Saturday, August 28, 2010
Settling in Singapore
Saturday morning and was up at 8.30am and the thought that crossed my mind was, when was the last time I slept in?
But the thing about sleeping on the floor is, there's little enticement to roll back to sleep. The advantage of sleeping on the floor is... when my alarm, which I put at the opposite end of the room, goes off, I don't have to struggle out of my covers, stumble out of the bed, and grapple in a half-asleep state trying to find my alarm without knocking down too many things.
I literally take the sleeping bag I'm cocooned in and roll myself towards the direction of the alarm, snooze it, and roll back to my original spot to catch another 10 minutes of sleep.
Hehe. It's very efficient. Saves me precious seconds of sleep this way.
Stop slapping your palm against your forehead! I can see that!!
Settling down in Singapore is taking a longer time than I expected. Moving house is always a pain but it's always worth it when you begin to settle in a new environment, and began to see things fall into place.
It feels deliciously fulfilling somehow, after waking up, took my time to keep my laundry, sweep the apartment and then settle in a corner to read the newspaper the condo management delivers right up to my doorstep.
And I'll be off soon, to collect some free furniture. A crazily rich English banker preferred to buy completely new furniture for the new house his family is moving to than be bothered to move the old furniture. His new house is only a street away. And he would rather just give away everything since he couldn't be bothered to sell it since he doesn't need the money.
I have no complaints!
So I'm getting quite a number of good quality stuff for my new place this afternoon without having to pay a visit to Ikea just yet!
Labels: Random things
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Roughing it out
I've moved to my new place and there's no furnitures yet. Haven't had time to even think of furniture shopping.
My sister's investment in a quality sleeping bag has proven a worthwhile investment over and over in the last 24 months!
People keep asking me in disbelief if it's comfortable and my cousins laugh at me and tell me to get out of my London mode whenever I do something completely contrary to typical Singaporean culture, like walking to the shops to buy grocery when I can drive (they offered to let me take one of their cars).
You'll be surprised how much I enjoy sleeping out of my sleeping bag! It's comfortable enough to sleep through the night, and a tad bit uncomfortable enough that I can't easily roll back to sleep when my alarm goes off.
It's just the right combination to give me my needed rest without over-sleeping!
Labels: Random things
Sunday, August 15, 2010
O transitory life
I had a vivid dream last night with varied details emerging throughout the dream. But what really stood out was when I declared to two of my old schoolmates, "I want to go back to London."
And for the rest of the day today I've been missing London a lot more than usual. Not for the first time, I tried imagining what life would be like if my path continued in London rather than Singapore.
Whenever work and stress hits a high note, the question of why did I come back here again would always arise in my head. I am only glad each time the answer is always the same.
In time to come, as it always does, I know I will raise my head with tears of thankfulness that God's plans is always infinitely better than I can imagine. Inevitably, I will always see how amazingly, God always meets my needs. Sometimes, the mechanism that allows my needs to be met was set to work decades before.
I don't know why He wants me in Singapore for this period, and why His plans did not remain with London. Life on earth is too short to care about such details. I'll have all eternity to have fun and enjoy life.
Side note: interestingly, lately all the backdrop of my dreams has been in foreign countries I've never been to. I wonder what that means?!
Labels: Random things
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Kids
I think of my church in London (IPC) a great deal as they have been a model Church in the love they have shared amongst one another and for anyone and everyone that touches the members of the church in any way; through joining the services, or having met a member on the streets.
Despite having moved to Singapore for a few months now, I still feel very much remembered and loved by the church. Sometimes I think they miss me more than I do them!
But the ones I truly miss... are the kids! I feel more heavily the regret of not being able to watch them grow up, and knowing that by now the toddlers would have forgotten that they once smiled readily at me when I see them during the weekends.
Pastor Paul and Claire L's baby Noah opening his birthday present from me. This was during my farewell party and after I spent an hour crying. No one could coax me out of my tearful state until Claire sent Noah to say hi to me.
I've been attending a small, nameless church in Singapore and I am so glad that there are children within the church! When I first met JT and her four kids, it was a challenge to get them to warm up to me because of the family history and the kind of temperament the family has.
But after a few weeks of regularly meeting this family and praying over them, the ice is beginning to thaw at an accelerated pace. The most clingy toddler is now willing to allow other adults other than his mother to hold him. And today he willingly climbed up my lap to play with me.
The 9 year old ADHD child has been hungrily seeking more and more affirmation from the church and it is nice to see the edge of her rebellious streak softening just ever so slightly.
The independent and aloof 1 year old baby girl who only allowed the maid to take care of her has surprisingly been quite clingy to me today - very quick to extend her arms to me to carry her. She even hit the pastor and gave him a glare when he was talking to me and keeping my attention away from her.
Today, despite having 4 adults taking care of 3 kids while their mother had some time off to have Bible study, some of us were feeling exhausted by the time we called it a day. The best part about kids is undoubtedly the part when you can nudge them towards their parents and say, "Time to go home!!! Bye!!!"
Labels: Church tales, Friends
