Exciting Weekend

Wow, God is so good! I'm sitting here thinking about that fact that I have only been in Singapore almost 3 weeks, and God has already put so many amazing people in my life. I'm so excited to be making friends. It is such a great feeling to walk into a room where someone knows your name and even a little bit about you. Here's a quick recap of my weekend so far. Friday evening Gretchen, Bandy (another teacher) and I went out after work. We went to Clark Quay an area next to the Singapore River. There, Bandy and I did a bungee swing. It shot us up at 200 mph strapped to a metal swing. What a great way to start a holiday weekend! Then, we had supper at a Mongolian restaurant, desert at TCC on the river, and took a river tour of downtown Singapore. Needless to say, I was tired when we finally got home. Saturday I decided that I needed to rest and "get away" for a little bit. After carefully studying my map and bus books, I decided I had found the easiest route to East Coast Park. Since I live on the west coast of the island, it was a little jaunt, but one worth taking. I got on the train near my house, after enjoying a delicious Korean meal at a hawker, and headed out on my adventure. I packed a water bottle, a towel, and my Bible. I considered taking my guitar, but since there was going to be so much walking involved, I settled for my mp3. On the way to the park, I was standing on the subway next to an Indian couple with an adorable little girl. She was probably around 9 months, and she had the biggest brownest eyes. I talked to her (the baby) for a little bit, and spent a majority of the train ride paying for her and her parents. When got off the train I walked to the bus station to get on the bus to take me to the park. No problems there, a short walk, and a short bus ride later, I arrived at the coast. Now even though I'm living on a tropical island, I have not seen very much water, so the sound of the water lapping the shore was so refreshing and amazing. I walked around a little, observed some cable skiers, wished I had thought to brought a swimming suit, and walked along the beach. After awhile, I stopped and spent some time just me and God on the beach. It was wonderful. I was supposed to meet some friends for satay for supper, so I decided at about 3:30 I should start heading back. The only problem was, I couldn't find a bus stop. I had walked quite a ways, and didn't really want to retrace my steps, so I continued walking in the other direction, thinking that somewhere there must be a bus stop....There wasn't. So, finally, I gave up and turned around. To make a long story short, I couldn't find the bus stop I got off at, so I ended up walking away from the park. I eventually found a bus stop, but it didn't have any of the buses I normally take, or the one that I knew went to the place I was meeting my friends. It did have a bus that went to my road, so I hopped on and decided to take it. I rode the entire bus route, and got off the bus near my flat at 6:45. Too late for supper. I called my friends and told them I wasn't coming, and spent a nice quiet evening at home. This morning I went to church, still loving Redemption Hill. I'm so glad that God has blessed me with a great church family already. The sermon today was very good (as usual). After church we met some other friends for a Brazilian lunch. Now I am getting ready to go to my first Chinese New Year Reunion dinner. I feel very fortunate to have been invited to a reunion dinner, and can't wait to see what it's like. After the dinner, I'm hoping to meet up with some friends in Chinatown for the New Year's celebration.