no blog then, so i'll post up these dusty, fusty, spiderweb-covered emails that have been languishing in my inbox since june! happy reading!
EMAIL NO.1 ON 24 MAY 2004
Hi everyone! ahming here. in Korea right now at the transit lounge in airport.. enjoying free internet access and an LCD screen.. =) We have been VERY blessed so far in our trip.. after arriving this morning at 5 something am, we had a free city tour to e Gyeungbukgung palace n Namsan mountains for a view of the city.. AND a totally gorgeous bulgogi lunch (sam, that would totally satisfy prof atkins.. haha), all courtesy of Korean Air! =) am i making u all v envious? They are like so super generous. =) sam n hosea must be wishing u were here right. =P the city is really not what i expected, not the kind of skyscraper-stuffed downtown that we have back home, but with mountains rising on all sides, a river running through, and quaint old streets with what looks like endless shops! I want to come back here someday. *save money..* anyway, we have another 5 hours to kill before our flight to Ulaan Baatar, we have turned the students loose in the airport to roam around. it's quite scary and chaotic having so many pp running amok everywhere.. this morning i yelled at 2 bunches of students already for being late and disappearing without telling pp. =P i think we need to build up e unity of e group for stuff like time consciousness and sense of accountability and all. okie, that shall be my task for e next 13 days.. =)
It is really amazing how good KAL has been to us,, nothing short of a miracle actually. Jac said she got her BS group to pray 4 us.. and it has really worked wonders!! God is good! Do keep our group in prayer, all of u.. Thanks!!
at 1130 tonight will reach ulaan bataar.. i am really looking forward to it. I think the reality that the trip has begun din sink in till now.. previously at changi and before it was simply a sense of nervousness and panicking (haha cos i'm such a last min person.. hor.. yiyi n ivry n huihui..), but i am really starting to enjoy myself now. really v grateful for this chance. i believe this trip will only get better, even if more challenges come along, cos i'm now in e right mindset to handle them. =) *cue: music - bring it on.. hehe heh*
i still do not really have an idea of how the conditions in UB will be like, i have imagined everything from e very worst to e very best.. i wonder where the reality will lie. no matter what, will have to keep e gp together n focused over e next few days. I think jac SH n me have more or less learnt to cover each other.. no fireworks so far (sam: relieved? =P) but it will be a whole new ball game in UB itself. i dun noe? Wait for my next email to find out! =)
all e best!
ahming
= huiming
= miss wang
WAIT!! read on, i have lots of PSes.. =)
PS to mother, sam, hosea: SH, jac n myself have not been able to autoroam in korea. So not contactable by phone at e moment. We'll see how when we reach Ulaan Baatar. The guesthouse is supposed to have email access though. So might end up communicating by email and guesthouse phone instead.
Sam: Do me a favour n check with yihuak if he has given my thumb drive n book to Mag. He will know what i mean. Can also pls help me tell mrs ang that i gave yisheng (prom chair) her no and asked him to submit themes to her by today or tues. thanks!
Church pp n Hosea: Do me a fav n keep us in lots of prayer! Really need God's grace n wisdom as we are basically running everything by ear. Pray that we will have e wisdom n discernment to make good decisions, and lead our group safely into UB n back. Also pray that we will be sensitive to e emotional state n human interactions of e students.. to be able to keep e group united and focused as we begin to work. Creativity to maximize learning from e experiences we'l go thru. Also pray for safety for us at e worksite, and that teachers will be sharp n alert to catch onto any potential issues and solve them before they become problems! =) *sounds so UM.. haha.. hor*
Mother n uncle toney: do not worry about me, i'm fine!! and will email as often as possible. when i get my phone to work, i will drop a line.
Students: STUDY HARD for block test! haha.. i;m watching over you okie..
Qing n Tiff: i got you stuff!! Yes, already!! and more to come.. Stuff in Korea is ultracute, you MUST try to make a trip one day.. can start to psycho peter n jc liaoz.. haha..
EMAIL NO. 2 ON 26 MAY, 2004
hi everybody! using paying internet now, in guesthouse, so will talk quickly and fastly. today's 2nd day in mongolia. and also e day we start building.
went around UB city yesterday, as an intro and some orientation kind of thingy. nice but really cold. BUT today was even colder, cos we were in the outskirts of the city (25 km out) and the build site is on a plain surrounded by mts. \the wind is the kind that you have to work to walk against, and it blows from RANDOM directions one!! wah biang eh! But it was a good day, cos we have finally starte what we came here to do. the mongolian pp are v generous and warm. amazingly so. btw my job today was stuffing insulation into the walls of houses.. the insulating material was this white fluffy furry thing that sticks to your clothes and face n the wall too. i will never look at my dog the same way again.. haha.. think i shall try bricking tomoro if i get a chance.. there are houses in all sorts of stages which is v good so all e pp get to try all e diff jobs. the kids have been good so far, no complaining n whining etc, but 2 of them r not too well so pls pray 4 them. dun rea lly trust docs here so dun wan to bring kids to doc unless totally CMI.
the most exciting bit actually started today, when we went to the site to build. =) it's 25 km southwest of UB, quite out of the city actually, in a field surrounded by mountains. Words cannot begin to describe the sense of vastness at the site! it does also mean that we are constantly *ATTACKED* by winds from all directions.. haha.. feel like doing titanic *arms stick out* thing.. u will see from my pics.. the \mongolian pp are truly hospitable, even though they have so little. after lunch today i went to the construction overseer's ger.. someone inside showed me the Bible in Mongolian and a tract about Jesus. they were trying to witness to the students i think.. those 2 were obviously very treasured items. i took out my Bible n read the passages to her in English.. Eph 4:22 about renewing of the mind. amazing.
pp r breathing down my neck to use net.. so i will stop now.. that;s what happens when u have 25 pp and one comp! haha.. i love the communal life.. see u all soon!
ming
* i think email #3 is sadly deceased somewhere... haven't been able to find it.. oh no..*
EMAIL NO. 4 ON 30 MAY, 2004
dearly beloved!! it is me again, writing from faraway Mongolia. since the last time i wrote, 2 days hav passed.. one of work n one of leisure. shall talk about work first.. hee..
Building day #4: Four words - COLD, WIND, HAIL and DUST!! it was prob e worst worksite conditions so far.. it rained in e morning before we went to work, and the day was overcast and cold.. so cold that when it rained at the worksite, it was not rain but hail. how cool is that! have nv seen hail before.. at first it seems like heaven is machine-gunning you.. haha.. then u realise that small specks of ice are falling all around.. one of the Mongolians actually told us it was 2 degrees out that day (not counting windchill!). amazing. but teh kids kept their spirits up.. especially those working outside in the exposed air, carrying bricks.. it would have been so easy to just give up n hide inside some house but they persevered.. wow.. and we were singing 'u r my sunshine' n 'sun with love'.. trying to convince e sun to come out.. haha.. and shouting 'TWENTY DEGREES' at e top of our voices to keep our minds off the fact that it was TWO degrees actually.. yeesh! even thru e cold, we managed to clear 2 whole piles of bricks.. getting more productive day by day..
could also realli see a sprit of care n concern among e kids.. it was so cold but pp willingly shared their coats with one another.. one person would wear e coat for 10 min n pass to a friend who was cold.. and the coats were jus passed back n forth. the Mongolian pp are excellently kind too.. going out of their way to get us back in our comfort zone. like bringing coats for the pp, nailing up plastic sheets over house windows to keep the wind out, telling us not to work outside n come inside the houses.. tho we had only known them for 4 days, but they realli take care of us. =)
later in e afternoon, 2 more trucks of bricks came that we helped to unload them.. wind was blowing v strongly at e time and all of us got our day's worth of mineral quotient from the brick dust blowing at us, 2 pp actually got some dust into their eyes but thank God no lasting damage. =) everyone pitched in to help when such things happend tho so v good.. it is so true that u only see e gp's mettle n togetherness when challenges arise. indeed all things work together for good.. =)
kids were saying during facilitation today that they felt our trip was more play than work.. cos we have spent quite a long time doing other activities like visiting orphanage, high school, and today we went to the museum of natural history and shopping. =) SH and jac began to share their point of view.. their wisdom and insight continually amazes me. the thought of trip being quite 'slack' from e work-oriented s'porean viewpoint had occured to me before but i would nv be able to explain it e way they did.. we are a community INVOLVEMENT proj, not only comm SERVICE.. this is a service-learning trip and it would be no point if we jus worked n worked n did not get to learn anything beyond the superficial skills of building. indeed jac brought up a v valid point that though our physical help is appreciated, franky the building could have gone on even without us. main reason why we are here is to experience the culture n lifestyle n enrich other pp's lives n our own. there are actually so many things to consider when we do our things.. which jac n SH have managed so well. i realli have a lot to learn! =)
about play now.. today we went to the museum of natural history, which the kids din realli enjoy but i n jac did! we saw dinosaur fossils (from the Gobi desert) and hosts of other stuff.. including 'chao' scary stuffed vultures n eagles.. that look like they could carry any one of us off anytime. would like to go to the Gobi one day n see these creatures in the flesh. amazing how there is unity in diversity when u consider all the animal forms.. we can theorize about creationism VS evolution but to me the argument is driven home all the more strongly when i see with my own eyes how beautifully n wonderfully made each animal and plant is. =)
after museum, went shopping!!!! ohboy ohboy ohboy!!! been raring to go shopping for the longest time. went first to e State Dept Store that sells lots of overpriced stuff.. i got myself a cute furry hat! =) after we went to some strange place (nameless like so many other places in the capital) that sold a lot of similar things but cheaper.. haha.. i have now acquired 4 tops, and countless accessories.. and intend to get myself more!! mwahahahaha!!! would like to visit the Black Market (the name has NO connotations as to the kind of goods sold there) which is the central market of UB. but its quite dangerous for e kids cos a lot of pickpockets n its really vast. so might not get to go there after all. mebbe can sneak out of the guesthouse some time n go down myself.. hee.. will try to think of a way. For e next 2 days, wil be out of UB in a ger camp.. experiencing traditional (hopefully) Mongolian lifestyle, so watch for more updates when I'm back! =)
love all lots..
ming
EMAIL NO. 5 ON JUNE 1, 2004
hunks and babes!!!!!!
how cool is this trip!! we are just back today from a ger camp in Bumbat where we've been yesterday n today. ger are the traditional Mongolian tent dwellings, and a ger camp is basically where we get to stay in traditional gers for teh night. The site, Bumbat, is an uluated place 1 hours drive from UB. it is soo beautiful! dun even knoe how to describe the site. it is nestled in a valley, and we spent e 1st afternoon clambering up rocks. to e top of one of e hills. really seemed like there would be no end to e hills.. as u climb to e top of one u see another one rising above.. after a long long time we reached a vantage point of sorts.. where there was this rocky thing jutting out over an abyss.. everyone climbed over n took photos, but my well-known fear of heights petrified me again.. yikes.. managed to climb over but nv dare to look at e view. so silly right. must try to overcome this fear leh.. been like this all my life.. =( but e kids were excellent n helped me acr oss and back.. and held me while we took photos.,. hahaha.. 'm really the ku-niang who needs protection then! =P
the resort was also excellent for e kids, cos there was billiards \(altho only 9 balls there!) and table tennis. it was also fairly warm during the daytime, so we could sit outside, read books n chat. at night, bitterly cold and dark outside but the stars and moon were brilliant. s'porean pp r not used to night sky without light pollution, we were all oohing and ahing like suakus at the stars. couldn't recognize then tho, diff constellations from what we can see at equator. =P but still v cheo!!!!
night in e ger was interesting.. there were 4 pp per ger n our Builders group was 25, so i ended up being the odd one out n sleeping with our translator, the Habitat personnel n an American girl who had joined us for the builds. because my ger had e 2 Mongolian ladies, we were e only one with a decent fire (haha) but it also meant that i couldn't stay out late with e others n had to sleep at decent human timings. rats! =P
today was also interesting, we visited an actual ger belonging to the forest guard. they had chickens, dogs, goats and a horse! =) they were amazingly hospitable pp, and spooned about a litres' worth of yoghurt out for us to try.. natural one okie.. and gave jac a figurine as a souvenir. i think we traumatized their animals by chasing them around the plain for photos.. haha.. silly kids
today is international children's day, a public holiday in Mongolia, so nothing was open when we got back to UB. we went to a funfair in a park.. something like one of our pasar malams jus on a bigger scale. it started to rain while we were there.. and we ended up being rather soaked, which is the state i'm writing this email in while waiting for the shower. thank God for HOT showers! =)
left to trip: THREE build days and ONE leisure day!!! jiayou to me!!
ahming
PS. XIZZY: pls try to get me yisheng's email can. need to ask him prom things.
WENHUI: can help me see log sched n see my duty days.. as well as verifier days.. need to arrange understudy for 18th wkend, and i nv recive anything from chocks yet.
yiyi n ivry: miss u too, mei nu men.. looking forward to seeing u when back!
Tiffany!!! Happy birthday!! i knoe its a day early but i prob won't get to use comp tomoro. love u dear.. have a good bdae!
everybody: do keep us in prayer esp for good health.. and for our last few days to be meaningful n purposeful ones. thanks all!!!
ah... *ahming smiles in happy reminiscence*..
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