The King's children

Our pastor always reminds us that being christians we are actually the King's children aka princes and princess. Yesterday I have to attend Core Manager Seminar in Utrecht including one night accommodation in Karel V Hotel. It is under The world leading hotel chain and management. Apparently it is also the best hotel in Utrecht.

I asked Johannes to join me since it is also closed to his workplace. To my great surprise when I checked in to the hotel, I didn't expect I will be given a executive room in a very classic setting. We suddenly felt as if we are like the royal family, living in a fortress or castle. It is really an amazing experience, even though it is just one night, but we owed our gratitude to Lord Jesus. We believe it is because we called God our Father, and our God is the King of all Kings and Lord of all lords, and so we inherit the kingdom through the blood of Jesus. This is indeed a very special experience.

And I thanked God for this!

Disgusting Recycle Fruits

Last monday we went to a Chinese restaurant in Den Haag for dinner. This is supposed to be the 'latest' and the 'hottest' chinese restaurant in town.

However, the experience was not a pleasant one. Set aside the fact that they completely forgotten our order but the worst thing is they served us oranges that have been bitten by someone else.

Johannes almost wanted to eat that piece and he asked if I have taken a bite. I stopped eating restaurant's fruits (especially the free ones from Chinese restaurant) ever since one time I accidentally saw how people prepare fruits in the restaurant in Hong Kong.

I guessed we will never step into that restaurant again....

我哭了。。。。。

这个周末的天气晴朗，干爽，但是我的心情可不像天气一般，而是乌云密布。不知道为了什么，

忧愁它围扰着我，

我每天都在祈祷但我灵性已经太脆弱了，根本无法克服，或战胜那坏透的心情。

我不喜欢哭但却很容易哭，

什么事情不顺心就眼睛一红，眼泪滴滴嗒嗒地下来了。每次自己哭的时候我都会对自己说，“坚强点，哭是没有用的，解决不了问题”. 其实我和妈妈很像，觉得委屈的时候都会想哭，但是不好意思在人前哭，只能偷偷的哭。

昨天又哭了，生活中要哭的事还不少，为何他不道歉

? 难道他不知道自上周五以来每一句话都带刺，严重的打击我那已经脆弱的心。为何我做的每一件事都的不到他的称心? 为什么?难道生不到小孩是我单方面的错。我已经尽力了! 差也不出，酒也不沾边，体温也量了。我还能做什么? 为何一切的错归我!!!!

昨天没有去教会，因为自己家事没里好，也不想在教会装作。

一个人在欧洲，朋友没有几个，遇到不开心的事根本就没有人可以倾诉，所有的事都憋在心里。思想上的斗争无人可以理解。

其实应该很不好意思，这么大的人了，还像小孩一样会觉得委屈。认识的很多人都说我很坚强，其实不是了。

能在很多人的面前哭出来也是一件好事了，真的不能哭的时候，也不知道自己在背后哭了多少. 我对自己说不能再等了，为何把时间花在一个不懂得珍惜自己的人身上。世界还很大，欧洲还有很多国度我还没踏入半步。或许一个人上路也未必不是一件好事。

Look up to the Heaven

Acts 7: 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

This is the key scripture from last Thursday prayer meeting. Our pastor preached on this key word 'look up to the heaven' and you will see 'the glory of God'. How often when we going through trial and tribulations, our head and neck and shoulders getting heavier and instead of looking up to the heaven, we looked down on the floor.

This verse teaches us that Stephen, despite of going through a difficult time, he didn't give up his life but instead he is 'full of the Holy Spirit'. That's what we need -- Holy Spirit, because Holy spirit will empowers us despite of our circumstances. So long as we fix our eyes upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrew 12:2). We shall surely be an overcomer in Him.

A childhood taste

I didn't really like to eat instant noodles but I cannot resist Maggie instant noodles. This is particularly true when it comes to Asam Laksa, Tom Yam and Curry flavors. If I can search my memory in my childhood, this was the only instant noodles that thrilled us. We normally didn't get this as breakfast, but if we did, mum will cook it nicely with an fried egg and sometime with extra toppings. Then on that morning, it was the smell of maggie mee that woke me up from my dream and crawl to the table and enjoying the home cooked maggie noodle. Now, I can never cooked and get back the same taste that my mum has done for us. She is now in heaven, and the taste can only stay in my memory.

I have live in many countries like Hong Kong, UK, Shanghai, even now in the Netherlands where one can find almost all the different brands of instant noodles from all over the world, but maggie is the one that I can never get outside of Singapore and Malaysia. That is the reason why, every time when I have the opportunity to go home or visit Singapore, I will always bring a few packs with me.

Now I only have a few more packs left at home, and I guess I will surely treasure them.

Seasons in the sky

Today I returned to my office at Apollolaan Amsterdam. I can clearly tell that we are entering the second phase of Autumn, or perhaps winter?? All the foliage are all gone by now, the trees are all barren without leaves. The temperature is dropping each day, it is definitely getting colder. After I parked my car at the road side, I look upon the sky and thinking perhaps I should capture this scenery. I was exactly a week ago, I captured the foliage on the street and now they are almost gone.

These photo will witness another four seasons that the Lord has created for us.

News from Ulan Baatar - Mongolia

My nephew in his winter attire

I have been on a daily chat with my nephew who is now working on an assignment at Ulan Baatar, the capital of Outter Mongolia. It must be rather hard for someone grew up in a tropical weather and suddenly have to go through a severe winter in a far and away land.

I envy him because I have been to most part of China but I never step in to Outter Mongolia. Below is a edited chat script with him today, to read you need to be in tuned to 'Malish' aka Malaysia English.

The Irish pub in Outter Mongolia

BertJacko zegt:

Hi, i'm in an Irish pub... tons of ppl here...

and i gotta work a distance jes to find a place with wifi...

it has a coffee section...

BertJacko zegt:

so i'm sitted there...

its jes too cold... even now...

when i walked here jes now... my palms were freezin.. though it is covered with glove...

eLv!rA @ Rotterdam zegt:

so you are in a Starbuck cafe?

BertJacko zegt:

no... there's no starbucks here....

eLv!rA @ Rotterdam zegt:

make sure you cover your head and ears

there is a saying that your ears will crack and drop

if you don't cover them...

because it has been frozen and you don't have any feeling anymore

BertJacko zegt:

yea.. yea... i m havin it covered with my... "snow" cap...

BertJacko zegt:

this irish pub has 2 sections... one if the pub.. n the other the cofee...

BertJacko zegt:

hmmm... prolly i take a pic for u to see...

BertJacko zegt:

but the pic aint tat clear cos... its kinda dark...

but i'll send it anyway...

eLv!rA @ Rotterdam zegt:

so, are you happy with the food there?

BertJacko zegt:

hmmm.. the thing i love bout this city is tat.. the foods are yummy...

yea... extremely happy with the food here...

last nite we went to this restaurant cum pub... and had lasagna...

it is heaven!!! the portion's huge... and it is darn cheap..

it only costs me 4k tugrug=USD4

BertJacko zegt:

and there are lots of variety...

BertJacko zegt:

the pub n clubbin scene is unbelivable...

it is pack even on weekdays...

eLv!rA @ Rotterdam zegt:

do they speak Chinese or Mongolia

BertJacko zegt:

the ppl here don speak chinese...

they only speak mongolian...

eLv!rA @ Rotterdam zegt:

and English?

BertJacko zegt:

a lil bit of english....not fluent...

BertJacko zegt:

even i have a hard time tellin the lady who is sharing this table with me.. tat the chair is vacant...til she has to lower her head and ask me again... and again.. til i jes point the chair to her n nod my head...

eLv!rA @ Rotterdam zegt:

you mean they use a different currency and not RMB?

BertJacko zegt:

no.. its called Tugrug....or MNT in short...

eLv!rA @ Rotterdam zegt:

funny, thought they are part of China, what is the exchange rate with USD?

BertJacko zegt:

the exchange rate is USD1=1146 Tugrug.. approximately

oh.. i think Mongolia is not part of China...i think la...

cos there is not even a slight resemblance of any chinese values here

eLv!rA @ Rotterdam zegt:

you are in inner mongolia or outter mongolia?

BertJacko zegt:

inner mongolia...

eLv!rA @ Rotterdam zegt:

up load your pic on the multiply lah, like brenda did with the US trip on a daily basis

BertJacko zegt:

Ulan Baatar.. the capital...

eLv!rA @ Rotterdam zegt:

sharing your life in Mongolia with us ma

BertJacko zegt:

haha...

i will i will...

BertJacko zegt:

wait til i get everything settled.. have all the photos uploaded from my cam.. then i will upload them...

BertJacko zegt:

yea yea.. i do...

eLv!rA @ Rotterdam zegt:

so are you at the pub alone or with ur colleageus?

BertJacko zegt:

alone...my colleagues are all worn off from the work...

eLv!rA @ Rotterdam zegt:

so lonely meh

BertJacko zegt:

like u last time lo... independent ma...

eLv!rA @ Rotterdam zegt:

but you need to learn to enjoy even on your own

yea, I even booked a table at San Francisco to see the sunset myself

the waiter think I am gila

BertJacko zegt:

yea.. i m learning.. tat's why i chose to come here on my own.. not havin to relyin on them...

BertJacko zegt:

cool!!!

eLv!rA @ Rotterdam zegt:

so long as you bring a book or laptop

BertJacko zegt:

it must be a very nice sunset.. i reckon...

eLv!rA @ Rotterdam zegt:

and enjoy ur life to the fullest

BertJacko zegt:

yup...

eLv!rA @ Rotterdam zegt:

oh yes

BertJacko zegt:

hmm.. there's not much sunset to watch here...

hahaha

eLv!rA @ Rotterdam zegt:

that was beautiful and how I wish uncle tony was with me

BertJacko zegt:

it is jes a dream...

BertJacko zegt:

and i wanna make it happen...after i got bek from this mongolia assignment in march...

i will apply for transfer to other offices...hopin my exposure here brightens up my resume a lil...

eLv!rA @ Rotterdam zegt:

surely it will. hey, I gotta catch up with my work now

talk to you tomorrow yea

BertJacko zegt:

keep in touch ay?byee!!!

eLv!rA @ Rotterdam zegt:

bye

Seeing Rainbow

This morning when I walked into the study room to collect my handbag and laptop, suddenly there is a soft prompting in my heart urge me to take a peep at the window.  I was actually in a hurry, but I obeyed the prompting of my heart.

To a great surprise, I saw this end to end rainbow right in front from my window. Usually it is hard to see the full frame of rainbow in a short distance, but this morning I saw the full rainbow.  This is rather interesting as I always associate rainbow as a covenant with God.  My spiritual life is still a little fragile after the re-encounter and I can no longer tolerate certain things or behaviors that used to be a pleasing to me.  I also suffer some forms of spiritual disturbances.  But the rainbow is an encouraging sign to me.  It is as if the Lord knows what I am going through and is re-assuring He is with me and He is pleased with what I am experiencing in search for the next level in Him.  I know I am not living in Noah's generation where in Genesis 9:13 where God said 'I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth'.

Thank You Lord for Your reassurance. AMEN

 

 

A personal re-encounter with God

This weekend I went for a re-encounter retreat.  The retreat is part of the G12 discipleship programme based on the four stages of christianity growth of a person.  The four phases are WIN-CONSOLIDATE-DISCIPLE-SEND.  My Lord is an amazing God, for the fact that He set me free from something that the evil one has just planted in my sub-consciousness recently.  Thoughts that I have no time to deal with yet and thoughts that I am yet to acknowledge it will cause a problem in my walk with the Lord.  This is an unspoken thought in a way that no one knows about this at all (perhaps just God, me and the evil one).  My God is almighty, He know this will cause a problem and that He set me free even before the thought is rooted or become a stronghold in my life.  I always remember a saying, if Jesus is not the Lord of ALL in my life, He is not the Lord at ALL.  How often we give Lord the control of most part of our life but not ALL part of our life?  It is easier to say it but will require a lot more personal encounter and re-encounter and further refinement. 

God also enroot and personalized the G12 vision to me.  He make it crystal clear that this is about a commitment.  It is about wining souls for the Lord, it is about the gospel to be heard by all nations.  It is about evangelism and discipleship.  It is also not about one's ability or capability, it is about one's willingness to take on this commitment and be obedience in God's operation.  It is also not about whether I can do it, it is all about if I am willing and desire to do to take on this call.  It is not about my might or my strength, but it is about the spirit of the Lord in me that will enable and empower me.  It also make me come to the realisation such calling is for everyone who called ourselves christians.  Let us not be contented as one who are 'being blessed by God' but also be a blessing to those who yet to know Him.

Thank You Lord for making this vision clear to me.

A time for everything

This is another thought from the foliage, it seems to be my favorite topic recently, I have been chasing for different colours of the autumn. The Lord reminded me of Ecclesiastes 3, that there is a time and season for everything under the sun. I just want to share this special scripture and hope that you will be blessed...

1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

source: Text from the bible Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8, photo: foliage from Apollolaan, Amsterdam

A day in Walton

Walton onThames

Beautiful fall colours

Today I made a day trip to UK. The journey started very early from Rotterdam and now I am kind of bored in the Heathrow lounge waiting for my late evening flight back to Rotterdam.

The Autumn colour is beautiful here. So far all my trips to Walton is always full of sunshine. The folliage is definately lovely compared to those yellow back in Holland. Although New England's folliage is still the pretiest so far, especially those in New Jersey.

Autumn morning

The trees turning yellow


Stuck in the traffic jam

How should I describe a typical dutch autumn weather? As usual, the morning always starts with traffic jam. This morning the jam started even at Oostweg before I even get into the highway. Thank goodness for me it is only about 200m in the highway and then I am branching into a country road which is a short cut to Rotterdam. It is just a short ride for me, so I should not comlaint.

11th anniversary

Today we celebrated 11th anniversary for our church DCF. This year, the theme is 'The year of the Next Level'. As usual, we have a big combined celebration with our satellite branches from other part of the country. It is another year, hopefully this year we will be really advancing to the next level that the Lord intended for our lives. Not just being a blessing but reach out to the non-believers for Christ Jesus.

The Art of Salad Layering

That's ME with a smile of Victory at my tower of Salad

After reading and CD listening at Bijenkorf 4th floor, our stomachs are calling for some food. As usual, since we are already at Bijenkorf, the logical place to go is La Rouge.

Our favorites here is always the assorted salad, where one can pick and choose what he wants and the price is based on the size of the bowl. Today we noticed that instead of a bowl, it is now a flat plate. Hmmm... A very flat plate, deep in my heart, I was thinking perhaps there are too many people like me who are good in staking and arranging the salad in a way that the restaurant is losing?

See the result below.... heh..heh... pretty GOOD value for money in return. See my tower of salad. The ambition is to aim HIGH and go HIGHER. The secret is all about the art of layering. I arranged the bottom of the plate with green asparagus, then follow by aubergines in square with space in between. The space is then filled with mushrooms marinated with sun dried tomatoes. Next layer is red paprika's and followed by grilled potatoes. Finally, I filled all the loose space with grilled funnels.

Enjoy!!

Tower of Salad

Dakkapel

This morning we went to Raku, a company specializes in made-to-order Dakkapel. The outlet is located at Nootdorp. 'Dakkapel' is a dutch word which basically means a window at the attic that usually leads to extension of space as well.
This is definately an investment and we have been planning since the day we moved to our new home 'House of Bethel'. The main purpose is to create additional space at the attic, to get more sunlight and of course to add value to the house eventually.
Today, we asked for more information, the estimated price, order lead time, procedure and etc. Well... now is all up to the Lord... it is a rather big sum investment and we need the peace of the Lord as our confirmation to endorse this project. Perhaps another rainbow to confirm ???

Randstadrail - A short venture to Den Haag

Checking out the interior of the train

What's new in Zoetermeer? Well... the hottest and the latest has to be the Randstadrail. It is a light rail/tram transportation that connecting us from where we live the Oosterhem area of Zoetermeer to The Hague. We decided to give it a try today and so began our venture to Den Haag. The train arrived as soon as we reached the platform, so no time for photo just hopped into the train. Le't's check out the interior of the train. It is new and clean, hopefully this standard will sustain for a long time.

The in between station

The journey took around 35 minutes with about 13 stops in between. Not too bad after all apart from rather pricey fare. We were getting bored and decided to take some headshots! Oh my gosh!... our faces are getting rounder ... HM...

Getting Bored in the train...

Finally, we arrived at Den Haag and headed straight to the chinese barber. It was crowded and so we went to Bijenkorf. Johannes headed directly to 4th floor for some free reading while I browsed through the women's section which is now in a new improved layout. I didn't spent a penny at the women's department since I didn't have any urge to spend a buck at all. I joined him at 4th floor for some Jazz CDs listening and then we had small therapy for our stomach and head to the chinese barber shop. After his hair transformation, it is about time to head home. The train arrives at Grote Markt station and that draw the short venture to an end.

Randstadrail calling at Grote Markt station

Lo Mai Kai

Yesterday, for no reason, I am graving for Lo Mai Kai (steamed glutinous rice with chicken) so much that I decided to make it myself. I searched the internet and found a couple of recipes and finally settled for one. I must confess it is rather complicated to make this dish though. Complicated in the sense different ingredients need to be prepared a few hours in advance. For example, the glutinous rice need to be soaked for at least 2 hours in advanced and has to be steamed for 30 minutes to set aside for use. So does the mushroom needs to be soaked and chicken need to be marinated in advanced. However, after all the hassle, the result is not bad at all, the taste is rather familiar. We had it for dinner; Johannes thinks it is too sweet for him. On second thought, isn't it supposes to be slightly sweet after all??

The Full Monty: Chinese mushroom, Lap Cheong, Chicken.

Preparing garden for winter

We had a rather dry weekend and it makes a perfect occasion to do the garden. We have neglected the garden and it is crucial that we sort it out before the winter arrives. The grass needs to be trimmed and most importantly we need to remove and also trim the roses branches, so that it will grow better next year.

Garden requires a lot of attention and we both can never pay enough attention to the garden. We hope to have a beautiful garden next year, and that means we have to spend time in figuring out when is the time to plant the seeds.

I am not good with European garden that need to cope with four seasons. Back home, under the constant tropical weather, the sort of floral and plants one can grow are the same throughout the year. Not sure how much we can achieve next year, but for sure the cherry blossoms will blooms in spring and the roses will come in August. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Making Laksa

Well... the Malaysian cooking venture continue...

This weekend we decided to cook Laksa, and normally when we cooked laksa, we mean the normal curry seafood laksa. This time, however, out of the blue, Johannes suggested using Kuching Laksa paste.

Because it was meant for curry seafood laksa, all the ingredients prepare are for that curry laksa and not Kuching laksa. Having live in Europe for a while, one need to be really flexible and creative when come to Asians cooking. So I cooked Kuching laksa without shredded eggs, cucumbers, chicken, but a Kuching laksa with only seafood ingredients. The taste is closed to what we find in Kuching though.

Changing wardrobe

The weather has turned cold. Today I made a point to change my wardrobe, storing S/S (Spring/ Summer) clothing away took out the A/W (Autumn/Winter). It was an afternoon of hard work, it took me entire afternoon to do so, sometime I wonder if I am living a complicated life as there are so many clothing to be sorted. Although I did enjoy the T-shirt, short pant, flip-flop lifestyle in Malaysia, but I do like to live in a four seasons country where you have the opportunity to vary your clothes according to the season in the year. However, getting all the clothing sorted out in a cold day is a tiring experience. Imagine, one got to sort out the scarfs/shawls/pasminas, tights/stockings of various diners, long/short boots, gloves, hats/caps, jumpers/pullovers and the winter jackets etc. Isn't it complicated???? Well, finally I sorted all these out after an afternoon of hard work. Now I am ready, welcome Autumn/Winter!

A day in Walton

2nd November 2006
Yesterday I took a very early flight from Rotterdam to London. It was a typical autumn storming weather. The wind was blowing very hard and I could feel my car was shifted when I was driving to the airport. Upon boarding, I could also feel the wind was bouncing against the city hopper fokker 50 flight. I really thought it would be a bumpy journey, but it turned out to be even quieter than a normal day.
I stayed a night at a place called Cobham nearby to Walton.
This morning I woke up early and the bright morning sunshine welcomed me. I felt so energetic and decided to go out the hotel and wonder around the woods in Cobham. The morning freezing cold air and the light frost refreshed me and woke me up completely from the lazy morning.
Photo: A clear sky autumn morning
Photo 2: The Hilton Cobham, that's where I stay last night.