We were greeted by pleasing arrays of autumn leaves when we left the airport for our first destination...this is how we began the 7 days korea tour...We reached at about 6 plus singapore time... very early wake up for me. first destination was near the Blue House - Korea's white house. It is actually heavily guarded. The weather was cool for this first day. We then went to Namdaemun to shop for awhile before going to Jeju to spend our next 3days.

Jeju has very nice sea and mountain scenary... many ppl told me that it is a beautiful place for honeymoon but i haven really discover the reason y... mayb it's because i went with a tour group? Our tour guide is a taiwan born but married to a korean woman. She speaks like any taiwanese and she converse well in korean also. I liked her as she gave us very good background of korea history and is quite thoughtful to us. We were brought to a part of seoul where you go along this mysterious road where the gravity goes opp. As the tour bus comes to a stop, it slowly went uphill without engine. a very intriguing sight...

the mysterious road

We were first introduced to the cultural museum at Jeju.. a place where we saw how they lived and how their culture is like.. then on 2nd day we were brought to a tranquil hill area where there is horse riding and nice calm sea. My most satified accomplishment for trip is that me and jenny conquered the hill by reaching the top tog! it's not high la... just 180m over only.. anw, this was where i bought the jeju chocs for colleagues and frens..

I was quite surprised by our first breakfast at Jeju it was a green seafood porridge and it tasted fabulous? anw.. it was only 6plus in the morn when we had this...

Our tour bus went to this place where they introduced us to a scene where DaChangJin was shoot then this lady who is an extra in the drama washing clothes when the female lead appeared..just for 2 secs. She later persuade us to buy honey and other produccts from them.

the lady and one of us...

Jeju also has a nice waterfall garden....we went there for abt one hr and took these photos:

At windmill garden.

the best experience at Jeju came when we visited the teddy bear museum... very interesting display of the teddy bears in various historical marks and scenes.

the future world

Tearing down of Berlin wall.

China buried soldiers..

Marilyn Monroe..

Teddy Bear Fashion Show

teddy bear stall.. =)

the ultimate - God and Adam

teddy bear house

our seafood dinner for the night...at Jeju

eating live octopus

our next day lunch.. fried nian gao!

 reaching the harbour to Naminara Island

Naminara Island

To be continued..

Choir had an interesting session 2 weeks ago to orientate the new members - Doreen, Ruth, Matthew, Stella and Kim.. they are all interesting ppl to know. Howjoo came up with an interesting idea of getting everyone to pick a song then we need to introduce each of ourselves before singing the song...yah, everyone got to sing...=) first time ever. I really like this group alot.. talking about bonding and having alot chemistry... and spiritually as well, i can sense each of us playing a part in giving moral support to each one. I am beginning to get excited for choir as the church is moving to a new venue... we will have a bigger team and serve a bigger congregation. of course i see myself progressing as well. who noes, i might be in the support singers group in 1 year to come. in any case, i'm glad to see our church advancing. I believe that God's power is moving among us..

ask me abt my view on getting hooked...and on the way to the bonding call marriage? i dont know... sometimes i thought it became a traditional route to take for both genders... to get involved in the opp gender's agenda then find yourself pre-occupied with unending domestic errands and responsibilities.

This year has been a witnessing weddings and baby booming year for me - Seeing my close friends getting married and bearing kids. good news came about early aug to late sep on my friends' successful deliveries. I felt joyful for them...they had a new member added to the family! one of them suffered several miscarriages before the boy came. For them i can imagine unsuppressible joy and thanks for the new creation by God's grace.

well. what's next? that will be the responsiblity of giving them the best basic education, seeing them grow up strong and healthy, being exposed to right environment, grow up with the right friends and etc, then... wish that they will get married well like the parents themselves? and so the cycle continues. What do we get out of this? joy of being part of life process? hmm..

anw,  i felt pressure as i started working at my new workplace. Though i wish to have a partner soon, but i'm not rushing into any relationship with any tom, dick or harry... I think my colleagues don't view this as important - to be together with the right person. i think they felt that to have your need fulfulled and enjoyment is the most important. Of course these are important to me as well but i cant bring myself to be with someone whom do not have the same belief as me - believe that we are created by someone higher and that we need Him to empower and nourish our lives! they asked if i can accept a non believer then help him to convert later on? hmm...impossible. 90% of such bondings failed terribly. Most of the believers backslided to the other way or remain complacent. This is not what i want. At this moment, i have this belief - it's either i get married to a believer or i rather remain single. Nothing less than that. most of my friends are married and kids are on the way. im alr in the midst of getting through these 'peer pressure'. there's nothing worse than this. so i can only wait for my turn or just remain at where i am.

my friends may think that i'm silly or it's just impossible to reach my dream. but that's not true to me. To be married well is very important. i dun wanna struggle half or more than half of my life balancing my believes or living with a a man who do not share the same interest. To me, rushing into marriage is just getting into starbucks but buying the worst coffee. i look around at the most blissful marriages, they are really enjoying themselves...enjoying the life process with their spouses through thick and thin..having God in the centre of their relationship and seeing miracles happening around them. that's the kind of marriage i want. =)