Of New Experiences

what a week. on thursday i had my first taste of serving during care group, and over the weekend i had a chance to venture to a place i've never seen before - batam. here's the photo journal of the experience:

first glimpse of the village

the chaos before we begin

things settle down with the help of the army doctor

the pharmacy


the idyllic fishing village...


...where there are flimsy boardwalks instead of footpaths...


...and kids play goli on hot afternoons


the scene at the second village. notice the queue snaking out the door


the kid named power


praise and worhip during sunday service


kids at sunday school!


both teams saw nearly 700 patients in one day. they were more a blessing to us then we to them. even though i didn't get to interact much with the local folk since i was assigned to the dispensary, it was apparent that we were doing something useful for them. the fishing village at barelang was our first stop, a place where the kids flew kites and played the traditional game of goli after lunch, and goats coming to sniff at our medication box. the adults mostly had high blood pressure from eating salted fish so medication and advice was given regarding that. this seems to be one of the most rural places this mission has visited, so rural that there are no roads only dirt tracks, and you have to close all the windows in the van to prevent yourself from being coated with a fine layer of brown sand.

the next village was not as rural but had a huge turn out, much more than was anticipated. not surprising though, since each mother came with three to four children in tow, all sick. soon, the lot of us were very deft at counting pills, writing out labels and diluting antibiotics! haha.

sunday service and the mission clinic was held at the bible school which is our contact in batam. it was an uplifting service, not to say the least when they opened with a new crea p&w song! amazing where the grace preaching can reach huh? even more amazing was that the kids in sunday school were learning it too, with actions included! that really made my day.

it's back to the wards again tomorrow, but i'm certain this won't be my last trip to batam. heh.

Of Great Leaps

this month has been and will be a month of great leaps. decisions to be made, both for myself and on the behalf of others, steps into the unknown, and self-reflection. have no idea how all these things came about, but yes, amazing grace shall lead me through.

Of A Close Shave

while driving these two days of the lunar new year, i saw several car vehicle accidents, one so bad that one of the cars involved had its trunk smashed in and the brake lights all hanging out. and of course i thought to myself, man i am so -not- going to get into an accident at this time of the year.

guess what? i nearly did.

i was heading down buona vista road today and was approaching the junction just next to the moe building. the lights were green for those going straight and those turning right towards ghim moh, so i just kept my course.

all of a sudden, this car coming from the opposite direction turned and ended up right ahead of me. for a split second, the driver did not even notice me and kept going, keeping us in a collision course. then in the nick of time the car stopped, and all i had to do to avoid an accident was to swerve to the left.

i wonder, had not the car been of such a garish colour for me to notice it (the car was electric blue) and had there been cars to my left, if a horrific accident would have happened. the car was right ahead of me and at the speed that i was traveling (which isn't fast since my car can't go beyond eighty without complaining) i could not have stopped in time. we might have just bumped bumpers, but at worst, bonnets would have been crushed and injuries sustained.

i have no idea what that silly woman in the other car was thinking. maybe she was arguing with her passenger, maybe she didn't see me because of the concrete divider or the sun was in her eyes, maybe she was new driver with poor judgment. whatever the case was, i am grateful that everyone's in one piece. my parents didn't realise what was going on until i swerved. haha. thank God!

paeds elective starts next week, and i sure am looking forward to it! heh.

Of Post Pros

and so most of us breathed a sigh of relief when our names were found missing from the viva list. given that our second year ca marks weren't fantastic, and our paper comprised questions on inflammatory bowel disease and medico-legal aspects of reporting a sudden death in the hospital, i think we all did pretty well. it's on to fifth year!

now that it's post pros with cny coming up, i've got a chance to go out and do normal things like meeting friends over good meals (food blog is updated!), shopping and just doing stuff without the word "p r o s" hovering at the back of my mind.

some unpleasant things have surfaced regarding my plans for may and june, and...they're really unpleasant stuff. i'm -this- close to throwing in the towel regarding certain things and strangling some people. i'm just astounded as to how uncivil and gutless these people can be, and quite honestly, it disgusts me.

no matter though. as jp shared during befriender's meeting last week, you never know when blessings can hit you, and from where. plus, it's chinese new year. it's time to eat, drink and be merry.

gong xi fa cai everyone!