Officially, Vacation!

I slept very little last night. I guess the packing and all sorta overwhelmed me. This is my third trip to the UK and I am still awfully stressed about it somehow. Perhaps the difference of temperature kind of frozen my already-frozen brain (?!). Oh well... Enough of the negativity. Let's look at the brighter side of things. I have RICE for breakfast. Haha. And I am planning to start my journey to the airport at 9 am (in fact, as early as I can). With the air traffic controller strike going on in the airport, I suppose it will be quite confusing, and furthermore, I have NEVER been to the airport here in Lisbon.

I better do the last bit of dishes and go off earlier. It's 840am now.

Checking out from Lisbon now :P Gonna be in four places in a single day today. Interesting Friday. May the Lord bless and guide me :)

May Movie Day: The Avengers (3D)

Those who know me very well will know that it's a miracle I survive for more than 6 months without watching movies in the cinema. I considered myself a movie buff some months ago, when my favourite past time after work was to go for movie marathon in 1Borneo Hypermall, whenever I have extra time and cash of course. Well, with all the dubbed version of the movies in Spain, and the more expensive tickets, I have not watched a proper movie since last August. I don't remember which movie it was, but my last was a movie outing with a friend who lives in KL the eve of my flight to Madrid. That was 8th August 2011, about 9 months ago!!

Gosh, the feeling of watching the Avengers (3D) was "WOW! So this is how watching movie in the cinema feels like." Ok, writing this phrase gave me a feeling that I was living in a cave for the past 9 months *chuckles* and I am supposedly living in first world countries since August!!? Oh well, I thank God that the ticket price in Lisbon is slightly cheaper and so I could take a little off my scholarship allowance for a once-a-month movie treat I guess. They accepted my university gym card as my student card, so yeah, I got a cheaper student price of 5.70 euros, well, plus 2.20 euros for the real 3D glasses and 0.75 euros for 3D show tax. Definitely more expensive if I were to convert to MYR, but without conversion, the price is VERY reasonable, considering that it is original voice movie with Portuguese subtitles. No dubbing effect. NICE!!!

One thing which gave me a culture shock was the 7-minute interval which the cinema had. They CUT the Avengers into half literally, and my movie excitement and enjoyment into half too... T.T I thought they had some power or movie play failure which sometimes GSC experienced (from all my movie outings...)

I had that "WHY IS THIS SO RIDICULOUS??!!!" question playing again and again, as though it was the biggest joke on earth, to cut Thor's action into half. Sigh!! It was a good movie for a laugh with a mashed up super heroes of Marvel comic. A lot of CG and actions, with lots of heroes. Not the lovey-dovey, kissing here and there sort of movie. But it was completely fun, oh well, minus the interval of course.

And yeah, I tried on two dresses in Zara which I like a lot and thought of bringing them home to call my own. Now I'm still considering if I would wear them often enough to buy them home..... 

And I fell in love with Samsung Galaxy Note just now. I think that little gadget fits me perfectly. Being such an intelligent and cute thing. I wish I can bring home all!!

Well, after serious consideration, I might get the Note back home in Malaysia.... I just might!!!

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.