Trip to Australia Day 8: Wedding

Congratulations, Darren and Anne :)

Today was the big day. I was on my best behaviour as groomsman. From the start to the end, we the bridal party accompanied the VIPs of the day.

To some people, the customary thing is for the bride and groom to not see each other on the day of the wedding, until the wedding itself. However, in Asian cultures, apparently it's customary to have a tea ceremony and invite all your relatives. I didn't know about the latter until today. It seems my friend Darren didn't know much about it either, being an ABC (Australian born Chinese). But he figured out what he needed to do quick enough.

The tea ceremony involved many greetings, much exchanging of red packets, and delicious lunch catered by Miss Chu. 

After lunch, it was down to business. The photo shoots. Run by Linda Truong.

(The only) One I took myself.

mmmbeeautiful.

In the evening, was the ceremony itself. My highlight was the bridal party procession. Unfortunately, no video, at least from me. But I can say it was fun :) Before the exchanging of vows, we had a sermon preached by our pastor at ALLC. What surprised me, and probably most people in the crowd, was the passage chosen by the couple to be wed. It was Hosea 1.

A surprising passage to be heard spoken on at a wedding ceremony, but one that got my respect. It reminded us of the stark contrast between God's steadfast faithfulness to us, and our repeated betrayal of him. Within that is a reminder of how imperfect we are, and the image of sin that stains the wedding white and happiness. Weddings make people happy. But we know that married life will not always be. It was a refreshing call to reality, that two sinners are getting married, and that will inevitably lead to problems surfacing down the track. At the same time, we are reminded that behind these two sinners is a steadfast and faithful God who will not fail them. And on the darkest of days to come, with God in the picture, they can trust that God will carry them through to the end. Amen :)

Happy new wedded life :)

Trip to Australia Day 9: Flying back

I made my way back to the airport in the morning. After an action packed 8 days back, it's finally time to go back to Japan.

Breakfast on the plane.

Lunch on the plane.

Dinner on the plane.

I just wanted to say, after my experience with Korean Air on the way to Australia and back, I thoroughly loved flying with them. The planes ran on time, air hostesses were really friendly, the food was great, and on the flight to and from Sydney and Incheon, there was a built-in screen where you could watch more recent movies or listen to music (or play games, if that's your thing). Here's a little secret, they also give you free cups of instant Korean noodles if you get hungry between meal times.

After a long day of flying, I finally arrived back at Haneda Airport at 11pm. I realised that the last train that would get me back to my place on time was already gone. So I decided to spend the night at the airport, and set off for Tsukuba (and class first period at 8:40...) tomorrow morning.

Trip to Australia Day 7: Catchups old friends and a wedding rehearsal

The day began at the Grounds of Alexandria. This is the place where the wedding is to be held, but this morning, the reason for coming was brunch with a good high school mate of mine, and his girlfriend, whom I met for the first time. Good chat, good food, good first impressions.

Complimentary danishes. On our way out we were stopped by the danishes stall and the guy told us if we sang a Christmas carol, we'd get a free danish. So the three of us sang Hark the Herald Angels Sing. A couple of bystanders even videoed us singing. It was good to sing to the public about the real reason why we celebrate Christmas.

I had a bit of a kick back waiting for the afternoon, when the other people involved in the wedding tomorrow arrived at the Grounds. We had a quick rehearsal, going through what the ceremony would be like tomorrow. The groomsmen and bridesmaids properly met each other for the first time. It went well.

For dinner, I was the guest of another good mate from church. This one isn't getting married (yet). However, he did introduce me to his girlfriend. We went to a chic Italian restaurant called Vapiano. You order the pasta at the counter, and they make it in front of you. It was a nice experience. Sorry, so keen to eat that I forgot to take photos of the pasta itself :/

Photo taken with my friend, with permission, in front of where you order the pasta and watch the chefs cook it.

Trip to Australia Day 6: High school Bible study group

Having had such a fast paced program back in Australia, I took it easier during the daytime today.

From the afternoon, I met up with the guys I used to study the Bible with back at James Ruse. It was good to catch up once again, and to hear where everyone was at these days, and to see everyone staying strong in the faith.

For dessert we enjoyed a nice selection of gelato from the specials range at Messina. I had a great time.

Trip to Australia Day 5: church, shirts shopping, carols

The day after the retreat, and the bonding games, everyone was out cold. But, I really wanted to visit the Australian sister church in the same alliance as my current church in Japan, while I was back. 

There was just one issue. We were in the middle of the country, and I didn't have a car. Who would have come to the rescue other than the man himself, my friend soon to be wed. He offered to drive me back, even though he had no obligation to, and though he was as tired as the rest of us from the day before. So much gratitude.

Unfortunately at the church as well I was too involved in the moment, and didn't think of taking photos. By nature I'm not really a photo kinda guy. But I try.

I couldn't stay back long at church, because we had unfinished business leading up to the wedding - purchasing matching white shirts for the groomsmen. Once again, none other than the groom to be himself came all the way to pick me up so we could look for a shirt together. There I met his fiance, and a mutual friend of mine, for the first time in maybe two years?

When I mentioned I hadn't had lunch, they offered to take me to the best burgers in town: Grill'd.

My first impressions were pretty good. The place had a sort of modern and stylish yet fairly laid back feel to it. I ordered the Summer Sunset Beef burger. Having heard this place being so highly spoken of, I had high expectations for my burger. Here's what it looked like.

So I gave thanks for the food, and dug in. And my first mouthful... was cold and ordinary. Quite disappointed really. I mean it wasn't a BAD burger, but just not the best burger I imagined I'd eat.

When I told my friend that, what did he do? He called the nearest waiter, told him the burger was cold, and took it back to the counter. And the shop, they brought me another burger, freshly made. That certainly went beyond my expectations.

My second experience was much better. I definitely have confidence in placing it up there as the best burger I've eaten. The bun was freshly baked and crisp, the lettuce was crisp, the meat was juicy (and warm), and the sauce oozed out just the slightest when I bit into it. It's not the biggest burger I've ordered, and it didn't have every single one of my favourite ingredients in it, but for quality, I rate it 9.5 out of 10. I give my friend the same rating. Anne, you couldn't have asked for a better husband.

So after that memorable meal, we met up with the others and went shirt shopping, and found a great shirt. What's even greater, is that the guy serving us is the friend of my friend's fiance. He gave us his members 40% discount ^^

On the way out, we were met by this Christmas tree. But it's no ordinary big Christmas tree.

This Christmas tree, and the decorations around it, are entirely made of LEGO.

On our way back I indulged in a $1 frozen coke at Maccas. This is something I've never seen in Japan Maccas before.

An interesting find at a sushi train restaurant in Hornsby. It's a dessert that looks like a mandarin,  with attention to detail right down to the tiny depressions on the surface, and actually tastes like a mandarin too. In all the sushi trains I've been to in Japan, haven't seen one of these before.

At night, I was able to meet all my old church friends from ALLC at the carols service. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it had become a join event run by three churches in the area. I had always hoped to see the churches uniting in their efforts for outreach. Speaking with the main pastor involved, it turns out the carols on the oval has been happening for the past seven years, and this has been the second year ALLC has joined in.

The big space in the bottom of the photo, was reserved for the fireworks. I was quite impressed. In a country where there is a total fire ban, they pulled off quite a spectacular display. And I came from a country where there are more fireworks each year than there are people in Australia. (It probably isn't an overstatement, if you consider the single units of fireworks that are used in total over the summer). They had the rural fire service on site as stand by.

Trip to Australia Day 4: Pre-wedding Retreat at Kangaroo Valley

Image taken from http://www.ytravelblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Kangaroo-Valley-NSW-125.jpg

A great weekend away organised by the best man as a pre-wedding wedding retreat. Good bonding time. Had so much fun that I forgot to take photos :P

The highlight of the trip has to be the "bonding games" my friend came up with. So ridiculous, and so fun.

He organised three challenges, dividing the eight of us who went on the retreat into two teams.

The first challenge involved navigating a maze that he constructed using wooden pickets and string - with everyone blindfolded. The first team out of the maze won. Unfortunate to say the other team won this challenge.

The second challenge had two parts. The first, was to construct two coffee tables 50cmx50cm and at least 13cm high using planks of wood, nails, hammer and saw that each team was provided. The second part, was to navigate the maze from the first challenge (this time not blindfolded), but only standing on the two coffee tables we constructed. Note, there were four fully grown adult (Asian) men on each team. The first team to reach the finish line wins. However, if our tables break, we lose. Our teams finished the tables and started the maze navigating at roughly the same time, but not even 10 minutes into navigating the maze, one of the other team's coffee tables lost two of its legs, so we won. For the record, our team was ahead in the maze when they were disqualified.

The final challenge involved playing soccer, using the three intact and one broken coffee tables as makeshift goals. The catch: we could only use our left leg to kick the ball. None of us were left side dominant.
The game was meant to finish after two ten minute halves. After extra time after the second half, however, we were tied on two goals each. We were too into it to leave it at a tie, so we played on for the golden goal. Another twenty minutes later, the other team finally scored. Though on a points basis one team lost and one gained, but really, all of us gained. It required a really big team effort to fight till the end, and we did it. I was really happy with the outcome, and with my friend for coming up with the games. We were all so sore the next day.

Trip to Australia Day 3: Uni friends

It was good to catch up with my good old med sci buddies :)

We were planning on going to the beach, but it had been forecast rain that day. It's apparently been raining everyday for 9 days prior to me arriving in Australia, and continued to rain till yesterday. But today, it turned out to be actually good weather in the end. Oh well. We had a good time having a good ol' backyard BBQ catching up over a few snags.

Not having gone to the beach today means I don't think I'll be able to visit the sunkissed Aussie beaches this time round :( That's a bit of a shame. Definitely gotta go next time.

Trip to Australia Day 2: ALLC, Kangaroo steak, Bondi Junction Westfield

For the first time in one and a half years, I went to ALLC to meet up with my pastor. It was a nice catch up, 

Kangaroo steak and beef sewer with chips and garden salad on the side. It was a 110% satisfactory meal. Meat SOO tender. Forgot the name of the restaurant, but it faced the harbour and is next to IMAX. On the pricey end, but the experience was totally worth it. Cheers Daz for bringing me here.

Pearl milk tea and "cheese waffle" at a Taiwanese cross between Meet Fresh and EasyWay called ComeBuy. Wasn't bad. 

Sneak photo taking of my sister during her shift at Bondi Junction Westfield. Exhibiting her expertise on men's underwear to a customer. 

Trip to Australia Day 1: Landing in Sydney, visiting a family friend with my sister

Dinner on the plane: Korean style. Btw the indistinguishable black liquid is seaweed soup in poor lightning. 

Breakfast on the plane. 

Stunning view at dawn from the plane.

Lunch with sis: Time for Thai, Kensington

First time trying Masman curry, after having heard much about its renown. Having had it myself, I agree it's defs up there. But personally, butter chicken is still my personal fave :3

Pad Thai. Moist, and full bodied flavour. Very tasty. 

Dinner with sis: Papa Rich, Chatswood

Nasi Lamak with curry chicken and prawn. Superb taste. The rice and the prawns were extra tasty. Would come back just for the rice and prawns. 

Spicy rice dish my sister ordered which I forgot the name of. But it was tasty.

After dinner we visited the home of a family friend who has been very hospitable to us when our family first arrived in Australia. Our visit was perfect timing; a couple of days later and they would have been gone on a family cruise. It was good to see that their family was doing well.

Trip to Australia day 0: Incheon, Korea

Once again, it's time to board the plane. It's been the end of a productive day, with many surprises and twists.

This morning I left Tokyo at 06:20 and arrived in Incheong at 09:05 (no time difference). 

Breakfast on the plane, included in the price of the ticket.

My connecting flight to Sydney from Incheon would not leave till 19:05 the same day, meaning I had a whole 10 hours to figure out what to do with. I do have a considerable amount to revise for the upcoming end of sems, but I didn't want to spend a whole 10 hours studying... 

Just as I was approaching customs, I came across this brochure...

Inside, I found this...

It's free, it enables me to see some of Korea, and I was allowed to make a reservation. So why not! And I'm glad I did. As the description says, we visited two places, Wolmi Park and Shinpo Market, by bus, and for free. (had to pay for my own lunch at the Markets though).

Cartoonised figure of the ancient king and queen of Korea. Around it, you can see there is quite a lot of recent snowfall. That in itself was a great experience too!

This is the culture exhibition museum in Wolmi Park. We took a glance inside...

...And came across the mascots of the 2014 Asia Games held in Korea. Also...

Dress up as the king of Korea! :D Others on the tour seized the opportunity to dress up as queens and princesses too. For privacy reasons, I'll only be uploading the photo of myself.

Sinpo Internal Market.

A squiz inside.

This is where I decided to eat lunch. Although my Hangul was hopeless and so was their English, by the end of lunch, I became pretty good buds with the owners of the store. So friendly! I had some sort of crispy chicken. Rather than describe it, let me show you.

It was delicious. And SO MUCH. For the equivalent of AUD11, I ate chicken and more chicken till I could eat no more... and took half with me as takeaway lol.

Also came across these cool colourful buns.

It was an excellent day. I highgly recommend this Incheon Transfer Tour ^^

Trip back down under

I'm sitting back relaxing, nice and early in the morning at Haneda Airport, waiting to board my plane back to Australia. 

It's been over a year and a half since I first landed in Japan as a foreign student. It's really no overstatement to say that so much has changed since then, both in Japan and back down under. Can't wait to see the people important to me once again. 

Winter in Japan really does mean illuminations. The view inside Haneda Aiport.

My flight itinerary. Sorry to those who can't read Japanese. You can guess from the numbers and symbols. Or learn Japanese. 

Here's my record of my time back.

Trip to Australia Day 9: Flying back

Trip to Australia Day 8: Wedding

Trip to Australia Day 7: Catchups old friends and a wedding rehearsal

Trip to Australia Day 6: High school Bible study group

Trip to Australia Day 5: church, shirts shopping, carols

Trip to Australia Day 4: Pre-wedding Retreat at Kangaroo Valley

Trip to Australia Day 3: Uni friends

Trip to Australia Day 2: ALLC, Kangaroo steak, Bondi Junction Westfield

Trip to Australia Day 1: Landing in Sydney, visiting a family friend with my sister

Trip to Australia day 0: Incheon, Korea

So this is goodbye…

It's been a dazed past 30 days in my preparation for departure, since my farewell events. Apologies to those who saw me again after coming to my farewell event. Awks. From the bottom of my heart, though, a big thanks to those who came all the way to Asquith to say goodbye in person. It meant a lot to me, seeing how much I meant to you. A special, public expression of thanks to those who went to great lengths to make it to my farewell event - driving one and a half hours, public transport for one and a half hours, and coming straight from work, so that they could say goodbye in person.

Special mention goes to my pastor at ALLC for the care he showed, which went well beyond merely his duty as a pastor, to supporting me as a friend and a fellow brother in Christ.

Special thanks to my mum for doing what she does best, which is look after me whilst I was under her care. You've cooked for me, cleaned for me, and taken care of me when I got sick, and you only ever increased the attention you gave to me as our time together physically grew short.

Last but not least, thanks and praise be to God who has shown His love for me, both for His single act of redemption for all Christians by sending Jesus, and for His ongoing work personally in my life to shape my thinking, speech, and actions through the gospel. I thank Him for how smoothly my farewell parties went, and opportunities to farewell well. I thank God also for the privilege of doing ministry in my remaining time in Australia, at university and in my neighbourhood. I also thank Him for answering former prayer points on my blog already - connecting me with fellow Christians to meet with regularly in Japan! More on that in a future post. It also means my prayer answered regarding finding a church, as I will be able to join the church that these Christians currently attend.

In my pre-departure, pray first of all that I might maintain a regular quiet time that I can spend on my own in prayer and in God's word. I also pray God would lead me to a faithful Bible-teaching church, because biblical resources and teaching are far more scarce than Australia. Pray for time management also, as I juggle meeting new people, staying on top of homework, keeping in touch with family as well as friends back home, and my personal devotional time. And pray I would be able to keep up with sending monthly prayer newsletters for those who are praying for me! If you would like to support me in prayer during my time in Australia, you can sign up at http://eepurl.com/u0Q8b.

Sydney, Australia, goodbye! Tokyo, Japan, here I come :)

FAQ#1: "Why am I going to Japan again?" [vlog #1]

Hey guys, sorry for my temporary hiatus. It has (still) been a crazy week, since the end of my two farewell events. Some of the more notable events include promoting my university Christian group, Campus Bible Study (CBS), at UNSW O-week, from early in the morning well into the afternoon, from Monday to Thursday. O-week is one of the most conducive environments in which to do walk-up evangelism, since everyone is in their most open mindset to being approached by strangers each trying to promote their own thing. I had the privilege of experiencing the whole array of responses to Christianity, from upfront immediate rejection, to open eagerness, to the boyfriend of one girl I'm tutoring, to uninterested people who felt too awkward to say no, to intense hour-and-a-half conversations about God, Jesus, the Bible, humanity, sin, heaven, hell, resurrection, and more. What better way to spend my remaining time in Australia than to see God gather a harvest through me and fellow CBSers (Matthew 9:37-38).
Praise God for truly bringing in a harvest, with around 600 expressions of interest from people wanting to learn more about Jesus! Thank God for the hundreds of Christians who took time out to get to know the new first years, and for their desire to share the news of God's resurrected Son with them. Pray for those involved in follow up process that they would phone call, email, and meet up in person with genuine love for their contact and a desire to see them believe in Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. Also pray for those being followed up, that they might continue to attend CBS hosted events throughout the year, so that they might be taught from and transformed by God's word.

I attribute the delay in my second post to exciting interruptions like the one mentioned above, which have led to the delay in the editing and the release of this video log (or "vlog" for short). So without further ado, I present my first ever vlog, shedding a little more light on the five year adventure I'm about to embark upon. *edit: upgraded video resolution; the in-video text is now legible yay :P

I'd love to hear any comments or suggestions from you on what I can improve for my next vlog!