What's up, mate?

It's really hard trying to recall what happened this week when i only get a chance to post my updates on a sat morning... the truth is, work is piling up & i'm too lazy to bring my laptop home just to draft my day's entry - i've had enough of facing the laptop in a day!

This week has been quite an interesting one... Being a freight forwarding company, we are working in conjunction with some Airlines by doing our small part in consolidating all donation items from within the organization as well as our customers & moving these goods to help those suffering in the aftermath of the Tsunami - FOC! This is happening in all our respective worldwide offices.

In the Melbourne office, we have adopted to help aid Sri Lanka & i had the opportunity to organize this together with some colleagues. We spent almost a whole day at our warehouse, repacking all the items donated, labeling them & generating the documents necessary for clearance at the Sri Lanka custom office. It's amazing seeing how people contribute - though it may seems insignificant but little becomes much when you put them all together...

Speaking of which, we have recent news of storm which killed many in the UK, the bush fire in South Australia that claimed 9 lives & of course, the Tsunami. How convenient that people start to blame God the moment such natural disasters struck but are slow to give thanks & praise to God when He had created & gave everything to men for their enjoyment? Is God to be blamed??

I believe God will turn what was meant to be evil into good... Already there are news that people are clinging on to God & their faith strengthen when events like these happened as "wake up calls" for us to realize how helpless & weak we are when faced by things beyond our control - yet, it's in Christ that we are strong & through Christ that we have eternal life which cannot be taken away from us even when death caught us by surprise...

On a lighter note. The weather here in Melbourne changes like a flash! You have to constantly check on the weather report to be mentally & physically prepared to take on the weather... Tuesday's weather forecast was a hot of 39 degrees & my colleague (Eva, the girl who always invites me out) suggested for us to watch a movie at the Bailey's Moonlight Cinema that evening. As the name clearly suggest, it's an outdoor, open air Cinema at the Botanic Gardens near the city - people bring their own mats, foldable chairs, cushions, even pillows! to make themselves comfortable on the grass...

So we made arrangement that evening for me to fetch 2 of my colleagues - Eva & Sven - at 7.45pm. We ta-pow 3 chinese noodles & Eva brought from her house 2 bottles of wine & glasses, a soft camping sheet & some tibbits along... Because of the daylight saving, it was still very bright when we arrived at the Moonlight Cinema at 8.30pm. The ticket cost AUD14.50 each & you can hire a special made cushion for AUD6 (with a AUD10 deposit). Found a vacant grass spot with a good view of the big white screen & quickly set up our comfi-seats...

5mins later, we were eating & drinking as we watched others coming in & as a typical 1st timer like me & Sven, we took some photos (i'll upload the photos on mon, so be sure to check on it next week!)... The show started promptly at 9.00pm & the movie for that day was "The Metallica / St Anger". For a non-metalic/rock fan like me? I didn't quite enjoy the show but it was the company & the environment that made the difference.

Weather was super warm that evening. The wind was basically hot air & lying on the camping sheet, i could hardly find any stars to glaze at... Red clouds usually signifies rain? So there it was, we felt rain drops falling from the sky above & i looked at Eva and we went "not again?!" - recalling how pathetic we were, caught in the rain during our previous outing to watch the Rodeo at Colac. But no one in the Moonlight Cinema moved! I guessed they were so confident it's not going to rain heavy & probably trust the weather man! Or was it the movie that made them glued their butt to the ground?

With a boring movie & couple glasses of good wines, it was really not difficult to doze off & that was what i did - of course, i didn't sleep throughout the show! Around 11pm, the hot wind turned into cool breeze & by 11.30pm, it was cold at a low of 17 degrees! That's how fast the weather changes here... We were like freezing as we walked to the car after the movie - who would expect to bring a jacket when it was so hot just some hours ago? Was on bed at almost 1am.

Almost didn't want to get out of bed the next day, Wednesday morning but i did. Went to the car & was ready to drive to work when the engine won't start! Talk about having a bad start to the day! HA! Called the office & told them that i wont be in till later 'cos of the car rental company don't start work till 9am... It was 7.30am then, and thank God my car was parked in a proper parking lot - which is a meter parking - so i had to pay for 2hrs parking. But it all turn out well - i went back to catch an hour nap, the guy came to re-charge my car battery, i drove it back to the rental company & picked up another car, reported for work at 11am.

So ya... i had another old car - only for this weekend 'cos this one doesn't come with aircon. I'll have to change to another car (with aircon) next monday during lunch time. Guess by the end of my 3 months here, i'll probably get to drive the whole fleet of rental cars!

Friday was slightly busy with work & had a team meeting after lunch. Our dept. now comprises of Fiona (our dept. manager; Eva (who is a German but has been working in Australia for 6yrs); Emily (a 20 yr old who has joined the company half yr ago); Sven (a German guy who just arrived MEL last Fri & will be here till end April before he joins me again at our Sydney office in May. He is attached with Australia for a 1yr training - 4mths in MEL & 8mths in SYD) & myself.

Was helping Sven as he moved in to a rented apartment shared by 2 other guys from 3-5pm by driving the company's ute. We picked up his luggage, 5 cartons of items & a mattress before heading to his new apartment, unload the stuff & went back to the office. Come to think about it, i'm really blessed that the company is paying for my serviced apartment which is really big & clean & i've it all to myself. You should look at the apartment Sven is staying in...

Today Sat! Eva is organizing a BBQ at a horse farm she always frequent during her free time & invited quite a number of colleagues & friends along to celebrate her birthday. We were given directions how to get there & it's approx. 1hr drive from the city. I have to fetch Sven & Marc at 3pm and make our way to the BBQ. So my day is planned!

I've gathered information about 3 churches (non-traditional Anglican service) which i intend on checking them out tomorrow, Sunday. Due to their service timing, i could only attend 2 out of 3... The churches i'm looking at are:

• Manningham Christian Centre
• Destiny Church Melbourne - a member of Hillsong Church in Sydney
• City Church Melbourne - it's located in the city & is related to Planet Shakers & Youth Alive Australia

Guess i'll attend the 10.15am service at Destiny Church & 4pm service at City Church tomorrow while i'll visit Manningham Christian Centre next sun.