Korean Friends

Anyeong haseyo! Early this year, around March, I received an email from a Korean girl inviting me to a free korean class every week. (Before this there were some Koreans who came to Malaysia for a short mission/study trip and I get to know some of them. Then one of them pass my email address to the Korean girl who was offering free Korean classes.) At first I was a bit skeptical but then I thought: "why not?" since its free =) Furthermore, I was addicted to a Korean drama called Princess Hours and it somehow triggered my interest to learn korean =p

So I went ahead. Little did i know that I will be making several Koreans friends whom I admit are the one of the nicest people around. The first korean class there was only me and another girl, Lee Sun (2nd year Engineering Faculty). The korean class was held in a condo and it was owned by a korean couple. When we finally met, the korean girl introduced herself as Miso(not her full name) and she looks more like a Malaysian than a Korean. She is cute!

The korean couple has 2 little daughters(Sarah and Yurah) who are very cute>.< (Yes, they look really Korean). There was another Korean guy living with them whose name was Peter and he also taught us in the korean class. We started our lesson by learning the 5 basic vowels and we were given a textbook each. The class lasted like 1 and a half hours. After that, we were served with a delicious meal of korean food! And each meal there is always kimchi=) And before we leave, we would sing a korean christian song^^

I really enjoyed the korean class and I was there almost every week(we stop for 2 months during the semester break). Now the class have grown to about 5-6 regular people. Occasionally, we would have a small korean party during the weekends and we would play korean games and enjoy korean food! I enjoyed those moments very much! One thing about the korean class that strike me the most is their hospitality. They are all Christians by the way and Sarah's dad is a pastor in Korea. They are willing to come to Malaysia just to have free koreans class for us and even provided us with free meals. Somehow in my heart I feel ashamed that even our own Christians don't go that far just to evangelize to people from other country. And they took pains to learn English for that very purpose. May God bless them for what they have done!

Pics:

Our first meeting!

Making Kimbab! Korean style sushi!

The korean class(not all are present)

Making korean ice-kacang! (Patbingsu) Delicious^^

Drizzt Do'Urden

I finally bought the 6th book for the Legend of Drizzt: The Halfling's Gem. It's a fantasy book about a Dark Elf, Drizzt and his adventures. So far it has been an interesting read^^ The only thing missing from it is romance but the rest like friendship, adventure and humor(only a little) are present in the book. I'd like to share what Drizzt said which I think was quite good:

"I am dying. Every day, with every breath I draw, I am closer to the end of my life. For we are born with a finite number of breaths, and each one I take edges the sunlight that is my life toward the inevitable dusk.

It is a difficult thing to remember, especially while we are in the health and strength of our youth, and yet, I have come to know that it is an important thing to keep in mind- not to complain or to make melancholy, but simply because only with the honest knowledge that one day i will die can I ever truly begin to live...For only when a person completely and honestly accepts the inevitability of death is he free of the fear of it.

...Perhaps the greatest evil I see in this existence is when supposedly holy men prey upon the basic fears of death of the common folk to take from them. "Give to the church!" they cry. "Only then will you find salvation!"...

...I can only look at it and sigh, for as death is the greatest mystery, so it is the most personal of revelations. We will not know, none of us, until the moment is upon us, and we cannot truly and in good conscience convince another of our beliefs.

It is a road we travel alone, but a road that I no longer fear, for in accepting the inevitable, I have freed myself from it...

I cannot control the truth of death, whatever my desperation. I can only make certain that those moments of my life I have remaining are as rich as they can be.

-Drizzt Do'Urden

STOMP 2010 Part IV

PART IV- Continuation of mission 2

Day 11-13 Rumah Panjang Nanga Buai
I think this is going to be the last part... I think. By the way, I forgot to mention that we went to a multi-level waterfall when we were at the first RP. It was so nice I tell you >.< Can get free massage there somemore. Anyway, back to RP Sg. Pinang. In the morning we had 'mee sedap' for breakfast which was cooked by us^^ it was yummy! After breakfast, we said goodbye to the people in RP Sg. Pinang. As we went back to Pangkalan, I begin to feel very itchy on my hands and legs for no reason. Then I noticed there are many red spots around my hands and legs almost like insect bites. When we reached Pangkalan, we drove back to Betong for a short lunch.
At Betong, we met with Team B! It was so nice to see them again. We were so eager to share our experience but Peter reminded us not to share anything yet because we will have a debriefing when we are back in Kuching. At Betong, we also met several villagers from RP Ulu Akup. When they saw the red spots on my hands and legs, they laughed and explained to me that I was bitten by the sand flies(in Iban they are called 'kerengit')These sand flies are not mosquitoes and they are even smaller than mosquitoes. And they told me the itchyness wont go away for another 1-2 weeks. =.=!
After lunch, we went to RP Nanga Buai. Pastor Tini came with us as well. When we reach there, we have to cross a bridge and walk for 15 mins. At the RP, there was no welcoming party and we live in one of the families. The RP was spilt between SIB and Anglican so we were only greeted by the people who are from SIB.(The Tuai rumah is from SIB) This RP was made mostly out of brick instead of wood and they have electricity all the day! We rested a lot when we were there. In the evening, we get to know the children and played monkey ball with them^^
We prepared the food this time for the third RP. The sarawakian students are really good at cooking! After dinner, we dint go to the church but we meet together at the 'ruai'. As usual, we introduce ourselves and have some fun activities with them.
The next morning, we went to fix a leaking pipe somewhere in the forest.(The pipes provide the people with water) We also cleaned the river from any rubbish. Then we caught some river tadpoles and 'tempuyung'. After lunch, we had a nap. At 4pm we went for gotong-royong at the church. This church is almost similar to the church in RP Ulu Akup.
After dinner, we met again at the 'ruai'. After singing some worship songs, Ps. Tini preached the gospel. Later, we did our sketch, prayed for them and gave our testimony. It's sad that these RP was split just because of different denominations. Sigh... So we prayed and hoped that they will unite and come together as Christians with one common faith.
The next morning, we left the RP after breakfast. I left feeling like we have accomplished something though there is still much needed to be done. It does makes sense since this was only a short term mission trip. We stopped at Betong again for lunch. The journey back home was very long and I slept in the car. When we reach back SHALOM, we were welcomed by some of the FES helpers. I felt so happy when I reach there =) They put up a small banner for us and paste our names at the staircase. It encouraged me so much that I felt like hugging everyone.
So STOMP 2010 ends here. I won't tell you about the debriefing but we had a great time. STOMP has left a very deep impression on me and I might become a missionary one day if God calls me. I hope you guys/gals enjoyed the 4 part series;-)

Photos:


Enjoying lunch at Betong


My lunch^^


The 3rd longhouse


'Tempuyung'-Yummy!


The bridge to the 3rd longhouse


The welcome back deco


Our journey^^

End of Part IV

STOMP 2010 Part III

PART III- Continuation of Mission

DAY 9-10 Rumah Panjang Sungai Pinang
It was our last day at RP Ulu Akup. After breakfast, we went to their church(it was a Sunday) for the last time. After singing some Iban songs, a few of us shared our testimonies. Then we acted out the modern version of the Good Samaritan. I was the Good Samaritan *bangga* hehe.. Anyways, after the sketch we sang the song "Ku Kasihi Kau Dengan Kasih Tuhan"- "I love you with God's Love". After that, Bishop Peter preached a short sermon. Then, we prayed for the people, the young, the old and also the pastor. My heart felt for these people as most of the old people are sickly. (The oldest was 120+)

After praying, we told them that we will leave the RP for RP Sungai Pinang. The tuai rumah however persuaded us to stay for lunch with them. After saying our good-byes, we reluctantly left the RP. They were sad too that we are leaving and asked us to come back again next time. We went back to the jungle track again and my left foot was not healed entirely =( But, it was amazing that it took us only 2 hours 30 min to reach the other side where before this we took 3 hours 4o min. (Please refer to PART II if you are confused)

We took another boat ride which lasted only 15mins. When we reach RP Sg. Pinang, there was no welcoming party. This RP was quite modern considering it was built in the 1990s'. One of the family even have Astro! After tea, we hang around with the people there. Found out that the women folk were quite talkative. This time we did not bath in the river because they actually have a proper 'toilet'. But the toilet is 'open' so you can't actually take off your underwear unless you want to be seen naked =p The toilet is also the place where they wash their clothes.

During dinner, I noticed that they don't serve much meat but they served a lot of vege and fish. This was because they seldom rare chickens compared to the first RP. Most of them are fisherman and farmers. Ohya, I forgot to mention that in the first RP we managed to see the famous cock-fighting. Its a sad thing I din't bring my camera to record it. The way the cocks fight was seriously good. The cocks use their sharp beak and their legs to attack their opponent. The Iban men treasured their fighting chickens and it is one of their favorite past time. One proud owner remarked that his cock has won 5 times in a row!

After dinner, we went to their church. We did the same thing we done at the first RP(eg.introduction) This church is quite new(2002) and it has some modern musical instrument like keyboard and bass guitar! The church is also spacious(can fit around 200 people). The children and the women folk prepared a dance to entertain us. The children are so cute!!! >_<

The next day, we had gotong-royong as planned. Then we helped them fill in a hole that was caused by erosion. After lunch, we had a fun session for the women. We taught them some action songs and one song was in chinese! They were really sporting. We also played the game 'telephone' to teach them the importance of telling the truth.

After dinner, we went to their church again and did the same thing we did in the first RP.

Photos:


The children performing a dance


The 'ruai'- a living area where you can hang out


The corridor


Iban woman with the trademark black pepper


Iban woman doing handicraft


My newfound 'godmother'. She said she had a relative who look just like me^^



An Iban traditional hat


Group picture after gotong-royong with the church in the background

End of PART III

STOMP 2010 Part II

PART II-The Mission Begins!

DAY 7-8 Rumah Panjang Ulu Akup
Woke up at 5am in the morning and departed from SHALOM at 6am. At the last minute, one of the participants could not go due to personal problems =( Anyway, we went by car and we reached Pangkalan(the boat place) at about 10am. Along the way, we stopped at Lachau for a break.

We had our lunch at Pangkalan. After that, we were separated into our own teams(Team A and Team B) and got into the boats. The boat ride was seriously cool and awesome!!! I will let the pictures do the talking later;-) One thing we were afraid was that all of us were not wearing any life jackets. Thank God there was no crocodile along the river. The boat ride took about 1hour++. My leg was darn cramped by the time we reached there>_< This was because we have to sit in one position and not moved throughout the boat ride.

We(My team) were greeted by the Pastor for the RP(Rumah Panjang) and some of the RP people. And so our long walk/hike to the first RP begins! Bishop Peter had warned us earlier before this is going to be long walk. And he jokingly said we might take 4 hours to reach the RP. I thought: Great...(=.=) This was my first time going jungle-trekking with a 8kg load of bag behind my back and it's seriously a torturing journey. We made good progress until we reached a stream. Then the guide shouted:" Tiga-puluh satu lagi!" All of us except Bishop Peter couldn't believe our ears. That means we have to wade through another 31 streams!

We took about 3 hours 40 mins before we finally reached the RP. Bishop Peter congratulate us that we made it within 4 hours. Lol...I was just glad we reached and I got a blister on my left foot =( When we were walking, it reminded me of Jesus who carried the burden of the cross as he went to Calvary. Thank you Jesus^^ All of us were very tired and we rested at the stream just beside the church. 15 mins later, we heard the sound of 'kompang'. It was the tuai rumah and several elders who came to greet us. Peter told us this is too good for us "missionaries" because they welcomed us like YB.

Hearing that, all of us immediately put off our tired face and followed them into the RP. Two of the elders perform the 'ngajat' for us and we circled the RP twice! When we sat down, they served us tea. I cant believe my eyes when they served the amount of food before us. There were so much food and they served us different kinds of drinks too. I remembered I drank like 6 cups!

After tea, we went for a bath at the river. It was my first time bathing in a river. And the river is clean unlike the rivers in Peninsular M'sia. After a good dinner, we went to the church for worship. That night we din't do much but we introduced ourselves. Most of us spoke in our poor Iban language that we learned. The Iban language is quite similar to Bahasa.

One interesting thing happen though, Peter was not feeling very well and he asked for some medicine from Patrick, our team first-aid guy. The funny thing was Patrick gave him the wrong medicine(ubat sakit perut) and the side effect was drowsiness. Peter felt so sleepy that night that he went to sleep early. When Peter found out the next morning, he gave Pat a good 'lashing', much to our amusement XD

The next day, after breakfast we did gotong-royong. We cleaned the church, planted some flowers, and dug a drain. In the afternoon, we had lunch. Lunch was delicious! We had some of the Iban famous dishes like bamboo rice, wild boar, ayam pansoh(chicken that is cooked using firewood) and tempoyak(fermented durian). Later, we played with the children and the youths. At night, the RP was having the Ranyai to celebrate the closing of the Gawai Festival. A banana tree was planted in the middle of the RP and some items like soft drinks, dried food, and balloons were hanged with a string on the leaf branches. Then all of us have to 'ngajat' around the tree and then we have to cut down one of the items. After that, we have to put in an offering for the church. All of us danced in a funny way and the RP people laughed at us. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it^^

By the way, the RP has no electricity so they have to depend on generators and oil lamps. It's usually hot in the afternoon but at night it's quite cooling even without the fan. The people there are very friendly, they even provide some of us with mattresses and pillows. And here I thought we are going to sleep on the hard wooden floor. Ahh..such nice people =)

Photos:

A market at Lachau


Pangkalan


The boat ride


The 3 hour 40min journey


The small stream beside the church


The elders doing the 'ngajat'


This is just tea. Look at the amount of cups each person have to drink!

End Of Part II

STOMP 2010 Part I

Hmm...I have a feeling this is going to be a long post. So please bear with me =)

Firstly, a brief introduction on STOMP. STOMP stands for Students Together On Mission Partnership. This is the 3rd STOMP and it's organised by FES(Fellowship of Evangelical Students). It is a cross-cultural mission trip and this time we will be going to Ulu S'krang of Sri Aman and Nanga Padeh of Betong, Sarawak from 12-26th June 2010. STOMP participants comprised of students from 8 campuses which are Uitm Kuching, Politeknik Kuching, iPBL, Politeknik Mukah, UMT(University Malaysia Terengganu), UM(Universiti Malaya), UPM(University Putra Malaysia), UNMC(University Nottingham Malaysia Campus). Yours truly is the only one from UM. *sob*

Basically it is a mission partnership between students from West Malaysia and East Malaysia and we will be visiting several Iban longhouses at the places I mentioned above.

DAY 1-2
All the participants from West Malaysia(STOMPERS)were to meet at a place called Crossroads in SS2, PJ. We had 2 days of training there. Among the things we did were getting to know each other through ice-breaking, physical training, preparation of testimony, and orientation for mission. I really enjoyed meeting the FES staff and the rest of the team. Thank God that there are an equal number of guys and girls! I would be terrified if all of them are girls. There were 6 girls and 5 guys including me. 4 of the guys are from UNMC. On the second day, we had an outing/dinner at Wai Sek kai, SS2.


Trying out the "boat"


One of the balloon sculpture that I learn how to make


The West Malaysia students with the balloon sculpture *master*

DAY 3
Departed from Crossroads early in the morning to catch the flight to Kuching. It was my maiden flight and we used MAS =) and I got the seat that was next to the window! God is good! When we reach there, we were brought to a coffee shop for a drink. Drank the famous 3 layer milk tea. Then we were brought to a church called "SHALOM" in Kota Semarahan. Greeted warmly by the Sarawakian students. They performed a 'ngajat'(Iban warrior dance) for us and we had a short session of ice-breaking before continuing the training with them. We were separated into 2 teams but we always have the training sessions together.


The original 3 layer milk tea

DAY 4-6
These 3 days was nothing but boring. We had tons of fun together with the Sarawakian students. And the pastor, Bishop Peter is so cool! He is a Lumbawang by the way. And his son David is soooo cute with his little pony tail >_< Even though its training, we did not felt that way. Among the things we did: learning the Iban language and culture, worship, preparing ourself spiritually, plan for the activities at the longhouse, station games, and physical training in the form of games like Captain Ball =) On the sixth day, we had shopping/outing/dinner in Kota Semarahan. We really bonded with them in just a few days.


The STOMPERS!


Bishop Peter

End of Part I