HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!

Sorry. One day late.
Thank you Lord for this greatest gift of our lives which we more often than not, neglect Him or take it for granted. This four weeks of Advent has been a packed but fulfilling one for me.
#1 Did not walked down Orchard Road or did any Xmas shopping at all. But i don't feel regretful.
#2 A challenging period of time trying to "give birth" to the Xmas pageant.
#3 Frustrations and stress over kitchen renovation works. But now that it's completed. Awesome.
#4 Fretting over Youth Room. But now at least several colour schemes are finalised and we're getting furniture soon.

What a fulfilling Advent season plus a short trip to Cambodia too. THank God for all the blessings and for helping me through the difficult times.

Xmas Pageant Midnight Mass.
Rushy rushy rushy. Din get the approval of the priest to dim the lights of the church, the multimedia image did not go well. Still, with faith, all of us still put in our best foot forward to deliver a meaningful and unique pageant for everybody. When I sang "The Answer", I could really sense the Holy Spirit working on me. It wasn't my best vocal then but it was my best delivery from deep within. At some point, tears nearly choked me. haha, luckily I pulled through fine. Anyhow, really really grateful for the bunch of people in the pageant for making everything possible, starting from nothing to something and ultimately to WONDER.
The climax continued to build up during the midnight mass as the whole church sang in UNISON loudly O COME O YE FAITHFUL for the entrance hymn. It almost have the atmosphere of a cathedral. It's heavenly. Everyone was rejoicing for this birth! It ended on another high with Joy To The World and Feliz Navidad with everybody participating. It's really once a year that this kind of spiritual high is experienced at a Mass. How i wish Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday would be the same too.


~
2 and a half more weeks to the start of another sch term. Checked my result today. No big surprises, just as expected...my grades quite stagnant now. Just hope that my CAP don't fall below 4.0 by the end of Yr4. Well, although ultimately when I graduate from my MAsters, it's just a pass/fail. Was thinking a lot the whole afternoon after the reveal of my results...i'm graduating soon...am I more suitable for the academic/research field? Or attempt the teaching path? Really don't fancy slogging my life in an architecture firm, I want to work with people, to give back to the society in a more direct way, and not being dictated by clients to build another super air-con luxurious hotel or shopping mall that consumes more energy, killing the earth and all about $$. Would venturing overseas be another choice for me? Hmm..not anytime soon. Decisions and discernment. Lord, please guide me.

Bon Voyage, Fr David

If I can recall correctly, I've not yet even spoken a full sentence to you except the brief "Hi"s and "Bye"s. Yet, I don't know why. I just have this close affinity to you. Perhaps because it's your love and concern that you kept showering over the youths in the church. You're stern in your sermons and loud-spoken that almost sounded like scoldings. But this does not hinder many of our respect and love for you. I will never forget the photo that captured you helping out the youths in the car-wash. I mean, how many priests will actually get involved directly in a car wash, getting yourself dirty and wet.
You went up during the masses and campaigned for the youth's fund-raising. You wanted Joachim to quickly get the furnishings of the youth room done up. You told him that you're eager to meet his youth team as much as we're eager to meet you for our AGM too. There're so many have-nots but i'm sure it'll be accomplished in one way or another in God's will.

18 Dec 07. 10am. A packed Holy Spirit Church. Your dear parishioners from St Bern, Holy Spirit and SFA all squeezed into the high capacity seating church. The most heartening moment to me also was when I saw all (almost) the priests in Singapore coming to send you off on this final journey. Be it compulsory or what, it's really a sight i must say, to see the altar filled with priests, young and old, saying the Eucharistic prayer together. And i'm sure you're doing the same do in the heavenly kingdom of God, watching down on us. Final leg to the Choa Chu Kang Cemetery, yet another first time for me to attend a proper burial, some more a religious one in Singapore. The last one that i've been to was my grandfather's back in Melaka when I was only pri 6. The sun was scorching for a moment while in a distance we saw storm clouds coming too. Parishioners crowded the burial ground as we said our prayers and sang our songs. As flowers were offered to you, I looked up the sky and saw the sun shining ever so brightly from the eye of the rain cloud. Lord, I know you're witnessing this together with us and that you're inviting Fr David to Your house. About 11.30am, everything was over as everyone made their way to their buses and cars. Not long, the sky opened and tears from heaven filled the earth. The downpour came so timely and luckily it didn't take place during the burial. Fr David didn't want us to get wet.

Fr David, pls continue to watch over the youths of SFA. Pray for us in heaven. Pray that the Lord will send another faithful servant like you to continue to guide our parish. May you live happily ever after in the eternal kingdom of God.

4th Dec 07 to 9th Dec 07, Siem Reap, Cambodia

Finally squeeze in sometime to blog this before i totally lose the drive the write.

DAY 1.
Catched the flight at 6.00AM with 11 other studio mates. All feeling sianz to begin our 3 days of research once we touched down in Siem Reap. All looking forward to the 4th day and beyond. Hah. Totally zoned out on the plane. Landed on Siem Reap's soil on a cool and sunny Tuesday morning. The airport is quite architecturally impressive which brings out a authentic and vernacular feel and not some out of the place modern white box.

Checked out of airport and first person we saw was Richard, our studiomaster, to receive us as he's arrived a day ahead of us. How thoughtful. Had a nice breakfast beside our La Noria Guesthouse. Immediately, we're sent out to begin our research. Omg! The streets are terrifyingly dusty! No proper pavement and paved roads, heaps of sand and dust churned up by passing vehicles forms a haze over the street. Cannot take it, MASKS! Ok, besides the dust and all, Siem Reap town is quite an enchanting place too especially when we walked into certain urban enclaves with temples surrounded by schools, monastery and a community of houses.

It's a hot, tiring and dirty first day of research. Had a good dinner at Old Market Khmer Kitchen Restaurant and a good chat with one of the waiter. Most of the people there are so sweet and nice. They're less fortunate but they have the fighting spirit to work and study hard and learn English. Really impressed.

DAY 2.
Wonderful complimentary breakfast at the terrace of our guesthouse. So resort-y and kampung. Just feel like chilling out there for the whole morning. Set off to explore the river banks and checked out cool hotels that lined the river to cash in on tourism dollars. Interviewed a number of waiters, hotel receptionist, tuk-tuk drivers to find out more about the spatial organization of the traditional houses and settlements. Had a bit of accomplishment when we got one of the tuk-tuk drivers to bring us to a somewhat traditional house and we actually got to go inside. Luckily the owner of the house speaks fluent English too as he works in a hotel. *phew* finally. Also managed to bumped into a low-cost community housing near Wat Bo and interviewed a student staying there who just arrived a few days ago only from Phnon Penh. Insightful day indeed chatting with so many locals. I think the country speaks more English than Japan or Korea. Hah.

Ended the day with a shadow puppet show and cultural dance at our guesthouse terrace and great food. Check out the famous local Amok Fish. The kids doing the dance are so young yet very serious in every step they move. After the show, all the kids have to carry all those heavy instruments and props by themselves and load them up the lorry. Impressed.



DAY 3

Woke up and felt as if I've been here for a week or more after exploring each and every corner of Siem Reap town and speaking to the locals. It certainly helped us to know this city better than just walking around aimlessly like a typical tourist. We haven't even hit any major tourist attraction or historical monument. Well, not for today. Haha. Nicolas, Stacy and me (the archi typology grp) took the risk of venturing further to the outskirts of the town. Found a tuk-tuk driver who persuaded us to check out the Chong Nhnes Floating Village. It was quite a con for USD$15 including the boat ride, but heck, we enjoyed ourselves and it's beautiful.

Saw a floating Catholic church, rows and rows of floating houses and kids rowing to school, and some rowing to our boat to sell us drinks and snacks under the scorching hot sun. At the mouth of Tonle Sap Lake, i can only see the horizon and not the other side of land. Feeling was great. On our way back, went to check out a more traditional village which gave us more insight to their living. Had a good massage finally at the Seeing Hands Massage by the blinds, and some good shopping at Old Market.


DAY 4

It's tourist day! Time to immerse ourselves in the mysterious Angkor temples in the archaeological park. Got our 3-day pass for $40. First up, the Bayon. The moat surrounding the Angkor Thom (behind me) is even wider than Singapore River. The four sided stone towers carved with Bodhisattva image is characteristic of this temple. The spaces within are simply astounding. Snapped and snapped while being very cautious about my battery reserves. It's only the first temple!! Covered another 3 temple compounds within the Angkor Thom, some restored to its glorious state while some just remain in ruins which are more charming actually.

Just like Ta Phrom, where Tomb Raiders was filmed. Nature show us how it is taking over Man's construction over the centuries. Finally to the glorious and monumental Angkor Wat. It's equivalent or perhaps surpass the architecture of Beijing's imperial city and Greek's Acropolis. It was a hot and sunny day which gave me a Cambodian tan, and the overall experience was splendid discounting away the noise and disturbance from tourists that came in packs.

DAY 5.

Had a nice bowl of Vietnamese beef noodles for breakfast & a super shiok kopi-gao and we're on our way to the bigger circuit. Pre Rup, once used as a crematorium, a rather huge one, reveals beautiful brick carvings and the yellow-orange glow of the towers in the morning sun added a different dimension to the temples visited yesterday.

Neak Pean, a small scale monument with 4 bath-like pools surrounding a main central pool and sanctuary tower. Next up to Preak Khan, another Ta Phrom alike threatened by the forces of nature is my temple of the day. The long corridors, beautiful soft lighting, stone carvings etc made this place so rich in experience. Marvellous.

By 4.30pm, we returned to Angkor Wat to make up for our sunset group photo shot which we missed out the previous day. (see above). Well, in fact, what i gained for the return trip was not at the temple but outside. Bought some awesome souvenirs at a cheap price outside the Angkor Wat compound. The Cambodian-Chinese ah-ma who spoke to us in Chinese is so lovely. She never failed to smile or laugh at the end of each sentence she made. Haha.

Rushed back to Siem Reap town in time to catch the mass at the 2-yr old Catholic Church which I found on the first day. It was a good experience together with Stacy (Protestant) and Weilin (non-Christian) whom accompanied me. Perhaps it's in God's plan. This trip to the mass actually sparked off discussions and sharings by our other fellow Christians friends over dinner. And one of them really opened his heart up and shared with us the miracles which he had encountered in Europe. A nice moment and time spent together over dinner.

DAY 6.
Woke up at an unearthly hour again to catch our 7.50am flight back to Singapore. Melvin, Najeeb, Nicolas and me, the first four to return to Singapore while the rest continued to Phnom Penh and some even to Ho Chi Minh. The other 3 were so anxious to get home, always on their toes and rushing on board the plane and down the plane. It's quite a funny sight. They really missed home. I really enjoyed the times spent in Cambodia and was taking in slowly every moment I have. Maybe because I knew that when I got home, it's as dusty as Cambodia with the kitchen renovation still going on. Still, thank God for this safe and pleasant trip in Siem Reap.

*phew* finally finished the blog entry.
For more photos, just check up my flickr some time later.

1st Sunday of Advent

Sick. Arh...how nice.
Well, the weather has been really cool & breezy for a good night's sleep.
But not too good for my sinus nose. Flu bug likes me a lot now.
Hope that i will recover in time before my Cambodia trip.
Strangely, it's the first time that I'm not feeling that excited for an overseas trip as before.
Maybe it was the phobia i had for architectural trip back in Year One. That trip to Bangkok was memorably stressful, intense accompanied with sleepless night. Although i know this time round it shouldn't be that bad, but...still that little apprehension.

1st Sun of Advent in church. Pretty intense day too. But at least got some time the day before to prepare for the reflection to share with the choir. Somehow it's always these things that "force" you to really sit down and do some serious reflections and "spiritual thinking". Hmm...but my actual delivery wasn't that good. Sometimes, I'm quite disturbed by a couple of the choir members when they just automatically switched off when I try to do something spiritual per se. I know perhaps they are tired and just wish to close their eyes and take a break. But the very judgmental me will straight away interpret it as they don't really care. IF i start to talk about parties or gatherings, majority will be so filled with energy and excitement. Is it me? Or that some are not really in the "right frame of mind" to be in this ministry instead of a social club? Hmm...I continue to pray for all and myself, to allow Jesus Christ to be born in all of us again. I just hope the choir could be more open to their spiritual life and talk about Christ in their lives, if we don't even start with sharing among our fellow Catholics, how ready are we to do so to the others?

Pageant practice was fruitful. Though not perfect, but we tried our best. We can eventually do it.

Kitchen renovation resumes tmr. And my mum's frustration over the dirtiness and dustiness of the whole house will just intensify. Just wish that my father and my sis dun add worries and naggings to her but try to live through these "dirty" days together with patience, tolerance and peace. Guess things will just get better when i return from Cambodia as more of the kitchen renovation works will have been accomplished and my mum shld be smiling her way by then.

Trying to look forward to the Cambodia trip. Have to reach T1 at 4.30am. Craziness.