the queue number from the ballot... it wasn't a very good queue number coz we were pretty far back. by the time it was our turn to choose, there weren't many flats left. and the highest was the 4th floor. thank God we chose a smaller flat on the 4th floor. when we went down to take a look at the flat, there weren't any blocks in front of ours, which means no one will be looking into our flats and that we get some fresh air. 4th floor was good too, coz it was cheaper (compared to higher floors) and if were to go higher, it might be noisier coz of the mrt nearby.

what else can i say? really thank God so much for how He arranged all these things...

so many things He has arranged... our banquet dinner date and place... now our flat... now i've just gotta pray that people will turn up for our wedding... sigh... yeah, that's me... getting all worried again over things that're not in my control. and praying that people from the bridal studio we booked will be nice to us and give us nice stuff... coz i've heard really nasty comments abt them before... *gulp*... and praying for the reno of our place... hope we'll find good and honest designers and contractors.

but of course, that's only the wedding... the most important thing is the marriage... a marriage that will testify the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus and a marriage that's built on His love and ours. =)

anyways, last friday, the shanghai team met up again for an afterglow session. it was nice seeing everyone again and just sharing some of the things that we learnt and some of our thoughts. a very refreshing time...

for sunday school, my group will be multiplying into 2 groups... it's so difficult to decide.... so difficult.... coz i like all of them!! no, i'm not trying to give a politically correct answer.. =P i do like all of them, though some are really a handful. if you can, pls pray for me... pray for wisdom to know how to multiply the group such that the group dynamics are maintained and the children are comfortable with one another...

this weekend, i'll be going to join my first-ever touchkidz encounter weekend. looking forward to it. pray that God'll use me to bless the children...

next week, i'm off to KL with LN. woohoo!! looking forward to the break man.... and of course, the cheap food and cheap shopping!! =P

so that's my november.. packed till i can hardly breathe... but am still thankful... thankful for the people who've showered their love and concern on me... am so thankful for them... just like God taught me not to take the comforts i enjoy in singapore for granted, i pray that i won't take people around me for granted too... to always give thanks and to always pray and to always be rejoicing... maybe not for the circumstance but in the circumstance, for the goodness and faithfulness of God...

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

and another thing i must learn, to stop worrying...

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God that transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:4-7

and one more thing i've learnt. thanksgiving is a powerful thing. let's learn to give thanks today.

"This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24

{ Monday, November 21 }