counting down unwillingly.

Finally a day to rest, thank God for that! My entire December has been packed with activities back-to-back; tiring but most fulfilling.

China was great! We toured Jiang Nan and it was a hectic 8 days where we checked in and out of 5 different hotels. We were blessed with a funny funky tour guide, a cool tour group, and great weather. No annoying wailing babies, none of those who always keeps everyone waiting, not even people who are perpetually leaving something or the other behind. Or people who have severe bladder problems such that we have to make frequent pee stops. Nothing! The trip was smooth, fuss-free, and fun! Everyone was happy. Thank you Lord.

Absolutely loved the little boys. So endearing. Melts. I miss playing games with them at various difficulty levels. Haha! "Now we play scissors-paper-stone at MEDIUM level ok!" Awww...
(Yeah by the way that was because we had been playing several rounds and little Ronald kept winning, but that WASN'T coz I was giving him chances. Crap. He must've thought otherwise though.)

Then there's Siqi who's 8 and rougher than a boy. But super sweet all at the same time. *grin*

So I got back on the 22nd, all worn out, and perplexed about not having done ANY of my Christmas shopping. I had limited shopping time in China and didn't manage to get anything for myself apart from a coat. I love coats and blazers. Spent the rest of our shopping time playing bargaining games with the shopkeepers for the sibs' LOOT. I'm the queen of bargaining and uh, proud of it. Hahaha. Siqi's mummy's right, it's not so much for the price, everything's so cheap already anyway. But just knowing you've won yet again, and succeeded in making the shopkeeper's face turn blue, all their blood vessels about to burst. It's... funny, to say the least.

China's gorgeous. The scenic bits, that is. I have thus developed a knack for taking emo scenic shots, whereas my sista has a thing for taking random people; candid shots. The gross bits of China are, very gross. My lungs have blackened by 70% from taking in 2nd-hand smoke in the short 8-days I've set foot in China. Smokes are so cheap, everyone just puffs and puffs stick after stick... To keep warm or something. After which, it's almost an instantaneous reaction whereby a hackling cough follows... not forgetting the all-too-famous spit on where ever really. Ugh.

It's a miracle they all live till a ripe old age. Then again it's always the smokers who live till 90ish still puffing happily with yellowed/rotten urm, dentures(?), and the non-smokers who die from lung cancer.

Anyhow, finally touched down in Singapore (oh and believe me when I say how our air is actually rather fresh and not that polluted), learned about the bout of torrent rain and crazy floods that invaded our sunny island over the past week when we were away. Thank God we managed to escape from it. And over in Shanghai, apparently it had been raining heaps before we arrived. But we were blessed with fantastic weather all throughout! Praise the Lord! (Desmond, our tour guide, says it's coz he's been singing "You Are My Sunshine" every night when we are asleep. HAHA.)

Ok how did I digress? So I was back, and fretting about presents and bringing a dish for the following day's party. But because God always sends angels when we need them (or not), my kind babysitter made me a Pyrex full of Hainanese porkchop to take along for the cell Christmas Party held at Germ's. I hate to admit it but I didn't have much time, and after combing Holland Village for a cool gift, I finally gave up and walked into The Body Shop for a feeble pre-packed "Christmas Gift Ideas" tiny hamper. I'm sorry. Granted, it's really quite handy. Haha I was gonna get a giant loofah!

Spent Saturday doing desperate last minute shopping together with the rest of Singapore. Mall to mall, shop to shop. For most, I didn't quite have in mind what I wanted to get so it was just aimless shopping, which got really tiring. Last minute shopping is tedious and such a chore. I absolutely hate it. But hey what choice did I have. However, I was on the hunt for a cool clock, so after I'd done the shops in town, I headed to Marina Square to check Molecule out. LO AND BEHOLD. IT WAS CLOSED BY THE TIME I GOT THERE. Frustrated as frustration gets, I was angsty and ready to give up. Long story short, I managed to find a relatively cool clock somewhere else that threatens to ring the entire block down, heh.

Got back past midnight, wrapped presents and knocked out before I had a chance to write my Christmas notes. *shrugs* Met my dear Lee-lee the following morning for breakfast at Tmall. YAY! Great to see her again, with the China air still floating around the both of us hahaha... Shared funny stories, before we headed off to church for service.

The treasure hunt(?) was supposed to start at 2 but the driver taking the kids mucked up and by the time the kids arrived from G2 and got briefed, it was almost 4 when we left G1. I declare that old people like me should probably not play games like that. Arrived at G2 at 7ish. EXHAUSTING. I'd like to think it's due to the fact I haven't had a good rest in a long time, thus the lack of energy to be running all over Singapore. Uh, yeah. Hopefully anyway.

Dinner was mediocre. The after-dinner entertainment wasn't adrenaline-pumping either. The real fun started only after the countdown, hehheh. I have NEVER heard so many lame jokes in my entire life. And there they were, feeding us with lame jokes one after another. The best part was, when we were all (ok not all) roaring with laughter at each stupid joke/riddle. And begging for more would you beat it? Yeah maybe coz it was early into the morning and we were all stoned. Then we played games. Games that sent Adora and I to a frenzy coz we were almost always the last ones to get them. We'd go like "OHHHHHHHHHHHH I KNOW ALREADY!" and turns out that it's WRONG yet again. Boo. But yay I left the party mastering all the games. YES! Finally! Save for the Fuzzy Wuzzy Bear one. And an air of triumph coz the others who joined us later were still struggling with the games. Hiak hiak hiak...

Soon, many of the youths just started dropping off like flies one by one, each hogging a row of chairs in the Chapel. We were still going on strong, chatting and playing silly games on the stage. Sun rose, Lanz and I left G2 7ish for breakfast at Redhill before I went for the Christmas service. Redefining the meaning of trudge. And dragging of feet. Went back, took a short power nap and chooped off to the other end of Singapore for another party. And Holland in the evening for yet another. Clicky this Sat!

This is getting long and incoherent so I shall just stick some photos up!