Of Detours and Surprises

Yesterday's sharing was to think about detours that have happened in our lives, and here is what I had shared last night.

When I was younger, I used to attend another church. In fact, I attended it for 7-8 years, stopping entirely when I was P6. Back then, when I had left that church, I had left on a rather rough note.

I was left with the impression that being a Christian was honestly nothing much - going to church was a waste of time, the people there weren't special or anything, bible study was like a comprehension exercise, and that God was just a crutch.

Two years later, I attended Zion for the first time (14 Jan 2007), much against my will really. See, church seemed to be a waste of time for me. In fact, I had only gone because my mum keeeppppttt urging me to go for the first month or so.

By the way, my family is non-Christian. My mum wanted me to go to make friends and not bum my weekends away (hahaha), not so much as to be a Christian.

Nonetheless, I'm glad for what my mum had done. But I haven't just made found more friends, or found something to do over the weekends in these past 7 years - I have found so much more.

I have found a community
I have found a thirst in the continuous revelation of God's Word.
I have found Jesus and am continuously encouraged to do so

That being said, I'm trying to compare churches and all. But rather, I guess my heart has been opened in His time to receive Him when I'm ready.

Seven years later, looking back, I see amazing grace. These were definitely not things that I had ever prayed to God for prior to receiving them. But isn't that what grace is about - the undeserved gift?

Food for Thought: Jeremiah 29:11

We were having cell yesterday, and the topic was on Jeremiah 29. And this verse really struck me quite a bit.

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” 

I used to write this verse on cards to encourage people, during their exams or just difficult periods in general. But last night, I thought I saw something different.

This article really resounded with what I thought last night, in so many ways:
http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/practical-faith/stop-taking-jeremiah-2911-out-context

Yes, God makes promises that He will fulfil. His covenant with Abraham was People, Presence, Land. And all this has been fulfilled through Jesus. Jesus's sacrifice on the cross will allow us to enjoy the new heaven and new earth, and this is our blessed hope.

Jesus is the promise. Jesus is our prosperity. We will be made whole once again.

Even more important than our decision about which college to attend, which city to move to or what job offer to take is the future hope of the Kingdom of God foretold by the prophets and fulfilled in the reign of our now and coming King. In this way, the promise of Jeremiah 29:11 is bigger than any one of us—and far better.

Strandvägen

T'was an interesting Saturday afternoon. I should really go out more during the weekends.

Busker on the train

Peaceful protest in Kulturehuset, part of the City Centre

Used the equivalent of an EZ-Link card to take a ferry without extra cost :) And monorails cost S$3.50 today...

It was an afternoon of chillin', strollin', enjoying the sun & breeze, and the company of friends.

Yachts docked along the path where we walked.

We sat at the edge of the pier, just soaking the sun, sea breeze and sights around. Sea breeze during winter can be quite chilly, but it's somewhat nice.

Atas European-styled market

Skiing

I still can't skate, but I can now ski :)

Today was a day trip to Romme Alpine where we (Nigel, Chunhan, Sarah, Leehe, Kenelm) went SKIING!! :D

I didn't trust myself to be able to protect my phone/camera well enough on skis, so these photos were taken from Google/Instagram.

At the start, I was basically being a burden.

I was almost falling every 5 metres, and my swollen aching ass can attest to that. At some points, I couldn't move at all because my skis crossed and made my knees bend inwards awkwardly, so I just sat on the slope in disbelief and disheartened ("Sheeeet how do I get down from here"). There were other times whereby I had already fallen, but I continued to slide down the slope on my bum and I couldn't stop.

The beginners' slope is usually used by children, and their pro-skier-parents who would accompany them. I was on the fork lift with a Swede and she said she "learned how to ski ever since she could walk". Thankfully, there were many kind parents around who literally pulled me up from my sorry state. One parent even taught me how to get up without sliding off.

I say "many" because I really fell so many times. At least 5 people helped me out today.

While going up the slope using a fork lift, taken by Nigel

Anyway, even so, the skis are now my friends :).  Being able to be able to get the hang of the skis really gives me a sense of achievement. Managed to complete the beginners' slopes without falling on some runs too! :D Can feel the muscle memory of the motion even as I sit in my room now.

I didn't have the guts to go down the tougher slopes and stuck to the beginner ones. Even so, I'm still pretty contented with those slopes, because I still felt a sense of achievement when I could conquer slopes. Also managed to try different moves like swerving left and right across the course when going down a slope. Most of all, going down slower really allowed me to enjoy the scenery because I wasn't concentrating on falling even going down small slopes.

                                  
                                  

The way down looked like a combination of these photographs. The sky looked like the one above, but the mountains was covered with snow like the one below.

Seeing the snow-covered scenery made me instinctly sing the first line of "Let It Go" from Frozen
"The snow glows white on the mount tonight, not a footprint to be seen" (very true)

I haven't really exercised since I've got here :P, and the first exercise I get is skiing HAHA. I think I've started to use muscles that I've never used before. It's almost certain that when I wake up tomorrow, my shoulders, arms, back, ass, thighs and knees would ache from this.

I'm not sure if I'm aching from falling or the muscles being used HAHA.

Chillin

I had gone to school more than an hour early for my paper today because I needed to return a book, so I decided to take a slight detour and check out the lake at the back of my campus before that.

Pardon the quality, I used my secondary school Nokia phone to take the pictures. Though I don't think they're too shabby, and they capture the colours of winter pretty well.

The orange building is my school.

When water's frozen, it basically doesn't move (haha). So the waves were frozen in that position the whole time!

Fragments of ice frozen again in ice.

Sitting on the dock with ice as my leg rests.

 

I was curious as to how a frozen lake would feel like so I decided to tap (ok maybe step on a little) the ice with my foot. Stockholm isn't very cold now (0deg c), so the ice is thin. It wasn't as thin as I had expected because it could take significant weight, but I wouldn't walk or stand on it. In fact, I fractured some ice at one point and it was pretty scary watching that happen hoho.

Think the people jogging nearby must be thinking who's this crazy girl sitting on the dock and playing with ice.

This place is beautiful and quiet, I'll definitely come again to chill :)

Poland - History Come Alive!

This is nearly 2 weeks overdue, but I'll finally be writing about my trip to Poland a couple of weeks ago :P

I've ripped quite an number of photos from Sarah & Siying on Facebook too

Siying, Sarah, Kenelm & I had travelled to Warsaw and Poland. And I was really enthralled by the fact that this place has so much of the 20th history that I've studied in secondary school. History was my favourite subject then, so I was definitely excited.

DAY 1: WARSAW

First up was our flight to Warsaw, and when we stepped outside we started snapping away at this huge, elaborate building (at that time we didn't know it's name. And some local greeted us "Tourists! Hello!").

This building is the "Palace of Culture and Science", and was a gift from the Soviet Union to Poland during the 1950s (cold war period).

Coming to Warsaw, I remembered one thing: Warsaw Pact (a mutual defence treaty of the communist states during the Cold War).  Turns out that THIS building was where the treaty was signed. It's pretty cool that I stood where Stalin has been! :)

                                     

Here's an aerial view of Warsaw that we had seen from the 30th storey of the building. We were fortunate enough to catch the sunset, which made the trip on the rooftop a lot better, because Warsaw has been so modernized there wasn't much of history or culture to appreciate.

                                     
                                     

We went to explore Old Town in the night, and the picture above on the right was a memorial of those that died in the wars.

DAY 2: KRAKOW

We took a bus from Warsaw to Krakow, which took half the day away. Well, we still had sufficient time to see and appreciate Old Town in Krakow!

City Square and all its hustle and bustle

By far my favourite part/image of Old Town, a whole row of beautiful paintings!

                                          

Krakow's sky is filled with beautiful pastel hues throughout the day, and they're ESPECIALLY beautiful when the sun sets. I'm so glad that we've caught it a couple of times, really.

DAY 3: AUSCHWITZ

Say, you're a Jew from Austria, here's your journey...

You, as well as other Jews, were told that you would be "relocated". So you and your family would pack your bags and squeeze with many others in that cabin.

When the cabin stops and you come out, this is where you are - in the middle of nowhere. You've got no clue. Back then, the nearest house from this place was at least 5km away.

                            

Your belongings wouldn't be yours any more, but it could be the least of your worries. People would be sorted to those 2 groups: Those to do hard labour, and those to be sent to the gas chambers

There were many scratch marks on the walls of the gas chambers. 

And the children weren't spared.

So for those who were sent to do manual labour instead, here's a look at their living conditions. It is definitely not as clean as this, considering that people die and do their "business"/"release themselves" here. They also only get bread and some soup once a day. Most would die from lack of nutrition and sanitation, averaging 1-2 months  for females and 6 months for males.

Those who rebelled were shot or hung in an assembly of all the prisoners.

On the whole, it was a pretty solemn trip and I have no happy photos to show of the place (given how inappropriate it was to take things like a selfie). It's crazy how so much has happened and how each and every one of these 1.6 million lives that were claimed, and thousands tortured, have been reduced to being part of a statistic. I don't mean that they're just 1 out of 1,600,000, but rather, there's not much to remember them by as an individual. No tomb or tablet or form of proper burial as an individual. It's overwhelming.

On to slightly happier stuff...

                                   

This is an apple coated with chocolate, and with cinnamon sprinkled over it. Of all the chocolate-coated fruits, this was definitely the best combination I've ever had :)

                                                          

We went to a place called Yellow Dog for dinner, because we were told that it serves great Singaporean food.

Yes the place is an Asian restaurant called Yellow Dog
And yes, it's a racist term (it was the nickname of the Singaporean chef when he was in the UK)
And yes, that's a dog's butt on the logo of a restaurant.

                                  

Anyway, considering that Europe would lack certain ingredients that would normally be used, the food was pretty legit. Like, you can tell that this is Laksa, and Beef Rendang, and Chicken Masala (it's the best there). A pretty decent job.

DAY 3: WIELICKZCA & WAWEL CASTLE

I'll update on Wielickzca another time, when I have photos :P

There isn't much to say about Wawel Castle, we only had about 2 hours before it got dark and the exhibitions were closed when we got there. But we've managed to catch the sunset again :)

Sunsets were especially wonderful in Poland because there aren't many tall buildings/skyscrapers here. Also, because it's winter, the sunsets have a very nice pastel hue. (The camera couldn't catch the green hue then). The buildings were also in complementary pastel shades.

Siying and I were joking about how we knew the people that owned the castle, Johann, Petyr and Elizahabeth Wawel. (hahaha John, Peter and Elizabeth would be too mainstream). Siying started it HAHA

                                    

                                    

                                    

                                    

What was I trying to do...

FOOD

                                        

Got a caramel vodka shot, tried a bit of hazelnut and mango too. Would have liked it more if it weren't pure. The strong flavours were nice, but the burning sensation afterwards wasn't so nice for me.

                                       

Deer goulash and pierogi (Polish dumplings). The goulash was shiok for winter, but I'm not a fan of the dumplings. The skin was a little bit thick for my liking, partly because I'm used to Chinese dumplings with the thin dough. They served us the filling of the dumplings in a bowl, and the meat was awesome I just whacked.

                                       

Got a crepe from this place called Manekin, which were decently priced. The portions were huge and had a lot of cream/chocolate, so we were all struggling to finish our crepes (which we didn't). They gave us their cool pretty postcards (Excellent service!)

And there was Yellow Dog and the chocolate cinnamon apple (:

So what's up next would be my trip to north of Sweden to catch the Northern Lights! Really hoping for clear skies to be able to catch them. Unfortunately, I don't have the proper camera for photos (oh well google images)

Hillsongs

This is really really overdue hehehe. 2 Sundays ago, I went to Hillsongs at Stockholm!!

Hillsongs is a charismatic, non-denominational church. So there were lots of lights, upbeat music, and hapz videos etc, which is very different from Zion (a bible-presbyterian church) in Singapore.

To be honest,  at some point I had missed home really badly. I've had been to a couple of Sunday messages and a couple of bible studies, but it hasn't quite hit home as much (not completely unexpected). 

So here's something to thank God for: For a community that encourages me see Jesus in so many ways

(And as a friend nicely put it: "Yay we picked the right church" haha)

Listened to the Judah & Tamar sermon off the church's website today, and it was pretty interesting, when the contexts and symbolisms were further expounded. It's one of those chapters that leaves you confused, and it's part of the geneology that leads to Jesus. Perhaps I'll just follow the sermon series.

Nobel Tour - The Museum

This is rather overdue, but here's what we had seen at the Nobel Tour!

Ripped this off someone's blog but this is how the exterior of the museum looks like.

This is a structure that contains 'folders' of the Nobel laureates, all 856 of the amazing people! Basically the 'folders' would come out individually and move around the ceiling of the hall, as though they're touring the place.

Here's an example of a 'folder' of the laureates that would move around the whole hall, the late Nelson Mandela! We actually chased his folder around to get a snapshot of this, heh.

Here is an interactive display which tells you about some of the laureates, as well as its historical background. There was one on the Red Cross, which had been awarded not just once but thrice! (1917, 1944, 1963). Another was someone helping to hide Jews during WWII. It's pretty amazing to see the humanitarian and love displayed in some cases.

Did you know, that the discovery of the antibiotic behaviour of penicillin was in a large way out of chance? Just look at the millions of lives that have been saved over the years! Without this discovery, people could still be dying of infections at a young age. I choose not to believe in chance really, but rather God's hand (: . (Should also note that it was discovered after WWI, but before WWII)

Here is a display of the iconic items in relation to some of the more famous laureates. 

Apparently, these items were donated by the Dalai Lama himself! There are plenty of such iconic items around the museum, and it really strikes you when you know the stories behind the laureates. Maybe it's because I'm a slight history nut, I don't know.

This was my favourite part of the museum, the architecture! (: There weren't many stories behind it, but I really liked how the designs were very intricate, yet unique. The mini models were no bigger than the size of a lunchbox haha.

Somehow, the effect is lost in a photo, but oh well.