Back.....

hey guys, yup.. i'm back in singapore. i've been rather busy since i got back hence the lack of updates. kenneth and i took the same flight back to singapore from london (on transit). it wasn't a really pleasant flight - we were delayed at heathrow for 2 hours due to bad weather and it didn't help that there was a really irritable old man seated beside us.. later during the flight he even spewed expletives at us but o well, let's not go there.

got back on the 29th june evening and spent the rest of the night with my family, giving them their gifts and sorting out my stuff.. imagine.. 60kg of luggage. speaking of which, i actually had to lug that whole load from lancaster railway station to manchester airport railway and then from terminal 3 to 1. my check-in was 36.8kg and i had a hand-carry which weighed probably 15kg, a backpack and my laptop. gosh, it was a nightmare. anyhow, it's really a blessing to be home safe and sound and a comfort to be with my family and friends again.

i started work at the 117th IOC session at the raffles convention centre on the 1st of july. it was an incredible experience i must say, being involved in such a huge event (as a volunteer) - packing bags/kits for the delegates, helping with logistics support (telecommunications), watching how the media work or just plain sitting in front of the tv in the hotel room guarding the volunteers' belongings. meeting top people at the session was a bonus. the amount of organisation and planning that had been put into this event is beyond words. the people in my committee were really great people and i thank God for each one of them. it's really amazing how total strangers can come together and start working as a team within nanoseconds. the chemistry was great. i've got loads of pictures - of the session, the national day rehearsals from the last 2 saturdays and of course, pics from my few days in LONDON!

yea, i'm really glad london got the 2012 games but i was rooting for paris. the french delegates looked really crushed and i really do feel for them. paris is a great city and i'm sure they'd bring the games back one day. the blasts in london came as a big surprise.. it was so unexpected.. but i guess that's what terrorists do - catch u unaware; strike the moment u let down your guard. "perfect" timing, the day after the announcement of the host city for the 2012 olympic summer games and the day of the commencement of the G8 summit. again, this reiterates and emphasizes the unpredictability and transience of life on this earth as well as reminds us to look at life from eternity's perspective. Praise God - 1st for london's quick response, for keeping my prof and his wife safe and for bringing me back safely to singapore. my prof who's still in london emailed me telling me how close he and his wife came to danger but managed to escape it due to a change of plans; while i was in london, the 3 of us actually took the very bus that was blown to bits on 7/7/05. my prayers are with all londoners and i do hope that the situation stabilises soon.

i joined my cell group girls for a short time during their retreat on the 2/7/05. it was good fun and lessons were revised. i'll be meeting up with more people soon now that my stint at the IOC session is over. to all those i haven't met up with yet, i'm sorry and i promise we'll catch up soon!!

more pictures in the next post!
cheers