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!
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.
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
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment