saw 2 girls cycling and drinking beers.


ok. so i went to 2 churches today.. one at oulun cathedral. it's probably the biggest church in the oulu. i thought the service starts at 11am. i went there at 1030am and they were already halfway through. probably got the time wrong. it was in finnish and it was a lutheran service. anyhow, it's good to be found in the house of God! it looked really nice inside, nicer than wesley methodist if you ask me. :p

but i needed to find a church that has english services.

so i went to this international christian fellowship.. it was also, quite a similar setting to the lutheran practice if i may say.

anyway, after the service ended, i had a chat with this indian brother who has been working in oulu for the past 2 years.

he said something which enlightened me.

"here in ICF, i've a taste of what heaven is like. we have over 20 countries of believers who congregate here and i think heaven is like that! all believers from the different nations meeting the FATHER!"

as myopic as i am, i have never thought about it this way before. i mean, yes it makes sense. but it has never came across to me like this, probably because it's mostly chinese in our youth group and in the christian community in SG.

i'm starting to look at things at an international level!

skyping hayley williams with her new haircut.. keke

will always remember those who encouraged and talked to him in fi. thank you. :)

possible early come back?

first day of orientation. the normal talks and introduction to course, to school.. it was pretty good. made some friends and saw some asians. somehow, BMI just speaks to me everyday about the issues i'm facing..

i kept thinking about you going other countries to work....

reflections

like what i told some of you,

i'm actually reminded of my parents felt when they came to SG to work when they were 16..
they probably have friends, but i'm sure they surely felt sad and missed home too. but they persevered and it's been amazing to see what they've achieved so far. also to friends who came from overseas to work in SG, it mustn't had been easy definitely. kudos to everyone of you who did that.

watched "every singaporean son" series today. as much of a show as it, actually i'm reminded of the first 2 weeks in BMT.
the first 2 weeks when i wasn't allowed to go home, the only time i can contact my parents and friends were probably through the non-camera hp i had.

but it's 10 months of not going home now though i have a better means of communication. using skype to webcam; to make phone calls.

thank you for all the encouragements so hard. i'm thankful for friends like these. will pull through this, but i need to get my cough healed soon!!

broke down today.

first 3 days in finland

it's 7:04am now, i woke up at 5:30am today. slightly better from yesterday as i woke up at 5am. still trying to get used to the time adjustments here.

day 1: i was at Helsinki airport, doing the excess baggage for my domestic flight to Oulu.. they told me that i had to pay excess for the 33kg i had. that's like almost 200euros.. way too ridiculous i thought. then they were nice enough to charge me 120euros because they think i had too much to pay. i figured i should be using cargo when i'm back in SG, and i seriously can't wait to be back. I need to do very well in school. so i settled my excess and it was about 4 hours before i go on board again.no internet, no books.. i was just observing people in the airport.

So i reached Oulu and I must thank Ms Tiia for picking me up. Seriously, it would have been alot of hassles for me if i were to go on myself. I reached Oulu at 6pm, and the accomodation office closes at 4pm. I needed someone to pick my keys up from the office. IF NOT, i have to stay in a hotel, get all my luggage to the office to collect the keys and get to where i'm staying. cab fares here are not for the peasants in SG. it cost about 34euros just to travel 14km, from the airport to where i'm staying.

So i settled in my place, changed out and went walking to the city with Tiia. Bought some groceries, familiarize with the place abit and took a bus home. it's 3euros. I alighted and i got lost again. thankfully, i found someone at the petrol station.
I asked him about the place on the map; he wasn't sure. But he was kind enough to drive around that area to see if it's correct. before that, i was feeling so sad and depressed. carrying my bag of groceries and getting lost and the locals here don't seemed to know their maps too well. But i felt the hand of God intervening this process and i was brought home safely.

there was no internet connection just yet, and i was really missing everyone back in Singapore. it was getting dark, at around 10pm. So i decided to sleep after such a long day.

day2: i was awake at 530am. boiled some water with the kettle, made myself some breakfast and set out to the city on foot. navigating around wasn't easy at first, because their road names are really long and the locals themselves aren't too familiar with the place. I set foot from 8am.. getting the paper work done for my accomodation, getting a bank account, tried to get a bike but the prices are just too ridiculous.. it's around 140euros to a 2nd hand one.. 300euros for a new one.. i'm stll weighing the costs between getting a bike or getting a bus concession because i don't think i would be able to ride in the winter.
finally got the internet connection down, and i skyped with my parents, esther and jolene.
thanks so much. phone calls matter alot to me than just seeing texts on the screen. i'm feeling a lil better now.

i'm still trying to find a church. there's a cathedral in the city. but i'm afraid that it's gonna be in finnish. anyhow, we'll see.