Faust

Wat an eventful weekend !There were so many happenings.Things are starting to get going with me having more things to occupy myself during the week. I thank god for making wonderful friends who are as wacky as me and able to get along. It is tough to meet people whom you can hit off very well,especially in a foreign land.

I attended my first aerobics lesson and met two nice Philippinos in the class who took me to a huge Oriental store where i can get all sorts of Ingredients like anchorvies,balanchan, bai choy.Is so hard to get all these over here. I ended up buying more grocery after I did one at Waitrose and EJ couldn't understand why both Ron and me could eat so much. Anyway, I felt really high after the noon and couldn't stop smiling myself. Partly, I am gleaming with joy from the new frenships I have and of course knowing another heavenly store which I can hang out to get my favourite food.

The excitement was further heightened during evening time when I prepared my delicious faghitas and brought it to Convent Garden to meet baby just before we head off for Faust at The Royal Opera House.Convent Garden was such a chic place to hangout with street performances all around and not forgetting those alfresco dining with jazz while you were dining. Convent Garden wasextremely lively during the weekends and you can see many people winding down to meet up with friends for drinks and food.

We had our Fahitas at Starbucks and I am so embarrassed when I brought out my big lunchbox the couple over the table began to whisper something about me and my lunchbox .Well, perfectly understandable .What will someone be doing in Starbucks having a lunchbox ,making wraps with only a mango smoothie? Anyway, since we are trying to save money, I couldn't care less about all these.

Anyway, Faust was really fantastic. It was my first opera and luckily there was translation, I could enjoy myself and totally absorbed and fascintated with the singing and dance. Plot was excellent about a doctor selling his soul to Satan and the enstrangled love story between Dr Faust and Maurgerita.I felt there were lots of biblical truths which it was trying to depict. The fall of the man to temptation, the taste of the forbidden fruit and the dire consequences of it and the power of ressurrected Christ.

But the two men who went with me dozed off momentarily.Partly we are at the balcony which could not get a good view of the actors and primarily,dear baby still prefer musicals. Well but we were all thankful for this opportuntity. How blessed we are to get tickets at 10 quids for a 135 quids actual priced ticket?????We are praying more to come coz obviously we couldn't have such luxurious lesiure all the time to pay for two 200 quids tickets to enjoy a royal ballet, musical or opera.

But we were all praying real hard...coz the next one we want to watch is SWAN LAKE !!!!!!!Can't wait to see those graceful ballerinas prancing about like a little swan.I want my daughter to learn ballet in the future!!!

Snippets of life---19/9/2006

Well, nothing much before the whole lots of events swam in during October...lazing around St James Park and of course having some wine and fish and chips before going to church..(oopsie i actuallie have a slight headache during service..seemed like i cannot reallie drink and looked at that silly ron trying to make a pose)
haven been checking out london yet ,trying to save on tube and getting used to the place,we definitely have been on the move so much that we are learning t take things at stride and not be anxious about anything. the lord will show us our way, i am very sure

Buckingham 21/9/2006

I know i have not been doing many entries lately. partly a bit lazy to upload the pictures coz many have requested they only read if there are pictures and also, I have been to Paris the last five days and have not been ard.As such i am gg to back track all my entries now.

Before i went to Paris, I made a day trip to Buckingham palace by myself which cost me a freaking amount of 25 pounds. Well, i decided to take all the three tours since i am not sure when i will be back again and the palace will only be opened during the summer when the queen is on holidays.

So i am so excited about the whole thingy coz i thought i can see my prince william soon..ahahha...of course not!!well but since i have always been following all those juicy gossips on the royal family, this is one place which i definitely cannot missed out.

The place was grande , you cannot imagine how luxurious the whole setting was. And i reallie felt that i was a princess when i took a tour in it. too bad i cannot take pictures of the place but the furniture, the architecture was impressive. Luckily , the audio tour was free and so I learn about every bit about the British Monarchy and how this palace has been a working place for the queens and kings of all time.

Queen Victoria obviously has been one of the best . During her reign, the country is doing well as such i think she has more time to design the palace and of course choose her furniture and stuff like that..hhehehe, it made me reallie think how different life can be for a commoner and a ruler of the country.Even their dining sets are all customed made ,porcelianed with delicate features.

The ballroom was huge. You feel like you can dance with your Prince Charming over here. Remind you totally of Cinderella...( did i tell u guyz i just rewatched this all time favourite childhood cartoon) It was usually used by the royal family to host banquets ,parties, bursaries presentations to the civil servants who have served the nations well.

What impressed me and left a deep impression was this temporary exhibit of Queen Elizabeth II 's gown, jewellery and the crowns which totally took my breathe. Gosh, totally gorgeourous, day, evening gowns.... She has her in house tailor who will tailor a dress on every occassion and the material, design they chose will be according to the climate of the country which she will be visiting. I saw the one she wore to Singapore...chiffon with flowers ,just right for our hot ,humid climate. The queen is very small build and i think she has a waist size of just 22 when she is young. You can see that she has grown as she aged . The one she took with my Prince William has shown much of her growth.

Queen Elizabeth II was one great woman herself, i think. Check out this link which shows lots on her life for the past 80 years. She is so pretty and motherly and of course her handsome Duke of Edinburgh who has been her support all this while.

http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page4819.asp#

Well, it made me reflected how some people have suffered , lying in the streets,begging for food, and contrast to this whatever you can imagine luxurious life that these royal family members have been living. God is fair , isn't he? No matter how wealthy they are, they have their own trials to face,under the public scrutiny of their private affairs all the time ( Princess Diana and the big scandal of Charles and Carmillia who are happily married now, Harry who took drugs and his new gf and of course not forgetting my William who is under trememdous pressure to be crowned the next king.) Everyone has their own unique life experience , aren't they, no matter what status, geographic origin, ethnic,each has its own life journey to go through.Most importantly, is to learn to be contented and know that your joy and strength lies in the lord who is the creator of the universe.

The new neighbourhood- Canary Wharf

Canary wharf is the next area where Londoners are trying to build their next financial centre asides from the one in the city and the bank. It happened that we stayed around this area since EJ has kindly let us stayed with him. Just imagine that this place is very similar to our Raffles Place.Totally Singaporean feel. Everyday, I will walk from Coldharbour, cross a bridge and a deserted road before hitting this financial hub.( for example walk from the Empress Museum to Raffles MRT .) I was totally overwhelmed initially coz i thought it was pretty dangerous .But for the past few days , I have grown to like this precinct alot. I thank god for that. I felt safer and it was reallie convienient for me to check out the stores at the Canada Square ( Aka like our Raffles Link Mall) anytime I felt bored. Just to entice those shoppers out there...TOPSHOP, WHAREHOUSE,SELFRIDGE are just 15 minutes walk away from where we are staying. Though the accessibility to these places are good, but prices are not too attractive though, so all I could say is to just "look see look see" to satisfy the unsatiable hunger to grab more pretty winter and autumn clothes.But of course other than the stores, there is a library nearby where I have already enrolled myself to some couses like aerobics,christmas baking and probably another one which I have not decided yet. Waitrose is a upscale supermarket that serves the professional over tis area for their day-to-day grocery shopping. Food is definitely fresher than the one we go at ASDA ( chain of Warmart) where you can get the same things at a much cheaper price.The brits ' supermarkets seemed to be different from the hypermarts in US where you get everything in bulk and stocked in your store. Kinda of miss that kind of shopping though. But I appreciate that everything is very much similar here to back home. Even the portion of food they served is much smaller. We went to the church EJ went normally. Interesting, it is the first on barge church I ever went. It was an eye -opener but everything was much the same like the worship and sermons .Next week will try another church called ALL SOULS before deciding which one to attend. But I thank god that i attended the service today for it gave me a timely reminder to rejoice in all circumstances and be contented with whatever I have.

http://www.stpetersbarge.org/

London (I)

I will say London is such a much nicer place to stay compared to NYC for the people here are so much polite and friendl. I love the Londoners . They are very considerate,helpful and patient in their services.It surprised me that even though this city is one of the world 's biggest financial centre,I did not feel that everyone is stressful nor hostile. The city has lots of greeneries, clean roads and streets and everything seemed to be very systematic and peaceful in a hustling and bustling place. It reminded me a lot of Singapore ,especially the TUBE and DLR aka MRT and LTR.It made things so much easier for a person like me who has been relying on public transport all my life.Now, I can get around and do the things that I like. Lots of interesting events, concerts, galleries, museums, public lectures which will sweep my mind off during my next four months stay here. Are you ready to take on this london ride with me?Keep yourself updated on my postings in London!!



Apparently, these pigeons in the park is one of my favourite .Baby is definitely trying to enjoy this tube ride to LBS.
These beautiful roses were one of those many beautiful ones which we took in Queen Mary's garden.

We were strolling in Regent Park which is just opposite LBS. The weather is really great now .We felt so relaxed here.

The story of EJ and YL in London

It all started on one stormy night when EJ tried to pick up YL at a petrol station. He said: " Hope on the car, Barbie!I will give you a ride." YL was oblivious and wasn't too interested in the invitation. EJ was trying real hard to please YL with his new Macarena moves .
It seemed like it worked and YL agreed to go on a date with EJ to Leciester Square.They seemed to hit off well.
The relationship progressed really well. They seemed to start living with each other and enjoying the daily homecooked meals together after a few days
Eeeks....I cannot imagine what's going on between them.They seemed to love to be in tight white tees, showing off their bods. I need to excuse myself in this household where woman is not very welcomed.:)