I'm going to try start blogging on my Chinese blog to practise my Chinese, but beware: it's full of mistakes, so if you do actually understand it, feel free to have a read and correct me, or read and laugh if you prefer!
Wednesday, 18 September 2013
Working on That Asian Side of Me
Recently I've had a few people try to speak to me in Chinese, and after having tried to speak Chinese at the Mid-Autumn Festival and failed miserably, it's made me realise I've got to start working on my Chinese again!
Tuesday, 17 September 2013
Pub Quiz Round Two
Tonight I went with Chen for another round of pub quiz at The Dominion. This time around Hamish couldn't come along because of work, and Chen brought along Rose, his girlfriend.
Jenny and Michael, two of Chen's med school friends were back tonight, along with two new people, Anna, another med school friend and another guy who I think is a medical registrar. I didn't actually get his name!
This time around we had rounds such as 'Branded', 'Music', '50/50', 'It Takes Two to Tango'. I didn't feel as though I contributed as much this time around, but we seemed to do a bit better! At one point we were coming second!
We eventually settled for sixth place, which was a definite improvement over last week's 15th...ish.
The most amusing thing tonight thought was that our team name was meant to be called 'The Grand Round', but when we showed up, we saw the sign at our table
"The Glam Round"
Um.....but hey, I think it could actually catch on!
Jenny and Michael, two of Chen's med school friends were back tonight, along with two new people, Anna, another med school friend and another guy who I think is a medical registrar. I didn't actually get his name!
This time around we had rounds such as 'Branded', 'Music', '50/50', 'It Takes Two to Tango'. I didn't feel as though I contributed as much this time around, but we seemed to do a bit better! At one point we were coming second!
We eventually settled for sixth place, which was a definite improvement over last week's 15th...ish.
The most amusing thing tonight thought was that our team name was meant to be called 'The Grand Round', but when we showed up, we saw the sign at our table
"The Glam Round"
Um.....but hey, I think it could actually catch on!
Sunday, 15 September 2013
Mid-Autumn Festival Awks
The Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival was being held across the road from our church at the Trusts Stadium today, and so after church we had a shorted choir rehearsal so that we could go across to check it out...or so I thought...
The minister's wife who is also in the choir showed everyone these cool little pens with a piece of paper you can pull out and it talks about God and Jesus. I initially thought...phew OK it's in Chinese. I'll be off the hook since I don't understand what's on the pen. That's when they showed the other side to reveal the English side!
I've never gone and done outreach before, as I never feel like I'm ready or would be able to say the right things, so I thought I might just give this time a pass as well.
When I got across to the stadium though, I found all the church people there and in the end they persuaded me to give it a go! They taught me how to say
'Happy Mid-Autumn Festival'
and
'Jesus loves you!'
in Chinese. I tried approaching some people and saying that to them as they walked by, but was completely ignored the first three times, as if I didn't even exist!
My first success was a little child. To be honest I just asked her if she would like a free pen!
I bumped into my old pharmacy friend Ai Ping and had a bit of a catch-up, which was pretty cool! She didn't want a pen!
Half way through, I realised I wasn't saying the right thing in Chinese to people, and then without thinking wished someone a Happy Chinese New Year!
Realising I was failing on my own, I decided to pair up with Antonia who did the talking and I handed out the pens. We were much more successful! I think people are more willing to listen to a girl than some ugly old guy like me!
When we had finally given everything out, it was time to go exploring! We went inside the stadium to check out what was going on, but it didn't seem as though much was actually happening. Everyone had gathered around the stage, but we couldn't tell what for.
We decided to go back outside and check out the food stalls. We caught up with Claire, someone we haven't seen in a while. It was so good catching up with people!
I was starting to get phone calls from the adults wanting their children back, so we had to rush to find something to eat. I offered to shout everyone squid, but it seemed as though every stall had sold out of squid! We eventually found a stall that sold it. It was a little spicy but it was OK!
Once we returned to church to reunite some of the people with their parents, we went back across the road to the festival, hoping for some discounts on food since it was almost the end of the festival. Sadly we were disappointed.
It's good to see WTV holding some Chinese festivals out west though. Usually they're held in the city or out in South Auckland. I don't think I'd ever seen as many Chinese people in one area in a long time as I did today! Hopefully there'll be more festivals to come!
I've never gone and done outreach before, as I never feel like I'm ready or would be able to say the right things, so I thought I might just give this time a pass as well.
When I got across to the stadium though, I found all the church people there and in the end they persuaded me to give it a go! They taught me how to say
'Happy Mid-Autumn Festival'
and
'Jesus loves you!'
in Chinese. I tried approaching some people and saying that to them as they walked by, but was completely ignored the first three times, as if I didn't even exist!
My first success was a little child. To be honest I just asked her if she would like a free pen!
I bumped into my old pharmacy friend Ai Ping and had a bit of a catch-up, which was pretty cool! She didn't want a pen!
Half way through, I realised I wasn't saying the right thing in Chinese to people, and then without thinking wished someone a Happy Chinese New Year!
Realising I was failing on my own, I decided to pair up with Antonia who did the talking and I handed out the pens. We were much more successful! I think people are more willing to listen to a girl than some ugly old guy like me!
When we had finally given everything out, it was time to go exploring! We went inside the stadium to check out what was going on, but it didn't seem as though much was actually happening. Everyone had gathered around the stage, but we couldn't tell what for.
We decided to go back outside and check out the food stalls. We caught up with Claire, someone we haven't seen in a while. It was so good catching up with people!
I was starting to get phone calls from the adults wanting their children back, so we had to rush to find something to eat. I offered to shout everyone squid, but it seemed as though every stall had sold out of squid! We eventually found a stall that sold it. It was a little spicy but it was OK!
Once we returned to church to reunite some of the people with their parents, we went back across the road to the festival, hoping for some discounts on food since it was almost the end of the festival. Sadly we were disappointed.
It's good to see WTV holding some Chinese festivals out west though. Usually they're held in the city or out in South Auckland. I don't think I'd ever seen as many Chinese people in one area in a long time as I did today! Hopefully there'll be more festivals to come!
Fire! Fire!
OK..not really, but we had the first fire evacuation practice at church that I can remember! Maybe I just can't remember any of the others, or maybe it's just because this is the first time I was actually directly involved in this one as one of the fire wardens.
I wasn't a very good one though...I was caught off-guard a little. The siren was meant to sound after the service at around 11.30. We were meant to be by the door we were looking after at that point, but I was packing up equipment from the English service when it sounded!
I rushed off to the door where Ben was (both Ben and I were together), and by then everyone had exited that door, so there wasn't really much more for me to do, except to show off my cool neon-orange armband!
Everyone had to evacuate to the carpark. It was only a few minutes before the all-clear was given and we could return.
I wasn't a very good one though...I was caught off-guard a little. The siren was meant to sound after the service at around 11.30. We were meant to be by the door we were looking after at that point, but I was packing up equipment from the English service when it sounded!
Everyone had to evacuate to the carpark. It was only a few minutes before the all-clear was given and we could return.
The Birth of our Worship Band
This morning our church held its first English service after break of just over a month due to the church's Mission month.
What was going to make this English service slightly more special was the fact that our 'worship band' would be doing worship for the first time! Usually our set up for worship is just the worship leader, two back-up singers and a pianist/keyboardist. Our group today consisted of me as the leader (and also playing the cajon - a drum that looks like a wooden box!), a back-up singer and two other singers on instruments, two keyboardists, a guitarist and a bass guitarist. We decided to use the first two English services to try out a few new arrangements and just see what we're capable of. I was to lead the first week, then Angie would lead next week.
The songs I picked to lead this time around were:
Blessed - Hillsong
Desert Song - Hillsong
Unending Love - Hillsong
How Great is our God - Chris Tomlin
To Be Like You - Hillsong
What was going to make this English service slightly more special was the fact that our 'worship band' would be doing worship for the first time! Usually our set up for worship is just the worship leader, two back-up singers and a pianist/keyboardist. Our group today consisted of me as the leader (and also playing the cajon - a drum that looks like a wooden box!), a back-up singer and two other singers on instruments, two keyboardists, a guitarist and a bass guitarist. We decided to use the first two English services to try out a few new arrangements and just see what we're capable of. I was to lead the first week, then Angie would lead next week.
The songs I picked to lead this time around were:
Blessed - Hillsong
Desert Song - Hillsong
Unending Love - Hillsong
How Great is our God - Chris Tomlin
To Be Like You - Hillsong
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zneDiI1-09o)
I've been struggling a little in the past couple weeks with a bit of a cold and a cough, thanks to overnighters trying to finish assignments, and I thought it was coming right just in time yesterday when I was just able to sing that last song To Be Like You, which goes up really high! However, I woke up this morning with the cough back again and my throat not feeling the greatest! I was quite anxious about it!
We had a bigger congregation than usual this morning. I noticed quite a few people from the Mandarin fellowship at our service, which must have been the first time for them! I was talking to one of them the day before at our rehearsal, light-heartedly saying they should come along and bring everyone from their fellowship. I didn't think it'd actually happen! There were also a few new people too which was quite cool!
10am was soon approaching, and we were frantically getting Aonghas and the others to play a little background music as everyone waited. There was a bit of an awkward silence till that happened!
Once it hit 10am though, it was time to go! I started off with a prayer, reading something I had prepared earlier on my tablet. As soon as I finished, the band came in, and as they were playing the intro, I was meant to say to everyone
"OK everyone let's all get on our feet, raise our hands, raise our voices and praise the Lord Almighty!"
Instead, what came out was
"OK everyone let's all get on our feet and raise our feet..."
That's when I quickly went into damage control mode to correct that just in time before the end of the intro and the beginning of the verse! At the same time my pdf file with the lyrics was on the wrong song and so on top of correcting myself, I was trying to swipe back to the correct song in my pdf file!
The rest of worship went a bit more smoothly.
During the sermon I was still worrying about the response song, which was To Be Like You (the one with the really high notes!). I was tossing up over whether to sing down low or just sing as is. In the end I sang as is and managed to get through it!
PHEW!
We made it through! Hopefully we can do this a bit more regularly! We've got next week to prepare for now though!
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