declaration of dependence

Thursday, May 31, 2007

it's the final leg of my trip...can't believe i'm gonna be flying home in a couple days! just got to Sheena's place not too long ago...flew in from Greece...or rather we flew from Athens to Glasgow and Glasgow to Heathrow...but i'm entirely psyched to be with the Chi girls tho it's been a long night of travelling! gonna watch Swan Lake later with them but we're heading out to Buckingham palace and Harrods and Oxford street first...

then tmr's officially our Chi meet up so we're all gonna meet up for dinner...Sheena took leave these two days and Ana's planned her flight such that she gets to hang out with Mich and i before she leaves London..heh so it def shd be fun! been looking forward to meeting the girls the entire trip :)

Greece was absolutely fantastic...did some island hopping too and covered Santorini and Ios...absolutely fell in love with Greece...everyone's so friendly, the beach is great, the food is fantastic...i think its officially my favourite stop now...but of course things could change in the next few days...heh we'll see...

looking forward to see everyone back home soon! :)

alright...enough rambling...gonna head out soon. be home in a few days time!

and eunice ends here :

- 8:46 PM

Saturday, May 26, 2007

hello from ROME!

it's my 3rd day here...this place grows on u man. it's great. went for 2 guided walking tours to see every major thing in this city..haha cost quite a bit but it sure was worth the money! unfortunately, we didnt get to see the pope coz he only makes his appearance on wednesdays...oh well. got to see a whole bunch of other cool stuff tho...oh, and we got this special discount to get 5 scoops of gelato for 3.50 euro. haha was crazy good lah but wayy too much. heh cldn't finish all of it so i gave jimmy some of mine...decided ive reached my gelato limit but daniel insists that i haven't. haha he says no one can reach a gelato limit. i once thought so but im not so sure now. anyhow, we may have more tonight...haha last nite in italy anyway!

so yeah, travelling with jimmy and daniel on this leg of the trip and that has been great! tons of fun and very refreshing having other travel buddies join lav and i on our month long grad trip :) i think the highlight of these 3 weeks has really been meeting and talking to people from all over...be it friends from back home who join us along the way, random other people on the street or in the queue with you or fellow tourists or shop keepers or anyone basically! guess i've really been learning from the people around me the importance of enjoying and basking in and soaking up the present. too often back home, i'm caught up with so many things that i don't quite stop to enjoy and embrace what i have now. it's hard to explain really...but simply enjoying walking around, looking up at the sky, the train rides, talking to people you probably will never meet again, seeing things you've only read about or seen on tv, and all that...it's amazing. traveling is amazing...takes you away from the familiar and broadens how you view life and people and cultures and the way people relate to one another. and i think for me, God always seems so much closer and "realer" when im travelling...and there's just something about rome...

anyway, another item for thanksgiving..my final university exam results were released today and i have nothing but a whole lot to be thankful for. seriously...my entire university life has been based on an endless supply of extravagant grace! can't quite believe im completely done with school...can't quite believe how it's all turned out...and yeah...can't believe i'm gonna start work soon! heh but for now, im gonna live up the present...

next stop, GREECE!

and eunice ends here :

- 1:28 AM

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

heh trying to maximize the free internet usage at my hostel while i can. it's rare u get to you know. and it's like noon so there ain't a long queue to use it.

anyway, so we've been taking it pretty slow the last few days...yday was mostly just traveling and then some shopping...wasn't great tho the shopping. lots of asians here...from the philippines and china and all...kinda fun just talkign to them. they ain't friendly till u start talkign to them...guess it's an asian thing i suppose. the americans we meet just talk to us anytime and anywhere. haha so u can really tell the difference. think i'm gonna have to consciously remind myself when i get home that i can't randomly talk to people or they'll look at me weird. or i may just do it anyway coz it's fun!

anyway, so coz it was monday yday, most of the museums in Florence were closed. but that wasn't a biggie since we've already been to so many...think i've reached my limit of church and museum visiting. guess we'll go full swing back into that in rome. heh so instead, lav and i have just been shopping some and enjoying cheap but excellent coffee and ice cream. no, not together obviously...that might potentially produce some not so great results..but as we walk the streets.

we're gonna go see the leaning tower of Pisa later...hear it will occupy us a grand total of like 3 hrs so we decided to head out later today...kinda nice starting the day late. helps that it only gets dark at like 9 or 930 here so that allows us to do more as well. (i actually can't rem if i've alr said some of these things in my earlier posts coz i usually type them in such a hurry i can't quite rem what's been said) heh so forgive me if i'm repeating myself.

anyway, so the weather's warmed up...finally i can wear my skirts and dresses and slippers instead of having to be in jeans, a jacket, shoes and layering to keep myself warm. i think i'm definitely a tropical person man.

looking forward to Greece for sure...lovely beaches....great sun...and then it's off to london to meet my girls. sheer bliss.

oh!! ok again i can't rem if i've already said this in one of my previous posts, but i've gotten a job at Fei Yue! i'm extremely thankful coz i was really hoping i'd get to work with them. and i get to do youth work with them which is GREAT. not sure what my pay and exact job scope will be yet coz they havent worked out the details but i guess i'll find out in due time.

ok, i should go...happpy birthday nat!! happy birthday in advance cindy!!

and eunice ends here :

- 5:44 PM

hello this time from Florence, Italy! just came in today from Venice. it's been great so far and Venice has been my favourite stop so far...been eating tons of chocolate since Belgium and even more Gelato since i got to Venice...it's sooo good and real cheap too. think i've been having like 2 scoops a day. hahaha this is bad i know...hope all the walking i'm doing works off all i'm eating. heh i think i could live in europe simply coz of the food...absolutely love the bread and all too.

i've been having a blast so far. ended up unknowingly in a mixed dorm in my hostel in Venice and i kinda freaked out. got in real late that night coz our flight only arrived at like 9pm...and we got lost trying to look for it and ended up on a street corner with several hookers. was quite an experience. anyway, woke up the next morning expecting the worst but found 3 really cool dudes in the dorm with lav and i. one american dude who's fully ethopian and Christian, one french dude who's really nice and sooo funny when he speaks, and one indian guy who's working for Shell in Holland. so we all ended up going out to spend the day together in Venice and it was a fantastic! such randomness is the best i tell u.

anyway, so we're heading out to see the leaning tower of Pisa tmr...Lav and i have decided that after tmr, since we've seen like almost half of the world's 7 wonders together, we could just marry each other. how more romantic does it get rite? the Eiffel tower, the Taj Mahal, the Leaning tower of Pisa...haha

so i ramble...anyway, so we're half we thru our trip and completely broke by now..haha but we're surviving so far...hear we get money from the govt's workfare payout so horray!! haha

ok....hope everyone back home's going good. thanks for tagging u guys! see u all soon!

and eunice ends here :

- 5:10 AM

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

hellooo from belgium!!

thought i would just drop a quick post to let people know i am still alive. haha thanks for all those prayers guys...i am almost fully well, just coughing a little still.

weather here is much warmer than it was in Ireland and Scotland..been raining quite a bit tho...but the weqther is kinda nuts...it is sunny then suddenly it rains. heh then sunny again. and cos its the start of summer, it stays bright all the way till like 10pm so that is fantastic.. :) but all the shops clsoe by 6pm so that kinda sucks! heh but at least the faaantastic Belgian chocolates make up for it man...heh

leaving for Paris tmr so that should be great! it has been real nice cos we got to know a friend of a friend and so she has been bringing us around Leuven and Brussels and we did Antwerp today, which apparently is the next up and coming Milan or something...haha but it really didnt look like it...heh but it was great for shopping tho! i actually bought shoes there cos they were on sale! haha but now i can say i shopped in Antwerpen! heh

anyway, as much as i love being here, i miss everyone and everything back home! heh cant wait to be home...but first Paris and Italy and Greece and London..heh

and eunice ends here :

- 5:57 AM

Monday, May 07, 2007

so i did fly!! :) i'm now in Belfast!!

thank you guys for praying...i know there were countless people...lav's frens, mine, my parents' frens...all praying that i'd be able to fly off. so when i woke up fever-less...i knew it was an answer to all those prayers...God indeed is good! :) so i got busy packing and all....and then i was off to the airport and onto the plane...

so here we are now...tired from our 2 flights and drowsy from our cough medicine..just got back from going to see the Giant's Causeway...was reallllly beautiful and majestic and it's one of those places where you see the waves beating in and the remarkable stone structures that make praise just roll from your lips....it's awesome! :)

that's about all we managed to do today coz it was a long drive out...oh we had a wonderful picnic that aunty Joannie whipped up too! and after a toilet stop, i saw one of the most amazing rainbows stretch across the sky as well. :) heh and of course the countryside and all are beautiful...kinda feels like we were driving through the Smallvile set...haha

yup so it's gonna be an early night tonight i think...haha it's day 1 and i'm missing home and people back home already....

and eunice ends here :

- 2:18 AM

Friday, May 04, 2007

thank you, my countless, wonderful friends who've been asking how i'm doing.

honestly speaking though, it's been so so hard replying to your messages...i'd love to be able to say "oh, i'm much better! thanks for asking!!" ... but i can't....or maybe at that point of time i might be able to coz i had just puked or i had just sweated out my fever (yeah, after both those events u feel the best...i kid you not) but i'm so scared to even say that now....coz after i've said i'm ok, a few hours later, i'm shivering and chattering and horribly sick again...and the sick cycle carries on yet again for an agonizing few hours...

and so i go from a few good moments when i can sit at my laptop and book the rest of my hostels and flights...and then i spend the next many moments curling up in bed...i don't even know what to tell Lav anymore!

Babe, i'm so so sorry for all this....i know it sucks even more that you can't even blame me. haha i usually read those disclaimers that say "we will not be accountable for Acts of God" and laugh...but suddenly it doesn't seem quite so funny anymore when i read it in the conditions of our booking for our Athens Backpackers' accom....i don't know what else to say...i'm just so sorry. (crap it sooo sounds like we're in a r/ship. hahaha)

so apparently now the doc says that no matter what, if i'm still running a temperature tmr morning, i'll have to do a 2nd dengue test coz 7 days is a sure indicator of it....

but the amazing thing about this entire experience is knowing that God's sovereignly in control of this. gone were the days when i'd die of frustration not knowing what's going to happen. on the contrary, i actually know exactly what's going to happen...we're booked for everything....the only thing i don't know about is whether i'll actually get to fly off tmr....and yet there's a strange sense of peace and calm....coz i know that He'll work it out. If He wants me to go, i'll be well enough to go. if i'm not, i'll know too....

don't get me wrong...it's not being fatalistic about things...it's simply knowing where you trust and faith are securely placed...i can be secure and content in the outcome of things beyond my control because i know Who's in control - One who only allows the best....

so maybe i'll miraculously get well tmr...the 39degC fever i'm running will cool off, my cough will go....or maybe not....either way...i'm held. :) i may not understand.....but You're bigger than that. i don't need to understand everything.

so will i fly tmr? i sure hope so...

if i don't....i will soon i hope...at a hefty hefty cost. sigh. haha oh well.

and eunice ends here :

- 8:54 PM

Thursday, May 03, 2007

ok so you've been asking where i'll be off to in May? trace the pink line : )
(lav, stole this off your blog..haha hope u don't mind!)

and eunice ends here :

- 3:18 PM

boy have the past few days been the worst i've lived through in a long time.

the fever i'd been having since saturday afternoon absolutely refused to go away even after seeing the doc on monday and being on antiobiotics....so i made my way to the doc again yday. must have been quite a hilarious sight since i was wrapped up in my momma's shawl and shivering and chattering really badly all the way down to the doc's office. so the doc thought it might be dengue and did a blood test. now usually i flip out at the suggestion of having a blood test done coz my veins normally collapse and then i do..haha but in yday's state, i figured nothing could be worse than the way i felt. so i had it done quickly and painlessly without a struggle. haha so i think i'm finally might be able to say i've conquered my fear of bloodtests. i just gotta do them lying down and from the back of my palm.

anyhow, at the doc's place yday, when she said i could possibly be down with dengue, it suddenly dawned on me that i may not be able to fly off on Saturday. everything i'd planned for and looked forward to the past 6 months could potentially not happen. and that got me really really upset obviously...

then what i read for QT that morning from Psalm 27 came to mind....to wait for the Lord, to be strong and take heart...tabby happened to share her qt thot of the day that morning with me too which was this: "let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith" Hebrews 12:2a. so from the time i was having my blood taken till i got my results that night...i had to fix my thoughts on Him...

and again, it struck me. i could plan and do all these things...but ultimately, God's in control. Which is exactly what Provers 16:9 says..."In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps." never had that verse seemed more true...

anyhow, after an agonizingly long wait (coz the clinic didn't send my blood sample to the lab in time) the good news is that i've tested negative for dengue and my temperature's finally gone down. i'm hoping and praying i'm completely well by Sat so i can fly off...but whether or not that really happens remains to be seen....so i'm cautiously optimistic i must say.... : )

if all goes well, with more sleep (i think i've already slept enough the past week to make up my entire university life's worth of sleep debt), i should be able to flyyyyy :)

thanks for praying and asking how i've been. really appreciate it.

oh, and i've got just 1 interview tmr before i leave. Again, i can't help but think how God knows so clearly what i can and cannot cope with before i leave. He is good indeed! oh, and it's an interview with Fei Yue!! haha goodness...what am i gonna do about my chinese? heh well if there's an oral component, i'll just cough my way through all the words i don't know how to read...and it'd be legitimate since i really do have quite a nasty cough! haha

and eunice ends here :

- 12:48 PM