Blessed Engagement to my beloved friends, Babara and Jeremy!

First of all, blessed engagement to Bab and Jer, my two lovely friends who got engaged recently. I wasn't directly informed, but I somehow was told by Facebook, the worldwide social networking tool. It's a pity I'm away... YET, as long as the couple is happy and obviously they are very happy, I am happy for them too *big smile*

I have been friends with the both of them since 2006 I think. I'm not sure if Jeremy came into the picture later, but I'm very sure that I met Bab in 2006 Freedom Camp. It was a blessing and still is a blessing to have know this couple as personal friends. Right before I left KK, I owed both of them a HUGE favour, which I have yet settled the money part with Jeremy, and the sisterly friendship with Bab. Thank you both for the support you gave me when I was in uncertainties and needed help yet strong-headed enough to not ask for help until the never super last moment. I really appreciate it a great deal. I miss you both a lot!

May the love of God be with you as you prepare to share your lives as one. I will bring this as a petition to Fatima when I go this Pentecost. Love you lots.

Month of May, A Leisure Month

The last time I blogged felt like a thousand years ago. This is a very slow month, with about 14 days of holidays for me coming up soon next week. How could a packed Masters course be so vacant? I have no idea. Perhaps ill combination or poor time management from the authorities. However, it happened so. I have planned 10 days of vacation in the UK, and this will be my 3rd trip there. I enjoyed my previous two trips a lot, despite the rain and gloomy days, especially during the winter break.

Everybody has wants and desires. Being human, I, too, have wants and desires. A desire for a final year project which I am passionate about, a want of tech-savvy gadgets, a dream which I want it to come true. The other day I was chatting with a Malaysian friend living in Lisbon at the moment about my dreams. Yeah, I come to realize that I have a lot of big dreams, and at the same time, by God's grace, many dreams are coming true. Living in this world as who I am for almost 30 years now, and to have many big dreams coming true, indeed, heaven is on earth!

Counting my dreams which are coming true:

1. Being paid to travel - I hold a scholarship given by European Union right now, enough for me to live, study and travel without worries.
2. Living in Europe for at least a year - This program is a two-year program in three different European countries
3. Studying Forensic Science - I have always wanted to study Forensic Science...
4. Furthering my studies to Masters and PhD (yet to come true at this moment) - I am studying Masters now, completing first year in July...
5. Traveling to Rome - I was in Rome for 4 days last summer
6. Attending World Youth Day - Last summer in Madrid was the WYD, and I was there with my team from Sacred Heart Cathedral, Kota Kinabalu. Thank God!!
7. Pilgrimage to Fatima - I have signed up for the pilgrimage in May organized by the Irish Dominican Parish whose church I'm attending mass on Sundays. Thank God!

I may have more dreams which are coming true but I have overlooked as I write... Now it's time for priorities setting. I want a DSLR since forever! And a tablet, and a i3/5/7 dual core, anti-glare lappy... I actually am able to afford all three if I don't consider every other factor. So priority goes to keeping my "children" in the bank and seeing them grow... This is for the sake of my unknown future. Being a planner by nature, and visionary too, I want to paint a nice picture for my future, be it as a single or married person.

Serving with God's people... At the moment, I feel I am doing nothing much. And I truly look forward to spend more than 6 months with the Christian Union students in Lincoln, praying and praising together with a community of believers. And serving God's people. Everytime I think of this future, I miss my team in KK. It had been a wonderful time, through thick and thin with them. Though there were moments which drew me apart from the community, I was blessed, and am still is blessed by those who hold on to me even when I pushed them aside. For this, I thank God with my whole heart. They are my spiritual family indeed. Now I'm praying very hard for divine intervention for the project I desire. And the thought of knowing somebody out there is always with me in prayers comfort me a lot. Not only one somebody, but many of them. Thank God!

Monument of Cristo Rei, Almada

Discovery tower in Belem

Famous Portuguese egg tarts, Pasteis de Belem

The front of the famous Portuguese egg tart cafe

Ponte 25 de Abril

Wall of Castelo de Sesimbra

Castelo de Obidos, with Agnes from Hungary whom I met in church :)

Mobile Blogging Test

I know I'm lagging in using the technology I have with me to update my blog. I update twitter and foursquare often enough but my blog is left half abandoned. Let's see if this works ^^

Pharmacology Exam in 8 hours

I just realized I did not blog for more than a month! That is a long time. I wasn't too busy this month in fact, yet I realized I had not achieved anything significant too. The crushed dream of traveling during Easter sort of hurt the planner pride in me, thus no plans at all! Though I have purchased a return flight to England in May. Somehow I managed to get the flights. Other than that, nothing, again.

Oh well, I have an exam on Pharmacology in about 8 hours time. I spent almost the whole day to try to study, and successfully making notes only for 4 types of drugs before my fingers called quit. Of course, my usual doses of k-dramas intermittently, not forgetting distractions like Facebook, blogger (!), Twitter, Dramabeans recaps.... Even GMail became a distraction. And yeah, my 101 excuses that I should have my meals. Now I'm munching down some raisins while studying Cardiovascular Drugs and blogging (?!)

I was just writing a comment to my ex-student from Korea about getting rid of distractions if losing concentration in studies. And I am also doing it. Better continue walking the talk. Like the present my students gave me two years ago for Teacher's Day celebration: A great teacher inspires. As much as I'm currently studying to be a forensic scientist in future, my past 3.5 years of being a high school teacher lingers around, with my ex-students around the globe. Well yeah... Up to date, the count of my ex-students studying in UK is increasing (not decreasing). I'm so surprised when I started counting. Haha. One is flying to Plymouth next month, on the day I fly in to UK for my well-deserved vacation (?!).

Tomorrow's plan is to check out Sesimbra, and Anthia Dive Center there for my SCUBA refresher course, or maybe an Advanced Adventurer course? Hmm... I had so few diving experiences since I got my license about 9 years ago. My goodness, how time flies!!!! Well, I would love to blame on the low paid jobs I had and the expensive price for diving, but I know that where there's a will, there's a way. So it wasn't really the fault of anybody that I wasn't diving. Hopefully all things go well tomorrow, as planned. Oh well, unless it rains.

Hopefully I will remember what I'm studying during exam.....

Oh yeah, I'm in the midst of Novena to St. Jude for a special intention. St. Jude is the patron for helpless and  desperate cases. I do have some seemingly helpless situation here right now. Click on the link to access the prayer.

I'm going to Fatima for a pilgrimage after my UK vacation on Pentecost weekend. Anyone with petitions can email me.

Have a blessed day wherever you are!

Lisbon, officially.

I'm officially in Lisbon, but due to the hectic schedule during weekdays (and not-so-hectic during weekends), I haven't really had time to sit down and ponder over the happenings of these few weeks. The ups and downs are causing my body to give out frustrated signals to people around me, making me someone hard to deal with. I really appreciated that my group mates are sort of understanding ones. Oh well... I have to sort out how I feel inside asap as it is going to be "inhibiting" my studies progress.

Lisbon - the Portuguese metropolitan capital city. I love the city public transport, and the fact that many shops and tourist attraction spots are opened on Sundays. It's like returning to normality, after 6 months being in a place where everything is closed on the day that I have time to travel or explore. I was frustrated that I couldn't do anything, visit any places or just to buy food in the supermarket because the supermarket was closed on a Sunday too. I like the professors there, but the living condition ain't what I like, and being 29 turning 30 this year, I discover that I have preference of what kind of living environment I want to put myself in and the preference influences my hostility towards the place. Despite not knowing Portuguese, I still like the new city I'm being introduced to live in at the moment.

It isn't easy being the only few Asians in the campus... It's obvious I'm different from the rest - besides the age factor - all other factors too. Yet, I know what is important now is to obtain as much knowledge as I can though now everything seems so disorganized and too many researchers are teaching us the same subject at the same time. Some are really good lecturers too, but some are terrible on imparting knowledge in their brain to people who know nothing about their deep wisdom of their subject. Teaching is a gift, and not everyone possesses the same gift from God. That makes life interesting by the diversity of human race. Yet, it is important to discover what we're good at, and ideally, work in the field which we excel and passionate about. For the professor who doesn't really impart knowledge to me, maybe I have goldfish memory, and that I'm not interested in the field he's trying to teach, hence my lack of luster in his part of the subject. Apologies. I probably would learn better if I understand him better. Hopefully he will improve...

The spiritual part of me is still in crisis, and yeah, I need a great deal of prayers. It's Lenten season now, and 3 weeks into Lent, I'm still unprepared for Christ's resurrection on Easter. I'm in a limbo condition right now, and there seems no one whom I can share spiritual stuff who is near enough. I feel alone journeying in the darkness right now, though I know Jesus is near. I miss going to cell group, bible sharings, and worship sessions. I need to learn to pray once again, from deep within my soul and not just lip service on Sundays...

Time to return to the journal paper I'm reading... Time to do something concrete.

Last Friday Night in Cordoba...

My elongated European travel is coming to an end in the this Spanish land. By next Monday afternoon, I'd greet one of the first colonial explorers of Malaysia - the Portuguese. It is very strange, and thank God, I survived and will continue surviving. In fact, many have told me I live the dream of many. Yet, I am but a subject of God, seeking and looking for His will be done. My part in Spain is considered done. I had my share of witnessing Asian church with some young people. Though not many, I pray someone's heart was touched by Christ like how He has touched mine.

With packing to be done tonight, and tomorrow morning, I'm getting nervous about moving. Would I be able to finish packing on time before my friend's visit this weekend? Where will I be for my final semester? Yet, an assurance in my heart that His will be done unto me. As much as I'd love to be where my heart would like to be, whatever that happens, it always happens for a reason. All the ugly stuffs which happened to me this semester, all the past uncomfortable experiences with individuals... All have gone with the north wind to somewhere beyond my knowledge. With a new chapter of my life starting in Lisbon, Portugal, I pray that I'm closing this chapter of my life beautifully. I have bade farewell to people who matter to me starting early this week, been on a trip to Malta and Madrid and Granada to visit various people, done all my exams and did pretty well for some of them... All these "doing" parts, I have completed. It is time to settle down and start with the "listening" parts.

With the start of Lenten season last Wednesday, carrying the promise that I am an ambassador and soldier of Christ, a promise which I have made solemnly before the Bishop of Malacca-Johor diocese then during my Confirmation, I pray that I will go forth and witness for Jesus with the aid of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord shines His perpetual light upon me and everyone out there. Amen.

Final Month in Cordoba, Spain

Yups, this is the weekend when the cold North Wind starts to blow  (finally!). This year, apparently, it is late, for some reason, the north wind was trapped in Arctic due to the "sibling" of El Nino/La Nina. Oh well, those who know me would know how glad I am that this winter isn't too cold. It is weekend, so I can hide inside my rather cold apartment for the whole few days, going out only when necessary. Anyway, I would have about 13 days to walk around, spend time with people who matter and checking out new places before I leave to Lisbon, Portugal.

Wow. Final month in Cordoba, Spain. Having been here for around 5-6 months, I wouldn't say that I won't miss this place when I leave, but I think I would miss the people whom I have come to know more than the place itself. When I bade goodbye to KK, I knew that the reason I call KK my home is the people whom I left behind to climb the staircase of studies.

The North wind stopped howling outside my window since this evening. It means that Cordoba will return to the normal 18-20ish degrees Celsius winter-spring weather. Then when March comes, it shall be summer once again. Strange place, really, weather-wise. I've experienced only few times of rain since I arrived. Only once I got drenched here. Comparing to Malaysia... Oh well.

I could not sleep because I probably had too much of Pepsi. And yeah, as I tried to sleep just now, the autopsy report kept ringing in my head. I've finally completed around 80-90% of it. Now I feel less restless. Time to sleep I guess.

Signing out at 6.02 am. (What?! It IS morning already!!!) Day 22 counting down to Lisbon.

Have a blessed Sunday, my friends!