Bonjour Paris and the Royal Wedding

It's a very very risky thing to do but I did it anyways..haha! I guess that's the thrill of it. A week before the deadline of my dissertation, I've decided to hop off to Paris for a short break with one of my friends from Singapore, Leo. I had actually planned to finish everything before I fly off but that didn't go as well as I planned. At the time of boarding the train to London, I still have my introduction and conclusion plus bits of pieces of the chapter of reform which has not been settled. Since I won't have a laptop with me on the trip, the only time I can proceed back with the work is during the 29th when I come back. To compensate for that, I've brought along my revision notes to study so that I can have headstart to exams preparations.

The journey started off with a train ride from Leeds to London at 11am in the morning. We reached London King Cross at around 1pm and it's my first time stepping foot in London too! 7 months in England and I've never entered London before..lol. We had planned to visit Madame Tussaud's first since I have a 2 for 1 coupon. However, when we reached there, we found out that the queue is super long and since we have to leave for London Luton airport by 4pm+, it does seem unwise to queue up for it since we would have less time to go around. In the end, we just settled to walking around Westminster and Big Ben before boarding the train to the airport. It seems that all budget airlines operate at the outskirts at Luton airport and not Heathrow. By the time all the air tickets and transiting trains prices come together, it's actually better just to take the Eurostar train from London.

We reached Charles de Gaulle airport at close to 11pm Paris time and we had to take another train down to the city center. More money is spilled again. One of the first thing I realised when I reached the Paris Metros are that they are quite dirty, old and rather unmaintained. By the time we settled into the hotel it was already 1am. The room's not too bad for a 2-star hotel and I'm impressed that they have a flat screen TV for a low budget hotel. I watched a little French TV before going to sleep. On the next day, we started by walking to the Pantheon. We had breakfast at one of the French cafes before continuing our walk to St. Michael's square to get a free tour of the city. A morning walk around the streets of Paris is refreshing. The buildings look beautiful and their traditional architecture style is maitained. The free tour lasted for 3 hours and afterthat we went on our own way to the Arc De Triomphe which is actually now the center of a giant roundabout. There's an eternal flame for the Unknown soldier to commemorate all those who have fallen for the French Empire. Next up is the highlight of the day which is to head to Eiffel Tower and it took us quite some time before we reached the monumental site of the Paris icon. When I gazed upon the Eiffel tower with my own eyes, a part of me felt a sense of thankfulness and gratitude to God for bringing me this far. I would never have imagined such an opportunity 5 years ago.

As a result of the intense phototaking, our camera batteries were close to zero and we decided to return back to our rooms to recharge the batteries because there's still the night camera shots to consider. We had dinner in one of the kebab stalls and we proceeded to go around Paris at night to take night shots. I'm rather impressed with the night life in Paris. The cafes are still opened at night and people are actually having proper meals and proper conversations. This is unlike the streets of England where you see partying, clubbing, binge drinking and drunkards sprawling all over the city and roads. It's nice to walk somewhere at night where it is drunkfest free. Anyways, The longest walk by far is from the Louvre to Eiffel Tower. On the map, it looks 15 minutes but actually it's almost 1hr of walking. We were so exhausted from walking that we just opted to take a taxi back to the hotel.

On the next day, the weather was not so fantastic. Gloomy, cold and cloudy, it didn't seem to look like spring at all. Nevertheless, we made our way to the Notre Dame first as we wanted to see how it looked like inside. It' a grand Catholic Gothic cathedral and at the doors are decorated with the statues of the saints and I'm amused to see one where St. Peter is depicted holding a giant key. Ahh, I guess that's where he is guarding the Pearly gates. The queue is long but it took just 5 minutes to for it to clear up before it's our turn to enter. Inside the Notre-Dame were hundreds of visitors but somehow the church is so big that there's still plenty of room space to move around. And the surprise find over there was the statue of Joan of Arc, one of my favourite historical figures! We spent around 30-45 minutes in there and I got myself one commemorative coin for 2 Euros. We had intended to go inside the Louvre but seeing how long the queue was and how short of a time we have, Leo declined to enter while I'm ok with missing it since I'm coming back with Mama anyways in July. We continued going around Paris randomly and when we chanced upon a Jewish museum, we entered to have a look around. Since the weather turned for the worse with drizzling, we also stopped short of walking to the Basilica. We went to another kebab stall for dinner to take a rest from the still aching legs and we proceeded straight on to take the train to the airport. That concludes the Paris leg and it's a really short but important scouting trip to ensure that my next trip there is smoother.

A few pointers that I have from Paris is this:
a) People there will speak French to you eventhough they can see that you are Asian. Just start pointing and use sign language if things are desperate
b) Gotta be self-sufficient and rely alot on maps. You'll be surprised how far the maps can bring you around
c) If you're on a tight budget, go for McD and Kebabs. McD hamburger is available at 1 Euro each and water is free.
d) EU-country students can enter free in almost every museum in Paris but your parents will not have the same freebies
e) Don't sign some weird petitions that people ask you to on the streets of Paris

Despite it being a short trip, I can definitely see why Paris has its charm and is called the City of Lights. I'll definitely consider this as a honeymoon place in the future ;)

So, we're back in England after the flight. At the immigration gate, I handed my passport to the British immigration officer and she seemed confused for a while that I was granted a one-year visa. She asked me what course I'm studying and I said "Law in the Uni of Leeds". And afterthat, she just gave the biggest wide-eyed stare at me in disbelief. Abandoning all sense of British proprietrieness, she asked ,"Is your English level up to standard?" I was amused at her question/suspicion but as I'm tired, I just muttered a "Yes". If I had been more energetic, I would have shot back ,"It's perfectly alright Mad'm". Gahhhhh..anyways, we put up for the night in the house of one of Leo's Singaporean friends in London.

The next morning, it rise and shine early as I get ready for the biggest day in the British calendar this year. I happened to be in the right place and right time and it's the Royal Wedding! How often are the chances that you're an International student and the year when a royal wedding happens falls with the same year of your studies! The last time celebrations were as this big was in 1981 when Princess D got married. I had intended to at least stand by the procession route but it seems that the police had already cordoned off the area. People have been camping there since last night, so I have to settle with watching it from the big screen with hundreds of others at Trafalgar square. It was certainly a momentous occassion as free Union Jack flags are handed out. From the place where I'm standing, I could see Westminster Abbey in the horizon and coincidentally, the tourism Malaysia office is nearby, so the Malaysian flag was actually up at Trafalgar square with the Union Jack during the wedding procession. We went for lunch later at one of the Chinese restaurants and I'm surprised to see the big portion of food that London restaurants serve. While we were at the restaurant, we watched from the TV the infamous kiss of the royal couple at the balcony of the Buckingham palace. The evening was spent walking to sightsee London such as the Royal courts and alongside the Thames River. I also had dinner with another Singaporean friend of Leo's. This dinner place serves Japanese food like the Sg food court and at 4.50 pounds, the portion is quite huge too. We were back at King Cross on time at 9.30pm for the train back to Leeds.

The giant screen and crowd at Trafalgar Square

Overall, it's a tale of two capital cities and I had a fun time going around the few days. Special thanks to Leo for planning everything and freeing me up the time to study. This will not be the last time I'm travelling those two places as I'm intending to return there to properly enjoy the places after my academics are done.

Good Friday and Easter

It's the first Holy week that I'm experiencing abroad and it was quite an interesting experience. On Friday morning, I had already planned to go to St. George's for the Good Friday service. I was rushing up on my dissertation as usual when I received a call from Vincent asking me whether I want to play drums tonight for combined cell at the Chinese Church. I answered yes right away as it's been a long time since I've been at the forefront with the worship team. Anways, I went for service on time and it's the traditional Anglican service with hymns. It's quite an interesting experience although it was solemn. Right afterthat I went back to rest before heading out again this time to Montague Burton to meet up a couple of the people there for a laksa/hokkien mee party.

It's the second time I'm having a makan gathering with Ling Wei and Qing Wei's gang and I've enjoyed myself during the two gatherings knowing more friends in the process. Best of all this time, I get to taste laksa too after more than 6 months. I had to cut the party short because I had to go for worship practice before the Friday combined cell session. Ahhh, this is something I miss doing back in Malaysia - going for worship practice..haha. The church doesn't have an acoustic kit and it's an electric drum which was gathering dust for months since the last drummer left England last year. I was the first drummer to touch it since then..lol. Of course an electric is no substitute for the real thing but when you're deprived of whacking drums for months, anything would just be fine. We had a sharing by one of the Malaysian missionaries in Thailand whom the Chinese church is supporting. Her sharing kinda brings back memories of the mission trip I had in Chiang Mai back in 2003.

Easter Sunday morning was spent at the Chinese Church and they had a baptism service for two members. Lol, somehow today's after service food is more bountiful than usual. At night, it was the St. George's Easter Service which was more contemporary. I guess the traditional one had already happened earlier in the morning. Overall, it's quite a reflective Easter and it's always a good time to remember the ultimate gift that Jesus has given to mankind. As of now, I really needed to rush to complete my dissertation as much as possible before I go to London tomorrow to fly off to Paris.

Crossroads

I thought I have dealt with my crossroad issue already. Since the beginning of April, I already had resolved to go back to Malaysia to do the CLP and decided not to try for clearing at all. This was because after a long and hard period of thinking, I tabulated that the cost of studying CLP in Malaysia is approximately 1/10 of that from the BPTC. The difference is vast because it would either leave a RM50000 spare change in the bank or leave the account RM50000 poorer, even after calculating the cost of the cheaper offer from Manchester. Mama pointed out that she'll be able to pull through without incurring any sort of debts. In fact, she encouraged me to try for it. But in the long period of thinking, I just contemplated on the level of finances after the BPTC period is done. It's not a question of whether I can afford it because the money is there. It's a question of the state of finances after it's all done and how long it will take to recover. RM 50k is alot of money and there are so many things that one can buy with it. A new car, downpayment for a new base in Malaysia, a new desktop - so many choices. I believe that God provides but at the same time, he gives us the wisdom to discern on whether it is a worthwhile investment to make. After deliberation, I decided affirmatively that I want Mama to live comfortably and for me to have a better headstart in crafting my own empire in Malaysia instead. And as I thought more about it, the more convinced that I should be going home instead. The thought of going back to serving actively in the church community, driving, playing drums, mamak, having good food with friends and the opportunity to make more new friends and widen my networking circle in Malaysia and the local legal fraternity gives me a good future to look forward to. I was all set then to balik kampung to Malaysia.

It would just have been okay if things are just left like that. The ball was never in my court anyways. I never received an offer. So that should just be the way it is since there's only one way for me to go. BUT, here's another twist to this episode in Stan's life. I went down today to open the letterbox and guess what came through the mail. A FULL-TIME offer for BPTC at Manchester Met! I should have been happy right? But no, it got me even more flustered and frustrated. I had a small tussle with God and the first thought that went through my mind was ,"You should have given it to me when I'm up for it!". If the offer had came within the 8th of March as it should, I would have accepted it without thinking twice. But this window period of delay had got me thinking again and to clear my thoughts. And now the ball is back in my court again - I actually HAVE to make a CHOICE. So, it goes without saying that I'm back at the crossroad again with the offer. Now I have to admit I'm really really really tempted to say yes. The prospects of living 15 minutes away from Old Trafford the Theatre of Dreams and also nearby to the rock concert events (not to mention another year of opportunity to attend even more rock concerts) is everything I've ever wished or dream for. It was the ideal sort of setting that I would like for my subsequent year of qualifying exams to be a lawyer. A Barrister title and a chance to experience life in Manchester. Wow. It got me wide-eyed for a moment.

Sigh. Why can't life be simpler and less complicated? Why can't I have a scholarship to solve my problems? If I have extra money to burn without jeopardizing my family, I would have also clicked yes right away even if the offer had came late. Was it God's indication that He wanted me to stay with the offer? These questions just kept running around for a while.
Dreams sometimes have to give way to immediate practical concerns. Harsh, but I have to remind myself that I'm not born with a silver spoon. I can't be selfish. I need to think about Mama and all the hard work that she's put in for the RM50k. I need to make sure that whatever hopes that she has placed on me is wisely invested and spent.

And then I thought of what could be God's reason for delaying the offer in the first place? Surely there must be something He wanted me to know or realise. And what I did realise was that God knew that I sometimes bull-charge in some of my decisions. He needed me to have the time to think of what He had perhaps in store for me in the future if I pick to do CLP. And I can see how generous He is too - It was never His intention to close any doors. He knew what was in my heart, he knew that I want situations where I can make my own choice and so that was why He still send along the offer too after I had made up my mind. He had given me clues on which place is better in helping me to multiply the talents that He has given me but he would always give me the choice to pick in the end.

I had not booked any flight ticket home yet. The thought of this is immense - With a click of the mouse I can decide and cause a ripple effect of who I will meet or know in the future. It's just like choosing between Inti or Help college to study law, or to go to Uni of Liverpool for the scholarship or adhere to my strongly-felt choice of Uni of Leeds. If I had chosen the Help path or Liverpool path, I may never have the chance to meet some of the people that I know now. Of course, in choosing the path that I have now, there will be some people in Help or Liverpool which I'm never fated to meet. It's really interesting to think about the people who cross paths in your life just merely by the decisions you make. It's the little things like the decision to miss a social gathering or the decision to go for a function.

Anyways, before I get diverted into the exploration of mysterious concepts and ideas, I would say that I would most probably not take up the BPTC offer for the reasons I have considered in the first place. I will stick to the decision I had made in April and at the same time, trust in Him that He will make it a blessed journey till the end of the road. Well, that should settle any lingering doubts. Now back to dissertation.

First Birthday experience in Britain

Birthday card by my CG mates

My 22nd birthday this year happens to fall on a Palm Sunday and it'll probably be the first and the last time I'll celebrate in Europe. The day started off with going to the Chinese Church as usual in the morning but I'm told in advanced a couple of weeks ago that there's gonna be a BBQ after church at Springfield. Well, I think it was meant to be a surprise kind of thing but I kinda figured out that it's gotta do with my special day..lol. What I was more nervous of was preparing myself to run away from any potential pranks that my occur on my arrival. Anyways, I'm blessed to have a wonderful weather given by God. It's sunny and the sky's bright.

The BBQ is an interesting one because the place doesn't have a proper BBQ pit. Instead, we used makeshift pits which consist of metal trays, wire sheets and some charcoals. The end result was a few black square marks at the front lawn but aye, I reckon that the grass will grow back. There loads of meat, pork and chicken mainly marinated in different types of sauce. Even with the big amount of people that we have, we somehow had trouble finishing the food..lol. I had a double birthday celebration with Minna, a Finnish girl who's studying Chinese at Leeds and her birthday is 2 days after mine. We grilled until it's close to 6 and then they brought out the cakes for us. I'm very honoured indeed to have my Chinese CG to bake my birthday cake and it's an oreo cheesecake!


It was then I realised that the person who's asking me questions on Springform recently is actually Janice my CG leader..lol. I got a question concerning cakes and present in Springform but I can't gather who it was. Ahhhh, the mystery is now revealed!..haha! Mhmmm..after all the photo-taking and the cake-eating, we cleared up and it was just in time for church service. Yesterday was the biggest group to visit St. George's because some of the Chinese Church pple who came over for the BBQ decided to go for service too since it's so near. Then after service we had another round of dinner at Tong Palace.

Overall, it's a very memorable Birthday. Firstly, I wanna say a big thank you to all my lovely CG mates (Janice, Yee Kuan, Wen, Su Wei, Hannah, Ivan)for all the planning for the BBQ, the beautifully designed card, and the deliciously home-baked cake! I think I gotta thank Janice especially because she really prepared for it very early. I had a fantastic day, enjoyed myself and truly appreciated all of them for the fellowship and massive effort! Thank you to all who attended the BBQ plus those who had contributed for my birthday gift. It was the latest Passion Album CD for this year and I super like it! Feels blessed to know all of you! =D Thanks to those who had sent me SMSes and Birthday FB messages from all over the world.


At 22 year of age, I'm starting to feel old already. What's in store for me for the next coming year?

Heroic Comeback

Wayne goes for a foul mouth response after scoring his hat-trick

The Premier League is back in action after the International break and Man Utd takes on relegation-troubled West Ham in London. It was great to see Park back in action and it seems that Fergie had opted to start with Rooney as the solo striker. Man Utd started well in general with some good decent chances. However, they soon found themselves in a very bizarre situation of 2 g0als down, thanks to some clumsy defending that resulted in 2 penalties. At the end of the first half, I was just thinking ,"Not another miserable away performance!". If things don't change in the second half, it will mean that Wenger's Gooners will get a good chance to catch up again.

Fergie made a bold change in the 2nd half, opting to sacrifice Evra in favour of Hernandez and placed Giggsy on defensive duties instead on the left back position. It paid off as it was time for Man Utd to throw caution to the wind and give it all they've got at 0-2 down. Wayne was the star man leading Man Utd in the comeback. A superb curling free-kick provided them with the lifeline that they needed and at 72nd minute, Wayne did just enough to control an incoming ball from Valencia to blast it in for an equaliser. That was his 100th Premier League goal for Man Utd. Afterthat, it just went uphill for Man Utd. The 3rd penalty was awarded in the 77th minute, but this time it's in favour of Man Utd. Rooney finishes it off in a cool manner for his hat-trick and it was prime position for Fergie to grab all three points. The contest ended with Man Utd's easy 4th goal by Hernandez, thanks to Giggsy's slicing pass that went through the legs of the defenders. From 0-2 down to a 4-2 win sounds like a good day's work in London :)

The other title contenders must have been jumping in frustration on how the weekend could have been if only Man Utd stayed down. It was a pivotal result, with Chelsea and the Gooners drawing. On the incentive side, Liverpool lost again to, of all sides, Roy Hodgson's West Brom. Ahhh..at least Mr Roy had one over the Scousers for booting him off! lol. Although Arsenal has a game in hand with 7 points off, it's quite a good lead if Man Utd can maintain it until the trip to the Emirates. It remains to be seen how the shattered Gooners will hold on. For Man Utd, it's Chelsea at the Bridge for the next coming Champions League clash!

Hebden Bridge

I got to explore another English town in West Yorkshire thanks to Nancy from the Chinese Church who had organised a mini "race" to get us exploring around this morning. This town is Hebden Bridge and is about 50 minutes away by train from Leeds. The moment I reached the town area, Hebden Bridge instantly gave an impression that it's a fun town to be in. There are lots of car traffic going in and out in the road and lots of human traffic too on the pedestrian walkways. I see many families and kids in particular. The cars are not cheapo ones - they are the expensive Mercedes, Audis and convertibles. For a moment, it kinda gave off an impression that it's like Taiping, and at the same time modern too like Subang Jaya. I did some research on the Internet and found out that Hebden Bridge is actually a dormitory town - something like a residential town with the equivalents to Bangsar for Malaysia. It's usually where working people reside and the only difference with Hebden Bridge is that it's smaller and it has lots of steep slopes.

Nancy gave us a briefing on what to do and one of the areas that we are supposed to find was the grave of a female American poet who had commited suicide. Instantly, I started to scan my brain for all the female American poets that I know and Sylvia Plath was the only name that stood out. And indeed, it was her! Woahhh! That was a really an unexpected find! Her grave is actually located at the nearby village of Heptonstall which is located on a hill overlooking Hebden Bridge. So, we had to climb up a grueling slope to reach the top of the hill where Heptonstall church is located. It houses lots of old graves outside at the church compound but somehow, English graves are less scary than Chinese graves. lol. Sylvia Plath's grave is actually relocated to a new burial field outside of the church compound but nevertheless situated in a very nice open field. Ahhhh, as a former English Literature student myself, I felt honoured to visit one of the pilgrimage sites of a well renowned literary legend. There are still plenty more to visit, in particular the Bronte sisters in Haworth which is not that far from Leeds too and also Shakespeare's birthplace in Stratford upon Avon. Mhmmmm..I gotta list out all these local English places to visit after exams.

The tragic poet's grave

After the race, we stopped by for lunch at one of the shops there and I had Bacon and Brie paninis. Food pricing there is not too bad actually. In general, Hepden Bridge was more cheerful looking than Saltaire and food is definitely cheaper with more variety. I can't really explain it fully, but there's just this aura of cheerfulness that's surrounding Hebden Bridge. I noticed that there are also alot of freelance musicians and artists busking in the town area. I'm not sure whether it's the Spring weather or the characteristic of the town but I enjoyed myself thoroughly with the hike and sightseeing around the place. I love these kinds of trips. Given my own capacity, I wouldn't have known that such a place existed. It's a good weekend trip to destress before embarking on the long stretch of work throughout the week. =D

The town square

The first day of April

A sudden hint of mischievious thought descended onto my mind as I walked back to my room on Thursday night. I thought of clicking a button in my profile to change my relationship status for a day. Shortly after changing, I had private chat nudges coming in asking me to clarify the situation..lol. I didn't think that it would invite much reaction considering the day I had picked to change it but still most people are rather confused because I was being ambiguous in explaining. When I went for CG later on, I had to do a little explanation that I'm having a relationship withhhh....Jesus! xD

Anyways, in the age of modern Internet and technology, other websites are jumping in with their own April Fools too. Youtube had a 1911 mode where you can cover the video you are watching with a 1911 styled piano and film texture. It's quite funny and they also had the top 5 viral videos from 1911, with the Annoying Orange and Flugelhorn Feline (Keyboard Cat's ancestor! lol) inside too. Check it out below:



And then there's also Gmail Motion where you're supposed to be able to control your Gmail using real life movement. It was quite obvious that's a joke, butttt..apparently, somebody in Youtube showed that it's possible to do it using Microsoft Kinect sensors. Ahhhh..the horror: somebody's joke just became a reality!


And of course, one of most anticipated sequel to my favourite MMO which is Guild Wars 2, had something up their sleeves too: The introduction of the Commando race where you can call air strikes on your enemies..ahahaha! Geezzz..That'll be too imba..lol.

Have an enjoyable month of April ahead while I'm buried with more books and journals...argggghhhh!