'God, it's been a long time since i received some blessings!'

it was quite a fruitful weekend though i feel that i had too much spare time during the day, and i think i should really get down to studying really soon.

i was just bathing and counting on the blessings i've received ever since i came here.

it was drizzling the whole day on saturday. i had some plans to shoot some zombies(with my camera) but the weather puts me off. i was thinking that if the weather's gonna be wet, i'm not going out to shoot. the event starts at 6pm but at 5pm, it was still drizzling bit. came 530pm and the sun popped up with some nice clouds complimenting. i grabbed my camera bag immediately and cycled to the city trying to find those zombies! i couldn't find them, texted my friend and she didn't reply til awhile later.. so i went to shoot some sunsets along the river. a fruitful catch i think! it was lovely and i met Lotta, who was shooting the sunset there as well.

my friend replied later on and i went to shoot those zombies! there were about 50 of them, all dressed up and ready to kill! awesome experience. the finns are known to be reserved but when they are zombified/drunk, they aren't shy at all! most of them were ready to pose for the cameras and that helped in making good pictures alot!

came sunday, i was actually half excited about.. still, thank God for the chance to serve.
it was a special service and i had the opportunity to play drums for the worship. it was quite a nerve wrecking experience, with about 200odd in the congregation who doesn't like loud music. being myself, i can't worship with soft music or drumming! the first few songs were pretty slow, soft, 3/4, u get the drift.. during the altar call, songs from hillsong, chris tomlin were on the playlist; something more familiar to me. frankly, i don't think i did a super awesome job myself. i'm not familiar with electronic drum sets and however expensive/realistic they might be, i'll still prefer an acoustic drum set anytime. after the service, strangers from the congregation were coming to me, welcoming me to the church and thanking me for playing the drums. one brother told me that during his stay in the 2 years in church, he has never seen anyone played the drums before.

not my own glory because it is not important at all. i'm glad to have make any impact possible to this community. i'm praying that God will work through me, to bring worship to a higher and deeper level in this church.

then, jia-yi(one of the sisters and attendees of the international service and from china), came to me and asked if i needed anything like plates, blankets etc.. i was thinking why not. i needed some of these in fact. so she invited me to her place as well as to get those. i was being blessed with some plates, cups and a frying wok! i was intending to buy a frying pan but it has put me off for some time because it's quite expensive! now i'm blessed with a frying wok which is even bigger. maybe God is asking me to bless more people with my cooking since i was given a bigger wok than expected. :P

busy-ness

what is busy-ness?

it's like a state of mood that makes u forget everything..

often, most individuals including myself forget about the things-to-do when we are busy.
we substitute our loneliness by making ourselves busy, substitute our unhappiness, our emotions by finding things to do, so that we can avoid those emotions..

true enough, it has 'helped' me in some sense but i hate the negative side of it.

it has made me 'forget' someone whom i missed so dearly. i admit i don't think about her that much as i used to and i wonder why.

i don't want to be too busy.

an eventful day!

well, i started the day just being online..
went out for a shoot at 3+pm and i had good harvest! took some photos which i really liked!

and Jana asked if i wanna come along for her birthday party at 45special! i thought it'll be nice to go have a look as well! it's a club i think! small one. it's my first time to a club and actually it's not much different from a bar, except for the addition of a dance floor i think.

i haven't danced before, and i certainly didn't want to embarass myself. Jana, the birthday girl, asked me to take some photos of her dancing with her friends! but.. it was a booby trap! she wanted me to dance with her after that!! alright, so i obliged because she's the birthday girl! just a few minutes of dancing and i got really tired! but it was fun! for the first time and there was someone to dance with me!

i went to rest, sat down and observed some of the dancers on the floor. man, some of them are really good and you can see different styles/mentalities of these people when they danced.. the finnish are kinda reserved, as usual.. the czechs love dancing.. the german has some great moves!

it was a good night with some new experiences!

i think i should pen/type this down.........

well, while it's still fresh on my head about the happenings for today..

let's start with going back home.. so i went to a party, and my last bus goes at 1016pm according to www.linjakas.fi
so i took the bus and, lo and behold, it doesn't go to my place.
anyhow, i dropped off as soon as i realised it's not getting anywhere near my place, and walked home. I've never seen the skies in finland at night as i'm usually home most of the time. as i was walking, the stars in front of me just jumped right in front of my fact.. i stopped to take a look at the skies above me. what a beautiful sight it was.. (well, i wished you were here with me too)
i just wanted to lie down on the grass patch to enjoy the starry starry night. i felt so lost staring into the skies. those stars were everywhere! lovely..
it's something that's almost non-existent in singapore due to light pollution.

i'm so glad this happened. i had the time to admire God's creation and i thought of what PS Glen said about stars and galaxies.. how big this whole universe can be. this is what God has created.

so anyway, earlier today during the marketing lessons, we had an interesting question which led to something 'extra'.

it started like this, 'I had a culture shock when i came here! the shops are only opened for a few hours on saturdays and they are closed on sundays!' so the teacher explained and i was kinda shocked at the reasoning too. i think it shouldn't be like this and christians are giving themselves a bad name! no wonder the finns doesn't really go to church even though it's a lutheran nation!

basically, companies/businesses in Finland have to pay taxes to the church.. it's a small amount i heard, but enough to go on a holiday to a mediterranean country for 1 week. you can say about 500euros? they are force to subscribe to a church and pay taxes.. no wonder tithes and offering in Finland are kinda 'as the Lord leads you to give'..
and some people who don't agree with such a law, will not pay taxes! in fact, they will even 'hate' the religion!
the topic went on and i was thinking to myself.. are we doing things to worsen situations?

no wonder all the evangelism doesn't really work here. people are led to thinking you just want more money perhaps..

it was a wonderful dream last night, and i'm not sure it happened to you too. dreamt that i MSNed you!


i've come to realised the culture of BGRs is different in here. some girlfriends move wherever the boyfriends go. be it for work or just to stay together.. probably because the boyfriend is situated right across the country or across continents, such a practice is formed. nevertheless, that was interesting enough.