Back from hazey Kuala Lumpur...

I just got back from hazey KL! For those of you overseas, just bit of context... Indonesia has been burning lots of forest for agriculture and it has resulted in this horrible haze across Asia, especially in East malaysia... KL is in West Malaysia but the effects of the haze can still be felt. It looks like it's misty and cool, when it's actually HAZEY. BAd for the eyes and nose. Thankfully we were indoors the whole week, if not, I think my sinus would have acted up real bad! Thanks to Dr Leong too, who gave lots of ammunition for the week in KL, in case my nose act up... =)

Anywayz, it was a week long conference with colleagues from 13 countries in Asia Pacific. It's really quite a learning experience. I feel like I'm back in college again, just that the class is made up of all Asians. To be exact, COMPETITIVE Asians. Haha... before my colleagues and I left (3 of us), my director came up to me and told me... "Try your best and do us proud yeah? "I was like *blink blink*.. I hope he's not expecting me to get the top student prize or anything! I'm really not that smart... talk about PRESSURE!!

Anywayz, course was REALLY intense! Lots of group work, case studies, questions... the toughest part was working with the colleagues from the other countries. We all have different working style, different communication skills... let's just say it was QUITE a challenge!!! Some funny things happened here and there... on the whole, i must say I learnt a lot but think I would have enjoyed it better if it was held in say Bangkok! Hee... my group had one Vietnamese, one Malaysian, one Japanese, one Korean, one Thai, one Indian and me- one Singaporean! On the whole, my group worked ok together... we didn't win any prizes, but I think we tried our best! Which is the most important...

Take aways from the week:
1. I felt really dumb at points of time during the week! Seeing how fast and smart the rest are, I was like... man, I'm old. It's time to upgrade myself. Haha... but I had to remind myself that God sees us as we are and accepts us the way we are (in terms of personality, not our sinful self)... I guess at work, I should try to improve myself... leverage on my strengths and brush up on my weak points... but it's just that sometimes I feel that there's no end... I guess that's because no one is perfect and there's always room for improvement! Should take it easy... thank God that salvation is not based on how smart we are or how well we perform...

2. The well of fellowship was SO dry... haha. It's not good really! I really appreciate the Christian fellowship I have back home much more now... really cannot take it for granted. Cos the course was real busy, i didn't have much time to read or pray, or rather, sometimes, I make the conscious decision to watch tv and chat with my colleagues.. =( Bad... the only christian I talk to the whole day is XLQ at the end of the day when I call him at nite... and the only real time I spend with God is when I say grace before meals. So pathetic...

3. Sharing with my colleagues... before I went, I was praying for chances to talk about the gospel... I don't know if it's because I didn't try hard enough, but there weren't really much conversations that could lead to gospel chat... was bit disappointed cos usually when I go on trips with pp, I do get opportunities here and there to chat about things... sigh. But I got to know my 2 other colleagues much better and I pray that I will learn to build on this foundation to talk about more in depth life issues with them and challenge them about God. =)

Ok, I will try and post some photos soon cos I realize my blog is a tad boring cos it's all WORDS! Haha...