beloved bel

The Cottage.  That is the name for our house according to Marce.  Because there are many of her friends living in our area, apparently each house has a name and we need one too. Seeing how beautiful the weather has been, I suggested doing an impromptu BBQ for a small group of friends on Saturday night.  More manageable, less fuss.  And I am not in top form to host too big a group for now. The Cottage has historically been a "social house" amongst the Hillsong family in our area.  Our predecessors, also 3 girls from Hillsong, had opened up the house for lots of social events especially in the summer, making use of the big garden.  And credit has to go to Rebecca who has done A LOT of gardening work every now and then.  You would laugh when I tell you last Thursday was the first time I sat in my garden properly and realised what I have been missing out... We invited some friends around the area and Laura, who is Marce's best friend is back in the UK and was free to jo

So I have run out of words to describe my current work situation, and the level of stress I am feeling right now.. is unbelievable.  You know it when you can't stop worrying about all the things you need to do, and having someone breathe down your neck.  Constantly.  Everyday.  Sometimes in the middle of the night I would jump up abruptly, brought out of my sleep and with heart pounding, wonder if there was anything I should have done, or someone I need to chase today because I don't want to be questioned about it later by that someone.  I try to be funny and refer her to K as "she who shall not be named" before K breaking out in laughter.  I don't wish to say bad things about who I work with because it is not very nice, but all I can say is that I believe it is THIS stress that made my body break out in rashes last Monday night.  Red spots all over my body and I freaked out because nothing like that has happened to me before.  Oddly I felt fine except for a bad t

Odense When I was researching on where we could go outside Copenhagen for a day trip, I came across two options: Aarhus and the island of Funen.  Funen is home to many fairy tales, and Odense is the main city on this island. It is also the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen.  What we didn't know was that it took us 1.5h to get there by train, and return tickets were about GBP60 each person.  Gasp.  Oh well, we were already standing at the train station.  "Aiya, just go lah'" commented K. Ok, let's go!! To the Countryside Passed by many beautiful yellow fields Finally, 1.5h and an orange later, we  have reached Odense!  If you look at the map, you would see we have travelled right to the centre of Denmark.  Cool :)  We passed by many fields, and a considerable amount of yellow fields like the one above. Unfortunately it was Sunday and the town of Odense was very quiet.  Museums were opened though so we went straight to Hans Christian Anderson

Some other interesting stuff to share about the trip, might or might not be directly related to Copenhagen... A love for oranges For some weird reason, we have recently fell in love with huge sweet juicy oranges.  Maybe they are in season?  The hotel we stayed in had huge oranges and every morning after breakfast, we would each take one and bring it out with us.  We ended up peeling oranges twice a day for 4 days.. in the train, to and fro from Odense in the Design Museum... in the park en route Nørrebro (and I just went M&S to buy a packet of 5 huge oranges to continue this fad.  Orange fever?!) Anyway back to Copenhagen, we passed by a food market and immediately regretted not coming here for lunch instead.  We had just paid for (another) expensive meal at the national museum which, for the first time ever, couldn't bear to eat because it tasted so horrible! Indoor food market Outdoor fruit stall Coffee Hunt Even I surprised myself

We are back from Copenhagen!  It's a beautiful country but I am not gonna lie to you.  It is an expensive country.  Like I told my family, each meal at a normal cafe costs at least GBP20 equiv easily per person.  K and I are officially on a budget now :S Nowadays I cannot do short weekend whirlwind trips anymore.  And K doesn't like the waking up at an unearthly hour, followed by rushing to the airport in the dark, wee hours of the morning.  So what to do?  We decided on a leisurely four day trip to Copenhagen, with a view of spending one day out in the countryside. Our trusty guidebook I bought from amazon.com Within Copenhagen, we stayed near the harbour, Nyhavn (translated to New Harbour).  Beautiful views, I loved it the first time we went there close to sunset.  Camera snaps.  Be prepared for a long post here! :) The evening sun at Nyhavn Nyhavn One of the many restaurants along the harbour.  Every restaurant provides blankets to provide some