1 Swede, 1 Singaporean.
Both our worlds collided in 2004, and merged in 2009.
Our base is now Sweden, and our centre always Him.
Propelling towards an insanely exciting future!
I saw this perfect rainbow while on the way home from celebrating midsummer.
It was crystal clear, fully arched, and the first one where I could see the rainbow continuously from one end to another.
It was a beautiful sight that left us in the car speechless in awe (though poor Emil had to concentrate on driving and couldn't really enjoy it :P).
Made me muse about how the first rainbow would have been, the rainbow that appeared to Noah after 40 days and nights of rain, when the sunshine finally burst out from behind the clouds. What a sight it must have been, how awe-inspiring to have heard God's voice speaking through the rainbow, making a binding covenant never to destroy all life with a flood ever again.
God's promises and covenants. He's not a man that He should lie, and it makes me think about all the words that have been spoken over my life up till this point, all the times God whispered to me in the quiet, and gave me dreams and visions for tomorrow. I'm living to live out that dream now, and I seem to be getting there. Sometimes it feels like grasping for a rainbow, always just out of my reach. But perhaps the destination will only come on That Day, when I meet Him face-to-face and I know that life will never be the same again.
It's so good to know that He is faithful and true. That everything can change, but He will never change. That rainbows are as true today as they were thousands of years ago when the first one appeared over the earth and spoke of promises for tomorrow.
One never knows how integral the Internet has become to our lives till one loses it for a few days.
Though Emil and I didn't have Internet during our honeymoon (1 whole week!), at least it was something we went into knowingly (and so we mentally prepared ourselves to savour a week of true urban escape in the mountains of Norway).
However, when I came home from Swedish class on Tuesday and saw that the 'globe' sign which marked my Internet connection was missing, I, regretfully, actually panicked.
I think I had been relying on the Internet quite a bit to remain connected to my family and friends back home (mainly via Facebook, of course), and it had become a habit of mine to check Facebook daily. Not that I neglected other important things like learning Swedish and doing housework, but it became something I looked forward to, an 'escape' if you will, which allowed me to imagine I was still very much home in Singapore.
Emil was at work on Tuesday, and I suddenly found myself not really knowing what to do. Unable to check emails or Facebook, unable to blog, unable to surf to find that English-Swedish dictionary I've been wanting to buy at a bargain online if any, unable to even check the weather forecast for the week... And being the kind of person who can't sit still and while the time away, I had to find something to do.
So I - 1) Read 2 chapters of a book 2) Vacuumed the whole apartment 3) Washed the dishes 4) Cycled to the nearby grocery store 5) and Pounced on my husband the moment he got home.
I think I was trying to avoid the creeping feeling of loneliness.
Of course, Emil, the sweetheart he is, was very patient with me. But he also firmly told me that I could rise above this, that Internet really isn't everything, no matter how important it seemed to me at the time.
So the first day without Internet created some pretty major withdrawal symptoms in me, that when I look back now, has made me see some sides to myself that I need to deal with.
Yesterday, Wednesday, I decided to make full use of my time instead of pouting at home and staring at my computer, wishing for the 'globe' sign to reappear.
So I - 1) Watched an old movie 2) Read a book 3) Cycled downtown to the bookstore 4) Practised Swedish
And before I knew it, time flew by, Emil came home, and I also received my package from Singapore, which I had been really looking forward to. The rest of the day was quality time with Emil, just hanging out together and enjoying each other's company, without the frustration of the lack of Internet like the day before.
I really enjoyed it.
This morning, we finally got the Internet up and running. And here I find myself, catching up on all the juicy 'news' I had missed on Facebook, checking emails, and now posting a blog entry.
Strangely, I don't feel like staying in front of the computer for the rest of the afternoon.
So I shall - 1) Vacuum the whole apartment (again) and prepare it for cell group tonight 2) Wash and dry some clothes 3) Prepare fika for cell group tonight
Kind of a love-hate relationship I'm having with the Internet right now. It concerns me how dependent I've become on it, and yet, I do see it as a tool that enables almost instant communication.
Until I figure it out, I shall go enjoy Midsummer!... :)
We made greek salad to feed Barbara and Milica who haven't been eating too healthily (pizza! falafel! lack of veggies in diet!), and at least it's something I can make without Emil's help!
I need to expand my range of cooking :P
The weather was awful though. Rainy and cold, makes one feel like staying at home. Was thinking to myself if people would still want to come.
I laid the table to prepare for the cell's arrival, and placed 6 glasses on the table. Then I felt a prompting - "Is that all the people you're expecting to come? C'mon!" So I stepped out and placed almost all the glasses we had, plus more.
And what a pleasant surprise I got.
I love the cell. So many different types of people from different nationalities and different backgrounds, with different styles, yet sharing something in common - being different in the same place, but loving God who never changes.
Let's see - we have (including one who was travelling Europe with her parents and wasn't around for cell this week): 1 from Honduras 1 from Macedonia 1 from Austria 2 from China 1 from Korea 1 from the US 1 from the UK 2 from Sweden 1 from Singapore (me lah!)
And the exciting thing is, most of the people here will be staying in Sweden long term, i.e. not transitional students who come to Lund for 6 months or a year. We feel that now's the season to build up this core group, to really build strong relationships with accountability and trust, to become a magnet that would draw others unto Him through true fellowship and testimony, no matter whether they are here for 3 months or 3 years.
There's still much to be done, but God has been so good and faithful, and we really see His hand moving in our cell. We do want more though!
Holy Spirit, pls continue to work through us to support and serve where You have placed us!
Just came back from Swedish class, and am munching on pizza leftovers (Emil makes a mean homemade pizza, so am not complaining. Anything tastes good with tabasco sauce anyway ;)).
So marks the end of my first week at SFI (Swedish For Immigrants) at Komvux (there's no class tomorrow as the teacher has got some kinda 'education competition'. Ingen problem med mig!). It actually went a lot better than I expected it to. I think it's cos it's a daily morning class, for people that aren't working and studying at the same time, and hence have more time and energy and drive to learn, as opposed to many others who attend evening classes twice a week after work.
It's quite an interesting experience to learn a language from scratch actually, going through the alphabet and numbers, getting the pronounciation right (å, ä, ö). I will be very happy when I can pronounce 'sju' (the number 7 in Swedish) properly. At the moment, it's coming out as 'phew' :P Not sure if it's cos my tongue's not used to rolling in the Swedish way (like how many caucasians find it hard to grasp the 4 tones in Mandarin), but well, I gotta find a way to make myself understood in Swedish :P
For now, I'm just going to use Emil as my sounding board everyday, and count in the shower...
And of course, one learns only the practical Swedish words while watching a soccer game:
"Jag vill se många mål!" (I want to see many goals!) "Nästan!" (Almost!) "Han är syngg..!" (He's good looking!) "En gång till!" (One more time!)
Pretty cool though, after about 3 days of Swedish lessons, I can kinda understand what Emil and his brothers are saying... when they talk slowly that is :P
Need to watch more soccer games to brush up on my Swedish! Nästa - Sweden vs Hungary in Budapest!
At last, after almost 2 months of whirlwind-madness-happiness, we've finally settled down enough to design and publish our very first blog as a couple! :)
It's been a crazy ride so far, as husband and wife. After three (3!) awesome wedding celebrations across 2 continents, and a lovely (albeit rainy) honeymoon in Norway, we have begun to build our nest and home right here in Lund, Sweden. I think I've published a fair bit of photos and updates on my Facebook profile, but I shall start to systematically tie all my updates together so that regardless of whether you, our friends and family, visit Facebook or our website or my Multiply site or this blog, you'll know what's happening in our lives (at very least, once every month, but hopefully will try to keep this up everyday :) try ok? :P).
As a treat for the launch of our blog, I shall leave us with this video from our wedding, courtesy of my talented (and very single!) brother. All rights reserved :)
Will post more later (perhaps after the soccer game between Sweden and Malta later! Sweden better win by a huge margin, or else... quite paiseh leh).
