It is Sunday and therefore, the Holy Week is finally over. Will recap on what I did throughout the week.
17th March:
Had to go to the airport with my brother to pick up my other brother's friend. Had to stand at the arrival hall holding up a plastic sheet with his name on it waiting for him. It was super boring and thank God that his flight was to only one at Terminal 3 and immigrations were fast. After that, went to Marina Square to meet the former council and the Hanoi people to watch a movie. We went to the arcade, then to the bowling alley and finally to the movies. We watched Step up 2 the streets. It was alright. A little boring at times but otherwise a good show with a good story line.
18th March:
Went to school early in the morning at 10am. Had debate practice. We did our first motion while having lunch and the second motion totally undisturbed. Me and Ian were against Daniel, Gerard and Rebecca. After debate, I went to watch the soccer training as I had to wait for QQ to finish before heading to Louisa's house for her birthday party. When we finally reached, we met a few others there. We had dinner there and watched Boogeyman. It isn't exactly a scary movie but it is gory and stuff. After that, we cut the ice cream cake and I cabbed home.
19th March:
My first off day this week and Louisa's and Anne Marie's birthday. I was suppose to finish all my homework on this day but ended up playing an extremely old game. Heroes 2 of Might and Magic with my brother. Spent the whole day playing that without getting any work done.
20th March:
Went down to church at 8.50am. I served a funeral service before heading down to St Stephen's Church with Fr Romeo for the Chrism Mass. I had to stand throughout the Mass as it was a small church and the attendance was huge. Surprisingly, the homily given by His Grace, the Archbishop, was short and interesting. After the Mass, I went to eat with 3 priest and 2 seminarian brothers whom I know. Due to the fact that I was the only lay person in the hall, Fr Romeo called me the Deacon of St Teresa's Church. After lunch, Fr Damien sent me home. I rested for about 2 hours before heading for church again. I served the 5pm Maundy Thursday Mass in my church followed by the 7pm one. After both Masses, the servers were provided with Mc Donald's to eat. Some of the core group brought our food to the kitchen to eat, where we feasted on ice cream and what not. At about 10.30pm, me and another server had a competition to see who could drink the most number of cups of orange juice. We drank 13 and by then, we were so bloated to the extent of vomiting. And to make things worse, we were up for adoration at 11pm. I went to the toilet many times before and went through adoration easily. After adoration, I walked home and slept.
21st March:
Good Friday. Had my half meal of a single prata before going to church. When I was in church, I served the 10am children's service for ulterior motives. Basically, the children's service is nice to serve cause there is no Stations, no Passion reading and we just sat down for the General Intercessions. So, basically, I slacked through the service. After the service, just as I was about to reach home, the Headserver called me to inform me that I had to come down at 2.30pm to help with the veneration for that service. I did so and helped with the veneration. After that, I went home and rested before my brother's friends came over for a BBQ. I had to prepare the fire and since it was a day of fast and abstinence, I had to eat rice and peanut sauce for dinner.
Our sinful actions nailed his hands.
Our sinful paths nailed his leg.
Our sinful thoughts crowned his head.
Our sinful will pierced his heart.
We turn our back on God,
And He offered His back to be scourged.
With a loud cry he offered his life for us.
His death on the cross....
(Adapted from http://kampungpunggol.blogspot.com/)
22nd March:
Went to church at 10am. Had to clean up the church. Wash torches, prepare cassocks, mop sanctuary etc. Took about half a day and then had practice for the mass. Once everything was done, we found out that the church was broken into with a door chopped. As a result, some of the older servers, me included, armed ourselves with brooms and started making a sweep of the Parish House. We found nothing unfortunately. Went home after that and returned to church at 7.45pm for the Mass at 7pm. The Mass went well this year unlike last year.
So that kind of rounds up my Holy Week.
Total Masses: 5
Total Services: 2.5
REJOICE! REJOICE! SING CHOIRS OF ANGELS. FOR THE LORD INDEED HAS RISEN!!
Sunday, March 23
~Ivor~ Saturday, March 15, 2008
Left for Hanoi on the 7th of March immediately after Dr Hjorth's lesson. We took a charted bus to the airport from school. On the bus, Bro Mike called Louisa's phone. He spoke to me and told me to make sure that the Catholic's of the group went for Mass on Sunday. Told what Bro Mike said to Mr Bennett and everything was to be arranged in Hanoi. Got to the airport after a rather short bus ride and checked-in. Apparently, and unfortunately, I happened to get a seat rather far away from the rest of the group and slightly closer to Mr and Mrs Bennett. Lousy check-in person. I was rather annoyed that this happened. Anyway, being open-minded, i sort of appreciated the quiet time I would get alone and in partial solitude. So, got on-board the plane and was sitting in between 2 strangers. Found out how kind the person next to me was when I noticed I didnt have a pen with me to fill up the immigration form and she lent one to me. Other than that, the plane trip consisted with me reading my book, sleeping and in deep contemplation( AKA partial sleeping). Once in Hanoi, regrouped with the rest and boarded a bus which brought us the the airport terminal. At the immigration counter, i was rather afraid of the immigration officer cause he never smiled and never spoke a word. He was like this stern looking teacher sort of guy. Rather high security at the airport and I was so scared that they may turn hostile for unknown reasons. Anyway, once immigrations was cleared, we boarded another bus which brought us to eat dinner at PHO 24. Which has excellent beef noodles. After that wonderful dinner, we headed for our hotel, which turned out to be some kind of motel. Anyway, it was super scary and everyone couldnt sleep. The only good thing was that there was aircon and hot water. My room mates were QQ and Reuben. Reuben for once was acting sane. Surprisingly, i feel asleep quickly.
Woke up early the next morning and took a shower before heading down for breakfast. After breakfast, we did a tour of Hanoi from Ho Chin Min's grave like thingy i cant spell to the government house like thingy. Will add pictures of them in a later post when i have consollidated all my photos and others. After the tour, we went to a war museum where we saw some rather interesting exhibits and watched a boring show. After that, we went for lunch at some very weird place and after that, we went shopping. We also watched a water puppet show which was in Vietnamese and therefore, very boring. After that, we had dinner and went to the night market, which is a super scary place. Me and QQ had to bodyguard Louisa and Antonia. After that, went back to the hotel/motel/guest house.
Woke up a little later but still considered early. Was the first down for breakfast and then, headed to the Blue Dragon Foundation to get a small briefing before we went to a Blue Dragon runned hostel like place to meet the people. After that, we went to a lake where we had to use swan-like boats. Me and QQ were in one boat and we were extremely tired after paddling. After going to the lake, we headed to church. We attended mass at St Joseph's Cathedral. Mass was in Vietnamese so i could not understand a single thing but at least i had my 366 days with the Lord to refer to during the Gospel. After the Mass, we went around the cathedral taking pictures and talking to a seminarian who told us more about the church. After that, we went for dinner before retiring to our hotel.
Woke up at the same time. Wasnt first down. Went to the Blue Dragon Foundation first thing in the morning. Me, QQ, Alister, Reuben, Minh, Ko Ann and Mr Bennett went to do the first shift of painting at a house for the first shift. We were making good progress. we managed to paint a wall in about 15min and to think that we still have so much time to rest and relax in between. We would sometimes walk out, have a biscuit and drink some water before returning to work and we finished everything in good time and in good quality. After that, we walked back to the Foundation for lunch then it was our turn to entertain the children at the Foundation. We thought them how to play recorders and other games. It was really noisy. After that, we headed back to the hotel where we had to interview future Vietnamese scholars in the school. We interviewed a total of 3 students per group with 2 groups. After the interviews, we went downstairs for dinner before heading up to our rooms.
Woke up same time. 7am Hanoi time. 8am Singapore time. Breakfast was the same old thing. Bread and butter. Went to the Foundation again. Did painting again. Extremely inefficent this time. The space was too narrow to paint. Went back to Blue Dragon. Played chinese chess with a few children and got owned most of the time. Got out-witted by Jackie in connect four. Cooked pasta for the kids. Went to the Temple of Literature AKA Tempearature. There was a saying that if you touch the turtles' heads in the temple, you would be lucky in exams. Upon hearing this, QQ and JJ, who will be having IGCSE this year, ran around touching all the turtles' heads until they heard that there were 300 in total in the temple. After going to the temple, we ate good ice cream with the blue dragon kids before heading for dinner and subsequently, rest in the hotel.
Woke, up, had breakfast and went off to a village near the outskirts of Hanoi. We visited many sculpting shops and a temple. Weirdest lunch i ever had then back to Hanoi for shopping and interviews again, which i was not involved in. After that, we headed for dinner at a Thai restruant. Good food. Headed back to the hotel to sleep for the long flight the next day. Before sleeping, we had a reflection together as a group.
Woke at 4am Hanoi, 5pm Singapore. Packed my bags and went for breakfast. Headed for the airport immediately. Checked-in. Got better seats. This time with friends. Good plane ride and was happy to be back in Singapore but sad to leave Hanoi. I feel that i learnt alot during this trip and i recongise that this was the last meeting for the old council of 2007. So,
LONG LIVE THE OLD COUNCIL OF 2007!!
Saturday, March 15
~Ivor~
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Woke up super early this morning! At 7.30am. May not seem early but if you compare it to the usual time i wake up on Saturday mornings, you would freak. So, in order not to freak people out, cause that isn't the main purpose of having a blog, I won't tell you what time I usually rise on Saturdays. So woke up early, had chicken pie and coffee before going to Maria's house to bake cookies and brownies to be sold on Monday. Got there and found JJ, Jackie and Antonia there. Started by sifting flour then helped Louisa with the baking of brownies after that. Hard work wisking the thingy. I must have developed some arm muscle. Plus i did it twice. After the 2 batches of brownies were done, QQ and I relaxed. Until lunch came. Maria's mum bought pizza for us and made pasta. I ate the pizza but not the pasta as i was totally full. Watched a movie after that and tried the cookies and brownies which were nice. Especially the brownies since i had to wisk it. After making everything, trying everything and towards the end of the show, i walked to Holy Spirit Church with Maria and Nicole so i could take a bus to Church. I was suppose to be there at 3pm but made it only at 3.10pm. I waited in the office in fear of disturbing people as i entered the auditorium. Thank God, Fr Damien walked in and asked me to carry the Monstruance up. I did so and set with him for the Prayer for Vocation. I was suprised to see Ben Tan and Ian Kwan playing the guitar for the praise and worship. After that, some Nun gave a vocation talk, which was touching. After that, was Holy Hour. Benediction and reflection. Nearly fell asleep. After Holy Hour, watched a 15 min video of Fr Stephen Yim. Inspiring and insightful. That signalled the end of the Prayer for Vocation. Went to the sarcristy to get ready for Novena. Went in late for Novena and was nearly killed by Fr Arro. Fr Romeo celebrated Mass and i need help! The choir needs help! Went for dinner after that.
Saturday, March 1
~Ivor~