I don't know how many people actually come to this site often enough to realize that this space have been dead for quite a while. Apologies to you all. As always, time has been against me.
So much has happened.
Where do I start?
If I remember correctly, the last time I updated this blog was before the Easter holidays. That was ages ago. Well, during Easter, I attended the Easter Camp organized by ICF. It was held at Fieldings, Palmerston North. The camp overall was a great experience. I stayed in a marae (a maori home), made friends with people that I've never kept in touch with, (except for Kenny, and that is because he added me in MSN messenger) got closer to the friends that I've already made (you're the best elaine!!) got dumped in the middle of nowhere together with my teamates (we were split into teams during the camp), ate 2 spoonfuls of tabasco sauce, slept looking like an eskimo due to my mounting fear of the cold, took a walk in the middle of the night where everything was pitched dark except for the stars, ate food that was cooked in the ground (don't ask me how, it's a maori thing. The weird thing is the food actually tasted pretty good), played volleyball (it's been so so long since I've played), played with extra big inflated swords (extremely good for releasing anger), went for easter reflection where those who attended sat in a circle, with candles in the middle and just simply reflecting upon the sacrifice of Jesus.... I'm pretty sure I've done some crazy stuff that I no longer remember, or said some stupid things that I can't recall. But I enjoyed Easter :)
The other big event would be ASIAN WEDDING BANQUET!!!
Recently, ICF organized a fund-raising banquet, where the profits generated will be used to help subsidise the fees for TSCF conference in Auckland. TSCF, which stands for Tertiary Student Christian Fellowship, is celebrating it's 70th anniversary this year. The cost is around $200. *faint* I was part of the organizing committee. I had no idea how I ended up there.
I remember the day I offered my help to Michelle, the coordinator of this banquet. I just wanted to help out with make-up. I like painting people. And I'm absolutely crazy about make-up. (Too bad, make-up here is far too expensive. Have been going make-up-less for ages now, except for lipstick and lipgloss) Suddenly, WHAM!! I'm in committee. And there I was, going to the High Comission to borrow costumes, meeting up with the Malaysian Student Organization president to ask for a 'kompang' team, going for commitee meetings..bla bla bla... gosh the stress and the time and the effort. But it was all worth it. That night was awesome!!!
The theme for the dinner was 'weddings', so for performances, of which Leesa, Jasmine and I are in charge, we decided to have mock Chinese, Malay and Indian weddings. We didn't really have a Chinese wedding. It was a Chinese tea ceremony. Bowing to heaven and earth would have made the 'mock' wedding, in a way, legally binding. For the Malay wedding, a mock bersanding ceremony was held. I didn't know that rice in the 'merenjis' ceremony represents fertility. The Indian wedding was the grand finale, and in my opinion, the best performance yet. There was dancing, music, and 'walking around the sacred fire'. Perhaps it was just a coincidence, but in all of the weddings, we didnt perform the parts that would have made the marriages binding. We didnt have 'bowing to heaven and earth', we didn't have 'akad nikah', and we wanted to have an Indian priest (an actor, not the real priest of course) but that was cancelled last minute.
I was the Malay bride.
I had rice all over me that night.
I got nicknamed Fran Foo. (the groom's surname is Foo). Not good. Not good at all. But it was all in good fun :D
If mock weddings took so much effort and planning, I wonder how REAL weddings will be like?
And now, the fun is all over. Pressures are mounting. Stress is building up, like a rushing river pressing against an old dam that will break anytime soon.
Final exams are near.
My first paper, which is FCOM 110 will be on the 3rd June. You see, lectures for that subject ends 1st June. And two days later, voila!! EXAM. Econs will be on the 9th, Statistics on the 13th and Info systems on the 20th. Sigh. That's one whole month of stress.
However, in between those stressful period there are still fun things I wanna do. My roomate, Fiona, has a small role in a play and I wanna go and watch!! So I'm going on the 10th, after the Econs paper. Ching Wen's cousin, who is a great pianist is also coming to Wellington to perform. I'm going to his concert. That's on the 11th of June. My next paper is on the 13th, but it's Stats. There's no way you can do last minute work when it comes to maths. Might as well take some time of to relax.
On the other hand, I may just chicken out last minute and decide to be the freak that I am and continue studying.
Oh, and did I mentioned that today is the last day of my 40 day fasting?? I've been fasting one meal a day for forty days. Fasting used to be easy for me back home. But fasting here is equivalent to mental and physical torture. This is really a great tool for spiritual discipline. I forgotten how is it like to have 3 meals a day. I'm hungry every single minute of the day. I'm craving for food all the time. Even now, I'm imagining myself eating sweet and sour pork with yam, japanese tofu, lo mai kai, pork chops, meat pies, chocolate cakes, chocolate slices, brownies... ok I better stop thinking about food. It drives me crazy. My whole routine has been changed to accomodate fasting. When lunch time comes, I'll hide myself in the library to avoid food and also to avoid watching people eating food, although the latter is quite impossible. Sometimes I would follow my friends along to the cafe and have hot chocolate. Trust me, as much as I love hot chocolate and mochachino and long black and all the other nice drinks, they're never substitutes for good, solid food. There are times when I'm unlucky enough to have people like CK around, who will try to tempt me by giving me the 'finger-licking-good' look when eating potato wedges, which I'm really craving for right now. On the other hand, there are people like Jia Yin who will confiscate my chocolate muffin and will only release it at 4pm. (4pm is tea time, not lunch time anymore :D) Fasting ends today. YES!!!! I'm never going to do this again.
I'm also trying to find a job. I've applied for a wait staff job at the Black Harp. It's an Irish restaurant and bar. Ah..the Irish. Wonderful atmosphere, great music, classy restaurant etc. I've never worked in my entire life. I've no experience at all in waitressing. But I'm hoping that I'll get this job. I'm also planning to apply for a few other jobs. So everybody gather around and pray that Fran can work at the Black Harp. Yeah!!
