Wow. Been a really good two days of visitations. The first day was a good day of meeting and chatting with my relatives. We all gathered at one of my uncle's houses. Haha, very nice homely feel. You know, something interesting... my usually taciturn and laconic cousin - she's an Army officer btw - is much friendlier and more willing to share. Talked with her about her work as an Army officer - she'll be going to India next month for overseas training. :) And yeah, looks like all my Wikipedia surfing on army stuff really helped me find common ground with her. =) Praise God. Anyway, it was indeed a very pleasant surprise... I was wondering what caused the difference? Maybe... 'cos she's a Christian... perhaps she wanted to open up and share more with her relatives this year. It's heartening to see the transformative power of God at work - even if He chooses to remain behind-the-scenes. "My Father is always at work to this very day."

Anyway, I had a great time of chatting with my dear niece, Samantha! She's now in SIM, but is intending to transfer to NUS. Hope (and I better pray too) that can intro her to the NUS bros and sisters. :) Shared with her about my Cambodia trip, and she was quite interested. Turns out she hopes to go for a volunteer trip one day... so yeah, common ground there. Ha. It was nice telling her about NUS life and all that... answering her questions about campus, and giving her 'uncle' advice on NUS stuff, etc. Encouraged her to explore as much as she could in NUS (if she gets in). She'll be going Biz fac this year if everything goes well. Hmm... wonder how to help connect her... :)

Oh yes. Andrew and another friend came over to my place for 'bai nian' (house visitation). Nice haha... introduced them to my dog, Volvo. And we chit-chatted... short but sweet meetup haha. And yes, showed them my 'library' of books. I think I really have to revamp my bookshelf... to make it more comfy for ppl to drop by and just read. Tatami mat, beanbags, etc...

And then went down to my boss's place in the evening. Had a great time there... and there were a LOT of (South) Korean students there! 'Cos my boss also helps to liaise with some Korean unis to place the students here for internships with local companies and MNCs. Made a few new Korean friends... esp two Korean guys. (One of my friends observed that the Korean girls all have the same short hairstyle... just like the Wonder Girls! I kid you not...) Should have cracked a lame joke about that "Nobody but You" song with them! :D

But yeah, thank God... the two Korean guys are both Computing students from their uni... so we definitely had common ground... in fact, common languages - we all moaned about the C language and rejoiced over Java... guess what? memory management again! Looks like it's a universal topic with any computing guy, regardless of which country you're from... =)

So got their contacts... hopefully can get them to help out with an upcoming company event (my boss's suggestion)... and oh, Jun Ho and Han Bin said it was very nice talking with me... in fact, Han Bin said that I'm really very nice. LOL. Felt very touched and paiseh at the same time, but I'm really glad that God used me to bless them and make them feel at home. Hope and pray that this will be the start of more friendships to come! And gosh, it's really great getting to know more people from all over the world. =D Joked with my colleague that my boss's place really is like a UN conference... =D

And oh yes, my boss's daughter, Paulina. She just finished her JC, so she's waiting to go uni. Anyway, she's been interning at the office... Aileen (my colleague) and I both agree that she's really very fun-loving and super-sanguine haha. Crazy at times too... but really helps to liven up our office atmosphere! :) And when I brought my toy sheep along to the office, she went ga-ga over it. LOL. And her mum is very patient with her antics. Funny...

Personally, my colleague mentioned to me that she finds me a patient fellow... I was quite surprised... told her i'm still growing in patience, but inwardly, feeling thankful to God how He's helped me grow in patience over the years. Am encouraged by the grace of God here, bearing the fruit of the Spirit in my life.

Well! Just a short rambling on all these people... it's really a pleasure getting to know more people... even for a natural introvert like me. :) Ever since Christ saved me ten years ago... He's really changed my perspective towards other people so much. Come to think of it... yah. All the things that I'm doing now... was totally unthinkable back so many years ago. Praise God for His goodness and kindness to an unworthy sinner like me... =)

Looking forward to a blessed new season of fruitfulness and blessings... Auspicium Melioris Aevi! with God to guide the way... :)