eve of last day

i woke up to a bright sunny 5am morning today. didnt rly sleep well last night, waking up in the middle of the night to arms wrapped around me, and a head laying on my shoulder. once again, my sister next to me on our shared queen size bed was cuddling me in her sleep, thinking i was her furry toy dolphin tt belonged on her bed at home. i finally got some slp when i clambered onto my parents' king size bed after my dad left for a breakfast meeting.

on retrospect, that sounds pretty hilarious. but i sure wasnt laughing when it happened.

hmm. i've found a couple of sanctuaries here in the land which is still rly alien to me. one of my lil sanctuaries was called Boat Quay, a singapore food restaurant here in Beijing. nv have i been so glad to eat what i usually took for granted. surely laksa and bland carrot cake nv suited my taste buds better after a week of German, HK, funky Chinese, American, and Korean food. i was embraced wit a wave of familiarity as i scanned the menu, matching the names on the menu to the foods, listening to fellow Singaporeans frm the next table talking bout the GSS, and so on. a lil fair congregation of Singaporeans seeking familiarity in an alien land. n i reckon we got wat we were there for : )

the second sanctuary i found today, was the spiritual sanctuary. my fam n i went to Beijing International Christian Fellowship, or BICF for short, for sunday worship. it was held in a local auditorium, and was for foreigners ONLY. our passports were literally our passport into the church. the congregation was dominated mainly by the Americans, British and Australians, but there were pple frm more than 60 countries around. it was amazing : ) people frm all over the world unite in an alien country with a common love for God. it certainly was an experience. i was caught off guard, when the praise&worship team sang "I surrender all" in Chinese (it was china afterall). i found it more than vaguely amusing when almost all of the Caucasians, Africans, and non-Asians chorused together the chinese lyrics of the song. of course, thanks to the hanyu pinyin that accompanied the chinese lyrics on the screen, but it was juz rly beautiful. : ) praise God for such blessings.

today's kinda the last day of our trip. tmr will be busy wit packing, and logistics arrangements, b4 our flight home. we closed the chapter of our vacation beautifully with a visit to the Great Wall, which included thrilling chair lifts up and then the mountain. we intended to ride the toboggan down the mountain, but after an unexpected drizzle the slide was closed for safety reasons. : ( i guess theres always a next time.

till then, i cant wait to get home : )