my 2nd month in brisbane - in Peek-tures :)

hello friends,

In honour of my dear photobuff friend Hannah, I will use minimal words for this blog post as she finds it hard to wade through so many words (she already has to do it for work la, so poor thing :)

i may do this more in future, if only as a way to keep my photo-narrative skills alive... also, i have lots to read and write for school, so photos can be a good break for me too :)

here's a little peek into my life in the past month (not in any particular order)...hehe...enjoy!

1. Even the toilet paper has butterfly motif...i like :) in the background is a butterfly magnet i found for my butterfly accessories :)

2. on 8 aug I received a 2nd rejection for my master's thesis submission, but God reminded me to press on. That my phd journey is about overcoming. The song Overcome by Desperation Band had been playing in my head, i listened to it on my iPad before a friend picked me up for work...and guess what song she had playing? :)

3. I get to the church office (where I work part-time) and guess what is on the reception table? a sticky notepad with the name of the medication I'm currently on! The admin person doesn't know exactly where it came from :) When God wants to tell you that you're right where He wants you, it's a good feeling :)

4. Now for photos from further back...here is one from lunch catch up with ol' friend Chris, who helped me loads during my video class back in 2010. He graduated this sem and as is typical of him, generously treats me instead of the other way round :)

5. Congrats Chris - all the best for your future endeavours!

5. Speaking of generous friends, Sisi, a phd student from China, graciously treated a group of us to dinner at her place.

6. Her husband Zhou, aka Joe, did a lot of the cooking apparently...

7. The table was hardly big enough to fit all the dishes... you will see in the following pictures that we were VERY well-fed.

 8-15: Thank you Joe and Sisi :)

16. Continuing on the theme of meals with friends...Mrs McVey on the right, she was a spiritual "mentor" for my mum when she was a teen. Now living in a retiree residential village along with Aunty Jin Pian, a Singaporean who was a teacher in China previously.

17. Meals with other friends...this time feathered ones :)

18. And what beautiful feathers they are...makes me think of fish scales!

19. My first time holding a grown chicken. Poor thing looks uncomfortable...i have been practising since then and I think I am better now :)

20. they do actually let u pet them, but they will crouch in this strange position. It is a similar position when they lay eggs. I actually saw this chicken lay an egg sometime later :)

21. Fun times with good friend Carol - before this pic was taken, we had been listening and dancing to music, in a pavilion of sorts in a park.  No one watching lah...and we could just be ourselves :)

22. Carol can make anything when she puts her mind to it. she made this top for herself from blankety material :)

23. End july is also a time for farewells as some of the newly graduated students head back home. I am here with Wenxi who is going back to Singapore.

24. With the rest of the UQ2 lifegroup who came to wenxi's farewell. When there is a big group of young folks hanging out...funny antics are sure to follow :P

  25-31: JoWee, T, Zac, Keith..you guys never fail to make me smile :)

32. Random and intentional meetings: I randomly met Shuyi (right) one morning when she was asking for directions, and I intentionally introduced her to my housemate Ally who could invite her for student events :)

33. Our own event - going for churros dipped in choc and caramel...  Thank the mexicans for this heavenly treat :)

34. Beginning to realise A LOT of my pictures revolved around food...hmm... oh well :) food does bring people together...Enjoying hotpot dinner (from left): Chee (lifegroup sister), Steph (lifegroup visitor) and Henriette - sweet norwegian girl I met in uni who is from another church but wants to get to people from other churches as she has only been in Brisbane for 6 mths.

35. Surprise for Bryan's bday :)

36-37. Does this look familiar? A LOT of good food? Why, we must be back at Sisi and Joe's place again! indeed, this time they asked the lifegroup over and took up TWO tables for all the food.

38. What? More pictures of food!?! There is a good reason for it...these were taken at my first Bushdance - an event that Henriette (middle) invited me to. After she enjoyed our lifegroup hotpot dinner, she said she was inspired to invite people along to her church events :) Enjoying HUGE plate of meatballs with her is Glenissa (left) and Kelly :)

39. The open area in the background was where the dancing took place. In between, we got to know the wonderful people of Kenmore Baptist Church, who organise the Bush Dance every year to help international students get to know about Australian culture :) Here we are watching someone perform magic card tricks - quite a feat considering how freezing cold it was!

40.  Introducing the awesome Louise McNabb, teacher of little children :) She is one of the australians I got to know at the Bush dance, am looking forward to hanging out more. Her sister (in previous photo) does ice skating competitions - she said I can come along to cheer her on, how cool, right? (haha, you know I had to pun with the word cool)

41. ah...another thing to do at a bush dance. sit on straw bales and look like a model :) Good job eunice! :)

42. By now, you're probably wondering...bush dance, bush dance, WHY NO PIC OF DANCING?? because I had way too much fun dancing in a big ol' group to be taking pictures. sorry folks... i couldn't help it, it was my first time :P
I do have a photo of my lovely dance partner from Congo, her name is Judith :)

43. Speaking of dancing, look at these two ballet dancers who graced the captain ball tournament organised by Campus Christian Movement, the club that I work for as operations assistant :) no they weren't ballet dancers, but they could have been :) 

44. Lunch was catered for the event, in the form of pizzas....and here were the pizza protectors :)

45. A peek at my workspace in the uni...they give each phd student a new desktop computer of their choice. Mac or Dell :) no need to guess what I chose :P

46. On the bus one day, i noticed little rainbows on my arm :)
I am so grateful that my life is marked by the promises of God :) He who promises is faithful indeed!

47. Since Singapore is 47 years old today, I have decided to upload 47 peek-tures :) Happy birthday Singapore - continue to shine for God!
This last photo is taken with Cassy, who just came to visit me today (9Aug). We used to be in the same student lifegroup. Had good time of catching up I have not seen her since last July. On my two-month mark back in Brisbane we meet again :) she is only in town for a few days, then she goes Melbourne for a wedding and then back to Brunei where she works.

Thanks for the visit Cassy! and Thank you reader for reading my blog. Hope you enjoyed the peek into my life here :) Until next month, take care and God bless.