Christmas Isn't Over

Today is 29.dec and it's 09.45am here in the UK. Well, yeah, I am currently in the office desk whilst I only see a handful of people in the floor. Most of the resources are still on their vacation. Hmm, I wonder where they are. I think that all of 'em are still on bed. Sigh!

I am still a bit sleepy. Last night, I arrived the apartment around 09.30pm. I sat and thought for a long time what I need to do. Am I going to eat, or am I going to wash my dirty clothes, first? I ended up doing the latter first. However, the first thing I really did after sitting in the sofa was switchin' on the tele and answering Mami Viols and Lyniel's SMSes.

I feel tired and exhausted. But deep inside, I am so happy and I feel so blessed. I couldn't believe that Christmas day is over and it was one of the best Christmases I've ever had. The thing is, I was so welcomed by many people whom I just knew a month ago. Filipinos are really the best! They never think twice to help their fellow Filipinos in need.... :)

I had the most wonderful time. Dinner @ Christmas eve celebration includes good food and good laughs. Each one from the table answered two basic questions: 1) At this time, what are you thankful to God for? 2) What is your most memorable Christmas celebration?

Here were my answers then. I am so thankful to God for giving me a permanent job during this economic downturn. Plus, I am so grateful because it included a bonus and that was me being sent to the UK and knowing the nicest people in London I was taking a dinner with at that moment. Thank you, Lord. Then, my most memorable Christmas celebrations were/are celebrations I did/do spend with my family.

After dinner, we had some karaoke. It was crazy. But I was soooo exhausted that whilst the ladies n' Ritchie were singing on the top of their lungs, I was in a very deep sleep. Ha ha ha! Good for me, cos they only slept around 10am the following morning...

Christmas day, Carol and Fernan joined the group, whilst Jeremy already flew to France few hours ago. During lunchtime, the topic was about marriage. I salute Fernan - he is a picture of a perfect gentleman. I am not sure if I can do that. Happy birthday, Carol!

Christmas supper - Ernie, Josy and Steve joined us. What is love? That's the topic whilst we were all torturing the turkey lovingly baked by Mami Viols. Of course, we did another round of karaoke after that. I think around 2am, whilst Moshi-moshi was singing, the ladies all went out of the room and said, good night, Rene! And that was a joke during breakfast the next day.

Boxing day - Lyniel, Eds, Claire, Rena and I went to hyde park. It was beautiful.


This picture was taken while Lyniel, Claire and I were on the wheel. We were like 'lil kids who visited a carnival for the first time.


Then, we headed back to the house and ate another nice meal.

The next day was yet very exhausting. We went to Harrods. But, Oliver and I made a mistaken and we ended up walking the longest distance whilst the cold was very cold indeed. We were not able to buy anything from there cos everything was very expensive. We were so hungry that we went to a jap resto to eat some sushi. However, we had some side trips to V&A and National History Museum before going to the sushi resto.

The sushi was nice but we are still hungry so we ate some crepe' at the nearby resto. Then, a time of killing our legs happened cos we had to tour so many shopping malls aka, window shopping. To end our day, we watched Twilight and it was so boring. Before we slept, we ate another nice meal from none other than - mami Viols.

The next day was already the last day - Sunday. We had a good service - but the word for that day was - INQUISITIVE. After service, we ate at the plaza - the usual KFC, baked potatoes, pizza hut, etc. Before partin' our ways - we spent couple of hours over Starbucks.

Whoosh! Do you still think that Christmas isn't over? Look at me! But, thank you, Lord!

It's Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas to my family, friends in the Philippines, friends in America, friends in Singapore and few other friends all over the planet.



May you and your family have a blissful 2009!

Burnt

I washed my nylon jacket on the washing machine. It was too wet and so I was forced to have it dried. Unfortunately, the material did not take the heat and so it was burned... :(

This is the only jacket I've got right now in this winter season. Tsk!

Anyway, the good thing is, it's inside jacket is made of polyester. Woo hoo! I can still battle the cold (without the outer jacket though)... But, Friday is boxing day. And here, there will be a lot of sale going on. Hmm, maybe time to buy another jacket - this time, I think I'll buy a more english warmer....

Hang-over

YESTERDAY and the day before yesterday were exhausting days indeed. TODAY, I am experiencing a bit of hangover from it. I feel like sleeping. Gosh, I have a confession to make. I am not sooo productive today... Aioh!

But the last weekend was still full of fun and excitement. After the sleepover, I attended the service, right? It so happened that I got the chance to serve in the team. First, I went with Ate Violy to where Rena was - in Jury's inn - cloakroom extension room. That's supposed to be the room reserved for the host team (aka usher ministry). Cloakroom team is like a leave-a-baggage team. There were teammembers who need to leave their coat, bag, etc. so that they can be freem from it and serve in the ministry. WE have to give them a tag and they need to write their name and the item that they will be leaving on the logsheet. Of course, the tag in their bag will be the same number that they will be taking with them. They will use this to claim their possessions. Then, both numbers should be the same number in logsheet. Hmm, just do the math. My explanation is just getting too long.

After that, I also helped out with the host team preparing the bulletins/offering envelope that we need to put to the seats in the hall. Then, I also helped out putting those into the seats as well. Whew! What a joy to serve the Lord!

After that is the service - the highlight is the Christmas presentation. It was fabulous. I feel like I am watching a broadway show. Basically, it's a story of a man that is going to be spending christmas alone. His wife and his daughter left him - the reason why was not elaborated anymore. He fell into drinking until he finds himself wandering and not believing in christmas anymore. The journey enable him to taste, the good and the bad. In the end, he found out that the season is having God in your life.

I ended my day by going back to Brighton. Before I did that, we went back to Ate Violy's place and eat another sumptuous dinner yet.

Ate Violy is the best... I love her dishes... It makes me full upto the brim...

Thank you, Lord!

Sleep-over in London

I am thankful to my colleague for letting me know that I can buy advance tickets to London. Imagine, single ticket just cost me about £5+£3. From Brighton to London ticket is £5, whilst return is £3. Outward was more expensive because it's kinda express. Journey is just about 53 minutes. Going back was a bit cheaper because the journey will take me about 1 1/2 hours. Lovely!

So, I traveled to London yesterday and Leniel was so kind to accompany me. This is my first time to have pictures of London, whereby I am in it. Most of sightseeings in the past weekends are travelling by myself and so, all pictures are just like downloaded from the internet.

Yesterday, we went to Westminster Abbey. The cathedral is really a 5-star architecture. I am pleased cos it was well-maintained. Imagine the richness of the history inside and outside the building. It was amazing! Apparently, I cannot take pictures of what's inside. The remains of great people were there - past king and queens, some great poets and writers, and others. After that we walked towards the house of guards, then to covent garden. Last stop was in Kensington Garden and Palace. It was a nice day trip in London.

Early evening, we headed to Edgware and took a sumptuous dinner with great friends. Then, we had a nice good night rest.

Today, I am excited. I am just waiting for 'Te Elvie to finish her things so that we can go and head to Hillsong church. The service will have a christmas presentation and I am excited to tell something about it.

That's all for now! Thank you, Lord....


CHEERS!!!

Thank you Lord

Finally, I am able to set this up. I want to blog!

To start, I just want to thank the Lord for blessing me - big time! The financial world has max-ed out the volume of the megaphone to declare that we are in an economic downturn. People just switched to panic mode. Some of my ex-colleagues and friends are impacted and they lose their jobs. Some are in the weary mode thinking that they may be next.

My story is different. Last October, I was converted to being a permanent employee. After a month (last week of November), I flew to UK to attend a training here. I am still in UK at the moment and I am composing this from here.

I remember Avanzini's preaching two weeks ago. I was watching the service in the internet (site is http://www.chc.org.sg/ by the way). I concurred with the congregation when we all declare that we are recession-proof.

God is great! He is good. There's a lot of stories to tell moving forward. And I am so looking forward to 2009. It may seem dim, but for me, I have proven that NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE with GOD. So, I declare that no matter what happens, I will still pray and say - THANK YOU, LORD.