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12月9日 Disaster Strikes!Yesterday afternoon I was in Jasmine's lab whilst she was working then I went out to meet her Mum and sister. However, the main door was locked so I had to go to the lower ground floor to get out of the building. As I went down the last flights of stairs my foot slipped, ankle rolled, body flew and I ended up writhing in pain on the floor of the stairwell. Initial thoughts were wondering if I'd broken a bone, fortunately not it seems. Initially after my sprain the foot was not too bad but it got worse as the day went on. My trip home from the Uni was probably one of the most painful experiences I've had so far. There were way too many steps and I have to change trains 3 times. Fortunately I was able to get seats for part of the journey, despite the train being packed. I was surprised at the way so many people would watch me struggling, observe my pain and yet no one offered any assistance!
I was so glad to get back home to the Chans where I could rest properly, put it in cold water then go to bed early. Today the pain is mostly gone, replaced my soreness and occasional aches. Today I didn't have anything planned other than a good night in so it's turned into a day of rest. I'm hoping it will recover further because my parents arrive tomorrow. Had a really good chat with Jasmine last night. Actually, despite my ankle sprain and painful trip home, yesterday was a good and meaningful day. I was really happy spending that time with Jazz and I'm looking forward to more
*Check out both albums of pictures* 12月7日 Graduation DayJasmine officially graduated today. In the morning they have a WHOLE UNI graduation ceremony will all graduates. I didn't go but apparently it was long and boring- except for the former and first Chief Executive of HK being presented with an honourary doctorate. This guy was apparently the worst Chief Exec and is very unpopular with pretty much everyone so naturally conferring an honourary degree was a very controversial move by CUHK. The ceremony was interrupted by many demonstrators and the Uni students had several large red banners around the grounds during the day. Anyway, I arrived around lunchtime and met up with Jazz and her family. It was the first time seeing her parents but I felt things went very well. They both made efforts to communicate and include me during our day together so I felt very good about it all. We talked about dinner with my parents next week but Jazz's Mum is unsure and will consider the matter further. My big stuff-up of the day was buying Jazz some purple flowers, which she requested. However, the particular flowers I chose turned out to be Chrysanthemums which are culturally used at funerals in HK/China. Jasmine was very annoyed, I was extremely embarrassed and hoped some large animal would come and eat me to save me from my shame.
Each of the 4 colleges has its own ceremony where each graduate accepts a special scroll on stage. 1:30pm was Jasmine's college, New Asia (NA), and we sat for over an hour to see Jazz's 5sec of fame on the stage. Then everyone walked/bused up the hill to the NA amphitheatre where they took many group photos of all graduates and staff together. We spent a lot of the day taking pictures with various people in various locations, everyone gets so into it too, it was strange to watch some of the time! The evening was just me and Jazz and it was good because she seems to have become her old self again, not the busy over-stressed Jazz I've been seeing over the last week. We're looking forward to spending some real time together from now on.
Tuesday I spent the morning at CUHK sitting in on the Biology masters student project presentations. Sally, Jazz's labmate, presented pretty well just before Jasmine did hers and pretty much pwned all the other presenters. She reckons there were 2 others the next day that were Pros but I still think she's pretty pwnage and I was proud. Yesterday, whilst Jazz was busy sitting in on presentations and then shopping with her Mum in the evening, me and my new best friends Samuel went hiking over the HK island mountains. We hiked up Mt Butler and through the gap between it and Mt Parker then down into the valley where there is one of the many reservoirs supplying HK. It was then that my camera decided to stop working due to the notorious "lens error"! We hiked down out of the mountains then took the bus to Stanley, home of the famous Stanley markets, a large tourist trap. There are actually a few structures in Stanley that have been relocated from Central HK including a 3-story Barracks, now home to an excellent Maritime Museum, and a wooden Jetty built by a former governor. Later in the afternoon I went to the nearby cinema to watch Beowulf for only AU$7.40, it's even cheaper on Tuesdays at only $5.90!
The beard story- Jazz was initially not a fan of the facial hair but I said I would wait one week then if she really didn’t like it I would shave it. Unfortunately, meeting her parents meant shaving it off anyway so yesterday morning my razor got a good workout. Then in the evening Jazz decided that she actually really liked it and would’ve preferred I kept it…
Mum and Dad arrive on Monday. Pictures will follow in the next couple of days, stay tuned!
12月3日 Hong KongMy last blog entry was actually made from Changi International Airport in Singapore! Jasmine expected me to arrive on Saturday since I sent her a fake itinerary, I instead arrived on Wednesday night as many of you know. Samuel and Grace, Stef Chan's parents, are my wonderful hosts for this trip. They have a great apartment in "Tai Koo", a region on the East of HK Island, and have been very accomodating, generous and caring to me. About every 2 days I take a bus from the base of their apartment complex (25 or so 30 story blocks) which goes West along HK Island until going under the Harbour through one of the main tunnels to Kowloon where I get off and board the KCR (train) at Hung Hom station which takes me directly to Jasmine's Uni (CUHK). The whole process from Home to Jazz takes 75-90min and costs about AU$5.
I planned to surprise Jazz on Thursday night and had arranged to "call her" at 7:30pm in her hostel room. I arrived outside her residential college at 7:38pm and called to make sure she was inside but she didn't answer. I called her mobile and discovered she was at a restaurant on the main campus with friends so I walked back over the hill and found the restaurant. I could see her through the window so I decided to make my move in the restaurant. I snuck around to the main entrance then walked in and her back was turned. I walked up to her and her friends started to notice me. Then she turned around and, in surprise, pushed away from the table with her chair and then proceeded to look back and forth saying "oh my goodness! you are here! oh my goodness!". Her friends laughed then applauded my surprise. Overall I rate it a great success! Jasmine's been extremely busy preparing for her masters project presentation which will be tomorrow. She's been so busy with other things and focussed on producing a high quality presentation that it's taken a long time and she's still working hard on it today in time for a practise with her professor tonight despite lacking proper sleep for over a week and falling ill yesterday. Hopefully she'll be able to rest tonight and tomorrow night, it's definitely well deserved. Graduation is on Thursday and will probably be the first occasion that I'll see Jasmine's family on this trip. I'm hoping we can improve things between us on this trip
This weekend has hosted the Franklin Graham Festival in HK. There have been 4 nights of Christian rallies where Franklin, 4th son of Billy and head of both Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Foundation, has spoken. I attended Saturday's rally where 30,000+ people packed out HK Stadium as well as filling multiple other venues around HK and in Macau apparently totalling 100,000+. Pretty massive event and a big impact too with at least 10,000 people giving their lives to God each night, and that was just in the stadium! Pictures will follow soon so you can see the scale of the event. Yesterday we three (Samuel, Grace & I) went to the Big Buddha on Lan Tau island. It's the biggest outdoor Buddha in the world and was constructed less than 15 years ago! Nearby, there is the Po Lin (Precious Lotus) Monastery where the Monk keepers of the Buddha have lived for many decades. All of this sits on a tall hill but is in the shadow of Pheonix Mountain (2nd tallest in HK) where many climbers of Everest practise their skills on one of its most dangerous cliffs. Last night we went to a Vegetarian restaurant with their son (Stef's odler brother) Kenneth and his wife Cathy. They're a really lovely couple and are both Christians involved with a church nearby so we shared a lot about church life etc. The meal itself was quite amazing, especially considering it lacked meat! I came away afterwards feeling the most full I've felt in the whole year!!
Missing my friends from Adelaide but looking forward to many people visiting HK soon like Jerry, Christina, Enoch, Wilbe and Daphne. Spoke to Clarissa over the phone last night and caught up on a bunch of things happening. It was good to hear a familiar voice! More to follow in a while 11月28日 Schoolies et alSchoolies was the biggest and best, acording to the Police superintendent, and I'd have to agree. From the Ticket Booth's perspective Friday was even bigger than last year's Saturday and we sold out of 3 night wristbands only part way through the evening after ordering only the same number as last year (4000). My team was awesome, they really came in and owned the roles themselves which was awesome to see. When we had these ticket problems the team took it on as their responsibility to resolve the problem when I was thinking "not our problem.... -> Andy!". Having the ticket stalls in the Caravan Parks was a new idea this year and it really stretched out our team (particularly the regional leaders with 8hr shifts!). Overall I think it was definitely worth it though and it probably encouraged more Schoolies to buy tickets which in turn lead to the wristband deficiency but being sold-out is good from a financial perspective ;-). Most nights I only managed 5-6hrs sleep leaving me very tired by Monday. I'm still pretty tired now after a couple more nights without significant sleep but hopefully I'll sleep long tonight and regain my energy over the next couple of days. Hong Kong on Saturday, I've managed to get pretty much everything done now. Anyway gotta fly 11月19日 Right in HolidaysWell here we are, fun in holidays and less than 2 weeks until I see Jasmine! Very excityed about HK Trip, Round 2! Wallaroo was fantastic, definitely doing that again. Check out the pictures under 'Med Family Camp'. Highlight was the sharing time on the beach with the candles on Thursday night. Other highlights included worm wars, charades, human pyramids, cooking, Andrew Day, swimming, sunsets, Jetty Jumping, Risk, late nights, Storm the Lantern and just being a family together. Schoolies is so close and today my students have their Grade 2 Exams, I'm about to go to the first. Laters! 10月30日 Procrastination I must be pretty bored- I'm blogging! Did you know that procrastination means putting off until tomorrow? It comes from the word crastinus, meaning tomorrow. Studying is pretty boring, especially when it's mainly details that don't really interest you and a bit of rote learning. Exams start on Monday with the MEQ, Wednesday is Resource and Friday finishes it all off with the SAQ/MEQ. In other news, visitors to my house would probably know that there's a Dove's nest in the Wisteria running along the veranda. Doesn't look like the egg(s) has hatched yet, Mum sits patiently and almost unmoving about 23hrs of the day in the nest. We can view her easily through the computer room window or the front screen door. My Mum said she had a peep in the nest when Dove Mum went for a lunch break and found one egg although we think there might be a second. Apparently they take two weeks to hatch so if they haven't done already then they will within days. Exams are pretty overrated. In England they start at Year 9 and they're reasonably serious unlike Y11 exams here. I had Year 9 and 10 exams in England which also include practise exams for each major exam period! They seriously need to revolutionise their education system over there. I came back to Y11 and 12 exams here then last year was a range of Science exams and now we arrive at the end of first-year medicine. I actually think the format of these exams is a lot fairer than most subjects. The MEQ is quite a good representation of the PBL process and the general lack of essay-type assessment in exams is a good and fair thing. 95% of the year-group freaked out about first semester exams but I put a lot of that down to fear-of-the-unknown. This time most people seem to have settled down a bit more which is good. These exams count for 70% so if people scored reasonably well in first semester, which most did, then you'd only need to pass these exams to be in the clear. Also, the fact that these exams cover the whole year might be daunting except that it means there's less opportunity to test fine detail. All in all, next week shouldn't be a problem! 10月8日 Rest & ExcitementThe holidays came to a close a week ago and we had our Clinical Skills Exam, the OSCEs, on Tuesday. Mine went really well except for the Cardiovascular Examination: the patient had good blood pressure, normal pulses in his arms and neck but seemed to be lacking a heart! I couldn't palpate the heart apex which is not unusual but when I attempted to listen to his chest I became quickly worried when there were no sounds in his chest at all. I even listened on the other side of his chest to ensure it wasn't congenitally displaced but there was nothing at all! Fortunately some of my friends said they had the same problem but I asked the patient after the exam and he said his heart is perfectly normal.... The rest of the week, timetabled as 'Revision Week', has been relatively quiet with most days having a lot of free time. Wednesday lunchtime was Ann's Piano performance at Pilgrim Uniting Church, MedCamp 08 team meeting after lunch with her family & Christina, couple of lectures. Nick, Marg, Ashley and Jason arrived later in the evening and it's been great having them stay in our house, even if it does mean Stu and I are forced to move into the back room for a week. Thursday was empty until Team Education handover meeting at 5:30pm then straight to a fast Big Week Out meeting, then to music practice and finally home! Friday was a nice hospital visit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woodville followed by lunch in the city. The evening was dinner in China Town with Nick, Marg and the Family plus the Bartels too, followed by a great Village Visit, I haven't been visiting for some time so it was good to catch up with many people after holidays etc. With all this free time you'd assume I'd be thinking "Excellent! Time for more study, more God and more relaxation" and it's true, I do think that. However it's been difficult to make my thoughts reality and there's just been too much computer gaming!! I think it's because there's no great pressure. I haven't been totally useless though, I've been revising the Kidney and I've had all these meetings with great action plans to do afterwards. Saturday was looking like a dud day until Ann phoned in the afternoon and suggested the small group get together so I picked up Joel and Christina and headed up to Ann's place in Modbury. We had fun but the best part was spending time sharing deep stuff and having the encouragement and support of the group. We even got to enjoy dinner with the family which was another nice touch to the evening, nice touch to my stomach too! It feels like God has been so present in the last couple of days. When I got home my parents, Nick, Marg and I all had a great discussion about Euthanasia and Homosexuality which was quite spontaneous but really good. Today has been another good day with singing/drumming at Church this morning, playing with baby Angus and the Venter twins after the service too. Emailing for Schoolies and stuff got done this afternoon as well as doing work on the Big Week Out Knowledge-base website. Tonight was a good FRESH although none of the newer people wanted to come, too busy with work...??? Good response opportunity following camp (3 weeks ago). Opportunity for people to recommit themselves and to be prayed for so they can spread the message of Jesus amongst their friends. Popped in on Ann at college on my way home to give some encouragement which was good as well. Back into normal Uni tomorrow for 3 more weeks before SWOTVAC & Exams. I'm also doing a Stomach Research thing for the next 2 weeks on Tuesdays so I need to take some medication first thing tomorrow and again on Tuesday for that. They're looking at the effects of this new medication on the rate of stomach emptying. They'll give me a meal of mash potato with an isotope in it then watch my stomach via a gamma camera for 4hrs. Quite thrilling, yes. Good opportunity for some study and reading whilst they're doing that though and I get paid $15 per hour. Hong Kong, here I come!! Jasmine was lead demonstrator for the Marine Bio excursion yesterday, apparently went pretty well. Her research is a bit on hold at the moment due to some important lab materials still in transit form overseas which is a little frustrating to her. Last week I made a card then got lots of people from CCC, the 'family' and small group to write encouraging messages to Jasmine. Well, she received it today and I think she really likes it. I hope she's feeling very encouraged! Love you, Jazz 9月24日 Jazzy QuestingOsteoscan continues this week today and Wednesday. I'm finding I really enjoy the work. It's nice being able to do something meaningful for someone, especially compared to delivering pizzas! Another good thing is that it's not non-stop, you can usually take your time and there are breaks throughout the day, often due to patient cancellations. The weekend was good- Friday night was going to be a night in and then Mahesh phoned me to say people were heading for Amanda's place. We had a great game of Risk together on Tony's College's new set, which I won, plus other random fun (Chin, Tony, Amanda, Mahesh, Jerry & Alicia). Long, good chat with a happy Jasmine late at night! Saturday was a good lesson with Lydia followed by some hardcore shopping with Mum at Harbour Town, kinda my biannual shopping haha. I was chatting to Alex D during OSCE practice on Friday about a free MMO he'd been playing during the week called 2 Moons so I downloaded it on Saturday and now I'm a level 21 Hunter called Marleenus after maybe 8-10 hours of playing, mainly on Saturday evening. Gotta cut down lol. Sunday morning was Oasis (Kid's Church) taking over the service and Steven Leung from CCC came to visit too. Evening was a fun BBQ at Jerry Soo's house. Finally a fantastic night at The Gov seeing a Jazz performance tribute to Percussionists with Yong, Lisa and Dad. Overall just some awesome performances and I left with a renewed desire to perform Jazz with Dave 9月20日 FRESH Camp & OsteoscanFRESH Camp:
Down at Victor Harbour at Adare Campsite this year. Adare is basically a giant mansion and it was awesome having everyone living in the same house for the weekend. Wasn't sure how the Saturday morning to MOnday afternoon timing was going to work but having basically 2 whole days plus a half day worked better than our usual Friday night start. Neil Champion spoke really well, his message was "So Much more"; as Christians we need to keep going deeper with God because He has so much more for us, it's eternal and it's limitless. First morning he challenged anyone who had stuff that was keeping them from God, any barriers, to sort it out and pray for it right away so they could move on and receive what God had prepared for them on camp. First messages on Camps are usually introductory but it was great to get straight into it and we had maybe 5-7 people who stayed afterwards to pray about those things in their lives. Saturday afternoon was games and a beach trip as you can see from the pics. THe water was freezing but the sun was warm and we all had a great time on the beach together. Me, Jerry & Jeremy all charged into the water and then managed to grab Neil, Dave and Clarissa to put into the water, Sam got away! Saturday evening Deb was leading worship and I was singing and the Spirit just moved in the middle of the music time, people were just speaking and praying, focussing on God, pretty awesome. Fun and games in the night, I got to sleep at around 2am.
Sunday morning was an opportunity for people to be prayed for to be filled with the Spirit and it was us leaders that had the privalege of doing the praying. Maybe 15 people or more wanted prayer and my personal highlight was praying for Wilbe because he was the one that prayed for me 2 years ago on FRESH Camp when I had the most profound experience of God in my life. Another cool thing was Neil prophesying over Jeremy. Afternoon had some messy games and then another good session in the evening with Jerry leading worship and Neil speaking. Monday was clean up time and we did really well. A few cars had returned on Sunday night so we had around 35 people for Paintball Skirmish. We got lost on the way but eventually got there. We did three rounds, first on the lake doing Flag- grab and storm. I rolled my ankle on the second trip down the hill but Josh and I managed to charge the enemy hill to get right on top of their hill, what a hero lol. Last round was forts and Ben & I stormed around the base of the hill to enter the fort and steal the flag. However, when I got back to the base with the flag the referee shouted "All versus All!" resulting in me receiving multiple paintball scars mainly from Dan Wong, previously I had no scars... Drove home and iced my foot and it's been recovering slowly this week. Looking forward to catching up with FRESH soon and seeing where we go as a youth group following changes on camp.
This week's been mainly working at Osteoscan in the Ashford Hospital Specialist Centre, Anzac Highway. I did my Bone Densitometry training and experience back in April then got my Radiation Licence in July so this week's my first few days of independent work! Today's the second day and everything is going very smoothly. Yesterday had some challenges but I took them in my stride and now I'm really enjoying the work. My ankle behaves itself during the day, I've even ridden to work today and yesterday. Tomorrow is my first OSCE practise day at Uni and then perhaps some rock climbing later, hope my ankle's ready for it lol.
Jasmine's pretty flat out, seems like the usual thing at the moment. Last weekend was her grandpa's funeral and there have been a few issues that have arisen around that time, prayer is definitely appreciated! She seems to be getting more pro by the day at her lab technique and research skills. She says the 'lab family' is really cool, working closely together everyday with Prof Kwan like the Dad or Uncle of the group. These last two weeks there have been a few social events at the residential college too so she's been busy as College Tutor helping out and appearing at them. I'm really looking forward to having a good chat with her tonight and the HK trip is approaching rapidly, only 9 weeks or so to go. Also on Saturday is our 1 year, 2 month anniversary so we're doing pretty well thus far.
Good luck Jazz, we're praying for you! 9月10日 Last week of termYes, less than 5 days left of this mega-term (8 weeks! It's almost like school again). I'm definitely ready for some holidays. Big things this week include the AMSS AGM with Elections. I'm running for Junior Education Co-ordinator against a few other talented people, particularly the second years. I suppose the fortunate thing is that out of the 5 nominations, only myself and Matt (II) are exclusively applying for this position, I can definitely use this in my favour. If you're reading this, vote Andrew if you believe in me! Funnily enough, Chris Wong was the only nomination for President so he'll probably get it by default unless someone unofficially nominates before Thursday. Even then, it'd have to be a strong nomination to beat Chris.
SWITCHFOOT! Youth Alive Rally on Friday night featured a Switchfoot concert at the end which was pretty awesome. I've got all their main albums, big fan of their music but I'd never seen them live or heard much about their live performances. I certainly wasn't disappointed! It was pretty loud, fortunately I had my ear-plugs, but they obviously love performing and meeting all their fans. They're hoping to be back in January so maybe I'll see them again there too. Justin Timberlake is coming to Adelaide soon, apparently the tickets start at $150 or something. I'm all for live performances but anything over $100 is pretty steep! Switchfoot at Youth Alive was $20, what a bargain!! With the expensive performers, it makes you wonder if they're performing because they love music and their fans or if they're just trying to amass wealth.
FRESH Camp is coming together with over 40 people coming, 35 staying full-time. Organising transport has been a bit challenging but I've managed to come up with a good plan so hopefully no-one will complain or ask for changes when I email everyone tonight. Sunday night is Cleudo-theme and I have a costume plan, just have to go shopping for a few bits and pieces before Friday. I'm looking forward to some time away from Adelaide, maybe the weather will be great too. Good times with good friends I hope 9月3日 A while away from the blogHi All
Sorry I haven't been blogging much, I might lose my captive audience if i'm not more attentive with my blogging. Although, to be fair, no one leaves me comments so it seems like I'm writing to the silent universe that is the Internet.
I've been very well these past few weeks although I'm a bit behind on my medical knowledge. Last semester had easier material to cover and I already had a background understanding of most of it. This semester has been more challenging because the material is at a higher level and I have very little background knowledge! With two weeks left until holidays I'm confident I can hang in there then use the holiday time to revise/learn this term's stuff heavily. It also means that preparation for end-of-year exams will be easier too! Unlike in science, medicine's end-year exams cover everything rather than just the second semester, or so I believe. Currently I'm focussing on muscles and their nerves which is systematic but complex due to the sheer number of muscles and their unusual latin names.
Social highlights recently include taking around 20 people up to the Knoll of Truth (aka Green Hill) for a sunset/night-time celebration of Amanda Lim's birthday. Quite cool and dark up there but we had a great time together. Saturday lunch was Auntie Audrey's 80th birthday at Civic Park Restaurant. About 70 guests, most of which were retired. Audrey's a pretty amazing lady, living 80 years and still extremely active & independent. Saturday night was a visit to the Village to take Sarah, Linda's friend form Melbourne, to the airport for her return flight. Afterwards many of us went to Izzy's birthday pre-drinks at her apartment. I caught up with Wei Ping, a chinese Masters student I met once last year during an economics experiment. Nice to learn more about her and the party was cool too. "Dress to Impress" was the theme and many people were certainly impressively dressed. Later on they headed on to the Buddha Bar and I went home to watch 'Shooter' a very cool movie about an ex-marine sniper-scout caught up in a government conspiracy.
Jasmine welcomed many of the new hostel students yesterday. She's excited about finally starting her masters project properly, starting her college tutor position properly and demonstrating for Marine Biology. Less than 3 months until I'm in Hong Kong but I'm still trying to sort out accomodation at this stage, tricky in HK. Before the trip are many things: FRESH camp in 2 weeks, holidays & Osteoscan work, OSCEs, 4 weeks of term, End-year exams, " Med Family Camp" and Schoolies. Plenty to keep me occupied for some time! 8月17日 Returning to the LightLots has happened since my last entry, apologies for my laziness. Since Wednesday 8pm I had been blindfolded until midday today. This was part of the 40hr Famine, raising money and awareness for the impoverished and famine stricken people of Laos through World Vision. It was a really "eye-closing" experience for me. I found being in complete darkness for almost 2 days a great challenge as well as a lesson in dependence. I'm planning to write a piece about my experience in the next wek so I won't dwell much on it right now. In other news Dad's been getting intimate with greysonline which is an eBay-like online bidding site for everything and anything of an electronic/tecnological nature where the sellers are all companies and stores so you know you're getting quality products. Dad bought a digital tuner/HD recorder at a third it's normal price so now we can record up to 44hrs of TV and can pause live TV! Interesting, eh? Dad also got Mum a laptop at around half the normal price! I'm currently using it to blog since Windows Vista seems to integrate more smoothly with MSN stuff. Last Sunday I was happy to finish both Harry Potter 7 and my Aboriginal Health asignment. Hary Potte I can recommend highly. I thought it was a good ending to a great and intriguing series of books. Not much I would've chaned about the book except adding a little bit of extra information right at the end. They did a "19 years later" section which was good but I would've preferred having a "In the following weeks...this stuff happened" just before the last chapter, just to tie off all the loose ends. Oh well! After completing my assignment the chains holding back my freedom were finally broken and I'm back to my true no-stress, joyful self again. This week's been pretty good, completed our recent case on Diabetes today although I still feel I need to consolidate my learning of Renal Physiology and Diabetes.
Thanks to all those who helped my during my 40hrs of blindness, particularly Dave, Uyen, Lisa and Mum. This week I've also been missing Jasmine more than usual. During my dark-time I really wish she could've been around to spend time with me! Less than 3.5 months until I'm in Hong Kong and back in her loving arms again- can't wait! 8月5日 Enter- August!Another weekend has almost passed. It seems like I’m managed to do everything except my main goal- Aboriginal Health Assignment. The closest I’ve gotten to it is reading the referenced article qhich didn’t really offer any great insights. I’ve decided to do Clinical Skills and PBL before I head out to FRESH tonight and hopefully I can get a good start on the assignment when I’m home this evening! Mum’s had some seriously heavy Laryngitis over the last fortnight which she’s almost recovered from now and I managed to catch it from her towards the end of last week. Fortunately I’ve managed to get through it much faster. The worst time was Thursday night and most of Friday where I actually felt quite unwell whilst the rest of the time there have just been minor symptoms. Thankfully I’m well on the way to a full recovery now with my main problem being my nose running so much it feels like it’s training for the Beijing Olympics. Speaking of which, I read today that the Aus Olympics team management is putting a political gag on all competitors form our team so they can’t talk about any political issues, just sport. I can see why they might want to do that but I reckon it’s going a bit far when we’re meant to be leading the world in democratic freedom-of-speech.
After complaining a lot about my drumming grade books being so late they somehow arrived on my doorstep this morning after I got back from Church. They’re the new syllabus versions since the two colleges combined their examination boards to form Trinity Guildhall School of Music. I particularly like that they’ve supplied CDs with both backing tracks and how the actual performance should sound. I’ll be starting my student off on them next week!
In Hong Kong, Jasmine is moving into her new room in Uni today. Although she was hoping to move in a week ago, the previous tutor only moved out last Saturday and they needed some time to recondition and clean the room or something. She went and checked it out on Friday and although it’s slightly smaller than expected it’s still a vast improvement on previous years’ rooms plus she has a beautiful view of the coast through her window. More good news: her floor only accomodates 36 students, compared to our previous estimate of 60- much more manageable! 8月1日 Encouraging NewsJust chatting with Jazz now. Great news about her day with family. Her Mum's treating her very well, no comments at all and her Dad acted a if nothing bad had ever happened. He even recorded a TV program featuring Adelaide from the previus week and showed it over dinner! Like Jasmine says, God can make a way forward when previously there was a dead-end. Tomorrow is her move into the college and she'll soon start back in the lab which is also exciting, new haircut too, I hear!
Tonight was good- Rockin' the Suburbs meeting went well although heard some interestin theological discussions going on too. Visited Sickly Joel and Evita on the way home, nice to share with them. Went out again to visit Alica Sim (met at FRESH on Sunday, now in my small group) on North Tce and introduce her to Amanda Lim as they stay in the same building. Nice chats together and checked out the to floor where Alicia stays. Went across the Elder Hall afterwards and met Ann who was practicing late (11pm). We discussed music fo a while and she showed me her practice piece. Then we went upstairs to the actual Elder Hall which was really nice, only my second time there too! Then I dropped her back at college after some great spiritual sharing time. Rushed back to my Jasmine, oh how I love her! 7月31日 She has departedWell, it's been an amazing month with Jamine. Everything's gone so fast and as I've been selecting the reviewing all our pictures I've been reminded of just how much we did whilst she was here and all the good and meaningful moments we shared together. As I return to my normal lifestyle I can't help but be excited about seeing Jasmine again in only 4 months! Jazz is safe and well back in Hong Kong as she makes arrangements for the coming semester and new academic year as a post graduate research student! Things with her Mum are also going along pretty well. I think I can honestly say that we're both glad to return to our normal lives after an action-packed month together. I'm more certain and confident than ever that Jasmine is the woman I'm going to marry one day and I hope that day's not too far away! More later but for now please enjoy the 200+ pictures I've just selected and uploaded from our time together 7月22日 One Day, One Week The holidays are finally at a close. The new Semester starts tomorrow and the workload will quickly resume. This morning I got up at 6am to pick-up Chin, Vishnu and Sathish. Most people have already returned to Adelaide in the last week after 2-3 weeks back home either interstate or overseas. It's a bit like releasing a flock of birds all at once, eager to fly, and then watching them return one-by-one, to roost once again. Although there's only one week left of Jasmine's trip, I've resolved not to focus on the length of time remaining but rather to focus on making the most of the time we have left together. Today we celebrate our first anniversary- a testament to our commitment to each other and God's faithfulness in keeping us together. Truly, we would not be a couple today without the work of Jesus in our relationship.
Friday night we had a special dinner out at Windy Point Restaurant to celebrate our anniversary followed by a beautiful Pavlova at home, prepred by Mum and Jasmine, to conclude Nanna and Grandpa's visit, they left yesterday morning. Yesterday I had a good drum lesson with Ann followed by a visit to the drum shop (John Reynolds) and a feast prepared by Sharon, Phoebe and Master Chef Jasmine. Ann and Jasmine really hit it off in the afternoon which was nice to see. Small group starts tomorrow night and this week we've had great times with Joel and Ann so I'm sure tomorrow's first group time will work really well.
Pictures to follow this week, I've been wanting to collect pics from other people but there will be lots soon! 7月19日 Many good timesHey All
It's been a while since I last updated but I've been pretty busy with Jasmine and for some reason my site's been misbehaving when I've been trying to update! Anyway, these holidays have been really good. I wasn't sure how it was going to work out with both Jazz and my grandparents all staying in the one house but it's turned out to be really great! We've enjoyed some fantastic family-times together including some excellent culinary delights hehe. Yesterday me and Jazz spent the day with Nanny & Grandad. We had lunch in Hahndorf before strolling around the local shops etc. We also checked out some of the old houses in nearby Paechtown, visited Heysen's Cedars and tasted wine at the Hahndorf Winery, a lovely spot. Pictures, dinner, games and stories back at their house in the evening- overall a great day together! Later we visited Joel and enjoyed a long and deep conversation about Family & life. Jasmine's HK friends, Sharon & Phoebe have settled down nicely after finding a house in Rosslyn Park and are getting into Uni stuff now. Tomorrow night we've got Nanna & Grandpa's final dinner and Jazz & I are going to Windy Point to celebrate our first anniversary! More things to look forward too on the coming weekend and next week back at Uni 7月8日 ROCK ON!!!Well, last night's Battle of the Bands was amazing! Although there were only four groups and only the two Adelaide bands seemed to be serious about it, it was a great night. My group (Dave, Ann Lee, Tom Capogroco & Alex Gordon) were on last which was good because the crowd was all warmed up and ready for it. We had our groupies all in the front with signs like, "You can Lymph my biscuit" "Dave Glam 0412345678" (actually Jono tang's number haha) "Son of the Beast- Andrew Vanlint" "We love L. B.", pretty cool. We started with Steamworks which is an instrumental song that was kinda the theme song almost for last year's convention. The crowd were liking it then we went into Alex's mandolin song (dunno the real name) and when the drums smashed in the crowd exploded!!! Cheering, clapping, screaming, jumping, waving arms, crowd surfing- it was all happening haha! 7 nation army was popular then when Dave and me started off All Around the World the crowd went even wilder! 1000 med students, all at different levels of intoxication, partying away. Best performance yet for me and Dave, hopefully this will lead us on to new opportunities. A good day for me and Jesus too. Had a great chat with Ann about spiritual stuff on the way home. Jazz will be home this afternoon, been missing her and I'm sorry she missed last night! Ah, never mind, maybe next time- Melbourne 2008! 7月7日 Holidays ContinueThis week's been great and I had a particularly good day yesterday. Monday's Barossa trip was a great success, the best highlight would definately have to be the tour of Yolumba Winery by the winemaker himself- Phil Lehman! Although the weather was bad the whole day, we were inside most of the time so it was fine. Tuesday's short Riverland trip was well worth the time. Got to visit my old school, Cobdogla Primary, all the teachers were excited to see me again and we even got the class-greeting "good-mor-ning-an-drew, good-mor-ning-vis-i-tors" hehe. Everything seems so small but it's me that's changed, almost 7 years to the day since I left. The school's down to about 75 students with 3 classes compared to the 120 in 6 classes when I was there. Barmera seemed a bit same-old, same-old. Many people remembered Dad fondly and I enjoyed seeing Lake Bonney and the Jetty. Thursday Jasmine and I went to Morialta Falls for a lovely walk and chat then in the evenig I went to the Convention social 'Sky High' whilst Jazz had a fantastic evening with her CCC friend Gin at her apartment in the city. Yesterday Nnna and Grandpa arrived after a very early start (3:30am!) then me and Jazz rushed off to the airport to pick up her exchange friend, Sharon. We got her to her accomodation then Jazz and Sharon came home a bit lter for a big family lunch together with Nana and Grandpa. Nice times! In the afternoon the three of us made the drive from Adelaide down South to Normanville where the CCC youth were having their annual camp. Jasmine was obviouslky loving being back with her friends again and Sharon enjoyed meeting all new people as well as the interesting drive down there. Weather was slightly wet, quite cold and very windy but the warmth of fellowship seemed to be keeping everyone well! The campsite was the Dziniri Latvian Campsite, one that I hadn't heard of before. It's quite good, although a bit remote, worthy of further investigation since it seems to be very cheap! I had a really good chat with Sharon on the car trip home, talking about many things. Jasmine will return with the CCC people on Sunday. TOday my main focus is the battle of the bands which is currently looking quite small! We'll do the best we can anyway, hopefully this year's launch will inspire next year's to be massive! Really enjoying having Jasmine around, it's strange not having here here today and last night... 7月2日 Better-than-Good timesIt's great having Jazz around and the last couple of days have been awesome for her too! FInal exam on Thursday went really well, dinner with the HK crew etc on that night too, celebrating finishing the semester. Harbour Town, lunch with Yong and Dinner at the Earl with FRESH peoplon Friday. Saturday I had drum lessons, airport trip and recording session at church. Jazzwent out in the morning to the city, bumped into a ton of her friends in China town and ended up helpin her friend move accomodation from her apartment on Nrth Terrace. In the evening we made a short pop-in on Jenny's birthday dinner before picking up Hui and Clarissa for "Dinner". It was actually a surprise going-away par-tay for Hui at Richard's house. The ploy worked perfectly!! Great night all-round, pictures to follow soon. Today I lead in the morning, good service. I particularly liked the preaching this morning and there was a call for baptism included so should be interesting to see if anyone goes for that. Went straight to CCC afterwards. Everyone's so glad and surprised to see Jasmine. She said by the end she had talked to EVERYONE haha. I had good chat with Steven and also was a part of the English Yoth's hide-and-seek game in central market- very fun! Later on we caught up with Kelvin and Maggie, such a cute couple studying Commerce, Jazz knew them from before and I'd met Kelvin a few times. We t up in the art gallery then had coffee at thenew Starbucks Cafe on Rundle Mall. Really nice time, plus when we were on our way back to the car we bumped into Tom and his gf then Steven & Sandy! Must be the couples' night or something! Tomorrow we're off to the Barossa for a day/night with Stef, Catherine, Tip and Joel (Tip's bf recenty arrived from Thailand). Tuesday we'll go up to the Riverland for a bit before coming home late-afternoon.
It's all action-packed folks! Love Jasmine |
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