Another take on international relations

Another way to relax i found off Lemuel's blog =)

Wouldn't it be nice if we could just get all the world leaders into a boxing ring and let them settle it, without hassling us?

Faith Fighter



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Normal service is resumed

Started raining as I was walking back home from uni... sigh...
Anyways, I'm quite happy today - firstly, I got some IPL readings done, which is a good thing, given I'd procrastinated the whole weekend).

Secondly, my keyboard's now working relatively properly (after a weekend of being a tool). Basically, the whole weekend, the letter 't' was just going missing. You never realise how important something is, until you miss it (eg the letter 't') - sounds like a Sesame Street commercial =P

On a lighter note, only God knows what some ppl would have made of it if the malfunctioning letter was the one before "w".

Things to be thankful for

Having been in Scotland for 3 weeks, I've so much to be thankful for:

• So far this week, the weather's been awesome =) hasn't rained that much.
• Great housemates - 2 guys and one girl from Quebec, and Mohan from India - awesome ppl. We've just had a nice, long pot luck (started 930, finished just now). Anyways, it was a great time of just hanging out, learning different things about each others' cultures (including the joys of maple syrup), and yeah laughing at the same time. Its funny how a bunch of ppl who didn't know each other beforehand can get along almost instantly haha...
• A ministry to serve - I've been signed up to guitar for GCCC in 2 weeks! looking forward to it. You would not believe how weird it was knowing that there was a J-life service on today and that I wasn't playing.
• Things to do - i fear boredom =)... but I'm taking up fencing, and hoping to play football for CU. Oh, and today I played cricket with some guys from the subcontinent. They play every weekend so I'm hoping to join them regularly. I also proved today that not all Australians can play cricket well.
  
• Great sermons. The past few weeks, I've really been blessed by being able to hear from Ps Gordon at GCCC. Today's sermon was from Psalm 107:23-32. Basically, if you want to see God really act in your life, you've got to go out of your comfort zone. God comes where He's at stake.
  

Anyways, that's enough for now. Got some readings to catch up with =)

Skye High - Part 2

Classes finally started this week, and so I've been busy learning about the weird and wonderful world of Jurisprudence, Medieval Legal History and International Private Law. I've also made my first curry...

Anyways, last Saturday, we went to the Isle of Skye... and proceeded to do some pretty interesting stuff. Visited Eileen Dornan Castle, as I've mentioned earlier, and we also went to this place called Kilt Rock.
basically, the rocks in the background are meant to resemble the back of a kilt. Chad was good enough to model this one.


Anyways, let's get back to the list. The tour guides (the aforesaid Tony and Mikey) got us to write up a list of things we wanted to do. The list, at the end included things like trying on kilts (Chad), sipping some water of life (whisky), seeing Loch Ness, getting plastered, kissing a Scotsman (not my wish), and swinging a claymore (mine).

No 4: Swing a claymore

I got a bit more than i bargained for... the claymore got upsized to a lochaber axe...


The man wanted to demonstrate what happened to traitors, and i realised something
Blades that don't look sharp often are - basically, pull upwards.

But at the end...

It was worth it.
Ok that's a lochaber axe, not a claymore. Claymores went out of fashion (like bell-bottoms ... oh wait those are coming back). Anyways, claymores they went out of style because swinging large, sharp, double-edged swords at high speeds while running down hills (the Highlanders' favourite modus operandi) meant that you often chopped off the ears of the person next to you.

There's probably a moral in there somewhere.

Skye High

I've just returned from a weekend trip to the Isle of Skye... at the moment, my legs are a tad sore, given a spur of the moment decision to walk all the way back from Buchanan St Bus Station in the CBD to the West End (took me around 40 mins)... I'd swear the city is uphill most of the way.

Anyways, I got home, greeted the Canadian housemates and made a quick dinner. Clan Campbell made the soup for me =P
I realise that this could be a long, long post. A lot happened on this weekend. Anyways, I went to Scotland with a list of things to do... and managed to cut through a good swathe of the list this weekend =)


No. 1: Eat some haggis (Evan's suggestion)

For those not in the know, haggis is basically a sheep's pluck (heart, liver and lungs), minced with some other stuff, and boiled in the sheep's stomach. Doesn't that just make you hungry thinking about it? Here's the dish the traditional way: "Haggis, 'neeps and tatties"

I had it with some friends at the Royal Mile. I was told it didn't taste bad. Our guide Tony said: "if it tasted bad, we wouldn't eat it". Well, it actually didn't taste that bad...
Tasted like a slightly spicier sausage roll filling...if you close your eyes, you can almost taste the lungs... it's abit chewy (actually to be honest, I quite like it)

Actually, the Scots are quite similar to us Chinese people. We don't waste food. If they did, the Highlanders would have starved to death. And us Chinese? We're just cheap =P


No 2: See some castles...

Urquhart Castle

• Random fact no 1: The castle sits on the banks of Loch Ness
• Random fact no 2: There's a trebuchet on the castle grounds (can't see it in this pic)
  

Ruthwen Castle

• Random fact no 1: The castle is close to the battlefield of Culloden - possibly a battle that changed the face of the earth as we know it.
  
• Random fact no 2: 12 Redcoats once held this castle against a besieging force of 200 Jacobite troops through some improvisation - using spare uniforms to make it look as if the castle was bristling with troops...

Eileen Dornan

• Random fact no 1: This is the most romantic castle of all time... apparently
  
• Random fact no 2: The movie "Highlander" was shot here
• Random fact no 3: This was my favourite place in the whole trip. And no. Don't even think that way. Random fact no 1 is completely irrelevant to why this was my favourite place.

Obviously, there's a load of history to go with these castles (which I won't bore you with). Actually I love history so I was just soaking it in as Tony told us about the Stuarts, Robert the Bruce, William Wallace and the Highlanders.

But I'll leave you all with one of the highlights =)


No 3: See Hamish the Highland 'cou'...
Obviously beef was on the menu that night...