Ben Nevis - Part 1

I made it up the mountain!

On Saturday, 6 of us: Matthew, Steven, Maude, Patrick, Hakim and I left Glasgow for Fort William. We planned to stay the night and hit Ben Nevis the next morning. We got a little bored that night...

Here's us after dinner. We had the one dish that no one can screw up - spaghetti bolognese...

Can you believe it? Daylight saving was good for something. We actually got an extra hour of sleep that night, as we turned our clocks back an hour. October 25 marks the last day of British summer - which was slightly ominous for us.

Apparently it's not safe for novice hikers (ie me) to go up Ben Nevis from November onwards. Hence why we went on the last weekend of October =). While Saturday was a day of absolutely wild weather, the forecast for Sunday was relatively better:

The sun was out as we hit the trail at 9am. Note: that isn't Ben Nevis in the background. It's actually to the right of the picture, but the bridge was on the left. Don't ask why...

My housemates and their friends... easily identifiable by their blue waterproofs

Matthew still in a good mood =)

The Ben Nevis Inn, and that night's dinner.

View from the walking path:
Maude and Steven
Glen Nevis is incredibly scenic. These ppl were on a morning walk...

Took about an hour of solid walking to get to this point. Models: Matthew and Patrick


Patrick and moi
Maude and Hakim - those sticks became very useful later on...
I was enjoying the walk thus far - weather was great =)

And then I turned around...

It was 1 hr 30 mins into the hike...I actually can't remember whether I was looking at the rain slowly coming to us (see below), or just gasping for breath. Or maybe I'd realised something: we still hadn't got to the saddle by the Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe. The Lochan's only 570m above sea level. The mountain's 1344m high...

In some countries, you get the four seasons. In Scotland, you can get four seasons in a day, localised on the same mountain... this was the wet season coming in.
On a sidenote, the wonderful thing about Scotland is that you'll never die of thirst. The saying "water, water everywhere" comes to mind.

Once we rounded a bend in Glen Nevis, we could start seeing the slopes of Ben Nevis. The summit was obscured by clouds (the cloud line's 800m up)

1 hour and 50 mins into the climb, we finally reached the Lochan (570m). I was happy. It was sweltering actually, as I had 4 layers on. In hindsight, that was a good problem to have.

Anyways, this was the easy part of the ascent... I'll leave the part where I thought I was going to die for the next post =)

Nic

Ben Nevis

I'm going to hike up Ben Nevis (translated: 'the mountain of heaven') tomorrow. It's the highest mountain in the UK, which isn't saying much as it's 1344m high =P

Having said that, I'm not underestimating it. Apparently 13 ppl died there over a 5 year period... time to put on the lucky underwear (and then some: it'll be freezing). Seriously though, my housemates and I will have to be careful. The weather's likely to be foul up there.

Will update once I get back.

Love,

Nic

ps... Bryan can have my guitars if anything happens =)

Paranoia

Today's MLH lecture started with our lecturer mentioning the formative essay. I may be paraphrasing, but if so I apologise in advance for any negative interpretation anyone may make. After all, I don't intend to commit a libel against anyone.

You may wonder why I started this post with that clause... let me restart:

Today's MLH lecture started with our lecturer mentioning the formative essay.

"It's generally a good habit to hand in the essays on time"
so far so good... i thought - after all, I handed it in on the revised deadline of Monday

"Rather than simply posting about them on your blog"
I'd swear that he looked directly at me when he made this statement. Mind started running at a rate of knots...

I suspect the percentage of students who blog in that class (there's less than 20 of us) is fairly low. I also suspect that the percentage of students in that class who were as aware of the law of defamation such as to mention their lecturer in a post is significantly lower.

Maybe I could be paranoid. After all (and I checked this later in the Workshop), there's no direct link from my student data to this website; and I suspect Dr Finlay has better things to do with his time than Googling his students. In any case, looking at the post, I don't think I libeled him

Another possibility presents itself: my lecturer uses Facebook =)

Sometimes paranoia's just having all the facts - William S. Burroughs

Someone's looking out for me

God's awesome. Did you know that?

I was at a pretty low point over the weekend, having to grapple with my studies, finances, and worries about cell and church back home. I couldn't sleep last night, in fact. I'm one of those people who lies in bed thinking at night. Last night, there was just so much to think about that i just couldn't rest. Compounding it, I'd had one of those weeks where a lot of the small aspects of life which you take for granted decide to go wrong (eg a bike chain slipping off the gears - twice). Almost like death from a thousand cuts =P

Eventually, around 1-2am, I got up, went on my knees and prayed. There was just nothing else to do. I just went to God with my worries .

Today started like any other Monday in Glasgow. Woke up at 8am, fixed breakfast and went to class. To be honest, I didn't feel like gymming today but went out of force of habit. I came home pretty tired, and finished off last night's dinner - beef stew with carrots, celery, onion, spring onion, garlic, ginger, tomato and lettuce =)

Some of the guys from GCCC had asked me to play badminton tonight. To be honest, at 3pm, I was so tired I wanted to pull out. Instead, I figured I needed to defuse and so at 740pm, Vong (one of the guys from GCCC) picked me up (it was freezing outdoors) and we set off to the Scottish Badminton Centre.

Looking back now - that was ridiculously fun. Don't get me wrong - I played pretty badly. We all played pretty badly (except Wei Yao, who's several classes above us). But we had some hilarious rallies (including one where at every shot, the sound of racket frames rang loud), and it was just great to laugh, and hang out.

A piece of advice: Don't gym before badminton - doesn't help you when you're looking for that extra few percent of effort.

After the game, Vong fetched me back. On the way I mentioned that I was planning to hike up Ben Nevis this weekend. Upon hearing that, Vong insisted on detouring to his place and giving me some safety equipment (ie a safety bag, and a whistle). We ended up hanging out at his place for a while.

On my part, it was great just to be able to relax and talk to someone. Also (and don't laugh too hard here), he even gave me a jar of this stuff:

I'm sitting in my room reflecting on my day now, and I've just realised that sometimes God will just cheer you up through sending people at the right time. Random acts of kindness aren't actually so random after all - often they're God-inspired, no matter how random they seem at the time (a jar of kaya?).

The next time you feel you should do something to help someone...


Jokes aside, I'm absolutely serious on this point. Let God use you as His hands and feet. You'll be surprised at the impact.

I'm inspired because my God cares.

Amen.

How not to spend a tuesday/wednesday

Tuesday
930am - Wake up, shower, breakfast (cereal)

1030am - Walk to uni for my International Private Law lecture

1100am - Run into Mikey (classmate who also does Medieval Legal History)

Me: "so Mikey, started your MLH essay yet? I'm gonna work on it today."
Mike: "Yeah started on the weekend"
Me: "It's due Friday right?"
Mike: "... err no actually it's due tomorrow"
Me [frantically checks course outline]: "... shit... you're right"

At that point, the lecturer walked in and you can guarantee that I absorbed very little in that class. I was frantically planning an essay.

1200pm - After IPL, I rushed straight to the library and proceeded to, in a panicked fashion, research stuff that would help me answer this question:

"A Roman Lawyer without Canon Law is worth little: a Canon Lawyer without Roman Law nothing". Discuss.

At this point, some of you will say - why didn't you read the course outline properly? Well, page 1 of the outline stated that the essay was due Wednesday (Week 4's lecture). However, on the very next page, the actual essay question said that it was due in week 7. Don't ask how I thought it was due Friday Week 4. I'm a genius. Not.

Anyways I managed to get some scratchy research done, after lunch with Jacklyn. Eventually, at about 2.30am Wednesday morning, I completed the crappiest essay I've ever written in my whole life (and this includes my Standard 2 essay about "siapakah pemandu kereta yang paling teruk?"*).

Wednesday
230am - I went to bed.

730am - woke up for the 9am lecture...

900am - front up for the lecture half-dead with way too little sleep. The lecturer's first words:

Dr John Finlay: "I know the essay's due today [pauses]. However, I won't be in this whole week... so just hand it in Monday"

Me: "......" [clenches fist furiously under table]

To be honest, I can't really blame him... after all i should have read the outline properly - but it did kill my day.

1000am - All i could manage after the lecture was to stumble to the library after class to try to catch up with some readings. There I ended up napping for an hour (ask Elie).

1100am - I gave up on the study and went home to sleep.

300pm - woke up and went to the gym...**

What a day. Then again, cell was great that night (see earlier post).

PS: I've just finished the essay =)

* translation: "who's the worse driver" - how prophetic eh Kristine?
** re the gym - you can now see where my priorities lie.

Cell

I finally made it to Wei Yao's cell last night. Admittedly there was the promise of free dinner cooked by Jason. He's the one in the right. Nic's the dude on the left*
Anyways I really enjoyed cell (both the dinner and sharing part). Never realised how much I missed it, and Jason's a great cook! Anyways, as a memory aid, I took pics of all the ppl so i could remember their names. From right to left: Nick, James, Wei Yao, Rachel and Jason (Yay! i remembered!)Then I put down the camera and we started eating. I was absolutely famished after having just come from the gym, and the chicken + noodles were awesome! No close-ups because haha i was too preoccupied with the eating =)

Anyways, later Gordon (the pastor of GCCC) came along with another guy, Caleb. That night the discussion focused around what it meant to get closer to God. For most of us, we've seen it as a list of beneficial chores:

• more QT (Bible study)
• more prayer
• more service - ministry/community work etc
• more being a good person - righteousness etc etc

For many of us, me included, we strive so hard to be good Christians through our works. And we miss the point. Last week, Gordon spoke about Christianity as being an organic faith. Sometimes, rather than letting the fruit grow on the tree, we attach fruit (the stuff from the list above) to the tree. So we find ourselves doing the same good things, but with different motives: to be seen as a good Christian, to get closer to God etc etc.

The funny part is that we just don't get it. God loves us. Full stop. Nothing we can do can make Him love us more. It is when we embrace his love, when we remain in it (John 15) that fruit comes naturally - from the inside out. We can't earn our salvation through works. We can't get closer to God through effort. It starts by accepting and embracing the fact that God loves us - that's faith.

Paul has it spot on in Philippians 3:7-11 - his righteousness comes not from the law (ie works) but from faith in Christ. What faith is this? A faith that His death on the Cross saved us and made us innocent in His eyes (though often not in our own). A faith that He loves us unconditionally.

On a side note - sometimes I wonder why isn't the fruit coming now? Wei Yao pointed out that the answer lies in nature - fruit comes when it is in season. Ultimately, God is the one who knows when the right season is for us.

Anyways, that was a quick summary of what cell was about last night... and i'm looking forward to next week =)

Reminiscing

Lets just say it's a bad idea to look at old pictures when you're feeling homesick and wistful...

I started today trying to start an essay due Friday. But somewhere along the line my 'research' got me to the NLCC website... and a few short clicks later, to all the camp websites. Of all the J-life camps I've been to, Crossfire and Got Love stand out.

It's funny how time flies eh? I can barely remember what I was doing up to Crossfire, but those 4 days stick out like a sore thumb in my memory. God takes us a step further each day if we let Him stretch us. I guess that was the point when ministry moved from being something I did because I was competent in whatever I was given to do, to life.

Life where you're thrown into the deep end, have to deal with relational crises, an honours dissertation, and responsibilities you don't feel capable of handling . God didn't physically write my dissertation, or take notes for me in class. He didn't slap me awake through those exhausting and exhilirating days at camp. From a human point of view He didn't actively intervene in my affairs. And yet without Him it wouldn't have happened.

One thing is clear - He was there. When I was at my wit's end over what to do. When I was exhausted at camp. When I was slugging it out with Excel over economic data. When I messed up. He was there, in that quiet whisper in my heart, more meaningful than audible words could ever be, telling me to hold on to Him. Telling me that He would never let me go no matter what happened. Telling me to trust Him.

And that kept me and still keeps me going. I'm in a foreign land for a few months. Let me make it a better place for me being there. God's with me on this one. I know it.

My new favourite shirt =)

Procrastination

Damn... i should be doing my jurisprudence readings...

Anyways, I had a pretty good day today (as evidenced by 2 posts thus far). Played guitar at GCCC for the first time, which was a pretty different experience. Then rushed home to play cricket again, and gave a slightly better account of myself =)

For those of you who don't know me, I'm (despite my occasionally nice demeanour) highly competitive. In fact, I'm (as Amanda pointed out) competitive about being the most competitive. Thus, a sport which I enjoy playing but am the worst player in naturally attracts more concentration...

I arrived late at the dirt field we use as a cricket pitch... and came in as the last batsman. It was an 8 over match, with each team having 5 wickets (making me the 5th best batsman =P). Anyways with nothing to lose, I got 15 runs from 9 deliveries, and managed to take 2/7 bowling (again complete gibberish to the non-cricket inclined).

Am I happy? Yup =)

Am I still one of the worst players to ever wield a bat? Maybe I'm slightly better than this guy...

But at least I now have a modicum of confidence when I'm holding an irregularly shaped piece of wood facing a guy hurling a nice hard taped ball at me.

And confidence is everything.

Random Sundays

It's 10:30am on a Sunday, and I'm getting ready to go to another worship practice before service... Surreal eh? Feels almost like I'm slipping back into an old, rarely used gear. It's been a month since I last fronted up at church with a guitar. Small band though - just 2 guitars so I'll be layering basically. I honestly can't wait =) The fact that services are at 1:30pm are also helpful.

On another note, the sun's out today. I'm hoping to be able to get in some cricket later today with the Indians, and hoping to not get as embarassed as yesterday when I couldn't hit a single scoring shot to the offside (that's probably indecipherable to you guys...)

Anyways, now I face brutal choice that will decide the rest of my day: omelets or soup for brekkie?

Dinner

There's nothing quite like fried rice, a fried egg on a bed of lettuce =P

London - Day 1

London is a 1 hour flight from Glasgow. Or, if you're on a budget, an 8 hour bus through the wee hours of the night*. Lets just say that I'll remember the National Express Bus 588 for the wrong reasons. I boarded at 11pm, and arrived at 615am to an absolutely freezing city.

My first port of call was Victoria Station, which was, well absolutely huge. Its arrivals and departures board is larger than Perth Airport...

Anyways, I went down to London to catch up with Richie (a.k.a. Wee Cheng to the rest of the known world**) as he was on a work conference (paid holiday). At 9am, we went to check in to our hotel to discover that we could only do so later in the day. This was slightly annoying as I was hoping for a quick shower - i'd slept 4 hours on-and-off the whole night on a bumpy (and annoyingly vertical) bus seat...

Well there was nothing to do but hit the town and see the sights... smelly socks and all... First we paid a visit to our good friend B. Elliot


Traipsed down to Big Ben
We also took a look at Westminster Abbey. On a sidenote, we also wandered into a Westminster Cathedral, and were about to explode into full tourist mode (camera flashes everywhere), when we simultaneously noticed that there was a service on... and made a hasty retreat =P

The London Eye - for some reason, it doesn't look as big in real life.

The (Over) Friendly Indian tourist...

It was still early in the day, when we'd walked past Westminster Bridge, so we went on through Whitehall - the govt area. Richie wanted to pay a visit to his boss Mr Brown.

Unfortunately, his office was closed - obviously the British PM doesn't work weekends =)

However, we were just on time to watch the patrol of the Horse Guards. They seemed like a nice bunch of guys on horses, though maybe they took themselves maybe a tad too seriously.

Anyways, later on we headed to Trafalgar Square. And being the culturally aware people that we are, we proceeded to the National Gallery (in the background). The Gallery boasts paintings from Monet, Cezanne etc etc... and we used the toilet***. Ok we also saw the paintings lah. We're not complete philistines.

Anyways, I'll end this post here... with a brief teaser of the nocturnal activities that followed our exertions =)

You can tell what the highlight of my weekend was.

* I realised later that Ryanair flies to London at pretty cheap rates! Gahhh
** Apparently Mr Yeo Wee Cheng took up the alias "Richie" in Australia because his lecturers couldn't deal with 3 syllables...
*** Public toilets are sparse in London...

On things chocolate

In the beginning: it started with a glance across the room
And once I had a taste, I wanted more. She was sweet... dark... like those lovely shadows that play across the park in the evening. Or that cute Spanish chick at the bar*.

I ...

I used her. And now there's regret.
I need to go back to the gym

* - I'm flying to Barcelona in late November for completely unrelated reasons. No seriously. I like Gaudi.

My housemates are pretty cool. Let me introduce a few of them:
Steven and Maude from Quebec - Steve's studying engineering and Maude's an engineer on a working holiday . Both are pretty awesome ppl. And both are inducting me into the joys of maple syrup.

Mohan from Tamil Nadu in India - funny guy who's doing his PhD in Chemistry - says he can't cook but the smells from the kitchen indicate otherwise (well except for dinner 2 nights ago - that beetroot stuff looked a tad off =P). But anyways, we've had some pretty hilarious chats:

Nick: To be honest eh, I really can't cook that well. I'm just kind of working it out backwards based on my memories of what my mum's and my grandma's cooking tastes like. It's all improvisation.
Mohan: Same here actually. Well I'm a chemist so I'm combining my ingredients as one! (laughter). And you, well, you're reverse - engineering your food (more laughter).

The other day, I'd managed to get 2 packets of strawberries for only 1.50. At that price, I was worried that the small Scottish strawberries would be ridiculously sour. Actually, they were surprisingly sweet (sweet enough to make Nutella taste almost redundant)

Anyways, I was hankering for some dessert (after making fried chicken) yesterday. Desire leads to imagination, which leads to:
One happy chef !

At this point, the housemates decided to join in and make their own. Basically: get a clear glass, and layer yoghurt, strawberries and nutella as such:And enjoy =) it goes pretty well with some tea biscuits (the plain kind) broken up. Now I know what I'll serve my date if I'm out of dessert ideas. It also doesn't look half bad. And the taste? Decadent.