as i walk from earth into eternity

Wanted to share something that I learnt in bible study training on Tuesday, that I found really interesting. We were learning about how to study the Bible more effectively, and one of the ways is to examine the culture of those times in the Bible to better understand the context of a passage or verse. During the time when Jesus was on earth, it was normal for people to go to toilets which were probably just a bush, and do their business. Then they would wash with water by themselves, not wipe because they didn’t have toilet paper. So that was a bit of a hassle. So the slaves thought of a way to make money, where they put a wet sponge at the end of a stick, sit behind everyone, and wipe for everybody. They would dip the sponge into water and wipe it. So obviously there was a problem of it being not hygienic because they were using the same sponge to wipe for everybody, because sponges were expensive, and people started getting sick and stuff. So then they put the sponge vinegar instead which helps kill bacteria and make it more hygienic. You probably already see where I am going.

When Jesus was on the cross, about to die, he said he was thirsty, and a roman guard dipped a sponge into vinegar and used a stick to feed Jesus. I always wondered (I guess never to a very curious extent cause I never bothered to find out) why the guards who mocked him all the way, tortured and hit him, would even bother to answer Jesus’ request for water. That was a little too nice. Well, they weren’t being nice. They took what people used to wipe others’ behind and put it to Jesus’ mouth. That was a total mockery of Jesus.

So yeah. Well, i am almost done with my orientation with Disney, i hope i can officially start work (or training) soon, should start by monday. Missed out on evangelism on wednesday because of orientation, they went to a mall. But i signed up for mercy ministry on saturday morning, where if there's opportunity groups of about 20 people will go and serve the community. I am not sure where we are going, i can't remember.

For social night on wednesday, we had a hoedown. So everyone dressed up really southern, played games, had baking and chilly cookout contest and danced to country music. I am going to the disney water park later, i don't know why but for water park we only get free entry until end of this week.

Thank you for praying for me. I feel like this is a great opportunity if anything, for me to grow deeper in my walk with Christ. So whatever comes, i am not gonna waste the chance to grow in my relationship with Jesus, and just build relationships with God's people, and serve in whatever way i can. I do miss home, and am excited that i can experience this but at the same time be able to go home not long after. Only thing i am not looking forward to is the heat at home. It is hot here, but it's just not as burning and sweaty like back in Malaysia (though the americans would beg to differ haha) and the whole room is air conditioned 24/7. My roommate said to go about in jeans and sweatshirts during the last week here to get used to the heat haha

Kau yang terindah, di dalam hidup ini

Woohoo!! It's been awhile.. haven't had time to go and get internet. So i had my orientation at disney and it's called traditions. Basically, we sit in a classroom from 8am- 5pm and they teach us about disney history and tell us how to be happy as disney workers, and how we must always keep the magic alive. The goal is to create happiness with entertainment for people of all ages. It wasn't as boring as i thought it would be. Halfway we spent about an hour going to magic kingdom (one of the disney parks, the most famous one) finding examples of work ethics. It was hot, but i saw the cinderella castle for the first time, it looked amazing! it was like seeing something on tv come to life!

They gave out little disney figurines if you participate in class. I got mickey and minnie. Mickey mouse came halfway to our class for about 5 minutes, and he handed me one figurine when i answered a question, and he hugged me. Everything was complete. Kidding haha. But it was pretty cool. We got out ID, meaning this whole summer we can go into any of the disney parks for free! So obviously we wanted to go immediately. the 11 of us went back, took a short nap and went to Magic Kingdom at 7.30pm. Let's just say it was GREAT!! I really felt like a kid, and i had so much fun! We took only about 3 rides, cause it closes at 11. We went on the space mountain, which was like a roller coaster in the dark. It was fun, but i kinda felt a little scared halfway cause it was so dark and you're just rolling about, i kept telling myself maurice is in front, maurice is in front haha. If you would talk to my sister hannah, you would know just how much i am afraid of wild rides.

Then we went for speedway which after space mountain was kinda mild, just driving a bit. Then we watched the fireworks display over the castle which shows every night. It was a.ma.zing. Just like in those disney cartoons, when at the end there's fireworks. It was for more than like 5 minutes, i tried to video, but in the end i just watched it and savoured it. It really really was beautiful, and i figure expensive too. Then we went for a final ride, just about 10 minutes before they closed, the splash mountain, and we all got wet but it was really good. After a whole day of traditions, we were beat. So we headed back, but got a little glimpse of the parade which runs every night too. It was great.

The official schedule started yesterday, we have this slot on Wednesday afternoons where we go out to public places to evangelise, but what sucks is this week I got orientation on Wednesday, usually we have no work but this week we gotta go for orientation. I was really looking forward to it. Oh well. We went to River of Life church, the whole project go to 3 different churches. We go with our teams. It was quite the same as back home.

I’ve been learning a new method of studying verses from the Bible, and I find it pretty thorough and effective. Been having a good time getting in the word each day.

I fried egg for the first time today. I wanted to make a normal sunny side up egg, but it failed so I just scrambled it but it came out weird too haha. Apparently you need oil to fry your egg, yeah I just fried it like that. Oh well, good first time =p Okay, that’s it for today. Don’t wanna have information overload right. Be back!

i close my eyes and i see your face

Hello! If you’re wondering why I’m so free to update my blog, it’s cause I haven’t started my work yet. I start on Saturday. Yesterday, the 11 of us who are going to work at Disney (great opportunity, cause there are 100+ students and all the others work at seaworld and universal studios which is just as cool la) went to Downtown Disney for a work interview where we basically just filled forms and got told where we’re working in Disney. I haven’t got it all worked out yet, but what I know is Disneyworld has parks all over Orlando, not just one specific place. Downtown Disney is like a place where people can go in for free to walk and buy Disney stuff, and we went to the casting office, that’s what it’s called. That place itself is so cool! Everything has a Disney feel to it. And we even got this Disney folder with all our booklets and pamphlets about the job.

We’re divided into 3 groups, with each having a group leader with a car. We all work with food. My group works at Everything Pop, don’t ask me what is it, I just know it has something to do with Pop Century. Apparently we serve food that is classier than hamburgers and fries. We don’t get free food though, but there is gonna be a staff cafeteria or we can pack food. The other 2 groups work at All Star, and Caribbean Resort or something. I think none of us are at any of the parks, more like at the hotel area. But we can go into the parks for free on our days off, and each time we go in, we can take 3 friends. We can go in 6 times over the summer! Working hours are 3pm-12am everyday except Wednesdays and Sundays, cause Sunday we go to church, and on Wednesdays I think the schedule for the project is full. I don’t have the full schedule yet. Oh and here they refer to it as ‘the project’, like some covert government secret operation haha.

I guess cause it’s the Summer Orlando Project. A lotta people are on their 2^nd/3^rd project, it’s a yearly thing. If you’ve been twice, you have a chance of going to Malaysia for the summer trip. There are a few teams in Malaysia now, and it think Connexion Semenyih or Uncle Rodney is hosting some of them. They will be back here before we leave, so we can meet them later in the project.

I am free till Saturday when my job orientation starts. I am trying to wake at 7am while i can to skype with my sisters and mum. Tex Mex is not open yet, but i just sit outside and use the internet haha. I am still quite amazed by the fact that i am in the United States, that everything around me is so new and interesting, hence the truckload of pictures.

Today, after skyping, i spent some time 'getting in the Word' beside the pool with Billie (the girl from malaysia with me) and her roommate Lauren. Found out today 'get in the Word' is a slang they use in the project. No wonder everyone has been using that on me, although it's not hard to understand i wondered if it was a usual US slang. After studying Galatians 5:1 (which is the theme verse for this project), lauren and billie planned to go to walmart so i joined them. It was really exciting, i mean cmon it's walmart, we've grown up hearing about that right? haha, i went crazy snapping pictures, it looked just like a huge tesco, but there are some interesting stuff in there. The best part was i found twinkies and ding dongs which i always read about in books and see on tv.

Everything was so cheap and unique to me, i just wanted to get everything! But i practiced self restraint, i'll spend when we travel haha. I bought a bottle and some bowls. It only cost me less than 3 dollars. The other day on the way to the security office, we passed by a nike clearance store about 10 minutes from the hotel. Clearly i'm going to have some issues with self control long before my travelling haha.

After walmart, my roommates were back from seaworld for their orientation. They were having lunch in the kitchen, so i ate my mamee instant noodles with them and just hung out. Usually everyone makes their own meals, sometimes they drive out. What's weird for me is i am not used to this kinda independent living, but i guess it's good for me haha. I chatted with my roommate hannah (my roommates are hannah, rachel, amber and aly) for awhile after that, then they went down to the pool to sunbathe and read. So here i am in tex mex again with billie, updating on the net, and maurice just joined us. Every wednesday nights are social nights, they have parties. Tonight it's by the pool. Another thing is all of them love dancing, so that's gonna be awkward.. we'll see haha

p/s: sorry, i messed up the fonts!

believe me i won't stop at nothing

Hello from Orlando!

WOW! It's been such a trip.. Let me try to recall the last 40 hours or so. So we reached Singapore from Malaysia around 11.45pm on Sunday. Hung out for the next 6 hours, didn't sleep. Could not sleep actually. Explored Changi airport a little before the shops closed up. Took loads of pictures. Trying to upload pictures to facebook now, will caption them accordingly. It's too much to upload them here, we are at a restaurant called Tex Mex near the hotel to use the internet.

Anyway, after Singapore, we flew to Chicago, with about 2 hours transit at Hong Kong in between. It took about 4 hours to get to Hong Kong, and then another 14 hours to Chicago. It was quite a torturous ride the first half of it, cause i had a bad case of flu and my flu meds were in my luggage. But there was a nice stewardess to Hong Kong, she kept giving me hot water, and asam cause she said it's good for my throat haha.

At Chicago, our supposedly 4 hour transit became 8 hours.. Our flight got delayed, it was so tiring, and there was no free wifi in the entire airport. So we just curled on the benches and slept. It seems we keep sleeping but still feel so tired. We reached orlando around 1 am US time, 1 pm Malaysian time tuesday. There were about 10 people picking us from the airport, they were really nice and welcoming. When we got back and got ourselves registered it was already almost 4 am. I wanted to take a shower, and it took me about 15 minutes to figure out how to switch on the shower. Everyone was sleeping and i didn't wanna wake them.. I slept on the couch for about half and hour after that. The room was so cold, and my 4 roommates were sleeping without blankets and with shorts. After that i couldnt sleep anymore, so i got up went downstairs and went online. Skyped with my mum hannah and bekah for awhile, felt a little homesick, but thank God for friends who are here with me.

The students here are all really friendly, i guess it's just the sudden change of seeing all americans around me. They love sunbathing at the pool. We stand under the shade for about 2 minutes and already feel like we can't take the heat haha. I can't wait to start working at disneyworld. We start working on saturday. Went to get our social security number done today. Going to disney for an interview in about an hour. There's so much about the project schedule i wanna share, it seems really interesting, but i will find our more, get more familiarised and blog more.

Thanks for the prayers!

for once i can touch what my heart used to dream of

In church yesterday, i met uncle tan's 5 year old son for the first time. I had a conversation, if you can call it that, with him. It was something like this.

me: hi, what's your name?

boy: timothy.

me: nice name! so is your nickname tim or timmy?

[pause]

boy: timothy.

Haha. He has a real patriotic craze for our badminton squad. If you ask him who won the semi-finals match between china and malaysia in thomas cup, he will say malaysia. And he has this contagious childlike faith and enthusiasm that malaysia will win. Childlike faith in Christ, something we often forget how to have as we mature and grow don't you think? ;)

though hope is frail, it's hard to kill

Exam week! These are truly the weeks where regret is the blood that runs in your veins. Haha, one week and two papers down, one more to go next week. I have a story to tell, so i thought it was the perfect way to keep my blog updated!

So here's what happened. I was at church after worship team fellowship last saturday, and hannah had worship practice after that, so i hung out and did past years for my paper on monday which was electronics. The first question was a short theoretical question which i could answer, so i proceeded to the second question. Note, i was still only in section A of the paper, which is usually the 'easier' section.

The problem was, i had no idea how to even start the question! The configuration was almost like the one i studied, and it was so stressful and nerve wrecking because i thought i had finished studying and doing the problem sheets, and can practice past years, but i could not do the question at all and had no idea whatsoever. I flipped the paper, and all the questions looked so hard. I was already feeling panicky at this moment, stressed and very worried for my paper which was in 2 days. So i texted dinesh to ask for help, and he said he did not come across such a question. I texted the question number, paper name, year and code to him. It took him a considerable time to reply and in the state i was in, it felt like forever. Then when his reply finally came, it was to say-

"Ms. Yang, that is a third year module. Our module is called electronic engineering and the code is ELD not END!"

I am in second year. PHEW! I know it displays a certain amount of ignorance and stupidity on my part, but i had no other reaction at that moment than RELIEF! I laughed and proceeded to find the correct paper. As for the real paper on the real day itself, it was a real blow to me because i knew how to answer the questions but my mind was just stuck. Nothing would come out, and i would just stare, pen poised and ready to write, but not moving. There were some near breakdown moments in the middle of the paper where i had to catch a couple of breaths, pray, and just tell myself to do my best. I felt so down after, but i am over it, i'm just gonna leave the rest to the Lord :)

The week has been alright as a whole. On monday before the electronics paper, an hour before exams, in the computer lab, i found sandesh playing football with chickens (??) on miniclip (he's always playing games before exams to destress) and wenshan eating his brunch and doing some last minute studying.

On tuesday, hiewmun (mechanical engineering), wenshan, kengmun and i found a quiet empty room in another building to study for our maths paper on wednesday, and hiewmun for her paper on saturday. The library is always over populated and noisy during exams.

Very friendly mafias

Maths was on wednesday, 2pm. At 12pm, through a series of calls and smses, we decided to watch robin hood after the paper. We brought along the two red sweaters, kengmun lending his to me, cause i forgot to bring mine, and everytime the place nottingham was mentioned in the movie, we felt inclined to stand and parade the sweater just because haha.

The sky at putrajaya, a nice divide

As weiwen would always say- one for the album! :) (that's woan wei- pronounced 1 way, and dinesh at the back with wenshan, by the way)

I got my electric drums! I forgot to upload that, will do another time, lazy to upload haha. It has been a great source of distraction + stress relieving tool. I am enjoying it so much! Wenshan dropped by on his way back to melaka today and we finally jammed. He refuses to admit it, but he is good on the guitar, piano and drums!

Looks like this is a longer update than i had intended it to be. Ok, back to studying!

P/S: There was a double rainbow on sunday, it looked really beautiful. This was the nicest picture i could take, sorry.

everyday is another good reason

Wowowow! (as in, 3 wows, not a dog barking haha). That's probably how i would sum the period between the last post and this new one. It's been so long, that every time i think about updating, i just get stuck cause i don't know what or how to write anymore.

So, update! Hmm, i am almost at the end of my study break (oohh, no wonder i am subconsciously updating, to escape!) This means by the end of May, i will have officially finished the 2nd year of my degree, by God's grace. Gone were the days where people always asked me- how come it seems like you're forever in foundation? I wish they'd ask me again now haha.

Also, at the end of May, i will be going to the US for a summer orlando program by Campus Outreach! (http://www.coflorida.org/calendar.asp?action=closeup&ID=101947) It's pretty exciting, the program will be for 2 months, then hopefully we can do some travelling after that. I will be going with 4 guys from my university, and one girl from university malaya.

I have been craving for food a lot these days. Each time it's something new, but it only lasts as long as i take to get it. Like the other day, before i went to sleep, i was just talking to a friend and he told me about his sister baking chocolate cake. I craved for chocolate cake all night, until 6am, before i fell asleep. Then there were waffles, bananas.. all the funny stuff. I'm gonna work on my self control. It's all in the mind.. mind over matter right? Haha.

We should note that at this point after the 4 short paragraphs, my brain feels saturated already. So let me get a hang of this again, and i will be back with more. Hopefully the next one won't be when i am already in the US, from where also i hope to update through this blog more often!

Sorry for the pathetic update, i think peanut butter waffles are the best!

twice as much ain't twice as good

I don't know if you've watched the latest hit tv series, Glee. I stopped watching halfway into episode 6 or 7 cause i found it kind of boring, no offence to Glee fans out there ;) Anyway, in one of the earlier episodes, there was this quote that said

"The only life worth living is one that you are passionate about"

And recently, just when i needed it the most, a good friend reminded me of the same thing which really helped me put everything back into perspective again.

I've got a passion for engineering, i've got a passion for sports, i've got a passion for music, i've got a passion for people...

but-

Studies get tough and i feel like i'm not good enough, even when i try so hard.

I've got a permanent knee injury which really limits me when i am playing sports.

My musical ability falls very short of greater talents whom i admire.

People around me are different in characters and personality, and may sometimes be discouraging, just as i may be to people around me too.

A lot of times, these kind of things can cause our passion to become so technical and competitive, that we forget the very reason we did it in the first place - because of the passion. We forget our love for it. It doesn't really matter how good i am at it, as long as i have given my best. I am doing it because i love it, i am giving my best because i enjoy it. Anything else is secondary, if not totally negligible.

Above everything, i have a passion for Jesus. I make mistakes in my walk with Him, stumble, even fall down. But by God's grace, i recover, having grown as a person, and with my passion for Him still intact. I may not be the best Christian ever, but as long as i give my best, God looks at my heart. He looks at our hearts. And at the end of the day, when all is said and done, that's all that matters.

It's definitely a life worth living.

we could make a feast from these crumbs

Hello hey hi! I was debating between updating and writing a farewell post for Rachel Cha who just left for australia and who happens to be a really close friend. But i decided against the farewell post, at least not yet, since we managed to hold back all tears at the airport with much treasured laughter, it's better to keep the tears away till we are more accustomed to the distance haha.

So, i really do not know how to update from where i left it, so i'll just put random thoughts in points.

• I appreciate time so much more during exam period. I am more sensitive towards how i spend my time. Example, i'm turning in bed unable to sleep and i think, "Man, i could be studying right now, what a waste of time!." Earlier, i was watching tv for 3 hours straight, but no, of course not, watching tv is not a waste of time at all!

• The only good thing about exams is when i'm stressed, i don't have much of an appetite. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said now that exams are over.

• Sherlock Holmes has got to be one of my favourite movies ever (and no, i don't have 200 favourite movies) I wish they made more witty intelligent hilarious movies like that.

• Exams make me overreact. When i break my guitar strings during exam season, i'm like oh no, now i can't play i'm gonna die of stress! On a usual day if i break it, i'll just read a book or watch tv instead. Can always get a new set of strings the next day.

• A friend reminded me of this: ikut resmi padi, semakin berisi, semakin tunduk :)

• I think messy rooms actually LOOK nicer, different people have different opinions, shouldn't we respect that? hehe

• Sometimes in the morning, my mum comes into my room, lifts the pillow that covers my face, and tries to hold a conversation with me about what i wanna have for lunch, what time i'm gonna wake up, am i going to uni to study, what bus i'm gonna take today etc (exam season, on days with classes she knows my schedule la haha), and then drops the pillow again. Needless to say the conversation is short, and the response very limited.

• I broke both my sling bags, and rediscovered the joy of using a backpack. It's a miracle how what feels like a 5kg load in a sling bag feels like 1kg in a backpack. Ok so maybe it has something to do with even distribution of weight, but it rocks nevertheless!

• I realised even when i'm crossing a one way street, i still have to look left and right, then i feel stupid when i cross, but i think it's for good measure haha

• As we grow, we have to accept that people change. It doesn't have to be for the better or for the worse, they just change. People drift apart because of these changes whether you like it or not, life goes on.

I've run out of thoughts, so till next post, take care people :)

one step in front of the other

I am backkk!! Even I myself don't remember when was the last time i updated cause the date doesn't show haha, i think need to make amendments to the template codes.

You know sometimes in life things happen that make you realise, there are more important things in life than what i am so occupied with now. You just need to look around to see that there are bigger things happening than, say, exams (*cough*cough* haha) or troubled relationships that take up all your time and energy. But give it a week, a month maximum, and we fall back into the same little hole we came out of for a little while.

Anyway, i am not trying to be philosophically cliche or anything, i just really love how the writer of this poem summarizes life, i love the meaning in his lines, so simply put, but speaks the deepest desires of our hearts so beautifully. I will be back for some updates on what's going on, but in the mean time, enjoy :)

“Two little lines I heard one day,Traveling along life’s busy way;
Bringing conviction to my heart, And from my mind would not depart;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one, Soon will its fleeting hours be done;
Then, in ‘that day’ my Lord to meet, And stand before His Judgement seat;
Only one life,’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, the still small voice, Gently pleads for a better choice
Bidding me selfish aims to leave, And to God’s holy will to cleave;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, a few brief years, Each with its burdens, hopes, and fears;
Each with its clays I must fulfill, living for self or in His will;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

When this bright world would tempt me sore, When Satan would a victory score;
When self would seek to have its way, Then help me Lord with joy to say;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Give me Father, a purpose deep, In joy or sorrow Thy word to keep;
Faithful and true what e’er the strife, Pleasing Thee in my daily life;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Oh let my love with fervor burn, And from the world now let me turn;
Living for Thee, and Thee alone, Bringing Thee pleasure on Thy throne;
Only one life, “twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one, Now let me say,”Thy will be done”;
And when at last I’ll hear the call, I know I’ll say “twas worth it all”;
Only one life,’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last. ”

C.T. Studd