saved, by grace: June 2007

RE-EDITED. AND almost COMPLETE. ENJOY.

I'll be updating on the Osaka trip as promised. So some of you can stop chasing me! Haha. This post will be long. If you've already viewed my album in Multiply, then the photos in this post'll look familiar. Otherwise, this post will save you the hassle of going through all 292 photos in Multiply. Do take note, if you don't like looooong posts, this is not the place for you.

ALL PHOTOS in this blog are taken with my finepix z5 fd UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED. Japan photos on my Multiply site also taken with my camera. If you see the photos anywhere else besides my frienster account (,multiply, this blog) it means that someone koped it. Haha.

Charlene and Lim Xi were in charge of preparing for devotion/vesper/vasper/whatever and I must say they did an excellent job! So girls, well done!

ACJC and MGS string ensemble were there for the concert and a dinner with us, they had a separate programme. I heard that they stayed at the same hotel for their entire trip.

For this trip, the total (incl. homestay) guy girl ratio was 3:1. Kinda scary.
At least I made some new friends?

LSBC members if you're reading this...
Joshua Chen was there! Our old church mate! I've said this a few times to a few people already but not to anyone in church yet so yup, now you kow. I didn't approach him to ask if he remembers or recognises me. So other than a few eye contacts, there's nothing else.

Alright so on day minus one (lol!), we went to school to vacuum the cushions,
wrap the bell boxes with those plastic stuff,
wrap up the cushions,
touch up on the writing of scores,
etc etc. Mind you, that was almost half a day! (photos up soon. you have no idea how long is my 'soon' man.)

Day zero, we met up at terminal 2, 10pm.
Saw a lot of familiar faces from the briefing... and everyone's families.
Mrs Wong's son cried la, haha. Then we boarded the plane for a 6-hr flight. Ok unglam shot there.

Day 1:

Arrived at the airport with all our stuff, nicely parked. hahaha.

Met the tour guide, shared shared the bus with the homestay guys, and went to Kaiyukan, some aquarium. My dad would have liked it. He and his obsession with fishes. Lol. I used Heng Xuan's picture below as you can see Rumi and her orange flag! Wahahhs she's so so so cute.

I liked the penguins best.

They need to go on a diet!

Lunch was interesting. We cooked our own food.

After that.. we left for Tezukayama High School, ACS' sister school which I think specializes in the arts. This photo was taken against sunlight, if I'm not wrong.

Their koto (a Jap traditional instrument which looks like a guzheng) group played a long piece for us, followed by their string ensemble.
We were downright impressed ok. It was CLEAN and ON TUNE and together!
And maybe better than string ensembles from Sg la.

Part of the CO formed a plucked string quartet and they played something too.
They were good.
Hmm the yang qin isn't plucked wad right.

Then the homestay guys left for their own programme and the we, handbellers had the entire bus to ourselves!
Haha.. the bus driver took us to Osaka Rhiga Royal Hotel and then to Ramada Hotel for an Italian buffet.
I remember wetting my pinafore cos' I was trying out that butt-washing thing in the toilet bowl in the hotel. This is Diana's photo, I koped it from her blog.

And it looked like I stained my pinafore with blood lar!
Yeah, we did not change out and went for dinner in school uniform.
Ahem. I want to complain here.
We had to sit on the floor to eat cos' there was not enough chairs and the CO occupied all the chairs.
We were wearing skirts leh!!
And their teacher said "let the girls go first" but they didn't. Wth.
My roommates Christabel and Preethi slept early that night, and I later, cos' I was playing with that ironing thing.

Day 2:
Left the hotel with all the luggage, to Nara Prefectural Cultural Hall (as printed on the prog. sheet) for rehearsals, followed by the concert itself.
We were given a super short time to rehearse la...

Handbell was the last to rehearse and we only got to play LK and CLCTL once through. With many mistakes.
Halfway thru' one of them, the CO and string ensemble (from ACJC and MGS) went to get seated, waiting to be briefed. That's how little time we were given.
Whatever.

Everyone was supposed to gather at the reception to prepare to make a grand entrance.
Handbellers were late, as usual. (there was only one hour to eat, get changed and makeup. No time luh.)
This time Mrs Wong allowed us to let down our hair! Haha, yay.
We had to put the fake frangipani(?) which was part of the SYF/Kaleidoscope costume.
The looks on most faces (from the CO) were priceless, lol.

We screwed all 3 pieces like shit for the actual performance, yet God helped us to handle them properly.
LK - first chord was not together, countless wrong notes.
CLTCL - bass too soft, melody didn't play the first round of london bridge/ode to joy. Dynamics were... uhhhh, ..
However, the students were very auto.
They started clapping to the beat once we started playing the main melody haha.
Amazing Grace - The girls in the audience got high when Benedict the CO conductor appeared on the stage. I think they like his hair and tuxedo.
Timing was inconsistent! Same thing, a few wrong notes.. and I forgot to look up at Ben for the final part so I came in too early! Melody some more. Damn paiseh.

Tezukayama High School's orchestra pwned big time ok.
They played major parts from the Phantom of the Opera!
Including the Overture (strings imitated the organ), Think of Me, Angel of Music, All I Ask of You, a small part of Masquerade and Music of The Night.
We gave them a standing ovation. So much so that their conductor gave a 'curtain call' hahaha.

Their mandolin guitar item also pwned.
I know what made us so impressed. One of the reasons why they seemed to be better than the Singaporeans was because they had the quantity.
We didn't have that many people.

The students there are cute. They get excited so easily.
I just waved when we were making our exit and they were over the moon!

We did not get to go to Nara park where the THS cultural club students were supposed to host activities for the exchange program.
It was raining quite heavily.

And then.. we were transferred to Yoshino Ryokan for the night.
Shoes had to be left at a shoe cupboard at the entrance.
I can see my pink/white/grey shoes among the blacks =D

All of us had to wear this thing down for dinner, I dunno what it's called, robe is it?
Haha. There's a name for it.
We were supposed to just wear our undergarments underneath.
Most of the guys wear until so low la, purposely expose their chest...
(not like it's very nice)
Anyway here's some pics from dinner that day.

Roommates!

Burnt. And finally, from another table,

They weren't supposed to crack the eggs there! Stupid.

Christabel, Sherry, Deborah, Cheryl and I went to the onsen.
No pictures, it's not allowed.
It's like some hot spring where we had to strip naked in a dressing room, leave all our clothes there and shower in the public bath with only a small towel, before going in to soak.
(it's indoor, males and females separated, thank God)
We took quite awhile to strip... First time, whaddya expect?
Mrs Wong and the tour guide were there too!
Well I didn't like exposing myself.. Even though we used that small towel to cover our front, but yeah, how much could we 'protect'?
I wonder how it's like over at the guys side.
Were they struggling (to cover up) like us, or what

That night the few of us roomies (Lee Xuan Theodora Preethi Chris) talked for 2-3 hours, cos' it was warm and we couldn't sleep.
We talked about everything from Mr Fong to Mrs Wong to the ACS guys (homestay/CO) to the tour guide Rumi to Ms Gan to certain girls in school to some stuff which I can't remember and back to Mr Fong and Mrs Wong again.
That was actually a good form of bonding.
Christabel slept early.

Day 3:
Took some last minute photos of our room, packed up and lugged our luggage to the reception before heading for breakfast.

View from our room, and the room itself.

Traditional bathtub, only available in our room. haha.

Breakfast! We were early, FOR ONCE.

Yup, and we took a group photo with the CO and then realised NON of us passed our cameras to the photographer! Aaaaaaaargh. Wasted.
The staff of the Ryokan were so adorable, we shouted "sayonara" to them and they waved back! They looked so happy. So were we luh. I really enjoyed my stay there.

It was about 2 hours before we reached THS... so most of us used that time to catch up on sleep. We didn't wear our school u there. Cos' Mrs Wong only asked us to bring one set there.
Speaking of Mrs Wong, I was very surprised that she did not comment on my attire that day!
Cos' it was.. a bit 'complex', not like what she told us to wear, simple t-shirt and jeans. (i think)
I didn't know that my bra strap could be seen from the back until we stepped into the hotel that night la. I thought it would blend in with my spaghetti strap.
Enough about my attire and Mrs Wong. Haha.

From what I know... we were supposed to go for some folklore music workshop?
But we didn't. I felt so cheated pls.
We had a calligraphy and flower arrangement class instead. Hurhur.
It wasn't too bad, I got praised by the THS principal, Theodora's favourite ang moh guy, Mrs Wong, and someone else I forgot.
That's something, cos' it's my FIRST ATTEMPT at calligraphy!

Not this one la.. was just bored. The face is so cute! Yeah, then that's Christabel and I below.

And the flower arrangement thing. We had to throw the flowers away in the end. Can't go thru' customs.

We proceeded to their music room for observation for awhile...
The students sang for us

I can't comment much about that cos' I'm no choirster (?).
And later played a very out of tune Edelweiss for us, with Mr Fong as the pianist.

Apparently, it's compulsory for them to learn how to play the violin. The string ensemble conductor, who's also their teacher, mentioned that he has about 500 students under his wing.
Wow.
They're so lucky! And I noticed something. They're all girls.
Here's a photo of the 2 conductors, obviously not ready for the camera.

Eh the girls in the background extra lah!

It was quite an experience at THS.
I wonder how they can tahan their skirt and socks, I mean they wear it so high up and here in Sg we're dying to have everything low.
Uhm, unless you count PL's sewn-on belt which is almost always high up the waist.
Or as some sec 4s call it, 'bra belt'.
Actually it's not that bad lah, I'm starting to like the PL uniform. Just STARTING.

Back to topic. We went to this restaurant in Shinsaibashi for a very filling lunch, with the guys from the home stay prog. joining us. Remember I mentioned that they left for their own program (or is it programme? i'm confused man) on day 1.

Group photo! Hahaha we always torture the photographer by passing him/her about 10 cameras.

PL lites then held up the entire group cos' we needed the toilet -.-

After lunch, we went to the Nissin Ramen Museum. Or factory. See la I'm confused again.
Basically it was nothing much, just telling us a bit of it's history showcasing their wide variety of instant noodles.

Nissin happens to be my favourite cup noodle brand =)

We were given some free time to roam around..
So the handbellers were at this corner, something like a snack corner with vending machines.
And then something happened at one of the vending machines which made me feel hot all over, it was embarrassing all right.
I don't think I wanna give a recount of that.

I think it was here that the guys gave us girls quite a big surprise, or maybe it was just me. I can't remember exactly when, but when we were walking towards the bus or ready to go up the bus, all the homestay guys were standing outside, they actually let us go up first! Like, first time! And I wondered, since when did they become gentlemen. That's how wow-ing it was. haha. ok.

The bus drivers drove the whole lot of us to Shinsaibashi in the late afternoon/early evening to explore a little, before having a Chinese dinner at Taiseikaku with the other methodist schools. So it was MGS, PLMGS, ACJC and ACSBR.
Dinner. Was. Horrendous.
It's a pity that both my camera and handphone battery died at that time, otherwise I would have taken a photo of the amount of leftovers from our table!
If only Ling Ying was present! Haha.
Apart from that, everything else was good. We were laughing every few seconds.

That night at ANA Gate Tower Hotel after devotion, bath and a noisy game of uno/modified heart attack with Mrs Wong, the sec 4/5 minus Christabel (she wanted to sleep) had another round of 'bonding', like what we did the night before.
No lah it was just talking. This time with Charlene around. She pang seh Lim Xi!

Day 4:
Rrrrrise and shine at 6 plus, oh I forgot to mention that in Japan, the sun rises damnit early.
I'm not sure exactly what time it says 'hi' to us, but we wake up at 5 or 6 plus and it's there already. So it kinda feels like 7 something in Sg.

Instead of the usual coach, the organisers wanted us to have a more 'authentic' experience so we took the train instead. To Universal Studios Japan.
We had morning singspiration at the platform! Cool right! I've always liked morning sinspirations, just that our school's quite dead. If only everyone would just OPEN THEIR MOUTHS AND SING.

Now this is cool.

As you can see, the train was rather empty when we got up. I don't know about the other carriages, but for ours, when people came swarming in, we gave up our seats to the elderly and the cheng2 nian2 ren2. Call us gracious Singaporeans =)

They have a compartment up there for commuters to put their stuff. Oh since this guy's in the picture below, let me describe what happened in the lift the night before, in that ANA hotel. Some of the girls (me included) went into the lift with our luggage, ready to go up to our rooms. There was space for about 2 people, so this guy came in, thinking that his friend would go in too. But he didn't. As the lift door closed, I heard him mumble "shit I dunno which floor". O_O The lift reached the 35th floor and he stood inside the lift while all of us moved out. His room obviously wasn't there. Then Mrs Wong saw and she asked if he was coming out/ which floor he's going to.. something along that line luh. But he went "uhm... I forgot which floor I'm staying at." And Mrs Wong was like "huh?!?! you need help or not?" The reply, " err.... no need" "sure?" "yah.." "you sure ah??" "erm wait I think need." "yes or no??" "erm yes yes yes." Damn cute la! His actions I mean. Lol and then Mrs Wong went back to the lobby with him. End of story.

Birds are a rare sight in Japan, so when I saw these 2 pigeons, well, I found them rather adorable... Not that I miss seeing birds or anything...

The ticket

Sesame Street train

And here we are! The long-awaited USJ!

We were given a few hours, 4 I think, to roam around.

The whole PL group went for 2 rides, Jaws and Jurassic Park, together.
I think Jaws was a complete waste of time. It's just sitting in the boat and see fake sharks popping out, then some real fire and poof, you're done.
I was at the front row for the Jurassic Park ride, and y' know, none of us bought the stupid poncho. So the 1st 2 rows got quite wet.

The long queue, and the bored tourists.

It was only after this ride that we *finally* split into 2 groups, cos' we could not agree on whether to go for that Hollywood Dream ride, or just shop.
Both sides had different views.
Being more adventurous, the sec 4/5 minus Christabel, together with Dora, Sherry and Charlene went to queue for that scary-looking roller coaster ride under the sun (again the sun).
When it reached our turn.. I actually thought to myself,
omg what am i doing?? did i make the right choice?
But before I could go on, the ride started -.- I remember screaming my head off throughout the ride. Like that more fun mah.
The first drop really sent my heart popping out pls!

Was as if we were all going to fall out.
As if that wasn't enough, we went to queue for it a second time!
This time the queue moved very fast. And the ride wasn't as thrilling as the first time.
We used our remaining time to grab some lunch and shop for gifts.

Honestly there wasn't enough time!

As if we hadn't stood enough, we were transported to Shinsaibashi /Dotonbori, where we had been on Day 3. It was free & easy for us. We (PL) also split into 2 groups. Preethi, Dora, Debra, Charlene, Lee Xuan, Theodora, Sherry and I in one, the rest in the other.

Looks familiar, no?

This is a shopping haven for shopaholics like yours truly, haha, just that I didn't have enough luggage space. Drats.
You know, I still have 11000 yen in my (temporary) wallet! That's like SGD140.
I so didn't buy enough stuff la!
This is the 100 yen shop. Add service charge (5 yen) and everything becomes 105 yen each. Which is around SGD1.30. I wanted to by their socks but decided it was too embarrassing. For I dunno what reason. Sherry! Now I regret not buying!

This is our meeting place. See, that's Rumi's flag again! And why is Theophilus' head always inside my photos?!?!

Inside the Big Camera, on one of the floors, there was a huge mascot for one of the brands there, it was giving out free hugs.
I wanted to take a photo of it. However...

Finally!

Their escalator, note that the Japanese all stand at their right side, making it very easy for rushing people to run or walk quickly up or down the escalator. Unlike in Singapore, where we stand to the left side. Or better still. Occupy the whole thing.

We met some of the homestay guys who asked if they could tag along for dinner..
Actually Heng Xuan did all the talking on behalf of the guys.
Nothing much, just... dinner. The food was great!

Are you hungry? Cause I am. haha
The lady at the restaurant we went to could speak Mandarin and that amazed us. A little.
Here we have a small group photo, I still don't understand why Melvin agreed to be the photographer. I mean, doesn't he want to be in the photo too?

We kept losing sight of one another. First we lost Lee Xuan and Debra at the 100 yen shop.
So we went for dinner without them. Mean, I know.
But we didn't have time.
After dinner, we lost found the 2 of them, then lost Theodora, Charlene and Lee Xuan.
How nice. We lost the guys too.
So that's about it, we just walked back to the Big Camera and took a bus back to the hotel.

View from my room

That night was just omg la.
I'll talk about it, but only very briefly.
Something happened. And we (4 ppl) were debating whether to tell Mrs Wong about it or not.
We decided that it was wrong to keep quiet.
Still, we took quite awhile to do so because my very smart room mate Christabel forgot to take the hotel key card when all of us left the room -.-
Oh, whatever.
A "court session" was held at our 35th floor corridor and man, was it intense.
(this was taken on day 5 before heading for breakfast)

Some of us were there as witnesses, or rather, extras.
What that "case" was, I will not say. The "case" has been closed as at 17 June 2007, 0300.
It was then that the teachers also found out that the barker guys had been doing something and I think that prompted them to do a surprise check which got some people into trouble, though I don't know the exact details.
All I can say is, that was a terrible night.

Day 5:
This was the day we left with heavy hearts.
Our room,

the cigarette vending machine which you'll NEVER EVER see in Sg,

some luggage,

musical instruments truck,

group photo AGAIN. Mr Fong took this photo. And he was asking, "how come got so many squares wan?" when he saw the camera screen. "It's called 'face detection'. It detects faces." -.- Is that cute, funny, or 'antique'?

I should have asked these 2 instructors/conductors to pose nicely instead of taking a candid shot. They look so... yucks.

Mrs Wong bought "limited edition" Pocky the night before, and distributed the whole lot of it to us (PL/homestay) in the bus. Thanks Mrs Wong! You can see her playing with her new umbrella here. Haha!

This is Kansai International Airport. And the queue to get out luggage and instruments checked.

Haha, here's the "magician"! Sorry inside joke.

There was a guy in front of my in the queue who was struggling with a huge bag and 3 instruments, I'm guessing they were yang qins. Where were his buddies?? We had to help him push his stuff.

We then waved goodbye to our loving and adorable tour guides (actually the only loving and adorable tour guide is Rumi san and her flag.) She said she'd miss us... awww I'm missing her now. She was so motherly...

I must say, I love SIA.
But I did not try the Singapore Sling! So wasted can! Hui Ling, why you never remind me to try before I left Sg?

I think the Singapore custom/immigration is darn cool, cos' of the automated device for those above 15 years old.
All you have to do is put the first page of your passport at the thing, whatever it's called, and then the first barrier will open.
The next step is to press your thumb down hard onto the fingerprint scanner. Again, I dunno what it's called so I just gave it a rubbish name =D
And then the second barrier will open, then you're done!
It's that simple!
Ok whatever. Anything. I sound as if I'm helping them to advertise their touch-and-go automated method.

Wan Yi this is for you! Go crop it yourself ^^

Congratulations (malmark '05) bells, this is your very first overseas trip with the PL Handbell Choir.

That's it.

When I saw everyone's families at the airport, ready to "collect" them, I was quite overwhelmed with emotion...
[The whole trip had come to and end. But that's not the main point. Please read on.]
It (the sight of the families) shows how much Singaporean students are loved by their parents,
how fortunate they are to have someone to pick them up from the airport after a school trip, etc.
And my family was (actually it's 'is') in KL for a church camp, which meant(means) that I could not (cannot) see them for another half a week.
While everybody else was smiling away, happy to reunited with their families, something pulled me down.
I was going to take a bus home.
A public bus.
With my humongous bag.
I tried to make myself stop crying la but I just couldn't.
Especially when Theodora said Wan Yi and Wen Xin were on their way to the airport.
I continued to cry lor, now it sounds like I'm some emokid but I'm not.
I was just touched that they were making an effort to come and see us.
Which also meant that I didn't have to take the bus alone.
Oh well, they really cheered me up and I'm so so so so thankful for that.

Until now =D

My family will be back tomorrow, oh wait, it's today. Haha.
If you, my dear reader, really managed to read this WHOLE post, until the end of this sentence, the full stop, well then I take my hat off you, please tag to say you did it, it's an achievement! .

saved, by grace

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

-

Friday, June 22, 2007

bits and pieces

Thursday, June 21, 2007

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Trip to Osaka, Japan with ACS BR