Heh. I couldn’t resist the pun. Get it – good; if not – too bad.

A lot had happened over the weekend. Actually, not much. Haha. Just that the weekend passed by really quickly. Well, it’s a brand new week at work and I’m really motivated to excel. I keep telling myself that I will do better, learn faster and perform more effectively. I believe I will succeed in this job. I believe I will get to see the world. I believe this experience will enrich my life and better equip me for the future.

Actually, I’ve been wanting to update, but I guess the country’s firewall has gotten to wordpress too (sigh), so my log-ins are sporadic. Whenever I can, I will update. It’s been frustrating, and I can’t use Anonymouse to access wordpress because they don’t accept cookies; Anonymouse is a good website that allows me to bypass the firewall so that I can still have access to popular sites like wiki, youtube and blogspot – which means I have been able to read some blogs after all. Heh. Ok, too much information. Do be patient when you see that infrequent updates on this wordpress – it’s due to this reason.

Church wasn’t really all that enjoyable yesterday. Some archbishop from some African nation came all the way to Shanghai to put me to sleep. Urgh. His accent, sermon and deadpan delivery were perfect antidotes for a sleep-deprived week. Allow me to share my sermon notes:

HSL Int Church
28 Oct 07
Archbishop of Somewhere in Africa

God of surprises and the extraordinary.
Luke 18:9-14
“Lord, have mercy on me.”

• humility = not thinking more highly of yourself than you ought to.
• humility entails making excuses for all others except yourself.
• humility is to model Ch thrist
• the necessity of confession – rock on which Christ tr is u
• have a lifetup
• we are in a communithy of comd com mo communities

Erm, ya, it ended there.

Yup. That was exactly what it looked like in my sermon notebook. I typed exactly what I wrote. Heh. I guess preachers from Africa have special powers on Asians… Hurhur. This is when I really miss R-age – familiar faces, familiar accents, familiar jokes… Ahhh… The familiarity. Oh well. While I was dozing off in my pew (and pretending to look like I’m awake by looking and studying my bible), CAMY had their DG; I’d have loved to be there instead – cleaning the chapel and the third level hall and washing feet. I am just glad to be able to participate in the slightest way possible by asking people about it and by reading email updates or blogs. It’s the best way I guess.

I spent most parts of Saturday shopping for new furniture at IKEA. And IKEA here is humongous. I’m serious. It was big beyond my imagination. Well, the bill came up to about S$400. Of course, it was fully paid for. I’m blessed. =) The main things I bought were a table, a chair, a table lamp, a small wardrobe, blinds, a full-length mirror and a cool black thing (which can be hung on the back of a door and it can hold all my cosmetics toiletries, four photos, two scarves, sunglasses, cap, towel and daily home clothes) – now that’s pretty good. Now my room really feels like a room. I will post pictures soon. Haha. I know that’s an empty claim but hey, it will come soon. Soon.

The locals are really enterprising. They hawk their services at the marketplace section and they approach people with trolleys full of huge items. They offer to deliver and assemble at a much lower price than IKEA’s and they can do it immediately. Of course there’s no guarantee, but there was no wait. So we took it up. Heh. Once we engaged their services, they’d push the trolleys for us, line up for us, and get this – even pay for us first so that we can give the queue a miss. And we just pay them the total amount when they’ve delivered and assembled it at our place. That’s pretty neat, at least to me.

My room really feels like a room to go home to now. I’m delighted with how I’ve been able to maximise the space – kinda felt like doing my own room in my Ghim Moh flat (which I miss very much)! Ahhh… The comfort. My room is paradise, really – those who’ve been there can attest to it, and if they don’t admit to it, they are lying! Haha. But seriously, so far, all who’ve been to my house said my room is “woah, nice“. Haha. Of course, it’s my room ok!

Well, back to work, I was formally introduced at the weekly staff meeting this morning. I felt my face turn red. AKZZ’s first formal task for me was to collate the employees’ job descriptions for the entire company. It’s a win-win situation because I’d need to be familiar with everything in the company as I am assisting the boss and it’ll also allow me to get acquainted with everyone – from top management to delivery man, lorry driver and office cleaner. I’m looking forward to meeting people. It’s gonna keep me entertained for the next month.

So, I had to introduce the project – in Mandarin – and that’s when I felt my face turn red again. I stumbled for words and phrases and it’s frustrating because I cannot communicate what’s in my mind due to an obvious lack of vocabulary, especially in those business jargons. Friends, if you are still schooling, take your Chinese seriously. I mean it. Take the advice from the old man. I regret not doing so and now I face the arduous task of re-learning my Chinese. It’s daunting. I was just sharing with my old cell that one of my strengths in my profession is presentations, but today, I felt so crippled by my language incapabilities. And it was a rather big blow for my morale. But nevermind, if the Great Wall was built in 20 years, then surely I can re-learn my Chinese in less than a year. I told myself that I just gotta be patient, and not let this great wall of language prevent me from being positive about the work ahead. Self-talk helps. Yes, it does. Yes, I will make it. Yes, I am of Chinese descent. Ok, next!

I also hit the gym with AZ this evening. The place is called Will’s. I have no idea who or what it means. And as predicted, AB pung-sehed me, to no surprise of his parents. Haha. The branch that I visited was not a big place, but this establishment is probably the equivalent of California Fitness Centre here. Well, like most gyms, most of the personal trainers there were men, and those men were only interested in training women… Urgh. So I was left alone, which I didn’t mind, because I probably wouldn’t understand much of what they would say anyway. I cycled for 20 minutes, ran for 40 minutes and did some weights while AZ went for her routine yoga class. It was good to work out and burn 500+ calories, but the meal after really negated the 90 minutes spent there. I still do not like what I see in the mirror. Haha…

When we returned, I had the wonderful opportunity of hearing my AZ share her life story over dinner; I thought mine was dramatic until I heard hers. It really is a privilege when someone shares something private with you because it communicates trust. And I appreciate that. She said, “Joe, you’re the only one besides Zekzek who knows this story”. I was really really honoured to have heard it. I think their story is worth a book, at least. It is filled with colourful anecdotes and it is a success story after all. Inspirational too. Guaranteed best seller. Hmm. Maybe it’s a project worth considering – a husband/wife autobiography, and I’ll be their ghost author, like most autobiographies.

It’s midnight and I shall go to bed early today. I really need to focus at work and I’ll need all the concentration I can at work. Besides, I have dark eye rings and sleep is the best medicine (besides BodyShop Eye Rescue Serum. Hahaha…) Thank you for reading and taking an interest in my life. My blog stats reveal things that are really heartening. Heh!