Christmas at JayBee

Christmas did not go as what I had planned earlier but God presented me a rather unique Christmas experience this year. Since I can't go anywhere, I went to Grace's place for the DNA Christmas Party on the 22nd December. Hin Loong and Hin Yew came down from Ipoh and there was Lizzie, Lerdie and Gerald coming from the vicinity of KL. We had fun enjoying each other's company and big thanks for those who gave me a present! I had a couple of new stuff this holiday season from Mama which included a phone change to Nokia 5230 and a pair of Pegasus 26+ sneakers :)

Mhmmmm..then on the next day on the 23rd, I was "interrogated" by the immigration department on my damaged passport. Lots of question were asked and they were awfully detailed on the questions. When I saw my statement being recorded onto the form, a realisation dawn on me that red tape would require at least a few weeks to process those written material in Putrajaya. My bid to reach the southern Island at least by the 24th had failed and I was right. I was handed by the officer who interviewed me that a piece of letter informing that the decision to renew my passport will only be known 1 month later. I felt really frustrated and was nearly at loss on what to do because the prospects of spending Christmas eve and Christmas back an ulu land Nilai were just terrible. After getting my lunch and sitting down to think about it a little, I figured out that going to JB was the best solution to at least spend Christmas with Mama before semester reopens.

Meanwhile, in the evening of 23rd, I went for caroling at Banting and this was my first time experience doing that. It was an interesting experience, with me going from house to house in a convoy of other carolers to the various families of the church that stayed in the different parts of Banting. We started at around 6.30pm and ended only at around 1am. I didn't eat dinner at the start of the carolling but my hungry meter got filled up as we went from house to house. Of course, the best reward came at the last house in the Choon family's house where a big feast awaits us in the form of popiahs and really delicious fried chicken. After all the caroling fun, I drove back to Nilai in a near half-sleepy and tired state and doze off quickly the moment I hit my hostel bed.

On the next day, I spend some time chilling out at my hostel room before heading out to Seremban in the afternoon to take the afternoon bus to JB at 2.30pm. I managed to meet up with Mama in the evening. On Christmas Eve, I have a nice dinner at stonegrill, where customers get to grill their own steak on a piece of hot stone..haha. I had a good rest for the night and a scrumptious breakfast buffet on the next. I spent the time chilling out around city square and enjoyed my ice blended mocha while surfing the net at Starbucks..lol. On the next day, Mama went back to Singapore in the late morning while I meet up with Reuben first to have breakfast with him. It's his territory and yea, it's great to meet up with him after so long. He fetched me to Pelangi Red Box after breakfast where I met up with Grace and her family.

In the evening of 26th, we went to St. Christopher's Church for an open house where the Bishop and his wife are there. Apparently, this is an Anglican tradition where the Bishop will kinda host an open house in different regions in Malaysia. They have always hosted it at the Klang Valley, so this time they are doing it in on the Southern side in Johor. It's quite a feast there I must say with barbequed beef, fried rice, fried bee hoon, chicken wing, burgers and various other cakes and biscuits. I followed Grace and her family to return to KL where I'll plan to hang around before returning back to campus on the 30th.

Like I mention previously, this is quite a different schedule indeed that I had planned but I would not say that it's that bad afterall. This change of sequence of events has enabled me to have a Christmas party with the DNA young adults, experience caroling at Banting and at the same time got to know a little on Anglican traditions. Most important of all, Christmas is a time to remember of God's gift to mankind, Jesus. Beyond all those celebration, it's good to have a quiet time to reflect on God's grace given to us through his Son.