dixiedot

Everything has its run

2012-01-01T02:27:00.000-08:00

Once blogging was all the rage. It was cool to have a site dedicated to all your rants or ramblings, a site embellished with fancy widgets and layouts - a characteristic of the tech era...

Today, I think many, if not majority have abandoned blogging and moved on with their lives. Time has passed, blogging had it few minutes of fame, everything has its run and we move on.

Nonetheless, we live and breathe on.

Here's to 2012!

lo and behold, a post!

2011-07-20T07:19:00.000-07:00

It's amazing how I've left my blog completely bereft of life in the last few weeks. It's also surreal how I see time as weeks now, as opposed to days, hours or minutes.

Some weeks are painfully slow, some weeks are fast. Some were unforgettable, others amazingly close to my heart.

A verse that spoke to me recently:

A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.

People curse the man who hoards grain, but blessing crowns him who is willing to sell.

Proverbs 11:25-26

Sharing is such a beautiful thing and is a lesson I've yet to fully grasp. May God lead me towards a life spilling with generosity. Generosity in love, hope and faith.

And because I'm random like that, this was a group dinner last week with church friends.

Yummy asian cuisine ^^

Current read: Moby Dick. Olden day prose is fascinating and hilarious sometimes.

meow

2011-07-04T07:43:00.000-07:00

There seems to be an endless amount of streets and quaint little places in Hong Kong!

But I'm really starting to miss SG. The food, the people, my bed.... While there's only 5 weeks left technically, it feels like a lifetime to me. Especially on a Monday!!

See you soon, SG!

psalm 127:1-2

2011-06-24T09:25:00.001-07:00

Unless the LORD builds the house,
the builders labor in vain.

Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the guards stand watch in vain.

In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to those he loves.

inspiring

2011-06-13T07:52:00.000-07:00

Charm can be deceiving, and beauty fades away, but a woman who honors the LORD deserves to be praised.

Proverbs 31:30

Read the above verse for devotions today and was really roused by this.

Beauty and attractiveness, since the olden times, has always been a defining factor for women. From the revered beauty of Queen Cleopatra to the troves of fashion models idolized by teenaged girls today, women seemed to be valued very much by their sole appearance.

For those who aren't born looking like Angelina Jolie or Jessica Alba, making the effort to beautify oneself is a must. Ever heard of the phrase, 世界上没有丑女人，只有懒女人?

And while the world continues to see beauty as the most important aspect, God tells us that honouring Him, loving Him and fearing Him precedes our outward appearance. He knows us inside out and sees so clearly the dreadful state of our sins but never once has He stopped reaching out to us.

While we worry about whether we have put on weight or whether that annoying pimple looks obvious or not, He sees the inner state of our spirituality as more important and longs for us to look to Him in all that we do.

May we put God above all else and experience his presence is every minute, every second!

Avenue of Stars!

2011-06-12T04:32:00.000-07:00

Popped by Tsim Sha Tsui for dinner last week and decided to do some sight-seeing at the Avenue of Stars!

The view there's fantastic, but the real Avenue of Stars exhibit was disappointing... Most of the celebrity panels on the ground was either not handprinted or are of stars that I've never heard of before. But still, it's worth a trip there, for the amazing view!

food again

2011-05-29T03:06:00.000-07:00

Here's some food pictures again! Pastor Yuyi passed me some laksa maggi mee while she was here and I finally got to taste it today :)

Landlord was kind enough to let me use her cooking utensils!

Steamy...

Waiting impatiently for the water to boil!

While this may not look good, the ramen was better than I expected!

Some enoki mushrooms as garnish!

大功告成！

OM NOM NOM NOM

And on Saturday, I went to Hokkaido Milk Dairy Restaurant again! It's my third or fourth time there and I'm contemplating going again. I think I'm addicted! *slaps forehead*

My gosh their iced coffee is soooo gooooooood!

Their scrambled eggs are just the right degree of runny inside and pepper is a must-sprinkle.

That's butter on the bread!

And the highlight! Their macaroni-in-soup!

ZOOM IN DA PHOTO!

Thick slices of charsiew and their soup base is creamy without getting gelad.

Gonna stuff myself silly while I'm here! :x

tenk-yu!

2011-05-23T08:02:00.000-07:00

In no particular order, much thanks to:

enxin
wm
qj
qing mei
xinyi
benjamin
yuhui
youhao
keith
enyin
hongkai
sarah
kangjun
jessica
enling
yvonne
yahui

<3 <3 <3

I have gotten the jar of messages~

It was a real surprise when Pastor Yuyi handed me a fairly bulky looking plastic bag when we met up in HK and told me it's something from GJY. Having a pair of extremely itchy hands, it was hard restraining myself from tearing everything open but eventually I did, and it was really heartwarming looking at all the tiny strips of messages, all painstakingly written, printed, cut, rolled and sealed.

I can't express how appreciative I am of this sweet gesture and it would be something that would put a smile to my lips whenever I'm going through a tough time here.

Thank you once again to all you lovely people who authored the messages, ey whom I believe masterminded this whole idea ;), pastor yahui's gift and pastor yuyi who lugged it all the way from her hotel to church on Sunday!

You guys really warmed my heart!

backlog of photos!

2011-05-21T05:16:00.000-07:00

Random photo diary!

Gongcha Chocolate Milk Tea in the office...

Brightened the day somehow :)

Some baked rice thing that was really cool in that they combined 2 sauces in one dish. The right one's cream sauce and the other black pepper!

YUM indeed...

This. Is. The. Best. Coffee. I've. Ever. Had.

Was trying this new restaurant down our office - Hokkaido Dairy Farm Milk Restaurant and their iced coffee is really, really (spam 'really's here) good!

Scheduling a second visit HEH

gosh

2011-05-18T05:44:00.001-07:00

I can't believe I'm stressing about work :(

Been a tough Wednesday...

a whirlwind of events

2011-05-16T07:09:00.000-07:00

I'm back! The reason for my ridiculously long absence is due to a whirlwind of events that took place the last few weeks. Drama, tears, heartache...

Ok, maybe that's a little dramatic HAHA. This post is going to be a heartfelt record of everything's that has transpired since my last entry and here's a warning before you continue reading - it's going to be wordy!

: - >

OK! Where shall I begin? Ahh, after I was reveling in my quaintly scenic surroundings (see prev post), a week passed by and one day while my flatmate and I were preparing to go out for lunch on a Saturday, our landlord popped out of nowhere and told us that since we've paid the rent for this month, we can move out after that.

Because I was tying my shoelaces outside the house, I couldn't quite hear what she was saying and thus dismissed what she said as some random complaint. It was only when my flatmate and I was outside the house that I came to the understanding that we were officially kicked out.

It definitely doesn't sound good, but that's the truth as it is.

At first, I wasn't worried. In fact, it felt so surreal that I couldn't come around to the gravity of the situation. It was barely our first few weeks in the month and I thought we had plenty of time to start looking for houses. We have friends here in HK from church and given their connections, they should be able to get us a nice place soon right?

That was my childish and overly optimistic thinking.

Thinking back, while I had faith in God that He will bring us through, I felt invincible. As conceited as that sounds, I think every teenager has that mindset in one way or another. The world will bend for us, and there's no problem that cannot be solved. Experiences in life really prove the contrary and I realize now why adults have so many hesitations and worries before jumping into something.

But again, back to my story. You're probably thinking why our landlord would kick us out right? Here's a little background information: Our landlord is a Clean freak. I'm not insinuating that being one is a bad thing, but I must emphasize that she has to do things the neat and tidy way and everything MUST be in place.

What that really means is, after using the toilet, we have to wipe the basin countertop and the mirror clean. No single drop of water should be seen. After bathing, the toilet floor must also be mopped so that it would be kept dry as much as possible. We can't really throw our rubbish in the dustbin in the house cos she finds it a hassle to keep emptying it. Since our rent covers only our room, we are only supposed to be in our room. Lingering in the common area is considered trespassing (and I'm not joking about this!). The list goes on.

Perhaps after 2 months, she finds it unbearable and thus, eventually leds to the climax when she ordered us to set up camp somewhere else.

As I have mentioned, I wasn't the least bit worried at first. As the days wore on tho, when I started looking at the Classifieds and asking friends to help us look around, I realised how tedious and difficult house hunting was. Especially in Hong Kong, where apartments are generally much smaller than singapore and more expensive.

My flatmate and I went to this apartment in Wanchai and although it was cheap (even cheaper than our current rent), we had to bunk in with 2 other females in a tiny room and there were guys living in the apartment so that's basically out. My dad's mandate was that we could not live with guys so that's a definite no...

The next one we found was a little more tricky. It was this 1-room apartment in Wanchai too (which was near our workplace) and according to the photos that the owner sent us, it looks like like a showroom - not the unattainable kind, but the nice, cosy type that makes you feel you were made for the house. Ok I am not making sense LOL. Just know that the furnishings looks gorgeous compared to our present living conditions.

Our desperation to settle our lodging led us to hurried negotiations with the landlord (named Aaron Walters) who apparently was in West Africa for business. His wife and kids were in the UK and because they left Hong Kong in a hurry, the key to the apartment was still with them. We managed to persuade him to lower the rent and he even generously waived the half a month's rent for us! We, of course were elated. We couldn't believe anyone could be so kind and helpful and understanding so when he told us to send over half a month's rent in order for them to courier us the key and have a look at it, we didn't even think twice. Sure, we had thought that this might be a scam but because we were so caught up in the prospect of a nice living environment that we pretty much blocked that thought out.

We were supposed to send the money over via Western Union, a cash transfer agency or something, but because we weren't quite sure how it worked, we asked our bosses about it and that's when our bubble burst.

When we asked our boss about the Western Union thing, he immediately asked what it was for (don't get me wrong, he's not a nosy person usually LOL) and that's when we told him the whole story excitedly. Imagine our shock and disappointment when he told us that he was 100% sure the whole was a scam. I quote him, "It don't work this way man..." (insert slightly thick African accent).

Apparently, he nearly got cheated once in the same way and he challenged us to ask the guy for the actual address of the apartment. Of course, being the stupid, gullible girls that we are, we didn't even think of asking for the unit number of the apartment until our boss told us to. When we asked Aaron about that, he just replied and said he couldn't reveal it due to security reasons. -.-

That pretty much sums up how we nearly got cheated of our 2000 HKD. It would be originally 4000HKD, if we had not tried to slash the "deposit" rent we had to send him. And to think we were so happy when he agreed to decrease it!

Gosh...

When I told my parents about it on Skype, they told me that they were praying about the housing problem too so prayers really brought us through this time. If not, we'll really be 2000 HKD poorer and now that we're not getting paid for our internship, we don't have any moolah to waste.

After that whole fiasco, I came through with a tainted and less innocent picture of how the world works. Scams are real, and people do get cheated day after day.

I would know, since I nearly became a victim.

As the days passed by, we got busy with looking for apartments. None was affordable, they were all much more expensive than what we're paying for right now. If it wasn't the exorbitant rent, it was the location. Most cheaper apartments were located off the island, which amounts to higher travel expenses and also more travelling time in my daily commute to work. Things seemed bleak but I continued to pray.

Praying was really all I could do, at a time when I felt really helpless and totally out of control of the situation.

I remember calling Pastor Yahui's friend over here in HK. Her name's Rui Juan and she's also a pastor here too. In fact, she was the one who settled our Internet problems for us and I felt so bad having to ask for her help again. But I called in the end and as usual, she was really enthusiastic to help.

After a few days, she called back and arranged for us to meet to look at some apartments on Sunday, which is today. Once we saw each other, she told us of how she thought that she could actually mediate with the landlord for us. Because we (flatmate and I) don't speak Cantonese, I think a lot of issues were lost in translation. Thus, since Rui Juan was a local, she helped us make a call to our landlord.

After the call, lo and behold.

We were allowed to stay!! It was really the best solution to stay put and although we have to pay slightly more rent now, it's still affordable. In the long run, it's also less troublesome since I only have 2 months plus left in Hong Kong now.

The lodgings episode really taught me alot, from not being so gullible to really assessing how my behaviour might seem to the landlord. Being a Christian, the best way to be God's beacon of light is to show it in your behaviour and actions and obviously, the fact that I was almost kicked out of our house shows that something's lacking in that department.

So CONCLUSION: be it mopping up after myself faithfully everyday or just being more careful, I hope I can still show her that I respect her way of living as well as the house. GAMBATTE!

On a side note, living with someone other than your family is really challenging. The bolding and italics should emphasize it well enough. It's definitely a lesson of patience and tolerance!

In retrospect, after the dust has somehow settled, I really thank God for all these challenges that came my way. From my previous job to the housing thing, there are really a lot of learning points in the events that took place. This may sound silly, but I feel clearer somehow.

In the past, I didn't have to make all the decisions and I didn't have to deal with all these problems. I didn't have much of a chance to feel all the emotions that I've felt since coming here and having been through all of that, I feel like I know myself better and to that, am able to steer myself through all these roadblocks with prayers and God's guidance.

The coming 3 months may very well be even more eventful and to be honest, that's not necessarily a bad thing. God's perfection shines through life's imperfections and being able to experience his deliverance is truly a blessing.

To all who's praying for me, I'm truly appreciative and thankful. It's easy to overlook all the "backstage" action but in reality, that's the pillar of strength that's been keeping me trudging on this adventurous journey.

& last but not least, if you didn't give up reading this halfway, I salute you and hope you've gained something from it! God bless <3

humble abode

2011-04-30T01:57:00.000-07:00

It's officially my first week at my new workplace and also close to my second month in the Hong Kong! It's surreal, how fast the months zoom by and while I can't wait to catch my daily daily of Zzzs in my comfy bed back at home, I'm also starting to appreciate the coziness of my humble abode here.

The weather's warming up here with a good dose of sun! So here's some artsy-fartsy shots of the apartment I'm living in, taken when the sun was streaming in blissfully :)

The view from the living room windows...

The road, overlayed by the laundry line heh...

The kitchen window - my favourite part of the house!

The enchanting mid-afternoon shadows. Looks better irl.

Chilling with my good ol' 2 year old Mac.

Haa my landlord's greenery...

Btw, those socks arent mine.

My lovely, mumsy looking house slippers.

Ending of with yet another fong jing zhao lol~

first day of work!

2011-04-26T09:39:00.000-07:00

It went well, in fact, it's not bad at all! To add on to it, I've got a fab view of Wanchai from my desk
*stares dreamily out the window*

My computer... Not a very well taken shot cos I was taking the shot secretly.

The view! Looks like NY right???

Another shot that seems like it came out of Gossip Girls/Sex & The City...

Glitzy :)

monday blues?

2011-04-25T04:14:00.000-07:00

While the rest of the world went on about its business, HK is still enjoying it's Easter holidays... It almost seems surreal - looking at the calendar, realizing it's a Monday and then coming to the conclusion that today's still a holiday.

Woke up in the afternoon today but before you chide me, I have to say it's probably my last day to sleep in because work's starting tomorrow! The notion of what is to come tomorrow is exciting yet nerve wracking. But it's still mainly blissful anticipation as I start to put what's behind behind and focus on the exhilaration of the moment.

After a great lunch (tomato baked rice with iced ribena and grape jelly bits), just chilled at home and did some housework.

Life feels good.

dont worry, be happy

2011-04-23T08:48:00.001-07:00

fear

2011-04-20T16:03:00.000-07:00

I think I just spent the past 4 hours tossing and turning in bed.

Since it was apparent my body wasn't going to give in to sleep anytime soon, I might as well break convention and woke up at 5.30am.

My daily devotions brought me to this verse, which spoke to right to my heart:

"Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt."
JOHN 12: 14

I guess my insomnia can be attributed to a few things weighing heavily on my heart: first, I shall make this announcement official! I quit my job last week in my internship company! Are you reeling in shock yet? In actual fact, it's not just me who left, but all of the interns there. The school and us (the interns) decided that the company was just not suitable (there's a whole story behind this) and that it was better to move on.

Thus, alone in Hong Kong, we had to find another internship here or it's back to sunny Singapore for the remainder of our internship period. The frantic search was unnerving, especially as the looming deadline threatens with the passing of each coming day...

But thankfully, we managed to find a company, and that company was the exact of our previous one - great boss, good working environment, workplace near our lodgings, decent working hours, all good... except that we weren't going to get paid.

Now, I must say that it is considered a norm for interns not to get paid (which explains why overseas internships are not subsidized by our school) so it wasn't like there was anything that we could do. That company assured us that although they weren't going to promise us anything, we could earn through commissions and whatnot and as soon as they have profits coming in, they would most gladly give us what we deserve.

In other words, this was going to be a leap of faith.

I do not know whether this is the reason why I'm still awake, but perhaps it might be. This brings us back to why the verse touched me so deeply... I think God was telling me to be fearless. Faith brings down all walls, breaks away all barriers, and most importantly, vanquishes all fear.

life so far

2011-04-10T08:59:00.001-07:00

If there's one thing to describe a 6-day work week, it's that it's really tiring. Physically and mentally, it's really demanding and it eats into your social and relaxing time... Over time, you sort of become a workaholic and realize that there's really no point in what you're doing.

I really hope my boss respects our need to rest. I've been oversleeping quite a bit and I need my beauty sleep!!!!

Otherwise, life has been bearable, with good times (altho extremely short i must say) spent with good people and good food.

Cheers to anyone who's feeling the Monday blues on Sunday. We've another 6 more days to plow through.

rude awakening

2011-03-27T07:38:00.000-07:00

In 4 days, I'm would have been in HK for a month already!

Time seems like the grains of sand in an hourglass, once overturned, it plummets into the unknown and dives into an inevitable phenomenon.

Today's sermon at ICA was a continuation from last Sunday. As the pastor was looking into the book of Jonah and talked about the purpose of our life, the message hit home harder after realizing that time really does wait for no man.

Living life is easy. Letting yourself go through life is even easier. You go through the motions, you create habits, you seek comfort in familiarity.

Striving towards a purpose in life is something much harder, you work towards a goal that sees no obvious results or outcomes. You get discouraged, you give up and you try again.

It's been a tiring month, easing into working life, skydiving into new experiences and seeing the world in a much different way.

I apologize for the lack of photos... And updates!

P.s.
This isn't a well-thought out post so ignore it if parts of it isn't making any sense... LOL

Super Sundays

2011-03-21T05:47:00.000-07:00

After nearly 2 weeks of working life, I have learnt to appreciate the beauty of Sundays. The day when you can rest, relax and truly go crazy.

Went to the Ladies Market on Sunday with some friends and we took the tram!

The interior. It's actually quite packed usually, don't let this photo fool you!

The seats! It's literally planks of wood as you can see.

My gorgeous flatmate~

This is actually the entrance of the tram, looks really quaint and antique!

The streets of Hong Kong.
Looks deserted but that's just because it's Sunday morning.

Working life is really teaching me alot, and I thank God for all the learning opportunities here. Some lessons can be hard to swallow sometimes but if you get through it, you'll learn so much more...

food here's amazing

2011-03-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

Hey I'm back with a post!

I can't rave about HK food enough. Back home, food was predictable and standard everywhere you go; if it's not chicken rice, it must be ban mian or prata or laksa. You get my drift.

Here, food tastes better somehow... HK Yoshinoya is awesome. Their rice is true Japanese rice, not the soggy kind back in SIN!

This was hot, piping beef noodle at a 'cha can ting' or diner.
There's small diners practically everywhere!

The Yoshinoya near my workplace. Serving's awesome and not to mention the taste.

I don't remember the name of the sauce but this is beef with mushrooms.
The miso soup is FAB. just FAB, FAB, FAB!!!

For now, these are just the food photos I have. I usually just tuck in straight cos I can't wait to stuff myself, LOL.

Be prepared to see me a few pounds heavier when I return!

home early today :)

2011-03-10T06:38:00.001-08:00

Knocked off at 8pm today... It's considered early and guess what?? I'm approaching my first week anniversay at work hooray!

Time literally flies! I can't believe I actually got through my first week of work (almost) and am so thankful for God's guidance. Work's tough at times but those moments pass and you realize after that that you've gotten so much out of the experience.

Wish everyone back at home is well and happy :) If not, let me crack you up:

Yo guys look at how excited I am to see you~

Alright you're not laughing. We got to do something about it.

Ok if you're not smiling by now, you're a tough nut to crack.

My "Are you serious?" face LOL.

I was fiddling with my com and accidentally took this pic.
Didn't know why I look so sad haha!

Alright, till then!

13 degrees celsius!

2011-03-08T19:25:00.000-08:00

It's freaking 13 degrees here this morning and I am absolutely freezing. I had to will myself from the warm confines of my bed and prepare to get to work even though I'm so tempted to just sleep in and forget about work.

My work's basically admin stuff, like filing, data entry and sourcing, the list goes on.

It's all very menial and sometimes I ask myself why I came here to do all this trivial, entry level work when I could have done more important stuff that my classmates are doing like designing, putting together a publication and etc.

The knowledge of this really gets me down sometimes, but I tell myself to believe in God and His plans.

Pray for me guys :)

cyber active

2011-03-07T07:57:00.000-08:00

Thank God for answering my prayers :)

I'm officially plugged into the Net, though it's slow and laggy (you'll know if you spoke to me on Fb/anywhere after office hours).

Oh, and if you got the joke (read title), good for you LOL.

update

2011-03-06T02:01:00.000-08:00

Yo gaiz

The weather's getting better... 21 degrees today! Yoohoo, bath time won't be as miserable as before. Meanwhile, I'm eating well and have decided to stick to an oatmeal breakfast to keep myself healthy (and shitting) LOL.

I take bananas too, I think you know the reason why LOL

Random photo of green milk tea from GONGCHA.
It's damn cheap here, like 10HKD for this big cup and the queue's crazily short.

Have gone to the International Christian Assembly's chinese service here, which is like 5 mins walk from home! Their chinese service is very intimate (less than 30 ppl with majority being seniors) and their sermon is weirdly short...

An interesting thing I noted was that the worship songs they sing are the SAME, save for some lyric differences.

oh man, I totally missssss GJ service lah! Here, it's sing>announcements>feng xian>sermon>individual blessing>sing>dismissed!

Also, chinese service is hard to come by, with most being cantonese or english. Alright I shall stop my comparison of church services LOL.

work

2011-03-04T17:16:00.000-08:00

Work's been alrightttt...

Bracing myself for more to come. First day's a sharp dose of reality but I believe it'll only get better (it has to get better!)

Just a short post here cos we're not allowed to do this at work ;p

arrived in HK

2011-03-02T20:47:00.001-08:00

Have arrived safely in Hong Kong, everything's been a whirlwind of new experiences and stimulations...

Here's some photos to whet your curiosity!

Group pic :)

Haha mommy looks real happy

OMG thank you guys for the presents!!!

Me + Ning on the airbus from the airport

The HK night scene...
Not very happening in this pic but the neon lights in town are dazzling

The view from my room

Argh how do I rotate the pic?

Our bags and stuff lying around...

The cosy common area...

Everything's good so far, looking forward to good food in the Land of Wanton Noodles... Starting work tomorrow so I'm a little jittery but I'll get over it.

Gonna get lunch soon! Yummssss

开门做生意咯!

2011-02-27T03:39:00.000-08:00

Yeap, dixiedot is officially back in business!

I hope I have enough time in HK to keep this space alive but I'll not get ahead of myself...

Anyway, I just brim with gratitude and happiness whenever I think of the awesome farewell the GJYouths organized for me. Really thankful for the sweet gesture :>

U GUYS R AWESOME!!!

Here's some pictures of the surprise party:

The signs that welcomed me when I stepped into Scoopz

This word sounds feels awfully lonely here

EY and WayWay's grinning sheepishly...

Pst Yahui

Enxin and the rest

Unearthing gummy candies from the a mountain of whipped cream.
Enling's having a great time watching me do that haha

Group shot~
LOL at Yuhui's expression!

And, what better way to end the post than with QJ's psychotic expression?
LMAO