Episode 9: BRMC London Get-together

I was invited to a lunch gathering of BRMC members who are studying here in London after church yesterday. The venue was Hare & Tortoise - a Chinese/Japanese restaurant @ the Brunswick, near Russell Square Tube Station.

There were about 10 of us in all and we had an enjoyable lunch altogether. I enjoyed my "Laksa" which tasted more like curry noodles. But, it was so good that I perspired for a while after eating it.. It shows how long since I last ate something like that... haha. The only thing that was missing in there was a hard-boiled egg and I think it would have tasted better with yellow noodles [like the laksa yong tau foo back home].

The others ordered "Chow Mein" [ie fried noodles], some sushi and Katsu Curry... Here are the photos:




The Laksa - with sotong (squid in Malay),
Japanese fish cake, beancurd and cucumber

The BRMC -London gang and their food

[Clockwise (Left to Right): Melvin Heng, Jerald Foo, Debra Lam, Teoh Mae Yen, Jamie Chang, Lynette Tan, Yeo Guan Sin and Edward]

Later in the evening, it was round 2 @ 4 Seasons, Bayswater with Jordan, his girlfriend (Hui Nee) and a friend of hers for dinner.

Indeed, a day of feasting... :)

Episode 8(2): Reflections on 1st Month of School

The setting of this episode is a rather chilly Sunday evening where I am wearing jumpers and thermals in my hostel room – a first, but not the last for me as the year closes with increasingly colder weather.

In order to brace myself for it, I went to Primark @ Oxford Street on Saturday afternoon with Charing and Elva after our second round of yum cha. I came out with GBP52 worth of warm clothes and a pair of simple brown loafers. It was retail therapy when I needed it.. :)

I crossed the first month of my time at the University this week. I started school on 17th September 2007. Here are my thoughts and reflections:

(1) Support in school: I must say that I am beginning to feel the pressures of the course. Each week whizzes by quite quickly with preparation for the next day and soon, I am at the end of the week. But, the preparation still needs to carry on for the coming week. There is hardly time to consolidate and revise what was taught. Indeed, it is akin to a fast-moving steam train on a long journey without any break points.

I believe my other colleagues on the course are feeling it as well. Hence, there is a need for support from other colleagues because I believe that only LPC students can understand fellow LPC students – like a lawyer or a doctor would understand how another lawyer or doctor feels in his/her practice of the profession. I am glad to say that I have found some form of support within the course and it is always something to look forward to each day in school. I thank the LORD for providing these wonderful people – people who make school forthcoming.

(2) The need for Christian support: However, as a Christian, support from fellow colleagues in school is not enough. I also need a group/place to address my spiritual needs. This brings me to my first session at SWOT (Study the Word Of Truth) on Wednesday evening. This is a Bible-study session under the umbrella of All Souls Church for students whose English is their first language and it was held at All Souls’ “sister” church, St Paul’s at Robert Adam Street, about 10 minutes walk from Bond Street Station. I decided to attend SWOT after 2 weeks of deliberation and an internal conviction that I needed some form of Christian support.

The session opened with a short 10-minute worship session (which had a piano that I really wanted to run my fingers over). This was followed by a short 5-minute talk that was somewhat evangelical in nature. We then had dinner at GBP2 and Bible study thereafter. I was put in SWOT 3 – which was for final-year university students and postgraduates (like myself). In SWOT 3, one is also been trained to lead Bible Study Sessions.

Now, I must say that I felt at home throughout the whole session and provided some constructive insights into the study of 2 Timothy 2:1-13. I cannot explain what got over me that night, but these insights simply flowed – something that only the Holy Spirit can do. Hallelujah, thanks be to God!

I went away from the session feeling less burdened and refreshed. I am pleased with the positive outcome and will definitely make this a regular affair each week, whenever and wherever possible. I also believe this is a place where I can contribute in both my skills as a pianist and experiences as I contribute to the Bible-study sessions and to take up some sessions as well.

(3) The need to consolidate: With the feelings in (1), I am convinced that there is a need to have break points and sit back to reflect on what had been taught. So, I will dedicate a certain amount of time during the week, maybe a Friday (where I have no school) to revise the material of the past weeks.

But, how do I go about the revision? Well, it is no longer the substantive law that I am studying now, but rather the application of the law. Therefore, my approach has to be different from my undergraduate days. One idea that was impressed on me was to put yourself in the shoes of the client who is coming to his/her solicitor for inter alia, advice as to a purchase/sale of a piece of property, to file a claim in court or to start a business. If I revise with that in mind, I think studying or learning will be more enjoyable. Indeed, the law comes alive when it is applied by those seeking to rely on it.

(4) Uncertainties: I do accept that there are uncertainties as to what will happen after my LPC next July. Questions of whether I – like many of my colleagues in the course – will be able to secure a training contract and what if I am unable to. Does that mean I am not cut out to be a lawyer? As a Christian, I believe I am at peace, the peace of Christ.

I trust that as the LORD – as He has provided the unusual and ways of getting me here and equipping me (e.g. this laptop I update this blog from) – I am certain He will provide – at the opportune moment. But, that does not mean I rest on my laurels and be laissez-faire about it. I still have do to my part (ie craft my CV, attend classes and perhaps, also decide what kind of lawyer I want to be). The peace of Christ that surpasses all understanding will keep me going on the steam-train journey.

All in all, I pray for creative inspirations for fresh perspectives on all that I going to do here in London, from the crafting of my CV to leading Bible study sessions to the revision of my law studies.

Lastly, I feel renewed to go through the coming weeks after today’s Communion Service at All Souls – the “icing on the cake” for all that has happened this week.

To all my friends back home (and others) who are reading this blog, my prayer is that you will be encouraged by the contents and that amidst the storms of life and whatever the world tells you, hold on to Christ and take heart. Indeed, the Lord Jesus, in Matthew 11:28-30 said:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Praise to the LORD, the Almighty, the King of creation!

1st "Commercial Break": Josiah's monthly reflections

The producer of the series has decided to insert a "commercial break" and take stock of the things that have been going on for him here in London.

The producer also believes that such "commercial breaks" should be done on a monthly basis from the date he left his home for London. Here are his thoughts for his first month in this big cosmopolitan city:

It has been a month since I left my home in Singapore for London. I recall taking pictures with friends and family on the night of 9th September at Changi Airport before boarding for QF 9 to London. I also recall my first few days in this great city, getting used to living (and doing everything) independently and finding my way around.

One month has since passed and I am now settling in well: from buying groceries, cooking my own food to making new friends in school and handing in my first assignment this week. I can only reflect and give thanks to the LORD for all He has done and provided.

The one thing that I have grown to appeciate is that it is good to have breakdowns from time to time. Here in London, things do break down and delays on the public transport do occur, but life still goes on. There are other possibilities to get to the same destination and I enjoy having these possibilities. On the other hand, I am thankful for what I have back home in Singapore where everything runs smoothly and efficiently.

Well, this is just my first month in a foreign land, but after 7 episodes and now into my 8th, I want to say that I am doing very well here. I do miss the comforts of home, the presence of family and the fellowship of friends. Do continue to pray for me. I can now only trust the Lord to provide THE training contract He wants me to go through in order to be on my way to qualifying as a solicitor here in England.

I shall end this "commercial break" by quoting from today's QT (Quiet Time) which speaks of the hope in God. In Psalm 42, the downcast Psalmist writes in anguish of his grief and asking where is God. But, the reply is:

"Why are you downcast, O my soul?

Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God,

for I will yet praise him,

my Saviour and My God."

(Psalm 42:5-6;11)

I can only place my hope in the Lord for everything and let Him take charge. His ways are far beyond what we humans can imagine in our own limited understanding.

Thanks be to God!

Now we return to the Episodes of Josiah....

Episode 8(1): Shopping at Borders

After handing in my first assignment this morning (which I spent a considerable amount of time preparing for), I decided to take a short breather and went shopping at Borders, Oxford Circus. It is just 5 minutes from my school.. :)

The reason? They had 20% discount off full-priced books, CDs and DVDs for students.. I spent a few moments browsing through what I wanted to buy and left the shop with 3 books credited to my library! I have been eyeing some of these books for some time already and just waited for a good time to buy them.

I am pleased with myself. :)

Episode 7(2): The rest of Josiah's birthday week

The rest of the week was good and eventful. Let me recount the events from 2nd October 2007 (Tuesday) to 7th October 2007 (Sunday):

2nd October 2007 ended with penning my thoughts in an email to my brother Jonathan in response to a farewell note he (and the rest of my family) wrote to me before I left Singapore for London. This was to be the first of such letters to the rest of my family.

Wednesday, 3rd October 2007: school was on as per normal and I think I spent the rest of the day at the hostel, preparing for the next day.

Thursday, 4th October 2007: After school, I attended All Souls Choir Rehearsal in the evening. They were rehearsing for the evening service this Sunday. I enjoyed the rehearsal, however, I was concerned over my commitment level as it calls for spending a considerable amount of time with them on Thursdays and Sundays. This was also the day I booked a ticket for the King's Singers 40th Anniversary concert at Cadogan Hall here in London on 30th April 2008. The King's Singers is my favourite vocal group and it will be an opportunity to finally see them in concert. I took a good seat and was licensed to use my supplementary credit card for this purchase. :)


Friday, 5th October 2007: Apart from preparing my tutorials for next week, I headed down to my uncle's former office at King William Street to pick up a suitcase he left for me. Upon opening it, I found a whole lot of things which I could use. These are some of the things he left me:


(1) a 2-piece gray suit and some warm clothing;
(2) 5-6 polo T-shirts;
(3) 2 round-neck T-shirts [of which I am wearing one now];
(4) medical plasters;
(5) a pack of instant noodles;
(6) 2 bottles of soya sauce and 1 bottle of oyster sauce;
(7) a Prima Taste packet of sambal and black pepper sauce; and
(8) some washing powder.


Thanks be to God! I will not need to do any shopping (which I originally had plans to) for some time. I will also find ways to finish the instant noodles and the sauces. Thank you, Uncle Tony!

Indeed, the Lord has provided me the support of my family members. My other uncle, a lawyer volunatarily sponsored the cost of this laptop I am blogging from and S$5,000 (which was recently wired to my UK account) for living expenses. Indeed, the Lord is Jehovah Jireh! Thank you, Uncle Thomas!

The rest of the afternoon was spent in Oxford Circus after I collected my National Union of Students (NUSS) Card which gives discounts at a number of places. But, the main reason for applying was because I could get a free GBP10 top-up on my mobile under Mobile World. It is a student's offer which is hard to refuse.

That evening, I came back, did some work and wrote my second letter to my parents in the evening.

Saturday, 6th October 2007: I went to do my grocery shopping in the morning. In the afternoon, I had the pleasure to have yum cha with 2 lovely ladies (Elva Hu [from Shanghai] and Charing Choi [born into a Hong Kong family in Britain]) at a Chinese restaurant along Gerrard Street in Chinatown.

These 2 ladies are my coursemates. We were grouped together in the same group [Group F]during the first 2 weeks of school and very soon, we became good friends. Presently, even though we are all in different small groups, we still do chat with each other and I believe this yum cha won't be the first and last of its kind. I hope we can also find peer support in each other as we go through the demands of the course. Photos below:



Elva Hu and I
(she did not smile because she says it makes her face "look big")


Charing Choi and I

After yum cha, I accompanied Charing to Portebello Road flea market at Notting Hill Gate. We spent almost the entire afternoon there and returned with, amongst other things lots of fruits, many of which were sold for GBP1. Here are some photos of the flea market:



Portebello Road Flea Market

See the people...
(Charing's back to the camera)

This place is definitely worth a second visit and at least, I now know that I have a kaki (ie someone to accompany in Hokkien I believe) to go with. Charing came back with a pair of black boots.

In the evening, I invited an old church friend of mine, whom I have not seen for over 8 years over to my hostel for dinner. Oswald Quek and his family migrated to Scotland many years back and it was through another old church friend in Facebook that I got in touch with him. Dinner was what I cooked that morning that was intended for dinner next week. We had a great time and I am sure there will be more opportunities to meet up. I will definitely take photos the next time round.

Sunday, 7th October 2007: This was the Lord's day and this being the first Sunday of the month, it's Communion Sunday back home. Here in England, the Holy Communion is a separate service from the main services and it is usually first thing in the morning. I decided to visit St Paul's Cathedral for their Holy Communion service at 8am. So, I got up early (at about 6.30am), dressed smartly in my navy blue long-sleeved shirt with pants and jacket and headed down to St Paul's. I was awed by the grandeur of the Cathedral and its architecture. The Holy Communion service was very liturgical and based on the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer. It was all over in 30 minutes but it did remind me of home. I could not take pictures of the interior because it was to be a sacred place and photos were not allowed.

I heard the organ sound after the service and it was magnificent. :)

Here are some photos of the entrance to the Cathedral:


St Paul's facade



Another part of St Paul's facade
(with a memorial to Queen Anne)

Since it was all over by 9am, I decided to head back to All Souls and attend their 9.30am service. Lo and behold, by divine appointment, I bumped into Adrian Cheong from Trinity Methodist Church (TMC) back in Singapore. Adrian will be the guitarist and I on the organ in the combined worship team for TMC's special occasions. The most recent being TMC's 51st Anniversary on 9th September (the day I left for London).

Adrian is here on work trip and will be in London for about 10 days. After service, we walked down to the famous Wong Kei Chinese Restaurant in Chinatown for lunch. Wong Kei is infamous for their standard of service and their cheap, but good food.

But, from our experience that day, things turned out better than expected. The staff even helped us take a photo (which is captured very nicely in the mirror).

Here are photos of the good lunch we had:




Food @ Wong Kei's

The plate says it all


Adrian and I
(note that the mirror reflected the staff taking a photo for us)

We then adjourned to Adrian's place where we shared about our spiritual lives. I must say that Adrian comes at a time where I was in a little dilemma on commitment to a ministry in church and commitment to my studies. I spent the rest of the time with him sharing with him my concerns and the advice he gave me was this: what does the Lord want you to do and Adrian encouraged me to seek the Lord for directions. I am scheduled to meet Adrian later this week (most likely Friday) to see a musical.

We parted at about 2.15pm and I headed home to do some catching up. I spoke with my father over Skype from about 2.30pm to 3.15pm, did some work before heading down to All Souls for the evening service to sing with the choir.

It was a great experience singing in service and I throughly enjoyed myself. Also, I sensed a common message ringing throughout the day and it was this: To love your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your strength and all your soul AND to love your neighbour as yourself. This began at St Paul's and ended at All Souls. I need to inquire of the Lord what is He trying to say to me through the 3 services I attended that day.

I returned home at 8pm, had my dinner, did some work before going to bed, thanking the Lord for the week, especially the weekend and ALL the events therein. Thus ends the birthday week. It began with shopping [as in Episode 7(1)] and ends with a reminder of the law of the Lord. Thanks be to God!

Therefore, as the new week begins, ideas for the next episode begin generating.

Stay tuned.

Episode 7(1): Josiah's birthday in London

Well, after my pre-birthday shopping yesterday, I wake up to an email from Mummy that I obtained a Merit for my ABRSM Grade 8 Singing Examinations with a score of 126 out of a possible 150, thanks to the kindness of ABRSM. To get a Merit, one must score between 120 to 129. From 130, it's a Distinction. Well, I am pleased and thank the Lord for these results. :)

The examiner, in his additional comments said that "...as [my] voice matures with greater resonance, [I] will do increasingly well as a performer". Yes, the voice takes time to mature and even as I thank the Lord for blessing me with a good singing voice, I pray that I will be able to nurture this voice to praise Him and to do His work. Time to update my CV.

I also received birthday wishes from friends both in Singapore and UK. Thanks to all for the well-wishes.

There's also headlines that are of significance such as the start of a longly-awaited inquiry into the deaths of Princess Diana and Al-Fayed in the High Court. This is significant not because of the parties involved, but perhaps the time. This incident took place 10 years ago!

Also, I forgot to mention that Big Ben resumed its chimes yesterday, 1st October after 5 weeks of silence due to maintenance works. It is reported that Big Ben turns 150 years old next year. So, I guess there's something big being planned for this great London landmark.

I headed off to school and sat through 2 lectures and 1 tutorial. After that, I decided to pay a visit to the newly opened St Martin in the Fields, despite the gloomy skies and light rain at 4pm in the afternoon. Photos below:

St Martins from the outside
(noticed the wet pavement and gloomy sky)

Nelson's Column @ Trafalgar Square

The refurbished sanctuary of St Martins

(slightly blur)

The pipes of the organ at St Martins

(just as one comes into the sanctuary)

Well, afer visiting, I made my way to the hostel where I prepared my birthday dinner in the comforts of a kitchenette. Here is a photo of the kitchenette where I prepare my food:

The kitchenette

My birthday dinner

(from clockwise: a plate of boiled bean sprouts and carrots, a green apple,

a plate of fried bean sprouts with onions in dark soya sauce and 2 fried eggs,

a mug of juice and a container of "old" rice with minced beef and sweet and sour chicken)

I did not finish everything. I kept the remainder of the bean sprouts which will be meals for the subsequent days.

No fanciful restaurant food. Just simple (and healthy) home-cooked food. After eating, I wrote some emails to the family and did some preparatory reading for tomorrow's tutorial.

But, I have plans to stagger my birthday celebrations throughout this week. More in the next post.

Episode 7: The (great) month of October

And so commences the great month of October with just under 12 weeks to the end of 2007. See how time flies. We are now in the final quarter of the year.

This October is extra special because it will be the first time celebrating my birthday away from home.

My birthday is tomorrow and unfortunately, it is a school day. But, today, after school, I went to do some shopping for my own birthday presents, with the permission from my mum to use the supplementary credit card she applied for me.

So, what did I buy? Well, 2 books (1 law text for reference and 1 book on classical music) from Borders and 2 British legal drama DVDs from HMV. All these were bought along Oxford Street.

I have just watched one episode from one of the DVDs. My comments? Well, I think English legal dramas are different from the American ones we commonly see on TV such as Ally McBeal or The Practice. The reason for buying these DVDs is to expose myself to British advocacy and also consider whether this is the kind of work I like to do in the future - speaking and persuading the court as an adovocate for my client.

Yap, that's about it for now...