I am employed...

This is where I work.., am preparing to go for my shift soon. Today is day number 4 at work. I love it, it's what I always wanted to do...
:)

I went for my trial/probation 3 hours last Monday. Right after I finished my 3 hours, I was confirmed immediately, and was hugging the store assistant manager. :) I came home and texted Gene and my housemates about the news:) Also announced that I will cook a simple celebratory dinner for everyone:) (Yeah, I know.. shiok sendiri.. :P )


I decided to cook beef and pork sausages, Chinese style mushroom omelette and have rice and cherry tomatoes on the side...:)


My super nice housemate went out to get some rose wine for the celebration. We talked for hours during and after dinner about all sorts of food, durians, politics, religion, but mostly durians. That was another wonderful day for me...

A Malaysian super yummy dinner...

We met up with Bak's brother last Friday, and he brought us to this super yummy Malaysian food restaurant - C&R Restaurant in Chinatown. It is REALLLYY REALLLYY yummy.....check it out!!

This is my Malaysian Nasi Goreng...

From above: Kampong Style Nasi Goreng and Nasi Lemak

Si beh ho chiak!!:D

An arty underground tube station...

Very arty, wish there were more...they definitely make the underground a little less depressing...

Dandelion...

I've only read about dandelions in books before, here I see a proper big one...I tried to blow away the dandelion.. it wasn't easy...:) I had to take many big breaths and still I was not completely successful...:)

Counting my blessings...

Mass this morning was lovely. I had not been aware that instead of travelling all the way into town, there was a church right at the end of the park that is across the street from my home. St. Gertrude's Catholic Church, Purley. It was a nice walk along the side of the park and playground, where children played before going in for mass. I had learnt from Mark, Alban's brother that in most churches here in the UK, only one mass is sung and the rest, recited. And I found out that at St. Gertrude's, the Sunday 10 am mass was a Family Mass (sung) - as stated in its website.

There were no organs, but there was a choir, a flutist and a guitarist. The choir was fantastic, and the entire music ensemble sat on the upper deck in the church, filling the church with wonderful magical music throughout mass.

I only stumbled upon this church, when I was out to get some food for dinner on Saturday evening. I wasn't feeling very well then, with lots of things going through my mind. But praise the Lord. Gene alarmed me when he said "Look, a Catholic church!!" My spirits immediately lifted and I truly felt then, that it was the Lord's will that had brought me to this place.

His plan, His arrangement. It was true, I had many other choices of places to live in, to look at, to view and select. But I had made a hasty, impulsive decision in my head somehow to pick this one, and justifying my decision by consulting various adults that I was doing the right thing. And of course, they all know that once I had my mind set, they might as well support me.

Given the fact of course, that I also had some wonderful people who were already in the UK to check this place out for me, making sure the people I was going to live with were decent and nice. The only concern they had, was the size of the room - which I have come to like. It is after all, my own litte personal space, and I am not claustrophobic. A bigger room might have felt empty and knowing me, loneliness might loom over me causing me to have bigger issues later on.

God works in mysterious ways, and He will make a way that's best for us, even when you least expect it. Praise and thank the Lord, Alleluia...

The Pond...

- 15 June 2008 -

It was simply a beautiful place...

Some more places I've been to last week...

- 13 June 2008 -

Out in London, walking and walking and walking.... before Gene and I went for the Baroque period concert at St. Martins-in-the-fields. Many of these places I've only seen on the Monopoly board, got me excited when I finally got there in person...

Oxford Circus - this is like Bukit Bintang in KL, super busy, people walk really fast and you feel the stress, hustle and bustle of the city...see, no one's smiling. They're obviously stressed...Oh, yeah, lots of shopping places here too ;) LOTS!!! I just didn't have the $$$...ah well...

Regent Street

Picadilly Circus - spot me!! Don't know why everyone sits around it... It's just overcrowded!

Pall Mall

St. James's Park...looks like a fairytale land behind me doesn't it?

Walked through the park and came to this amazing view of the Horse Guards Parade - it's an amazing place. It really is!! The very next day after I was there, they held the Queen's birthday celebration there...I watched it on tv:)

Going through the Horse Guards Parade arches...EMOOOO

At the gate, there he was! I asked to take a picture, and he nodded solemnly:)

More weird stuff...

Then there's this place that sells vitamin water... the entire shop is filled with coloured water bottles...this is a picture from outside the window... it's so weird I don't dare go in...


1) The pink coloured one - It's called "power-c": dragonfruit (c +b's) - helps you beat your granny in an arm "something"...

2) The orange coloured one - It's called "essential": orange-orange (c + calcium) - kick morningitus into touch

3) The yellow coloured one - It's called "spark": tropical fruits (b + guarana) - spank the backside of life

4) The semi-transparent coloured one - It's called "multi-v": lemonade (b-zinc) - more vitamins than you can shake a stick?

5) The purple coloured one - It's called "revive": fruit punch (b + potassium) - wake up like last night never happened

6) The red coloured one - It's called "defence": raspberry - apple (c + zinc) - keeps you perk....something...:P

That's what I got from the pic:)

Weird Stuff...

The Lim Coopers showed us a mutated strawberry they found while we were there for dinner last Saturday...It's got 9 fingers....and no one dared eat it...

The mutated strawberry

Sunny days and interviews...

It's super hot today, as been most days since I arrived. Am actually dressed in my spaghetti strap tops most days, and today... I'm down to shorts instead of jeans. Everyone is telling me... "Enjoy the sunshine while it's here. You won't like it later in the year..." It is hot yes, oh but I do so love that the sun sets only about 10 pm here:) So you can nap at 7 or 8 pm and get up at 9pm and it's still bright outside:) Isn't it great?:)

Been walking lots today, it's really hot outside... and I'm just home for a break and will be out again soon. For an interview... fingers crossed real tight and wish me luck!

Starbucks called up today too:) Cindy, if you've been praying for me, thank you...lol:) Starbucks interview is tomorrow. So wish me luck people...:) Miss all of you lots...

Trust his heart...

I sat in the toilet today, and...... everything went past my head in quick flashes, how I got here. It is still unbelievable to myself until right now, this very moment that I am in a faraway country, living with two new lovely housemates in my cosy little room. It's all happening real fast, really really fast...and I am happy. Because time flies by the fastest when you are happy, and time has certainly just gone past me like a matter of seconds.

Praise the Lord that I am here, and I cherish and embrace the wonderful moments and blessings the great Lord has bestowed upon me. The Lord is so great, so wonderful and what He has planned for me is still a mystery. I do not know what tomorrow may bring, and I believe that He has got it all planned out. And that everything happens for a reason. Whatever it may be.

"God is too wise to be mistaken, God is too good to be unkind ...

so when you don't understand, when you don't see his plan,

when you can't trace his hand, trust his heart..."

Love the Lord and remember Him always...

Day out in town...and Starbucks CoFFee!!:D

The day I was walking in town from shop to shop till my feet were gonna rot, we took our break in Starbucks... again...:) It's approx £2 plus per drink...:)

Starbuckkssss!!!

Gene doing his weird-ness in Starbucks...

Khamis Lepas Saya Masak-Masak Sedikit...:)

-12 June 2008, Dinner-

Gene masak fish and chips, saya masak cendawan:)

Onions, mushrooms and carrots!!:)

I didn't really know what I was doing, so I added some light soy sauce, and some black soy sauce...then cincai fry!!

Mushrooms...hmmm... looks yummy right?

Food is ready...Fish and Chips and Mushrooms!!


Jom makan!!:D Yeay!!:D

Going to church....

I went to church last Sunday. It was..."wordy".

Okay, I guess I am not supposed to judge or comment on how church is... but here's how I feel...


I went in all excited. I got my mass book and hymn book. The church started filling up. The Benediction was still going on when I entered. It was quiet, not many people have come in yet. No one sat in my row, as all the other rows started filling up.

Mass is starting. No opening hymn. Okay... oh, no singing of Gloria, okay... we recited it. Readings and Gospel and then the sermon. We also recited Alleluia. By then, there were people sitting with me by the way. Heh. Observation: Lots of black hair, a couple blondes, a couple brunettes... Mostly, not locals.

No singing of offertory hymns either. Okayyy....no Holy, holy, no Lamb of God.... we all recited EVERYTHING. Including the Lord's prayer. Right. Now I get it. No singing in this mass. I craned my neck and looked around the church. Well, it is sitting right there. The organ. No one's playing it. And certainly people are not reciting the prayers in unison.

Holy Communion time - The entire church stood up. I was thinking OMG... this is like Muar 15 years ago maybe? By now, in Malaysia I believe we all have a system of going row by row, but oh certainly not here. Without any order, everyone just walked to the front. Okayyy...... I stayed a while, but then everyone was just going from queue to queue whichever's shorter. I'm like... huh? So okay, I go too.

Of course, no ending hymn.
Mass was mass in the most basic way it could ever be.


Praise the Lord, no offence meant. It is a beautiful church with lots of people who love the Lord. I mean no harm expressing how I feel. It would be so much lovelier to have music and merry making in the House of God. And maybe, it was just my love for music. And I really felt it missing during mass on Sunday...

Croydon, Surrey

Some pics of Croydon town... I know I know, they all look like shopping places only that I've been...heh, it's very not true. They happen to be the pictures I snapped:) meaning place I've been visiting, YET being able to resist the tons of temptations...

I quote Wikipedia... "Croydon is a large town and major commercial centre in South London..." and of course more information can be found at http://www.croydon.gov.uk/

:)