Merry Christmas Everyone!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

It's that time once again where we celebrate the birth of Jesus, spend quality time with our family and friends and get fat on food!

The weather isn't so great today, so I'm not too sure what we've got planned for today but hopefully we won't be stuck at home for the whole day!

Anyway I'm off to open some presents! I will be back on to report on the day later. 

Have a great day everyone!

A Christmas Card!

I got my first Christmas card from someone who isn't my student! Thanks Joanna! To be fair, she did write a Christmas card to hundreds of people, but that's still cool. The message made me smile!

A Card from Korea

I got a surprise in the mail today. Ruby, one of my friends from high school posted a Christmas card to me all the way from Korea! She wrote a really nice letter inside for me too!

It's really cool getting letters from others. It doesn't happen very often, hardly ever actually! It's also cool keeping in touch with friends you haven't seen in years and who are also miles and miles away!

Thanks heaps Ruby!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Christmas has definitely crept up on me this year! Usually I would have time to buy presents and send Christmas emails out to people, but this year has all been a rush! I don't know what it is, whether it's because of work, or because we just recently had church camp.

Regardless, I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas. May you use this day of non-commercial, rubbish television as an opportunity to spend more time with the family and enjoy their company, no matter how much you cannot tolerate them!

I'm not too sure what I've got planned for Christmas today except church, lunch with the family, and then possibly a BBQ with church friends. Hopefully we'll also be able to check out the Christmas lights around the city as well.

Anyway, have a great day today and I'll be sure to fill you in on how I spent Christmas Day in 2011.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkN5M-nJx6A)

Sharing the Love

Tonight was the last Oddfellows Youth Group for the night, and so we had a larger turnout than usual. That could also be attributed to the fact that we were exchanging Secret Santa gifts tonight as well! I had to organise it and so I was a little afraid that someone would receive two presents, or one person would get nothing. I got people to pick names and record them on a list without me knowing, so I didn't have any idea who had who!

We also decided to do something a little different for youth group worship too. I came up with an idea to form a band a couple weeks ago, as I knew it would be Jireh's last youth group and Jireh and I have always discussed and dreamt of having a band at church. I thought it would be a great idea to surprise him! We only had one practice a couple days ago though, so we weren't the most prepared. I had also spent most of the morning looking for a Secret Santa present, so I hadn't properly prepared a message to go along with the songs I was leading.

I was on bass guitar, but since I didn't have one at home and the last time I had practised on one was the first time at Grace's house, borrowing her brother's guitar! I just had to make it up on the spot!

I think we went OK, although the rest of the youth group (if you knew Oddfellows you'd think it was typical!) didn't show much enthusiasm. We sang You Won't Relent by Misty Edwards and Our God is Greater by Christ Tomlin to start off with, and they didn't sing too loudly. I could hear some people singing along to our last song Power of Your Love though, probably since they should be quite familiar with that song by now!

After worship, we all sat in a circle on stage to receive our Secret Santa presents! Quite a few people got soft toys.

Tim got a Doraemon soft toy (his favourite!), while some got necklaces, t-shirts/dresses and vouchers. I got Playboy cologne! Thanks Jenny! Apparently she had originally bought this t-shirt from Jay-Jays for me, but then saw me wearing it at camp!

The person I had to buy for was Lisa. I ended up getting her some jewellery. What was funny was that originally I had Jenny, and she had me, but Lisa asked if she could be included in Secret Santa, and so I gave her Jenny while I took Lisa!

We then went around the circle, sharing what we were grateful for this year. I said that I was grateful for friends and Oddfellows as they've given me a life this year, especially with full-time work.

We then finished the night with a farewell to Jireh. Some of us shared stories about him and what we've enjoyed and appreciated, and Jireh left us with a few words of advice about how we all should make time for God.

We presented our farewell present to him - a collage of past and current Oddfellows group photos, a Rugby World Cup soft toy with signatures on it, and a farewell card made by his sister Joylynn.

It was a great way to end the night and what made it even better was seeing one of the old Oddfellows members Brendan come to visit. We haven't seen him in quite a while! It's good to see that he's well.

Photos courtesy of Tim Sze

Celebrating Aonghas's 21st

Aonghas has finally hit the 21 mark, and and so we decided to celebrate like only we know how - have dinner together!

Originally we were thinking about going to the place in Mt Albert that we always go to, but Aonghas wanted to try somewhere different, so we went to this food court in the CBD.

There were so many different food stalls to choose from, all with different types of food - Malaysian, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, Indonesian and of course Chinese!

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9H7UJYPTqfo)

It took a while for all of us to choose what we wanted, but in the end we all made our own decisions. My dad went Malaysian, Hamish had Thai, Aonghas chose Korean, my mum had Chinese and I ended up having Japanese, or Teriyaki Salmon Don to be more specific! 

Hamish struggled with his dish as it was quite spicy. He went back to ask for a cup of water, and an on-looker commented that he looked like he was struggling!

My dish tasted quite nice and there weren't any bones in my salmon! I had a hard time asking the lady before paying if there were any bones. She would just smile and say it was good. I don't think she understood me!

After dinner we decided to walk down Queen Street to Smith and Caughey's to check out the Christmas display with the moving dolls. 

We got side-tracked by this new Japanese store along the way, that was still open at 9.30pm at night! It was sort of underground as we had to go down the stairs to check it out. 

While we were there I skyped with Amy who was at the airport, about to depart for China! I was amazed at how well that went, considering I was using mobile internet and haven't had the best experience in the past.

After almost half an hour of wandering around the store, then waiting for our mum to wander around the store looking at stuff, we finally left the store and made our way to Smith and Caughey's.

I always like these displays they put up in their shop windows each year. They must spend quite a bit on them, but it really does get you into the Christmas spirit!

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oovPK8YkIbE)

So hopefully Aonghas had a good birthday and a true start to adulthood. The celebration isn't over though. He'll probably have a proper celebration a little later on!

Boxing Day Feast

Every year our family and our relatives get together for a big meal at Christmas time. While usually it's on Christmas Day, this year it was planned to happen on Boxing Day. We would be getting together for both breakfast and dinner.

My brothers and I missed out on the breakfast though, as our parents only woke us up at 8.30am and told us that breakfast was at 8am! Also, Aonghas and I had to lead children's worship at church, so instead, my brothers and I attended church and had to miss out on the breakfast. I heard there was heaps of food too!

Children's worship wasn't too bad; I hope the kids had fun! The service was a special combined baptism service so I just went into the minister's office with his son Jireh and Andrew and just sat around talking (I know, bad Calum for wagging the service!). We came out just to see the certificates being presented to those who were baptised, and then were asked to help put pies in bags.

We then had to hand out the pies to people for lunch! I learnt how to say the two flavours in Chinese, and tried to say it to a kid who came by wanting a pie, but he asked me what it was instead in English! 

Gabrielle, who has trained me in children's worship and is also my youth group leader also gave me a thank-you present with a really nice note! 

I was surprised at how empty the church was so early, but then realised it's Boxing Day...everyone's probably cleared off to go shopping!

We did a bit of that after as well, but there really isn't much that I want right now, so I didn't find any of the sales too appealing.

In the evening we had dinner with the relatives over at their house which I always enjoy as there is always plenty of food, and it's great to catch up with the family. Aonghas came a little late as he had to work. There was still plenty of food left over for him after though!

That ends the Christmas festivities for another year!

Christmas in the Park

Today we celebrated Christmas by joining up with other families from church to have a BBQ at Cornwall Park.

At first it didn't feel as though we would ever get there, as it was already 1pm and we were still at home packing! We had to constantly remind our mum that we weren't travelling overseas and didn't need to bring the kitchen sink with us!

We parked quite a long way away and had to walk a long distance to get to where a couple of the families already were. There were heaps of people at the park, including a lot of Koreans! When we got there I just joined in some of the kids in playing ball while waiting for others. 

When a couple more families arrived, it was time to do some cooking! There were several barbeque's along a  stone wall nearby, and we managed to find a free one to use. My mum complained me for not helping, so I tried to help cook, but then she shunned me away for being useless! Oh well!

By then the minister's family had arrived and we just chucked a ball around and had something to eat before the minister got us together to play touch rugby. I was surprised at his enthusiasm! He only played for a few minutes before leaving the game and letting someone else take his place.

My brothers and I were on one team with the girls (Joylynn, Ruth and Jessica), up against a team made up of Jireh, Jessica's older brother, Angie, Tommy and Harris. You'd think the teams were even with them having two young boys, but well...we got wasted. I'd argue that there were differing interpretations of the rules and boundaries weren't clearly defined but it was just a game after all. We played with our small grid iron ball, so some of the Pacific Islanders nearby were probably laughing at us Asians playing touch rugby!

After playing for quite a while, I was feeling more exhausted than before with saw thighs! Talk about a good workout! It was time to eat, even though I didn't really feel too hungry! Either that or I was talking too much!

 We had plenty of meat, sausages and fruit/vegetables, and so we just sat around eating and talking before a few of the guys got up to play with the frisbee and take photos. 

We all got together for some individual family photos and then a big group photo before it was time to disperse. We played some games with each other such as Mercy and trying to push each other over as some of the families decided what to do next. 

While some decided it was time to go home, a few of us such as the Tans, the Ongs and our family decided to check out the Christmas lights down Franklin Road in Ponsonby. It was still quite light so we weren't too sure if we'd see anything.

Because it was early though, we were able to find a free car park down Franklin Road, and so Aonghas double-parked till we confirmed the Tans had a car park. While we were doing that, we had a lot of cars approach us and hover around us. We probably annoyed them all!

Once we found out where the Tans and the Ongs were (at the other end of the road), we decided to meet half way and then walked down one side of the road together checking out the lights. I'm amazed at how fast it got dark!

Once we got to the bottom of the road, we walked back up. As it got darker, the lights looked more impressive and there was one house that had heaps of lights flashing in sync to a rock version of 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody! It was probably the most impressive house we saw!

When we got to the top of the road, we then went for a 15 minute walk (although it felt much, much longer as the soreness from the touch rugby game was starting to kick in!) along Ponsonby Road to the Telecom Christmas Tree.

Harris and Tommy were quite excited to see it, and were eager to call Santa in one of the telephone boxes! There were quite a few bean bags underneath the tree, so we were able to lie there and just stare at the lights. It was quite hypnotising! I did a lot of thinking under that tree! I could sleep there for the rest of the night if I was allowed!

It was getting late and so it was time to go.

What almost seemed destined to be another boring Christmas turned out to be quite a memorable one that I really enjoyed! Hopefully our families get together again sometime to do more!

What Santa (in Various Forms) Got Me

So this year my wishlist consisted of a belt and a man bag (aka shoulder bag). For Christmas my mum got me a belt, so that'll keep my pants up for a little longer. Thanks mum!

For Secret Santa, I got a red tie from Jessica, thanks Jessica!

Probably one of the most special presents I've been given came from Grace, who's an excellent artist. On Christmas Eve she gave me this awesome drawing of me playing the accordion! It really does look like me doesn't it?

Thanks Grace!

When she told me of her plans to draw me, I naively offered to draw her in return (forgetting the fact that I can't draw!) and she took me up on it, so this is what I did...does it look anything like her?

Now for the giving..

For Secret Santa, I gave Peter this Peanut with the caption 'Nuts About Physiotherapy' with the peanut being dressed in physiotherapist clothing, while holding an oil can and a spine+pelvis.

For my dad, I got a travel agent peanut (it was a two for one deal, and I couldn't just buy one!). I also got my mum some cookbooks so she could cook for me, but I don't think she liked those too much. She has too many books already, which is something I later realised.

For my brothers I got them a Coca Cola toilet paper dispenser, which I later realised actually says Cola Cola! My mum liked this one more than the cookbooks!

Finally, for the family I bought these six little white balls with different emoticon faces! I was originally going to buy one, but when I saw there was a whole set and was offered a discount, I couldn't resist!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The day is finally here! Hopefully you all have a great day of no shopping, Christmas-related-commercial-free TV and spending good quality time together with your family!

My annual tradition of sending out Christmas emails to people may not work as well this year with my laptop freezing on me every so often, so if I don't wish you a Merry Christmas it's not because I don't like you! ;) 

Thanks for putting up with me this year. I've enjoyed being friends with everyone I've known and have enjoyed the friendships I've made and the time I've spent with you guys. 

Next year will be a big change for me, moving onto full-time work but hopefully this doesn't change things between my friends and that I'll still be able to catch up with you all and stay in touch with you. 

Have a great holiday everyone!

(I'll post about the Calum-did-not-stuff-up-too-much-Christmas-play a little later!)

The Christmas Play Calum (Only Just) Didn't Screw Up

Tonight was finally the night we performed the Christmas play we had been practising for the past couple of months.

We had to arrive early at church to prepare, and as soon as I got there I had to get make-up on which took quite a while for me! They had to put all this stuff on my face and do things with my eyes. Is it always that...scary?

We forgot to bring our camera with us so Aonghas made a mad dash back home to pick it up. As he went back, we were informed that we had to play music in the foyer as people arrived for the play. We didn't have the music we played for the Sunday Christmas service, so we just grabbed hymn books off the shelf and played from the beginning of the book!

The hall was full and the show was soon about to start, so we had to rush off to our positions.

For those of you who don't know what the play is about, here's a brief summary (just remember that parts of it were in Chinese so it's not accurate!)

Desperate lonely girl (Jennifer) has no one for Christmas. All her friends have dates, are married, etc. etc. except for her. She wishes she could have a boyfriend. After many unsuitable guys court her, she finally finds the right guy (James). They get together.


They attend...Bible study class and learn about the birth of Jesus...

An Angel (Calum) tells Mary (Angie) that she is pregnant with Jesus (doll) and she breaks the news to Joseph. King Harrod (the Minister) finds out about it and isn't happy. Mary's water breaks and she gives birth.

That's pretty much an abridged version. I'm sure there are a few things I've missed out on, but I'm sure it'll be uploaded to the internet sometime.

I went upstairs to my balcony spot where I would appear as an angel. This time around I had printed my words in giant font on 3x3 A4 paper. There was no way I could screw it up this time!

I managed to say the first lot of my lines without mistake and even surprised some of the kids in the audience when I appeared! As soon as I was finished though I had to dash back downstairs into the hall to play my cello for the next scene.

The rest of the play went almost flawlessly. Ben accidentally missed his cue and didn't show up in one of the scenes he was supposed to!

We came to the final scene where all the people came to see the newborn baby Jesus. I almost tripped up on my lines, saying 'Messiah the God' instead of 'Messiah the Lord', but hopefully no one noticed!

After the play, the choir sang with the audience and everyone were handed candles to hold. There was a minor incident in the foyer where the candles were being lit, with a small fire breaking out (or so I heard...you could see a lot of smoke!). 

It was also only then that I realised the lapel microphone that I'd been using all this time in rehearsals and in the actual performance had an on/off switch, and it had been on 'off' the whole time! I was wondering why it never made a sound whenever I tapped it! I always thought it was just because they turned my microphone down whenever I wasn't using it!

While the singing was still going on, Grace gave me a really cool present which I will talk about in another post! 

Once it was all finished, everyone came out and enjoyed some snacks that had been prepared. 

For Oddfellows, we went back to the hall afterwards to receive our Secret Santa presents which had been put underneath the Christmas tree. People got pretty good presents. 

A lot of the girls got jewellery, soft toys and t-shirts, 

 while Aonghas and Hamish got a mug, one of the guys got a watch and I got a red tie, thanks Jessica!

I gave my Secret Santa Peter this physiotherapist peanut (he's studying physiotherapy), so hopefully he liked that. I had to make the box myself too!

Before the end of the night, we also presented Jenny with the bottle of grape juice that Jireh and I had bought the day before for her, for all her hard work in putting together our part of the play, directing us, and putting up with us all this time. She seemed genuinely surprised which is good!

It was a great way to kick off Christmas, and we didn't want to leave! All our work paid off and everyone seemed to enjoy it! 

(Thanks On for some of the photos! I tried taking some from the balcony when I wasn't in action but they all turned out blurry!)