Day 30

For my Sociolingustics tutorial ...
My Whole class PONTANG!!! - 'skip their class'
And so it became a 1-1 private tuition for me

The tutorial was super duper interesting!! but I catch no ball..
Not because I'm lazy, didn't study or what... but there's no way I could.

I was given the UK map...
and the teacher played audio tracks of different British people talking.

I'm suppose to catch their accent, guess and write down where I think they are from.
Is it Ireland? Bristol? Belfast? Liverpool? Glasgow? Edinburgh?

Maybe if this module is in the context of Singapore, I can map the different speakers on 'Ang Mo kio' 'Bishan' 'Bukit timah' 'Tampines'???
That would be quite fun eh?

So half the time, my lecturer was just playing the tape, look at me 'looking super lost and helpless' and then gave me the answers.. But suprisingly I enjoyed the 1-1 lesson.

Shot delicated to Charlie bird.
Rest well and get well soon yah?

Dinner.. 2nd attempt in cooking campbell soup..
For the first attempt, my soup exploded and everything was gone.
But today..
Ta da!!!

Mushroom soup with beef(Expired) + fish(Expired) + mushrooms + Brocooli + Cauliflower

Although the meat was pass the date. But it still looks and taste fresh. Thanks to the Marks and Spencer Santa!

Day 29

Weather was good today. The sun is out.
Decided to make a trip down to London bridge. Beeaauuutiful!
All the years of childhood singing the nursery rhyme.
I finally get to see it right in front of my eyes, and even get to touch it!
But I kind of forgot the history behind the bridge.. Why did it fall ah?


Was too fascinated by the bridge until I forgot to find out what building this is.
Up the bridge!


Help, help, the bridge is falling
Wooo... Who's name is that?
And beside the bridge was the 'Tower Of London'



The Tower of London was founded in 1078 when William the Conqueror ordered the White Tower to be built inside the southeast angle of the city walls, adjacent to the Thames.[1] This was as much to protect the Normans from the people of the City of London as to protect London from outside invaders. William ordered the tower to be built of Caen stone, which he had specially imported from France. He appointed Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester, as the architect.- wikipedia

And this moment as I am writing this... I realise where i visited today isn't London Bridge!!!! It's called 'Tower Bridge' instead... I wikipedia it and London bridge is at another place.. Arrgggghhhh!!! kuku me...

Preview of the REAL London Bridge
and it was written in wikipedia
'Tower Bridge is often mistakenly referred to as London Bridge.[2]'
It's true..

Misc shots

Later in the afternoon, headed down to Camden Market.
It's just like Bugis village that we have back in Singapore..
Just that it is freezing cold here instead of 'Hot like dog'
The summer clothes that are sold here doesn't impress me a single bit..
It is exactly the same as those we see in Bugis.V, which I think I can get 10 times cheaper if I fly to Thailand hor?

And there was the street magician, I should have Qie him with my card tricks..
He try to 'Zebra Door Make Axe'

Wah... How come here got SMU t-shirt one?

Later in the evening, I felt so so tired..
Lied on the bed and dozed off...
Towards the 2hr mark of my sleep, I got this unique 'calling' to just wake up from my sleep and pick up the guitar.

This was the first song that came out from my mouth and I was so so blessed by it. I felt God's security and assurance, because he is the strength of my heart.
It's an old song by Don Moen. The Chorus of the song is simple, but this is the truth that our God has blessed us.

'God is the strength of my heart
God is the strength of my heart
God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever, forever'

You might be tired of fighting World war3 with the 42 'little devils' in class everyday.

Sick of meeting the deadlines of upcoming projects

Disgusted with unreasonable demands and expectations being put on you

Gripped by the fear of uncertainty on the paths and decisions ahead

But God promised us in his word in Romans 10:13 'For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.' (NKJV)

It doesn't matter whether you are far/near from God, or whether you are Christian or Non-christian. The word is 'whosoever' Will you try calling on his name today?

I seldom share my 'music' with people. But I truly hope this will bless your heart.
For those of you who have high tolerance for jia lat vocals, you can give it a listen

http://h1.ripway.com/angussham/REC0059.WAV


'Remember 'God is the Strength of __________ (Insert your name here) heart'

Day 28

I hope everyone had their share of Gelare Waffle on my behalf? Yes, No?
Happy Waffle day!

Spent half my day at the linguistics department for lecture.
The furnishing there is super old school vintage.

This window reminds me of the window in my Hongkong house back in my childhood days.
It has the 'handle' thing which i haven't seen for so long

This is my Linguistic module buddy, Brina Kim. A fellow exchange student from Boston.
ABK?? - American Born Korean


The view I get when I look to the right in the classroom

Grocery shopping. Spent 7.21 pounds
It was the first time I see Cauliflower from its 'original look'
It is enveloped by a few layers of cabbaggy looking leaves

And bought some strawberries by the road side for 1 pound


Dinner was good tonight. My pasta had 'Beef' and 'Cod fish' (All thanks to the Mr Mysterious) as well as the Broccoli and cauliflower.

At 11pm, I walked down to Chinatown to meet Jonathan Ang, a friend I got to know through Mr Tay Yuan Zhi. He just touched down this afternoon and will be making his way to Paris in the next few days. Like I said, I'm always happy to see familiar looking faces here.

We headed down to a bar along Oxford street.
The lady boss was nice enough to allow us in without cover charge
because it was one hr before they close..

Around of Applause for the Guest DJ for the evening

Day 27 Manna drop from the sky

Santa Clause came to visit Goldsmid house last night,
or was it the Cobbler's Elves?

I was stunned to see what I saw when I exit from my room to shower


Everyone had a little 'gift' in front of their door step.
From who? Up till now, we are still in the midst of investigation.
At first, I thought someone bought too much groceries and needed to clear them because all the food item's expiry date is dated 27.01.08.
As I walked towards the shower room, I realise that there were 3 or 4 repeated items.
I took a closer look and finally realise what was happening.

All the food products were from Marks and Spencer just below us.
I remember Den told me that once in a while, they will go down and take from the 'throw away' section (aka rubbish bin) But they are wrapped nicely in a plastic bag!

Like this...


I took a look at the variety we have

Pizza- 14.45 pounds
Steak- 27.85 pounds
Cod fish- 17.35 pounds
Ham slice- 8.85 pounds

And it was so funny, there was no single door that was left out! All 27 rooms received a gift. I don't know about other storeys though
But thanks to whoever, I had Ham and Cheese Pizza for lunch this afternoon!


While I was on my way to the lecture hall, I saw another Big supriseLooks like my lunch is settled for the week.

Hey Sophie, make sure I see your name in NUS Geog department like this one Its taken in the UCL Geog department too!

One of Seth's band is coming to town
But well, Switchfoot still owns it!

Day 26

Visited Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) today.
The way the church conducted their Holy Communion was very interesting.
Everyone will form 2 rows in front of the stewards to wait for their turn.
Reminds me of the Catholic churches that I used to attend when I was a little boy.

After service, when everyone was streaming for the exit
I walked into one of my Singaporean friends, Sarah.
We worked together twice for a gig and a recording. She has a beautiful voice, agree or not Mr Desperado? Knew she was studying law in UCL, but didn't know she attends HTB.

On my way back, I saw this building that reminded me of Singapore's 'Central Fire Station' opposite Funan Centre... Oh my.. Is there a timbre behind?

If you look close enough, there's actually a Hongkong flag displayed.

Gordon and I walked through hyde park and saw many families having picnic along the park. Its a Beautiful day- U2


And the squirrels are out for picnic as well
I made a 'tsok tsok' sound and the squirrel came running towards us..
Its a beautiful little squirrel, if you get to see it 'live' its actually snowish grey. Very cute!


We are also quite cute


This is how you enjoy the sunlight and green pastures in London


And we headed home to fill our stomachs.
But before that, there's a little work that needs to be done


I'm so sad, before I could finish clearing my chicken parts..
they were overdue and a horrible stench has developed.
Goodbye to my 2 chicken thighs (Slap 2 times)

Went to attend Hillsongs London again in the evening.
Joined the Koreans and their other friends for a drink after service.
Was talking to a lady from Columbia, so you could imagine what we chat about..
Yes.. Ps César Castellanos. Apparently he's a very popular man in Bogota.

So she asked me 'How did you know about Ps César Castellanos?'

I replied 'Oh my church back home in Singapore adopted the G-12 vision from...'

'You're kidding me, aren't you from South Korea like the rest of them?'

So should I just smoke them and say yes Mr Tay?

Happened to meet with some of the worship team people at the bar too. I was telling them how I love their distinct 'Delay' tones on the guitar. George, one of the lead guitarist replied me 'The Edge from U2 is my hero...' So that explains it all.

The lady from on the far right is Hillsong London's Bassist.

How, look like what we have back home?