A bit of Bible study

Guten morgen alles! As you can see it has been so long since I've last blogged. Was busy trying to clear up my thesis and had kind of stopped writing. Now that my honours is over, I have decided to start doing a bit of bible study from the children's bible that we have at home. We have 2 children's bibles (and believe me, they are so much easier to read as compared to the original one). I have just finished one of them and am starting on the next one. But I've decided to do this a little differently. I have decided to go real deep into the word, meaning etc of the stories and to research what exactly they mean. So this morning, I've read Genesis and how God created the earth, the living creatures and man. Did you know that both the names Adam and Eve are of Hebrew origin? And Adam means 'earth' and Eve means 'Life'. That makes sense as God created Adam from the dust of the earth. As for Eve, my guess is that because women give life and have babies, so perhaps that's why God called her 'Life'. Or perhaps because only with 'Eve' can man make life. One observation that I've observed from reading Genesis 1 was that after God created each day, He kept saying that it was 'good'. It just reminded me to see all of God's creation as good, beautiful and lovely. Sometimes, we humans are so quick to see the negative side of things, circumstances and reasons. We fail to see the way God sees them. I am reminded that God doesn't makes mistakes and He made them to be beneficial, to be 'good'. And He has a super good reason for everything that has and will happen. Another point that reminded me why when a man and woman get married, they are said to become one. That is because Eve was created out of man (Adam) in the first place. She was created out of his rib. Thus, when they come together, it is as though a missing part of Adam is replaced back. Man and woman becomes one new creation (complete). I thank God for reminding me about His creations once again. It is indeed awesome. I will definitely continue dwelling deeper into this. Have a good summer everybody in Aus.

Getting a head start

Hello darlings. It's been a long time since I've last updated isn't it? Somehow I wouldn't say that life has been extremely busy for me. But I guess just never decide to sit down and write another update. Well, so far, things have been going well. I mean I really couldn't ask for more except to just be thankful and continue trusting God for everything. Into my last stage of data collection for my thesis now. Just 6 more clients to assess and hopefully I'll be able to look at the results. 6 people may sound easy, but believe me, it's way harder than it looks. So let's just stop there for my honours project. I've been trying to scout around the website to see what career prospects there are just to get a head start for my future. As some of you may already know, I'm interested to work with people in the disability sector, especially those with intellectual of physical disabilities. Saw a few advertisements to be a support worker and by faith, I just applied. I wasn't a 100% sure if I'm ready for this, but hey, life is not well-lived without faith to me. One of the applications that I've sent in was to be a Community Support Worker for the Australian Red Cross. By God's grace, I got called for an interview and will be going down for an induction programme next week. After that I'll be working with a coordinator and will be attached to a client. I can only trust God and just let Him lead me, especially now that I'm heading closer and closer to the transition point from being a student to being a working adult. Other than that, life is still running as it always have been. Having a lot more time to go shopping with my grandmama. Haha. These are the moments that I enjoy. To get your mind off life for a while and just be with a loved one. Have been catching up with friends too. I mean, I've always loved talking to people. And I must say that over time, I've learnt to realise that perhaps this is God's gift to me. To be able to connect to people. I wouldn't say that I'm a pro at doing it, still learning. But ever since I embarked on this honours project, I just sensed that God is telling me to be a blessing to the clients that I'll be seeing. No matter how trying it is going to be, I must learn to be patient, kind and understanding (perhaps that's why I get assigned to all the interesting people with such interesting lives to tell). You see, I'm currently reading this book called the Power of a Whisper by Bill Hybels. Really an inspiring book. I'm learning to be still and just listen to God speak. It's not always easy, but I'm practising :) Will end off with a thanksgiving. Today as I was walking to Espalanade Bus station to catch the bus to uni, I accidentally dropped my smartrider(those in Singapore will understand it as EZ link card :)). So I dropped my smartrider without even realising it. I was still walking when someone shouted "Hey, excused me". I was still walking, thinking that it wasn't directed to me. But the sweet person didn't stop shouting "Hey, Hey". Then all of a sudden the guy in front of me turned to look and I just felt like I should do likewise. And guessed what, the person who was shouting was looking directly at me and he showed me my smartrider. I just burst out saying "Sorry" and "Thank you". Super embarrassed but totally graeful for his persistence in getting my attention. Just reminds me of God. He will never stop trying to get your attention to do something, to be a blessing to others, to live the life that He wants you to live. And I'm happy that He's like that :)

The Beginning of the End - again

Last semester of a student officially begins tomorrow. Well so far, that's the plan. Can't wait to graduate. Needs motivation and the right attitude. Just gonna believe in You for everything...as always isn't it? Haha. Sing to me a sweet song :) Your mercies are new every morning. And that all things are possible with You. My reminders.

Bunbury-Margaret River-Busselton in a day!

Finally the holidays are here. Have been busy writing up my introduction and method sections for my thesis, but I really thank God for allowing me to squeeze in 1 day to go for a road trip to three beautiful places in Western Aussie. Woke up at 530am on 30th June. It was a cold morning as usual but good sunny weather was expected (despite it being winter now). At around 7am we got into our church friend's car and the 5 of us headed straight down south all the way to Bunbury. That was our first stop. Bunbury is situated around 175km south of Perth. On the trip down, we saw so much land, so many farms with cows, sheep and horses. It has always blown my mind away by the amount of land WA has. Bunbury is a peaceful, quiet town. By the time we reached the city, it was around 930am. Had a quick stop and we went to a hill where there was a look out point and we could see the whole of Bunbury town. The Indian ocean was just by the side of the town. The view was amazingly awesome :)especially in the morning where the sun was still rising up into the sky, the air was fresh but already people were up and about. We had a quick toilet break near a beach (there was a group of women exercising). The waves were huge and all 5 of us stopped by the side to watch the waves splashing onto the huge rocks by the beach. It was really cool. Guess what, even with such huge waves there were still people surfing! That is the amazing culture of Australia. Surfing is like in their blood. After that we made our way to a few tourist attraction sites that were situated between Bunbury and Margaret River. It really was a touch and go kind of experience but I was glad that we managed to cover as much as we could given the lack of time. First stop was the Chesse Factory. Tried a sample of the creamy cheddar and immediately loved the taste of it. Decided to buy a block of it back home for my parents to try (though honestly I think I ate most of it in the end!). Grandmama loved it though, it really was a nice and different type of cheese that we usually do not get to try back in Singapore. Second stop was a Lavender place where everything was made of lavender(for obvious reasons). What blew my mind was that everything single product was handmade by the owner...all by herself! There were lavender hand soaps, lavender healing cream even lavender strawberry jam. The 5 of us decided to buy some hot scones together with the lavender strawberry jam to try the new flavour. And you know what, it was one of the best scones and jam I've ever had! It was amazingly good. I really am not kidding and would recommend all who ever will make a trip down to have a quick stop by and try it. Next we had a quick stop to head for the toilet at a wine tasting place. We didn't try any though and headed straight to the Chocolate Factory. It is really similar to the one in Swan River. Both are owned by the same company anyway, just different branches. Tried some mini milk chocolates. Delicious. They sell a variety of goodies from chocolate soaps, chocolate bars (naturally), chocolate tea, chocolate lip balms and many many more. Didn't stayed long and we headed for our next stop which was the Nuts and Cereal place. The entire shop was filled with all kinds of nuts! We tried wasebe peas and they were really good! Monkey bought a packet of mixed nuts for her firend and I bought a pack of chili coated nuts for our family :) Our final stop was at a Silk Factory. It was my favourite stop and I must say that after visitng that place, I started to appreciate both the silk worms and the people who use the silk to make clothes, bags etc. A guy was explaining to us the whole process and it really is no joking matter. A lot of effort is put into getting the silk out of the bunble and I really learned a lot more about Cambodia as Australia does pair up with the Cambodian locals to help in the manufacturing of the silk products. Some people were brave enough to touch the silk worms but I was too frightened and just admired them from afar. haha. The products are really beautiful. Starting to regret not buying a flower purse from that place. It was already getting close to lunch time and we were as usual pressing for time. The 5 of us pop back into the car and headed striaght to Margaret River for lunch. Margaret River is around 277km away from Perth. The journey reminded me so much of the times when my family would drive from Singapore to KL. The distance is roughly the same. I think that was when we saw a full rainbow! And for the first time ever, I saw the end of a rainbow! There was no pot of gold of course, haha. It was funny though, you feel as if the rainbow seems to be moving together with the car. We went to a nice place by the Ocean for lunch at Margaret River. The view was spectacular! We could see the waves coming in. Ate fish and chips with some salad. It was a place owned by a French guy and he was so firendly and nice. It started drizzling a little while eating but none of cared and just ate quickly. It was too nice to head for inside :) After lunch we had a quick stop at a coffee place which apparently is quite a well-known place. Tasted three different types of coffee. I never knew that there were so many different textures and tastes of coffee. Some were light with a subtle taste. Some were stronger and the taste will come straight to you the moment it reaches your tongue. After that we headed for our last stop which was the very famous Jetty at Basselton. Simply beautiful. I have to say that that was may faviourite stop. Maybe because I really love the sea. We were they by the setting sun and walking down the 2km long jetty. Of course we didn't complete the walk, stopped halfway and decided to turn back, if not we won't be making back to perth on time. Monkey fell in love with a mini boat in the jetty shop and decided to buy it as a gift sovenir. It was really nice and has been sitting on her bedside table ever since we got back :) Left the jetty over 430pm and headed back to Perth. Reached Perth around 715pm and had dinner at chinatown at a place called Uncle Billy's. All 5 of us ate quickly (guessed we were hungry!) haha. Reached back home around 9plus. My first time going down south and my first time seeing so many attractions in a day! Can't believed that we managed to do all that in ONE day. Thank God for good weather and thank God for a safe trip. Had so much laughter, singing sessions, beautiful attractions and good food :) Came back with a map of Margaret River for my dad. He was really interested to visit that place oneday. Will definitely go back there again with my family. This time, we'll book a stay-in home and spend at least a week there :)

May 2012 update

Hey darlings, since I'm not sleepy yet just thought of squeezing another update post about myself. Honestly, I still cannot believe that it's close to half of 2012 being over. Time really flies when you're busy doing stuff. Firstly, let me update you more about my honours project. So far it has been an amazing journey. It can get pretty intense, tiring and worrisome at times, but but but, I must say that I've learnt so much in the last 1 month. Was telling my family recently that for the first time in my life I actually feel like a real psychologist! Yes, some of you might already guessed it that my project is not testing on year-1 psychology students as my subject pool. Nah, I'm doing something far more interesting than that. I'm doing follow-up assessments on patients who had all gone for bariatric surgery to lose weight and either CBT or in the control group for the psychological treatment. Trust me, these are real people with real obesity problems going for real CBT sessions running by 2 lovely PHD students. I have learnt so much from the two postgrad students who have helped me to love the project more and more each day. Though setting appointmnt timeslots to meet the patients is very mind-boogling (and it still is now!), I have to agree that some of the people that I've met can sometimes really just make my day. They really are very nice people. Loved it when some of them knew that I'm from Singapore and they'll start telling me about how much they love the country and about their visits to the different places like Ngee Ann City, Sentosa, Zoo!! Haha. It really is amazing. So yes, my honours project is really setting into motion and I want to make this experience an experience of a lifetime and to treasure every moment of it (cos it's really rare to get a chance like that again!). Will probably start writing in June after my exams. AHH! Secondly, hmm how do I say this. My other 2 modules (units) are really tough. Yes, 1 of them is stats and the other is more like conceptually understanding the different domains of psychology in this post-modern world. Both requires a lot of thinking, understanding and analysis. Oh well, I really have to trust God for both of them. I do not want to neglect them, but yet at the same time I do find it hard to manage these 2 modules with honours data collection. God I really need more wisdom to handle and also to do well. Haha. Oh and this coming thursday my sis and I are going to have a lovely dinner to celebrate our sweetest friend bithday from church. We simply adore her and just want to spend more time with her on her birthday, especially when she is all alone here in Perth (her family is still in New Zealand). Yes, I'm really looking forward to the dinner. I hope you guys had a good Mothers' Day yesterday. For me, my family were invitied to Mr Ho's restaurant for lunch with some of our church friends to celebrate mothers' day. The food is awesome and I'm so thankful that my mum and dad had agreed to go. Oh, and my dad attended service with us (for the first time ever!). All praise go to God man! Still trusting Him that oneday the veil will be torn down so that their spiritual eyes will open to see His love, to understand His heartbeat and will. So grateful for all the church parents for being so welcoming and accepting towards my parents (probably the only 2 prebelivers there). God bless them and their families. So ya, that's my life. It's almost our 1 year anniversary in Perth. I'm still in disbelief that I've been here for a year. Can you believe that? Seems like only yesterday when I was at the airport saying goodbye to all my lovely friends in Singapore. That is just a memory now, a memory that will probably last forever. Thanks for listening to me ramble darls. I will stop.

Reveal your plan in my life

So this semester has started and so far, I've been trying to be a good student, following the readings, doing up my honours proposal and well, just going to lectures. Well, but I don't want this year to just be another year for me. I want it to be a year where God you'll tell me what is your will in my life.

Just today I've learnt how to pray effectively and one thing that struck me is that, prayer is everything about who you are and who God is and how to bring the two together. It is only when the two are connected in spirit, then something can happen, then only is there communication. And of course, communication may not necessary be talking, it can be just in one in spirit. Just Understanding each other's heart. I'm reminded today that prayer is all about your heart, it's not about the words you say or your posture, it's all about pouring your heart out to Him and let Him come into your life. See, prayer is actually in a sense, all about you....your 100% true heart that only He knows, and he wants you to present it back to him. And of course when you do that, He will present His heart about You back to you. See, ultimately, the focus is all about you, Me.

So coming back to school, I want to lead this sem differently. I want to lead this sem being mindful of communicating with God. I want to surrender this sem to Him. So that He can reveal His plan about my life to me.

Thank you Father for the wonderful session today. It has spoke to me and I'm so grateful to be able to learn so much about you. Bless the leaders who took time off to impart your Word to us tonight.

First day at Autism West

Yesterday brought back a lot of old memories of my first day in Austism Partnership. A school that caters to children suffereing with autism or aspergers and to give them a chance to develop their skills to function in society. Well that was two years ago and when I was still in Singapore.

Yesterday was my first day at Autism West, an autism school for high functioning children here in Western Australia. Thank God for giving me this opportunity to learn more about them, to learn how to help them. It was indeed heartwarming to meet all the children. It is a small group and there were only about five children. Nonetheless, I did have an enjoyable time playing and getting to know each of them. I thank God that they were all accepting towards me. I mean they are about ten years old, still kids, but they were friendly, welcoming and played with me. In Singapore, there were six children, but there were at least three therapists (that's because they needed constant monitoring as they were all very low functioning). Here in autism west, we can speak to them like any other kids which really is a blessing. Here it's one therapist to five children.

The teacher did a great job engaging them and to allow them to participate in the activities that he has planned. I have to agree that they were fun and he really knows how to catch their attention. What I like about the whole session was that there were a lot of laughter, encouragement and just being comfortable in your own skin. That's what most important isn't it?

Yup, so this is the start of my new journey with a new Autism school. Some people do know that I have an interest for children suffering from Autism and there will always be something tugging in my heart pulling me towards this group of very special people.

Only God knows why and understands why. Only He knows what's best for them.

For the first time ever, I can tell people that I can cook a little

Someone asked me this question before, "Jia Yee, Kannst du kochen?" Jia Yee can you cook? It was in one of my German tutorial. And my answer was "Nur Maggi Nudel!" Only maggi noodles. Which also means no, I can't cook. Nein, ich kann nicht kochen.

Today marks a very special day for me. For the first time, I've cooked a meal for my family without the aid of my sensei (Grandmama). Okay fine, not just me, but me and my sis. Today was the first time we prepared dinner for our family all by ourselves. You see, monkey and I have both been taking turns to be grandmama's apprentice during the summer vacation. One week will be me and the next week will be monkey's turn. We learnt alongside with grandmama, basically just following instructions and cooking what we are told to cook. But today, grandmama decided to let us try all on our own. And it was a success :) Yup, the food tasted great (I'm seriously not lying!). We cooked vegetables, crab balls and spicy chicken. Ja, ich habe Grüngemüse, Krebs Bälle und Hächen gekocht. Oma ist eine sehr gut Lehererin. My mama is a very good teacher. Vielen dank!

Okay, have to be humble. Honestly speaking, there's still a lot to learn and master before I can fully say that I can cook. You just need to practice and practice till you're familiar. Ich muss noch Übung. It's like learning a new song on the piano. But I believe that today was the first step for me. Three cheers for monkey and me :)

Anyway, as tomorrow's Valentines' Day, monkey and I have decided to do something special for our family too. We baked brownies with toppings of hundreds and thousands. Went to buy the ingredients with monkey at coles in the afternoon and we baked it after preparing dinner. It was served with vanilla ice-ceam as a dessert after dinner. Well, it was meant to be for tomorrow but I guess being one day early is not that bad. The browines were good, but they crumble too easily. And they were a bit too sweet (even though I accidentally spilled water in it). Papa did give us some suggestions on how to improve it by turning them into cupcakes instead. Well, that's another experiment to try next time. But all in all, it was good.

Besides, tomorrow monkey and I (and maybe papa) are going on a dinner date to celebrate V day. Mummy and mama usually would not like to go out and would rather have a simple meal at home. Yup it is exiting for me:) We are thinking of trying a new place that we've never been to before. Asian cuisine again :)

I was just thinking, since I'm still single, why not make the most out of it and use it as an opportunity to spend time with family. I mean if I ever get a boyfriend (or husband) in future, my V days are going to be spent with him of course. Should take every opportunity now to to be with family and to date them out for dinners. Maybe net time when I'm attached I'll do 2 valentines, 14th with him and 15th with family. haha. Good idea yea?

Anyway, have a fantastic V day tomorrow everyone :) Alles Liebe zum Valentinstag!

Another post to give thanks

Yup I believe the title is self explanatory. I have three things to give thanks for. Number one, thank you God for sharing a very special word through pastor Nicky last Sunday. It really spoke to me and I feel that after the sermon, everyone in that room was empowered. For me, it reminded me to step out of my comfort zone and not be afraid to change. I agree, God will only intervene if you choose to take the first step and move in faith. God has indeed used Nicky to be a living testimony to many lives, mine including. It is good to always look forward and not remain stuck in the past.

Secondly, thank God that mummy's colonoscopy went well and that there were no complications. Yes, my mum went for a colonoscopy yesterday as she was severely anemic (very low in iron and red blood cells). The doctor recommended her to go for a check up just to make sure that there are no internal bleeding somewhere inside her body. Thank god that all was well, mum just has to watch out for what she eats and try to consume more iron foods.

Thirdly, thank God for papa's medical check up today. My dad has some scarring in the lungs and doctors are afraid that it might lead to TB. But today's follow-up showed no changes and that my dad is fine. He'll return for another follow-up in July.

So all in all, I have so much to be thankful for. Thankful for lau kim's successful head operation (my mum's aunt), thank God for uncle ronnie's leg operation, thank God for better weather this week, thank God for a wombat (haha, I love them so much more than kangaroos and koalas). Trust me, the list can just go on and on.

I'm still amazed at how faithful He is and has been in my life.

Running spree

Ever since the start of spring, I realized how much I've missed running. Australians here are really athletic and you can see people running, cycling or walking their dogs almost everyday. More so on weekends. Not to forget, spring has got some of the best weathers as well. Many of you know that I took just one unit last semester, that gave me a lot of time on my own to do my own thing, and yes, there's where I started the habit of running again.

I love running in the evenings where the weather is just right, the colours around our neighborhood are just so beautiful. So yes, I started running ever since around September last year. However I must confessed that because recently I've realized that I've gotten an extra 2kg, that made me feel a little worried and have started watching what I put into my stomach. Haha. Yes, don't worry, I believed that my BMI is still of a healthy range, just that my personal aim to always maintain that particular weight and not let it fluctuate, or worse, increase! So ya, I've been running more now and also watching what I eat. See, it's important to not just exercise, but also to watch what you eat in order to be healthy again.

My dad loves to buy muffins, doughnuts, chocolates and soda drinks. My mum, ice-cream and potato chips are her favourites! So you see, yes, it's crazy how unhealthy my family can get. No wonder I've been putting on a few pounds! Really have to watch what you eat guys.

Let's make 2012 a healthy and fulfilling year shall we?

Benefit on hind sight

So Papa, Mum, Monkey and I decided to take a trip down south to see what our inital choice of suburb to settle down in Perth is like. See, when my parents started sourcing out for a place to build our own property (that was early 2010), they were very interested in thornlie, a small suburb down south of perth. It's a smaller land lot, further away from the ocean, more expensive but nearer to town, and of course, UWA. We have never seen that place during that time for everything was conversed with the Singapore branch of the housing agent based in Perh.

However, due to time restrictions, the land in that particular place was not ready yet and we couldn't get it on time to fit into our plan of moving over by June 2011. So, my Dad began to source for other areas and eventually, we got Butler. Back to the story, we took an 80min drive down to see what that town actually looks like.

Upon reaching there, there was a common viewpoint that all of us shared. We were all very grateful that God lead us to Butler instead of Thornlie. I'm not saying that Thornlie is a bad suburb. NO, I'm just saying that the layout, the scenery, the everything of Butler appealed to us more than Thornlie. Though it's way further for us to travel to school, my sis and I still could bear the distance and from what we can see, the prospect of Butler is really up and coming.

I mean, the train station for Butler is right on it's way. There will be shops and businesses all around our area in about 2 years time. So, benefit on hindsight, I'm glad we ended up in Butler. Haha. I'm okay not living near my fellow Asians fellows, I'm okay being different. Just where God leads, I'll go :)