made.good.again

The working adult starts the exciting journey…

Today was orientation. Lotsa talks, free meals, pieces of advice from the seniors. Realized that the last time I had to try to remember stuff or think was… a month ago.

They were really encouraging though. Mainly teaching us how to learn from our mistakes. Apparently a study showed that people with more experience make the same amount of mistakes as the juniors. Just that they recover quicker from their mistakes. I think a huge part of the intern year is to really be able to make the most out of mistakes made and keep doing well what you’re doing right. Mistakes will remain as part and parcel of life. Repeating them should not.

It was also a relief to know that interns aren’t expected to know much in the first few weeks and hence we can ask any dumb questions we want. Better to be thought dumb for a few minutes than to really remain dumb for the rest of the years. But after a month we are expected to know something… so I really need to try to expend my dumbcredits in the next few weeks before they expire.

This is all very humbling. At least I’ve got a prepared attitude, if nothing else. And surely God is with me.

And I’ve got a piece of advise to all my loved ones out there… DO NOT get admitted into a hospital during Jan-Feb. The interns are at loose…….. !!

*****

Soph here’s one just for you (though I didn’t come up with it)

Q: What does Mozart do, now that he’s dead?

A: He de-composes.

At the immigration office, needing to get my visa sorted out - queing up to get a number…

Lady behind the counter (as she hands me my waiting number): I’m sorry love, I’m afraid you’re going to have to wait quite a while before someone is available.
Me: Oh dear, would you know how long I might have to wait?
She: Hmm.. at this point, we’re looking at approximately a half an hour wait…
Me: Oh that’s alright! (half-tempted to pretend to throw a tantrum going.. HALF AN HOUR!!!!!!!!!!!?????)

(Ha ha she obviously does not realize that I’ve just arrived from the MyKad country)…By the way my friend advises that you should go with your grandmother when you need to get MyKad done because they give special privileges to "warga emas". She did hers in like 15mins.

Anyway I only had to wait 15mins to and they took 5mins to process my visa! Just that I paid a ridiculous AUD 3.50 for parking (i.e. RM 10 = char koay teow x3 plates)

Ah Tat… meet Yo. Our new brother! He’s 15, from Thailand! He’s cool.. and supernice! I think he’s really good looking too =P

Due to popular demand, I’ve decided to post more photos from Thailand (yes I’ve only recently discovered that I can post photos on friendster blog)…

Here’s a selection of some cute photos from my album.

First up is of course the 20cmx15cm little John:

Here’s John the Thai pup eating his rice. The pic is a bit blur because he was wagging his tail too much till his whole body was like vibrating and couldn’t stay still for the shot. He couldn’t finish his food actually. A few minutes later it was eaten up by the bigger dogs ("it" referring to the food not the pup).

Mit trying to cheer the kid up…

I wasn’t much better at it. He just looked rather uncomfortable…

He decided to run away…
                                                             And we found out why…=P

More random photos…

Guess who…

Just got back from my trip to Bangkok / Nakhon Sri Thammarat and suffering from withdrawal symptoms wishing it didn’t have to end! It was an amazing trip, especially in being able to experience God’s power in healing of the sick, His comfort of the brokenhearted, lifting up of the downcast, provision for the needy… He is certainly the Great I Am, everything that we ever needed or hoped for.

I LOVE THE TEAM!
From top to bottom, left to right: Nai-cheowl, Dong, Mitsheowl, SuetBeng, me, Ajan Wit (local pastor), Hengsome, Em, Krystin aka Ling, Tian Mi Mi, Jan-jee-lak (= beautiful in Thai)

English Camp at Tar Pae Resort (Liming was once crowned Miss Tar Pae 2004. For 2006 it’s ME ME ME)… The team taught English and we had lotsa fun doing action songs. I hope the kids had fun too =P

.

.

Learning guitar from Josie the little girl who likes to pretend she doesn’t know how to play the guitar…

.

Michelle - domesticated and currently able to make Som Tam (Thai papaya salad)!!

.
.

Our humble abode, where we sleep (guys and girls separate), do devotionals, eat (emotional food), pray, laugh, cry, and make funny faces (check out the piggy.. no, not the pink one).

The team was dressed exactly like the waiters in the restaurant and thought we might just assume the role!

.

Family in Christ…
My new Thai family! The beautiful young lady (not me, the other one)… her name is Pla and she’s my best friend in Thailand. Her parents have just decided to have me as a daughter so now I’ve got Thai parents! They love me a lot =)

.

The family puppy. Err.. his name is John! He came to bid me farewell at the bus station too… He’s really small, like 20cmx15cm…

.

.

.

.Farewell… Off in a Songthaew!

.

UNITY - the team worked not for, but from unity. God kept us loving, caring, and gracious with one another throughout the trip - for His glory!

A big THANK YOU to Wayne and Hsu En who have coordinated the prayer support groups, and thanks for partnering in prayer, everyone. It’s been a missions trip where His Name is lifted high indeed.

Truth teaches me that Santa Claus (a.k.a St Nicholas of Myra - a 4th Century bishop known for his generosity with gifts to the needy and widows in his time - St Nicholas —> Santa Nikolas —> Sinta Klaas —> Santa Claus!) has nothing to do with the "true" meaning of Christmas. In fact, a "distraction" from what Christmas is all about - the birth of Jesus, God’s gift to us.

BUT…

Compassion shows me that Santa Claus / Father Christmas is more relevant than we realize. He represents the outcry of a generation of children who lack a father figure - a generation who is living through marriages that end up broken half the time, living through relationships of an abusive nature… A longing for a father who is happy (ho ho ho), who generously provides, who loves to give good gifts, who is CONSISTENT - at least he’s there every year, as promised!

Little does the world realize that this longing can be fulfilled every single day of the year, whether we are naughty or nice. We don’t even have to make a wishlist, He knows before we ask. This is our Father in Heaven, who loves to give good gifts to His children, who shows and guides us in the journey of life, who loves us just the way we are but loves us too much to let us stay the same, who speaks to us gently, slow to anger and not bad-tempered, who listens to our cries in the night and comforts us, who keeps our deepest darkest secrets… a best friend.

***

Letter from a cleverkid:

Dear Santa,

What I want for Christmas this year aren’t gifts or toys. I want YOU - because I figured that if I have you, I can have anything I want anytime of the year.

Signed,
cleverkid.

***

Seek the Giver not the gift.

My "HO" peng you sent me… (it’s funnier than my jokes i promise):

http://www.syfc.org.sg/christmas05/hokkien.htm

*Honk! Beep! Honk honk honk!!* Inching along in the traffic…

Non-indicating vehicles. Indicator equals threat ("ohh noo.. someone wants to cut into my lane, I better speed up…")

No dangling handbags, beware snatch thieves…

"Pennnyyyyy ahhh.. WAKE UP ALREADY LOH!! So late liao… faster fetch mummy to the hairdresser’s, got no parking…"

"Pennnyyyy ahhh.. where are you? So late already better come back loh.. Nowadays a lot of kidnappers ahhh…"

"Wahh.. big girl already loh.. dr penny ah.. next time aunty see you for free ah.."

"Ehh city got everything ah? Like that city no what?"
"Ermm.. city no-haliza…"

Assam laksa. Assam fish. Nasi lemak kampung. Indian mee goreng. Chilli crab. Pork noodles (chu yok mee). Prawn noodles. Roast duck. Genkisushi softshellcrab roll. Hokkien mee. Bak kut teh…

No housework for a month =p

Uninterrupted time reading non-textbooks.

Divide all prices by three.

Little cousins, nephews, nieces toddling around the house and running away from the stranger whom they see once a year =(

Secretly proud parents who keep boasting about their daughter-turned-doctor behind my back.

Friends - after all these years of changes, differing seasons of lives, yet faithful, fun…

It all comes in a package. I’ve had to learn to love my country, am ashamed to say. God taught me; He loves the M’sian folks even more - more and more people are realizing that =)

Dear fav peeps,

While you were sleeping, I was already up at 7am your time, listening attentively to Ps Ted at church today. As always, church was superb. I took down notes for y’all!

Matthew 18:28-30 (The Message)

²⁸"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. ²⁹Walk with me and work with me–watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. ³⁰Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly."

RECOVER…
We can only recover what we previously owned. E.g. "I can’t go to the police station and ask them to recover my Ferrari *snicker* coz I never owned one to begin with", says Ted.

Sometimes we think when we give our lives to God, that He just wants to take away what we desire/enjoy/our dreams. We think our will and God’s will never meet, that it’s totally different. We’re afraid to give our lives to Him because we’re afraid He’ll give us something we don’t want, afraid He will extract from our lives. In fact He wants to recover, restore.

But KNOW that your desires have been put there by God. REMEMBER that Jesus has your best interest at heart. Everything that you want out of life, God wants it even more for you. He has designed you, and the dreams within you. God has put plans in our lives and the only way we’ll be able to reach it is with God in our lives.

With God, He makes your dreams come true. Without Him, your desires become bland. Without God, You can be a successful CEO of a company and have lotsa money but you could come home at night, sit in the dark and be all lonely. With God, you can be a successful CEO of a company and have lotsa money but you come home and feel awesome. Even if you lost your position and all your money, with God, you’d still feel awesome.

He will give me everything that is beneficial to me. Whatever is NOT, it means I’ll have to push for it… and that disturbs the rhythm of our walk as I’m yoked with Him. I don’t wanna have to push. I wanna move in effortless grace…I wanna learn the unforced rhythms of grace…

Watch your dreams unfold when you have God in your life, when you give your life to Him!

=)

now… can I have the musicians up the stage please…