Reflections

Apart from the feel-good service, Christmas this year has been quiet. No parties. No clubbing. No chalets. No dinners. No plans. No nothing.

The whole festive week breezed past like nobody’s business.

Work was fun. With everybody in the Christmassy mood, everything was enjoyable and time passed quickly and blithely. The happy chatters and laughter of colleagues filled the whole of hub. Also, since last week was the last lesson of the term, everybody scrambled to take class photos, hand out presents, wish “Merry Christmas” and give big bear hugs. Everyone emerged from class with bagfuls of presents and cards from parents and students.

On the 21st, hh had our very own xmas lunch cum ts birthday celebration.

xmas crackers from em our new centre leader


Everyone should have taken the cracker, stand in one row and do a Jimmy-crack-corn. (inside joke)

ts and her gingerbread house given by “architect mn”


mn doesn’t like to take photos so I supposed it’s better not to display her pic here.

Food spread


Food spread continued


Gingerbread house close up


ts’s birthday cake


ag and voluminous present



My present from the gift exchange… Such a coincidence that I got em’s present. Before that, she was telling me that she feels the present is very suitable for me.



Now I understand that she thinks of me as a sucker.

Many more photos to come. Hope my dear colleagues send them to me soon.

On the 23rd, a small group of us went for an informal Christmas lunch at Fiesta.

The people on this side


The people on that side


Part of wy’s food… Delicious!


My food… consisting of

Sweet and sour chicken


salmon sashimi

plus rice, miso soup and 2 slices of oranges



all for $9.90 ++. Great deal!

Then for dinner, I met up with some jc friends again. We had new addition… people who came back from overseas.

Angela from Buffalo and Regina from Cheenapokland. Long time no see them.


Angela is my "non-Chinese" kaki back in jc. While the rest of the pathetic class was attending Chinese lessons, we would be pigging out in the canteen. The last time we took a photo together was 5 years ago?


Caleb from UK... erm sorry... forgot which part. And his "smelly" pose is forever the same.


Group shot


Christmas eve was spent working till 7+ while Christmas day itself was spent at service and church carnival.

A very ugly photo of kh and me taken during xmas eve.


I was just thinking about how unhappening this year’s eve was and was looking back at my past photos to see how I’ve spent 24th and 25th December throughout the years. I chanced upon my last year’s NZ photos. Took a break from the hustle and bustle, frolicking in the meadows with moo moo and meh meh all day long. Eating and sleeping and playing. I’ve never led such a pig’s life before.






Such memories!

On the eve, we went tracking at Fox Glacier.

Me at the bottom of the glacier.


Me making a mark in the ice.


We made new friends who hitched a ride on our caravan.


On Christmas day, we went to Stuart Landsborough’s Puzzling World at Wanaka.




leaning clock tower


funny room




4 of us and caravan at lake wanaka


We then adjourned to freezing Queenstown


On Boxing Day, we went hang gliding. The weather was so bad that we had to play luge and while our time away before the weather cleared.







I lost kh’s lens due to the hard landing.


And I think we experienced a white Christmas. We chanced upon blanket of snow looking stuff at a mountain in the middle of summer!




And boy did the boys have fun!





A snowy Christmas!

Sigh! This year all I can do is to reminisce.