Halloween Party 2011

My housemates and gang got some cheap tickets to Coco Tang on Halloween night. They were kinda crazy about make up to be ghost-like but that's really not my stuff. Ended up just draw something random on my arms and fist, I don't like things on my face!

Preparing whole day for the night out:

It's a club in city, you'll be surprise how dedicated are the people dressing up for Halloween, and there're a lot of them. The theme of the night is "back to school zombie party"... what's that suppose to mean? The decorations were actually quite interesting, but it's too dark to really look around or take pictures.

"Ghosts" in the club:

Seriously, there's nothing else to do except drinking and dancing, and I enjoy neither of them =.= But it's not too bad, for an eye-opener (coz of the cheap ticket). There's only one thing that kinda caught my attention, which is the DJ's gadget, but I think he's not really good in choosing song and timing for sound effect... it's just... pure noise.

Everyone dancing and drinking:

"In your righteousness, rescue me and deliver me; turn your ear to me and save me."
-Psalms 71:2-

I pray that after this wild party, we will settle down and get our head focus into study. May God grant us endurance and calm along the hardship that we will face, all the best for the students who are going through a rough ride of assignments~ Amen.

Canal Walk

A pretty nice weather for a Friday, "nice weather" here means there is sunlight in the day. Shi Wei called in the afternoon and suggested to have a walk. A new territory for me to discover, called Canal, a little down the road from Dunkirk. I was kinda curious what kind of place will it be, as we encounter more and more bird animals.

Down the pathway to the river:

Surprisingly, the scenery there is really great. It's like the ideal retirement place with fresh air, calm water, ducks/geese to feed... The attraction is actually the houses along the river and boats that parked at the side, a very western view, but I like it. Along the walk, there are people cycling, jogging, taking photograph and walking their dog. What a relaxing life.

Canal view, houses and boats:

It's around 30 minutes walk, and we arrive at city centre =.= I didn't know that it connects to the city. Spent a few minutes walking in the town and buy some cheap snacks (sausage roll rocks!). Looking at the watch, it's almost time to rush back for Solid Rock. A great walk, I think the burnt calories are almost equivalent to running for 20 minutes.

Pop out from another side of the city:

"Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens."
-Psalms 68:19-

Indeed it's a blessing being able to have some peace in mind. Now, it's a new challenge to calm the storm when stuffs are running in my mind, but I need to learn to rely on the Prince of Peace as well. I have a feeling everyone everywhere is starting to plan for Christmas event, let's pray for wisdom and unity for a great Christmas experience, Amen!

Oxford Day Trip

It's my first trip out of Nottingham, we're going to visit CJ at Oxford.The train ride is 3 hours and costs £15 one way. Honestly, the train station functions so well, just like how an airport does things. The price would be more expensive if we don't have the student railcard.

Early morning in Nottingham train station:

I wonder if it's the train in UK is good, or just I'm too used to KTM. There are earphone jacks for radio and power plugs for laptop and charging purposes at every seat. Moreover, the place is actually kinda comfortable, no problem sleeping through the whole journey. Oh ya, seating is actually appointed on the ticket, but seems like it's OK to change if nobody occupied the other seats.

In the train:

We're just walking around town area as we arrived, the architecture is a little more ancient than Nottingham, but the shops are generally the same. I think Oxford town is bigger than Nottingham, though I haven't really cover the whole Nottingham town yet. Maybe it's a weekend, the place is super crowded =.=

Walking in Oxford town:

We visited the town, market and prison. One of the famous place that we went is Christ Church, heard that this is where they film the dining chamber for Harry Potter. The entrance fee is £5.50 for student, wasn't very delighted with that but the queue was crazy, so might as well just go in and have a look.

Christ Church entrance:

I'm not really a fan Harry Potter, but I don't remember the dining chamber being this small. We visited the sanctuary as well, it's really like what we saw in National Treasure, there might be bodies buried under the floor. What really captures my attention is the large church organ.

Dining chamber and church sanctuary:

"Do not trust in extortion or put vain hope in stolen goods; though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them."
-Psalms 62:10-

Thank You Lord for this amazing day trip, I'm sure everyone is blessed. As I'm still trying to settle down in this new environment, I pray that we will still be given time to rest and continue to strive to get our job done, Amen.

George Green Library

Spent most of my morning running here and there to get my registration done, and finally obtain my student card. Planned to go to George Green Library in uni and get some reading materials for new programming technique (doesn't sound like me right?). Wow, student card is indeed one of the most important thing around, you actually need student card to enter the library.

This is George Green Library, and the scan-in counters:

It's like a standard library with shelves of books and study desks, just that it's a lot bigger than UNMC library. Heard that this is not the only library in University Park, there are Hallward Library and Greenfield Medical Library as well.

4 levels library full with books, articles, journals and students:

The book search system is the same as UNMC (UNLOC), it's actually kinda hard for a first timer to find the book as the place is SO big. The facilities here are kinda nice, they have public computers, power plugs in every desk, LAN cable on the wall for laptops without wifi (I guess), and a little snack stall at the entrance. I can imagine how student spend 24 hours here during exam week.

Matlab intruding my life:

"Surely the righteous still are rewarded; surely there is a God who judges the earth."
-Psalms 58:11

Indeed it feels great to be in such a big and professional environment, but I wonder if I can deal with the study load. It has been a while since I really go into theoretical knowledge, hope that I'm not too rusty with that. Pray for God's wisdom to be right in the path of study and also life, Amen.

Visiting T-Street Church

Since I just arrive, would really love to visit some other churches. Sera and Shi Wei brought me to their church in town, T-Street Church. They host an early morning, morning and evening service, that's how I make it even I went to Cornerstone in the morning. It's a city church and the worship is more lively/aggressive, more young people around as well.

Visiting on a Holy Communion service:

I've seen drum shield a lot, by it's my first time seeing a drum 'cabin'. The worship team looks very complete with electric guitar and effect keyboard in the team, wouldn't expect any less from a city church. The sermon is on the topic 'cornerstone', about the importance of laying foundation with the illustration of house building. Out of everything on Earth, this topic being preached while I'm still surveying which church to attend, I wonder...

Builders start the house with the corner bricks, called 'Cornerstone':

After service, we have refreshment of cakes, cookies, chocolate and drinks. It's at another room for people to fellowship, until I realize there are a few members from Solid Rock attend this church. However, we're gonna rush home for dinner. Standing at the cold bus stop waiting for a night bus, don't worry, city buses work 24 hours.

Let's call it a day for 2 Sunday Services:

"In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?."
-Psalms 56:4-

I'm not really sure about the purpose to be in this place, but I trust that the big picture will be revealed. Guide me in the path that I should take, bless me with wisdom to make decisions especially in this new place. For any distractions that come against me, I just pray that You will hold me through, Amen.

First Time in Solid Rock

After being involve in CF and ConneXion for so many years, it's time for a change. In UK campus, the Malaysians and Singaporeans go for a Christian Fellowship call Solid Rock. They meet every Friday night at Chapel, a little room in Portland building for Christian activities (wow, there's such place in the university).

Arrive early at Chapel to setup and prepare:

I followed some friends who are in the worship team this week and reach there earlier for practice. They actually has a drum, bass, guitar, clavi and amps at that place, cool~ I helped out in setting up the drum, experience serving in Nilai ministry is really handy. The session is basically, worship and small group sharing session. Their theme for this year is about relationship with God. There goes a new journey walking with Christ, things gonna be exciting I believe.

Worship and group discussion:

"You have delivered me from all my troubles, and my eyes have looked in triumph on my foes."
-Psalms 54:7-

I give thanks that there are still people and group that make me feel at home. Being an international student can be hard especially in the beginning, but I believe time and faith are what I need to overcome it. Pray that this will be another great group where I learn to serve and bless, Amen.

Entering University Park

Leaving home coming to this new place, the farewell messages always revolve around have fun in UK and study hard. Oh yes, I'm here as a 2nd year PostGrad student. I have an appointment with my new supervisor here and I walked to University Park to meet him. Surprise that it's actually only 4 minutes walk from my house to Coates Building, nearer than walking from my TTS5 house to uni.

My house is just along the main road, reaching uni in 4 minutes:

So I had a short meeting with my supervisor, he did some registration work with me and showed me around. University Park is actually a lot bigger than I thought, 3 engineering laboratory buildings. The architecture and facilities are different, it's total a new environment. Nilai UC and UNMC look so small compare to this place, and I haven't finish exploring the whole campus yet!

Coates building and Pope building:

I'll be working a lot in the Innovative Technology Research Centre (ITRC), the top floor with the Structural, Isolation & Dynamics (SID) research group. It's kinda scary as most of them in my office are either final year PhD, submitting thesis or post-doc... Hey, I'm the only Malaysian around.

New office:

Anyway, I can't do anything since I don't have my student card yet, you actually need a student card with PostGrad status to access this building. Besides that, my desk is kinda... except a paper written with "Reserved for: Si-Chung Jong" and some stuffs that people put here for storage. Gonna wait for my PC too, or else I'm just gonna work with my laptop.

This will be the place where I spent my next 18 months suffering:

"For what you have done I will always praise you in the presence of your faithful people."
-Psalms 52:9-

For the very starting of a new study experience, I pray that nothing too bad will happen and may God bless this very opportunity to know Him more. Pray that everything will be fine mixing around with the colleagues, dealing with supervisor, and ultimately for good research output. Amen.

Cornerstone Church

This is the first morning in UK, woke up at 9 am Sunday but its already 4 pm at Malaysia. They should be done with church and taking afternoon nap back home. Thanks God that I don't suffer from jet lag, it seems like I rest enough in the bus last night. I'm following Sen Loong and a few others to Cornerstone Church, making it the first place I visit as I arrive UK.

Getting ready in the morning:

We've walked 20+ minutes from Dunkirk and reached the church. Actually walking outside in this weather is really nice and cooling, I won't say the street is VERY clean and beautiful, but it's enough to serenade me. The church houses around 400-500 people (maybe more). A style of worship that I'm comfortable with, except the overflowing number of English people (will get use to that soon).

My first church service in UK:

After service, the church clear up some space for free lunch and all students are invited to join. Pita is something new to me, basically an oval pocket bread that we stuffed everything inside, cheese, ham, jam, chips... and some fruits and drinks. Just knew that our Asian gang includes some students from Singapore, China and Korea as well. A great mixture of international student fellowship.

Free lunch after church service:

"Gather to me this consecrated people, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice."
-Psalms 50:5-

I pray for God's direction to show me the plan and area of ministry that I will serve in this new place. Whether by using the experience that I gained in the previous years, or some new things to pick up, let it be used wisely and solely for a good reason. Also pray for things to get stable so that I would be able to settle down soon. Amen.