It's nice to know people remember, it's nice to know people care. I honestly didn't expect a celebration, in fact I was pretty much avoiding a big 21st birthday fuss, but somehow things got organised and there was a nice cosy meal at Wood C with Walt Disney song-singing, black magic gizmos and 99 'water parade'. And Xi Ren's fantastic fish dish! And of course the many things that people have put their heart in, from pudding to curry and rendang. Thanks to all of you, to absolutely all of you - to Huang and Yolanda for organising it, to everyone for the food preparation (thanks so much Jason, I hadn't expected the dessert!), to those who stayed behind for games and monopoly. Watching people make their rounds in monopoly struck a homesick pang in my heart once again, especially when I'm leaving for Tanzania tomorrow... but anyway, after a long-suffering battle wrought between Lin and Steve, Lin emerged the victor and proved local talent proud... :)
And as I come back home and assemble the various gifts I've got, there's a sweetness in my heart somewhere. It's different from the usual gift glory I feel on childhood Christmas days; this warmth comes from knowing that each gift is invested with thought and consideration from each giver. I've always valued gifts for what they represent of the relationship between the giver and the recipient, how much one understands the other and what one actually perceives of the other... the nuances of each gift abound aplenty! Got quite a bit of costume jewellery, yes, the sparkly fancy fairy kind I always wear, a new chinese-english bible which I requested from momsy, and a bookmark to complete it, herbs and medicine from Huang Xiao, a stainless steel soap bar from Nancy, and a very handy torch from Xiren - the last 3 all for Tanzania! Oh and a funny cute balloon-filled bunny for xmas from Rokey (along with so much help with my phone and computer!!), and a priceless priceless email from Kevin with many many special words that speak to my heart. And y'know, it's not the list of gifts that's making me happy, it's the thought that there's a recognisable part of each gift invested with abit of me and abit of them; that makes their gift-giving personal, real, and loving, not just a quick buy off the shelves of a gift shop. Thanks to all who've contributed to my 21st birthday. I love you. :)
Will be off to Tanzania tomorrow. My heart's starting to worry quite abit, knowing how blur and physically weak I tend to be. Please pray for the trip, thanks. I still haven't posted about London but I s'pose I'll post abit of it together with Tanzania after I return - but I'll see how it goes yeah. Be back on the 16th. See y'all, and happy 2007.
