clean linen

I had my last meal with Tzen and Trang tonight at Tzen's house. And I left the house with a heavy heart because I didn't know when I would see them again. Well, Tzen said she's visiting Singapore in August, but meeting her in Singapore would be without Trang, and would just be different. As for Trang, only God knows when I'm going to see her again - a thought that saddens me! I got to know Tzen and Trang when I stayed in Florence Boot (FB) Hall in Year 1. In Year 2, Trang was on a year out on exchange in Australia, while Tzen and I had moved into Broadgate Park. In Year 3, Trang came back and all three of us were staying in our own houses but all in the same area. We tried hard to keep in touch after a fun year of staying together in FB. Especially this year, since Trang is back in Nottingham. It is so easy to eat and talk with these two friends, and we always get carried away. We say we need to stop and end the night, but it takes us close to half an hour at times to A...

My brother is currently on a 12-week internship in Kassel, Germany. Over this weekend, he flew over to the UK. Our original plan was for him to come stay in Nottingham. However, the train and flight timings just weren't right, so we decided that he would fly into London and I would go there to meet him. We met directly at the hotel we would be staying in late Friday night. Then on Saturday morning, we walked to the Monument... ...Walked along the River Thames to see the Tower Bridge and some old HMS vessel/warship (can't remember its exact significance/history, but it's a landmark!)... ...Then we took photos of the Tower of London, but decided against going in. I was surprised to see sooo many people/tourists, because I have always never been excited about London, so much so that I think I have forgotten that it has many many tourist attractions, a city to visit. While waiting for the restaurants in Chinatown to open so we could have a dimsum lunch, we walked over to Covent...

While waiting for the cab with Jon Cheong to move all my stuff out of this house and to Jon Cheong's house, I took this photo. This is the first house that I can say is "mine"!:) In general, the stay here has been wonderful. It is an old house, but it is very quiet, it is very spacious for two people, and I have been able to study well in this house. I won't really miss this house in particular, but in the midst of missing the kind of life I've had here in Nottingham (which will not exist in Singapore), I will definitely think of this house.

Despite having takeout from Sukho Thai for dinner last night, I had lunch at Sukho Thai again today. Before I left, I requested a photo with the boss of the restaurant. So this photo is with "Uncle Sukho" and Gordon. I definitely can get Thai food back in Singapore, but I will still miss Sukho Thai and the friendly owners!

Both hz and I vacated the house today. Hz left at about 11:45am. I left at about 2plus in the afternoon. While waiting for hz's cab to come to bring her to Nottingham train station, we took a photo with our nice, motherly neighbour, Rene. I also took a photo of hz with all her stuff: And then I tried taking a self-shot of the two of us, and caught Rene in the picture in the meantime (I'm too lazy to crop the photo so that it's just the two of us): Then came my turn. Have a look at all my stuff: In general, it is only the two suitcases and backpack of stuff that will be brought back to Singapore. The rest will go to 1) people in Jon Cheong's house, 2) my brother (mostly food stuff. Oh I'm going to London tonight to meet him and we'll be staying 2 nights in London), or 3) to the rubbish bin.

Save for a few bits and bobs here and there, I'm about packed and ready to move out of this house. Hippo has a ziplock bag of her own, but she has been compressed, and I'm very sorry to her for that. But, just after doing the 'compressing', I was soooo amused by the end result that I showed it to hz while laughing away. And she said, "You're gonna take a photo of it right?" AND SHE WAS RIGHT. How could I not have taken a photo! She truly is my very smart housemate! haha

I had lunch with Jon Cheong and Johnston today at Mooch, in Portland Building today. It would probably be the very last time I have lunch at Portland Building. I wanted to eat at Chicken Joe's initially, but Jon Cheong wanted to go to Mooch. So, to Mooch we went, and I had lasagne:) After lunch, I managed to sell one of my Family Law textbooks to the bookshop in Portland, and I got £11 for it! Yay! Some money back is better than no money at all! I got home, and it was just mad-packing and throwing for myself and hz. Time flew by and not before long, it was time to have dinner together with hz and John. It would be the last time we (the three of us) have takeout from Sukho Thai together. After dinner, I reminded hz to take out her 4 bottles of Smirnoff Ice so that we could help her finish them off. For the picture on the right, I wanted to take a photo of John drinking Smirnoff but he was too ashamed of it. He said that if his friends back home in Singapore saw him drinking Smirnoff...

I think I picked up the skill of harmonising when I was part of the school choir in primary and secondary school. But I'm still not fantastic at it, especially when it comes to working out the upper harmony. I still usually find it easier to work out the lower harmony. I was watching an episode of Taiwanese talk show 康熙來了 ('kang xi lai le') and they did a part on harmonising... I found it really cool! Watch from 3:07 to the end of this part: Watch from 0:00-2:10 for this part:

Three girls from my small group, Stephanie, Wen Qi and Grace, wrote me a card and passed it to me at small group today. It really touched and encouraged me. It especially struck a chord with me because they quoted Proverbs 31:10-31, a passage I wrote about previously . I may have written that I want my future husband to say this of me, but at present, it just touched my heart that they have said this of me. I must say that I am still far from the standards of this Noble Woman, but I am praying and learning to become more and more like this Noble Woman (I hope!).

I have survived a year of leadership of a small group in Christian Centre. I can't believe it is over... Thinking about it now, I can say with confidence that I don't regret taking up leadership despite this being my final year in Law School. There definitely were difficult times, but God brought me through them all and I have learnt alot through this refining process. Just now, there were 12 of us at the meeting. We were missing James, Pelumi, Kenrick, Yun Bing and Robin. We had our usual chatting, and then, even though there were no newcomers at the meeting, we still shared 2 interesting facts about each other - this is an ice-breaker my small group members always joke about not enjoying because it can be difficult to think of two interesting facts about oneself. But it has become something of a tradition in this small group I guess. I led in a short time of worship, just 2 songs, and we prayed for each other and blessed the small group as we 'parted ways' for the sum...