Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Malaysian celebrities...

there's no kidding bout this... we are in German newspaper... how cool is tat...

Die Gaststudenten aus Malaysia schunkelten mit den Sigmaringer Narren.

Die Gaststudenten aus Malaysia schunkelten mit den Sigmaringer Narren.

Fasnet für Malaysier

Narren begrüßen Gaststudenten aus Fernost

Sigmaringen – Eine Unterrichtsstunde der besonderen Art erlebten 15 Gaststudenten aus Malaysia am Dienstag, 10. Februar. Die Lehrbeauftragte für Chemie, Marion Hahn, erschien im Häs der Traditionsfledermaus und in Begleitung drei weiterer Sigmaringer Narren.

Die Studierenden begrüßten die Kostümierten mit Applaus und verfolgten mit großer Neugier die Erzählungen von Marion Hahn über die Tradition und Bräuche der Semerenger Fasnet. Ein Student nahm alles auf Video auf. Zwar hatten die Asiaten schon etwas vom Karneval gehört oder im Fernsehen gesehen. Wie die Fasnet allerdings hierzulande gefeiert wird, war ihnen neu.



Während ihres sechswöchigen Vorbereitungskurses an der Hochschule Albstadt-Sigmaringen haben sie nun Gelegenheit, neben Mathe, Physik, Chemie und Deutsch auch die Kultur ihres Gastlandes und insbesondere die fünfte Jahreszeit ein wenig näher kennen zu lernen. Marion Hahn erklärte die Kostüme der Traditionsfledermaus, der braunen Fledermaus, des Schlossnarro und des Fanfarenzüglers, die mit ihr gekommen waren. Diese traditionellen Sigmaringer Figuren leiten ihre Herkunft vom Schloss ab. Den Ruf der Narrenzunft „Nauf auf d’Stang“ musste Marion Hahn erst einmal auf hochdeutsch übersetzen und dann natürlich erklären, dass die Bräutlinge auf der Stange um den Brunnen getragen werden. Dann gab es noch einen Fahrplan mit den wichtigsten Bällen: dem Hemedglonkerball am Donnerstag oder dem Ball am Fasnetsmontag in der Stadthalle.

Die Malaysier waren begeistert und wollten kommen. Sie berieten sich noch untereinander, wie sie sich verkleiden sollten. Vermutlich werden sie in traditioneller malaysischer Festkleidung auftauchen, das wäre dann auch für die Sigmaringer Narren eine ganz neue kulturelle Erfahrung.

Zum Schluss stimmten Marion Hahn und der Fanfarenzügler auf seiner Querflöte das Sigmaringer Fasnetslied „Freut Euch des Lebens“ an. Die malaysischen Studierenden und die Sigmaringer Narren hakten sich an den Armen ein und schunkelten dazu im Takt der Musik.

Autor: Arne Geertz

Datum: 12.02.2009

Friday, February 20, 2009

cold~~~

The cold is killing me.
must get use to it as soon as possible...

it has been (counting...) erm... 1 month? or more than one month since i reach germany n i sort of lost track of time... u noe, time flies when u r having fun... going to class has been my only source of entertainment now (see how irony it is) but i really like classes here coz going to class is not only about learning academic stuff but also cultural stuff... everywhere i go, when i eat in the canteen, going for grocery shopping in supermarket, peeing in the toilet etc etc - there r juz so many new things to learn... all so different from where i grew up...

will update more soon... running out of ideas n update this for the sake of updating...

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

alive

helo,
i'm still alive despite of the cold...
susahnya tak de internet...


glimpse of where i m staying now:

most dangerous place in the world...
better keep ur wallet in a safe place before u go there...

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Job 37 : 5- 13

God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding.
He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’ and to the rain shower, ‘be a mighty downpour.’
So that all men he has made may know his work, he stops every man from his labor.
The animals take cover; they remain in their dens
.
The tempest comes out from its chamber, the cold from the driving winds.
The breath of God produces ice, and the broad waters become frozen.

He loads the clouds with moisture; he scatters his lightning through them.

At his direction they swirl around over the face of the whole earth to do whatever he commands them. He brings the clouds to punish men, or to water his earth and show his love.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

BUT

Sometimes I wish I could juz keep one of eye close to the things around me,

to not let anything annoys or angers me.

Sometimes I wish I could juz let go of my stands,

to not be seen or meant judging others instead of merely voicing out my stands.

Sometimes I wish I could be anybody else but me,

to not be myself while pleasing everyone else.

Sometimes I wish I could do anything emotionally,

to not be rasional and true to myself.

But there is always a ‘BUT

BUT, I hav a purpose to live for, a purpose which everyone is looking for but can never find it unless…

BUT if I go to the east, he is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find him. When he is at work in the north, I do not see him. But he knows the way I take when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside. I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasure the worlds of his mouth more than my daily bread.”


Job of Uz

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Radolfzell am Bodensee

Greetings from Radolfzell am Bodensee!
This is Radolfzell in 1750... now its like this (see below)... notice how the tower of the church is different...




Winter in Radolfzell is very scenic... its like every click tat u take, the pics all look marvelous no matter how's skill or how good your camera is...

This is Bodensee (which simply means Lake Constance in english) in winter...

Typical jumping shot from Malaysia... haha...

Sunday, January 11, 2009

a very long saturday...

at about 12.50am(saturday) in KLIA, i left Malaysia... then after a 12-hour flight, i reach Frankfurt airport at 6.00am local time... so that explains the title of this post... (my fingers r freezing when i m typing this)


first time on an international flight...


first snow in germany... actually it snows everywhere...


first food n water in germany...




view from my room...


on our way to Radolfzell, we see white everywhere...

sidetrack:
wong choon han was in the same flight as us to frankfurt... sorry the pic a bit dark...



yea... tat's it... i guess u can sense my excitement* thru this post... still glad my ears are still secured at the sides of my head, so is my nose...


Sunday, January 04, 2009

how on earth...


am i going to pack all this in time!!!!!

Monday, December 29, 2008

The reason for the season

sorry if i m a bit late in posting this up....

Jesus is Better than Santa

Santa lives at the North Pole.

JESUS is everywhere.

Santa rides in a sleigh

JESUS rides on the wind and walks on the water.

Santa comes but once a year

JESUS is an ever present help.

Santa fills your stockings with goodies

JESUS supplies all your needs.

Santa comes down your chimney uninvited

JESUS stands at your door and knocks.. and then enters your heart.

You have to stand in line to see Santa

JESUS is as close as the mention of His name.

Santa lets you sit on his lap

JESUS lets you rest in His arms.

Santa doesn't know your name, all he can say is "Hi little boy or girl, What's your name?"

JESUS knew our name before we did. Not only does He know our name, He knows our address too. He knows our history and future and He even knows how many hairs are on our heads.

Santa has a belly like a bowl full of jelly

JESUS has a heart full of love.

All Santa can offer is HO HO HO

JESUS offers health, help and hope.

Santa says "You better not cry"

JESUS says "Cast all your cares on me for I care for you.

Santa's little helpers make toys

JESUS makes new life, mends wounded hearts, repairs broken homes and builds mansions.

Santa may make you chuckle but

JESUS gives you joy that is your strength.

While Santa puts gifts under your tree

JESUS became our gift and died on the tree.

It's obvious there is really no comparison.

We need to remember WHO Christmas is all about.

We need to put Christ back in Christmas.

Jesus is still the reason for the season.


May the Lord Bless and Watch over you and your loved ones this Christmas 2008

And may He prosper and bless the work of your hands in the New Year.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

in case u din get this...

Assalamulaikum,
Tuan/Puan.
Dipanjangkan maklumat terkini tarikh untuk taklimat dan bayaran pendahuluan 3 bulan ESH bagi pelajar program khas ke German (KBU/INTEC).
Tarikh : 06 Januari 2009
Masa : 9.00 pagi
Tempat: Bilik Mesyuarat Utama , Aras 9,BLOK CI,Parcel C Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam.

2. Sehubungan dengan itu, saudara/i adalah diwajibkan menghadiri taklimat tersebut. Saudara/i dikehendaki berpakaian formal, kemas dan sopan semasa menghadiri perjumpaan ini. Berikut adalah garis panduan berpakaian :-

2.1) Pelajar Lelaki

- kemeja putih berlengan panjang;

- seluar panjang (hitam);

- sarung kaki;

- kasut hitam bertutup penuh;

- tali leher

2.2) Pelajar Wanita

- bertudung putih (bagi yang bertudung);

- baju kemeja putih;

- seluar panjang hitam;

- kasut hitam bertutup penuh;

3. Sila ambil maklum berat beg saudara/i hendaklah tidak melebihi 20 kg sahaja. Jika saudara/i membawa melebihi daripada jumlah itu, saudara/i akan dikenakan bayaran bagi excess baggage dan saudara/i hendaklah membayarnya sendiri. Maklumat lanjut akan diterangkan di dalam taklimat pada 06 Januari 2009 nanti.

Sebarang masalah yang berkaitan boleh menghubungi,

1). En Wan Azizam Wan Salleh. PP(I)I 2 03-88853387
2). Cik Julianah Nasib. PT(I)I 9 03-88853395
Sekian, Terima kasih.
PT(I)I 9
Julianah.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Who's leading you?

Who's leading you?
Is it what other ppl do?
Is it what other ppl say?
Is it what you think?
Is it how you act?
Is it fear?
Is it love?
There's only one leader...
so who's leading you?

*inspired by the band POD

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Don't ask me whether i love my country, ask me what i can do for my country...

btn is not as bad as i imagine it could be... it sort of bring me to a place to think what more can i contribute... however, instilling fear doesn't work... trust me! it's only playing around with ppl's emotion...

Sunday, December 07, 2008

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow

#edited
ah dai (tat's how i call my grandma) pass away peacefully at 11.38pm on 8th Dec 2008... the funeral will be on the 10th but i m very sad tat i cannot attend it because of a camp which i cannot miss in a million years.... haih... i really really wan to be there during her last moment...

plz pray for my grandma who might not be able to make it tonight... she is a very strong-willed women but still, it is not enough to beat the natural aging consequences... do pray for my family n my mum who is on her way back from singapore alone...

Monday, December 01, 2008

Toward Jerusalem by Amy Carmichael

From prayer that asks that I may be
Sheltered from winds that beat on Thee,
From fearing when I should aspire,
From faltering when I should climb higher,
From silken self, O Captain, free
Thy soldier who would follow Thee.

From subtle love of softening things,
From easy choices, weakening,
Not thus are spirits fortified,
Not this way went the Crucified,
From all that dims Thy calvary,
O Lamb of God, deliver me.

Give me the love that leads the way,
The Faith that nothing can dismay
The hope no disappointments tire,
The passion that will burn like fire,
Let me not sink to be a clod.
Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.

[Poem taken from copyrighted material used by permission of the Christian Literature Crusade, Fort Washington, Pa. 19034.]

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Updates again

finally manage to reach home after a horrible and vegetable experience.... will blog more about it if i feel like doing it... but i believe whatever happens, happens for a reason, now i m still learning from my experiences... and finally i get to visit my grandma after hearing so many different things from aunties, cousins and mum... and when i heard her talking, i was immediately assured that she is still ok... still as loud as before (when a foochow say it's loud, it means really loud) haha...

anyway, i finally come to a point that we can't stop problems n accidents from occuring, but most importantly, how we learn from them... sometimes i feel like my heart was like a dark night, but Jesus with His strong blood, and the Holy Spirit came and washed it. So, now it's as clear as the sky when it has no clouds in it. (Mincaye from the movie End of the spear --> do check it out... it has brought tears n joy to me)

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Counting the days...

finally it's time to start counting the days i left with all my frens from intec... and i really wan to spend every possible time with them bcoz we will be parting ways soon... my frens in intec are like my second family coz we spend 2 and half years together and i really think that ALG ppl share the closest bond with each other because we got less ppl in our batch and tat definitely bind us closer coz everyone knows everyone...

illegal bbq in cemara basketball court... but then,who cares?
there's nth 'illegal' in ALG! ahahaha...


meet Pn Kahartini, the coolest head-of-programme one could ever wish for...i mean, who on earth will come for student's illegal bbq party and risk herself getting scolded by u-noe-who-has-san

mc for the night : Flip and Jimmy with Sophie giving her 'thank you' speech!


of coz there a surprise birthday cake for abbas, who acted surprise even though Ali let the cat out of the bag earlier...
when u tot the surprise is over, u r wrong!
there's another one for izzy as well! both secret recipe ok? but someone ter-sms her bout the surprise party earlier in the morning and no point again for guessing who's the loser...




took a long time convincing ppl to pose for this pic...
and they don look like love shape to me but well, anything lah...



*dunno y all the pics blur... shaky hands kut...

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Penang oh penang!

Penang food rocks!!!

and a big thank you to amir for bringing me to botanical garden...
n so sorry this is the only pic wif u in it... haha


Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Biggest teh-ais in the world...

thanks to the birthday boy yi en, i get to see the biggest teh-ais ever...


and we had no problem finishing it... (no point for guessing who did!haha)

Friday, November 21, 2008

Lesson learned on 'Peace'

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. "

Jesus of Bethlehem

What is peace to you(me)?

When this verse was chosen for Homes (church cell group) as the study material, immediately it strikes me. God had to use so many incidents juz to teach me a lesson on peace, which i fail miserably to catch during that time but looking back at all the 'accidents' i had the past few weeks, it all started to make sense. God.is.actually.trying.to.teach.me.something!

# incident 1
one morning, while trying to withdraw money from an atm machine, my card got stuck. At least i tot it was that time. So i called IMMEDIATELY to the customer service to deactivate my card. When you think that's the end of the story, NO! Few days later, i found out my card is juz in my purse, only at different location, i dunno what on earth happened to me that day. The only thing i remembered was to ignore the 'feeling' of 'everything is going to be alright, trust Me!'

# incident 2
then, it so happen that after one week, my purse was stolen. At least i tot it was that time. So once again, being a smarty-pant, i called the other bank to deactivate my card almost immediately. Then the next day, someone found it lying around somewhere and pass it to the librarian. So you know the rest of the story. I once again isolate the 'feeling' of 'Yes! Your purse have been found!'

the thing is, i have been ignoring this 'feeling' of stillness and assurance. THAT, my dear friends, is not juz a feeling. It's the PEACE that i was hoping to experience all this while in my daily walk with God. so much for a lesson learnt from lacking of peace... haha

wonder y God is willing to spend so much time on an idiot like me... =_=


Sunday, November 16, 2008

My story of CA

I can't believe it has been two and half years since the first day I step into INTEC main gate to register myself for ALG programme. And it was during the same week I got my first invitation to INTEC's CF (at that time I didn't know tat it was Campus Alive) and the theme was 'Laughter's Night' dated 5th July 2006, the day that my life took a turn completely. I was introduced to some very excited seniors and from there I realise that I was actually being brought to CA over some series of event by God. Only when I look back I realise that God has been so real to me during my time here in INTEC. I vaguely remembered a beautiful girl who was with me on the train back to Shah Alam. She approached me asking whether I was new and started to invite me to CA. And that officially started off my whole journey of CA.

Personally, CA has been such a huge blessing. I had the privilege to serve in the committee together with passionate people from different programmes led by two visionaries and revolutionists (hey, my boss is Joash, so go figure how our meetings were like.haha) I served in the transport team and from there I really learned a lot about the 'behind-the-scenes' because I get to transport the worship team to their practice. During these practices, I had the chance see CA as not just what we see in front of our naked eyes, people really sacrifice a lot just to make one meeting full of God and full of joy. So whenever I felt weary because of serving, the thought of this instantly woke me up. I know that I am not alone in this journey that I walked, I am surrounded by people who is equally tired but they still press on, knowing the eternal reward towards the end. I will never walk alone.

Another thing that encourages me a lot through out my journey with CA is the seniors. They really played a big part of my life during my first year because as cloud of witnesses, they encouraged us to throw off everything that hinders us and let us run with perseverences the race marked out for us, as what Hebrews 12 : 1 says. They cared for us not out of obligations but out of love. I still remember during my MMS (orientation week) I was freaked out when I was not provided with a spoon or fork to eat my meals and the facilitators didn't seem to care, so I have to go around asking for spoons or simply eat with my hands. However, I notice some seniors who went around smiling and talking to people so I joined in. That was when I got my first CA flyer and an invitation to a church I intended to join. Looking back, indeed God's hand was at work to provided me with a 'home' when I was so far away from my hometown.

When the seniors graduated one by one and they left INTEC, leaving us a bunch of juniors whom we can left a legacy to, just like how our seniors did. Being the only batch with 5 semesters, I see how my juniors and super-juniors grow. They went from being totally confused about everything in INTEC till they become men and women after God's own heart. Sometimes I do feel like they grow so much faster than me and I was always reminded again and again that I must do some catching up. Every batch of CA has their own unique style of handling every CA meeting. And I really enjoy every meeting because I know the effort they put in every CA, from transport to praise and worship, flyering to refreshment, ushering to decoration, mc-ing to games etc etc and all these I believe will be turn into lives. So dearest juniors, do not give up when difficulties come but commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed.

I really don't know what God has prepared for me after I left INTEC, but I trust that God will prepare my way. Every CA has been such a wonderful time in INTEC, it's probably the only thing that I enjoyed doing in the past two and half years. But now, it's time to let go of CA and expect more from God in the future. CA has really been a stepping stone in my journey of faith and I can't always hold on to the experience with CA until I get stuck in my spiritual growth. I must step out of this comfort zone that has been such a blessing for me and prepare to have more CAs to come in Germany!