End of My English Vacation

It has been a week of trials and temptations though I had enjoyed most of this break. Meeting new Sabahan friends and their spouses, learning new social dance, eating out like there is no tomorrow.

I can only give credit to God who has been showering me with friends and random people who have been so kind to me. Every tear I cried He wiped it away. Every worry and sorrow He turned into joy and happiness. Indeed God is the One I can depend and trust 100%.

There's a short anecdote which reminds me of my old self. I was a jealous person, and unable to share my friends and things with others. Recently I encountered someone who is like the old me. Now I can understand the helplessness people felt when they tried to handle the issue which stemmed from a root cause deep within me. Today I felt helpless too when I didn't know how much I should fade out so that this individual can have every attention to himself. Yet I also know that I have all rights to build friendships with anyone I meet. I can give way but doesn't mean I have to give up my right to befriend friends of my friends. This becomes an important lesson to me.

Books..

This is an element that never left my side when I travel. For once, I had no reading materials which I brought along on this trip. All those extraordinary experiences told me in a tiny but persistent voice that I will meet God in a reading material.

As I browsed in WHSmith in the airport aimlessly after getting my UK sim, I saw an interesting book which speaks about Dinah, the daughter of Leah and Jacob. She's mentioned briefly in the book of Genesis where she was raped by a foreign man. It's categorized as fiction, but I know God speaks in so many different ways and methods. Im on page 15 right now.

I would continue reading at the coach station rather than sitting here in the terminal 1 of Manchester Airport...

Touching Down in Manchester Airport

It was a moment of relief when I finally boarded the plane, only to find out 20 minutes later that my flight was delayed due to multiple reasons. First there was missing passenger then the unloading luggage and finally some sort of technical error of the plane. I kinda got worried that my plane wouldn't take off again! There was nothing I could do and only could leave everything in the hands of my Lord Jesus. I sought intercession of Our Lady via Rosary, a pretty messy one though. The miracle is the plane started moving at the 4th decade!! Praise God!

Now another moment of relief that I'm FINALLY here in the UK for my English vacation. Of course, the next thing which really shook me was... I missed my bus to London despite being there two hours before. The bus let its passengers down and drove off without me. Perhaps it was partially my fault for not waiting right outside at the stand too. The bus driver too, as he didn't wait. So I saw the bus drove off without me. I managed to get some help from the nice station manager and I called the customer service and they managed to get me a seat to London after midnight.

Now I'm camping in the airport terminal. Im going to get my meal and then a book. I will stay alert this time round.

Thank God for all His grace and mercy!! Im glad He's with me. If not, I probably would have given up and gone home. Now, I expect anything to happen at anytime but with God I will be alright somehow. This is the most optimistic me this year so far.

Dear God, what are You trying to tell me??

An Unexpected Turn

I was supposed to be on a plane heading for my English holidays of 10 days, BUT I'm blogging here in Novotel Lisbon right now from my mobile...

The story goes like this... I was informed yesterday there is an air traffic controller strike in Lisbon airport and I was hoping that I would be able to fly to Manchester despite the strike. First, it was rescheduled to earlier time, so I was in the airport earlier. Then as the time approaching, there was an announcement saying that our flight was delayed until further notice which would be given at 3pm. At 2pm, the flight was canceled. Then the confusion and waiting for what's next started. LOL. The airline is supposed to provide us with food and lodging. So here I am! Novotel Lisbon. It's quite good place to stay. Finally I'm lying on a king size bed watch AXN. Thank God! Hopefully tomorrow we will fly on time to Manchester as I have a lot to catch up my trip..

Ugly but Striking Luggage

It'll be a joke if u miss this bag anywhere! LOL

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!!!