June

Phew.. finally back to Santiago after 30 hours of flight and returning to my dying blog =)

This is a summary of what I’ve done in June.

Buenos Aires - my stopover for 3 days. Very delicious beef, good looking folks, european buildings and nice weather. 

 Back to sunny Singapore! Thanks to those who took the time to come and those who attempted to come but were late… hehee…

And it was a crazy catch up with people and FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD!

Below are some of the snapshots I’ve taken.

Too bad, I didnt take pictures of all the meet ups. Anyway, to my dear friends, thanks for taking the time & effort to meet up with me and all your treats too. Thanks for sharing your lives with me, listening and being so understanding & encouraging as well =) You’ve inspired me to go the longer haul for God! Gracias por todos!

 

I went to the Adults camp. This was my first time attending the adults camp. Pretty strange considering that I’ve been an adult and in Hope for so long..hahaa…Overall, the camp was refreshing. It was great to be in a congregational worship again! 

 Oh and i visited the Youth camp for 2 hours. Wow, I’m so encouraged by the growth of the youth. Some of them have literally grown in size and height. Amazing yar..hehe.. I was so encouraged by the growth of new leaders and many many new faces. Keep up the good work!

And it was my grandma’s birthday! It was wonderful to see them again =) During her birthday celebration, my uncle gathered my whole family to pray for my ah ma… how cool can it get?
My cousins, my uncles & parentsThen my sister, brother-in-law and nephew came back to Singapore for a visit! My nephew is so cuteee but for some reasons, he always looks uncomfortable when i carry him =(

Staff family day - We visited some farm at CCK. This time round, there were many kids. I’m really amazed at how fast the children have grown.. normal, i guess.  

Then some training and meetings with the goers =)

 

And it’s time to say Good bye!

This is a long entry and it isnt even a complete update..hehee.. Nevertheless, this trip back has been really fruitful to me. It was great to meet up with my family and friends. The Lord also never fails to encourage me through word of prophecies, prayers, testimonies and the love from others =) Hey JX, remember the vision you had from God? When i heard it, i really had goosebumps! Let’s claim it by faith!

These few days will be madness for us. Cos we are moving house! We need to move out by this Sunday so pray for us that everything will go smoothly. This house is also a testimony! I will blog more about this and with pictures in my next entry (hopefully, soon) =P

Hasta pronto! Chao!

angels or devils

I have a new found respect for pre-school teachers.

Yesterday an international school coordinator called me to ask if i could be a subtitute teacher for 3 days. I decided to go for it cos i was quite bored of teaching “do-does”, “to be” and stuffs in the English institute. I thought to myself, how hard could it be teaching children?

I reached the school very early this morning and the school was “flooded” with kids… running and screaming everywhere… i met up with the coordinator and she asked me to take a class of pre-schoolers immediately. I was supposed to teach them english for 2 hours and I hadn’t even seen any of their materials.

I went to the class and i had 25 kids staring at me… they must be thinking “what is this tia (auntie) doing here?” I got them to line up for the bathroom (as i was told to do) and it was a nightmare. I had trouble controlling the class, my only wish was that i wont lose any kids along the way. When we came back to the class, i was pretty clueless about what i should do. So i made some feeble attempt to sing the song “if you are happy and you know it”. The kids were sporting though. They were pretty interested in me…. for 5 minutes and after that, i just lost them completely.

I started to initiate new color games and made them do some coloring… I think kids are universal cos they would come up to me and complain to me about their friends (seen this in singapore too). They started to get really rowdy. I thought of an ingenious idea… read them a story! How difficult can that be? I made them come forward and started to read to them the story of Tazan. From the corner of my eyes, i saw some boys started to push each other. I had to raise my voice and tried to gather everyone’s attention and after 10 minutes, i lost them again! I was looking at my watch constantly, wondering if my watch was spoilt! Well, the time stood still! To my horror, one of the kids ”pee” on the chair! At the end of the class, the teacher told me that this was the best class in the school… i couldnt imagine what the rest of the day would be =P

After the class, i was rostered to be at the patio to make sure that the kids were safe. The boys were there playing “soccer”. There was a roof at the patio and i had no idea why but they loved to kick/throw the ball to the ceiling and over the fense as well. The poor security guard had to retrieve their ball numerous time. I just observed them and occassionally, picked up their flying footballs.

After that it was lunch time. Well, thank God i wasnt on duty so i could eat in peace and i must say that the food was good!

Then back to keeping watch of the kids at the playground and more lessons with them. I learnt that kids have very short attention span so i started to change activities every 10 mins until i ran out of ideas of what to do. In the end, i gave up and made them draw whatever they wanted. I must be their most boring teacher!

I have not felt so exhausted for a long time. I love playing with kids (few kids) but i didnt realise that it’s so difficult teaching them. I salute all the pre-school teachers out there… the patience and love you must possess…

Though it was pretty nerve racking, it was pretty enjoyable at the same time. For one, i love the teachers and helpers there. They are so friendly, helpful and i really think that God placed me there for a reason. Also, the children have taught me many precious lessons too. I tell you, some of them are just so adorable! you know, the latino kids and there were a number of korean & japanese kids… very very cute… The kids are very loving as well. They would come up to me and hug my legs (cos i m too tall for them =P) and they would say “tia, te quiero” (aunt, i love you).. very affectionate. For another, kids are very real. Whatever they experience or feel, you can read it on their faces. Also, kids are like sponge, they learn things really fast. For example, these kids picked up songs very fast and they could recall english words very well despite the fact that they dont speak english. Mould them well and they will go a long way!

oh well, at the end of the day, the coordinator asked me if i would consider working there full time.. hmm.. i think “thanks but no thanks”. I think i still prefer teaching adults… hehee…

Another day of pre-school teaching experience tomorrow. I hope i survive or rather the kids will survive me =)

kudos to all the pre-school and hopekids teachers out there! You shape our future generation =)

Singapore

wah seh… logged on msn today and heard some hot news from Singapore! Hehee…

2 more weeks and i will be back to Singapore. Cant wait to meet mannnyy people and the hot, sticky, sunny, rainy singapore! I called my dad yesterday to tell him about the flight details and he gave me a menu of the things he will cook for me… gosh, i m salivating typing this…I m in danger of growing even fatter in Spore! It´s dangerous… who wants to exercise? Chio me ok… i need it else i will have to roll my way back here..

Also, any one out there who can design professional website and has the time to do it? Pls leave me a message… i have lobang for you =)

hasta luego!

Al Fin

Tanto tiempo no escribi nada… estoy muy floja y ocupada tambien. Tuve una clase con una paraja y ellos son impresionate. No hablamos espanol en la clase, solo en ingles. (Mi primera vez) Ellos no son buena en ingles pero querien acostumbrar para conversar en ingles entonces no querien hablan espanol. Si ellos no supieron algunas palabras, trataron usar otro palabras para explicar. No se les explique en espanol tambien. Me encanta este clase mucho porque ellos son muy divertido. Y despues este clase, tengo ganas para mejorar mi espanol entonces escribo esto… Quiero solo hablar espanol y no ingles en algunas dias pero es dificil porque estoy ensenando ingles =( Estoy preocupadando que voy a olvidar mi espanol cuando regresare a Singapur. Cuando puedo pensar solo en espanol?

Dios es bueno. El me bendice con muchas buen alumnos y puedo tener amistad con ellos. Ayer, fue con mi alumna muy simpatica. Disfrute el tiempo con ella. Hoy dia, mi otra alumna me animo. Ella compre desayuno para mi. Estuve muy sorprendida y me dijo que le encanta mi clases. Cuando le dijo que regresare a singapur, me dijo que vas a tomar las clases solo despues yo regreso… awww… Manana, tambien tengo otra alumna me dijo que ella va a comprar desayuno entonces podemos comer juntar… Que simpatica! Pero como demasiado… Necesito bajar pesos antes regresare a Singapur porque mi padre me dijo que el he aprendido cocinar muchas cosas. Entonces creo que voy a subir pesos pronto! Es peligroso! Necesito correr mas!

Gracias a Dios por darme este oportunidad para vivir en Chile!

Chinese Cultural Event

We had a chinese cultural event last Saturday. It felt like CNY . We slept very late to prepare for the event and woke up very early the next day to fry the food. It was quite fun nonetheless.

Our humble ”chinese provision shop”…hehee

We had some mathematics game and quizes about China.

Group discussion in progress…

PS taught them how to write “zhi” …

The final product, lots of “zhi” and “zhi wannabe”!

We had a few mathematics questions and a 12 year old boy got them right… see if you can get the answers =)

 111 - 1 = 11

The above equation are made up of matchsticks. You can only make 1 move and the formula/equation still has to make sense. What will the move be?

1	1	1	1	1
1	3	5	7
1	5	13
1	7
1

What are the numbers in the missing boxes?

espanol

Quiero mejorar mi espanol. Lei una articulo dijo que si quiera mejorar una idioma, necesite escribir todos los dias. Entonces, voy a escribir este articulo en espanol. Creo que poco amigoes en Singapur puedan entenderlo =P Qui zas la gente lo que saben espanol, no pueden entenderlo tampoco…jajaa… Entonces solo yo puedo entender lo que escribi!

El tiempo de este semana paso muy rapido. Hoy dia es el sabado! No recorde mucho que lo hizo solo recuerdo que este semana estuve muy ocupada. Tuvo mas clases de ingles ahora y tenemos dos puebas de ingles y un evento de Chino.

Acoste muy tarde anoche porque necesitamos preparar por el evento hoy dia. Hubo muchas preparacion… Supusimos tener el reunion ayer tambien pero necesitamos posponer porque muchas personas no pusieron ir. Ayer fue el dia del joven combadiente entonces hubo protestas y etc…

Despertamos temprano hoy dia para cocinar y preparar por este evento. PS y yo cocinamos las “primaveras” y otro pastel de Chino… mucho fritos… y gracias Walter por su ayudar tambien! El evento empezo en el 12.30 y termino aproximamente 3. Hubo doce personas y cuatro personas quiseron tomo nuestras classes… oh… hoy dia, encuentramos una buena resturante de China… El chef cocina muy muy rico y su cocinar es comparable que comida chino de Singapur!

Voy a upload las fotos de el evento mas tarde… ahora, estoy muy cansada.. puedo dormir mas en este noche! Escritura en espanol no es tan facil pero necesito pensar y acostumbrar mas! No se como escribo los tildes con mi computadora… entonces todos los verbos sin los tildes. ok…voy a tomar un descanso…

I’m an aunt!

My first nephew, Trystn!

My sister has given birth during Easter day. A gift from God =D
Pretty hairy… heheee

 

Today

Today was quite an eventful day. I met a very nice Peruvian lady in my class. She is keen to join us for our chinese event, chinese class and to go out for lunch with me =)

After my classes, I went down to the Uni with PS to promote our classes. I really felt like a salesperson.. but i was kinda glad becos my Spanish has improved! Last year when we went down to promote the classes, I couldnt understand anything but this time round, I could converse with the students! I think my short stay with the chileans does help but of course, I still have a long way to go…I created alot of jokes just by speaking spanish, i tend to change, combine, re-create words and mix up all the conjugations… thank God for the patient “teachers” around me =)

We collected quite a number of contacts today in the Uni and we are going to go down to more campuses these few days/weeks. This also marks the start of “mucho trabajo”. We got to email the students, get them down for tests, arrange for time slots to fit their schedule, get them to pay & prepare the teaching materials. On top of this, we are also liaising with the chamber of commerce in Chile to organise a seminar & mandarin classes. Phew… the holidays are over!

One chilean came to our place for dinner and I was the cook! I cooked 3 dishes and guess what? Of all the dishes, she complimented on the taste of the plain rice! -_-” haiz… i think i m really bad in cooking… For one of the dishes, I cooked shrimp with minced beef, vecimili (dun know how to spell) & green melon… PS told me that I reinvented chinese cooking cos u r not supposed to combined shrimps with beef… each has a distinct taste… but hey, how many people know this? i bet u dun or do you? hehee… in conclucion, i guess i m pretty good with fusion…culture, language, food & ….

Prayers Needed

March is the start of all school terms and the commencement of work in Chile… so “goodbye” to the summer vacations…

We need lots of prayer and here is how you can pray with us =)

1. Starting CG meeting this Friday
   Pray that we can connect back all the NBs & VCs. Pray for spiritual (each of them to have a tangible experience with God) & family(deep relationships to be fostered) experiences in our CG.
2. Core team
   We are praying and working towards a core team. Pray that God will give us the wisdom to identify and disciple. Pray for the potential CT members to be prepared, that God will speak to them personally and they will experience the joy in walking & serving God. They will also prioritise God & His work =) 
3. Classes
   We are starting our english & mandarin classes in April. Our goal is to have 10 classes. We are going down to the campuses to do publicity these 2 weeks… pretty exciting & scary!  Pray that God will lead us to the right people as we cast our nets wide and pray for the success of the 10 classes.  

Pray that God will anoint us and what we see in the Acts church can happen here as well!! 2 days ago, i was reading Ps David Chan’s testimony about his trips to Africa… how God led him to the right people and how God answered his prayers specifically… I was thinking to myself, “hey, if God can do it then, surely He can do it here as well!”

Jesus himself said in John 14
12″I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

Pray for revival! God’s work, done in God’s way will reap His result!

Antofagasta

One of our Chilean Chinese students invited me to stay at her house. I visited her place for 10 days. Took a bus from Santiago to the Antofagasta, North of Chile. The entire bus journey was 18 hours!! I prayed very hard along the way that I wouldnt need to use the toilet, you know, the smell and stuffs. To make matter worse, I was seated quite near to it  -_-” Oh well, i survived =)

There you have it, Antofagasta

I stayed with a wonderful wonderful family for 10 days

They made me feel so at ease and so at home. I had a taste of what its like to live as a Chilean. They brought me to a chinese restaurant and the food tasted not bad, but of course, its not as authentic…Anyway the people tend to associate chinese with food… and its true! There are like dozens of Chinese resturants in Santiago and many here as well, considering the size of the city. For some reasons, the chileans that I’ve met love Chinese food.. Hey, we can have a Singaporean resturant here too.. chicken rice, bak cho mee, laksa =P

It has been wonderful living with them! Eating chilean food at “chilean” hours together. The chileans tend to eat a heavy lunch at about 3pm and dinner at about 8-9pm. Their dinner will consist of bread, cheese, avocados and tea! Of course, we tend to snack alot in between too… And i wonder why i put on weight!  Well, I enjoyed the little moments, like catching the Chilean Teleserials with them, all of us would cramp together in one bed watching the TV program. Half the time, I couldnt understand what the actors were talking but I had a “live” translation =)

I travelled with Domi and her dad to San Pedro de Atacama for 2.5 days. I didnt know that we were going to stay there for 2.5 days thus I didnt bring any clothes to change. I had to wear the same clothes, eat, sleep, travel, walk, perspire for 2.5 days! Eeekk… i pity my travelmates though…heheee…

We stayed at this hostel… the living condition was quite bad but it was cheap though so no complaints

We went to this place call the valle de la luna… Spectacular place!…We climbed up a large sand dune to view this landscape when the sun sets.

Hmm… but i was getting a little homesick on my 8th or 9th day… not sure what the trigger was. Perhaps it was being near a family that made me think of mine. I even dreamt of my relatives in the living room. I’m starting to miss the nagging of my mom =P

Nonetheless, I am grateful to God for giving me a church and friends in Chile. Though i was “home alone” in Chile for 1 month, I was never really alone. Looking back, I am thankful for this 1 month… being “home alone”, I’ve learnt to be independent,  appreciate the ”little moments” in life, being more self aware, Spanish and relied on God more =)

The psalm of the month

Psalm 121
 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills—
  where does my help come from?

 2 My help comes from the LORD,
  the Maker of heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot slip—
  he who watches over you will not slumber;

4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
  will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The LORD watches over you—
  the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

6 the sun will not harm you by day,
  nor the moon by night.

7 The LORD will keep you from all harm—
  he will watch over your life;

8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going
  both now and forevermore.

Anyway Dave & Pui See are back and so are the CNY goodies! There is finally “life” in the house..hehehe…